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CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
How a tech school helps refugees break into Germany's job market
Meet the people behind a school that's hoping to close the talent gap in Germany's tech industry – while helping refugees and migrants kick-start their career in their new country.
ReDi school offers free tech courses. Photo: Osama al Fitori
This article is part of Changing the Narrative. Articles in this series are written by student or early career journalists who took part in The Local's training course on solutions-focused migration reporting. Find out more about the project here.
Anne Riechert is originally from Denmark, and moved to Berlin in 2012 to set up the Berlin Peace Innovation Lab in association with Stanford University. She noticed that when talking to some of the 1.2 million refugees that arrived in Germany in 2015, the majority of adults primarily wanted to find a way to make their own money, and with that, find independence and dignity.
At the same time the German tech industry found itself losing money every year due to a lack of technical talent. Despite not having an education in programming, Riechert saw a solution: ReDi school, which helps connect refugees and people from forced migration backgrounds to the tech industry.
"When we started the school five years ago, there were 42,000 available jobs in tech in Germany. ReDi school in many ways is a win-win situation – closing the talent gap in the tech industry as well as bringing refugees and migrants into work," says Riechert.
The number of available tech jobs has only grown – in 2019 there were 124,000 open IT-related jobs in Germany. Research conducted by the Robert Bosch Stiftung concluded in 2018 that tech jobs are uniquely suited to the needs of refugees, as employers in this field value demonstrated skills rather than a completed university degree, which many refugees may not have, having been forced to flee their countries before completing their education.
Schools like ReDi Integration, which Riechert and a small team founded in 2016 in Berlin, offer free courses that teach technical skills, such as coding courses for 'newcomers' as well as for locals without access to a digital education or professional networks.
Riechert tells The Local: ''ReDi School is not only a tech school for refugees, it's a tech school for marginalised people who are not able to afford a digital education programme. We have a special focus on integration of people with a forced migration background, but integration is always a two-way process.''
The school now operates in six cities – Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and Copenhagen.
Tech schools as means to refugee employment
At the time of their beginning, Riechert hadn't observed a similar programme operating elsewhere. Her background in corporate social responsibility and social innovation, which she spent time in Japan researching, influenced her meeting with Mohammed, a refugee from Syria, at Eid al-Fitr in Berlin-Buch. He explained to her that he had studied IT in his home country but, without access to a computer, feared that he would not be able to develop new skills in the fast-moving IT industry.
Originally a new concept, ReDi now joins five other coding schools for refugees in Germany alone that have existed since 2015. Obtaining tech skills is a good fit for the needs of many refugees, as research has shown, not only as entry to the industry does not necessarily require a degree, but also because English language skills, which many refugees have, are often sufficient enough to get by on rather than requiring fluency in German.
However as the same report describes, obtaining a job in the tech sector is not entirely assured by the existence of tech skills, and employment in the industry rests on a number of factors, with many employers still preferring a degree level education and German language fluency.
While not all refugees who take part in these programmes may obtain jobs that directly require tech skills, the advantages for those that do are invaluable, and include higher incomes for families and the creation of refugee networks in the German tech industry. Meanwhile, those who do not obtain jobs directly in, for example, coding, can utilise other services the school provides such as networking with companies and improving their CVs to obtain other jobs.
Photo: ReDi
ReDi school has a successful track record getting individuals with refugee backgrounds employed within the tech sector.
Out of the courses that the school offers, their high-end tech programme, which hosts coding lessons as back-end, front-end web development, data analytics and UX Design, has a record of 50 percent of alumni obtaining jobs in the tech industry, with 25 percent in industries that require tech skills and the remaining looking to become further qualified through higher education or apprenticeships.
As Riechert notes with a smile: ''We started seeing refugees who studied with us gaining traction from the job market from the first semester in 2016. That was in May or June when our partners started recruiting our first students into jobs.''
Part of the success of ReDi school comes from their successful collaborations with other partners, such as the city of Munich, who approached the-then small team to start a new school in Munich and offered to pay the salaries of part of their staff. Their new school in Düsseldorf is supported by companies Accenture and Microsoft. As of 2020, the non-profit boasts several major partners such as Cisco and Deloitte that provide the non-profit financial help, material for courses and direct links into some of Germany's largest businesses.
Astrid Aupperle is Head of Philanthropies at Microsoft Germany. The company has been working with ReDi school for three years and she tells The Local: ''We help with volunteers, grants and infrastructure, especially during the pandemic we helped ReDi establish online classes. Four or five people who are alumnis from the ReDi school have now found a job at Microsoft Partners."
Creating networks
While the tech skills that ReDi school offers in the form of free courses provide opportunities for refugees to obtain hard skills and sometimes, direct employment, Riechert says: ''There can be no job market integration without social integration. That of course is a combination of many things and sub skills – such as languages and also very much of a network, whether that be a professional network or simply just having friends.''
Abdulsalam Hamdan has been involved in ReDi school now for around two years. Originally from Syria, he was studying his Masters in Electrical Engineering when he ran into difficulty in finding internships to complement his studies.
''I received a lot of rejections and in the meantime, while I was applying, I was introduced to ReDi school in their early stages. I originally joined ReDi school to see if it would help me with soft skills or certificates that I could use to apply with," he says.
"I did multiple courses, including programming and entrepreneurship. There were also multiple company visits which were interesting and helpful as we were able to talk to the employees. We went to Coca Cola and several smaller startups. Those visits were really eye-opening in seeing who I wanted to work for. I got a student job and from that point things started to get easier.''
MORE IN THIS SERIES:
How law students in Germany are providing free advice to asylum seekers
'Our goal is to empower students based on their talent – not the colour of their passports'
'I feel liberated': How young migrants in France produced their own movie
For Hamdan, aside from the direct networks into Germany companies, the most useful thing about ReDi school was the community that it offered: ''The most important thing in my opinion is that it takes you out of your bubble where you don't know many people in Germany, and may be receiving a lot of rejections and puts you into this community. They help you feel more confident in your applications and what you're doing.''
Now taking part in a graduate programme with Deutsche Telekom, Hamdan credits the school as an important resource in what it offered him to break into the German tech industry. He also notes that the ReDi school is a very valuable resource from the companies' side as well. "There's really a lack of talent of people willing to work in IT, on the other hand you have all these motivated people trying to apply and finding no jobs. The ReDi school is important in linking those two together."
Vivek Sethia is a Cloud Systems Developer at Cloudreach, a Germany-based company, and in his spare time, a mentor and tutor in ReDi's programme. He says that he has found that, aside from teaching tech skills, he finds himself giving advice on various things, such as job application processes.
''When teaching I focused on the tech, but as a mentor I focused on preparing the mentee to fix their CV and cover letter, be confident and how to approach different companies."
He says: ''I know sometimes, it is not only the job application process that could create fear or anxiety but everything surrounding it, for example applying for a Blue Card, getting an apartment in Munich.''
Originally from India, he shares that as an international resident himself, he finds a lot of joy in sharing his advice to people that are new in Germany, and do not necessarily have access to networks otherwise.
"It's a great idea when you don't have any roots in a country. I'm not saying tech school may be for everyone, but it's a good platform for people interested in IT, and the concept of creating networks between companies and people can be applied in different fields."
Tamsin Paternoster is a freelance journalist based in Germany writing for The Local Germany among other publications. Follow her on Twitter.
Tamsin Paternoster [email protected] @tamsinpatn
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The 'bushy' hominid tree and human linkage disequilibrium (hypothesis)
Andrew Gyles syzygium at alphalink.com.au
Mon Aug 20 00:38:20 EST 2001
Previous message: Postdoctoral Positions in Molecular Ecology
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The 'bushy' hominid tree, hominid extinction and human linkage
disequilibrium (hypothesis)
Fossil evidence indicates that there were many lines of hominid living in
different parts of Africa millions of years ago, one of which led to the
human species. The hominid tree was 'bushy'. A separate line (not a 'bushy'
tree, as far as is known) led from the common ancestor of the hominids and
the chimpanzees to the chimpanzees. (No fossils of chimpanzee ancestors have
been found.)
I propose that the common ancestor of the hominids adapted to a changing
climate and environment by rapid genetic change. This change was not the
gaining of alleles through random mutation (which could hardly be rapid
without being fatal to the survival of the species). It was the rapid loss
of alleles in the germ line through unusually vigorous repairing of
mispaired bases in heteroduplex segments during crossing over in meiosis. In
each of these repairing events an allele is lost. Alternatively the length
of heteroduplex segments might have increased in the hominids; this combined
with the repairing of some of the mispaired bases would have increased the
rate of loss of alleles.
As the hominids spread over a broader area of Africa and became isolated
into several groups or 'gene pools' the vigorous repairing in heteroduplexes
continued and the loss of alleles continued, but because the losses were
random the resulting frequencies of particular alleles in each of the gene
pools began to differ from pool to pool.  This would cause the average
phenotype in each gene pool to differ from that in each of the other gene
pools. Thus the hominid tree developed many branches and became 'bushy', as
the hominid fossils found in different parts of Africa attest.
I propose that in the ape lines of descent the repairing of mispaired bases
in heteroduplexes was not as vigorous as it was in the hominids.
The rapid loss of alleles from the gene pool of a species well stocked with
them would not necessarily be fatal to the survival of the species. (This
cannot be said of the rapid gain of alleles through random mutation.) There
are, however, two important classes of allele that must not be lost from the
gene pool of the species (or from an isolated group of interbreeding
individuals within the species) if it is to survive.
The first class comprises the many alleles of the histocompatibility genes,
which must be present in the gene pool of a species to ensure its survival
in spite of the presence in its environment of any of various parasites.
The second class comprises beneficial dominant alleles that help an
individual to survive and reproduce even if it bears a deleterious recessive
allele at the same locus in the homologous chromosome. If the gene pool of a
species lost too many beneficial dominant alleles and was left with too many
deleterious recessive alleles the species might lose the struggle for
survival.
Alleles in the first and second classes would be preserved in the gene pool
by natural selection unless the overall rate of loss of alleles through
repairing of mispaired bases in heteroduplex segments during meiosis left
too few of them for natural selection to preserve. This might explain why
all but one of the hominid lines became extinct: perhaps the line of
hominids leading to humans was the only one lucky enough to retain all of
the alleles needed for survival and to lose many deleterious alleles.
I suggest that the great linkage disequilibrium that has recently been
measured in the chromosomes of some human groups is a reflection of the
(hypothetical) increased rate of repairing of mispaired bases in
heteroduplexes, or of increased length of heteroduplexes (or a combination
of both of these) in hominids, including humans. In particular, an increase
in length of the heteroduplex segments formed during meiotic crossing over
in hominids and humans, combined with a greater rate of repairing of
mispaired bases in these segments, would cause great linkage disequilibrium.
This would be so because the different 'markers' by which linkage
equilibrium is measured - variations in base sequence from one individual to
another in a population - would become fewer at each marker position, and in
some positions might be reduced to no variation.
The end result in the human species would have been remarkably little
sequence variation between individuals as compared with other species.
The (hypothetical) increase in the rate of loss of alleles during meiosis
might have been the product originally of a few random genetic mutations in
the ancestor of the hominids. However, it is worth considering the
alternative possibility that this mechanism might be common to many species
of organism, might have been used many times before in the course of
evolution and might be hundreds of millions of years old. It might be lying
latent in these species waiting to be called into action whenever rapid
environmental change threatened the survival of a species.
Andrew Gyles
http://www.geocities.com/acgyles/minid.html
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Translated, Ebru means "cloud art." This centuries-old art form, which originated in Japan and was further developed in Turkey, involves floating paint on thickened water, making patterns and designs using special tools and then placing paper, fabric or other materials on top of the water so that the image is permanently transferred. I love the vibrancy of the colors and the motion of the clouds and swirls; every combination is unique.
Each 5 x 7 inch card has its own colors, movement and vibe to it. The cards are printed on fine art paper with pigmented inks. Properly cared for, they will maintain their brilliance for generations.
Each box has 5 different cards plus envelopes. Please pick from the 6 different series or the set of 15.
Each box is $25, plus $2.50 shipping. The set of 15 is $75, plus $3.50 shipping.


text:
Best Coast and The Linda Lindas Ask What Happened to the Truth on "Leading"
It's one of the bonus singles off BC's forthcoming deluxe version of 2020's Always Tomorrow.
December 14th 2021 by Margaret Farrell
photo by Eddie Chacon
In February of last year, Best Coast returned with their latest album Always Tomorrow. Around the same time next year, the duo is releasing a deluxe version of that LP, which includes five bonus tracks: two B-sides that were released for Record Store Day, one Sheryl Crow cover, and two yet-unheard songs. We get to hear one of the unreleased songs today—it's called "Leading" and it features the rising punk group The Linda Lindas.
"Leading" is emotive and punchy, reminiscent of Pat Benatar. "I'm a believer in a healthy dose of pessimism / 'Cause expectations are just resentments waiting to happen," goes one line. "Leading" teeters between hope and despair, unsure of this doom-laden world. "Whatever happened to believing in the truth," Bethany Cosentino asks during the chorus. The song "is about trying to find hope during the apocalypse, with background vocals from my favorite young voices, The Linda Lindas," Cosentino said in the press release.
She also gave some insight into these conflicting emotions: "When Always Tomorrow came out, I personally felt like I had mastered the chaos of my own life (I literally wrote a song about it called 'Master of My Own Mind'). It felt like a bookend to all the other Best Coast records that wrestled with crisis and melodrama. But then, a global pandemic shut the world down, and I was forced to sit with what I thought I knew and then a whole new pot of boiling emotions started cooking up. There's nothing like telling the whole world you *got this* and then realizing you don't."
Listen to "Leading" below. The deluxe version of Always Tomorrow is out January 7.
Best Coastthe linda lindas
Best Coast, "Always Tomorrow" [Deluxe Edition]
The Linda Lindas Share Their Ode to the Savage and Friendly Cat "Nino"
Portraits from Riot Fest 2021 with Vic Mensa, Best Coast, Meg Myers, and Taking Back Sunday
Lady Gaga, Best Coast, Liz Phair, Frank Turner, and More Artists React to the Inauguration


As a Wi-Fi Technical Support Engineer, you will be the primary interface for Teir-2 support W-Fi related issues reported by customers. The focus of this position will be debugging and analyzing issues and drive corrective actions of technical issues impacting customer. Characteristics of success in this role include previous experience in supporting or testing WLANs, VLANs, or DHCP servers; experience installing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks; and having the ability to multi-task and work under pressure. We're looking for people who take pride in doing excellent work, and can both teach and learn from those around them. Successful candidates will possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, as well as a high degree of analytical and investigative skills.
Effectively communicate with client's IT teams and customers regarding technical issues and customer service inquiries, both orally and in writing.
Collaborate with other support team members to fix network outages, misconfigurations, and complex networking issues on customers' network.
Be able to isolate problems between network, hardware and software and provide information to appropriate development team(s).


Brand New Reversible Air Drill Reversible air drill with 10mm keyless chuck Side-mounted forward/reverse lever for one-handed operation and muffled handle exhaust. Includes both UK and European 1/4" quick connectors. No load speed 1800min-1. Air consumption 140L/min (5cfm).


Kat B filed this request with the Department of Agriculture of the United States of America.
This email acknowledges receipt by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department FOIA Office (DFO) of your attached Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Your request was received by this office on March 20, 2018.
DFO is under the purview of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and serves as the focal point for USDA's FOIA program. DFO provides coordination and ensures agency wide compliance with the FOIA. DFO processes requests and appeals on behalf of the Office of the Secretary and Departmental Management's ("DM") components. For a complete listing of DM's components, please visit http://www.dm.usda.gov/agencies.htm.
Due to the increasing number of FOIA requests received by this office, we may encounter some delay in processing your request. Pursuant to USDA FOIA regulations, Title 7 CFR §1.8(d), the USDA processes FOIA requests according to their order of receipt.
Provisions of the FOIA allow USDA to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. For purposes of fee assessment, you were categorized as a "all other" requester, pursuant to 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section (5)(d). For your review and information, a copy of the USDA FOIA Fee Schedule is attached. In accordance with 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section 6(a)(4), your fees shall be waived where the amount of the fee is $25.00 or less.
Your request has been assigned FOIA Case No. 2018-DA-03075-F. Please refer to this case number in any future correspondence. If you have any questions regarding the processing of this request, please contact me at 202-694-5260 or electronically at camille.aponte@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:camille.aponte@ocio.usda.gov> or USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov>. For additional information regarding USDA FOIA regulations and process, please refer to the information available on-line at www.dm.usda.gov/foia<http://www.dm.usda.gov/foia>.
Please clarify what type of records you are seeking when you refer to "all records of employees hired under Direct Hire Authority from January 20, 2017". Are you seeking a list identifying the employees? Or are there specific records you are seeking? Please keep in mind that personnel files are exempt from disclosure under FOIA.
Following up on my below email from last Thursday. Until this is clarified, the OHRM records custodian is unable to perform the search. If I do not receive your response by Friday, April 27, 2018, I will assume you are no longer interested in this request and will close it.


Another day, another popular app lands on Windows Phone 8. In this case it's Find Me Coffee (www.findmecoffee.com), which has become the go to site for finding, well, you guessed it, coffee. The service is considered to be one of the largest databases in the world for coffee joints and users can sort by other criteria like if it is open 24 hours, has Wi-Fi or even seats.
The app has been on iOS and Android for quite some time but now the company has brought it over to Windows Phone 8 (they're even advertising it on their site, natch).
Now some users will note that even though they flattened some of the icons for the most part this is an iOS port. For some of you, you'll pick up your pitchforks, but we're not as dogmatic when it comes to UI design and occasionally we like to have something that stands out. Plus some companies prefer to have their image and brand consistent across platforms for consumer familiarity.
Sure, it would have been nice to have a completely re-designed app for Windows Phone 8 but then again perhaps the company did not want to spend the money. That's something to keep in mind: would you rather have an iOS port (that still looks great) or nothing at all? We'll take the former. (Also think of your average consumer switching from iOS and Android and see if they care).
Regardless of how it looks, the app performs well. It's fast to load and is a must-have app if traveling around the city. It also sports a double-wide Tile and the graphics are quite sharp. While it doesn't have any advanced Windows Phone 8 functionality like TellMe integration, we're just happy to see the app here and working well.
You can pick up Find Me Coffee for Windows Phone 8 for free (ad-supported) here in the Store.


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The Illegal Pet Trade
While it's been illegal to own or trade orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia for decades, the orangutan trade continues to flourish.
Most of the illegal trade in orangutans is a byproduct of habitat destruction. As the rainforest is cut down, terrified orangutans have nowhere to go and descend to the ground, where they usually encounter loggers or field workers. These orangutans, who are usually mothers with dependent offspring, are inevitably attacked, killed, and eaten. Their babies are taken from them and either kept as pets or sold into the illegal animal trade.
Most infants don't survive the harsh journey to the wildlife markets in Jakarta, Bali, or other international locations. Poor care, disease, injury and the psychological trauma of losing their mothers means most captive infant orangutans don't survive their first year. It's estimated that for every orangutan that does survive, another six to eight die.
If an orangutan does survive the journey, for the first 2-3 years of their life they will make cute and appealing pets. However, by three or four years old an orangutan will already be as strong as an adult human, and by the time an orangutan is reaching maturity at 10 years old, it will be five to seven times as strong as a male human. At this stage, most owners keep the orangutan permanently caged, kill it, or discard it. The lucky few will be confiscated.
There are currently over 1,500 hundred orangutans in rehabilitation centers in Borneo and Sumatra.
The impact of this trade is discussed in the UNEP Report "Last Stand of the Orangutan."
The illegal wildlife trade has long been one of the most serious threats to protecting endangered species throughout the world. Despite the large amounts of resources spent on combating it and the huge publicity given to the animals most severely threatened by it, the pace of the trade continues unabated. Today, the illegal wildlife trade is one of the world's most lucrative illegal trades, with a combined value of around $10 billion dollars annually. It's likely the world's second-largest trade, behind the international drugs trade (Vince, 2002).
Primates are one of the most heavily traded types of wildlife. They're traded for a variety of reasons, including:
For use as pets
For use in biomedical research and traditional medicines
For zoos, wildlife collections, and the entertainment industry (Nijman, 2005)
Most of the primate trade is illegal, but some species are still traded legally. Historically, the most widely traded primate is the macaque, which is used heavily in biomedical research. Up to 12,000 macaques enter the USA legally every year for use in research (WWF). Long-tailed macaques are still legally exported from Indonesia every year for this purpose (Soehartono & Mardiastuti, 2002).
Chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, gibbons, siamangs, and orangutans have long suffered from hunting pressures, and the illegal wildlife trade is one of the biggest threats they face. Chimpanzees have been traded illegally for decades, primarily for use as pets, entertainment, and biomedical research. Trading wild chimpanzees is illegal, and most countries have either banned using great apes in invasive scientific experiments or are moving toward such a ban. Still, there are currently around 1,300 chimpanzees housed in US laboratories. All of them are wild-caught or acquired from circuses, zoos, or private collections (Project R&R). Another 113 are kept as pets in the USA, one of the few countries where keeping a great ape as a pet is legal. Although public pressure has decreased the use of apes in entertainment, one of the most popular and successful advertising campaigns in the UK involved a group of chimpanzees, dressed as humans, drinking tea until 2002. This campaign was voted the nation's favorite in 2003 (The Guardian, 2003). In addition, a pet gibbon recently featured prominently in a successful US comedy series. Throughout South East Asia, orangutans and gibbons are found in tourist areas where they're often forced to participate in boxing matches or drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes in nightclubs. Although proprietors claim these animals are captive born, they are probably poached from the wild (The Daily Mail, 2010).
Perhaps the biggest threat to the great apes of Africa is the increasing trade in the animals for human consumption, known as the bushmeat trade. Communities in Africa living in proximity to forested areas have always hunted chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos, and although there are local taboos, their meat has always been a staple of Central African diets. However, with the arrival of modern weapons, population growth, urban sprawl, and the opening up of Africa's forests by timber companies, the consumption of ape meat has exploded from a pure subsistence activity, into a large commercial enterprise (Peterson, 2001). Today, it is estimated that up to 8,000 chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas are killed each year to fuel this industry (Bushmeat Project, 2010).
Orangutans, like all the other great apes, are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which prohibits their unlicensed international trade, and, as signatories to CITES, Malaysia and Indonesia are required to adhere to this prohibition. Orangutans are also protected by national laws in both countries, initially introduced during their periods of European colonization, and amended upon independence. They are also members of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN), and Indonesia is a signatory to the Kinshasha Declaration, which resolves to improve "the protection of individual great apes and their habitats everywhere by demonstrably improving where necessary the quality and enforcement of relevant laws, as well as the capacity of law enforcement agencies" (CITES/GRASP, 2006). Despite this, the trade continues.
The orangutan trade encompasses many forms, but at its heart is the poaching of orangutans from the wild, be it for food, to obtain infants for the pet trade, for traditional medicine or in response to crop raiding (Rijksen & Meijaard, 1999).
One of the most complex issues in orangutan conservation is the hunting of orangutans by local people for food, something conservationists have often shied away from dealing with, for fear of offending local sensitivities. Fossil evidence from the Niah caves of Sarawak in Malaysia indicates humans were killing and eating orangutans as early as 40,000 years ago and, although different cultures have different taboos, the hunting of wild animals for sustenance has been, and still is, an integral part of indigenous cultures and rural life throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, with historic hunting seen as the likely explanation for the large areas of suitable forest habitat throughout Borneo currently devoid of wild orangutans (Bennett, 1998; Rijksen & Meijaard, 1999).
The introduction of both Christianity and Islam to the region has seen a modification in the beliefs and practices of many of the indigenous people, and today, most Muslim communities generally refrain from eating orangutan meat. However, there is still a large local variation in this activity, and whether or not orangutans are hunted is strongly linked with tribal and village identity (Marshall et. al., 2006). Surveys in Kalimantan have shown that hunting for meat claims the lives of around a thousand orangutans a year, and studies have found that sustenance hunting was the primary factor reducing orangutan density in areas of Kalimantan, that orangutans were being killed not just for their meat, but for their perceived medicinal benefits of their body parts, and that any drop in the levels of hunting was due to the scarcity of orangutans today, rather than to any change in beliefs (Mongabay, 2010; Marshall et al., 2006).
Research conducted by CITES and the Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) in 2006 found that although the hunting of orangutans for their meat was not as widespread throughout Indonesia as the bushmeat trade is throughout Africa, orangutans are still widely hunted, and in some rural areas, some restaurants would prepare dishes containing orangutan meat, although these dishes would have to be specifically requested and would not be offered openly. They also found that orangutan fat and skin is used as a form of talisman to protect houses against fire.
Land conflict between wildlife and humans is not a new phenomenon and has occurred throughout the world since time immemorial. As a consequence of this conflict with population expansion and technology, the killing by humans has caused the extinction, or near extinction, of most large predators throughout Europe, North America, and Australia. In the developing world, where large areas of tropical rainforest have been converted into agricultural land, such conflicts are an increasing problem. Although conflicts usually occur with larger, ground-dwelling animals like elephants and tigers, as the rate of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia has increased, so have human-orangutan conflicts, as starving displaced orangutans raid crops and wander into villages in search of food, where they are usually killed. One palm oil company in Central Kalimantan instigated a policy of paying local people 150,000 Rupiah (around $17) for every orangutan 'pest' killed (Buckland, 2005). In addition, although a local NGO was able to form an agreement with this company in 2004 to rescue 52 adult and 11 infant orangutans found in their plantation, it is likely that similar policies are in place in most other plantations. As firearms are not easily available, most orangutans in these situations are either beaten, hacked, drowned, set on fire, or buried alive (Schuster, 2007).
The illegal pet trade is one of the biggest threats to orangutans and is comprised of two components: the domestic market and the international market. The practice of keeping pets is widespread in many parts of Indonesia, and wildlife markets are a feature of most large towns and cities. Although illegal, the keeping of primates as pets is common (CITES/GRASP, 2006), and these primates, most often orangutans and gibbons, will often be kept by families, in good conditions, in the same way, people in western countries keep cats and dogs. In some circumstances, orangutans are also kept as status symbols, indicating an owner's social status or wealth. Orangutans are also acquired by people for the sole reason of being illegal, and therefore a way for the owner to demonstrate that he or she is above the law. Investigations in Sumatra have shown that possession of orangutans is usually by local politicians, senior military and police staff, and many of the orangutans confiscated by the police and junior military will be used to curry favor with higher-ranking officials, with 60% of all orangutans in rehabilitation centers on the island having come from such sources (Ibid).
Like all great apes, orangutans have slow life histories, and for the first few years of their lives, are docile, sweet and gentle. However, at about five years old, an orangutan already has the strength of an adult male human. When it is mature, it will be as strong as five to seven adult male humans, with an unpredictable and possibly aggressive nature that makes them unsuitable as pets.
The only way for an orangutan baby to be caught is for the mother to be shot, and the baby pried from her dead body. The route the baby then takes is entirely dependent on the intended form of trade, and how much money can be obtained. Almost every person living in a forested area of Kalimantan will know the value of a baby orangutan, so while poachers will sometimes keep orangutans for themselves, usually if the baby is kept by the poacher, or sold to a family in the same village, it is because the orangutan is a valuable commodity that can in time be sold or bartered (Nijman, 2005). Rather than being kept, it is more likely that the baby will enter the illegal trade, usually sold to someone in another area, who will then sell it on for an increased price; the process becomes more and more professional and lucrative as it develops. The monetary value of an orangutan varies from place to place and depends on whether it is being sold in an area where orangutans live in the wild. For example, in Kalimantan, orangutans can be priced between 243,000-1,007,000 Rupiah ($27-$112), while on the island of Java, orangutans will cost more, from 3,462,000 Rupiah ($385). Orangutans are also often acquired in exchange for other commodities, such as a wristwatch or an electronic appliance (Nijman, 2005).
Orangutans are also often poached from the wild to form collections for zoos and wildlife parks throughout the country. The origins of the orangutans and other primates kept in these zoos are often uncertain, and records are not always kept, but it is likely few are captive-born. Conditions at these zoos are usually appalling, and have a high mortality rate. Of the six orangutans present at the Medan Zoo in Sumatra in 2006, only two were still there in 2008 (Nijman, 2009).
The international trade in orangutans is strictly prohibited, but despite its illegality, research into the illegal wildlife trade in Kalimantan and Sumatra has shown that orangutans are still being smuggled out of Indonesia into neighboring southeast Asian countries (Nijman, 2005; CITES/GRAS, 2006). Performing orangutans have always been extremely popular in South East Asia, and the similarities between infant orangutans and human babies have always made them popular household pets (Foead et. al., 2005). In the 1980s and 1990s, the illegal trade was focused mainly in the affluent country of Taiwan, where demand for orangutan pets was high, and to where an estimated 1,000 orangutans were illegally imported between 1985 and 1990 (WWF). In recent years, the large numbers of orangutans in Thailand and Cambodia has brought renewed attention to the wildlife trade, and their use in highly publicized kickboxing shows, aimed at domestic and international, usually western, tourists, has been the focus of intensive lobbying by NGOs.
In 2004, 114 orangutans were seized from the Safari World theme park in Bangkok, where they were forced to dress up and engage in Thai-boxing, and in 2006, 54 of these orangutans were returned to Indonesia. Unfortunately, the other 60 were believed to have died (Profauna, 2006). Despite the safari park being ordered to close, media reports surfaced in 2010 showing the park open and once again advertising orangutan boxing shows (The Daily Mail, 2010). Orangutans are kept in similar parks in other areas of Thailand and Cambodia (Davies, 2005), with further groups of illegally imported orangutans known to exist in peninsular Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam (CITES/GRASP, 2006). Like the domestic trade, these orangutans are poached from the rainforests, and transported to coastal towns, where they are often sold to crews of foreign-owned ships, and, through a system of corruption, bribes, and collusion, clear customs easily. Intelligence related to the illegal importation of one large shipment of orangutans from Kalimantan to Cambodia showed that a Thai fishing vessel had been involved, and cargo ships are known to transport orangutans from the coastal city of Pontianak in west Kalimantan to Singapore (CITES/GRASP, 2006; Nijman, 2005).
It's difficult to estimate the number of orangutans involved in the illegal domestic and international wildlife trade, or those lost to sustenance hunting, but it's evident that it's a considerable number. Forestry Department officials confiscated 1,433 orangutans in Kalimantan between 1971 and 2004 (Nijman, 2005). Between 1973 and 2000, 226 orangutans were rescued and handed to the largest rehabilitation centre in Sumatra (Nijman, 2009). These numbers are probably just a drop in the ocean, but it's clear that if orangutans in Malaysia and Indonesia are to survive, stronger law enforcement is needed, and current domestic and international laws and treaties banning this trade are enforced.
Bennett, E. (1998). The natural history of the orangutan. Natural History Publications (Borneo).
Buckland, H. (2005). The oil for ape scandal. Friends of the Earth, UK.
Bushmeat Project. (2010). The Bushmeat Crisis. Bushmeat Project, UK.
CITES/GRASP. (2006). CITES/GRASP orangutan technical mission Indonesia. CITES/GRASP.
Davies, B. (2005). Black market. Inside the endangered species trade in Asia. Earth Aware Editions, USA.
Foead, N., Elliott, W., Ziegler, S., Van Gool, M. & Nijman, V. (2005). WWF's species action plan for the conservation of orangutans in the wild.WWF's Species Action Plan, UK.
Marshall, A.J., Nardiyono., Engstrom, L.M., Pamungkas, B., Palapa, J., Meijaard, E. & Stanley, S.A. (2006). The blowgun is mightier than the chainsaw in determining population density of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) in the forests of East Kalimantan. Biological Conservation, 129, pp. 566-578.
Meijaard E. (2010). Indonesian people-not international donors or orangutan conservationists-will determine the ultimate fate of Indonesia's forests. Mongabay.com.
Nijman, V. (2005). Hanging in the Balance. An assessment of trade in orangutans and gibbons in Kalimantan, Indonesia. TRAFFIC, Southeast Asia.
Nijman, V. (2009). An assessment of trade in orangutans and gibbons in Sumatra, Indonesia. TRAFFIC, Southeast Asia.
Peterson, D. (2001). Eating apes. University of California Press, USA.
ProFauna. (2006). Indonesia welcomes home orangutans. Profauna.
Rijksen H. & Meijaard E. (1999). Our vanishing relative. The status of wild orangutans at the turn of the 20th century. Kluwer academic Publishers, Netherlands.
Schuster, G. (2007). Thinkers of the jungle. Tandem Verlag GmbH, Germany.
Soehartono, T. & Mardiastuti, A. (2002).CITES implementation in Indonesia. CITES.
The Daily Mail. (2010). Orangutans kickbox and parade in bikinis for cheering tourists. The Daily Mail.
UNEP. Last Stand of the Orangutan. http://www.unep-wcmc.org/last-stand-orangutan_127.html.
Vince, G. (2002). Organized gangs target wildlife trade. New Scientist.


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Airport and Airpark, City Council
Hashknife Brand
There's a lot of talk of "branding" in Scottsdale these days. It's a time-tested buzzword in marketing. And it evokes visions of the Old West which–like it or not–is part of the cache of Scottsdale.
However, in the context of developments over the last few weeks regarding my service on the Scottsdale Airport Advisory Commission and the rather nasty war of words I've had with Mayor Jim Lane, it hearkens memories of a different use of the word.
When I was a kid I used to love western TV shows. Some were silly (F-Troop), some were schlocky and predictable (Bonanza). However, one of my favorites was Branded. I was reminded of it recently when someone jokingly said to me a few weeks ago that the City Council was going to "rip off my epaulettes," for sending a letter to the FAA over the issue of apartments in the Airpark.
Chuck Connors as Jason McCord
This show had a relatively short run by the standards of "success" of the day. However, it was probably one of the best of the genre. Chuck Connors (The Rifleman) starred as a Civil War cavalry captain Jason McCord, who was the only survivor of a battle in which the commanding officer made a tactical error and was killed along with everyone else but McCord.
McCord refused to soil the reputation of his commanding officer by pointing the finger of blame. Instead he silently accepted the blame himself. He was drummed out of the Army for supposed cowardice under fire and for leaving the rest of the men to die.
In the opening credits of every show, McCord was called front-and-center of the assembled troops in the fort, had his rank stripped off his uniform. The fort commander broke McCord's cavalry sabre over his knee and threw it out the front gate. McCord marched out of the fort and into a life trying to live down the brand of 'coward' without besmirching the reputation of his dead commanding officer.
This situation isn't nearly as noble as that depicted in the show. In fact, it is a bit ironic in that I think the folks who made the error here in approving residential land use in the Airpark are both those who appointed me and those who are probably going to remove me tonight.
I'm not standing up for them and their mistake. I'm standing up TO them and for the Airport, which can't speak for itself.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support I have received in the last week, much of it from people I barely know, and some of whom I've never met. I am thankful for their words of encouragement, and more importantly for caring about Scottsdale.
One of the best lines I can remember from Branded: "A brave man makes a choice while a coward steps aside."
I've made my choice and I'll live with the consequences.
BrandedScottsdale Airport
What'd He Say? Ray Torres on Border Security
Bye, Bye Valerie
Jim Simpson says:
Well I remember Branded, it is a great analogy and I think you wear your stripes well. Hopefully you will not be stripped of them tonight.
If the Mayor and City council are foolish enough to do that then they are a rubber stamp committee and self serving. They will never listen to any voice that challenges them. IF that turns out to be the case then you guys need to vote the bums out. They in theory signed up to do public service, not listening to the public when there are concerns is not serving the public. All too often these days it seems like the people who are supposed to serve forget who they are really working for.
Good luck John!
Audrey Signa says:
John, I watched my City Council vote & I was disgusted. You may have lost this battle but I truly believe that Jim Lane is going to lose the war. He will not be re-elected. So many articulate people spoke on your behalf & they will remember how their opinions were rebuked by this council.
You may have sacrificed your position but that doesn't mean that you can't continue to speak out in defense of the airport.
Thank you for your service to the community.
Thank you for watching! The more people who do, the better informed we'll all be when it comes to making the hard choices in the election a year from now.
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11 Ways to Help Immigrant Families in Need
by yasminbashirova | Aug 9, 2022 | Activism, Immigrants, Support, yasmin bashirova
While Congress is still working on a solution to the immigration crisis, there are various ways people can help. These include volunteering at shelters and providing aid to families in need. Here are some great ways you can be an advocate and help.
On International Women's Day, a group of Indian women organized a protest in San Jose, California, to highlight the plight of immigrant workers. According to the event's organizers, tens of thousands of women from India are forced out of their jobs each year due to the H-1B and H-4 policies.
The H-1B visa allows US companies to hire foreign workers who have the necessary technical or theoretical expertise in certain specialty occupations. Most technology companies rely on this visa to hire thousands of workers each year from countries such as China and India.
According to the protestors, the US government has been very slow in issuing work authorization permits (H-4) for certain categories of spouses of H-1B visa holders. This is the reason why many highly skilled Indian IT professionals in the country are forced out of their jobs.
The Lights for Liberty Vigil
The event's goal, called a vigil to end human detention camps, is to bring thousands of people to the streets to show their support for refugees.
Paying Bail For Detention Centers
One of the fastest ways to help an immigrant family is by paying their bail for detention centers. This can be done through a community bail fund. If the person shows up for court, the money can be used to pay for other expenses.
Money towards their counsel
You can also help pay for the immigration lawyers available to help the families. You can find these organizations by searching for "indigent immigration defense" on Google.
Reaching Out to Your Local Government
Although immigration is a federal law, all politics are local. If you live in a county where local law enforcement officials work with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ask them to not work with them, as well as contact your local congress representatives.
Help Fund Non-Profits
Individuals with significant financial resources can also make a significant contribution to various non-profit organizations that serve immigrants. They can help fund programs that promote legal reforms and provide case management services. Non-profits can also use their funds to develop research programs supporting immigrant families.
Support Groups Helping Immigrants
Support groups working to help immigrant families, such as RAICES and Immigrant Families Together. These organizations often hold community demonstrations to provide immigrant families with transportation, shelter, and other services. Volunteers are also needed to help these groups.
On the website of Immigrant Families Together, there are a variety of ways that people can raise money for the organization. Some of these include silent auctions and movie nights.
Teaching English as a second language can help people navigate American culture. You can also help other immigrants improve their English skills by volunteering at local organizations that provide English-language classes.
Learn The Rights
Groups focused on helping immigrants understand their rights are developing resources to help them navigate the various steps involved in immigration.
Give Air Miles
One of the most prominent organizations that provide financial and airline miles to people in border shelters is Lawyer Moms of America. They aim to help those who have already attained asylum leave and make room for new arrivals.


Note: Here is a great press release submitted by Cheap-Neckties.com. A great and interesting way to market the company. Read for Yourself.
We offer a big variety of heat press machines, shirt press machines, cap press machines, multi presse, plotters and others. We ship worldwide, but you are also welcome to visit our store in berlin germany.
Note: We offer a big variety of heat press machines, shirt press machines, cap press machines, multi presse, plotters and others. We ship worldwide, but you are also welcome to visit our store in berlin germany.
Are you looking for creative ideas how to organize press conference or business meeting. We have a lot of fresh ideas. We can organize completely all.
Note: Are you looking for creative ideas how to organize press conference or business meeting. We have a lot of fresh ideas. We can organize completely all.
How to setup your custom hosted Wordpress blog quickly.
Note: How to setup your custom hosted Wordpress blog quickly.


"No more detours!" That was the promise Angelina Lord made to herself when she accepted a ride from a wedding in Texas, with the best man to her destination in Santa Fe, New Mexico. What could possibly go wrong?
Angelina is focused on one thing–opening a fashion boutique in Santa Fe. What she really doesn't need is one full-of-himself lawman with his aggravating air of superiority and soul-searing eyes…not to mention heart-stopping kisses…coming to her rescue. If she lets him get too close to the truth, he could bring down the wall she erected around her well-ordered life and her heart.
United States Marshal Jace Blackhawke holds family and traditions as the center of his life. He isn't part of Angie's world and she certainly isn't part of his. Will their differences prove to be too insurmountable in the face of the truth that will not stay silent?
"Nice morning." He sent the words across to her, his eyes drawn in and owned by the pair of emerald green ones that danced and dazzled and demanded his attention. Cat eyes? Eyes that held a mysterious pull on his with their feline shape, brilliance, and shielded in a black nest of lashes where secrets could hide.
"If you say so. Bit cold… and flat." The voice matched her… smooth and feline and flat-out intoxicating.
Damn. Was the air thinner here? His normal thinking was all out of whack. He made no reply just kept a stone-faced countenance while his mind tried to pry itself loose from whatever strange hold this newcomer exerted. The quarreling couple held no interest for him. With his eyes concealed behind a pair of aviator lenses, he felt his gaze drawn again to the woman.
Remember, the more you comment on the tour posts the more chance of winning you have!
Born and raised in the Lone Star state of Texas, Debra grew up among horses, cowboys, wide open spaces, and real Texas Rangers. Pride in her state and ancestry knows no bounds and it is these heroes and heroines she loves to write about the most. She also draws upon a variety of life experiences including working with abused children, caring for baby animals at a major zoo, and owning a wedding planning business (ah, romance!).
Debra's real pride and joys, however, are her son, an aspiring film actor, and a daughter with aspirations to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (more story ideas!) When she isn't busy writing about tall Texans and feisty heroines, she can be found cheering on her Texas Tech Red Raiders, or heading off on another cruise adventure. She read her first romance…Janet Dailey's Fiesta San Antonio, over thirty years ago and became hooked on the genre. Writing contemporary western romances, is both her passion and dream come true, and she hopes her books will bring smiles…and sighs… to all who believe in happily-ever-after's.
The Seymour Agency represents Debra and she is soon to have two contemporary romances published by Spencer Hill/Tulip Romance and Astraea Press. Debra invites you to visit her website at www.debraholtbooks.com. She loves to hear from other aspiring authors or readers via email at debraholtbooks@gmail.com.
As Debra Holt's assistant I'd like to thank you on her behalf for hosting her book blast!
Here's another new-to-me author. I love the cover on this book…love the excerpt too.


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Baby Blue Ferrari 488 Pista Lands in San Diego
Ferrari 488 Pista sets new Production Car Lap Record at Hockenheim
Can an 800 HP Hennessey Cadillac Escalade beat a Ferrari 488 GTB?
Checkout Jay Kay's Blu Scozia Ferrari 488 Pista
Watch the Ferrari 488 Pista Attack the Nurburgring
Someone in San Diego has bought a baby blue Ferrari 488 Pista. What do you think of this spec?
Ferrari of San Diego recently received a special delivery from Italy. A customer's 488 Pista landed at the dealership revealing a rather unique spec. Ferrari calls this light blue shade Azzuro La Plata. We think it looks dope! The car has a white stripe with two yellow pinstripes on either side and Ferrari shields on the front fenders. The front air intakes, splitter elements, side skirts and intakes are all finished in carbon fiber. The car appears to be fitted with standard 20-inch forged wheels that are painted in black. If you recall, the 488 Pista is also available with optional carbon wheels.
Inside, this 488 Pista gets Cuoio Alcantara upholstery with yellow highlights and matte carbon trim pieces and door panels.
The 488 Pista is powered by a 3.9-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine that produces 710 hp @ 8000 rpm and peak torque of 568 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm. The engine uses Inconel exhaust manifolds, lightweight crankshaft, flywheel, titanium connecting rods and carbon fiber intake plenums. It is mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
The Ferrari 488 Pista is also available as a convertible. Click here to read more about the 488 Pista Spider.
Source: ciregt3 via Instagram
Related Topics:458 Speciale, 488, 488 GTB, 488 Pista
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Regarding the Poodle Hair Conundrum
Dear Drummers of Life's Conundrums,
In honor of the full moon, I remind you that the wordlunatic and lunacy derives from being "moonstruck" or falling under the sway of the moon.
How can we define whether or not we are sane? If you see your culture not merely as complex, but as actively insane, isn't trying to fit into it an act of insanity? Everyone in the asylum agrees that the clouds are made from the hair of poodles knitted together by Mrs. Clause at the summer solstice. To be accepted in that society, you must at least profess to see this too; to actively feel a sense of belonging, you must actually see the poodle hair in the sky.
There's a great deal about my daily life of striving for economic stability that smells of poodle hair. Do I join the inmates who play the made-up game of American capitalism? But is it any saner to pretend that I can drop out, pretend that I don't operate by society's presuppositions?
Spiritual people - from growling Christians to placid Buddhists to shiny Shamanists - like to pretend they aren't part of the culture - that others are somehow entrapped by the false love of poodle hair, but my prayers deliver clear skies.
Therapy is grounded in a basic goal to help the patient (the "sick" person) return to functioning smoothly in society. In other words, what makes you sick is that you have fallen out of being able to function in society. The medicine (therapy) makes you well, and able to function once again in society. But is it medicine to return someone to functioning smoothly under the gentle shadows of poodle hair? Is mental health really defined by living happily in "the system of rip-off economics [that] promotes its communal senselessness by substituting "more" for "beyond?" (God bless James Hillman.)
And so we drink and dance to forget the poodle hair conundrum. And so we wall ourselves into a poodle-less fort made of Netflix. And so we keep our nose to the grindstone, never looking up to the skies so we don't have to think about the poodle or lack thereof. And so I we lash out at our lover, or the president, or "those" people" for not curing my poodle-hair problem.
I don't have an answer for you about the poodle hair.
Except this, said by Salvador Dali: The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
And this: ask yourself what truly matters. Remember that most of what we say matters to us is based in fear. Penetrate as best you can down through the fear, and to the love. Live and act to bring that love into the world. As best you can. Justice is about love, not fear. God is the creator of love, and we are the creators of fear.
The soul, like the moon,
is new, and always new again.
And I have seen the ocean
continuously creating.
Since I scoured my mind
and my body, I too,
am new, each moment new.
My teacher told me one thing,
Live in the soul.
When that was so,
I began to go naked,
and dance.
- Lal Ded
14th century Kashmir
Translated by Coleman Barks
From Naked Songs, Published by MayPop Books, 1992.
Resusitating Beauty
The shamanic path comes down to one word: beauty. As both a personal spiritual path and as a healing modality, shamanism is about resuscitating beauty in you. Beauty is not something you can believe in (or be shamed or compelled to believe in). Beauty is only something you can experience. This is the basic difference between the shamanic path and the way western religion is taught – one is based on believing, one is based on experiencing.
We live in a culture that doesn't understand beauty, and indeed is afraid of beauty. We confuse money with beauty, which has caused immense damage to the western soul, and when the soul is damaged, we cause damage to our lives and to the world. Institutional religion often pushes beauty aside to replace it with obedience. We feel how this poisons us, but often cannot articulate it for years, decades. Beauty, by its nature, refuses to be tamed by humans. Beauty comes not to obey our small ways, but to shatter the smallness that has been imprinted on us in so many ways.
Beauty is a spiritual power, a breath of the Holy, and it does not arise from the senses but comes from beyond the senses. So wealth, status and sexiness, as powerful as they are, are really are not forms of beauty – they are expressions of the culture.
Four things of womanly beauty in this world: the deep lines on a woman's face, Spirit's brushstrokes on the earth, the sigh of pleasure filled with grieving well met, a body softened and expanded by bringing forth life.
Four things of manly beauty in this world: Scars marking a defeat, tears after a battle has been won, the courage to be slain by love, dancing with a limp.
Are any of these truly honored by our culture?
An ancient Irish story tells us that, at the center of the Otherworld (the world of spiritual power) is a well, out of which flows five streams in five directions. The guardian of the well says each of us, by fact of being alive, drinks from the five streams (the senses), but no one may have wisdom unless they drink from the well itself – the source. The "people of many arts" drink from both the well and the five streams.
Who are the people of many arts? They are the teachers, healers, poets, leaders - the ones whose smallness has been cracked open, or torn open, by the power of beauty, a spiritual force from beyond the senses, and the source of the senses. The people of many arts are also known as the Aes Dana: the people of the earth goddess whose veins are the rivers and whose cloak is the green of summer and whose voice is each living creature singing its own "Oran Croi (pronounced "Oran Cree"), the small song of the heart that is one note in the great song of creation). These are the people – like you who have read this far- who, as poet Joy Harjo says, "are born with nerve endings longer than our bodies"
Beauty is the vibration not from this world, but from the world of spirit, perhaps delivered through the senses, but also delivered in non-sensical ways. "That's nonsense!" may be an affirmation of the presence of the direct breath of the divine. When we talk about shamanism's job of resuscitating our beauty, we are talking about repairing the rupture between the body and the spirit, remembering the sameness in the salt water inside the small container of our human body and the salt water in the infinite ocean of creation. When we resuscitate beauty, we re-weave sense and sanctus, eros and hieros; we bend low and sip from the five streams, and also the well itself.
Underneath everything I teach (see the sidebar) and inside my healing work, is this foundational action: the resuscitation of beauty. This weekend's rattle making workshop is not about making rattles- it is about marrying Sense and Spirit, creating a doorway through which they may meet. The October retreat up north is about the meeting "the Dark Goddess" but it's really only about resuscitating beauty. On and on the work goes.
I leave you with Joy Harjo's wonderful "Eagle Poem."
BY JOY HARJO
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can't see, can't hear;
Can't know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren't always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
Joy Harjo, "Eagle Poem" from In Mad Love and War. Copyright © 1990 by Joy Harjo. Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press,
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress.
The Truth Can Make You Squirm
Karen Elzinga
People don't like worms because worms are all about death. Their job is to munch away at creation until it becomes fully uncreated. Worms are our travel agents to the other world. We know they are watching us all the time, licking their lips. Well, not lips exactly, but whatever worms have.
I got worms in the mail last spring. Two pounds of "red wrigglers," the best compost-making worms in the Western hemisphere. A lady in Michigan raises them and mails them out overnight express. I built a wooden box and put it down in the basement. I put the worms in the box, on a bed of torn up newspaper. Two by two, and four by four and handful by handful they did enter the ark. I poured in all my kitchen scraps, my leftovers, my tired foodstuff yearning to be fertilizer.
The worms eat up everything, and it passes through them, and when it comes out the other end, the garbage of life has been transformed by some holy and wholly secret process into the most nutritious fertilizer known to man. When I leaned close, and put my ear to the lid of their little box, I could actually hear them gnawing away, transforming my scraps into the compost which gardeners like to call "black gold." I liked listening to them gnaw.
For the worms, the box was the best of all possible worlds. Plentiful food. Constant temperature. Dark, sloppy and stinky. No floods. No drought. No birds. A world of stability and hope and peace. A perfect world to bring worm children into.
And they were fruitful and they did multiply all summer and did fill the box. Sometimes I would lift the lid and look in on my chosen worms. And I would sing:
"From germinating earth
to terminating firmament
Where is your mirth,
since nothing here is permanent?
The truth can make you squirm:
everything goes to the worms."
They ate everything that I put in the box. Egg shells became a cup running over with worms. A cantaloupe rind became their hammock. The hull of a watermelon became their canoe, gliding over a sea of delicious rot. They lived in a perfect world with sweet and salty manna raining down from the Great Hand, which did regularly lift the lid of the universe.
Did they argue over whether I existed? Did some claim there is no worm-god; rather, the falling food can be explained by the four laws of wormo-dynamics? Did some say it is a worm-eat-worm world, and to concern wormself with myths was a waste of time? Did others construct psalms of praise, huddling together, murmuring their writhing melodies, their hymns to the unknown, unimaginable unseen hand? Were there worm fundamentalists who insisted that I was shaped like a worm and that I wanted worms to act in a certain way to assure their prolonged life? Did believing in me help bring meaning to their Earthy life?
It is daunting to be a god. I admit I preferred them to believe in me. But I couldn't tell by their actions who were true believers and who were not. And when I fed them, I did not only feed the faithful. When I sprinkled water in the box, the drops fell equally on believer and faithless. I loved them all. I was their God, who brought them out of Michigan, and who placed them in their promised box.
Then the centipedes came.
Of all the bugs and microbes in the worm box, the centipedes are the only predators, the only worm-ivors. They hunt down and devour worms. What chance does a squirming worm have against a hundred-limbed trained killer? At first there was only one or two of the leggy monsters. Soon this was the best of all possible worlds for centipedes too.
Dozens of fat centipedes roamed smugly through the former worm-Eden. Clumps of forlorn worm refugees huddled in corners or under grapefruit rinds. Some desperate individuals escaped by squiggling up through the lid only to fall off the edge of the world and dry up on the basement concrete. What must have their last thought been — to exit their small world, to expand their consciousness, but to die for their noble effort?
Did a melon rind faction blame the situation on the corrupting lifestyle of the spinach eaters? Did others say that it was somehow the worms' own fault for falling out of balance with box-nature? Or did certain worms claim that the centipedes had been there from the beginning and were an eternal foe of the unseen hand, forever locked in battle?
More disturbing yet: did centipede priests sing praises to me for bringing them at last to a land flowing with worms and honey? Was I the God of both centipede and worm?
But I had my own problem. Fruit flies. Swirling clouds of them drifted up whenever I lifted the lid to drop manna into worm world. Fruit flies are kindly beings. They float more than fly, with a gentle grace. They do not spurt nor leap. They do not bite. No bug is their master or slave. Fruit flies have no ambition save one: to reproduce. They love this life so profoundly that all they care about is to bring hundreds of children into the world to experience its magnificence. For fruit flies, too, this was the Promised Land, the best of all possible worlds.
No one can truly hate a creature as ineffectual as the fruit fly. But the multiplying thousands upon thousands were too much for me. Even a god does not brook fruit flies up his nose. So I set out to eradicate them. I placed glasses of beer in worm world. Intoxicated by the ambrosial fumes, the fruit flies plunged by the hundreds into that hoppy lake of woe. Neither did they know I had engineered their death. They went singing my praises.
Every morning at ten o'clock I came with the shop vacuum. And the great whirlwind did wreak desolation on the fruit fly civilization. What kind of stories were the fruit flies telling about this god of punctual wrath and hellish deceit?
I had to admit it. Worm world was out of my control. I was a failure as a god. Certainly a worm Nietsche was proclaiming that I was dead. My fantasy of being a god was going to the worms. I did the only thing I could do: I packed my bags, and I went on an end of the summer vacation. It didn't matter where; I just wanted to get away from all of — them.
When I returned, autumn was settling in around the house, and an unnatural silence hovered over worm world. I lifted the lid. A couple of dainty fruit flies tried to swim up my nose and I splattered both against the wall with one quick master thrust.
With dread, I gazed into the box. Not a single movement. Not a single sound issued forth from my creation. Worm world was dead.
But not just dead. Empty. No bugs. No centipedes. No worms, dead or alive. Every living thing had vacated worm world. What happened? Where did they all go? Was this the worm rapture? Maybe the centipedes had eaten the entire known world and had moved on to other conquests. Or one of the worm prophets who had gone through the lid came back to lead the worms away to another promised land, through a crack in the basement wall, out to the garden. The mystery endures to this day.
I owe a lot to worm world. I know now that I am not long for this box, and while I'm here, I want to eat a lot and wriggle around with my pals as often as I can. I want to stay away from the centipedes. I want to be sure that whoever I sing my psalms to knows what he's doing.
Now, sometimes, late at night, I too wonder if I live in a mail-order universe. Maybe I'm from Michigan, too. It's impossible for one small wriggling creature to know such things. I keep my eyes trained on that lid, to see if I can catch a glimpse of whoever is out there, dropping food, or messing up the best of all possible worlds. And I sing my praises to the unknown and unknowable lid-lifter.
Intimacy with the Ephemeral
So often, we can learn big lessons from small things. One of these lessons arises from our impulse to take pictures of the beautiful ceremony we are doing, or the altar we built. Why is this simple act considered disrespectful? I offer two answers - one shamanic and one psychological.
First, the shamanic answer. When we open sacred space, we are feeding the spirit world. The altar is a banquet table laid with a feast for Spirit. Songs, flowers, offerings, smoke, dance, costumes, tears - these are food and gifts for the spirit world. To take pictures of any of it - while it's happening or after the action is complete - is a way of taking the gift back, of wanting to keep the food for ourselves. Imagine your hungry relative that you invited over for supper reaching for the food you just cooked and you pull it back at the last second saying, "No, this food is so tasty, I think I'll save this for my breakfast tomorrow." Imagine your lover unwrapping the present you gave them, and, as they gasp with delight, you snatch it away, saying, "You're right, this is so wonderful, I think I'll keep it."
It is implanted deep in our western consciousness that we should have whatever we want. Shamanism teaches us that some things belong to Spirit.Ceremony teaches us to give to spirit, to feed what feeds us, to place ourselves in proper perspective to nature.
The core of shamanic theology, as I understand it from 30 years of study, and as I practice it in my healing work, is humility and gratitude. When these two core energies are present, beauty naturally appears everywhere around us. These two energies are so often the antidote to our life of rushing around in an ugly world. Humility comes from the word humus, meaning "close to the earth." Only a fool sees this as powerless and meek. Gratitude comes from the word grace- being touched by the power of Spirit. These are two powerful energies.
Humility is the roots of the great tree at the center of creation reaching down deeply into the life-bestowing earth, drawing sustenance from the Sacred Mother. Gratitude is the branches of the tree reaching up to the light-filled celestial world, drawing wisdom from the Divine Father. Their marriage feeds all of creation, in the world, and inside us.
Without humility and gratitude operating under everything I do, I act from my ego, which is not evil, just smaller in its goals, vision and power. The ego likes to convince me I am immense and powerful. But the ego is actually fearful of true immensity, so it spends its effort distracting me from it by luring me with smaller-sized delights. This is why when we actually do come into contact with immensity, the ego tries to tell us we are crazy, ridiculous, or in danger.It's a central irony of shamanic work that our power as workers comes from connecting ourselves to something far beyond our desire to be powerful workers.
And now a "Self-Help" answer. When we take pictures of ceremony or sacred space (or any moment of beauty for that matter) we are saying that we don't trust that we'll ever experience this kind of moment again, so we'd better hold onto this, the last time we will ever be touched by beauty. Every time we reach for the camera in a moment of beauty, we are affirming our mistrust of life, mistrust of the abundance and generosity of Spirit.
Learning to live fully in the ephemeral moment, opening to it wholly, receiving it abundantly while at the same time fully giving it away - this is learning deep intimacy with life. (And it opens those two power centers- humility and gratitude.)
Nature offers us constant lessons in openness to ephemerality. The fleeting breeze, that birdsong, the moment of glistening dew, the sunset, our flower-drenched ceremony - every time we drum together and the Groove takes over and drums through us for 40 minutes - all of these offer us lessons in ephemerality. We open fully to it, we let it live fully in us, we fully let it go.
When we practice intimacy with ephemerality in any of these ways, we can apply the skills with each other when our warm breaths mingle together in the quiet room. Loving ephemerality is a skill that unflattens our lives compacted by technology, competition, hurry, envy and fear.
Take a moment today to love anything ephemeral. The blossom on the day-lily. The weed in the cracked sidewalk. The cool breeze. Your life. Take it in, love it, and let it go.
The poet says:
...To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it
to let it go.
(Mary Oliver, In Blackwater Woods)


text:
Q: How to open embedded editors (e.g. peek references) in read-only mode with Monaco? I use a Monaco editor in a web application. The text models are provided lazily via HTTP. Now I want to show some of the resolved text models as read-only. It is clear how to open a Monaco "main editor" in read-only mode. Based on the text models URI I can decide whether it should be read-only or not, so I can configure the editor accordingly.
However, how can I set an embedded editor (the inline editor opening up after a "peek definition", "peek references", etc.) to read-only independently of the "main editor"?
A quite ugly workaround is to reset the value on every content change of the respective text model shown in the embedded editor. But clearly this is neither efficient nor nice.
// model is a monaco.editor.ITextModel that should be readonly
model.onDidChangeContent(() => {
  if (model.getValue() !== content) {
    model.setValue(content);
  }
});

Thanks a lot in advance!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
function first() {
  var _ref;

  var index = 0;
  return _ref = index++, _ref < 0 || arguments.length <= _ref ? undefined : arguments[_ref];
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub