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Tag: divorce
The cross is meant to be co-opted
When Rod Dreher announced he and his wife were divorcing, the first thing I should have done was pray for them. Instead, I braced myself for the nasty comments that I knew would follow his announcement. And they did follow, as Dreher himself predicted they would.
Dreher has plenty of ill-wishers, and not undeservedly. Despite his large audience and capable mind, he's not a careful man, and tends to bounce from panic to panic, often resting only in exasperating self-indulgence that's frustrating even to people who agree with some of his views. And some of the things he believes are appalling.
Still, I guess my corner of the internet is somewhat sheltered, because I wasn't prepared for the avalanche of delight that followed the news. This wasn't a case of just desserts, like a bad boss getting fired himself, or a thief having his own possessions stolen. It was a man whose ideas people disagreed with announcing that he had been struggling for nine years to save his marriage, and had finally failed, and it was partially his fault. To respond to such news with glee is to pull hell down on your head.
One comment in particular stood out, because it presented itself as correcting his christianity. A woman jeered at him for using an image from The Passion as the header image for the essay where he briefly describes his suffering. Dreher was, in fact, in Jerusalem as he wrote that column, and had been praying at Golgotha during Holy Week, so it would be almost unnatural if an image of the crucifixion hadn't suggested itself to him as a natural illustration for intense personal pain. But this commenter excoriated him for comparing himself to Jesus. She said it was typical self-aggrandizement for him to co-opt the imagery of the cross for his own suffering.
But that is the point of the cross.
That is why the execution of our savior was public. That is why it was done in the middle of the day, in front of crowd, on top of the hill: So everyone could see, and so everyone would know that Jesus wept and bled and lost the strength of his limbs just like us. Just like anyone who had ever suffered until that day, and just like anyone who ever would suffer. That's the point. The cross is meant to be co-opted. That's what it's for.
I think that the woman who scoffed at Rod Dreher probably didn't have a lot of theological thoughts in her head, and mainly just didn't like Rod Dreher, and wouldn't have sympathy for anything he did or said. It is, perhaps, fairly common to think of christianity mainly as a sort of overarching philosophy that describes social services that should be available to other people, and it doesn't even occur to many that it's ever meant to be personal to each of us.
In any case, it's quite common for people who are more fair-minded, and who don't reflexively kick people who are already down, to do a sort of defensive gate-keeping when it comes to suffering: To say that this or that isn't real suffering, or that it isn't authentic or worthy or profound enough to call itself actual suffering. That it's something lesser, something we should be embarrassed to admit we struggle with.
Well, there is suffering, and there is suffering. I remember hearing how a friend of the family was sitting by the bedside of her dying husband. She had spent the last few months increasingly at his bedside in between her own jobs, wondering how she would care for their many children if he didn't pull through. His roommate had the TV on, tuned to a televangelist channel, and the notorious Tammy Faye was on screen, weeping into the camera as usual, her gummy mascara bleeding into the neck of her expensive silk blouse as she begged for money for Jesus. A nurse came into the room and brushed past the widow-to-be, looked dolefully up at the TV, and asked the family plaintively, "Aww, why's Tammy crying?"
So there is suffering, and there is suffering. This is true. There is such a thing as taking an impartial look at another human's life and saying, "No, it's not that bad." Not as bad as what happened to Jesus.
And I remember some thoughtful, painful conversations around the painting "Mama," which shows a Pieta where the dead Jesus closely resembles George Floyd. The artist, Kelly Latimore, told the NYT that he "always responds 'yes' when asked whether the painting depicts Jesus or Floyd."
The artist goes on to say:
"It's not an either-or scenario. Is it George Floyd? Yes. Is it Jesus? Yes. There's sacredness in every person."
I don't know exactly what he meant by that. There is suffering, and there is suffering, and it's worth having respectful conversations about just how firmly to draw the line between our suffering and Jesus'. It is one thing to say that he is like us, and another to say that we are like him.
What I do know is that Jesus is like is in all things but sin, but for many of us, this never feels real until we suffer. That's where we meet Jesus, and know him, and recognize him, and feel his aid: In suffering. Sometimes that's the only place we meet him.
And so it's a very serious thing when fellow Christians want to take that commonality away, on the grounds that we're not worthy to count ourselves that close to Christ, or to feel that we have so much in common with him.
Because that, too, is the point: We're not worthy. That's why he came for us. Our unworthiness to have anything in common with God is the very reason why we need a savior.
There is suffering, and there is suffering, but there is only one man who suffered for the purpose of public consumption, as it were. No, not as it were: Literally. Catholics, at very least, should be used to this idea.
Jesus' suffering is universal; it is for everyone. And at the same time, it is personal. It is for each of us as individuals, and it means what it must in our specific lives. The cross is for us to use, to co-opt, to identify with, to look to, to cling to, to use however we can so we do not fall into the netherworld. That is what it's for. As long as it is sincere, it is fair game.
The suffering of other people, though — yes, even the suffering of pundits we don't like — is not for us to judge, and certainly not for us to use, certainly not for our own amusement or for clout on Twitter. Be careful, friends. As much as the cross is there for us to use, other people's suffering is very much not for us to use. Very much not.
A version of this essay was first published at The Catholic Weekly on May 10, 2022.
Author simchajfisherPosted on June 13, 2022 June 13, 2022 Categories The Catholic Weekly, UncategorizedTags crucifix, crucifixion, divorce, George Floyd, pieta, suffering, Tammy Faye Bakker, The Catholic Weekly, the cross14 Comments on The cross is meant to be co-opted
What do divorced Catholics need from their friends?
The Catholic Church takes the sacrament of marriage seriously.
Because this is so, it also takes abuse seriously, and never requires
spouses and children to silently endure abuse in the name of the sanctity
of marriage.
But those who do leave marriages, or those who are left, are often treated like second-class citizens by their fellow Catholics. Many separated Catholics say it feels like their faith community cares more about the idea of marriage than they do about actual people. A spouse who leaves is often shamed, even blamed, accused of "breaking up the marriage."
But in cases of abuse or severe disfunction, the one who left did didn't break up the marriage. The abuser broke it. The one who leaves is simply dealing with the pieces of something already broken. Separated and divorced Catholics don't need judgment or condemnation. Here's what they do need:
SERVICE. Managing a household solo can be a crushing burden.
They're suddenly drowning in obligations, and will need help doing the work of two.
We can offer help with car maintenance or laundry, home repairs,
cleaning, child care, or carpooling. Some people simply need help learning how to do things their spouses used to handle. If we're good at budgeting,
managing debt, writing résumés or navigating legal matters, we can
offer our expertise.
MONEY. Many women, especially, have given up schooling and
careers to raise children, and simply don't have the means to survive on
their own. Divorce also often brings huge legal expenses, especially if there's a custody battle.
If we can't contribute large amounts of money, even small cash
gifts or gift cards can make bright spots amid trauma, especially around
THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. By the time a long-suffering
spouse finally resorts to something so drastic and disruptive as
separation, they have probably been sacrificing and struggling for years
to fix what was wrong, probably in secret, probably blaming themselves.
They may not be ready or willing to share the details of what went
wrong, but that doesn't mean they have made a frivolous or selfish
We should never make reflexive glib suggestions like "Have you tried a novena?" or "Every marriage has rough patches." And no consolation or healing will come from pronouncements like like "God hates divorce" or "Your children will suffer so much." We're likely only seeing the tip of the iceberg. It is best to imitate Christ and lead with sympathy and compassion, rather than judgment.
COMPANY. Separation is lonely, and single parents, especially, crave
adult companionship. Many separated people say they feel like they lost
their friends as well as their marriage. We shouldn't stop inviting people
into our lives or activities just because they are no longer part of a
couple. Because we or others might feel a little awkward at first, is no
reason to withdraw hospitality that is more desired and needed than ever.
Separation is lonely, and single parents, especially, crave adult
companionship. We should keep inviting and including people, even if
it feels a little awkward.
Similarly, we should never exclude their kids out of some ill-
formed idea that the family is somehow tainted by divorce, or
because we don't want to have to explain it to our own kids. We can
remember to invite their kids along for Christmas cookie baking, trick-
or- treating or other activities that make childhood fun, and that may be
more but can be more than a struggling single parent can manage. Give
them a chance to feel normal and happy again.
Separated or divorced people may also want support at court
proceedings, and they may need a companion during custody pick-ups to
prevent an abusive ex-spouse from harassing them. Drop in, check in,
hang out. Don't let them feel forgotten.
A LISTENING EAR AND AFFIRMATION. Even if we're not
comfortable taking sides. when a couple splits up, someone who has suffered a devastating rupture needs to be built up, and needs to know that their friends and family believe they can build a good new life.
Affirming statements like "I know how strong you are" or "You know
better than anyone what really happened" or "You are holding things
together so well" can be very powerful, especially to someone whose
marriage was full of insults, denigration and manipulation.
TRUST. Separated people may be needy, but they are not threats.
Rotten as it sounds, it's fairly common for married women to act as if separated women are now gunning for their husbands. In
reality, especially if there has been abuse, the last thing a newly
separated person wants want right now is another man.
They're trying to survive, not poach. Of course, amid the emotional
vulnerabilities that accompany these circumstances, clear and strong
boundaries must be maintained, but these occasions can also lead to deeper and more meaningful friendships.
GENTLENESS. Even if the marriage was miserable, ending it is
often painful. Someone who's lost a spouse to divorce may truly be in mourning – if not for the spouse as a person, then for their former life and hopes. Divorce often feels like a personal and spiritual failure, even
when it's nothing of the kind. We should act with tenderness, as we
would if there had been a death.
CONFIDENTIALITY. No gossip, no pressure. The ex-spouse is the one who should decide how much information is public. If we've been entrusted with inside information about what went on while the marriage fell apart, we must keep that trust and not share the information. If we don't have inside information, then we have nothing to say to others besides encouraging them to offer their support.
A divorced person doesn't owe us an explanation or require our
approval of what they chose for their own lives. We can let them know
we're ready to listen if they want to unload, but that we don't require them to divulge anything at all.
RESPECT. Not all newly-divorced people are in crisis. Some are ready and eager to begin their new lives on their own, and they find it annoying to be met with pity and condescension at every turn. If a separated person says they're happy, you can believe them (while still being ready to offer help if it's needed).
This essay was originally published in a slightly different form in Parable magazine in 2019.
Image by Quinn Dombrowski via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Author simchajfisherPosted on June 15, 2021 Categories Parable, UncategorizedTags abuse, abusive marriage, Catholic marriage, divorce, friends, friendship, marriage, single dads, single moms21 Comments on What do divorced Catholics need from their friends?
Three-year marriage preparation?
The Catholic Church in Spain is offering a new marriage preparation course. The startling part: It's three years long.
My first thought was that the last thing the Church needs to be doing is making marriage harder. Few enough people are seeking out the sacraments, so let's not give them even more hoops to jump through! But it turns out they're not making anyone do anything. The course isn't mandatory; it's for people who are serious about marriage and want help and preparation to do it well.
According to an article in The Guardian UK, the program was developed in response to skyrocketing divorce rates, which increased dramatically after the socialist government made the divorce process fast and easy. According to the article, there was an astonishing 74.3 per cent increase in divorces from 2006 to 2007 in Spain, and "In 2017, there were 57.2 divorces for every 100 marriages in Spain".
The article quotes Monsignor Mario Iceta, the bishop of Bilbao:
"You can't prepare for marriage in 20 hours. To be a priest, you need to spend seven years in the seminary so what about being a husband, wife mother or father? Just 20 hours?
It's hard to quibble with this point. My own marriage preparation class gave me exactly zero useful information or preparation for the life we were committing to, and I know my experience isn't unique. I certainly don't regret getting married to my husband, but we did get thrown into the deep end, and we did flounder.
In the United States, debates over how to support marriage often falls into some timeworn patterns: One camp bemoans the way decrees of annulment are given out like candy, and remind the world that, in their grandparents' time, people used to take their vows seriously, and weren't counting on all this 'happiness' and 'fulfillment' nonsense.
The other camps recalls that their grandmothers often stayed married for life less because they so respected the institution of marriage and more because they didn't really have another choice, and they just had to put up with being beaten and cheated on and treated like a work horse; and if they did leave, they and their kids would probably starve, or at least be ostracized.
So no, we can't really improve marriage by simply insisting that people are stuck no matter what. That doesn't make marriage better; it just hides suffering more effectively.
It's true that everyone who makes a marriage vow is taking something of a risk, but it's possible to make the risk smaller by making true discernment a part of the preparation process.
If fewer people who don't understand marriage have weddings, then fewer people will need annulments. Increasing the preparation time combines the best of both worlds: An understanding that marriage is a serious undertaking that's supposed to last a lifetime, and not something you can shuck off easily if it doesn't work out; but also an understanding that it ought to be a partnership of mutual respect, not just something it's hard to escape.
Ideally, a couple who've discerned that they truly do belong together for life will be given some useful tools to act on that intention.
But simply increasing the "training" and discernment period brings predictable problems of its own . . .
Read the rest of my latest for The Catholic Weekly.
Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas from Pexels
Author simchajfisherPosted on February 12, 2020 Categories The Catholic WeeklyTags annulment, annulments, Catholic marriage, divorce, marriage, The Catholic Weekly12 Comments on Three-year marriage preparation?
How the Church can help (or hurt) women in abusive marriages
When she went looking for help from the church, she was still susceptible to the idea that everything was her fault. One priest said it was a shame she was suffering, but all she could do was offer it up. Another told her she had a demon in her.
But a third priest listened to her story . . .
Read the my latest for America Magazine.
This is one of the most important pieces I've ever written, and I'm very grateful to the courageous and honest women who shared their stories with me.
Photo by George Hodan (Creative Commons)
Author simchajfisherPosted on June 26, 2018 Categories America MagazineTags abuse, Catholics for Family Peace, divorce, domestic abuse, domestic violence, marriage, priests, USCCB, When I Call for Help, women16 Comments on How the Church can help (or hurt) women in abusive marriages
I just figured out why it was called "The Synod on the Family."
I just figured out the entire Synod. Or at least, I figured out something about it! Maybe everyone else already knows this, and I'm just slow, but it kind of blew my mind.
My husband and I were talking about people in really rotten marital situations — say, a Catholic man in a valid marriage to a woman who reacted badly to the trials of life, and turned into a horrible person. When she began to abuse the kids, they got a civil divorce, and he found someone else, and they're really in love, and she loves his kids, and they had more kids together . . . but they recently met with their priest, and it's painfully obvious that there is no way he can get an annulment. The old marriage was a valid marriage, awful as it was. This new couple has only two choices: (a) to remain in what is truly an adulterous marriage, and to refrain from receiving Communion indefinitely, because they're in a state of mortal sin, or (b) to live together as brother and sister and hope the old wife dies.
Either way: awful, awful, awful.
The upshot of the first documents leaking out of the Synod seem to be saying, among other things, that the Church is trying to encourage people who can't get annulments to be part of the Church in some way — to get them back into the community somehow, without them being officially in communion with the Church.
I wondered why. I mean, why would someone want to be in the Church if they can't receive the Eucharist? There are many wonderful things about the Church, but without the Eucharist . . . what's the point? Who wants to hang around a restaurant if you never get to sit and eat?
And then I realized. The children. People will bring their children to be fed. If they feel welcome, and if they feel like they're not utterly rejected, even though they can't receive Communion, they will bring their children to Mass, and will bring their children to catechism class, and will bring their children to the sacraments. They will make sure their children stay involved in the life of the Church. Or at least they might! And there is hope for the next generation . . . and also for the cousins, who always keep up on the family news, and for the friends of the family, and for the lady in the grocery line who stop and chat about marriage and want to know all about your personal life . . .
They can tell that lady, "Well, it's complicated, but I'm still a Catholic.There is still a place for me. It's not what I'd wish, but it's better than nothing. They still want me, and I still need Him."
Whereas, if all they hear from the Church is, "Sorry. You're out. Shame on you. Next!" then of course they will not bring their children, and their children won't go to Mass, or catechism, or to the sacraments. Why would they? Why would anyone be a part of an organization that not only cannot give them the Bread of Life, but won't even acknowledge that they are trying hard to be loving? And we'll continue in this horrible cycle where people who are really trying to be decent are barred from the sacraments, but people who waltzed into marriage without thinking it through can get their marriage declared null, and it just seems so unfair, and who wants to be part of that kind of Church that punishes love and gives a do-over for foolishness? And every conversation about the Church will be about how unfair it is, and that's why We Don't Go There Anymore.
That's what I mean when I say I figured out the Synod. It really wasn't hidden! It's all about the family. It's always been about the family — and the family is about more than the one marriage and the one couple in question. That's why they didn't call it "The Synod About Gay People and Divorce" or "The Synod About Just How Popey the Pope Plans to Be, Anyway" or "The I-Don't-Recall-Jesus-Talking-Much-About-Marriage,-Do-Youuu? Synod" Nope. Every single human being is, for better or worse, part of a family, and because of this, what we do affects lots of other people — and how we're treated affects lots of other people, too.
It's about future generations, and also it's about how the faith of children can affect parents. That's what the Church means by "mercy." Not "anything goes, as long as we all feel good," but "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." We cannot give medicine to the dead, but neither will we sign any death certificates prematurely.
It sounds like the Church intend to make it much harder for people to accidentally or frivolously go through with invalid marriages, and it sounds like they intend to offer support for valid marriages after the wedding, so that people get married for real, and stay married for good. But what about the generations of people who are already caught in an impossible situation? There have been, let's face it, several decades of failure. People have grown up never hearing a word of doctrine from the pulpit, never learning a scrap of catechism in Catholic school, never knowing the first thing about what the Church believes about sex or marriage (or the Real Presence, or anything). They're caught, and it's not fair, and it stinks.
But it's not going to help anyone to pretend that real marriages weren't real, or that invalid marriages aren't real. You can't just change the rules when you feel sorry for people. That will just create more people for whom to feel sorry.
How to serve the people caught in the middle? Make a place for them, and make a place for their children. Make a place for their whole family.
Author simchajfisherPosted on October 24, 2015 Categories UncategorizedTags annulments, divorce, family, marriage, synod, synod on familiesLeave a comment on I just figured out why it was called "The Synod on the Family."
Everybody knows the Church will change. (Everybody is wrong.)
Many Catholics believe the Synod on the Family will drive home the final nail in the coffin of orthodoxy. They believe that, when the Synod is over, from that coffin will emerge some hideous new zombie Church, which progressive Pope Francis will envelop in one of his famous Marxist hugs. Together, Frankie and Zombie will personally cater all the gay weddings they can find, and couples who have three or more annulments under their belts can claim a discount on renting the Sistine Chapel for their next few weddings.
Many Catholics look at the Synod, and they know that the Church is going to change. They know it.
Are they right? Let's step back a few decades, to the last time everybody knew what would happen in the Church.
In 1963, Pope John XXIII called a Pontifical Commission to examine the Church's ban on artificial birth control. After he died, Pope Paul VI expanded the commission to include doctors, theologians, lay women, bishops and cardinals.
The members of this committee were chosen by the Pope, and everybody knew what that meant: the Church was obviously revving up for something big, something new. The commission members debated, studied, and solicited testimony for several years; and then in 1966, they came out with a report that concluded exactly what everyone was expecting: It said that the Church should do a 180 and allow artificial birth control. The official report said that birth control was not intrinsically evil, and that the Church's ban on it should be lifted.
There was rejoicing in some quarters, wringing of hands in others, as everyone assumed that the Pope would agree. Everyone assumed that life as a married Catholic would be dramatically different from then on, in keeping with the times. Laymen thought so. Priests thought so. Everyone thought, "This is it. This is the big change we've all been [hoping for/dreading]."
And what happened?
Humanae Vitae happened. BOOM. Rather than assenting to the Commission's recommendation, Paul VI issued the glorious encyclical which firmly and passionately reasserts the Church's constant teaching on human sexuality, almost miraculously predicting the societal ills that would follow if the world embraced artificial contraception. The encyclical thrilled some, enraged others, and immediately began sowing the seeds for John Paul II's flourishing Theology of the Body, which is only now beginning to take root in the hearts of many Catholics.
In 1968, everyone knew the Church was going to change.
Everyone was wrong.
I expect — no, I believe with all my heart — that the same will happen in the next few years regarding the issues of divorce and civil remarriage, and same sex marriage. The Pope has reaffirmed countless times that he is a "son of the Church" and will uphold and defend her doctrine, no matter what the rumors imply (and Cardinal Kasper — CARDINAL KASPER — says so, too).
Now, this is not to say that everything will be fine. Most Catholics, including those present when Humanae Vitae first came out, ignored and continue to blithely ignore the Church's teaching on contraception. It's likely that Catholics who are in favor of same sex marriage will continue to be in favor of same sex marriage, no matter what happens at the synod, and no matter what the Pope says, infallibly or otherwise.
But will the Church change her teachings on marriage? No, she will not. I would bet my life on it. Sometimes when everyone knows something, everyone is wrong.
So, listen to rumors if you like. Debate about the ins and outs of various meetings and interviews, and feel free to wince, as any normal human being would do, as we witness sausage being made. Above all, pray — pray for the pope, pray for the bishops, pray for a change of heart for those in dissent, and pray for courage for those who are faithful. Pray for the Church. Pray for all of us. Prayer is always the appropriate response. But as you pray, don't panic.
Remember, everybody knew what was definitely going to happen in 1968. Everybody was wrong.
Author simchajfisherPosted on October 7, 2015 Categories UncategorizedTags annulments, divorce, frankie and zombie, gay marriage, humanae vitae, marriage, pope francis, reform, synod, synod on the familyLeave a comment on Everybody knows the Church will change. (Everybody is wrong.)
Only a rightly-ordered heart feels grief
e know some couples who don't fight very much, but they don't seem to really enjoy each other, either. They more or less leave each other alone, with a sort of low-level, courteous disdain for each other's enthusiasms and flaws alike. They never experience the agony of rupture because they've carefully cordoned themselves off from any passionate unity. They are indifferent, because it's easier. And this indifference is a tragic waste of marriage.
Read the rest at the Register.
Author simchajfisherPosted on May 21, 2015 Categories UncategorizedTags divorce, kate cousino, love, marriage, national catholic register, pain, peace and pekoe, st. john chrysostom, sufferingLeave a comment on Only a rightly-ordered heart feels grief
At the Register: Doctrine doesn't change over the phone
Ring-ring.
Hi, it's the Pope, and guess what? It's OPPOSITE DAY!
From Conversations that didn't, won't, and wouldn't happen, vol. 836
Author simchajfisherPosted on April 24, 2014 Categories UncategorizedTags annulment, divorce, doctrine, marriage, national catholic register, pope francisLeave a comment on At the Register: Doctrine doesn't change over the phone
Help for divorced, celibate Catholics?
While everyone's twisting themselves into knots about how the Church should or should not respond to people who are divorced and remarried, there is another segment of the population who could use some attention: people who are divorced and intend to remain celibate. I got this question from a female reader:
Are there ANY resources for divorced Catholics that are trying to remain celibate?? It seems like most are geared toward teenagers. Chastity and celibacy aren't just manly issues either. Thank you!!!!
Rather than just start casting around on Google, I figured you guys would know. Any books, websites, message boards, groups, programs you can recommend?
Author simchajfisherPosted on March 12, 2014 Categories UncategorizedTags celibacy, chastity, divorceLeave a comment on Help for divorced, celibate Catholics?


came face to face with an elephant!
You know those famous t-shirts that people buy for family and friends as souvenirs from a trip? For example: "My aunt went to Africa and all she got me was this lousy t-shirt." Well, I don't know much about them since I'm relatively new to the world, but mommy tells me my following experience is similar on some levels.
It goes like this: My Zia Em (zia is Italian for aunt) went to Uganda this summer and she saw an ELEPHANT! Meanwhile, as part of my summer excursions, we drove a whopping 20 minutes outside of Jerusalem and I saw ... a goat. Actually hundreds of goats.
How do you compare goats to elephants? Sorry goats, but you can't.
Disappointment aside, it was good to be out in nature and get to see some four-legged creatures besides Lucie, the black and white cat who shares the apartment and avoids me at all costs now as I've improved my reach and grab.
I went with my friend Elan and we brought our parents along.
As usual, it was very hot and dusty. As were the goats.
Elan is brave. I have a lot to learn from him!
The goats come back to the farm at exactly 2 p.m. making them the only mammals in the Middle East who are ever on time. So after our exciting picnic basket lunch of goat cheese, goat cheese, goat yogurt and more goat cheese, we returned to the trail to wait for the return of the goats. And as the clock struck 2, they all came sauntering back from their stroll in the hills.
After petting some goats and finishing off our unfulfilling picnic of goat cheese products, most of which I regurgitated, we decided to return to civilization. And we went to a restaurant to eat.
Here we are at Focaccia.
came in Ben's wallet (if you can see it) is not Dee and Elan.
Haha too funny....about the nonfamily photo in Ben's wallet.
You must ask Zio Richie about our trip to Jamaica and "tipping the goat boy".


At the heart of ClickSWITCH is the ability to create switches for customers. Here we will go over how a typical customer flow might go for creating a switch. This will include example screenshots from a customers perspective, the API calls that should run in association with those screens, as well as explanations of what those API calls should accomplish.
In order to make sure the process goes smoothly, however, we need to first make some API calls to set ourselves up for success. ClickSWITCH will be sending you lots of data via the API, and will also expect you to send it some very specific data. This data includes statuses, actions and targets.
First you will want to get a list of statuses for switches. This will help you display to your users what status the switch is currently in correctly. Because ClickSWITCH changes statuses and their labels as needed, it's a good idea to hit this API when beginning the process to ensure you're showing your users the proper status labels for their switches.
This resource does not require any parameters.
"help": "The switch is ready to submit for processing."
"help": "The switch is missing information required for processing."
"help": "The switch has been canceled."
"help": "The switch has been submitted for processing."
"help": "The switch has been printed for signature and/or in-person delivery."
"help": "The switch is currently being processed by our fulfillment team."
"help": "The switch has been sent to the company or govt. agency for action."
"help": "The company or govt. agency has acknowledged that the change has been completed."
"help": "The switch is unable to be processed."
Now that we know what statuses are possible for switches and how to display them to our users, let's get a list of possible actions. Actions can be performed on switches, but only the actions returned in this API call are valid. Because the actions which can be performed also change at times, it is best practice to get the list of actions from this endpoint rather than hard coding them in your application.
"help": "Submit the switch for processing."
"help": "You've taken the steps to make this change online or in person so mark it complete."
"help": "Print the switch to sign or deliver in person."
"help": "Returns a canceled switch back to a state where it can be edited."
"help": "Deletes a switch that has been canceled."
Now that you have all the supported statuses and actions for switches, let's get a list of target types. Target types are the kinds of switches available to customers, such as "deposit" or "payment" switches.
"help": "Instructions to a company/govt. agency to change future direct deposits to your account."
"help": "Instructions to a company/govt. agency to change future automatic payments from your account."
Now that you have a list of valid statuses, actions and target types you are ready to start creating switches for your customers!


Your participation is about far more than the check you write. It is about coming together as a community to prepare thoughtful and compassionate children to become tomorrow's leaders.
Derby thrives today because it has made a commitment to long term investment of its Endowment. Income from over 35 endowment funds support the operating budget, academic awards and prizes, the George S. Terry Library, professional development for faculty, scholarships and more. Some funds are as old as the school itself - Derby still manages the original Hersey Fund, left by Sarah Derby, our founder.
Restricted gifts to Derby's Endowment are usually received from a donor with a specific purpose in mind, and are approved by the Board of Trustees. These funds come from families, foundations or companies and often support a certain department, scholarship or award.
Unrestricted gifts provide income that supports Derby's operating fund, which pays for teacher salaries, arts, academics, athletics, buildings and grounds, technology, financial aid and more.
To make a gift to an established endowment fund, or to create one to support an area of the school that is important to you, please contact Paul Mountcastle, Director of Development, at 781-749-0746 ext. 125 or pmountcastle@derbyacademy.org.
The best educational choice on the South Shore for Pre-K through Grade 8 education.


- FrancesCassandra: UK fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog.: Outfit: Black Lace and Tie-Dye Shoes.
Do you love statement shoes?
I LOVE that dress, so cute :) I'm having a giveaway on my blog, in case you're interested!
I think you are right lace with just having one item. I see a lot of people that do it and its a shame.
I really like how you added the pop or colour. I find people wear black too much and its looks very dull and over done.
Love the dress and shoes! Great find on the dress, so cheap.
Beautiful outfit, beautiful girl. Jelly lol.
Hey! The dress looks really good on you :) I might be getting the dress off someone, but I was wondering if it was a little see through. I hope you would be able to clarify this for me, thanks!


text:
Darryl Beamish foi um surdo que passou indevidamente 16 anos de prisão, por alegado assassinato.

Sua convicção causou preocupação nos círculos jurídicos durante algum tempo. O professor de jurisprudência, Peter Brett, escreveu um livro curto, em 1966, alegando que o caso Beamish era um "monstruoso desvio do princípio de justiça". Beamish escapou à morte. Mais recentemente, uma jornalista do Perth, Estelle Blackburn, descobriu novas provas, em seu livro Broken Lives que levaram o derrube das convicções de ambos Beamish e John Button.

Pessoas surdas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Mexican producer Arturo González Alonso
Mexican distributors and producers launch Plataforma Cine streaming to rent independent films in Latin America
Aliana González, Mexico City|29 de junio de 2022
The Mexican producer Arturo González Alonso reported that Plataforma Cine, a streaming service that offers independent cinema for rental with prices ranging from 25 to 45 Mexican pesos (US$1 to 2 approximately) per film. The platform, which in addition to Mexican cinema has international films, is available in Latin America, although there are films that cannot be watched in some countries.
"The idea is to pay the right to watch the film as if you went to the movies and bought your ticket" said González Alonso, after explaining that the rented movie can be watched as many times as you want in a period of 48 hours after it is viewed the first time. The platform has 5 thousand users and has a catalog of approximately 60 films, which they hope to continue increasing.
The idea of creating the platform came up at the end of 2019. González Alonso explained that, before the pandemic, he conducted with his company Art Kingdom a study that revealed that, although the box office had dropped in commercial movie theaters, independent movie theaters had experienced an increase. "This indicated that there was a quest for alternative stories and a different type of cinema" he explained. However, after, the pandemic came, and that changed in many ways the reality of commercial and non-commercial movie theaters.
The platform came out at the end of 2020, and even though it did so when many other stronger ones came out as well (Disney+ for example), they have been able to position themselves and remain in vigor. "That was when we made the agreement with the Cineteca Nacional which, not being able to exhibit, had had to close theaters and lay off personnel. This way, it was adapted and had a virtual movie theater with the Cineteca's movie billboard" furthered González Alonso.
The producer also mentioned that six friends had gotten together to create the platform: two distributors, three movie producers, and a public relations expert. "Leopoldo Jiménez, from Nueva Era Films, brought us the Tour of French Cinema; Alfonso López, from Alphaville Cinema, added great titles, many awarded in Cannes or with an Academy award; the producers and directors Jesús Magaña and Inti Cordera are also part of the team. Cordera additionally organizes several documentary festivals, and Jaime Rosales, from RH Media" he said. Arturo González Alonso, founder, is also the Marketing Director of Plataforma Cine.
They also offer their services as a channel to distribute live or pre-recorded events on cine or its industry, which is an option for cinema festivals. This was the case of a Cinema Festival in Merida and the one that will take place together with Árbol Rojo, a cinema show that is celebrating its 5th anniversary and that is held in southeast Mexico, in Chetumal and Quintana Roo. This year, they are planning to include some titles of that festival on the platform.
Another business line that has come up is with companies that need their employees or members to watch a film. It is cased of the agreement Plataforma Cine made with a coaching company comprised of psychiatrists and psychologists which uses cinema to encourage reflections. "We are very flexible, and that is a huge advantage" commented González Alonso.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We've all been there. You're snuggled in bed, engrossed in a good book, and before you know it, hours have gone by. That's the irresistible power of a well-told story.
"Storytelling may seem like an old-fashioned tool, today—and it is. That's exactly what makes it so powerful. Life happens in the narratives we tell one another. A story can go where quantitative analysis is denied admission: our hearts. Data can persuade people, but it doesn't inspire them to act; to do that, you need to wrap your vision in a story that fires the imagination and stirs the soul," wrote Harrison Monarth, an executive coach and bestselling author, in a post for the Harvard Business Review Blog Network in March.
As a business owner, you can use tried-and-true storytelling techniques to supercharge your business's social media presence.
When it comes to storytelling, "show, don't tell" is one of the fundamental rules. "Rather than talking at your audience, telling them what to do or feel, share the story so that it unfolds naturally and your audience comes to their own conclusion themselves," advises Andy Smith in an article posted on FastCompany.com in February.
The best way to share your company's story is to do exactly that—tell a story. Structure your social media posts so they read like a narrative. Like your favorite novel, your posts should Include a beginning, a middle and an end (but not necessarily in that order—more on that next). And try to make characters you mention relatable and real. These characters can be your employees, your customers or even yourself.
While stories should include a beginning, middle and end, the best stories don't always follow that order. So mix it up a bit. Unless your story involves a series of steps meant to be followed in sequential order, consider opening with the most interesting or attention-grabbing part and then following with the back story and conclusion.
Tension—that excited, nagging feeling that you just have to find out what happens next—is what keeps someone interested in a story. Storytellers often use a technique called foreshadowing, giving readers hints about what's to come, to build tension.
Business owners can do this with social media, too. Launching a new product soon? Give your audience a small preview of what's to come to build their anticipation.
Try spreading your story out over series of consecutive posts or photos. Readers are more apt to read small chunks of text rather than long ones. Plus, spreading out the story builds anticipation for what's to come.
Conflict, likewise, can draw people into your business's story. "Something always goes wrong in companies, particularly startups. But screw-ups also present opportunities to shine by telling a story of responsibility, apology and remedy," according to Smith.
Use conflict to your advantage by sharing how your company dealt with and overcame a particular challenge or setback, for example, and what you've learned from it.
Every business has its own unique story to tell. Now that you've learned how to use some fundamental storytelling techniques to share yours, get out there and start supercharging your social media presence. Just remember—think narrative!


This guide looks at some of the latest and best strategies in heating, conserving and reclaiming water in the residential setting, both single and multifamily situations.
Shorter showers and fewer car washes can save only so much water. These online-available products can help you get every last drop's worth from your water bill.
What does your old toilet say about you?
Upgrading your toilet to a new 1.28-gallon model is one of the quickest ways to save water in your home.
Settled in the old Seattle neighborhood amidst 100-year-old craftsman style homes, the 3-story, 2,117 square-foot contemporary home stands out as a testament to maximum efficiency.
Thirty percent of the average home's energy budget is allocated to heating water.
With more than two years of measured occupancy to date, the home unquestionably provides exceptional energy performance, consuming 70 percent less energy than a code-built house.
Filtering your own water is a way to live a more sustainable life without inconvenience or extra costs.
There is a lot of science behind toilet flushing, more than the average consumer tends to realize.
Mirabella's LEED certified homes use nearly 40 percent less energy than what is used in a typical home.
According to recent research, while high-efficiency toilets that use 1.6 gallons per flush or less have been on the market since 1994, 21 percent of residential toilets still in service in water-stressed states are non-efficient.
WaterSense, a partnership program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. Upgrading to more efficient WaterSense labeled products can help us to save billions of gallons of water in the country every year.
What can you do to stop wasting water?


I'm sure whatever you've got as your desktop background was really cool in 2017. But it's 2018 now!
Give your computer a bit of a refresh with this bee-rilliant desktop background, featuring the immortal words of some woman with a beautiful voice in a Kanye song.


On July 17, 2014 Upbring received word that we had once again been awarded a three-year accreditation from CARF International. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human service providers and is recognized worldwide.
CARF Accreditation demonstrates to the people we serve that we are committed to respecting cultural and individual differences, reducing risk, addressing health and safety concerns, and providing the best possible services. Accreditation indicates we have made a commitment to put the needs of the children and families we serve above all else.
CARF Accreditation is more than a certificate hanging on the wall; it is an assurance to our consumers that we continue to conform to national standards of best practices and thoughtfully review and revise our policies and procedures in the best interest of our consumers.
To learn more about CARF Accreditation, visit the CARF website.


text:
Q: How can I get the node attributes for the Zachary's Karate Club graph? I am referring to the well-known Zachary's Karate Club Network.
In Python, one can do the following:
import networkx as nx

pygr = nx.karate_club_graph()
pygr.number_of_nodes(), pygr.number_of_edges()
# (34, 78)

club_labels = nx.get_node_attributes(pygr, "club")
print(club_labels)
# {0: "Mr. Hi", ..., 9: "Officer", ...}

So, in Wolfram Language, I do the following:
ClearAll[wlgr];
wlgr = ResourceData["Zachary's Karate Club Network", All]["FullGraph"];
wlgr // {VertexCount, EdgeCount} // Through
(* 34, 78 *)

So far, so good. But the nodes in wlgr do not appear to have attributes. AnnotationKeys does not suggest any such key.
Is this an omission in ResourceData, or are the node attributes available in a different way?

A: Zachary's Karate Club Network does not have vertex labels standardly:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary%27s_karate_club
If a graph has vertex labels
g=RandomGraph[{11,19},VertexLabels->Thread[Range[11]->RandomWord[11]]]

then you get them like
AnnotationValue[g,VertexLabels]

{6->vindictively,3->costing,11->possibility,5->quadrant,8->fridge,7->integument,10->transitivity,9->prescript,4->crabwise,2->grubby,1->teeming}

Although sometimes those labels are vertices themselves:
g=ExampleData[{"NetworkGraph","FlorentineFamilies"}]
VertexList[g]

{Acciaiuoli,Medici,Castellani,Peruzzi,Strozzi,Barbadori,Ridolfi,Tornabuoni,Albizzi,Salviati,Pazzi,Bischeri,Guadagni,Ginori,Lamberteschi}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Redaktör:
Tyler Brule
Serie: Monocle Travel Guide
Bandtyp: Inbunden
(171,70 kr exkl. 6% moms)
Monocle reports from around the globe in print, on radio, and online. As its Edited bys and correspondents dart from city to city, they get to know the best places to rest their heads, stretch their limbs, and kick back with a contact in a hard-to-find cocktail bar. That information is now available in The Monocle's Travel Guide Series: a line-up of titles that speaks to you in an informed but informal way about everything from architecture to art, late-night bars to early-morning markets. Expect a mix of experiences dotted with some quirky surprises. These are books where grand hotels appear alongside family-owned bistros and internationally renowned galleries sit next to unassuming indie clubs that play host to top music talent. The Monocle's Travel Guides mix the classic with the contemporary, go beyond the conventional, and reveal all the hidden spots that cities have to offer. Published by Gestalten, these travel guides are for people who want to get the most out of their stay--however short--and feel like locals rather than tourists. That's why each book has a series of neighborhood walks to take you away from the throng and leave you with a sense of discovery even in cities that you have visited numerous times. Cities are fun. Let's explore.
Nq - Amerika
N - Geografi
Av redaktör:Tyler Brule
Av förlag: gestalten
I samma serie: Monocle Travel Guide


text:
Grouse shooting: Glorious sport or environmental calamity?
How did grouse shooting become such a controversial issue – and does it have a future, asks Louise Gray Credit: Alamy
8 August 2016 • 7:00am
A covey of grouse exploded out of the heather, cackling in alarm, "Go back, go back!" The birds flew with astonishing speed, hugging the contours of the moor, straight towards the guns. Most escaped the shots, turning as quickly as fighter jets, the unlucky ones falling in a flurry of feathers and a flash of their smart white spats.
The paired birds would be whisked off to the Balmoral Hotel that afternoon. As the season goes on, red grouse will start appearing in butchers and game dealers and perhaps your local supermarket. But for some, it leaves a nasty taste.
The naturalist Chris Packham made headlines last month after announcing he is boycotting any supermarket stocking the "toxic produce" and asking his considerable fan base to do the same. He argues that driven grouse shooting, where beaters drive the birds over butts dug out of the moor, is destroying the landscape and killing birds of prey.
It is the latest setback for grouse shooting, a sport now so controversial that the only way I could get on to a shoot on the Glorious Twelfth (traditionally the start of the shooting season) last August was to persuade a gamekeeper to let me come beating on the condition I would not name the estate for fear of violent reprisals against its owners.
Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) in flight Credit: Alamy
How did a gentleman's hobby, practised by a few thousand of the population, become the centre of such a heated debate over cruelty, class and the very shape of our countryside?
Grouse shooting became popular in the 19th century following the development of the breech-loading shotgun and the railway, which enabled people to get to the moorland easily. It was particularly enjoyed by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert, making it fashionable among the aspirational aristocracy.
Today, 1.7 million hectares of moorland in the UK are managed for grouse shooting. The birds rely on young heather shoots for food, so there is a constant cycle of burning or "muirburn" to retain new growth. Predators that can be controlled legally – crows, foxes and stoats – are dispatched by gamekeepers. The result is a man-made environment that also holds wading birds: golden plover, lapwing, ring ouzel and curlews.
Every August, when the heather is in bloom, men and women come from all over the world and pay around £150 a brace to shoot their own grouse. Considering a single gun can shoot dozens of grouse on one drive, some pay thousands of pounds. It's estimated that grouse shooting generates £150 million annually for the rural economy, employing 2,500 people.
But there is one special species that grouse moor management is apparently not helping. The hen harrier is an iconic bird of prey, nicknamed the "skydancer" for its aerial displays during mating season. A recent government study estimated that there should be as many as 2,600 pairs in the UK, but there are just 600. The species, it is claimed, could soon go extinct in England because there are so few nesting this year. So where are they?
'If you want hen harriers, work with keepers, not against them'
Mark Avery, a former conservation director for the RSPB, is clear: "It's the gamekeepers," he says. Since 2000, 20 gamekeepers have been found guilty of "raptor persecution" or poisoning offences on grouse moorland.
Surprising, since he represents a pro-shooting organisation, Andrew Gilruth, director of communications at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), agrees that gamekeepers have killed hen harriers in the past. "We have to be honest," he says. "In 1998 the GWCT published a paper stating that the primary reason for the failure of hen harrier numbers to recover is that they are being suppressed by gamekeepers. I don't have any problems with putting my hands up and saying that is probably still the issue."
But he doesn't think the answer is to ban driven grouse shooting. He believes the answer is to give the gamekeepers another chance.
A number of studies on the Duke of Buccleuch's estate, Langholm Moor, have proved that hen harriers do indeed eat grouse chicks and a number of nesting pairs can make it impossible to run a successful grouse moor.
For decades this intractable problem has shuttled between the grouse moor owners and those who want to see a full recovery in hen harrier numbers.
I visited Langholm Moor, a few weeks before this year's shooting season began, to find out about the latest mediation effort, the 81-page Hen Harrier Joint Recovery Plan run by Natural England. Gilruth argues this time it is different because it gives the gamekeepers reassurance that nesting hen harriers will not necessarily mean an end to the grouse moor and therefore their jobs.
The action plan calls for diversionary feeding of the hen harriers during the breeding season, so they do not eat grouse chicks. It also requires more satellite tagging of hen harriers so that it is easier to keep an eye on them and prevent persecution.
Controversially, it calls for brood management. This means that if a pair of hen harriers is breeding on a grouse moor and a second nest appears within 10km, the landowner can request for the eggs to be taken from the second nest to be raised in an aviary and released elsewhere.
Gamekeepers of grouse shoots are blamed for the fall in numbers of hen harriers Credit: Alamy
Gilruth says brood management will reassure gamekeepers for the first time that if a hen harrier is on their moor, then they can control numbers so that grouse can also be maintained. He accepts that this is seen as "supping with the devil" but argues that it is worth it to maintain both grouse moors and hen harrier numbers. "What is it we really want? Do we want more hen harriers or not? If you really, really want hen harriers, work with the keepers, not against them."
Duncan Thomas, Northern England director at the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC), insists the gamekeepers are ready to play their part. "The ball is in the grouse moor managers' court," he says. "We do need to evidence more harrier nests and equally publicise the incredible work that already happens on those moors. Because otherwise the risk is that the general public turn against us."
Amanda Anderson, director of the Moorland Association, which represents many of the grouse moor owners, says a ban will harm the biodiversity of the moors. Around 75 per cent of the world's heather moorland, which is rarer than rainforest, is in Britain and it requires careful management to maintain. She said the sport holds the community together by providing jobs and bringing in people to enjoy an isolated but carefully managed rural area.
"Without the passion for grouse shooting as the driver, the linchpin that holds it all together would be lost," she says.
Although hen harriers have had a bad breeding season in England this year, there is hope that they will return and under the Hen Harrier Joint Recovery Plan, and grouse moors will at last have the opportunity to prove they can hold hen harriers while running a viable business. Isn't that worth a try?
This year's grouse shooting season will soon be in full swing. I recently returned to the moor where I went beating to enjoy the peace and quiet before the shots began. Scent rose from the heather, I could hear the grouse cackling away happily and bees collecting the pollen. The moor stretched before me, a patchwork of purple, brown and green: flowering ling, cotton grass, bracken. In the distance were forests and beyond that farmland and the sea. It was a very British scene, created by centuries of managing the land, allowing for different needs, different opinions, different species: a mosaic, and one that never stays the same for long.
Louise Gray is an environmental journalist and author. Her first book, The Ethical Carnivore, will be published by Bloomsbury next month


text:
Home News Education Teasing Out the Bully
Teasing Out the Bully
(Teasing Out the Bully)
Local perspectives and experiences with bullying
We've all heard the term "bully" and we may casually throw the term around as a label when we see one kid being mean to another.
Some may say "It's just kids being kids" or "That's just part of growing up." Why do some find it necessary to bully others? What's it like to be the parent of a bullied child? And how does a school district, with thousands of kids, identify and respond to reports of bullying?
Bullying can be defined as recurring aggressive behavior amongst school-aged children, where an imbalance of power, real or perceived, is used to control and harm a victim or victims. Public Information Officer at Hemet Unified School District (HUSD), Alex Sponheim, believes one obstacle to identifying genuine bullying is over-usage of the word "bully" and in separating the one-off incidents that are common amongst school children, saying, "Part of the bullying epidemic is education, and not throwing around the term, because it lessens it for students that are actually targeted and going through it daily, as the term defines."
The roots of bullying behavior and its effects are a multidirectional and complex issue.
A "reformed bully" we'll call Mr. B., says he was bullied for having a lisp and a stutter and that he became a bully himself after gaining other's respect through fighting back, saying, "I began bullying them. A lot of us had things in common: hard upbringings, no fathers . . . a lot of instability at home. Zero tolerance policies wouldn't have done anything to help me. I think bullying is a symptom of something deeper and I think sometimes children just need to be shown that there are more similarities than differences amongst peers."
One Mother mentions that her 12-year-old daughter is victim of bullying at a local middle school, where she is physically and verbally abused daily, by both male and female students. Bullying has led this student to lose interest in her hobbies and she suffers from depression and panic attacks, so severe, they've landed her in the emergency room. The mother says, "She's lost all her friends for "telling." There are days when she doesn't want to go (to school) or even get out of bed . . . she desperately wants to be homeschooled now because she dreads facing what they might do to her." Frustrated and desperate, the mother feels her voice isn't being heard and that schools need to be harder on bullies. She fears the worst of what bullying can lead to: children killing themselves and others out of hopelessness and retaliation.
Regarding parents who feel current policies are not effective, Sponheim says, "It's a frustrating situation to be in . . . it's not going to be solved if we're not communicated with. Each of us has a different piece of the puzzle, and until we have the entire picture of what's happening, we can't get to the solution. Never assume that staff knows. There's over a thousand kids that we're all trying to look after, and so inevitably, there's going to be things that we miss." DMS Principal, Kristen Anderson adds that communicating face to face with parents is the best way to coordinate services and efforts, saying, "Sometimes there's a disconnect between what's going on with the student at home and at school . . . together we can come up with action steps to monitor and make a plan; check progress and reevaluate . . . I think together we can make a really big difference."
On every website for Hemet Unified, information can be shared anonymously about bullying incidents. Students, peers, or family members are urged to report what they see at http://sprigeo.com/
Search: Teasing Out the Bully
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text:
Wydarzenia

 wojna Persji z Lidią, nierozstrzygnięta bitwa pod Pterią

Zmarli
 Tales z Miletu, filozof grecki (data sporna lub przybliżona) (ur. 625 p.n.e.) (data sporna lub przybliżona).
 Krezus, władca Lidii (data sporna lub przybliżona)


text:
Q: Rails 4 Use Redis With Postgresql for followers/following I would like to model following/followers between users in a Rails app and found these 2 useful resources :
https://www.railstutorial.org/book/following_users
http://jimneath.org/2011/03/24/using-redis-with-ruby-on-rails.html
The benefits of using Redis are clear to me, but I am not used to persisting a model outside of postgres.
Can they both be used together, Redis for fastening the queries, and postgres to have the data persisted in the database as well or is it unuseful duplicate data?
For instance a follow method using both would look like:
#User.rb

def follow!(user)
  # Save in the DB
  active_relationships.create(followed_id: user.id)

  # Save to Redis
  $redis.multi do
    $redis.sadd(self.redis_key(:following), user.id)
    $redis.sadd(user.redis_key(:followers), self.id)
  end
end

With all counting methods unsing Redis
# number of users being followed
def following_count
  $redis.scard(self.redis_key(:following))
end


text:
Research ArticleBehavioral Pharmacology
Influence of Contingent and Noncontingent Drug Histories on the Development of High Levels of MDPV Self-Administration
Michelle R. Doyle, Agnieszka Sulima, Kenner C. Rice and Gregory T. Collins
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics November 2021, 379 (2) 108-116; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.121.000655
Michelle R. Doyle
Department of Pharmacology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas (M.R.D., G.T.C.); South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, Texas (M.R.D., G.T.C.); and Drug Design and Synthesis Section, Molecular Targets and Medications Discovery Branch, NIDA and NIAAA, Bethesda, Maryland (A.S., K.C.R.)
Agnieszka Sulima
Kenner C. Rice
Gregory T. Collins
Thank you for sharing this Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article.
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Effects of Drug Histories on MDPV Self-Administration
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics November 1, 2021, 379 (2) 108-116; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.121.000655
Authorship Contributions
CB1 Receptor PAMs Attenuate Opioid Withdrawal Signs in Mice
Mu opioid receptor agonist mixtures
Show more Behavioral Pharmacology


text:
Women's Equality Party (WEP) Member Ejected
Author(s): Phoebe Davies-Owen and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Dr. Heather Brunskell-Evans, a visiting research fellow at King's College London and member of the Women's Equality Party (WEP), has been called transphobic over recent comments. Her research has focused on the gendering of the body in medicine and sexuality.
In addition to the claim of being transphobic, Brunskell-Evans has been sacked as "an official spokeswoman after complaints about her views on transgender people," according to Pink News.
She has been a critic of parents embracing their trans children, calling it "abusive" of the parents.
In a conversation with Moral Maze of Radio 4, she said, "What actually happens is that a small child is told there is something not quite right with its body, and it's got the brain of another gender. I think we're imposing… I think it's abusive, actually. We're imposing restrictions on children."
Josiah Mortimer, in the Left Foot Forward, reported that Brunskell-Evans said that parents should not encourage children as feeling as if in the wrong body. In a debate with two trans activists, Brunskell-Evans stated:
If a child decides that it's an astronaut, one can play along with this. One doesn't have to moralise about it but quite clearly the child is not an astronaut. In fact it's incumbent upon adults who are responsible for the welfare, psychological and social and medical, of children not to go along with this story.
Currently, according to The Christian Institute, an adult diagnosed as gender dysphoric and living as an individual of the opposite sex for two years can submit an application for a recognition of gender.
In a statement issued on her website, Brunskell-Evans wrote that "A substantive number of medical professionals are extremely worried about this practice," referring to the use of hormone blockers.
She continued, "…but daren't speak out for fear of accusations of transphobia." She states that hormone blockers have serious health consequences, including the probability of infertility.
She refutes that she has promoted prejudice against trans individuals and instead has called "for transparent public debate, without fear of reprisal, of the social, psychological and physical consequences of the narrative that children can be born in 'the wrong body.'"
The reactions to opinions like Brunskell-Evans' are becoming more outraged, as the issue of Transgenderism becomes more contentious.
Only a few months ago in Bath University, an investigation was started into claims that an application for research on gender reassignment was declined because it was "potentially politically correct."
James Caspian went back with preliminary findings that suggested growing numbers of young people, particularly women, were regretting gender reassignment, and when he re-submitted his proposal to an ethics committee, it was rejected.
Both Brunskell-Evans and Caspian's views were barred from having a presence at universities, institutions where diversity of ideas, research, and academic claims should be encouraged and debated.
« Interview with Brenda Germain — President, MASH Ft. Bragg
Interview with Professor Colleen MacQuarrie, Ph.D. — Professor, Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island »


text:
John Cossette (February 22, 1957 – April 26, 2011) was an American theater and television producer known for his work on televised award shows, especially the television broadcasts of the Grammy Awards.

Cossette's father, television producer Pierre Cossette, was known as the "father of the Grammy Awards telecast." Pierre Cossette helmed the first televised broadcast of the Grammy Awards in 1971.

John Cossette became the producer of the Grammy Awards following the departure of his father from the awards show. Cossette remained involved with the television broadcast of the Grammy Awards for more than twenty years, and also produced the Latin Grammy Awards show and the Grammy nominations concert. Most recently, Cossette worked as the executive producer of the 53rd Grammy Awards held on February 13, 2011.

In 2009, Cossette began producing productions of the musical, Million Dollar Quartet in Chicago, on Broadway and in London's West End. Cossette also produced awards show for the cable television network, BET. His other producing credits include the reopening ceremony for Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 1999.

John Cossette died on April 26, 2011, at the age of 54. No cause of death was ever given. He was survived by his wife, Rita, and two daughters. His father, Pierre Cossette, died in September 2009.

References

External links

1957 births
2011 deaths
Television producers from California
American theatre directors
Grammy Awards
Place of birth missing
People from Los Angeles


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Q: React Forms data is present in two components I have two Components App,Entry2.
In App I am calling Entry2 which is basically a form.Now i wanted to get the selected option back to App.How do I do that?
App.jsx
<Entry2
      question="What is the color of apple?"
      op1="red"
      op2="green"
      op3="blue"
      op4="yellow"
/>

Entry2.jsx
function Entry2(props) {
  return (

{props.question}

            <input type="checkbox" id="op1" name="ans" value="{props.op1}" />
            {props.op1}
            <input type="checkbox" id="op2" name="ans" value="{props.op2}" />
            {props.op2}
            <input type="checkbox" id="op3" name="ans" value="{props.op3}" />
            {props.op3}
            <input type="checkbox" id="op4" name="ans" value="{props.op4}" />
            {props.op4}
            <input type="submit"/>

  );
}

A: There a few ways to get data back to the parent component.
The first method is to let the parent component to manage the form state and listen for change events so that the state can be updated.
In the second method, you keep the state inside the Entry2 component itself and only "notify" the parent component on submit. This is useful if the component is the full form for example.
I also suggest that you make the options more dynamic. I'm also guessing that there should only be 1 option selected so you probably would want to use a select input.
Instead of the op1..op4 props, change it to a single options prop like so:
<Entry2
  question="What is the color of apple?"
  options={['red', 'green', 'blue', 'yellow']}
/>

If more colours need to be added, you can simply add one to the options Array.
When you choose the second method, you will have to make the following changes:

const {useState} = React;

function Entry2(props) {
  // use an empty string or the default selected option `props.options[0]`
  const [value, setValue] = useState('');

  return (

{props.question}

        <form onSubmit={event => props.onSubmit(event, value)}>
          <select onChange={event => setValue(event.target.value)}>
            {props.options.map(option => <option key={option} value={option}>{option}</option>)}
          </select>
          <input type="submit" />
        </form>

  );
}

function App() {
  const [submittedValue, setSubmittedValue] = useState();

  return (

      <Entry2
        question="What is the color of the apple?"
        options={['red', 'green', 'blue', 'yellow']}
        onSubmit={(event, value) => {
          event.preventDefault();
          setSubmittedValue(value);
        }}
      />

Submitted: {submittedValue}

  );
}

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));


Naseem Hameed is Pakistan's first female athlete to win the sprint in the competition's 26 year history.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari appointed gold-winning Pakistan woman athletes Naseem Hamid a sports ambassadors to honor her extraordinary success.
We Provide clean and quality content about Pakistani famous women of sports. Pakistani famous sports girls .You will find useful information about Pakistani female of different fields. . pictures of Pakistani famous woman .photos of celebrities .Biographies of Pakistani girls and women.


PHILIP BEARD AND DEBORA HAMMOND ARE MEMBERS OF THE FRIENDS OF PUBLIC BANKING SANTA ROSA TASK FORCE.
Santa Rosa's Measure N housing bond has been defeated. So the City Council's search for the resources to address our most pressing problems just got a lot harder.
The immense costs of post-fire rebuilding have made solving those issues — homelessness, affordable housing, roads and other infrastructure, school budgets, etc. — more problematic than ever. And Measure N's demise has made it clear that bonded indebtedness — the standard option for avoiding program cuts or new taxes — isn't going to bail us out.
For several years now, a group of local citizens called Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa has been arguing before the City Council that a local public bank would save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in fees and interest payments that currently are gobbled up by the private megabanks that hold city accounts. Those monies, kept here at home, would go a long way toward surmounting our housing and infrastructure challenges. Public banks exist to help the people meet their needs, not to maximize stockholder profit like privately owned banks.
Furthermore, if our city accounts were run through our own bank, we would no longer tacitly support the environmentally, ethically and financially unsound practices of Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase. We could adopt socially responsible banking criteria that profit-driven private banks cannot or will not observe.
The best existing American public bank model is the venerable Bank of North Dakota, which was founded in 1919 and has been remarkably successful ever since.
A "wholesale bank," the Bank of North Dakota partners with local banks and credit unions to provide low-interest credit for infrastructure, agriculture, small business and student loans, while simultaneously turning a healthy profit.
In Germany, a network of over 400 publicly owned municipal and regional banks known as "Sparkassen" has funded that country's exemplary progress toward a fully renewable energy grid. Globally, an estimated 40 percent of all banks are publicly owned.
As these examples show, public bank feasibility is well established. Even so, persuading the electorate to support a fundamental change in our city's banking habits will take a lot of public education. We hope the Santa Rosa City Council, faced with Measure N's failure, will join actively in that effort.
The city has made a good start. To their great credit, Chief Financial Officer Chuck McBride and Alan Alton, the deputy director of finance, have researched the public bank concept with care and open-mindedness, reflected in their report to the city's long-term financial policy and audit subcommittee.
The council has voted to accept the committee's recommendation to postpone any further action until publication of the public-bank business plans now being prepared in Oakland/East Bay and Los Angeles. We are encouraged by the finance subcommittee's willingness to continue the discussion. The failure of Measure N will surely provide new impetus to the council's deliberations.
Much public-bank talk has revolved around the potential for accommodating the banking needs of the burgeoning cannabis industry. This application of the public bank concept is now being addressed at the state level, as part of the full-scale feasibility study commissioned by state Treasurer John Chiang. The report is due out in December. We look forward to seeing how its findings might dovetail with our own municipal initiative.
The time has come for Santa Rosa to join the shift toward public banking. The benefits wouldn't be immediate, because it would take a few years to develop the envisioned bank responsibly. But even the decision to embark on that path would lay a foundation of much-needed hope for our financial future.
We urge the City Council to authorize the empaneling of a group of experts to prepare a feasibility/implementation study at the earliest possible date. We literally cannot afford to wait any longer.
Philip Beard and Debora Hammond are emeritus faculty members at Sonoma State University and members of the Friends of Public Banking Santa Rosa Task Force.


text:
Q: Codeigniter remove /index.php from URL Okay so I know that a lot of people have been asking the same or similar questions, but I don't seem to find a solution that works for my project. So please don't put this as a duplicate.
I have a website made with codeigniter. It was running just fine without the index.php in the url. So the rewrite was successfull. Until a few days ago: all of a sudden the admin area (/admin) returned a 404 and was only accessible by the path '/index.php/admin'. The rewrite code that once used to work didn't do a thing anymore.
And know I'm back at the start -> the problem is that I cannot delete the index.php from my url.
I tried so many things that I don't know what to do anymore.
The application is stored under 'public_html/application/...
The image below is inside the application folder where the .htaccess file and index.php are.
Is this the right location to change the .htaccess?

I tried rewriting the .htaccess but without success:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php/$0 [PT,L]

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|public|\.txt)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?$1

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond $1 !^CI/(index\.php|public|images|robots\.txt|css)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond $1 !^(index\.php|images|robots|css\.txt)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]

My config file:
$config['base_url'] = 'http://www.mysite.be/';
$config['index_page'] = '';
$config['uri_protocol'] = 'AUTO';

Routes.php:
$route['default_controller'] = "c_home/index";
$route['404_override'] = '';
$route['admin'] = "c_home/adminpanel";
$route['logout'] = "c_login/logout";

Does anybody have a clue what is going on or how this can be fixed?
Thanks in advance!

A: The .htaccess should be in the public_html directory -- ie: one level up from the current location.
The index.php is presumably in public_html already and
The index.* you have in the picture is index.html -- as it should be.
If .htaccess is in the right place per the above, then this .htaccess code will work:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1 [L]

A: So I have been messing around with this and finally made it work
For this I made changes to the htaccess and controllers.
I changed the admin function to a new controller and changed this in the routes.php
new routing
$route['admin'] = "c_login/index";

new .htaccess
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule .* index.php/$0 [PT,L]

A: Try set
$config['uri_protocol'] = 'PATH_INFO'

And set
$config['enable_query_strings'] = FALSE;

A: If we need a remove /index.php from url in codeigniter
Than
application/config/config.php
  $config['index_page'] = '';

  $config['uri_protocol'] = 'REQUEST_URI';

add .htaccess file at root directory of project
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /[Your project folder name]/
RewriteCond $1 !^(index.php|resources|robots.txt)
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L,QSA]

Now you can access like
http://example.com/controller/method
May it's helpfull for you

A: I don't know what the heck you're doing with all that code, but I just put this in my .htaccess file:
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]

And boom.


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Thanks to advances in technology, it is now possible for pet owners to put their personal information onto a microchip. Names, address and contact telephone numbers are all able to be stored just under the skin of your family pet should he go missing. Veterinarians are able to use a scanner similar to those seen in grocery stores that works on RIFD – radio frequency identification – to obtain your information and contact you if your pet is found.
Microchips are basically sophisticated identity collars and an increasing number of responsible pet owners are choosing to have their pets' microchipped.
Most statistics reveal that more than 50% of microchipped dogs are returned to their owner, compared to varying figures of between 20-30% of non-microchipped dogs.It's good news for cat owners too as again substantially more microchipped felines are being returned to their families.
Here we are going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about microchipping your pet.
In short, no. Microchipping your pet is a simple and quick procedure that doesn't require any anesthesia. The microchip comes preloaded in a sterilized applicator that is injected into the loose part of skin between your pets' shoulder blades.
The entire process usually takes less than two minutes and should hurt no more than a routine booster shot.
Are there any side effects to microchipping?
Just like when your pet has a booster shot, the injection site may be a little tender for a day or so and you should avoid stroking your pet there in case it causes them discomfort.
Occasionally there have been reports of microchips 'migrating' in the body. This is very rare, and they can be removed in a small procedure if it becomes a problem.
There have been some concerns that microchipping causes cancer in animals. However there is not enough scientific evidence to support this, particularly as many studies on microchipped animals have been done on mice, who do not share the same biological system as dogs or cats.
There are also other studies that suggest that certain genetic lines of animals are naturally more vulnerable to developing cancer in soft tissue after a foreign material has been inserted into the skin. Again there is not enough research to be conclusive on this concern.
What we do know is that the known benefits of microchipping currently outweigh the possible risks.
The average cost to have the chip implanted is around $45 and usually includes registration on to a pet recovery database. However many pet associations and charities offer reduced price microchipping for responsible pet owners on a budget. Ask your veterinarian for more details.
If you are adopting from a shelter or purchasing a pup/kitten from a breeder then you will need to check and see if your new pet already has a microchip in place. If so you will need to make sure the chip is up to date with your personal information. If your pet isn't already microchipped then you should arrange for this to be done as soon as possible.
How often do I need to get my pet microchipped?
The microchip itself is made of biocompatible material that should not break down over time, meaning that it should last for the lifetime of your pet.
If you have any concerns or worries about the chip working correctly you can ask your veterinarian to scan and check it at your pet's routine appointment.
Does this mean I can get rid of my pet's collar or ID tags?
No, absolutely not. Microchipping should not be a replacement for collars and ID tags but merely a backup in case they get come off. After all, it will be far easier for a neighbor to call the number on the tag than take your pet to a veterinarian to have the chip scanned and read.
We hope that this answers any questions that you may have about microchipping, but if you need further advice do not hesitate to speak to your veterinarian.


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Read Chance the Rapper's Foreword to 'A People's History of Chicago'
ByEric Skelton
Head of music. Contact: Instagram / Twitter
Chance The Rapper has never been quiet about his passion for Chicago.
Actively spearheading charitable initiatives in the city and occasionally dedicating whole projects "for Chicago," it's clear how much he cares about his hometown. Today, his passion came out in the form of frustration after a disappointing meeting with Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, who gave him "vague answers" about funding for Chicago's public schools.
Coincidentally, on the same afternoon, a foreward written by Chance for poet Kevin Coval's new book A People's History of Chicago has been shared by Pitchfork. In eight paragraphs, Chance describes the advantages he was given by growing up in the city and reveals why his brief stay in Los Angeles wasn't the right fit.
The passionate note (written months ago) gives some insight into his love for the city and provides some context for why he appeared so visibly upset following his meeting with Rauner. Read it in its entirety below and look for the book's release on March 20.
Foreward by Chance The Rapper:
We got the cheat codes.
There's no other place on earth where you can go to a centralized space and see thirteen-, fourteen-, fifteen-, sixteen-, seventeen-, and eighteen-year-olds who want to conquer art and music. I left Chicago for a little and went to L.A. But have you ever seen a raw-ass tree or a raw-ass plant that's beautiful, that's fully bloomed and growing? It can't fully bloom if you uproot it. If you take it somewhere else, out of its natural environment, it's not gonna grow the same way. If you take a tree out of the dirt, a Christmas tree, and move it into your crib, it'll stay that exact same tree for a little while before it starts to wilt, but it won't grow anymore. You can't uproot a plant. You have to let it grow. If I were to have grown in LA, I might've grown into some shit I'm not supposed to be or just not grown at all, or just peaked. I can reach my peak in Chicago cuz that's where I was planted and where I can continue to grow.
I had planned on living in LA, but when I was out there going to parties and feeling that vibe, I thought it was ungodly, it wasn't true to who I was born to be or what I was supposed to grow to be. Being there made me realize this is not where I'm supposed to get my biggest experiences. As sad as I ever was in LA, the lowest I've ever been, it's not where my lowest was supposed to be. The highest I've been, the happiest I've been in Los Angeles, was not where my life's happiest moments were supposed to be. Being happy means doing what you are supposed to do, being exactly who you are supposed to be. My god, my inner understanding, whatever it is that guides me, had me recognizing that I'm not supposed to be there.
We have a head start. If you've been in that building once, in the Harold Washington Library, one time, you know. Harold Washington. The first Black mayor of Chicago. A very powerful man. A very connected man. A very humble and grounded man. A household name who died in office while at work. His library is in the center of downtown, in the center of the Loop, where all the trains meet. For us to walk into that building is astounding. My dad volunteered for Harold Washington. That's how he got his record expunged. That's how he dodged the system. Years later, he has a library named after him and I could walk in from the cold and experience this temple.
From the age of fourteen, I was trying to go against the grain, to grow into a time and period where it's dope to be anti-establishment, where it's dope to not just accept all the answers that are given to you but to look for your own answers. I am trying to push that. I'm trying to push that to other people who didn't get taught that. As kids that grew up in the '90s and early 2000s, we are able to ask questions like: What's going on? Who are the people leading us? Who are those people teaching us? What are they telling us? How are they able to tell us that? Who are they and where are they coming from and is it the truth? I've been taught to be a critical thinker, and I was able to say this doesn't feel right. Having the understanding I've been blessed with, I've been able to discern that that shit is not right, that it doesn't feel right, that it doesn't seem right.
I met Kevin Coval at an orientation at Jones College Prep, the first time I ever went into my high school cuz I didn't check it out beforehand. I just signed up for it and applied. So my first time going up to the school was for the Louder Than A Bomb team orientation and Kevin was doing a writing workshop. Though I didn't make my slam team or to Louder Than A Bomb, Kevin ended up being very instrumental to me.
Kevin Coval is my artistic father. He mentored my friends Malcolm London and Dimress Dunnigan and Fatimah Warner and got me shows, and those shows got me a little bit of bread and the confidence to continue and take the craft seriously. In a lot of ways he was the other side of Brother Mike for me, and anybody from Chicago knows what that means and how big a statement that is. He was that for me and for a lot of people.
Kevin made art a job to me. He made me feel like it was real. He made me feel like the competition was real. He made me feel that the money was real. He made me feel that the love and the fans were real. And if I didn't have him in my life I would've been complacent. He took me out of that space and made me understand what it is to be a poet, what it is to be an artist, and what it is to serve the people.
Chance the Chicagoan
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