For a more thorough, academic treatment of this topic, see the paper titled, "The Five Star Method: A Relational Dream Work Methodology Based on Co-Creative Dream Theory," by G. S. Sparrow and M. A. Thurston, published in the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. A second paper, which was published in 2013 is "A New Method of Dream Analysis Congruent with Contemporary Approaches to Counseling," published in the International Journal of Dream Research.
I had been licensed as a professional counselor for only a few months in 1983 when I began working with a woman had just previously tried to commit suicide for the second time. Prior to her second suicide attempt, she had undergone two regimens of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) along with every available antidepressant medication at the––all to no avail: Barbara remained deeply depressed and suicidal.
Although she tended to disregard most of my initial interventions as all-too-familiar strategies that had been tried already, she brightened almost imperceptibly when I first asked her about her dreams. Shortly after our work began, she shared with me a remarkable dream that seemed to foretell of her eventual recovery.
In the dream, Barbara had arrived late for a family picnic beside a lake. When she went to get something to eat, she discovered that all of the food had been eaten. Only the bones of a large fish remained on a platter. For some reason that she could not explain to me, she took the platter down to the edge of the lake and lowered it into the water. As she did, the bones came to life again, and the fish swam away.
The initial situation in the dream paralleled Barbara's outsider status in her family of origin. Her mother had orphaned her at an early age. After being reunited with her mother several years later, her stepfather sexually abused her, and her biological father also abused her sexually when he came into her life for the first time. The content of the initial dream made the situation clear: Whatever nourishment had been available in her family had been consumed by others. From another perspective, the fish was an apt metaphor of Barbara's own decimated self. But what was more remarkable about the dream than the imagery was Barbara's remarkable response to the dilemma. From that moment onward, I used the dream as "evidence" that she had the capacity to participate in her own recovery process. And because she had experienced this capacity, if only for a moment, she could never entirely deny it.
For centuries, dreams have regarded as a message, or a representational commentary about the dreamer's life––an oracle which if understood, could provide insight and guidance, as well as knowledge about one's future. We owe this deeply held, but largely unexamined assumption––referred to as the theory of mimesis––to the ancient Greeks. From this standpoint, dream analysis involves the translation of the dream's visual content into understandable, waking state content parallels. While this approach has proven useful, I believe that it is also fair to say that this view of the dream overlooks the possible impact of the dreamer's feelings, choices, beliefs, and actions on the dream's outcome. Only through the lens of an altogether different model of dreaming––one that treats the dream as an interaction between dreamer and dream content rather than a message to the dreamer––can the dreamer's responses rise to the level of significance in the subsequent analysis.
The Five Star Method (FSM) is a dream work approach based on a relational, co-creative view of dreaming (Sparrow, 2006a, 2007a; Sparrow & Thurston, 2009). That is, it analyzes the dream as a real-time interplay between the dreamer's responses and the emergent dream content. It assumes that dreams are indeterminate from the outset, and co-created only as the dreamer responds to the content. Instead of treating dreams primarily as communications that need to be "interpreted," the FSM treats the dream as a relational process, the quality of which is determined by the dreamer's ability to respond in creative and appropriate ways to the dream's emergent agenda.
The FSM has it roots in my early exploration of lucid dreaming and my subsequent experience as a psychotherapist. It was influenced by several well-known theorists, including Van Eeden (1913), Jung (1966, 1974, 1984), Perls (1969, 1973), Rossi (1972, 2000), and UlIman (1996). As the FSM evolved, it was continuously tested and refined in my practice as a psychotherapist. In its current form, it can be used by individuals who are working with their own dreams, by laypersons who are assisting their friends and associates, and by professionals whose dream work methods must fit within the constraints of the therapeutic hour.
When I consider the 38 years that I have spent studying dreams, and the 27 years that I have used dream work in individual and group therapy, I realize that my desire to develop an effective dream work methodology was present from the beginning, even though it took years for the FSM to reach its current level of refinement. Of course, such design becomes evident only as one looks back and marvels at the apparent design operating behind the trials and errors of ordinary life.
I first began working with dreams in 1970. I was only 19, and I had just experienced my first lucid dream. Hungry for more knowledge concerning dreams, I immersed myself in Carl Jung's work, and acquainted myself with the two references to lucid dreaming in the literature at the time, Charles Tart's Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Celia Green's Lucid Dreams (1968), both of to pointed to the seminal and largely forgotten work of Van Eeden (1913). Lucid dreams soon became a common occurrence in my dream life, and the white light described by the mystics became, in turn, a familiar experience in the context of the lucid dream. From the beginning, the possibility of becoming more aware and responsive in the dream state informed my work with so-called ordinary dreams. Rechtschaffen once said, "Only when we see the possibility of the lucid dream do we fully realize what a massively non-reflective state dreaming usually is" (1978). I saw it differently. To me, the possibility of the lucid dream suggested that dreamers could become more aware in every dream. In fact, as I began to look carefully at "ordinary" dreams, I also discovered that dreamers were already quite aware and responsive––a fact that had been overlooked by traditional dream analysis up to that point.
I wrote a master's thesis on lucid dreaming in 1974, titled "Lucid Dreaming as an Evolutionary Process," making the case that human consciousness was "moving" into the dream state, much as it emerged in relation to the outer world thousands of years ago. Shortly thereafter, I wrote Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light (ARE, 1976), which was the first book (tiny though it was) on lucid dreaming published in the US. Eight years later, I conducted a dissertation study of lucid dream induction at William and Mary (Sparrow, 1983), in which I tested a pre-sleep lucid dreaming induction strategy that I'd been working with since the mid-70s. The Dream Reliving Method, as I termed it, was a simple exercise in which an individual would rehearse new, "lucid" responses in the imaginary enactment of previous, non-lucid dreams. I thought it was reasonable to expect that this waking rehearsal of new responses would trickle into subsequent dreams, and result in more constructive dream outcomes.
In order to measure the non-lucid aspects of dreamer development in my dissertation study, I developed a scale called the Dreamer Development Scale (Sparrow, 1983), which was specifically designed to assess the non-lucid variables of self-reflection, interactivity, role change, and the actualization of new behavior as described by Rossi (1972, 2000). I found that the individuals in my study who used Dream Reliving evidenced significantly higher levels of dreamer development qualities overall in their resultant dream recall as an apparent by-product of trying to induce a lucid dream. Suddenly, dreams were not so much lucid or non-lucid, but characterized by varying degrees of dreamer awareness and responsiveness. This clearly supported Rossi's view that "there is a continuum of all possible balances of control between the autonomous process and the dreamer's self awareness and consciously directed effort" (Rossi, 1972, p. 163). As a result of this research, I set about to teach dreamers to recognize the presence of incipient awareness and responsiveness in their own dreams, and to build upon these capabilities for the purposes of therapy or personal growth. The Five Star Method was eventually the centerpiece of this broad-based outreach to all dreamers.
Step One: Establishing the Context for Effective Dream Work Alongside my interest in assessing and enhancing dreamer awareness and responsiveness, I was interested in developing an approach to dreams that respected the integrity of the dreamer and the dream, but which also unleashed the dream worker's ability to assist the dreamer in seeing aspects of the dream that are nearly impossible to see from the inside. This, we know, is a tall order, but it is a task which is quite familiar to family therapists, in particular, who frequently assume a very active role as change agents, but only after getting to know each family member, exploring the family's unique experiences and values, and assessing the family's relationship structure. I realized that effective dream work had to be preceded by what family therapists call "joining" activities in order to establish trust and congruence between the dream worker and the dreamer.
Effective dream work begins by listening carefully and experiencing inwardly the dreamer's narrative. This preliminary step is essential from my experience, and has been recognized and appreciated by both Ullman (1996)0 and Taylor (1992), but it is often skipped over in our headlong, intrusive pursuit of "the interpretation." Having studied dream work with Ullman at his home in 1978 opened my eyes to the power of what might be termed, the vicarious appropriation of the dream. From that time onward, I have always listened to a person's dream as if it were my own.
How To Do It. The first step of the FSM is really a twofold exercise: 1) The dreamer shares the dream in the first-person, present tense, as recommended by Perls (1969, 1973) and 2) the dreamer and the dream worker alike reveal the feelings that were aroused within them during the dream sharing, as practiced by Taylor (1992) and Ullman (1996). While this step resembles Ullman's first step, I choosenot to isolate the dreamer from the dreamer worker's associations, but rather to enter into a dialogue from the initial sharing. While this runs the risk of exposing the dreamer to the dream worker's intrusive projections, I think it is a more natural and dynamic process. Also, by focusing on the phenomenology of the dream and the interactive process that is clearly evident in the dream report itself, the Five Star Method minimizes the importance of interpretation.
Although this initial step of the FSM precedes a more active exploration of the dream, it is not without surprise and discovery, because each of us experiences the same narrative in a different way. As the dreamer and the dream worker compare their emotional reactions to the dream narrative, they often discover quite different reactions that reveal their underlying assumptions about life, the effect of previous experiences, and their proclivities to react in predictable ways. Thus begins a subtle and significant "ordeal" in which the dreamer is encouraged to acknowledge that his or her own response to the dream was, ultimately, only one of many possible responses.
Step Two: Formulating the Dream's Theme or Process Narrative From the early 70s, Mark Thurston and I were in constant dialogue about dream work methods, and somewhere along the way he and I began to discuss the problem of distilling the essence of a dream from its often wildly disjointed narrative. In specific, we were puzzled by some of the dreams that were submitted to the famous clairvoyant Edgar Cayce for psychic interpretation. We observed that Cayce rarely went into much detail in his analysis of the submitted dreams. Instead, he seemed to summarize the dream in a very succinct but cogent statement about the person's life. Mark and I began working with this concept, and found that by temporarily ignoring the specific content of the dream and stating the dream's essential action, we were able to formulate a brief statement that accurately described the course of the dream's unfoldment. We also discovered that formulating a dream theme enabled dreamers to quickly identify areas of the waking life where the same theme was evident. After we wrote about the Dream Theme Method (Sparrow, 1978; Thurston, 1978, 1988), the technique became quite popular among lay and professional dream workers. Gongaloff has built an entire system of dream analysis around this concept (2006), and Garfield has featured it in her approach to dream analysis, as well (2001), but these approaches differ somewhat from what Mark and I originally intended by formulating a list of universal themes. I believe that such lists run the risk of making dreams conform to our expectations, rather than allowing the dream itself to reveal its pattern.
"Someone is trying to get away from someone else, but no matter what he does, he does not escape." "Someone is relieved to find that something that he thought was lost is still possible to locate." "Someone is trying to decide between two things, one apparently easy and the other difficult and challenging."
This type of summary reveals and preserves the underlying pattern of the dream, and organizes the subsequent steps in the FSM around a framework that the dreamer can quickly understand. It is not unusual for the dreamer to experience significant insights about the dream during this single step alone.
Step Three: Analyzing the Dreamer's Responses to the Dream This step is typically overlooked by conventional imagery-focused dream interpretation, and yet it forms the heart of the FSM. I would suggest that the preoccupation with interpreting dream images has effectively retarded our discovery of the obvious: that the dream is a richly interactive process in which the dreamer's choices and reactions are clearly distinct from the dream imagery and partly determine, or cocreate the dream's outcome. Focusing on the imagery alone has the way of rendering the dreamer a spectator, instead of an active agent who, in being free to respond in a variety of ways, bears some responsibility over the dream's outcome.
Barbara's dream is again an excellent case in point. What makes Barbara's dream especially powerful from a therapeutic standpoint is the fact that the dreamer herself––a woman without a shred of hope for herself–– somehow found the strength and wisdom to bring about the renewal of another hopeless condition. Her action in the dream became my strongest "selling point" in support of her capacity to recover. Throughout our work I was able to refer back to the dream as proof of her own capacity to survive and to recover. She could never refute the evidence of her own experience, and eventually––after years of therapy––her dream came true.
A traditional interpretive approach may have arrived at the same "good news," because the implications are clear. However, a traditional approach might overlook more subtle dreamer actions in favor of analyzing the imagery. These subtle responses can be just as crucial in turning the tide of the dream drama, and in the waking life as well.
She is standing on the seashore, near the restaurant where she worked as a waitress. She sees a wave approaching, and it turns toward her. A whale's back appears above the surface and comes all the way to the edge of the water where she stands. The whale's head is now above the water, and it turns its head until a single eye looks directly into the dreamer's face. There is a moment of breathless eye-to-eye intensity, and then it recedes, leaving the dreamer standing alone with a baby whale at her feet. She knows that she is supposed to care for it so she bends down and picks it up.
This, of course, is an astounding dream, with life changing implications. The content is "bigger than life," and deeply evocative. However, the most important dimension of this dream to consider from the standpoint of the response-oriented Five Star Method is the what dreamer does, and does not do. She stands her ground, which in itself is remarkable. And then, when she sees the baby whale, she assumes she is supposed to care for it, so she takes it into her arms. In the context of the woman's burnt-out life, the dreamer's responses to the immense challenge offered by the dream indicated her readiness to enter a new relationship with herself, and with "the mother" within and without. The last time I saw her, the woman was happily married and the mother of a baby girl.
Such dreams as these provide "leverage" for the dream worker to refocus the dreamer onto what might be considered the emergent competencies that we may still deny in ourselves. Once the dreamer is able to own these capabilities, such pivotal dreams can become additional support for their new sense of self, and just important, for a new response to life. By focusing on the dreamer's responses as well as the content, the dream work process makes the dream work deeply empowering as well as a source of insight.
When a dreamer is convinced that he or she is unable to respond differently to the dream, I have found that there are two sources of evidence that may eventually persuade the dreamer to reconsider. First, I often share dreams of other people, who, while experiencing similar content, responded in different ways. This "teaching stories" approach is used a lot in family therapy to get clients to get some distance from their emotional reactivity, and to consider a different way of dealing with problems. However, while this approach may broaden the dreamer's perspective, the better evidence comes over a period of time from the dreamer's own repetitive dreams, in which the dreamer's change in response is clearly mirrored by a change in the imagery, and in a more positive outcome. For instance, I had a client who dreamt that he is floating above a barking dog. He flaps his arms, and rises up above the dog, but then starts to sink whenever he stops moving his arms. The dog keeps barking and jumping toward him, so the dreamer remains quite anxious until he awakens.
In discussing this dream using the FSM, my client realized that his response was inadequate to the opportunity. Specifically, he realized that he mistrusted his own instincts, specifically his sexual and aggressive impulses. When we considered his responses in the dream, he decided that he needed to "come down to earth" and engage the dog in a friendly way.
A few weeks later, after working on various ways of embracing his instinctual side, the man dreams that he is hovering over a beautiful woman, who is trying to grab his foot and bring him down to earth. He flaps his arms, once again, to elude her, but feels playful and aroused, as well as a bit anxious. When comparing the two dreams, my client was able to see that the therapeutic work that he had done, had enabled him to feel differently about the dream encouter, even though he still had some work to do to "come down to earth."
How To Do It. The dream worker needs to look for the points where the dreamer responded––which includes emotions, beliefs, assumptions, choices, and actions––in such a way that could have affected the course of the dream from there on. Then the dream worker, in dialogue with the dreamer, critiques the dreamer's responses to the dream encounter, especially at the obvious response points in the dream. Where did the dreamer show a willingness to accept a challenge, or take a closer look at something ambiguous? Where, in contrast, did he or she turn away or avoid an encounter? Where did the dreamer respond creatively, and when did the dreamer react without thought of the full range of options open to him? Based on what the dreamer tells the dream worker, the helper assists the dreamer determine whether the dreamer's response is ordinary and predictable, or a constructive departure from his or her usual reaction to such situations. It is important at this point for the dream worker to take the lead from the dreamer, because what might be counterindicated for one person (e.g. avoidance or anger) can represent a breakthrough for someone else.
Then, the dream worker engages the. dreamer in expressing what he or she would like to do differently in future dream encounters with similar situations. Also, the dream worker involves the dreamer in imagining how the imagery might evolve as the dreamer adopts a more desirable (as defined by the dreamer) stance toward this issue in the dream. The dream worker also asks the dreamer to imagine what the culmination of such an encounter might be like, and to use active imagination to "dream ahead" and to experience the benefits of such changes.
Regardless of the methods used, the dreamer will discover that the imagery analysis is much easier as an embedded step in the FSM than undertaken as a stand-alone approach. By first exploring the relationship between the dreamer and the imagery, the dream worker effectively establishes a context or framework in which the meaning of the the imagery can be more easily discerned.
When teaching the FSM to beginners, I often ask my students what it would be like to communicate only with nouns. I have them try, and it becomes rather comical as they engage in caveman-like pronouncements that severely limit what they can communicate. I compare this limited vocabulary to a dream work approach that considers only the images, and then I suggest that the feelings in the dream are like adjectives and adverbs, and the theme of the dream emphasizes the verbs that tie the images together. The dreamer's responses, in turn, are specific interventions, and therefore verbs, as well. Students grasp this parallel quite easily.
While standard approaches to imagery analysis can be introduced in Step Four, an altogether nontraditional method of content analysis proceeds from the FSM model. Just as the dreamer's responses are no longer considered a given, the imagery itself is no longer considered static: Both can change in the course of the dream's unfoldment. Indeed, changes in the dreamer's responses and the dream content are viewed as reciprocally related, such that a change in one will usually mirror a change in the other. We might say that the dreamer's response to the emergent dream content "co-creates" the specific imagery. From this perspective, we can say that the image is not concretely formed by the unconscious, but rather resides within us principally as a broad potentiality, which can assume many different forms depending on the dreamer's stance in relation to it. Even after an image first appears in the dream, the image remains in a fluctuating state, deriving its stability from the response of the dreamer to the particular issue being presented. If our attitude toward the issue is unchanging, the image remains fairly constant. If, however, our attitude evolves or regresses, then the image usually becomes more refined, or regresses, in response to this change.
An excellent example of how imagery changes in response to the dreamer's response can be found in the above-mentioned dream of the man who dreamt of trying to escape the dog. Clearly, it is important to discuss what the dog relates to in the dreamer's life, but it is also important not to become too fixated on the specific image. After all, the dreamer soon experienced the dog transformed into a beautiful woman. Our approach to imagery must, therefore, have sufficient latitude to anticipate such transformations, rather than regress into a "dream book" approach where each symbol has a specific meaning or referent. How does one get a beautiful woman out of a black dog unless one considers the underlying issue (such as the dreamer's instincts or feelings), which can be experienced in a myriad of forms depending on the perceiver.
How To Do It. In practice, the dream worker evaluates any changes in dream imagery that occur and how these changes might relate to, or mirror the dreamer's changes in response. Obviously, when imagery is considered a fluctuating reality that mirrors the dreamer's responses, questions such as "What does this symbol mean?" become somewhat distracting and relatively useless. Instead, the dreamer learns to ask alternative questions such as, "What is the general issue that this image brings to mind?" and "How is my response to this issue affecting my relationship with it?" While these questions may not result in clear categorical answers, they respect the complexity of a dynamic relational process which, if honored and kept alive, can culminate in profound experiences of healing and integration.
Step Five: Applying the Dream Work In any therapeutic or growth-enhancing approach to dreams, the dreamer must eventually consider parallels in his or her waking life, and formulate ways to bring about constructive change based on the insights of the dream work. Thus, the final step of this dream work process involves identifying areas of one's life where new responses can precipitate positive changes.
The summary might involve an analysis of what general life issue, or life challenge, the dreamer encountered in the dream. Rather than seeing dreams as relating to very specific situations, dream workers can encourage dreamers to view their dreams as presentations of general developmental challenges, which may, of course, take on a variety of specific forms in our dreams and waking experiences.
Given the nature of the relational challenge that the dreamer faces in the dream, the dreamer worker may ask: Where is this type of encounter occurring in your waking life? If the dreamer can see a parallel between the dream issue and some waking situation, then the dream worker may ask the dreamer to consider new responses that can be made in that waking-state relationship to encourage working through the challenge. Your work on the dream might suggest creative and novel options which translate easily into the waking context. But, then again, it is not always a good idea to encourage a dreamer enact what is otherwise a desirable dream action in the waking state! Kissing a frog in public might bring you trouble! Dream workers should encourage the dreamer to think metaphorically in order to translate a desirable dream action into an appropriate waking action.
Applying the dream can also take. the form of preparing for future dreams. In some instances, dreamers will be unable to identify any parallels in the waking life, even after completing the first four steps of the FSM. In this case, planning for future dreams may be the only obvious venue for applying the dream work. But even when clear parallels with the waking life are evident, planning for future dreams can become part of this final step of the FSM, as well, especially if the original dream was unpleasant. The dream reliving process underscores the dreamer's freedom of choice, flexibility and creativity. Regardless of whether it bears obvious fruit in the context of a future dream, it will surely have an overall benefit on a person's sense of confidence and self-esteem.
The Five Star Method represents a competency-based approach to dream work based on the dreamer's capacity to become more aware and responsive in the dream environment. It is built upon the principle that a certain amount of nonlucid awareness and responsiveness can be discerned in every dream, and that these qualities can be cultivated. It signifies a movement away from treating the dream as a static message toward considering the dream as an interactive, relational process that offers the dreamer a chance to respond to the dream and to waking life in a new way. By focusing on what the dreamer does, and can do differently, the FSM naturally enhances a person's sense of personal responsibility. While the FSM may seem at first to minimize the importance of dream imagery, it actually does what traditional dream work methods often fail to do––that is, to establish an affective and interactive context in which the images can be more easily understood.
Behind this method also stands the unspoken possibility of having direct experiences of light and encounters with embodiments of higher power. Indeed, by assuming responsibility for our reactions in our dreams, we may remove the obstacles that stand in the way of ecstasy and healing. While I have lectured and written extensively about such pinnacle experiences (Sparrow, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2003), I rarely speak of such lofty fruits while I sit with my clients in the trenches of their ordinary struggles. But keeping these possibilities in mind and gently introducing them when the opportunities arise surely communicates something of what also may await them.
Freud, S. (1965). The interpretation of dreams. (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: Avon. (Original work published 1900).
Garfield, P. (2001). The universal dream key. New York: HarperCollins/Cliff Street Books.
Gongloff, R. (2006). Dream exploration: A new approach. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
Green, C. E. (1968). Lucid dreams. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Jung, C. G. (1974). Dreams. (R.F.C. Hull, Ed. and Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
Jung, C. G. (1984). Dream analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.No. 80-24, 691).
LaBerge, S. (1985). Lucid dreaming. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher.
LaBerge, S., Reingold, H. (1990). Exploring the world of lucid dreaming. New York: Ballentine.
Perls, F. (1973). The Gestalt approach and eyewitness to therapy. Lamond, CA: Science and Behavior Books.
Rechtschaffen, A. (1978). The single-mindedness and isolation of dreams. Sleep, 1978, 1, 97-109.
Rossi. E. L. (1972). Dreams and the growth of personality. New York: Pergamon.
Rossi, E. L. (2000) Dreams, consciousness, spirit: The quantum experience of self-reflection and co-creation.
Sparrow, G. S. (1976). Lucid dreaming: Dawning of the clear light. Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press.
Sparrow, G. S. (1978). The dream theme method. Sundance Community Dream Journal, 2, 2, 27-28.
Sparrow, G. S. (1983). An exploration into the induction of lucidity and greater awareness in nocturnal dream reports. Unpublished dissertation, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Sparrow, G. S. (2006). The five star method: A process-oriented, competency based approach to dream analysis. Paper presented at the annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Bridgeport, CT.
Sparrow, G. S. (2007). Applying the five star method of dream analysis in counseling. Paper presented at the annual symposium of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Sonoma, CA.
Sparrow, G. S. & Thurston, M. A. (2009). The Five Star Method: A Relational Dream Work Methodology. Journal of Creativity and Mental Health, in press.
Tart, C. T. (1969). Altered states of consciousness. New York: Wiley and Sons.
Taylor, J. (1992). Where people fly and water runs uphill. New York: Warner.
Thurston, M. (1978). How to interpret your dreams. Virginia Beach, VA: A.R.E. Press.
Thurston, M. (1988). Dreams: tonight's answers for tomorrow's questions. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
Ullman, M. (1996). Appreciating dreams: A group approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Van Eeden, F. (1913). A study of dreams. In Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 26, 431-461.


text:
From Prosecutor to Seminarian
by The Bridge on February 19, 2021
Seminarians at Mundelein come from diverse backgrounds. Teachers, engineers, journalists, accountants or–in the case of seminarian Ben Thomsen–a felony prosecutor.
Ben entered Mundelein Seminary in 2015 to study for the Archdiocese of Atlanta and was freshly out of the courtroom when he wrote a piece (posted below) for The Bridge—Mundelein's seminarian-produced magazine—about how his career as a lawyer might impact his formation as a seminarian.
Now that Ben is a third-year theologian preparing for his diaconate ordination, we asked him to re-read the column he wrote 5 years ago and share some updated thoughts on how his background has influenced his time in seminary, as well as sharing his vocation story and more experiences from his formation.
Below is the piece Ben wrote in 2016 for The Bridge magazine.
Upon entering my career as a lawyer, a felony prosecutor for the state of Georgia to be precise, I already had the thought that I was called to priesthood. One might find particular irony in a seminarian who was formally practicing law and exercising such a judgmental office. Indeed, I was told more than once that these two career paths seemed diametrically opposed!
So what lessons for seminarians might be learned from such a career, and how is the practice of law, particularly as a prosecutor, reconcilable with later seeking priesthood?
As a prosecutor, I tried eight cases and assisted in several others, while managing hundreds of cases that resulted in plea deals. The potential practical lessons for priesthood are the learning of various skills to include applying principles to individual facts, time management and, obviously, skills in oratory.
The lessons can also be spiritual. You learn a great deal about human nature seeing man in so fallen a state that it is necessary for the force of law to intervene. Unfortunately, not all cases are clearly the happy triumph of good over evil. With the help of law enforcement and juries with good common sense, I have had at least one trial that resulted in an unrepentant man receiving a life sentence, while the repentant man received far less (it is not always easy to bring that about; normally the repentant confessing man receives more because there is more evidence against him due to his confession).
Yet, I have handled tragic cases where young teenagers were sentenced to many years in confinement for a crime spree, although probably appropriately so. On the other hand, there were cases where I wondered if I came down too lightly or too quickly dismissed charges. The great number of cases on an attorney's docket demands finding the golden mean between working too much and too little. Making the right call in all these particular situations can be burdensome, and requires prayer and reflection — lest one grow too calloused, which ultimately leads down the path of laxity or severity.
Going from prosecutor to priest is perhaps a more harmonious transition than is readily apparent in our age. The work of a prosecutor is not something that must find itself in opposition to the work of a priest, even though a priest obviously ought not be in a political position once ordained. Love is the "will of the good of another." (CCC 1766) Love is constant in God, even if our good unfortunately necessitates purgatory or worse, and we are only loving when we will the good, even if unpleasant.
Therefore, if it is good of a person to pay his unaccounted temporal debts (what Saint Thomas Aquinas calls "retaliatory" or "restitutive"), that it is good to try and facilitate rehabilitation and that it is the good of the whole community to deter crime, then it seems it is fundamentally love to publicly bring these about when they come into the public's jurisdiction. The public duty of a prosecutor is to bring these goods in proper proportion, to society and the criminal, through conviction and punishment. Thus, just like being a priest is an expression of God's love, so, ironically, in the qualified realm of justice, being a lawyer can be a profession of love.
This article originally appeared in The Bridge, a publication of University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. The magazine archive can be viewed here.
Ben Thomsen Archdiocese of Atlanta, Georgia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
<?php

namespace Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Mapping;

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\Valid;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;
use Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\Entity;
use Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\ConstraintA;
use Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\ConstraintB;
use Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\PropertyConstraint;

require_once __DIR__.'/../Fixtures/Entity.php';
require_once __DIR__.'/../Fixtures/ConstraintA.php';
require_once __DIR__.'/../Fixtures/ConstraintB.php';
require_once __DIR__.'/../Fixtures/PropertyConstraint.php';

class ClassMetadataTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    const CLASSNAME = 'Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\Entity';
    const PARENTCLASS = 'Symfony\Tests\Component\Validator\Fixtures\EntityParent';

    protected $metadata;

    protected function setUp()
    {
        $this->metadata = new ClassMetadata(self::CLASSNAME);
    }

    protected function tearDown()
    {
        $this->metadata = null;
    }

    public function testAddConstraintDoesNotAcceptValid()
    {
        $this->setExpectedException('Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\ConstraintDefinitionException');

        $this->metadata->addConstraint(new Valid());
    }

    public function testAddConstraintRequiresClassConstraints()
    {
        $this->setExpectedException('Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\ConstraintDefinitionException');

        $this->metadata->addConstraint(new PropertyConstraint());
    }

    public function testAddPropertyConstraints()
    {
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('firstName', new ConstraintA());
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('lastName', new ConstraintB());

        $this->assertEquals(array('firstName', 'lastName'), $this->metadata->getConstrainedProperties());
    }

    public function testMergeConstraintsMergesClassConstraints()
    {
        $parent = new ClassMetadata(self::PARENTCLASS);
        $parent->addConstraint(new ConstraintA());

        $this->metadata->mergeConstraints($parent);
        $this->metadata->addConstraint(new ConstraintA());

        $constraints = array(
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'EntityParent',
                'Entity',
            ))),
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'Entity',
            ))),
        );

        $this->assertEquals($constraints, $this->metadata->getConstraints());
    }

    public function testMergeConstraintsMergesMemberConstraints()
    {
        $parent = new ClassMetadata(self::PARENTCLASS);
        $parent->addPropertyConstraint('firstName', new ConstraintA());

        $this->metadata->mergeConstraints($parent);
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('firstName', new ConstraintA());

        $constraints = array(
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'EntityParent',
                'Entity',
            ))),
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'Entity',
            ))),
        );

        $members = $this->metadata->getMemberMetadatas('firstName');

        $this->assertEquals(1, count($members));
        $this->assertEquals(self::PARENTCLASS, $members[0]->getClassName());
        $this->assertEquals($constraints, $members[0]->getConstraints());
    }

    public function testMemberMetadatas()
    {
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('firstName', new ConstraintA());

        $this->assertTrue($this->metadata->hasMemberMetadatas('firstName'));
        $this->assertFalse($this->metadata->hasMemberMetadatas('non_existant_field'));
    }

    public function testMergeConstraintsKeepsPrivateMembersSeparate()
    {
        $parent = new ClassMetadata(self::PARENTCLASS);
        $parent->addPropertyConstraint('internal', new ConstraintA());

        $this->metadata->mergeConstraints($parent);
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('internal', new ConstraintA());

        $parentConstraints = array(
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'EntityParent',
                'Entity',
            ))),
        );
        $constraints = array(
            new ConstraintA(array('groups' => array(
                'Default',
                'Entity',
            ))),
        );

        $members = $this->metadata->getMemberMetadatas('internal');

        $this->assertEquals(2, count($members));
        $this->assertEquals(self::PARENTCLASS, $members[0]->getClassName());
        $this->assertEquals($parentConstraints, $members[0]->getConstraints());
        $this->assertEquals(self::CLASSNAME, $members[1]->getClassName());
        $this->assertEquals($constraints, $members[1]->getConstraints());
    }

    public function testGetReflectionClass()
    {
        $reflClass = new \ReflectionClass(self::CLASSNAME);

        $this->assertEquals($reflClass, $this->metadata->getReflectionClass());
    }

    public function testSerialize()
    {
        $this->metadata->addConstraint(new ConstraintA(array('property1' => 'A')));
        $this->metadata->addConstraint(new ConstraintB(array('groups' => 'TestGroup')));
        $this->metadata->addPropertyConstraint('firstName', new ConstraintA());
        $this->metadata->addGetterConstraint('lastName', new ConstraintB());

        $metadata = unserialize(serialize($this->metadata));

        $this->assertEquals($this->metadata, $metadata);
    }

    public function testGroupSequencesWorkIfContainingDefaultGroup()
    {
        $this->metadata->setGroupSequence(array('Foo', $this->metadata->getDefaultGroup()));
    }

    public function testGroupSequencesFailIfNotContainingDefaultGroup()
    {
        $this->setExpectedException('Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\GroupDefinitionException');

        $this->metadata->setGroupSequence(array('Foo', 'Bar'));
    }

    public function testGroupSequencesFailIfContainingDefault()
    {
        $this->setExpectedException('Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\GroupDefinitionException');

        $this->metadata->setGroupSequence(array('Foo', $this->metadata->getDefaultGroup(), Constraint::DEFAULT_GROUP));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Photo: The cast of The Agency Theater Collective's production of HELLCAB includes: (top, l to r) George Ellzey Jr., Tyler Esselman, Audrey Gladson, Katie Incardona, Kate Jacobsen, Elbron James, Ashley Joy, Lynnette Li (bottom, l to r) Regina Linn Adam Mengesha, John Miraglia, Delysa Richards, Tricia Rogers, Jack Schultz, Gin To and Damian White.
The Agency Theater Collective has announced casting for the return of HELLCAB by Will Kern, directed by Cordie Nelson, playing November 30 – December 30, 2018 at The Raven Theatre.
Kern drew from personal experience as a former cabbie to fill his classic Chicago play with an army of quirky passengers, who will be played by George Ellzey Jr., Tyler Esselman, Audrey Gladson, Katie Incardona, Kate Jacobsen, Elbron James, Ashley Joy, Lynnette Li, Adam Mengesha, John Miraglia, Delysa Richards, Tricia Rogers, Jack Schultz, Gin To and Damian White. Regina Linn wrangles them all as the Cab Driver.
The production team for HELLCAB includes: Elyse Balogh (scenic design), Hailey Rakowiecki (costume design), Ellie Humphrys (lighting design), Ryan Wiechmann (sound design), Shea Messinger (props design), Reggie Robinson (assistant director), Colleen Schuldeis (stage manager) and Si Squires-Kasten (assistant stage manager).
All performances are pay-what you-can (suggested $20 donation). Tickets go on sale Thursday, November 1, 2018 at wearetheagency.org or by calling (773) 680-4596.


text:
package org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.ordinals;

import org.apache.lucene.index.RandomAccessOrds;
import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedDocValues;
import org.apache.lucene.util.packed.PackedInts;
import org.elasticsearch.index.fielddata.FieldData;
import org.elasticsearch.search.MultiValueMode;
import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.Set;

import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;

/**
 */
public class MultiOrdinalsTests extends ESTestCase {

    protected Ordinals creationMultiOrdinals(OrdinalsBuilder builder) {
        return builder.build();
    }

    public void testRandomValues() throws IOException {
        Random random = random();
        int numDocs = 100 + random.nextInt(1000);
        int numOrdinals = 1 + random.nextInt(200);
        int numValues = 100 + random.nextInt(100000);
        OrdinalsBuilder builder = new OrdinalsBuilder(numDocs);
        Set<OrdAndId> ordsAndIdSet = new HashSet<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < numValues; i++) {
            ordsAndIdSet.add(new OrdAndId(random.nextInt(numOrdinals), random.nextInt(numDocs)));
        }
        List<OrdAndId> ordsAndIds = new ArrayList<>(ordsAndIdSet);
        Collections.sort(ordsAndIds, new Comparator<OrdAndId>() {

            @Override
            public int compare(OrdAndId o1, OrdAndId o2) {
                if (o1.ord < o2.ord) {
                    return -1;
                }
                if (o1.ord == o2.ord) {
                    if (o1.id < o2.id) {
                        return -1;
                    }
                    if (o1.id > o2.id) {
                        return 1;
                    }
                    return 0;
                }
                return 1;
            }
        });
        long lastOrd = -1;
        for (OrdAndId ordAndId : ordsAndIds) {
            if (lastOrd != ordAndId.ord) {
                lastOrd = ordAndId.ord;
                builder.nextOrdinal();
            }
            ordAndId.ord = builder.currentOrdinal(); // remap the ordinals in case we have gaps?
            builder.addDoc(ordAndId.id);
        }

        Collections.sort(ordsAndIds, new Comparator<OrdAndId>() {

            @Override
            public int compare(OrdAndId o1, OrdAndId o2) {
                if (o1.id < o2.id) {
                    return -1;
                }
                if (o1.id == o2.id) {
                    if (o1.ord < o2.ord) {
                        return -1;
                    }
                    if (o1.ord > o2.ord) {
                        return 1;
                    }
                    return 0;
                }
                return 1;
            }
        });
        Ordinals ords = creationMultiOrdinals(builder);
        RandomAccessOrds docs = ords.ordinals();
        final SortedDocValues singleOrds = MultiValueMode.MIN.select(docs);
        int docId = ordsAndIds.get(0).id;
        List<Long> docOrds = new ArrayList<>();
        for (OrdAndId ordAndId : ordsAndIds) {
            if (docId == ordAndId.id) {
                docOrds.add(ordAndId.ord);
            } else {
                if (!docOrds.isEmpty()) {
                    assertThat((long) singleOrds.getOrd(docId), equalTo(docOrds.get(0)));

                    docs.setDocument(docId);
                    final int numOrds = docs.cardinality();
                    assertThat(numOrds, equalTo(docOrds.size()));
                    for (int i = 0; i < numOrds; i++) {
                        assertThat(docs.nextOrd(), equalTo(docOrds.get(i)));
                    }
                    final long[] array = new long[docOrds.size()];
                    for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
                        array[i] = docOrds.get(i);
                    }
                    assertIter(docs, docId, array);
                }
                for (int i = docId + 1; i < ordAndId.id; i++) {
                    assertThat((long) singleOrds.getOrd(i), equalTo(RandomAccessOrds.NO_MORE_ORDS));
                }
                docId = ordAndId.id;
                docOrds.clear();
                docOrds.add(ordAndId.ord);

            }
        }

    }

    public static class OrdAndId {
        long ord;
        final int id;

        public OrdAndId(long ord, int id) {
            this.ord = ord;
            this.id = id;
        }

        @Override
        public int hashCode() {
            final int prime = 31;
            int result = 1;
            result = prime * result + id;
            result = prime * result + (int) ord;
            return result;
        }

        @Override
        public boolean equals(Object obj) {
            if (this == obj) {
                return true;
            }
            if (obj == null) {
                return false;
            }
            if (getClass() != obj.getClass()) {
                return false;
            }
            OrdAndId other = (OrdAndId) obj;
            if (id != other.id) {
                return false;
            }
            if (ord != other.ord) {
                return false;
            }
            return true;
        }
    }

    public void testOrdinals() throws Exception {
        int maxDoc = 7;
        long maxOrds = 32;
        OrdinalsBuilder builder = new OrdinalsBuilder(maxDoc);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 0
        builder.addDoc(1).addDoc(4).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 1
        builder.addDoc(0).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 3
        builder.addDoc(2).addDoc(4).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 3
        builder.addDoc(0).addDoc(4).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 4
        builder.addDoc(4).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        builder.nextOrdinal(); // 5
        builder.addDoc(4).addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        while (builder.getValueCount() < maxOrds) {
            builder.nextOrdinal();
            builder.addDoc(5).addDoc(6);
        }

        long[][] ordinalPlan = new long[][]{
                {1, 3},
                {0},
                {2},
                {},
                {0, 2, 3, 4, 5},
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31},
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31}
        };

        Ordinals ordinals = creationMultiOrdinals(builder);
        RandomAccessOrds docs = ordinals.ordinals();
        assertEquals(docs, ordinalPlan);
    }

    protected static void assertIter(RandomAccessOrds docs, int docId, long... expectedOrdinals) {
        docs.setDocument(docId);
        assertThat(docs.cardinality(), equalTo(expectedOrdinals.length));
        for (long expectedOrdinal : expectedOrdinals) {
            assertThat(docs.nextOrd(), equalTo(expectedOrdinal));
        }
    }

    public void testMultiValuesDocsWithOverlappingStorageArrays() throws Exception {
        int maxDoc = 7;
        long maxOrds = 15;
        OrdinalsBuilder builder = new OrdinalsBuilder(maxDoc);
        for (int i = 0; i < maxOrds; i++) {
            builder.nextOrdinal();
            if (i < 10) {
                builder.addDoc(0);
            }
            builder.addDoc(1);
            if (i == 0) {
                builder.addDoc(2);
            }
            if (i < 5) {
                builder.addDoc(3);

            }
            if (i < 6) {
                builder.addDoc(4);

            }
            if (i == 1) {
                builder.addDoc(5);
            }
            if (i < 10) {
                builder.addDoc(6);
            }
        }

        long[][] ordinalPlan = new long[][]{
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9},
                {0,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14},
                {0},
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4},
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5},
                {1},
                {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
        };

        Ordinals ordinals = new MultiOrdinals(builder, PackedInts.FASTEST);
        RandomAccessOrds docs = ordinals.ordinals();
        assertEquals(docs, ordinalPlan);
    }

    private void assertEquals(RandomAccessOrds docs, long[][] ordinalPlan) {
        long maxOrd = 0;
        for (int doc = 0; doc < ordinalPlan.length; ++doc) {
            if (ordinalPlan[doc].length > 0) {
                maxOrd = Math.max(maxOrd, 1 + ordinalPlan[doc][ordinalPlan[doc].length - 1]);
            }
        }
        assertThat(docs.getValueCount(), equalTo(maxOrd));
        assertThat(FieldData.isMultiValued(docs), equalTo(true));
        for (int doc = 0; doc < ordinalPlan.length; ++doc) {
            long[] ords = ordinalPlan[doc];
            docs.setDocument(doc);
            assertThat(docs.cardinality(), equalTo(ords.length));
            for (int i = 0; i < ords.length; ++i) {
                assertThat(docs.ordAt(i), equalTo(ords[i]));
            }
        }
    }

}


text:
Home » Literature » Brave New World
by: Aldous Huxley
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley ebook epub/pdf/prc/mobi/azw3 download for Kindle, Mobile, Tablet, Laptop, PC, e-Reader.
in: Fiction / Literature
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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley ebook epub/pdf/prc/mobi/azw3 download free
Brave New World is a novel written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley and published in 1932. Set in London in the year AD 2540 (632 A.F.—"After Ford"—in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine profoundly to change society. Huxley answered this book with a reassessment in an essay, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with Island (1962), his final novel.
In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, Robert McCrum writing for The Observer included Brave New World chronologically at number 53 in "the top 100 greatest novels of all time", and the novel was listed at number 87 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
A towering classic of dystopian satire, BRAVE NEW WORLD is a brilliant and terrifying vision of a soulless society—and of one man who discovers the human costs of mindless conformity.
Hundreds of years in the future, the World Controllers have created an ideal civilization. Its members, shaped by genetic engineering and behavioral conditioning, are productive and content in roles they have been assigned at conception. Government-sanctioned drugs and recreational sex ensure that everyone is a happy, unquestioning consumer; messy emotions have been anesthetized and private attachments are considered obscene. Only Bernard Marx is discontented, developing an unnatural desire for solitude and a distaste for compulsory promiscuity. When he brings back a young man from one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old unenlightened ways still continue, he unleashes a dramatic clash of cultures that will force him to consider whether freedom, dignity, and individuality are worth suffering for.
Aldous Huxley's ingenious fantasy of a future of mechanical efficiency and engineered harmony has been enormously influential for generations, and is as provocative, powerful, and riveting as when it was first published in 1932.
Amazon.com Review
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today–let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come. –This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
From Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic science fiction work that continues to be a significant warning to our society today. Tony Britton, the reader, does an excellent job of portraying clinical detachment as the true nature of the human incubators is revealed. The tone lightens during the vacation to the wilderness and the contrast is even more striking. Each character is given a separate personality by Britton's voices. As the story moves from clinical detachment to the human interest of Bernard, the nonconformist, and John, the "Savage," listeners are drawn more deeply into the plot. Finally, the reasoned tones of the Controller explain away all of John's arguments against the civilization, leading to John's death as he cannot reconcile his beliefs to theirs.The abridgement is very well done, and the overall message of the novel is clearly presented. The advanced vocabulary and complex themes lend themselves to class discussion and further research. There is sure to be demand for this classic in schools and public libraries.
Pat Griffith, Schlow Memorial Library, State College, PA
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) is the author of the classic novels Island, Eyeless in Gaza, and The Genius and the Goddess, as well as such critically acclaimed nonfiction works as The Devils of Loudun, The Doors of Perception, and The Perennial Philosophy. Born in Surrey, England, and educated at Oxford, he died in Los Angeles.
1 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
2 Amazon.com Review
3 From Library Journal
4 About the Author
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text:
A vampiric doctoral student tries to follow the philosophy of a nocturnal comrade and control her thirst for blood.
Salaam Cinema
Makhmalbaf puts an advertisement in the papers calling for an open casting for his next movie. However when hundreds of people show up, he decides to make a movie about the casting and the screen tests of the would-be actors.
Brother of Sleep
Schlafes Bruder tells the story a few exceptionally talented individuals who grew up in a remote mountain town in the Alps. The film, based on an internationally successful novel by Robert Schneider of the same name, depicts the slow withering of their unique skills.
Neurosia: Fifty Years of Perversity
Neurosia is the autobiography of the director Rosa von Praunheim. The movie begins with Rosa presenting his autobiography in a movie theater. Before the film begins, he is shot. But – his body gets lost. A female journalist from a TV station begins researching the life of Rosa. In the course of the movie she speaks to lots of aquaintances, shows short clips from Rosas old movies. Her main aim is to provide sensational and…
Wild Side
A bank accountant who moonlights as a high-priced call girl becomes embroiled in the lives of a money launderer, his seductive wife, and his bodyguard.
A justice drama based on a true story about a man on death row who in his last days forms a strong relationship with a nun who teaches him forgiveness and gives him spirituality as she accompanies him to his execution.
Peculiarities of the National Hunt
A Finn preparing a work on the Russian hunting traditions and customs, comes to Russia to collect materials and is invited to take part in a hunting party. His flamboyant companions include an Army general, with more than a passing resemblance to Aleksander Lebed, a police detective, local forest ranger (a devotee of Zen Buddhism) and some big-city types from St. Petersburg. Inevitably, their good intentions soon give way to endless drinking, visits to local…
The Moor's Head
Georg, who is happy with his job as a scientist, with his loving wife and with his three children, hears one day that an accident has happened in a chemical plant nearby. All of a sudden, he finds himself face to face with one of the victims. The man, whose face has been eaten away by the sour gas that escaped from the plant, is staring at him in despair. Does Georg really see the…
Nature of the Beast
Two men, both hiding a deadly secret, are on a murderous rampage through the desert.
The story revolves around a Basque Roman Catholic priest dedicated to committing as many sins as possible (Angulo), a death metal salesman from Carabanchel (Segura), and the Italian host of a TV show on the occult (De Razza). These go on a literal "trip" through Christmas-time Madrid to hunt for and prevent the reincarnation of the Antichrist.
Apocalypse According to Cioran
"World history is nothing else than a repetition of catastrophes waiting for a final catastrophe"
Ultramegalopolis
A two and a half hour Hell-Ride through the vast continuously urban sprawl known as Los Angeles. Explore the War-Zone from within it's riot-torn, graffiti-covered walls. Listen in horror to the terrifying true stories of Charles Manson's cell mate. Visit the McMartin Preschool, subject of the longest running criminal trial in the history of the United States. Meet religious fanatics, movie stars, drug addicts, gang-bangers and bulimics. See why Southern California is the Fruit and…
Venus In Furs
Female mistress and male slave caught in a circle of tension.
Carny Talk
Robert Williams, The King of Lowbrow Art tells us about the hidden history of 1950's America: Sideshow Freaks, Benzedrine, Hot Rods and Motorcycles, Lesbians, Mortuary Parties, Scuzzy Women, Clyde Rollins and The Barrel of Death, Hospital Still Borns, The Great Fecal Matter, and much, much more!
The Passion of Darkly Noon
Desire torments a former cultist taking refuge at the home of a scantily clad woman whose husband is away.
Colony Mutation
Jim Matthews, a PR exec for a genetic design firm, is sleeping with Jenny Dole, a secretary. When Meredith Weaver (Jim's wife and a genetic designer with the firm) finds out about the affair, she doses him with an experimental serum, causing his limbs to separate from his body and take on lives of their own.
When siblings Judy and Peter discover an enchanted board game that opens the door to a magical world, they unwittingly invite Alan — an adult who's been trapped inside the game for 26 years — into their living room. Alan's only hope for freedom is to finish the game, which proves risky as all three find themselves running from giant rhinoceroses, evil monkeys and other terrifying creatures.
Tokyo Fist
A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Tajuki, on the subway. Tajuki is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Tajuki might be having an affair with his fiancée Hizuru. After an altercation, Tsuda begins training rigorously himself, leading to an extremely bloody, violent confrontation.
Young, wild poet Arthur Rimbaud and his mentor Paul Verlaine engage in a fierce, forbidden romance while feeling the effects of a hellish artistic lifestyle.
Xtro 3: Watch the Skies
Marines on a deserted island are ordered to disfuse bombs, but then an alien creature terrorizes them.


text:
Buybacks and community activism among Katz's plan of action to address gun violence
By Bill Parry
With less than two months to go until the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney, Borough President Melinda Katz, one of the seven candidates on the ballot, rolled out her plan of action to address the growing threat of gun violence in the borough.
Amidst an alarming increase in murders locally, and a failure of leaders in Washington to pass gun control legislation, Katz's plan takes a comprehensive look at the chronic problem.
The policy proposals addressing gun violence are the latest in a series of detailed plans to reform the DA's office released by Katz, including plans to better protect workers, hold real estate developers and predatory lenders accountable, and defend women's rights, her campaign said.
"The sad truth is that the daily presence of gun violence in communities of color largely goes overlooked, or worse, is accepted as normal," Katz said. "Even in New York, where we have some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, thousands of lives every year are tragically affected by murders, assaults, domestic violence, hate crimes, and suicides that involve a gun. But getting guns off the streets is only part of the solution."
Katz detailed several new ways the DA's office could be better equipped to keep the borough safe. Her plan includes a new emphasis on empowering community groups that implement the Cure Violence mode, including a pledge to devote civil asset funds to expand these programs into new neighborhoods and schools.
A 24/7 gun buyback program allowing any resident to walk into any precinct at any time to turn in a gun. Katz proposes new education programs and policies to give family members the option to safely get rid of unlicensed guns they may find in their home without fear of punishment and a pledge to aggressively crack down on gun trafficking with better coordination and data sharing between jurisdictions.
"As District Attorney, I'll continue my work treating gun violence as a public health issue, spreading Cure Violence programs to the neighborhoods that need them most, and instituting new policies to address gun trafficking and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they're designated to protect."
Queens activists working to reduce gun violence in the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the borough voiced support for Katz's plan, including LIFE Camp founder Erica Ford, the Jamaica-based organization that implemented the Cure Violence model in 2012.
"Melinda has been the ideal partner in our fight to end violence in our community," Ford said. "She takes the time to listen to those who work every day on the ground to keep our streets safe, and as a result understands the full scope of the issue. This plan is a reflection of her years of experience tackling gun violence, and we're confident she'll help us make even more progress as District Attorney."
Since 2005, the King of Kings foundations in Far Rockaway has taken a school/community-based approach to gun violence prevention. In 2010, co-founders Lance and Todd Feurtado played a leading role in bringing Operation Snug/Cure Violence to New York State and implementing the program in the Redfern Community House Development which went a year without shooting or killings.
"Reducing gun violence isn't just about taking guns off the street, kids need after school programs to give them alternatives and opportunities," the Feurtados said in a statement. "People need ways to remove guns they find in their homes without fear of punishing their family members. Leaders in the community need resources and partners to help them change the culture around violence. Everybody doesn't need to be put in jail. A District Attorney that understands all of this, and is willing to listen to our ideas, will make our neighborhoods safer. Melinda Katz has shown time and again she will be that kind of DA."
In the last 14 years, The King of Kings Foundation has helped change the lives of more than 30,000 students and young adults in Hollis, Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, Far Rockaway, Corona, Queensbridge, and many other communities around the borough.
Meeks endorses Brooks-Powers in southeast Queens City Council race
LGBTQ activists jump into the Atlantic in Far Rockaway to protest nuclear weapons
Queens loses nearly 200 chain stores, third largest decline in the city


NEW #DISCOVERY! WORLDS LARGEST #UNDERWATER #PYRAMID FOUND!
James Frain (born 14 March 1968; age 50) is a British actor who portrays Sarek in Star Trek: Discovery. Frain came up in the British television and film circuit but was not exposed to American audiences until he was cast in the 1996 biopic Rasputin, costarring David Warner. Frain then made his American television debut in an episode of Tales From the Crypt called "Report from the Grave", starring John Kassir. He also appeared in series like 24, Invasion, The Tudors, True Blood, The Cape.
I didn't expect Saru to get his revenge so quickly! And is he actually stronger than he was before? Kelpians seem very severely strong, smart, hyper vision, poison darts. Are they designed?
Hint for this episode, you really need to watch all the summer short treks, one of them tells his whole escape story and introduces his sister. Hopefully that also means the other three will be used this season.
Julian H. Webb, a physicist in Kodak's research department, took it upon himself to dig deeper and test the destroyed film. What he uncovered was shocking. The fogging of Kodak's film and the Trinity test in New Mexico were eerily connected, revealing some chilling secrets about the nuclear age.
It all started when Kodak had a problem with its packaging. Even today, X-ray film is highly sensitive (much more so than regular photographic film) and subject to ruin due to dirt, scratches and even minimal light exposure. Proper packaging and protection is essential to make sure the film gets from manufacturing to shipping to the customer's place of business safely. According to an article Webb would write in 1949 for the American Physical Society, the paper and cardboard used for packaging in the '40s were often salvaged from wartime manufacturing plants where radium-based instruments were also produced. Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that can cause flecks of spots or fogging when "in intimate contact with (sensitive film) for a period several weeks." During wartime, Kodak took precautions to avoid radium contamination. It moved packaging manufacturing to mills where Kodak had full control over the raw materials.
In January 1942, less than four years after Berlin chemists first split the uranium atom, the United States government secretly launched the Manhattan Project. Spurred by a letter from Albert Einstein saying that the Germans were pursuing the bomb, President Franklin Roosevelt approved federal funding for uranium research in 1939. Later that year, reports indicated it was possible to create an "extremely powerful bomb" from enriched uranium (later plutonium was discovered to have similar destructive properties). Eminent scientist Vannevar Bush hastily compiled a list of resources, including materials, equipment, money, and scientists, needed to make the bomb a physical reality. A month after Pearl Harbor pushed the U.S. into the war, FDR approves Bush's list with one simple handwritten note, "V.B. OK-returned-I think you had best keep this in your own safe FDR." Three days after Christmas in 1942, the "Manhattan Project" was officially authorized.
While he was studying the Indiana samples, Webb got word that a particular production run of strawboard from a plant in Tama, Iowa was also contaminated and fogging the Kodak film it carried. While Tama was 450 miles from Vincennes, there were striking similarities. The two production runs of strawboard had been completed within a month of each other. Tama's radioactive spots also failed the radium test, meaning the cause was something else. Most telling, however, was that both mills sat next to rivers, with Vincennes on the Wabash River and the Iowa River cutting through Tama.
Webb wasn't the only one who knew fallout could travel vast distances. As the years have passed, it's become increasingly clear that the United States government knew this fact early on. Immediately following the Trinity tests, the Manhattan Project's chief of radiological safety, Stafford Warren, warned that the tests needed to be conducted at least 150 miles from civilian populations. In 1948, U.S. Air Force Meteorologist Col. B. G. Holzman recommended establishing a new nuclear test site on the East Coast, rather than in the west, because western winds carry fallout across the continental United States. Despite this recommendation, the Nevada Proving Ground (later theNevada Test Site) was established in 1950 only a hundred miles from Las Vegas. According to a 1997 article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists entitled "Worse than we knew," the reason for this reckless choice was that weapons labs were nearby, which would accelerate "the pace of the weapons development program."
Pat Ortmeyer was the coauthor of this article in which she and Arjun Makhijani dug deep into the National Cancer Institute's report that because of the Nevada nuclear tests, a vast majority of the American public was exposed to the cancer-causing radioactive element Iodine-131. "What is so appalling was that it was the system... that it was by design, to keep the public in the dark like that," Ortmeyer tells Popular Mechanics. "This was partly because of the context... we were at war... but when you look at the history of nuclear production, that's the norm... downplaying [health risks]."
On January 27, 1951, the first atomic detonation at the new Nevada Proving Ground took place. Days later and 2,500 miles away, a Geiger counter at Kodak's headquarters in New York state measured radioactive readings 25 times above normal after a snowstorm. Declassified 1952 documents obtained by Popular Mechanics reveals that Kodak alerted the Atomic Energy Commission about this out of concern this testing would wreck its film just as had happened in 1945. The AEC responded that it would look into it, but assured Kodak there was little reason to worry, even allowing the company to issue a press release to the Associated Press stating that snow "that fell in Rochester was measurably radioactive..." but "there is no possibility of harm to humans and animals."
In March 1951, a frustrated Kodak threatened to sue the U.S. government for the "considerable amount of damage to our products resulting from the Nevada tests or from any further atomic energy tests..." Finally the company and the government came to an agreement. The AEC would provide Webb, by now the head of Kodak's physics division, with schedules and maps of future tests so that Kodak could take the necessary precautions to protect its product. In return, the people of Kodak were to keep everything they knew about the government's Nevada nuclear testing a secret.
"They were doing their jobs and perhaps simply didn't know any better."
Did Kodak have a responsibility to tell the American public about the fallout? Says Stephen Schwartz, an independent nuclear weapons expert and policy analyst who edited and co-wrote the book Atomic Audit for the Brookings Institution in 1998: "Did they have a moral or ethical responsibility? I think you could make a strong case that they did," he says. "But I wouldn't look at Kodak with today's eyes. They were doing their jobs and perhaps simply didn't know any better."
Ortmeyer agrees: "I think that the responsibility fell to the government... [Kodak]knew the impact it had on their film, but for them to speak out on a public health issue... that wasn't their field of expertise. I can only surmise that in the era of the Manhattan Project, if you are behind the curtain and sworn to secrecy.... You are not going to go there."
In 1997, the National Cancer Institute released findings that linked the Nevada nuclear testing to the release of Iodine-131 which can lead to thyroid cancer. In response, a Congressional hearing questioned why the government withheld such information. Led by Sen. Tom Harkin (who incorrectly said that Kodak discovered the radioactive fallout because of "corn husks," not strawboard), the hearing made clear that this was a public health crisis, and that every single American alive at the time was threatened by the radioactive fallout. Julian Webb knew this five decades earlier when he discovered traces of faraway weapons testing in America's water supply. Why no one told the American people remains a question today.
Speaking at an event in Sandton on Friday (1 February), channel manager at Huawei South Africa, Lorraine Coleman, said that Vitality members will now be able to use their Vitality device booster benefits to receive discounts on some Huawei health devices.
Coleman said that this will include a discount of between 25% – 75% on any Huawei device that has a heart rate monitor that is purchased from a Sportsmans Warehouse or Total Sports store.
He noted that the company has integrated a number of changes to the company's cloud-based Health app, which now offers real-time heart rate monitoring, stress, sleep quality and oxygen intake, among other features.


Species and communities have long been measured for the purpose of assessing the broader condition of habitats or environments. More recently bioindicator systems are also being used to assess and monitor the performance of biodiversity policy, both nationally and globally. Our research in this area currently focuses on identifying minimum information sets (using Essential Biodiversity Variables) for assessing and monitoring the state of biological invasion from sub-national to global scales.


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Mongabay Series: Global Palm Oil
Mammal numbers high in logged tropical forests, study finds
by John C. Cannon on 16 August 2017 |
The study quantified mammal numbers in forests and landscapes with varying degrees of human impact in Malaysian Borneo.
Across 57 mammal species recorded with live and camera traps, the average number of all animals combined was 28 percent higher in logged forests — where hunting wasn't an issue — compared to old-growth forests.
The findings demonstrate the importance of conserving degraded forests along with more pristine areas.
Logged tropical forests have a bit of a bad reputation in the conservation community. They're often seen as sub-standard habitats for animals, especially when compared with the robust and varied ecosystem in an old-growth forest.
But a new study published this month in the journal Biological Conservation adds to the evidence demonstrating that these "degraded" forests are worth protecting from further damage.
"As ecologists, we've known for a long time that these areas, despite being ugly to look at, actually have the potential to sustain large populations of lots of different mammal species, as long as hunting levels are low," said Oliver Wearn of the Zoological Society of London in an email. "Pigs and deer find more food, small mammals might find more insects and fruit, and the predators of all of these species find a moving buffet."
A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by John C. Cannon / Mongabay
Some of Wearn's earlier work had shown that the diversity of mammal species in logged forests was similar to what's present in old-growth forests. He and his colleagues then wondered how changes by humans to those forests would affect the numbers of each of those species.
To answer that question, they set up camera and live traps in a variety of landscapes in Malaysian Borneo, including pristine old-growth forests, reserves that have been logged multiple times, and oil palm plantations. They recorded 57 different mammal species in these areas, and based on the frequencies that each one appeared, they then estimated how abundant the animals were in each environment.
They found that average abundance across all of those species actually went up by 28 percent. Small mammal numbers were 169 percent higher in logged forests than in untouched spots (though Wearn did point out that a lot of the first colonizers were invasive species, like rats and feral dogs).
"What was more surprising was that this pattern was so widespread across the mammal species we looked at, including some of those that partly make their living in the treetops, like orangutans and clouded leopards," Wearn said.
The clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of the threatened species that the study showed does reasonably well in logged forests without hunting pressure. Photo ©Charles Ryan / Sticky Rice Travel
Recent research on orangutans, also in Borneo, also found that orangutans do pretty well in disturbed environments.
Hunting isn't much of a problem for the mammals who live in the study areas, which makes these forests unique. In other parts of the world, logging makes forests more accessible to hunters, which can decimate both the breadth of species and the sheer numbers that inhabit them.
But in forests where hunting isn't a problem, the question also remains about how much of the forest we can cut down before mammal populations start to dwindle.
"We didn't find evidence of a neat threshold beyond which the forest is useless," Wearn said. "Basically, the lower the cutoff used to define forest, the more mammals that will be saved."
In the absence of that type of metric, it's difficult to determine whether companies that make zero-deforestation pledges are following through, he added.
"What does 'zero deforestation' actually mean for forests that have been logged?" Wearn said. "At some point, when so many trees have been removed from a hectare of forest, it effectively ceases to be a forest, and so clearing of this area doesn't really constitute deforestation as we would normally imagine it."
Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) similarly seem to find homes in logged forests where they don't have to contend with hunters, research has shown. Photo by John C. Cannon / Mongabay
One solution that's gaining momentum is using the amount of carbon held in a forest as a tool for land use decisions. Under these "high carbon stock" guidelines, proponents argue that carbon-rich forests are good targets for protection. That's because they not only keep substantial amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and thus from further warming the planet, but they also are more likely to protect a greater number of species.
"The currently-proposed threshold of 35-50 [metric tons] (39-55 tons) of carbon per hectare would yield really positive conservation outcomes," Wearn said, "as long as the areas are as large and as connected as possible, and protected from hunting."
Strategies to protect biodiversity based on conserving high carbon stocks aren't universally accepted, however. Some scientists argue that high levels of carbon and biodiversity don't always line up.
Still, Wearn's research highlights the preference of having forests that have been heavily thinned over another type of use that requires outright clearing, such as timber plantations and oil palm plantations. In fact, the researchers found a 47 percent drop in the abundance of mammals in oil palm compared to old-growth forests.
In logged forests, even threatened mammal numbers remained high, which was something Wearn and his colleagues didn't anticipate. But their abundance on oil palm plantations was considerably lower.
A red leaf monkey (Presbytis rubicunda) in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by John C. Cannon / Mongabay
"We still need far more research to be done in African and South American oil palm plantations, but it's likely to be a very poor habitat for most mammals, wherever it's put," Wearn said.
He also cautioned that, while this specific research demonstrates that mammals can cope with some degree of relatively recent deforestation, we also need to keep an eye on how they do over the long term.
"We know that there are often time-delays in ecological responses," Wearn said. "It could be the case that some species are living on 'borrowed time' in this habitat."
In his view, that makes protecting old-growth forests that much more important.
"This increasingly rare habitat is the absolute priority for conservation in Southeast Asia — it is the only home on Earth for species which are old-growth specialists, and is the evolutionary home for species in the region," he said. "Cut this down and there is no going back."
Wearn, O. R., Rowcliffe, J. M., Carbone, C., Pfeifer, M., Bernard, H., & Ewers, R. M. (2017). Mammalian species abundance across a gradient of tropical land-use intensity: A hierarchical multi-species modelling approach. Biological Conservation, 212, 162-171.
Banner image of a clouded leopard by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay.
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Article published by John Cannon
Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Carbon Sequestration, Cats, Climate Change, Climate Change And Conservation, Climate Change And Forests, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Forest Carbon, Forests, Great Apes, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Invasive Species, Logging, Mammals, Megafauna, Oil Palm, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Palm Oil And Biodiversity, Plantations, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforest Animals, Rainforest Biodiversity, Rainforest Conservation, Rainforest Deforestation, Rainforest Logging, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Zero Deforestation Commitments


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Memories of...Varsity Sports
Al Bready
Football: I'll title this story (one, no doubt you've heard before) as . . . "Up the middle, Up the middle, Pass, Punt". During the week prior to a Saturday football game, the football coaches and team would study film (yes, film) of our upcoming opponent's previous games. From this, the coaches would develop specific offensive and defensive strategies and plays to counter what we observed in the film. We refined the strategy and practiced those plays during the week in preparation for Saturday Game Day!
As you all know from watching those games on Saturday, we went right back to that which the Falcon offense had became famous (see title of this story). The upcoming pass play fooled no one and usually resulted in a desperation throw to avoid the sack by one or two blitzing linebackers. I'm sure it frustrated the fans. You can't imagine how it frustrated the players. Bob Farr and I were the Falcon wide receivers. At the completion of our pass routes we usually looked back only to find the quarterback running for his life.
During one game . . . forgive me, I'm old and can't remember which one . . . the Falcon offense found its way to a first-and-goal situation from about the five yard line. Our quarterback, Mike Worden, called the play that Coach Terry Issacson (All-American, AFA '64, I believe) signaled in from the sideline (see first part of title for play called).
On second-and goal from about the five, the coaches sent in a substitute for me. I'm thinking, "Great! The coaches are sending in a play that we practiced this week for this specific situation!" (see second part of title for play called) only, the play was called off tackle, not quite "up the middle."
On third-and goal from about the five, the coaches send me back into the game with the next play to be called . . . another running play. I think my frustration got the better of me. I changed the play to a pass play, which we had practiced during the week, before I got to the huddle. Bob is split wide. I'm in the slot. We ran a crossing pattern to "pick off" each other's defender. Mike spotted the open receiver (Bob, in this case) and threw a perfect spiral for a touchdown. The Fans Go Wild!
As I'm trotting back to the sideline with the noise of the fans still deafening my ears, I see Coach Issacson. He is fuming (and I think maybe even foaming at the mouth) that I changed the play called by the coaches! He grabbed me by the face mask on my helmet, dragged me to the bench, slammed me down and said some four-letter words that told me my playing days were over. As I turned around and looked at the cheering fans, I remember thinking, "If my playing days are over, what a great way to see them end!"
John Charlton
Football: And here I thought Bready's shining moment of AFA football lore was the ball bouncing off of his helmet on national TV during a punt in the Notre Dame game! Al is correct though . . . it was hugely discouraging in the standswatching the offense run-run-pass-punt. I remember as a Doolie, my best friend and I were up in the stands grousing about the play-calling, only to be jumped on (can't remember if it was an officer or upperclassman) about being disloyal, yadda, yadda, yadda . . . But game days were still my favorite times during all of those years (and hockey nights) . . . just a wee bit of normalcy inside the asylum.
Wayne Willis #57
Football: One cannot think of Al Bready without remembering Thanksgiving Day, 1973, in Notre Dame Stadium, on National TV. It was a beautiful clear November Day with a cloudless sky. Al was in deep punt formation ready to receive a punt (I think the only Notre Dame punt of the day) when the kicker boomed a high, hanging kick. Al settles under it, ready to make the catch, put a spectacular move on the defenders, and run into Falcon glory returning the punt for a touchdown . . . on national TV!! However, as I said, it was a cloudless sky, and as Al settled under the ball, he lost it in the blinding sun. He desperately searches for it . . . and it finds him, right in the middle of his helmet. The ball bounces at least 10 feet in the air, and Al, except for his helmet, never touches the ball. To add insult to injury, the national TV audience was given at least three replays of "Al's moment in the sun".
Spirit: I remember Rusty the stripper at Arnold Hall when we were smacks. I remember the pre-game X-rated skits the Donaldson twins did as cheerleaders: "The Wonderful Wizard of Trou-Town!"
Bill Estelle
Spirit: Several Class of '75 members assist a West Point Cadet during the Air Force-Army game, 16 October 1971. Final score Air Force 20 Army 7.
John Scherer: Is that Tom Knabel with the red hair? (November 4, 2016)
75 Best Alive: Russ Trinter in the front of the pack with the glasses? (November 4, 2016)
Chip Hardesty: 4th Class was at rest till Call to Quarters, Sunday night. (November 4, 2016)
Dave Young: I like the Bull Six in the background. (November 6, 2016)
Paul Butalla: These are mostly guys from Seagrams 7, a lot of them non-grads. From left Dave Blunt, Henry Brandt, from right Chip Kerby, Roger Sheppard. Don't know who glasses is, but the guy behind him is Greg Collier. (January 2017)
Soccer: About those "Flashbacks/Nightmares" . . . I successfully got rid of them for about 20 years until . . . YOU GOT ME RE-CONNECTED again with USAFA. Curses on you Jim, Curses! I have three that are recurring: 1. I'm wandering the dorm halls looking for my squadron and room, neither of which I know (guess the senior shuffle did a number on my psyche); 2. I don't know if it's an "M" or "T" day and what classes I need to go to; 3. I'm face-to-face with the Soccer Coach ready to throw punches, arguing he needs to play to win and not field his pretty boys who lose (the coach fielded mostly underclassmen). The coach had kicked 75ers Wojcicki & O'Shea off the team before the season started; Bentley went military; Zerambo got shafted and hung up the spikes; Shine & Narzinski were "invited to leave" the team for disagreeing with the coach. Jack took him up – I stayed and continued to argue and was consequently made to ride the bench halfway through the season for much of the rest of that season. Funny, but my Junior Year I made All-League – and invited, with Lenny Salvemini, to try out for the 1976 Olympic Soccer Team (he made it). My Senior year, I was made to ride the bench. Our Senior year was the first year, ever, USAFA had a losing soccer season. What a coach . . . what a legacy. The first two nightmares I wake up in a sweat, the third one I wake up angry (once almost hit my lovely wife). Guess now it will take another 20 years to get rid of these . . . maybe I should start therapy?!
Who Played in NCAA Championship Tournaments?
I know we in Soccer did in the 1972 season (Lenny Salvemini, Paul Narzinski, Jack Shine). I believe Water Polo did in the 1974 season (Ben Phillips, Tom Calhoun and Jack McGee.)
Narz is right . . . the 1974 Water Polo team did make it to the NCAA tournament of eight in Long Beach CA. '75ers were indeed Phillips, Calhoun, & Magee . . . we had a great year!
Tim O'Connell
Bruce Edstrom and I went to NCAA finals Firstie Year.


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Heineken Launches New Brand
By The Analyst News On Nov 19, 2018 139
By: Anthony Q. Jiffan, II
Heineken Trade Marketing Manager for Africa and the Middle East, Andre Woldt, says his company is in Liberia to stay, pointing out that the Liberian people deserve better when it comes to quality product.
He disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Monrovia following the introduction a new brands of their products to Liberians at a local hotel.
The three new products, according to Heineken management, add to the already Heineken and Amstel, which have been on the Liberian market for over 30 years. The new products, he noted, will add more flavor to Liberians in term of refreshing their minds.
The decision, according to Heineken's Andre Woldt, is to increase and drive more varieties on the beer market front in the country as this innovative move offers beer drinkers a whole new choice in their selection of size and quantity, which to him is a great business deal for Liberians.
Woldt said these new brands, which have already been introduced to other African markets will add more tastiness to consumers' taste of the beverages.
Woldt furthered that Heineken International as a premium entity in the alcoholic beverages world, is always concerned about adding new spices to its products, "This is why we selected Liberia."
He said there are plans that Heineken International wants to implement with its partners, having completed 30 years of successful partnership, "because at the end of the day, we will show you what we believe is the most powerful portfolio of beer brands that many of our friends in Liberia would want to drink."
Following presentations of slides at a resort in Monrovia, Woldt describes his product as the undisputed global leader of international premium beer segment, which according to him, Heineken among them as a truly global icon that is set out from any other beer in the industry.
Also discussing the Legend, the company's brand of stout, he said is for people with an appetite to enjoy life whatever comes, and are always looking on the bright side.
The new brand of stout, launched under the name "Legend", will be sold for L$2,400 per crate or L$260 per bottle.
In brewing process, Woldt added that the Legend has edge over Guinness Stout, because it is all natural and full of brewing. "It is distinct and full –bold stout and has 7.5 percent alcohol. As for Sol, which is one of the company's newest brands, he added that it has a global footprint, and light taste, which was born in Mexico in 1899.
Woldt told the gathering that Star Beer, which is referred to as the real beer, is made of malt, barley, sorghum, hops and water. He said that Legend and Star Beer will be sold cheaper than the current beer and stout on the local market.
Heineken Trade Marketing Manager assured customers of Heineken International's commitment to customer satisfaction.
Earlier, Abbas Karnoub, expressed delight for Heineken International's partnership with Abi Jaoudi and Azar Trading Corporation. He assured his business partner that all will be done to foster the partnership and assured customers of providing quality services.
Meanwhile, Madam Josephine Yorbutey has won the Heineken Award, which automatically guaranteed her trip to Paris, France, to watch a Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League in which Paris Saint German will participate.
We Are Hopeful
Take Pride in Liberia's Peace -Pres. Weah; Returns from World War I Celebrations


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Home / News & Events / Extended Studies Blog / Black SD Magazine Awards Business Scholarship, Access to UCSD Extension Courses
Black SD Magazine Awards Business Scholarship, Access to UCSD Extension Courses
By Stephanie Stevens
Black SD Magazine awarded its first Catalyst Black Academy Scholarship to author, speaker, certified life coach and CEO of SoulKation, Logan Rena, in partnership with UC San Diego Extension.
The scholarship – open to Black entrepreneurs, creatives or small business owners in the San Diego area – provides access to four of Extension's business-focused courses such as Business Decision Making, Social Media Marketing, Grant Writing for Nonprofits, Brand Strategy and Positioning or Business Law.
Rena, who earned her MBA from Florida Institute of Technology in 2014, plans to focus on digital marketing, branding, finance and decision-making to continue growing her business.
According to the 2019 American Express State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, women of color account for 50% of women-owned businesses but reported an earned average revenue of just $24,000; 17% of the $124,900 in revenue that women-owned businesses bring in on average annually. By eliminating barriers, women of color will be empowered to grow and expand their businesses, spurring innovation, creating jobs, building wealth and growing the economy.
Black SD Magazine publisher Michael Cox noted that there is no simple solution to this inequity because Black-owned business owners tend to lack the same resources, educational opportunities and access to mentors. Programs like this collaboration with UC San Diego Extension, he said, are a crucial step in the process of supporting more successful Black business owners.
"Some entrepreneurs don't have all the business knowledge that's necessary to help them establish, grow or take their business to the next level. So this (scholarship) is one of our ways to decrease those barriers to success for African-American entrepreneurs," Cox said.
To learn more about the yearly scholarship, visit Black SD Magazine's website.
Posted: 4/1/2021 3:17:37 PM with 0 comments
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Rumia (in tedesco Rahmel) è una città polacca del distretto di Wejherowo nel voivodato della Pomerania.

Ricopre una superficie di 32,86 km² e nel 2004 contava 44.156 abitanti.

È una parte della città kashubakh tre città (Rumia, Reda, Wejherovo) e una parte suburbana della regione metropolitana della città tre. Si trova nel Kaschubei nella regione storica della Pomerania . E 'collegato con la città delle Tre città da una rete ferroviaria e autostradale ben sviluppata, un agglomerato urbano di oltre 1 milione di abitanti sulla costa della baia di Danzica.

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia