text:
Q: Time calculation in the main game loop There is the code in the Quake 2 main game loop implementation:
if (!initialized)
{   // let base retain 16 bits of effectively random data
    base = timeGetTime() & 0xffff0000;
    initialized = true;
}
curtime = timeGetTime() - base;

I'm wondering about the line base = timeGetTime() & 0xffff0000. Why are they applying the 0xffff0000 mask on the retrieved time? Why not to use just:
if (!initialized)
{   // let base retain 16 bits of effectively random data
    initialTime = timeGetTime();
    initialized = true;
}
curtime = timeGetTime() - initialTime;

???
What is the role of that mask?

A: The if (!initialized) check will only pass once. Therefore curtime will become larger with each gameloop, which wouldn't be the case with suggested rewrite, since the upper word may increase after sufficiently many gameloops.
Likely this is in preparation of an int-to-float conversion where smaller numbers result in higher accuracy. (Such as adjusting for the time between two frames and numerically integrating game states over time; but also rendering smooth animations)

A: The way it is implemented, base, and hence curtime, will assume different values depending on initialized being true or false.

A: According to Microsoft Docs, the description of timeGetTime() is:

The timeGetTime function retrieves the system time, in milliseconds.
The system time is the time elapsed since Windows was started.
Remarks
The only difference between this function and the timeGetSystemTime
function is that timeGetSystemTime uses the MMTIME structure to return
the system time. The timeGetTime function has less overhead than
timeGetSystemTime.
Note that the value returned by the timeGetTime function is a DWORD
value. The return value wraps around to 0 every 2^32 milliseconds,
which is about 49.71 days. This can cause problems in code that
directly uses the timeGetTime return value in computations,
particularly where the value is used to control code execution. You
should always use the difference between two timeGetTime return values
in computations.
The default precision of the timeGetTime function can be five
milliseconds or more, depending on the machine. You can use the
timeBeginPeriod and timeEndPeriod functions to increase the precision
of timeGetTime. If you do so, the minimum difference between
successive values returned by timeGetTime can be as large as the
minimum period value set using timeBeginPeriod and timeEndPeriod. Use
the QueryPerformanceCounter and QueryPerformanceFrequency functions to
measure short time intervals at a high resolution.

In my opinion, this will help improve the accuracy of time calculations.


text:
Fake resturants, free nuggs, and 25 years of SMS – it's all in this week's MyFive!
8th December 2017 15th December 2017
Instagram, My Five, Twitter, User Reviews
1. A year of Twitter nonsense
It's December, year in review post time, and if Twitter's annual round-up of tweetworthy events and hashtags from the year that was is anything to go by then it's fair to say 2017 was a bit rubbish.
The most retweeted tweet of 2017 was *drum roll* Carter Wilkerson's (@carterjwm) campaign to get hold of some free chicken nuggets from Wendy's.
Yo @Wendys how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?
— Carter Wilkerson (@carterjwm) 6 April 2017
Carter may have fallen well short of the 18 million target set by Wendy's, but the tweet is now the most retweeted tweet of all time, so well worthy of some free nuggs.
Next up, the most popular Twitter moment of 2017, which was shared by NASA's incredible discovery of seven new, Earth-like planets, and err, Beyonce's pregnancy announcement.
The most tweeted song hashtags were as follows:
Nope, me neither
While the universe's most dangerous Twitter troll, Donald Trump topped the list of most tweeted about world leaders:
All hope is lost
For more Twitter stats check out www.socialmediatoday.com
2. 25 years of SMS
Text messaging has become second nature for most of us, with 96 billion text messages sent every day in the UK alone, but it hasn't always been that way. The world's first text message, which read 'Merry Christmas' was sent 25 years ago this month, by software architect Neil Papworth.
Mr Papworth told Sky News "I don't know if they really thought it [text messaging] was going to be a big thing," – needless to say 'they' were wrong, but texting didn't receive the immediate overnight success you might assume, it wasn't until 1993, when SMS-capable phones become more widely available that texting really took off.
3. PUNNY HEADING GOES HERE
If you think you're having a bad day, spare a thought for @davidbartlett1, Editor of the Cambridge News, who signed off on this:
Looks like Cambridge News had an eventful morning today. https://t.co/JzJF9D07NJ
— Moments UK & Ireland (@UKMoments) December 6, 2017
In a statement, the news outlet said
"Due to a technical problem, the main headline did not appear on the Cambridge edition, although the correct one was printed in the Cambourne edition of the paper. The headline should have read '£2m for 'sex lair' school'"
… I think I prefer the original.
4. It's #businesstime on Instagram
Instagram recently announced that the number of verified businesses using the platform has grown to 25 million – that's up from 15 million in July. The business marked the accomplishment by sharing some tasty stats:
Over 80% of accounts on Instagram follow a business
200 million Instagrammers actively visit the profile of a business every day
Two-thirds of profile visits to businesses come from people who aren't following that business
The company has also released a handy toolkit to help businesses make the most of their Instagram presence during the holiday season. #Ho #ho #ho.
5. Why you shouldn't always trust online reviews
I've always been very dubious of online review sites, particularly TripAdvisor, which has come under fire numerous times in the past for the high number of fake reviews it receives.
Earlier this week, Vice's Oobah Butler did little to reverse those feelings by gaming his garden shed to the top of TripAdvisor as the highest rated restaurant in London – all achieved by fake reviews, a lot of mystique, and food made from shaving cream. He even set up a website and Facebook page for the nonexistent restaurant.
Here's Oobah speaking to Good Morning Britain about the project:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Dr. Nazir Khan is a Director of Research at Yaqeen Institute. He is a physician, volunteer imam, and consultant for the Manitoba Islamic Association's Fiqh (Religious Affairs) Committee. He has memorized the Qur'an and received traditional certification (ijazah) in the study of the Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic theology (aqeedah).
Imam Ibrahim Hindy is a Research Manager at Yaqeen Institute. He holds a BA in Islamic History and is currently an MA candidate in Islamic Studies at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is also the Imam at Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Canada.
Islam makes certain times and places especially sacred. While a believer can certainly engage in worship such as remembering or glorifying God at any time ("standing, sitting or lying on their sides"), some periods of time have special and unique blessings associated with them. Similarly, while the entirety of the Earth has been made a place of worship and prostration, there are some locations (such as the three Mosques) that are uniquely blessed. This creates within the psychology of the believer a yearning to seek out these unique opportunities in order to come closer to Allah. That yearning brings about several positive spiritual emotions: awe, reverence, wonder, anticipation, eagerness, excitement, hope, and longing, all of which are encompassed in the term shawq.
As we live today in an era of digital distractions and materialistic heedlessness, often acts of worship are squeezed into brief moments in our daily routine, which does not furnish one with a complete transformative spiritual experience. Serious worship requires not just taking a brief moment to pray, but allowing our prayers to define our direction in life. Thus, Islam offers opportunities for intense spiritual experiences, experiences that involve setting aside the dunya (worldly life) and its distractions. Of the greatest of such opportunities are the blessed nights of Ramadan. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, "Whoever spends the nights of Ramadan in prayer out of faith and in the hope of reward, he will be forgiven his previous sins." The foremost of these opportunities are the last ten nights of Ramadan. As the Prophet's wife `A'isha narrates, "When the last ten nights began Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) kept awake at night (for prayer and devotion), wakened his family, and prepared himself to observe salah (with more vigor)." It is no coincidence that i`tikaf (seclusion in the masjid) is also recommended in Ramadan. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to practice i`tikaf for the entirety of the last ten days of Ramadan.
God has concealed this night from the ummah so that they may strive in seeking it and performing worship throughout the month in the hopes of catching it. Similarly, He concealed the hour of special acceptance on Friday so that one would increase in their supplications throughout the day, and He concealed His Greatest Name (ism al-a'dham) amongst His Divine Names and His Pleasure with acts of obedience so that people would strive for them. And He concealed an individual's lifespan and the Hour [of the Day of Judgment] so that humanity would continuously strive in good deeds, being heedful of them.
Islamic scholars differ regarding the meaning behind the name of 'Laylatul-Qadr', as the word 'Qadr' can hold a variety of meanings, and each has its own theological significance.
Some scholars defined 'Qadr' in the context of this holy night as 'destiny/decree' (qadar). To them, this meant that this was the night in which the destiny of each person was decided. It would be this night in which a person's sustenance, lifespan, and other critical matters would be sealed for the coming year.
Other scholars defined the meaning of 'Qadr' as 'power,' indicating the greatness of the honor and might of the night. Similar to this view is the interpretation of 'Qadr' as 'power' in that the righteous deeds performed during this night are far more powerful than they would be on any other night.
In this view, since knowledge of the night is not a prerequisite to prospering from the night, then it is not required for the worshipper to understand concepts of destiny or decree in order to achieve the rewards of worshipping on this night. All they need to do is perform acts of worship on that night.
In addition to the aforementioned significance related to Divine decree and providing the Prophet's ummah with a unique opportunity for worship, there is also a special connection that Laylatul-Qadr has with the Qur'an. In Surah al-Qadr (97:1) and Surah al-Dukhan (44:3), it is mentioned that the Qur'an was revealed on this night. Ibn Abbas has explained this by mentioning on Laylatul-Qadr that the Qur'an was revealed in its entirety from the highest heaven to the lowest heaven, and placed in a special chamber called Bayt al-`Izzah (the House of Honor). From there, it was revealed gradually over the course of twenty three years to the Prophet Muhammad. This was in order to emphasize the lofty status of the revelation and to announce to the inhabitants of the Heavens that this was the final revelation. It is also mentioned by other scholars, such as Imam al-Sha'bi (d. 105 H), that the revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad began in the month of Ramadan on Laylatul-Qadr when Jibreel first descended to visit the Prophet Muhammad.
What is the connection between its function and its virtue?
What is the connection between Laylatul-Qadr being the night of decree, and also being the most virtuous night to pray on? Why is the night when angels descend with the decree also the best night to worship in?
If a person reflects on all the things that could potentially happen to them in the coming year, they will experience immense hope and/or fear. Perhaps in the coming year they may experience—God forbid—the loss of a loved one, the onset of a debilitating illness, a bitter conflict, destruction of property, or worst of all the loss of their faith and connection to God.
Or perhaps in the coming year they may experience great joy and closeness with their family, the most successful achievement in their career, bliss in their marriage, a solution to old problems, new friendships and prosperity, or best of all growth in their relationship with the Divine. When a person reflects on this, he or she realizes that Laylatul-Qadr provides the perfect opportunity to pray for the realization of their best dreams, and the prevention of their worst nightmares. This is the night when that yearly decree is finalized. In a sense, this is that night when one's fate is 'downloaded' from the heavens.
Just as a person awaiting the decree of a judge in the courtroom prays most intensely at the moment when that decree is about to be decided, likewise Laylatul-Qadr may signal that final opportunity to change one's fate (taqdeer). After that, a person's taqdeer in the record of the angels is only changed if it was written from before that it would be changed. The hadith scholar, Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani (d. 854 H) notes the difference between the contingent decree (al-Qada' al-Mu'allaq) which God has given the angels and the irrevocable decree (al-Qada' al-Mubram) which is with God. The recording of one's fate which the angels possess can be subject to change, as the Qur'an states "God erases and confirms what He wills" (13:39) and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, "Nothing averts fate except supplication (la yaruddu al-qadar illa al-du'a)." However, one's record with God in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfudh) is immutable. Thus, a person praying on Laylatul-Qadr may result in their records with the angels being altered, before those records seal one's fate for the coming year. Du'a on this night has the greatest power to change decree, hence the night is both the Night of Power and the Night of Decree.
O Allah! You are Most Forgiving, and you love to forgive. So forgive me.
So the decrees on Laylatul-Qadr may be descending with calamities that are consequences of our sins, and on this night we have an exclusive opportunity to invoke the forgiveness of al-Afuww to erase those sins as well as the resultant decree, and remove them from our fates for the upcoming year.
As Laylatul-Qadr is certainly the most blessed night of the year, a person who misses it has certainly missed a tremendous amount of good. Many scholars mentioned that what's to be avoided beyond sin is wasting time on that precious night, unnecessary socializing with people, arguing, shopping, etc. One should keep in mind that the night technically starts at Maghrib (sunset), and be heedful of how time is spent from that point onwards. If a believing person is keen to obey his Lord and increase the good deeds in his record, he should strive to spend this night in worship and obedience. If this is facilitated for him, all of his previous sins will be forgiven.
Suratul-Alaq, which was revealed on this blessed night, begins with the command to read the Qur'an, and ends with the command to prostrate and draw close to your Lord. In that is a Divine prescription for how the night is to be spent. Ash-Shafi'i (d. 204 H) said that some of the pious predecessors preferred to spend this night in prayer, some in Quran, some in dua, and all are rewarded by Allah. This also shows the importance of intention in that even if you don't catch the night for some reason out of your control, you will still be fully rewarded for it. While it is best to perform full i'itkaf (i.e., seclude yourself in the masjid for the entirety of the 10 days), there are many important things one can do even if one is unable to engage in i'tikaf.
Finally, as mentioned earlier, the supplication the Prophet ﷺ advised his wife A'isha to make on that blessed night is a prayer for an all-encompassing forgiveness that involves invoking Allah's love for forgiveness.
Here lies a benefit to the believer in discovering their own love to forgive as they invoke Allah's love of forgiveness. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ stated to his companions: "I came to inform you of the (specific) night of Laylatul Qadr but found so-and-so arguing and (in the process of mediating) had the knowledge of the night lifted from me." Since the Prophet's knowledge of the specific night of Laylatul-Qadr was taken from him due to internal fighting between two individuals, this serves as a reminder that the grudges between mankind veils them from attaining the pardon and forgiveness of the night. For just as the Prophet was veiled from knowing the night due to the grudges between others, it is by offering forgiveness to others, and overlooking each other's faults, that we discover the forgiveness of Allah during Laylatul-Qadr.
And in the equation of success found in the limited efforts of that one night, is the embedded infinite mercy found in the eternal pathway to salvation. The same God who commands you to seek His pardon willingly offers it to you for an effort that can be performed even by the youngest and weakest amongst us. The same God who created you with limited years to do good, gives you days and nights that are equivalent to lifetimes of worship. And the same angel, Jibreel, that He sent to honor the Prophet ﷺ that night is sent to the earth that same night annually to honor his nation.
 The Prophet used to supplicate, "O Allah, I ask you for the sweetness of seeing Your Face, and the eagerness (shawq) of meeting you" (Sunan an-Nasa'i 1305). Ibn al-Qayyim describes shawq as "the journey of the heart in seeking its beloved" (Tareeq al-Hijratayn, Dar `Alam al-Fawa'id, vol. 1, p. 723).
 Ibn Qudamah,al-Mughni (Dar `Alam al-Kutub), vol. 4, p. 453.
 Al-Bayhaqi, Kitab Fada'il Al-Awqat, 213.
 Muwatta Malik, 19:706. On the basis of this narration, some scholars, like Ibn `Abdul-Barr and al-Nawawi, asserted that the virtuous reward of this night was exclusive to Prophet Muhammad's ummah, although other scholars like Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani did not consider it exclusive (see Al-Zarqani, Muhammad Abdul-Baqi. Sharh al-Zarqani `ala Muwatta Malik, 2003, p.326).
 Mustadrak al-Hakim 3781, Sunan al-Nasa'i 11625, Sunan al-Bayhaqi 8521. Ibn Taymiyyah explains that this revelation from a written form (in Lawh al-Mahfudh) to a written form (in Bayt al-`Izzah) does not negate the Angel Jibreel hearing the Qur'an directly from Allah and bringing it to the Prophet (Majmu al-Fatawa 12/126-7). Thus we have the oral revelation of the Qur'an, and the written revelation of the Qur'an.
 Badr al-Deen al-Zarkashi, Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an, vol .1, p. 230.
 Manna' al-Qattan, Mabahith fi `Ulum al-Qur'an, p. 97. He explains that both of these opinions are in fact correct and compatible.
 Al-Alusi, Abu'l-Thana'. Ruh al-Ma'ani (tafsir of verse 44:4).
 Al-'Asqalani, al-Hafiz b. Hajar. Fath al-Bari li sharh sahih al-Bukhari. (Cairo: Dar al-Rayyan li al-Turath, 1986) vol. 10, p. 430.
 The majority of scholars are of the opinion that Laylatul-Qadr may occur on any of the odd nights in the last ten nights of Ramadan, thus demonstrating the importance of practicing a consistent amount of worship for all of these nights. Ibn Taymiyyah made the interesting point that the "odd nights" could be counted from the beginning or the end of the month (e.g., the 28th night could be considered the third last night of a 30 day Ramadan and hence also odd), and therefore one should endeavor to strive in all ten nights (Majmu' al-Fatawa 25/284-285).
 This is especially important to note for women who are on their period and unable to perform Qiyam since the rewards of the night are still fully available to them.
 Jami' Tirmidhi, 221. Similarly in Sahih Muslim, 656a.
 Muwatta Malik, Book 19, Hadith 707.
 Jami' al-Tirmidhi, 3513. Discussed earlier in the article, p. 9.
Next What is Islamic Analytic Theology?


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1. Phlox divaricata - It seems that people all over PA and MD can grow these, except me! I planted several a few years ago. The plants bloomed and looked lovely until midsummer. Then they just disappeared. The plants were under pines in areas of shade and part sun where I thought they would have been happy. I was wrong.
2. Cardinal Flower - I FINALLY got two specimens of this awesome native plant. I had visions of big clumps of glowing red flowers in my yard, but it was not to be. They grew and bloomed in my shady areas, and then apparently died over the winter...never to be seen again. Maybe they really do need wet soil. I even spread their seeds after they'd bloomed...but two years later...no seedlings.
3. Lilium Superbum - There is at least one other MD gardener who has these. A big stand of them, even. *sobs* I thought I could, too. I wanted them so badly, so I was happy to find corms at a reasonable price. They grew little leaves YAY...and then languished and died, never to be seen again. To be fair to myself, the one in the truly wet soil was beheaded by my electrician.
4. Actaea Racemosa Hillside Black Beauty - Another plant I had wanted forever. I bought starts in those little coir pots...and they pretty much instantly died. I can grow pretty much any fern grown to man, and I can't grow bugbane? Sadly, these were the backdrop of my new garden plan...and they're the only plants that croaked. What could have killed them...and so quickly?
If anyone has these plants, maybe you can let me know what I may have done wrong.
Are all these plants dying in the same spot? There could be something in the soil that does them in, if so.
Perhaps when you get replacements for some of these, they could be planted in several different areas to see if there are conditions that they prefer elsewhere in your yard?
Sometimes if there is a new plant that hasn't been in our yard before, it will be planted in a big pot and moved around until a spot that it thrives in is found. Then it gets planted there.
Sadly, no. These babies died all over my yard. Putting the plants in a pot first seems like a good idea. It could also help them develop a better root system before I plunk them in the ground.
I used to have a rule for plants: they had two years of growing seasons to get their mojo going or I pulled them up, tossed their butts in the driveway, and then waited for my husband came home in his big heavy work truck to run them over. I warned the plants in advance of their fate if they continued to decline and look pitiful.
Many plants did not get the message. Many were flattened in the driveway. Most of them were hybrid tea roses.
I didn't really look at it as a failure on my part when they went to schitz. They were crappy plants which refused to perform, and getting rid of their scraggly arses was a golden opportunity to plant something beautiful which would (hopefully) flourish. Adios amigo.
I know it's disappointing when a treasured plantling goes to hell and dies when you've done your best to nurture it along, but then you can always go back to the pretty nursery and buy something else. In general, plants are cheap. Get a new one.
3. Lilium Superbum - They're back! *sobs with relief* These didn't die and actually multiplied. Wow... I have to move one of the clumps, but I'm so happy. Maybe these will bloom someday.
Update! I went outside today, and there is a cardinal flower blooming! It is not the one I originally planted, I am pretty sure...but a seed must have germinated.
Surely you don't think you are the only gardener who has had failures!!! Even the most experienced gardener places the wrong plant in the wrong place, mistreats or forgets a plant or even (god forbid) yanks one up thinking it is a weed. I've had 30+ years experience, a degree in horticulture, Master Gardener status and successful career in landscape design but unless I label plants in my garden, in the spring many times I can't id something, forget where I put something or just plain get stupid and yank a perfectly healthy and happy perennial before I realize what I've done. Makes me so mad.
Amen to stupidly yanking stuff in the spring.
But I also have plants I cannot grow. Like Black Eyed Susans and echinacea. Why on earth they will not grow in my part-sun (five hours a day) front bed is beyond me, but I've tried with healthy, large specimens for three summers now and I'm done. Screw 'em.
That's weird. I have killed all of those except for the lily. I was especially ticked off about the cimicifuga (Actaea Racemosa), which bloomed nicely one year and then faded away. I am also able to kill rhodies and azaleas. Oh, and phlox paniculata -- absolutely won't grow for me in Kansas.


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Home » ASSESSMENT OF β-ADRENORECEPTOR ANTAGONISTIC ACTIVITY OF NS1 AND NS2 ON PERCENTAGE INHIBITION OF ISOPRENALINE INDUCED TACHYCARDIA AND HYPOTENSION IN RATS
ASSESSMENT OF β-ADRENORECEPTOR ANTAGONISTIC ACTIVITY OF NS1 AND NS2 ON PERCENTAGE INHIBITION OF ISOPRENALINE INDUCED TACHYCARDIA AND HYPOTENSION IN RATS
Sanjay Kumar Gupta * and Rajesh Choudhary
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur - 495009, Chhattisgarh, India.
ABSTRACT: The present investigation is carried out for β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity of both derivatives by evaluating their effects on the isoprenaline-induced tachycardia and hypotension in rats. Rats were divided into 5 groups (n=6) based on the treatment given to them. Group 1 received saline (0.9 % NaCl) only, groups 2, 3 were treated using test drugs NS1 and NS2 (1 mg/kg, i.v.) and groups 4, 5 received standard drugs propranolol (2 mg/kg, i.v.) and atenolol (1 mg/kg, i.v.). After 15 minutes of injection of drugs, the isoprenaline was injected, and the change in mean arterial pressure and heart rate were recorded. Administration of isoprenaline alone (0.3, 1 and 3 µg/kg, i.v.) produced significant dose-dependent hypotension and tachycardia to the rats. Pretreatment with NS1 and NS2 produced significant (p<0.01 and p<0.05 respectively) inhibition of isoprenaline-induced hypotension on normal rats. However, isoprenaline-induced tachycardia was significantly (p<0.05) reduced by NS1 pretreatment only. Propranolol showed significant (p<0.01) inhibition of isoprenaline-induced tachycardia and hypotension, while atenolol was significant (p<0.01) effective against inhibition of hypotension only. Results indicated that both derivatives, i.e. NS1 and NS2, have the potential to inhibit β receptors, but NS1 showed higher affinity to inhibit β1 receptors as compared to NS2. Hence study suggests that NS1 might have higher potency in β1 adrenoreceptor blocking activity.
β-adrenoreceptor, Isoprenaline, Hypotension, Tachycardia, NS1 and NS2
INTRODUCTION: Hypertension is one of the most common cardiovascular disorder and the leading cause of morbidity and mortality and major risk factor of premature death worldwide. According to the WHO report, about 1.56 billion adults will be living with hypertension in 2025 1. The aim of antihypertensive therapy is to reduce the elevated blood pressure without adversely affecting the quality of life.
Selection of the drugs is based on the mechanism behind the induction of hypertension to the patients, and the other diseases associate with the high blood pressure as, myocardial infarction, angina, and heart failure, etc. 2 Hypertension cannot be adequately controlled by monotherapy, and thus, it requires two or more antihypertensive agents to normalize the blood pressure and overcome the side effects of monotherapy 3. The principle of multidrug therapy can be achieved by either two or more single active drugs are administered simultaneously, or many active agents are combined in one molecule that is called a hybrid molecule. These hybrid molecules often consist of different pharmacophoric groups which are linked to each other via spacers, and they act on different sites 4.
Introduction of β-adrenoreceptor blockers produces a promising efficacy on various cardiovascular diseases in the last few years. β- adrenoreceptor blockers have also been established in the treatment of myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and congestive heart failure. β- adrenoreceptor blockers also reduced the mortality and morbidity of hypertensive patients 5, 6. Recently, β-adrenoreceptor blockers are clinically used alone or in combination with various antihypertensive agents such as diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers to treat various cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension, myocardial infarction and heart failure 7, 8. Being impressed by such recent trends, a superior vasodilator drug with the beta-blocking property was synthesized Fig. 1.
FIG. 1: BASIC CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF THE SYNTHESIZED HYBRID NS SERIES COMPOUNDS
Synthesized hybrid molecules have a thiourea moiety, which is reported to possess vasodilator activity upon the structural modification and the other moiety is calcium channel blocker [3-methyl-5-ethyl - 1, 4 - dihydro - 2, 6-dimethyl - 4 - (1-phnylmethylthi-5-imidazolyl) pyridine - 3, 5-dicarboxilate] attached through beta-blocking moiety (propanolamine). The antihypertensive effects of both derivatives NS1 and NS2 were already reported in our previous study 9. In the present investigation, we evaluated the β-receptor blocking potential of NS1 and NS2 by studying their effects on percentage inhibition of isoprenaline (Iso) induced hypotension and tachycardia in the experimental rats.
Animals: Wistar albino rats (180-220 g) of either sex were procured from AISSMS College of Pharmacy, Pune. Standard laboratory conditions of temperature 24 ± 2 ºC, relative humidity 55 ± 5% and 12:12 h light dark cycle were maintained throughout all the experiments according to the guidelines of Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA). Rats were fed standard pellet animal diet (Chaken oil Mill, Pune; India) with water ad libitium. All the experimental procedures and protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) of AISSMS College of Pharmacy, Pune, constituted under CPCSEA. Proposal number: CPCSEA/IAEC/PC-03/09-2K7.
Drugs and Chemicals: Test compounds NS1 and NS2 were received as gift sample, synthesized at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, AISSMS College of Pharmacy, Pune. Atenolol was obtained as a pure drug sample from Acme Formulation Pvt. Ltd., Himachal Pradesh. Propranolol (Cilpar 40 mg tab., Cipla), Isoprenaline (Isoprin, 2 ml inj., Unichem Laboratory ltd., India) and nifedipine (Cardipine, Intas), Ketamine (Ketmin 50, Themis Medicare Ltd, Gujarat), urethane (Rajesh chemicals, Mumbai) were procured from the local market. Ethanol and heparin (Thromboparin inj, Charls Pharma Inc), sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate.7H2O, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, glucose, and sodium bicarbonate of laboratory grade were purchased from local vendors.
Preparation of Drug solution: For intravenous injection drug solutions were prepared by dissolving in sterile saline solution (0.9% NaCl solution). Doses were selected based on acute toxicity study.
In-vivo Assessment of β-Adrenoreceptor Antagonistic Activity of NS1 and NS2:
Preparation of Animals: Rats were anesthetized by urethane (1.25-1.5 g/kg, i.p.) with prior administration of atropine (0.2 mg/kg, s.c.) to avoid the cardiopulmonary problem associated with urethane anesthesia. Anesthetized rats were fixed on its back over the surgical table. Body temperature was maintained at 37 ºC throughout the experiment. An incision was made over the skin of neck region and left jugular vein was identified and made free from connective tissues with the help of blunt forceps. Cephalad end (towards the brain) of the vein was permanently occluded with help of ligature. Using an iris scissor a small transverse cut in the vein was made. Polyethylene cannula (PE 50) filled with heparinized saline (100 IU/ml) was passed into the vein and ligated. The left jugular vein was cannulated for intravenous drug administration. The left carotid artery was isolated and exposed, and a polyethylene cannula (PE 50) filled with heparinized saline was inserted into the artery and ligated for direct measurement of mean arterial pressure (MAP) 10, 11.
Measurement of Mean Arterial Pressure: Heparinised saline (100 IU/ml) was filled inside the knob of a pressure transducer (SS 13L) and in the polyethylene catheter (PE-50) to prevent blood clotting. Cannulated carotid artery was connected to a pressure transducer linked to four channel data acquisition system (BIOPAC System Inc, MP 35). The bulldog clamp was removed from the carotid artery to divert the blood pressure to the transducer, and the MAP was allowed to stabilize, and then blood pressure was recorded 12.
Measurement of Heart Rate: ECGs of rats were recorded with the application of subcutaneous stainless steel needles electrodes to the flexor aspect of limbs of rat and connected with the SS2L electrode transducer linked with the Four Channel Data Acquisition System (BIOPAC System Inc, MP 35). Measurement of heart rate was done by analyzing the R-R interval of ECG recording. Saline (0.2 ml, i.v.) was administered, MAP and heart rate (HR) was allowed to stabilize. An equilibration period of 30 min was given, during this period; animals having mean arterial blood pressure fluctuation by more than 10% were discarded 13.
Evaluation procedure for b Adrenoreceptor Antagonistic Activity of NS1 and NS2: Dose-response curve (DRC) to Iso was constructed for an increase in HR (tachycardia) and fall in MAP (hypotension) after intravenous injection of 0.3, 1 and 3 mg/kg of Iso. Next, a single dose of test drug was administered intravenously. Fifteen minutes later, further injections of Iso (1mg/kg, i.v.) were given, and the changes in HR and MAP were recorded 14, 15.
Data Calculations and analysis: Responses to Iso were calculated as the percentage decrease in MAP and percentage increase in HR. Percent decrease in MAP, the percent increase in HR, and the percentage inhibition of Iso induced tachycardia and hypotension were calculated using the formulas mentioned below.
Where D MAP represents the change in mean arterial blood pressure and D HR represents the change in HR. All values are expressed as mean ± S.E.M (n=6). The statistical significance of the difference between groups was determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Dunnett's test. Differences were considered statistically significant at P<0.05.
Effect of Isoprenaline Alone on MAP and HR of Rats: Administration of Iso (0.3, 1 and 3 mg/kg, i.v), produced dose-dependent fall in MAP (hypotension) and increased the heart rate (tachycardia) in a dose-dependent manner Fig. 2.
FIG. 2: CONCENTRATION RESPONSE CURVE OF ISO (0.3, 1 AND 3 µg/ml, I.V.) ON (A) MAP AND (B) HR
Hypotensive and Bradycardia Effect of NS1, NS2, Atenolol and Propranolol Alone in Rats: Intravenous injection of NS1 (1mg/kg, i.v.), NS2 (1 mg/kg, i.v.), atenolol (1mg/kg, i.v.) and propranolol (2 mg/kg, iv.) produced significant (p < 0.01) reduction in MAP and HR of rats as compared to saline-treated rats Fig. 3. However, NS1 was found more effective than others in the reduction of MAP and HR.
FIG. 3: EFFECT OF SALINE, NS1, NS2, ATENOLOL AND PROPRANOLOL ON THE MAP AND HR OF RATS AFTER I.V. ADMINISTRATION. Values are expressed as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 6). ** p<0.01, ## p<0.01, significantly different compared with saline-treated rats.
Effect on Isoprenaline-Induced Hypotension and Tachycardia in Rats: Pretreatment with NS1 (1 mg/kg, i.v.) and NS2 (1 mg/kg, i.v.), both produced significant inhibition of Iso induced hypotension in normal rats; however, NS2 was less significant (p<0.05) than NS1 (p<0.01), whereas Iso induced tachycardia was significantly (p<0.05) reduced with NS1 pretreatment only. Reference standard propranolol showed significant (p<0.01) inhibition of Iso induced tachycardia and hypotension while atenolol was significant (p<0.01) effective against inhibition of hypotension only Fig. 4.
FIG. 4: EFFECT OF ISOPRENALINE (1 µg/ml, i.v.) ON MAP AND HR AFTER I.V. ADMINISTRATION OF SALINE, NS1, NS2, ATENOLOL, AND PROPRANOLOL. Values are expressed as mean ± S.E.M. (n = 6). * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, # p<0.05 ## p<0.01, significantly different compared with saline treated rats.
DISCUSSION: The synthesized hybrid molecules NS1 and NS2 are having three antihypertensive nucleuses, one with β-blocker activity, second with calcium channel blocker activity and third with vasodilator activity 9. Though vasodilation reduces the blood pressure by directly relaxing peripheral vascular smooth muscles, the reduction leads to a reflex increase in sympathetic tone followed by an increase in heart rate, cardiac output and plasma renin activity which attenuates antihypertensive effect. It was reported that this undesirable effect of vasodilator could be eliminated or minimized by simultaneous treatment with β-blocker and the possible increase in peripheral vascular resistance induced by β blocker was eliminated or minimized by concomitant use of vasodilators 7.
Dihydropyridines (DHPs) cause tachycardia which is counteracted by β-blockers, while the initial increase in total peripheral resistance caused by non-selective β-blockers is counteracted by the vasodilators 16. In the previous study, antihypertensive activity was evaluated using renal artery ligation, i.e. 2K1C (two kidneys one clip) model of hypertension, both NS1 and NS2 indicated an antihypertensive effect on renovascular hypertension. But since NS2 didn't affect the heart rate, it may be due to its less or nonβ1 adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity 9. The present study was carried out to determine in the vivo β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic effect of NS1 and NS2 by measuring their inhibitory effect on the Iso induced hypotension and tachycardia to the rats.
Iso is a potent non-selective β-adrenoreceptors agonist with high affinity for all b adrenoreceptors and low affinity for α-adrenoreceptors. Intravenous infusion of Iso stimulates cardiac b-adrenoreceptors and lowers peripheral vascular resistance.
The tachycardia produced by Iso is primarily due to the b1-adrenoreceptors activity in the heart and the hypotensive effect is primarily due to the b2-adrenoreceptors in the blood vessels. β-adrenoreceptor blockers prevent the hypotensive and tachycardia effect induced by Iso 8, 17.
Our results indicated that administration of Iso alone produced significant dose-dependent hypotension and tachycardia in anesthetized rats Fig. 2. The percentage increase in heart rate and hypotension by Iso are in good correlation with earlier reports. NS1, atenolol, and propranolol followed by Iso injection in respective animals inhibited the Iso induced hypotensive effect greater than NS2. However, only NS1 and propranolol further produced significant (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively) inhibition of Iso induced tachycardia.
As propranolol is the competitive b-adrenoreceptor antagonist while atenolol is noncompetitive, due to this atenolol may not competes with Iso for b-adrenoreceptor and hence not significant inhibition heart rate that was increased by Iso.
CONCLUSION: This finding shows the competitive nature of NS1 towards b-adrenoreceptor, on the other hand, NS2, only inhibited the hypotensive effect of Iso, showing its b-adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity but being non-competitive it has not decreased the heart rate significantly. Hence, study suggests that NS1 might have higher potency in β-adrenoreceptor blocking activity than NS2 with more specificity to the β-1 receptor. Our finding in the study concluded that both NS1 and NS2 have a β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic effect, but NS1 found more effective than NS2. Further investigations of NS1 and NS2 on β-1 receptor antagonistic effects are under process.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The authors are grateful to Acme Formulation Pvt. Ltd, Himachal Pradesh for providing gift sample of atenolol and Dr. K.G. Bothara, Principal, AISSMS College of Pharmacy for providing necessary support and guidance.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Nil
World Health Organization. Regional Office for Southeast Asia. Hypertension fact sheet. 2011. (Accessed 24 December 2013) Available from: URL:http://www.searo. who.int/entity/noncommunicable_diseases/media/non_communicable_diseases_hypertension_fs.pdf.
Gradman AH, Basile JN, Carter BL and Bakris GL: Combination therapy in hypertension. Journal of the American Society of Hypertension 2010; 4: 90-98.
ALLHAT Officers and Coordinators for the ALLHAT Collaborative Research Group: Major outcomes in high-risk hypertensive patients randomized to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or calcium channel blocker vs. diuretic: The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT). Journal of the American Medical Association 2002; 288: 2981-97.
Christians JAM and Timmerman H: Cardiovascular hybrid drug: Combination of more than one pharmacological property in one single molecule. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 1996; 4: 1-22.
Messerli FH, Bangalore S, Yao SS and Steinberg JS: Cardioprotection with beta-blockers: Myths, facts and Pascal's wager. Journal of Internal Medicine 2009; 266: 232-41.
Bhatt LK, Bansal J, Piplani P, Bodhankar SL and Veeranjaneyulu A: Cardioprotective and β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity of a newly synthesized aryloxypropanolamine derivative PP-36. The Journal of Experimental Biology 2010; 2: 37-45.
Hoffman BB: Therapy of Hypertension. In: Handman JG, Limberd LE and Gilman AG (Eds): Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. McGraw Hill, New York, Edition 10, 2001: 547-58.
Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM and Flower RJ: Rang and Dale's Pharmacology. Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, Six Edition 2007.
Gupta SK, Vyawahare NS, Kagathara VG, Patil MN and Pujari RR: Assessment of antihypertensive activity of the novel synthetic hybrid compound on 2K1C induced hypertensive rats. Pharmacologyonline 2009; 2: 273-80.
Bartosova L, Frydrych M, Hulakova G, Berankova K, Strnadova V, Morky P, Brunclik V, Kolevska J and Bebarova M: Effect of newly synthesized 44Bu ultrashort-acting Beta-adrenergic antagonist to isoprenaline-induced tachycardia comparison with esmolol. Acta Vet Brno 2004; 73: 171-79.
Nandakumar K, Singh R, Bansal SK, Bodhankar SL, Jindal DP, Coumar MS and Bhardwaj SH: The antihypertensive effect of newly synthesized acyl amino substituted propanolamine derivatives, DPJ 890 and DPJ 955 in rats. Indian Journal of Pharmacol 2004; 36: 381-84.
Nandakumar K, Bansal S, Singh R, Mohite A, Bodhankar SL, Jindal DP, Coumare M, Balaraman R and Bharadwaj SH: Study of β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity of DPJ 904 in rats. Pharmacology 2005; 74: 1-5.
Kharin SN, Krandycheva VV and Shmakov DN: Depolarization pattern of the ventricular epicardium in two-kidney one-clip hypertensive rats. Experimental Physiology 2005; 90: 621-26.
Nandakumar K, Bansal SK, Singh R, Bodhankar SL, Jindal DP, Coumar MS, Balaraman R, and Bhardwaj SH: Selective β-adrenoreceptor blocking the activity of newly synthesized acyl amino-substituted aryloxypropanolamine derivatives DPJ 955 and DPJ 890, in rats. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2005; 57: 515-20.
Dube A, Choudhary S, Bodhankar SL and Piplani P: Study of beta-adrenoreceptor blocking and antihypertensive activity of a newly synthesized aryloxypropanolamine derivative, pp-28 in laboratory animals. Pharmacology online 2010; 1: 770-82.
Tripathi KD: Essential of medical pharmacology. Jaypee Brothers, Six Edition 2006.
Chiu CC, Lin YT, Tsai CH, Liang JC, Chiang LC, Wu JR, Chen IJ and Yeh JL: Pharmacological effects of an aldehyde type α/β adrenoreceptor-blocking agent with vasodilating properties. General Pharmacology 2000; 34: 391-00.
Gupta SK and Choudhary R: Assessment of β-adrenoreceptor antagonistic activity of NS1 and NS2 on percentage inhibition of isoprenaline induced tachycardia and hypotension in rats. Int J Pharm Sci & Res 2014; 5(9): 3758-62. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232. 5(9).3758-62.
All © 2013 are reserved by International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. This Journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Download: 947
Authors: S. K. Gupta * and R. Choudhary
Authors Address: Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India,
Email: sanjaypharm03@gmail.com
Revised: 17 April 2014
DOI: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.5(9).3758-62


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Lawyers as Changemakers
The Global Integrative Law Movement
Praise for Lawyers as Changemakers
Thank you to the contributors
Dianne Collins
Rob de Rooy – Comic Contracts
Heather Hui-Litwin
Michael Kahn
Marianna Kosharovsky
Amanda Lamond
Jens Näsström
Diane Parsons
John Renesch
Where else can you find Kim?
J. Kim Wright, J.D.
Conscious Coach
Conscious Contracts
Lawyers as Peacemakers
Cutting Edge Law YouTube Channel
About Integrative Law
Lawyers as Changemakers is a quite extraordinary book, written by an extraordinary person committed through example to change the lawyer's most deeply engrained vices. It exudes optimism and conveys spirituality. It displays a genuine holistic vision based on ecology, system thinking and long-term concerns. It is food for thought and inspiration". —Ugo Mattei, author of Plunder. When The Rule of law is Illegal (With Laura Nader) and of The Ecology of Law. Toward a Legal System in Tune with Nature and Community (With Fritjof Capra).
Love, the law is inside the heart.
For the ones who can "see" poetry is indeed prophecy.
Like old prophets lawyers are committed to share the law:
the braveness of truth,
the certainty of synchronicity,
the strength of faith,
the devotion to the Self.
We are the Law.
Paolo Urax Bellene is a lawyer-shaman.
A native of Argentina, he is pursuing a Ph.D degree
in law and consciousness in Spain.
I feel very fortunate to have had a chance encounter with Kim Wright early in my legal career. Her generosity of spirit combined with her huge depth of knowledge about the Integrative Law movement has been instrumental on my own path. This book will be like a light in the dark for lawyers searching for a new way of practising and like a mark of well-deserved recognition for those that have already started. —Elaine Quinn, The Conscious Lawyer magazine (London, UK)
A brilliant and powerful book, and extremely timely. No one has greater insight than Kim Wright about the critical role lawyers can play in bringing about positive change in society, starting with the legal system itself. In this groundbreaking book, Kim introduces us to a vast network of lawyers around the world who are already changing and humanizing the legal system. She provides a framework that will inspire other lawyers and enable them to make profound contributions to this global movement. – Eileen Barker, forgiveness teacher, forgiveness coach, and a leader in the movement to integrate emotional healing and forgiveness in conflict resolution.
As the dawning of a new era in politics in the United States begins to take shape, Kim Wright's book on "Lawyers as Changemakers" serves as a bulwark against those forces seeking to halt efforts to change law and society to a more just and kind system. More than just inspiring, this book offers the promise that the winds of change are still blowing, the arc of the moral universe is long but it still bends toward justice and we (as Bryan Stevenson says) should always hope. Thanks, Kim, for your insight, experience and always and forever, hope for the future, hope for change – Linda Warren Seely, Director of Dispute Resolution Section at the American Bar Association
This book is a must read for those lawyers who have always felt a need to change the system that they are a part of, but were overwhelmed by the enormousness of embarking on such a task, for those lawyers who have always felt that they were somehow different to the majority of 'mainstream' lawyers, and for those lawyers who have always known, deep down, that there is so much more that can and should be done with those magnificent/transferable/valuable legal skills that they developed. To those lawyers, welcome home – you are not alone.
After meeting Kim, and reading this book, I finally felt that I wasn't alone – that there is a whole movement of lawyers who acknowledged and understood that we are a part of a complex system and world, and that our life purpose didn't need to be some grandiose idea of saving the entire world – but that our role as integrative lawyers may in fact be our purpose for this lifetime, and that our work as integrative lawyers certainly does help to shift us all (albeit slowly) into a better world. Thank you Kim, for reminding lawyers not to underestimate their value and contributions, but more importantly, reminding lawyers that we can still be our authentic, whole selves, and still be (damn good) lawyers! – Nancy Bryla, corporate lawyer and Chief Light Officer of The Light Lawyer, Australia.
If we are to create a more loving and egalitarian world, we must begin to redefine justice itself away from a sole focus on vindicating individual rights in an adversarial context and toward a relational conception that seeks to foster empathy, compassion and mutual understanding. Kim Wright's book makes an important contribution toward showing us how lawyers can become practitioners of justice of this kind, and chronicles how just such a movement of lawyers is emerging around the world. —Peter Gabel and Nanette Schorr, Co-Chairs, Project on Integrating Spirituality, Law, and Politics
Over the period of my active legal practise of 22 years, I have found that the education imparted in the Law Schools and Universities especially in India has not changed at the same pace as the development around the world. Further, in the majority of law schools what is being taught is mostly theory and practical exercises are not mandatory.
The above regretting situation made me personally think of doing something to bring the change, at least in India, to start with. In the zeal of this I came across several like minded persons, but the most influential of them was Ms. Kim Wright. The present book is very aptly titled as Lawyers as Changemakers and I am in total agreement with her.
We, the Lawyers, are the people responsible to bring around the change in the legal scenario throughout the world and to invent innovative ways and means to tackle the issues at hand, legal or otherwise. I am also involved with the Collaborative Law Practise. After reading about the Integrative Law movement, I was totally impressed with the subject, methodology, and purpose behind it. It changes ones total approach towards resolving any issue at hand with a holistic mindset. I am sure that all the current lacunae in the societal fabric can be resolved through holistic and sensitive approach of Integrative Law.
I will be certainly get myself more deeply acquainted and involved in the subject field of Integrative law to benefit my clients in particular and society in general.
All my best wishes are with you Kim !!
Sameer Shah, Advocate, Arbitrator, Mediator,
Director-CIArb, India branch, Secretary, Gujarat State Committee, SCL, India.
Fellow, World Mediation Organisation
and Chairman – India Branch, Global Collaborative Law Council
Lawyers, in general, are an unhappy lot. They drink too much; suffer high rates of mental distress; and, are generally undervalued and overworked. This description does not hold true for lawyers who practice "changemaking." J. Kim Wright, a self-described "nomad," has literally traveled the world seeking a new way to practice — integrative law. Just as in her first book Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law she gives a comprehensive view of unconventional ways to approach lawyering then provides a forum for those actually doing it in the field. The global community is well represented here and this book should be tucked alongside Fodor's when travelling. It lends itself to both a comprehensive philosophic view of a new legal order but also to perusing a chapter or two on subjects such as "The Cop (and Lawyer) Turned Buddhist Teacher" or "Rob de Rooy and Comic Contracts." And, as Jack Nicholson said to Helen Hunt in "As Good as it Gets," it makes you want to be a better [wo]man. –-Judge Peggy Hora. Judge Hora retired from the Superior Court of California after serving 21 years. She is the President of Justice Speakers Institute, an international speakers' bureau.
Having read J.Kim Wright's first book "Lawyers as Peacemakers" I was more than intrigued and excited to know that a second torch for lawyers was about to be published.
Once again J.Kim Wright has broken the traditional boundaries of law.
Lawyers as Changemakers is a wonderful tapestry of emerging approaches, stories, commentaries and newer age theories woven together to form a legal quilt that warms, enlightens and empowers paradigm shift thinkers.
This book is a powerful reminder that law is not just based on fact, it is a blend of IQ and EQ and now SQ (spiritual quotient) joins the fold.
A new light is descending on the legal profession and this book is a must have if you want to be part of this legal enlightenment.
Nicolle Kopping-Pavars is a collaborative family law lawyer and mediator with a holistic approach to resolving family transitions. Nicolle is also a Mindfulness in Law Teacher and Practitioner and is breaking new ground to help those in the legal profession better equip themselves for work/life stresses to learn how to lead happier lives. She lives in Ontario, Canada.
Kim Wright's Lawyers as Changemakers is a transformative exemplar of a globally shared passion to transform the legal profession on a foundation of mindfulness, integrity, reflection, consciousness, values and purpose, whilst skilfully marrying the ideologies of the traditional legal profession with humane, less adversarial methods of practice. It is a breath of fresh air that challenges the status quo of traditionalist perceptions of the legal profession and what it could be as opposed to should be. The book navigates a vibrant and compelling landscape of stories and experiences of legal professionals that evoke a plethora of introspective 'AHA' moments and invites the reader to step out of their perceived linear molds of the traditional legal profession into a space of reflection and collaboration. As a legal educator of 15 years, I was enthused by the theme that the transformation of the legal profession for future generations of legal professionals begins with the transformation of legal education through alternate pedagogy, which not only develops the requisite skills in law students for the purposes of legal problem solving, but also equips them with the soft skills to harmoniously interact with peers and clients, whilst not compromising their self- worth in practice. A must read for legal practitioners, legal educators and law students! –Neetu Chetty is the Programme Manager of the School of Law, IIE Varsity College Westville, Durban, South Africa
Dipping into J Kim Wright's book spun me back to when I was part of the 'lost generation'. I had decided to go back to school to restart my legal studies in 1995. "Law should be a tool to achieve justice and provide people with a means to realise their rights." was a resounding theme in times of Apartheid. In this book law -the tool- and the persons who use it, and the pathways which lead practitioners to understand that allowing themselves to be feeling human beings makes them better, more humane, grounded practitioners are the heroes.
Great strength to Ms Wright as she creates a sense of Ubuntu by providing examples and platforms so that lawyers can take their place as peacemakers in a world of contestation and strife. —Pritima Osman, Senior Legal Administrative Officer at Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, South Africa
Eight years ago I had almost quit my work as a lawyer, because I found out that my professional life was not meaningful. I came to understand that success in life would be way much more than winning some cases, earning some money, and making my law firm grow. For me, to succeed in life, as a lawyer, suddenly became a way of finding out the better side of human nature in order to unite parties driven asunder, especially by helping them to communicate their needs, interests, fears, concerns and dreams. In my personal journey to change the way I work, I have met incredible people. Kim, for sure, is one of the most devoted and inspirational professionals that I have found. She is pure light in the path for those who seek for guidance in a world full of options. A world that – if you look closely – gives you at every second a chance to understand how great is the universe and the human potential to flourish and live in joy. –Marcello Vieira Machado Rodante, Rodante & Scharlack, Advogados, São Paulo / SP / Brasil
In some ways, "Lawyers as Changemakers" is not new. We have always been counselors, in addition to our roles as zealous advocates. Above all, lawyers are part of a profession that is engaged in helping clients with legal issues. Many of us, however, tend to forget that arguing and winning is not the best outcome, even when your client has "won".
Having been in Legal Education for over thirty years, I think I can say that Integrative Law is the Law of the future. I say this not only because Integrative Law incorporates the concept Kim helped develop, that of the Holistic Lawyer employed to facilitate the legal client's well being, but also because the Lawyer as Changemaker is part of this wonderful global community.
Kim Wright, first with "Lawyers as Peacemakers" helped me to teach my students alternative skills to add to the lawyer's "toolbox" and now with "Lawyers as Changemakers" has demonstrated that there's a huge legal global community committed to these values. She has given us hope in our profession. And I am excited to be part of the Integrative Lawyers community. Here's to the future! —Paula Kaldis, Professor of Law, Assistant Dean, Massachusetts School of Law


The moor carries a plate of raost chicken, he is beautifully hand painted in pastel colours of lemon, peach and blue on a bronze coloured base. No glaze but a clean bisque finish.
Condition : Excellent, a tiny nick in the plume, not noticable and only mentioned for accuracy.


text:
Electric System Reliability to Be Focus of EPSA's 2023 Competitive Power Summit
Get a preview of what to expect and confirmed speakers, and register now for EPSA's Competitive Power Summit.
FERC Must Reject PJM Attempt to Revise Power Market Rules Mid-Auction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | January 20, 2023 CONTACT: Christina Nyquist | cnyquist@epsa.org | 603.930.8818 Statement From EPSA President and CEO Todd Snitchler Statement From EPSA President and CEO Todd Snitchler WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject a proposal filed by PJM […]
Schedule of Events | EPSA Winter Board and Committee Meetings '23
Schedule of Events Monday, January 23, 2023 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. | Legislative Affairs Committee Meeting, EPSA Headquarters, 1401 New York Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20005. 2:30 – 3:45 p.m. | Communications Committee Meeting, EPSA Headquarters, 1401 New York Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20005.. 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. | Security Committee Meeting, EPSA Headquarters, 1401 New […]
EPSA's Competitive Power Summit: March 21, 2023
Join the Electric Power Supply Association and guests on March 21, 2022 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. for a day of expert panels and featured speakers discussing critical issues facing competitive power and the U.S. electric system.
FERC Chair Transition Comes at Critical Time for Electric Reliability
EPSA urges Chairman Phillips to renew a commitment to FERC's core mission of ensuring adequate energy infrastructure, reliable power, and well-functioning competitive markets to deliver those outcomes in the most cost-effective way possible for consumers.
2022 In Review: 25 Years of Advancing Competitive and Reliable Power
As 2022 wraps, we recap highlights from this year, including EPSA's 25th anniversary, continued efforts to promote policies that support grid reliability, and continued advocacy at FERC for our competitive power suppliers.


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The American electorate split strongly along class lines in the 2020 election, as revealed by a Bloomberg News data chart that correlated campaign donors with their professions. This data map looks like an inverted triangle made up of circles in varying shades of blue and red. At the top are large circles in deep blue, denoting professions that donated large amounts and which slanted their donations toward the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Large blue circles for lawyers, teachers, professors, nurses and doctors, editors and writers, and internet technology professionals dominate the top of the map.
The bottom of the data map narrows into a small collection of circles of deep red, representing the occupations whose members donated heavily to Donald Trump's campaign. These circles denote small business owners, truckers, construction workers, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, farmers, and homemakers. The red circles were far fewer and far smaller than the blue end of the triangle; they represented a smaller total number of donors and less political and economic clout. The most devoted, deep-red Trump donors were homemakers, with 96 percent supporting the president. The fervor of homemakers for Trump was nearly matched on the other end of the spectrum by professors, social workers, and public relations professionals, each of whose members supported Biden at a 94 percent rate.
This picture of an electorate split strongly between blue-collar and white-collar professions is as stark a division along class lines as any Marxist theorist could wish, except in this case, the disempowered proletariat of 74 million Trump voters is noticeably on the right, and the ruling class is just as conspicuously on the left. This division confounds the shopworn narrative of both the conventional right and the conventional left, that American politics is made up of a conservative right that serves corporations and capitalists versus a progressive left that serves the working class. The results of the 2020 election should make it painfully obvious that the old categories of "right" and "left," "conservative" and "progressive," and "capitalist" and "socialist" no longer represent the American political situation.
A political tract written in 1941 by James Burnham, entitled The Managerial Revolution, offers a better guidebook to understanding present-day America. Burnham predicted a gradual, subtle shift in power would occur just under the surface, in which, over the course of many decades, control would move from the capitalists to a new dominant class, which Burnham characterized as the managers. Rather than owning productive forces outright, these overseers of increasingly complex systems of governance and production would gain control of society through their direct management of its functions.
If you were going to make a modern-day list of occupations that comprise Burnham's managerial elite, you could hardly do better than Bloomberg News's list of professions that donated chiefly to Biden's campaign.
The real power struggle in America is between an elite class of professionals and their dependents, who mainly occupy the urban cores in Democratic "blue states," and working-class people, especially in the American heartland, who Chronicles columnist Sam Francis described as "Middle Americans." All other struggles are at best a distraction. The election of Donald Trump tore away once and for all the illusion that there is a legitimate "right" or "conservative" wing among our current managerial elite that cares about the interests of Middle Americans. The members of the managerial elite among the Republican Party, Fox News, The Federalist Society, and all other ostensibly conservative groups recoiled in horror at Trump's election in 2016, which upended, however briefly, the power they held jointly with their counterparts on the political left.
Hence, when Trump challenged the results of the 2020 election, alleging fraud, very few of the "conservative" members of the managerial elite rose to his defense in either the political or the legal sphere. It was only after Trump's base threatened to boycott the Georgia runoff election that this faux right was spurred to action, mounting a half-hearted attempt to support the president's challenge of the 2020 election results. At press time, their support appears to be too little, too late.
Our faux right is used to playing a theatric oppositional role. They have long been the Washington Generals to the left's Harlem Globetrotters—"beautiful losers," in Francis's phrase. The electoral battles are a distraction to the governmental managers—that cadre of the permanent bureaucracy that is called the Deep State—who are eager to drop the pretense of representative government and get back to managing their subjects.
And manage they do. This new class justifies its position by either magnifying existing threats to the public or inventing them out of whole cloth to keep up demand for their services. A whole slew of scientists, economists, social service workers, and bureaucrats are on hand to save us from the wretchedness of global warming, the calamities of COVID, the perils of white privilege, and the ruin of systemic racism.
To make matters worse, our present group of managers subscribes to an ideology based on a need to reform the American populace along cultural revolutionary lines. Taking on the character of a medical intervention, this "therapeutic managerial regime," as described by our editor-in-chief, Paul Gottfried, in his 2002 book Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt, grows ever more intrusive.
The therapeutic managerial ideology is based on the idea that the American people, especially the Middle Americans of red states, need to have their mentality reformed. The therapists must root out any last vestige of ethnic preference or resistance to foreign immigration, which, in the case of those of European ancestry, is to be considered racism. This group of social inferiors also need to abandon any commitment to Christian morality, which is to be called intolerance, particularly resistance to the normalization of homosexuality or of the gender dysfunction known as transgenderism. And they need to drop any resistance to the globalist neoliberal and neoconservative consensus, which sends their jobs overseas and their sons to die in pointless wars abroad. This opposition is to be demonized in the one case as socialist, and in the other as unpatriotic.
The genie of the managerial revolution is not likely to be put back in its bottle. Fortunately, however, the "woke" anti-white, anti-Christian, anti-American ideology that marks our managerial class is not a necessary feature of this revolution. It is there because the cultural right adopted a doctrine of laissez-faire, limited government, while the cultural left went on to seize the reins of power uncontested and to define the managerial elite's woke ideology.
This fight is not over—because the real right has not yet begun to fight. If there is to be a single aim for a post-Trump right, it should be to contest the present managerial class's cultural influence over our society. We must make our own march through the institutions of government and education. With the blessing of Providence, we may be able to expel the "woke" ideology that now divides the American people and to enshrine a new unifying creed: one nation, under God.
Edward Welsch
Edward Welsch is the executive editor at Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.
1/4/2021 - 11:25 AM
An insightful editorial, which makes a useful distinction between the professional-managerial class and the working class, drawing upon the classic work of James Burnham; and which sees that working class support for Trump has been caused by a professional-managerial class ideology that disrespects the cultural values of the working class. But our understanding also ought to include the insights of the seminal work of C. Wright Mills, who in 1956 described a "power elite," forged by managers of the largest corporations, the highest members of the executive branch of the federal government, and the military chiefs. The power elite still exists, although the corporations have become more concentrated and more global since Mills wrote. Domestically, the power elite has an interest in converting U.S. citizens into consumers. Internationally, the U.S. power elite seeks to reduce the capacity of Third World states to regulate and protect their economies, so that it will have unrestrained access to the natural resources, labor, and markets of the world; to this end, it is driven to aggressive imperialist wars in distant lands. The power elite uses its control of the media and think tanks to disseminate ideas and news reports that support its domestic and international objectives. The power elite supports the woke ideology of the professional-managerial class, because said ideology channels the movements of historically excluded sectors toward participation in the consumerist, globalist, and imperialist agenda of the power elite; and because the woke ideology divides the people. What we need today is a popular movement that transcends the conventional distinction between left and right, based on an ideology that respects the cultural values of the working class, and that rejects imperialism as an unpatriotic violation of the founding principles of the American Republic. Charles McKelvey, Professor Emeritus, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina
Vporlier
The citizenry is no longer sovereign, because our nation is no longer sovereign - March 8, 2018 To the Editor: "Who really controls our government and the direction our country takes?" [ https://altamontenterprise.com/03082018/citizenry-no-longer-sovereign-because-our-nation-no-longer-sovereign ]
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sneakypete
Well expressed. I hope Edward Welsch will respond.
Thank you very much for your comment, Prof. McKelvey. I certainly agree with your sentiments, and I'll have to add Mills to my reading list. We may consider publishing this letter in the magazine's Polemics section.
1/7/2021 - 11:22 PM
This is a masterful assessment of the situation, but it ends on a hopeful note that does not resonate with me. It took these devils a century to infiltrate every corner of American life, in a free and open America. The "managers" will not allow freedom and openness, therefore there can be no counter-transformation. Ask the Chinese how easy it is to end the tyranny of an entrenched totalitarian regime. America is ended, but I am thankful that we the people had one last moment under President Trump, to remember the dream that inspired us.
An excellent and accurate drawing of the battle lines. You are very late in entering the battlefield. You will probably need to give your obsession for The Southern Tradition a rest, and study closely our other tradition; The Northern Tradition. You will need to know the ways of the Puritan RoundHead/Parliamentarian Tradition of the Church Militant. You will need to become as comfortable taking your Bible to the battlefield as you are, in taking it to the Church Pew. One thing to be discovered: Are we to fight for "Thy wil be done on Earth as it is in Heaven", and FIGHT for the establishing of the Good and Right and True; or retire to our prayer closet, to petition for "forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us"? There is a VERY large contingent of the faithful who sees THIS World as the irredeemable Devil's Playground, and should be abandoned for that Highground upon which rests our Father's Kingdom, which is in Heaven, and NOT of this World. Where is the Battle to take place; on the Worldly "Western Front" or the inner "Eastern Front" of the prayer closet ? Which Soldier are you; of the Western Front, or the Eastern Front?
The Grip on Comedy Slips
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Increasing AdSense CTR (Click-through-rate) is one of the major factors that boost your AdSense earnings. Before I brief you guys on the trick to easily increase your AdSense CTR, let me first explain to you what CTR means and other traditional ways to increase AdSense CTR.
Click through rate can be explained as the number of ad clicks that is divided by the number of page views, impression or queries received by that ad.
For instance, if you received 5 ad clicks with 100 page views or impression of that ad, then the click through rate would be equal to 5%.
Today's stroll, I would brief you guys on a 100% working latest trick to increase AdSense CTR. After implementing this trick, then your CTR would rise between 3%- 6% depending on your website niche. More thanks to +Shahid Khan and +Edi Dominic Ifediri for their contributions towards the trick.
NB: This trick doesn't violate AdSense policy, is very much safe, so don't bother asking me if it's against their TOS.
This is one of the major factors that determine the CTR of your AdSense. If your website doesn't have a good design with great layout, then the CTR of your ads would be too low. So try to first concentrate on the design of your website, and make sure that you are making use of a very responsive theme design.
This is another factor that determines the CTR of your ads. For instance, if your website is a blogging/seo niche, then you shouldn't expect a good CTR because you would be getting visitors that already know about your ads and most of them would definitely ignore your ads, but other niche like entertainment, tech, health, make money, etc. are expected to have a better CTR.
However, quality content also matters, because it's the kind of content you publish on your blog determines the type of ads that is being displayed on your blog.
It's believed that larger ads size gives a better result, however increase the ads CTR. To me, its best you to fix the size of ads that fit in to the layout of your theme. For instance, if your side banner has an ads space of 300x250 ads, then I advise you make use of 300x250 ads rather than using a very large unit. What you should try avoid is ads blindness, you should never make your ads look spam, just follow the layout design of your theme and fix the ads. It's also advised you make use of the recommended ads unit.
Search engine traffic is very good and one of the major factors that can increase your AdSense CTR. So try to work on your search engine traffic, I recommend you go through the top 10 seo tips, those tips can help you increase your search traffic.
This is the key factor that determines your ads CTR. Once your AdSense is perfectly placed in the right position, then you would earn a better CTR.
Where Can I Place My Ads?
AdSense allows 3 maximum ads unit and 3 maximum link unit with 2 search box. So, I would show you where you can implement those units.
6. Header (at the side of header or below header).
Any of the above placements can give you a better CTR. So either you make use of placement (1, 4, 5), (6, 3, 4), (6, 1, 5), (2, 5, 6), (2, 5, 4), (6, 3, 4). Any of them can earn you a better CTR, so. Follow your theme and experiment on the design. Don't forget to make use of the recommended ads unit. Concerning link units, I advise you to make use of only two.
Use 428x15 link unit above post title.
Use 200x90 link unit at the side bar.
Try to go with 720x90 leader banner ads below post title and also at the side of header or blow header, because it coverts more compared to 336x250 ad block. But if your theme design is fit for 336x250, then use it. Also make sure you blend the ads text color with a similar color to your theme design, it really helps.
Hope this above traditional method would help you increase your AdSense CTR. As for the trick, simply follow the procedure below.
Firstly, get a YouTube video that would be promoted in all content and copy the embedded code.
NB- You are advised to create your own video and monetize it with AdSense, so when promoting the video in all your content, you would also be earning extra bucks from the video.
After that, place the AdSense ads, side by side with the video with the below HTML code.
Remember to parse both the copied embedded YouTube video and the AdSense code, before you add them to the above code. Then place it at the end of your blog post. Parse the codes here.
With this placement, the AdSense ads would be fitted with the video and it would attract so many clicks, which would also increase your AdSense CTR.
Hope this brief tips helps. If you got any AdSense related question, feel free to ask via the comment section, don't forget to like us on Facebook and join our email subscribers for more tips and tricks.
This is a realy good trick but does this work with a YouTube channel that i have already monitized?? .....i mean, will this work on a channel i already have adsense on and still yet embedded the code of my seperate blog adsense to the video?
yes. it works, because if you have an already monetized video on your youtube channel, you can make use of it. and that would be a double earnings for you.


Throughout the summer, we have been going through the Gospel of Mark from the lectionary and here we come again to this sudden shift over to John. We start at the story where thousands are fed from the influence of Jesus. This particular story is found in all of the gospels but today we will see this from the perspective of John. First, let's provide some context first to the abrupt shift over to John's telling of Jesus' ministry. Leading up to this event, we find Jesus turning water into wine, cleansing the temple in Jerusalem, the encounter of the woman at the well, and the healing of the man at the pool, and all the these encounters being spread rapidly by word of mouth like wildfire. So it should come as no surprise that thousands would flock to see this man behind these stories.
This event falls near the Passover and many scholars agree this is a festival that has meaning with liberation from foreign powers who have oppressed to people of Israel. Expectations are on the minds of people coming to see Jesus. Hearing of the miracles that Jesus has done can only feed into the want and desires that people in the crowd may have. It's certainly understandable, and only human, that they would see Jesus as a miracle-worker, and even as a potential king. Like their ancestors before them, they hold onto the promise of Deuteronomy 18:15, the promise of a prophet like Moses who will be raised up by God to lead them. This longing for freedom from empire after empire that oppresses them leads their sights short on what Jesus actually embodies as God in the flesh.
But there is something else going on. Something prior to the miracle happening. It is this moment of anxiety and worry. The moment of feeling that there is a scarcity of resources to fulfill people's needs. It is something that we can know all too well in our own times. The harsh realities with stories cycling endlessly about dwindling water supplies from ongoing droughts.
The dramatic effects on people who are plagued with consumer and/or educations debt, causing stress on the financial resources of individuals. The heart-wrenching effects of poverty and homelessness still affect our society with no end in sight, leading to a mindset of many that there is not enough to relieve the situation. The unfortunate results of these messages from our society can cause us to become distracted. It is no wonder all of this causes us to find security and stability for ourselves. No wonder we worry and have anxiety about the future. No wonder we can lose focus on what God may be calling us to do in the present. No wonder we have the feeling of scarcity that can steer us away from what our mission is as disciples of Jesus.
This passage reminds us that we can lose focus on who God is in Jesus. Jesus challenges Philip in a test to see if he understands who Jesus is with the dilemma of feeding thousands of people in their midst. Instead of understanding what God can do in Jesus, Philip takes it solely upon himself to try and solve this dilemma and realizes he cannot due to the lack finances. Commentator Brian Peterson relates this short sightedness of Philip with us today and how often we can fail to see the depths of what God is doing in our lives. How we tend to focus more on what we have to do ourselves to make our needs met instead of not trusting more on the faith that God is at work in some form and fashion in our lives to meet our needs, whether it be spiritual, emotional, or physical. We often see it partially and maybe even distorted. Even the crowd fails to understand what Jesus embodies. They lose sight of how abundant is God's grace, God's compassion, God's love embodied in Jesus. Not realizing God in Jesus working through the offering from the boy that the apostle Andrew finds. Rather, they see Jesus as a figure not embodied from who God is but a political head, a miracle worker, to meet what they think they need.
This passage provides an interpretive clue for what John is challenging us with this story of Jesus. To be aware of how God is acting in our lives with an abundance of love and compassion despite our feelings otherwise. This passage shows how we should remember instances of how God is at work in the world through different ways and means, especially in our own lives. Challenging us on how God acts in midst our fear…this fear of not having enough…and refocusing our faithful response to God's abundant love and grace that is continually being revealed to us. Many of us can fall short sometimes, even myself, but since when is discipleship an easy journey?
Something that is ingrained in my mind was during my second year in seminary. It was that time between fall and spring semester. My accompaniment job had ended the month before. I had been reduced to a small amount of hours at my library job with two full weeks of no work during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. So there was little income coming my way during this time and my financial aid was drying out quickly due to the seemingly never ending bill payments. I remember with clarity really having to think about what is more important to use gas mileage on. In a nutshell, I withdrew. I began to focus more on how I can make my need met.
It was sometime after New Year's that I received something remarkable. I decided to go check my mailbox even though there was never anything for me except for the occasional junk mail, but I decided to check anyway. Inside was this lone envelope with my name and no return address in the front. I picked it up and looked in the back of the envelope and saw the return address but didn't recognize it. It was this random address from Goliad, TX. Well, I didn't have any family or friends who lived in Goliad so of course my curiosity increased.
I opened the letter and to my amazement saw a check in my name. I looked at the check for a minute in astonishment and then I saw a note inside the envelope. I read it and it was a small scholarship from the Presbyterian Women of Mission Presbytery for seminary students under care of the presbytery. I teared up for a second and read that it was to help with any needs I may have and they were thinking about me and praying for me. Now it didn't solve all of my problems, but that is not the point. The point is that it helped tremendously in inspiring me and reminding that God's abundant love is active in my life in different ways.
This loving act compelled me to give some back to the church. However small it was, it was enough to remind me of God's love acting through the community of faith…through this organization that sent me this gift. Compelling me to want give back not just this monetary offering but all of myself again. To focus again on having a whole hearted devotion as a disciple of Christ and giving more of that love and compassion that God has shown me. Thinking back to that winter, I had found myself losing focus on that and focusing instead on finding stability for myself in the situation I was in. Remembering acts of loving kindness like this motivates me to set my sights more on serving God with all of my talents and treasures. So does this mean I'm free from the fear of scarcity? I'd be kidding myself if I said 100% yes. What I do find to be true is that instances like this help me think about how God is at work in the world in my own life. How I was focusing more on myself and the effect of this act of loving kindness, steering me towards giving myself more fully to being an active participant in God's transforming work in the world.
Let us travel 10 months later…300 miles south of here to the Texas border region. I spent time with a group of seminary students in the border region between Texas and Mexico, traveling from one border city to another. Seeing first-hand the humanitarian crisis that was happening with the influx of refugees from Mexico and Central America. People going through great hardships to seek some asylum in the United States. I along with my colleagues had the experience of getting the different churches that were responding to the crisis that has been happening. I witnessed an outpouring of love and compassion from the different churches in the region, ranging from one church providing space for new clothes, food, and a hot shower for these refugees to another church having a food pantry that served a significant amount of migrants. Seeing unity with the different faith communities as they all worked together to provide basic needs for these refugees who have gone through so much hardship and violence. It was inspiring to see the enthusiastic faith of God's presence in these faith communities and the continuing desire to welcome the strangers in their midst.
While I was down there, it was amazing getting to know some of the volunteers and migrants. I got to briefly talk to one of the pastors from the network of churches that provided hospitality at the Sacred Heart Relief Center in McAllen, TX. I remember asking if he was worried if they would run out of resources to provide for the refugees that came through the center because there were so many people in need. He told me that they do keep tabs on the resources they have but it would be counterproductive to think too much about if there are enough clothing, food, towels, and other necessities. He believed that if they focused too much on what they didn't have, then it probably cause them to turn away people, and that is not the mindset they wanted. They wanted to make sure that all the refugees that came through the doors of the relief center got what they needed. He, like many other volunteers, believed that the abundance of God's love and compassion was active through love and compassion of the faith communities in the area, continually providing necessary treasures and providing the time and talents of individuals from those faith communities.
It is through remembering instances like these that others, including myself, remember what our baptismal calling is. Remembering how God's abundant grace and love flows out from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and how God is and will continually be full present in our lives in abundantly different ways that can fill our hearts with the abundance of love and compassion towards God and the creation we are a part of. The waters of baptism and call from that sacrament draw us closer to God. Focusing mainly on ourselves…on our fears…steers us away. It is being keenly aware of God acting in the loving kindness through a multitude of ways in this world that can gain our focus on how abundant this love that God has for us and fulfilling what God has called us to do from that love and grace in our baptism.
Let us together remember how God has transformed us in the many aspects of our daily lives. Together we can grow more in the trust that God is with us and for us in the world. Out of this growth, we can be more whole hearted in our discipleship. The more we encourage each other by remembering the ways in which God works in our lives can compel us to focus more on giving all of ourselves into the redemptive work of God in the world we live in, so that there may be an abundance rather than a scarcity. We may not fully free ourselves from the fear of scarcity, but we can continually challenge ourselves to remember and reflect on how God's limitless grace and love is with us in our daily lives and how that can compel us to respond towards humanity with that same abundance of love and compassion.
Let us strive to continually remember the abundance of what God can offer us and that we are not alone in what may come our way on our winding journey as disciples. God in Jesus opens our hearts and our hands to those around us. God makes God's presence known in rough waters and calm in a myriad of ways. Unceasing with the grace and love filled "I am" fully present in our lives and continually showing us to trust that God's love and compassion forever sustains us. Reminding us of our call to respond in kind towards God's creation and all the while keeping us above the waters, trusting, resting, as Kierkegaard said, on the buoyancy of God. Amen.


My name is Krista Graham, I tutor middle and high school students and have recently been helping a student with a drug abuse awareness project.
I was looking for some information, and noticed that you list kids health.org along with a few other great sites.
Honestly, thank you for mentioning them. I, along with many friends have been on their site, and love it.
My student, Emma, also found this page http://www.quitheroin.com/drug-abuse-in-middle-schools/, and thought it would be a nice addition to your resources.
Please let me know if you decide to add the page to yours! I would be excited to show Emma that we were able to give something back!


Infinity Ink will headline Saturday Sessions at Ministry of Sound on Saturday 8th August. They will be supported by Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, Leftwing & Kody and Justin Berkmann in The Box main room with Illyus & Barrientos heading up 103.
Infinity Ink, the Anglo-Italian duo of Ali Love and Luca C are known for their pioneering work in the house domain and are one half of Hot Natured with Jamie Jones and Lee Foss. Infinity Ink have collaborated with names such as The Chemical Brothers and Justice, and released on labels like Crosstown Rebels and Hot Creations. Their breakthrough single in 2013, 'Infinity' earned them in excess of 16 million YouTube views.
Joining Infinity Ink will be Leftwing & Kody, backed up by Ministry co-founder Justin Berkmann, and Kele Okereke, the London-based DJ/ Producer and lead singer of award-winning band Bloc Party.
Glasgow's Illyus & Barrientos head up 103 with support from Luvstuff, Hurts&Charles, Camion, and Tatemae.


I see quite a lot of gigs and audiences just don't seem what they used to be, there just seems to be a general malaise and lack at passion. Maybe it's just the modern day musical overload, maybe it's that with the competition for time in everyone's lives, music isn't that important anymore. Maybe it's too many average bands, maybe it's unpleasant and/or souless venues with rubbish sound and poor sight-lines. Or maybe everyone is just too exhausted to fully engage and is thinking more about how they'd much rather be somewhere more comfy and in a horizontal position than stood up and watching a band play.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 9:10 pm.	It is filed under Music Photography and tagged with Black Keys, Brisbane, Dr Dog, Gomez, Justin Edwards, Sony a700, The Arena, www.notaphoto.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


NaturallySpeaking plays nicely with Outlook. In Dragon 12, you also get some additional commands for Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, and Gmail. If you use these e-mail applications, you'll be happy to know that voice commands are an option for them, too.
Outlook Express supports Windows operating systems up through Windows XP. (Vista uses Windows Mail. Windows 7 and 8 users must use another e-mail client.) Outlook Express's most well-known feature is that you can use custom graphics. It also provides specially designed stationery templates for sending celebratory e-mails. If you started using Outlook Express long ago and are comfortable with it, you'll be happy to add voice commands to your options.
As with the other e-mail applications listed above, Outlook Express also uses the three-panel window. By following the menu commands, you can navigate entirely with voice.
In version 12 of NaturallySpeaking, Nuance added some voice commands for Outlook Express that were not in previous versions.
You can use the same commands with Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail shown below.
When you move into the body field, dictate your message.
When NaturallySpeaking is unclear about the instructions for Live Mail, it shows numbered options as it does in most other applications. Just as you would anywhere else, select the option by saying, "Choose <number>." Once you get used to doing this, it's easy to get around.
If you use Thunderbird, Mozilla Foundation's free e-mail client, you know that it's an open source application and works cross-platform. This means that it is created by developers who donate their time and share code. It can be used with Windows, Mac, or Linux.
If you haven't used Thunderbird, consider it if you want to aggregate e-mails across several e-mail accounts. Thunderbird doesn't send e-mail on its own. It lets you combine your accounts and work from one main source. It has several add-ons and lets you configure your e-mail account in a way that makes sense for you.
After you set up and open Thunderbird, you notice that it looks like most other e-mail clients. It uses the three-panel window configuration: the folder list, a message list, and a reading pane.
When you open your Gmail account in one of the browsers listed here, you will know if RIA extensions are enabled by looking to see if there is a green quote mark next to some of the commands.
You may be prompted to load the RIA extensions if you haven't opened the browser with Dragon 12 running. So click Yes if you are prompted. Also, make sure you aren't using Gmail Classic. That will not work with Dragon 12.
Gmail, like Thunderbird, is another Full Text Control application that doesn't work with Natural Language Commands. But it gets the job done, and if Gmail is your application of choice, fear not. It can work for you.
The e-mail window opens with the cursor in the address box.
Move through the subject field the same way.