text:
I Believe in Purgatory
On April 7, 2017 By Gordon LindseyIn Christianity, Spiritual journey, Spirituality, Theology
Purgatorial experiences can form a fundamental part of our spiritual journey.
When the Protestant Reformers threw out the doctrine of purgatory, they had good cause for doing so. They found no scriptural warrant for the highly developed, late medieval doctrine. The doctrine was also a pastoral disaster. It intensified people's fear of death. And it opened the door for all kinds of ecclesiastical exploitation of that fear.
But in throwing out the abusive bath water that clung to medieval notions, the Reformers may also have discarded an insight important to wise pastoral counsel and spiritual direction.
The Spiritual Insight Behind the Doctrine
The insight behind the doctrine of purgatory grows out of the belief, shared by Catholics and Protestants, that the ultimate goal for human beings is to live forever in the glorious presence of God. Catholic theology calls this the beatific vision of God. Protestants do not usually use that language, but they do talk about the life of glory in the presence of God that lies ahead in the next life.
The insight is that human beings cannot endure the glorious presence of God as long as they remain entangled with the sins and corruptions of this life. There must be a process of purification that happens before any human being can enter into that glory. Protestants confess that basic conviction every time we sing these words "…though the eye of sinfulness thy glory may not see…" in the beloved Trinitarian hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."
But how does that necessary purification take place? Catholic and Protestants do not have a common vision on the how. Catholics have traditionally seen the how as a process that goes on after death, sometimes for a long time. As a result medieval Catholicism spun out a whole vision of purgatory as lasting years, if not centuries or millennia, after death.
Purgatory was conceived a kind of mini-hell with assorted torments and demons. It differed from hell in one important feature. Anyone in purgatory would ultimately make it into heaven. Anyone in hell would not.
This view of purification allowed a lot of abuses to arise. The church taught that the living could lessen the suffering of the dead in purgatory through indulgences and private masses. The church sold them as a way of raising funds. This turned a pastoral concern into a mercantile concern. It is one of the abuses that so disgusted Martin Luther. It helped spark the Protestant Reformation.
As a result Protestants have generally seen the purification process as instantaneous upon death. Death itself is the purification. So Protestants generally hold to no view of purgatory in the medieval Catholic sense.
My view is that we simply do not know how the purification process works after death. Is it a process (Catholic purgatory) or an instantaneous act (Protestant purgatory)? Who knows? But I take it as a given that some purification process/act must take place. In that sense I believe in purgatory, but not in the medieval vision.
The Essence of a Purgatorial Experience
For me the essence of purgatory is the cleansing of all that blocks us from being the kind of human beings that God has always intended us to be. Those blocks are sometimes habits, attitudes, and behaviors that cut us off from God, from other people, and from our own inner selves. They are blocks we create for ourselves.
In other cases the blocks are wounds that have been inflicted upon us by other people or by tragic circumstances in life. We may not be responsible for those wounds, but they block us nonetheless from freely loving God, others, and ourselves.
In essence then, I think of purgatory as healing and liberation. We are being set free to become our authentic selves, the unique, beautiful, and loving selves that God has always called us to be. In the process we also find our authentic voices.
What fascinates me is how that process can begin even before our physical deaths. There are times in the process of spiritual and psychological growth when we find our lives shattering and crumbling away. Old orders and structures that we have relied upon to give meaning and stability to our lives undergo a massive emotional earthquake. Old stabilities crash. (This can also be true for cultures.)
At such times we can sink into despair and give up. At the same time such experiences can also issue in a call to be patient and let God reconstitute our lives in a healthier, more wholesome way, a way that leads us through fire and water into a more spacious place (see Psalm 66:12).
The sufferings we experience as those old stabilities collapse and new, more wholesome orders emerge can feel like we are in hell. No one can promise that liberation will be painless or instantaneous. Israel, after all, was forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years after leaving the slavery of Egypt. Those 40 years were not simply a punishment for faithlessness. They were also a long and necessary part of the process by which God was forming a new people.
And so it is in our spiritual journeys, too. We can also go through times of intense pain as we grow up spiritually. Maybe those times of suffering are the required spiritual surgery that transforms our hearts of stone into warm, loving hearts.
A Parable about the Purgatorial Experience
This reminds me of a story that a friend sent me years ago. A women's Bible study group were studying the prophet Malachi in the Old Testament. In Malachi, chapter three, they encountered these verses:
But who can endure the day of his [God's] coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the Lord. (Malachi 3:2-3)*
These verses are describing a kind of purgatory experience, not however in the afterlife but within history.
The women wondered what these verses were saying about the character and nature of God. What might the purification of silver say about spiritual purification? One woman offered to find out more about the process of refining silver and report back at their next meeting.
She called up a silver smith and asked if she could come and watch him work. She said she was curious about the process of refining.
As she watched the smith at work, she saw how he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in order to refine silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest. The flames would burn away the impurities.
She asked the smith if he had to sit there the whole time in front of the silver as it was being refined. He answered yes. He not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he also had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, he said, it would be destroyed.
She was silent for a few minutes, then asked, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He responded, "Oh, that's easy–when I see my image in it."**
I like this story because I think it gets at the essence of what a true purgatory experience is all about. It places us in an experience of suffering so that the image of God which we each are–and paradoxically that image of God within us is also our true self–can begin to shine forth.
What Is Purifying about Suffering?
What is it that is so purifying about suffering? I don't think there is anything inherently purifying about suffering per se. What purifies is how we respond to it. Suffering can trap us in the dark side of life, so that we respond with despair, anger, and bitterness. If these attitudes get an iron grip on us, we will experience suffering as a present-day experience of hell.
But there is an alternative way to respond to suffering. We can allow our suffering to nurture within us a sense of compassion, compassion for our own suffering selves as well as compassion for other suffering people. As we suffer, we can develop the empathy to understand and be with others in their suffering. And that compassion begins to build the bonds of love.
If our own suffering issues forth into compassion for ourselves and for others' suffering, then indeed we are beginning to reflect back the image of God. For the whole message of the gospel is how God expresses his true character in the compassionate living and suffering of Jesus.
God is one who humbles himself to enter into the suffering bodies, minds, and history of humanity, to walk with us through the suffering (absorbing it into his own being), so that in union with him God can lead us through our suffering into the glorious kingdom of love that is coming.
When suffering does that, it becomes a purgatory experience. For we are then each coming to fully reflect the face of our compassionate God in our own lives. And in my book that is a primary feature of salvation and sainthood.
* If this passage sounds familiar, you may be hearing how it was set to music in George Frederic Handel's oratorio Messiah, where it is given a Christological understanding.
** I do not know the ultimate source of this story. A friend sent it to me as a e-mail. But the story has always appealed to me as a parable of the spiritual life. If you would like to watch an example of silver refining, you may want to watch this YouTube video.
doctrine of purgatoryMalachi 3Medieval visions of purgatoryProtestant critique of purgatoryrole of suffering in spiritual journey
You Can't Celebrate the Party with One Guest Missing
The Parable of the Golden Buddha
10 thoughts on "I Believe in Purgatory"
Fred Smith
I like your interpretation of Purgatory, Gordon. I think of it as the Christian version of reincarnation as a purifying process – since it is difficult to conceive of someone with very bad habits (among whom I include myself) achieving beatific peace in God's presence without completing a process of purgation of what you (& my Buddho-Christian New Age community back in the '70s) call 'blocks.' Do you WHEN in Church history this doctrine started to be complicated?
According to Oxford scholar Diarmaid MacCulloch, the medieval doctrine of purgatory arose around the 11th century. It had roots in earlier theologians, especially some of the monastic writers influenced by the Alexandrian theologian Origen. The medieval doctrine grew up along with the growth of the parish system of church organization in Europe. It tried to address a pastoral concern, a concern of laity that they did not have enough time to remedy their lives in this life in order to qualify for heaven. It reflects the fact that death was a constant reality in medieval Europe. It came to be a prominent aspect of European Christianity after the Black Death, when Europe everywhere had to address the ubiquity of death and the obsession of people in dealing with it. Interestingly, it was a very popular doctrine in northern Europe, precisely the area where Luther would find a popular response to his denunciations of its abuses.
Patrick E. Devens
Medieval doctrine??? It was alluded to many centuries before the Middle Ages.
Patrick, thank you for your comment. You are right that there are allusions to an emerging doctrine of purgatory in the patristic writings, but according to Diarmaid MacCulloch in his magisterial history of Christianity, the doctrine did not reach its fullness until the early Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformers were reacting against that full-blown doctrine, not the allusions in the early Fathers. So that's why I talk about it as a medieval doctrine.
But why deny it when the First Christians believed in Purgatory? It is evident from their writings. If the Reformers reacted to anything, it was the teaching of the fathers as well.
Patrick, the New Testament makes no reference to purgatory. That is one of the prime reasons the Reformers rejected the doctrine. According to MacCulloch, Clement of Alexandria (3rd century) talked about progress in the spiritual life possibly involving a fiery purging after death, but he did not develop his ideas in any detail. That waited upon developments in medieval theology. That's why I still maintain that the doctrine of purgatory is a medieval doctrine, not a patristic one.
There are multiple NT passages that can only be explained by the reality of Purgatory.
"And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart." (Matthew 18:34-35)
Since there is no release program in Hell, and no one wants to ever leave Heaven, this also indicates that there is another temporary place of temporal punishment where saved sinners go who have been forgiven their sins, but who have not paid all of their debt for their sins, as referenced to in Matthew 5:25-26.
Another, more explicit teaching on Purgatory is found in Matthew 5:25-26. It reads:
"Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing."
Jesus is teaching that we will be locked away in a prison until we repay the damages we have done. How more explicit could he be? The Greek word used for "prison" is phulake, which is the exact same word used in 1 Peter 3:19 to refer to an afterlife prison. Phulake is demonstrably used in the New Testament to refer to a temporary afterlife holding place and not exclusively in this life.
In Hebrews 12:22-24, St. Paul says the following:
"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel. "
We know who the angels are, as well as the first born (those who go directly to heaven upon death), and the judge (God), but the spirits of just men made perfect is another category of heavenly residents. Those would be the just men and women who were not ready for heaven upon death, but who were cleansed in the fires of purgatory and made perfect. The souls of Purgatory are made perfect by God as He purges them clean of their offences against Him.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 reads as follows:
"According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid; which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: Every man's work shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."
It says our works will go through "fire". In Scripture, "fire" is used metaphorically in two ways: as a purifying agent (Mal. 3:2-3; Matt. 3:11; Mark 9:49); and as that which consumes (Matt. 3:12; 2 Thess. 1:7-8). So it is a fitting symbol here for God's judgment. Some of the "works" represented are being burned up and some are being purified. These works survive or burn according to their essential "quality" (Greek "hopoiov" – of what sort).
What is being referred to cannot be Heaven because there are imperfections that need to be "burned up" (Rev. 21:27, Hab. 1:13). It cannot be hell because souls are being saved. So what is it? Catholics simply specify it with the name Purgatory.
The following Church Fathers writings can only be understood unless the believed in a purgatory. The idea of Purgatory was nothing new to the Reformers.
St. Clement of Alexandria (lived from 150-215 AD)
"Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, viz., to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more — not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions. The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God's righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of the completion of the expiation and purification of each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness." (Stromata 6:14 [c. post AD 202])
Tertullian of Carthage (lived from 160-230 AD)
"We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries."
(The Crown 3:3 [A.D. 211]).
Why would the Early Christians offer sacrifices for the dead? They obviously wanted to help their departed. Why? Because they believed in Purgatory.
"A woman, after the death of her husband . . . prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice" (Monogamy 10:1–2 [A.D. 216]).
Here, we find Tertullian speaking of prayer for the dead! The Christians would not pray for the dead if they did not believe in Purgatory.
St. Lactantius (lived from 240-323 AD)
"But also, when God will judge the just, it is likewise in fire that he will try them. At that time, they whose sins are uppermost, either because of their gravity or their number, will be drawn together by the fire and will be burned. Those, however, who have been imbued with full justice and maturity of virtue, will not feel that fire; for they have something of God in them which will repel and turn back the strength of the flame." (Divine Institutes 7:21:6 [c. AD 307])
St. Cyprian of Carthage (lived from 200-258)
"The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace [i.e., reconciliation] is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigor of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory; it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord." (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253])
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (lived from 318-386)
"Then, after the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless service, is completed, over that sacrifice of propitiation we entreat God for the common peace of the Churches, for the welfare of the world ; for kings; for soldiers and allies; for the sick; for the afflicted; and, in a word, for all who stand in need of succour we all pray and offer this sacrifice. Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition; next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep, for we believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out. And I wish to persuade you by an illustration. For I know that many say, what is a soul profited, which departs from this world either with sins or without sins, if it be commemorated in the prayer? For if a king were to banish certain who had given him offense, and then those who belong to them should weave a crown and offer it to him on behalf of those under punishment, would he not grant a remission of their penalties? In the same way we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves."
(Catechetical Lectures 23:5:8-10 [A.D. 350])
St. Cyril is making mention of the liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which commemorates it's diseased members, and prays for them! He says that the Sacrifice of the Mass, petitioned to the souls of the dead, will benefit them greatly!
St. Ephraem of Syria (lived from 306-373)
"Lay me not with sweet spices: for this honour avails me not; Nor yet incense and perfumes: for the honour benefits me not. Burn sweet spices in the Holy Place: and me, even me, conduct to the grave with prayer. Give ye incense to God: and over me send up hymns. Instead of perfumes of spices: in prayer make remembrance of me." (His Testament [c. ante AD 373] XIII:135)
St. Ephraem asks the other Christians to pray for him after he dies!
St. Epiphanius of Salamis (lived from 315-403)
"Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf [of the deceased], even if it does not force back the whole of guilty charges laid to them. And it is useful also, because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily, and thus it is a reminder to do better." (Panarion 75:8 or Medicine Chest Against All Heresies [c. AD 375])
Prayer for the dead is useful for them!
St. Gregory of Nyssa (lived 335-395 AD)
"If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he has inclined to the irrational pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire." (Sermon on the Dead [A.D. 382]).
That purifying fire sounds a lot like the purifying fire in Purgatory…
St. John Chrysostom (lived 349-407)
"Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them." (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).
Again, prayer for the departed…in 392 AD!
"Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them to the extent of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. When the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf." (Homilies on Philippians 3:9–10 [A.D. 402]).
St. Ambrose of Milan (lived 339-397 AD)
"Give, oh Lord, rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest Thou hast prepared for Thy saints….I love him, therefore will I follow him to the land of the living; I will not leave him till by my prayers and lamentations he shall be admitted unto the holy mount of the Lord, to which his deserts call him." (De Obit Theodosii [c. AD 395] or Migne PL 16:1397)
St. Ambrose is praying for one of his diseased friends! He hopes (future tense) that his friend, Theodosius, will be admitted onto the "holy mount of the Lord." The holy mount could only be Heaven. If there is only Heaven and Hell, then where is Theodosius waiting to be admitted?
St. Augustine of Hippo (lived 354-430 AD)
"There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for other dead who are remembered. It is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended" (Sermons 159:1 [A.D. 411]).
"But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death" (Sermons 172:2).
"Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment" (The City of God 21:13 [A.D. 419]).
"That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire." (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).
"The time which interposes between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden retreats, accordingly as each is deserving of rest or of hardship, in view of what it merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead find relief through the piety of their friends and relatives who are still alive, when the Sacrifice of the Mediator [Mass] is offered for them, or when alms are given in the Church. But these things are of profit to those who, when they were alive, merited that they might afterward be able to be helped by these things. There is a certain manner of living, neither so good that there is no need of these helps after death, nor yet so wicked that these helps are of no avail after death" (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 29:109).
Patrick, you have compiled an impressive list of quotations. Thanks for sharing them.
They were excerpts from my article "Argument for Purgatory". Thank you.


text:
Q: Binding values to a JSON string using PHP Using PHP, I'd like to bind a value to a JSON string similar to how it is done when preparing an SQL statement for a database using a question mark.  For example, I would like do something like the following:
$v1 = 'v1';
$k2 = 'k2';
$result = json_bind('[{"k1": ?}, {?: "v2"}]', $v1, $k2);
echo $result; // [{"k1": "v1"}, {"k2": "v2"}]

*

*I don't want to just do a pure string replace as this technique doesn't escape/quote the values properly and it can't format values like arrays and objects properly.

*I don't want to just create an array (or an object) first, assign my params, and use json_encode because this gets messy since PHP's syntax differs from JSON's syntax and I need something more dynamic because I may not always know the structure of the JSON.

Is there already a library or function that can do this very thing?

A:
Is there already a library or function that can do this very thing?

No.

A: It's sort of doable with a simple regex "tokenizer" - by skipping strings mostly.
#-- Replace `?` placeholders
function json_bind($template, ...$vars) {
    return preg_replace_callback(
        '/
            [{}[\],:] \K |             # meta chars
            (true|false|null) \K |     # literals
            [-+\d.e]+ \K |             # numbers
            "([^"\\\\]+|\\\\.)*" \K |  # strings
            ([?])        # placeholder (do not skip)
         /x',
         function ($m) use (& $vars) {
             if ($m[0] == "?") {
                 return json_encode(array_shift($vars));
             }
         },
         $template
    );
}

While that's not a very complete/clean regex, it should skip over most standard JSON structures and most strings (see Regex to validate JSON for better regexps). Which is how you can find literal ? placeholders.
Notably that doesn't take care of semantically invalid templates, like array params for JSON keys e.g.

A: How can you not know the JSON structure? What than is the use of passing values to a function in order to bind values to a string, if you can not distinguish a question mark being a key or a value?
In a sence you are saying I do know what I want to bind and I pass it in an arbitrary way to a function, although I have no clue as to the structure of the source JSON string. Thus I have no clue as to the outcome being correct or not.
Why would anyone want to have such a thing?
You simply have to go with the answer of @Bart Friederichs. This is the only proper answer to your question.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Track and report a the location of an active shooter.
Map interface where users have the option to report, message authorities, or call a mental health hotline
The machine learning algorithm takes all user reports as input and makes a prediction of where the assailant is heading.
There have been 289 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019.
313 deaths and 1209 injuries have occurred from mass shootings alone since January.
Source: Gun Violence Archive
This is insane. What is more insane, is that is nearly impossible to protect yourself against an active shooter. They are arguably more unpredictable than natural disasters.
There is no quick way for the civilians or even the police to find out about these shootings and track the criminal's location in real-time. Twitter is not accurate enough, calls are inefficient, the TV is barely watched.
That is why we built Safe. It provides crowd-sourced defence against active shooters in real-time.
Safe, an Android app, allows users to report and receive updates of the last-seen location of an active shooter in an emergency.
Users can report the approximate location of a shooter or a shooting event by simply dragging and dropping a pin on a map.
All reports and updates are received via push notifications and text messages in real-time.
In the app, the civilians and the police can see all of the recent reports in their locale and track the shooter's movement.
We created our own ML algorithm (featuring Principal Component Analysis) to estimate what direction the shooter was headed in the past and to model a prediction for their next steps. The ML is great because:
our algorithm "smoothes" over inaccurate user reports and lets you see the shooter's general trajectory
it is time-bound rather than location-bound, so it allows to track and predict the shooter's movement in real-time
How we built it
Frontend: Android. Backend: Firebase, Node.js. ML: Node.js, python (scikit-learn). Mapbox for mapping. Twilio to send texts to local authorities
Challenges we ran into
Android is a heavy duty platform for a weekend, can be difficult to find documentation. Integrating Android, a Firebase backend, ML functions, Mapbox, Twilio was time-consuming to debug.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Everything was built from scratch. No frameworks. Our project is still one of the most polished hackathon projects we personally have ever done. The ML works really well. Again, no third party services and just one borrowed node module.
Team says
Ben: "This was the biggest hackathon project I have ever done. I learned a lot." Elena: "I have never dreamt of writing even vanilla ML in js. Mindblowing that it works." Yoel: "I wasn't sleeping, I swear. Just debugging in my head" Dee: "좋았어"
What is next
This service should be included in more popular social platforms such as Facebook or Google Maps, to speed up
We need a logo, good design, yadda yadda.
Submitted to
PennApps XX
I worked on location services and rendering Mapbox on our app, as well as wrote the PCA algorithm for route prediction.
Elena Lape
I make MACHINE LEARNING at university and web apps outside of it. Python developer.
I worked mainly on the full stack. Creating a UI, integrating MapBox in the Android platform, working on parts of the machine learning model, and creating cloud functions.
Ben Elo
Starting work at Facebook
I mainly worked on backend with setting up Firebase and dealing with MapBox API. I also worked with Twilio API to send emergency text.
Dee Yeum
aka ChefYeum
I worked on the Android client, utilizing various APIs and Google Firestore databases
4 people like this:
Elena Lape started this project — Sep 07, 2019 04:53 PM EDT

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Key skills include the ability to write well, quickly, and on multiple simultaneous projects. Good research, interviewing and editing skills are essential, as well as thorough attention to detail.


text:
\subsection*{Acknowledgments}
We thank S. Bartlett, R. Harper, L. M. K. Vandersypen, T. D. Ladd, and N. C. Jones for insightful discussions.
	We acknowledge support from the	US Army Research Office (W911NF-13-1-0024 and W911NF-17-1-0198), the Australian Research Council (CE11E0001017), and the NSW Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility.
	The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Army Research Office or the U.S. Government.
	The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein. B.H. acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through a Rubicon Grant. K.M.I. acknowledges support from a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research by MEXT, NanoQuine, FIRST, and the JSPS Core-to-Core Program.

\clearpage
\input{Suppinfo/Method}
\clearpage

\section*{Methods}
\subsection*{Experimental setup}
The measurements were conducted in an Oxford Instruments wet dilution refrigerator with base temperature $T_{bath}\approx$ 30~mK and electron temperature $T_{electron}\approx$ 100~mK. DC voltages were applied using battery-powered voltage sources (Stanford Research Systems SIM928) and added to voltage pulses produced with an arbitrary waveform generator (LeCroy ArbStudio 1104 AWG) through resistive voltage dividers/combiners. The voltages applied to the device are attenuated 1:5 for DC voltages and 1:25 for voltage pulses. Low pass filters were included for slow and fast lines (10~Hz to 80~MHz). ESR pulses were delivered by an Agilent E8257D microwave vector signal generator and attenuated at the 1.5 K
stage (10 dB) and the 20 mK stage (3 dB). The internal AWG of the vector signal generator is used to perform IQ modulation. The stability diagrams are obtained using a double lock-in technique (Stanford Research Systems SR830) with dynamic voltage compensation~\cite{Yang2011}.

\subsection*{State tomography}
\label{section:Tomography}
The two qubit density operator can be described by $\rho=\frac{1}{2^n}\sum_{i,j}S_{ij} \sigma_i \otimes\sigma_j$. Where $\sigma$ are Pauli matrices $\sigma\in\{I,X,Y,Z\}$. Pre-measurement rotations $R_p=\{I,X/2,-X/2,Y/2,-Y/2\}$ are performed on both qubits to project the state into the $\{Z,Y,-Y,-X,X\}\otimes\{Z,Y,-Y,-X,X\}$ basis. The readout error for each probability set $P=(P_{\uparrow\uparrow},P_{\uparrow\downarrow},P_{\downarrow\uparrow},P_{\downarrow\downarrow})$ is corrected~\cite{Watson2018} by $P=(F_1 \otimes F_2)^{-1} P_{Measured}$, where
\begin{equation}
	F_i=\begin{pmatrix}
	F_{i \uparrow} & 1-F_{i \downarrow} \\
	1-F_{i \uparrow} & F_{i \downarrow}
	\end{pmatrix}.
\end{equation}

In the experiment, we characterized the readout fidelity using the amplitude of the Rabi oscillations and obtained $F_{1\uparrow}=0.83,F_{1\downarrow}=0.92,F_{2\uparrow}=0.84,F_{2\downarrow}=0.94$.

Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is used to estimate the inversion of the matrix. The density matrix is firstly restricted to be non-negative Hermitian:
\begin{equation}
\hat\rho=\frac{T^{\dagger}T}{Tr(T^{\dagger}T)},
\end{equation}

where the division by $Tr(T^{\dagger}T)$ is to ensure normalization. Assuming the measurement error of each qubit state follows a Gaussian distribution, it is possible to estimate the closest density matrix to the measured state. The matrix $T$ for the two qubit system can be parameterized by 15 independent parameters $t_1,....,t_{15}$. The resulting matrix $\rho$ is the closest estimation of the real density matrix by minimizing the following cost function

\begin{equation}
L(t_1,t_2,...,t_n)=\sum_v \frac{(\bra{\psi_v}\rho(t_1,t_2,...,t_n)\ket{{\psi_v}}-n_v)^2}{2\bra{\psi_v} \rho(t_1,t_2,...,t_n)\ket{\psi_v}}.
\end{equation}

\begin{table}[b]
	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{ p{2cm}||p{5cm}}
			\hline
			$L_{primitive}$ & Number of Clifford gates \\
			\hline \hline
			0 & 16 \\
			\hline
			1 & 384 \\
			\hline
			2 & 4176 \\
			\hline
			3 & 6912 \\
			\hline
			4 & 32 \\
			\hline
		\end{tabular}
	\caption{ Number of Clifford gates built from each primitive gate length.}
	\label{table:Cliffordtable}
	\end{center}
\end{table}

\subsection*{Generating Clifford gates}
The Clifford group consists of all elements $C$ that fulfill the condition  $C^\dagger P C\in\pm P$, where P are the Pauli matrices. The Clifford gates in our experiment are generated by different combinations of the primitive gates described in Fig.~\ref{fig:RBM}a and a virtual-$Z_V/2$ gate on each qubit. All primitive gates consist of two conditional $\frac{\pi}{2}$-pulses on the same qubit, and we adjusted the pulse amplitude to ensure all conditional $\frac{\pi}{2}$-pulses have the same length of $0.61$~$\mu$s. We then generate the Clifford group by computer search. Comparing all possible combinations of primitive gates to the gates in the Clifford group, we find the combinations that require the minimal numbers of primitive gates $L_{primitive}$. The number of Clifford gates that can be produced by sequencing $L_{primitive}$ gates is summarized in Table~\ref{table:Cliffordtable}. All two-qubit Clifford gates can be built out of 4 primitive gates, and on average each Clifford gate is composed of 2.5694 primitive gates. In two-qubit RB experiments, the projected state probability is fitted to $P=A(1-4/3r_c)+B$, where A and B are free parameters that absorb SPAM errors. The average Clifford gate fidelity is calculated as $F_c=1-r_c$ and the primitive gate fidelity is $F_{primitive}=1-r_c/2.5694$.

\begin{suppfig*}
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{Suppinfo/Figures/Feedbackpoto.pdf}
	\caption{\label{fig:Freqtrackprotocal}\textbf{ Frequency tracking protocol}
	\textbf{(a)} Frequency calibration of the ESR frequencies is implemented by interleaving calibration sequences with the RB experiment. After acquisition of 3 random sequences (1 sequence is repeated 125 times), we check if the ESR frequency is still on resonance by applying a low-power (26~dB lower than the typical operating power) $\pi$-rotation. If the spin-up probability is above the threshold of 50~\% of the readout visibility, the experiment will continue. If the spin-up probability is below the threshold, the resonance frequency will be recalibrated until all ESR frequencies pass the check, and the measurement will continue.
	\textbf{(b,c)} Resonance frequency fluctuations $\Delta f=f_{1\downarrow}-f_{avg}$ of $f_{1\downarrow}$ (b) and $\Delta f=f_{2\downarrow}-f_{avg}$ of $f_{2\downarrow}$ (c) during the measurement period. We subtracted the average values of the respective frequencies $f_{avg}$ for better visibility. Over 13 hours of data acquisition, \textcolor[rgb]{0,0,1}{Q1} experiences multiple jumps of $\sim600$~kHz, while the fluctuations of \textcolor[rgb]{1,0,0}{Q2} remain within $\sim300$~kHz. Since the resonance frequency fluctuations of \textcolor[rgb]{0,0,1}{Q1} and \textcolor[rgb]{1,0,0}{Q2} are uncorrelated, we exclude fluctuations of $B_0$ or the microwave reference clock as the cause of the frequency changes.
	\textbf{(d)} Variation of exchange coupling $\Delta J = J - J_{avg}$ during the measurement period. We subtracted the average value $J_{avg}$ for better visibility. The exchange coupling is relatively stable during the experiment. If the frequency fluctuations in (b,c) were to originate from charge noise, it is unlikely that $J$ would remain unaffected. Furthermore, since the Stark shift of \textcolor[rgb]{0,0,1}{Q1} and \textcolor[rgb]{1,0,0}{Q2} is $\approx\pm30$~MHz/V, a 600~kHz jump would require a $\sim20$~mV change of the bias voltage applied to the D1 and D2 gates. Such a change in the electrostatic environment would deteriorate qubit readout via the SET charge sensor, but we noticed no significant change of the readout level during the experiment. On this basis, we further exclude charge noise to be the cause of the frequency changes. We conclude that the frequency jumps are most likely caused by spin flips of residual $^{29}$Si nuclei that locally couple to the quantum dots.}
\end{suppfig*}

\begin{suppfig*}
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{Suppinfo/Figures/T2data.pdf}
	\caption{\label{fig:T2data}\textbf{ Single-qubit coherence properties in the (1,1) regime.} Blue data corresponds to {\color{blue} Q1} and red data corresponds to {\color{red} Q2}. We have characterized the single-qubit coherence properties $T_2^*$ and $T_2^{\rm Hahn}$, and measured their control fidelities via single-qubit randomized benchmarking. All data is acquired with the frequency feedback protocol described in Extended Data Fig.~\ref{fig:Freqtrackprotocal}.
		\textbf{a} Spin-up probability as a function of wait time in the Ramsey sequence. $T_{2,{\color{red} Q2}}^*=10.5\pm1$~$\mu$s is much shorter than $T_{2,{\color{blue} Q1}}^*=24.3\pm2$~$\mu$s.
		\textbf{b} Spin-down probability as a function of wait time in the Hahn echo sequence. $T_{2,{\color{red} Q2}}^{\rm Hahn}=33\pm5$~$\mu$s is much shorter than $T_{2,{\color{blue} Q1}}^{\rm Hahn}=290\pm40$~$\mu$s.
		\textbf{c} Single-qubit randomized benchmarking with the other qubit initialized in the $\ket{\downarrow}$ state. Only the frequencies $f_{1\downarrow}$ and $f_{2\downarrow}$ are used for gate operations on {\color{blue} Q1} and {\color{red} Q2} (single tone RB), respectively. The plot shows the projected state probability with increasing number of Clifford gates. The curve is fitted with $P_{\uparrow}=A(1-2r_c)+B$, and the Clifford gate fidelity is given by $F_c=1-r_c$. The single-qubit Clifford gates are on average composed of 1.875 primitive $\pi/2$-pulses, thus the $\pi/2$-pulse fidelity is extracted as $F_{\pi/2}=1-r_c/1.875$. The fidelity for all ESR pulses is in excess of 99~\%.}
\end{suppfig*}

\begin{table}
	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{ |c|c||c|c|c| }
			\hline
			Qubit & Charge Regime &$F_{\rm Clifford}$ & $F_{\pi/2}$ \\
			\hline
			\multirow{2}{2em}{{\color{blue} Q1}} & (1,0) & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.38 \% & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.20 \% \\
			\cline{2-4}
			&   (1,1) &  98.7 $\pm$ 0.23 \% & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.12 \%  \\
			\hline
			\multirow{2}{2em}{{\color{red} Q2}} & (0,1) & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.11 \%  & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.06 \% \\
			\cline{2-4}
			&   (1,1) & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.12 \% & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.06 \%  \\
			\hline
		\end{tabular}
	\end{center}
	\caption {\textbf{ Single-qubit properties in different charge regimes.} $F_{\rm Clifford}$ and $F_{\pi/2}$ are similar in the single electron and the (1,1) charge regime, indicating that the dominant source of error is not noise in the exchange coupling $J$.} \label{table:RBcharge}
\end{table}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I ordered the hat. Fits a bit smaller, would probably be good for running. Still like the hat, it is comfortable.


text:
Mokosj eller Mokosja (Makosj, även Makosja) (kyrilliska: Мокошь [Мокошa], Макошь [Макошa]) – gudinna i den östslaviska mytologin, den enda kvinnliga gudom, vars avbild stod uppställd i fursten Vladimir I av Kievs hednatempel jämsides med de andra gudarnas avbilder. Vid uppräkningen av Kievrikets avbildade gudar i Nestorskrönikan avslutar Mokosj listan, som börjar med Perun. Hon förknippas med spånad och vävning, och även med ödet och hantverk.

Funktion och betydelse
Namnet Mokosja är förbundet med "moknut" (kyrilliska: мокнуть, ligga i blöt, bli våt), *mokos, "prjadenije" (kyrilliska: прядение, spånad/spinna tråd). Mokosjas samband med spånad och vävning kan härledas till folkliga sedvänjor och folktro: man får inte lämna det häcklade linet, för då kommer Makosja och spinner det,
och man får inte heller spinna och väva på Mokosjas heliga dag – fredagen.

Mokosja beskrivs som en kvinna med långa armar som spinner i stugan på nätterna. Till Mokosja offras spunnet garn, häcklat lin, som läggs ner i brunnen (den sedvänjan kallas "mokridy" (kyrilliska: мокриды, blötläggning) och härleds möjligen till namnet Mokosja ur roten mok(r) (kyrilliska: мок(р), blöt) Det föranleder några forskare att tolka Makosja som hantverkets beskydderska. Anknytningen till spånad ger fog för att hitta paralleller med de grekiska moirerna och de skandinaviska nornorna, som spann livstrådarna.

Enligt Rybakov var Makosja troligen inte en centralfigur i den förkristna "folk"kulten i Rus, till skillnad från "hird"kulten av Perun. Kulten av Makosja var särskilt populär bland kvinnorna.

Rybakov tolkar i monografin "Fornslavernas hedendom" (Jazytjestve drevnich slavjan, kyrilliska: Язычестве древних славян) Makosja som ödesgudinnan, lyckogudinna eller fruktsamhets- och välgångsgudinna (enligt hans tolkning härstammar "ma" från "mat" (kyrilliska мать, mor), och "kosj" (kyrilliska: кош, korg) – "zjrebij" (kyrilliska: жребий, lott eller öde, eller "korzina dlja zerna" (kyrilliska: корзина для зерна, frökorg)

V. V. Ivanov och V. N. Toporov föreslår att Mokosja ska ses som blixtslungaren Peruns maka, och som en av de viktigaste vid världens skapelse, då hon rövades bort av åskgudens fiende eller överlämnade sig frivilligt. Till skillnad från Perun och Veles, är namnet på den kvinnliga gestalten i den rekonstruerade myten – den bortrövade makan eller förräderskan – inte känt. I de olika legenderna figurerar hon under olika namn.

Omnämnande i de ryska krönikorna
Mokosja omnämns i de ryska krönikorna och i talrika predikningar mot hedendomen. "Predikning till hednabarnen" på 1500-talet varnar: "Undvik de osynligas Gud: nalkas inte människor som tillber Börd och föderskorna, Perun, och Apollon, och Mokosja, och bereginjer, och frambär vederstyggliga offer till varje gud".

I "Ord om avgudabilderna" från 1400-talet finns en anteckning om gudinnan Makosja bevarad: "… till samma gudar offrar man och skapar det slovenska språket: till Makosja och Diva (även Divija), Perun, Chors…"

Mokosja och den heliga Paraskeva
Enligt en rad forskare har många av Mokosjas drag flyttats över till den allmänt aktade heliga Paraskeva Pjatnitsa, i vars gestalt två kristna helgon förenas: Den heliga Paraskeva, som framförallt vördas av ukrainare och vitryssar, och Paraskeva Serbskaja, som framförallt vördas av ryssar.

Namnet Paraskeva i översättning från grekiska betyder "fredag" (pjatnitsa, kyrilliska: пятница) eller "förberedelse" i överförd betydelse (prigotovlenije, kyrilliska: приготовление). Uppenbarligen har "den heliga Fredagen" i folkmedvetandet blandats ihop med Mokosja, vars heliga dag var fredag. Denna veckodag helgades åt kvinnliga gudar hos de flesta europeiska folk, jämför med engelskans Friday, tyskans Freitag, svenskans Fredag, (efter gudinnorna Freja eller Frigg).

Se även
 Nornor
 Moirerna

Referenser

Noter

Källor

 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. K rekonstruktsii Mokosji kak zjenskogo personazja v slavjanskoj versii osnoyogo mifa // Balto-slavjanskije issledovanija. 1982. – M.: Indrik, 1983. S. 175-187.
 Galkovskij N.M. Borba christanstva c ostatkami jazytjestva v drevnej Rusi. – M.: Petjanja A. I. Snegirevoj, 1913. – T. P. – 308 s.
 Rybakov B. A. Jazytjestvo drevnich slavjan, - M.: Nauka, 1994. – 608 s. –

Gudar i slavisk mytologi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Dr. Mostaan can get rid of your old amalgam fillings by replacing old amalgam fillings with safe, natural looking in one or two hours.


text:
Tag: writer's craft
Why kill your darlings?
Few writing tasks are harder for me than rewriting my opening chapter. I end up stuck to my opening lines like a suction cup, afraid to break the book by reimagining how it might open. It's where I'm least willing to kill my darlings, but I've realized why my first chapter, of all places, can't be a safe haven for favorite phrases, descriptive passages, or belches of backstory.
The story's opening is like a cross-section of the book: it lets the reader glimpse elements that run right through the narrative, all the way to the climax. Anything in chapter one must earn its place through multiple rigorous edits.
I know this. Or, I thought I knew this. Still, I've found myself clinging to descriptive passages in particular, and to favorite bits of character background. The need to hold onto these things has felt almost superstitious, as if these elements are good luck charms that hold my book together. My chapter-one rewrites end up being hugely frustrating experiences as I leaf over earlier drafts, fretting over phrases I've left behind and thinking, wrongly, that reinserting them will reignite the magic.
For me, there's only one way to find the magic: get right back inside the character's head and be honest with myself about what they're most preoccupied with, and what their deeper fears are (things that need only be hinted at, here in the early pages).
I've just finished a couple hours on my opening chapter, forcing myself to keep the character's main preoccupation in focus, but it's terribly hard. What a temptation there is to plonk in my good-luck-charm phrases and descriptions. I've known the phrase "kill your darlings" for years, but this morning was the first time I understood why it makes sense to do so. Holding onto those darlings can pull me away from the moment, out of the character's genuine mindset as I strain to write towards a piece of imagery or backstory-memory that I've told myself I must include.
It's like preparing spontaneous anecdotes in advance of an important social event, terrified of running out of things to say when the stakes are so high. But that never really works, does it? It's much better to stay in the moment, react to stimuli, and allow pertinent facts to bubble to the surface in a natural way.
Last month I had a similar experience, realizing the need to stay in the moment later in the manuscript, where I introduce a second main character. This girl was truly starving, but spent an unnatural amount of time — and wordcount — resenting her father. When I looked hard at the scene, the hierarchy of needs dictated what I (if I were her) would be thinking, feeling and prioritizing in that moment. I went with the hunger, and her thoughts about her dad sort of leaked out later in the scene, in a much more natural and narratively helpful way.
How do you deal with darlings in your revisions? I'd love to hear any insights or challenges you experience, in the comments below.
Photo by victory of the people on Flickr
Your story can make a great story
I shouldn't be blogging when this is my only clear morning to work on novel revisions, but yesterday's twitter pitch contest aimed at increasing the diversity in children's literature has me thinking thoughts that are crowding out everything else.
#DVpit, the brainchild of New York literary agent Beth Phelan, took over twitter yesterday, encouraging writers with polished, ready manuscripts to put a one-liner about their work onto twitter if theirs is a diverse book — especially if the writer him- or herself is from a diverse background. Of course that's open to interpretation, but here's how Beth described DVpit.
So for example, if you are a writer of colour and your book centres around characters of colour, or if you are a writer with a disability and so is your main character, #DVpit wanted to hear from you yesterday.
By the way, if you missed yesterday's contest and you're writing a diverse story that's ready to be seen by agents, you haven't missed the boat. It's clear from yesterday's huge industry interest in #DVpit that agents and publishers are keen to hear from you whenever your story is at its best.
That's why I wanted to jot down some thoughts today – to encourage you, whoever you are, not to be afraid to put your own culture – or elements of it – into the story you're writing for children. I'm a Caucasian, first-generation Irish-American now living in Scotland, so I don't pretend to have first-hand experience of living in our society – which still tends to prioritise and reward white, male, heterosexual, middle-class Judeo-Christian backgrounds – as a person from a minority or marginalised background.
But I do know what it's like to assume, at a gut level, that my own story isn't as interesting as something I could invent. The first two manuscripts I wrote were set on a space station, centred around a boy struggling with self-confidence issues. The problem with skilled writers is that they can write just about anything and make it sound good, and I was indeed able to write a competent story that had very little of my own guts, fears or fantasies in it.
It was only when I wrote a story that I decided was going to be 100% for me – with deep roots in my own Irish-American Massachusetts upbringing – that I tapped into something special. That third story was the one that got me my amazing agent, Jennifer Laughran, and while a huge amount of writers-craft work and practice was needed to pound the story into shape, I do believe the story works because it's plugged right into my guts, into who I am.
Don't discount your own heritage, background, insights, inherited legends or cultural traditions if you're looking for the stuff of your own stories. I'm not giving the pat advice to write what you know; I'm saying don't forget who you are when you're looking for ideas that resonate.
The best advice I remember hearing on this topic is "write what you fear." (Who said that? If you can remember, stick it in the comments below.) All the way through my Massachusetts book, I had the palpable sense of exploring things that really, really scared me.
And those are the books I adore reading: books like YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS by Meg Medina or Brian F. Walker's BLACK BOY WHITE SCHOOL, or Lindsay Eagar's HOUR OF THE BEES, or Julie T. Lamana's UPSIDE DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, where the main character struggles to find peace with where they came from and where they want to go. Not all those stories, by the way, are own-voice tales by and about authors from the same tradition. But they are the stories I love most, because they pack an unbeatable punch.
A lot of people in the publishing industry would agree that books on shelves don't reflect the true diversity of the great wide world, and #DVpit looks like it's a step in the right direction, encouraging more writers to tell stories that spring from their own backgrounds. I've looked at Twitter contests for some years – that's what set me on the road to finding my amazing agent – and I've never seen such a high calibre of industry folks watching the one-line pitches as I saw yesterday with #DVpit.
Whatever your story is, write it, make it awesome, hone your pitch until it shines so much it hurts your eyes, then submit. What have you got to lose?
Mirror photo by Pellesten on Flickr
How to get the best from a critique
Critiquing is never comfortable for a writer. Your ego and your dreams for the manuscript are on the line when you pass your work-in-progress to another person and ask for constructive feedback. But it's a necessary evil – and, if you think about it, it's not evil at all. Critiques are the route to making your story as clear and compelling as it can be. And that's what you want, right?
Continue reading "How to get the best from a critique"
Can 36 primary school children write a story together?
Our local primary school asked me to come in on World Book Day and work with nine classes, from ages 4 through 12, writing a whole-school story. Here's what happened.
Continue reading "Can 36 primary school children write a story together?"


text:
Q: display column alias from other tbl I have 2 tables tbl1 and tbl2
tbl1 has userid col1 col2 col3 (multiple records per user)
EDIT tbl2 has userid col4 col5 col6 (Single record per user)
On my original post I had col3 listed here as well which was accident.
tbl2 is used to store custom column names for each user.
now I need to know how do I display this custom column name on results.
ie how do I reference alias to pull this custom column name for each user.
SELECT
col1 AS (Dont know what to put here...)
Something like ...col1 AS tbl2.col3 where userid = "testuser"
How can I accomplish this?
Maybe somekind of outer/inner query???
Thanks

A: The correct syntax is:
SELECT tbl2.userid, tb2.col3 AS [your name here], tbl1.col1 AS [your name here], ...
FROM tbl2
INNER JOIN tbl1 ON tbl1.userid = tb2.userid
WHERE tbl2.userid = "testuser"

The columns themselves are prefixed with the table name (not the alias).  This is only truly necessary when two different tables share a column name, but it's not a bad habit to pick up even in simpler cases.

A: Do something like this:
SELECT tbl1.col1 as tbl1_col1,tbl2.userid as tbl2_usrid, tbl2.col3 as tbl2_usrid_custcol
FROM tbl1,tbl2
WHERE tbl1.userid = tbl2.userid;

A: Present on the presentation layer, not the database side:
select
    a.userid,
    col1,
    col2,
    a.col3,
    b.col3 as user_col1,
    b.col4 as user_col2,
    b.col5 as user_col3
from
    tblA a
    inner join tblB b on
        a.userid = b.userid
where
    userid='testuser'

Then, on the application side, just use col4, col5, and col6 as the column names once you go to display the records.

A: This has to be done either as dynamic SQL (not ideal) or at the presentation layer (greatly preferred).


Yes, she cares more than me (duh) and will murder me if I don't man up and show at least a little bit of effort, but otherwise she's pretty chill about the whole thing. Besides, we always recognize the event in some way, exchanging cards and sweets and other small tokens of appreciation, we just don't go all out. (We save that for St. Patrick's Day. WHAT WHAT!) This year we are going to see The Pillowman, a play about murdering children (nothing to do with the fact that our kid is in the midst of the terrible twos, I swear!) that doesn't exactly scream romance.
I can tell you're skeptical so, by way of example, I've resurrected a post about our first "we have a kid now!" Valentine's Day, from two years ago. If The Wire-based gifts and a bucket of fried chicken don't convince you that Mom and Buried is serious about not being serious about Valentine's Day, then I don't know what to tell you.
But if I call you later and ask to crash on your couch, don't be a prick about it.
I really like this Celine Bags.


The new study is the first to show that bacteria from the mouth can induce clotting, which is the pivotal event in most heart attacks and strokes. The research was done in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota by a team led by Dr. Mark Herzberg and Dr. Maurice Meyer, and presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Philadelphia.
If many gums are infected, the amount of damaged tissue open to invasion can be shockingly large. ''Severe periodontal disease is the equivalent to a wound of about eight square inches,'' Dr. Herzberg said. ''Imagine a wound that size on your skin, always ulcerated and exposed to a whole variety of bacteria.'' Dental plaque contains about 300 species of bacteria, and a severe infection contains billions of bacteria.
When billions of these bacteria were injected into rabbits, the effects were powerful. Within a minute, heart abnormalities appeared on the animals' electrocardiograms, along with changes in blood pressure and breathing. Dr. Herzberg said those changes were probably due to clot formation in the coronary arteries and lungs.
Clotting touches off most heart attacks and strokes by blocking arteries that feed the heart or brain. Even though most victims' arteries have already been narrowed by fatty deposits, the deposits alone are not usually enough to choke off the blood supply: the final blow is nearly always the formation of a clot.
''This is a brand new area of investigation,'' he said, adding that it was conceivable, depending on how the studies turned out, that in the future some patients with heart disease would take antibiotics as part of their treatment. But Dr. Quinn also emphasized that those patients would not be told to take some pills and go back to eating butter and steak. The new theory does not challenge established findings about the roles of diet and exercise in heart disease, but just proposes another possible risk factor.
Dr. Charles Hennekens of the Harvard School of Public Health said: ''This is an exciting area of research. It's attractive and plausible, but not yet conclusive.'' He said he and his colleagues would present data at a conference next month showing that they could find no connection between periodontal disease and cardiovascular problems in a study of more than 20,000 male doctors. ''But that's only one study,'' he said. He described Dr. Herzberg's work on clotting as an important finding that needed further study to determine its relevance to humans.


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- Follow Mario as he journeys through the expansive kingdoms of Super Mario Odyssey with his new ally, the heroic, hat-shaped Cappy!
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text:
Sarah Elizabeth Snively
Sarah Elizabeth Snively age 33 of Roanoke and formerly of Franklin County passed away on Sunday, October 3, 2021 at her home. She was preceded in death by her father, Jeffery Jones. She is survived by her mother, Gretchen Jones; daughters, Michele Hernandez and Adelina Snively; her big brother, Jonathan David Snively; her best and special friend, Harold Sumner; other relatives and friends. A celebration of her life will be conducted 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home with Pastor Rick Poland officiating. Sarah's family will receive friends prior to the service beginning at 1 p.m. Arrangements by Conner-Bowman Funeral Home, 62 VA Market Place Drive, Rocky Mount, VA 24151.
Sarah Elizabeth Snively age 33 of Roanoke and formerly of Franklin County passed away on Sunday, October 3, 2021 at her home. She was preceded in death by her father, Jeffery Jones. She is survived by her mother, Gretchen Jones; daughters, Michele... View Obituary & Service Information
The family of Sarah Elizabeth Snively created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories.
Sarah Elizabeth Snively age 33 of Roanoke and formerly of Franklin...
Send flowers to the Snively family.


I guess by now we've all seen the newest Money Supermarket advert with the ever glamorous Sharon Osbourne; and like most adverts like that, they drive me insane. That would be however, apart from the even more glamorous man, 'Dave', that appears in the advert.
Consumers aren't left talking about the company and how much they want to be customers of them, but, like other good adverts, people are talking about the strap line and bizarre content.
Dave feels so good about saving money he can't help but strut down the street. The advert is not an ad promoting their services but is a tool to make you feel something, make you think you can feel as good as Dave does once you save money with MoneySuperMarket.
I think we can all agree that the best adverts are those which don't sell themselves, but sell an emotion or a thought.


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Life Studies
A few thoughts on drawing
Nicholas C Williams > News > News > A few thoughts on drawing
Falmouth Art Gallery, exhibition of drawings
Exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum – 29/10/18 – 23/12/18
Accompanying text for an exhibition of drawings – 'Life Studies' – Royal Cornwall Museum, 29/10/2018 – 23/12/2018
On Drawing and Intimacy
Thoughts on Nicholas C Williams' Life Studies
Drawings are the most intimate of images. Laid between sheets of translucent tissue paper in the darkness of drawers, rarely handled, seldom viewed, intimacy is as much a part of their preservation as it is their production. This is heightened by the creating, conserving and viewing of the life study, the rendering of the human figure from the observation of a live, often naked model which encourages us to reflect upon what we often try to conceal: our relationships with ourselves and with each other; our fantasies, fears and frailties.
When the British painter and draughtsman Nicholas C Williams invited me to his studio to view his figure studies, I hesitated. Life drawings make demands of us as viewers that can be difficult to articulate, not least to the works' creator, but they ask a great deal of the artist too. As Williams describes it, 'Artists are at their most vulnerable when they draw because everything is revealed by their choice of subject, areas of attention, and mark-making.' This is especially the case with the image of the human figure, that most difficult of subjects, which I find myself turning to for evidence of a mastery I know I will ultimately critique. The nude, that most exalted genre of Western art, is more often than not the image of the nubile, female body 'mastered' by the male artist's gaze, which places artists like Williams and art historians such as myself in interesting positions. I thought on his invitation whilst looking at a reproduction of his Reclining Female Nude with Blue, a study in graphite.
At the centre of the sheet of toned paper, a naked woman lies on her back. The image is arresting because of the position Williams takes up in relation to her. Seated both lower to the ground and behind her, the view he chooses of her body requires him to foreshorten it, drawing not the form but the distortion that is seen by the eye when looking at it. Such perspectival trickery is immensely difficult, necessitating an absolute understanding of the methods by which the pictorial illusion of reality is achieved. Equally compelling is the quality of Williams' line. Drawn almost entirely 'on point' with the finest graphite, the body materialises on the sheet through an outline that may run out but never wavers in its anatomical precision. The image would be exhausting in its exactitude were it not for the woman's hair, described in an eddy of muddied watercolour, a brush mark the very opposite of the sharp graphite line, which is placed, to my surprise, at the centre of the composition. Applied to the sheet after the technical feat of the drawing itself, the mark, I imagine, took courage to make.
This is the evidence of the technical mastery and invention I look for in the work on paper, but it is not why I find myself returning to the image. The model's legs are splayed, knees pointing to opposite corners of the sheet. The pose is an explicit one, or at least, it would be if the artist were sat where we might expect to find him, in front of the subject. Acknowledging our desire to see what is intensely private with the evocative swirl of the model's head of hair, Williams decides, nevertheless, to sit elsewhere. The drawing is enthralling because it holds two opposing forces in the balance: the drive to observe, to know, to 'master'; and the decision to turn away, to leave this most intimate area of the body to its subject.
I accepted Williams' invitation to look at his life studies. In the half-light of his studio, I saw this sheet and a mere handful more – carefully-conserved drawings in pencil, graphite and sanguine with occasional washes of watercolour or gouache which were, I realised, distillations of many, many years of practice. Williams describes drawing as 'a very personal and private practice'. It was a great privilege to converse with this artist on his deeply humane image of ourselves at our most vulnerable.
Gemma Blackshaw, Professor of Art History, University of Plymouth, August 2018.
About Drawing
Selected Drawings From The Royal Cornwall Museum
Drawing from life has remained central to my work for over thirty years. Early life classes at Richmond College gave me a solid foundation in drawing, continued since by working exclusively from life. It is the ongoing study of the Old Masters, however, that teaches us how every aspect of the human condition can be expressed through drawing the figure.
The drawings in the exhibition date from the seventeenth century to my own studies this year. Those I have selected range from preparatory studies and imaginary scenes (informed by working from life) to finished drawings. Decorative flourishes and affectations are absent, as they serve no purpose in conveying form or advancing an idea.
It is the meaningful dialogue with the subject that gives the Master drawings their inherent power. In Guercino's depiction of Cleopatra, for instance, his line is confident and fluid, yet considered. The figure is primarily described through contour, with much of the paper left untouched. The rendering is kept to a minimum. The few lines under her breast follow form, as do those that gently wrap around the left of her abdomen. The drape that crosses her body acts as a device to enable Guercino to describe the slight foreshortening of her left thigh. As with any depiction of a partially clothed model (most evident in works by later artists such as Egon Schiele), it tells us immediately that this is not merely a drawing exercise, but something more open to interpretation.
Guercino imbues Cleopatra with her signature carnality, turning a simple assembly of well-executed lines into an engaging narrative. This crucial aspect of the drawing announces Cleopatra's presence. The work is a riveting encapsulation of the principles that underpin great drawing. The challenge of bringing these principles together in a single intuitive response to the subject is why making a good drawing will always remain an elusive activity.
There was little information to accompany the images I found in the Museum's collection; few clues as to their origin or context. It meant my selection was entirely about what is seen, not what is known. There are perhaps inevitable questions raised by an exhibition of the nude, and further questions, too, about the demographic of artists selected. The annals of art history reveal, not surprisingly, a scarcity of female artists – a scarcity diluted even further when looking for depictions of the nude, and further again when searching for such depictions in the drawers of a regional collection. Up until 1893, the Royal Academy denied women access to the life class. Such draconian attitudes had far-reaching consequences and still impact on shows such as this one.
While paintings urge you to stand back, demanding distance, drawings beckon you in. You have to come close. Great works are locked chambers of energy and time and nowhere is this more clear than in drawings. When you look at a particular line in a drawing that might be three or four hundred years old, you can actually see the speed of that line. It might be an eighth of a second from the initial touch on the paper to the end of the mark, but what you are looking at is time preserved, a moment documented from the past. What you cannot see or know is the time spent looking between the making of those marks.
For young figurative artists the ease of copying photographs is always a temptation, as the camera has already transcribed the three dimensional onto a flat surface. But much is sacrificed in the process; the camera acts as a disruptive intermediary between artist and subject.
Drawing the nude figure requires the deepest act of 'seeing'. It's never a detached act of observation, but rather one that is affected by the input and presence of the model. There is a central ethic of collaboration. With the immediacy of drawing, it is perhaps this one intangible element that working from photographs cannot provide, and can make looking at figure drawings so compelling.
Nicholas Williams 2018
Cleopatra, Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), circa 1640. Iron gall ink on paper, 160 x 280mm © Royal Cornwall Museum
Tags:drawing, Exhibition, Guercino, Old Master, Old Master drawings, works on paper
Life Studies – Forthcoming exhibition of drawings
A few thoughts on Valentin de Boulogne
©2020 Nicholas C Williams


Podcast.co has joined forces with Co-op Digital and The Federation to give Manchester businesses the opportunity to create high-quality podcasts in a state-of-the-art environment.
The contemporary space, which is already being used to record popular shows like Tech For Good, gives tenants the chance to use studio-grade equipment and high-end recording facilities, making for a significantly more professional broadcast.
Those who rent the studio at The Federation have the option to hire a producer to oversee their work, while Podcast.co also offer podcasting solutions to businesses, including consultancy and production services, plus distribution to all the major networks like iTunes.
Podcasts are transforming the marketing landscape for businesses in the same way video did and the Podcast.co team have become the go-to company for brands and businesses looking to get into podcasting.
Sister company Radio.co lists the likes of UNICEF, Saatchi & Saatchi, United Nations, Vice Magazine and Primavera Sound amongst its clients.
"We are very excited about our partnership with the Co-op," said Podcast.co founder James Mulvany, who has spent the last 10 years at the forefront of the internet radio industry.
The Federation is home to a community of digital innovators and civic, private and public sector businesses in Manchester.
An initiative by the Co-op Group and supported by The Omidyar Network and Co-op Foundation, it is based on ethical values and a commitment to creating a more inclusive digital economy.
The Federation offers alternative business models such as co-operatives, community interest companies and social enterprise.
The Federation is currently providing funded space to some organisations in that area and curating an events series looking at tech ethics and the use of technology for social good.
Emer Coleman, Technology Engagement Lead at Co-op Digital, said: "We are delighted to be in a partnership with Podcast.co, to provide the community with access to such sophisticated equipment.
"Podcasting is such a powerful way of communicating and connecting individuals and communities and we're pleased to offer that facility at The Federation."
Rebecca Rae-Evans, co-founder of Tech For Good, is encouraging Manchester businesses to follow in her lead and make use of the cutting-edge equipment.
She said: "People can come here and share their podcasts with the wider world. Everyone wants to make a podcast, but not everyone has the appropriate facilities for it.


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The Unparalleled Strength Of The Ironclad Beetle
Did you know that there is a species of beetles with a shell so strong that you could run it over with your car, and you still wouldn't be able to crush it? However, until recently, scientists had no idea why they were so tough. It turns out that these beetle's outer wing cases, or elytra, are made up of interlocking pieces in a "jigsaw"" design pattern and this greatly increases the strength of the exoskeleton.
The beetle is called the ironclad beetle, or Phloeodes diabolicus, and it measures around 0.6 to 1 inch in length. They are found in woodlands across western North America, and they will usually live under the bark of trees. Scientists believe that the ancestors of these insects could fly, but the ironclad beetles have lost this ability a long time ago due to their elytra fusing together.
Entomologists are perhaps the most familiar with the strength of this beetle's shell. Many times, in their efforts to store, display or mount one of these specimens, entomologists will end up with an intact shell and a bunch of bent steel pins.
Some researchers have performed a series of compression tests in order to find out the amount of force that the shells could withstand without cracking. The result was 149 newtons or 33 lbs. of continuous force, which is twice as much as other beetle species and 39,000 times its own body weight.
A cross-section of the exoskeleton was examined under the microscope in order to understand where this strength comes from. The analysis showed that the elytra had lateral support structures to distribute the weight more evenly across the beetle's back, and that the elytra were fused together at the seam for further reinforcement.
In beetles that have the ability to fly, the elytra are notched together in a tongue-and-groove design, that allows them to open and close smoothly, while providing a degree of structural strength. In the ironclad beetle however, the elytra are fused in a jigsaw puzzle pattern, preventing them from opening and offering extra strength. The pieces of the elytra that create this jigsaw pattern are called blades and they also help distribute strength across the shell.
When trying to find the optimal structure while 3D printing samples of this jigsaw pattern, researchers found that sutures with five blades could bear the heaviest loads. Upon further research of the blades themselves, the researchers found microstructures layered on top of each other which further diverted stress from the more vulnerable parts of the joint. The vulnerabilities of the narrow necks within the pattern were protected by these microstructures and helped lock the shell in place even more securely.
Through this research, scientists could unlock new architectural patterns that can be used to make buildings stronger and more resistant to physical tensions. In fact, these designs have already shown a considerable increase in toughness when compared to commonly used engineering joints.


There are Twitch streamers, and then there are Twitch streamers. The platform has tiers: hobbyists, affiliates, and partners. The latter two titles must be earned through lots of successful streaming, and they come with perks that directly impact streamers' ability to make a living. Now, with the gulf between affiliates and partners closing, tensions are on the rise.
Late last week, Twitch announced that, starting June 15, affiliates will get paid 15 days faster and will be able to create custom badges for their subscribers. On their own, these features are nice, but they're not earth-shattering. The issue in the eyes of many is that they bring affiliates even closer to achieving feature parity with partners, who ostensibly represent Twitch's highest echelon. Some partners are tearing their superhumanly shiny hair out about this because the affiliate program is relatively new, and prior to its inception, some of them had to stream for years before they gained access to partner perks. Now these young upstarts, they say, are getting almost everything that partners have without having to put in the work.
Other differences are granular, but have more of an impact on streamers' ability to make a living than you might think. That's where the new affiliate additions come in. Soon, affiliates will be able to create custom badges for their subscribers. This, along with custom sub emotes, directly incentivizes their fans to give them money. They'll also get paid sooner, making their financial situations potentially less precarious. All that said, partners and affiliates are still not on entirely equal footing when it comes to money-making possibilities. Partners have access to less tangible benefits, like a dedicated support staff and potential brand and sponsorship deals.
Here's the thing, though: the affiliate tier was added to Twitch last year as a means of bridging the sometimes insurmountable chasm between hobbyist streaming and an actual career in talking over video games while trying extremely hard not to blurt racial slurs. By design, the requirements to apply for affiliate status—50 followers, an average of three viewers per stream, streaming eight hours across seven days within a 30-day period—are much lower than those blocking the way to partner.
On top of that, there was a time when Twitch didn't publicize partner status' standardized requirements. This led people to believe that it was bestowed on streamers who either had a personal relationship with Twitch or just stuck it out for months and months or even years. Longtime partners feel like near-parity between perks offered to affiliates and partners invalidates the grueling climb to the top that they had to endure before the affiliate tier even existed.
"If Twitch rolled out affiliate to only hard-working streamers who put in the effort, have great content, and deserve the ability to generate revenue, then yes, have all the features! You deserve it," wrote a Twitch partner named Lt Zonda in a since-deleted post on Twitter. He and many others take issue with the affiliate level's low barrier to entry. "I can't help but feel that streamers I know, who have been grinding for partnership for months, some years, who could not quite reach those partnership requirements, are rewarded with the same perks as 'my mate Tony who streamed himself having some beers with the lads in the garden a few times,'" he continued.
It all leaves Twitch, as a platform, in an odd spot. On one hand, Twitch goes on and on about community until it's purple in the face, implying that everybody is—on some level—in it together. On the other hand, Twitch is an inherently competitive system. There's a finite number of viewers, and streamers are vying for their attentions. Gamifying people's ability to make a living muddies these waters even further. It taps into a quintessentially game-y mentality that everyone should start from the same point and work toward unlocking a series of concrete, immutable rewards. And so, even as Twitch speaks of community in almost propagandistic terms, people feel pitted against each other in a competition not even to make money and succeed, but to earn the means to do so by ranking up.
This can lead to gatekeeping from people who may not realize they were extremely fortunate to have the time and space to grind their way to partner sans the sort of runway affiliate provides, even if it ended up taking them years. It's tempting to believe that all Twitch streamers start from the same place and can work their way to fame and fortune through sheer doggedness, but it's simply not true.
For some people, then, it was simply impossible to succeed on Old Twitch. Nowadays, they have more options, but there are still plenty of other invisible barriers. Streamers who insist that everybody should experience their same years-long struggle or demonstrate a certain, arbitrary level of dedication to streaming risk becoming barriers themselves. In many ways, Twitch creates these mentalities. It is, Koebel stressed, a capitalist system, and therefore one that encourages a degree of ruthlessness in competition.
It's all about striking a balance between that competitive reality and a collaborative spirit, he said, or else Twitch really does become a cutthroat environment in which everybody feels threatened by everybody else's success. "It's only as cutthroat as we make it," he said.
Bryan Veloso, a former Twitch employee-turned-partner who publicly said he was happy for affiliates and left it at that, said to Kotaku that Twitch could at least be doing more to make partners feel like, well, partners.
More staff dedicated to handling Twitch's 20,000-plus partners, he noted, would go a long way toward mending those fences and, perhaps, taking some heat off affiliates, who seem to be getting more attention from the folks building features at Twitch lately.


Perry the Platypus, codenamed Agent P, is Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus, who, unknown to his owners, lives a double life as a secret agent for a government organization of animal spies. While he was spending the time of his life at Phineas and Ferb's backyard beach party, Perry received a very important call from his superior, Mr Major Monogram. It seems something bad is happening in town and only Agent P can successfully solve the mystery. Well, boys and girls, it's time for Perry the Platypus to leave the party and prepare for his new mission and for that the skillful Agent P needs a bit of your help. Show off your fashion skills while playing the "Agent P" dress up game and help him disguise for his important undercover mission choosing from his secret wardrobe the best outfit and accessories to put together the perfect outfit for a secret agent!


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CAN 2021: five authority replacements per team
By Rachel M 8 January 2022 Updated: 8 January 2022 1 Min Read
CAF will apply the rule of five substitutions per match during the CAN 2021 in Cameroon. Objective, to reduce disruption during meetings.
The African Cup of Nations starts tomorrow, 9 January 2022 in Yaoundé. During the competition, each team will be allowed to make five substitutions. The application of this rule of five is intended to reduce disruption during the match. "In the event of an extension, the teams will each be entitled to an additional replacement and will benefit from an additional replacement opportunity; replacements may also be made before the start and at half-time of the extension.", informs the body of African football.
In the same press release, the CAf provides details about the players who tested positive for the Coronavirus. During the competition, a player who tests positive for Covid-19 will not be admitted to the stadium. "A team will be required to play a match if it has a minimum of eleven (11) players available who have tested negative. In case of absence of a goalkeeper, another player of the team must replace the goalkeeper, provided that the total number of players available is at least eleven."
AFCON 2021
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