text:
becomelikeaflame
religious renewal in the taconic-berkshire region
Abide in Joy
April 29, 2015 April 29, 2015 | Liza Joy Marcato
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already cleansed because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
The true vine is a picture of a living thing which connects to even more life—to the source of life. What connects us to life? What makes us feel most alive? If we look to children, the answer for them is: everything! They love all of life, all of what it offers them. Small children love it without reservation, and take whatever they can into their mouths. They want to connect with life in their inmost being!
As we grow up, we come to ourselves as we experience disappointments, losses, suffer pain, and bear death. This belongs to our path on earth—this schooling through pain that brings us to ourselves, connects us to our self. But this can go too far. The winter can be so very long– we get cabin fever stuck inside with ourselves. Life can feel far away from us. We can feel totally cut off from life and love, disconnected.
Easter offers us a return to life. During Passiontide, we have walked with Christ as he goes to his death on the cross. We could also say—we have walked with Christ as he walked with us to the cross. At Easter, we are released from the permanency of this death. The grave can become an altar at which we offer ourselves to be transformed, and seek renewal.
We can find a new lease on life. The soul reconnected feels joy. Easter is the festival of joy. This is more than mere happiness or pleasure, though it encompasses both. Joy belongs to those who walk through death to a new connectedness, and a new life.When we feel joy, we have so much to offer.
At Easter, in the upswing of joy, Christ reminds us in this reading from John 15 of the power of staying connected to our true source of life, to the divine. The word he uses repeatedly is ABIDE. Abide in me and I in you, as I abide in the Father. Let my Word abide in you. To abide is not only to stay or remain, but to make one's abode within him. To make one's dwelling, one's home within his life, within his joy, within God.
This is an act which we practice in praying, in turning to the spirit, in seeking everywhere in life for the source of life, and of becoming. In turning to that which brings joy and by offering ourselves in joy to the world wherever and whenever we can.
Snow Late in April
It seems that the blessed beings of the starry realms have so much to say this year
that they keep sending their tiny white star envelopes
to earth. It seems that the earth
needs these crystalline messages, these ambassadors of harmony
and an architecture of love and goodness of form
to heal the disintegrations and decimations of these
that have the world, as it were, in a bit of a grip.
It seems that snow is necessary in this Eastertime
when we are to practice resurrection, to reengender hope,
to strengthen our faith in one another and in a world
of human beings who, though we take so many wrong turns
on the way to life, mean well, want the world to be a place
of blessing, not only for itself, but for the cosmic world which rings us round.
It might take a little practicing, but I say, practicing,
thank you for snow.
Found on the back of a book of poems, my favorite one in the poet's own handwriting
The compassion Christ feels for us human beings is expressed in the Matthew gospel: "He saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9) Christ sees us; sees that we are scattered by life's challenges in so many ways—outwardly and inwardly. We have not yet learned well enough how to guide ourselves to the waterside, to rest and true nourishment, nor how to protect ourselves from wolves. We are not yet sovereign in the pastoral realm, especially with ourselves. We have so much to learn.
It is perhaps uncomfortable though to think of ourselves as sheep; or of the community as a flock of sheep. It may also be awkward to think of the priest as a "Shepherd of Souls," as it says in our Ordination service. But this is a transitional arrangement intended to facilitate coming into true communion with the one called the Good Shepherd.
We can think of the many references in the Bible to the one we call the Good Shepherd, especially the beautiful 23rd Psalm: The Lord is my Shepherd. Here is depicted a description of the one who enacts a radical act–he recognizes the divine power that is meant to arise within the human being. He comes to be a shepherd for us that there might awaken IN us the true shepherd, the capacity to lead ourselves to green pastures and still waters, and to lead ourselves along the path which is right for each one of us. He is the one who shall be with us as we walk through the valley of death's dark shadow, on this side of the threshold or the other, and the one who, no matter what all is going on in our lives, amidst all the evil and before our enemies, prepares for us a table—a healing feast! At this table, bread is broken and shared, wine is blessed and given, true peace is planted in our souls. He gives to us the medicine that makes us whole, that makes it possible for us to become ourselves shepherds.
This Shepherd will not leave us because he has given himself to us until the end of time. This Shepherd laid down his own life for ours, and seeks to unite himself with us if we but recognize his voice. He goes looking for the one lost sheep out of a hundred. Every one of us is that important to the Good Shepherd. He calls us home! He comes to find us! Let us be found.
The decisive element
April 15, 2015 | Liza Joy Marcato
The World Wide Web of Destiny by Gisela Wielki
By now the www interconnects, links most of the world's population.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Rudolf Steiner reawakened awareness for a totally different human network. Many of his profound spiritual investigations regarding karma and reincarnation have remained almost unnoticed by the world at large. They not only cast light on the karmic connectedness of individuals, but also on world karma tying together the human being, the earth and the angelic realms.
According to a legend, Mary and Joseph and the child, pursued by Herod's soldiers, sought refuge in a cave. At once a spider weaves a web over the entrance. Seeing the spider web, the soldiers believe that surely no one is hiding in the cave. The next morning, before the holy family moves on, the child thanks the spider in the web by drawing a cross on its back. Through the spider's act of rescue, it has unknowingly saved the child for his later death, the death upon the cross. In this way, the web at the entrance of the cave became a worldwide web of destiny for God, the human being and the earth.
At the turning point of time, shortly after his baptism in the Jordan, Christ Jesus walks on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There he finds fishermen casting, mending and washing their nets. He calls them and they follow him. Familiar with handling and caring for the net, they are apparently suitable to become his disciples.
In the third millennium, one can only wish that human beings becoming familiar with the handling and care of the entanglements, intermeshing and interconnectedness of karma, would increasingly haul up from the depth of the sea of destiny genuinely new insights on how to mend and repair social and karmic tears and tangles. To come upon such a 'catch of insight' will require more than to fish with our web browsers in a sea of information.
Reposted from Facebook with permission. LM
Artwork: The Calling of Peter by Otto Dix from the book Matthäus Evangelium (out of print)
Serving at the youth altar
April 9, 2015 April 10, 2015 | Liza Joy Marcato
I am on a retreat for those about to be confirmed in The Christian Community, with 19 fourteen year olds from congregations in the eastern United States. It is always so moving to me to be with these youngsters, full of life and expectation about all that is to come. What grace allows these kids of today to still be open to our adult guidance, to our serious and challenging questions? I have learned a few things over the years of working with the young, and with other colleagues. Our shared general approach as Christian Community priests is to view the confirmands as people on the threshold between childhood and youth, beginning a new life and starting to become themselves for the first time in their lives, independent and scared and full of joy at the possibilities. We work out of a reverence for the evolving free, spiritual human being who already appears in such sincerity even at this age. They are pilgrims on a pressing journey to find the divine at work in the world.
What strikes me every time I enter such a happening (an extended trip such as this for example) is to notice just how serious they are in their approach to life–mixed in with the usual teenager energy and general discomfort that all us human beings seem to have to go through at this age–they are desperately hungry for the truth, to learn what is essential to make it in this life, how to make meaning out of struggle, how to find joy and satisfaction in their engagement and relationships, and whether or not the spiritual world is real, as real as what happens here on earth. They are worried about high school, what people think of them, whether or not there is a place for them in this complicated world.
They look to us in sincere longing to know that we grownups stand for what we speak of, that we are authentic in our own striving, that we love the earth and other people and life itself and also have some kind of real relationship to God and spirit.
They are as serious as monks, though you wouldn't know it during dinner, when the din of their ebullience in the room is deafening! But the moment we give them the task of drawing a Celtic sun cross in their books or the exercise to pray for five straight minutes and then write about their experience, they take it on with a reverence and quietude of soul which challenges many an adult to find. I am in awe of them. I feel a deep gratitude to be allowed to try to serve their becoming, and a desire to become so much more than I already am to be worthy of this task.
Opening Our Eyes
April 5, 2015 April 5, 2015 | Liza Joy Marcato
John 20: 1-20
The Easter question is: Who can see the Risen One? And after the great death through which we again have gone: who can feel the Easter joy? Filled with love and grief, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early in the morning on the First Day. She sees in the dim first light of this day that the stone has been moved away—and from this she infers that they have taken away the Lord! But she has not seen it. Her eyes are still in the grave—they cannot yet see. Where is He?
Running to Simon Peter and Lazarus John, she reports it, and they too come, but they cannot see more than some cloths inside the grave. Now it begins to dawn on them what they had heard might in fact be true: that He would be raised from the dead. But where is He? They cannot see.
Mary, however, remains at the grave. In her grief and not knowing how to see, she weeps. And then she sees the angels, who ask her, Woman, why are you weeping? Still in the grave, she cannot really see! And in this not knowing which she cries out for the second time, she turns. A change begins. There she sees the one she takes to be the Gardener. He too asks, Woman, why are you weeping? And for a third time, she cries out in her not-knowing, this time with a plea to please bring Him back. And it is through this that the Lord can name her, like a baptism, and awakens her to sight. Then she can say: "I have seen the Lord…"
Our eyes mostly cannot see the spirit. The Resurrection is an open Mystery because it has been placed before us as an objective world fact, but our eyes remain in the grave. They are not alone in there. Not only our eyes, but our ears and speech and our hearts are in the grave. We hold to death and dead things, because we think we can count on them. But the grave is empty—He is not there! So where can we find Him?
The secret lies in finding our own activity, to learn to seek Him. We teach the children: the Spirit of God will be with you when you seek Him. And their most important response, their religious practice is their reply: I will seek Him! How can we renew our eyes? We can seek. We can praise. We can pray. We can stand at the grave not knowing, and weeping, and opening our hearts, and we can begin to turn the grave into an altar.
At the grave of all we cannot yet do, we can make an altar to the One who we long to see with our eyes, to see with our hearts. We can think the Risen One, we can feel the Risen One, and we can pray the Risen One. We can offer ourselves to Him in this way, as He offers Himself to us. In the grave we must say: He is not here. At the altar we can say, He is Risen! And I will seek Him!
Preparing for Easter
Getting ready for tomorrow, I found this poem in the latest issue of Parabola from Mary Oliver:
There are moments that cry out to be fulfilled.
Like, telling someone you love them.
Or giving your money away, all of it.
Your heart is beating, isn't it?
You're not in chains, are you?
There is nothing more pathetic than caution
when headlong might save a life,
even, possibly, your own.
Liza Joy Marcato is a priest in The Christian Community, Movement for Religious Renewal
Becoming a Candle
I AM the Way, the Truth & the Life: a Good Friday contemplation
The Word That Heals
John the Baptist Who Prepares the Way
Pentecost: Become Holy Spirit
Follow becomelikeaflame on WordPress.com


text:
MyFamilyPattern.com
Finding genealogical patterns and solving family mysteries using DNA and traditional records
Using Handwriting to Prove a Relationship: When the Writing is not on the Wall
Posted byRick T Wilson, PhD March 8, 2022 April 8, 2022 Posted inHandwriting Analysis, Research TipsTags:Dye, Meigs County Ohio, Wilson
Have you ever discovered weak indirect evidence connecting two individuals as family members but wanted to develop a more convincing argument? You might want to consider using handwriting analysis. Let me explain how I used it to provide additional evidence for a proof argument establishing that a woman named Elizabeth Wilson Dye was the mother to my 3x great grandfather, James H. Wilson.
On 15 August 1850, Elizabeth Wilson (b. 1784 Pennsylvania) married Thomas Dye (b. 1776 New Jersey) in Meigs County, Ohio where my ancestor, James H. Wilson, was living at the time.1 Thomas Dye died 8 Apr 1858 in Scipio Township, Meigs County, Ohio and Elizabeth Wilson Dye died 19 March 1860 also in Scipio Township.2 James H. Wilson lived in Rutland Township in 1850, which is adjacent to Scipio Township, but he later moved to Scipio Township by 1860.3 In the estate file for Thomas Dye, a man named John Wilson witnessed Thomas' will, which was dated 10 August 1854.4
Could John Wilson be a clue to Elizabeth Wilson Dye's identity?
In my earlier blog post, Targeted Y-DNA Testing: Uniting a Band of Brothers, Part 2, I successfully established that James H. Wilson had a brother named John Wilson (also known as John B. Wilson). I also established that their father, also called John Wilson, died prior to 1840 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. So, it is conceivable that their mother would have been a widow with the last name of Wilson in 1850 when she married Thomas Dye, assuming she hadn't remarried since the death of her husband John Wilson.
There were several items of indirect evidence tying Elizabeth Wilson Dye to James H. Wilson:
James and Elizabeth lived in the same or adjacent communities in Meigs County, Ohio between 1850-1860
Elizabeth was born 1784 and the right age to be James' mother
Elizabeth was born in Pennsylvania as was James and his brother John
If I could prove that John Wilson, the witness, was the same as John Wilson, the brother of James H. Wilson, then I might be able to construct a stronger argument that Elizabeth was James' mother.
I started with what I knew. John Wilson was a witness to Thomas Dye's will, and it contained his signature – twice actually. Once on the will itself and once on the affidavit affirming he was present at the execution of the last will and testament of Thomas Dye.
I compared these two signatures to the only other confirmed signature of John Wilson, who was the brother of James H. Wilson. In 1860, John signed the administrator's bond for the estate of his deceased brother, Robert Wilson. All three signatures are shown below.
Immediately, you might notice several irregularities among the three signatures. The two signatures for John Wilson associated with Thomas Dye's will (items A and B above) don't look the same. While found within the same estate file for Thomas Dye, there are striking differences in the "J" for John, the "W" for Wilson, and the "n" in both John and Wilson. The top loop of the "J" loops counterclockwise in the 1854 witnessing of the will (A) and loops clockwise in the 1858 affidavit (B). Similarly, the first stroke for the "W" is a straight line in the will (A) and curved in the affidavit (B). Finally, the end stroke for the "n" comes from the bottom in the will (A) and from the top of the "n" in the affidavit (B). These differences are highlighted below.
It seems more likely that the signature for John Wilson on the will was written on the paper by whomever wrote the will or transcribed it into the estate file. When you compare the signature for the other witness, L.S. Townsend, in the will (A) to the affidavit (B), the signatures are also different as they were for John (see below). Indeed, the "T" in Townsend in the signature in the will is written in the same style as the "T" in Testament in a portion of the will's text above the signatures. It seems that L.S. Townsend's signature was similarly written by someone else other than L.S. Townsend.
Another irregularity between the signatures is the middle initial of "B", which appears in the administrator's bond (C) but is absent in the other two signatures (see signatures A and B in the first image). However, this is reconciled in that John's middle initial was "B", but he did not always use it. At least a third of his 10 land sales in Meigs County deed books did not include his middle initial.
Rather than focus on the first signature (A), the better analysis might be to compare John Wilson's signature in the affidavit (B) to the administrator's bond (C) as the affidavit appears to be the witness's actual signature whereas the signatures on the will appears to be transcribed onto the page by someone other than the witnesses.
While I felt comfortable making the determination of whether these two signatures (B and C) were from the same man, I wanted an expert and unbiased opinion to either corroborate or refute it. So, I hired a handwriting specialist, Dr. Hedy Bookin-Weiner, who was a member of the American Board of Forensic Handwriting Analysis. Dr. Bookin-Weiner's analysis confirmed my theory pointing out several similarities between the two signatures as highlighted below. This includes the pointed humps on the "n" and the hook off the end of the "n". She also noted the similar characteristics in the "W" for both signatures with the letter having a loop at its beginning and an angled slope at its base.
The handwriting analysis provides evidence that the signatures in the affidavit (B) and the administrator's bond (C) were from the same man suggesting that John Wilson had some relationship to Elizabeth Wilson Dye. The geographic proximity of the Dyes to the Wilsons, who lived about one mile apart, makes the proof argument stronger. So strong in fact, that the conclusion helped other genealogical data points on my radar to come into greater focus, which I briefly elaborate on next.
John B. Wilson married Leticia Jones on 13 February 1840 in Harrison County, Ohio,5 which is adjacent to Tuscarawas County where James and John B.'s father died prior to 1840. Tuscarawas County is also where my James married.6 Previously in my Wilson research, I had noticed that a John Wilson was living next door to an Elizabeth Wilson in the 1840 census in Short Creek Township, Harrison County.7 However, I couldn't be sure this was John B. Wilson as I had no knowledge of an Elizabeth Wilson being connected to John at that time. In fact, the estate file tying James and John together as brothers in my previous blog post made no mention of their mother by name.
In the 1840 census, John Wilson had no children, which is consistent with a marriage occurring earlier in that same year. Elizabeth had two children living with her. If this was their mother, it is consistent with her known unmarried children at that time. Four children were married by 1840 leaving two unmarried boys. According to the 1840 census, the two children living with Elizabeth were the correct ages to be Robert and David, who were James and John B.'s two youngest siblings.
Finally, living next door to John and Elizabeth in Short Creek were Isaac Mendenhall and Jesse Goodwin, who were married to second cousins of Elizabeth's deceased husband John. Wrapping it up in a perfect genealogical bow was the observation that Jesse Goodwin was the individual who gave the 1850 deposition discussed in the estate file from my previous blog post, which said that William, Sarah, James, John, Robert, and David were living in Meigs County and were the children of John Wilson (deceased).8
Sometimes the writing on the genealogical wall doesn't immediately give us the answer we're looking for. It doesn't always include direct evidence. Sometimes, we might be more productive spending less time concentrating on a document's literal meaning and more time on the patterns within the individual words. Handwriting can give an entirely new meaning and perspective to the words on a page.
Don't miss new blog posts. Complete the form below to be notified every time I post a new blog.
1. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records 1773-1993, Meigs County, Thomas Dye and Elizabeth Wilson (15 August 1850), p. 415, image 207; database with image, Ancestry (www.Ancestry.com, accessed 17 February 2022). And 1850 U.S. census, Meigs County, Ohio, population schedule, Rutland, p. 98b, dwelling 1429, family 1429, image 20 of 42, James Wilson; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 17 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm M432, roll 710.
2. Find A Grave, database with images (https://findagrave.com, accessed 20 February 2022), memorial page for Elizabeth Dye (1784-1860), Find A Grave Memorial ID 7233800, maintained by Robin (Cuttingham) Townsend-Fife (contributor 47314881); citing Shipman Cemetery, Meigs County, Ohio, USA. And Find A Grave, database with images (https://findagrave.com, accessed 20 February 2022), memorial page for Thomas "Tom" Dye Sr. (1776-1858), Find A Grave Memorial ID 69952740, maintained by brenda (contributor 47032235); citing Shipman Cemetery, Meigs County, Ohio, USA.
3. 1850 U.S. census, James Wilson. And 1860 U.S. census, Meigs County, Ohio, population schedule, Scipio, p. 187, dwelling 258, family 233, image 33 of 44, James Willson; database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 29 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm M653, roll 1008.
4. Meigs County, Ohio, estate file, no. 449, Record Book 2, pg. 319, Thomas Dye (1858), Scipio, Probate Court, Pomeroy.
5. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records 1774-1993, Harrison County, John Wilson and Letticia Jones (13 February 1840), p. 43, image 563; database with image, Ancestry (www.Ancestry.com, accessed 17 February 2022).
6. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records 1773-1993, Tuscarawas County, James Wilson and Susan Hill (8 October 1837), p. 313, no. 2500, image 158; database with image, Ancestry (www.Ancestry.com, accessed 20 February 2022).
7. 1840 U.S. census, Harrison County, Ohio, population schedule, Short Creek, p. 217, image 16 of 21, John Wilson (13th family listed) and Elizabeth Wilson (14th family listed); database with image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 20 February 2022); citing NARA microfilm M704, roll 402.
8. Chester County, Pennsylvania, estate file, no. 11253, John Wilson (1848, Tuscarawas County, Ohio), Recorder of Wills, Clerk of Orphans' Court, West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Published by Rick T Wilson, PhD
As the Family Pattern Genealogist™, I detect and analyze patterns in genealogically relevant data using DNA and other traditional records. View more posts
Targeted Y-DNA Testing: Uniting a Band of Brothers, Part 2
Breaking Through 18th and 19th Century Brick Walls: 'Don't Let Go of Your EGGOS'
MyFamilyPattern.com, Website Powered by WordPress.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The 1976 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 2, 1976, as part of the 1976 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Delaware was won by Jimmy Carter (D–Georgia), with 51.98% of the popular vote. Carter defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford (R–Michigan), who finished with 46.57% of the popular vote. Eugene McCarthy (Independent–Minnesota) finished third in Delaware with 1.03% of the statewide popular vote.

This was the last time that a Marxist political party appeared on the presidential ballot in Delaware until the 2008 election when the Socialist Workers Party appeared on the ballot.

Results

See also
 United States presidential elections in Delaware

References

Delaware
1976
1976 Delaware elections

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The following predicate implements the Hashed Message Authentication Code (HMAC)-based key derivation function, abbreviated as HKDF. It supports a wide range of applications and requirements by concentrating possibly dispersed entropy of the input keying material and then expanding it to the desired length. The number and lengths of the output keys depend on the specific cryptographic algorithms for which the keys are needed.
crypto_n_random_bytes/2 to obtain a suitable salt.


text:
Tag Archives: bishop
The Power of Candlelight
Posted by Edward McCue in Bach's Life, Bach's Successors, Bach's Works, World View
Berlin, Berlin Wall, bishop, Bob Taylor, candle, cantata, Communities Digital News, Dresden, Festival of Lights, German Democratic Republic, Leipzig, Martin Luther, Mendelssohn, motet, Mozart, Old Testament, Peaceful Revolution, Reformation, reunification, Sermon on the Mount, St. Nicholas Church, St. Thomas Boys Choir, St. Thomas Church, Wagner
A peaceful demonstration in Leipzig, 1989
Travelers to Germany in 2014, especially to Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig, may encounter a variety of celebrations honoring the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the path toward reunification of the country. From 9 through 12 October 2014 the "Festival of Lights" will be a highlight in Leipzig, but it is the story behind the festival that must be told.
Many European cities have grand musical traditions. Leipzig is no exception for it is the city of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was choirmaster at the historic St. Thomas Church for twenty-seven years. Even without his considerable influence, the church would have had a rich legacy, but Bach's reputation made it even more notable.
It was at St. Thomas Church, in 1539, that Martin Luther introduced the Reformation to Leipzig. Some two hundred fifty years later, in 1789, Mozart played the church organ there, and in centuries that followed both Felix Mendelssohn and Richard Wagner also performed at the church.
The church choir has been in existence since 1254. During Bach's time there were fifty-four singers in the chorale. Today the world famous St. Thomas Boys Choir features the voices of eighty boys singing music particularly dedicated to Bach in weekly performances of motets and cantatas during regular Sunday services.
Bach was also choirmaster at St. Nicholas Church from 1723 to 1750. St. Nicholas is nearly a hundred years older than St. Thomas, dating to 1165, and when it was built, St. Nicholas Church was situated at the intersection of two important north-south, east-west trade routes which not only played an important role in Leipzig's past, but it was also critical to the events that reunited Germany in 1989.
Each November during the early 1980s, young people from all over the region would gather at St. Nicholas Church for ten days of prayer for peace. There had been large demonstrations all over the German Democratic Republic protesting the arms race in those days, but the gatherings in Leipzig were regarded as little more than non-violent prayer vigils. The only places where issues could be openly discussed in Germany were at meetings held in churches, and St. Nicholas was one of those sites.
Soon a youth group from the church decided to increase the meetings by having prayer services every Monday evening. At first there were only a handful of attendees, but before long more people came to demand justice and respect for human rights. Many who participated were non-Christians, but, with no other place to gather, they regularly attended the meetings. They studied the words of the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount, and eventually they came to understood two things: that people should discuss urgent problems with each other and that they also needed to meditate and pray to God for support and guidance.
Slowly the movement gathered strength. Each day the church was decorated with flowers. Each night it was filled with the light of hundreds of glowing candles. After a while the government took notice and became concerned. From May of 1989 all access roads to Nicholas Church were blocked by police checkpoints.
Authorities exerted pressure to cancel the peace gatherings, but the prayers continued. Monday after Monday the meetings were held even though many were detained or arrested. Soon it became impossible for everyone to get into the church because the numbers were so great. Yet, still they came.
Early in October 1989, St. Nicholas Church was filled with more than two thousand people inside with thousands more out in the streets. When the prayers ended, the bishop gave his blessing and made an urgent appeal to the congregation for non-violence. As people departed the church, they were greeted by thousands of fellow East Germans standing in the square, standing with candles in their hands.
To carry a candle outdoors requires two hands. One holds the candle while the other prevents it from going out. In order to keep a candle burning it is not possible to carry a stick or a club or a stone.
It was a miracle. When police arrived and surrounded the crowd, they didn't know what to do. They were bewildered and quickly lost their incentive to fight. For the protesters this was a peace vigil, and they were armed only with candles. Soon the police began mingling and talking with the people. Eventually they withdrew. As one officer said, "We were prepared for everything. Everything, that is, except candlelight."
The non-violent peace movement lasted just a few weeks more before the government collapsed. Not long after, about two hours northeast of Leipzig, the notorious Berlin Wall went crumbling to the ground.
Bob Taylor – Communities Digital News
Music As a Pathway
Posted by Edward McCue in Bach's Successors, Bach's Works
archbishop, Benedict XVI, bishop, cantata, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, Joseph Ratzinger, Karl Richter, Leonard Bernstein, Lutheran World Federation, Munich, pope, Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme
Pope Benedict XVI has spoken of art and music as "the true path to God, the supreme Beauty" and "the greatest apologetic for our faith."
"I remember a concert performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach – in Munich in Bavaria – conducted by Leonard Bernstein. At the conclusion of the final selection, one of the cantatas, I felt – not through reasoning, but in the depths of my heart – that what I had just heard had spoken truth to me, truth about the supreme composer, and it moved me to give thanks to God. Seated next to me was the Lutheran bishop of Munich. I spontaneously said to him: 'Whoever has listened to this understands that faith is true – and the beauty that irresistibly expresses the presence of God's truth.'"
It was a 1981 performance of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 140) that had so deeply moved Joseph Ratzinger, then archbishop of Munich. Based on readings related to the end of time, the cantata was being performed in the memory of Karl Richter, the great interpreter of Bach's music.
The Lutheran bishop sitting beside him, to whom Ratzinger had confided his thoughts, was Johannes Hanselmann, a leading figure in the ecumenical dialogue that led to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed in 1999 by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation.


text:
const passport = require("passport")
const FbStrategy = require("passport-facebook").Strategy
const {fbOptions} = require("../../config")
const knex = require("../knex.js")

module.exports = function setupFbStrategy(req, res, next) {
  if (!req.app.get("fbStrategySetup")) {
    const options = {
      ...fbOptions,
      callbackURL: `${req.baseUrl}/auth/facebook/callback`,
    }
    passport.use(
      new FbStrategy(options, (token, refresh, profile, done) => {
        const {id} = profile
        console.log(`Token for ${profile.displayName}: ${token}`)
        knex("users").where("id", id).then(rows => {
          if (rows.length) done(null, profile)
          else {
            const {displayName} = profile
            knex("users").insert({id, name: displayName}).then(user => {
              done(null, profile)
            })
          }
        })
      }),
    )
    req.app.set("fbStrategySetup", true)
  }
  next()
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
UPI Archives
Investigators probe CBN bombing
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Investigators are probing to determine whether the explosion of a letter bomb addressed to televangelist Pat Robertson is linked to a January bombing that injured the daughter of a Houston reverend, a postal inspector said Saturday.
A task force of postal officials, FBI agents and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, state and local police, and firefighters were probing the Friday bombing that injured a security guard at Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network complex. Robertson was uninjured.
'The ... parcel appears to have been mailed from North Carolina, and the possibility that this bomb is related to a similar incident in the Houston area is being investigated,' postal inspector C.W. Lawrence said.
A mail bomb arrived Jan. 30 at the non-denominational Lakewood Church in Houston addressed to the Rev. John Osteen. His daughter, Lisa, who worked at the church, opened the package while it was on her lap. She suffered minor injuries to the abdomen in the ensuing blast but has since recovered.
Osteen's church has 13,000 members and delivers an 'Oasis of Love' sermon regularly broadcast worldwide. No suspect has been arrested in the bombing. Osteen is black. His church has a mixed, white-black congregation. Officials do not think it was a racial bombing. The bomb was traced to South Carolina.
Lawrence pointed out both bombs were sent from the Carolinas and both were sent to religious figures, but he did not further elaborate on why investigators think the bombings might possibly be related.
Robertson, whose radio and television network often is used as a platform against abortion, said Friday that the CBN mail bomb may be part of a wider pattern of violence against Christian evangelists.
He referred to the Osteen bombing and the arsonist torching last week of the Indiana recording studio of Christian singer Sandi Patti.
Robertson, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, was in a meeting at the time of Friday's explosion and escaped injury. He described the bomb as 'crudely fashioned' and said it was addressed to him. The CBN founder said the package, which did not include a note, was sent to kill him.
William Scheepers, 33, of Poquoson, the injured security guard, was listed Saturday in good condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and was expected to be released within two or three days.
Five shrapnel fragments were embedded in his left leg after the 12:34 p.m. blast. A piece of metal about the size of a dime was removed, and the guard suffered superficial damage to his abdomen, according to Dr. L.D. Britt, director of the hospital's shock trauma unit.
Postal inspectors are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons reponsible for the letter bomb, Lawrence said. Officials also set up a toll-free telephone line to take calls from those who have information about the incident.
Lawrence said all evidence from the crime scene has been collected and is being analyzed at a Postal Service crime laboratory in Washington, D.C.
'This is evidence of extreme hatred by some deranged individuals who want to silence the Christian voice in this country,' Robertson said Friday. 'They should realize that devices sent through the mail will never reach those for whom they are intended.'
Scheepers, a full-time guard at CBN, told reporters from his hospital bed earlier that the package was about 6 inches long and 2 inches high, wrapped in brown paper. It was addressed to Robertson and had a North Carolina return address.
It was unclear why a return address would be placed on such a package.
After another worker indicated the package was suspicious, Scheepers ran it through an X-ray machine two times and shook it, then placed it on a desk and proceeded to unwrap it.
'I never saw what was inside the box,' Scheepers said, noting he opened the box about an inch before the explosion occurred. 'The next thing I knew I was laying on the floor.'
'It smelled like a shotgun blast or something,' he added. 'You could smell the powder in the air.'
No extensive damage was reported to the building, which is part of a support center for the religious network and its affiliated Regent University, formerly CBN University. About 600 people work in the building, said CBN spokeswoman Frankie Abourjilie.
The ministry and its operations in Virginia Beach receive upwards of 10,000 pieces of mail each day.
Robertson has turned more toward mainstream broadcasting with his cable network, The Family Channel, since his failed 1988 GOP presidential bid.
Odd News // 1 day ago
Two men sentenced after trying to smuggle drugs in baked bean cans
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Two men who tried to smuggle cocaine into Britain in cans disguised as baked beans and condensed coconut milk have been sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, authorities say.
Odd News // 2 days ago
$1 million jackpot is Pennsylvania man's fourth major lottery prize
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man won a $1 million prize from a scratch off lottery ticket -- marking his fourth major lottery jackpot since 1999.
Large, green fireball lights the night sky over Hungary
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A large green fireball illuminated the night sky over Hungary and was captured on video from various locations around the country.
Wandering seal leads police on slow-speed chase to law firm in England
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Police in England said a seal wandering near the center of a town led officers on one of their "slower pursuits" when it fled to a nearby lawyer's office.
Wedding ring found on Chicago sidewalk returned to owner
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Chicago man who found a wedding ring on a sidewalk said he was able to return the lost item to its owner after his social media post went viral.
'World's largest' cast-iron skillet travels down Tennessee highway
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Drivers on a Tennessee highway encountered an unusual oversized load traveling down the road -- a 14,360-pound cast-iron skillet said to be the world's largest.
Escaped wallaby captured after days on the loose in Belgium
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A wallaby that escaped from a Belgian recreation park was safely recaptured when the marsupial was spotted in the area after multiple days on the loose.
Indian artist breaks Guinness World Record with massive drawing
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- An artist in India broke the Guinness World Record for largest drawing by an individual when he created an artwork that covers 6,781.04 square feet.
Sugar glider flies into London man's sixth-floor apartment
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A London man said he was awakened in the early morning when a sugar glider flew through an open window into his sixth-floor apartment.
Listening to mom leads to lottery jackpot of over $1M
Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman found listening to her mother to be a profitable choice when it led to her winning a $1,682,998 lottery jackpot.
Final episode of 'Watters' World' airs on Fox News Channel


Schwabe Pharma Menoherb Tablets is a traditional herbal medicinal product containing 6.5mg of Black Cohosh root extract and is used for the relief of symptoms of the menopause such as hot flushes, night sweats and temporary changes in mood, based on traditional use only.
For women experiencing menopausal symptoms, take one tablet daily. Tablets should be taken at the same time of day if possible (morning or evening). Swallow tablets whole with some water. Do not chew tablets.


text:
ASCAP Unites Women in Music| Ledisi, MC Lyte and Company Gather to Celebrate Women
by Singersroom October 18, 2012
The 4th annual ASCAP Women Behind the Music series stopped at Bardot Hollywood in Los Angeles last night (Oct 17.) to educate and recognize women for their achievements in the entertainment business. Host MC Lyte kicked off the question and answer panel with soul singer Ledisi, Lizzy Moore, Mamie Coleman and Caroline Yim. The panelist candidly addressed questions around mentorship, balancing work, benefits of a male dominated industry and the rewards of their career.
Before receiving a medal honoring their contributions in entertainment, each panelist shared the most rewarding aspect of their career. R&B singer/songwriter Ledisi's mentorship started at home, her mother, a musician, taught her about the business. The "Pieces of Me" singer recalled learning how to copyright a song from the age of eight. In addition she addressed event-goers about not only completing her dream, but her parent's dream as well.
"It keeps changing," Ledisi says of her career goals, but adds, "the first always stays the same; it is completing my parents dream, this is their dream and I'm completing it."
Ledisi also adds that another career goal of hers is to bridge the music age gap. "The second thing I thought is, there is a generation gap and at my shows I managed to close that gap. You have old school and new school of R&B that come; it does not matter what class. That gap where the parents can fight over the same CD (with the kids), that is my goal. I want to close that gap between R&B old school and new school," said Ledisi.
Pages:Next page
TaggedLedisi
Drake Earns High School Diploma
Vina Mills – Love Em Good
Singersroom
Since 2005, Singersroom has been the voice of R&B around the world. Connect with us via social media below.
View all posts by Singersroom →
Movie Ticket: Red Carpets & Premieres
Date Night With The Carters: Beyonce & Jay Z Take on Broadway
Red Star Soul Concert With Goapele, Ashanti, More
August 11, 2008 January 7, 2016
Chris Brown Launches New Toy Line in Hollywood
EXCLUSIVE: Shanell Previews Upcoming Mix EP "Nobody's B!%#h"
THE CARPET: Usher, Alicia Keys, Monica, Brandy, More (Billboard Music Awards)


text:
» Journal contents
» TJA - Vol 63, No 2 - May 2013
» The role of public procurement in improving accessibility to ICT
Gunela Astbrink
GSA InfoComm
William Tibben
Government bodies use public procurement policies and mechanisms to purchase ICT products and services. Some governments in OECD countries apply accessibility criteria when procuring ICT to improve access to their services and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. This may have a flow-on effect of greater availability of affordable and accessible ICT thus improving digital inclusion. This paper outlines research on comparative analysis of the situation in Australia with current policy in OECD countries. The research resulted in recommendations for a consumer-oriented plan to work with Australian governments on the introduction of accessibility criteria in ICT public procurement.
Government purchasing of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can influence the widespread availability of affordable and accessible ICTs for people with disabilities. Accessible ICTs are defined in this paper as:
information and communications technologies (ICTs) that enable people with disabilities to use functions provided by computer hardware and software on an equal basis with others (EU 2011a).1
In general, increasing the availability of accessible ICTs is considered a positive step in removing barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating equitably in society (Hawkins 2011; Waddell 2009) and thus increasing digital inclusion. Government purchasing, usually called public procurement, refers to the processes that governments engage in to purchase goods and services, mainly from the private sector, to enable them to carry out various functions (McCrudden 2007: 2-3). The primary aim for including accessibility criteria in ICT public procurement is to provide more equitable access to ICT office equipment such as phones and computer systems for public servants with disabilities. However, it can have flow-on effects for increased ICT accessibility to the broader community.2
In order to better understand the context in which ICT government purchasing occurs it is useful to look more broadly at the topic of public procurement. Government, by virtue of its spending power, represents a significant player in the economy and can influence the availability and costs of goods and services. Government is able to do this by virtue of the various roles it plays as a:
buyer of goods and services
supplier of services and
regulator (McCrudden 2007: 2; EU 2011b).
Each of these leads to the possibility that economies of scale may emerge from public procurement that will eventually flow to the general market.
The use of public procurement to shape social outcomes is not new (McCrudden 2007: 4). Recent developments in the European Union (EU) indicate that the use of public procurement to further social goals is still very much on the agenda there (EU 2010: 5). However, the use of public procurement to singularly create additional demand for accessible ICTs is relatively recent (Waddell 2009) and untested in the Australian context. By drawing on the experience of other countries, the authors investigated the use of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement throughout OECD countries (Tibben & Astbrink 2012).3 In addition to the 86-page report of this research, an advocacy toolkit was developed for use by disability organisations.
The paper therefore summarises key parts of this research. It begins by briefly explaining the research design. The paper then moves on to reporting the findings of the comparisons made between OECD countries in their use of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement. In order to provide a more informed context in which to consider the Australian case, the paper reports on key parts of in-depth studies of selected cases as well as commentary from experts. After providing a summary of ICT accessibility provisions in public procurement in Australia the paper details the outcomes of focus group research that drew on the knowledge of members from key organisations that represent the interests of people with disabilities. The paper concludes with a discussion that distils the major research findings and recommendations from the research for Australian governments.
A mixed methods research design was employed to collect up-to-date information about accessibility in ICT government purchasing in OECD countries including Australia. Four principal methods were applied to the research design: systematic review (Petticrew and Roberts 2006); benchmarking (Wainwright et al. 2005; Andersen et al. 2008); case study (Creswell 1998; Yin 2009); and focus groups (Barbour and Kitzinger 2001).
The systematic review phase of the research was designed to identify and summarise key English language sources from OECD member countries. These were analysed using criteria that enabled countries to be benchmarked in their use of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement. This part of the research, in turn, identified cases for in-depth case study analysis. Cases were chosen on the basis of their learning potential. Diverse cases were summarised to provide a comprehensive understanding of ICT accessibility criteria and the different ways in which they were applied.
In order to obtain the most in-depth understanding of the Australian case both focus group research and interviews were used to complement the literature search. The experiences of people with disabilities in obtaining appropriate ICT workplace modifications were explored using focus groups made up of people with disabilities and representatives from disability organisations in Australia. Interviews were conducted with key stakeholders from government and industry.
Benchmarking of OECD countries
Benchmarking was undertaken to provide a global perspective on the ways ICT accessibility criteria are applied to the purchase of ICTs by national governments that are members of the OECD. ICT accessibility polices from these countries were systematically reviewed in order to determine key attributes of each. Information could not be obtained from all OECD countries. Information searches for Chile and Mexico yielded insufficient information to reasonably include these two countries in the benchmarking.
Table 1 summarises the findings. The findings include the monitoring mechanisms, as this has a significant bearing on the application of accessibility criteria in public procurement. It can be seen from Table 1 that only two countries, the USA and Japan, were found to have comprehensive accessibility criteria that are mandatory in public procurement. Comprehensive accessibility criteria indicate that detailed standards were used. In the case of the USA, the application of these laws extend only to federal authorities while in Japan it appears that all levels of government are required to apply these laws. Further, it can be seen that the monitoring of the application of these laws yields two different scenarios. In the case of the USA, the use of an online procurement system called the Buy Accessible Wizard enables ICT purchases by federal government authorities to be tracked and checked. In the case of Japan, it is not possible to find an official mechanism for monitoring compliance with their procurement laws. Indeed, Yamada (2011) comments that the Japanese market is flooded with inaccessible ICTs and related services as a consequence.
The second category of ICT accessibility criteria includes more countries: Italy, Norway, Sweden and Spain. ICT accessibility criteria in these instances were not prescribed by detailed standards or criteria but were more generally described. By way of example, Spain and Italy have broadly followed the Section 508 provisions but have not adopted the standards in their entirety. Norway has used the principles of universal design to describe ICT accessibility criteria. In Sweden?s case, ICT accessibility concepts are laid down in equal opportunity law. These countries have also chosen different means by which to monitor compliance with these laws. In Italy, monitoring is the responsibility of equal opportunity authorities. In the case of Sweden and Norway, public administration authorities are responsible for monitoring the application of accessibility criteria in public procurement. In the case of Spain, it was not possible to find evidence of monitoring.
ICT accessibility criteria comprehensively described in public procurement law
External monitoring regime that makes a commitment to publish results
Internal monitoring regime that makes a commitment to publish results
Internal monitoring regime ? but no commitment to publish results found
Evidence of monitoring regime was not found
ICT accessibility criteria broadly described in public procurement law
Italy, Norway, Sweden
ICT accessibility criteria acknowledged in public procurement law
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
ICT accessibility criteria NOT found in public procurement law
Australia, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Turkey
Table 1 - The application of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement law within the OECD.
The third category of ICT accessibility criteria comprises countries in which ICT accessibility is merely acknowledged in public procurement. This category has the largest number of countries. This is primarily by virtue of a European Union (EU) Directive on Public Procurement issued in 2004 that has been adopted by EU member countries. EU Directive 2004/18/EC required EU member countries to adopt, along with other clauses, the following clause (29):
Contracting authorities should, whenever possible, lay down technical specifications so as to take into account accessibility criteria for people with disabilities or design for all users (EU 2004).
It is perhaps axiomatic that the absence of specific ICT accessibility requirements in procurement processes has not lead to a complementary need for monitoring of compliance. Therefore, there was little need to further categorise these countries on the basis of their monitoring mechanisms.
The countries that had not adopted ICT accessibility criteria in their public procurement laws were in the minority. Notably, Australia is found in this group. Some of these countries? governments have opted for voluntary strategies to encourage the use of accessibility criteria when procuring ICTs. The federal government in Canada has sponsored the development of an online toolkit designed to guide purchasers through procurement decisions that are based on ICT accessibility principles. However, the final decision to adopt such principles is left to individual federal departments (D'Aubin 2007). In the Republic of Korea, a set of national ICT accessibility standards have been developed but these are not mandatory in public procurement.
It is anticipated that the rankings of countries in Table 1 will change over the coming years, particularly in Europe, where considerable preparatory work has been undertaken to develop ICT accessibility standards for eventual implementation.
In the course of the research it became obvious that web accessibility criteria had been applied in many countries (Tibben & Astbrink 2012: 18-19). This was seen in the variety of ways that web accessibility guidelines have been codified in administrative regulations (particularly e-Government strategies) as well as equal opportunity law (see Table 2).
France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland
Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Republic of Korea, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden
Australia, Canada, Greece, Iceland, New Zealand, Slovenia, United Kingdom
Estonia, Luxembourg, Spain
Web accessibility criteria NOT found
Belgium, Finland, Israel, Poland, Turkey
Table 2 - Web accessibility criteria described in other areas of law
It is encouraging to note that the majority of countries have embraced web accessibility standards largely adopted from W3C?s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. However, web accessibility criteria are but a limited subset of the full range of criteria required for ICT that are used by governments (and the private sector).
International case studies
There are a number of challenges that make the mandatory adoption of accessibility criteria when purchasing ICTs (or related services) less than straightforward. The in-depth study of contrasting cases provided a more nuanced appreciation of these challenges in the different approaches countries had taken to ICT accessibility criteria.
The United States is still considered a pre-eminent example of a country that has legally enforceable ICT accessibility standards as reflected in their so-called Section 508 legislation. The relevant legislation from which Section 508 is drawn is the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In 1998, amendments to Section 508 saw the creation of a set of enforceable accessibility standards that were embedded into federal procurement regulations in 2001 (Fotopolus 2006, 98).
In 2006, the realisation that Section 508 standards were being challenged by new technologies led to a review called the ?Section 508 Refresh?. This was done by the US-government supported Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC).TEITAC's brief was to review and update the standards that underpin both Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act 1996. (Section 255 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act relates to accessible telecommunications equipment for people with disabilities). TEITAC also considered new and converging technologies. These included:
self-service machines and kiosks
the growing market of gesture-based interfaces, such as touch screens
the emerging trend in digital or biometric identification as an alternative to password protection
hand-held devices and access for people with limited dexterity and refreshable Braille
access for people with cognitive disabilities
Another significant change that TEITAC made was ensuring that standards better address rapid technological changes. The Committee moved from specific product categories to product characteristics. This means that an Apple iPhone is not forced into a category such as mobile phone, computer or PDA but is described by characteristics that have accessibility requirements attached to them (Maguire 2008).
The compliance regime of Section 508, combined with the buying power of the U.S. Federal Government, are compelling factors that manufacturers respond to. Recent comments from US manufacturers suggest that they appreciate the greater certainty that Section 508 accessibility criteria provide (COAT 2012).
The Business Taskforce for Accessible Technology (BTAT) in the United Kingdom has promoted ICT accessibility criteria as a key component of future productivity. The business benefits that they cite are improved interactions with new and existing customers, greater loyalty and productivity from employees, improved business processes within the organisation and improved financial outcomes (Ashington 2009). Support of the BTAT Accessible Technology Charter from companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and Logica indicates the level of support for Charter features such as accessibility in procurement practices. Notably, the taskforce is responsible for developing a toolkit that enables businesses to assess their level of accessibility readiness through an Accessibility Maturity Model.
The experience from the European Union is one that favours the introduction of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement across member countries. The fragmentation of markets that can occur because of multiple standards and the resultant inefficiencies is one driver for the adoption of Europe-wide ICT accessibility criteria (EU 2011b). The EU?s Mandate 376 has directed European standards bodies to investigate the development of a detailed standards framework that can be applied in public procurement (EU 2005). This is to be harmonised with Section 508 standards as much as possible. The European Accessibility Act is under consideration by the EU and this may have an impact on the adoption of ICT accessibility criteria in future (EU 2011b).
The case studies detail the benefits of including mandatory accessibility criteria in public procurement policy and found that voluntary accessibility criteria did not produce similar effects to mandatory criteria (Tibben & Astbrink 2012: 64-68). Even in cases where legislative force underpinned ICT accessibility, compliance was found wanting because monitoring and sanctions were inadequate (Yamada 2011; NDA 2009). It is important to note that mandatory accessibility criteria refers to a requirement by government procurement officers to incorporate these criteria into purchasing requests for tender. It does not mean that companies are required to meet all the criteria. However, meeting more criteria provides them with a sharper competitive edge.
The report argues that applying mandatory accessibility criteria in ICT purchasing signals the government?s commitment to improving equality for people with disabilities. As an employer, many of the hurdles that currently exist in making one-off adjustments become less important as the technology and techniques that enable greater accessibility become mainstream. This enables employers to recruit from a wider pool of potential employees and better recognises the skills and knowledge individuals bring to the workplace. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes (2011) describes this as not only a beneficial outcome for people with disabilities but also economically advantageous to the public and private sectors.
Focus on Australia
Australia is grouped with countries that do not make specific reference to accessibility criteria for ICTs in their public procurement procedures.
It is in the area of web accessibility that Australia has taken more tangible steps. The Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy requires Federal Government websites to conform to the requirements of WCAG 2.0. The timetable for compliance has been set for W3C level A compliance by the end of 2012 and level AA by the end of 2014.4 As discussed previously, Australia is not unique in limiting its efforts to just web accessibility. The danger exists that assumptions may be made about the sufficiency of web accessibility initiatives. Some people may assume that the coverage of web accessibility guidelines extends to all computing and telecommunications hardware and software - which it does not.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) exemplifies a rights-based approach to improving equality for people with disabilities. Australia ratified the Convention on 17 July 2008 and ratified the Optional Protocol of the UNCRPD on 21 August 2009. This obligates Australia to put in place legislation to promote equality, to eradicate areas of discrimination, to promote awareness of these issues through training and research and to consult with and involve people with disabilities in developing legislation and policies. The primary legislative instrument that seeks to give legal effect to Australia?s commitment to the UNCRPD is the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), which is administered by the Australian Human Rights Commission. The DDA, among other things, ?protects against unlawful discrimination of people with disability in the workplace? (HREOC 2005: 31).
The Australian Government has been criticised for its poor record in employing people with disabilities (Dunlevy 2011; ADDE 2012). The Australian Public Service (APSC) Commissioner?s Statistical Bulletin shows employment of people with a disability in the Australian Public Service has dropped from a high of 5.5 per cent in 1996, to 3.1 per cent in 2010 (APSC 2010).
Focus group research carried out as part of this research was designed to capture information about the experiences of people with disabilities when seeking employment and when in employment. While the focus was not exclusively on those who had worked for the Australian Public Service, the accounts of focus group participants were illuminating for the frustration that many had experienced. As one participant stated:
?good people leave the public service because they are demoralised ? not getting support for equipment, there is inaccessible software and promises to change work practices which do not occur.?
Other stories from participants were consistent with this theme. One person was dismayed to discover that there was a departmental policy disallowing access to Skype that she used on a regular basis. Another focus group participant complained that IT support staff were not conversant with the technicalities of their assistive technology software. Specific mention was made of delays in the installation of screen reading software because there were issues that were related to the software?s need to traverse the department?s firewall. The latter example suggests that there has been some breakdown in ICT systems management. Under the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which is the information technology management regime in place within Federal agencies, all software (including assistive technology) is required to be tested with other departmental systems for compatibility as a matter of course. It appears that the isolated and one-off nature of reasonable adjustments has not led to the kind of expertise development required to adequately manage assistive technologies for people with disabilities.
The theme of insufficient technical expertise in relation to assistive technologies was also apparent when focus group participants spoke about their experience with reasonable adjustment interventions. JobAccess is a government agency that is responsible for assessing the needs for workplace modification and specialised equipment when people with disabilities have been successful in winning a position.5 While it was agreed that the process of obtaining workplace modifications has improved considerably over the past few years, there are still delays in getting the needed equipment. Often employers did not start the purchasing process until after the new employee had commenced work even though it was possible to do so earlier. A focus group participant stated that people still needed to be good at promoting their need for workplace modifications to JobAccess. In many cases, an employee with a disability may need to wait for up to a month before the workplace modifications are in place. This is because of the assessment, purchase and installation time frames.
In summary, the focus group outcomes indicate that the transition to employment could be improved through IT policies and reasonable adjustments interventions informed by improved technical knowledge of assistive technologies. Given that the experience of a transition to a new job is stressful for all, initiatives in this area would reduce inequities that people with disabilities face. Once in employment, the benefits of better informed IT policies will enable people with disabilities to effectively do their work.
The issue of ICT accessibility has been given renewed attention in the Federal Government?s National Disability Strategy (NDS) (Council of Australian Governments 2011). The first section of the NDS relates to inclusive and accessible communities. The importance of ICTs is acknowledged in Policy Direction 5 and the promotion of the principles of Universal Design in procurement is listed as an area for future action.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme represents a logical vehicle by which the benefits of accessible ICTs can be realised. While the emphasis of this research has been on the Australian Government, ultimately all public service agencies and private sector organisations should adopt procurement policies that make the purchase of accessible ICTs the norm. The removal of barriers to information access and employment that are promulgated by inadequately provisioned ICTs will provide a significant improvement in the lives of people with disabilities that are consistent with Australia?s ratification of the UNCRPD.
Discussion ? Plotting a path forward
The basic rationale for introducing accessibility criteria into the public procurement of ICTs centres on the bargaining power of governments (Yamada 2007). As manufacturers respond to the demand from Government for more accessible ICT products, these products will then become more broadly available thereby the price of accessible ICTs is reasoned to fall thus increasing affordability to the general community. While this reasoning intuitively makes sense, it is also supported by innovation theory (Edler and Georghiou 2007; Edler et al. 2005).
The commercial impetus for innovation in accessible ICTs will increase significantly if accessibility standards are agreed upon in major markets. Australia is a net importer of ICT and does not have a strong background in ICT manufacturing (ACS 2010). In being able to piggyback on the efforts of the United States, Japan or countries in the EU, economies of scale and improved knowledge development will be extended to Australia with its relatively small population base. The only way that this outcome can be guaranteed is if Australia adopts accessibility criteria in its purchasing arrangements. Otherwise, Australia may find itself in the invidious position of becoming a dumping ground for ICTs that are non-compliant with the requirements of these other countries.
The standards-setting work in the USA, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the EU is a rich source of knowledge that is available for use in Australia. Given the economies of scale that each of these countries has in manufactured ICT products (as well as Australia?s reliance on ICT imports) it makes sense for Australia to benefit from the achievements of these other countries. However, the research suggests a number of qualifications to this proposal.
Implementing a policy for the inclusion of mandatory ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement will present some logistical challenges. Yamada (2007, p. 7) describes it as the tension between setting broad functional criteria as opposed to detailed quantitative criteria. Broad functional criteria challenge the norms of public procurement procedures that rely on detailed specifications to enable comparisons to be made between competing tenders. Thoren (2007) states that mainstreaming of ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement should recognise the need for dialogue between government, business and people with disabilities to address questions as they arise. Sweden?s use of ?framework agreements? seeks to achieve this by formalising dialogue and negotiation that broadens the opportunities for information exchange between key actors beyond the constrained nature of competitive tendering processes.
Ignorance of accessible products and their potential was a key finding of the research. The task of educating stakeholders (such as designers, vendors, government purchasing officers, IT support staff) about the technicalities of accessibility is made difficult by the absence of training in this area. In much the same way that the US Section 508 standards have led to opportunities for training providers to address this knowledge deficit in the USA, governments in Australia can similarly provide strong incentives for training organisations to provide tuition in ICT accessibility and universal design. This will encourage an understanding of the role of accessible ICT in improving digital inclusion.
In recommending a strategy that builds on the work of other countries, it is assumed that Australian experts maintain contact with the progress of standards development overseas so that latest improvements are localised in a timely and efficient manner. Indeed, the specialised nature of ICT accessibility standards suggests that this should not be left up to interested individuals to pursue but should be developed as a formal initiative sponsored by Government. Disability advocacy groups must play an integral role in advising their members about ICT accessibility criteria in public procurement (Goggin and Newell 2000). With an informed membership, scrutiny of governments at all levels in Australia as they address accessibility criteria in ICTs will increase. Breaches will be identified more readily thereby placing pressure on the public and private sectors to maintain higher standards of accessibility in ICTs.
Accessibility criteria in public procurement of ICTs strengthen the government?s commitment to current and prospective employees in the public service. The experience from the UK suggests that the benefits extend beyond people with disabilities to all staff where there is a visible commitment to supporting individuals and the attributes they bring to the workplace (Ashington 2009). Given the role that the Federal Government plays as a model employer in the Australian context, its policies in relation to the provision of accessible ICTs for employees with disabilities are significant in providing leadership to other government jurisdictions and the private sector. The new National Disability Insurance Agency could act as a role model in accessible workplace practices including the requirement that ICT being purchased by the Agency has appropriate accessibility features.
Paralympian Kurt Fearnley in his 2013 Australia Day Address shone a light on Australia?s ?damning? record where 45% of people with disability live on or near the poverty line compared with 22% in OECD countries due in part to high unemployment rates. (Yamine 2013).
It is anticipated that universal adoption of ICT accessibility criteria in procurement processes by the public and private sectors will help to increase employment opportunities for people with disability and should gradually lead to the widespread availability of accessible and affordable ICTs. The positive effects of such a strategy should mean increased digital inclusion for people with disability in many aspects of life. The time is ripe for further research that tests the propositions outlined in this paper.
While mandatory ICT accessibility criteria provide the strongest incentives for compliance, it is recognised that negotiated change with cooperation from industry at the various stages of implementation will be key to future success. Consistent and uniform accessibility criteria will provide greater certainty for vendors and manufacturers to invest and compete thereby creating a sustainable commercial context for the supply of accessible ICTs.
ACS. 2010. 'Australian ICT Trade Update 2010'. Centre for Strategic Economic Studies & Australian Computer Society.
ADDE. 2012. 'Disability Employment - The Issues: So, What is the real unemployment situation?'. Australians for Disability and Diversity Employment Newsletter, Summer.
Andersen, B; Bj?rnar, H; Spielkavik, I. 2008. 'Benchmarking applications in public sector principal-agent relationships'. Benchmarking: An International Journal 15 (6): 723-741. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14635770810915913
APSC. 2010. 'Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2009-2010'. Canberra: Australian Public Service.
Ashington, N. 2009. 'Accessible Information and Communication Technologies: Benefits to business and society'. United Kingdom: OneVoice for Accessible ICT.
Barbour, R S; Kitzinger, J eds. 2001. Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice. London: SAGE Publications.
COAT. 2012. 'COAT Members Speak at Access Board Hearing to Freshen the Section 508 Refresh'. In Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology. Washington DC: Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology.
Council of Australian Governments. 2011. '2010-2020 National Disability Strategy: An initiative of the Council of Australian Governments'. Canberra: Council of Australian Governments.
Creswell, J W. 1998. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
D'Aubin, A. 2007. 'Working for barrier removal in the ICT area: Creating a more accessible and inclusive Canada'. The Information Society 23 (3): 193-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01972240701323622
Dunlevy, S. 2011. 'Job quotas urged for disabled in public service'. The Australian, 26 May.
Edler, J; Georghiou, L. 2007. 'Public procurement and innovation?Resurrecting the demand side'. Research Policy 36 (7): 949?963.
Edler, J; Ruhland, S; Hafner, S; Rigby, J; Georghiou, L; Hommen, L; Rolfstam, M; Edquist, C; Tsipouri, L; Papadakou, M. 2005. 'Innovation and public procurement: Issues at stake'. Germany: Fraunhofer Institute of Systems Innovation Research.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.03.003
EU. 2004. 'Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts' [Accessed 11 May 2012]. Available from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004L0018:EN:HTML
EU. 2005. 'Standardisation Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in support of European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT Domain'. In M376 Brussels: European Commission Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General [Accessed 10 October 2011]. Available from http://www.ictsb.org/Working_Groups/DATSCG/Documents/M376.pdf
EU. 2010. 'Buying social: A guide to taking account of social considerations in public procurement'. In European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity PROGRESS (2007-2013). Luxembourg: European Union, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities [Accessed 6 June 2012]. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=6457&langId=en
EU. 2011a. 'Consultation Document: European Accessibility Act'. European Commission [Accessed 19 January 2012]. Available fromhttp://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/2011-12-13_consultation_background_document.pdf
EU. 2011b. 'European Accessibility Act: Legislative initiative to improve accessibility of goods and services in the Internal Market'. edited by Roadmaps. Brussels: European Commission, DG Information Society and Media, Unit H.3 'ICT for inclusion' [Accessed 6 June 2012]. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/planned_ia/docs/2012_just_025_european_accessibiliy_act_en.pdf
Fotopolus, M C. 2006. 'Civil Rights across borders: Extraterritorial application of information technology accessibility requirements under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.'. Public Contract Law Journal 36 (1): 95-124.
Goggin, G; Newell, C. 2000. 'An end to disabling policies? Toward enlightened universal service'. The Information Society 16: 127-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01972240050032889
Hawkins, W. 2011. ?Australia's missing accessible information and communications procurement policy?. Telecommunications Journal of Australia 61(2): 23.1-23.9. http://dx.doi.org/10.7790/tja.v61i2.198
HREOC. 2005. 'WORKability II: Solutions ? People with disability in the open workplace'. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [Accessed 12 August 2012]. Available from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/employment_inquiry/index.htm#issues
Innes, G. 2011. 'Accessible procurement and promotion of equality in employment or: It's the same old song but with a different meaning now that policy's moved on'. Paper presented at Department of Finance and Deregulation, 2 August 2011, at Canberra [Accessed on 12 October 2011]. Available from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/speeches/2011/finance.html
Maguire, B. 2008. 'Report to Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) Access Committee on Work of the US Access Board Pursuant to Refresh of Rehabilitation Act Section 508 and Telecommunications Act Section 255 '. Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission [Accessed 20 October 2011]. Available from http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/communications/amta.htm
McCrudden, C. 2007. Buying social justice: Equality, government procurement and legal change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232420.001.0001
Narasimhan, N. 2010. 'e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities: Based upon the ITU-G3ict e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities'. Mumbai: ITU, G3ict and the Centre for Internet and Society in association with Hemtech India [Accessed 22 May 2012]. Available from http://cis-india.org/accessibility/publications/e-accessibility/at_download/file
NDA. 2009. 'Monitoring implementation of the NDA?s Code of Practice on accessibility of public services and information provided by public bodies'. Paper presented at 3rd Access Officer Conference, National Disability Authority, 3 April 2009, at Radisson SAS Hotel, Dublin [Accessed 16 February 2012]. Available from http://www.nda.ie/Website/NDA/CntMgmtNew.nsf/0/D2990315EBD8F6038025759300553B1D?OpenDocument
Petticrew, M; Roberts, H. 2006. Systematic reviews in the Social Sciences: A practical guide. Carlton, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470754887
Tibben, W; Astbrink, G. 2012. ?Accessible communications: Tapping the potential in public ICT procurement policy?. Sydney: Australian Communications Consumer Action Network [Accessed 20 January 2013]. Available from http://accan.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=495:government-ict-purchasing-what-differences-do-accessibility-criteria-make-for-people-with-disabilities&catid=98:access-for-all&Itemid=234
Thoren, C. 2007. 'Comments to H. Yamada?s paper on ICT accessibility standardization and its use in policy measures'. Stockholm: VERVA - Swedish Administration Development Agency [Accessed 6 June 2012]. Available from http://g3ict.org/download/p/fileId_686/productId_103
Waddell, C. D. 2009. 'Public procurement of accessible ICTs'. Paper presented at Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, 25-27 August 2009, at Bangkok, Thailand [Accessed 1 August 2011]. Available from http://www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org/toolkit/public_procurement/Public_Procurement_training
Wainwright, D; Green, G; Ed, M; Yarrow, D. 2005. 'Towards a framework of benchmarking ICT practice, competence and performance'. Performance Measurement and Metrics 6 (6): 39-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14678040510588580
Yamada, H. 2007. 'ICT accessibility standardization and its use in policy measures'. Sophia Antipolis Cedex: ICT Standards Board (ICTSB), European Telecommunications Standards Institute ? ETSI [Accessed 4 March 2012]. Available from http://www.ictsb.org/Working_Groups/DATSCG/Documents/Accessibility standardization.pdf
Yamada, H. 2011. 'ICT accessibility trends in Japan'. Tokyo: The Japan Web Accessibility Consortium [Accessed 5 March 2012]. Available from http://www.jwac.or.jp/shared/data/presentationbyhajimeyamada.ppt
Yamine, E. 2013. 'Kurt Fearnley delivers Australia Day address in Sydney '. The Australian, 23 January.
Yin, R. K. 2009. Case study research: design and methods. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
1. The definition is adapted from the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 which broadly defines accessibility as meaning that ?people with disabilities have access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, transportation, information and communications including technologies and systems (ICT), and other facilities and services in line with Art. 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)? (EU 2011a).
2. Narasimhan (2010) provides a useful introductory text to the topic of ICT accessibility criteria. A web version is available, along with other relevant resources, from www.g3ict.org
3. The funding for this study was provided by the Australian Communications Consumers Action Network (ACCAN) Grants Scheme.
4. For further information about AGIMO?s work on web accessibility go to http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/wcag-2-implementation/index.html
5. The JobAccess website, the government agency responsible for workplace modifications, can be found at http://jobaccess.gov.au/Home/Home.aspx Retrieved 18 May 2012.
Cite this article as: Astbrink, Gunela; Tibben, William. 2013. ?The role of public procurement in improving accessibility to ICT?. Telecommunications Journal of Australia 63 (2): 21.1-21.12. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.7790/tja.v63i2.412
Gunela Astbrink, William Tibben. 2013. The role of public procurement in improving accessibility to ICT. Telecommunications Journal of Australia, Vol 63, No 2, Article 412. http://doi.org/10.7790/tja.v63i2.412. Published by the Telecommunications Society of Australia and Swinburne University.
‹ Being other-wise: A tribute to the late Christopher Newell up ?They think I?m really cool and nice?: The impact of Internet support on the social networks and loneliness of young people with disabilities ›
Procurement policy and ICT accessibility
ICT accessibility


How do I submit the form?
Forms can be completed electronically but cannot be submitted electronically as students are required to sign the declaration at the end of the form.
When do I need to submit the form by?
If the affected assessment takes place in Trimester A, you are required to submit your MCF no later than 1 February 2019.
If the affected assessment takes place in Trimester B, you are required to submit your MCF no later than 22 May 2019.
If the affected assessment takes place in Trimester C/in the resit diet, you are required to submit your MCF no later than 28 August 2019.
Where assessments are scheduled in September (e.g. Postgraduate dissertations, placements) you are required to submit your MCF no later than 5 working days after the submission/assessment date, stating the date of your submission/assessment.
Where your circumstances are ongoing, e.g. from Trimester A to B, you are required to submit a MCF and supporting evidence in each semester affected.
What do I need to do before submitting a form?
You are encouraged to take a photocopy of your MCF/RMCF for your records.
Enclose the form and supporting evidence in an envelope marked "Confidential".
Where do I send the completed form?
You can submit your form and supporting evidence in the following way. In all cases, you will receive an e-mail confirming receipt.
or by post; MITS submission, Campus Life Desk, George Moore Building, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA.
By post or drop off to the Programme Co-ordinator, Room B115, Britannnia Building, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA.
By post or drop off to SWBE, Room M301i, George Moore Building, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA.
By post or drop off to the Programme Co-ordinator Room W706, Hamish Wood Building, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA.


Have you discovered Noisetrade for free digital cookbooks yet?
What started out as a free, legal music website (with optional tipping), has added free downloadable books to its offerings, including cookbooks.
June 4, 2014, 8:31 a.m.
If a Kindle could burst from containing too many eBooks, my eReader just may be about to explode. I download many free and deeply discounted digital cookbooks and many other books, too. Most of these books, I download directly from Amazon's website, but there's a new source for free digital cookbooks I've started to use, Noisetrade.
Noisetrade began as a music downloading website and has recently added eBooks. All of the digital downloads on the site are legal and are there with the artist's or author's permission. While any of the downloads are completely free, there is always an option to leave a tip to help support the musicians and writers who offer their creative works on the site.
The digital cookbook selection of Noisetrade is growing slowly, and at the moment it contains seven cookbooks. Here are the ones that have ended up on my Kindle for summer cooking.
When you want to download a digitial cookbook from Noisetrade, you have to enter your email and zip code. You'll be sent an email with a link that will then take you back to the site. You have the option of downloading books in the correct format for Kindle or the correct format for iBooks and Nook. Throughout the process, you'll have several opportunities to leave a tip.
It's best to read the Getting eBooks on Your eReader instructions before you go through the process. It's not difficult, but there are specific steps you need to take to get the books to download directly to your Kindle or other eReader instead of downloading on to your computer. If you don't have an eReader, you can still download digital books directly on to your computer and read them from there.
TV is about to get 35 new cooking shows. Will any be worth watching?


The Olympic Park is situated on the MUGA field in Charlton Down. It is so called as it was opened in 2012 by double Paralympian medalist Paul Blake (who lived in Charlton Down at the time).
There is also a play area in Cedar Road, Charlton Down which is owned and managed by Meadfleet. In 2010 the Parish Council completed a major extension to the playground which included a number of pieces of new equipment. This playground is aimed at children of a younger age group.


text:
Technical architecture document example
What is a technical architecture document?
This document describes the major components that will make up the solution, the dependencies between them, and how they will work together. This document is intended to: Capture all design considerations. Capture architecture level technical design decisions.
What is an architecture document?
A software architecture document is a map of the software. We use it to see, at a glance, how the software is structured. It helps you understand the software's modules and components without digging into the code. It's a tool to communicate with others—developers and non-developers—about the software.
What is a technical architecture diagram?
A technical architecture diagram provides a bird's eye view of the infrastructure of your organisation. The diagram illustrates how components in a system interact with one another in the large scale of things. There are various kinds of architecture diagrams serving different purposes.
What is included in technical documentation?
Technical documentation refers to any document that explains the use, functionality, creation, or architecture of a product. Think of it as a nuts-and-bolts "how to" guide for your users, new hires, administrators, and anyone else who needs to know how your product works.
What is the role of a technical architect?
As the technical architect , you'll be responsible for defining the overall structure of a program or system. You'll act as project manager, overseeing IT assignments that are aimed at improving the business, and ensuring all parts of the project run smoothly.
What is the difference between a solution architect and technical architect?
A solutions architect conducts complex research to determine trends that may impact an organization's operations. In contrast, a technical architect oversees the execution of specific solutions that align with an organization's application goals.
You might be interested: Associative memory in computer architecture
How do you document architecture?
Identify Stakeholders Identifying the stakeholders. Understand and document their motivations that could impact architecture . Understand expectations from the architecture documentation. Decide how we would address their concerns (identify ViewPoints). Agree on what you would produce. Get early feedback.
How do you describe software architecture?
Software architecture refers to the fundamental structures of a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations.
How do you define system architecture?
A system architecture is the conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior, and more views of a system . A system architecture can consist of system components and the sub- systems developed, that will work together to implement the overall system .
How do you create a technical architecture diagram?
How to draw an architectural diagram Document your shapes. And the edges. Keep your arrows consistent. Use colors sparingly. Use multiple diagrams , if necessary. Merge incomplete diagrams . Include legends/keys/glossaries. Use diagramming software.
How do I become a technical architect?
A technical architect is responsible for their company's computer and networking systems. The career requires an extensive background in information technology . You need a bachelor's degree or higher in computer science, software development, or a related field. A master's degree is an increasingly common requirement.
What are the six basic elements of enterprise architecture?
The six basic elements of an EA documentation method were presented: the EA documentation framework, EA components, current EA views, future EA views, an EA Management and Transition Plan and multi-level threads that include security, standards, and workforce planning .
You might be interested: Mid century architecture style
What are 3 main parts in a technical document?
Front Matter of any technical document must include the following elements : Title page. It should include the title, the author and the date. Abstract is a summarizing statement. Table of contents is a list of the subject headings and subheadings of the document . List of figures.
What is Technical Report example?
A technical report example is a written document made by a researcher which contains the details about a project's results. Such a report may contain procedures, design criteria, research history, images or illustrations, and other data relevant to the project.
Why is technical documentation needed?
The major reasons why companies today create technical documentation are to reduce customer tickets, the expenses on customer service and enable their support team to solve customer queries effectively. So, the main purpose of technical documentation is to help users achieve their goal using the product.
School of architecture in florida
Servicenow mid server architecture


On behalf of all of us at your American Cancer Society, we would like to thank our generous supporters of the 14th Annual Cattle Baron's Ball of Lee County. We appreciate your investment in our work by supporting this year's event. Because of you, and the donations of others, the Cattle Baron's Ball raised over $300,000! Advancing our mission to save lives, and lead the fight for a future free of cancer.
As the largest, private, non-profit source of cancer research funding, the American Cancer Society is committed to facilitating discoveries that save lives and improve the lives of those with cancer. The profits of this event will be used to help the American Cancer Society save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer. To learn how we're doing that, or get other cancer related information, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org anytime, day or night.
We would like to thank everyone who invested in the American Cancer Society by supporting this event. You helped us make a positive impact on the lives of those dealing with cancer today, as we focus on creating a cancer free tomorrow!


text:
Wallander – Tjuven är en svensk thriller från 2009. Det är den fjärde filmen i den andra omgången med Krister Henriksson som Kurt Wallander. Filmen släpptes på DVD den 19 augusti 2009.

Handling
En rad villainbrott sker i Ystad och några grannar bestämmer sig för att ta saken i egna händer. Lite senare får polisen Svartman veta av en polsk kvinna att hennes man Jarek Kozyra har försvunnit. En liten stund senare hittar polisen Jareks bil uppbränd. När polisteknikern Nyberg undersöker Jareks mobil upptäcker han två bilder på något som liknar en död kvinna.

I rollerna
Återkommande:
Krister Henriksson - Kommissarie Kurt Wallander
Lena Endre - Katarina Ahlsell, åklagare
Mats Bergman - Nyberg, kriminaltekniker
Douglas Johansson - Martinsson, kriminalinspektör
Fredrik Gunnarsson - Svartman, polisman
Stina Ekblad - Karin Linder, obducent
Nina Zanjani - Isabelle, polisaspirant
Sverrir Gudnason - Pontus, polisaspirant

I detta avsnitt:
Noah Waldfogel - Elias, Katarinas son
Henni Åman - Hanna, Katarinas dotter
Jacob Ericksson - Olle Södergren
Shanti Roney - Ralf Eriksson
Kalle Westerdahl - Peter Andersson
Kola Krauze - Jarek Kozyra
Vera Veljovic-Jovanovic - Maja Kozyra
Jessica Zandén - Åsa Ljungberg, Olles försvarsadvokat
Harald Leander - Journalist
Magnus Eriksson - Olles granne
Philip Zandén - Henrik
Karin Lithman - Anne Eriksson, Ralfs fru
Mats Hägg - Polistekniker
Inge Johansson - Polistekniker
Anders Söderberg - Polistekniker
Elin Lundström - Ralfs dotter

Svenska filmer 2009
Svenska thrillerfilmer
Ystad på film
Svenskspråkiga filmer
Filmer i regi av Stephan Apelgren