T-Mobile fared pretty well in OpenSignal's State of Mobile Networks: USA report earlier this year, and it looks like T-Mo has done well in the second report of 2016, too.
OpenSignal today released its latest State of Mobile Networks: USA report, and in it, T-Mobile came away with the fastest 4G LTE and 3G network speeds. T-Mo's average LTE download speed was 16.28Mbps, while Verizon's was 15.94Mbps. Meanwhile, AT&T posted an average LTE download speed of 12.83Mbps, while Sprint's was 9.36Mbps.
T-Mobile also won an award for fastest overall download speed, which factors in LTE and 3G speeds as well as the availability of each network technology.
Two areas that T-Mobile conceded to its competitors were 4G LTE network availability and 4G LTE network latency, which went to Verizon and Sprint, respectively. T-Mo did come in second in both categories, though it did win out for 3G network latency.
In the overall network comparison, T-Mobile finished with four category wins, while Sprint and Verizon each had one and AT&T finished with zero.
OpenSignal says that for this report, it examined 2,818,124,916 datapoints from 120,586 users of the OpenSignal app. The data was collected between May 1 and July 10, 2016.
In its conclusion, OpenSignal points to T-Mobile's efforts to build out LTE coverage in rural areas and its rollout of 700MHz spectrum as reasons for its wins. T-Mobile has placed a heavy focus on rolling out 700MHz coverage, also known as Extended Range LTE, and it plans to continue to do so. T-Mo recently revealed that its entered into agreements to acquire 700MHz A-Block spectrum in cities like Chicago, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Columbus, and that it also plans to roll out additional 700MHz sites in cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
To view the full OpenSignal report, hit up the link below.
Woo-hoo Tmobile! Bring on Nashville 700Mhz.
Area available for network deployment since August 2016. Spectrum Gateway expects band 12 network to be deployed in Q4/2016 – Q1/2017.
Do you have quickdraw on the Columbus OH rollout?
Salt Lake City just got the same status update on 700 mhz, and Legere specifically mentioned SLC in the last earnings call. Should be nice for rural expansion!
T Mobile USA's work is starting to pay off. They still have a long way to go since they are eventually going to have to build or lease towers to improve the signals in the new areas that their low band spectrum covers.
I don't think Tmo own ANY towers anymore… At least, they sold a bunch a few years ago to a company that manages towers. I could be wrong, though.
Have ALL 2G Edge cell towers been upgraded to LTE? Once that happens then you can brag about your network t-mobile, but not until then.
no, because the 2G technology is still being used by legacy devices for voice calls which is about 40% of the total calls.
So until then they have nothing to brag about?
Okay, good to know. Glad we have you.
LOL, what an envious comment. No need to be jealous, just cut the other guy and join us. You'll probably pay less for more, especially if you travel. T-Mobile can't be beat when you travel outside the US.
T-Mobile has enough mid-frequency spectrum to have better speeds in many places, but they prefer the to have the POP numbers almost as good as Verizon's with the 5×5 700mhz; Just don't talk about miles of coverage.
No, in fact T-mobile has a way of making the 2G cells joint 2G-3G. They need to keep the 2G because there are many business applications, like vending machines, that only use 2G and with AT&T exiting that market next year, T-Mobile will be the only provider for these services.
T-Mobile really is one of the big players now. VZW and AT&T don't want to admit it yet, and some consumers still have a bias against T-Mo due to the struggling years of the carrier, but report after report, quarter after quarter, T-Mobile proves that with the right leadership any ship can be pointed and taken in the right direction.
Less than 5 years ago T-Mobile could have arguably had the worst coverage, lame devices, and indecisive leadership. Now people flock to them and they often have some of the strongest signals around me.. But I'll let the awards speak for themselves.
John Legere for POTUS, anyone?
Legere is a much better guy than Trump. Loose cannon, maybe, but not with the same views or thoughts. Legere reminds me more of "The crazy ones.." quote by Rob Siltanen from that Apple commercial. Sometimes different is exactly what's needed.
This survey measures by number of people using the app, not square miles.
And I'm pretty sure you can only use the app where you have coverage. Flawed test.
You all might be right about T-Mobile not having the coverage – but Having been with T-mobile for 6 years now, I can tell you that the coverage has improved tremendously since I started using T-Mobile, with notable improvement in the last two years. No they are not Verizon yet, but they are definitely usable.
Folks might want to get a new phone though, with all the frequency additions T-Mobile has made, using a 3 – 4 year old phone won't get you any of the new service.
1000% agreed as I have been a T-Mobile customer for 14 years and seen the improvements.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! "Unlimited" data! Better check your find print again, troll. Maybe ask for more money to troll us.
Why don't you get off yours. You're the on who came here to down play T-Mobile's success. I had At&t and it was absolutely unbearable how they make you pay for everything.
Unless you actually utilize traveling all over and I mean all over the place your argument is invalid and idiotic. You pay 50% more for "coverage" that you most likely never even use. And that pizza was awsome, so was my free hat from mlb.com, my 5 free tickets to suicide squade, 5 tickets to Bush and Chevelle concert, free lift rides. And thats just in the last 5 weeks. Each line on the account gets the offer. Its unfortunate that Dominoes couldn't handle the surge in pizza orders, but answet this… What has AT&T given you? If you do the math on what TMo has given me so far you're looking at 5 pizzas @ $10 each= $50. 5 x $20 mlb.com = 100. 5 x 13 for suicide squad = $65. 5 x $20 for concert tix = $100 thats $315 so far in 5 weeks. My bill for 5 lines isn't even f315 per month. Lets not forget my free shares. So far i have collected 18 for 9 referrals (I get 2 per account since ive been a customer for 5 years.) 18 shares x $41 per share = $738. Sounds like TMo is paying me buddy. When you finally decide to not be a sheep any longer dm me and I'll send you a referral code lol.
I travel all over…5 years ago it was difficult not to carry a prepaid burner when traveling. Today it's just not the case.
Hmm, I have the 6 gig family plan and only pay 136 with tax for four lines. The 5th line would make it $160. You might want to check your plan if you are paying anything close to $315 a month. Yeah, we got the MLB – that is actually $119 per phone value.
Interesting with Tmobile, they don't charge for most of the data, videos, no charge, music, no charge, Pokemon no charge – so I have no way of blowing through 6 gigs of data, unless I do tons of work on the road, and use the Free hotspot/tethering capability of my phone.
I'm a cross country trucker so yes coverage is important to me. And read the bottom of my post again. I have cricket wireless which uses ATT towers. Truly unlimited data $65 total!
on all day and night, yes T-Mobile doesn't have the reach…yet!
near big cities, makes sense to hit those places up first, then branch out to the rural areas.
Im a trucker so i need coverage over speed. You know as i do that 8 mbps is fast enough to stream netflix and do what ever you would need to on the web. Plus Im on a truly unlimited plan and just used 72gb last month!


Cowboy Builders, it was always going to happen.
The Stone Masons got it right.
That seems to be the consensus of opinion, builders.
Such a great pity, I went inside once back in the 1960s as a youth, it was staggeringly beautiful.
The Chinese will 3d print it.
God (Bless his noodly appendages) has spoken,"I DON'T WANT A VERY OLD CATHEDRAL TARTED UP, I WANT A NEW ONE".
Who are we mere mortals to stand in the way of god's wishes?
BTW I first heard about this act of god while I was listening to the ABC local radio this morning.
Someone rang in and said they had recently visited Notre Dame and was so impressed with the crypt with its ceiling painted blue and covered in stars that she painted the ceiling of her outside dunny in the same fashion as a tribute. I laughed out loud, which was a bit embarrassing as I was on my morning walk.
Quasimodo won't be swinging from the towers any time soon .


text:
The Life and Times of a Canal Boat Cook
May 11, 2020 News, Program, Uncategorized Erie Canal, Erie Canal history, feature story, Museum news, New York State history, Oswego Canal
› News › The Life and Times of a Canal Boat Cook
Educator Derrick Pratt's biography of Oliver Wendell Petrie, a worker on early 20th century canals
By Derrick Pratt, Erie Canal Museum Educator
Oliver Wendell Petrie was born into a large family on November 18, 1899 in Oswego, New York. His mother was an avid reader and named her son after Oliver Wendell Holmes, whom she had evidently been reading during her pregnancy. Not much is known of Oliver's childhood other than that his father, an alcoholic, left the family when Oliver was young and that he consequently had to drop out of high school in order to support himself and his family. He did remain an eager learner all his life, and he was even in the process of writing a history of his church, Oswego's Church of the Evangelist, when he passed away. His father's departure had another important impact on his life as well, as Oliver was a devoted teetotaller, refraining from alcohol, all his life.
In 1929, he married fellow Oswegian, Helen Campney, who like Oliver had left school early to get a job supporting her family, working in a woolen mill. Together they had three children, Robert (1932), Phillis (1936), and Lois (1942), who I was lucky enough to speak with. Oliver's letters, Lois's recollections, and Oliver's actions in life all show a deep love for his family, in which he seems to have instilled a similar love for learning, as many of his children and grandchildren would become involved in the education field.
Working as a cook on the oil tanker Empire State
It's unknown how Petrie ended up learning how to cook or how he ended up on board the oil tanker Empire State as the boat's cook. Nevertheless, he was hired by the Federal Motorship Corporation and joined the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers on July 14, 1937 at the age of 37. His first voyage on the Empire State travelling between Chicago and New York City via the modern Erie and Oswego Canals, started on his 38th birthday, November 18, 1937. Thanks to donations by Oliver's family, the Museum archives contain a number of documents from his voyages. Petrie's letters, discharge book, personal recipe book and other items offer an interesting look at life on board a Barge Canal boat.
On board the Empire State, Oliver served the crew of 6-7 men a variety of meals, specializing in traditional soups and stews, but also knew a few recipes for more exotic ethnic cuisines, such as chile con carne, Hungarian goulash, and chop suey. All of these meals were prepared using ingredients purchased in New York City, illustrating the availability of relatively new food preservation techniques, such as canning and refrigeration. According to Oliver's letters, he believed he was a much better cook on board than he was at home. Lois recalled him serving excellent meals on Sundays during her childhood, the only time he would regularly cook at home.
Petrie helped with small tasks and chores on board the ship and spent much of his time reading. Frequently his brother, Fletcher, who owned a market in Oswego, would meet him at the Minetto locks to give him books. He also took the passage through Oswego as an opportunity to see the rest of his family. He spent a fair amount of time observing the landscapes and scenes he passed by on his journeys, with his favorite location on the entire Chicago to New York passage being West Point on the Hudson River. Oliver's June 1939 description of the home of the United States Military Academy provides a unique perspective into the country's military preparations as the world marched towards war.
Other sights of note in Oliver's letters include the 1939 World's Fair in New York and Howard Hughes' seaplane landing right in front of his boat. These letters, as well as Lois' recollections, provide a number of humorous anecdotes, most notably the story of Oliver's stove breaking and his captain's creative solution of pushing it overboard to get the company to purchase a new one. Oliver, as the teetotaller of the crew, also had the important duty of rounding up the rest of his crew mates, who had far less scrupulous morals, when their time in port was up.
Oliver spent a year and a half on the canals and Great Lakes as a cook, mostly on board the Empire State, though his final voyage was aboard the tugboat Sampson. He worked the canals until the summer of 1939, when his company asked him to work overseas. With his letters home already showing a deep homesickness, Oliver was unwilling to leave his family for such a long voyage and he left the canals for good following the completion of his voyage aboard the Sampson.
Life after the canals
Following his time on the canals, Oliver worked in a few Oswego factories before settling in at the Columbia Mills, where he worked for 30 years. He also cultivated 2.5 acres of gladiolas, being Oswego's primary supplier of the flower for many years. In addition to these money making ventures, Oliver was deeply involved in his local Episcopal church, singing bass in the choir while Helen accompanied them on piano, and serving as a vestryman.
Despite his albeit brief involvement in the transportation industry and varied onshore interests, neither Oliver nor Helen ever learned how to drive a car, taking taxis and buses when necessary. It seems Oliver made a relatively clean break from his days as a canaller, rarely talking about his time on the water or visiting the canal that still runs through his hometown. Lois did remember visiting the Minetto locks with him, where Fletcher had delivered books years before.
Sadly, Oliver Petrie passed away from a stroke in 1967, leaving behind a bright legacy, in both the enlightening artifacts that are now preserved in the Erie Canal Museum and, more importantly, in the wonderful family that he helped create, many of whom still live around the Oswego area.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Install was super easy. Just unscrewed the factory bar ends, and install the rhino ones. The arrow mirrors were a little tight to fit in the groves in the bar ends, but just a little bit of force, they went right in and work great now. I don't have any pictures at the moment, but i can take a few and post some up for people to see.
Fitted Gilles TCA chain adjusters with the ACM titanium axle nut.
It was the other day, but I decreased and relubed the chain with a dry wax. Also fitted Rizoma Tomok mirrors, to try and resolve the vibration issue.
Had a really great time trying to source 2 chemical black m10 x 16 socket button head screw to fill the mirror holes. Found one supplier who only sales by the 100! looks like its gona be stainless.
Nice option but brake reservoir on the right needs a bolt though.
They are threaded so hold the reservoir in place. They could be a tad longer, but reservoirs don't weigh a lot and I've never had any problems.


This post is a write up of a recent project I completed that automates editing interesting moments from lengthy video footage. The scripts utilize meta data to programmatically trim the footage into a short "best of" highlight reel.
I play competitive volleyball with my coworkers. Competitive not in the sense that we are great players (we are pretty bad), but in that winning means we get to carry the title of champion for the rest of the day.
The problem with being competitive amateurs is that every play, every self-made call on whether someone touched the net or if the ball landed out of bounds is scrutinized; after all, it only takes one mistaken call to cause the other team to come out victorious.
Not every hit is as obvious to officiate as this.
I started filming our volleyball games in an effort to reduce some of the disputed calls – after all, video footage will show the truth of whether your hand scraped the net or not. As a bonus, having video footage of all of your mistakes and terrible plays makes for great fun.
While filming volleyball games is easy – set up the camera, press record, go and play – editing that hour worth of footage is painful. If you have filmed your child's piano recital or baseball game only to have to fast-forward to the interesting parts when re-watching later on, you know what I mean.
Filming games for dispute arbitration, self-improvement, and comedy is only good if people actually want to watch the footage. And the only way ANYONE is going to want to watch the footage is if it's edited down to a "best of" highlight reel.
You would think pressing the Star button would add a HiLight tag. Nope – it's the wrench.
I was determined to find a way to edit our volleyball game footage without having to actually edit our volleyball game footage.
I film our games with a GoPro, and the more recent GoPro models have a "HiLight" tagging feature that adds chapter marker meta data to the video footage.
These HiLight tags are meant to make it easy to find interesting parts of your video later on. HiLight tags can either be added via remote control or the voice activated phrases "Add HiLight" or "That was sick" (yes really). The voice activation didn't work well for our camera setup inside of a giant gym, so I opted for aknock-off GoPro remote.
The way it works is that after every contentious, comedic, or (completely lucky) amazing play, I press the HiLight button on the remote to save this interesting spot in the footage for later.
This is the full length ~30 second long recording. It is boring to watch (with the exception of King Charles wanting to get in on the action). Imagine this is a 1-hour long volleyball game. Notice when I press the button on the remote to add "HiLight" tags to the video.
This is the automatically edited version. You'll notice each clip starts 3 seconds before and 1 second after each time the button is pressed – that is configured in the program.
Now comes time to edit the hour of game footage. GoPro has some of their own desktop and mobile software for editing the tagged footage, but those options did not produce the results I was looking for (those tools are definitely catered towards putting together compilations of your footage from a weekend ski trip).
Unsatisfied with existing solutions, I ended up writing my own python script for extracting the HiLight tags from the video footage.
First, the script parses the video files, identifying the locations of all of the HiLight tags.
Next it calculates the time locations for a given amount of seconds before and after each HiLight tag (this is variable – I've found 7 seconds before and 1 second after the remote button press works well for our volleyball games).
Once all of the trim start and end points are calculated, the script then cuts out clips from the footage and compiles them into a single video file.
Finally, after the finished "HiLight" reel renders, the video uploads to our private YouTube channel.
After I get back to my computer from our volleyball games, it takes my under powered laptop about 40 minutes to edit an hour of footage down to around 5 minutes and upload the resulting compilation to YouTube.
Honestly, I'd be happy even if this took 3 hours because the best part is that after I put the SD card into the computer and double click the shortcut to run the script, the process is completely automatic.
In all honesty, having the game footage hasn't stopped many of our game disputes: arguments about physics, geometry, and indoor weather patterns still come up regularly.
However, having a tightly edited video of you and your friends' "best of" and "worst of" moments is really fun to watch.
While I'll keep editing our volleyball game footage (because it's so easy), I'm more excited about ideas this project has given me for editing other, non-GoPro footage I generate weekly. I plan on repurposing quite a bit of this code for more advanced version to help me do the rough edits of my SQL with Bert DSLR footage.


text:
Tag Archives: my location
Blog, Conference, Philosophies, Spiritual Reflections
International Conference on Community Psychology: South Africa Summaries
June 25, 2016 samantha	Leave a comment
In late May, I was a participant in the 2016 International Conference on Community Psychology in Durban, South Africa. This year's theme was "Global Dialogues on Critical Knowledges, Liberation and Community." I will be publishing a few blogs on the experience, this one highlighting my presentations at the conference. Future posts will highlight other contributing scholar-activists and notes from presentations I attended.
Interested folks can also check out the video made by the conference organizers, highlighting the keynotes and key themes that emerged:
My Presentations:
I made three presentations at the conference. I give BIG thanks to the mentors, professors, family, friends, colleagues, and cosmos– all of whom have initiated, contributed to and helped further these ideas. Heartfelt thanks.
Decolonizing Reconciliation Processes for Historical Harms: A Dialogue for Action
This image represented on a poster of "expressions of community psychology."
This presentation emerged from my experience as part of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR-USA) delegation to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese Fellowship of Reconciliation (JFOR) in recognition of the 70th commemorations of the use of atomic weapons. The question being asked here is, "how do we mobilize across racial, ethnic, and class communities to create consensus around processes of reconciliation… especially if those events happened before our lifetime?" As intergenerational communities seek to do repair for historical wrongdoing, psychological cultural-workers must also negotiate their current diverse positionality in contemporary and historical webs of violence as the basis for reconciliation.
In other words, when a hibakusha (Japanese term for "bomb survivor") begins their testimony of the bombing by imagining their place and their ancestor's place in relationship to the harms cause by Japanese imperialism on Korean, Chinese, Pilipino… even USA… citizens, they are locating themselves in a web of relationships. Many Hibakusha use this awareness as the beginning of their testimony.
In the case of our FOR delegation, we realized that if we were to do similarly—if each of our delegation members "located themselves" in the web of relationships (positionality) as racialized, gendered, economically-informed beings, particularly around issues of racialized militarization in the USA, we would each be led to different ways of responding to the people in front of us, even if our intention (reconciliation and healing) was the same and our sense of wrongdoing about the use of nuclear weapons was the same.
Social location—naming and claiming our relationships and differences—matters in reconciliatory work.
It challenges the belief that reconciliation requires a coherent consensus of a history, an individual or an organization. In fact, it relies on us emphasizing the differences, contradictions and complexities in order to and as part of really get to the interconnectedness.
It also decenters the overemphasis that can occur to "find the similarities" when doing difficult relational work.
In our experience in dialogue with Japanese activists, the most impactful experience was our willingness to share our ancestral and present locations and speak from that experience.
Reconciliation is not about a fantasy future of unity or an imaginary past "before" the rupture—rather, it involves standing in our particularity in order to accurately imagine and/or re-member the threads that connect us. In the words of Watkins and Lorenz (2001), it is about gathering around the "rupture" to see what new possibilities may be emerging.
II. Life in the Rupture: Towards an Eco-Psychological Sense of Community (EPSOC)
My second presentation focuses on some of the ideas within the field of community psychology itself.
"Psychological Sense of Community (PSOC)" is a model of measurement that has been described as a "lynch-pin" that holds the field of community psychology together. It has been used as a tool by community psychologists to determine the aspects of community that create the feeling of community, roughly grouped into (1) membership, (2) influence, (3) integration and fulfillment of needs, and (4) shared emotional connection (McMillan and Chavis 1986).
While PSOC has led to innovations in analysis and measurement in efforts to replicate what exactly makes community "work," there have also been critics that name that the ways PSOC breaks down component parts of community might not capture the essential quality of an experience of community that we are all working hard to identify and move towards. For example, communities with a higher level of homogeneity (for example, the KKK), will likely score higher on PSOC than a community with more racial and ethnic diversity (which may be labeled a "disordered" community by these measurements and by some measurers). In response to these kinds of critiques, McMillan acknowledged that PSOC will never quite capture the "spirit" of what the we are really talking about—and, further, that PSOC "is a theory to describe reality, not a theory to prescribe reality" (2011).
However, for community psychologists who value interrupting and disrupting systems of power and domination that are part of our described reality, we may be seeking to measure and move towards a different kind of PSOC—something that does guide us towards nourishing and sustaining communities that honor and engage differences and interrupt oppressive power dynamics.
'Transforming the urban edge' illustration by Paul Kearsley from the Urban Permaculture Guide 始まる新しい生き方 and the 2016 Permaculture Calendar
I think Hughey and Speer (2002) move us closer to the "spirit" in their use of network and systems analysis to demonstrate that actually healthy environments require "individuals and groups to develop and exercise features of social networks that function to position themselves at the boundaries of networks" (p.74). Here, boundaries and edges are opportunities—opportunities to access different kinds of resources, build resilience, and generate the changes that allow for communities to survive. By bringing their language into dialogue with PSOC, we can challenge metaphors and models that value or prioritize "orderly," linear, homogenous, progressive and cohesive patterns—we can create measurements that value the seemingly disordered, the diverse, the creative and the boundary-crossings that make life evolutionary. This is a language often used to describe aspects of ecological systems—a system that requires the edges, the chaotic and the adaptive in order to survive and thrive.
With guidance from these critiques and some support from depth and liberation psychology (Watkins and Lorenz 2001), here is where we might imagine an "Eco-Psychological Sense of Community (EPSOC)." These contributions to the language of PSOC suggest that there is something beyond the component parts of being an individual as part of a cohesive system—even hinting that the fantasy of a cohesive system (and "orderly" communities) is not a universal reality at all, nor would its measurement and duplication make meaning out of the diverse locations and experiences where healthy community happens.
Perhaps "E" stands for "Eco" or perhaps "E" stands of "Edge"—no matter what, it means we engage the way our measurements maintain rather than interrupt systems of power and domination.
PSOC as a measurement model may not go far enough in (a) the decolonial project of deconstructing the fantasy of a unified, progressive self or community nor (b) sufficiently valuing the rupture of that fantasy (and the role of conflict) as a sign of life within a social system as an ecological system.
We need to acknowledge the implicit values of our "measurement tools" in our field—and re-imagine what we are really looking for as signs of health and vitality that support us in interrupting status quo power dynamics.
Community psychologists should be looking for edges as a sign of health and well-being—edges are where our vitality, creativity, and resilience emerge.
III. Eve, Adam, Snake and the Garden of the Global North: Decolonizing Theologies Through Theatre
Photo by G. Zhuang
This presentation was an "Innovative Presentation"—a part of the conference that allotted me a ninety-minute session to use theatre, story and movement to engage issues of coloniality in theology.
This presentation might be captured in a pseudo-mathematical equation:
(Scriptural exegesis of Genesis II) + (Anti-Racism) + (Bibliodrama) + (Academic and faith-based interrogation of borders, walls, and border-crossing) + (Theatre of the Oppressed techniques) = The Real Story of Eve, Adam, Snake and Tree
I relied on writing from Rev. Rebecca Parker's essay, "Not Somewhere Else But Here: The Struggle for Racial Justice as a Struggle to Inhabit My Country" from Soul Work: Anti-Racist Theologies in Dialogue. Parker imagines the ways that the story of "The Fall" in Genesis II acts in support of white privilege in that it describes a relationship with God where to know one's self as capable of both "good" and "evil" is to lose one's relationship with God—to stay obedient, innocent and pure is to stay in relationship with God. Yet, in the work of anti-racism, we need white people who are able to see ourselves and our history more clearly and more honestly.
Parker's writings are supported by Chicana scholar-activist Gloria Anzaldua's work on the seven stages of conocimiento from "Now let us shift… the path of conocimiento… inner work, public acts"—a coming into consciousness that requires the bridge-builders, the in-between walkers, that are willing to have reality torn apart and brought back together in new, more life-giving and more generative ways. She writes, "According to Jung, if you hold opposites long enough without taking sides a new identity emerges. As you make your way through life, nepantla itself becomes the place you live in most of the time— home" (p. 548). We need the tearing apart of what isn't working as part of creating something new.
Anzaldua's imagining of the border as something to bridge makes for an interesting dialogue partner with Wendy Brown's Walled States, Waning Sovereignty. The wall around Eden and the wall through the southwest deserts of the USA are a form of "psychic insulation," maintaining USA fantasies of purity, innocence and goodness—keeping the privileged and abundant lives of those within it without a horizon worth questioning and the people beyond it as invading, marauding, evil force to be stopped (Brown, p. 120-121). This, embodied in the Judeo-Christian story of Adam and Eve, becomes a theological value. While Brown does not go so far to make the theological connection that Anzaldua makes in her first movement towards consciousness, both are seeking a bridge over the wall—and Parker's Eve is alongside them.
"FLAG" questions from Frank Rogers, Practicing Compassion (2014)
Bibliodrama and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques (Peter Pitzele 1997 and Augusto Boal 1993) give us a way to engage this story as both problematic and potentially generative.
Methodologies: Sharing a new version of the story generated from my time in seminary that imagines Eve, Snake and Adam as escaping the garden to go beyond the wall—with the possibility that there had been people on the other side of the wall along—is the starting point for our embodied play using character embodiment, followed by character interviewing in dyads, and an "empty chair" technique to imagine the characters who are part of our story. Each person in the workshop takes an empty chair, embodying the character with a pose. We then imagine the internal longings associated with that character to understand more clearly what they may be trying to tell us and make those statements to one another out loud.
Having told this new version of the story in different contexts, sharing it in the South African/international community psychology context led to important conclusions and realizations:
It was an important revelation to interrogate the wall in the Garden of Eden: what is this wall? Who is outside the wall? Who built the wall? Who does the wall serve? What would the wall say to us now as we deal with issues of borders and walls in our communities?
Workshop participants longed for a more equitable relationship between Eve and Adam—even in my own re-telling, my story chooses to center the story on Eve as agent of social change as an anti-dote to the dominant narrative that tends to degrade her being. Still, what would be a more satisfying relationship between the two?
One workshop participant who expressed a "resistance" to changing the story, acknowledged that in his role as "the fruit," he felt a strange and unexpected longing to be eaten. How might we activate and animate the "non-human" creatures and beings in the garden and what might they tell us? What voices have been left out by our over-emphasis on human voice?
I look forward to bringing this story and workshop methodology to other communities as dialogue partners in re-imagining this story—clearly, there is much more to be said by many more of us.
The next ICCP conference will be held in Chile in 2018.
Thank you all for making ICCP2016 a huge success! See you all in Chile in 2018 pic.twitter.com/wQfy4HpAHL
— ICCP 2016 (@ICCP2016) May 31, 2016
activismcommunity psychologyconferencesfeaturedliberation psychologymy locationpermaculturesouth africa
Blog, Spiritual Reflections
A Prayer for Cities
April 28, 2015 samantha	Leave a comment
A pastoral prayer inspired by the work of Urban Partners Los Angeles, a ministry of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, prepared for worship at UULA on April 19, 2015.
Pastoral Prayer for Cities, for Los Angeles
By Samantha Gupta
Spirit of Cities,
We are gathered in your concrete
And wood
And dust
And asphalt
in worship and in gratitude.
You who are worthy of our loving attention,
Hear us.
We gather in sorrow for what aches and moans
Beneath the weight of sky scrapers,
Bank buildings, pay checks,
Food trucks, dandelions in the cracks of cement.
Crushed beneath the weight,
Sometimes the shadows of these too-tall-trees
leaves us wandering if we are seen at all,
if any light will come.
See us.
In times of shadow, we gather around this chalice
with reverence for those who make themselves known.
Graffiti prophets tagging story and name to wall
refusing to go quietly.
And corner prophets singing praises to a God
they know who might see them.
And the mothers and fathers and children who live each day
wondering if the day will come where life moves with a greater gentleness.
And the lives of the women and men
who sat in these rooms, responsive to what they heard outside them.
Guide us.
Spirit of Life,
Lady of Los Angeles,
Open our ears that we may hear more deeply the sounds of these streets,
Our eyes that we may see more clearly the stories of these faces,
Our hearts that we may respond from a place of connection
The connection that we may know in our bones, whispering:
We belonging to these people,
We belong to this place.
Spirit of Life, of Cities,
Teach us how to be at home, and how to be a guest in the homes of others.
carechaplaincycultural repairmy locationprayer
Blog, Culture Repair, Feminisms, Personal is Political, Privilege, Spirit in Activists, Uncategorized
Story of (de)Centered.
When one initiates a blog, it is important to put some context around where the words are coming from– who is this person, why is this topic important to them and where do they locate themselves in the conversation? While no blog aiming to be less than 1000 words (already too much) could cover a human story, this is a start. Future blogs will fill in the rest.
My name is Samantha. I'm from Moreno Valley, CA.
I first became interested in ministry during high school. As a youth I attended leadership development camps and summer/winter camps at our local Unitarian Universalist camp, deBenneville Pines. My activism was formed by an alchemy of mentors, make-shift leadership positions, our high school "Anti-Hate" Club and 9-11. I was a freshman in high school when the twin towers fell, and I was awakened to how little I knew of the world outside of Moreno Valley—particularly about my Muslim brothers and sisters.
When I announced my desire to become a minister, my mentor at the time was less than thrilled; "The church is too small for you," he said, "you need to be in the world."
I attended my undergrad at UC Riverside and committed myself to Religious Studies and Global Studies. My college sweetheart and I ultimately went off to India together to study abroad and India had much to teach us—I was medically evacuated with an unknown illness that mimicked malaria, lived in a beautiful city (Hyderabad) that had experienced a terrorist attack and ultimately broke up with my partner. India kicked me out.
Rightfully so. Ivan Illich has something say about privileged folks using volun-tourism, no matter the "good intention," only to realize their own powerlessness. Although I was a student, my ultimate realization was how little I knew, how fragile I was and how ultimately unprepared young people my age were to be in transnational dialogue that did not perpetuate the same oppressive frameworks as our colonial ancestors. These are lessons anti-racism communities have already formed, but have yet been taken to the transnational context– where nationality, mobility and history matters in different and similar ways.
It was not a matter of "stop doing global work" (as some local activists told me), because the choice of having global impacts on other lives is the ultimate illusion—our choices do have an impact. And if we were not talking to each other to care for our world then evangelist missionaries, corporations and governments would do the talking for us—we had to dialogue, but we had to do it in a better way.
I applied for funding upon my return to start what was supposed to be a small, one-year project—a transnational youth leadership experiment that named leadership as acting in ways relevant to local communities and in dialogue with global peers, inspired by Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The Child Leader Project (CLP) organically grew into its own non-profit, becoming one of my primary learning spaces of spirituality, community and connection over the next five years. In 2013 I stepped down from leadership into a support role to the USA- and Indian-based leaders who continue to this day in youth organizing that creates the container to hold young people in reflecting, connecting, dialoguing and acting in the world.
For me, this was how we "know" something—we live into it. In collaboration with the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, I drafted a proposal for a community-based participatory action research office at the University of California-Riverside to institutionalize this way of "knowing". The goal was to mentor undergraduate students to connect with community organizations on projects that matter to the non-profits and their community members. The best education was praxis (reflection-action) oriented: requiring a reflective mind and curious intellect, but ultimately a body that was willing to show up, listen deeply, speak from the heart and be changed.
Two years at a research university quickly reminded me of the message from my high school mentor. Was this enough? I was negotiating the tensions of the "hard sciences" with a community- and student-centered model of research as uncovering new knowledge(s) through honoring the experience of the individual or the community. I knew I needed to be learning, teaching and practicing in communities where the words "love" and "justice" were taken as seriously as "qualitative" and "quantitative"—and where does one do that? Was that at the public university as a professor, in the parish as a minister, on the street as an activist, in the home as a member of a family or community or environment?
By then, at age 24, I applied to and was accepted at Claremont School of Theology for my Master of Divinity. I wasn't sure if ordained UU ministry was the specific calling, but I knew it pointed to something— it named my hunger to be in the world as a thoughtful, action-oriented and healing presence.
At 26, I find myself writing this blog. Having worked within multiple non-profits—from faith-based to social service-oriented—as well as directing my own, I know the struggle and the joy of organizing around a mission, meeting some goals and missing the mark on others. Having served in parishes, youth ministry, preaching as a guest or developing curriculum on spiritual activism, I know the desire for faith movements to be relevant and yet deeply rooted to their past, to provide a framework of meaning-making in an awesome and awful world. Having worked in the university as a student, researcher and director—I know the joys of learning and the necessity for access to knowledge but the dangers of knowledge narrowly defined, definitions codified and truth canonized to exclude. As a new with my incredible husband, I am learning what it means to be in relationship, to craft a kin of intention, negotiate in-laws or family members who disapprove of me as well as reclaim those relationships that are life-giving and need tending.
This is where I am learning what it means to minister, to attend to the world—beginning with my own, and spiraling outward. I learn in my skin, centered. I learn from others, decentered beyond my own experience, my own ancestors, my own context.
This blog is a reflection of what I have learned, what I am learning and all the things I do not know about what it means to be a de-centered activist hungry for wholeness. I look forward to sharing, dialoguing and being changed with you!
activismautobiographycontextfamily systemsmy locationreflection


Discover how one woman transformes antique typewriter keys into vintage jewelry.
Repurposing antique typewriter keys, one jewelry maker has created a unique, personal and handmade product.
Ruth features necklaces for every letter in the alphabet. This makes them the perfect personalized gift for any friend or family member.
Ruth uses a worn, vintage suitcase as a platform to display her antique Underwood typewriter.
Each necklace is made with a sterling silver chain from Italy and occasionally a butterfly pendant for a whimsical touch.


text:
T?KA Put a Smile on the Faces of Orphans in Togo
By APO Group
23 December 2021 | 12:00 pm
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) equipped the orphanages in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and Sokodé, the country's second largest city. As part of the project, TİKA provided bunk beds, mattresses, bed linens, and washing machines to Lomé Orphanage and Sokodé Orphanage, where 100 and 120 children live, respectively. In his statement, Tchagodomou Safiou,…
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) equipped the orphanages in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and Sokodé, the country's second largest city.
As part of the project, TİKA provided bunk beds, mattresses, bed linens, and washing machines to Lomé Orphanage and Sokodé Orphanage, where 100 and 120 children live, respectively.
In his statement, Tchagodomou Safiou, Principal of Lomé Orphanage, thanked the Republic of Turkey and TİKA and noted that the support provided put a smile on the faces of orphans and would help them sleep better.
Mahfouz Mako, President of the Association for Education and Development of Togo, stressed that TİKA implemented a meaningful project for children in need and that this support would further improve the relations between Turkey and Togo.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).


text:
Affordable Books - ADLE International
ADLE International
Affordablebookfinds
The Tarot Place
Home › On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old
Hardcover – June 26, 2018
by Parker J. Palmer (Author)
From beloved and bestselling author Parker J. Palmer (Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, Healing the Heart of Democracy), comes a beautiful book of reflections on what we can learn as we move closer to "the brink of everything."
Drawing on eight decades of life -- and his career as a writer, teacher, and activist -- Palmer explores the questions age raises and the promises it holds. "Old," he writes, "is just another word for nothing left to lose, a time to dive deep into life, not withdraw to the shallows."
But this book is not for elders only. It was written to encourage adults of all ages to explore the way their lives are unfolding. It's not a how-to-do-it book on aging, but a set of meditations in prose and poetry that turn the prism on the meaning(s) of one's life, refracting new light at every turn.
From beginning to end, the book is laced with humor as well as gravitas -- beautifully enhanced by three free downloadable songs from the gifted singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer, written in response to themes in the book.
I. The View from the Brink: What I Can See from Here
II. Young & Old: The Dance of the Generations
III. Getting Real: From Illusion to Reality
IV. Work & Vocation: Writing a Life
V. Keep Reaching Out: Staying Engaged with the World
VI. Keep Reaching In: Staying Engaged with Your Soul
VII. Over the Edge: Where We Go When We Die
Postlude
Why did I write this book? A lovely review in the May 28, 2018 edition of "Publishers Weekly" sums everything up in the last sentence: "Warm, generous, and funny, this impassioned book invites readers to the deep end of life where authentic soul work and human transformation become pressing concerns."
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (June 26, 2018)
Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
https://affordablebookdeals.com/pages/refund-policy
Copyright © 2021, Affordablebookdeals. Powered by Shopify


text:
Q: how to add three default images to wordpress? how to add three default images to wordpress custom background?

now, i want to add  three default images which can be selected one by the user.and it locates on the upload Image part.like this:
the default background image:

how do i do  thank you.

A: You can see how the code is put to work in functions.php of TwentyEleven theme, line 135 - 195.
The codes to register your images are:
add_custom_image_header( 'twentyeleven_header_style', 'twentyeleven_admin_header_style', 'twentyeleven_admin_header_image' );
register_default_headers( array(
    'wheel' => array(
        'url' => '%s/images/headers/wheel.jpg',
        'thumbnail_url' => '%s/images/headers/wheel-thumbnail.jpg',
        /* translators: header image description */
        'description' => __( 'Wheel', 'twentyeleven' )
    ),
    'shore' => array(
        'url' => '%s/images/headers/shore.jpg',
        'thumbnail_url' => '%s/images/headers/shore-thumbnail.jpg',
        /* translators: header image description */
        'description' => __( 'Shore', 'twentyeleven' )
    )
) );

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Turnkey Furniture Packages for investors and owner occupiers.
Custom furnishing solutions for hotels, resorts, display suits and commercial spaces .
Alfie is the life of the party. It's bold and not afraid to stand out in a crowd. With a fine-lined profile and an impactful figure, our Alfie Wire Chair is a must have for this season.
Eat Furniture was born from a love of contemporary, modern and classic replica furniture design and the shortage of affordable options on the market. Today we are a thriving online retailer offering high quality, beautifully crafted and designed furniture at reasonable prices.We source the highest quality products from around the globe and aim to bring contemporary, designer pieces without the designer price tag. Our passionate team have a flair for design and are constantly monitoring international and seasonal design and colour trends to ensure our products are fresh and on trend.
Eat Furniture has a dedicated commercial and furniture packages wing. Our apartment and house furniture packages are perfect for serviced apartments, investment properties, private residences, display units, resorts and hotels. Restaurants, property developments and commercial business can benefit from our commercial member's program and our team of dedicated designers and salesmen.


Posted on Wednesday, July 27th, 2016 at 8:00 am.
For the Dallas Cowboys, being the most loved and simultaneously, the most hated franchise in the NFL is surely a blessing and a curse. It doesn't help matters that Cowboys fans rally behind their guys in blue and white with an almost cult like zeal. Having lived in Dallas most of my life with stints in other parts of the country, one thing has become clear… people really hate Cowboys fans. So in honor of the tens of thousands, nay millions, of Cowboys dissenters in the world here are the best (and/or most annoying) Cowboys' fan phrases.
I'll say it once, in the loud manner it is always asked in: HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS?! Virtually a trademark phrase, this is the question that will get asked when there is an awkward silence amongst a crowd. If you hate the Cowboys, you cringe when you hear this, and most will almost lose their minds and respond with something on the lines of "4-12 and still bad", or "still 20+ years removed from their last Super Bowl". The fact of the matter is, fans have this submerged in their database of word-vomit (yes, I quoted Mean Girls), that sometimes they can't help themselves. Dez actually stays healthy? How bout 'em? Cowboys win a game? How bout 'em? Sean Lee stays healthy? Sheesh, how bout 'em? The endless amounts of reasons to say this makes Cowboys haters rue the day they ever made friends with a Cowboys fan.
This one actually doesn't make sense to me, and honestly anti-Dallas nation needs to grab some wood, build a bridge and get over it. The Cowboys are America's team, just like baseball is America's pastime. Are these concepts a little outdated and maybe not the best reflection of today's society? Possibly. However, you can't change the fact on any of these ideologies, so stop pushing for it. I get it; they aren't the Patriots, who symbolize much more as what it is to be an American. Nonetheless, Dallas is the most valuable franchise in all of sports, is the most loved and hated team in football, and has arguably the most successful resume on the gridiron (five Super Bowls, eight appearances). Dallas just does everything bigger and better, including a $1.8 Billion dollar practice facility complex. What's more American than that?
While writing this article, this exact phrase from a wishful fan came across my Twitter feed. Whether it is delusional or not, every Cowboys fan can't help but believe it, just like most fans do for their respective teams. However, in Dallas, it's almost your civic duty to publicly acknowledge the boys as your 'Super Bowl favorites'. Being a native to the city, when people ask who I'm picking to win it all, my response is "which pick do you want, my Cowboys pick or my actual pick?" Unfortunately, some years they are the same, because the inner fan cannot resist.
Anyone with two eyes and a brain can discern what a catch is and is not in football. Flash back to the divisional round of the 2014 playoffs, when the Cowboys had a 4th and two with just over two minutes left against the Green Bay Packers. Tony Romo threw a beautiful lob for Dez Bryant to grab. Dez went Randy Moss on the Packers defender as he lunged for the end zone. Little did we know, the ball moved just a little while still in his possession that it "may or may not have" hit the ground. The refs ruled it incomplete, and two years later Dallas fans still can't get over the heartbreak. Was it a catch? Absolutely. Does anyone outside of Dallas care? Not a chance. Yet two years later we still hear about the catch that wasn't…that was.
The best part about this quote is that a lot of the time the people saying this weren't even born until the end of the 90s, when the Cowboys' dynasty was over. I compare this to men who still talk about their glory days in high school to their teenage kids and their friends. Were they great in the past? Absolutely. Do people care? Nope. No one likes to hear about someone's past all of the time, especially when they're the dad with a beer gut who hasn't thrown a football in 20 years. The same goes for football fans that have to listen to a Cowboys fan bark about how good they used to be. It's laughable to some people, and even sadder to others.