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Home On the Cover BONGGACIOUS KADAYAWAN FESTIVAL
BONGGACIOUS KADAYAWAN FESTIVAL
Henrylito D. Tacio
"Bongga," one of the few Filipinos words that were added into the Oxford Dictionary, means "extravagant or flamboyant." This is exactly the word that describes this year's Kadayawan sa Dabaw.
It's pompous, lavish, awesome, colorful, and spectacular as Davao celebrates the festival not just for a week but during the whole month of August! From the first day up to the end of the month, spectators and tourists, foreigners and locals – all will have a grand time in the mother of all festivals in Mindanao.
But how did this most anticipated and awaited festival come to be?
It all started in the 1970's when then Mayor Elias B. Lopez initiated tribal festivals featuring the lumad (native) and the Muslim tribes of the city where they could showcase their dances and rituals of thanksgiving. Lopez himself was from a Bagobo tribe.
In 1986, the local government initiated a program called "Unlad Proyekto Davao," whose main objective was to unite the Dabawenyos after the turbulent Martial Law era of the Marcos regime. It was called "Apo Duwaling," in honor of the three royalties for which Davao is famous for.
The word "apo" was taken from Mount Apo, the king of all mountains in the Philippines as it is the country's highest peak at 10,311 feet above sea level. "Du" came from durian, the king of tropical fruits which has been described as having a smell "like hell" but has a taste that can be compared to that of "heaven."
The term "waling" was from waling-waling, the queen of orchids whose ethic term means "graceful movement of a butterfly in flight." They were once found only in the forests of Davao and Cotabato province. It was discovered in Davao around 1880 by Carl Roebellin, a German plant enthusiast for the Orchid House of Sanders.
At that time, "Apo Duwaling" was meant to showcase Davao City as a peaceful destination for other people from all over the country to visit and to do business. This was post-EDSA Revolution.
Two years later, then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte renamed the festival as "Kadayawan sa Dabaw." Kadayawan is derived from the friendly greeting "Madayaw," a term taken from a Dabawenyo word dayaw which means "good," "valuable," "superior" or "something that brings good fortune."
Duterte, who is now the president of the Philippines, envisioned the festivity as a way to celebrate the bountiful harvest of Davao's flowers, fruits and other produce as well as the wealth of the city's cultures.
Although the festivity has become grand in its celebration, Kadayawan continues to honor the city's richness and diverse artistic, cultural and historical heritage.
"I call on all Dabawenyos, lumads, Muslims and Christians to go out and not just enjoy the festivities but to use Kadayawan as an opportunity to continue to learn about one another, about what makes our culture unique and similar," said Mayor "Inday" Sara Duterte during the launching of the 34th Kadayawan Festival.
Let's go back in time when the city was still in its infancy stage. In those days, ethnic tribes lived together harmoniously, in peace and friendship. They were the ones who gave the province a name; Davao reportedly was derived from the word "daba-daba," which means "fire."
Historical records showed that those Davao's ethnic tribes who lived at the foot of Mount Apo would come together during a bountiful harvest. This ritual served as their thanksgiving to the gods, particularly to the "Manama" (the Supreme Being).
Fruits, flowers, vegetables, rice and corn grains, and various farming implements were displayed on mats as villagers give their respect and thanks for the year's abundance. Singing, dancing and offerings to their divine protectors were the highlights of the ritual.
In time, Davao was divided into three provinces (although there are five now) and the heart of all the gatherings and festivities became a chartered city. Despite this fact, the practice of thanksgiving (pahinungod in local dialect) is still very much practiced by modern day Dabawenyos.
The tradition continued to flourish and has evolved into an annual festival of thanksgiving. And that is how Kadayawan sa Dabaw came into existence.
Today, Kadayawan has transformed into a festival of festivals, with a number of spin-off festivals in the region. The festival honors Davao's artistic, cultural and historical heritage, its past personified by the ancestral lumads, its people as they celebrate on the streets, and its floral industry as each representative parade in full regalia in thanksgiving for the blessings granted on the city.
Actually, the celebration interfaces several aspects: tribal, industrial, sports, arts and entertainment. In the past, it is commemorated every third week of August but this year it has expanded into a month-long celebration.
The most anticipated is the street dancing, called Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan, which will be held this year on August 17. It has two main components. The first is the street parade, where performers groove it up while parading along selected points of the city. The second is the showdown, where the very same people perform at the Kadayawan Square, which has traditionally been San Pedro Street. The parade normally takes place in the morning, the showdown from the afternoon to evening.
"The Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan is wildly popular because of the distinctively Mindanaoan beat and costumes," someone quipped. "Several tourists come to Davao to watch hundreds of people dancing with vigor in the streets, clad in their native attire and carrying extravagant props that would give Hollywood studios a serious run for their money."
This year, the floral float parade, called Pamulak Kadayawan, will not happen after the street dancing. Instead, it will be done on August 24.
Previous Kadayawan officials said the Pamulak was patterned after the Pasadena Parade of Roses in the United States, where flowers and fruits are set in colorful floats by business establishments, community assemblies and peoples' organizations as they promenade on the streets symbolizing all the bounty sustainably enjoyed by the city's residents.
On why Kadayawan sa Dabaw is touted as the mother of all festivals in Mindanao, here's an explanation from an aficionado: "Kadayawan is an art form in itself. A festival perfect fit for a local government that tries to position itself as the cultural capital of the Philippines. This is the best time to catch the sights, the sounds, the colors and the scent all mixing together to encapsulate the rich diversity of a place which was long ago described as the garden of the gods."


Statistical modeling and inference using likelihood (course 2261) and Biostatistics III: Survival analysis for epidemiologists (course 1685) or equivalent courses/practical experience (e.g., a masters degree in mathematical statistics combined with application of survival models in medical research).
- describe the quantities that can be estimated in a competing risks framework, how they are interpreted, and the assumptions that must be made.
- understand the relationship between the cause-specific hazard and cumulative incidence and describe why it is no longer one-to-one in a competing risks framework.
- propose a suitable statistical model for assessing a specific research hypothesis in a competing risks situation, fit the model using standard statistical software, evaluate the fit of the model, and interpret the results.
- recognise when a multi-state model is appropriate, fit a multi-state model using standard statistical software, evaluate the fit of the model, and interpret the results.
Competing risks and its extension to multi-state models play an increasingly important role in the analysis of time to event data. For competing risks models, there is a lot of confusion with respect to the proper analysis. The most important reason for the confusion is conceptual: which quantities can be estimated and what do they represent. Especially the consequence of violation of the independence assumption has often been interpreted incorrectly. Once the concepts are understood and the proper type of analysis has been chosen, most analyses can be performed with standard software for survival analysis. For multi-state models with exactly observed transition times, estimation is reasonably straightforward; the real challenge is in (dynamic) prediction. Panel-observed data occur if the state is only known at a finite series of observation times, giving rise to interval censored transition times. A further complication arises if states are misclassified. With the recent availability of software we are seeing a marked increase in applications of multi-state models in the medical literature. The first part is devoted to competing risks. We explain the main concepts: the independence assumption; cause-specific cumulative incidence; cause-specific hazard and subdistribution hazard; competing risks as a multi-state model. We discuss regression models on both cause-specific and subdistribution hazard. We show how analyses can be performed with standard software. In the second part of the course, the extension to multi state models is discussed. Concepts like transition intensities and transition probabilities are explained. Nonparametric estimation and regression models are considered, as well as methods to obtain predictions of future events, given the event history and possibly covariable values of a patient. With right censored and/or left truncated data, we show that it is possible to perform many types of analyses using standard software, using the same techniques as in the multi-state representation of the competing risks model. Finally, we discuss some issues in the analysis of multi-state models for panel data.
Lectures, exercises focussing on analysis of real data using statistical software, exercises not requiring statistical software, group discussions, literature review. The course will include practical exercises using the R statistical computing environment. We will provide laptop computers (running Windows in English and configured with R) for all participants, but participants are welcome to bring a laptop with them for use during the course if they prefer. The mstate and the dynpred R-packages will be used during the course and all participants who will bring their own laptops are encouraged to install these packages prior to the course.
The course grade is based solely on a written examination.
There is no required literature. Annotated lecture notes will be provided at the start of the course. The following are recommended: Putter H, Fiocco M, Geskus RB. Tutorial in biostatistics: Competing risks and multi-state models. Statistics in Medicine 2007;26:2389¿2430. Andersen PK, Geskus RB, de Witte T, and Putter H. Competing risks in epidemiology: possibilities and pitfalls. International Journal of Epidemiology 2012.
Applicants who have previously taken the course but not passed will be given first priority. Other eligible registered doctoral students will be prioritized 1) the relevance of the course for their research, and 2) the stated motivation for attending. Provide all relevant info. in the application, incl. description of current research and motivation for attending.
Face-to-face teaching will take place from 9:00-17:00 each day of the course. The majority of the teaching will be held in Wargentin room at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Nobels väg 12A, KI Solna.


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Q: Excel Getting Floating point number I have a excel sheet that has some values something like below.

When I want to get the values by concatenating with a string, points are being erased. The cells format are Number by the way.
If I do =P3 , it gets me 27.655.111
When I do ="(test '"&P3&"')", it gets me (test '27655111'). This is not correct. I need the points in the number.
How to do that ?
Thanks in advance

A: Use ="(test '"& TEXT(P3;"#.##0") & "')".
Replace the ; by a , according to your regional settings.
Replace #.##0 by any format string as desired.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Motion in the ocean: how did the earliest animals move?
March 28, 2022 March 29, 2022 Fayth Tan
Fossils over 500 million years old may give us insight into the evolutionary origin of animal movement.
Reference: Wang, X., Vannier, J., Yang, X., Leclère, L., Ou, Q., Song, X., Komiya, T., & Han, J. (2022). Muscle systems and motility of early animals highlighted by cnidarians from the basal Cambrian. eLife, 11, e74716. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74716
Enter the Cambrian Explosion: a period around 500-550 million years ago, during which animal life underwent stunning evolutionary diversification. Most modern major evolutionary groups of animals make their first appearance in the Cambrian fossil record, making Cambrian fossils crucial to understanding how life emerged. Researchers across research institutes in China, France and Japan discovered fossils from the early Cambrian in South China that may address a fundamental question in animal evolution: how did some of the earliest animals move?
Muscle memory
Whether through resemblance to animals that exist today or preserved burrows or trails, fossil evidence of early animals suggests that they could move actively through their environment. However, since muscle tissue is not commonly preserved, there is little direct evidence for how a given animal moved. In this work, researchers unearthed three-dimensional fossils of ancient cnidarians, a group of animals represented by animals like jellyfish and sea anemones today. Remarkably, the muscle fibers of these cnidarians remained intact, allowing researchers to study their anatomy in uncommon detail. Dating back to about 535 million years ago, these fossils represent the earliest record of a muscle system not only in cnidarians, but in animals more generally.
A fossilized jellyfish from the Cambrian. Image published on Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
A family resemblance
Modern jellyfish are efficient swimmers, assisted by their distinct musculature— circular rings found on the underside of the body, connected by a perpendicular lattice of fibers. When those muscles contract, the whole body retracts inwards, like a drawstring bag being pulled closed. This motion forces water outwards, propelling the jellyfish forward. Under high-resolution microscopy, the muscles of ancient cnidarians strongly resembled their descendants', forming a network of close-knit circular rings. This implies that Cambrian cnidarians moved like modern jellyfish, contracting and relaxing their muscles to create a pulsing motion.
Researchers also observed a notable difference— there isn't as much "jelly" in ancient jellyfish. Modern jellyfish have a thick layer of gooey, elastic tissue in their bell, the mesoglea. As the muscles contract, their force is countered by the elasticity of the mesoglea, like pulling on a rubber band. Cambrian cnidarians appeared to have much less mesoglea, which means they probably generated much less propulsive force. Unlike modern jellyfish, their pulsing movement wouldn't be fast enough to escape predators or pursue prey. It can, however, be used to pump water containing plankton and food particles into their mouth, a strategy still used by moon jellyfish today. The researchers speculated that this rhythmic feeding strategy was co-opted to evolve the swimming ability of modern jellyfish.
Moon jellyfish feeding in shallow water. Image published on Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
No longer coasting
Cnidarians weren't the only ones developing new ways of moving in the Cambrian. Other fossils suggest that the ancestors of modern-day worms, crustaceans, and possibly even vertebrates were evolving muscles to support different types of bodies and movements. From the burrowing movement of soft-bodied worms to the delicate lever-like muscles operating a crustacean's outer shell, muscle systems were becoming increasingly specialized.
Fossils and artistic recreations of Cambrian burrowing worms and crustaceans.
Image credit (left to right):
Adapted from Smith et al. 2015, public domain.
Illustration by Obsidian Soul, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Adapted from Walcott, 1912, published on Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Adapted from Vannier et al. 2018, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
These new modes of movement enabled animals to explore and adapt to newer and more expansive environments, diverse movement and diverse forms working in tandem to generate the amazing organismal biodiversity we see today.
Fayth Tan
I'm a Ph.D. candidate in Biology at Caltech. I study animal regeneration across phylogeny— my interests include the evolution and development of weird animals and obscure science history.
On the natural history of sex: which came first, internal or external fertilization?
November 29, 2014 November 29, 2014 Abrahim El Gamal
A look into the past…and into a gnarly set of teeth
March 6, 2017 Andrea Schlunk
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I've been thinking Super Bowl and wanting to try new appetizers and desserts.
Have you ever taken the time to see where all your blog traffic comes from? I've been doing a lot of studying of my traffic and most of it comes from Pinterest, Facebook, and Google.
What kind of Social Media do you prefer?
Here are last weeks most viewed posts and my favorites.
hi there! posted your button up on my Blog! You can find me at http://theresmagicoutthere.blogspot.com Thanks for the hop!
Thanks for hosting Michelle! Have a great weekend!
Hi Michelle, thanks for hosting.
So fun how your anniversary is on Valentines day! I love it. I haven't even thought about the superbowl, thanks for reminding me! And thanks for featuring our post, you totally made my day :).
Thank you for the party, Michelle! Have a wonderful weekend!
I brought over Last Summer's Soup - made from squash in the freezer from my garden. I can't wait for a new garden season. (I always say that in January.) Thanks for hosting.
thanks for hosting!hope you have a fun weekend!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH for featuring my "Chocolate Cake with Cookie-crust and layer of Mousse"


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CW Unveils Ruby Rose As Batwoman In Colleen Atwood-Designed Costume
What To Look Forward To At DC Fandome
by Adam GruntherSeptember 13, 2020, 12:16 amSeptember 13, 2020, 12:16 amSeptember 13, 2020, 12:16 amDaily Digest, News, News Feed >
Right before DC Fandome was held on August 22, it was announced that the event would be split up into two days. The first day would be on August 22, while the second day would take place at a later date. This was likely done to make room for all of the panels that were taking place.
On September 12, DC will hold the second half of the online event titled "DC Fandome: Explore the Multiverse." This is a follow up to its first day which took place on August 22 and was titled "DC Fandome: Hall of Heroes."
There are several DC related properties that fans can look forward to hearing about. This includes several panels for its television shows including Batwoman, Black Lightning, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, DC's Stargirl, Superman & Lois, Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, Lucifer, and Pennyworth. Along with seeing the cast discuss the upcoming seasons for some of the shows, it might also be an opportunity for fans to see if shows like Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn have been renewed for a third season, as it has not been announced yet if the two shows would be continuing production. "DC Fandome: Explore the Multiverse" will also provide an extended panel for certain shows that have already had panels on August 22, such as The Flash and Titans. Along with presenting DC's many television shows, "DC Fandome: Explore the Multiverse" will also hold a tribute to the late popular comic book artist Dwayne McDuffie, with the panel presenting a screening of A League of One: The Dwayne McDuffie Story. Fans would also be delighted to know that none of the panels are being held live, meaning that they can watch them whenever they want at any time without the burden of having to wait for them or the fear of missing it. This is in contrast to the first day of DC Fandome on August 22, which made viewers watch the panels in order and held them live forcing audiences to wait for the panel that they wanted to see the most.
Many fans are excited to see the second half of DC Fandome take place, and can definitely look forward to enjoying the content that will be provided to them on September 12.
Batwoman Black Lightning DC Comics DC Entertainment DC Fandome DC's Legends of Tomorrow DC's Stargirl Doom Patrol Dwayne McDuffie Harley Quinn Lucifer Pennyworth Superman & Lois The Flash Titans Warner Bros.
Ray Fisher Says He Won't Star In Any More DC Films Under President Walter Hamada
Zack Snyder Thinks DC Extended Universe Will Always Be Different From Marvel Cinematic Universe
Patty Jenkins Confirmed To Direct 'Wonder Woman 3'
Article by Adam Grunther
Adam is a graduate of Lynn University with a BA in Drama. He has a passion for film and television.


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Impeachment? Really?
Since the Mueller Investigation conclusion that President Trump and no one in his campaign "colluded"-- or conspired--with Russia in ANY way during the 2016 cam, paign, it is clear the investigation was a politically inspired hoax managed by Obama direct reports and likely, Obama himself. -- the greatest political scandal in American history -- which is about to explode.
Mueller's attorneys involved in the Investigation were in fact all Hillary Clinton supporters (Trump-haters) and most all of them were donors to the Clinton campaign. At least one attendied the concession 'party' following the 2016 election. Since there was NO "Russian collusion;" that is, the supposed underlying "crime" did not exist, the claimed (by Democrats) obstruction based upon it cannot be relevant legally. And any President executing his duties under the Constitution--i.e., firing of someone under his executive command, especially when that firing was recommended by the Assistant Attorney General for well-defined causes. It could never be construed as "obstruction" in any manner. And someone claiming his innocence and wanting to shortcut to prove it such is not obstruction either.
Congressional Democrats are still trying to impeach the President? On what grounds? Totally preposterous and if they move foeard with it, they might as well not show up for the next election while they watch Roe v Wde overturned and two more conservative justices appointed to the Supreme Court.
Scholars claim that "high crimes and misdemeanors" has a well-defined Old English meaning -- it refers to a crime which is "against the state when it attacks the very core of the state's apparatus" For instance, treason is a crime against the state, jaywalking is not. The records of the debates at the Constitutional Convention show that the Framers deliberately borrowed the concept of impeachment--and even the specific term "High Crimes and Misdemeanors"--from the English common law.
However, any 'impeachability' of the head of the executive department was a departure from English practice--the King's ministers and judges were subject to impeachment, but never the King himself.
The Constitutional Convention considered a number of formulations for the impeachment standard itself, before finally returning to the familiar English-practice standard of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Early discussion centered largely on the idea of abuse or misuse of official government power. On June 13, the report of the "Committee of the Whole" included a resolution that the executive would be removable "on impeachment and conviction of malpractices or neglect of duty. In Federalist Paper No. 65, Alexander Hamilton argues that impeachable offenses "proceed from the misconduct of public men--from the abuse or violation of some public trust."
In other words, "high crimes and misdemeanors" means there needs to be a showing of "malpractices or neglect of duty" and/or "abuse or violation of some public trust" specifically in regards to use of executive state duties.
How could a President: that lowered taxes, eliminated needless bureaucratic rules and red tape, who is encouraging and empowering small business, and wanting ALL American citizens--not illegal immigrants--to be the first and primary benefactors of America's kind heart and success: a President that wants free and fair trade for all Americans, a President that has gotten America back to the best economy since the 1960s--especially for Blacks and Hispanics and all minorities--be considered for impeachment in a sane world?
"But," you say, ''Democrats aren't 'sane'' -- so let them go ahead, while we enjoy their consequences!
~ J......
NO COLLUSION
NO OBSTRUCTION
THE TRUTH "TRUMP"S.
Posted by Brock Townsend at Thursday, May 23, 2019 5 comments:
The Corwin Constitutional Amendment: Contradicting the Union Myth of a Holy Cause
Ludwell H. Johnson used the descriptive comparison, The American Iliad, in the subtitle of his comprehensive book on the American Civil War: North against South.
The Iliad analogy is very appropriate. The War was a traumatic, bloody, and nation changing event. The enormous casualties and destruction alone would sear its battles, personalities, and tales of heroism into American memory. But what most Americans know about the causes of the Civil War is a pious myth.
Unfortunately, far too many Americans seem to prefer whitewashed myth to truth. So much so that any truth that contradicts the ruling myths of academia and the dominant media and political class is apt to be shouted down or suppressed.
More @ The Tribune
The demise of a California housing measure shows how progressives abandon progressive values in their own backyards.
To live in California at this time is to experience every day the cryptic phrase that George W. Bush once used to describe the invasion of Iraq: "Catastrophic success." The economy here is booming, but no one feels especially good about it. When the cost of living is taken into account, billionaire-brimming California ranks as the most poverty-stricken state, with a fifth of the population struggling to get by. Since 2010, migration out of California has surged.
The basic problem is the steady collapse of livability. Across my home state, traffic and transportation is a developing-world nightmare. Child care and education seem impossible for all but the wealthiest. The problems of affordable housing and homelessness have surpassed all superlatives — what was a crisis is now an emergency that feels like a dystopian showcase of American inequality.
Just look at San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi's city. One of every 11,600 residents is a billionaire, and the annual household income necessary to buy a median-priced home now tops $320,000. Yet the streets there are a plague of garbage and needles and feces, and every morning brings fresh horror stories from a "Black Mirror" hellscape: Homeless veterans are surviving on an economy of trash from billionaires' mansions. Wealthy homeowners are crowdfunding a legal effort arguing that a proposed homeless shelter is an environmental hazard. A public-school teacher suffering from cancer is forced to pay for her own substitute.
More @ The New York Times
Posted by Brock Townsend at Thursday, May 23, 2019 No comments:
European Union Election Puts UK Media in Four-Day Bind as Government Unravels
Strict broadcasting rules governing election day reporting are being strung out in some cases for four days while people across Europe vote in EU elections, leaving journalists in a difficult situation over reporting the slow-motion collapse of the British government happening at the same time.
In ordinary British politics, the goings on of Westminster are generally suspended during elections as all involved campaign and wait with bated breath for results. But with the British people voting for a parliament that isn't even on British soil, and while the future of Prime Minister Theresa May teeters in the balance, two distinct political stories are developing in tandem.
May Could Announce Resignation in Days
Sài Gòn Đẹp Lắm
Via Hoang
Judge Orders Jussie Smollett Case Files Be Released
An Illinois judge has ordered that the documents in Jussie Smollett's controversial case in Chicago can be released. Initially, his lawyers had argued that the documents be sealed to protect the "Empire" actor's privacy. Yet, it seems Smollett derailed his own case because he spoke so openly about the verdict.
"I have been truthful and consistent on every single level from day one," he said defiantly in a press conference following his court appearance.
Grand Jury Indicts Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange
The Department of Justice announced an 18-count grand jury indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange Thursday afternoon, including violations of the Espionage Act. The indictment alleges Assange had a "role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States."
The Tranquilizer
A mental health assessment of the Democratic Party suggests that identity politics had lately turned into an identity crisis. Years of staying woke finally produced hallucinations and violent outbursts. It was time to medicate the patient. Enter, stage right, the Tranquilizer, smiling Uncle Joe Biden, the perfect agent to quell an acute case of adolescent rebellion.
Mostly, the rank-and-file don't seem to know what to make of Uncle Joe's arrival on the scene. It's as if they popped .5 milligrams of Xanax a half an hour ago and all the intersectional strife that seemed so urgent last month just up and flew out of the room, like so many leaf-nosed bats from a frightful cave of winds. The chemical rush Uncle Joe provides is reflected in his impressive polling numbers, lately cresting near 40 percent against his closest pursuer, Bernie Sanders — the reincarnation of my 10th grade math teacher, and hence a figure of horror and loathing — at about 18 percent in the polls. The rest of the presidential pack just slogs down-low through the sucking muck of single digits. Many of these are women candidates in a party determined to produce the first president of the female persuasion. What's up with that?
More @ Kunstler
Do Spies Run the World?
Jeeves, the excellent valet of Mr Wooster, had an ace up his sleeve: if going was tough, he had used his access to the records of the Junior Ganymede club, and there he could find embarrassing stuff against anybody who had ever employed a valet or a butler, for these gentleman's gentlemen were obliged to inscribe in the club's book all imprudent exploits of their masters. Thanks to this inside knowledge, Jeeves had saved his meek master, Mr Bertie Wooster from the bully.
Jeeves was a modest man, and feudally loyal to his hare-brained master; so were other members of the Junior Ganymede. They didn't try to turn the club book into a tool to wrench control over England from the Buckingham Palace. However, we live in the age of great ambitions, unhindered by excessive loyalty. The valets, butlers, and bodyguards pooled their forces and decided to run the world.
More @ Unz Review
Taste of Vietnam's Street Foods
Stanton, Lafe Baker, And The Diary
Many who have commented on the Lincoln assassination and its aftermath have observed Stanton's criticism of Abraham Lincoln. One blog I have gone over, http://www.civilwarbummer.com has noted that "Regular association with the President did not eliminate Stanton's propensity to disagree or even to sharply criticize the President." Lincoln was aware of most of this and just kind of sluffed it off.
More @ Revised History
Preferred Pronouns or Prison
Confirmation Drumbeat: GOP-Held Senate Approves Sixth Trump Nominee to Ninth Circuit, 41st Overall
It's time, once again, to hail the important and historic progress being made in the Republican-held United States Senate on the judicial confirmation front. Having adopted and modestly expanded Democrats' endless and ends-oriented power grabs of years past, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has wisely prioritized the reshaping of the federal judiciary. He and his conference have steadily and diligently worked to tip the balance away from the Obama-era deluge of liberal judges, and toward constitutionalism. No recent partnership in Washington has been more lastingly impactful than the Trump-McConnell alliance, resulting in this ongoing generational shift -- and with all the other noise in Washington, this issue has flown under the radar. But McConnell knows the score.
The Impeachment Democrats: Trump puts Pelosi on the spot over her agenda or appeasing her anti-Trump ultras.
Pelosi's "cover-up" remark is just "part of her now-daily act of political cognitive dissonance in which she accuses Mr. Trump of committing impeachable offenses to appease her anti-Trump ultras while opposing impeachment lest it jeopardize swing-district Democrats in 2020," The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes. President Trump "has decided to call her bluff and offer a choice—impeachment or bipartisan progress."
President Trump walked out of a meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer at the White House Wednesday over their accusations against him, and all of Democratic and media Washington is appalled. Doesn't this President understand that he is supposed to take a daily beating on his way to impeachment while also giving Democrats some policy victories?
More @ WSJ
Posted by Brock Townsend at Thursday, May 23, 2019 1 comment:
The Corwin Constitutional Amendment: Contradicting...
The demise of a California housing measure shows h...
European Union Election Puts UK Media in Four-Day ...
Confirmation Drumbeat: GOP-Held Senate Approves Si...
The Impeachment Democrats: Trump puts Pelosi on th...


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There WAS a flood!
Actual reproduction of the Ark?
Picture by: NY Times/Dallas Abbott
The Fenambosy chevron, one of four near the tip of Madagascar, is 600 feet high and three miles from the ocean -- was this area flooded?
Anyone reading GodolHador's site (or its spin-off) should have been convinced that there is no scientific proof whatsoever that backs up the biblical flood story.
To fit Judaism to Modern Science, XGH postulated that the Flood (and the creation story in general) is a myth/moshol, and there are enough serious rabbanim to back up the idea that one can still be an Orthodox, Torah observant Jew, and adhere to this opinion.
But...look what appears in the NY Times!
The New York Times writes that according to a group of scientists and researchers, a large meteorite hit the earth 4800 years ago in the Indian ocean and caused a tsunami in India 13 times as big as the one two years ago.
On close inspection, the chevron deposits contain deep ocean microfossils that are fused with a medley of metals typically formed by cosmic impacts. And all of them point in the same direction — toward the middle of the Indian Ocean where a newly discovered crater, 18 miles in diameter, lies 12,500 feet below the surface.
It could have wiped out 25% of the world's population, the scientists posit.
From the end of the article:
"Dr. Masse analyzed 175 flood myths from around the world, and tried to relate them to known and accurately dated natural events like solar eclipses and volcanic eruptions. Among other evidence, he said, 14 flood myths specifically mention a full solar eclipse, which could have been the one that occurred in May 2807 B.C.
Half the myths talk of a torrential downpour, Dr. Masse said. A third talk of a tsunami. Worldwide they describe hurricane force winds and darkness during the storm. All of these could come from a mega-tsunami."
"I've long argued that the traditional commentators are falliable, in part, because they didn't have the benefit of archeology, linguistics, comparitive religion, and other academic disciplines."
Would the same hold for some bloggers and their myth/moshels?
hat-tip; JoeSettler.
Lab Rab said...
My first inclination was like yours - bona fide flood evidence! My second was, the specific retelling of the flood story still must be relegated to myth.
Like Iyov - there may have been a person named Iyov, but the stories told about him are most likely a later homily.
You're misrepresenting my opinion. I said there was never a global flood, there were plenty of local floods, however that's not really the story of Noach. Plus of course the entire narrative that the story of Noach is embedded into is impossible anyway. But this indian flood (if real) could certainly be the basis for the Noach myth.
XGH
Another possible basis of flood mythology is the opening of the Bosporus straights, about 6000 years ago. Prior to that, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake, with a surface level several hundred feet lower than today.
It's estimated that, once the Bosporus opened, the Black Sea reached its current level within a matter of weeks to months. This was accompanied, of course, by catastropic flooding in the coastal regions.
Personally, I have no doubt that the prevelance of flood myths points to some cataclysm in or near the Mid East, 4 to 6000 years ago. The people it affected would certainly have assumed it was universal!
Like always, my money is with the one who calls himself Jameel.
(Is that a good thing?!)
BTW - hope it went well.
I had you beat by 2 hours: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2006/11/anyone-seen-flood.html
You should see what's going on at DovBear's place.
Just checked in to GadolHador and he is no more!
I love your ark! A ragtail group of misfits that created man and animalkind. Is that OG drilling holes?
great ark
In Great Neck we were taught that the ice in the "ice age" went as far as Great Neck South!
For those less acquainted with Long Island, you can say to the north shore.
kishnevi said...
No matter what this flood theory proposes, it still does not match what the literal text of the Torah says. This theory suggests a quarter of the human race perished. The Torah says the fatality rate was over 99 percent--everyone except Noah and his family.
Sabzi Aash said...
Michael, why should anyone have thought the Black Sea flood was universal? Anyone who did escape would have done so by fleeing to an adjacent area that had not been flooded, and the lack of destruction there as well as the testimony of the local inhabitants would've made it clear that it hadn't been flooded.
kasamba said...
As for me, like the Monkees sang so eloquently, 'I'm a believer!'
"No matter what this flood theory proposes, it still does not match what the literal text of the Torah says. This theory suggests a quarter of the human race perished. The Torah says the fatality rate was over 99 percent--everyone except Noah and his family."
it might be enough for the torah, which always talks about a specific region, not the whole world (e.g. not the new world). also chazal talk about the borders of the flood being yam ukinus, this doesn't imply a model of the flood reaching the whole world as we know it today.
Actually the Medrash mentions a major flood before the Mabul during the time of Enosh.
9:24 PM, December 02, 2006
Tens of Thousands Protest Israel's New Government for a Fourth Week, Despite Terror Attacks - The anti-government protesters were undeterred from holding their demonstrations despite the deadly attacks on Israelis less than a day earlier.
Encompassing Judaism...not just "Zionism"
Posts coming soon...
Been Way Too Busy
Uri Geller: Quack? Charlatan? Magician? Sorcerer?
As Thanksgiving Ebbs Away
Priest and Nun try out for Rachel Corrie's Darwin ...
Mazal Tov to the XGH family
Why is Olmert under the OU's Kashrut Supervision?
Breaking News: Saddam has Escaped!
Photos of Damage
Stuff that made me smile (part 1)
Jewish Ingenuity?
A Funeral in Sederot
Winning Combination: G-d and the IDF
Scoop: IDF Chief of Staff's Leverage
Olmert should "get with the program"
Jameel's picks of the day.
Ehud Olmert Copperfield
The Hevron Shuk, where you can get anything you wa...
Erev Shabbat Update
The Fifth Son -- Muqata's View of the Gay Parade
Who's Collateral Damage in Gaza - IDF or Hamas?
Muqata Housekeeping Musings (MHM)
Caveat Emptor - Justice for Jameel, and some Waffles.
Muqata in Spaaaaaaaaaace!!!
sad, sad, SAD chocoholics.
What I'm not blogging about today..


Today I received this beauty as a gift from the Navigation Officer. Not that he is trying to tell me something but we had these new books on order for a while and we just received them today.
Of course, the first question everyone around had was "what changed?". I was wondering the same and as usual, when I wonder something, I google it. To my disappointment I could not find any articles to summarize the changes but instead a multitude of websites from where you can buy the new edition, e-book or hard copy, whatever works best for you. By the way, if you are interested to buy it, it costs around US $130 from what I've noticed and there is also an app available in Play Store.
Disappointed with my google search and I knew that the question "what changed" will get back to me very soon I decided to browse through the actual books (2011 and 2017 editions) and get a better understanding on what differentiate them. No, I did not read the whole new edition (yet) but I did try to identify the new chapters and regulations. And no, I will not go into too many legislative details but what I can do, is give you a quick, simple summary on what seems to be the changes on the new 2017 edition.
Basically, the new MARPOL 2017 Consolidated edition includes all the amendments that have been adopted in the last years (keeping in mind the previous MARPOL edition was published in 2011 so a lot of things changed since then) by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
One of the most important and comprehensive Annexes of the convention, here we get 2 new chapters ("Verification of compliance with the Provisions of this Convention" and "International Code for Ships operating in Polar Waters") and 47 Regulations instead of 43 what we had before. The Appendices seem to remain the same although I did not go into details to check each form to see if there are any changes.
Same as Annex I, we have the same 2 new chapters (same titles) bringing 4 new regulations to the existing 18 from before. The structure of appendices to Annex II seem to be the same as well.
This Annex, I believe had the least changes. Only one new chapter and two new regulations added to the new edition. There is no reference to the Polar Code here either from the looks of it.
Here we are back to our two new chapters (same as Annex 1) that bring 4 new regulations to this Annex but we also have a new regulation in one of the older chapters regarding sewage reception facilities for passenger ships in special areas (Chapter 4, Reg 13). Having sailed in the Baltic I know exactly how important it is to have proper reception facilities when you sail in a special area. No changes in the Appendix structure.
Here the regulations are slightly renamed and reorganized. Together with the same two new chapters as Annex 1, we now have a total of 14 Regulation instead on 9 in the old edition. The Form of the Garbage Record Book in the Appendix I know for a fact that is now different than the old edition too (we just ordered the new books with the new format).
In my opinion, this Annex had the most changes with the new revision. With the increased focus lately on global warming, emissions and ship efficiency it really does not come as a surprise. The regulations have increased to 25 instead of 18 in the past. There are again two new chapters, only this time one regarding "Regulations on energy efficiency for ships" and the other one on verification of compliance, same as all the other annexes. There is also a new Appendix too that provides the Form of International Energy Efficiency (IEE) Certificate, Appendix VIII.
Again, I did not browse every page on the book to see all the details and changes (and I am sure they are quite a lot) but I did try to make an idea on what is new. For sure I will need to browse further in the following days/ weeks.
If you have additional information or questions on what is new in the 2017 MARPOL edition I would love to hear more about it in the comment section.
Time to get some rest now and get ready for St George (Grenada) tomorrow. God, I love the Caribbean!
Interesting read. Do you guys carry around any ballast water at all and if yes do you ever have to discharge the same? Interested to know how the upcoming Ballast Water Convention will affect you guys.
I received my book yesterday, thanks to your comments and tips i was already prepared for the changes, i have to read the hole book but this blog was a great help to overview it.


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Cherub Productions Ltd is a Private Limited Company. Company number assigned by Companies House is 06288559. The company was incorporated on Thursday 21st June 2007, so the company age is 9 years 10 days. The company registration status is Active. The company Standard Industrial Classification is 90020, so Cherub Productions Ltd is engaged in Support activities to performing arts. Cherub Productions Ltd register address is 135/137 STATION ROAD, CHINGFORD, London (area code: E4 6AG). We have no data about company previous names in last 10 years.


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Power isolation transformer refers to the input and output winding with electrical isolation transformers, it can avoid accidental hit at the same time transformer can isolate the former vice edge coil current.
Power isolation transformer are widely used in electronic industry, mining enterprises, machine tools, equipment in general circuit of control power, security lighting and the power of light.
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This page: Catwork sanctuary for special needs cats, especially FIV cats - now unable to accept new intakes, we concentrate on helping others help these cats.
Sadly, after more than twenty years, the Catwork sanctuary is now closed to future entrants.
Due to our increasing age, together with all the implications that brings with it, we have had to pull the curtain down on taking any more cats into the sanctuary.
We still have an almost full sanctuary, and we will continue to care for all those here for the rest of their lives (our health permitting, that is!) This should keep us fully occupied for the coming years, as we suspect the sanctuary numbers will take many years to fully wind down.
We will continue to keep the information website going, and hopefully continue to build the 1000 FIV cats project. We still hope to be able to help everyone to understand the realities of the FIV virus, but must leave it to others to do the practical helping of future cats in need.
History - What is Catwork ?
Since 1996, Catwork has been a private independent sanctuary for cats who need and deserve to be cared for but who, for various reasons, have not been able to be rehomed as pets in a normal domestic home. Without planning it, we became focused on helping cats which have the FIV virus and also those with the FeLV virus (Leukaemia).
Catwork is run by Barbara Hunt (with help from her husband, Bob). It is situated in the fairly large garden at our home in Somerset (UK).
Catwork started as an extension of Barbara's natural love of cats, and her not being prepared to sit back and do nothing when she heard of a cat needing help.
Initially, Catwork operated as an independent rescue and rehoming centre. Our first cat chalet was erected in 1995 and over the years many cats passed through the centre, the major task then was always to find good and suitable homes for each cat, meeting their individual needs.
After a couple of years, the emphasis of our activities changed; our homing activities diminished as there are a variety of other organisations carrying out that function. We became concentrated on the long stay hospice and sanctuary work. This came about for a number of reasons, but mainly because we found that there are cats which, for a variety of reasons, are not easily rehomed. These also seem to be the cats which are not readily accepted by the other, mainstream, organisations, so we felt that we should try to provide the sanctuary they deserve.
We seem to have developed a speciality in cats with FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) which is a much misunderstood virus, many cats being unnecessarily euthanased due to over-reactions from a lack of understanding. We have also been asked to help a number of cats with the FeLV virus (leukaemia), as well as a few with psychological problems rather than specific medical problems. All these cats fall into the general term "special needs".
The sanctuary has evolved slowly over the years, it started with a single timber chalet with small run around it in 1995, and has grown constantly ever since!
As new cats arrived, they needed more and better accommodation and facilities, so we adapted and extended what we had to make it work for the next arrival - this happened over and over again!
We had no 'great plan' when we started, in fact we had no idea what would develop, we were too busy coping with the next request for help. In fact, nothing was planned at all, we would never have imagined it would end up as it has - it just happened!
All these years later we have completely covered our fairly large garden in accommodation, chalets and spaces for the cats in our care.
We now have two main areas, one for FIVs (known as the Fivery) and another for FeLVs (known as the Felvery). The Fivery is about three times the size of the Felvery as we have far more FIV cats, and they live long lives, whereas we have fewer FeLV cats who, unfortunately, often have shorter lives.
The accommodation comprises of a series of timber chalets of different sizes, each with heating and lighting, and each fitted out with different levels, cubby holes with lots of beds and vetbed, so they have a huge choice as to where to be.
Each chalet - some larger, some smaller - has an enclosed area around it that is open to the air, but has basic roofing over, so dry but airy. These have various places for them to perch - either shelves or old hutches - all a bit "higgledy-piggledy" (technical term!) - no regimented rows here! - but they seem happy with it.
These areas are where they spend the night - mostly in small groups - 1, 2 or 3 in the smaller chalets and more in the larger.
Many of these areas are interlinked with small gates between, so there is great flexibility to create different combinations of linked areas - they can have larger areas, or be more confined, depending on the situation and needs at the time.
During the daytime, all these areas open up on to the main garden area, so all the cats have full freedom in the garden area and can mix together (FIVs only in the Fivery and FeLVs only in the Felvery). They can choose where to go and who to be with - so plenty of freedom to just 'be cats'.
So this is how they live - we are often asked: "don't they all fight each other?" The answer is: No, in all the time we have been doing this, we have never had a serious fight, despite the fact that at times, up to 20 cats are living together. Apart from a few minor squabbles when a new one is finding his place in the pecking order, they all get on famously! There are sometimes one or two individual personality clashes, but because there is plenty of room and choice, those individuals learn to stay away from each other, so no serious problems in all these years!
Please see notice above that we are now closed to new entrants.
The cats that are here will, of course, continue to receive our full attention. As they can live good long lives, we suspect that many will be with us for several years to come.
Please don't give up on any cat; it may not be easy, but homes can be found for FIVs. We need other people and groups to take up the cause and to encourage others to find spaces for FIVs - even just a few cats, multiplied by many areas and people, can help far more than we ever could ourselves, so our next mission is to provide what information, help and encouragement we can to increase the number of places FIVs can go.
We continue to give advice and any help we can to those who come across FIV, which is still, unfortunately, a misunderstood virus. If you want to contact us to discuss how best to help FIVs, either in general, or one specific cat, then we will be happy to share our experience and offer any moral support we can give - we just can't take any more cats!
It's a hard life in the sanctuary!
Can I be in the picture, please?
if he doesn't leave us alone, I'm going to get really angry!
..it's good to have friends... who said cats are solitary creatures?


text:
The Most Unforgettable Moments From the 2018 Grammy Awards
Holly Dawsey
The 60th annual Grammy Awards ceremony was both entertaining and impactful. Attendees wore white roses in solidarity of those who have been affected by sexual harassment and stars took to the stage to address important issues like the Times Up movement, suicide prevention, equality in the music industry, and the "Dreamers." Not to mention the awe-inspiring performances from the likes of Kesha and Kendrick Lamar. So, in case you missed it, here are some of the most memorable moments from the 2018 Grammy Awards.
Watch Lady Gaga performing "Joanne" and "Million Reasons" at #Grammyspic.twitter.com/hLhomBLY90
— Lady Gaga Charts (@charts_lady) January 29, 2018
Lady Gaga's performance
After finishing a beautiful performance of "Joanne," Lady Gaga took a moment to say, "Times Up" before going into "Million Reasons." This was the first broadcasted mention of the movement from the night, though others followed suit.
Watch @KendrickLamar open the #GRAMMYs with @U2 & Dave Chapelle https://t.co/HZyYEpfKFCpic.twitter.com/L2LOPjSjfZ
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 29, 2018
Dave Chappelle's commentary on race
During Kendrick Lamar's performance of "XXX," which featured U2, Dave Chappelle interrupted the song to say, "The only thing more frightening than watching a black man be honest in America is being an honest being an honest black man in America." It was a chilling scene.
.@Camila_Cabello showing her support for the #dreamers, and introducing @U2 at the #GRAMMYs. pic.twitter.com/zllxMAQgEy
— Mike Adam (@MikeAdamOnAir) January 29, 2018
Camila Cabello's speech
"Tonight in this room full of music's dreamers, we remember that this country was built by dreamers, for dreamers, chasing the American dream," she reminded the audience.
LOGIC 2020 pic.twitter.com/Xw1JMguRHd
— Dylly Dylly (@HornikGSN) January 29, 2018
"1-800-273-8255" performance
Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid performed their socially conscious collaborative hit "1-800-273-8255." The song, which earned a nomination, is the telephone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and is meant to bring awareness to mental health and suicide prevention. By the end of the performance, the stage was filled with suicide survivors and family members of suicide victims.
Rte. 91 Harvest Music Festival tribute
Three of the country artists who performed at the festival in Las Vegas, where a gunman opened fire, killing 58 and injuring 851, performed Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." The Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris and Eric Church, gave a subdued rendition of the song in one of the night's most somber moments.
Janelle Monáe just dropped the mic at the #Grammys for #TimesUp and the #MeToo movement. pic.twitter.com/B1HKNFAFVJ
— Raw Story (@RawStory) January 29, 2018
Janelle Monae's speech introducing Kesha
Before Kesha took the stage, Monae called for an end to discrimination, harassment, pay inequality, and abuses of power in the music industry. "Tonight, I am proud to stand in solidarity as not just an artist but a young woman with my fellow sisters in this room who make up the music industry…We come in peace, but we mean business. For those of you who would try to silence us, we have two words for you: Time's up," she said, no doubt capturing the attention of the audience.
Kesha's major moment
It was arguably the most powerful and passionate performance of the night. Kesha sang her hit song "Praying," which was written in response to the legal battle with former producer Dr. Luke, whom she accused of sexual assault and battery. She shared the stage with Bebe Rexha, Cindi Lauper, Julia Michaels, Andra Day, Camila Cabello and a chorus of female vocalists all dressed in white. It was a performance that brought everyone to tears. Times up.
Grammyskesha


raffles, energy, clarity, and consistency.
Meeting a friend for brunch and eating delicious raw lasagna. Going to a curly hair event and being surrounded by beautiful, stylish, friendly women who obviously know something about sisterhood. Feeling like you look a mess, but getting lots of compliments. Buying a raffle ticket to support Petals-N-Belles, an organization whose mission to support young women is of notable importance to me. Buying an awesome vintage purse for $10 and an African-printed bangle that makes my heart melt. Collecting a gaggle of free hair products. Building with amazing people. Winning the grand prize of said raffle.
The last time I won a raffle was when I was a kid. It was an Oliver & Company sleeping bag that my grandmother probably still has somewhere. To this day, just the mention of that movie makes me smile.
The funny thing is I wanted to win something. A tee shirt. A bag full of goodies. Something. Kind of, but not really, I was "supposed" to win something. Interestingly, right after I bought my 3 raffle tickets, my friend, Luna also bought 3 tickets. She left the event early and planned to give me her raffle tickets since she wouldn't be there for the announcement. The grand prize was a painting that artist Lorra Jackson painted at the event. The second prize was a Huetiful Hair Steamer that I definitely wouldn't have minded winning. The other prizes were gift baskets with assorted hair and beauty products.
My numbers were: 307975, 307976, and 307977. The winning number for the hair steamer was 307978. Whose ticket was that? It belonged to the absent Luna, or if I'd remember to get them from her, me. But I didn't remember. So they picked another number and some other lucky woman took it home. I was genuinely happy for her, but a bit salty for me. Then, they called the number for the painting. 307976. Shock came to my face as I said, "that's me." I didn't even have the tickets in my hand at this point, figuring some other number would be called–one that wasn't mine. To my own benefit, I was wrong.
If a simple, nonspecific intention to win "something" can result in me leaving with the coveted grand prize, I need to be more aware of my intentions and energies and what I'm manifesting in my life. There's been a general feeling of dissatisfaction looming over me recently. While appreciative for what I have, I need more of what works for me in my life and I know that the only thing in the way is me. I posit that, similarly, the most major obstacle in your way is you. Let's get out of our own way. Let's reflect to get clear on what we want and take consistent action to making that vision real. That's definitely what I'm about to do. Please join me.
wow, it's just hitting me that it's really december 31st. this year literally swept by in a haze. i remember clearly when it started and so much has changed for me since then. i moved…again. being back in new york has been really great for me. so much about myself and about life in general has been revealed–and is being revealed–to me. the clarity i have now is life-changing, yet i'm assured of greater comfort knowing that my vision will only begin to crystallize over time. as that vision begins to crystallize, i see a change in my being and my doing. it's a really beautiful and exciting time for me.
the best part of this year, though, is when i looked up and realized that i am what i've been trying to be, but the lens through which i was looking at myself was so blurry that i couldn't see clearly. i've been so hard on myself so for long, so unnecessarily. themes of acceptance, forgiveness, and love were really punctuated this year. since then, i've made adjustments to my thinking and behavioral patterns that have started creating an inner peace i've wished for for years.
What do you want–really want?
Anyone who knows me should know that I'm a huge John Mayer fan. His smooth voice lulls me into the rich layers of his music and the profundity of the lyrics keeps me there. Lingering. Pressing repeat and searching for songs I've never heard before.
Tonight, I listened to "Clarity" again, causing me to reflect upon a recurring theme in my conversations lately: fear.
So many decisions are made out of fear instead of faith. Faith that the desired outcome will manifest. Faith that I don't need to be all high-strung and worried because everything will be okay, even if the outcome is different from what I envisioned. Faith that what happens, however uncomfortable, is for a reason.
I'm living with more trust in the process of life and faith that "everything will be okay in the end. if it's not okay, it's not the end." Today, confront your fears. What are they? Where did they come from? Are they truly yours? What can you do to overcome them?


I have been thinking and praying about the upcoming new year and my plans, goals, and dreams. I don't want to be a reactive pastor. I want to be proactive and intentional.
One of my goals is to plant another church. How this will unfold is still an unknown, but I am prayerful and journaling as Holy Spirit leads. During this time, I came across a book titled -The Multi-Site Church Revolution by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird.
While the book is about multi-site church planting, there are some "golden nuggets of wisdom" which could be applied to church planting across the board.
Here is an excerpt from the book which can help church planters nail down a process with regards to the location of future church plants.
While we are identifying and training these key leaders, we are also looking for the right community for a new campus.
• Are there people in the area with a connection to our church?
• Is there a need in the community for a church like ours?
• Is the community growing?
Once we have targeted a community for a new campus, we begin to narrow our selection of an exact location.
The Multi-Site Church Revolution by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird.
As we close out the year, I encourage you to take some time off and allow yourself to dream. Be open to change, remain teachable and remember – With God, all things are possible.
If you feel led to plant a church, but that thought overwhelms you, there many great networks, denominations and church planting coaches that can help you.
Our team is also available to coach pastors and their potential leaders. We will be offering an online training called Jumpstart Coaching which will be available during the first part of the year. In the meantime, please connect with me by using the any of the links below.


Since we began using the Ambleside online homeschool curriculum, our daily routine has changed. We are spending more time reading living books, less time doing worksheets and even more time outdoors!
WATCH THE VIDEO below to see a typical day in our Muslim homeschool.
Also, make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this blog post to enter this month's GIVEAWAY!
This blog post is part of a sponsored collaboration with Word United, who generously sent me their products to review. Our Muslim Homeschool uses affiliate links in posts and the sidebar. Please see Disclaimer for more information.
We are using the write and wipe flashcards from Word United to enriched our homeschool English and foreign language curriculum.
These cards provide a hands-on approach to learning a language that has kept my children engaged and enthusiastic to learn more!
Each card showcases the word or letter with a beautiful high quality photo on one side; whilst the other side has the word written out, and then space for tracing and hand-writing practice. These high quality cards are kept in a magnetically closing box, along with two wipe-able board pens.
If you would like to learn more about these flashcards, WATCH THE VIDEO above, visit their website (www.wordunited.com), or find them on Twitter and Instagram.
This month, I am thrilled to be sharing the beautiful Word United Write and Wipe Flashcards with THREE WINNERS!
Each winner can select ONE SET of the Write and Wipe flashcards from WordUnited.com.
The giveaway will run from Saturday 28th November 2017 until Saturday 4th November 2017 at 12am GMT.
I know it can be fun to see how other families home-educate their children; but more than that, I hope you found something useful in our YouTube video. Whether its a new book to read, or a new idea, I sincerely hope that by sharing these moments of our lives with you, I am helping you and your families in someway.
If you would like to see more of us, and an almost daily look into our homeschooling day, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.
Children are never too young to start learning Arabic! One of the first steps for children is to master the Arabic alphabet.
In our homeschool we like to find creative and fun ways for children to learn. Recently we decided to make cupcakes an decorate them with the Arabic letters. The kids loved this hands-on approach to learning and I think your family will too!
Cooking together teaches your children important life skills, as does all the cleaning up afterwards! Younger children love mixing and pouring ingredients together, whilst the older children improve their maths skills by measuring out and weighing out the flour, butter and sugar.
Similarly, this tactile and sensory approach to learning was very successful in helping my younger children learn their Arabic alphabet. Not only does it require them to identify the letter in their mind, but also focus on how the letter is formed when making their own with icing.
Not only is this activity really fun, but it also works really well and is an effective way of teaching children the Arabic alphabet. ….And you get delicious cakes to enjoy afterwards too!
These cupcakes were very easy to make, and older children may be able to follow the recipe will minimal help from you!
I decided to top each cupcake with butter-cream icing, because it's just so delicious! Then on top on that we added the Arabic letters, made from Ready-to-roll icing.
Line the muffin tin with paper cases.
Put the butter and sugar in a bowl. Beat it using an electric whisk until pale and fluffy.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into another bowl.
Beat the eggs and vanilla separately.
Spoon the mixture carefully into the paper cases.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
Remove from tin and allow to cool completely before decorating.
Using a whisk, beat the butter until soft.
Continue to whisk whist slowing adding the icing sugar.
Apply 1-2 tbsp of buttercream icing to the top of each cupcake. You can pipe it on yourself, or let your children do it using two small spoons.
Flour your kitchen surfaces to prevent sticking in the next step.
Roll out the ready-to-roll icing to approximately 5mm (1/2 cm) thick.
Use the Arabic letter cutters from the play dough kit to cut out any letters from Arabic alphabet you wish to learn/revise.
Carefully use a butter knife to lift the letters onto the top of the cakes.
Continue until all the cakes are decorated.
Tip: If your ready-to-roll icing gets too warm, it will be difficult to cut out the letters. To prevent this, keep the icing in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
I hope your family enjoy making and eating these Arabic alphabet cupcakes! They would be a great addition to any children's party, iftaar or Eid celebration!
Have you ever used cooking to teach your children an Academic subject?
What other creative ways have you used to teach the Arabic Alphabet?
Please tell us about it in the comments below!


Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary on 10 May 1998, with a second round of voting in 175 of the 176 single member constituencies on 24 May. Although the Hungarian Socialist Party received the most votes, Fidesz won the most seats. The successful breakthrough into parliament by the extreme right-wing Hungarian Justice and Life Party was also a major shock. After the election, Fidesz formed a centre-right coalition government the Independent Smallholders Party and Hungarian Democratic Forum.


Highgate Real Estate is involved in establishing franchises for investors in Dubai. We have already successfully established a jewellery shop chain in the major shopping malls of Dubai for a prominent business from India. W e are in discussions with various businesses for providing a similar service in Dubai. We help in sourcing the right opportunities for investment, through focus on location and management of the whole process from lease/purchase signing right through to handover. With our dedicated and professional associated design partners, we provide a turnkey service which is delivered on time and on budget.


text:
Q: Past Perfect vs. Present Perfect I am a new member on this site. So please guide me somewhere else if I post anything incorrect.
I have been working on these two sentence corrections that ask about Present Perfect, Past Perfect and the Simple Past. They have been a little confusing.

During the 1950s, the Detroit area emerges as a metropolitan region with the construction of an extensive freeway system that had expanded in ensuing decades.

For the one above, I said had expanded should be changed to has expanded since this is continuing to happen (ensuing decades).
However the answer is supposed to be expanded.

In a discovery at least fifty yeas in the making, a new and bizarre dinosaur species has been identified in a slab of rock collected by scientists working in South Africa in the 1960s.

The answer I put for this one is was since this happened in the past.
However the book says that it is fine as it is.

Although the ancient Egyptians abandoned Demotic more than 1,500 years ago, taking up Coptic and eventually Arabic, the language lived on in words like "adobe," which entered Spanish before passing into English.

For the one above I said has lived should be the accurate answer since the language is still living on in English...
However the answer is to leave it as it is.
I would appreciate if you guys could provide a different perspective into this.

A: There are three sentences in which the interaction of tenses, is being examined for error:

*

*During the 1950s, the Detroit area emerges as a metropolitan region with the construction of an extensive freeway system that had
  expanded in ensuing decades.

*In a discovery at least fifty years in the making, a new and bizarre dinosaur species has been identified in a slab of rock collected by scientists working in South Africa in the 1960s.

*Although the ancient Egyptians abandoned Demotic more than 1,500 years ago, taking up Coptic and eventually Arabic, the language lived on in words like "adobe," which entered Spanish before passing into English.

The first is the only sentence containing a tense error. The fronted prepositional phrase During the 1950s suggests a historical present interpretation of emerges. It might have been clearer as emerged, but the actual time remains past regardless. The relative pronoun that suggests expand, the verb of the relative clause, should express a tense relative to the past time of the main verb emerge. The past perfect erroneously suggests the activity of expanding happened before the activity of emerging, which the context of ensuing decades prohibits.
In a historical perspective, has expanded, the present perfect, is not an optimal choice. Although it does not contradict the relative historical context created by ensuing decades, it does introduce ambiguity about the activity of expanding--plausibly extending it all the way to the present, which is not the intent of the historical narrative.
The past tense expanded is a better choice. It clearly places the activity of expanding in the past from the reader's perspective, but it doesn't contradict the relative context of ensuing decades in the historical perspective.

Since the other two sentences contained no errors, they do not need to be corrected.
In the second sentence, the main verb is has been identified. The present perfect tense is particularly useful for the ongoing present state of identification as the result of past identifying work. The expression, [which was] collected by scientists working in South Africa in the 1960s. is a reduced relative clause, and the past tense accurately puts the activity of collecting before the present state of identification.
In the third sentence, the present perfect expression has lived on would be just as acceptable as the past expression lived on, but it is not superior. The verb lived on contains a semantic element of progressive action which expresses the perfect aspect sufficiently.


text:
'use strict'

var ObjectId = require("mongodb").ObjectId;
require("mongodb-toolkit");
var i18n = require('dl-i18n');
var DLModels = require('dl-models');
var map = DLModels.map;
var Account = DLModels.auth.Account;
var BaseManager = require('module-toolkit').BaseManager;
var sha1 = require("sha1");

module.exports = class AccountManager extends BaseManager {
    constructor(db, user) {
        super(db, user);
        this.collection = this.db.use(map.auth.collection.Account);
        this.roleCollection = this.db.use(map.auth.collection.Role);
    }

    create(account) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
            this._validate(account)
                .then(validAccount => {
                    validAccount.password = sha1(validAccount.password);
                    this.collection.insert(validAccount)
                        .then(id => {
                            resolve(id);
                        })
                        .catch(e => {
                            reject(e);
                        })
                })
                .catch(e => {
                    reject(e);
                })
        });
    }

    update(account) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
            this._validate(account)
                .then(validAccount => {
                    if (validAccount.password && validAccount.password.length > 0)
                        validAccount.password = sha1(validAccount.password);
                    else
                        delete validAccount.password;
                    this.collection.update(validAccount)
                        .then(id => {
                            resolve(id);
                        })
                        .catch(e => {
                            reject(e);
                        });

                    // var q = {
                    //     username: validAccount.username
                    // };
                    // this.getSingleByQuery(q)
                    //     .then(dbAccount => {
                    //         validAccount.password = validAccount.password.length < 1 ? dbAccount.password : sha1(validAccount.password);
                    //         this.collection.update(validAccount)
                    //             .then(id => {
                    //                 resolve(id);
                    //             })
                    //             .catch(e => {
                    //                 reject(e);
                    //             });
                    //     })
                    //     .catch(e => {
                    //         reject(e);
                    //     });
                })
                .catch(e => {
                    reject(e);
                });
        });
    }

    authenticate(username, password) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
            if (username === '')
                resolve(null);
            var query = {
                username: username,
                password: sha1(password),
                _deleted: false
            };
            this.getSingleByQuery(query)
                .then(account => {
                    delete account.password;
                    resolve(account);
                })
                .catch(e => {
                    reject(e);
                });
        });
    }

    _getQuery(paging) {
        // var deleted = {
        //     _deleted: false
        // };
        // var query = paging.keyword ? {
        //     '$and': [deleted]
        // } : deleted;

        // if (paging.keyword) {
        //     var regex = new RegExp(paging.keyword, "i");
        //     var filterUsername = {
        //         'username': {
        //             '$regex': regex
        //         }
        //     };
        //     var filterName = {
        //         '$or': [{
        //             'profile.firstname': {
        //                 '$regex': regex
        //             }
        //         }, {
        //             'profile.lastname': {
        //                 '$regex': regex
        //             }
        //         }]
        //     };
        //     var $or = {
        //         '$or': [filterUsername, filterName]
        //     };

        //     query['$and'].push($or);
        // }
        // return query;

        var _default = {
            _deleted: false
        },
        pagingFilter = paging.filter || {},
        keywordFilter = {},
        query = {};

        if (paging.keyword) {
            var regex = new RegExp(paging.keyword, "i");
            var filterUsername = {
                'username': {
                    '$regex': regex
                }
            };
            var filterName = {
                '$or': [{
                    'profile.firstname': {
                        '$regex': regex
                    }
                }, {
                    'profile.lastname': {
                        '$regex': regex
                    }
                }]
            };
            keywordFilter["$or"] = [filterUsername, filterName]
        }
        query["$and"] = [_default, keywordFilter, pagingFilter];
        return query;
    }

    _validate(account) {
        var errors = {};
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
            var valid = account;
            // 1. begin: Declare promises.
            var getAccountPromise = valid && valid.username ? this.collection.firstOrDefault({
                "$and": [{
                    _id: {
                        '$ne': new ObjectId(valid._id)
                    }
                }, {
                    username:{
                        $regex: new RegExp("^" + valid.username.trim() + "$", "i")
                    }
                }]
            }) : Promise.resolve(null);
            valid.roles = valid.roles instanceof Array ? valid.roles : [];
            var roleIds = valid.roles.map((r) => new ObjectId(r._id));
            var getRoles = this.roleCollection.find({
                _id: {
                    "$in": roleIds
                }
            }).toArray();

            // 2. begin: Validation.
            Promise.all([getAccountPromise, getRoles])
                .then(results => {
                    var _module = results[0];
                    var _roles = results[1];

                    if (!valid.username || valid.username == '')
                        errors["username"] = "Username harus diisi";
                    else if (_module) {
                        errors["username"] = "Username sudah ada";
                    }

                    if (!valid._id && (!valid.password || valid.password == ''))
                        errors["password"] = "password is required";

                    if (!valid.profile)
                        errors["profile"] = "profile is required";
                    else {
                        var profileError = {};
                        if (!valid.profile.firstname || valid.profile.firstname == '')
                            profileError["firstname"] = "firstname harus diisi";

                        if (!valid.profile.gender || valid.profile.gender == '')
                            profileError["gender"] = "gender harus diisi";

                        if (Object.getOwnPropertyNames(profileError).length > 0)
                            errors["profile"] = profileError;
                    }

                    var roleErrors = [];
                    for (var role of valid.roles) {
                        var roleError = {};
                        var _role = _roles.find((r) => {
                            return r._id.toString() === role._id.toString();
                        });

                        if (!_role) {
                            roleError["role"] = i18n.__("Role.isRequired:%s is required", i18n.__("Role._:Role")); //"Nama barang tidak boleh kosong";
                            roleError["roleId"] = i18n.__("Role.isRequired:%s is required", i18n.__("Role._:Role")); //"Nama barang tidak boleh kosong";
                        }
                        if (Object.getOwnPropertyNames(roleError).length > 0)
                            roleErrors.push(roleError);
                        else {
                            role = _role;
                        }
                    }
                    if (roleErrors.length > 0)
                        errors.roles = roleErrors;

                    // 2c. begin: check if data has any error, reject if it has.
                    if (Object.getOwnPropertyNames(errors).length > 0) {
                        var ValidationError = require('module-toolkit').ValidationError;
                        reject(new ValidationError('data does not pass validation', errors));
                    }

                    account.roles = _roles;
                    valid = new Account(account);
                    valid.stamp(this.user.username, 'manager');
                    resolve(valid);
                })
                .catch(e => {
                    reject(e);
                });
        });
    }
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Robert G. Newman (* 26. Oktober 1937 in Den Haag; † 1. August 2018 in New York City) war ein US-amerikanischer Arzt, Wissenschaftler, Gesundheitsmanager und Philanthrop.

Leben
Robert Gabriel Newman wurde als Kind deutscher Emigranten in Den Haag, Niederlande, geboren. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt befanden sich seine Eltern als Juden auf der Flucht aus dem nationalsozialistischen Deutschland. Der Vater, Rudolph Neumann (später Randolph Newman), und die Mutter, Eva Neumann geb. Feilchenfeldt (später Eva Newman), waren beide Juristen. Die Familie übersiedelte im August 1939 nach New York City. Nach Ende des 2. Weltkriegs lebte Newman einige Jahre in Frankfurt/Main, wo sein Vater als Jurist an der Abwicklung der IG Farben beteiligt war.

Newman erhielt 1958 einen Bachelor-Abschluss am Washington Square College der New York University, absolvierte bis 1963 ein Medizinstudium zum MD (medical degree) an der University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry und erwarb einen Master of Public Health (MPH) an der School of Public Health University of California at Berkeley.

Berufliche Stationen waren u. a.: 1967 Dienstzeit als Arzt bei der US Air Force in Fukuoka, Japan, ab 1970 Assistant Commissioner, Addiction Programs, New York City Department of Health, ab 1976 Vizepräsident, sowie von 1978 bis 1997 Präsident und CEO (bzw. Ärztlicher Direktor) des Beth Israel Medical Centers (BIMC) in Downtown Manhattan / New York City, 1997–2001 Präsident und CEO von Continuum Health Partners, 2001–2013 Direktor des Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute of BIMC.

Von 1994 bis 2012 war Newman jeweils Professor am Dept. of Epidemiology and Population Health und am Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences des Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City.

Newmans besonderes berufliches, wissenschaftliches und humanitäres Interesse galt der Behandlung von Suchtkranken, insbesondere von Heroinabhängigen.
Bereits 1968 traf Newman auf das Arztehepaar Dr. Marie Nyswander und Dr. Vincent P. Dole, die 1964 in New York City damit begonnen hatten, Heroinabhängige mit Methadon zu behandeln.

Unter dem Leiter der New Yorker Gesundheitsverwaltung Gordon Chase zur Amtszeit des New Yorker Bürgermeisters John V. Lindsay erhielt Newman Gelegenheit, die Methadonbehandlung in größerem Maßstab einzuführen und auszubauen. Diese Ausweitung war nicht unumstritten. 1998 beabsichtigte New Yorks Bürgermeister Rudy Giuliani sogar, die Methadonprogramme deutlich zurückzufahren, konnte sich damit jedoch nicht durchsetzen.

Weltweit hat Newman zahlreiche Institutionen bei der Einführung der Methadontherapie beraten, etwa in Hongkong. Dieses Engagement brachte ihm bereits zu Lebzeiten die Spitznamen "Methadonapostel" oder sogar "Methadonpapst" ein.

Eine besondere Rolle spielte Newman in Deutschland Ende der 1980er Jahre bei der Einführung eines Methadonprogramms. Der damalige nordrhein-westfälische Gesundheitsminister Hermann Heinemann initiierte 1987 das wissenschaftliche Methadon-Erprobungsvorhaben des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen gegen starke Widerstände der abstinenzorientierten Fachinstitutionen und weiter Teile der Politik. Newman diente in dieser Zeit durch Vorträge und Gremienteilnahme als Fachmann und konnte belegen, dass selbst große Methadonprogramme organisatorisch zu bewältigen waren. In dieser Zeit lernte er u. a. den ebenfalls in der Drogenmedizin engagierten Berliner Rechtsmediziner Friedrich Bschor und die Aktivistin Dorothea Klieber kennen.

Ein Leitsatz von Newman zur Heroinabhängigkeit bzw. Methadonbehandlung war: "It's a medical problem – for which a treatment exists, but for which at the moment a cure does not" ("Es (die Heroinabhängigkeit) ist ein medizinisches Problem – für das eine Behandlung existiert, im Moment eine Heilung jedoch nicht"). Newman betonte auch immer wieder die humanitäre Seite der Methadonsubstitution.

Privat war Newman mit Seiko Newman, geb. Kusuba, verheiratet. Aus dieser Ehe gingen ein Sohn und eine Tochter hervor. Newman wurde im Juni 2018 Opfer eines Autounfalls in der Bronx, an dessen Folgen er verstarb.

Trotz der Umstände seiner Geburt auf der Flucht der Eltern aus Deutschland und der Verfolgung und Ermordung naher Angehöriger im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland reiste Newman oft nach Deutschland. Er sprach immer noch fließend deutsch und hatte stets ein unvoreingenommenes Verhältnis zu seinen deutschen Kollegen und Freunden.

Auszeichnungen
 1985 Nyswander/Dole "Marie" Awards (verliehen von der American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence / AATOD)
 1994 Norman E. Zinberg Memorial Lecture Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine (verliehen vom Cambridge Hospital and Harvard Medical School)
 1996 David E. Rogers Award (verliehen von der Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
 2006 The International Rolleston Award (verliehen von der NGO Harm Reduction International); für einen außergewöhnlichen Beitrag zur Schadensminderung durch Drogen
 2014 Order of the Rising Sun (verliehen von der japanischen Regierung), u. a. für außergewöhnliche Beförderung des medizinischen akademischen Austausches zwischen Japan und den USA

Literatur
 Robert G. Newman: Expansion of opiate agonist treatment: an historical perspective. In: Harm Reduction Journal, 2006, 3, S. 20,
 Obituary. In: The Lancet, Vol. 392, Issue 10152, S. 1008, 22. September 2018; Nachruf

(ausführlichere Liste auch im Interview mit Robert Newman 2011, s. u.)

Weblinks
 Behandlungsprogramme des BIMC
 New York's 'Methadone Pope' fought for addiction treatment decades ahead of his time. Huffington Post

Einzelnachweise

Interview mit Robert Newman 2011:
http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/2011%20Dr.%20Robert%20Newman.pdf (PDF)

Mediziner (20. Jahrhundert)
Emigrant aus dem Deutschen Reich zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
Emigrant in den Vereinigten Staaten
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1937
Gestorben 2018
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia