Imagine this: Debbie arrives at church after a challenging week of working too many long hours and racing to complete to meet a deadline. She felt exhausted, raw, and unable to listen to the sermon or sharing time. She needed to share her story with someone in hope to find healing and new life. After church, Mary approached Debbie and asked her how she was doing. The words began tumbling out of Debbie as she shared the awfulness of the week. Unfortunately, Mary wasn't really interested in hearing Debbie's story; Mary wanted to tell Debbie about her week.
Soon Debbie noticed that, while Mary was sort of listening to her, she was instead looking around as if she wanted to find someone else to talk to. Debbie stammered on into the story of receiving a speeding ticket and Mary interrupted her: "That's nothing. My car got towed this week when I parked it in a tow‑away zone. I had to get my sister to take me to the police impound and pay $150.00 to get it out. I cannot afford to lose that money just now, etc., etc. …." Debbie mutely nodded while Mary continued with her story oblivious to the pain that Debbie was still experiencing. Neither Debbie nor Mary experienced God's loving presence in their interaction with one another. Neither of them was able to listen lovingly to the other.
Imagine this: Debbie arrives home at the end of a troubling week, filled with problems with clients, and, receiving a speeding ticket for racing to her office to meet her deadlines. She was discouraged and exhausted, doubtful about God's call to use her gifts business. In fact, she was having difficulty hearing God's voice and believing that God was even interested in the awfulness of her week. After supper, she made a cup of tea and dialed Rachel's phone number. Debbie thoroughly trusts Rachel to lovingly listen to her, to be present to her, pray for her, and offer words of love and wisdom. Debbie believed that Rachel represented God's concern for her and called Rachel where they jointly entered into God's loving presence via the telephone.
At different points of my life I have been each of these characters: Debbie, feeling raw and discouraged, in desperate need for someone to lovingly listen to me, holding my heart before God in prayer while listening; Rachel, the loving friend, willing and able to listen wholeheartedly to the other; Mary, so self‑absorbed that I can't even begin to listen to the words someone else is speaking let alone to hear the pain underneath the words. Of course, I like to think of myself as Rachel, the one able to listen with love and wisdom, but, naturally, I vacillate between all three characters at any given time yet I can choose between listening like Rachel or listening like Mary.
Loving listening requires both time and the contemplative act of listening. We allow the other the passing of minutes to tell their story, allowing for the silence to provide those spaces where additional thoughts might surface from below.
Loving listening takes time over a period of weeks, months, and sometimes years. I recently was reminded that loving listening over a period of years can occur in all of our relationship when my husband listened to me lament and struggle with an issue that I've been lamenting and struggling with since we met several years ago.
Loving listening requires a contemplative heart, waiting for the other person to share their heart. Several years ago I read a profile of the journalist Barbara Walters about her interviewing trade secrets. She said she often remains silent after the individual makes a statement because usually in that silence the individual will disclose more to her. Loving listening offers silence as a way for people to ponder and reflect without disruption from me.
Imagine this: Debbie arrives at church tired after a challenging week but calm and collected. She was able to talk with Rachel on Saturday and felt listened to and loved. After church she approached Mary and asked, how was your week? Mary, who needs someone to listen to her, began to tell Debbie her story of her week. And because Debbie received loving listening she was able to lean toward her and began to lovingly listen to Mary.
"My friends, the world situation is grave. Humanity with fearful faltering steps, walks a knife-edge between complete chaos and a golden age, while strong forces push toward chaos. Unless we, the people of the world, awake from our lethargy and push firmly and quickly away from, all that we cherish will be destroyed in the holocaust which will descend.
This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.
O God, you love us like a good parent, and are present in every aspect of our existence.
May your nature become known and respected by all.
May your joy, peace, wholeness and justice be the reality for everyone as we live by the Jesus Way.
Give us all that we really need to live every day for you.
And forgive us our failures as we forgive others for their failures.
Keep us from doing those things which are not of you, and cause us always to be centered on your love.
For you are the true reality in this our now, and in all our future.
In the Jesus Way we pray. Amen.
Loving God, in this third week of Advent, we praise and bless your name. Together with the prophet Zephaniah, we sing aloud, we shout your praise, we rejoice and exult with all of our hearts to praise your name.
Loving God, we thank you that you are our strength and our might, that you are the source of our salvation, as the prophet Isaiah wrote.
We thank you for your loving kindness and for your mercifulness.
We confess to you Gracious One, that for many of us this Advent season has been difficult, filled with anxiety and worry as well as grief and sorrow.
We long for the appearance of the Christ Child. We long for your loving presence. We confess to you now our longings.
We thank you Merciful One, for your listening, loving presence. We thank you for your continual forgiveness.
During the Advent and Christmas season we read the biblical story of Elizabeth and Mary, of Mary and Joseph, of the shepherds and the wise men.
We also read of the turmoil surrounding these people‑‑ foreign government occupation, mass relocation on account of the census, genocide of infant boys.
We are reminded that turmoil continues today throughout the Middle East. We are tempted to stop praying for peace because of the centuries‑old conflict, because of our weariness of praying for the area, because of our own lack of hope.
God of Peace and God of Justice‑‑again we pray for peace in the Middle East. We pray for an end to the fighting, the deaths, the homelessness of a people. Again God, we ask you to move on behalf of our requests‑‑we pray for your justice and we pray for your peace.
We pray for our country and for the conflicts we have here, particularly the racial divides that plague our nation. God of Peace and God of Justice‑‑we ask you to heal the racism in this country. We ask you to heal the racism in our communities. We ask you to heal the racism in our Church.
Compassionate God, we thank you for listening to our requests and moving in this world on behalf of our prayers.
We thank you that you are in our midst, that you rejoice over us with gladness, that you will renew us in your love, and you will exult over us with loud singing.
We praise and bless your holy name. Amen.
"It is time for religions to open the eyes of a world that believes it has seen everything."—Daniel Kantor, Graphic Design and Religion.
I recently heard artist and writer Jan Richardson at a conference. I've appreciated and admired Jan's work for many years and I leapt at the chance to hear and see her and I wasn't disappointed. Jan's paper collages have inspired me as I think about fabric art.
One workshop was led by Jan and her husband Garrison Doles on "Art into Faith" and I was nudged again to think how artists and "the arts" can become integral to faith communities. Here are my notes from the workshop and I want to emphasize these are my notes and I may have misheard or misunderstood Jan and/or Gary.
Jan pointed back to medieval cathedrals that used a "multimedia" of art forms to embed the biblical Story into and for the medieval congregants to ultimately embody the Story in their lives.
We need to reclaim the language of "symbol" and how symbols become a part of our existential being—and this is how the Story gets into our bones and we embody the Story of God's love. Jan said there is a difference between reciting the Story and telling the Story, that is, we live into the Story and develop the skills to tell the Story through all forms of the arts and culture. It is a significant way to tell our story to God and to tell our story to each other. Yet, how can we, with our brokenness and our beauty, tell the Story (and tell our stories?).
1) Engaging people in the creative process, including people who don't think they are creative. We are co-creators and collaborators with the Creator so we do have creativity. But we have become a culture of spectators so we let the professionals present to us.
2) We need to develop the talent and skills in people—like developing the "farm league" of a particular medium.
3) Decide to seek out those who have developed the facility to tell the Story that creates new doorways into the Story.
4) Art doesn't happen in isolation but needs community, a fertile soil that provides cross-fertilization, and is focused on the process of telling the Story rather than a final product.
5) Discern who are the "culture makers" in the congregation and can lead into the mystery of the Story rather than a literal interpretation that limits another understanding of God's love and interaction with humanity.
6) Challenge this statement: "I don't know much about art but I know what I like." Ask: why don't you know much about art? Are you afraid of it? Are you choosing to be illiterate? Explore: How does art communicate with people?
7) Art jars us out of a particular way of seeing, understanding, and knowing. Art is always a dialogue—what happens in the heart of the artist and the heart of the other. Sometimes art can help us talk about the Story in ways that we haven't been able to before.
Find the line between the telling of the Story in a powerful and meaningful way and a place of emotional manipulation.
What are your experiences of integrating art into faith?
The origins of this day are found in the East, where a memorial for all of the Christian martyrs was celebrated, beginning in the fourth century. Currently the day is celebrated in different ways in various church traditions. When I was on the pastoral team at College Mennonite Church (Goshen, Ind.), we celebrated All Saints the Sunday after November 1. Because CMC has a large group of retired persons and beyond, individual deaths are a regular part of congregational life. Remembering all the people who died throughout the year became an important and solemn ritual with each named called out, followed by a brief period of silence, and lighting a candle in their honor. When I was there, a large box of wooden matches was used to light the candle and in the midst of silence we heard the scratch of the match on sandpaper before it touched the candle wick. The rough strike of the match symbolically reminded me of the pain of our grief as we pondered the person's death.
Today I want to remember and celebrate five friends who have died this past year: Gene Herr, Lori Waas, Marie Reamer, Betty Snyder, and Dave Haarer.
Gene Herr, Jan. 1: Gene, with his wife Mary, were the founders of The Hermitage, (Three Rivers, Mi.), a contemplative prayer retreat center. Kevin and I volunteered there in the fall of 1999 during a time of transition for us and worked alongside Gene and Mary and continued our friendship after we moved to Lansing.
Gene died of cancer in Kansas. On his Caring Bridge blog, his daughter described his final days as surrounded by hymns, prayer, and love.
Lori Waas, April 6: I met Lori at church and although I didn't know her very well, we had many things in common—quilting, music, politics, and theological questions. Now, whenever I listen to the Pink Martinis I think of Lori who was friends with several of the musicians.
Lori also died of cancer. More than fourteen months ago her breast cancer returned and this time it moved elsewhere in her body. When she could no longer eat food she wrote on her Caring Bridge blog how sad she was to no longer enjoy the sense of taste with a delicious meal.
Marie Reamer, April 23: I also met Marie at church where she sat in the same location of the pews. In her early 90s she always wore beautiful costume jewelry and colorful clothes, which I always admired (and, maybe, a few times, coveted).
When we talked after church, she would take my elbow to hold onto for balance but I always received it as a gesture of affection as I leaned toward her to listen to her.
Betty Snyder, July 23: Betty was one of my "faith idols"—someone whose faith I admired and appreciated. Betty was a kind, gentle woman who like a good giggle. She was a giggler. I often thought how I'd like to be like Betty when I grow up.
My favorite memory of Betty is from a sharing time at MSU Mennonite Fellowship. One Sunday she told us about her prayer time earlier in the week: "And I just told God, "I love you! I love you so much." She cried a little as she shared this and it was a sacred gift to peek inside Betty's relationship with God. I continue to be grateful for her vulnerability in sharing this.
Dave Haarer, Sept. 25: Dave was an enthusiastic, sincere man who believed the best of others. Once I called him, asked how he was and he responded: "I love my life and I love my wife!" Later that day I recorded this in my gratitude journal as I appreciated his zest for living.
"One of the last things mom said before dying was, "I'm ready to go home." Dad sees her a lot in his dreams. He talks to her in his sleep, and I guiltily yet greedily eavesdrop. Each time is similar: they are in a car on a journey through the countryside near where they first met. Once dad reached out with both arms, "I'm ready, I'm ready. Let's do!" He wakes up, looks around, is bewildered. He turns to me and the look of disappointment is heartbreaking: "I'm still here." He tells me mom said it wasn't time, he must wait a bit longer. He has more to endure, more to accept, more to let go." (Desert Call, Fall 2012, p. 29).
Today I light a candle on our home altarscape in memory of these five friends. The stones surrounding the candle are each engraved with a word: "Courage. Love. Hope. Peace. Wisdom." Words I associate with them in their lives and in their deaths.


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Are High-Yield ETFs Worth a Look for Nervous Investors?
By Trey Thoelcke	October 18, 2018 7:25 am EDT
Even after a nine-year bull market and with stock markets not too far off all-time highs, there is plenty for investors to worry about: increased volatility, rising interests rates, the effects of trade wars with China and others that are just beginning to be felt, and the fast-approaching midterm elections.
Exchange traded funds are often seen as a way to diversify and to moderate the risks of investing directly into stocks during times of uncertainty. But a quick look at some of the most popular high-yield ETFs doesn't seem too encouraging on the surface. All seven of the following ETFs trade more than a million shares on an average day, have yields of at least 5% and are in the red for the year to date. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is more than 4% higher than at the beginning of the year, and the Dow Jones industrial average is up more than 3%.
Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEARCA: AMLP): This investment seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index, which is comprised of energy infrastructure master limited partnerships that earn a majority of their cash flow from the transportation, storage and processing of energy commodities.
The non-diversified fund comes with a yield near 4.9%. Top holdings include Enterprise Products Partners and Plains All American Pipeline. Shares are down 4.6% year to date and closed Wednesday at $10.55 apiece.
Invesco Preferred ETF (NYSE: PGX): The investment seeks to track the investment results of the ICE BofAML Core Plus Fixed Rate Preferred Securities Index, which is a market capitalization-weighted index designed to reflect the total return performance of the fixed-rate U.S. dollar-denominated preferred securities market.
The non-diversified fund comes with a yield near 5.7%. Top holdings include Barclays Bank and Citigroup, and the shares are down 5.2% year to date to close most recently at $13.97.
iShares iBoxx U.S. Dollar High Yield Corp Bond ETF (NYSE: HYG): The investment seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx USD Liquid High-Yield Index, which is a rules-based index consisting of liquid, U.S. dollar-denominated, high-yield corporate bonds for sale in the United States.
The yield here is about 5.1%, and First Data and Sprint are among the top holdings. Shares were last seen trading at $85.21, which is about 2.4% lower than at the beginning of the year.
iShares US Preferred Stock ETF (NASDAQ: PFF): This investment seeks to track the investment results of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index, which measures the performance of a select group of preferred stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ Global Select Market and other exchanges.
Top holdings include Becton, Dickinson and GMAC Capital Trust I, while the yield is near 5.6%. Its shares are down 4.9% year to date. The ETF's most recent close was at $36.00 a share.
SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: JNK): The investment seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Very Liquid Index, which is designed to measure the performance of publicly issued U.S. dollar denominated high-yield corporate bonds with above-average liquidity.
The non-diversified fund comes with a yield of around 5.4%. Here too, First Data and Sprint are among the top holdings. Shares are down 3.3% year to date, and they closed at $35.53 on Wednesday.
Merrill Lynch Makes Big Q4 Changes to US 1 Stock List
SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: SJNK): This investment seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. High-Yield 350mn Cash Pay 0-5 Year 2% Capped Index, which is designed to measure the performance of short-term publicly issued U.S. dollar-denominated high-yield corporate bonds.
The non-diversified fund sports a yield of about 5.4% and includes EMC, HCA and Tenet Healthcare among its top holdings. Shares are down 1.2% year to date and closed most recently at $27.28.
VanEck Vectors JPMorgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF (NYSE: EMLC): The investment seeks to replicate the price and yield performance of the J.P. Morgan GBI-EM Global Core Index, which is comprised of bonds issued by emerging market governments and denominated in the local currency of the issuer.
The yield of this non-diversified fund is about 6.5%, and top holdings include bonds from the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and others. Shares are down 13.7% or so since the beginning of the year to $16.55.
By Trey Thoelcke
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Read more: Investing, ETFs and Mutual Funds, featured, AMLP, HYG, JNK

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Is the Industrial Strategy Relevant to London?
Author: Barney Cringle
Role: Associate Director
Date: 19th December 2017
The draft London Plan sets out across almost 550 pages the mayor's spatial and socio-economic aspirations for London. Alongside the recently drafted Skills for Londoners strategy, and the Economic Development Strategy, these will set the tempo for the Khan mayoralty.
These documents provide an interesting counterpoint to the national Industrial Strategy and has led us to think about how London and the UK's interests intersect and how national and regional economic strategy can feed from each other?
The draft New London Plan: Towards Good Growth
The mayor's strategic aspirations build upon 'A City for All Londoners', a wide ranging document published soon after his election in 2016. This identifies the big challenges facing London, including the pressure that a fast-growing population exerts on the city. It introduced the principle of good growth i.e. "growth that is socially and economically inclusive and environmentally sustainable".
The draft London Plan further develops the concept as a fundamental building block around which policies and strategies are shaped. This marks an interesting shift of emphasis from previous London Plans and strategies; rather than simply seeking to maintain and enhance London's growth trajectory, it asks: what is the purpose of economic growth?
The draft London Plan issues a call to arms to decision markers, businesses, communities and investors across London to consider how their actions are helping to deliver these objectives.
Alignment with the Industrial Strategy
Despite the contrast in focus between productivity nationally and good growth in London, there are clear links between regional and national strategy. The four grand challenges identified within the Industrial Strategy have cross-cutting relevance for the whole of the UK, and London is no exception:
London can already justifiably claim to be at the heart of the UK's innovation economy via its focus on the horizon (e.g. advanced urban services being highlighted as a particular area of focus ).
The plan commits London's to reinforce its competitive business environment on the global stage, to scale-up innovators and entrepreneurs, and to enhance employment space across the city.
Further improvements to transport and digital infrastructure are critical to accommodate future growth and better connect people to opportunities.
Better functioning and more distinctive places was a focus of the previous mayor, and continues to be a priority for Sadiq Khan. The new London Plan places more emphasis on opportunities in Outer London, and his Good Growth Fund will boost investment in town centres and places of work across the city. Above all, London's housing challenge is central to the Mayor's narrative, with a range of new policies and initiatives to deliver a wider range of housing across London.
The good growth focus highlights the mayor's commitment to London's people and communities. It acknowledges the threat of living costs and Brexit, while the mayor's draft Skills for Londoners strategy aims to empower all residents to access opportunities and ensure that London's future businesses and sectors have access to the skills they need to develop.
Looking Ahead: Can London be left to its own devices?
The fundamental question is whether London needs the industrial strategy or whether it can be left to its own devices?
The last two governments have communicated strong ambition to rebalance the UK economy and the industrial strategy should provide the policy foundation to steer growth outside of the capital. It is however, unclear whether the government thinks it can have its cake and eat it, i.e. enabling London to maintain its performance whilst redirecting investment into the midlands, the north and specifically the combined authorities.
One argument (put forward by the London Finance Commission – https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/business-and-economy/promoting-london/london-finance-commission ) is to offer London greater autonomy to allow the government to concentrate on those areas where the productivity or headroom for growth is greatest. This however, is not a zero-sum game; what is good for London should be good for our other major cities. The devolved powers the city has enjoyed are rightfully also being sought by Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and others.
London is clearly a special case and needs to be supported in its economic aspirations (including further devolution) but it is important however, that we do not lose sight of the relationships between the capital and other cities in the UK, and its potential role in making the UK become more productive and prosperous.
Regeneris is currently working with the GLA to support consultation on the Draft Economic Development Strategy and the Draft Skills Strategy. For more information on this, or any of our other London policy work, please contact Chris Paddock or Barney Cringle.
Stephanie Richardson
E: s.richardson@regeneris.co.uk
Barney Cringle
Chris Paddock


The 23 story Apogee Beach condo by the Related Group of South Florida is located in the city of Hollywood right on more than 200 feet of beachfront, just like its name suggests. It shares its name with another Apogee found in the South Beach area of Miami Beach, the brand is generally regarded as among the finest when it comes to condominiums. There are only 49 Hollywood condos for sale within this building available with 1,691 to 5,051 square feet.
A very modern residential feature of Apogee Beach is the wireless tablets that residents can use to access all of the building's services and amenities. Other building features include a pool terrace, a fitness center with a "cardio theater", original artwork throughout the lobby, a clubhouse that overlooks the pool deck, cabanas by the poolside, a movie theater and much more. The residences of Apogee Beach have two to four bedrooms as well as five bedroom penthouses. Inside you'll find private balconies, gourmet kitchens with granite countertops and designer fixtures within the bathrooms.
The Diplomat and Hallandale Shopping Centers are directly west of Apogee Beach on Hallandale Beach Boulevard. To the south is the city of Aventura which has a very popular namesake mall. Fort Lauderdale is to the north and is home to the Las Olas district, beaches as well as a major international airport. Don't forget you can walk along the coastline that also stretches for miles to the north and south.


I totally understand that using Dreamweaver as an IDE is laughable to many, but, the bottom line for me is that it's functional, and has always offered a handful of nice features for straight HTML, CSS and PHP coding.
I also understand that a lot of designers have long since rejected the notion of designing in Photoshop, but I also know a huge number of designers that are still working that way.
Finally, I understand this post has nothing to do directly with WordPress or higher ed, but it can definitely effect your workflow in a positive manner.
With all of that out of the way, on to the post.
The newest version of Adobe Dreamweaver that's available through Creative Cloud offers an awesome new feature. You can now open a PSD file inside of Dreamweaver, docked to the side of your coding window. Once the PSD file is open, you can select any element in the PSD, and start using its attributes directly in your code. This has already saved me quite a bit of time while working on a simple CSS file (what normally would have taken me about an hour took less than 15 minutes); I no longer have to switch back & forth between the Dreamweaver window and the Photoshop window, make sure I have the correct tool selected, grab the item I want to check, and then figure out how that translates into CSS. Instead, I click on the item within the sidebar of Dreamweaver, and the CSS properties of that element pop right up for me. I then have the option to copy all of the CSS for that element, or select individual CSS properties to copy. If the element contains text, I also have the option to copy the text to my clipboard (obviously not terribly useful in CSS, but helpful for HTML or sample content).
If I don't want to copy all of the CSS, I can also use Dreamweaver's auto-suggest feature. Where the auto-suggest feature used to simply fill in the property name for you in CSS, then potentially give you separate options to fill in the definition (for instance, if you started typing "font-s" in a CSS file, Dreamweaver would allow you to press Enter to automatically fill in "font-size:"; then, you'd have a separate set of options with essentially every reasonable pixel size that you could scroll through and click on if you so desired).
Now, though, if I've selected an element that uses 14px type within the PSD, when I start typing "font-s" in my CSS file, the first auto-suggestion is "font-size: 14px;".
What's really nice is that it also does a pretty good, clean job of creating CSS gradients for you. If you select an element that has a gradient background, you can copy the CSS and paste it into your CSS document quickly; with everything prefixed properly for browsers.
There is also an option to extract graphical assets from the PSD. If you click on an element that is its own graphic, you can click an icon to "Extract Asset". Then, that element is extracted from the PSD, with the option to save it as JPG, PNG-8 or PNG-32. You can also choose to extract the element at 2x scale (for retina, etc. displays, if desired). It appears that the asset is stored in CC until you actually use it in one of your files. Then, Dreamweaver automatically downloads it and places it where you told it to. For instance, when working on a CSS file, you go to use the background-image property; you let auto-suggest fill in the information automatically, then Dreamweaver gives you the option to adjust the filename. Once you adjust the filename, Dreamweaver saves the asset to that location/filename automatically.
It doesn't open the PSD locally. Instead, within the sidebar panel, you choose a PSD to upload to your Creative Cloud files area. Dreamweaver then opens the PSD from there.
When copying various sizes, there doesn't seem to be any way to have it use/add rems or ems (for instance, it will only insert "font-size: 14px;", but won't give you the option for "font-size: 0.875rem;" – assuming a base font-size of 16px – or anything like that).
Interesting; I stopped using Dreamweaver because it dumped too much crap in my code (I was always a HomeSite girl, myself) but I might have to take it out for a spin, since it's been long ignored on my machine. Thanks for the heads up, Curtiss!
Yeah, I haven't used much of Dreamweaver's auto-coding features in a long, long time; basically just using it as a nice version of Notepad. So far, though, the code generated by this new PSD extract feature is pretty clean and well-written.


In 2011, Thailand witnessed its worst flooding catastrophe in half a century. In this study, we explored social media as a new and promising weapon to address the physical and morale challenges caused by the natural disaster. A case study was conducted in the context of crisis response, which investigated the use of social media to contribute to the collective cultural repertoire during the natural disaster. By investigating two paths toward the cultural repertoire construction considering different social groups, this study also identified the roles of social media as an information market and an information threshold in the crisis response.


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You Will Die at 20 earns Sudan 2020 FIFF's Grand Prix
by Olamilekan Okeowo April 6, 2020
Despite the cancellation of its public events, Fribourg International Film Festival, FIFF, has announced the winners of its three main awards with You Will Die at 20, a stunning debut film by the Sudanese filmmaker, Amjad Abu Alala, emerging as the Grand Prix winner.
The film tells the story of a young man and a devastating prophecy, both for him and his family that he will not live to see his 20th birthday.
According to President of the Jury, Guetty Felin, the adjudicating body was unanimous in its choice of the movie.
"We all agreed on one word: Bouleversant [overwhelming]! You Will Die at 20 is a beautifully crafted mystical fairy tale steeped in the reality of a place that is foreign in culture to us and yet achingly familiar in its humanity. This film is a magical homage to cinema while giving hope to the youth of a nation in dire need of hope" he said.
For its efforts, the film went home with the prize money of CHF 30,000 (CHF 20,000 from the Canton of Fribourg and CHF 10,000 from the Municipality of Fribourg),
The Special Jury Award went to Los Lobos by Samuel Kishi Leopo, while Asho by Jafar Najafi scooped the Best International Short Film Award.
Los Lobos tells the story of two children and their mother who are living as undocumented immigrants in the US. Locked in a shabby room, the brothers escape the tedium by inventing stories and listening to tapes their mum has made for them.
According to the President of the Jury, "This is a film that charmed and moved us for its simplicity and quiet strength. Los Lobos allows us to see hope through the bleakness" he said. The Special Jury Award came with prize money of CHF 10,000 and was sponsored by Groupe E.
For the International Short Films category, the Jury, comprising Mélanie Croubalian (Switzerland), Michael Frei (Switzerland) and Julie Hugo (Switzerland), chose to award the short film prize to the documentary, Asho, by Jafar Najafi.
Asho tells the story of a young herder and film buff whose dreams of becoming an actor take him on incredible flights of fantasy through the Iranian hills.
President of the Jury, Mélanie Croubalian explains, "This is an optimistic, life-affirming and spirited film, which is probably what we need in these troubled times" she said
The award also came with the prize money of CHF 7,500 and is sponsored by the Clinique Générale Ste-Anne.
The organizer of the event expressed their gratitude to their partners while explaining how the wining films were chosen despite the COVID 19 pandemic.
'Thanks to the generous support of our partners and the outstanding dedication of the International Juries, who watched the films remotely and made their selections by video conference. All three winning films – from Sudan, Mexico and Iran – have a common thread: youth as an agent of change and hope. Although confined to their respective corners of the globe, the International Feature Films Jury, comprising Elodie Bordas (France), Álvaro Brechner (Uruguay), Guetty Felin (Haiti/USA) and Joel Karekezi (Rwanda), met remotely to discuss the contenders and make their final selection' the organizer explained.
Olamilekan Okeowo
Funke Akindele Arrested Over Hubby's Birthday Party Amid Coronavirus Lockdown
Olu Obafemi: Gamboling on friendship in a season of plague


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Singer-Songwriter Valerie June Draws On Her Southern Roots In 'The Order Of Time'
Fresh Air | By Ken Tucker
Published April 3, 2017 at 2:13 PM EDT
This is FRESH AIR. Valerie June is a Tennessee-born singer-songwriter who made a splash with her 2013 album "Pushin' Against A Stone." On her latest album, "The Order Of Time," Valerie June reaches back to her roots in Southern gospel, reconciling it with her current life in Brooklyn, N.Y. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKEDOWN")
VALERIE JUNE: (Singing) Somebody, somebody, not any old body, not any old body, need you to need me, need you to want me, somebody, somebody. Get me on the shakedown...
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: It's been a few years since we've heard that Valerie June voice, the high-pitched twang that toggles back and forth between crisp enunciation and a slurred drawl. On the song I just played, called "Shakedown," she's joined by two brothers and her father on backup vocals. The song builds to a rock band rave-up, but in the midst of all that, Valerie June sounds as lonely as if she was singing to herself in an empty room.
On this album, "The Order Of Time," June is especially effective when she gets that alone-in-a-room sound going. Listen to the way her voice seems to bounce off the walls of a heartbreak hotel room on a song called "If And."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF AND")
JUNE: (Singing) Some things in life happen too slow. Sometimes you don't know which way to go. One thing for sure, one thing that's real - if and you ain't loving your woman then someone else will.
TUCKER: Elsewhere, June's voice takes a slow crawl away from the wreckage of a romance on the song "Love You Once Made." Beginning with just vocal and bass, the melody is soon joined by an organ and drums. An electric piano flutters around June's voice as she sings about a faded love that always threatens to loom up in front of her, the memory newly fresh and painful.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE YOU ONCE MADE")
JUNE: (Singing) You can leave knowing you did all you could. You could've said 10,000 words, done all the things that you should. Time's hands turned to point straight your way, a memory faded to death of a love you once made. There were the nights...
TUCKER: Born in Tennessee in the early '80s, listening to gospel music in her church and getting exposed to soul, blues and rock from her music promoter father, Valerie June moved to Memphis to start her performing career playing guitar and banjo as well as singing.
A few years ago, she relocated to Brooklyn. But that hasn't turned her into a jaded hipster. Just listen to the glowing wonder she brings to "Astral Plane." It's a song that treats the spiritual and the mystical as being as substantial as the guitar she strums.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ASTRAL PLANE")
JUNE: (Singing) Is there a light you have inside you can't touch? A looking glass can only show you so much. Follow the signs, slowly but steady, don't rush. The day will come when you are ready, just trust. Dancing on the astral plane in holy water, cleansing rain...
TUCKER: One of my favorite songs on this album is "Just In Time." It sounds like a New York piece of music. Its beat might have been lifted from The Shangri-Las girl group, its violin and cello, a minimalist version of a Phil Spector production, her voice the sound of a solo doo-wop act.
The title "Just In Time" quickly takes on an added meaning, wiping away the distance between different decades of music to make the song seem of its time and timeless.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUST IN TIME")
JUNE: (Singing) Take my breath away. And you put me down, teach me how to play again. When I thought my heart had fallen with the rain, you taught me how to love again. Your sweet eyes, they don't lie. And your healing touch put my doubt aside. I open my heart...
TUCKER: "Just In Time," the album title "The Order Of Time," June's sense of time as fluid and multidimensional is all over this collection. It's something close to what science-fiction writers call a time slip, a notion she gets at on a soul ballad here called "Slip Slide On By."
Yet for all this, Valerie June resists becoming too airy or ethereal. She also understands the way certain pop genres, certain ways to phrase and shape a lyric, can break and mend a heart at the same time.
GROSS: Ken Tucker is critic at large for Yahoo TV. He reviewed "The Order Of Time" by singer-songwriter Valerie June.
Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, punk rocker Laura Jane Grace will talk with us about how transitioning from male to female affected her music, her fans, her marriage, her daughter and her own identity. Grace is the founder of the band Against Me. Last year, she burned her birth certificate at a concert in North Carolina saying, goodbye, gender. I hope you'll join us.
Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our associate producer for online media is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. I'm Terry Gross. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.
See stories by Ken Tucker


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Q: error warning: Error in lm.fit(x, y, offset = offset, singular.ok = singular.ok, ...) : NA/NaN/Inf in 'y' I have a question about a lm.
if I run this lm it works well.
lm(pH58 ~ `rumination (min/d)`, data = phase_data_compleet)

however, ph58 is not normally distributed so I have to log transfer the data
lm((log(pH58)) ~ `rumination (min/d)`, data = phase_data_compleet)
lm((log(pH58)+1) ~ `rumination (min/d)`, data = phase_data_compleet)

however, when I use log transfer the data, the lm does not work anymore.
I get this error all the time:

Error in lm.fit(x, y, offset = offset, singular.ok = singular.ok, ...)
:    NA/NaN/Inf in 'y'

Can anybody help me with this problem?
thanks in advance

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I'm Heather Sage, an E-RYT 200 through the National Yoga Alliance, and though I rarely teach in a professional setting anymore, I'm still a yoga educator; all of those years of teaching inform what I do today. Those years, the practice, the philosophy; it's all in me. It's part of who I am. It's a lens in which I'll forever view life. My personal writing life was born in those years. It was a catalyst to a new way of being.
My current practice is a blend of writing, yoga (asana, pranayama, living the discipline), spending time in nature, mindfulness, embodiment, blogging, and anything else that brings me back to center. In terms of teaching, I now do more of it through writing than in a classroom setting. I wrote a short nonfiction book, Yoga Prayers, about the history of yoga, with links to essays about the 8 limbs and I'm currently working on a new book, of poetry.
I blog, journal and write to make sense of life in the hopes that it resonates with others. I am a life-long learner and I love to educate and inspire.
Most of my articles and posts are about mindfulness, everyday embodiment, living our yoga and practical spirituality. You may also find some of my favorite quotes and pieces on personal development/productivity, mostly on Medium. I keep a Commonplace Book because (a) I love paper, (b) I love to learn, (c) it keeps me sane and (d) it houses all of the things I think are important in one 'tidy' space I carry with me, always. Sometimes I share those on my blog too.
An E-RYT (registered yoga teacher) 200 certified in Integrative Hatha Yoga from Samyoga Institute, I teach from this perspective, as well as incorporating Vinyasa, EmbodiYoga, Yin, and Restorative. Practices are well rounded, challenging students to find their edge while respecting their bodies and most classes are heart-centered, philosophy and breath-based and introspective in nature.
I found yoga in 1998, became certified to teach in 2007, and am accredited by the National Yoga Alliance. I am also a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). I have certification and/or extensive coursework in Vinyasa, Pranayama, Yoga Anatomy, Prenatal, Yin, Restorative, Somatic Meditation, Trauma Sensitive Yoga, the Yoga Sutras, Yoga for Athletes, Storytime Yoga, Thai Yoga Massage, and am currently immersed in embodiment studies.
As an adjunct professional on three regional Ohio University campuses over the last ten years, I taught asana, philosophy, pranayama, ayurveda, embodiment and mindfulness practices every regular semester. I now only teach this course once a year in the Fall, to the students at OU-L. I'm a yoga professor!
Sporadically, I'll offer classes for seniors, introducing mindful movement, at the local library, and a few times a year I share yoga, mindfulness and embodiment practices with cancer survivors through the cancer resource center at the local hospital.
Yoga is a beautiful practice and though I don't teach regularly, it's fully integrated into my being. Life is a journey and yoga was a springboard into other avenues of healing. All overlap and intersect and I feel blessed I had all of those years of teaching and practice immersion.


Material: Black alloy steel, quality 8,8. Hardness 38 HRC.
Do not tighten to standard strength class 8,8 torque as the tightening torgue is limited by the presence of the reduced diameter undercut under the head and at the shoulder/thread area.


Illahee Hills is a senior living community here in Urbandale that is kind of a hidden gem.
We are located atop a hill in a quiet residential neighborhood. We have been here more than 25 years, and have employees that have been with us since we opened! Within walking distance we have a large grocery store, many restaurants, veterinarian services, shopping and much much more!
Although we are an individual entity, we are backed by our parent company Holiday Retirement, and we have over 20,000 residents within the USA and Canada! Over 20,000 residents can't be wrong!
We aren't an assisted living, and we aren't a nursing home. We are a close-knit community of older adults that have decided to make the hard things in life a little easier, and at the same time with the way we are designed, we naturally encourage neighborliness and friendships.
How do we do that???
We have an onsite restaurant that we serve 3 meals a day in, not a "dining room". Each meal is served restaurant style by waiters and waitresses. We come around and take orders from each table rather than passing a pre-planned meal tray out to each resident. Our meals are prepared by a chef, with the help of a dietician, so not only are they nutritious, but they are delicious!
By doing things this way, we naturally encourage socialization and community. Dining becomes more of a social engagement activity rather than just meals. Who doesn't love good food and a good conversation?
We also offer housekeeping services once weekly and each resident has their apartment cleaned by the same housekeeper who also doubles as our server during meals. Each housekeeper/ server gets to know each resident very closely and if something seems off, they tend to notice.
What if my loved one needs more than Illahee Hills offers medically???
We are proud to partner with our community and the home care options of your choice. We welcome any home care company or private duty person to come in and provide necessary services to your loved one on an as needed basis.
How does this make us different?
We are "all-inclusive" therefore these things are included in the rent, not charged extra for, however, because we are not an assisted living our prices are significantly lower than what an assisted living charges. There is one monthly rent payment amount and that is it. Included in that rent is Electric, Water, Cable, Wi-Fi (in common areas), meals, housekeeping, and, our best feature We haven't mentioned yet, "Great Call".
Great call is a pendant (or watch) device that is GPS enabled, and is useable anywhere there is a cell phone signal. This device is flat out amazing! Not only is it for emergencies, but it can be used to provide directions, answer questions, and provide peace of mind for our residents. With Great Call, there is someone at the push of a button 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Whether you are at the grocery store, locked out of your apartment, need paramedics etc. Each resident is provided a great call pendant upon move in, included in the rent, not as an extra charge.
We Invite you to come in and take tour to see for yourself what we have to offer, and how we can help. If you are able, we would love to have you join us for Lunch (12 Noon Daily), or Supper (5pm Daily). There is no charge to come in, enjoy a meal, and see if our community will fit your needs. Just let us know when it will work for you so we can have our chef prepare enough food for everyone.
We look forward to talking with you soon about what we can do to make things easier.
I would recommend this community.


The world's energy markets are transforming. The global trend to reduce carbon emissions has seen a renewed focus on commercialising sustainable energy sources, improving infrastructure and improving efficiency.
This follows a landmark agreement between 195 nations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015.
As states and nations develop their pathways to this low carbon future, they remain challenged with supplying reliable and affordable energy and it's interdependence with economic growth, prosperity and welfare – with the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook indicating that global energy demand could increase by 40 percent by 2030.
Digital transformation and the digitisation of infrastructure are key macro themes our clients see as both impacting their existing business, reshaping their business models, and driving them to innovate in a range of areas including: smart grids and meters; distributed generation; the deep penetration of renewables; the challenges of household generation and storage on existing networks and utilities.
The plethora of digitally enabled services and solutions being developed such as energy management, storage, peer-to-peer trading, virtual power stations, demand management and data analytics will also need consideration.
From fossil fuels to renewable energy – Customers want low or zero carbon solutions and, irrespective of attitudes to climate change, responsible supply chains, ethical raw materials, recyclability of components and other factors. New technologies that enable affordable storage capacity and grid stability will be key factors in this transition, which will happen at different rates of change based on local decisions in the best interests of reliability and affordability for customers. As part of this journey there will be a need for renewal of aging assets to make them more efficient, cost effective and reliable and provide back-up generation as falling costs make renewables more commercial.
From centralised to distributed generation – Supply should be co-located as near as possible to demand. New business models are likely to emerge that will rapidly and fundamentally change the current competitive landscape for energy retailing. Peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading, whereby users and generators can trade energy over local parts of the distribution network may be enabled by blockchain technology.
From supply-led to demand-driven use – Residential, commercial and industrial customers are driven by an increasing desire for value beyond price alone. Future energy providers will make things simple, predictable, digital and enable customers to use their property assets to generate energy.
Favouring local supply closest to the customer – this is as much about practicality as efficiency. Incentivise commercial and industrial uptake of renewables equally if not more than utility scale.
Being mindful of stranding assets – this does not just include existing generators, but the fleet of large renewable generators and transmission and related infrastructure that may itself be deployed under a target. Renewables targets, if being implemented should take into account the momentous potential for change in global energy markets with the advent of low cost solar, ever cheaper large scale batteries and, in the transport sector, electric vehicles. In developing economies the opportunities for leapfrogging require constant review.
Coordinating the policy approach – an effective pathway must see a meeting of industrial, agricultural and climate policy to create a seamless long term plans well into the future beyond the life of existing assets.
Because Aurecon works with clients across the full spectrum of the energy supply chain globally – from generation, transmission and distribution to retail – and engages with stakeholders from investors and technology providers through to communities and regulators, we're in a unique position that touches each of the elements that will impact the transition to a low carbon energy economy.
We work collaboratively with our clients to add value throughout the entire lifecycle of their businesses and assets, from advisory through to operation and maintenance.
Our clients include world leading energy financiers and consortia, public and private sector utilities and independent energy producers and distributors as well as large industrial consumers of energy.
Our extensive experience in, transmission and distribution and renewable energy and battery storage strengthens our capability in alternative sources of energy such as solar, hydro and biomass.
Aurecon has a history of successfully developing and delivering power generation projects utilising a variety of technologies. These include conventional thermal generation utilising coal, gas and oil, to renewable applications utilising wind, hydro, solar and biomass.
Recognised as a market leader, Aurecon has over 40 years' transmission and distribution experience. Using leading edge technology, we design transmission lines, plan systems, design substations and optimise assets.


If you're looking to get the most bang for the buck, THE EDGE EDITION COMBO from The Hollywood Edge brings you a great collection of quality sound effects at a great price. Produced as a compilation of The Edge Edition Volumes 1-3 - and originally on 15 CDS - this library combines the best effects from a variety of sound categories that can be used on any of your projects.
The Edge team used several of Hollywood's top sound designers and new recordings from various parts of the country in order to create a deep and diverse sound library. THE EDGE EDITION COMBO features effects created by award winning Soundelux sound design teams - including Harry Cohen and Jon Title, who have worked on such blockbuster hits as SPY KIDS, HANNIBAL, GLADIATOR, and THE PERFECT STORM.
Included in this collection are: motorcycles, impacts, office sounds, slamming doors, buzzers, and telephones, clocks, crashes, doors, toilets, alarms, birds, horses, aircrafts, air & steam blasts, household gadgets, weapons, whooshes and everything in between.
If you're getting started or on a tight budget, The Edge Edition Combo Sound Effects is a great way to bring quality sound effects to your project.


text:
Soaring homelessness and fewer bobbies on the beat – how Bath has changed in the last 10 years
Our data unit has looked at the last decade in numbers
Alice Cachia
Homeless person sleeping in the doorway of a shop in Bath (Image: Artur Lesniak/Reach)
The last decade has seen soaring homelessness and police officers disappearing from our streets.
As 2019 draws to a close, our exclusive data unit investigation has looked at how Bath and North East Somerset has evolved over the past 10 years.
Thousands more children are having to rely on free school meals and food bank usage is growing.
But it's not all bad news. Unemployment has fallen and residents effectively earn £1,634 more in 2019 than they did in 2009, on average.
Also, NHS waiting times have actually improved.
Increase in food poverty
Back in 2008/09 there were 1,502 primary and secondary students at state schools taking free schools meals – or 6.2 percent of all pupils.
As of 2018/19, however, that had rocketed to 3,032 such pupils, or 11.4 percent of BANES students.
At the same time, food bank usage is soaring.
While figures were not available for BANES at a local level, there were 132,510 emergency food parcels handed out to South West people in the financial year 2018/19.
That compared with 59,532 parcels issued in 2012/13, when comparable records began.
Median salary increasing
The number of unemployed people in BANES has fallen. Between July 2008 and June 2009 there were 4,300 working age people in BANES who were unemployed.
As of the year to July 2019, however, just 3,000 working age people did not have jobs.
Wages have also risen in our area.
In 2009 the median gross salary for a full-time employee in Bath and North East Somerset was £24,938.
When inflation is taken into account, the median salary of a full-time worker in 2019 should have been £30,599.
But figures from the Labour Force Survey show the median salary was in fact £33,233.
We now earn more on average (Image: Getty Images)
It means BANES employees effectively earn £1,634 more in 2019 than they did in 2009, on average.
However, with rising food bank usage and school meal dependency, these numbers could also indicate a widening gap between the haves and have-nots in Bath and an increase in the working poor.
Soaring homelessness
The investigation also revealed rising levels of homelessness and rough sleeping.
Comparable figures for this measure only go back as far as 2010. Between January and March that year, there were 19 families living in temporary accommodation, meaning they had no permanent place to live and had been housed by the council.
Across the same period in 2019, 29 homeless families in BANES were in temporary accommodation.
Nearly half the families (14) had at least one child.
At the same time, rough sleeping is also getting far worse.
First recorded in 2010, the number of people sleeping on the streets are counted across one night in autumn.
That year, an estimated nine rough sleepers were recorded across Bath and North East Somerset.
By autumn 2018, that number had more than doubled to 20 rough sleepers.
NHS waiting times dropped
Thankfully, there's also some good news. NHS waiting times for treatment have actually improved among trusts in our area.
At Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, for example, the median wait before being admitted to hospital was 32 days in 2018/19.
That was fewer than the 42 days recorded a decade earlier in 2008/09.
Sometimes non-urgent operations are cancelled for non-clinical reasons – for example if there is a lack of staff available to help with the procedure.
When this happens, the patient should be treated within 28 days of the cancellation. If they're not, then the trust is in breach of its protocol.
Ambulances parked outside A&E at the Royal United Hospital in Bath
The investigation compared the most recent data for 2019/20 (the months of July-September) with the same period in 2009/10.
In 2009/10, six percent of patients across all trusts in our area who'd had their elective procedure cancelled were made to wait more than 28 days to have it done.
As of 2019/20, however, that rate had fallen to 1.2 percent.
Fewer police officers on the street
The latest figures show there were 2,676 Avon and Somerset full-time equivalent police officers as of March 2019.
That is 681 fewer than the 3,357 officers in March 2009.
It is also far fewer officers than the 3,304 recorded in March 2010 – the year the coalition government came into power.
It means the police force is being increasingly stretched, despite the fact the number of crimes recorded by police fell slightly from 138,083 in 2008/09 to 136,761 in 2018/19.
Have you seen something change dramatically over the last 10 years? Email elise.britten@reachplc.com
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The ancient spirit and fairytale elegance of the Ukrainian capital: an intoxicating tour of Kyiv history
ENC News	14 May 2019
The Ukrainian capital's most iconic street – Andriyivskiy Uzviz – is full of secrets and alive with legends.
Officially, Kyiv's main street is Khreschatyk.
However, if you are looking for the street that best captures the ancient spirit and fairytale elegance of the Ukrainian capital, then all roads lead to Andriyivskiy Uzviz.
This cobbled and meandering avenue winds down from the historic heart of medieval Kyiv to the riverside Podil district that once served as the commercial heart of the entire Kyiv Rus state. As Andriyivskiy Uzviz twists and turns on its way towards the Dnipro River, the street offers an intoxicating tour of Kyiv history.
According to the legend, Andriyivskiy Uzviz takes its name from St. Andrew the Apostle, who visited the hillside in the first century and prophesized the emergence of a great holy city here.
Legend has it that at the time, virtually the entire area lay beneath a vast inland sea, with only a few hilltops emerging above the water. When St. Andrew erected a wooden cross on the high point, where St. Andrew's Church currently stands, the waters dramatically subsided to their current levels, leaving the Dnipro River flowing far below and creating the distinctive hillside panorama that has served as Kyiv's calling card for two thousand years.
The church built on the site of this legendary visitation remains one of Kyiv's most photogenic landmarks and the central feature of the Andriyivskiy Uzviz architectural ensemble.
St. Andrew's Church dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. It is the work of the famous Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who designed it for Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. The church is a masterpiece of the baroque style and is reminiscent of Rastrelli's many imperial palaces including the Ukrainian capital's own Mariyinskiy Palace, which sits some distance further along the Kyiv hills.
St. Andrew's Church is notable for the absence of a bell tower. This lack of bells is often linked to the belief that the ringing of church bells at this site would cause the ancient inland sea previously vanquished by St. Andrew to miraculously return, thus flooding Podil and Left Bank Kyiv (while no doubt playing havoc with flight schedules at Boryspil International Airport). Other significantly more plausible explanations for this absence of bells also exist. Probably, as the church was to be a personal place of worship for Empress Elizaveta, it actually had no need for bells to call the congregation to prayer.
The numerous legends of Andriyivskiy Uzviz could comfortably fill an entire book, but there are a few landmarks of particular interest. Those looking to learn more about the street would do well to begin at the "Museum of One Street" (2b Andriyivskiy Uzviz). As the name suggests, this quirky and award-winning museum offers a detailed history of Andriyivskiy Uzviz, including some great images depicting the street during different epochs. It is a treasure trove of information and boasts over 6,500 exhibits.
The street has a large number of memorial plaques and monuments, one of them is a statue of Kyiv Rus ruler Yaroslav the Wise.
Kneeling, Yaroslav presents the city as a gift to His Heavenly Father. Yaroslav's face is filled with higher light, love and hope. The image is extremely expressive and unforgettable.
Zadar, Croatia
Hear Berlin Philharmonic musicians play – for free
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Loving Vincent: How the world's first fully-painted feature film took six years to make
ENC News 17 Oct 2017
Is our future the exponential age?
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A fine way to usher in the New Year: the Ball Drop in New York City
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Tags: Stories


Forced out in search of lower rent, the poem ends: 'There are worse ways to be going, going / gone.' It's an interesting angle to take and reflects the book's insistence to make the most of things, being whimsically enthused or tuttingly aggrieved with one's (always temporary) lot in life. Wild veers between being overly jolly and too intentionally profound."
In the summary final paragraph of the review he writes 'Wild veers between being overly jolly and too intentionally profound.' and I think I'm going to put 'overly jolly and too intentionally profound.' on a Tshirt and, maybe, a tote bag now.


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This colloquium speaks of the "handing down of culture" and the place of smaller societies in an era of globalization. These are issues of crucial importance for English-speaking Canadians, even if much of Canadian public policy on culture has been either unsuccessful or misdirected. Fortunately, in forgotten corners, there are places where people exchange ideas and images, where newly reborn "tribes" chant and listen. It is now a truism that globalization has homogenized cultures and undermined the ability of nation states to maintain distinctive cultural identities. Just as surely, though, emerging media have helped to decentralize aspects of culture. National culture is absorbed into a commercialized global culture as international business concerns become hegemonic; yet the future may lie with those truly popular cultures which flourish, like weeds, at the edge of our highly cultivated global culture. As the Mexican scholar, Gustavo de Castillo Vera, commented, "... within a "solar system of cultures," those cultures that survive are those relegated to the periphery" (Gustavo de Castillo Vera, 1992: 267).
Certainly, the paradoxes are many. A recent address by the British historian Eric Hobsbawm alludes to some of them. "Market sovereignty is not a complement to liberal democracy"; he contends, "it is an alternative to it. Indeed, it is an alternative to any kind of politics, as it denies the need for political decisions, which are precisely the decisions about common or group interests as distinct from the sum of choices, rational or otherwise, of individuals pursuing private preferences." Yet, he points out, the media — the true sceptres of market sovereignty — mitigate the force of the market. In pursuit of their own financial choices, the media amplify public opinion, allow public discontent to wash over politicians (Hobsbawm, 2001).
South Africans struggled for decades to throw off a suffocating foreign rule. They now can enjoy a steady diet of foreign television programmes even on the public SABC, a broadcaster which one critic has described as "hypercommercialized" (Schechter, 2000). The new culture minister of Québec raised a storm by suggesting that Ontario did not have a distinctive culture in the same sense as Québec did. Angry Ontarians responded by pointing to the cultural riches of Toronto, such as the long-run musicals imported from Britain and the United States and the art treasures purchased from Europe.
Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian communications philosopher, proclaimed in 1956 that electronic media were creating an environment in which everyone could access information, and each other, simultaneously. The world was now replicating the experience of a village where everyone knew of every development. "With the return of simultaneity we enter the tribal and acoustic world once more. Globally" (McLuhan, 1964). It is an insight of central importance, but we can no longer afford to contemplate the changes wrought by technology with the same lofty detachment as McLuhan. The results of the processes are more ambiguous than he imagined. "Global" is a term which has been appropriated to justify and glorify the market sovereignty that so troubles Eric Hobsbawm. The acoustic world intersects with a new genre of visual/literary/acoustic environment on the Internet. There is a global village, most evident in the interconnected millions using chat programmes on their computers. Yet the tribes in our simultaneous environment are often at war with each other. We seem to have carried the worst aspects of the mechanical age with us into the electronic, acoustic age.
English-Canadians find themselves at all of the crossroads at once. An earlier form of market sovereignty, or perhaps economic colonialism, tied Canada closely into the economy of the United States. Canadian industry has had levels of foreign ownership which are greater than those in any other developed country. The cultural sovereignty of the United States has been even more pronounced; more than 85 percent of sound recordings in the English-Canadian domestic market, 95 to 97 percent of film earnings and 75 to 80 percent of retail book sales are foreign, mostly American (Industry Canada, 1997; Thompson, 1992). Yet Canadians are also at the forefront of the new technologies of communication. They were the first people to embrace cable television distribution, they use the Internet more than anyone else except the Danes, they have adopted on-line merchandising and file swapping, legal and illegal. English-Canadians pioneered the exploration of new media, first Harold Adams Innis, then Marshall McLuhan and more recently Arthur Kroker and Derrick de Kerckhove (Innis, 1951; McLuhan, 1964; Kroker, 1984; de Kerckhove, 1995).