I lobbied against a very damaging and misguided bill today. It was my first time ever lobbying!
I want to share with you some helpful tips and what I learned so that you can exercise your democratic privileges, too! Your voice deserves to be heard and it's important that you let your Senators and Representatives know your opinions!
Note: Lobbying (meeting in-person) is most effective. If you can't do that, make a call. Calls are more effective than emails because people have to actually answer the phone and listen to you! But of course, there's no harm in doing all three things!!
Legislature can be so highly personal because it can have a direct impact on our ways of life.
This particular bill that I was lobbying against was quite triggering for me because it proposed very misguided and convoluted restrictions that would impact or totally halt many holistic practitioners from running their business -- and therefore, it would also impact all recipients of such holistic care!
I found myself feeling afraid of losing my career and I also felt this triggering whole other lifetimes and generations of oppression involving spirituality, earth-based healing, and women.
So I sat down and really honored my feelings. I felt through the rage. I created a sacred space. I used sage and palo santo to help cleanse my energy. I used essential oils to help me process my emotions and energy blocks. I worked with ceremonial cacao to help open up my self-expression. I prayed aloud to God and meditated.
By giving myself space to honor those feelings, I was able to channel my personal rage into empowered action. I ended up entering the State House feeling far more confident and grounded than I would have otherwise.
Seems obvious, right? But you need to actually sit down and read the full bill yourself. Don't just blindly trust all the hear-say. Do your homework!
Read the bill several times so that you know what it says and can confidently speak on it.
This will help you to organize your thoughts.
Make sure you "speak their (the Legislators') language." That means that you need to write out exactly WHY this bill is harmful or helpful. How will it impact people and the economy?
Does it hold implications on veterans, trauma-survivors, opioid crisis, healthcare crisis, public health, safety, etc.?
Will this bill end up costing money to the state?
Are there alternatives to this bill that you oppose or support? List those and provide a description.
You can even provide references to previous bills that didn't pass.
If you're opposing a bill, is there an alternative bill that you would be in support of? It can be helpful to say, "I oppose this, but I I support this one!" Explain why.
Keep your argument summary to a 1-page, single-sided document if possible. You can have even more arguments that you speak through, but really put only the most compelling arguments on the document. A 1-page summary will be a great quick-reference guide for your Legislators and their aides who are already so busy!
You'll want to have enough copies so that you can hand it to every single Senator, Representative, and aide that you speak to.
Not only is this helpful for you to organize your own thoughts, but it's also really helpful to have that physical document to hand out. Our legislators and their aides have so much paperwork to sift through. Creating that 1-sheet document of info not only helps you to organize your own thoughts on the bill, but it helps them to more quickly understand what you're trying to convey. It will also help them when they wish to review the bill in the future because they'll have something succinct to refer to.
Double-check the number assigned to the bill, as the number will change after it's passed by one legislative branch. Senate bills and House bills each have their own numbers.
Keep one for yourself and hand out copies to legislators and their aides, as needed.
Is it in the House? The Senate? Is there a particular committee assigned to oversee this bill?
Figure out who you need to speak to today.
In the bill I was lobbying against, it had been assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee, which would then decide if the bill would be heard in session and voted on. Therefore, I focused my attentions on the the Ways and Means Committee.
Pay special attention to the Chair and Vice Chair of any committee that is overseeing the bill.
Also, be sure to contact your own Senator or Representative that oversees your district. They'll be more likely to listen to you because you're their constituent.
For good measure, make sure you also contact the Minority Leader of the House or Senate, too.
Then take notes on this document as you speak to people. Take note of what you spoke about, what they were concerned about, and whether they were leaning toward opposing or supporting the bill.
If you can make an appointment with your legislator, that's ideal! If they're not available, speak to their aide. Aides are in direct contact with the legislators and help to inform the legislators of bills and public opinion.
Can't make an appointment? No worries! Show up anyway and ask to speak to the legislator or aide.
If you don't have business cards, print or write out your contact info: Full name, phone number, email, and anything else that might be relevant to what you'll be speaking on.
Hand a business card to every Legislator or aide that you speak with.
Show up in numbers. I found it effective for 30 or so of us to visit our legislators in groups of 1-3 people throughout the course of one day. When they keep getting office visits from many different people throughout the day who are advocating for the same thing, they'll really pay attention.
That will help bring the bill to the attention of the legislators. It's helpful if a bill has already been brought to their attention by the public by the time that you show up in-person. If they've been receiving a lot of calls and emails and then you show up in-person to speak with them, they'll really pay attention to you and what you're saying.
I know, I know -- clothes and appearance shouldn't matter. Formal clothing is elitist in nature. And using appearance as a judge of whether or not someone should be taken seriously is wrong. But that's a discussion for another time.
The fact is that appearances matter to a lot of people, including many legislators. First impressions matter a lot when you only have a few minutes to get your point across. You want your legislators to take you seriously and not be distracted by your choice of clothing.
Dress "business casual" if you can. Make sure your shoulders and thighs are covered. Wear nice shoes. Brush your hair. This is the typical dress code for those who work in the government.
Wear comfortable shoes! You'll be on your feet a lot! You'll be walking throughout the State House and be standing while you meet with legislators and their aides. This might not be the best day for high heels!
I personally brought essential oils. I used them before and after speaking with people, as it helped to calm my nerves and to give me a helpful boost in energy.
Lobbying takes effort and energy!
** bring enough copies of these so that you can hand one to each Legislator or aide that you speak with!
You don't want to be late to your appointment. Navigating the State House can be a little complicated, depending on the layout of your State House!
Even if you don't have a scheduled appointment, arrive early so that you don't feel rushed and so that you can acclimate yourself to your environment. The State House can feel a little intense!
Duh -- you don't it to interrupt an important conversation! It can feel disrespectful to someone who is taking time out of their busy day to speak with you if you're distracted by your phone.
I noticed that the activity started tapering down by about 4:30PM. It seems like the best hours of activity are 10AM-4PM.
Ask for the Representative or Senator by name (also: obviously, you want to personally be clear on whose office you're in!).
The aide or assistant might ask what group you're here with. If you're here with an organization, say so. Or you can say that you're here in opposition to / support of a particular bill.
If you have an appointment, great! If not, you can probably still speak with someone.
If the legislator isn't available to meet with you, ask to speak with an aide. Speaking with an aide is quite helpful, as they help to inform legislators of what bills are circulating and public opinion. Aides might even know how the legislator is leaning or how they tend to vote!
It's common courtesy, right? But be extra courteous. Shake hands, introduce yourself, and thank the person for meeting with you.
If you're feeling very upset by the bill, take time to feel that out before your arrive at the State House.
While speaking with legislators and aides, you want to be very polite. You can certainly be passionate when speaking, but don't be rude. Legislators and their aides are here to serve the public. They hear from countless people every day, and I'm sure they get some unpleasant comments hurled at them. Be kind. Kindness doesn't mean you won't stand firm with what you believe in. It just means that you're not "shooting the messenger" or misdirecting your anger. Use your words wisely.
Hand the legislator or aide your 1-sheet summary. Tell them what bill you're speaking about. If they aren't familiar with the bill, hand them a copy.
Share some of your key points. Share a personal story and talk about how the bill would impact people. If you can draw on specific personal examples or statistics, that's helpful!
At the end, hand them your business card (or any piece of paper with your contact info). Invite them to contact you if they have any further questions.
You want to ask for their business card so that you can follow up with a friendly email.
You can find the contact info of your legislators online, so you don't need to ask them for their business card.
Especially take note of personal details in the conversation. What questions did they have? Did you meet in an unusual place that wasn't their office? For example, perhaps you were walking with them as they went into session. You'll want to remind them of that so that they can more easily recall the conversation.
Take note of what objections there were.
Take note of whether they're leaning in favor or opposition of the bill, if they tell you such information.
Also note what points you made that seemed to really resonate with them.
This is where business cards and notes come in handy! Send followup emails to any aids and legislators that you spoke with. Mention specific details of that conversation.
Also email any legislator that you weren't able to speak with directly. If you spoke with an aide of theirs, write that in the email.
Make posts before, during, and after. Tell people what you're doing and why you're doing it!
Having pictures of you can be especially helpful because it seems more personal that way.
Share clear information on what the bill is, how to get involved, and what you're learning.
Lobbying and advocacy are hard work. It can be especially exhausting when there is a piece of legislature that is threatening something that you hold near and dear.
Make sure you re-hydrate, eat good food, do some self-care activities, and rest!
If you have some emotions that are coming up, be sure to create space to honor them.
For most of my life, I didn't know that had the potential to be a medium.
In case you're unfamiliar with the term, "medium" means someone who can connect with and relay messages from passed loved ones -- usually a friend or family member.
This is slightly different from "channeling" -- which denotes a connection with and relay of messages from any spiritual being, including spirit guides, angels, ascended masters, etc.
So anyway, back to my story of self-discovery. I had recently been trained in Reiki, which really accelerated my spiritual awakening. I was finally understanding my various "sensitivities" that I had never known what to do with.
I essentially was Divinely guided to take an online mediumship workshop.
I had just arrived home. I hopped on to Facebook and saw a post from the mediumship teacher. She was hosting this class in a spiritual entrepreneurship group program that I was in. Her post said that class was about to start.
In my gut, I KNEW I had to take that class!
I hadn't been anticipating attending, but on that intuitive whim, I did! I ended up being the only student there, so it was essentially a private lesson!
I ended up doing pretty well. I received some evidence from my teacher's passed loved one that she could verify. I was so surprised at my talents!
Shortly after the class, my Nana visited me.
She had passed many years prior. I recognized her because of her perfume! Unmistakable grandma-scent!
I ended up writing out a conversation between me and her. I now realize I had been doing automatic writing (a form of channeling). I actually taught a whole workshop on this that you can take right now!
My Nana told me things that I could not possibly have known. I later asked my aunt about some of what my Nana told me and my aunt verified it was true!!
So suddenly, I knew I was a medium.
At the urgings of my Nana and the Divine, I took a mediumship course with Lindsay Marino. She is an incredible teacher!
I don't usually do mediumship-only readings. However, sometimes passed loved ones will show up during my client's appointments and I'll relay messages then! It's usually spontaneous, but helps my client with deep healing. It's such an honor to have this gift!
The truth is that we all have the capacity to be mediums and channels of the Divine!
That's right, YOU could be a medium or channel, too!
Want to learn how to connect with passed loved ones, spirit guides, or any other Divine being through your written word?? Take my Automatic Writing Workshop!
This workshop will teach you the basics of automatic writing! Check it out!
I came to actually KNOW who I am at the deepest level.
In case you couldn't tell, I am alllllll about Divine Love. It's actually the core of who I am as a soul!
And it's what I center my business (and life!) around.
I knew that in many different ways already, but having it confirmed was extraordinarily healing and soothing.
I learned that souls like me are natural healers. Even just our presence (whether in-person or virtual presence) is healing and soothing.
Souls like me (Divine Love) help people understand that they're really not broken. We help people come to see themselves as whole, as loved, as inherently worthy!
Souls like me are relationship-driven. The tricky part is that our default is to give, give, give. We can over-give in a way that isn't helpful for ourselves or the other person.
Divine Love folks must carefully tend to and enforce boundaries because of our tendency to over-give.
One of my biggest lessons these days is actually learning to RECEIVE! And to not feel guilty about receiving.
Divine Love is just one of the several different core essences of souls.
Each soul has a primary core essence that sets the tone for their life. Mine is Divine Love. Yours could be something different!
Confirming who you are at such a deep level is extraordinarily healing and soothing -- and we haven't even gotten into all of the blocks and restrictions that can be cleared from your Records!
BEFORE my Akashic Records reading, I felt like I was sprawling all over the place, trying to do and be so many things.
So today I felt kind of icky. I was feeling down, anxious, and a little negative. I've been traveling over the past month, so I haven't had much of a routine. I'm in the midst of reestablishing a routine and getting back into the swing of things since I arrived home Monday night.
I think the icky feelings were exacerbated by how I hadn't been in a stable routine. Plus, the fatigue of personal growth and travel.
Seriously, don't judge yourself, even when you feel anxious / unproductive / stuck / worried / etc.
One of my favorite things to say to myself is, "Even though I (feel icky / am worried / etc.) I love, honor, and accept myself deeply, fully, and completely."
Love yourself as you would love someone who is dear to you!!
And do whatever you can to nourish yourself.
Seriously, I cannot even tell you how many times my spirit guides have told me to just take a nap.
It really helps to halt feelings of worry and overwhelm.
A 20-30 minute nap is an incredible reset button!
I often wake from naps feeling like I've unconsciously received Divine guidance. I don't always know what it was, but it's not important for me to consciously know the guidance upon waking. I trust I've received and integrated all that I need.
Sending client emails, creating content, or going to client appointments really helps me get out of my head and into my flow of passion!
It transmutes the "blehhhhhh" into "woohoooo!!" when I get to serve the world!
Seriously, go drink some water and eat some nourishing food.
Most of us (myself included at times!) are not hydrating enough throughout the day!
I can't even tell you the number of times that a big glass of water and a nourishing meal have completely shifted my mood and outlook on life!
Stretch, dance, exercise, walk, massage yourself. Whatever feels good for you in that moment.
So often, we neglect our physical needs and don't move around as much as we need to.
A friend's passed loved one recently told me (during a mediumship reading) that he died because he couldn't accept the love that was all around him while he had been incarnated.
This passed loved one told me that while alive, he was extremely kind to others but quite critical of himself. And if someone were to be loving toward him, he would just reflect that love back out to the other person, rather than taking it in to his own heart.
He said that despite his wide social circle, he actually felt quite alone because he didn't really let people in.
I asked him to clarify for me what his physical symptoms were.
He gave me the sensations of a heart attack (tightness in the chest, shallow breathing, upper back / neck / arm pain) and said his heart simply stopped because there wasn't enough love in it.
Love is a powerful force that is not fully understood by science. I'm not just talking about romantic love. I mean that deep Love from the Universe.
I believe that we all come from Love. That at our core, we ARE Love. But sometimes fear gets in the way of that, so we forget.
Cultivating a deep and healthy sense of self-love and being able to ACCEPT the love that is inherently within and around you is one of the most healing things we can do. And this passed loved one literally told me he died from not letting the love in. That really struck a chord in me.
Beneath so many illnesses is a foundation of low self-worth, self-criticism, worry, fear, and feelings of inadequacy. Yes, there are often legitimate physical happenings (neurotransmitters are imbalanced, blood chemistry is off, inflammation is rampant) but what causes that to begin with? There are many possible answers.
Whatever the answer, adding in more Love can always help.
Anita Morjani wrote about this in her book "Dying to be Me," in which she describes her near-death experience that she had as a result of cancer. She was deemed terminal and essentially died -- only to come back to life and into spontaneous remission within weeks of her near-death experience.
Why is it that we forget the unconditional Love that we are made from?
At what age do we forget this Love?
And when will you choose to remember?
The Love is always there. We just have to let it in.
What they don't tell you is that healing is not linear. Because if you were to graph it out on a science-y line chart, you might think that it would go diagonally up and to the right, documenting your journey from "broken" to "healed" with clarity, ease, and order.
Animals and insects can be spiritual messengers that help us learn and grow. These spiritual messengers (in animal or insect form) typically bring encouragement and wise advice. So let's talk about turkeys as spiritual messengers.
Have you ever heard of Plant Medicine? No, it's not like the Western medicine. It's a Shamanic / spiritual / energetic style of wellness and healing. It invites a spiritual plant ally to help you spiritually, energetically, physically, emotionally, and mentally.I performed my first Cacao ceremony today. It was a powerful experience.
Have you ever mourned someone who was still alive? It's an odd predicament to be in. People usually talk about mourning someone who has already passed. But this person (a close family member of mine) is still fully alive and well. It's just that I can't seem to have a healthy relationship with him.
A lot of intuitive folks DO have trauma from other incarnations that makes it hard for us to talk about our intuition.
Ever heard of the Salem Witch Trials? Yeah, a lot of us were there. A lot of us were killed for our spiritual beliefs.
These three cards popped up! I've set the intention that you'll see this post/card spread whenever it's best meant to help you -- so it's still applicable to you even many days after I post this!
Intuitive foresight is a double-edged sword. Yes, it can be immensely helpful to see where you're going in life. But the thing is, we still need to experience the journey of life.
Until yesterday, I didn't feel much of a connection with the Reiki precepts.
That's kind of a big deal because I'm a Reiki practitioner!! And I love Reiki!!
A lot of Reiki teachers and practitioners emphasize the importance of verbally affirming the Reiki precepts daily (in English or in Japanese), and I often felt like an odd duck for not having a deep connection with the precepts. 😬 🦆 I just felt a much stronger connection with actually working with Reiki energy.
Here's one common way of phrasing the precepts in English: "Just for today: do not get angry, do not worry, be grateful, work hard, be kind to others."
While I appreciated the general ideas presented by the precepts, some of the phrasing felt limiting to me. For example: Shouldn't I acknowledge anger as it arises, rather than not feeling it? What if anger acts as an indicator that I must be an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT in the world? (I'm not saying that a person should necessarily have angry actions, but that anger can be an indicator of a deep drive to help the world become a better place.) And besides, shouldn't I be affirmed what I want to work toward, rather than saying, "Don't do this"?
After hearing Frans Stiene from International House of Reiki speak at the 5th annual Celebration of Reiki Conference yesterday, I have much greater appreciation for, connection with, and understanding of the Reiki precepts.
I now truly and deeply feel that the Reiki precepts encourage self-awareness, compassion, and staying in the present moment.
I now see the Reiki precepts as encouraging and empowering. They provide a basis from which a person can make healthy and informed decisions in life. They are loving and ask you to be your best self.
🦉 💚 Bonus: Frans suggested chanting the precepts in Japanese, rather than just saying the words. Wow, it makes a difference to chant them in Japanese!
Had you ever heard of the Reiki precepts? If you're a Reiki practitioner, did you always feel connected with the precepts?
If you are not a Reiki practitioner, what is your initial impression of the precepts?
Understanding that everything is made of energy is one of the basic tenets of energywork and energy healing.
"But Marley," you say, with hesitation, "How could that be? I don't understand."
Not to worry, my friend! I used to not understand it. I thought it was some weird "hippie" belief that didn't have much merit. My goodness, I was wrong about that!
"Western" medicine and a lot of science don't acknowledge energy and energetic fields (esp the human energetic field), which is such a shame, for many reasons. Energy work functions on the premise that everything is made of energy (more on this below).
Despite the lack of training in energetic healing, "Western" institutionalized medicine is coming to embrace Reiki (and other complementary modalities) as a way to help patients heal.
Dr. Oz, a famous medical doctor, professor, and TV personality believes that "the next wave of medical advances will be when we come to recognize the body as an energetic system."
If you've taken a basic physics class, you already know that everything has kinetic and potential energy within it. Some of that energy is in use (kinetic), and some is being "stored" for later use (potential). So already, you see that classical physics fully acknowledges that everything is made up of energy.
If you think about how everything is made of molecules and those molecules vibrate at certain frequencies. The frequency of vibration dictates which state (solid, liquid, gas, plasma) something is in. You may recall that molecules in a solid state vibrate more slowly than molecules in a gaseous state. Vibration is kinetic energy. Since every molecule vibrates, it is emitting energy.
Molecules are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Even smaller particles such as leptons and quarks make up electrons, neutrons, and protons -- and these are all vibrating at particular frequencies. Again, vibration is movement, which is kinetic energy that's being expended.
Everything has kinetic and potential energy (yay, physics!).
Everything is made up of molecules (and even smaller particles) that vibrate (kinetic energy) at various frequencies.
Reiki helps to alleviate all of these issues (and more!) by ushering in healing universal energy to aid in rebalancing the energy of your being. Reiki addresses the root cause of an issue, rather than just trying to manage symptoms (one of my main critiques of "Western" medicine).
More and more hospitals are implementing Reiki programs because they recognize how Reiki helps their patients recover their health more quickly!
I would love to chat with you about how Reiki can help YOU! Feel free to ask me any questions that you have.


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The rent at 36 Zane St ranges from $1,875 for a four bedroom to a $2,500 four bedroom. Apartments in this building are about 7% less expensive than the Glassboro average.
This apartment is in Glassboro. Nearby parks include University Green and Robert Renlund Park.
36 Zane St has a Walk Score of 56 out of 100. This location is Somewhat Walkable so some errands can be accomplished on foot.
4 Bedroom,1 bath, sleeps 5, central air, lawn care and snow removal included. This house is also a duplex with 36 Zane 4 bedroom 2 baths sleeps 6. Both houses can be rented together for a discount. Great for sports teams and large groups. Big back and side yard, PLENTY OF PARKING!!!! Big student rental block!
Looking for a home for sale in Glassboro?
Explore how far you can travel by car, bus, bike and foot from 36 Zane St.
36 Zane St is in the city of Glassboro, NJ. Glassboro has an average Walk Score of 39 and has 18,579 residents.


For that one, we kids could stay in the room. Here's another one that I'm sure Aunt Emily would have loved telling. This one surely would have sent us far from earshot.
A man and a woman are in adjacent seats on an airplane. The woman sneezes, then shudders violently. The woman sneezes and shudders violently again. The woman sneezes yet again and shudders violently.
Do you have an older relative that loves to tell jokes (bawdy or not)? If so, please share it in the comments.


Brittany McDaniel is a Basic Communications and Acting teacher in 2101 at North Platte High School. She loves teaching this content because no one ever gets worse at public speaking, you can only get better. It is also incredibly exciting to watch students learn and discover new things, even when they think they are making mistakes.
Her husband, Sam, works for Region II Mental Health and they have two small children. They also have a super big cat, Sushi. One of Brittany's favorite things is having people stare at them when out in public because she is a redhead, married to a redhead, with two redheaded children.
Brittany is currently pursuing her Masters of Theatre degree from Regent University and will present her thesis performance in the summer of 2017. When not busy with school work, she enjoys sewing, painting, and general crafting, and when her kids get a bit older, she would like to get back into training for marathons and triathlons. Brittany and her husband Sam are also the youth leaders at First Baptist Church and huddle leaders with the high school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes group.


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2018 has started on a positive note for Hercules Hydraulics as AMCA, the leading European manufacturer of hydraulic proportional control valves, has appointed them as their sole UK distributor.
The two companies started their relationship in 2015 when Hercules Hydraulics became the AMCA Build Partner for England and Wales. They quickly established themselves as one of the largest AMCA Build Partners worldwide, which paved the way for the new UK distributor appointment.
Under the new arrangement, parts will be shipped from Holland direct to Hercules Hydraulics who will continue to build, test and deliver AMCA Valves to customers in England and Wales plus they will also supply components to ITC, the established Scottish AMCA Build Partner.
Each AMCA valve is built, set up and tested to specific customer requirements, with bespoke valve configurations being available from stock. Valve can be specified for flow rates of up to 660lpm, rated to 420bar with electrical, manual or hydraulic pilot control and can usually be built, tested and delivered in 48 hours.
One of the main driving factors behind AMCA's decision to appoint Hercules Hydraulics was the expertise the Company has in the marine hydraulics sector particularly in the offshore workboat market, a sector where AMCA excels in other parts of the world.
AMCA valves however also strengthen Hercules Hydraulics offering in other market sectors such as industry, agriculture, construction and mobile plant, all significant users of hydraulic equipment and a wide range of hydraulic valves.


Not everyone out there has had the chance of partaking in a brewery tour or even familiarize themselves with a brewery tour entails. If you are among them, you might be wondering what exactly a brewery tour is.
While each brewery tour differs slightly, they all share something in common — they allow people like you to see the behind-the-scenes of a brewery where beer is made. In the case of the Minhas Craft Brewery brewery tour, it gives people the opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes of a brewery where craft beer is made.
If you've never tasted craft beer, then now might be the time to change this!
Until then you might want to take a look at the different products available on our website. We have a little something for everyone.


Skull Tower, partisan narrative fantasy, and why journalism destroyed itself.
Ćele kula, or Skull Tower in Niš, Serbia, is something I would make every person who ever wants to resurrect journalism have to visit and stay in as the reality of its wisdom seeps into their own thick skulls.
I would also make every person who fancies themselves as an "activist" go and live inside there for a year.
Those are real skulls of Serbs in there, and ask any Serb, and they can tell you its history.
But the long and the short of it that tower represents a Serbian defeat. The Serbs fought for their independence, and they lost.
Their oppressors of the Ottoman Empire did that. They built that tower as an example of what happens when you try to break from the rigs that keep you back.
Serbs did liberate themselves, and they go there as a pilgrimage.
They honour those who failed. They honour them for trying with every grain of their being. They do not see the tower as a symbol of failure, but as a symbol that they kept trying until they succeeded.
It became their symbol of independence.
After all, it is a tower made from Serbs. That's our DNA in those bricks. No one else's.
We did not tear down that tower. We could have torn it down, and hide from that reality.
I know many people in the West do not understand Serbian logic. There was one very ignorant American professor who wrote a book whining that Serbs celebrate defeats.
No, we face our defeats. We do not deny at certain points in history, we lost and failed.
But those events compelled us to try again and again and again.
We deal with failure and memorialize them.
We don't spin it to make it look like a victory. Only cowards do that.
We honour people who gave their lives and didn't reach their goals.
Some were taken down by Nazis, like Stjepan Filipović.
Person #9 of people everyone should know.
And even with his last breath, that 26 year-old was not afraid.
Life isn't easy. It isn't fair. It is rarely ever kind.
But it is a challenge, a blessing, and a triumph.
Journalism's problems began when they were too afraid of their own darkness and failings. They began to deny they were wrong, always spinning some obnoxious partisan narrative fantasy why they were always great and glorious and Defenders of Mankind.
As my first name literally means "defender of mankind," I take exception to their self-styled and lofty ideas of what they are and have become.
They glorify Watergate, but do not deal with their industry's failures. When you try to whitewash your past and rewrite it as you take offence to being forced to face your group's failures, you no longer have a means to assess yourself.
You forget that bad things can happen and that your own ignorance made you vulnerable. You forget that no one owes you anything.
You don't wallow in failures. You don't make excuses for them, and you certainly do not try to spin them as victories.
No, you fell flat on your face.
Your opponent was bigger, stronger, smarter, and more able than you were. The End.
The curtain fell and that was the hand you were dealt.
But when a curtain falls, it means it will rise again.
So what are you going to do the next time? Pretend you didn't lose?
Will you pretend that you were perfect and the victors were without a redeeming quality?
Only if you want to keep on failing.
Because you will think the same, act the same, and if you didn't make mistakes, you will do the same thing, and your opponents will catch on, and thump you again.
Sooner or later, you ditch the script with the lousy partisan narrative fantasy that you keep stupidly falling for like a moron.
And you examine those mistakes, learn from them, as well as learning from your opponents because they (a) know what to do in order to win, you know, the same thing you want to do, and (b) their winning system isn't perfect, and you can find what you need to do to get back up and move forwards and upwards out of that tower.
Serbs have that tower as a reminder that there are people who will kill them and build towers with their skulls if they have a chance to get away with it.
But just because you were defeated, it doesn't mean you don't do something else to liberate yourself from the shackles of failure.
Like move and create a new path.
You may be down, but not out.
You know, for a very long time, despite everything, I thought people in journalism had some desire to succeed and resurrect the profession.
But it has gone on for so long that they like having an excuse to be failures. You can whine, blame others, and do nothing as you wear that halo, pretending how important you are.
There may be a handful who are still fighting and trying, but people like me who do keep going realize that the profession is dead, and it is dead because of a toxic mindset.
When you start thinking you are blameless and everyone owes you something, you are hiding from the truth that you need to change and that you cannot expect anyone else to save you.
When Serbs hit upon that solution, their fortunes began to change.


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Q: Mysql 'where clause' with long tables? I have designed a website like bit.ly, but a bit different. Written in php with mysql. When I was running it at localhost, everything seemed to work fine, pages loaded in 4.5 milliseconds, and I was as happy as a clam.
I uploaded it to the server, and users started surfing the website, and using it. Everything seemed to work fine untill the main table started reaching millions of rows.
The table is one million of rows length right now (it has to be that way), and growing. The pages that needs that table take 500ms to load... The mysql query is the next:
select link
from table
where kind = $kind and kind_idd = $kind_idd and live = 1;

It can return more than 1 link, in fact, it usually returns between 10-50 links.
The problem is that where clause. I am sure that mysql should have something to make it faster. I have been asking google and I found indexes, keys, and so on. But I couldn't find a website that explained it for dummies.. If someone could give me an example to make this thing go fast, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you!

A: Try using the mysql explain plan
so that you can see what is happening.
You probably need to ensure that you have indexes on kind, kind_idd and live see http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/create-index.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Lithuanian Democratic Party (, LDP) was a political party in Lithuania The original party was established in 1902. It published newspapers Lietuvos ūkininkas (1905–1918) and Lietuvos žinios (1909–1915). During World War I, the party split into several other parties and was disbanded in 1920. A new party under the same name was established in 1989.

History

Original party
The party was established on 17 October 1902 at count Zubov manor in Dabikinė near Akmenė by activists publishing Varpas. In 1906, it adopted a political program prepared by Kazys Grinius, Jonas Vileišis, Povilas Višinskis, Juozas Bortkevičius and Jurgis Šaulys. The goals of the party were to seek autonomy status for ethnic Lithuania within the Russian Empire. The local governance would be delegated to parochial committees, which could collect taxes. The program supported education and cooperation, promoted participation in public life, and advocated national unity. The party supported wealthier farmers, therefore during the Great Seimas of Vilnius of 1905 it opposed land reform that would have confiscated land from large landlords and distributed it to small peasants. After the Seimas,  LDP sponsored the formation of the Peasant Union, which initially was a branch of LDP. Some member of LDP founded the Lithuanian National Democratic Party (Lithuanian: Tautiškoji lietuvių demokratų partija), headed by Jonas Basanavičius.

A new program by Albinas Rimka was adopted in 1914 and the party was renamed into the Democratic Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos demokratų partija). Some members, including Petras Leonas and Andrius Bulota, of the party were elected into the State Duma of the Russian Empire.

During World War I, many activists evacuated into Russia. In 1917, the right wing faction formed the Lithuanian Socialist Popular Democratic Party (Lithuanian: Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų demokratų partija); another fraction formed the Lithuanian Socialist Popular Party (Lithuanian: Lietuvos socialistų liaudininkų partija). The LDP, which remained in Lithuania, was in essence inactive but still officially in existence. Two of its members, Jurgis Šaulys and Petras Vileišis, were elected to the Council of Lithuania, which adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania in February 1918. The council ceased to exist in May 1920 when it was replaced by the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania. The LDP was formally dissolved on 15 May 1920.

New party
A new Lithuanian Democratic Party was established on 4 February 1989, chaired by Saulius Pečeliūnas. The party won three seats in the 1990 Supreme Soviet elections. It formed an alliance with the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party and the Lithuanian Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees to contest the 1992 elections, with the alliance winning a total of 18 seats.

The LDP contested the 1996 elections in an alliance with the Lithuanian Nationalist Union. The alliance won a total of six seats, with the LDP taking two. The 2000 elections saw the LDP run as part of the Union of "Young Lithuania", New Nationalists and Political Prisoners. However, it failed to win a seat.

References

Political parties of the Russian Revolution
Political parties established in 1902
Defunct political parties in Lithuania
Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia
Political parties disestablished in 1920
Political parties established in 1989
1902 establishments in Lithuania
1902 establishments in the Russian Empire
1920 disestablishments in Lithuania
1989 establishments in Lithuania

pl:Litewska Partia Demokratyczna

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) is coordinating the development of a network of high-quality cycling routes that connect the whole continent. The routes can be used by long-distance cycle tourists, as well as by local people making daily journeys. EuroVelo currently comprises of 14 routes and it is envisaged that the network will be substantially complete by 2020.
EuroVelo implementation and quality assurance is coordinated by the ECF in collaboration with National EuroVelo Coordination Centres and Coordinators. The network can be supplemented by the addition of new routes, provided these fulfill EuroVelo criteria, ( Criteria ) meet EuroVelo quality standards, complement the existing EuroVelo routes in spatial terms and increase the implemented percentage of the current network.
EuroVelo, the European cycle route network, is a project managed by the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) in cooperation with national and regional partners. EuroVelo incorporates existing and planned national and regional cycle routes into a single European network. It currently consists of well over 45,000 km of bike paths and thousands of kilometers more are planned – when completed it will total over 70,000 km.
There have been a number of route development projects in recent years. Each one has slightly different aims and objectives but they typically involve developing action plans, joint marketing and publicity strategies, sharing best practices and even improvements to physical infrastructure. In most cases the ECF is one partner in a multinational team.
The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright, or safety bicycle, has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. But many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for many types of cycling. Bicycles can be categorized in different ways: such as by function, by number of riders, by general construction, by gearing or by means of propulsion.


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Health Chronicle has sole discretion for determining the types of Advertising that will be accepted and displayed on the Health Chronicle Network, and under no circumstances will Health Chronicle's acceptance of any Advertisement be considered an endorsement of the product(s) and/or service(s) advertised or for the company that advertises, manufactures, distributes, or promotes the products or services.
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text:
Slutak to UW as director of football operations
What's been rumored for a while has become official today as Dennis Slutak has accepted a job as UW's new Director of Football Operations.
Here's more info from WeAreSC.com.
Slutak has held a similar position at USC the last four years after working previously as an assistant coach at several schools. Here's his bio.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Rapid advancements in information communications technologies (ICT) over the past 20 years has substantially altered the ways in which people live, work, play and interact with one another. The World Bank's World Development Report shows that ICT has a positive effect on a country's economy, with a 10% increase in broadband penetration being associated with a 1.4% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in emerging markets. Digitisation also has the greatest employment effect. According to the World Bank statistics, every 10% increase in broadband penetration will lead to 2% to 3% increase of employment rate. In 2016, China's digital economy created 2.8 million jobs, accounting for 21% of the total new jobs; Japanese government's 2015 White Paper on Information and Communications indicates, if small businesses can fully adopt ICT technologies such as cloud services, they will be able to create about 200,000 jobs. Similarly, research shows a 90% correlation can be seen between investments in ICT and a country's' success in meeting several key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The African Union Agenda 2063 has acknowledged the importance of Digital Inclusivity for African countries to bring the continent on par with the rest of the world as an information society. However, there are still some challenges in availability, accessibility and affordability including geographic challenges of reaching small, remote communities, poverty and lack of basic knowledge and skills. Statistics from GSMA shows that, approximately 53 percent of the world's population is still unconnected, and 80 percent of the unconnected population is located in Asia-Pacific and in Africa. On average, 69 percent of the African population do not have access to internet, with many of those unconnected living in rural areas. Challenges always come with opportunities. To solve these challenges, we need to take a cross-sector approach and we need to think differently about how to address the business model challenge. To tackle this issue, some of the solutions available include: First of all, it is important to have a master plan to direct investment and attract the best talent. For instance, Germany's Industry 4.0 and the Made in China 2025 initiatives have been designed to make the manufacturing industries in these countries intelligent by using ICT. Under the Smart Community strategy of the Malaysian government, the digital economy has grown to make up 17% of total GDP within just 3 years, which makes it one of the world's highest ranking countries in this regard. In this information age, development of ICT should be prioritized on a par with other forms of infrastructure and basic services crucial to society such as electricity, water, roads and bridges. Second, we need new innovations that enable lower cost but similar performance solutions that can shorten the time needed to recover investment costs and hence provide the private sector with an incentive to invest. For example, given the significant investment costs and inability of the revenues to cover both the set-up and operation costs, telecom operators do not have an incentive to invest in building rural networks. Innovative technologies can help make it viable for operators to invest in rural areas. Third, it is necessary to provide policies that can lower the barriers of digital transformation. For example, Thailand provides subsidies to encourage ICT infrastructure construction in rural areas; Italy encourages carriers and electric companies to work together in laying out optical fiber; Saudi Arabia allows carriers to mount sites on streetlamps and regulations in Germany requiring the installation of fiber-optic cables in all new houses and roads. Allocating more resources and providing supportive policies including streamlining approvals, usage of Universal Service Funds, reducing taxation, and using ICT to deliver public services more efficiently, effectively and equitably will allow for more sustainable and inclusive development. Fourth, we need innovative business models that can generate more benefits for users and to provide users with the skills to use and benefit from smartphones. This will enable telecom operators to generate more revenue. Mobile money is one of the best examples. With the right skills and content, users can also access educational content, learn how to improve yields on their farms, and get better prices for their cattle or crops. This will directly enable them to increase their incomes and both drive and enable greater spend on communications, hence improve the investment rationale. Embracing these solutions requires cross-sector partnerships and new thinking. These can directly translate into higher availability, accessibility and affordability of ICT services. This will lead to a future where everyone is able to access the Internet to unleash their own potential to create value and create economic and social gains for themselves and to exercise and enjoy their rights to a better quality of life, dignity and equality.


Sign in to bookmark movies for future watching.
Screenah is a site for movie lovers who want to track and discover movies based on the movie trailers they watch. Often we end up watching a cool trailer only to forget about the movie later. Never again!
Sign in with your Facebook account and start tracking movies immediately.
When you've watched a trailer and decided you want to watch this movie, click the Yes button and the movie will transfered to your watchlist. If you didn't like the trailer click No.
As time goes on, come back and watch new trailers, bookmark movies you want to watch and revisit your watchlist for movie inspiration.
He counseled presidents and popes, served on corporate boards and infuriated Richard Nixon. He was one of the only friends to whom Ann Landers turned for advice. During his 35 years as president of the University of Notre Dame, Theodore Hesburgh became one of the most influential and inspiring people of the 20th century.


KGTV chose Andrew Moore, formerly of KERO Bakersfield to fill the staff engineer spot vacated when Frank Cruz recently retired. Andrew says, "I began in 2004 as a video editor for news while going to school. I attended CSU Bakersfield and received a BA in computer science with a minor in art. In 2007, I started apprenticing in the engineering department and was hired in 2008 as an IT/Maintenance engineer. I started here [at KGTV] on April 5th and I'm enjoying San Diego very much."


On this page you will find text links and icons of this project. If you find the web pages of this project useful and interesting, you can support us. If you have your own web page, you can support this project by placing a link to our site to any place on your website. All you need to do is choose one of our links below, and copy and paste the HTML code of the link directly to your web page. Or, if you are interested in this project, you can recommend it to your friends and acquaintances. Thank you.


If you want to send customers an offer via SMS you have a couple of options.
Create an offer and share it via SMS immediately.
Click 'Save' and the options to share via 'SMS' or 'Email' will appear. Select SMS and you will be taken to the 'New SMS' page.
You have already created an offer and you decide to share it later.
Head to the 'Communications' tab on the left, hit '+ New' at the top and select 'New SMS'. It will take you to the 'New SMS' page.
1) Select the offer and the tags to send to.
2) Choose a 'Subject' (this time it is just for internal reference and recipients will not see it), then fill in the 'From' field. Take your time because the 'From' field will be visible to recipients.
You are not able to save the SMS for later but you can send yourself a test SMS by clicking the 'Send Test SMS' button in the top right corner.


text:
Tanzania Management and Administrative Support Services Phase I & II
Seamless support to ensure smooth mission operations through rapid growth.
Client: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Duration: 2014 – 2019
Sectors: Cross-cutting
Services: Professional Services
Regions: Africa
The Tanzania Mission is one of USAID's fastest-growing missions with one of the most complex and diverse program assistance portfolios, including health, governance, education, economic growth, and technology and innovation programs. In 2013, a mission management assessment produced recommendations related to standardizing and streamlining processes, using technology to increase productivity, building staff capacity, and improving communication and collaboration.
To support these efforts, USAID/Tanzania engaged Dexis to provide long- and short-term support within its Executive Office (EXO) in procurement, travel, information technology, innovation, facilities management, logistics, training, and other essential services. This accelerated the EXO's ability to meet the Mission's technical and management needs. During Phase II of the program, Dexis' support has focused more on capacity-building activities including on-the-job mentoring and mission-wide training to help further institutionalize and strengthen mission operating procedures and to transfer responsibilities to the national staff at the end of the contract.
Dexis has improved intranet guidance, streamlined processes, and procedures, and allowed Mission customers to more easily access resources for more efficient workflows. Dexis has coordinated and led multiple all-hands staff meetings and Mission-wide training, including multiple iterations of the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People training; the international Tumaini Gender Training; and training on procurement requests, Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS), and English language. Dexis also has improved file management processes, including archiving more than 129 cubic feet of paper files. Dexis implemented a Wi-Fi access request tracking and control application, generating interest from the USAID Chief Information Officer to replicate the USAID/Tanzania application in other USAID missions and offices.
Nicaragua Capacity Building for Civil Society Advocacy (CBCSA)
Learning and Knowledge Management (LEARN)
Global Health Program Cycle Improvement Project (GH Pro)
Asia and Legislative and Public Affairs Workforce Surge Capacity Support


NOT AVAILABLE NOW! **Overclockable, & VERY Upgradeable** A MINT/Powerful i5 Desktop Computer, Powered by an Intel i5-2500K (Overclockable) Quad Core 3.30 Ghz CPU, With 6.0 mb Smart Cache, & a High Benchmark of 6477! The Motherboard, is an Asus, With Onboard HDMI, DVI, VGA, And a LIKE NEW/Hardly Used Zotaz GTX 560 Ti 1.0 GB Video Card, With HDMI, 2-DVI, & Display Port Outputs! It's Got USB 2.0, And 3.0, as Well as Realtek 8-Channel Audio, And Digital Optical Audio Output, eSata Ports, 2-PCI, & 2-PCIE Slots, 4-DDR3 Ram Slots, 6-SATA Ports, 8-Pin CPU Power Connector. Built With 8.0 GB of DDR3 Ram, a 3.5" 320 GB SATA Hard Drive, With a Fresh Install of Windows 7, AND FREE Office 2016!All in a MINT Enermax ATX Case, With A Cool Blue LED Front Cooling Fan! There's Room For TWO! Powered by a Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus-600 Watt Power Supply, With Lots of Power Connectors, For Any Upgrades, Later on! Upgrade The Video Card, &, You Got a SOLID Gamer, OR Editing Desktop Computer! Located in Torbay.
**MINT LG 27" HD LED Computer Monitor INCLUDED** **NICE/LOUD Amplified Speakers Available Also** **NICE/LOUD Amplified Speakers Available Also**A POWERFUL/MINT Acer VM6630G Desktop Computer, With POWERFUL/Upgradeable i5-4570 3.20 Ghz Intel CPU, With FOUR Cores/FOUR Threads, 6.0 mb Cache, & a High Score of 7136! With 320 GB Hard Drive, DVD Burner, a Fresh Install of Windows 7, AND FREE Office 2016! 8.0 GB of DDR3 Ram, Onboard Video, With 2-Display Ports, & DVI Outputs. A PCIE Video Card, With DVI, & Display Port Outputs! 2-Front & 4-Rear USB 2.0, 2-Front & 2-Rear USB 3.0 Ports, Front, & Rear Audio Ports. 2-PCIE X 16, 1-PCIE X 1, & 1-PCI Slots, 5-SATA Ports, & 4-DDR3 Ram Slots! LOOKS, & RUNS GREAT! A POWERFUL Desktop Computer, Ready to Rock! In Torbay.
Wifi Cards For Desktop Computer, or Laptop.
I Have a Few Wifi Cards, For Desktop Computer, or Laptop. E-Mail For Price, & Info. In Torbay.
2-Basic ATX Cases, a "Cube Style Case".
Up for sale, TWO Basic ATX Cases, a "Cube Style Case". In Torbay.
Basic PCIE Video Cards, 256 mb to 1.0 gb. NOTHING HIGH End!
For sale, a Few Basic PCIE Video Cards, 256 mb to 1.0 gb. NOTHING HIGH End! In Torbay.
Looking For an Apple Tablet. Must be Working good, & NOT Damaged. Will Pickup.


Live concert photos of legendary heavy metal band Slayer.
All images (C) Chad Lee Photography – contact me directly for licensing and media use or to inquire about ordering custom prints.
7-7, 2012 Albuquerque New Mexico. Hard Rock Pavillion.
7-28, 2012 Pittsburgh , Pa. First Niagra Pavillion.
7-29, 2012 Bristow Virginia. jiffy Lube Live.
8-1, 2012 Darien Lake, Ny.


Keep buildings clean and orderly. Perform heavy cleaning tasks; such as strip and wax, floors, buffing floors, shampooing carpets and rugs, cleaning vents, baseboards, washing walls and windows. Duties may include moving furniture, performing routine maintenance activities, notifying management of need for repairs, and cleaning snow or debris from sidewalk.
Lift, push and pull required load (usually about 75lbs +).
Mix water and detergents or acids in containers to prepare cleaning solutions, according to guidance instructions.


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Home » Context of 'February 1996-May 1998: CIA's Bin Laden Unit Asks NSA for Full Transcripts of Al-Qaeda Communications, NSA Refuses'
Context of 'February 1996-May 1998: CIA's Bin Laden Unit Asks NSA for Full Transcripts of Al-Qaeda Communications, NSA Refuses'
This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event February 1996-May 1998: CIA's Bin Laden Unit Asks NSA for Full Transcripts of Al-Qaeda Communications, NSA Refuses. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
(October 1993-November 2001): Florida Cell Supports Global Jihad, Is Monitored by FBI
Kifah Wael Jayyousi. [Source: Robert A. Reeder]A Florida cell of Islamic radicals carries out fundraising, training, and recruitment to support the global jihad movement. The group is monitored by the FBI from the early 1990s, but no action is taken against it until after 9/11. The cell's most prominent members are Adham Amin Hassoun, Mohammed Hesham Youssef, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, Kassem Daher, and Jose Padilla. Adnan Shukrijumah may also be involved (see (Spring 2001)).
Both Hassoun and Jayyousi are associates of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdul-Rahman and the FBI monitors telephone conversations between them and Abdul-Rahman from January 1993 to 1995, at least. After Abdul-Rahman is taken into police custody in July 1993, according to an FBI agent, Jayyousi calls Abdul-Rahman in jail to "update the sheikh with jihad news, many times reading accounts and statements issued directly by terrorist organizations." [St. Petersburg Times, 11/23/2003; Lance, 2006, pp. 126-8; Associated Press, 4/8/2006; International Herald Tribune, 1/4/2007]
Funds are provided through bank accounts of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), the Canadian Islamic Association, and Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), for which Hassoun files incorporation papers in Florida. The cell pays out thousands of dollars in checks, some of which are marked "Chechnya", "Kosovo," or "for tourism".
They try to talk in code, but the code is unsophisticated; for example "tourism" apparently means "terrorism". In addition, they are not very careful and in one conversation overheard by the FBI, which records tens of thousands of their conversations from the early 1990s, one plotter asks another if he has enough "soccer equipment" to "launch an attack on the enemy." In another, the conspirators discuss a $3,500 purchase of "zucchini" in Lebanon.
Cell members are involved in jihad, through funding or direct participation, in Egypt, Somalia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Kosovo, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
They are involved with both bin Laden and Chechen leader Ibn Khattab; for example, in one conversation Youssef tells Hassoun that he would be traveling "there at Osama's and… Khattab's company." [Indictment. United States v. Jose Padilla, 11/17/2005 ]
They publish the Islam Report, a radical magazine about jihad. [Associated Press, 4/8/2006]
It is unclear why the FBI monitors the cell for almost a decade before doing anything. However, some of their activities are focused on Bosnia, where the US is turning a blind eye, or even actively assisting Islamic militants fighting on the Bosnian side (see 1992-1995 and April 27, 1994). The cell is broken up in the months after 9/11, and Hassoun, Jayyousi, and Padilla are sent for trial, which begins in 2007. [International Herald Tribune, 1/4/2007]
Entity Tags: Mohamed Hesham Youssef, Adnan Shukrijumah, Adham Amin Hassoun, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Kassem Daher, Jose Padilla, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Canadian Islamic Association, Benevolence International Foundation
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
February 1996-May 1998: CIA's Bin Laden Unit Asks NSA for Full Transcripts of Al-Qaeda Communications, NSA Refuses
Barbara McNamara. [Source: National Security Agency]Alec Station, the CIA's bin Laden unit, and other senior agency officers repeatedly ask the NSA to provide verbatim transcripts of intercepted calls between al-Qaeda members. Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer will explain, "[V]erbatim transcripts are operationally useful, summaries are much less so." [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004] According to PBS, Alec Station believes that "only by carefully studying each word will it be possible to understand [Osama] bin Laden's intentions." This is because al-Qaeda operatives sometimes talk in a simplistic code (see (October 1993-November 2001)). Scheuer will say: "Over time, if you read enough of these conversations, you first get clued in to the fact that maybe 'bottle of milk' doesn't mean 'bottle of milk.' And if you follow it long enough, you develop a sense of what they're really talking about. But it's not possible to do unless you have the verbatim transcript." [PBS, 2/3/2009] Scheuer will also complain that the summaries "are usually not timely." [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004] Author James Bamford will say that the summaries are "brief" and come "once a week or something like that." [Antiwar, 10/22/2008] Alec Station's desire for verbatim transcripts will intensify when it discovers the NSA is intercepting calls between bin Laden and his operations center in Yemen (see December 1996). However, the NSA constantly rejects its requests. Scheuer will later say: "We went to Fort Meade to ask then the NSA's deputy director for operations [Barbara McNamara] for the transcripts, and she said, 'We are not going to share that with you.' And that was the end." He will add that McNamara "said that the National Security Act of 1947 gave her agency control of 'raw' signals intelligence, and that she would not pass such material to CIA." [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004; Antiwar, 10/22/2008; PBS, 2/3/2009] McNamara will tell the 9/11 Commission that "She does not recall being personally [asked] to provide… transcripts or raw data" for counterterrorism, but if people wanted raw data, "then NSA would have provided it." [9/11 Commission, 12/15/2003, pp. 5]
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, Michael Scheuer, Central Intelligence Agency, Alec Station, Barbara McNamara
December 1996: CIA Discovers Al-Qaeda Communications Hub, NSA Fights to Cut off Its Access
Alec Station, the CIA's bin Laden unit, discovers that al-Qaeda has established a communications hub and operations center in Sana'a, Yemen, and that there are frequent calls between it and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan (see May 1996 and November 1996-Late August 1998). [Antiwar, 10/22/2008; PBS, 2/3/2009] According to Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer, the CIA learns of this "communications conduit" through a CIA officer detailed to the NSA and stationed overseas. According to Scheuer, the NSA "refuse[s] to exploit the conduit and threaten[s] legal action against the agency officer who advised of its existence." Despite the threat, the officer continues to supply the information. Scheuer asks senior CIA officials to intervene with the NSA, but this only leads to "a desultory interagency discussion without resolution." [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004] Author James Bamford will say: "Scheuer knew how important the house [the operations center in Yemen] was, he knew NSA was eavesdropping on the house. He went to NSA, went to the head of operations for NSA,… Barbara McNamara, and asked for transcripts of the conversations coming into and going out of the house. And the best the NSA would do would be to give them brief summaries every… once a week or something like that, you know, just a report, not the actual transcripts or anything. And so he got very frustrated, he went back there and they still refused." [Antiwar, 10/22/2008] Because of the lack of information, the CIA will actually build its own listening post to get some of the information the NSA is concealing from it (see After December 1996).
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, Alec Station, Osama bin Laden, Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Scheuer
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
After December 1996: CIA Builds Own Listening Post to Obtain Half of Intelligence NSA Already Has, but Refuses to Share
The CIA builds a ground station to intercept calls between Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda's operations centre in Yemen. [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004; Antiwar, 10/22/2008; PBS, 2/3/2009] According to author James Bamford, the station is "in the Indian Ocean area, I think it was on Madagascar." [Antiwar, 10/22/2008] The NSA is already intercepting the calls, but refuses to share the raw intelligence with the CIA (see February 1996-May 1998 and December 1996), which is why the agency has to build the station. However, the CIA is only able to get half the conversations, because its technology is not as good as the NSA's. [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004; Antiwar, 10/22/2008; PBS, 2/3/2009] Bamford will add, "they were only picking up half of the conversations, apparently it was downlink, they weren't able to get the uplink, you need a satellite." [Antiwar, 10/22/2008] Presumably, Bamford means the CIA is getting the half of the calls featuring the person talking to bin Laden, but cannot hear the Afghan end of the conversation. To get the other half of the Afghanistan-Yemen calls the CIA would need a satellite. [PBS, 2/3/2009]
Entity Tags: James Bamford, Michael Scheuer, National Security Agency, Alec Station, Central Intelligence Agency
After December 1996: After CIA Obtains Half of Bin Laden's Calls Itself, NSA Still Refuses to Provide Other Half
The CIA again asks the NSA for part of the transcripts of calls between Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda's operations center in Yemen. The NSA has been intercepting the calls for some time (see Between May and December 1996), but refuses to share the intelligence with Alec Station, the CIA's bin Laden unit, in usable form (see December 1996). During the calls, the al-Qaeda operatives talk in a simplistic code, but the NSA apparently does not decrypt the conversations, and only gives Alec Station meaningless summaries of the calls (see February 1996-May 1998). Without the transcripts, Alec Station cannot crack the code and figure out what the operatives are really talking about. As a result, the CIA built a duplicate ground station in the Indian Ocean, and is replicating half of the NSA's intelligence take on the calls (see After December 1996). However, it cannot obtain the other end of the calls without a satellite. Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer will say, "We would collect it [one end of the calls], translate it, send it to NSA, and ask them for the other half of it, so we could better understand it, but we never got it." Author James Bamford will comment: "And so the CIA, Mike Scheuer, went back to NSA and said look,… we're able to get… half the conversations here, but we still need the other half, and NSA still wouldn't give them the other half. I mean this is absurd, but this is what was going on." [Antiwar, 10/22/2008; PBS, 2/3/2009]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Alec Station, James Bamford, Michael Scheuer, National Security Agency
Late August 1998: NSA Defies Order to Share Raw Intelligence with Other Agencies
Following the African embassy bombings (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998), CIA managers ask Alec Station, the CIA's bin Laden unit, what it most needs to improve the agency's capabilities against al-Qaeda. Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer will later say that he raises "our dire need for verbatim reports derived from electronic collection." This is a reference to his desire to get verbatim transcripts of calls to and from al-Qaeda's operations hub in Yemen, in particular ones between it and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The NSA has the transcripts, but is refusing to provide them to the CIA, and the two agencies have been at loggerheads over the issue for nearly two years. Alec Station needs the transcripts, not the summaries the NSA provides, because the operatives talk in code on the phone and this code cannot be cracked based on the summaries, only using the transcripts (see February 1996-May 1998, December 1996, After December 1996, and After December 1996). Other senior CIA officers have similar trouble getting transcripts from the NSA. Higher officials order the NSA to comply, and they do, but only for less than 12 requests. Then the system returns to the way it was, with NSA only sharing summaries. [Atlantic Monthly, 12/2004] The reason for the change back is unclear, although bin Laden stops using his satellite phone around this time (see Late August 1998).
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, Alec Station, Central Intelligence Agency, Al-Qaeda, Michael Scheuer
2000: CIA Stops Reviewing NSA Transcripts after Short Period of Time, Allegedly due to 'Resource Constraints'
The CIA sends an officer from its Counterterrorist Center (CTC) to the NSA to review raw transcripts of intercepted communications between terrorists. However, the officer is only there for a "brief period" and is subsequently withdrawn and not replaced, damaging the CIA's ability to exploit the information gleaned from the intercepts. The CIA only previously received summaries of intercepted calls, not the transcripts themselves, and had been arguing for years that it needed the actual transcripts to better understand the material (see February 1996-May 1998, December 1996, After December 1996, After December 1996, and Late August 1998). After the single officer leaves the NSA, which intercepts calls between the US-based 9/11 hijackers and an al-Qaeda communications hub in Yemen around this time (see Early 2000-Summer 2001), the reason the CIA gives for not replacing him is "resource constraints." In 2005, the CIA's Office of Inspector General will regard this failure as so serious that it will recommend an accountability board be convened to review the performance of the CTC managers responsible, and will suggest that officers should have been detailed to the NSA "on a consistent, full-time basis." [Central Intelligence Agency, 6/2005, pp. xxiii ] The CIA and NSA are obtaining information about people in the US from phone companies to support "black ops" at this time (see After July 11, 1997).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Office of the Inspector General (CIA), Counterterrorist Center


text:
Q: When showing a ggplot in a shiny app, how do I capture the ggplot warning that appears in the console, and display in the app? I have a simple app, below, that displays a ggplot. ggplot generates a warning in the console (see picture at bottom). I'd like to capture the warning, and display it in the app, under the plot.
Here's my code:
library(shiny)
library(ggplot2)

ui <- fluidPage(

   titlePanel("How do i output ggplot warnings? :("),
   mainPanel(
       plotOutput("my_plot_that_generates_warnings"),
       tags$br(),
       verbatimTextOutput(outputId='ggplot_warnings')
   )
)

server <- function(input, output) {

    messages <- reactiveValues(ggplot_warning = 'How to capture warning and display it?')
    output$my_plot_that_generates_warnings <- renderPlot({
        tryCatch({

            ggplot(iris, aes(x=Sepal.Length, y=Sepal.Width)) +
                geom_point() +
                geom_smooth()

        }, message = function(e) {
            messages$ggplot_warning <- e$message
        }, warning = function(e) {
            messages$ggplot_warning <- e$message
        }, error = function(e) {
            messages$ggplot_warning <- e$message
        })
    })

    output$ggplot_warnings <- renderPrint({
        cat(messages$ggplot_warning)
    })
}

shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)

I assume the underlying problem has to do with lazy evaluation and the fact that the graph doesn't actually get rendered (and the warning generated) until after the trycatch. I can actually get the warning to appear in the verbatimTextOutput by wrapping ggplot call in a print(), but then of course the plot doesn't show up.
In my ignorance of the problem I've tried force() rather than print() but it didn't work.

A: When you call ggplot it creates an object of type ggplot, as far as my understanding goes, internally, the messages aren't generated till you call print() on the object. There's an explanation on similar issue wrt messages so have a read Why does ggplot not allow suppressing of messages generated by its geoms?.
What we can do is explicitly print the ggplot and capture the messages
library(shiny)
library(ggplot2)

ui <- fluidPage(

  titlePanel("This is now fixed :)"),
  mainPanel(
    plotOutput("my_plot_that_generates_warnings"),
    tags$br(),
    verbatimTextOutput(outputId='ggplot_warnings')
  )
)

server <- function(input, output) {

  data <- reactive({
    ggplot(iris, aes(x=Sepal.Length, y=Sepal.Width)) +
      geom_point() +
      geom_smooth()
  })

  dataerrors <- reactive({
    tryCatch({
      print(data())
    }, message = function(e) {
      return(e$message)
    }, warning = function(e) {
      return(e$message)
    }, error = function(e) {
      return(e$message)
    })
  })

  output$my_plot_that_generates_warnings <- renderPlot({
    data()
  })

  output$ggplot_warnings <- renderPrint({
    dataerrors()
  })
}

shinyApp(ui = ui, server = server)


text:
Il Cucchiaio d'Argento è un ricettario di cucina pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1950, giunto alla sua undicesima edizione nell'ottobre del 2020.

È uno dei libri di cucina più rinomati e popolari d'Italia, con oltre 2000 ricette provenienti da tutte le regioni italiane.

Editoriale Domus ha negli anni pubblicato una serie di volumi dedicati alla cucina ad affiancamento de Il Cucchiaio d'Argento, da volumi mono-tematici (Antipasti & Contorni, Primi, Secondi, Dolci, Cucina Regionale, Pizze e Torte Salate, Piatti Estivi, Pesce e Carne) alla collana di volumi dedicati alla cucina per l'infanzia, con il second brand Il Cucchiaino d'Argento. Il volume Il Cucchiaino D'argento, 0-5 anni è il libro di cucina dedicata all'infanzia più venduto in Italia.

Il Cucchiaio d'Argento ha anche un sito e la Fanpage del brand è la pagina di cucina più seguita d'Italia.

Editoriale Domus pubblica a brand Il Cucchiaio d'Argento Collection, una rivista di cucina distribuita nelle edicole italiane.

Il 15 ottobre 2020, in occasione del 70 anniversario di pubblicazione viene pubblicata la XI edizione.

Edizioni

Note

Voci correlate
 La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene
 Il talismano della felicità

Collegamenti esterni

Saggi di autori italiani
Libri di cucina


The McMillans are in full time music ministry and have been ministering together for over 20 years as a family singing Gospel music. David, a former worship pastor, is a multi-instrumentalist who loves worshipping the Lord with instruments as well as singing with Susie and Jessica, who carry most of the lead vocals. They love incorporating music for all generations!


The staff of St. Thomas More University Parish welcomes you, and invites you to become an active member of our faith community.
We are a Catholic parish of the Diocese of Greensburg, charged with the unique and exciting mission to serve all who are a part of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) community.
Part of our mission as a University Parish is to provide opportunities to all associated with IUP. We are a vibrant, diverse and faith-filled Catholic community.
Along with liturgy and sacramental life, we offer programs, ministries and opportunities for growth in knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith.
We offer a variety of opportunities to help IUP students grow in the Catholic faith, and learn more about fostering healthier and deeply rooted relationships with God and neighbor.
Please contact Cindy or any member of our Campus Ministry Team if you have questions about, or would like to assist with any of our faith formation programs.


It is a pleasure to discuss this issue with you. I must say I envy you. As a member of Congress or as staff advisers to members, you have an opportunity to decide one of the most important issues of the day, whether we should permit the cloning of living human beings.
Please do not assume that no matter what you do, cloning will occur in some other country. In my interviews with the foreign science press, I have been informed that the resolution of this issue by United States will likely be decisive for the rest of the world. Therefore, I urge you to think deeply about this matter.
Cloning is often discussed as if there were two different kinds of cloning, sometimes described as "therapeutic cloning" and "reproductive cloning." Both terms are, however, seriously misleading. And if we do not use accurate language, it is unlikely we will be able to think clearly about the issue.
All successful cloning is reproductive. That is, once cloning results in a living single-cell human being,reproduction, by definition, has occurred. It does not matter for what purpose this cloning was accomplished. Another member of the human species exists.
If a living human being has been created, then we must face this crucial question – how are we ethically obligated to treat that human being? One purpose for which cloning is pursued is to produce a subject for research experiments. Proponents call this "therapeutic cloning." This is a serious misuse of language. For even if the aim of the experiment is to produce a therapy for a disease or injury that was suffered by someone else, the research is lethal for the subject of the research (i.e., the human embryo) and is, therefore, not therapeutic at all. It is, in its essence, non-therapeutic. Such experiments have been rejected throughout Western history, and condemned by an ethical consensus expressed after World War II in the Nuremberg Code, which stated: "No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will result." However noble the ultimate purpose for which it is done, we have always agreed it is wrong to kill one human being to benefit another. Yet experimental cloning does just that.
As counter-intuitive as it may at first appear, the reason these ethical prohibitions apply to the case of experimental cloning is because all human beings begin life as a single cell organism. Each one of us did.
Certainly, every cell in the human body is not a human being. And left to themselves, none of those cells would become a human being. But once a single-cell embryo or zygote has been created, whether by sexual reproduction (the exclusive means until now) or by asexual reproduction (as with cloning), that embryo is a living, distinct, genetically complete human organism which, unless interrupted, will direct its own integral growth and development through all the stages of human life – from embryo to infant to teenager to senior. And make no mistake about it, the creation of a living human embryo has been the aim of ACT from the beginning and is the accomplishment it claimed in its article in Scientific American – for it is from embryos alone that embryonic stem cells, the prize ACT seeks, are taken.
Thus, as I have discussed, all cloning, for whatever purpose undertaken, is reproductive. All cloning is unethical because it reduces a human being to an object manufactured by another. If cloning results in a live birth, excruciating problems of kinship and inheritance are posed. However, cloning, as ACT did, for the purpose of lethal experiments is, in fact, the most unethical of all.
Whether such experiments are permitted is an issue of great importance for us. The resolution of the issue will go far in determining what kind of society we will live in. Would it not destroy any hope for achieving a real human community if we permit some humans to be cloned and those cloned human beings to be destroyed in order to benefit others? Likewise, would any of us wish to live in a society where one class of human beings is manufactured to suit the preferences of others? How will we then look upon one another? What, indeed, will it mean to be human in such a society? These questions stir deep waters. Perhaps you have seen the film, Gattaca, starring Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. I commend it to you. It considers a world in which cloning and the designing and engineering of human beings has become the norm.
Such a world is not one we, or the Senate of the United States, should unthinkingly allow to happen. It is not something, I suggest, which we can leave private industry free to pursue. Failure of the Senate to act will not preserve the status quo. The status quo was changed irrevocably by ACT over Thanksgiving weekend. If the Senate does not act, it will permit cloning to continue to go forward. What ACT is doing is precisely what all parties in the stem cell debate opposed – the special creation of living human embryos in order to destroy them in experiments. When I mentioned to some politically uninvolved friends what had been reported over Thanksgiving weekend, each of them separately asked, "Isn't that illegal?" It is up to the Senate to decide whether it will be or not.


text:
Browse > Home / Op-eds / 2012 / November 2012 / 11/14/12: Follow the legislature in action
11/14/12: Follow the legislature in action
EIGHT WEEKS from today, the Virginia General Assembly will convene. Already, there are 375 bills to be considered in this, the shorter of the legislature's two sessions. (It meets for just 30 days in odd years, which happen also to be election years.) Many of the 375 bills are those carried over from the 2012 session.
Among the new bills introduced are some rejected in earlier years, such as those allowing local school boards to decide whether to open before Labor Day and those eliminating the corporate income tax.
Others are reactions to activities over the past few months, such as the one to correct Portsmouth's charter and the one to lower petition signature requirements for inclusion on the ballot for presidential elections and primaries.
Most of the bills will come closer to the start of the session on Jan. 9. With the 100-member House of Delegates up for election, expect to see a flurry of "brochure bills" introduced: those representing pet causes of legislators that have little chance of passing but that said legislators will nevertheless hype in the fall campaign.
In Virginia, we are never out of election season. Besides the House of Delegates, we will take to the polls next November to elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. With our single-term governor — Virginia is alone in the nation in prohibiting its governors from succeeding themselves — the competition for one of those three positions began almost as soon as the November 2009 results were certified.
Republicans have been particularly active. Already, there are three announced candidates for governor, five for lieutenant governor and three for attorney general. The party nominee will be chosen by convention, which means the general public will be presented with a slate picked by party insiders and activists.
Democrats have spent the last three years licking their wounds from the 2009 elections. Although the party nominees will be chosen by primary, only a single candidate has announced for governor and two each for lieutenant governor and attorney general.
With the majority of the House seats likely to be uncontested, the result of partisan redistricting, Virginians can expect a brief respite from the campaign advertising of the past few months. By next fall, though, the airwaves will once again be filled and the mailboxes stuffed.
There's never a dull moment for political observers in Virginia.
Politics, though, is not governance and for now, the legislative session looms. Localities are rolling out their legislative agendas.
The General Assembly has a new website at a new location — http://virginiageneralassembly.gov. The site is so new that even the Legislative Information System website — http://lis.virginia.gov/lis.htm — still points to the old General Assembly site. Both sites, along with Richmond Sunlight — www.richmondsunlight.com — allow us to stay abreast of the governing that our elected representatives engage in.
In a letter to Richard Price, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." Bookmark these sites. And visit them often.