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Page (Protector of the Small Series #2)
by Tamora Pierce Tamora Pierce
Paperback-$9.99 eBook-$7.99 View All Available Formats & Editions
The second book in the New York Times bestselling series from the fantasy author who is a legend herself: TAMORA PIERCE.
When they think you will fail . . . fail to listen.
As the only female page in history to pass the first year of training to become a knight, Keladry of Mindelan is a force to be reckoned with. But even with her loyal circle of friends at her side, Kel's battle to prove herself isn't over yet. She is still trying to master her paralyzing fear of heights and keep up with Lord Wyldon's grueling training schedule. When a group of pages is trapped by bandits, the boys depend on Kel to lead them to safety. The kingdom's nobles are beginning to wonder if she can succeed far beyond what they imagined. And those who hate the idea of a female knight are getting desperate—they will do anything to thwart her progress.
More timely than ever, the Protector of the Small series is Anti-Bullying 101 while also touching on issues of bravery, friendship, and dealing humanely with refugees against a backdrop of an action-packed fantasy adventure.
"Tamora Pierce's books shaped me not only as a young writer but also as a young woman. She is a pillar, an icon, and an inspiration. Cracking open one of her marvelous novels always feels like coming home."
—SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce didn't just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Her stories still lead the vanguard today. Pierce is the real lioness, and we're all just running to keep pace."
—LEIGH BARDUGO, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Random House Children's Books
Protector of the Small Series , #2
Lexile:
790L (what's this?)
TAMORA PIERCE is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over eighteen novels set in the fantasy realm of Tortall. She first captured the imagination of readers with her debut novel, Alanna: The First Adventure. Since then, her bestselling and award-winning titles have pushed the boundaries of fantasy and young adult novels to introduce readers to a rich world populated by strong, believable heroines. Her books have been translated into many languages, and some are available on audio from Listening Library and Full Cast Audio. In 2013, she won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature." Pierce lives in Syracuse, New York, with her husband, Tim, and their cats, birds, and occasional rescued wildlife. Visit her at TamoraPierce.com and follow her on Twitter at @TamoraPierce.
PAGE KELADRY
Fall that year was warm. Heat lay in a blanket over the basin of the River Olorun, where the capital of Tortall covered the banks. No breath of air stirred the pennants and flags on their poles. The river itself was a band of glass, without a breeze anywhere to ruffle its shinning surface. Traffic in the city moved as if the air were thick honey No one with sense cared to rush.
Behind the royal palace, eleven-year-old Keladry of Mindelan stared at the rising ground that led from the training yards to the pages' wing and decided that she had no sense. She felt as if she'd let people beat her with mallets all morning. Surely it was too hot for her to do as she normally did -run up that hill to reach her rooms and bathe. After all, she would be the only one to know if she walked today.
Who would think this cursed harness would make such a difference? she wondered, reaching under her canvas practice coat to finger broad leather straps. At some point during her first year as page, she had learned that second-, third-, and fourth-years wore weighted- harnesses, and that more weights were -added every four months, but she had never considered it in terms of herself Now she wished that she had donned something of the kind in the empty summer months, when she made the daily trek to the palace to keep up her training. If she had, she wouldn't ache so much now.
She wiped her sleeve over her forehead. It's not even like you're carrying a lot - of weight, she scolded herself. Eight little disks- maybe two pounds in lead. You trained last year and all summer with lead-weighted weapons, just to build your strength. This can't be that different!
But it was. Hand-to-hand combat, staff work, archery, and riding took extra effort with two pounds of lead hanging on her shoulders, chest, and back. I've got to run, she told herself wearily. If I don't move soon, I'll be late to wash and late to lunch, and Lord Wy1don will give me punishment work. So heat or no, I have to go up that hill. I may as well run it.
She waited a moment more, steeling herself. She hated this run. That slowly rising ground was torture on her legs even last spring, when she'd been running it off and on for more than half a year.
No stranger, looking at her, would have thought this disheveled girl was the sort to cause a storm of argument at court. She had a dreamer's quiet hazel eyes, framed in long lashes, and plain brown hair that she wore cropped as short as a boy's. Her nose was small and delicate, her skin tan and dusted with freckles. She was big for a girl of eleven, five feet three inches tall and solidly built. Only someone who looked closely at her calm face would detect a spark in her level gaze, and determination in her mouth and chin.
At last she groaned and began to trot up the hill. Her path took her behind the mews, the kennels, and the forges. Men and women in palace livery and servants' garb waved as she ran past. A woman told some kennel workers, "Looka here- tol' ya she'd be back!"
Kel smiled through pouring sweat. No one had thought that the old-fashioned training master would allow the first-known girl page in over a century to stay after her first year. When Lord WyIdon surprised the world and allowed Kel to stay, many had assumed Kel would "come to her senses" and drop out over the summer holiday.
You'd think by now they'd know I won't quit, she thought as she toiled on up the hill.
She was lurching when she reached the kitchen gardens, her shortcut to the pages' wing. There she had to catch her breath. An upended bucket did for a seat. She inhaled the scents of marjoram, sage, and thyme, massaging her calf muscles. For the hundredth time she wished she could use the palace baths as the boys did, instead of having to go all the way to her room to wash up.
"Hi! You!" cried a male voice from the direction -of the kitchens. "Come back with those sausages!"
Kel got to her feet. A cook raced out of the kitchen, waving a meat cleaver. Empty beanpoles, stripped after the harvest, went flying as he crashed through them. Metal flashed as the cleaver chopped through the air. The man doubled back and ran on, plainly chasing something far smaller than he. Once he stumbled; once he dropped the cleaver. On he came, cursing.
The dog he pursued raced toward Kel. A string of fat sausages hung from his jaws. With a last burst of speed, the animal ducked behind Kel.
The cook charged them, cleaver raised. "I'll kill YOU this time!" he screeched, face crimson with fury.
Kel put her hands on her hips. "Me or the dog?"
"Out of the way, page!" he snarled, circling to her left. "He's stolen his last meal!"
As she turned to keep herself between the man and his prey, Kel glanced behind her. The dog huddled by her seat, gobbling his catch.
"Stop right there," Kel ordered the man.
"Move, or I'll report this to my lord Wyldon," he snapped. "I'll get that mongrel good and proper!"
Kel gathered dog and sausages up in her arms. "You1l do no such thing," she retorted. The dog, knowing what was important, continued to gorge.
"You'll hand that animal over now, my lad, if you know what's right," the servant told her. "He's naught but a thieving stray. He's got to be stopped."
"With a meat cleaver?" demanded Kel.
"If that's what it takes."
No," she said flatly. "No killing. I'll see to it the dog doesn't steal from you."
"Sausages is worth money! Who's to pay for them? Not me!"
Kel reached instinctively for her belt and sighed, impatient with herself She didn't wear her purse with training clothes. "Go to Salma Aynnar, In charge of the pages' wing," she said loftily. "Tell her Keladry of Mindelan requests that she pay you the cost of these sausages from my pocket money. And you'd better not overcharge her," she added.
"Kel ... Oh, Mithros's"- he looked at her and changed what he'd been about to say-"shield. You're the girl. Being softhearted will do you no good, mistress," he informed her. "Be sure I'll get my money. And if I see that animal here again" -he pointed at Kel's armful-"I'll chop him up for cat-meat, see if I won't!"
He thrust his cleaver into his belt and stomped back to the kitchens, muttering. Kel adjusted her hold on the dog and his prize and headed for the pages' wing. "We aren't allowed pets, you know," she informed her passenger. "With my luck, all those sausages will make you sick, and I'll have to clean it up." She passed through an open door into the cool stone halls of the palace. As she trotted along, she examined her armful.
The dog's left car was only a tatter. He was gray-white for the most part; black splotches adorned the end of his nose, his only whole ear, and his rump. The rest of him was scars, healing scrapes, and staring ribs. His sausages eaten, he peered up into her face with two small, black, triangular eyes and licked her. His tail, broken in two places and healed crookedly, beat her arm.
"I am not your friend," Kel said as she reached her door.
2013 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner
Fantasy & Magic - Kids Fiction
Fantasy->Heroes and heroines->Teen fiction
General & Miscellaneous - Kids Fiction
Kings, princes and knights->Teen fiction
Science Fiction - Kids
Strong girls->Teen fiction
Tamora Pierce creates epic worlds populated by girls and women of bravery, heart, and strength. Her work inspired a generation of writers and continues to inspire us."
—HOLLY BLACK, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Few authors can slay so effectively with a single sentence—I mean fist-in-the-air, shouting-at-my-book slay—as Tamora Pierce. All these years later, I still draw strength from her words."
—MARIE LU, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce is a seminal figure in the fantasy field of writing, turning out one terrific book after another."
—TERRY BROOKS, New York Times bestselling author of the Sword of Shannara trilogy
"It's impossible to overstate Tamora Pierce's impact on children's literature. Her tough, wise, and wonderful heroines have inspired generations of readers."
—RAE CARSON, New York Times bestselling author
"In the world of YA fantasy, there's before Tamora Pierce, and then after her female heroes started kicking down the doors (and walls, and other barriers)!"
—BRUCE COVILLE, New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce is a trailblazer for so many fantasy writers, hacking through the old tropes with her narrative machete and showing us that girl-centered adventures are not just possible but amazing."
—RACHEL HARTMAN, New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce's writing is like water from the swiftest, most refreshingly clear, invigorating, and revitalizing river."
—GARTH NIX, New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce is gloriously unafraid to give her readers joy and laughter along with adventure and struggle, to let us love her characters wholeheartedly and find the best of ourselves in them."
—NAOMI NOVIK, New York Times bestselling author
"Tamora Pierce and her brilliant heroines didn't just break down barriers; they smashed them with magical fire."
—KATHERINE ARDEN, author of The Bear and the Nightingale
"Tamora Pierce's bold, courageous heroines illuminate the journey to womanhood."
—CALLIE BATES, author of The Waking Land
"Tamora Pierce is the queen of YA fantasy, and we are all happy subjects in her court."
—JESSICA CLUESS, author of A Shadow Bright and Burning
"Tamora Pierce's novels gave me a different way of seeing the world. They were like nothing I'd encountered before. Alanna stormed her way into my thirteen-year-old heart and told me that I could write gorgeous, complicated novels about vibrantly real people in fantastic situations, and to be honest, she's never left."
—ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON, award-winning author of Love Is the Drug
Hunger Games Series
Tamora Pierce
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pho…
Sunrise (Warriors: Power of Three Ser…
The Sight (Warriors: Power of Three S…
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azka…
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Series #1)
The first novel in the worldwide bestselling series by Suzanne Collins!
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . . In the ruins of a place once
The Hunger Games: The Special Edition (Hunger Games, Book One)
This Special Edition of The Hunger Games includes the most extensive interview Suzanne Collins has given since the publication of The Hunger Games; an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at the creation
Catching Fire (Hunger Games Series #2)
Suzanne Collins continues the amazing story of Katniss Everdeen in the phenomenal Hunger Games trilogy.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute
First Test (Protector of the Small Series #1)
Kel will not allow this first test to be her last. Her adventure begins in the New York Times bestselling series from the fantasy author who is a legend herself: TAMORA PIERCE.
Keladry of
Bloodhound (Beka Cooper Series #2)
A #1 New York Times bestseller from the fantasy author who is legend herself: TAMORA PIERCE. In this second book in the Beka Cooper Trilogy, Beka uses her unique magic and street smarts to solve
Tris's Book (Circle of Magic Series #2)
Part of the 8-book Tamora Pierce reissue for Fall 2006, this title in the Circle of Magic quartet features spellbinding new cover art. Coincides with the release of WILL OF THE EMPRESS in trade
Lioness Rampant (Song of the Lioness Series #4)
From Tamora Pierce, the final book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.
Having achieved her dream of becoming the first female knight errant, Alanna of
Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales
Alanna the knight, Numair the mage, Daine the wolf-speaker and more! Favorite and unfamiliar characters in 11 tales, including three brand new stories!
Collected here for the first time are six tales
In the Hand of the Goddess (Song of the Lionness Series #2)
From Tamora Pierce, the second book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.
Alanna, disguised as a boy, becomes a squire to none other than the heir to the
Song of the Lioness Quartet: Alanna; In the Hand of the Goddess; The Woman Who Rides Like a Man; Lioness Rampant
Experience the magic and adventure of the complete Song of the Lioness quartet, now available in a collectible boxed set with new cover art and afterwords from acclaimed author of this beloved
Wild Magic (The Immortals Series #1)
Discover a land of enchantment, legend, and adventure in this first book of the Immortals series, featuring an updated cover for longtime fans and fresh converts alike, and including an all-new
The Immortals Quartet: Wild Magic; Wolf-Speaker; Emperor Mage; The Realms of the Gods
Experience the legend, adventure, and wild magic of the Immortals quartet, now available in a collectible boxed set with new cover art and afterwords from the acclaimed author of this beloved fantasy
Trickster's Queen (Trickster's Duet Series #2)
Aly's adventure continues. . . . No longer a slave, Alanna's daughter is now spying as part of an underground rebellion against the colonial rulers of the Copper Isles. The people in the
Trickster's Choice (Trickster's Duet Series #1)
Tamora Pierce brings readers another Tortall adventure! Alianne is the teenage daughter of the famed Alanna, the first lady knight in Tortall. Young Aly follows in the quieter footsteps of her
Squire (Protector of the Small Series #3)
The third book in the New York Times bestselling series from the fantasy author who is a legend herself: TAMORA PIERCE.
The path to knighthood is full of surprises. . . .
Keladry of Mindelan


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NewsWildfire Watch
Moose Fire grows to 37,264 acres and is 10% contained
Open house fire discussion planned for Wednesday
The Moose Fire north in Idaho, has burned an estimated 37,264 acres and is 10% contained as of Tuesday morning. It is centered about 17 miles north of Salmon in the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Fire managers report the fire was active with uphill runs and group torching once the inversion lifted on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters will work Tuesday to continue structure preparation work along US Highway 93 along Highway 93 from North Fork south toward Salmon.
Crews are also working to remove the helicopter that crashed last week in the Salmon River, killing two pilots.
Dennis Bragg photo
Smoke from the Moose Fire darkens the skies over the Salmon River Valley Wednesday
The fire is burning in grass, brush, and timber along both sides of the Salmon River.
The Lemhi County Sheriff has issued evacuation warnings in the area of the Moose Fire. The latest updates from the Lemhi County Sheriff's Office can be here.
An evacuation center is available at the Salmon Valley Baptist Church, 1230 Cemetery Street, in Salmon. Additional information is available by calling 208-756-3324, 208-940-2220, or 208.940-0220.
Values at risk include residences, energy infrastructure, the Salmon municipal watershed, mining operations, heritage resources, fisheries, livestock grazing allotments, and a variety of recreational opportunities, particularly river rafting.
A community open house will be held to discuss the Moose Creek Fire at the Gibsonsville Improvement Association Building on Wednesday, July 27, from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.
There are 826 people assigned to the Moose Fire. The cause of the fire, which was reported on July 17, has yet to be determined.
2 men found dead in Glacier National Park
Viewer Photos: Northern Lights in Montana
'Swimmer's itch' reported in Montana lake
MT State Fair starts Friday in Great Falls
Thunderbirds roar at Great Falls air show
Obituary: David C. Stevens
Great Falls store has 'gas card cornhole'
Wildfire Watch: Share Your Photos and Videos
Did you take pictures or videos you want to share? Click here to find out how.
Latest information on wildfires in Montana
Wildfire Terminology 101
This glossary is intended to help people better understand the terminology used by fire crews and in news reports.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Feng Shui tip for today is the term "Poison Arrows" – sharp objects that point the person. These objects should be cured. One of the "poisoned arrows" are corners at home. It might be corners of of the house or cornes of the furniture. The best and most simple way to fix such "poison arrow" is a plant. The plant will prevent bad energy from the corner to point the person. So place plants where corners face the person.
Dont forget that there are plants that are "poison arrows" by themselvs, so review which are good plants to have in the house.


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Saudi Energy Ministry, KACST sign MoU to coordinate in carbon fields
Saudi Energy Ministry, KACST sign MoU to coordinate in carbon fields /node/1739191/saudi-arabia
https://arab.news/njgg6
It aims to maximize local content in this field, provide a research environment to address carbon emissions
RIYADH: The Ministry of Energy and the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) inked on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the Joint Center for Research on Carbon Capture, Storage and Use Technologies, with the aim of providing scientific support for the Kingdom's carbon emissions commitments.
The MoU was signed by Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, minister of energy, and the head of KACST, Dr. Anas bin Fares Al-Faris. It aims to maximize local content in this field, provide a research environment to address carbon emissions and turn them into products of economic value, develop national research and development capabilities in cooperation with advanced global centers through technology transfer and marketing, and promote global leadership in the field of carbon capture, storage and use technologies.
Under the MoU, the two parties will work to develop a general framework to encourage research and development in the field of carbon capture, storage and use research techniques, unite efforts among research entities, cooperate with global centers, and focus on the Kingdom's priorities, thus contributing to the diversification of its economic resources.
The memorandum includes promoting the exchange of statistical information and data for the implementation of research and joint ventures, and the exchange of scientific and research expertise and technical advice between the parties. It also includes research and development in carbon capture techniques at fixed sources of emissions such as power plants and cement plants, and seeks to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide emissions using oxygen combustion technology, and the development of carbon dioxide-to-solar photovoltaic conversion systems.
Other objectives of the MoU include the development of CO2 injection techniques with polymeric materials and fly ash in reservoirs, and the development of chemical catalysts for converting captured CO2 into high-performance polycarbonate.
Topics: saudi energy ministry KACST
Saudi energy ministry signs cooperation deal with Neom
KACST pavilion in spotlight at global economic forum


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In today's connected world, every action and interaction produces data.
The challenge lies not just in accessing it, but also in making it meaningful.
Neewee was founded in 2014 by a group of individuals who believe that a data-filled world needs a data-first approach. Today, our proprietary AI applications are optimizing manufacturing operations for leading global companies, and we now have offices worldwide.
By collecting, connecting and analyzing data from every point of the manufacturing process, we enable companies to see the larger context. This helps discover underlying patterns, uncover high-potential opportunities, predict deviations and prescribe solutions; in turn, this intelligence augments day-to-day operations, empowering analysts, managers and shop-floor staff to take crucial business decisions in real time.
Imagine our products as your most talented technicians with the most advanced monitoring, analytical, and predictive capabilities at their fingertips. Using a four-pronged approach, we help clients collate and analyze data to look deep into their operational dynamics and discover opportunities within the virtual environment, and then apply them in physical environments to transform their business.
AI Apps Process Digital Twin Prescriptive Predictions Instinctive Visualization
Our AI apps can be seamlessly integrated with your existing IoT platform to create a holistic view of the manufacturing life cycle and optimize production.
Our customized Process Digital Twin combines AI and IoT to mirror the real-world manufacturing lifecycle from beginning to end,
to understand dependencies between critical assets.
Our proprietary prediction algorithms apply Machine Learning to not just identify irregularities at any stage of the manufacturing process, but offer prescriptive solutions as well.
Our AI apps are user-friendly,
with features such as simplified UI,
easy implementation and high compatibility. The results are predictions and prescriptions that can be easily understood and applied on the shop floor.
AI Apps
Process Digital Twin
Prescriptive Predictions
Instinctive Visualization
With the support of the world's leading accelerator programs and existing partners, we've scaled our global business in line with the latest best practices and innovations. As we expand into new markets, we invite new partners to explore emerging opportunities with us, and deliver greater value and advanced technological solutions to manufacturing clients.
At Neewee, talent and technology complement each other to shape the future of manufacturing.
As we continue to expand rapidly across industries and countries, we will also continue to invest in those who make it possible. After all, a company is only as innovative as its people.
Neewee is a talent-first company. We are quick to recognize and reward those with the skills, dynamism and drive to tap the opportunities of the evolving spaces that we operate in.
We believe that great ideas are everywhere, and favor collaboration over competition. Here, leadership transcends hierarchy, and our team members are encouraged to bring their best selves to work.
Geared for Growth
Neewee is a young and rapidly-growing organization, operating in a space that has endless potential. Team members enjoy wide, real-world exposure, as well opportunities for professional and personal development.
Learning truly never stops here. Challenging projects and cross-sectoral collaborations ensure that members of our team stand at the forefront of industry-shaping innovations.


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The OEM's Roadmap to Navigating MDR
Jul 30, 2019 | MDR, Regulatory, Technical Expertise
With recent updates to ISO 10993-1 and the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) on track to replace Europe's current Medical Device Directive (MDD) next year, European medical device requirements present greater regulatory hurdles. The impending updates aim to minimize regional regulatory differences and establish a set of uniform compliance standards that uphold quality of care and ensure patient safety. With less than a year until the MDR takes effect (May 26, 2020) and a shrinking number of notified bodies, time is of the essence. Planning and partnership will help companies stay ahead of the curve, but one misstep could result in an avalanche of consequences, so organizations must be sure to dot their I's and cross their T's.
MDR will apply to devices being introduced to the market for the first time as well as legacy products. The MDD has historically allowed "grandfathering" devices or approving submissions with supplemental data from biocompatibility tests alone, but this will no longer be the case. OEMs will be required to have updated clinical data and technical documentation that supports the device's conformity with the new standards.
Although it will be a gradual transition and devices with a valid certificate will still be permitted on the market after May 2020, there will be strict deadlines regarding Quality System and Post Market Surveillance requirements when MDR takes effect.
Let's dive deeper into how medtech organizations can prepare for and navigate these changes.
Currently, OEMs are looking at MDR through many different lenses, some from a regulatory standpoint, others from a financial impact perspective, or worse, they haven't started planning. Of course, financial and business viewpoints are critical to consider when the survival of healthcare products is on the line, but if those are the only concerns or the internal teamwork model is siloed, companies may be missing the mark. Every stakeholder and department throughout the organization will feel the impact, which is why it is crucial to build a cross-functional team to tackle MDR.
To build such a team, companies should include internal people from quality, R&D, finance, product management, procurement, and other departments to gain a well-rounded understanding of how the new regulation affects their products. Together the cross-functional team can determine where gaps lie, how to prioritize products, and choose a testing laboratory or contract research organization (CRO) that meets the organization's needs.
Once assembled, the team can begin gathering existing information on devices to perform a gap analysis. The gap analysis evaluates current product portfolios against new regulatory standards to identify holes that need to be rectified to ensure compliance. A bulletproof submission relies on robust data that is in alignment with current regulatory expectations.
Invest in Testing
MDR will place greater emphasis on the importance of performing complete biological evaluations on all medical devices. A complete biological evaluation must address three sequential stages of testing: a chemical characterization, which is followed by a toxicological risk assessment and biocompatibility tests.
Chemical characterization: Since updates to ISO 10993-1 place greater emphasis on chemical information, extractables and leachables (E/L) studies may be required. E/L studies are the most reliable way to identify the chemicals in the device and the concentration at which each exists. They challenge the device and its constituents by using aggressive solvents and extreme temperature manipulations. Regulators want to see proof a device has been challenged under harsh conditions and its chemistry report shows it is free of unknown chemicals. If unknown chemicals appear on a report, it is very likely a retest will be required, which will inevitably increase the costs, resources, and time required to commercialize a product.
Toxicological risk assessments: Risk assessments are performed to determine if the chemicals found in an E/L report pose a safety risk. This means toxicologists analyze chemistry information collected through chemical characterization to establish a margin of safety for each constituent. They then determine if additional biocompatibility tests are needed to further mitigate safety concerns.
Biocompatibility testing: The final step of a biological evaluation involves exposing living cells to the device to see if a negative reaction occurs. For this reason, the sequence of testing matters, and while beginning with biocompatibility may seem like a shortcut, it could create a number of setbacks down the road. Chemical characterization studies might meet some biocompatibility systemic endpoints (e.g., carcinogenicity), which may eliminate the need to conduct those particular tests altogether. Using chemistry data and risk assessment to drive a biocompatibility test plan can also help organizations avoid unnecessary animal testing and save expensive test article.
Collectively, these evaluations generate data on the physical and chemical makeup of the device to support and prove its safety.
New Subclass for Class I Reusable Devices
MDR will also introduce a new subclass for Class I reusable devices (Class Ir) such as surgical instruments and endoscopes. Extensions will not be granted for any devices that fall into this category. If a Class Ir device does not have an updated CE mark by the May 26, 2020, deadline, it will not be permitted in the market.
To obtain a new CE mark for a Class Ir device, medtech firms will be required to submit detailed technical files to their notified bodies that support safety and efficacy of the cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization processes outlined in the device's Instructions for Use (IFU). Since there is no universal definition of "clean," it is a company's responsibility to define and validate "clean" for its device(s) in a way that complies with the new standards. To have the best chances of getting regulatory approval, organizations should work with their testing laboratory to develop studies and validation test plans that challenge the device in "worst-case scenarios." The technical files for newer products may require less legwork, therefore it is recommended to focus on older devices first.
Testing Partner Selection Criteria
Before inking an agreement with a testing partner, companies should ask questions to determine if their collaborators have the capabilities necessary to keep them (device firms) ahead of the curve. Be sure to pose the following questions:
Q: Do you have the capabilities to conduct chemical characterization, toxicological risk assessments, and biocompatibility testing in-house?
Partnering with an organization that has all three capabilities in-house increases efficiency, allows required endpoints to be addressed, and helps prevent information gaps. Companies may have to piecemeal their testing if they don't have all three capabilities, which can result in longer timelines, increased cost, miscommunication between parties, loss of information, and unknown impurities getting missed in chemical reports.
Q: How do you ensure complete identification of compounds in your E/L studies?
Working with a laboratory that reports unknowns will be problematic for a risk assessment and, ultimately, a submission. Reporting unknowns can indicate it doesn't have the expertise, instrumentation, and/or the commitment to perform complete chemical characterization. This may cause regulators to reject a submission or issue requests for additional information (AIs). On average, repeat testing costs more than $75,000 and 27 weeks of time.
Q: Are your analytical methods sensitive enough to detect constituents at a level low enough to be properly evaluated in a risk assessment?
Analytical method sensitivities illustrate the precision and accuracy of a testing laboratory's equipment and its team's expertise and experience. Additionally, the concept of the Analytical Evaluation Threshold (AET) introduced in the upcoming ISO 10993-18 will require analytical labs to determine the sensitivity required of the test methods and require them to achieve those levels in the study.
Q: Do you provide support after submission?
If a partner doesn't provide follow-up support on their testing, companies will be responsible for answering regulators' questions or fulfilling additional requests.
Q: How do you stay apprised of regulatory changes and know your advice is in line with how regulators are thinking?
It's important to stay on top of regulatory changes, but it's also critical to understand how regulations are being interpreted by regulators. Choose a partner that spends time watching and interacting with regulators to understand their expectations on how testing is conducted. CROs or testing laboratories with international delegation on ISO committees and that collaborate with ISO by writing standards, participating in round robins, or offering other technical expertise may demonstrate a commitment to getting to know what regulators want on a deeper level. Ask if they have international delegates on ISO committees, as this is an indication they may not only know the standards, but also the "why" behind the standards. Organizations may also want to ask if they keep a database of regulatory feedback and questions to track how interpretations change and influence expectations.
In addition to selecting an experienced CRO or testing laboratory, medtech firms should communicate with their chosen notified bodies as soon as possible. MDR is requiring that all notified bodies go through a designation process in order to be qualified to perform assessments, so there will be a smaller number available to evaluate products. For Class Ir devices, organizations may need to consult a specific notified body approved for that type of device because specialization of notified bodies is expected, and this could further limit options.
The regulatory changes may feel daunting, but the process can be made less cumbersome with the right partner. The survival of a product line relies on the ability to be proactive now. Conducting due diligence and asking critical questions will save time and money in the long run.
Combination products—as the name suggests—represent a mixture of medical products. They comprise any combination of a drug and a device; a biological product...
Not all plastics are created equal. Plastic and polymeric products, parts and components can include significant numbers of chemical constituents—so it is...


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Sibu Benevolent Society's Home for the Aged, Upper Lanang Road
A friend called up the other day and asked me to help her relative ask for a place in the Old Folks' Home. And this reminded me of all those long ago days when only the very childless poor would find themselves becoming inmates of the Benevolent Society Home. The BSH was the brain child of the early Chinese forefathers of Sibu, including my grandfather, who came together to donate a very low cost but fairly suitable piece of land in Upper Lanang Road. They then raised some more money and constructed a wooden house for just a handful of the old aged destitute. In the 1990's a lovely piece of land was purchased by the Benevolent Society and the Home for the Aged was moved to the Old Airport area about 2 km from Sungei Merah.
Originally,the management of the Sibu Benevolent Society was in the hands of a committee of businessmen ,some Civil Servants and the Chairperson of the Sibu District Council. It was a very loose kind of set up but it was rather honest, ethical and perhaps truly benevolent, without any political agenda.
A Catholic nun was sent there every day to be the nurse of the home. She was assisted by two helpers, also urchins who were given to the Catholic church to raise. Thus running the home was a very eccletic management - donations, funds, free Christian voluntary service.
Sibu being a very prosperous town in the early fifties and sixties was a place where plenty of people with warm hearts and generous attitudes could be found. They rallied around like brothers to help out the needy. Coffins were often the gifts of the rich to the destitute and they were all placed in this Home. The very poor could always apply for a Free Coffin and building which was on stilts. At that time, the Foochows were always on the look out to help one another.
Once during the great flood of 1963, the coffins stored under the home,floated away and the nun and her assistants tried to rescue them. It was quite a morbid sight according to some of my friends who lived in Upper Lanang Road. A friend said that she could never forget that in her life. Now she is about 58 years old. And I am wondering if she could still remember it. But I still remember the incident. I am also wondering if the Sister is still alive today.
As a student I would always be in the group to make the school-arranged social visits to the Home of the Aged. Teachers and students alike would cycle all the way to the Home and we would entertain the old folks with singing while some would just have simple conversations with them. Usually we would bring along a sumptuous dinner for the inmates.
I remember that this became a tradition of my school and every year most Sixth Formers would make arrangements to visit the Home. And out of these visits, a few students were inspired to become social workers, and doctors and other socially related professions. Most promised themselves that they would never treat their parents shamefully.
However one particular story is often in my mind.
The late Old Mrs Wong (name has been changed to protect her) was a very hardworking rubber tapper in Sibu in the early fifties. She and her husband had made a bundle of money for her children and they lived fairly well in every respect. When all her children moved to Sibu from their farm during the 1960's Emergency period, she was very apprehensive about the shift as she could no longer keep her chickens, pigs and ducks, wash her clothes by the river,and chat with her neighbours. She was already very old in her 70's. She thought that her quality of life would be eroded. And furthermore her daughter reminded her that everything cost money , living the town. And indeed what she feared became true!
Soon she was bedridden due to her "bitterness" and loneliness. And perhaps malnutrition.
Her daughter -in- law had a change of personality. She would be out somewhere every day working Her son had obtained a job as a boat man, plying the coast of Sibu-Bintulu and would be away for many weeks.
One day, the daughter- in -law went away for three day holiday, and the poor mother- in -law could not get to any food. All the tinned food, all the tins of milk powder were placed very high up on the shelves.
It was the stench of human waste and vomit that attracted the attention of the neighbours who broke into the house to find the old lady in very dehydrated condition. Immediately the ambulance was called for and the old lady was taken to the hospital . She in fact asked why she should continue to live in such conditions. She should have been just left to die!
However, fortunately her life was saved. Proposals were made to help her get a place in the Benevolent Society, but she refused. She said that she had a son, and her son must look after her.
When her son came back from his off shore work, she did not scold her son. Nor did she scold her daughter -in- law. She diplomatically said that she was glad that her life was saved! Her son was saved from the embarrassing situation by this gracious lady. The unrepentant daughter -in- law did not do much else to help old Mrs. Wong to have a better quality of life to our knowledge. Neighbours were not allowed to pop by and grand children were too busy in other towns . It was a pity she had no unmarried daughters to look after her. Her married daughters lived too far away. As far as we knew she continued to live for many more years in perhaps very difficult conditions but her doors were closed to the neighbours.
That's another story of "keeping mum".
To be Left Handed or Not to be
Match Making Stories
Grandmother's Pumpkin Story
Sauce from Small Crabs (Kamat)
A Frugal Life - My Grandmother's Life Principle
Another Grandmother's Story - Silver and Gold
Children's Upbringing According to My Grandmother ...
The Rejang River
Egg Nog and Foochow Hospitality Stories
Job for one cousin but not the other
Penny Pinching - Saving up your cents to make doll...
Honouring our Ancestors - Ching Ming & Filial Piet...
Sibu Benevolent Society's Home for the Aged, Upper...
Kang Kong and local treats
Opium - a curse or a boon?
Buying and Selling of Blood in Sibu
My Uncle, Confucius and Crime Rate in Sibu
Sibling Bonding : Foochow Style
A Man who loved his father


Purpose: Historically, communities have opposed the development of residential programs for adults with psychiatric disabilities. In the last two decades, national and local campaigns have made targeted efforts to improve public knowledge about mental illness, and attitudes and behaviors towards mental health clients. Supportive housing policies have also been revised to better facilitate integration and independence for clients with psychiatric disabilities. Despite these changes, the number of studies on perceptions of psychiatric supportive housing has dramatically declined in recent years. Little is known about how neighbors currently perceive psychiatric housing and neighbors with mental illness, or the role that mental health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors play in neighborhoods where housing clients live.
Methods: Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of 139 neighbors living in close proximity to psychiatric supportive housing sites were assessed. Follow up qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 neighbors who correctly identified the housing site in their neighborhood to understand the perceived impact of the housing site and elicit suggestions for improving relations between clients and their neighbors. Individual and neighborhood social experiences of neighbors are compared with those of 68 clients living in the referent housing sites.
Results: Neighbors had high rates of personal experience with mental illness and were familiar with mental health diagnoses and facts. Neighbors had positive opinions about and neighboring intentions towards neighbors with mental illness. Increased mental health knowledge and close relationships with individuals with mental illness were associated with decreased stigma. Being able to correctly identify the housing and population was not associated with differences in opinions about individuals with mental illness. Compared to clients, neighbors perceived the neighborhood as being less safe. Clients were lonelier than their neighbors. Neighbors reported the housing had a positive impact on the neighborhood and had few concerns. They suggested awareness, education, and social contact strategies to improve relations with housing clients.
Conclusions: Suggestions for improving client integration and public acceptance of psychiatric supportive housing are discussed, as well implications in light of recent policy changes and ongoing public anti-stigma campaigns.
Shearer, Amy Leigh, "Neighbor Perceptions of Psychiatric Supportive Housing : the Role of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors" (2018). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 4501.


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UKmarkets Broker Review
UKmarkets Ltd is an online broker providing electronic trading platforms for financial investment opportunities in Forex, Indices, Commodities, CFDs and Binary Options. The company claims to be customer focused with a modern dealing centre staffed by professional traders with 'extensive experience in foreign exchange markets' as well as risk management specialists. UKmarkets states that it is one of the leading companies offering Forex trading in the world with low commission and spreads. However, based on the sparse information that we found on the UKmarkets website and what we consider to be a lack of transparency by the company, we could not evaluate the spreads, commissions and position of UKMARKETS relative to other online brokers, reviewed by our team.
UKmarkets Ltd has a registered office in Cedar Hill Crest, Villa, Kingstown VC0100, St Vincent and the Grenadines, West Indies. The company registration number is 20389 IBC 2012. However, the UKM.com brand is owned and operated by Yamix Marketing Ltd operating from the Financial Services Centre, Stoney Ground, Kingston, St Vincent and the Grenadines with a UK telephone number. UK Markets Ltd is licensed by the Financial Services Commission in the Republic of Mauritius with the license number C11008214, issued on the 11th August 2017. UKM also has representation in CIS with an office in the Center Basmanny in Moscow with a Russian telephone number on the website.
We saw that UKmarkets offers a free demo account and a 5 types of live trading account: Mini, Standard, Gold, Platinum and VIP accounts. Traders must deposit $100-499 to open the Mini account, $500-$1,999 for the Standard account, $2,000-4,999 for the Gold account, $5,000-9,999 for the Platinum account and $10,000 Plus for the VIP account.
Surprisingly, all accounts receive the same support services including access to a transactions analyst and a training section on the website offering information about trading basics and educational materials. Moreover, all accounts offer the same financial instruments for trading: Forex, Metals, Commodities, Indices and CFDs.
We were wondering why the leverage is the same for all accounts, with maximum leverage for Forex capped at 1:100, Commodities 1:50 and Indices 1:10. Moreover, the spreads for all accounts are 'from 4 pips' with the exception of the VIP account, that is given an individual spread. We could not understand why customers would choose anything other than a Mini Account or a VIP account based on the limited information published on the website. Especially considering the lack of detailed info about spread differences between account types.
At UKmarkets traders can download the UTIP trading platform or use the WebTrader platform from the browser. Traders can also trade in Binary Options using the UKmarkets trading platforms. UKmarkets is a non-dealing desk which means that it does not intervene in the execution of its clients' trades.
UTIP Platform
The UTIP platform is a download platform facilitating trades in Forex and Binary Options. The UTIP platform gives clients access to a traders' room with built in orders for rapid execution on currency markets. It is protected by triple layer security and provides traders with charts and live data.
Clients who wish to trade in a broad range of financial instruments can do so easily and fast with the WebTrader platform. The trading platform is accessible from the browser of the trader's desktop with a UKmarkets username and password. Traders have market data as well as live charts and graphs at their disposal for executing one click trades.
Mobile trading apps have yet to be released by UKmarkets. However, the company states on the website that a mobile app for tablets and smart phones is coming soon for Android operated devices.
Live customer support is available 24/5 on the UKmarkets website through live chat, along with a UK and Russia telephone number. For customers wanting to make a written enquiry, a prepared form is available on the Contact page. Three distinct email addresses are available at UKmarkets for support, accounts and trading enquiries.
Customers can deposit and withdraw in USD, RUB or EUR using several payment methods. Currently, these include Visa, Mastercard, Diner's Club, Bitcoin, OKPAY, and SWIFT bank transfer. Whilst deposits are not charged a processing fee, withdrawals pay a 1% commission to UKmarkets. Notably, UKmarkets states that withdrawal requests are processed within 10 minutes of receiving them but it does not give a time frame from expected delivery of funds to customers.


IPSOS MORI Scotland has published some opinion polling about people's priorities for the forthcoming elections (it was undertaken for the BBC). The tables are here.
The total figure of support for the question on "free university" – it averaged 8.1%, lower only than one related to the NHS – has been widely interpreted as support for free tuition specifically, although technically the question is broader. In theory, this could be showing support just as much for having 100% grant support for living costs, which Scotland certainly does not have. It would have been clearer, therefore, if whoever set this question had asked specifically about fees, assuming that was what the BBC wanted to know about. But this is all we have to go on. I'll go with the widespread interpretation that these results tap mainly into the fee debate.
Here are the results by deprivation quintile (ie most deprived 20%, next most deprived 20% etc). The percentage shown is the percentage of those responding in each quintile who rated each suggestion as at least "7" on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest importance: this follows the method used by IPSOS MORI to summarise the results. But the general pattern looks much the same if you look just at, say, those who rated the propositions "10".
To these numbers I have added the university entry rates through UCAS at age 18 for each quintile for 2015, using SIMD data. The figures would be higher in absolute terms if we included those doing sub-degree HE in an FE college: but (a) the BBC asked specifically about university and (b) the figures would still show the same general pattern of skew.
There's something striking here. The highest support for free university attendance is amongst the most deprived 20%; and their support for that is substantially higher than their support for additional investment in schools with larger numbers of poorer children.
The most deprived are also far less likely to go to university: they are nine times more likely to see universal free tuition as an important issue as to enter university at the age of 18. By contrast, they are slightly more than half as likely to seek extra investment in schools, as to go to school. Even by age 30, the initial entry rate to HEIs for this group is still only around 16%: even acknowledging there will also be some moving from a college to a university, participation in university-level HE remains remains relatively low.
What's your reaction to these results? Maybe it's pride, that Scotland has such cross-class solidarity for the cause of "free university".
Mine is somewhat more between anger and shame. Shame that the poorest in Scottish society have been marched up the rhetorical hill of free tuition so successfully that they have been persuaded to rate the government paying every last penny of the fees of the children of more advantaged households substantially more highly than extra investment in their own children's schools.
Never mind that very few of these poorer households will get to see a member benefit from free tuition. Or that if they do, they will get paltry cash assistance with their living costs and end up either trying to get through their course on very small amounts of cash help from the state or racking up larger debts than their peers from better off homes.
These figures are a tribute to all those in Scottish politics who have worked to close down the debate on student funding, first, to remove any serious reference to living cost debt, and its unequal distribution and, second, to obscure that there might be alternatives which are neither current Scottish nor current English policy – such things as a partial fee contributions, or means-tested fee grants, just to name two, which would allow us to invest more equally in everyone's education. The narrative has become so firmly university has to be either free or £27,000, upfront, now – the only choices ever contemplated. Indeed, the BBC's own question continues that narrow offer by asking only about free university for all (the BBC has a habit of boiling all opinion questions about higher education down to free tuition/university – see here).
The reaction to the Scottish Conservatives floating their £6,000 post-graduation charge has functioned as a reminder of how impoverished the debate here has become. The Daily Record ran a piece which repeated some completely misleading maths (analysed here) which must have been briefed from somewhere. In a later article The Record (to its credit) seemed to pick up that they'd been partly misled – but then grabbed for a quote from the NUS which confusingly suggested that the Conservative proposals would mean government funding to universities being reduced, a claim for which there was no evident basis at all, and which was indeed completely at odds with the alternative criticism that no extra money would be released for FE for many years.
In other words, if anyone raises any alternative at all to the current system in Scotland, counter-arguments will swiftly emerge based on various misunderstandings rather than an honest and clear explanation of why keeping young people from better-off homes out of any debt whatsoever for their time at university is so especially important, compared to all the other education-related things on which we could spend a bit more of our money.
Those already most disadvantaged in Scotland have been let down badly here. Huge amounts of energy have gone into encouraging them to have a view on a potential up-front cost which (a) would be attached to an activity they are relatively unlikely to take part in, (b) is routinely described as "£27,000" when no party in Scotland has proposed imposing that on anyone for a function which has been wholly devolved since 1999 and (c) isn't even really what happens in England (where almost all students use fee loans to defer costs until they are earning).
The figures above show that nothing like the same energy has gone into encouraging these communities to see themselves as entitled to more investment in their own children's schools – maybe for additional educational interventions, more general personal support, greater access to school facilities as an alternative to home before and after normal school hours, or just for doing things which would lessen the cost of participation in school for poorer families (as highlighted in Learning Lessons, discussed here). Investment here is not just about effects on attainment, it's about the potential for schools to make life a bit less hard right now for disadvantaged individual children, their families and communities.
As a reflection of our political culture, shameful seems to me the right description of this situation.


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Contemporary bedroom furniture sets contemporary bedroom furniture. Contemporary bedroom with black accent wall, exposed whitewashed. Contemporary bedroom sims 3 rectangle black makeup mirror with. Modern contemporary bedroom furniture trendy sets white ideas with.


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Denis Samuel Bernard, né à Niort le  et mort à La Rochelle le , est un ingénieur français.

Biographie
Il est élève à l'École des Ponts et Chaussées, à l'École polytechnique en 1794, et à l'École des Mines.

Professeur de physique et de chimie à l'École centrale de Vendée, il fait partie de l'expédition d'Égypte.

Nommé directeur de la Monnaie au Caire, puis membre de l'Institut d'Égypte.

De retour en France, il est sous-préfet d'Annecy en 1802, puis de Rochefort ; directeur de la Monnaie à La Rochelle en 1817 ; vice-président de l'Académie des Belles-Lettres, Sciences et Arts de La Rochelle en 1822 ; chef de bureau à la Monnaie de Paris en 1849.

Publications

 Samuel Bernard, Notice sur les poids arabes anciens et modernes, dans Description de l'Égypte, État moderne, tome second, 1812, pp. 229-248.
 Samuel-Bernard, Mémoire sur les monnaies d'Égypte, dans Description de l'Égypte, État moderne, tome second, 1812, pp. 321-468.

Sources

 Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, Journal et souvenirs sur l'expédition d'Égypte, mis en ordre et publiés par le baron Marc de Villiers du Terrage, Paris, E. Plon, Nourrit, 1899,  et L'expédition d'Égypte 1798-1801, Journal et souvenirs d'un jeune savant, Paris, Cosmopole, 2001 et 2003, p. 352.

 Yves Laissus, L'Égypte, une aventure savante 1798-1801, Paris, Fayard, 1998.

Liens externes
 Bibliothèque de Polytechnique

Ingénieur français
Élève de l'École polytechnique
Ingénieur du corps des ponts et chaussées
Campagne d'Égypte
Commission des sciences et des arts
Naissance en octobre 1773
Naissance à Niort
Décès en octobre 1853

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Our divided church has to grapple with being pro-life
by Donna Gunn
Unsplash Maria Oswalt c.jpg
To think we are a one-issue church is simplistic and a denial of all we profess by our baptism. (Unsplash Maria Oswalt)
Finally, the election is behind us; but so much work lies ahead. From my personal perspective, one of the biggest issues the church has to grapple with now is our pro-life stand. It has been the cause of so much division among us.
Let's be honest. Allowing pro-life to be defined as a one-issue concern has torn us apart. I believe being pro-life can be one of our most beautiful unifying beliefs, so I have to ask myself how in the world have we allowed this teaching to be so watered down that it has become the source of our division?
I was disheartened to hear Joe Biden being called a "Catholic in name only," when he appears to be a man who truly relies on his faith to mold his actions. That seemed a harsh criticism about someone who so often approaches our same altar to receive and walk away with the same Jesus and who professes to belong to the same body of Christ.
My congregation's charism is healing and reconciliation, so the past years have truly hurt my heart. I felt most dismayed at how our church has become so divided with pre-election rhetoric that filled emails and tweets proclaiming those who work to oppose abortion are much more pro-life than those who work for justice.
One email I received said that Catholics who voted for Biden would be condemned to hell. Really? Is that honestly how we think God sees it? My God believes there is life after birth, life that Catholics are also responsible to protect. My God believes life is a gift at every stage, and we are called to protect the dignity of that life across the board.
To think we are a one-issue church is simplistic and a denial of all we profess by our baptism. At baptism, we proclaim we are each made in the image and likeness of God; therefore, it is our primary responsibility to be the face of God in the world and to reach beyond ourselves to care for all God's children. Rather than taunting, "God loves those I defend more that God loves those you defend," perhaps a way back to unity is for each of us to reflect on all the hopes God has for our world and the delight God has when any one of us tries to make those hopes real.
Is abortion a life issue? Of course it is. But so is being indifferent to the number of deaths from COVID-19, putting children in cages, giving the impression that those from "shit hole" countries who happen to be brown or black can be ignored, finding anything good in the white supremacy movement, bullying, making fun of the disabled, showing disrespect for women and using them to further pleasures, being so concerned about our own wealth that we dismiss the more vulnerable among us, making enemies of persons simply because they disagree with us, feeding and nurturing division.
I often reflect that I can be forgiven many wrong doings, but changing the message of the Gospel to match my political agenda is not one of them. Clearly, the Gospel shows Christ reached out to all. His life preached healing of every kind. He wants us to work together — not in competition. Jesus came so that "all may be one." So if we're Catholic, let's stop with the name calling and taking the righteous position: "I'm more Catholic than you are." The election may be over, but our work toward unity has only just begun.
Several years ago, I represented my bishop at a national Catholic pro-life conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. At that meeting, a Republican strategist was invited by the organizers to speak to the group. He clearly bragged about the Republican Party's strategy to divide the Catholic Church by reducing the pro-life movement to solely an anti-abortion movement. He told us that the Republican goal was to deliberately cast anti-abortionists as the true Catholics and those who support social justice and Catholic social teaching as "the enemy" — as the "Catholics in name only." Notice this narrowing came from politicians — not church teaching. To say the audience was outraged and stunned would be an understatement.
But isn't this exactly what's happened? So many — and heaven help us, this includes some of our bishops — have bought more into that political divide than the unifying concept of being pro-life. The question isn't "What are we doing about one issue, but in today's broken world, how are we stretching beyond a political definition to truly proclaim the full pro-life message?
To be pro-life is to find our own gifts and for each of us to use those gifts to further that portion of life we feel best equipped to serve. Where do you think the church would be now if our bishops had challenged all of us to be pro-life — not by forcing one legal issue down our throats, but instead by helping us shape attitudes and hearts that encouraged each of us to name those life issues where our gifts could make the most difference?
Many name and use their gifts to find ways to protect the unborn — and that is surely a wonderful, beautiful gift; others like Joe Biden have found their gift in serving in government, passing laws for the most vulnerable among us. That too is a marvelous gift. Working together for the whole of life — not ignoring any life — is precisely what makes us the body of Christ in our world.
Naming how my gifts can promote and defend life in no way gives me permission to ignore the other stages of life or to think that my issue fully and completely defines what it means to be pro-life. None of us can protect all of life; but think of the lives we could protect if we acted together. Think of the missed opportunities because we bought into a political definition of being pro-life when we could have been encouraging and welcoming that spark of hope each of us was providing to show respect for life in its broadest sense. We are not enemies; our gifts complement one another. There are many parts, but we are all one Body.
Only when we say life matters across the board — every stage counts — that a life is a life is a life is a life, do we truly witness what it means to be the body of Christ in our world. This challenges all of us to a broader more beautiful stand for life — not just for one stage and certainly not for one that would discount all the others.
It seems to me that if we believe only one stage of life is worth fighting for but fail to see how every stage is connected, we risk being more evangelical than Catholic.
[Donna Gunn is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province. She has had a varied career in education at all levels and as a gerontologist. She served eight years in Community Leadership and spent 18 years in the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi — with one of her tasks being the bishop's liaison to Congress and to the Mississippi Legislature.]
Social Justice | Our divided church has to grapple with being pro-life
Q & A with Sr. Susan Mika, pushing McDonald's to remove antibiotics from its beef
To be American: an evolving identity
An American catastrophe
At the movement: Women send ripples across India
Organizers fight trafficking amid Kentucky Derby


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Q: styling a menu inside a div How can I access the ul and the li menu inside the div in CSS?

 Our Hitory

 The Foundation

 Our Founders

                         Our Company

 Our Business Practices

 Our Brokers

I've tried so many combinations in css but can't seem to be able to access that menu and style it.
Thanks very much in advance!

A: this is an example of stylization
Taken from: http://www.java2s.com/Code/HTMLCSS/Tags/SettingstyleforULinsideaDIV.htm

#footer ul {
  width: 1000px;
  text-align: center;
}
#footer li {
  display: inline;
  list-style-type: none;
  line-height: 44px;
}
#footer li a {
  color: #574621;
  text-decoration: none;
  margin: 0 10px;
}
#footer li a:visited {
  text-decoration: none
}
#footer li a:hover {
  text-decoration: underline
}
?<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7" />
<title></title>

Home|

About our Hotel|

Services|

Photogallery|

Testimonials|

Locations|

Contacts

A: To speak to a Tag you can use in the CSS Sheet things like
Example 1:
  .id ul li {
     your Css Code
  }
  /* in your case  */
  .cont {
    position: ...;
  }

  /* Or for deeper Tags
  * for example:
  */

 .cont ul li a {
     position: ...;
 }

or but that is a bad Programmingstyle
Example 2:

 Our Hitory

there is also a third option to put css Code like in example 1 in a styletag in the head tag
Example 3:

Hope i can help you!
If you have any Questions left just ask.
Good Luck

A: You have mistake in
 change it to
 like this

#cont > ul{
  list-style-type: none;
}

#cont > ul li{
 padding: 10px;
 background: green;
}

#cont >ul li ul{
  list-style-type: none;
}

#cont >ul li ul li{
  padding: 10px;
  background: black;
}

 Our Hitory

 The Foundation

 Our Founders

                             Our Company

 Our Business Practices

 Our Brokers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Petey Pablo Net Worth 2019, Bio, Wiki, Age, Height
Petey Pablo is a rapper from North Carolina who became known for almost getting a Grammy award for his debut album, which is very rare in music. His is known for his collaborations with the known producer Timbaland.
He was born as Moses Mortimer Barrett III on July 22,1973 in Greenville in North Carolina and there aren't many informations about his childhood or his school years. He claims that his childhood was regular,basic,nothing too interesting.
In 1993 he comitted an armed robbery and served a sentence of five years. After leaving the prison he decided to relocate to New York. There he got engaged in negotiations with Busta Rhymes and Black Rob and was soon signed to "Jive Records". This was a huge deal for a new artists like him.
His deal with "Jive Records" made it possible for him to start working on his first album. This was something he was looking foward to since it was his chance to show the world the lyri s he has been making all his life.
His first song "Raise Up" was produced by a known producer and a rapper called Timbaland and it gained a lot of attention since Timbaland was a popular producer during the time.
The name of his debut album was "Diary of a Sinner : 1st Entry" and it reffered on his crime past and time spent in prison. Eminem released a very powerful album the same year as he did, in 2003, so both of their albums were nominated for a Grammy award, but the award eventually went to Eminem.
He felt bad but he didn't give up his dream and he started working on his second album called "Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry". It made to a very high No.4 on the US Billboard chart.
His most recognisible song was "Freek-a-Leek", and it was the leading song of the album. This song was produced by Lil Jon and it became his most recognisible work, and gained only positive comments.
He was a very creative person so he came up with an idea to form a music house named "Carolina Music Group".
In 2010 he released his new single called "Go" which was again produced by Timbaland with whom he had a great creative bond.
After that his career came to a period where his songs which he regularly posted to his Soundcloud account, but they haven't had any serious success.
He was given a project to wrote an athem for Carolina Panthers club called "Carolina Colors". It was received very good by his fans.
He was also engaged in making his acting career so in 2002 he played himself in the movie called "Drumline". The film was filled with the music he created not only for the film but with his past songs.
In 2009 he played a character called B-Bone in the film "Just Another Day". He was also featured on the Fox hit series "Empire". He was hired to act as Lucious Lyon's friend from prison called Clyde.
The episode in which Petey debuted was the same where there were guest appearances of Kelly Rowland and Ludacris. In the series, he made a collaboration with Lucious Lyon with a song "Snitch Bitch".
In the fall of 2010 Petey was found at a North Carolina airport carrying a stolen handgun on his way to Los Angeles. He was sentenced to three years in prison for this criminal act. This was obviously a huge downgrade for his music since he couldn't make it anymore and he had to take a long break from it.
"Carolina #1" was the name of his mixtape which was made from the lyrics he wrote while he was in prison. He never let his music be on the second place and even in hard times like this, he didn't want to waste his time. He spent the days making music in his head.
In 2015 his new song came out under the name "Never Imagined".
In 2016 Petey Pablo filed for bankruptcy for a little less than $50,000 and is trying to make a good payment plan which would work both for him and his creditors.
He filed Chapter 13 two times already: once in 2009 and again in 2010.
In 2017 he landed with a new hit called "500 Degreez" but this song is actually Lil Wayne' s and he only featured Petey Pablo.
He spent this summer touring accross America with Ying Yang Twins on their "Be Kind & Rewind Tour".
He was in a marriage with Monica Arnold Barret, but it lasted shortly and wasn't a success. It began in 1997 and ended in 2000.
The media talked a lot about him as an artist who can't commit to more than one thing. If he has a marriage,he is being distracted from his art. If he is occupying himself with his music, his marriage becomes something he doesn't work on. This, the media claims, is probably the reason why he isn't married nor can he get a stable relationship.
He rejected his wife's accusations that he abused her phisically and emotionally.
Today he is in relationshop with Amy Caro, and it lasts for almost 16 years. Although they have problems as any couple has, they try to overcome them.
Full name: Moses Mortimer Barrett III
Birth place: Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Profession: musician, rapper
Weight:NA
Net Worth: $50,000
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Nearly 50 Aid Agencies Charge International Community Failing People of Gaza
The Association of International Development Agencies finds that, six months after global donors pledged $3.5 billion, only a quarter of funds have been disbursed
Sarah Lazare, staff writer
During a brief 12 cessation of hostilities, families returned to Shujaiya in eastern Gaza, scene of some of the heaviest Israeli bombing. July 27, 2014. (Photo: Oxfam International/flickr/cc)
Just six months after donors from around the world pledged $3.5 billion towards the rebuilding of Gaza, following Israel's 51-day military assault last summer, only 26.8 percent of these funds have been disbursed, reconstruction has "barely begun," and the civilian population remains strangled by an economic and military siege.
The Association of International Development Agencies delivered this devastating indictment in a report released Monday, entitled Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza (pdf).
Forty-six humanitarian organizations from across the globe signed onto the findings of the report, which was published six months after an October 2014 conference in Cairo At the conference, attended by representatives of over 60 countries and chaired by Norway, governments committed funds for Gaza's reconstruction and recovery following the devastating attacks.
Israel's ground invasion and air bombardments—termed "Operation Protective Edge"—killed an estimated 2,134 Palestinians, approximately 70 percent of whom were civilians. Seventy-one Israelis were also killed in the conflict, including five civilians.
Gaza's civilian infrastructure, furthermore, was decimated in the attack, which damaged over 160,000 homes, 20,000 meters of water pipelines, and 30 percent of agricultural lands. At least 14 health facilities and eight schools were completely destroyed, and Gaza's only power plant was targeted in the bombings, leading to ongoing electricity shortages.
"With the blockade in place we are just reconstructing a life of misery, poverty and despair."
—Tony Laurance, MAP UK
In the face of this large-scale destruction, the international community has so far failed to deliver on its recovery promises, the report charges.
"The promising speeches at the donor conference have turned into empty words," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam, a signatory to the report. "There has been little rebuilding, no permanent ceasefire agreement and no plan to end the blockade. The international community is walking with eyes wide open into the next avoidable conflict, by upholding the status quo they themselves said must change."
And, even when funds do get in, reconstruction projects stall, or do not begin at all, because the blockade prevents materials from reaching Gaza.
"Most of the 81 health clinics and hospitals that were damaged still lack funds for reconstruction, but the few that have funds do not have the material needed to proceed," notes a report summary.
In addition, an estimated 100,000 people in Gaza are homeless, and not one of the 19,000 homes destroyed in the war has been rebuilt.
Furthermore, the report charges, there has been "no accountability to address violations of international law" and the international community has not posed a meaningful challenge to the siege itself.
As many have argued, international aid is a pittance as long as global super-powers like the United States throw their political and financial backing behind Israel's siege of Gaza, home to 1.8 million people and one of the most densely-populated places on earth.
The report urges, "The international community, in particular the (Middle East diplomatic) Quartet of the US, the EU, Russia and the UN, should propose a time-bound plan to support an end to the blockade."
Tony Laurance, CEO of MAP UK, another signatory to the report, declared, "The world is shutting its eyes and ears to the people of Gaza when they need it most. Reconstruction cannot happen without funds, but money alone will not be enough. With the blockade in place we are just reconstructing a life of misery, poverty and despair."
Israel Was Designated an Apartheid State by B'Tselem. What Martin Luther King Jr. Would of Thought of That.
World, War & Peace, Rights
Gaza, Palestine, Israel, Human Rights


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OptumRx will keep Humira available as competitors hit the market
Rylee Wilson - Wednesday, November 16th, 2022
UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx will keep Humira in its drug formulary, in addition to three biosimilar competitors, Bloomberg reported Nov. 15.
Humira, manufactured by AbbVie, will face its first biosimilar competitors in the U.S. next year, which will allow pharmaceutical benefit managers to pit suppliers against each other for the best price.
Heather Cianfrocco, CEO of OptumRx, said at the HLTH conference that the group will keep Humira and the competing treatments available for patients, Bloomberg reported.
OptumRx is the first PBM to explain its plans for the drug and its competitors.
Investors are expecting steep declines in Humira's sales next year as it faces competing drugs. The drug, first introduced in 2003, treats rheumatoid arthritis and several other conditions.
The immunosuppressive drug can be expensive. According to a report from the House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Reform, in 2021, Humira cost $77,000 a year, almost five times higher than when the drug was first introduced on the market.


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HHannah Donovan is co-founder and design director of This Is My Jam – a music service for sharing song you are into the most right now. Before starting Jam, Hannah led design at Last.fm and has been working at the intersection of music, design and technology for the last decade.
In this Stand Above The Noise interview, Hannah shared her thoughts on the state of design in the music industry and importance of visual representation of an artist. She also talked on the latest This Is My Jam updates and how musicians use it as a social network to engage their fans.
00:00:46 – What's the state of design in the music industry?
00:02:34 – How important is the visual component of an indie artist's brand?
00:07:01 – What's This Is My Jam?
00:08:37 – What are the latest updates on the platform?
My name is Hannah Donovan and I'm a product designer. I make digital products in music. Currently, I'm working on a project called This Is My Jam where I'm the co-founder and the design director. And previous to that, I lead design AtLast FM. And I also at the moment am bootstrapping This Is My Jam with a design consultancy at the side and I have clients in the music and entertainment industry.
So I've been working in music since 2006 as a designer and my opinion is that, in general broadly speaking, the music industry loves design. It's ripe for design. When you look at the some of the amazing visual aesthetics that have come out of everything from album covers to concert graphics to all those stuff. The music industry itself is synonymous with pop culture and entertainment and of course out of that comes all sorts of visuals, right? However, I think that when you look at the tech side of things, like the music tech industry specifically, when it started it was a little bit naive, graphic design in particular. And if you look at some of these services from let's say around the early 2000s, the design was not nearly as beautiful as some of these old traditional bastions of design in the music industry like magazines or journals and that kind of thing. Now I think what we're seeing is the maturation of the online music industry. We're seeing much better design there than ever before and I think it's a really exciting time right now for design in music because we're slowly starting to see the marriage of 2 streams. Like people from maybe more of a traditional editorial background that really understand the necessity of beautiful visuals and photo shoots and album art. We're starting to see those people work more hand in hand with the people that come from the background of big data and online music and technology. And I think when you bring those 2 things together, we're going to see really beautiful creations happening. And that's already sort of starting to happen but I think that the future just holds more of it.
As an independent artist or an artist starting out, I think it's hugely important to have a strong visual identity because music is only as visual as you make it, you know. Music is oral but it's really hard to market it if there isn't a visual that helps people understand what it's going to be about. And the amazing thing about the visuals of music is you get a sense of what it could sound like. Is this experimental? Is this dark? Is it happy? Is it sad? And all those things are so important because otherwise it's kind of hard for people to know what your music's going to sound like. But sadly I think that a lot of musician's maybe underrepresent themselves this way. And the visuals end up becoming a bit of an afterthought to them. I also think that it's sometimes very difficult to find a really good designer or a really good artist to work with that can help you with this as a musician. And yeah, I've often thought that it would be really cool to have a better network that could pair indie artists like musicians with indie designers because of course also that's a designer's dream project, right? But it goes beyond just the art and the visuals and the album cover. It's so much more than that these days. It's about your online brand, it's about having the same name across all these different services, it's ensuring that your visuals are presentable in a number of formats so that you can upload them to Soundcloud, so you can use them on Band Camp, so you can stick them wherever they need to go. You need to have stuff that's full screen and big and beautiful for retina display, Ipads and Iphones, but you also need small little thumbnails. You need to ensure that you're really searchable and easy to find online and that your name doesn't cross paths with anybody else. And so that whole area of things, that's something that maybe traditional graphic designers or visual artists are less trained in perhaps than interaction designers or product designers. But it's hugely important, I think.
So I love what you say about people listening with their eyes first. And that's the thing, you know. As human beings, we're very visual people. We take in the visuals first and then if we're interested we listen second. So it's hugely important. The other thing is that having a strong visual culture is a way for you to have a stronger connection with your fans as an artist as well. And that's something today that's really important is that direct connection between the artist and the fans. And there's all these great services and ways that allow people to connect really directly like on Twitter or on Instagram or new things that will be made or dealt. But every fan that I interview and talk to in my research as a designer, they all say that they want to have a more authentic connection with the artist. They really want to feel like they're in the same room as the artist, and they're having a chat, and like they really know this person. I think that's because with digital music because it's quite ethereal, because it lives in a cloud, because you don't own it, because it's on your phone and then it isn't, it's not the same as the old days where you could like hold a piece of vinyl perhaps and really feel like it's yours. And so they want to have these really authentic meaningful experiences with artists and that's one of the reasons why touring right now is so profitable because the fans can get that direct authentic experience. But if you have strong visuals, it gives the fans even more ways to interact with you and connect with you. I remember the very first time Janelle Monáe was touring in London and I was so surprised when I got there. She's an artist with a very strong aesthetic sense of course. But there was like half the audience was dressed in black and white Janelle Monáe outfits. All these girls had these amazing tuxedos on and I was like that's so cool. That's amazing. That's such a neat way to be able to connect with your audience and then you can get pictures of all your fans wearing that stuff and you can put it on your social stuff and that's amazing. That's a very extreme example but there's also things like fans just wanting to make fan art and put it up on their Tumblr, up on their Instagram and stuff like that. And the visuals is another way for you to have that conversation with them.
The company that I run, This Is My Jam, with my co-founder, Matthew Ogle, it's a song-sharing site. So we were frustrated by the fact that today's song-sharing feels fragmented, it lacks in context, and it feels as though it's across a bunch of different places, and you read about a song on Twitter but then it falls on off the bottom of the feed, or it's on my Facebook then it's gone and where is it. So what we wanted to do was really create a home for people's favorite songs because your favorite song deserves far more attention than just a tweet. So on This Is My Jam we ask you what's your favorite song right now. You let us know. We pull in that audio from a variety of sources. We work with pretty much everybody so Soundcloud, Band Camp, Vimeo, Youtube, you name it, all those things. And then you get a whole screen dedicated to your song, you can customize it, you can make it look how you want with some really cool filters that I helped design and developed for that. A bit like Instagram and you can write a little story about it and what you get in return is a playlist of all your friend's favorite songs. So essentially what we've created is a network of only the best songs to be in a very small catalogue but it's the best. It's only the good stuff. And by only the good stuff, I mean it's all sorts of genres. It's everything from Classical to Oldies to up and coming breaking tracks right now, you know the latest whatever. But it's just the things that people find that are their favorites and so it's a way for fans to sort of cut through all the choice in music and just get straight to the gold.
So right now, our latest release was really big because what we unveiled or lit up was something called the Song Graph. So This Is My Jam has been collecting data on the best songs of all time as our users tell us which we consider to be like crowd-sourced editorial. And after two years we had 2 million jams shared. When we did duplicate those and look at how many songs there are, it's about half a million songs. So we lit up a song graph of half a million songs. We can now tell you if you look up any artist from This Is My Jam, like this is what the best songs by that artist are as decided by our users. And we've created these really exciting new song pages, song screens, they just went live last week. They now show you, obviously you can listen to the song, you can love it, but really more importantly you can see who in your network is really into this, what they're saying about it. It's really focused on the rich cultural interactions around the music and creating a home like a canonical source and place for that song on the internet. So the next steps with what we're doing with this in terms of opening this all up now, is we're going to be plumbing it in to our explorer screens so that you'll be able to search for an artist or a song directly and get to it right away. Because at the moment, we only opened it up contextually through users' histories. So we're going to be doing some interesting stuff there. We're also just going to be linking up these song screens and these artist screens to more places in general across This Is My Jam. And this was actually also the beginning, it's very kind of you to say that it looks great, but I only see all the problems with it. So we're also working on a pretty big design refresh right now that's going to change the playlists and the profiles and some other stuff on Jam. So this was the beginning of a rolling release of updates around the design too that will be coming over the next few months.
We love it when artists use This Is My Jam. We think that it works really well for that. The artists that seem to be most successful on This Is My Jam are the ones who use it a little bit like they would Twitter or Instagram. So occasionally they post one of their own tracks but also they post music from other people that they're interested in right now, they're influences, what they're playing on their Ipod and our users love that because that's like that direct artist to fan connection. I can see what you're listening to, you know? That's great. And so the most successful artists on This Is My Jam do that. A really great example that I can think of off the top of my head is James Yuill who's an artist based in London. He uses it really regularly and he'll occasionally post his own stuff or like a remix of his own work but a lot of the times he posts other music and it's really fascinating to see what he's into right now.


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Artistic Theologian is a resource ministry published by the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Since 2012, we have published a nationally-recognized scholarly journal of worship and ministry arts. In 2020 we expanded to include resources that aid worship pastors and music ministers understand and implement local church worship that is biblically faithful, musically excellent, and ministry focused.
Joseph Crider
Dean, SWBTS School of Church Music and Worship
Joseph R. Crider is the Dean of the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
With 30 years of ministry and academic experience, Crider is a frequent speaker and clinician at worship conferences and churches. He has written several articles on worship and a book entitled, Uzzah's Dead: A Call to Scripture-Guided Worship is forthcoming. His passion is in the area of training the next generation of worship leaders and encouraging pastors and worship leaders to embrace the Bible as their guide for corporate worship.
Scott Aniol
Scott Aniol is an author, speaker, and teacher of worship, church music philosophy, culture, and aesthetics. In addition to serving as Associate Professor of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern Seminary, Dr. Aniol regularly lectures around the country in churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries. He has also lectured in conferences and seminaries in Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong
Dr. Aniol is the author of several books, including Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship (BMH Books, 2009), Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World (Religious Affections Ministries, 2010), By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture (Kregel, 2015), Tune My Heart: Bible Narrative Devotional Guide for Individuals and Families (RAM, 2020), and Draw Near: The Heart of Communion with God (Wipf & Stock, 2020), as well as dozens of articles.
R. Allen Lott
Allen Lott serves as Professor of Musicology at Southwestern Seminary. His research interests include nineteenth-century music and American music. His book From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuosos Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland (Oxford University Press) explores several facets of the history of performance and listening. Previous publications include a festschrift for H. Wiley Hitchcock (A Celebration of American Music) and articles in various scholarly journals (American Music, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 19th-Century Music, and The Journal of Musicology). Other research, teaching, and personal interests include the role of music in culture, American church music, sacred choral literature, and musical theater.
Charles T. Lewis Jr.
Chuck Lewis serves as Associate Dean of the School of Church Music and Worship and Professor of Church Music and Worship. Coupled with administrative responsibilities, Lewis gives primary leadership to the development of the Worship Ministry training degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Lewis's life's objective is to equip men and women to serve, love, and lead God's people in authentic, Christ-centered, gospel saturated worship to the end that God would be glorified, his church edified, and the world evangelized.
Senior Contributors
Nathan Burggraff
Nathan Burggraff is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Burggraff completed his graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, having earned masters degrees in Piano Accompanying (2007) and Music Theory Pedagogy (2010) as well as a PhD in Music Theory (2015). His dissertation research focuses on the interaction of postmodern themes in music and theology. He has presented at several national conferences including the Society for Music Theory and the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music.
Ben Caston
Ben Caston is Associate Professor of Voice at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Prior to joining the music faculty of SWBTS, Dr. Caston served as the Chair of the Music and Fine Arts Division and Director of Choral Activities at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, GA. Under his leadership the Truett-McConnell Chorale toured England and Scotland in March 2015. Since 1994 Dr. Caston has served Baptist churches in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas. Passionate about youth choirs, he directed the Georgia Baptist All-State Youth Choir in 2011 and 2014 on their tours to Kentucky, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Dr. Caston is an active member of the Century Men, National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Choral Directors Association, and The Baptist Church Music Conference.
Jon Duncan
Ben Caston is Senior Professor of Church Music and Worship
Will Douglas
Will is currently Artist in Residence at Scarborough College at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and as an Adjunct Instructor of Music at Weatherford College, Arlington Baptist University, and Tarrant County College Northwest and a private guitar instructor at The Guitar Studio in Fort Worth, TX.
Douglas finished his Masters in Music Performance degree at UNT and has since returned from the Graduate Diploma program in Eliot Fisk's studio at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to seek his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Texas, which he completed in 2019.
Robert Pendergraft
David Manner
Aaron Rice
Ian Yeung
Caleb Castro, Spanish translations
Laramie Minga
Matthew Sikes