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Turbo-Torch
Everything posted by Turbo-Torch
Do Old Computer Modems Still Work?
Turbo-Torch replied to bluejay's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
The acoustic couplers were a thing from '78 to maybe '82 at the latest. There was no shortage of wild looking phones in the 70s, so the handsets were not all the same. People didn't hesitate to save money and add style to their home by purchasing their own phone and sending back their rented phones to Ma Bell. And like I already said, if you needed to use an acoustic, odds were good there was still a Princess or Western Electric somewhere in the household. If the year was 1977 and you just brought home your brand new TRS-80 Model I and didn't have a phone with a standard handset to use with your new acoustic coupler (not really sure what or who you'd be dialing into), you could head back to Radio Shack and pick up a brand new Western Electric style phone for $34.95 or a refurbished one for $14.95 catalog #279-371. If you have a landline and want to use an acoustic coupler today just for the thrill of it (and I think that's what you're wanting to do from reading some of your posts), simply buy a real vintage phone. Hit eBay, Craigslist, flea markets, your old neighbor a few doors down and get yourself a Western Electric or Princess style phone for under $20 bucks. If it's not smashed up, odds are it'll work as they were next to indestructible. You'll also need a 4 prong to RJ11 adapter (unless your house is older and still has some of those old style wall jacks). I would also stick with touch tone, rotary dial phones use pulse and some telcos no longer support that. A side hobby of mine is old telephones...they're incredibly cool, everybody loves them and they still make and take phone calls as always. I have a hotline red 1958 Bell Western Electric in my rec room. Been in my family for 62 years and it works perfect. Also have an original 1st year touch tone Mickey Mouse phone in my office. My 80s game room has a period correct high tech looking wall phone called the Fiero (not related to the car). One of my favorites is a cordless phone I got for my birthday in the very early 80s. It's so old, it has a push button keypad, but only dials out in pulse and the base and handset are covered in brown leather. It's made by ITT, is pushing 40 years old and still has a 1/2 mile range to it. That one has some stories attached to it involving police and detectives knocking at my parents' front door.
There was no standard handset. Before anyone even knew what a home computer was, there were trimline phones with the dial inside the handset, tacky French phones that could only be popular in the 70s, phones with squared off handsets, round space age phones, novelty phones... None of those would work with an acoustic coupler. That said, most households had a few Princess and/or Western Electric 500 phones still in use.
Atarivox problems
Turbo-Torch replied to Turbo-Torch's topic in Atari 2600
Thank you! Works great with my Vectrex now.
Turbo-Torch posted a topic in Atari 2600
Received my Atarivox a few days ago and it works great with my 2600. Today I went to use it with my Vectrex and I can't figure out the DIP switches. The board layout and switch settings don't seem to be the same as in the manual. Default setting in the manual appears to be 123 down and 45 up. Default on mine was 12 down and 345 up. Now if I flip it over so the numbers are upside down, it looks the same as what's illustrated in the manual. If I try to configure VecVox or VecVoice the same way, it shorts out and shuts down my Vectrex. Now if I flip it around and and try again for VecVox, it initializes and but says VecVoice? If I play Yasi, I get no speech. If I put it back to the way it came, it plays fine in my 2600. Is there an updated switch setting for Rev. 2?
Why is IBM not a major computer company anymore?
Agreed that $10K wasn't much for a business computer. I like thumbing through old catalogs and seeing how quickly a system can hit $50K after adding memory, hard drives, a few terminals and a fast printer. The problem is when you get people who can't discern between the home market and the business world. This just goes back to a similar thread from a while ago when someone inferred that 8088 systems were next to worthless by 1988 because the 386 was released in '87 and you really needed that kind of power to play current games. This was at a time when you were lucky to have a disk drive for your C64 and were king of the school or neighborhood if you had a 8088 based system with 256K. Yup, the 386 systems were out there, but they sure weren't playing video games in people's homes. A Tandy 3000 was $4,300 back then and it was a 286 system. If you wanted a top end Compaq 386, it would set you back about $13K after taxes...nobody was spending the equivalent of $30K in today's money to play Outrun. lol Also, when it came to a home computer's longevity of usefulness, the 80s seemed more like today...you could have a 5 year old XT, C64 or Atari 8 bit and the current software ran on it fine. The fast paced PCs of the 90s sucked. Buy or build a new system and 6 months later there's something with twice the speed, memory and storage for less money that can run programs you can't. I'm glad those days are over. The Toshiba laptop I'm using to type this still gets along fine at 9 years old.
Is it safe to use AAs instead of Cs?
Turbo-Torch replied to bluejay's topic in Hardware
I had those adapter shells back in the 70s and they were probably being sold long before that. AA to D is next to worthless since most anything using D cells will be high current drain...the mAh difference is too great. The C to D adapters were ok and I wish I could still find them, as someone gave me boxes and boxes of Duracell Procell C batteries made for medical equipment.
Tandy Portable Disk Drive Repair
Turbo-Torch replied to bluejay's topic in Tandy Computers
I'm really trying to figure you out. Do you randomly buy old computers with little to no knowledge about them? When you buy one, do you try to gather the most basic information about them by reading the manuals? The links below took only seconds to find using Google. The first link has pdf downloads to all the manuals you can want for your 100 series computer. The center link is specifically for the drive you're asking about, including schematics. The third link is to Radio Shack's catalogs from back in the day. Open the page to your computer...read what your computer can do, take notice of the very informative fine print specs, check out all the other ads for the accessories that were available, read about all the software that was available. http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/kyocera/index.htm http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/kyocera/potrtdisk.pdf http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.html It seems you've recently bought a VIC 20, CoCo, Model 100 and an expensive Apple setup. Have you managed to get even one of them working properly? Just a suggestion...maybe buy one system, take your time doing needed maintenance and repairs to get it 100%, then learn how to use it and its peripherals, load programs, enter programs, etc. before moving on to another system. Like I said, just a suggestion. And then when you need a proprietary part like Arcade Shopper's custom built cable at an extremely reasonable $25, it won't seem like it costs a fortune to you. Oh and one other suggestion...when you ask questions and others take the time to answer, you often leave them hanging by never coming back to that thread. An example is the one you started about your fuse popping VIC 20. Maybe a simple thanks or hitting a like button once in a while so that person doesn't feel like they typed into a black hole?
There are still active dial up BBSs. I typically use an old ass 1200 baud modem because it looks cool and there's really no need to go higher. I've used 4800 no problem...that's the highest my favorite terminal program for my Model III supports. Technically the computer will handle up to 9600 and I'm sure my phone lines do too. FAX machines use modems and are still a reality, and no matter what idiots claim, they are still heavily used in the business world.
Was the IBM PCjr That Bad?
I considered my 2000 to be about 10% compatible. Anything that required graphics wasn't going to work. Such a shame as it was an insane powerhouse that was years ahead of its time. I bought a corporate model from a local Radio Shack that had every conceivable option from their catalog stuffed in it...hi res 640X400 board (with CM-1 color monitor!) for CAD, 768K extended memory, 8087 math co-processor, internal HD which allowed both floppies to stay in place, a modem, lots of business software, etc. They wanted $100 for all of it, so I figured what the heck...it wasn't even a discontinued model at that time, it ran MSDOS and should blow away my 1000 EX, so how could I go wrong? In comparison, my $600 1000 EX was a toy spec wise compared to the $10,000+ 2000 setup, yet the EX did everything and the 2000 next to nothing. It was like owning a Lamborghini without a steering wheel. I was around 18 at the time and kicked myself for wasting $100 on it. It did run Telix well and I let a friend borrow it (around 1989) so we could team up and play Tradwars 2000 on several local BBSs. One of these days I'm going to get it back from him because I can almost guarantee it's still in his parents' house. It's one of those things I could appreciate a lot more now.
CoCo2 won't display correctly
Cocos are rather old technology...I would at least give it 2 days to repair itself.
Got a CoCo2! Having Problems(and lots of questions)...
AKA Earworms...see one, probably have hundreds. Some are known to burrow into ear canals of their sleeping victims. 👂🐛
CoCo 2 Cassette Problems
Or belts, dirty head, magnetized head, capacitors, placed too close to a monitor or some other source of RFI in the room, old cassettes that are no good, trying to save data on cheap cassettes or metal cassettes. Unless your brain and ears are attuned frequencies streaming at 1500 baud, being able to listen to music on it means nothing. I replaced the belts and all capacitors in my CTR-80 to make it reliable again.
What have I done...
Turbo-Torch replied to Opry99er's topic in Tandy Computers
The 100 HAS a 300 baud internal modem. Early models came with 24K or 8K depending on your budget (memory was very expensive in 1984). Later on they only offered 24K. 8K kit brought it to 32K. The 102 came with 24K of memory and an 8K kit would bring it to 32K, same as the 100. The extra 8K was only $14.95 in 1989. By 1990 they included the 8K kit giving it 32K, but also jacked up the price $100...which was funny, because you'd be paying $85 more than the previous year. The 102 is just a slightly thinner version of the 100...neither one is more capable than the other.
DSHD Floppy Compatibility
What is your budget and what kind of programs are you wanting to run? You mentioned desktops being too expensive...luggables are rare, not as expandable and will usually cost far more. A Compaq 1 is from 1983, it's an 8088 that runs at 4.77 mhz and needs add on boards to go beyond 256K. It's not going to be much fun, especially if you don't get one with a hard drive. For luggables, I have a two IBM P70 systems that were made in 1988. They are 386 systems with 3.5" 1.44 floppy drives, hard drives and EGA graphics. The built in monitor is red plasma monochrome but there is an external EGA port for a regular monitor. They seem to be the best of all worlds, but unfortunately (as wierd_w mentioned) they have MicroChannel expansion slots, and the few soundboards that were made are worth their weight in gold. Mine have 486 upgrade kits running over 100 mhz and 64mb of RAM, yet they're not fun game machines without a sound card/joystick port and I'm not about to fork over $500 for a used MCA sound card. When it comes to endless cheap/free 8088 to 486 systems, you missed the boat on that by 10 years. That said, you should still be able to search your local Craigslist and thrift stores and eventually find a cheap generic system. If you only want a collectable name brand like IBM, it'll be difficult to find someone dumb enough to let one go dirt cheap. I still have a generic desktop I bought from Staples back in 2004. It's a Pentium running at 3.2 ghz, has a floppy drive, DVD drive, decent size hard drive, USB ports, real RS232 ports, parallel printer port, built sound that compatible with everything and a graphics card. The reason I hang onto it is because it transcends two different eras. I can drop to DOS and run programs like Telix that I've been using since the mid 80s. It came with Windows XP (which runs great on it) and with the upgraded video card, it can still run later FPS games. RS232 ports are great for legacy equipment and yet it still has plenty of USB ports. If I decided I didn't want it anymore, I'd probably put it on Craigslist for $50 bucks.
That's sort of why I said this several days ago:
You're linking to 1.2 mb floppy drives, so yes they'll work with those drives. They're not going to work with 180K or 360K (SSDD or DSDD) drives due to the different heads and magnetic media. He mentioned AT computers and compatibles; most systems starting from the AT had 1.2 mb drives, so those disks would work fine if that's what he has. And fwiw, I've found TEAC drives to be the furthest thing from quality. Tandon set the bar back in the day and the pair I put in my Model III 35 years ago are still being used today. I was stung twice by TEACs that failed just outside of warranty...and this was back when a bare drive was $200+ hundred dollars.
Most likely MSDOS based programs. They're 1.2 mb floppies so probably programs for a later PC AT and not the 360K PC/XT drives. You also won't be able to format and use them in an older DSDD or SSDD drive...at least not something like a Tandon used in older PCs. I also doubt they'd get along with Atari and Commodore drives either. They will format, but you'll get tons of sector errors when you try to read them.
What Makes Missile Command So Hard?
Turbo-Torch replied to Mr. Brow's topic in Arcade and Pinball
Sounds awesome! I'm sure we'd all love to see some photos of it. Will you be posting at least one tonight? I'm sure you also have a photo of that cab you "moved up" to, so by all means, please show us. Now why weren't you able to get it working correctly? Did you not have enough experience to refurbish a simple WG monitor? And what was with the intermittent switches? Odd that I've never experienced that with the CHERRY SWITCHES that Atari used...was there a reason you were not able to replace them along with the very inexpensive rollers and bearings in the trakball assembly?
I thought about cutting the fingers off for that full 80s effect, but you sorta need full contact with the maxi trakball. I do need a new glove though, a lot of the nubbies are worn completely away and the rest rock hard.
Not sure if this glove is considered cheating, but it gives good traction on the trakball.
First game I bought (which was almost 22 years ago!) and it took me forever to break 100K. It's been my favorite since it came out and if I ever decide to get out of the game scene, it'll still be a keeper. Never been able to master the rhythm that allows some to play it forever.
If you don't need the box and foam, they're very reasonable. I just looked at completed auctions on eBay and found about a dozen that sold for $50 or less. No lines from bad zebra strips, no missing keys and little to no yellowing. At last year's Tandy Assembly there was quite a selection in the $30 to $50 range. I believe the Model 100 offers the most bang for the buck in vintage computing by far. You can barely get a useless Mattel Aquarius in that price range. Personally, I've picked up seven of them through two different CL ads. Five are in excellent shape and two are parts machines (bad zebra strips). All have the pleather cases, manuals and power supplies. I believe all have the full 32K and several have various special ROMs from back in the day. I also have a Model 200 with the large flip up screen that's in excellent shape but has turned a nasty brown...needs a retrobrite treatment. All were free.
Going to try this again, posts go into that cloudflare thing and never show up. The built in modem or using a null modem with the rs232 should do what you need. It also has a cassette interface so you could probably download programs, convert them to a wav or mp3 and then load it that way. I've called current BBSs using the built in telcom program and it works well. Look into getting one just for the fun of it. They made so many, it's got to be one of the cheapest vintage computers out there. A really nice one shouldn't go for more than $50 bucks. If you want a DVI, that'll probably cost a small fortune.
Asteroids Deluxe
Turbo-Torch replied to VectorGamer's topic in Arcade and Pinball
Another big difference of the Deluxe is the floating play field and background that glows with a black light...very cool visual effect that not many games had back then and can't be emulated. Also has a very good sound system, hard to believe the highs and pounding bass come from a single speaker.
They are great little computers that can still be somewhat useful today. I like to keep a journal of complex equipment I work on out in the field for future trouble shooting and the 100 makes a perfect notebook. I'm supplied with the latest smart phone and laptop but hate dickin' around with the tiny smart phone screen or taking the laptop out of its Pelican case, waiting for it to boot up, setting up a hotspot with the phone, hoping it's not going to update Windows 10 and then typing on its modern piss poor crap keyboard. With a Model 100, flip a switch and you're instantly presented with a menu that doesn't require reading glasses. And the keyboard is phenomenal! I would love to find a modern laptop with a keyboard even half as good as a 100. Seriously, it's almost as good as the ALPS keyboard in my Model III. Lastly you have a real RS232 port and built in com program which is great for communicating with old legacy equipment. Oh and they run for an eternity on 4 AA batteries. I do wish they had a back light that could be turned on/off.


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WHAT TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR…
Brothers of Charity Proposals don't breach collective agreement
This case involved a dispute relating to the downgrading of a senior nurse position from a CNM2 to CNM1 at the Brothers of Charity Services Southeast. It was found that this downgrading "does not breach any collective agreement" and that the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation should "co-operate fully" with the change according to the Labour Court.
Previously it was the case that two CNM2 grades were assigned in order to cover a Senior Night Nurse position, on a rotating shift basis. In 2014, one of the CNM2 positions became vacant and was not replaced. Instead it was covered on a rotational basis by Senior Staff Nurses.
Management proposed the role be filled at CNM1 level – however the union contented it should be filled at a CNM2 level as a result of the duties and management involved in the role.
The Organisation told the Court that it had reviewed the Senior Night Nurse Position and proposed to implement a structure with a CNM1 reporting directly to the CNM2. The Court found that overall the Organisations proposals "do not breach any collective agreement in place between the parties and in the circumstances of this case, recommends that the Union co-operate fully with their implementation".
Social Services Workers' Challenge to Pay Cuts Rejected by EAT
Six workers represented by SIPTU, were appealing a decision by the Rights Commissioner that their pay cuts were "reductions" rather than "deductions". The union argued that the previous decision had relied on travel and subsistence payments. They further stated their pay was cut from €15.05 to €12 an hour.
The Employer in this case stated that it was a voluntary board and received a portion of its funding from the HSE, however following a HSE funding cut its was instructed to reduce the pay of its Employees. HSE funding was reduced by 30% and charity donations had also fallen. A meeting was held to inform Employees and the pay cuts were not sufficient to avoid making positions redundant in late 2014.The Employees contract of employment included a clause which stated that the company "reserved the right to amend term and conditions of employment from time to time".
The Tribunal stated that it adopts the principle that the Payment of Wages Act has no application to reduction in wages as distinct from "deductions". The Tribunal is bound to follow this point of law of the High Court and therefore the decision of the Rights Commissioners under the Payment of Wages Act is upheld.
'Transparency' website launched for non-profit sector
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, has launched a new website 'Benefacts' which is designed to deliver greater public transparency on the work and funding of the not-for-profit sector in Ireland. www.benefacts.ie.
'Benefacts' is designed as a partnership initiative between Government, Atlantic Philanthropies and the Ireland Funds. Speaking at the recent launch, Minister Donohoe advised "This free, online database will provide enhanced access to regulatory, financial and governance data about an entire sector that employs more than 107,000 people, and receives in excess of €4bn annually in Government funding. Greater openness, transparency and improved accountability are at the core of our vision for Benefacts and this database will provide Government with the infrastructure necessary to underpin a higher quality assessment of public spending. It will also support the delivery of a number of key objectives of the Public Service Reform Plan."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Learn how to make cutlets with a special fillet steak recipe by Michelin-starred Chef Davide Scabin.
Cut a 150g slice of filet.
Dredge the steak in 30g flour.
Dip in a beaten egg with 6g salt.
Coat with 80g breadstick crumbs.
Dip once again in the beaten egg.
Dredge in 50g breadcrumbs with camomile powder.
Leave to rest in fridge for a further 15 minutes.
Heat 50 g of extra virgin olive oil with 20 g chilled butter. Add a sprig of sage and two cloves of garlic, then cook of 8 minutes on all sides.
Add a generous amount of butter little by little, without allowing it to brown. Cover the meat with the foaming butter.
Take two sprigs of sage and two of rosemary add two cloves of unpeeled garlic. Season with whole sea salt, extra virgin olive oil and pepper to taste.
Cook the steak and herbs in the oven for 4 minutes at 190°. Allow to rest in the open oven for another 10 minutes.
Arrange herbs on a plate.
Cut the steak into four segments.
Light the herbs with a blowtorch.
Douse the flames with the steak.
Chef Davide Scabin explains: "The correct name for the dish is Piedmontese Fassona veal fillet. Basically we transformed this meat into a bread-crumbed meat, Milanese-style, which is then finished using the so-called 'hearth-method', on top of these smoking herbs, that gives it an ancestral element."
Watch the video recipe made by chef Davide Scabin.


This entry was posted in Website Updates and tagged Local Events, Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Bookmark the permalink.
Hi Matt, is it just Mineral Point or the surrounding areas as well whatever was included before!?
Thanks! Can you email me at Sandeescalendar@gmail.com so we can discuss?
Great job so far! I live in Dodgeville and Sandee's calendar has always been helpful to find out what's going on in the area. While you are openly partial to MP (it is a great town, no doubt), I hope that you can be inclusive of events in Dodgeville and Spring Green (and the area) as well. Folks living outside of MP will be less interested if this becomes focused mostly on MP.
Hi Jessica, yes our calendar website here will continue to include ALL area events however the newsletters at http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=1af0a284955935416f433810d&id=0c54c5d3a7 will have less coverage for all SW Wisconsin regions as I encourage readers to join us here at https://hwy23events.wordpress.com … I hope This helps answer this question for you and others.


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A Middle Ground on Immigration
By Mike Pence
President Bush has set out his goals on immigration reform to the American people. "There is," he said, "a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant, and a program of mass deportation." I agree that a rational middle ground can be found -- but amnesty is not the middle ground.
Instead, I will soon be introducing legislation, the Border Integrity and Immigration Reform Act. This bill is tough on border security and tough on employers who hire illegal aliens. It will include a guest worker program -- but it will not include an amnesty (nor require a huge new government bureaucracy to administer the program). I believe this legislation is a strong alternative to the amnesty plan passed by the Senate; and I hope that it will serve as an attractive alternative to my colleagues in the House of Representatives.


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Q: Uber web request widget I'm looking for a solution for integrating, a seamless ride request experience, into a web application (running on desktop or mobile).
I understand there is a widget that could be embedded in a mobile application. I would like to get a similar experience in a web application.
I also understand that the Uber request API supports this, and I could implement this from scratch. I'm hoping someone developed this kind of widget, so I can integrate it into my application.

A: The ride request widget was built from our rest apis, but was intended for the mobile audience. You can see how it works in the sdks: https://developer.uber.com/docs/rides/ride-request-widget
You can build the same functionality for a web app using our rest apis and it is covered in the ride request api tutorial here: https://developer.uber.com/docs/rides/tutorials-rides-api

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Peat Long's Blog
Forgotten Classic Review: The Serpentwar Saga by Raymond E Feist
When most people talk about Feist, they talk about Magician. A BBC survey had it as one of people's 100 favourite books a few years back. People are still picking it up and trying it nearly forty years later because of its reputation. A lot of people bounce off its old fashioned approach - it's not in close third or first, it's got an idealistic tone, it's slow to get to the action. It also has a few first time author flaws to it too. But for those who don't get put off by those things, Magician is a monumentally epic and ambitious story with a heart the size of the Pacific. No wonder people still love it.
After Magician, a lot of the talk is about how Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon lacked the same oomph. I like both books a lot but I totally understand why people say it. Magician is a mad as hell gonzo trip that was virtually unique at its time and even now. The other two could be any fantasy book.
And I think that's why people don't really talk about the Serpentwar Saga, when maybe its the best thing Feist did.
Shadow of a Dark Queen, the first book in the saga, starts in familiar enough fashion. There's two young boys from humble beginnings in a tiny town. From there, things take a left turn and instead of a quest, or adventures with the elves, Erik and Roo find themselves in the army, training for a probably suicidal mission to infiltrate the horde of said dark queen. I don't want to give away too many spoilers so I shall speak in generalities here; the Serpentwar Saga does have it's share of big showy magic, but most of its about war, politics, trade and being human. It takes this series a bit closer to Parker and Kay than it does to Brooks and Eddings; it's almost like a less extreme Wheel of Time in places.
A big part of what makes it for me is the relationship and differences between Erik and Roo. Best friends and fellows in not belonging, their lives take radically different approaches after their enlistment. Erik finds a place he belongs and a feeling of responsibility, and climbs the military's ranks. Roo by contrast sticks with his dream of getting rich and leaves to become a merchant. And while Erik's genial company to read about a war with, Roo is a gem. A self-aggrandising, unscrupulous, greedy and short of empathy gem. Seeing his cunning is fun - and Rise of a Merchant Prince is one of the very few fantasy books I've seen to concentrate on a merchant - but watching him try to make sense of his life, trying to find a sense of belonging and very slowly growing up while blunder into life's traps? Golden. And he's just vulnerable and moral enough for it to work. There's so few characters like Roo, and twinning his narrative with that of the super solid, ever conscientious Erik gives it the right light needed.
As for the rest of it? It has a fun supporting cast. My particular applause goes to Duke James, the closest thing to Vetinari outside of Discworld, and his grandsons James and Dashell, who sort of mirror the Erik-Roo contrast. It's rammed full of memorable scenes, particularly of the "ordinary person in the presence of superhuman prowess" and "moment of personal triumph/tragedy". They're not the absolute best I've ever read, but they more than satisfy. It casts a decent light on some of the forgotten in fantasy, its victims and everyday inhabitants; Helen Jacoby and Kitty are my favourite minor characters of that kind.
It is better written than the Riftwar too, and delves deeper into the characters' frustrations and hopes. I don't think this series is less idealistic than its predecessor, but it does admit that sometimes the idealists aren't and can't be where they need to be in terms of power. The nobles of the Riftwar Saga are, by and large, decent and reliable eggs. The nobles of the Serpentwar Saga aren't bad people, by and large, but they can't be trusted to put aside their egos and do what's needed. And the theme of responsibility vs ego is a fairly big one in here; it not only helps keep the disparate threads together, it adds a pleasing sense of tension and realism to the largely human concern based plot. And that's true of no one more than Roo.
After The Serpentwar Saga, Feist never really returned to this sort of story, going back to adventure plots, a focus on magicians other politics, and hugely gonzo world-hopping adventures. There's some good books there, but nothing I'd ever really recommend to somebody else.
It's a shame. This and the Empire trilogy (which deserves a review of its own) showed that Feist could really pull off this sort of Epic Fantasy - probably better than he did quest fantasy. He doesn't stand at the absolute pinnacle of this art form, with Jordan and Martin and Kay, but he stands close. I feel like there's probably people out there who have a soft spot for this sort of fantasy but who haven't heard of the Serpentwar Sage. Hopefully this corrects that and brings a few of those people some extra pleasure.
Posted by Peat at 02:21
Welcome to my blog about Fantasy Literature. If you would like to talk about being reviewed or interviewed here, please contact me via the Contact Form or at https://twitter.com/PeatLong
The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker
The Futures Women Spin: Interviews with the Distaf...
Five Friday Fantasy Thoughts
Forgotten Classic Review: The Serpentwar Saga by R...
King of Assassins by RJ Barker
Meeting of Minds: Five Examples of Cultures Meetin...
Five Quick Thoughts
Pale Kings by Micah Yongo
The Relic Guild by Edward Cox


text:
Gillibrand Continues to Lie About Off the Sidelines
August 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm	(Alex Wagner, Campaign Contributions, Democrats, Glen Caplin, Kirsten Gillibrand, MSNBC, New York, Off the Sidelines, Republicans, Senate, Wendy Long, Women)
New York Republicans are still waiting to hear Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand name a single Republican who has benefited from her 'Off the Sidelines' website. Seems like they'll be waiting a little longer, too.
Despite the claim that Republican women have been helped by the site – claims made by Gillibrand herself – nobody from the Democrat's campaign has been willing to offer any proof. As such, her opponent Wendy Long, has challenged Gillibrand to put her campaign money where her mouth is.
A year after being caught by the Buffalo News misleading voters about her Off the Sidelines campaign, Kirsten Gillibrand is at it again. This time, she is trying to represent the organization as a bipartisan social organization rather than exactly what it is: a front for Gillibrand for Senate.
On MSNBC's NOW with Alex Wagner, Gillibrand said, "I've been doing it nationwide, trying to get more women, Democrats, Republicans, all women, to again, hold their elected leaders accountable, vote, and hopefully run for office. They just need to be asked."
U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long said, "The question remains, can Senator Gillibrand name a single Republican woman who "Off the Sidelines" aka Gillibrand for Senate has assisted?"
In response to inquiries, Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin said, "I'm not going to comment on a clear distortion of reality and the facts."
This is the same Glen Caplin that told the Buffalo News on July 5, 2011 that "Off the Sidelines is not meant to be a fundraising venture, but rather an attempt to inspire women to get involved politically."
This is the same Glen Caplin, who in the same article said, "It is very transparent that it is Gillibrand for Senate." And then just days later following scrutiny from The Buffalo News updated the Off the Sidelines site to clarify that it was a Gillibrand project, and that donations were going directly to Senator Gillibrand.
"The only distortion is the con job Kirsten Gillibrand continues to perpetuate by falsely representing that Off the Sidelines is anything but a front for Gillibrand for Senate," said Wendy Long.
Added Long, "Gillibrand should take down the site and turnover these proceeds raised under false pretenses to an organization dedicated to advancing all women, not just Kirsten Gillibrand."


text:
Q: Flicker when using Jquery ui slider in an Angular 2 component I have integrated a jquery-ui slider plugin in an angular 2 component. It works great but with one nagging issue. The screen flickers when you slide. I have noticed that if I use the regular HTML5 slider, the screen does not flicker, transition is smooth, but this slider only supports one handle. How can I disable the flicker. I need guidance on where to look for the source of the problem. I have made a detailed plunk here and put some comments in it.
export class RangeSlider implements OnInit {

@Input() value: any;
@Output() sliderChanged= new EventEmitter();

elementRef: ElementRef;
constructor(elementRef: ElementRef) {
    this.elementRef = elementRef;
}
ngOnInit() {
    let that = this;
    let gradeLabels = ["K", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11","12"];
    jQuery(this.elementRef.nativeElement).find('.rangeSlider').slider({
        range: true,
       min: 0,
       max: gradeLabels.length-1,
        values: [0, 12],
        slide: function (event, ui) {
          let min = ui.values[0]
         let max = ui.values[1];
          min = (min == 0) ? "K" : min;
          let grade = (min == max) ? min : min + '-' + max;
          that.sliderChanged.emit(grade);
       }
    }).slider("pips", {
       rest: "label",
       labels:gradeLabels
    });
}

A: What's happening is that you are replacing the reference to activitiesArray whenever you call sliderChanged(). This is causing the async pipe to unsubscribe to the old reference and resubscribe to your new one. This causes a momentary blip where there is no data. If you were to do the same with an Http request, it would be much more apparent.
I've forked and reworked your plunk so as to not set the activitiesArray repeatedly and to be a little more 'reactive'. Note that it would be better to observe the output from the jquery slider rather than calling an event callback which pushes a subject.
changes to src/app.component.ts
htmlSlider=new Control();
jqSlider$=new Subject();
constructor(private _activityService: ActivityService) {
    let searchTerm$=this.term.valueChanges
      .debounceTime(400)
      .distinctUntilChanged()
      .startWith('');
    let activityList$=this._activityService.getActivityList();
    let searchedActivities$=activityList$.combineLatest(searchTerm$,this.searchFilter);
    let jqSliderFiltered$=searchedActivities$.combineLatest(this.jqSlider$.startWith(undefined),this.sliderSearch);
    let htmlSlider$=this.htmlSlider.valueChanges.startWith(undefined);
    let htmlSliderFiltered$=jqSliderFiltered$.combineLatest(htmlSlider$,this.gradePipe);
    this.activitiesArray=htmlSliderFiltered$;
}

searchFilter(activityList:Activity[],term: string):Activity[] {
    return activityList.filter(item=> item.description.toLowerCase().includes(term.toLowerCase())));
}

sliderSearch(activityList:Activity[],term: string):Activity[]{
  if(!term)
    return activityList;
  return activityList.filter(item=> item.grade==term));
}

gradePipe(activityList,minGrade){
  if(!minGrade)
    return activityList;
  return activityList.filter(activity => parseInt(activity.grade.split("-")[0]) >= +minGrade);
}

sliderChanged(grade:any) {
 this.jqSlider$.next(grade);
}

changes to activitymain.html
<input type="range" min="0" max="12" [ngFormControl]="htmlSlider"  />


TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT HYDRAULIC POWER UNIT DESCRIPTION: The hydraulic power unit provides the fluid power necessary to articulate the stabilizer fins. Quantum power units can be paired with a variety of stabilizer hull unit sizes and quantities based on vessel requirements providing a multitude of arrangement options. Designed to consolidate maximum machinery output into a small footprint, this compact unit can be easily positioned into machinery spaces. The QP7575 power unit consolidates on a single skid the hydraulic drive train on an steel frame with drip tray, stainless steel oil reservoir with associated gauging and sensors, as well as return filtration and oil cooler. The QP7575 is an exquisitely built machine which can be depended upon to supply hydraulic power for stabilizer systems. FEATURES:  SIMPLE INSTALLATION: The QP7575 is designed to incorporate maximum hydraulic function within a single "plug and play" assembly. Thus, straight-forward connections for mechanical installation, as well as hydraulic and cooling pipe work are at the heart of the QP7575 design.  EFFICIENT: The power unit only draws the minimum power necessary to operate the hydraulic components on demand, thus reducing the load on the vessel's electrical power and cooling systems.  MINIMAL NOISE: Quantum's power units with the Moog radial piston pumps utilize a four-point isolation system to bring both noise and vibration levels down. Hydraulic noise suppressors are attached directly at pump discharge to minimize hydraulic noise in the pipes.  APPEARANCE: The durable high gloss paint finish rivals the finish presented in public Operating Capacity* Operating Pressure Tank Capacity Height (overall)** Depth (overall)** Weight (dry) *Provided for reference only. Consult a Quantum representative for system sizing. ** Dimensions are of the equipment, and do not include service allowances. All information contained within this document remains the absolute property of the Quantum Group and is subject to change at any time. Any use of the information for other than the intended purpose is expressly forbidden. Consult a Quantum representative for more information. INNOVATION spaces of even the highest quality yachts. Details such as polished stainless steel tubing and black anodized manifolds make this unit a work of art as well as a practical marinegrade solution. Equipment is covered by Quantum's 1 year comprehensive warranty. Service and technical support are available worldwide.


text:
Working Together to Change the System
Lessons on scaling automatic record clearance across America from Code for America Summit
There are 70 million Americans with a criminal record—more people than the entire population of Australia—who face more than 44,000 legal barriers that affect every area of life. Of that number, more than 8 million live in California. At this year's Summit, Cristine Soto DeBerry of the San Francisco District Attorney's office posed the question: do district attorneys and prosecutors have an obligation to look backwards as they're talking about criminal justice reform and the effects of mass incarceration? For her boss, DA George Gascón, the answer was unequivocally yes. So when Proposition 64 passed in California, legalizing marijuana, they saw an opportunity to account for injustices of the past.
"If we want to move forward in a more humane, less carceral society, we have to look backwards as well."
Until last year, the process to clear criminal convictions off your record in California was especially onerous. So onerous that out of the millions of people eligible for record clearance across the nation, only 3% actually take the effort to do so. DA Gascón's office decided to take the burden off of the individual and proactively petition to clear every conviction eligible in San Francisco under Prop 64—which is when Code for America reached out to see how we could help. We already had technology called Clear My Record that helped connect people seeking record clearance to a lawyer, but saw an opportunity to build something that could provide relief at a much greater scale.
Fast forward to today: Our partnership with the SFDA has cleared more than 9,000 records, including more than 1,000 felony records. Of that number, only 23 people had applied to clear their record themselves. Now thousands will have access to opportunities for housing, jobs, education, and more that were previously unavailable to them. Through pilots with four other California counties, we are on track through the pilot to help dismiss and reduce nearly 100,000 convictions in the state by the end of this year. And this partnership has sparked a movement: cities all over the country are reaching out to to understand what we did, and figure out if and how they can replicate it.
"For us, it was really important that we were focused on solving real problems… Our goal is not to build a particular technology or to use a particular technology, it's to clear all eligible criminal records."
To create this proof point for clearing records at scale, the Clear My Record Team had to rethink their approach to building technology. We're now on version six of Clear My Record, with some of those versions being entirely different products due to dramatic changes in expectations, requirements, and the legal landscape. With each change, we've adapted and iterated from what we've learned and surfaced opportunities that deliver real value—not focusing on a particular technical solution, but on clearing as many people's records as possible automatically and as quickly as possible.
To hear more about this partnership, the evolution of Clear My Record, and where we're going next, watch the video or read the transcript below.
Evonne Silva:
Cristine. So, you played a key role in the DA's decision to clear all marijuana convictions in San Francisco. How did this come to be? Why did the office decide to do this?
Cristine Soto DeBerry:
Yeah, you heard in the video there are over 70 million Americans with criminal records. That's greater than the population of Australia. There are over 8 million Californians with criminal records and the video let you know over 500,000 are added every year and as district attorneys and prosecutors, the question for us is do we have an obligation or responsibility to look backwards as we're talking about criminal justice reform and reducing mass incarceration and the effects of the war on drugs? And the answer for DA Gascón was unequivocally yes. If we want to move forward in a more humane, less carceral society, we have to look backwards as well. So, when Prop 64 passed and marijuana was now legal, the question was what did that mean for all the people and communities that we had criminalized for that same activity for decades?
And to us, without some type of radical accounting for that injustice, legalization itself was not just. And so, we went about trying to understand as an office what we could do to impact that. What tools are at our disposal as prosecutors to bring equity to the conversation around legalization? And that meant looking at old cases. You heard in the video, the traditional process is exceptionally onerous. You have to one, know you have a conviction that might even be eligible. You have to know where that conviction took place and where that courthouse is. You need to likely hire an attorney, file a petition, tell my office that you would like your petition heard, schedule a hearing with the court and have a hearing and you would be unsurprised to know most people do not pursue that path. In fact, only 3% of people nationally take that effort. The question for us though was we're not opposed to people getting that relief. We had made a decision that we thought those convictions should be expunged and so, we decided to do the work for them. We said, "No need to ask, no need to apply. We've got it. We're going to proactively file that petition for you." Thanks.
And we were so inspired by the announcement because we had seen firsthand, as you heard in the video, how the petition based process isn't designed to provide relief to everyone who is eligible today. It's not designed for the digital age and so, we developed an opt-in version and in early 2016 and we were trying to solve that key issue. How can we connect an individual with lawyers across counties who would then file petitions on their behalf? And the service is live in 14 counties and has served over 12,000 people, but every county doesn't have a public defender or legal aid attorney and when they do, they're not providing these post-conviction services and even when they are, what we find is that they're at capacity and under resourced. So, folks are waiting for months to find a lawyer to help them through this process and for us, we're working to clear all eligible criminal records and so, we needed to find another way to serve everyone who is eligible and so, we had to ask a different question and so, we started to build some early technology that would read a state criminal record, evaluate eligibility and then generate the form that could be filed with the court.
When we heard your announcement and we reached out to see how we could help because perhaps there was a connection and there was and we wanted to help because the policy that you set out to implement to proactively review and file petitions on behalf of individuals so that they can get that relief automatically is a really important one and for us, justice is getting the implementation right as this crowd has heard us say before from this stage, especially on these types of reforms and as we heard in the video, it's because there's so much at stake for people's lives, for our communities, for our country and so, how did it all turn out Cristine? What was the result of our work?
Oh. I'll just tell you. Never underestimate the value of a good question and the ideas it generates. We've made just remarkable change for San Franciscans. We'd still be at that work frankly with stone tablets and chisels hammering away if Code For America hadn't shown up. So, I can now sit here and say we're done with the work because of the technology and really we had what I would say is a great idea, but Code For America made it an elegant one and through our work we were able to clear all of the marijuana convictions in San Francisco. That was over 9,361 convictions.
That's great.
It's great. What's more remarkable about that though is only 23 of those people had actually applied to have their convictions erased. So, had we not engaged in this partnership, in this endeavor, that's, I'm not going to do the math, over 9,000 people. 9,338-ish people that would still be walking around with a marijuana conviction on their record unnecessarily completely entitled to that relief. So, that's pretty exciting and of those people, about 33% were African Americans, 25% were Latinos. So, we really did some work to start cutting away at the racial disparity that exists in our enforcement around drug activity and maybe even most exciting, probably what you heard from Earlonne too, of the convictions we took care of, 1,336 people now have no felonies on their record. The marijuana case was the only felony on their record and another 729 have no record at all. Meaning the pot case was the only thing on their records.
So, that's about 2,000 people that we have dramatically reduced the barriers for them to find employment, to get financial aid, housing, take care of their children, all things that benefit all of us really. It makes for a much better society. So, those things have just been really phenomenal and exciting to see and then as we were kind of mentioning, it's catching on. I mean, I have to say Evonne, I think we sparked a movement. There's cities all over the country reaching out to us, Chicago, Baltimore, New Jersey, Seattle, trying to understand what we did and see if they can replicate it and leaning heavily on the policy we developed and the technology that Code For America developed to find that perfect fusion of doing this automatically and at scale. So, tell me Evonne, what you ultimately built looks a lot different from when we started working together. Why is that?
It is. As Jen had said yesterday, we're actually now on version six of Clear My Record from the original version and the last couple of versions aren't minor changes. They're actually completely different products, a completely different product because the expectations, the requirements, the landscape has changed dramatically. So, when we started, the idea was to help your office with this ambitious idea and build technology so that your team didn't have to rely on paper, people and over overtime to get the job done because you had said, it's important policy, you were going to do whatever it took and so, at that time the only way we could get data was having your staff pull criminal records one by one and that takes a bit of time, as we see it's a bottleneck in the process and so, what we were building was technology that would be centered on reading thousands of PDFs and building the technology that could then scan and review every page of those records to find those eligible convictions and then generate the paperwork that you would then file with the courts. But then midway through the pilot, the law changed and the law changed in a way that every county was now going to do what you are going to do, but they would all be receiving raw criminal history data and so, there was no need to pull records one by one, which was incredible because it solved a key bottleneck.
When we think about scale, when we think about how this is going to map over to the entire state, it also meant we had to rethink our approach to how we are building technology. And so, our goal has been clear from the beginning and our goal is not to build a particular technology or to use a particular technology, it's to clear all eligible criminal records and to do so automatically and expeditiously so folks experienced this relief and so, we built an entirely new product and it is aimed at helping your office make sense and make meaning of this massive new dataset, but what it also meant is now every county in the state is going to be able to use this technology in our work together to do the work that your office has already done and it actually sets up the courts to complete the process so that they can process the files digitally.
And so for us, it was really important that we were focused on solving real problems because if we knew the solution at the beginning, we would have been fixated on trying to prove that our solution had value and missed some key opportunities to actually deliver value, which is really important clearly and so, with each change, we adapted and applied what we had learned from the previous iteration, from what the landscape was telling us, how the law was changing and worked towards that so that we were always focused on clearing as many people's records as possible automatically and as quickly as possible. And so, speaking of change, I'm curious, how has this effort changed the way that your office thinks about its work, that you think about your work and what's next for San Francisco?
It's really been a revelation for us. I know it seems obvious maybe at this point that we would do that automatically for people, but I can tell you at the moment we decided to proactively remove people's convictions, we were the first office in the country to do that and to think about what it meant to look backwards at the effects of mass incarceration from the role of a prosecutor and so, now it has become part of what we think about as an office. After we finished the marijuana work, we asked ourselves what else is holding people back that we have an opportunity to impact as prosecutors that would make our community safer and give individuals a better opportunity to thrive? And that brought some really great thinking forward for us. We have a bill right now in front of the state legislature here in California, AB 1076 and what that does is really blows out the work we've been doing around marijuana and adds a whole range of other convictions that are similarly holding people back from opportunity, making it harder for them to get employment, housing and all the things we would hope people would have when they return home.
That's working its way through the legislature. We would welcome your support. It will help over 2 million Californians that have a conviction on their record and millions more that have arrests that didn't result in a prosecution. So, it's really critically important legislation. So, if you're on social media, hashtag AB 1076, call your legislator and then we're really trying to think more about centering and elevating the voices of formerly incarcerated people in our own work. We spend… Thank you. Yeah, you should all be doing that. We spend a lot of time at San Quentin taking our prosecutors there to work with the men that are inside and on the other side of that we have a formerly incarcerated advisory board that comes to our office and advises us on the policies that we're contemplating in the office and has really brought refinement and clarity to a lot of our work. We're actually looking to hire some of those people.
So, if there's any funders in the room, please find me afterwards. I'm eager for some support there and to any of you that are employers in the room, I really want to encourage you to think about your opportunities to make an impact here, not just with the tools that you build and create, which are very important, but also with the employment opportunities you have. Can you hire somebody that's exiting the criminal justice system and give them a second chance? I think all of us doing that is what's going to make the difference.
What's next for the Clear My Record team Evonne?
Yeah, we're really excited. As you heard the excitement I had in my voice in the video. The vision for Clear My Record is to clear all eligible criminal records and the way we plan to do that is to expand, streamline and automate the record clearance process and to do that in California as we have been in partnerships, great partnerships like we have with your office, but also in states across the country and this for us is how we start to transform the way government is delivering services to those most impacted by the criminal justice system.
So, in California the pilot is setting the standard for implementation of this new law and so, we're crafting a blueprint, utilizing the lessons learned from the pilots. We are developing a tool so that all California counties can do what we've done in the pilot counties, which is really exciting and we'll be releasing the blueprint and the tool this summer and what that means is we are on track through the pilot to help dismiss and reduce nearly 100,000 convictions in California by the end of this year and with the use of the blueprint and the tool, the rest, the remaining convictions, 100,000 convictions by next July, which is really exciting and our work together has also sparked, as you talked about, this movement and national interest and conversation around that record relief should be provided automatically and so, we want to help design, pilot and implement reforms in at least 10 states over the next three years because this work is really important.
The impact that it has on folks lives, it's really much needed and we need all of you to make this happen. As Cristine mentioned, there's a number of ways to get involved. If you live in California, please do support AB 1076. It's in the Senate. Call your senator. Let them know that you support it. Also, urge your local district attorney to do what the district attorneys in our pilot have done, what Cristine's office have done by adopting our blueprint and our tool and make sure that they're dismissing. I'm not going to say dismissing and sealing all marijuana convictions in your county. They have the tool to do it.
Now the question is just whether they will and so, your voice will be heard. So, submit op-eds in your local paper. Tweet about this work and your expectation that they're implementing this policy and wherever you live, states across the country are implementing and considering automatic record clearance reforms. Cristine mentioned a few. So, make sure if your state is doing that to lift your voice and make your voice heard in support of those reforms. They're really important. So, thank you. Thank you all and thank you Cristine.
Yeah, thank you Evonne.
Summit 2023 Call for Proposals
Announcing Code for America Summit 2023
Leading the Field: Kelly Benton


text:
Boubacar Djeidy Kébé (Uagadugú, Burkina Faso, 10 de mayo de 1987), futbolista burkinés, de origen maliense. Juega de delantero y su actual equipo es el RC Strasburgo de la Ligue 2 de Francia.

Selección nacional

Ha sido internacional con la Selección de fútbol de Burkina Faso Sub-23.

Clubes

Personas de Uagadugú
Futbolistas de Burkina Faso
Futbolistas de Malí
Futbolistas del Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux
Futbolistas del Football Club Libourne
Futbolistas del Nîmes Olympique Football Club
Futbolistas del Racing Club de Strasbourg
Futbolistas del Damash Guilán

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Stillspeaking Daily Devotional
Daily Devotional Archive
Subscribe to the Devotional
Small Group Discussion
Feed Your Spirit
Commentary: "Coexist"—a response from Matt Fitzgerald
Written by Matthew Fitzgerald
Daily Devotional writer Matt Fitzgerald made a controversial confession: COEXIST bumper stickers rub him the wrong way.
Many readers responded via email and Facebook, and about 70 percent of readers disagreed with the commentary. One reader asked Fitzgerald for clarification about his objection to the term, and this is his response.
Read the original devotional here.
As I said, I'm certainly not against different religions co-existing. What frustrates me about that bumper sticker is its assumption that all religions are either saying the same thing, or can be easily synthesized into a grand whole that just happens to reflect western secular values.
A deeper, more personal concern is the tendency of liberal Protestantism to surrender the power of Christianity to the religious right, settling for a vague universalism that leaves us unable to either speak or hear as Christians.
The world would be a simpler place if a liberal Protestant were able to sit across the table from a devout Hindu and the two of us could scrape away the contradictory claims our respective religions make, to find that underneath all the pious jargon we're saying the same thing.
If I could set aside the distinctively Protestant claim that God accepts people into eternity through faith, not good works, and he could set aside the distinctively Hindu belief that through the law of karma each individual determines his or her own eternal destiny by their works we could really get along.
Or imagine a Buddhist monk and an Orthodox Rabbi. If the monk would set aside Buddhism's explicit rejection of an almighty God whose hand controls the universe, and the rabbi would put away Judaism's insistence that Yaweh created the world out of nothing and steers its course today, perhaps they'd find some common ground.
But a far more likely scenario is that robbed of their religion's central tenets they'd have little to say. Because Buddhism with an omnipotent deity lording over its adherents is no longer Buddhism. Judaism without Yawheh becomes something else. Protestant Christianity without the doctrine of justification by faith alone has no reason to exist. And Hinduism without karma is like English without vowels.
This isn't to say that most of the world's religions don't share a very similar ethic. They do. But the purpose of a religion is to order existence, to explain destiny, to make meaning out of chaos, not simply to exhort you to be a better person. Dear Abby can do that. The editorial page can do that. Your conscience can do that.
Meanwhile, just as other religions have their own particular emphases, the specific insistence of Protestant Christianity is that you and I need something much more than an admonition to be better people. We need to be saved. That is, we need to be accepted by God because we have not and we cannot earn God's favor. God chooses to accept us precisely because we cannot earn God's grace through our own efforts.
At this point the ice beneath our feet gets thin. I've disparaged the liberal desire to subsume Jesus into a universal religiosity that transcends him. Is the only other option an intolerant response which says that yes, Christian beliefs are different from those of Buddhists, Jews, Muslims and Hindus and ... those people are wrong?
The conundrum is real. Those who insist that all religions are basically saying the same thing risk watering down those differences that make religions vital in the first place. Actually, that's putting it mildly. This approach inflicts violence on the health of every religion it wants to swallow. I am the son of a UCC minister and a lifelong member of our denomination. I worry that the "mainline's" drastic decline is spurred, in part, by our willingness to set aside what makes our faith unique and vibrant in the first place.
But if I say "Yes, my religion is different from yours," I risk allying myself with the sort of Christianity that requires its adherents to buttonhole strangers on airplanes and insult their Jewish friends. In other words, I betray some of our deepest UCC values.
A road out of this conundrum has been paved by the contemporary Lutheran theologian George Lindbeck and the "post-liberal" theology he and others have developed.
Lindbeck believes that religions function like languages. You use your religion in order to talk to God, and to hear God speaking. If you learn a particular religion's vocabulary, its strange, unique way of ordering existence (whether it is the law of karma, or salvation by faith alone, whether it is the claim that all things are imbued with Buddha nature, or the belief that Yaweh stands above this earth) the Divine will become clear. In Lindbeck's words: "One can no more hope to be religious in general than one can hope to speak language in general."
We experience God by immersing ourselves in particular religious traditions. It is not possible to take a superior stance to a faith tradition (to step outside of it) and also experience the power it holds. To my eyes, the bumper sticker tries to do just that.
When Protestants pay attention to our unique vocabulary; to sin, Jesus, and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the mystery of God draws near, grows clear, and we begin to realize that just like those ancient Hebrew slaves trapped in Egypt, we have a God who has come to save us.
But if we don't practice a specific religion, one that makes unique and strange claims which are bound to contradict the unique and strange claims of other religions, our sense of God will remain hopelessly vague. If, in the interest of getting along, we push the distinctive claims of competing religions aside, in effect we're saying, "What I believe isn't important and what you believe isn't important either."
In contrast to this sort of well-intentioned vagueness, Lindbeck says, "Much of what other religions teach, for instance, the importance of compassion in Buddhism, may well be truth God gives to them, and through them to us. Christians don't have all of God's truth. What we have is the criterion of all truth, Jesus Christ."
I love that idea. We don't know everything. Indeed, what we don't know is immense! But we do know God through Jesus. He isn't the only way God speaks, but he's the way God speaks to Christians. He is not all
This means we ought to listen to the world's great religions for the voice of God. Of course it also means we can judge them, but why start there? Most days it isn't Islam or Hinduism that put us in conflict with Christ. It's usually a secular "religion" like capitalism or fatalism or nationalism, that contradicts him. Let's wrestle those lies to the ground before we start judging other religions. In the meantime, by learning to "speak" Christianity with increased eloquence and fluency, we may find ourselves growing as fruitful, dynamic partners in inter-faith dialogue.
A final thought, a good friend (who is from Alabama) challenged that original devotion. He said, "You're seeing the weaknesses of that bumper sticker. Others see its strength. You are used to watered down, insipid pluralism and tolerance. If someone lives in Alabama that symbol may be a first step toward inclusion."
Location always determines reaction. I'm sure he's right. Like many vague symbols, that bumper sticker is multivalent. It means one thing to a college student grappling for the first time with competing religious truth claims, something else to a woman in an inter-faith marriage, a third thing to a UCC member in a conservative state and something else altogether to this progressive minister frustrated with pious liberal orthodoxies. That's absolutely true. And I still see the sticker's weakness.


BIORACER TEAM SET : Μπλούζες ποδηλασίας Bioracer | Τα πάντα για τα ποδήλατα, την ποδηλασία και το τρέξιμο από ειδικούς.
This type of short Sport bib short with straight printable side panels is available in two elastic fabric versions, a Lycra and a Caro version. Both these fabrics ensure excellent freedom of movement and muscle support with the best wearing comfort. In the super elastic and functional Caro fabric version, the Sport bib shorts fit like a second skin. Caro fabric also has the best resistance against moulds and odours and, provided that the instructions for washing are followed, is maintenance friendly and quick drying. To keep the trouser legs of the short Sport bib shorts properly in place, they have been finished with an anti-slip border. This Sport bib short offers a choice between ergonomic eyelet straps or an elastic waistband near the crotch to keep it suspended. An exceptional finishing quality coupled with maximum freedom of movement are the most important properties of both versions. Choice out of Bioracer 3D or Airstream chamois.


text:
Editorial: Pope's tweet on inequality points to moral course
by NCR Editorial Staff
It came with the clarity of a thunderclap on a Kansas plain. It shot across the world in a tweet retweeted 14,000 times within a day. It followed by only hours the last fading cheers on St. Peter's Square ending the canonization ceremony of Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II.
It was as if, history now behind him, Pope Francis was telling us where we have to go, as a church and human family, if we are to follow a moral course. It's out there among the poor and dispossessed of the world. That's where we find salvation.
Declared Francis in a seven-word tweet: "Inequality is the root of social evil."
We live in an unprecedented time. We have a pontiff who has a fix on global issues and the human family, its longings and failings, as none other before him. This is our first pope from the global South. Meanwhile, his stage is vast; his voice clear; his delivery simple; his authority unassailable; his mastery of communication keen as the latest cellphone.
Of course, not everyone can listen. For some the message is simply too much to take. Perhaps it will take time. Some, for example, on the political right were quick to pooh-pooh Francis' tweet. His words, they said, were puzzling, too simplistic, even naive, incapable of understanding modern economics.
What they see -- and fear -- is a pope who has a moral voice with a political edge. The storm will only get larger.
As if to strengthen the poignancy of the moment, Francis' words came as French economist Thomas Piketty's new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, was appearing on all the best-seller lists. This well-documented, 700-page treatise argues that 21st-century capitalism is on a one-way journey toward greater inequality. We are assured of greater inequality in the decades ahead -- short of a major political intervention. Piketty is not suggesting discarding capitalism. He says it can work for all, but needs serious readjusting -- like 15 percent tax on capital, an 80 percent tax on high incomes, and enforced transparency for all bank transactions.
These are not the messages the right wants to hear. Some on the left might question his embrace of the possibility of reform within the system.
How bad, or, rather, how immoral, has the system allowed the situation to become? In the U.S., according to Piketty, the wealthiest 1 percent has appropriated 60 percent of the increase in national income between 1977 and 2007. The course, he says, will not change, given current political directives, laws being written by those profiting most from the system.
Francis and Piketty see the same human condition, the former through the eyes of experience and the Gospels, the latter through boxes of documents and spreadsheets.
Essentially, we live in a state of social sin, requiring social, political and economic recalibration. Francis is neither a sociologist nor an economist. What he knows from experience -- and is shouting out to the world -- is that his people are not eating, while a relative few superrich live in unimagined splendor. More than wrong, it cannot last without more unrest, more violence and more wars.
Within the current global economic system, wealth equals influence on policy. The more wealth the more influence, the greater the ability to shape self-serving laws that add to privilege and political power. The challenge is that along with super wealth has come political influence and power -- and greater inequities on a host of issues, from prison sentences and public education to taxes on capital gains and private yachts.
Unprecedented inequality is mired in political inertia. Those who shape the laws resist change -- even when change might be require for the health, even survival, of the planet.
Francis' tweet comes as an exclamation point to his November apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, in which he wrote: "Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape. Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded."
Can there be any doubt?
This story appeared in the May 9-22, 2014 print issue under the headline: Pope's tweet points to a moral course .
Editorial | Editorial: Pope's tweet on inequality points to moral course
Editorial: Money shapes the US Catholic narrative
Links for 3/14/19
Does the financial community always know best?
Pope Francis' blunt critique of capitalism praised as needed warning
In Bolivia, Francis demands reform of 'intolerable' global economic system


text:
Der Eisenbahnunfall von Empelde war die Flankenfahrt eines Güterzuges in einen anderen am 20. März 1985 in Empelde. Beide transportierten brennbares Gut.

Ausgangslage

Die Bahnstrecke Hannover–Altenbeken ist im Unfallbereich zweigleisig. In sie mündet bei Streckenkilometer 20,9/9,8, der Abzweigstelle Empelde, eine Verbindungskurve aus der Umgehungsbahn für Güterzüge, die den Hauptbahnhof Hannover südlich umgeht.

Der Kohlenzug Gdg 57 461, bespannt mit der Elektrolokomotive 140 459, war von Marl-Sinsen nach Hameln unterwegs. Er führte 19 Selbstentladewagen, beladen mit Anthrazitkohle. Der Gag 76085, ein Zug aus 20 Kesselwagen, die etwa 1000 Kubikmeter Super- und Normalbenzin geladen hatten, wurde von der Elektrolokomotive 150 079 gezogen. Er war vom Hamburger Haupthafenbahnhof Hohe Schaar nach Kulmbach unterwegs.

Unfallhergang

Dem von der Güterumgehungsbahn kommenden Kohlezug wurde durch ein Signal, das die Hauptstrecke vor Fahrten aus der Einfahrtskurve sicherte, "Halt" geboten. Der Lokomotivführer verwechselte jedoch die Signale, bezog das "Fahrt frei" zeigende Signal des Kesselwagenzuges fälschlich auf sich und überfuhr das "Halt" zeigende Signal. Das löste sofort eine Zwangsbremsung des Zuges aus. Mangels Schutzweiche und ausreichendem Durchrutschweg blieb der Zug im Weichenbereich stehen, wo der parallel auf der Hauptstrecke Richtung Hameln fahrende Kesselwagenzug unmittelbar darauf in ihn hinein fuhr.

Folgen

Zwei der Kesselwagen wurden bei der Kollision aufgerissen, deren Inhalt, 110 000 Liter Benzin, lief zum Teil aus, der Wagen hinter der Lokomotive geriet sofort in Brand. Das auslaufende Benzin führte zu einer Explosion mit einer Feuersäule von etwa 200 m Höhe. Dabei wurde auch die Oberleitung auf 300 Metern Länge abgerissen. Das auslaufende Benzin brannte auf einer Länge von ca. 200 Metern mit ca. 20 Meter hohen Flammen. Zehn weitere Kesselwagen standen in der unmittelbaren Gefahrenzone, wurden erheblich aufgeheizt und es bestand akute Explosionsgefahr. Die Feuerwehr pumpte große Mengen Wasser aus einem nahe gelegenen See und aus einer Zisterne, um die Kesselwagen damit zu kühlen. Auch sechs der mit Kohle beladenen Wagen sowie Gebäude und Inventar umliegender Grundstücke gerieten in Brand. Auf einem Grundstück waren zahlreiche Busse direkt an den Gleisen abgestellt, außerdem lagerten ca. 30 Gasflaschen unmittelbar an der Unfallstelle und auch ein Heizöltank mit ca. 15000 Litern Inhalt befand sich in der Nähe. Aus drei mehrgeschossigen Wohngebäuden unmittelbar am Unfallort mussten 39 Personen evakuiert werden. Das auslaufende Benzin verbreitete sich auch mit hoher Geschwindigkeit in den den Bahndamm begleitenden Gräben und Kanälen, im Schotter und in der Abwasserkanalisation.

270 Feuerwehrmänner der Freiwilligen Feuerwehren Benthe, Empelde, Ihme-Roloven, Linderte, Ronnenberg, Vörie, Weetzen und der Berufsfeuerwehr Hannover waren im Einsatz. Zwölf Stunden lang kämpften sie gegen den Brand. Für den Einsatz erhielten sie viel Lob, auch vom damaligen Bundesverkehrsminister Werner Dollinger.

Als Folge des Unfalls wurden die Signalstandorte an der Abzweigung Empelde geändert. Dadurch ist während der Fahrt von Hannover-Linden Hafen nach Empelde das Signal der Strecke immer rechts vom Signal der Strecke Hannover-Linden nach Empelde zu sehen.

Literatur
 Kerstin Siegmund: "Ich staune, dass wir noch leben" – Das Zugunglück vor 20 Jahren in Empelde brachte viele Menschen in Gefahr – verletzt wurde jedoch niemand. In: Calenberger-Zeitung v. 19. März 2005.

Weblinks
 Freiwillige Feuerwehr Empelde: Das Zugunglück vom 20. März 1985.
 NN: Mein Bahnjahr 1985 – Teil 2 – mit Fotos vom Unfallort.
 Markus H.: Zugunglück Empelde 1986.

Einzelnachweise

Empelde
Empelde
Empelde
Niedersächsische Geschichte (20. Jahrhundert)
Ronnenberg
Chemieunfall
Bahnstrecke Hannover–Altenbeken
Verkehr (Region Hannover)
Geschichte (Region Hannover)


Short film is still the prime source of innovation for the art of film – the experimental field in which future cinematic vocabularies first crystallize. Today its diversity of forms, themes and approaches across the globe is greater than ever – video or film, short fiction film or essay, installation, graduation film or artist's video, animation, documentary, and all imaginable hybrids thereof.
From its initiation at the end of the 1950's, the festival's film archive grew at a rapid pace – thanks in part to successful cooperation with Eastern European countries. The collection now amounts to more than 2,000 titles, encompassing over 2,800 prints. With over 100 films from former Yugoslavia alone, in addition to prints of films from countries ranging from Egypt to Zambia, the unique standing and significance of this international short film collection are evident.
The program presented comprises a selection of rather new work from China, Thailand, Mexico and Vietnam, its somehow represents new developments that are overcome our understanding of the cinematography of those countries. The films represent also a new understanding of what a "political" films possibly means today. They are in search for the people, for minor events, things overseen, leftovers. They show to what extend personal and political history are interwoven.
Born in Kaiserslautern (Germany) in 1965. Studied Literary Studies, Theatre Studies and Philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin. His dissertation on the French writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras was published under the title Das ortlose Kino. Über Marguerite Duras in 2001. In 1996/97 he was head of the European Institute of Documentary Film in Mülheim/Ruhr and editor of the series "Texts for the Documentary Cinema" and of the DOX – Documentary Film Quarterly. He has served as the director of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen since 1997. Author of numerous articles and essays on cinema, photography and cultural politics. Various lectureships in Film and Cultural Management. Co-editor of Provokation der Wirklichkeit. Das Oberhausener Manifest und die Folgen (2012) and author of Film und Kunst nach dem Kino (2012).


Poor weather for a few days really prevent me getting anything like decent shots of this bird. It was generally mobile and kept low in the thistles at Shirva and along dry stone walls kepping out of the wind. I really had to ramp up the ISO settings and fight the wind to even get these shots. Still my first Siberian Stonechat for a number of years and a Fair Isle tick.


Statement is the term given to something that expresses facts and information either in writing, or verbally. Statements can be useful in different ways. Income statements, for instance, is a statement that expresses how a company performs financially.
Statements are widely used in business in stating information about their operations. Financial statements, for example, are statements which records a company's financial activities or everything relating to the financial status of a company or business.
A disclosure statement is a document that discloses a detailed outline of the terms, conditions, rules, and standards of a transaction (e.g. financial transaction, such as loans or investments).
For example, when a person applies for a loan application of any kind, the lender gives him/her a disclosure statement containing the details of the loan before the loan process is finalized.
Why Is a Disclosure Statement Important?
Disclosure statements usually contain information that are relevant to both the sender and receiver. Disclosure statements explain all information about a business statement transaction or operation in full detail, including any issues or problems (of a property, for example). A disclosure statement contains everything the concerned parties (e.g. a borrower) needs to know about the transaction.
Disclosure statements usually gives the receiving party a chance to review the details of the transaction, and to express his/her opinions, agreement or disagreement on the given terms, conditions, and other details. Disclosure statements also protect sellers or lenders from lawsuits from the buyers or borrowers.
Do not exclude any information. Be honest. Include all the details of the transaction (especially financial ones) If you're a seller and the property you sell have a few issues and problems to be considered, include them in your disclosure statement objective. This may be a hard thing to do since this may discourage your buyers, but at least you're honest, and you'll be able to avoid wasting your time on arguments and lawsuits.
Write clearly. Use simple words in writing your income statement for disclosure. You need to make it understandable to your reader, so avoid using difficult words and vague phrases. Keep your sentences short and simple.
Attach necessary documents to your disclosure statement. Depending on the transaction, you need to attach necessary documents to support your disclosure statement.
Review and revise. Before sending your disclosure statement, you need to review every information you included. Look for possible errors, and revise them. If possible, let someone else read your disclosure statement and ask them for opinions on how to improve the disclosure statement.
Your disclosure statement is just another document which records your agreement with the other party so make sure it discloses everything your receiver needs to know before sending it out.


text:
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli – chiesa di Roma
Santa Maria in Portico Campitelli – diaconia che insiste sull'omonima chiesa


Netflix have released the first full trailer for the third season of hit show Stranger Things, and it looks incredible!
The streaming service have been teasing us with cryptic videos to build up the hype surrounding the upcoming season, which was already high to be honest.
But finallyyyyyyyy a trailer has been released, giving us a closer look at what we can expect from the plot for the third season as we return to the Upside Down.
Season three will consist of eight episodes, with Netflix revealing their titles at the end of last year in a video.
Of course those names don't give much away, but it is enough to give something for fans to pore over, coming up with all kinds of fan theories.
Netflix are keeping shtum over plot details, but they have previously revealed season three will take place in 1985, which is less than a year after the events of season two.
However, Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) did reveal to UNILAD the upcoming third season will be 'darker', 'funnier' and more intense.
The next season is definitely darker, the darkest yet. And it is definitely bigger.
It is eight episodes and it comes out in summer and takes place in the summer of 1985. While it is darker and intensified, it is also funnier.
Gaten added the season will also feature more of 'Dad Steve', which I imagine is what he meant by 'funnier'.
Dustin and Joe Keery's character Steve Harrington really hit it off during season two, with Gaten admitting the friendship is his 'favourite part' of the show so far.
I loved the development of Steve and Dustin's relationship. It has been my favourite part of filming the show.
Working with Joe was spectacular. It was just… funny. They didn't know the friendship was going to happen but it just clicked and worked.
It is also one of my favourite parts of the show, so I am excited to see more of Dad Steve in season three.
And thankfully we haven't got long to wait, as the third season of Stranger Things will be released on July 4 on Netflix.


Most providers agree that healthcare should shift from fee-for-service to value-based care. What they don't agree on is how to measure success when going at-risk with payers or developing a capitation model for payment, says Jared Jeffery.
If the right people and processes aren't in place, even the most comprehensive cybersecurity strategy can be undone by one careless move, says Jared Jeffery, who shares findings from a recent KLAS symposium.
While the healthcare market is always going to be fraught with some level of uncertainty, there are reasons to be optimistic, particularly in areas like precision medicine, says Jared Jeffery of KLAS.
At a surprisingly large number of organizations, the majority of end users believe the EMR enables quality care, rather than inhibiting, according to KLAS research. So what are these organizations doing?
Although the industry still faces significant challenges in key areas like interoperability and usability – and relief often feels light years away – it's important to remember that "monumental changes don't happen overnight," says Jared Jeffrey.