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Colts sign TE Dwayne Allen, closing in on TE Coby Fleener
There were two glaring absentees as coach Chuck Pagano put rookies and injured veterans through the first of three pre-training camp workouts today at the Indianapolis Colts' Northwestside complex.
Missing were tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen, the team's last two unsigned draft picks. That soon changed.
Shortly after the practice session, the team signed Allen, a third-round draft pick. Owner Jim Irsay, via Twitter, indicated resolution of Fleener's contract was imminent.
That had to bring a smile to Pagano's face.
"This is valuable time. Every rep counts,'' he said. "You're talking about two rookie guys who we're going to rely heavily on at the position. They're going to be in there. Everybody knows that. Every meeting they miss, every walk-through they miss, every practice they miss . . . ''
That either contract took this long to resolve is something of a surprise considering the NFL's rookie wage scale.
Financial terms for Allen were not immediately available, but he is "slotted" for a four-year, $3.2 million contract that includes a signing bonus of about $834,000. Fleener, a second-round pick, is due to accept a four-year, $5.3 million contract with a signing bonus of about $2.3 million.
Players cleared
Involved with today's work were offensive linemen Anthony Castonzo and Ben Ijalana and running back Delone Carter. Castonzo (ankle) and Ijalana (knee) had missed all of the team's offseason work while rehabbing from surgeries. Carter missed extensive time after undergoing thumb surgery.
All have gained medical clearance to practice.
A few players are expected to open training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. One is rookie defensive tackle Josh Chapman. The fifth-round draft pick underwent surgery in January to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
"I think it's pretty safe to say Josh is a guy that's definitely going to start on there,'' Pagano said. "A couple of other guys who are touch-and-go.''


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Posted on January 26, 2017 January 29, 2017 by The Bloc
The Nude Sessions: Tomato Dodgers
By Emilie Fleuette
By Katie Ebel
As the Tomato Dodgers prepare to release their first album and embark on another tour, The Writer's Bloc had the opportunity to sit down with the three consistent members and discuss their band, The Void and VoidLife Records. Living in a house called The Void, Tomato Dodgers have created a venue for performances ranging from bands to burlesque shows to showcase their talents in a safe space.
The band is comprised of Asher Meerovich, the lead singer and guitarist who graduated with degrees in philosophy and Jewish studies from this university in 2016; Pete Myers, the drummer and a senior economics major at this university; and Tera Stanton-Duffer, who plays the keyboard, percussion, glockenspiel and does vocals, and graduated with a degree in biology in 2013.
"The three of us are kind of the core," Meerovich said. "There are many others who come in and out over the course of the shows. We have different line ups for different shows."
These different line ups will be showcased this spring in their fourth tour, which will stop by South by Southwest in March.
Katie: Can you guys go over again how you guys met and initially started playing music together?
Asher: Pete and I met while I was playing guitar on the mall, the UMD campus mall. I was just playing guitar outside and Pete saw me, I guess, while walking around and he came over and was like 'Yo, I'm going to eat my sandwich and listen to you play guitar' and I was like 'Alright' and he was like 'I'm going to go get my djembe' and then he got his djembe and we started jamming and that was that.
Pete: And then it's fate, just fate from there on out.
K: How did you find other band members?
Asher: Tera and I actually met before that, but we didn't realize we could be in a band together.
Tera: No, but we'd played music together because Asher left a note on my desk saying 'We should play guitar sometime' in our metametaphysics class.
K: Where do you want Tomato Dodgers and The Void to go in College Park and, ultimately, when you guys leave, which I assume you will?
Asher: Further into The Void.
Tera: Let's die in College Park.
K: What have you guys been doing musically recently?
Asher: We're working on our album right now, we're producing the album. And playing shows — those are pretty much the things a band does.
Pete: And experimentation.
K: What's going to be different about this next tour?
Asher: Different people. We're going to have a different bass player. We're not going to have Tera. It's all kind of vague at this point, but it hasn't happened yet so we can't know for sure how it's going to happen.
K: Can you explain the concept of your video? Do you want it to be a representation of what you want your shows to look like?
Asher: That kind of is what our shows look like, honestly.
Pete: It's a very exaggerated version of what our shows look like.
Tera: It's like we took what we try to do at our shows and took the essence out of ourselves and put it into the video.
Asher: Which is really the purpose of shows. It's what we want the shows to do to people: let them become us. So then there can be lots of Tomato Dodgers running around, playing music, rescuing Jeaux Phred, all that stuff.
Tera: Cherry Tomato Dodgers.
Asher: Like little baby tomatoes just running around, screaming.
K: So the previous renters were in a band and now you guys are. Was this house passed down to you?
Asher: The music house was passed down to us and it helped that we were already in a band.
Tera: But wherever we moved to, we were going to do this.
Pete: This became The Void, though. Like we raised The Void and then this became The Void.
K: Did you already have the name before you moved in?
Asher: No.
Pete: Yes.
Asher: We did?
Pete: Well, we had the concept. It's actually a very deeply ingrained part of —
Asher: Everything.
K: What music influenced you guys individually and how did you guys come together to create the sound you have now?
Asher: I like Phish a lot. But I also like high-energy punk music and stuff like that. So, I brought a lot of energy and a little bit of jam-y-ness to the table, I think. And a lot of weird commentary on the world, like Frank Zappa.
Pete: I like anything with rhythm. I listen to a lot of hip-hop, funk, reggae. I kind of just appreciate varied rhythms in whatever form that comes in.
Tera: I always have a tricky time with this question. I think the thing I bring to the table most often is more pop, more laid back, like Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson kind of stuff.
K: Can you talk about the songwriting process or do you guys just jam until something comes out of it?
Asher: I write most of the lyrics. Tera writes lyrics too.
Tera: We write together.
Asher: We work on lyrics and melodies together, but we jam the riffs separately and we kind of combine the riffs that we've jammed with lyrics that Tera and I have written. And they meet halfway there. Pete and I jam a lot and we have this stockpile of riffs and songs and stuff and we'll just merge them with lyrics when the time is ready.
Tera: But a lot of it is just taken from the world around us. Especially on lyrics. We'll just be jamming and the lyrics will happen based on what we heard that day or what someone on Twitter was quoted as saying.
Asher: Like I didn't really kill my friend's aunt and have sex with — ya know whatever the song is about, but it could've happened. And it could've happened here.
Tera: I don't know if I agree with that.
K: Can you explain the record label you guys have now.
Asher: We put out music that we like by artists we feel a connection to and we have them play here whenever possible. And we set up shows other places. And it's like a big old family, a big old Void family where we put out each other's music and lick each other and do shows and stuff.
Tera: Did you say like or lick?
Asher: Yes.
K: Just College Park bands?
Asher: Nope, we have a band from D.C., we have a band from New Orleans on there. And we put out music, we have tapes and all that stuff.
K: Do you guys want to pass the house down or keep doing your own thing?
Asher: We'll do our own thing with it until the time comes to pass it down, and if we are going to pass it down, I would like to pass it down to someone who wants to pick it up, ya know?
Tera: Would we pass it down as The Void?
Asher: It depends who we're passing it down to.
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Tomato Dodger's Facebook page.
Emilie Fleuette is a senior broadcast journalism major and can be reached at ecfleuette@gmail.com.
C Dylan Hinds of Loud Dudes LLC recorded and mixed the audio and can be reached at cdylanhinds@gmail.com.
Katie Ebel is a junior English major and can be reached at katieebel@gmail.com.
This entry was posted in:Features, The Nude Sessions
Tagged with:College Park, The Void, Tomato Dodgers, University of Maryland, VoidLife Records
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WISS's Response to COVID-19 & Calendar
Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD)
Waterloo Independent Secondary School (WISS) recognizes that students with strong academic credentials, a clear interest in their studies, and a focused goal for their post-secondary program may wish to accelerate their progress through WISS. WISS offers these students a pathway forward through the University Express Program.
Candidates must submit an application package :
1. WISS Application Form
2. Application Fee
3. Current academic record in English Recommendation letter from a teacher with comments specifically on:
- English proficiency
- Academic achievement
- Study habits
5. IELTS score requirement:
- 5.0 from Grade 10 applicants
- 6.0 for Grade 11 applicants
6. Personal statement describing character, interests, and the reason for applying to the UEP at WISS.
Review and Interview
WISS reviews the application when the complete package is received to certify that the applicant meets the basic application requirements. Following the certification, the applicant is invited to participate in an online discussion with the WISS Director. The purpose of the discussion is to judge the applicant's language competency. The applicant will also be asked to submit a writing assignment.
Conditional Admission
After certification and a successful initial language assessment, WISS will forward a letter of acceptance granting conditional admission to the UEP with an invoice for payment. Final decision about acceptance into the program is made once the student arrives at WISS.
The student is responsible for following the visa application process.
Arrival and Acceptance into the UEP
The final stage of the process occurs on arrival at WISS. During the first week of class, teachers observe the student in order to judge language and academic proficiency. In addition, the Director conducts a language proficiency assessment.
Once all requirements are met successfully, WISS confirms acceptance into the program in a letter to parents.
If a student does not meet the requirements for admission to the UEP, 50% of tuition will be refunded.
WISS provides the student with a program tailored to their needs for university admission into the program of their choice.
WISS supports the UEP student with additional language practice and in preparing their university application.
© Copyright 2023 by Waterloo Independent Secondary School.
info@waterlooss.ca
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She pulled the trigger and a "negligent discharge" sent a round through the garage into his neighbor's house where it came to rest in a bedroom wall.
Jason Sexton was allowing Ashley Wiseman to look at his handgun on Saturday, he told police. But when she took the magazine from the gun, she did not check the chamber, according to the police report. She pulled the trigger and a "negligent discharge" sent a round through Sexton's garage into his neighbor's house where it came to rest in a bedroom wall.
No on was injured in the incident, which police declared an accident.


If you have not realized it, there is something happening that makes the protests regarding police brutality stemming from cases like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Michael Brown look quite tame and mild. It is something that has began sweeping across the globe in such a way that we recognize it as the most under-reported story of the year.
Egyptian demonstrators gather outside the presidential palace in Cairo on June 30, 2013. Image via Twitter.
Because mainstream corporate media has little time to get the real story, most focus on the easy, sensational headlines with astonishing photos that will help form the opinion they think you should have about certain events. The Occupy Movement in the United States is one such example.
Taksim Square – Gezi Park protests in 2013. Image via Twitter.
When Occupy erupted, media focused on the tent cities in public spaces and the fight the protesters had to occupy public space. They aimed their cameras at the most dramatic of people, shunning the multitudes of adult average middle-class college-educated and employed people that were participating in the movement. They interviewed people to ask what it would take to get them to go home, not what it was that had brought them all together in the public spaces in the first place. And finally, the media turned the cameras and recorders off once the police were done ransacking the camps, but before they were done arresting the protesters and destroying the momentum of the movement. The press declared that "Occupy WAS a movement" and that "Occupy is over" in their various reports.
An anti-American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) protest in front of the Palmer House in Chicago. Police made violent arrests of protesters gathered to protest the lobbying group's conference. August, 2013. Image via Twitter.
When you don't follow up on a story because you are so sure your conclusion is all neatly packaged with knots in the ribbons, you sometimes miss the big one. Within months of the "Occupy wrap-up" in the United States, we began to see voices that echoed the exact same messages we heard from the Occupy people in various countries. The last 6 months has seen an escalation in these uprisings to the point that the list is shorter for countries that are not currently seeing protests than those that are.
A Mi'kmaq protester raises a symbolic feather in efforts to stop natural gas drilling on what used to be her tribe's land. Canada, October, 2013. Image via Twitter.
Every continent, nearly every country has had this happen. The reactions are all the same. The government of the country cracks down on the protesters, the international community says that was a bad move, and the protests are silenced. These governments then say the same to other countries as protests continue to encircle the globe.
What is happening? Humanity is evolving. Centuries ago, we were based on cultures that did service work, farming and hard labor. As we approached industrialization, more of us became educated and invented ways for others to work more efficiently. We used to need governments to protect us from ourselves and each other. As we have evolved, we now find ourselves protecting each other and ourselves from our governments.
Protesters in support of Kobani. Image via FaceBook.
We have come to understand that children everywhere need and want the same thing; education and the promise of a future. We have come to recognize that to govern successfully, a balance of women and men must participate in the decisions. We observe it is the NGOs in the world that accomplish the greatest good, not those passing laws to control rather than lead their people. We are learning to embrace our differences at a time our governments and media are attempting to cause us to fear those differences. Our religions contain many of the same truths, yet we have been taught to not listen to this possibility.
From a different angle but with as much significance, we observe the changes in our social consciousness. We no longer are equipped to swallow the BS being fed to us by our respective authorities. We are literate, we are intelligent and we are tired of the stench we smell from the lies and hypocrisy we are constantly exposed to.
We no longer accept lies that our water is clean, our air is pure and our soil is fertile. We know what you have done to it. We no longer believe the empty promises about how you will take millions or billions of aid money to assist the most vulnerable, only to watch it disappear in corruption and embezzlement by those making the promises. We know when you say you will treat us all with equality and respect that it means we will be imprisoned, beaten, tortured or forgotten.
We trusted you with our futures. You stole that from us by denying us education for our children, not supplying affordable housing and sufficient healthcare, allowing our food supplies to collapse and our jobs to disappear. When we attempted redress, you closed your eyes, ears and souls to us and shunned your responsibility. When we came out in the streets with a unified voice, you turned military equipment against us as though we were an alien army invading your sovereignty. When did you decide we were your enemy, not your citizenship?
We have also learned that you like to label us. When we say no to our lands being taken for corporate profit, you label us as environmental activists. When we protect our own villages and cities from attacks from government forces, you label us as terrorist organizations. When we reveal your lies, you label us as spies and traitors.
We can not sit in silence and complicity as you continue to kill our planet for the sake of profit. We refuse to accept that borders define who we can agree or disagree with. We reject the notion that governments know more of what a people need than they do. We see your greed while you force austerity upon us, giving our future to today's corporate giants, politicians and top wage earners.
We are on the rise, not on the demise. We will surface in every city, every country of this great planet until we, the people, have united our voices and brought the waited and needed changes to the world. You have had you chance and proven you are unable and unwilling.
Now it is our turn. WE ARE OCCUPY.


The red partridge ("Alectoris rufa") Queen of small game hunting, by its powerful flight, for his bravery, the difficulty of the shot ... both hand and leaf through ... no need for more words. Perhaps the province of Cádiz, especially the environment of Jerez and Paterna-Medina-Vejer triangle, is the last stronghold of Spain of pure and wild partridge, but fortunately there are other very localized areas where there are also exists ... .thanks to a great economic effort from private owners who, for generations have achieved this milestone for the Spanish Hunting. From this humble page our deepest respect and gratitude to these people with great commitment and love, not less sacrifice have achieved and maintained this magnificent achievement.
Unfortunately the access to this type of hunts, especially partridge beating is very difficult because of its high cost and in other cases, impossible.
However we have a hunting ground of 2,500 hectares in Castilla-La Mancha, only 4 hours from Cádiz and 1 hour from Madrid where we can enjoy the traditional partridge beating with a minimum of 6 seats and a maximum of 10 for a really good price, with a brava partridge with a powerful flight, which includes a minimum of 300 partridges, breakfast in the farmhouse, taco at noon, food, secretary, all the hunting for the hunter (can be changed every 2 partridges for a partridge Pickled) if you see some hares or rabbits at positions they are for free, thrushes can be pulled before the "grip" of birds ...... a great day.
See information about available stays for hunting partridge filling out our contact form, in the contact section.
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Special CounselRobert Muellerhas subpoenaed documents from the Trump Organization as part of his investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election,The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two people briefed on the development.
Some of the documents are related to Russia, the sources said.
The subpoena is the first known instance of Mueller ordering the production of documents directly from PresidentDonald Trump's business during his nearly yearlong investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
Trump has denounced the probe as a"WITCH HUNT!" and said in July that he would consider any investigation into his finances as crossing a red line.
Mueller at the time had just asked Deutsche Bank, which has loaned the Trump Organization millions of dollars, to share information on accounts held by the Trump family.
A Trump Organization attorney said in a statement that the company continued to be "fully cooperative" with Mueller's investigation.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment, and deferred questions to the Trump Organization.
The president reportedly attempted tofire Mueller in June, but reconsidered, several outlets reported in January.


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Al Rayyan coach Diego Aguirre and his Al Ahli counterpart Nebojsa Jovovic will surely hog some limelight when they face off in the 2019-20 QNB Stars League on Thursday, 27th February.
Uruguayan Diego Aguirre was back as Al Rayyan coach this season, having managed them for two seasons starting in 2011. He helped The Lions to Amir Cup triumph in 2013.
Aguirre has also coached Al Gharafa for one season.
He is a well-known coach in South America and has guided several clubs.
During his playing career, Aguirre represented a number of clubs, including River Plate, Fiorentina, Ourense, Olympiacos, Internacional and Sao Paulo.
Under Aguirre, Al Rayyan have been doing well in the league. The Lions are currently second in the table with 32 points (nine wins, five draws and one defeat).
On the other hand, Nebojsa is a well-known figure in the Gulf region in particular and Arab world in general. He achieved successes with the clubs he trained, most notably Jordan's Al Faisali, Tunisia's Sfaxien and Egypt's Zamalek.
The Montenegrin was the assistant coach at Kuwait's Kazma club (2012-13) and has coached Saudi Arabia's Hajer club (2014-15) as well as Iraq's Al Shorta (2018-19) as well.
Born in Titograd, Nebojsa played for about 10 years in Buducnost Podgorica, Turkey's Kayserispor, erstwhile Yugoslavia's Smederevo and Belarus' Slavia. He has experience as a player in the Swedish, Chinese and Polish Leagues also.
Nebojsa replaced Spaniard Ruben de la Barrera as Al Ahli coach ahead of Week 11 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League in December, 2019.
The Brigadiers are on 18 points (five wins, three draws and seven defeats).
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Isaac Hecker: the Documentary
Tom Gibbons
Washington, Saint Paul, MLK, and the Challenge of Unity
It often amazes me how the Sunday readings line up with what is going on in th elarger world. Here is my homily from this Sunday, January 22 2017.
When George Washington gave his Farewell Address as president in September 1796, it was printed for a newspaper rather than given as a speech. Which makes sense; after all there was no radio, television, or other forms of mass communication for him to share his thoughts. But he wanted to make sure, as he moved on to the next part of his life, that his beloved country remained vigilant against the forces that could threaten this fledgling republican-democracy. In particular, Washington was concerned about the impact political parties would have on the ability of the American experiment to cohere.
As he writes, "One of the expedients of [political parties is] to acquire influence within particular [groups of people] [in order to] to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other [groups of people]. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection." In other words, Washington was concerned that the passions of political parties would blind us to the larger needs of the country. That we would begin to look at those with whom we disagree as an enemy to be fought instead of a friend to stand aside.
So it might be of some comfort to know that 2,000 years before the advent of cable news, we still encounter this problem of division. As we heard today in Saint Paul's letter to the Christian community of Corinth, "I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me... that there are rivalries among you. I mean that each of you is saying, 'I belong to Paul,' or 'I belong to Apollos,' or 'I belong to Cephas.'"
And so Saint Paul, like George Washington, pleads for unity. Whether we be early Christians living in Corinth or Americans divided within Red and Blue states, we humans seem to bounce back and forth between the ideals of "Can't we all just along along" and "fight the powers that be."
No matter what the community, the institution, the family, or the country, we all have disagreements. We all get on each others' nerves from time to time. We often not only NOT on the same page but are reading different books entirely. Still, we have to admit, that there is something unsatisfying about just saying that its important to uphold the importance of unity. Because there are situations, particularly ones involving the justice and dignity of others, when "going along to get along" does not feel like the right answer.
I can imagine that eight years ago when one person took office, many who actively seek to protect the lives and rights of the unborn—as we Catholics all seek to do—seemed unsatisfied with the idea of "going along to get along" in the face of an administration that did not hold those values. I can also imagine that for many others today, calls for unity can sound hollow after a very nasty election in which the darker impulses of our psyche were regularly appealed to as opposed to the better angels of our nature. An election after which many of the vulnerable in our society feel even more vulnerable now. Those are concerns for the vulnerable walking among us are just as much a part of the Catholic tradition as those of the vulnerable-unborn.
Yes, we do need unity. And yes, all of the problems and disagreements we encounter in this imperfect union and this imperfect world cannot all be resolved with satisfaction. We cannot constantly live in a state of mutual animosity. Yet just as Saint Paul went on in his letter to the Corinthians that they needed to stop neglecting the poor in their midst, as a community there are times in which we will have to stand up for what's right even if it risks division. But when are those times?
Last week, both to mark the national holiday we celebrated last Monday and to prepare myself for the national events that happened this weekend, I found myself re-reading Martin Luther King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail. Writing from his prison cell in 1963, he responds to another newspaper article written by eight white Alabama clergymen entitled A Call for Unity, in which they critique King and his group for disturbing the unity. To which King responds that they did not do so lightly. And that they only began speaking up after a period of self-reflection, self-purification, and prayer. Thereby making sure that their actions of protest were not just forms of self-aggrandizement but were truly engaged to advance their higher calling.
Not un-coincidentally, Saint Paul reminds all of those who have been factionalized in Corinth to their higher calling. Like any good leader, Saint Paul keeps his perspectives straight by telling the faithful that they do not belong to him, or Apollos, or Peter, but to Christ. And that is the same for all of us. Whatever our political allegiance, our ideological preference, or whatever country we are from, we are children of the Almighty God first. That at the end of the day, we are all one family. And that is Good News!
But if we're being honest, it is also a big pain.
Because one thing about our God, He usually asks us to check ourselves before we mess ourselves. Our God usually has us look straight into the mirror before we start making comments about what is happening outside of the window. Because it is only when we have removed the log from our own eye that we can see the splinter in our brothers and sisters. This is tough work, because it often involves getting over our own egos. because it often involves letting go of our own factions so we can fulfill His higher goals. It is only by allowing God to lead us that we do not become what we abhor. It is only by allowing God to lead us that we will ever be able to navigate the two poles of justice and unity.
But as so many Christian witnesses over the millennia and American witnesses over the centuries have shown, witnesses like Saint Paul the Apostle, George Washington and Martin Luther King, it can be done. And it is worth it. When we keep God at the center of our lives, we can more work towards justice with a spirit of unity. When we keep God at the center of our lives, we can more fully work towards the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth that Jesus leads us to. When we keep God at the center of our lives, we can work more fully towards a more perfect union.
Our Messy Christmas Eve
Merry Christmas Season everyone! Here is my homily from this past Christmas Eve... with a little SNL thrown in.
A couple of years ago, there was a skit on Saturday Night Live that struck a nerve with people in my profession. The skit was entitled, "Saint Jospeh's Christmas Mass Spectacular." Filmed like a commercial for a Monster Truck Rally, the main point of the skit was describing what a drag it was to have to go back to church once a year with your parents for Christmas... and then encountering all of the various reasons they didn't go to church the rest of the year. There was the one parishioner whose got the really sweaty hand and wants to do the sign of peace. There was the priest who was telling lame jokes during a really boring homily. There was the lector who was taking her position just a little too seriously. The amount of crazy people encountered at church just went on and on. The subtext of this skit was that the experience of church—and the people who regularly went to church—were all just one big mess and why would anyone ever want to be part of such a thing?
So after the skit was broadcast, everyone I knew who worked for a church reacted to the SNL bit with a mixture of laughter and tears... because it was all true.
I mean, here at Saint Paul's we do try to do things well. Put a lot of energy into our music, our preaching, and into making people feel welcome. But you know what? We're still a mess. In fact, without exception, every church I have ever been a part of—either as a member or as "staff"—has been a mess. But what I've come to realize over the years is that church is a mess because—whether or not we happen to be religious—human beings are messes. All of us. Which is, perhaps, the real reason we all come together to celebrate this night.
Christmas is the time when we celebrate and give thanks that we have a God who is not only infinitely better than all of our messes, but that we have a God—maybe despite our messes, maybe even BECAUSE of our messes— who would still be willing to come down and live among us human beings. Christmas is the time when we most celebrate that we have a God who chooses to cast His lot with us human beings.
I sometimes wonder if the Holy Trinity ever had second thoughts before sending down the Son to live with us. I can imagine the Father and the Holy Spirit having a conversation with the Son before all of the events we sent into motion. "I know that we've been promising to send a Messiah for centuries now... but you know Jesus it's really a mess down there on earth. Those crazy human beings have to deal with sickness and betrayal and murder and broken hearts and prejudice. It's nice and cozy up here in heaven... are you sure you want to do this?" Just like so many of us ask why we would be part of church when it is such a mess... I can totally imagine God asking why he would want to be a part of messy humanity.
A few weeks ago, I was doing some shopping in Century City. I am not going to tell you the name of the store... all I will say is that they sell A LOT of containers. Over the speaker system, in between the non-stop loops of Bing Crosby, was a salesperson declaring, "Tis the Season for Warm Fuzzies." And while there are certainly reasons to partake of warm fuzzies this time of year, to reduce the whole season to that not only does God a disservice, but it does all of the rest of us a disservice as well. Especially when we reflect on the messiness that God chose to enter into when he decided to cast his lot with us on Christmas.
That truly is the Good News that we celebrate today, that we have a God whose chooses to cast His lot among us messy people... as a brother. As someone who has to go through all of the same messes we do in life. Yes, the warm fuzzies, but also heartbreak. Yes, hope but also despair. Joy but also death. In other words, our mess.
Which is part of the reason God needs us... because God needs us, both as individuals and as a community, to help Him clean up the mess! To visit the guilty prisoner. To acknowledge and take care of both the homeless person and the undocumented immigrant. To heal those who are both physically wounded and emotionally wounded. They are all around us and they are ourselves. And God know better than anyone that we cannot do this work alone. We need each other. We need community. Dare I say, we may even need messy church in order to help clean up our messy lives and this messy world.
So on this Christmas Eve, when God throws in his lot with us, we are all re-invited to cast our lot with God. No matter if life is leaving us warm and fuzzy... or dark and dreary, No matter how broken or together we are… or how messy, tonight we celebrate that we are all re-invited to throw our lot in with Emmanuel... God WITH us.
The Good News that we celebrate this Christmas Eve is that God lets us know... in the best way He can... that we are all in this mess together.
What We Know About Joseph
We actually don't know a lot about Joseph from the Scriptures. He is mentioned in the first two chapters in Luke, the first two chapters in Matthew, and that's about it. We assume that he was a good father-figure to Jesus, but there's nothing specifically written to say that. We don't know how old he was when he married Mary. We don't know if he was married before. We don't know how old he was when he died. The main things we know about Joseph come from the Gospel reading we heard today. And from that, we know that Joseph was a man who believed in mercy.
This tends to get skipped over when we tell the Christmas story, but when Mary said yes to the angel Gabriel that she would be willing to bear the Messiah child, it meant that she was going to be an outcast. It meant that—as an unwed mother—she was bringing on an unimaginable amount of shame on herself within the context of her community. It also meant that she was bringing on an unimaginable amount of shame upon Joseph, her betrothed.
Shame. It's not just an emotion we spend a lot of time avoiding as people... it's a state of being. Having a connection to our larger communities and being well-thought of is one of the larger needs we have as human creatures. We try to present ourselves the right way. We try to say the right things. We try to get the right jobs. We try to hang out with the right people. We try to do go to the "right" schools... and we do all of these things, in part, in order to maintain a sense of dignity within our larger community.
And when those things break down in our lives, whether it is through something we have done or something that has been done upon us, it is intensely painful. No one likes to be the subject of gossip. No one likes to be looked down upon. No one, no matter how much of a rebel then pretend to be, likes to see their police mug shot on the cover of a supermarket tabloid. And yet, when Mary first said yes to the angel Gabriel, this is the world into which she was entering. And if that wasn't enough, she was bringing Joseph into that world of shame with her.
For those of us who have ever been cheated on, we know that it hurts. What is even worse is when everyone else finds out. Family members. Friends. Co-workers. People for whom we not think too highly of ourselves. Of course Mary did not cheat on Joseph, but at first, Joseph had no way of knowing that. All he knew was that he had been humiliated by his betrothed. And it must have been painful.
The society in which Joseph lived however, did have mechanisms for him to restore his honor. Yes, he could quietly divorce her and wash his hands of the whole affair. But, by law, he could also have had her stoned to death. As we know from later on in the gospels when the officials brought the woman caught in adultery before Jesus, women caught in compromising conditions were often executed. Jesus, of course, showed the woman mercy. Looking back, we can wonder if he learned that from Joseph.
Joseph's first instinct was not to seek retribution on Mary, it was to show mercy. That was probably no easy feat. When so many of us have been wronged, foregoing revenge is usually not our immediate impulse. I know during those times in my life when I have been humiliated, mercy was not my first instinct. And yet, the main revelation we have of Joseph's character is that when he was initially presented with a situation that would have cause him great shame and humiliation within his larger community, his instinct was to show Mary mercy.
That's probably the main point of this story. We have heard Paul say that if we want peace, then seek justice. In today's readings, Joseph's actions let us know that, if we want faith, then show mercy. If we want faith, then show mercy. Because it is after Joseph decides to show mercy that the angel comes to him and tells him to be not afraid. It is after Joseph shows mercy that the angel lets him know that he is going to be a vital part of this huge story known as salvation history. It is after Joseph shows mercy that amazing things happen in this world.
It has been said that we live in a particularly faithless time. Secularism is on the rise. More people are doubting the existence of God. And for many in our country, it is a particularly scary time. As a result, many people have been asking for more faith. More faith that there is good in this world. More faith that things are going to be okay. More faith that God is with us. And to that, we hear Joseph say to us through his actions, if you want more faith, show more mercy.
Show mercy to those who have wronged us... even if we are not completely ready to forgive that person yet. Show mercy to ourselves from all of the various ways we can beat ourselves up for not keeping up with the society around us and the times we mess up in life. If we want more faith, show more mercy to the outcasts in our own society today: the immigrant who does not have papers to be here, the person of a different faith tradition, the person with whom you passionately disagree with politically.
We don't know a lot about Joseph from the Scriptures, but the most important thing we know is that he was a man of mercy... and he shows us that mercy is the gateway to faith. So in this last week of advent, think of one person or group of people to whom you can show mercy, and do it. If we want more faith, we need to show more mercy. What better way to finish our advent season and prepare for the coming of Jesus into this world.
Thanksgiving Homily (from days of yore)
This Thanksgiving I was fortunate enough to spend with my family, so no official preaching assignment for the holiday this year. Still, I thought I'd share my first "official" Thanksgiving homily as a deacon from five years ago. It discusses how our national day of thanks arose during the most divided time of our country, The Civil War. And while we are (hopefully) not quite there today, hopefully as we move forward and begin to heal the spirit of thanks of which our forefathers and foremothers tried to advance will endure.
Sarah Josepha Hale was an American writer and an influential editor throughout most of the 19th Century and while most writers would be thrilled to be able to claim having made one major impact on American culture, Sarah Joseph Hale can claim to have made two. First impact came in 1830 when she published the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb." The second impact; Sarah Josepha Hale is credited as the individual most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States in 1863.
Of course, Sarah Josepha Hale was not responsible for the Thanksgiving holiday itself. Even before the now famous pilgrims celebrated the feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, Spaniards conducted the first documented thanksgiving feasts in what is now the United States in the 16th century. And while days of thanksgiving were celebrated sporadically in different parts of the country in the first few decades of America's foundation, there was no regular day of thanks set aside. Remember, this was a time before the Hallmark Company and Car Dealerships flooded our great nation's calendar with an endless stream of holidays.
But Sarah Josepha Hale thought such a national day of Thanksgiving would serve as a great unifying element for the country. So in 1846 she wrote a letter to the then-President of the United States Zachary Taylor. No response. So she continued her letter writing campaign for the next 17 years. Finally, Abraham Lincoln, after reading one of her letters, set forth a proclamation on October 3, 1863 that a national day of Thanksgiving would be held on the last Thursday in November.
What is most fascinating about that proclamation is the timing. In the Fall of 1863, we were still in the midst of the Civil War. The war had been dragging on for over two years, which was about twenty-three months longer than most people thought it would last. The loss of life had far exceeded any war the country had fought in before, there was no end in sight, and no one knew for sure how it was going to turn out. With chaos and suffering all around, I can imagine that gratitude was probably the last thing on the nation's mind.
If we stop and think about it, a true spirit of gratitude can actually be a difficult thing… especially in the worst of times. I don't know about you, but if something is causing me a great deal of pain or if something is causing me anxiety, it tends to hover over my consciousness like one of those big spaceships hovering over a city in a bad sci-fi movie, blocking out all sunlight and vision of the sky. It is during those times when the admonition to look at the glass as half-full can sound like a pious platitude at best... or disturbed denial at worst.
But it is not only when things are going poorly. Sometimes it can be during those times of minor inconvenience when gratitude can be hard to muster. During those times when we can't get an Internet signal. During those times when we get the middle seat on the airplane… during those times of annoyance when the first song on our lips is probably not "We Gather Together."
Of course in today's Gospel, we learn that gratitude can difficult even when things are good. As we know, when Jesus cured the ten lepers he did not only heal their physical sickness… he allowed these ten outcasts to come back to the community that had cut them off because they were unclean. He not only gave them a new life free of biological disease, he gave them a new life socially. That being said, how many of us can relate to the nine who didn't come back? How many of us can relate to those nine who could not stop crying out to God in need… but then found it easy to forget about God when those needs were fulfilled. Even the best of us can forget to give thanks.
Which is what makes the establishment of the Thanksgiving holiday during a time of great Civil War all the more poignant because it is an acknowledgement that it is not only good to give thanks to God, we have a need to give thanks to God. We have a need to gather together to be reminded that, to quote Lincoln, "The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies." We need to be reminded of the Source from which our bounties come… whether those bounties come during times of both great sorrow or during times great joy. We need a day in which, in the words of William Jennings Bryan, we acknowledge our dependence.
Of course for Catholics, this reminder does not come once a year but it comes every day we celebrate the Eucharist. Of course the word Eucharist translated from the Greek means "thanksgiving." When Jesus took the cup and took the bread, HE gave thanks to the Father above… AND TOLD US TO DO THE SAME. To give thanks for all that God had done for the Jewish people throughout their history. To give thanks for the sacrifice that Jesus was about to make for us. And to give thanks for the continued action of the Holy Spirit within all of our lives.
It is true that we are limited beings… and as such we are needful beings. But we are lucky to have a God who not only provides but also listens to our needs. But on this Thanksgiving if we must ask God for something, let's ask Him for a grateful heart. Let us ask him for a grateful heart no matter whether our lives are in a period of fruitful skies, civil wars, or (as is often the case) somewhere in between. Because there is a whole host of reasons of why gratitude can be difficult… but in the words of Cicero, "A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues."
Speaking of American History, please support the online campaign to bring the story of one of the great American Catholics to life in Isaac Hecker and the Journey of Catholic America by visiting https://igg.me/at/VIWfcvihNFU .
Of Presidents and Kings
Here is my homily for today's last Sunday of the church year, Christ the King.
As Americans, today is probably the most complicated feast day in the Catholic liturgical year. After all, our whole country was founded on the whole idea of rejecting kings, rejection monarchy. The Declaration of Independence, our founding document, was basically a big break up letter to King George. This sense of independence continues today. So much so that we as a nation drive ourselves insane every four years in the campaign to elect a new president... only to drive ourselves insane again four years later... all so that we can live without a monarchy. Yet here we are, twelve days after the last presidential election marking the feast day of Christ the King.
Maybe, when we think about it, that's not such a bad thing. About half of the country is still in a state of shock while those who supported the other candidate continue to celebrate. But we know that if the election had turned out differently, the roles would be reversed with that first group being jubilant and the the current group feeling despondent (which is not to include the great number of people who were comfortable with either candidate). That's how it's been in America for the past number of decades. One person is in office, and half the country is hapy and the other half is furious. The parties in power change over and the roles of the jubilant and aggrieved switch sides.
So maybe as Catholic Americans, we need to be reminded—especially today—that while presidents may come and go, our King—Christ the King—remains. And that is Good News. Because in Christ, we do not have a King who does not seek to have his name put upon a billboard but allows himself to be nailed on a cross. In Christ, we do not have a have a king who points fingers at the moral failings of others, but allows himself to be counted among the criminals and outcasts, knowing that we are all outcasts at some pint in our lives. In Christ, we do not have a King who says vote for me... we have a King who says follow me.
I will say, that is what one of the most frustrating things about Jesus. Most Kings and Queens want people to praise them. Most want people to worship them. (And we've had quite a number of presidents who never seemed to mind a good bit of adulation themselves.) But if you read the gospels, Jesus never says "Worship me" to the people he encountered. He always said "Follow me."
I will say, sometimes I wish he just said "Worship me." Because worshiping this Christ the King is a lot easier than following him. In following Christ the King, we need to serve and associate with the people whom he served and associated with... the outcasts of this world. And for us in America, those who are considered outcasts make up a very long list. The unborn of a woman in crisis, but whose genuine needs might put a strain on the social safety net. The illegal immigrants of whom we might not approve, but whose desperation to provide for their families we could all identify with if we were in their situation. The protester with whom we might have an honest disagreement. The Muslim with whom we struggle in trusting. The list of outcasts in this world is not short and following the King who cares for them is not easy. Yet we never can doubt that it is Good News that we have such a king. Because the vast majority of us in our lives have had some direct experience of being an outcast... whether it be in school, our communities, our businesses, or even our families.
Presidents may come and go, but our Christ the King remains. The King who reaches out to us when we are outcast, but also challenges us to reach out to the other outcasts around us. The king who doesn't necessarily have a problem when we worship him but really likes it when we follow Him. The King who says to all of us, "Today you will be with me in paradise." A paradise we can share not only in heaven, but here on this Earth when we all follow Him together.
Online Campaign Starting in next few days!
Uploaded by Fr. Tom Gibbons on 2016-11-16.
Right now we are in the process of finishing up the post-production and editing, as well as planning for a big premiere in January, so we are really excited. But, in order to get the film looking and sounded like it needs to be—as well as to distribute to as wide an audience as possible—we need your help. We are going to be doing an online campaign to raise the additional resources to bring Servant of God Isaac Hecker's story out into the world. Look for announcements in the coming days for our campaign.
Comfort and Challenge in Christianity
Here is my homily from this Sunday for what was probably a mixed audience at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in LA. The readings can be accessed here.
I have to admit - I was hoping for some more comforting readings today. For some, it's been a very difficult week and for others it's been a week of celebration. But I might say that for all of us, it has been a long and exhausting election. And just when we thought we were DONE with all of the negative campaign ads, we hear in today's first reading from Malachi, "Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts." Jesus isn't much more help. "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place…" You can almost imagine someone after these disturbing readings saying, "I am such-and-such a candidate and I approve this message."
But of course, as we are so often reminded, church isn't always here to make us comfortable. If we are being true to our Christianity, we know and regularly experience that maxim of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. And in this election, it's fair to say that as Catholics we found aspects of each candidate that left us partially comfortable and aspects that left us partially afflicted. Those who have devoted their lives to the pro-life movement in this country are now experiencing an optimism not felt in decades and maybe even some vindication after seeing concern for the unborn being dismissed over the years. Yet I've also talked to too many other people this week of who are of a different color, who were not born in this country, and of a different faith tradition that they are even more afraid—for not only their own well-being but for the well-being of those they love—than they were last week. So maybe it's not the worst thing in the world that we are not hearing a message of comfort this weekend. Maybe God meant for us to be a little afflicted no matter who won.
One of my favorite preachers is a Lutheran pastor named Nadia-Bolz Weber. She has written some great books and she has this great way of bringing to life the victories and failures and complexities of living out a faith in Jesus Christ in every day life. Nadia formed a church in Colorado called House for All Sinners and Saints and, not surprisingly, it has drawn a lot of people who call it home.
One thing Pastor Nadia does, however, when new people come to the church and seek to join it, is she goes out of her way to tell people that as great as church is, it is also a place that will—at some point—disappoint them. She tells new members of her church, "This community will disappoint you. It's a matter of when not if. We will let you down, or I will say something stupid and hurt your feelings." Pastor Nadia says that she's not that idealistic about any kind of human project… but she's completely idealistic about God's ability to redeem our shortcomings and our mistakes. So Pastor Nadia tells her new members that before that disappointment actually happens, please decide on this side of that happening that you will stick around "because if you leave, you will miss the way God's grace comes in and fills the cracks of our brokenness and it's just to beautiful to miss. Don't miss it."
I was showing a video of Pastor Nadia giving that speech for some staff development we were doing this past week here at St. Paul the Apostle. As she was talking about the fact that while church is something that we all aspire to and will inevitably let us down, I was also thinking that that line of thinking could easily apply to America as well. We often call America a great hope for humanity with our commitment to freedom and liberty. America has been referred to as a "Land of Hope and Dreams" and the "Shining City on a Hill" and throughout our history we have shown that to be the case. But if we are being honest, America is just as much an ideal to which we regularly fall short. America is a place where we are inspired by the spirit of welcome symbolized by Statue of Liberty… and the place where we get disturbed by the huddled masses gathering at the bottom of the statue. America celebrates our ability to give everyone an equal shot… but often leaves people who fall short in the dust. We uphold E Pluribus Unum as our motto, but continue to divide ourselves into our respective camps of 48%.
So maybe it's okay that God's words to us today leave us a little uncomfortable. Because it's when we are a little uncomfortable that we are more likely to draw closer to God. Because America, like any community, is a very human endeavor, no matter how divinely inspired we may or may not be. Maybe we need a reminder today that America, like our various political parties, is meant to be the vehicle by which the values of life and justice and equality and freedom are made manifest in the world… but is not the ultimate source of those values.
We might not want to rush into being comfortable, so we can be challenged by God to seek his lead more, both as Americans as Christians. We might need to stay disturbed for a while, because it is only then that we can open ourselves up to the direction God is calling us as a people… even if it deviates from what we originally believed or how our politics was previously disposed. Even if it means there may be challenges ahead.
And so on this first weekend where we may be free of campaign commercials but are still given challenging readings, may God bless those who are especially afraid and vulnerable this morning. May God bless all of those who fight to protect both the mothers who might be in crisis and the children they carry. May God continue to bless, comfort, and challenge us in all of our honest aspirations, sincere efforts, an occasional hypocrisies. And may continue to bless, comfort, and challenge America.
My name is Fr. Tom Gibbons and I approve this message.
Martin Sheen has recorded for Orestes Brownson
This past week, Martin Sheen recorded his lines for the role of Orestes Brownson, leading Catholic American thinker and Isaac Hecker's one-time mentor.
As IMDB relates:
Multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Martin Sheen is one of America's most celebrated, colorful, and accomplished actors.
For television audiences, Sheen is best recognized for his six-time Emmy nominated performance as President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing (1999). Sheen won six of his eight Golden Globe nominations as well as an ALMA Award; and two individual SAG Awards; for the White House series. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor TV Series Drama in 2001.
In 2006, the actor played ill-fated cop Oliver Queenan in Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning film The Departed (2006) opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin.
In 2006, Sheen was again nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; this time for the CBS hit comedy Two and a Half Men (2003) starring his son Charlie Sheen.
In addition to series television, Sheen has appeared in several important made-for-television movies and mini-series including playing President John F. Kennedy in the television mini-series Kennedy (1983) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.
New Isaac Hecker Art!
Frank Sabatte of the Paulist Fathers has created this wonderful drawing of Isaac Hecker and Ralph Waldo Emerson for the Issac Hecker documentary. Check it out, and stay tuned for an opportunity to have a copy made for everyone.
Stay tuned for news
A lot of filming has already been done and I have already begun to record the various voices that will make up this documentary. Stay tuned on this page for updates on how things are for updates on how things are progressing. Happy Thanksgiving!


Update: The IRS has closed the audit.
The 2013 990 tax return and audited financial statements for Food for the Hungry (FH) are hot off the press and available at their website.
I previously discussed the costs incurred by Food for the Hungry to address their audit from the IRS. See previous post: Case study of legal and accounting costs during major IRS audit.
I am looking at that situation because this audit is of interest to the wider non-profit community and it is also a case study of the costs involved in a major dispute.
After my last discussion of the costs incurred by FH, I reached out to FH for comment. I received a brief reply from Mr. Barry Gardner in February with a few comments with indication there would be more comments to follow after additional analysis. I haven't received any followup comment. One item Mr. Gardner pointed out in his e-mail is that the 990 schedule of functional expenses did not accumulate any costs for the substantial amount of time spent by the FH staff to address the audit issues.
I think the previous analysis approximated the costs well except for staff time. With no additional comment on my post or any other followup from FH, I feel comfortable extending my analysis to 2013.
I think the correct way to approximate the costs to address the IRS audit are to accumulate the increase in legal fees charged to program and G&A over the 2010 base year, excluding the amount allocated to fundraising. Then combine that with the accounting costs allocated to program.
My previous estimate for '11 and '12 was $206,974. Additional estimated costs for '13 are around $132,518.
Again, please try to stay out of court.
The notes to the 2013 financial statements contain a comment that the IRS audit is still open. That comment would apply as of the balance sheet date of September 30, 2013. The audit report on the financial statements is dated January 17, 2014. That means the IRS audit had not been resolved as of January 17th. That there is no comment on the FH website or visible in public sources suggesting the case has been resolved as of today. That means there will be additional costs in fiscal 2014 that are not included above.
The above amounts are approximations. I have listed all the amounts rolling into my calculation so you may review my work and revise it as you wish.
The cost of staff time is not included in the above aggregations.
Will comment later as time allows on the drop in revenue, negative change in net assets, and the deficit in undesignated unrestricted net assets for 2013.
Will also reach out to Food for the Hungry for comment. Will update as needed.
Update: IRS has closed the audit.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2014 at 7:08 am and is filed under Non-profit accounting, Non-profit Tax.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Easy to tell, if the inlet, exhaust ports and fuel inlet on the underside are in the centre it is a 2kw case, if they are closer to one end it is a 5kw case.
Uncle Nick and Lasty like this.
had a look and mine of off center, but its stuffed full of heat exchanger and is pretty weighty , is it the 5kw gubbins as well?
Im a bit thick when it come to these type of gadjets .. If it derated, does that mean the internals have some sort of gizmo adjusted so it doesnt provide full power OR have they just added a 2kw sticker and called it done .. ? and sold it for the 2kw price in which case ive scored .. not that im ever that lucky..
It is the ecu settings that control the output, but yes it could be sticker job. the way to find out is to measure the fuel consumption at full chat, under 0.25l per hour is a 2kw, 0.5lph it's 5 kw.
Yet to arrive, ordered on the 28th, so can't verify the size, but the image in the picture (2 of 9) shows 39 x 11 x 12 cm which should be the 2kW version. Will update when it arrives.
I believe another way to tell the true size is that the 2kw has the intake and exhaust stubs centrally on the base but with the 5kw they are off to one end, about a third of the way up.
My 5kw Webasto was massive compared to my 2kw heater. I mean almost 3 times the physical size!
It arrived! The expected date was the 26th but arrived on the 6th or 7th. Not too bad really. All looks good, well packaged etc and no damage. Next step will be to get it fired up in the bench before installing it. And it is a 2kW version. It's approximately 32 x 11 x 12 cm with ~60mm outlet.
Nice n toasty working on the bus today.
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Mine arrived, and indeed it is a 5KW rebadged as a 2KW, I'm going to see how it fits, but I was just wondering is there any way of getting the extra heat out of it, new controler perhaps? I know 5kw is a lot but what about having the door open and heating the awning. Just a thought.
Just measure the fuel consumption running flat out first to see what it actually is, under 0.25lph=2kw/0.5lph=5kw.
Thanks @Bigherb I was wondering though if it was programmed for 2KW output could it be cranked up? Or are they just sending 5KW units that give 5KW but badge them as 2KW? I'll put it together in the shed first and make sure its working, I might test the fuel consumption then.
When one of these heaters has been runni g a while the hot air outlet will get hot enough to melt the box.(130 C) .. and as for the exhaust that gets very hot. I expect your box will end up looking a bit worse for wear, and the smell of burning plastic may become a bit potent as it folds over the exhaust..
On boats the exhaust from this sort of heater when combined with an awning or cockpit cover recirculating exhaust gas into the air inlet has worked as a pretty effective feed of carbon monoxide and people have died.
It needs to go well away from you..
I bet if it had been a LPG gas powered one you would have had much more doubt about the installation as we are all taught to be scared of gas installations .
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& no sign of anything melting.
The exhaust is only 1inch and it's passing through a 2 inch hole so I think it'll be fine.
I've fitted a carbon monoxide alarm under my dash just in case.
My main battery was a bit sluggish this morning after running the heater on it all night, but the van started and it is a diesel 2.4. Happy with the heater and probably now ready to hook in the leisure battery.
bluerustybucket and iblaze like this.
Running mine of a 240v - 12v power supply at the mo.
vinnyboy, Poptop2 and Valveandy like this.


Is there a way to make the following return true?
There doesn't seem to be an overload that allows me to set the case sensitivity.. Currently I UPPERCASE them both, but that's just silly (by which I am referring to the i18n issues that come with up- and down casing).
This question is ancient and since then I have realized I asked for a simple answer for a really vast and difficult topic if you care to investigate it fully.
For most cases, in mono-lingual, English code bases this answer will suffice. I'm suspecting because most people coming here fall in this category this is the most popular answer.
This answer however brings up the inherent problem that we can't compare text case insensitive until we know both texts are the same culture and we know what that culture is. This is maybe a less popular answer, but I think it is more correct and that's why I marked it as such.
Where culture is the instance of CultureInfo describing the language that the text is written in.
This solution is transparent about the definition of case-insensitivity, which is language dependent. For example, the English language uses the characters I and i for the upper and lower case versions of the ninth letter, whereas the Turkish language uses these characters for the eleventh and twelfth letters of its 29 letter-long alphabet. The Turkish upper case version of 'i' is the unfamiliar character 'İ'.
To summarise, you can only answer the question 'are these two strings the same but in different cases' if you know what language the text is in. If you don't know, you'll have to take a punt. Given English's hegemony in software, you should probably resort to CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, because it'll be wrong in familiar ways.
Since 0 (zero) can be an index, you check against -1.
You could always just up or downcase the strings first.
This is clean and simple.
Use StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase for comparisons as your safe default for culture-agnostic string matching.
Use StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase comparisons for increased speed.
Use StringComparison.CurrentCulture-based string operations when displaying the output to the user.
linguistically irrelevant (symbolic, for example).
Use ToUpperInvariant rather than ToLowerInvariant when normalizing strings for comparison.
Use overloads for string operations that don't explicitly or implicitly specify the string comparison mechanism.
persisting linguistically meaningful but culturally-agnostic data.
whereas [YourDecision] depends on the recommendations from above.
In time, they will probably make their way into the .NET Standard and, from there, into all the other implementations of the Base Class Library.
These are the easiest solutions.
The trick here is to look for the string, ignoring case, but to keep it exactly the same (with the same case).
if you want to check if your passed string is in string then there is a simple method for that.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged c# string contains case-insensitive or ask your own question.
How to test for Case-Insensitive StringA.Contains(StringB)?
Check if a Windows ListBox contains a string c# ignorecase?
Filter an IQueryable with case insensitive.


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text:
Q: Bi-directional potentiometers Is there such thing as potentiometers that have a low resistance when centered and increasing resistances if you turn either left or right?
Edit: When i say centered, i mean that the pot is at zero resistance normally, when rotated clockwise, it will increase resistance. When rotated counter clockwise from the zero resistance position, it will also increase in resistance. Kind of like two pots put together in opposite directions.
Edit2: Well, specifically, I'm looking to modify a motor controller to give a nice smooth forward and reverse with a roll of the handle (think motorcycle throttle, except if you twist the other way, it reverses smoothly). I know the motor controller accepts a switch as forward/reverse and a pot as velocity control. Anyone ever encountered something like this?

A: There IS a potentiometer that does something very similar to what you want.
It is called a balance potentiometer.
Basically, it's used for exactly what it sounds like - Handling Left/Right balance in an audio system. It's effectively two potentiometers back to back, with unusual tapers.
When the pot is centered, both halves are close to zero ohms. When you turn it one way, the resistance on one half increases, when you turn it the other, the other half's resistance increases.

Bourns makes at least one here, but it is carbon composition, so not the highest quality..
I would imagine there are other manufacturers, but it is not a common item.
You are probably far better off using a plain old linear taper pot, and a MCU to handle the forward/reverse/dead-zone translation. Plus, that way you get adjustable acceleration curves.

A: If you were to remove the stop on a potentiometer, so it rotates 360 degrees, then electrically tie the ends together, you would achieve something like you described.  I've never seen such a pot for sale commercially.

A: I'll suggest something wacky, in case you don't want to or can't modify your pots.  How about connecting two standard potentiometers together with a mechanism, such that twisting a knob moves one pot, and twisting the knob in the other direction moves the other pot?
One possible way to do this is to have two linear pots with their grounded connections next to each other and electrically connected.  Imagine a piece that goes between the two pots and it connected to both pot inputs via an elastomer (i.e. just wrap a rubber band around the pieces).  When you move to the right, one linear pot will move freely, while the other is stuck against the hard stop.  But because its connection to the input you're moving is elastic, the connection just stretches and doesn't risk breaking the pot.  When you slide back in the other direction, the pot that was originally able to move will bottom out against its hard stop, while the one that was previously bottomed out will now move freely.
It's a little corny but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.  I can post a sketch if you like.  :)

A: The J3R rocker pot has a spring return to center.  I am using it in a project as a Wide-Tele remote control for a zoom lens.  In addition to the wiper and two end-points, it also has a center tap which can be used to calibrate the null position.
I am feeding both the wiper and center tap into two channels of an ADC, and handling everything in firmware.  But if you just look at the resistance between the two terminals, it works as you describe (0 ohms at center, increasing resistance either direction).  You would need to compare the wiper with either one end or the other to determine direction.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Scotland manager Alex McLeish looks dejected at his post-match press conference.
The Dark Blues' Euro 2020 qualifying campaign started in Astana with one of the worst showings in the history of the national team.
Miller, who played 65 times for Scotland, mostly alongside boss Alex McLeish at centre-back, thinks the team will recognise how dire the performance was, but there's still plenty of time for the players and coaches to turn things around.
He said: "I think everybody will know the performance wasn't good enough.
"It was pretty plain if you watched it.
"Kazakhstan don't win games like this 3-0 – it's not in their history.
"That alone shows it's an unacceptable result.
"But the performance was bad. I don't think you can defend the 90 minutes – the opposition were better than them.
Miller was particularly depressed by the lack of threat shown by the Scots in front of goal.
Their Group I rivals scored via Yuriy Pertsukh and Yan Vorogovskiy early in the first half, before Baktiyor Zainutdinov notched the third after the break.
Yuriy Pertsukh, left, puts Kazakhstan 1-0 in front.
Miller said: "When you looked at the side before the game, you thought 'they lack experience, particularly in defence, but on the other hand they've got (Oli) McBurnie, who's scoring for fun, (Oliver) Burke, who's lightning quick, you've got Callum McGregor, playing for the champions, then John McGinn, Stuart Armstrong and James Forrest'.
Much had been made of the Scots' attempts to be at their best in Kazakhstan by using modern sports science techniques, like continuing to follow UK time.
However, Miller thinks they'll now have a difficult time finishing in the group's top two, although he's not writing them off.
He said: "You can do all that sports science on paper, but it's about the performance on the night and Scotland didn't perform when Kazakhstan did.
Scotland's sports science chief Graeme Jones.
"Now we're playing catch-up, which seems to be the case with every qualifying campaign we go into these days.
"You've got the immediate game (San Marino on Sunday in Saravelle) coming up and you'd hope they'd win there, then Cyprus and then the key games with the Belgians and Russians.
McLeish's side have already secured a second chance at Euro 2020 qualification with the Nations League play-offs next March.
Miller's former team-mate was tasked with getting Scotland to their first major championship since 1998, and he thinks the Scottish FA and Tartan Army should keep the faith this can still be achieved one way or another.
Willie Miller, centre, on Scotland duty.
He said: "It's way too early for any decision like that (changing the coaching staff).
"Alex has been given the task of qualifying for the Euros and is in the fortunate position that you can qualify through the Nations League.
Meanwhile, McLeish claimed he was "pretty good at bouncing back" as he brushed off questions over his future in the wake of the defeat in Kazakhstan.
The 60-year-old also refused to give up hope of leading Scotland to qualification.
"Of course, it's never finished until it's finished," he said. "We bounced back from a poor performance in Israel (in the Nations League) and that's what we must do after this game.
"We have other players to come back.
Two of those players are left-backs in the form of Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney, the former of whom will be able to face San Marino.


text:
The role of science and scientists in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic (Part 1)
Kaushik Biswas
This article was first published on IndiaBioscience
"It's not a question of "Whether", it is rather a matter of "When" we will face such a pandemic" was the warning issued by Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who helped in the eradication of smallpox. In fact, Brilliant was one of the chief advisors of the 2011 Hollywood Blockbuster "Contagion", which surprisingly foretells much of what we are seeing around us today.
On 31 December, 2019, reports of a cluster of patients from Wuhan, China with a pneumonic fever of unknown origin reached the district level office of the World Health Organization (WHO). Within 10 days, WHO declared the infectious agent to be an RNA virus of the family Coronaviridae (named after the crown-like outer structure of the virus; "corona" means "crown" in Latin) and a close relative of the viruses which caused the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-04 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012.
But this one was new. The world had never seen this particular virus before and neither had this virus seen humans. It appears that the virus transferred to humans from an animal host (in this case, bats) by acquiring some new mutations. Officially named SARS-CoV‑2, and informally called the novel coronavirus, this virus causes a completely new respiratory disease – COVID-19.
And therein lies the problem. We now have an "enemy" that we cannot see, and that we do not know much about. How do we fight such an enemy? The only way is to study and learn more about it — what it wants, what it does in order to survive, and where its weaknesses lie. And this is where science plays a significant role.
This COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our attention how building up scientific temperament and propagation of scientific culture are critically important to tackling a pandemic of this scale. The knowledge so acquired can help us understand the very basics of the disease process, helping us make progress in treating and preventing it.
Understanding the "enemy"
Broadly, viruses can be classified into two main types depending on the nature of their genetic material – DNA viruses and RNA viruses. This genetic material enables the virus to hijack the host's cellular machinery and synthesize proteins critical for its survival. SARS-CoV‑2, like other coronaviruses, contains RNA as its genome.
Each single viral particle (often called "virion") contains an envelope, consisting primarily of molecules called lipoproteins as well as three characteristic proteins — the spike (S) protein which gives the virion the characteristic appearance of a crown, the envelope (E) protein and the membrane (M) protein. This envelope can be broken down and destroyed by soap, which is why doctors are asking you to wash your hands often. Apart from this, there is also the nucleocapsid (N) protein which surrounds the RNA genome.
In the few months since we first encountered this infectious pathogen, researchers around the world have embarked upon an almost undeclared joint venture. They have proceeded at breakneck speed to decipher and target various aspects of this virus in an attempt to find ways of limiting the infection, stopping its spread, and eventually devising a potential cure for COVID-19. These aspects include but are not limited to the virus's structure, its mechanism of infection, its molecular biology, the origins of its nucleic acid sequence, and the epidemiology of disease spread.
It's amazing how the human race can do unbelievable things at an unbelievable pace when faced with a global crisis. This two-part article will focus on how basic research endeavours have made significant discoveries that have led us towards a better understanding of how the virus spreads from one person to another, how it attaches to cells, how it replicates, how it is different from the SARS or MERS viruses, and how these findings could translate into developing novel therapeutics or preventive strategies against this disease.
Limiting the spread of the virus
The very first step was to identify the process through which the virus spreads – is it airborne, blood-borne, or does it spread through some other means? Knowing this answer was crucial to developing a strategy to limit its spread. Clinical data and epidemiological studies quickly established that SARS-CoV‑2 spreads from person-to-person either through direct contact or through water droplets from the patient's cough or nasal discharge.
These and similar findings led most countries to resort to "Physical Distancing" as the primary strategy for limiting the outbreak. Similarly, scientific understanding of the fact that the viral envelope consists of a lipid layer, one which can be readily disrupted by detergents or alcohol, has also provided us with a scientific rationale for using soap or alcohol-based sanitizers as a preventive strategy.
Adequate and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 in a patient population is a key to understanding the level of infectivity in a population, and hence required for minimizing the spread of this disease. Rapid identification of COVID-19 patients is a frontline need towards effective management and research has, therefore, been accelerated towards understanding the structure, molecular biology, and immunology of SARS-CoV‑2.
In this regard, several platforms for highly specific as well as sensitive, rapid diagnostic tests have been reported globally. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based technique has been the primary platform for detection of COVID-19, globally as well as in India. RT-PCR is fast, specific, sensitive as well as cost-effective in diagnosis, where time is of the essence.
Next-Generation Sequencing can also play a very significant role in high-throughput and highly specific detection of SARS-CoV‑2, although it involves higher costs. Very recently, a targeted gene-editing technique based detection of the virus has also been reported, which is highly sensitive and faster than RT-PCR.
Rapid diagnostic tests detecting the presence of antibodies to specific SARS-CoV‑2 proteins have already been approved by the FDA (a list of which can be found here). However, these antibody-based detection methods can only confirm whether a person has ever encountered the virus, and does not necessarily reflect the present infection status of the individual.
In the past few months, as we have dealt with this pandemic, we have educated ourselves, discovered innovative solutions to limit the spread of this virus, and presented affordable diagnostic strategies. In addition to this, we have begun learning how to co-exist with this virus in the long term. These necessity-driven innovations point towards the fact that nurturing the scientific community through gradual and sustained development and the propagation of a scientific environment is critically important towards becoming a "Pandemic-ready" nation in the future.
In the next part, we will discuss more scientific discoveries that have provided us clues on how to go about developing therapeutics against this disease, as well as some mysteries and insights that this episode in our history has brought into sharp focus.
Kaushik Biswas is an Associate Professor at the Division of Molecular Medicine, Bose Institute, Kolkata.
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, prevention, basic research
Posted on 09 July, 2020
Researchers in lockdown:  Notes of a physics professor
-Sharath Ananthamurthy
Posted on 30 April, 2020
COVID-19 and Mental Health: "It is important to bring in a sense of cohesiveness"
-Shreya Ghosh
Posted on 31 May, 2020
Controlling COVID-19 spread using instant digital contact tracing
-Stuti Mohapatra


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Now, I am currently writing a story of a girl Eveleen named who was struggling with few things like broken up with her boy friend, loneliness and suddenly a stranger makes her life like a rainbow.I'm still adding more in my story.I think the story would be just short and will sound like a romantic one. Hahaha. Best wishes to me.