Meta Tags do not carry the kind of page ranking importance that they did years ago, and today most search engines ignore the Keywords Meta Tag, and - according to some experts – Google's page ranking algorithm ignores both the Keywords and the Description Meta Tags.
Yet, Meta Tags still play a role in your overall search engine optimization strategy and experts agree that the Title Meta Tag is still a factor in Search Engine page rankings. Also, Keyword Meta Tags are used by ProductCart's storefront search script, so it's a good practice to enter relevant terms in the Product Keywords field (more on this *below). Also, under some circumstances, the meta description might be used as the description in the search engine result pages (SERPs), thus influencing the user to click on a given result. Providing a meaningful description has a positive effect on the click-through rate (CTR).
Beyond search engines, a Title that matches the page content definitely makes sense and allows for better bookmarks, for example. So take advantage of the features mentioned below to associate good Meta Tags - especially the Title - with your store pages.
... for any of the words entered.
However, the Advanced Search Page (search.asp) allows customers to specify: "Search on exact phrase." if they want to limit results to Products that contain "patio chair" together.
Imagine an e-commerce store that has 500 categories and 5,000 products: it would be close to impossible for the store manager to manually add Meta Tags to all of them one by one. The code that you have added to header.asp will take care of automatically creating the Title, Description, and Keyword Meta Tags for every page in the storefront.
ProductCart will automatically generate them based on product and category information available in the store catalog. Let's take a closer look at this feature and see how you can take advantage of it. First, confirm that your header.asp file contains the following code towards the top of the page.
…loads onto the page the file that takes care of this task for you. The file is called include-metatags.asp and is found in the pc folder.
If Meta Tags have been specified for a product, a category or a content page using the ProductCart Control Panel (when adding or modifying a category, a product or a content page), then that information is used on the corresponding product or category page.
If Meta Tags have not been specified, ProductCart automatically generates them using the category/product/page name for the Title, and a portion of the category/product/page description for the Description tag. If you have thousands of products and therefore are unable to manually enter optimized Meta Tags for each of them, this feature provides a sensible solution.
For pages other than product and category pages (e.g. "View shopping cart", "Search", etc.), ProductCart uses the default Meta Tags that are found in the file pc/include-metatags.asp.
Make sure to edit pc/include-metatags.asp before launching your store to replace the default content with yours. Otherwise, you will see that many of your pages carry the "ProductCart shopping cart software" Title tag. If that is the case, it means that the default tags still need to be edited.
Download pc/include-metatags.asp to your desktop using your favorite FTP program.
Open it in Notepad or an HTML editor.
Save a backup copy of the file before editing it so that you can revert to the original version if your edited version creates any problems on your storefront.
Save the edited version of include-metatags.asp and upload it to your server. Browse the store and pay attention to the page title shown by your browser to see if it properly changes as you browse your store catalog. If you are using Internet Explorer, select Source from the View menu to view the source code for the page. You can then see exactly what meta tags ProductCart generated for the page.


g03/Centos 3.6 issue is resolved.
solved the problem by compiling with a pgi5 version.
sure that ulimit -s was set to unlimited.
So, Centos3.6 will run g03D02 on the opterons when compiled with pgi6.1.
No special settings were necessary in my case.
>   Also, what does your "ulimit -a" report (or limit for the tcsh folks).
>>I asked back in January about G03 running on platforms other than SuSe.
>>pgi 6 on Centos 3.5.
>>The bad news is that every run fails at the same point.
>>         NCelK=      1 NCelE2=     1 NClLst=     1 CellRange=     0.0.
>> One-electron integrals computed using PRISM.
>>After that nothing... Below is an strace.
>>any answers to his query.


Foreign-trained prospective corps members/those who acquired on-line qualifications should ensure that their Institutions are accredited. They should approach Federal Ministry of Education for evaluation. The letter of evaluation must be uploaded during registration.
a. West African School Certificate(WASC) (with not less than 5 Credits at 2 sittings) or its equivalent; or General Certificate of Education (GCE O' Level) (with not less than 5 Credits at 2 sittings) or its equivalent; or NECO (with not less than 5 Credits at 2 sittings) or its equivalent; or High School Diploma or its equivalent.
b. First Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) Certificate (Second Degree or Ph.D not necessary).
c. Complete Official Transcript of the first Degree or HND.
d. International travelling Passport showing personal data page and date of departure.
e. ATTESTATION LETTERS OR TESTIMONIALS are not acceptable in lieu of original Degree/HND Certificates.
f. All working class Graduates and graduates of on-line foreign qualifications are required to upload their original ADMISSION LETTERS and LETTER OF APPROVAL from their respective employers to undertake their courses, as the case may be.
g. All graduates of Medicine and other health related courses such as Nursing Science, Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy etc MUST posses and upload current-professional license. Expired license is not acceptable for mobilization.
It is the responsibility of the prospective corps members who studied in non-English speaking countries to get their Certificates and Transcripts translated into English language before uploading. Such translation must be done in the accredited Institutions or Embassies.
Anybody who presents any fake document will be demobilized and decamped and handed over to law enforcement agencies for prosecution.
Only prospective corps members who want their call-up numbers sent to them through SMS and wish to PRINT their call-up letters on-line are expected to pay N2,786.24 (see NYSC Portal on how to make payment).
Prospective Corps members who do not want to pay the N2,786.24 have the option of going to their schools to collect their call-up numbers and call-up letters.
Prospective corps members who graduated from Institutions located in the following Geo-Political Zones with challenges related to mobilization should contact the following Telephone Numbers.
All Part-time graduates are expected to register online and wait for collection of their Letter of Exclusion at their various Institutions. For those willing to print the Letter of Exclusion online, this can be done on payment of N2,786.24 only.
Foreign-Trained graduates are to use Nigerian Phone numbers during the online registration.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ONCE THE PORTAL IS CLOSED, THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER REGISTRATION.


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Ron Howard papers
Abstract Collection include photographs (including many campus buildings no longer extant) and slides (including commencements, buildings, distinguished alumni, President Lloyd Elliott, Jack Friedenthal, Edward "Skip" Ghnem, the GW mascot, Elmer Kayser, the men's and Women's basketball teams, President Trachtenberg, the University Yard, Gates, campus and Washington scenes, and other personalities. Artifacts include banners, key chains, buttons, towels, medals, tickets to Ronald Reagan Honorary Degree...
Urban and Regional Planning Department records
Abstract Collection includes original construction drawings for Gelman library and 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue, student forms, handbook for preparing theses, syllabi, newsletters, departmental history, articles, community project files (Washington, D.C. and neighborhoods), and slides.
Subject: Campuses X
Hatchet 1
Melvin Gelman Library 1
2000 Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.) 1
Cronkite, Walter 1
Elliott, Lloyd H. 1
Friedenthal, Jack H. 1
George Washington University--Alumni and alumnae 1
George Washington University--History 1
George Washington University. Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning 1
Gnehm, Edward W. (Edward William) 1
Howard, Ronald W. 1
Trachtenberg, Stephen Joel 1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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UFU Watch
YFC
FarmingLifeNI app
Ulster Farmers' Union Watch
Young Farmers' Club
Arla celebrates with McDonalds
Arla is launching a new co-branded Happy Meal and Arla Organic Milk bottle which will roll-out across McDonald's UK restaurants.
The new design of the 250ml bottles, which will feature the Arla logo alongside the iconic Golden Arches, will be available in Happy Meals and will be sold in over 1,270 UK McDonald's restaurants, reaching over 5.5 million customers per year.
This marks the latest Arla initiative aimed at making its branded organic milk more accessible to customers.
Arla and McDonald's have been working together for 30 years, with Arla supplying McDonald's with organic milk since 2007 for use in its teas, coffees, porridge and Happy Meal milk bottles. This growing partnership means that Arla is expected to supply over 30 million litres of organic milk to the restaurant chain this year.
Arla and McDonald's also have a long history of partnership on a series of agricultural initiatives, aimed at improving animal welfare, sustainability and farmer resilience. In 2017, McDonald's was delighted to receive the Compassion in World Farming Good Dairy Commendation for the commitments, made with Arla, on welfare standards around their organic milk supply.
Off the back of their award, Arla is actively working to boost links between McDonald's and Arla farmer owners by identifying a specific group of farmers to work with to ensure that it is continuing to meet the robust welfare criteria for dairy cows.
Jonathan Dixon, vice president of Food Service, Arla Foods UK, said: "We have recently repositioned our branded organic milk as Arla Organic Milk to highlight its free range credentials, and the rollout of Arla Organic Milk 250ml into McDonald's restaurants across the country is a great way for us to expand the reach of our products.
"The Compassion in World Farming awards win shows our ongoing commitment to our 30-year partnership with McDonalds and we look forward to working together on a series of new initiatives in the coming months and years. Watch this space!"
Pete Garbutt, McDonald's UK Agriculture Manager, said: "Arla has been supplying McDonald's with organic milk since 2007, and we're proud that over 30 million litres will be distributed to our restaurants around the country this year."
Beef industry must look to production contracts in future
Full steam ahead for Moynalty 2019 event
UFU reacts to Johnson comments on farm subsidies
Vandals cause 'unprecedented' damage to Ballymoney Showgrounds
Ox Strain posts prove a winner on Ahoghill dairy farm
Licensing issues for teenagers and tractors
More from Farming Life


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May 28, 2019 Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets Regulations, Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets, Tokens, CBDCs, Metaverse, NFTs, Innovation and Resources No comments
Proposed Amendments to the GST/HST Treatment of Cryptocurrencies
Davies Lawyers | John J. Lennard, Ariane Hunter-Meunier and Eytan Dishy | May 27, 2019
The Department of Finance (Canada) (Finance Canada) has released, for public comment, draft legislative proposals (Draft Proposals) to amend the Excise Tax Act (ETA) in order to address certain issues regarding the treatment of virtual currencies for the purposes of the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST).
Draft Proposals on Virtual Currency
Finance Canada proposes to exempt most transactions involving cryptocurrencies from GST/HST by incorporating a new defined term, "virtual payment instrument," in the definition of "financial instrument." Most transactions involving financial instruments are classified as "financial services," which are exempt from GST/HST.
More specifically, a "virtual payment instrument" is defined to mean "property that is a digital representation of value, that functions as a medium of exchange and that only exists at a digital address of a publicly distributed ledger."
The definition sets out two principal exclusions:
Property that "confers a right, whether immediate or future and whether absolute or contingent, to be exchanged or redeemed for money or specific property or services or to be converted into money or specific property or services" – for example, a gift card.
Property that is "primarily for use within, or as part of, a gaming platform, an affinity or rewards program or a similar platform or program" – for example, online gambling tokens.
See: Guide to Canadian cryptocurrency taxation
Uncertainties Addressed by the Draft Proposals
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has thus far refrained from commenting in any significant detail on the GST/HST implications of transacting in cryptocurrencies. From an income tax perspective, it has been the CRA's long-standing position that virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, should be treated as commodities subject to barter rules, given that they are not currencies issued by a government of a country.1 Nevertheless, the lack of guidance from a GST/HST perspective has given rise to uncertainties, including whether (i) cryptocurrencies can plausibly be characterized as "money" for GST/HST purposes; (ii) transactions involving cryptocurrencies are subject to GST/HST; and (iii) activities carried on by industry participants, such as mining, are subject to GST/HST.
The Draft Proposals, released on May 17, 2019, address the first two uncertainties.
With respect to the first uncertainty, by defining a "virtual payment instrument" as "property" within the definition of "financial instrument," Finance Canada seems to have determined that cryptocurrencies are not "money" as defined in the ETA, since the definition of "property" excludes money. This does not preclude arguments that cryptocurrencies are money in relation to transactions completed before May 18, 2019.
With respect to the second uncertainty, the Draft Proposals primarily address two concerns regarding transacting in cryptocurrencies:
Double tax. It has been suggested that transacting in cryptocurrencies could be subject to double tax (once when issued and once again when used to purchase goods or services). The Draft Proposals ensure that the purchase of goods and services using cryptocurrencies will be exempt from tax.
Place of supply rules. Since GST/HST applies only to a supply made, or deemed to be made, in Canada, the anonymity of the recipient when transacting with cryptocurrencies could have complicated the determination of the place of supply and therefore whether GST/HST would apply. By exempting most transactions involving cryptocurrencies from GST/HST in the first instance, the Draft Proposals address this concern.
See: Digital currency - CRA on taxes, mining, goods and services, barter and exchange
Remaining Uncertainties
Uncertainty still remains with respect to the status for GST/HST purposes of mining activities and the entitlement for miners to claim input tax credits in this respect. Similarly, due to the anonymity of purchasers of cryptocurrency, inherent uncertainty remains as to the practical application of zero-rating provisions related to the supply of cryptocurrency to non-residents.
NFX | Gigi Levy-Weiss | Jan 26, 2023 An overlooked key to growth: How well you transition from Founder to CEO determines how your company scales. Seed stage Founders have a hand in everything: marketing, hiring, product, sales, everything. You have to early on. But when your startup starts to grow you can't – and shouldn't – keep doing it all yourself. Once you reach 30-50 people, your goal should be to build a team and mechanisms that will do "everything" so that you, the CEO, can focus on leading and managing. The deceptively simple secret: Elite CEOs build systems. Read: Culture and Diversity Leadership: Tale of Two Doors Hiring: Before we dive into systems, let's get this out of the way. Don't worry about spending too much time on hiring. Take the time you need to surround yourself with the right people[, and don't be afraid to try people out'. Wix CEO: "I cycled for 22 people before I found Omer Shai, my CMO. I hired and moved people to different things. I fired people. It was around 22 people that they hired within about a year and a half…When I got to Omer after a few weeks, it ...
Jan 26, 2023 The gambling industry in the United States significantly contributes to the economy, generating billions of dollars in revenue each year. From Las Vegas to Atlantic City, casinos and other legal gambling attract millions of visitors and employ thousands of people. In recent news from Casino USA, the US gambling industry has set a new quarterly record for casino revenue, reaching an all-time high. It is a significant milestone for the industry, demonstrating its resilience and continued growth despite the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Details of the Record The US casino industry generated record-breaking revenue in the latest quarter, surpassing all previous records. The revenue generated is yet to be officially announced, but early estimates suggest it exceeds $50 billion. It represents a significant increase compared to the same quarter in the previous year and is a clear indication of the industry's resilience in the face of the ongoing pandemic. The latest quarter's revenue numbers are significantly higher compared to previous quarters. During the last quarter, the industry generated around $40 billion, indicating a growth of over 25% in the latest quarter. It is an impressive performance, especially given the ongoing uncertainty and economic challenges ...
Taxing cryptocurrencies: GST/HST proposals raise concerns
Canadian Exchanges to Report Transactions Over $10k per Proposed Regulations
Fintrac releases key updates to AML obligations, including virtual currency exchange MSB registration
Canada Delays Regulation of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Companies
European Parliament Draft Legislation Shows Intent to Enable Crowdfunding Platforms to Host Initial Coin Offerings
FCA Launches Consultation Paper on Crypto Asset Guidance


This content is © 2019 Calistoga Camera Club | All rights reserved.
These instructions cover any of the reasons you might be submitting content to the club: slide show, field trip, other event, etc.
Specific details about the upcoming slide show will be sent to you by e-mail.
All images must be in the JPEG format, sized to fit within a 1600 x 1600 (width x height) pixel area.
File names should NOT include special characters. Limit file names to letters, digits, spaces, under-bar, and dash.
You MUST place the images inside a folder. The name of that folder should be your name, first name followed by last name, and only your name (e.g., John Sullivan or Chick Harrity).
You may, if you choose, produce a video (quicktime, mpeg, etc). This allows you extra dimensions in creativity (music, captioning, panning, zooming, transitions). But please, this is a still photography show, so no true video.
Materials (CD or DVD) should be dropped off at 1907 Cedar Street in Calistoga. If no one is home put the materials inside the little school desk next to the front door.
Submitted material will be available for pickup after the event. Special arrangements can be made ahead of time.
If you need help with any of these instructions please email the club at info@calistogacameraclub.net.
Notice that there is a single folder on the CD/DVD, and that folder's name is YOUR NAME (Peter Potrebic is used as the example).
We're looking at the contents on the folder (whose name is your-name) on the CD/DVD.
Image sizing: Your images should be sized so that they are no wider than 1600 pixels and no taller than 1600 pixels. The Dimensions column in the above screen shot is showing the width x height of each image. Notice how the images are properly sized.
File naming: If you want your images in a particular order than they must be named so that they alpha-numerically sort in your desired order. This is easily done by prefixing each image with 01, 02, … as shown above. Of course the [your-title] text shown above is replaced with the actual title.
File type: The images must be of type JPEG.
If the submission is for a slide show, there will be some limit to the number of images. Currently that limit is 12, but see information about the specific event for precise details.
The images must be in the JPEG format.
The images should be sized to fit inside a 1600 pixel wide and 1600 pixel tall box. Said another way the maximum width is 1600 pixels and maximum height is 1600 pixels.
This is very important if you want your images displayed in a specific order.
Name the images so that they alphabetically sort in their display order. Usually this means adding a prefix like "01, 02, … 09, 10, 11…". The leading zero is important.
The names should not have special characters. The special characters can cause problems on the website (for example '#') so stick with the basics.
Most Quicktime and MPEG formats should work fine.
Your video is limited to 4 minutes.
Let the club know you're doing a video and try to submit early so that any kinks can get worked out.


I like hearing this; God wants me to be his guest.
and I ask, what is going ON?! What are my enemies doing at this party?
The Klingon word for enemy, jagh, appears here in the plural form jaghpu'. It is worth noting that Klingon has three forms of plural suffixes: "mey", which is plural for things, for example yIHmey means "tribbles." "Du'" indicates the plural of body parts, as in ghopDu', "hands". In this case we use the third form "pu'" which is plural for things that have speech - usually taken to mean intelligent beings, i.e. people. Using jaghpu' here, instead of jaghmey, indicates that our enemies are not just a figure of speech as in "the weather is my enemy." We're talking about some person who plots against us, who wants to do us harm.
What is going on? Why does the psalmist think God's banquet is in the presence of my enemies? Who invited them?
Now, I've got two ways to look at this: comforting, and challenging.
Usually this verse is seen to show how we can be confident that, despite our enemies, God will show his love and care by preparing a table for us - even in the heart of battle. Do not despair - God cannot be prevented from blessing us - even when we are faced by real enemies. We need to hang onto this kind of assurance.
Who invited these enemies? Maybe I did. OR should.
Who's on your guest list?
Murphy's law spells out the pessimist's creed: if something can go wrong, it will. Some find an odd comfort in this "expect the worst" philosophy. With it, you'll never be disappointed - the worst that can happen is that you will be happily surprised if things turn out okay.
But I think merely expecting the worst isn't going far enough. Better is doing what David works through in Psalm 23 - the worst case scenario and how to be ready for it.
The Klingon words QIb (shadow) and Hegh (death) are used here for the Hebrew term tsalmaveth, traditionally rendered "the shadow of death," a phrase that captures just how this dark cloud hangs over all of us. The Bible says it simply "...it is appointed for men to die..." (Hebrews 9:27) Yet the response here in Psalm 23 is not despair, but confidence that this final passage is not to be feared, if we are accompanied by this shepherd who truly walks alongside us.
Death's QIb, its shadow, looms over all of us - no exceptions. In reviewing our options, our plans, this is what we must all be prepared for. Medicine, wealth, or position will not keep us from it. There is no castle or protection that will ultimately keep it away.
But we do not have to enter that last frontier alone. If we go with the one who has gone through it himself, we need fear no evil. For with the one who has conquered death by our side, that path through the shadows can, and will, be the path to victory.
Thanks to NASA, last year I went to Mars! Not just me - I took the whole family, even my dog Kokomo! We also went along on a mission to bring back samples from a comet, and at this moment, we're en route to blast a piece off of another comet in July.
Now, full disclosure requires I tell you that in fact, we didn't pack bags and climb on board these ships. Our travels were in name only, that is each of these spacecraft carried our names, not our selves, into the heavens. Why did NASA collect our names (and the names of thousands of other space enthusiasts) for these voyages? Because, when our names were added to these ships, in some small way, we became a part of the mission, and our interest in it increased tremendously.
David tells us that God "leads us in paths of righteousness," vaD Daj pong chIch / for his name's sake. The Klingon word for name, pong is as simple a word as you can find, just as it is in the Hebrew word (shem). Name, pong, or shem it means simply - the title by which any person or thing is known or designated.
What does it mean to say that God leads us, for his name's sake? I think about the interest that I have, when my name is riding off to Mars, and I get a glimmer of what this means: my attention, my concentration is directed to what is happening out there. I'm rooting for that craft, cheering it on. I may have no power to assist it, but I care about what happens to it.
Can you imagine that God, having put his name on you would care any less? Nor is he powerless to come alongside and help you, watch over you, as you navigate your own voyage through life.
Feeling like a nobody? Feeling like you aren't good enough to be noticed? Think again. He's put his name on you - and he's going to see you through. Look at the promises of Psalm 23, the promises of the Bible, and you can see he's on your side - he's on board, so to speak, and he'll do much more than just cheer you on.
lie down in green pasturesQot bIng Daq SuD tI yotlh.
pa' ghaH ghobe' joH toDpu' Sum the qevmey vo' an army. A HoS loD ghaH ghobe' toDta' Sum Dun HoS.
What more proof do you need to see that the Bible is not a Klingon book?
Together these underline a basic rather non-Klingon theme: Our security, our victory can't be found in a simple application of power, of HoS - we have to trust God.
And this is the proof that the Bible is not a human book either.
Paul has it right. The Bible has it right. However gifted we are with strength, however accomplished we are in life - those gifts, those accomplishments are gifts from God. Not treasured power that comes from us - but gifts that God extends to us, so we can help those in need.
pa' ghaH ghobe' joH toDpu' Sum the qevmey vo' an army.
A HoS loD ghaH ghobe' toDta' Sum Dun HoS.
There is no king saved by the multitude of an army.
When we are weak we can remember - when we are weak, then, he is HoS - he is stronger still - strong enough to bring us through.
ghaH 'Iv fashions Hoch vo' chaj tIQDu'; je ghaH considers Hoch vo' chaj vum.
I build spaceships. And rockets.
No, really, it's true. That is - I really do build (and fly) rockets. I've been doing it on and off since around 1969. Model rockets, yes, but rockets all the same. They're the reason I first learned how to use a slide rule. Some of the first computer programs I wrote in BASIC were programs to predict and assess the flight of my rockets. And in building and flying these model rockets I have learned a lot about the big ones that go into orbit and beyond.
And my spaceships - well, they're scale models of real spaceships - some of them even fly. And again, in making them I've learned a lot about the real rockets. I think my favorite is the Mercury Redstone rocket from Delta 7 - you can download that one for free yourself.
The reason these rockets and spaceships are of interest to me is because, in building these models I learn about what it takes to make the real thing, and I learn how they work and what they can do.
God made us - he knows what we can do. He doesn't need to examine a model, or imagine what might be IN us - he knows inside and out what makes us tick.
When I've built a scale model of a spacecraft - I don't find out what is going to happen on a craft's mission, on any particular flight. Holding a model - even inspecting the real craft cannot tell me that. But I do learn what it can do and how it can be guided on its way. If you've seen the movie Apollo 13, you know that the people of NASA were able to help save the crew because they knew what the ship was made of, how it worked, and what it could do to preserve and protect the astronauts. The astronauts could be confident in the NASA crew's assistance, because they knew what their ship was made of.
He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.
God made our hearts - in Hebrew leb (a word that occurs almost 600 times in the Bible) it is used in Biblical (as well contemporary) language to refer to the inmost self, the seat of emotions and thought. Klingons likewise use the word tIQ, the literal heart, to refer to the seat of self. Though never a really scientific term, it has a clear meaning, the "center, the essence" of one's self. AND GOD KNOWS IT - HE MADE IT.
What a gift it is to recognize that God knows us thoroughly, inside and out. He knows what we're made of. He loves us, he understands us better than I can hope to understand a spaceship by building a model - even if I built the real thing, I'd not understand the ship better than God knows us.
And, in the day of trouble, in the day of sorrow He is the one to whom we can open our tIQ, our heart!
ghurtaH ghaH the Hatlh 'Iv joH'a' ghaH joH'a', the ghotpu 'Iv ghaH ghajtaH wIvpu' vaD Daj ghaj inheritance.
Do you remember playing a game - say baseball or soccer - and "choosing up sides?" Waiting for the team leaders to pick the members of their team. And do you remember what it's like to be picked, chosen to be on the team you really, REALLY, wanted to be on? Then you have a window to the impact of this verse from Psalm 33.
The people God chooses - the "nation" …. "he has chosen for his own...." are HAPPY - ashri, the word usually translated as "blessed" - happy in the way you or I might remember at being chosen for that team long ago. Happy because we've been chosen to be part of a team, part of something greater than our self. And this is the kind of happiness, of blessing God's people know.
The word for chosen here is בָּחַר bachar and it occurs over 150 times in the Bible. From a root meaning to try, by implication, to select, that is choose, it is translated with terms like: acceptable, appoint, choose (choice), excellent, join, be rather, require. The word is used for God's choices as well as human one (and not just good human choices).
And the Word does present humans as having a choice. From Moses' command "choose life, that you may live," or Joshua calls out "choose you this day whom you will serve," to the Gospel declaration "But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name," Scripture makes clear that our walk through life involves choice - decisions every day on which path we will follow.
How do we balance God's choice and ours? Do we need to focus on one and deny the other?
I think the Klingon answer (and my own) would be ghobe' - no,. This is the richness of Scripture - that a paradox (God chooses/ Humans choose) is needed to describe how we move in relation to God. Some of the tension comes from our time-bound nature. Far better is to start with the principle that God chooses to love, to open his Kingdom to all.
Certainly he acts - to choose - individuals and nations to carry out his will, but he chooses this to extend his love to ALL people.
vaD joH'a' vaj loved the qo', vetlh ghaH nobta' Daj wa' je neH puqloD, vetlh 'Iv HartaH Daq ghaH should ghobe' chIlqu', 'ach ghaj eternal yIn.
What a perfect way to balance God's choice (He chose to love, he chose to give his Son), and ours, (choosing to accept his love, his grace). He chose to love - the whole cosmos - and we can be happy, happy to be blessed to be wIvpu', chosen by him.


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Tag Archives: Czech literature
The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Kafka
Kafka's The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man includes a stellar introduction from translator Alexander Starritt. I have respect for intros from translators; after all they are the ones who slaved over the words, mulling over one choice over another, so if anyone 'deserves' to write an intro, it's the translator IMO. Starritt's intro is lively, fluid, and well … interesting:
In English, the word that usually follows 'Kafkaesque' is 'nightmare'. Hardly the thing to make you think, 'Hurray, a new translation. No Netflix for me tonight.' And in truth, Kafka's work is more respected than it is loved.
These first sentences hit a chord with me. I have lost count of the number of times The Metamorphosis popped up again and again in literature class after literature class. Yes the story (while I liked it) became a 'No-Exit'-Not-Again nightmare in itself.
Starritt argues that these short stories present an entirely different view of Kafka, and I agree. These stories are mercurial, some are absurdist, and the closest thing I could compare to is absurdist Russian fiction. These stories (and some are extremely short) are not at all what I expected from Kafka. Some stories are flash fiction–if we could imagine such a term applying to Kafka. Other stories are longer, and of course, as is with all collections, some stories are stronger than others.
The title story: The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man is a good idea of what to expect here. I read it on my kindle and it's just over a page long. This is a single man who rues the things he's missing:
It seems a terrible thing to stay single for good, to become an old man who, if he wants to spend the evening with other people, has to stand on his dignity and ask someone for an invitation
The last lines were unexpected and made me chuckle. Again–not at all what I expected from Kafka.
In The Married Couple, a sales rep takes his sample case to a man known as N. The sales rep and N used to work together, but now N, a much older man is bed-bound and possibly close to death. Yes, perhaps this sounds like the sort of thing we'd expect from Kafka, but the final delivery is not.
A First Heartache is a short tale of a trapeze artist who in the quest to perfect his art becomes increasingly isolated. The abnormal becomes normal and he clings to his life on the highwire. He:
had arranged his life in such a way that, initially out of a striving for perfection, then out of increasingly tyrannical habit, he stayed on his trapeze day and night for as long as an engagement lasted. His modest needs were catered to by a rota of attendants who were posted below and hauled everything up and down in specially made containers.
The trapeze artist is "in constant training, of keeping his art at its peak." This becomes a way of life, this increasing isolation, and the only thing that disrupts this routine are the unavoidable transfers from venue to venue, which badly disrupted his peace of mind."
Another top pick has to be In the Penal Colony, a story of a researcher who travels to a penal colony only to be invited to attend the execution of a soldier "who'd been sentenced to death for disobeying and insulting a superior officer." The story centres on the machine that will do the deed. It's a diabolical contraption designed by the former (deceased) commandant. The machine is sadistically designed to inflict maximum pain and suffering over a twelve hour period before the final coup de grâce.
While the officer explains the machine's processes of torture "with great zeal," the condemned man, who has no idea of the fate that awaits him is at first disinterested (the officer and the researcher speak in French) but then he becomes increasingly curious as the machine's mechanisms are explained:
The condemned man looked as submissive as a dog, as if they could have let him wander around the slopes on his own, and would only have needed to whistle for him when they wanted to start the execution.
The officer's matter-of-fact approach to explaining the machine is, of course, bizarre and yet entirely believable. This method of execution has become an institution in the penal colony, but now it has fallen out of favour. The condemned soldier has not been given a trial and is unaware that he has even been sentenced to death. According to the officer, "it would be pointless to tell him." Torture and death as spectacle: what is there about these things that appeal to people? The matter-of-fact bureaucratic manner in which the sadistic death is explained moves the execution away from the idea of suffering and into efficiency. Couldn't help but think of the Nazis.
This collection rolls in at just under 200 pages. I think the stories are best read one at a time, rather than in chunks.
Translated by Alexander Starritt
Filed under Fiction, Kafka Franz
Tagged as Czech literature, Pushkin Press, short story collection
Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand: Franz Werfel
At 107 pages, Franz Werfel's novella Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand is a powerful story concerning a day in the life of a high-ranking Austrian bureaucrat who faces, or believes he faces, a moral crisis. The book is intriguingly called a 'prequel to what is known as Holocaust literature,' and the events in the book (with memories of the past) take place in 1936 after the passage of the Nuremberg Laws the year before. The morally complex story very delicately, yet significantly, touches on anti-Semitism, herd mentality, the impending horror, and a complete absence of moral courage on the part of its main character.
The book opens with its main character, Leonidas Tachezy reveling, smugly, in his success.
Whenever Leonidas felt consciously pleased with himself, he smiled–dashing and mocking at the same time. Like so many handsome, healthy men in fine form, men who had risen to a high position in life, he tended to feel an exceptional well-being during the first hours of the morning.
We could say that Leonidas is a self-made-man. He's just celebrated his fiftieth birthday and has reached the pinnacle of "his brilliant career." The son of an "impoverished high school teacher," he made a marginal living "tutoring rich, fat, and stupid boys." The future looked bleak, but he became successful thanks to two fortuitous turns of fate: his study partner, a Jewish student, committed suicide and left his suit to Leonidas. Leonidas took the suit, had a few alterations made and managed to attend some grand society events where he met a wealthy heiress, the much younger beautiful Amelia Paradini.
If one were to question his world view, he would openly admit that he regarded the universe as a venue whose sole intent and purpose was to pamper those divinely favoured like him, from the bottom to the top, and to furnish them with power, honor, splendor, and luxury. Wasn't his own life absolute proof of this charitable disposition of the world? It took just one bullet in the room next to his shabby student's digs to inherit a practically brand-new tuxedo. And from there on his life was a song.
That passage highlights Leonidas's shallow morality. There's no poignancy about the death of his study partner–just the feeling that the good luck he deserves fell his way. Amelia "pushed" the marriage against the wishes of her family, and since this is a woman who gets what she wants, the impoverished Latin tutor married the "richest heiress in the city." So here they are twenty years later; he has a tremendous career, Amelia is the perfect trophy wife, and they mingle with the cream of Austrian society. Amelia spends hours pampering herself with "constant cosmetic care," and there are no children. Leonidas "as the determined defender of his undivided pleasure [he] had never entertained a desire for children," but he catches himself looking at his wife's youthful body and thinking "we pay for those virgin breasts with childlessness."
Leonidas is shaken from these disturbing thoughts by a stack of letters which await his attention. Most of them are obviously business correspondence, but one of the envelopes, addressed in pale blue ink sticks out from the rest. He recognizes the handwriting as belonging to Vera Wormser. He met Vera, a Jewish woman, when she was just 14, and years later he had an extra-marital affair with her. It's one of the more shameful episodes of his past–an episode that he's refused to deal with on many levels, but now the moral consequences of that affair appear to have washed up on his doorstep just as he's trying to distance himself from anything Jewish….
Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand is a wonderful story, and that's thanks to the story's simple framework but also the examination of Leonidas's undeveloped conscience. A small portion of the story exposes Leonidas's hypothetical legal defense in which he pleads for mercy and understanding, and we see how Leonidas, a shallow, superficial human being, cannot quite grasp the moral implications of his behaviour. Moral consequences, for Leonidas, don't really exist–they are like some faded memory he can't quite recall, a shadow he can't quite see, and any anguish he feels is for himself alone. And yet.. and yet… there is a moment when Leonidas cannot hide from the fact that he is a morally reprehensible human being, but even as this fact sinks in, he leaves that knowledge "back in the perfect darkness," closing the door forever on any possibility of moral growth.
Apart from Leonidas's so-called moral crisis, one section of the book includes a meeting between several Austrian bureaucrats who have to make a decision regarding an important medical faculty appointment. A world-renowned Nobel Prize-winner in medicine is about to passed over for the nomination because he's Jewish and instead a relative nobody may get the appointment. This appointment becomes not so much a moral dilemma for the bureaucrats as a political one, and the meeting is a glimpse into expediency and moral cowardice. Strangely, knowing that he must face Vera Wormser, Leonidas finds himself championing Bloch's appointment as he feels "wrapped up in the fishy community." The meeting and later Leonidas's rejection of "another atrocity story" are all connected to the "train [is] clattering through his head." In spite of the fact that the novel begins with Leonidas smug in his comfortable little world, there's an underlying anxiety, a subtle white noise, that runs through the novel along with the sense that Leonidas is somehow unaware, or deliberately ignoring the moral significance of political events that are about to consume the world. There's a storm heading Leonidas's way. How will he deal with it?
Today the world presented itself as a mild October day with a kind of strained, capricious youthfulness that more resembled a day in April. Over the expanse of vineyards that formed the Heitzing district's border, thick, fast, fast-moving clouds scudded snow white with sharply delineated edges. Where the sky opened, it featured a naked and, for this time of year, nearly shameless spring blue. The garden, which had hardly changed color, retained that leathery persistence of summer. Light breezes, as mischievous as little street Arabs, blew from different directions with the leaves, which still clung fast to their branches.
My edition from the Verba Mundi International Literature series is translated by James Reidel and includes a translator's note at the beginning of the book. There's a brief biography of Franz Werfel (1890-1945) and an interesting overview of the real-life people who formed the characters in the book. James Reidel calls this book Werfel's "lost jewel," and after reading the book, it seems surprising that Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand isn't better known. It deserves to be.
Filed under Fiction, Werfel Franz
Tagged as Austro-Hungarian, Czech literature, infidelity, prequel to holocaust
Harlequin's Millions by Bohumil Hrabal
A strong interest in Czech cinema led to curiosity about Czech literature. Paul Leppin's Blaugast, written in the 1930s and Hermann Ungar's dark story The Maimed, published in 1923, both have strong elements of fin-de-siècle decadence and moral decline. Czech author Bohumil Hrabal, an author I'd had in my sights for some time, presents an entirely different view of Czech society through his wonderful novel, Harlequin's Millions. This delightful tale is set in a retirement home, formerly Count Spork's castle, set on a hilltop overlooking the town where our nameless narrator once lived. She and her husband, Francin sell their home and become residents joining Francin's bed-ridden, older brother, Uncle Pepin, who already lives there. While the narrator is familiar with the castle, it's an entirely different experience to take up residence.
I had been in the castle at least ten times or more, but then I was a guest, scared of everything and easily panicked. Today I stood here as a person who is going to be living here for a long time, until something happens to me, suddenly someone will come to me, whisper sweet nothings and make me all kinds of promises and then set me free, in a landscape that knows no limits, no bounds.
The retirement home consists of the mostly-invisible staff and an assortment of pensioners; the lucky ones wander the perimeter of the once-grand estate or sit and play cards while the bed-ridden residents remain immobile. Residents are not allowed to leave the castle without permission, so the retirement home is a jail of sorts. Many of the sights, smells and sounds within the home are unpleasant, but these realities of the mortal condition are set against the surreal atmosphere within the retirement home. All day long the strains of Harlequin's Millions is piped though speakers scattered throughout the castle and its surrounding park:
The string orchestra curls gently around the old tree trunks and Harlequin's Millions climbs like old ivy into the crowns and trickles down along the leaves, the corridors of the home are filled with a pleasant phosphorescent gas, with the scent of cheap perfume, so that no one is really aware of the music, only when there's a power failure and Harlequin's Millions is suddenly cut off, stops short, the way everything stops as if by magic in the tale of Sleeping Beauty, all the pensioners glance up, they look up at the speakers and the sudden loss of the music feels to them like when the lights go out and everyone longs to hear it again, because without it the air in the castle and along the paths in the park is unbreathable.
Our narrator, a witness for life inside the castle, begins wandering the grounds, taking a forbidden path, and discovers the decaying, mostly ignored splendor of the Count's former home. Inside the castle, tucked away in forgotten corners are "white statues of nude young women, Greek goddesses perhaps, caught unawares by a male gaze and defending themselves, in terror, with raised arms." The ceiling is "decorated with frescos of naked, dancing women and men," while other frescos depict a wedding scene between two beautiful young people and a lustful naked faun "abducting a nymph." In the days of its early splendor, the castle seems to be designed with youth and beauty in mind, and yet now it's the last residence of the elderly and infirm. It seems that the decaying, neglected castle reflects the condition of its residents:
the gutters and drainpipes were full of holes, some had even been torn from the wall, at such moments the castle somehow resembled all those old people, who cleared their throats and then nearly choked in fits of coughing.
Left to her own devices, our toothless narrator finds that memories of her past flood back–her early married life, a failed business venture and the shock of the communist takeover. Many stories unfold through the three "witnesses to old times," Vaclav and Karel and Otokar, elderly men who appear repeatedly throughout the story and tell the narrator fantastic tales from the past, acting as chroniclers of a long-forgotten history of the town and its residents.
There's a fairy tale quality to this book which is enhanced by its castle setting and the narrator's solitary walks when she discovers secret places in the forgotten corners of the castle. But if this is a fairy tale, it's an inverted fairy tale. The tale isn't told by a beautiful young princess imprisoned in a tower, waiting to be freed by a lover, but by an old woman who is facing the end of her life. At first it seems difficult to peg the story to a specific time frame, but the references to communism ground the story.
Harlequin's Millions is a wonderful book. As we follow our narrator and make discoveries through her eyes, in spite of its subject matter, this is ultimately a book which reinforces the delight and joy of life. There are too many wonderful episodes to recount, but for this reader, two episodes must be mentioned. Sunday is visiting day, and some pensioners gather in spite of the rain and "peer all the way down to the bottom of the road and sooner or later a car always came driving up the hill toward the gate, and the pensioners would hurry back to the vestibule, settle themselves into an armchair and put on their best smile." But the pensioners wait for visitors in vain while those who have visitors begrudge the time taken from their card games.
Those same pensioners who had run outside so impatiently to await the arrival of their beloved family were the ones whom hardly anyone ever came to see. More likely, someone would come whom no one had expected, or had even had time to expect, this was often the case with the five little groups of pensioners who sat and played cards all day, and when the nurses came to tell them that their relatives had arrived, that they had visitors, they had to quickly finish up their game of Mariás and then, sulking, they left the card table and went downstairs to the reception hall, if it was a nice day they took their relatives to a bench ion the park or the courtyard and still sulking, told them to have a seat, and then the relatives, when they saw that they hadn't been expected the way one expects to be expected, actually felt better, they were glad to see that their father or father-in-law was much too busy with other things, they were glad that the pensioner was making their visit easier that he was still a person who didn't sit around waiting for members of his family to rescue him, to brighten up his Sunday, but who without even bothering to hide his impatience kept looking at his watch, continually pushing back his sleeve to keep an eye on the time, which passed inexorably, while upstairs his friends sat waiting for him to return so they could resume their game of Mariás, that eternally moveable feast, that perennial Sunday that was always marked in red on the calendar, because playing cards is much more fun than telling all those pointless stories that had been told and retold in the family while there was still time.
That quote gives a sense of Hrabal's style, and the long, beautifully constructed run-on sentences that create a rhythm to the tale in which time is of the upmost importance.
For this reader, the novel's best segment occurs when the retirement home's regular doctor leaves for his annual trip to Marienbad. His replacement, "young Doctor Houloubek," a man who condones smoking and drinking of hard liquour, enthusiastically and misguidedly organizes an afternoon of classical music. Gone are the soothing strains of Harlequin's Millions, and instead the pensioners are aroused by Afternoon of a Faun & Brahms' violin concerto opus seventy-seven–a musical interlude that causes a comical near-riot.
The narrator records her observations about human nature while noting that this is "the first time" she's ever "been able to take a good look at what is going on around me." She notes the predictably to certain patterns of behaviour, and how visitors complain about petty things–having to queue for food, or order a cake days before they needed it as "by Saturday there wouldn't be so much as a cream puff left on the bakery shelves." The visitors also have a tendency to tell their elderly relatives how lucky they are to live in this retirement home, and when the pensioners try to explain the realities of life inside the castle and the difficulties of old age, the relatives immediately change the subject or become distracted in order not to listen.
While there is a great deal of gentle humour in the narrator's memories and observations, there's a serious side to the tale. She relates how the brewery, once managed by Francin, is nationalized under Communist rule. The narrator and her husband are rejected by the brewery workers as management in a government in which class is supposed to be leveled. The narrator notes that "all the old women in the castle, whom I'd driven to exasperation a quarter of a century ago with my dresses and my figure," are now "thrilled" to see that the narrator is just another old woman like them. While Communism acts as a social leveler for brewery workers, the narrator understands that Time is the true leveler that trumps all other considerations of beauty, wealth, possessions, status, & health. Utterly delightful, and told with a charming sense of mischief, Harlequin's Millions is highly recommended.
Review copy. Translated by Stacey Knecht
Filed under Fiction, Hrabal Bohumil
Tagged as aging, Czech literature, retirement home
Blaugast: A Novel of Decline by Paul Leppin
"Are you interested in catastrophes?"
I couldn't resist buying a copy of Blaugast: A Novel of Decline by Czech author Paul Leppin. After reading about the plot, it sounded as though I'd really enjoy it, and then again the book (with its Art Deco cover) has an aesthetic appeal–rather like the gorgeous Pushkin Press editions. My copy, translated from German by Cynthia A Klima is published by Twisted Spoon Press.
Paul Leppin (1878-1945) is a bit of a curiosity. Blaugast: A Novel of Decline, his last novel, was completed in the 1930s but wasn't published until 1984. The subject matter reminds me a great deal of the 19th century Decadents, but when I first started reading Blaugast, some of the scenes recall the clubs and cabarets of Weimar Berlin. Then again, according to the translator's notes, it's a piece of fin-de-siecle Decadence. Dierk O. Hoffman's Afterword outlines Leppin's life:
Leppin's literary remains, including Blaugast, had been saved by accident. Supposedly, the papers were found on the sidewalk in front of his home after the war, discarded as trash. Someone, whose identity is unknown, recovered and deposited them in the archives of the Museum of Czech Literature at Prague's Strahov Monastery. Unfortunately, no official record of this "donation" exists. A few additional manuscripts are now at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach after having been donated by their former owner, Marianne von Hoop, to ensure that Leppin's work would not be lost and would perhaps one day be rediscovered.
There are several reasons why Leppin's work was almost destroyed: 1) Its content 2) The Nazis and WWII and 3) The Post WWII political situation in Czechoslovakia. The Afterword details the many attempts to revive Leppin's work, and apparently the fall of Communism in 1989 heralded new editions and translations. It seems extraordinarily bad luck to fall victim to first the Nazis and then the Commies, doesn't it? A writer's nightmare indeed.
Translator Cynthia A. Klima tells us after the German occupation of Prague in 1939, Leppin was "temporarily detained and interrogated by the Gestapo." There's some speculation that he'd been "denounced" as a Jew. But there's another reason he wasn't popular with the Nazis: "the refusal by the Union of German Writers in Czechoslovakia under his leadership to join the Nazi sponsored Literary Society of Germany."
In later life Leppin suffered from "advanced syphilis and a stroke." The Union of German Writers in Czechoslovakia was dissolved and in 1945, desperately ill from syphilis, he tried to join the Nazi party in order to get a party card which would allow medical treatment. Given Leppin's political stance (and his work), it's really remarkable that he wasn't carted off to a concentration camp.
So what's the book about? Basically, this is the sordid tale of a bored clerk, named Klaudius Blaugast whose life becomes an ever-spiralling descent into the hell of complete physical and moral degradation. The story begins one night with Blaugast aimlessly wandering the dark streets of Prague when he runs into an old school friend named Schobotzki. Blaugast asks the normal sort of question of Schobotzki: "What have you been doing with yourself?"
With a mistrustful glance, Schobotzki looked past him, into the street.
"I'm going to seed," he said casually. "Step by step. I am rather well-acquainted with the terms."
Blaugast remained speechless; uneasiness gathered into a questionable silence. The man chuckled good-naturedly, then wrapped himself up in the collar of his cloak.
"That's part of the idea," he stated, without explaining himself more clearly. "It has to do with the research I'm involved in. Would you like to see my laboratory?"
Blaugast should have said, "no." But instead bored, curious, and yet no small degree of uneasiness, Blaugast, folds to Schobotzki's dominant personality, and agrees to accompany his old friend:
"I'm going with you, " he announced, brushing aside doubts with a sweep of his hand. "I suppose your laboratory will offer the possibility of a schnapps. What kind of research is it that leaves such frightful consequences?"
Schobotzki menacingly raised his head off his shoulders.
"Biology of atrophy. Science of decay. Are you interested in catastrophes?"
Schobotzki takes Blaugast to a cellar which operates as a sort of scuzzy pub, and it's here that Blaugast is introduced to the prostitute known as Wanda. Wanda is but the first, albeit significant step in Blaugast's moral degradation. Initially, repelled by her slatternly appearance, he rapidly becomes obsessed with Wanda, eventually becoming a sort of slave. Wanda introduces Blaugast to various forms of depravity:
Her relation to the demimonde and adjacent terrain was like a worm-rotted footbridge that Blaugast, encouraged by her approval, ambitiously crossed to exceed any past achievements, conquests now regarded with cynicism.
This is not a book for the prudish. With Blaugast's moral decline, he basically becomes the entertainment for the orgy crowd. The book is heavy on atmosphere while exploring the shadowy corners of Prague nightlife. Expect dung, masturbation for entertainment and a little indecent exposure just for kicks. I'd hazard a guess that if you like Hermann Ungar, you'll like Paul Leppin. Of the two, I prefer Leppin. I found him morbidly, disgustingly funny plus I have a weakness for books whose characters undergo spectacular moral derailment.
Leppin has a very definite style (the translator mentions Leppinisms–Leppin's invented words as well as "strings of adjectival constructions within elongated sentences structures, lexical fugues (e.g., military and commercial terms) extending, even belabouring, metaphor":
Whatever ecstatic pleasure Blaugast had experienced with women always left him disappointed. The transparency of vulgar anticipation and the discharge of passionate revolts went limp in his realm, never achieving instinctive sexual force, never taming the turmoil to which he felt himself subjugated. The feeble heroic deed of forming a union to find pleasure in the sating of urges was suspect and lowly to him, a work of illusion he rejected in disbelief. Over the course of years he had killed with hope, when, true to his nature, he went chasing after new promises again and again, the peculiar would brush up against him, the unusual caress him–and frailty was driven further into the corner.
I selected that particular passage for its clever choice of words which of course evokes a very particular sexual imagery but also because Leppin does an awful lot of exposition of Blaugast's life. Instead of getting passages which detail what Blaugast is doing, we get these overview summary passages which remove the immediacy and offer an almost clinical view of Blaugast. The result was a little too much analysis of the action. That is my one complaint here, but it wasn't enough to discourage me from this tale of moral and physical putrefaction.
On a final note: it struck me that Blaugast's mistress is named Wanda, and I became convinced that Blaugast has some sort of literary connection to Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch wrote (amongst other things) a novel called Venus in Furs and his wife Wanda von Sacher-Masoch wrote a rebuttal of sorts: The Confessions of Wanda von Sacher-Masoch. Venus in Furs is the account of the sadomasochistic relationship between the author, Sacher-Masoch and his idealized, fictional mistress, Wanda. The Confessions of Wanda von Sacher-Masoch is the wife's version of ten years of miserable married life spent with the author–a literary he said/she said.
Curious, I picked up another Paul Leppin novel I have on my shelf: The Road to Darkness which includes two short novellas: Daniel Jesus and Severin. In Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel Venus in Furs, the narrator is Severin von Kusiemski–the man who hooks up with Wanda. They basically travel over Europe with Severin acting as the slave (underling) for his harsh mistress, Wanda. Given that Leppin creates no less than two characters with names straight out of Venus in Furs (Wanda and Severin), I have to conclude that he was inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. It's just too much of a coincidence.
Filed under Fiction, Leppin Paul
Tagged as Czech literature, decadent, perversion, Prague, prostitute, Twisted Spoon Press
The Maimed by Hermann Ungar
I came across The Maimed by Hermann Ungar while trawling through the Dedalus website. I'm stating for the record that I didn't love this book (I wonder if anyone does), but I didn't loathe it either. Instead I am left with the sensation that I inadvertently gawked at someone else's rather sick and twisted sex life. Yes, I'm a bit appalled and at the same time, damn it, curious in spite of myself.
The back cover includes a quote from Stefan Zweig (which influenced the purchase). To Zweig The Maimed was "wonderful and horrible, captivating and repulsive, unforgettable, although one would be glad to be able to forget it." Strange praise indeed. I'll agree with everything except the "wonderful" part, but I'd add "kinky" to the book's other attributes.
Born in 1893, Ungar was a Czech, German-speaking jew who wrote just two novels before his premature death in 1929 of peritonitis. His surviving body of work suffers from a combination of being thrown away, lost or simply forgotten. At one point, he was called "the most important writer of the decade," but Ungar died before the decade concluded. After finishing the novel, I found myself wondering what sort of person Ungar was. Everyone in the novel suffers from phobias, and various pathological mental states, including obsessions, fetishism, and paranoia. What would Freud have made of this novel?….
The novel's main character is Franz Polzer, and when the story begins, Polzer is a middle-aged man whose entire life revolves around his job as a bank clerk. This is not to say that he cares about his job particularly or devotes himself to his career–rather he has nothing else in his life other than work. The son of a "shopkeeper in a little country town," Polzer was brought up by his widowed father and an aunt. And what a couple of sickies these two are. Polzer's hideous childhood memories include some rather shadowy impressions of his father's true relationship with his sister. As a child, Polzer was frequently held down and beaten by this pair, and Polzer's psychosexual development becomes somewhat coloured by masochistic impulses as a result.
When the novel begins, Polzer has worked at the bank for 17 years. He briefly attended university with plans of becoming a doctor but these plans were dashed when his benefactor, the wealthy father of Polzer's best friend, Karl, withdrew support. Up to that point, Polzer had attended university along with his friend, but Karl's ill-health forced him to drop out, and then Polzer took a job at the bank. Here's Polzer's abysmal life:
Franz Polzer had been told that, given his abilities, he could, with industry and application, rise to a senior position in his profession. Through all the years he had never reflected on the fact that the hopes he pinned on his career had not been fulfilled. He had forgotten them. He forgot them in all the little activities which, from the very beginning, his time had been divided up. He got out of bed in the morning, washed, dressed, glanced at the newspaper while he was having breakfast, and went to the bank. He sat down at his desk, on which were piles of papers which he had to compare with entries in the ledgers on the shelves round him. He signed each sheet, when he had checked it, with the initials of his name and placed it in a file. All around the office, and in the other rooms, there were many other men and women sitting, like him, at desks that looked just the same as his. The whole building was filled with the smell of these men and women, with the noise of their monotonous activity and conversations. Franz Polzer was equal to the demands his work made on him. It offered no opportunity of distinguishing himself and therefore no chance of attracting the attention of his superiors.
A couple of things struck me about this passage. Polzer is too dulled to even think about disappointed hopes, and then he seems repulsed by the physical presence (smells and sounds) of the other people in the office. Yes, indeed, Polzer does have a horror of physical contact. And so when Polzer's plump landlady, the lusty widow Frau Porges begins to make sexual demands on Polzer, well we know it can only lead to trouble….
Polzer's private life becomes so out-of-control he decides to go and see his old friend, Karl. This, as it turns out is a serious mistake. Karl is extremely ill and suffering from a progressive chronic disease. His legs have been amputated, his body is covered with abscesses and he's about to have an arm amputated. Karl's life is a worse mess than Polzer's, and there's the distinct possibility that Karl's mind is also diseased. He's constantly accusing his wife, Dora of infidelity, yet he demands a male nurse to help with his daily care. There are hints of Karl's rather strange sexual tendencies. Just how much should Polzer believe?
At this point, the novel switches from Polzer's problem with his insatiable landlady and her groppy friend Kamilla, and instead Polzer sinks deeper and deeper into the mire surrounding Karl's domestic arrangements. In some ways The Maimed feels like two different books. The first novel concerns the pathetic figure of Polzer, a man who's horrified by female flesh and who may have homosexual tendencies, but then the novel shifts focus as it moves away from Polzer's life and into Karl's orbit.
Ungar's Polzer is the progeny of Decadent author Huysmans. In Huysmans' With the Flow, middle-aged office clerk Jean Folantin ekes out his meagre budget in a futile attempt to derive some pleasure from life. Polzer is a hollowed-out version of Folantin, and even the anticipation of pleasure remains elusive to Polzer. He "longed to play billiards" but declines to due to fear of "putting his body movements on display." Polzer shrinks from his landlady's advances, and yet surrenders when she applies the correct combination of punishment with authoritarianism.
With the whereabouts of an amputated limb, a missing fetish object, a cult of death and guilt, a dominatrix, exhibitionism, masturbation, and sadomasochism to boot, The Maimed is not for all readers. This is a strange novel indeed, full, as its title suggests, not of wounded people, but mutilated and defective people. Karl's disease with its stench, its pus and its sores is the physical manifestation of the damage. While Karl serves as the hub of all this disturbed and disturbing behaviour, it's what lies underneath that is truly horrifying:
"What Polzer feared had begun. The door had been opened. Once order had been disrupted, ever increasing chaos was bound to follow. The breach had been made through which the unforeseen could pour in, spreading fear."
Translated by Mike Mitchell.
Filed under Ungar Hermann
Tagged as Czech literature, death & dying


Q: Explain the Shar'ee method and sequence of burying the deceased and pertinent aspects relating to the burial.
1. When transporting the deceased to the graveyard, the head side should be in front. Once the grave is ready, the deceased should be lowered into the grave from the direction of the qiblah. The method of lowering the deceased into the grave is that the deceased should be brought from the side of the qiblah, and lowered into the grave in such a manner that those receiving the body should be standing in the grave while facing towards the qiblah. It was in this manner that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) buried the Sahaabah (Radiyallahu Anhum).
2. There is no harm in whether an odd number or an even number of people go into the grave in order to lower the deceased.
In the name of Allah Ta'ala, and upon the way of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam).
4. After placing the deceased in the grave, it is Sunnah to turn him on his right side so that the entire body and face is turned towards the qiblah. A little sand should be placed behind or in front of the deceased to keep the body secure and prevent it from falling.
O Allah! Do not deprive us of his reward (the reward of making sabar upon his demise) and do not test us after him.
6. There are two types of graves: a) Incised grave (lahd). b) Trench-grave (shiq). An incised grave will be dug in the case where the ground is firm. A recess will be dug on the qiblah side of the grave to allow placing the body in the recess. Unbaked bricks should preferably be used to close the recess. A trench-grave will be dug in the case where the ground is soft. A shallow trench will be dug in the centre of the grave to allow the body to be placed in this trench. Strips of timber may be used to cover the trench.
7. If the deceased is a female, it is desirable that her mahram relatives lower her into the grave.
8. At the time of placing a woman in the grave, it is mustahab to place a covering/sheet over the grave in order to conceal the body from the eyes of non-mahrams (strangers). If there is a fear that the body of the deceased will become exposed, it will be waajib to cover the grave.
9. Covering the grave with a sheet should not be done when placing a man in the grave. However, if there is a need to cover the grave of a man (e.g. due to rain or snow etc.) then it will be permissible.
10. After burying the deceased, the grave should be slightly raised above the ground to the extent of approximately one hand span.
11. It is preferable to sprinkle a little water over the grave after covering the grave with soil in order to set the soil and prevent it from scattering/blowing away etc.
12. When throwing sand over the grave, it is mustahab to commence from the head side. Similarly, it is mustahab to use both hands when throwing the sand. It is also permissible to use a spade to fill the grave with sand.
13. It is mustahab to throw sand thrice at the time of burying the deceased.
From it (soil) We have created you.
And in it (soil) We will return you.
And from it (soil) shall We resurrect you and bring you to life once again.
15. After the burial, it is mustahab that the beginning verses of Surah Baqarah (till المفلحون) be recited softly at the head side of the grave, and the concluding verses of Surah Baqarah (from آمن الرسول) be recited at the leg side.
16. It is mustahab to stand at the grave for a little while after the burial. One should make Dua for the forgiveness of the deceased and ask Allah Ta'ala to make it easy for him to answer the questions in the grave.
17. After completing the burial, it is mustahab for one to face the qiblah, raise the hands and make Dua for the deceased.
18. One may recite some portion of the Qur'an and convey the reward of the recitation to the deceased.
What does the Islamic Shariah say when a woman dies and who she should be buried, usually people bury women same as man, non-mahram also stand near the burial place, please guide us.
Which direction should one face when making dua in the qabrastaan?
Is It Permissible to Reuse Graves?


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


School and Church members (front row, left to right): Christina Carrion, Eric Fort, Scott Muckensturm, Chris Everson, April Payne, JoNell Mellody, Rachel Camp, Richard Davis, Bobby Summers, (back row) Mike Anderson, Sally and Frank Trette and Kevin Worthy.
Helping at Davis Elementary School, through the One+One initiative, is something First UMC Royse City has done since 2015. What started as a way to encourage, support and read with students soon reached an entire community.
At first, it was the mentor program. Over time, church members saw needs at the school. They began helping in the office and with bus pickup. Then, at the beginning of the school year, members provided lunch to teachers with door prizes and walked the halls praying for the staff and students that would soon gather.
When children cannot afford to go on field trips, church members step up to provide funds. In addition, a prayer request form is available for teachers to fill out for Rev. Chris Everson, pastor of First UMC Royse City, to pray for them.
"Staff members have commented to me that it makes them feel like someone in the community cares about them and what goes on at our school," Davis Elementary assistant principal Rachel Camp said.
Students across the Royse City ISD will benefit from the church's latest act of generosity. Call it a Christmas miracle right here in the North Texas Conference.
After covering the cost of lunch deficits at Davis Elementary in 2017, First UMC Royse City decided – after a unanimous vote by the church council – to expand that practice for all students in 2018-19.
"Our church has the tradition of giving away our entire Christmas Eve offering" Everson said. Funds collected during the church's Christmas Eve services were dedicated to paying off lunch debts. All told, it amounted to a $10,000 donation to the district.


BOB Manipal PO Cut off 2018/2017, Check Previous Year Cutoff Marks!
Bank of Baroda has disclosed the General Category cutoff for the exam conducted in 2018.Section-wise cutoff/overall cutoff for online exam and final overall cutoff has been disclosed by BOB, for General category.
You can also check BOB Manipal PO Cut off 2017 & 2016 in this article. A basic idea of BOB Manipal previous year cut off marks will help you all identify the minimum number of questions that you should attempt in BOB Manipal PO exam. The first question that you might want to clarify as an aspiring Banking candidate is the various factors that would affect the BOB Manipal PO 2018 Cut off. Well, to be precise it's the previous year's Cut-off and the total number of appearing candidates which would be the major factors that would define BOB Manipal PO Cut-off marks. The objective of this article is to get a fair idea of minimum fair attempts/score for upcoming BOB PO Exam.
1. Sectional Cut off: You need to qualify each section of the exam, if you fail to clear the cutoff of any of the sections, you are not qualified for the competition.
2. Overall Cut off: Also, you have to clear overall cutoff of the written exam, if you manage to clear the sectional cut-off of each section but fail to clear the overall cutoff, then also you will not be qualified.
One student filed an RTI for knowing the marks , he got the reply and this was the marks shown .. since he was of general category the marks he got in reply regarding sectional are of general.
when will the marks will be out.
Is saal kiska pgdbf aana pehle????


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Bureau of Investigative Journalism drops legal bid for release of Russia 'interference' report
Reach confirms it is 'no longer in active discussions' to buy JPI Media titles as revenues dip
Channel 4 News to replace missing party leaders with ice sculptures for climate debate
Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage will each be represented by ice sculptures during tonight's Channel 4 News climate debate, which the pair have snubbed, it has been reported.
Editor Ben de Pear (pictured left) told PA: "These two ice sculptures represent the emergency on planet earth, not in any human form but are a visual metaphor for the Conservative and Brexit parties after their leaders declined our repeated invitations to attend tonight's vital climate debate."
The hour-long climate debate, said to be a UK TV first, will air at 7pm tonight on Channel 4 and will be hosted by news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Plaid Cymru's leader Adam Price (pictured centre) and Green co-leader Sian Berry will take part.
Channel 4 confirms there will be two ice sculptures alongside empty podiums at the hour-long Emergency On Planet Earth debate, representing the absence of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage
— Sophie Morris (@itssophiemorris) November 28, 2019
Farage's Brexit Party confirmed on Twitter earlier this week that they would not be taking part, saying in a statement that it had "no faith the broadcaster will conduct this debate in a fair and objective way".
Press Gazette reported that the leaders would be empty chaired if they refused to show for the debate. It appears the ice sculptures will stand alongside empty podiums for both leaders.
It has been reported that the Conservative Party wanted to send Environment Secretary Michael Gove to represent the party at the debate.
Asked on Wednesday whether a Conservative minister, such as former environment secretary Michael Gove, could attend the Channel 4 debate instead of Mr Johnson, a spokeswoman for Channel 4 News said: "Michael Gove is not the party leader."
The politicians taking part are likely to face questions over the level of ambition and feasibility in their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the UK to zero overall, and the date they have pledged to achieve it by.
Guru-Murthy said leaders would be grilled on how people's lives will have to change – whether it would involve giving up red meat, going on holiday or ending fast fashion.
Plans to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles, cut the carbon from heating homes, plant trees and protect wildlife are also among the subjects they could be quizzed on.
Guru-Murthy said: "This debate has been called for by hundreds of thousands of people from all sorts of different walks of life."
He urged Johnson, who has said he does not want to debate Ms Sturgeon because she cannot become prime minister, to change his mind, promising him he would get a fair hearing.
Channel 4 was forced to cancel a debate on Sunday after Johnson refused to show.
Additional reporting by PA.
Picture: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire
Channel 4 News says sorry for 'people of colour' misquote on viral video of Boris Johnson speech
Ofcom assessing 124 complaints, including from Tories, over Channel 4 News climate debate
Boris Johnson set to duck TV debates while BBC yet to confirm Andrew Neil interview
Channel 4 News will empty chair Boris Johnson if he refuses leaders' climate debate


When our staff and lay leaders set out to start a new Ramah summer camp along the shores of Monterey Bay, we knew that we would learn tremendous lessons along the way about Jewish camping and about our own ecosystem of campers, staff, and marine flora and fauna. As a process-oriented rabbi and educator, I welcomed this unfolding journey of learning and reflection for our inaugural summer at Camp Ramah in Northern California (Ramah Galim).
After spending seven summers at Camp Ramah in Ojai as a camper, I expected this first experience as a staff member to be another year of making connections, exploring our religious spiritual identity, and enjoying the camp activities. However, my first summer on staff here at Ramah Galim resulted not only in growth as an individual in the Ramah community, but also taught me an important life lesson about approaching challenges.
Less than a month before arriving at camp as a counselor for 4th and 5th grade girls, I graduated from a small, academically rigorous high school in Marin County. My high school surrounded me with peers and teachers who pushed me to be the best student I could be. While I am immensely grateful for the education I received and the tools I gained for my future, my past four years were spent in an environment that applauded perfection and looked down upon errors. Mistakes were a source of shame rather than moments from which to reflect and grow. "Success" in high school often meant going above and beyond in order to get that A+, and anything else was a failure.
Spending this summer on staff at Ramah Galim tested this ingrained perception of achievement. At the beginning of my time here, I approached this experience from my previous mindset: perfectionism. Each activity had to be flawless and each task I was assigned to was completed with embellishments, hours before the deadline. The perfectionism that worked for me in high school became a roadblock when the Jewish values activity I planned for my campers ended up being way too long for the allotted time. Dinner time was ominously approaching, but the campers had not yet begun their skits for each of our camp values: manhigut (leadership), simcha (joy), ahavat yisrael (love of Israel and the Jewish people), and kavod (respect and inclusiveness). Some may call this dilemma "exposure therapy", and thankfully, as the sessions progressed, my rigid approach to planning loosened as I began to overcome my fears of being unprepared. Seeing the smiles on my campers' faces as they engaged with the product of last-minute changes countered the stress of making those in-the-moment adjustments.
My fellow staff members further inspired me to bring that think-on-your-feet attitude to my daily life when the day strayed from the schedule in my pocket. I learned to adjust plans as necessary in order to weave together a smooth camp experience for the chanichim (campers). Maintaining a calm and malleable attitude was essential for creating the most exciting, engaging day for the campers, for my colleagues, and for myself. I have grown to accept and embrace improvisation as an essential component of being a leader and making a difference in children's lives. Contributing to the establishment of Ramah Galim pushed me to learn this life skill, and the real "success" is watching my chanichot fall in love with Ramah as I did nine years ago.


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Yesteryear's Question for Today: "Well, What Are You Going to Do About It?"
By Denis Smith On February 22, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Thomas Nast, Harper's Weekly, 1871
In light of daily revelations about new scandals engulfing the nation's capital, we are struggling to digest the full magnitude of the corruption and incompetence of the Trump administration. But while we are absorbed by our present circumstances, it might be helpful to look at another very corrupt era of our national history, a time when the public also dealt with information overload about misdeeds in high places, for some perspective and an idea about where all of this ends.
In this case, the locus of corruption and scandal was not the nation's capital but New York City, our financial and commercial center, which in the immediate post-Civil War era was booming with boundless energy in the period that Mark Twain described as The Gilded Age. As we try to make sense of the turbulent present, there is a lesson for us to earn by looking at this earlier time.
Immediately after the Civil War, the country was energized by a rapidly growing economy. Tammany Hall, which was the name of the Democratic political machine that ran New York City in that era, had plenty of public money to spend on projects to reward its friends. In perhaps the most famous example, the New York County Courthouse was built by an associate of William Tweed, a New York State Senator more commonly known as Boss Tweed, for millions more than the construction cost. It is estimated that the cost of the courthouse project in today's dollars would be at least $178 million. The Tweed Ring, as the inner group of Tammany was called, proved expert in money laundering and was involved in the early work for the famed Brooklyn Bridge and the New York Public Library.
In the fetid swamp that characterized some parts of the Gilded Age, it took the New York Times and one crusading editorial cartoonist to thoroughly expose the tawdriness of Tweed and his lieutenants, proving the maxim that a picture is worth 10,000 words. Thomas Nast, the cartoonist for Harper's Weekly, produced a series of drawings showing Tweed as an omnipotent scoundrel. The most famous of these were several cartoons which carried a caption with the Tammany boss saying "Well, what are you going to do about it?"
According to at least one historian, Tweed never said those words. But it didn't matter. His deeds were much more important than any of his supposed words. He also remarked about Nast's damaging cartoons. "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!"
Thomas Nast, Harper's Weekly
The story of Tweed is instructive for us today. Like the Tammany Boss, our current president is a New York City native and seems to also be adept at money laundering. As an example, reports of dozens of Russians owning apartments in Trump Tower and other properties have triggered speculation regarding the central place Russia plays in business development (a euphemism) with the Trump Organization.
Last year, there were reports of 86 cash sales involving Trump properties worth $109 million by individuals with Russian ties. "The size and scope of these cash purchases are deeply troubling as they can often signal money laundering activity," Rep. Adam Schiff, the newly installed Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, opined about Trump's real estate activity with Russian-related entities.
But money laundering is not confined to real estate transactions. Federal prosecutors are closely examining the operation of the Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC), which collected $107 million but spent considerably less than that amount. What happened to the unspent money?
The Southern District of New York is investigating the PIC for possible money laundering, false statements, mail and wire fraud, according to court documents. There is a fear that foreign money was used to fund activities for the PIC as an effort to curry favor or buy influence with the president.
In the view of some observers, Trump's propensity for money laundering is a key to the full exposure of his sordid behavior and potential prosecution for financial crimes. But with Trump, there is so much more in the analysis.
These are other alleged crimes that Trump has been accused of in various press reports and inferred from filings made by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other branches of the Justice Department. NOTE: This is only a partial list.
• Violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause through revenue received from foreign governments who use Trump Organization hotels and other commercial property. Lawsuits have been filed by the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland over this issue.
• Trump is named as "Individual-1" in a filing by the Southern District of New York for coordinating hush money payments to a porn star, an action amounting to an illegal campaign contribution. There is little argument that this action by prosecutors defines Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator.
• The question at hand is whether "Trump or those associated with him engaged in a "conspiracy with elements of the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election." While six close Trump associates have been charged with a series of crimes, the only individuals directly charged with election tampering so far are 13 Russians who were involved with the Moscow-based Internet Research Agency and 12 GRU military intelligence officers.
• Obstruction of justice is being considered as a result of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Incredibly, Trump admitted in an interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt that his action rid him of someone leading an investigation into his myriad of connections with the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin. "And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story ..," Trump told Holt.
Again, this is only the short list, and other state charges, including violations by the Trump Foundation, are being considered by the New York attorney general.
Then there is the whole business with Trump's taxes and his failure to release tax returns, unlike every president since Richard Nixon.
An added note to the sleazy Trump behavior deals with his constant attacks on a free press. No matter what Trump says about questions raised about his taxes, cozy relationship with Putin, and anything pointing to those in his circle who have been indicted and convicted, it is not fake news.
Moreover, his attempt to ride roughshod over Congress and its constitutional power of the purse was given this treatment recently by another cartoonist. Is there a hint of Nast's influence in this cartoon, where the figure of democracy shown above being mauled by the Tammany tiger has been replaced by that of a slain Congress whacked by the Fifth Avenue Felon? One wonders.
Nate Beeler, Columbus Dispatch, February 17, 2019
As we await the submission of Robert Mueller's report to the attorney general, we must look at all of these alleged crimes by Trump and ask the same question raised by Thomas Nast nearly 150 years ago.
Well, what are you going to do about it, Mitch McConnell?
Well, what are you going to do about it, Lindsey Graham?
And, much closer to home, in light of his recent announcement that he wholeheartedly supports GOP (Government of Putin) Boss Donald Trump for re-election, let us all ask Ohio Senator Rob Portman:
Well, Rob Portman, what are you going to do about it?
You might want to ask him this question by calling him at his Washington office: 202-224-3353 or email him at this link: https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
So let's say it loud and clear one more time: What are We the People going to do about it?
Barely a dozen years after Tweed's death, the Populist firebrand Mary Elizabeth Lease advised distressed farmers to "raise less corn and more hell." Based upon what we may learn in the coming weeks, it might be time yet again to raise more hell. If we won't do that, you'll also know that Portman, McConnell, and Graham will continue their silence and complicity in what seems to be a monstrous criminal conspiracy, assaulting democracy and those who ask these Senate leaders what they're going to do about it.
Wright State Faculty Successfully Defend Ohio Higher Ed Jim Jordan, Your Emmy Award Awaits


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Holiday | LifestyleLetters to the editor
IT is hardly surprising that Britain has so much difficulty persuading some of its European Union partners of its total commitment to the idea of Europe. Too often, the first reaction of politicians in the UK to restrictions which EU or other legislation impose on them is to suggest withdrawal from the law or directive which is giving them so much trouble. In William Hague's time as leader of the Conservatives there was strong pressure on him for an election commitment that Britain would "opt–out" of the EU if there were moves towards increased federalism. There was, of course, no possibility of negotiating any such deal. Now the government is hinting that it may consider a suggestion first made by the Conservatives to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights in order to give greater scope for the expulsion of unwanted immigrants. The focus is on Article 3 of the Convention which bars the return of people to a country where they may suffer inhuman or degrading treatment. If this restriction were to be removed Britain would be able to wash its hands of people it is currently obliged to keep. It has even been suggested that to achieve this outcome Britain should withdraw from the Convention and then re–enter with a clause attached to Article 3 allowing deportations in certain circumstances. Lawyers have pointed out that the Convention specificially prohibits reservations to Article 3. But, legal considerations aside, should there not first be concern about any such reservation on humanitarian grounds?
Also in Holiday
Mallorca flights to the heart of Kent on the horizon
See Mallorca: A day out to the Crystal Church


Dori Pole is an outdoor display system that brings greater attention to a marina, while also acting as a bird deterrent. These long, colorful pennant flags float in the wind and have been proven to help deter nuisance birds, such as geese, seagulls and pelicans. The fiberglass poles are lightweight, flexible and can reach up to 22 feet in height. A swiveling yoke design keeps the colorful, attached nylon pennants tangle-free. The poles are simple to use, with easy installation and removal. Pennants can be ordered with custom imprints. For more information, visit www.doripole.com.


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Public-private partnership for global health security between Uganda and Private Sector Roundtable launched at WHA72
Photo credit: PSRT
At the 72nd World Health Assembly last week, the Private Sector Roundtable (PSRT) and the Government of Uganda signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). The partnership marks the first between the PSRT and a GHSA country and will serve to support Uganda in addressing specific health security needs as identified by its Joint Externa Evaluation (JEE).
At the signing, remarks were given by Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health of Uganda; Dr. Alan Tennenberg, PSRT Chair and Chief Medical Officer of Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health; Garrett Grigsby, Director of the Office of Global Affairs, HHS; Päivi Sillanaukee, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland; and Dr. John Nkengasong, Director Africa Centres for Disease Control. In attendance were representatives from Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands, as well as the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Resolve to Save Lives, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. CDC, USAID, and NIH.
The signing of the MoU last week is a significant milestone following Dr. Aceng's invitation to the PSRT at the World Health Assembly in 2017 to begin collaborating with the Ugandan Ministry of Health on addressing their health security priorities, the first country to do so. Since then, both parties have been working together, along with the U.S. Government, to better understand Uganda's priorities and how PSRT member companies can help address them.
The partnership will include offerings from PSRT member companies, including workforce training in public health management and leadership, diagnostics in AMR, data literacy, among other areas; the secondments of company employees with various areas of expertise; and support for the monitoring and evaluation of Uganda's health security initiatives. A PSRT delegation visited Kampala earlier in the month to review the PSRT member offerings and discuss next steps for implementation.
There, Dr. Jane Aceng said, "I am delighted to see this public-private partnership continue to grow as an example for the world…. It is gratifying to see the private sector commitment to joining the rest of the world to make GHSA a priority as it is a public good for all to benefit."
Of the signing at WHA, PSRT Chair Dr. Alan Tennenberg said, "The signing of the MoU at WHA is a huge step for private sector engagement in global health security, but it is only a first step for this partnership, which we hope will serve as a model for future public-private partnerships to better prevent, detect, and respond to health threats. PSRT companies believe our value as a touchpoint for industry engagement in the GHSA goes beyond a source of funding, and we look forward to working with countries to leverage our unique expertise and capabilities from supply chain to communications to data analytics, first with Uganda and soon with the broader GHSA."
About the Private Sector Roundtable
The mission of the Private Sector Roundtable (PSRT) is to mobilize industry to help countries prevent, detect, and respond to health-related crises and strengthen systems for health security. The PSRT serves as the focal point for companies seeking to address these challenges, aligning public health needs with overarching business objectives. As a member of the GHSA Steering Group, the PSRT collaborates with governments, non-governmental partners, and companies in the health care, communications, energy, finance, technology, transportation, logistics, and other sectors to support countries in reaching the goals of the GHSA Action Packages.