Hartley Vale once had 600 people living there, with dwellings for the miners and their families, a post office, butchery and bakery and the Company School.
About 1.5 km westwards from Hartley Vale you will find historical Collitt's Inn.
This road was used by the early Mail Coach to Bathurst. The Coachman, James Watsford would spend the night at Collits' Inn after the difficult descent - on Mt York Road you will see a memorial to him.
Lockyer's Pass leads to a picnic ground on the Hartley Vale road - along this road you will discover varied native vegetation and birds.
Near the bottom you will see evidence of the building of the road with sandstone edgings and stonework where road-building commenced.
It runs off Mt.York Road - to the western side.
There is parking for cars where the paths lead off to Lawson's and Lockyers walks.
Historical features and other points of interest have been signposted along the walk and you will discover some of our magnificent views.
This walk follows the path of the railway which until about 1913 used to bring the shale up from Hartley Vale.
A level ground 'easy walk - approx 1 hour return.
Cox's Road Walk is from the top of Mt. York to Hartley Vale Road.
This walk is steep in areas but not terribly difficult.
Walking Shoes are recommended. Approx . 1 hour descent.
In Hartley Vale - close to the 'Comet Inn' you will find directions to - Lawson Long Alley & Lockyers Track - Plus Other Walking Tracks.
When Victoria Pass opened in 1832 this road which opened in 1824 was closed.
Because Victoria Pass was opened in 1832, this road was not completed.
It is a gently sloping 'easy' walk taking approx. 1.5 hours return.
This historic & famous road was the first road over the mountains. It was built in 1815 but not used after 1824. Governor Macquarie travelled down the new road in 1815 and the road had to be widened for his carriage - the pick marks at the top of Mt York were made by the convicts when widening the road.
This walk starts beside Hartley Vale Road and the Darling Causeway junction.
The walk is to the top of the cliff where the railway carriages plunged steeply down to the shale works in the valley below - remains of railway workings can still be seen.
The views are stunning looking down into the valley to Hartley Vale, The Comet Inn & in the distance Collits' Inn.
The walking track begins right at the end of Mt. York Road - you will find it is marked to guide you down to the valley.
Many accounts are recorded of the dangerous descents with loaded bullock wagons - at one time a log bridge existed to enable them to descend - traces of it can still be seen today in the form of gouges in the rocks.
On Mt York Road you will find traces of two wells thought to be the site of a construction camp for the making of Cox's Road.
Again, the views to the Valley and beyond are beautiful.
Access to Lawsons Long Alley can be found on Mt. York road. There are well marked signs indicating the early roads.
Lawsons Long Alley is along the east side of Mt York descending to the old shale mining town of Hartley Vale.
In Hartley Vale you will find the Comet Inn (1879) which was the headquarters of the Comet Kerosene Company who mined shale in Hartley Vale from 1865 to 1913.


Killer bunny? From Gorleston Psalter, 14th-century manuscript.
Happy Easter! Even though I grew up Jewish and had no idea what a Resurrection was, I knew I liked bunnies, chocolate, treating eggs like an art project, and finding buried treasure in foliage. I was sold on the whole Easter thing. As I matured at some point in the not too distant past, I realized that there was a whole lot more to Easter than baskets full of candy and huge hats. I learned that it was also about birth and rebirth. The symbolism of eggs, Jesus's triumphant return from the dead, and bunnies multiplying like, well, bunnies all lead us to appreciate the foundation of it all: Spring Equinox, the renewal of life on earth. I'm not sure where the chocolate fits in, but I'm not going to question a good thing.
Nicholas Ray's 1955 magnum opus of teen angst is considered by most to be the first sensitive and realistic look at troubled, misunderstood youth. Would we have those heart-breaking scene's of Bender (Judd Nelson), Claire (Molly Ringwald), and the gang discussing their troubled home lives in The Breakfast Club without Rebel Without A Cause? I think not. The opening scene in Rebel is set in a police station on Easter night where three high school kids -- Jim Stark (James Dean), Judy (Natalie Wood), and Plato (Sal Mineo) -- meet and an unlikely friendship is born. Much drama and generation gap struggles ensue, ultimately leading to one of the character's death by the hands of the police. Rebel remains James Dean's most celebrated film. It was released a month after his death at the age of 24, thus immortalizing him as a beautiful youth forever.


We are living in a time of change.
The status quo fights against this change.
At a Cancer Free World conference in Berlin, Germany, on 13th March 2012, Dr. Rath called on the people of Germany and Europe to take responsibility for building a democratic Europe for the People and by the People. Describing how widely available scientific research on natural remedies already makes it clear that the incidence of common diseases can now be reduced to a fraction of their current occurrence, he explained how the building of a new global health care system, based on the prevention and elimination of diseases, is now possible. Dr. Rath stressed, however, that this stunning "world without disease" will not be handed to us on a plate, because each disease represents a billion dollar market for the Pharma Cartel and its political stakeholders in the Brussels EU politburo. As such, if we want to create a world without disease for us and our children, we must all act now.
On November 13, 2007, the Polish city of Auschwitz, the location of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, was the site of a historic event. In this city — the place where the greatest crimes against humanity in recent history were committed — there emerged the plan for a new Europe. Taking into account both the role of the Oil and Drug Cartel behind WWII and the crimes committed at Auschwitz, the concentration camp survivors raised their moral voice once again — for perhaps the final time — to call for a "Europe for the People, by the People".


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We really love working from home. Working freelance makes it easy for us to work our way best. We only work on projects that are related to what we are specializing in, therefore we don't get distracted by other areas of work. As trusted freelancer in Bali, we deliver our services mostly to tourism industries (hotels, villas, spas, restaurants, travel agencies). It doesn't mean we cannot work with other industries, we are available to work with any individual/company from all industries to help them fulfill their need for a website.
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You should work with a team like this who is dedicated to provide you with results.
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1. Useful resource & archived material ( links above & in left margin).
Mar 2012 Live below the Line- Can you live off £1 a day for food for 5 days?
Oct 2011 How Good is insulating your loft?
July 2011 Church goes Wild - Lichens event at Hurst Green Church near Clitheroe.
June 2011 Bishop Nick walks up Pen y Ghent to visit his Bradford diocese - and some of the flowers seen en route.
Jan 2011 Comment on: "Food production needs to double by 2030 / 2050 in order to feed the world. "
Oct 2010 Why does CEL care about the environment? One Answer.
2. Editorial: Fossil Fools or Subversive Fools?
June 2010 Have a green summer!
Nov 2009 Copenhagen - Deal or No Deal?
In due course the web pages will be changed to match the new logo. See Hymns and Street Lights - Even here, the pages are still being developed - Comments welcome.
Jan 2008 CEL delivers symbols to 10 Downing Street -press release and report on day.
Dec 2007 How to make a CEL display portable hanging leaflet holder or buy a very cheap counter stand.
Oct 2007 Europe Women - Fourth Ecology Summer School 2007 .
Sept 2007 Cath bishops at UK Parliament..
Mar 2007 Details of "Storm of Hope" 7 July - CEL to celebrate 25 years.
14 Feb CEL Press release: Briefing to Synod on Synod environment Motion.
Feb 2005 CEL Press Release on Kyoto and The Cool Church Toolkit. The Tool kit helps churches to calculate their annual contribution to climate change, and take steps to reduce it.
David Hallman (of the World Council of Church)'s talk at the above.
Apr 2004 The Methodist Church has signed a new energy contract which will provide electricity from renewable sources to Methodist Church House, London. . A cost increase of approximately 10 per cent will be covered by the Church's 'going green' budget. More..
April 2003 Leaflet describing the forthcoming CEL weekend on 30 May - 1 June at Rathmell, North Yorkshire. This is for members and others. Activities will include walks in the countryside, discussions, green Christian Songs, Environment friendly food, a chance to meet others.
March 2003 Link added to excellent Prayer and Liturgy material provided as doc file by ECEN for Creation Time 2003.
Press Release 25 Feb 03 Energy White Paper "Courageous but built on sand"
Dec 2002 Special 50th edition of Green Christians gives the Christian angle on The World Summit on Sustainable Development. The contents and the Editorial are given on this website.
Nov 2002 The Christmas 2002 Issue of ChurchLink can be downloaded now (175kb pdf fle). We invite you to print it out and display it at your church.
It contains a Christmas reflection from Archbishop Rowan Williams; a church magazine article on post-Christmas waste; a prayer from CEL's monthly Prayer Diary; and news of a special issue of CEL's magazine Green Christians.
Green Christians, CEL's magazine needs new editor. Could it be you?
October 18: Church plans to use photovoltaic tiles in church hall roof.
July 2002 A link has been put to the Churches' Earth Summit Briefing paper Please put a link to this briefing from your website too, if you have one.
as is Sir John Houghton's talk at the same meeting: Global Warming: a challenge to Christians' lifestyles?
CEL's Prayer Guide gives a prayer, or ecological thought or fact for the day each day of the month and is compiled by Philip Clarkson Web. People have been able to subscribe and get the printed prayer diary for several years, but this November we have a trial online and downloadable form of the diary.
Introduction and Index to weeks so far put on line The notes are being added in serial form, week by week.
November 2000 WCC, CEC, CCEE, ECEN, CTE, EIN, ICC, ACTS, Cytun, Churches Together in Our-Town, : Ecumenical bodies, denominations, local churches and Care of the Environment - A guide to how these organisations and you and your church are related.
March 2000 Creation time is the title of the newest web page just created on the CEL website. This describes the resolution at the ECEN conference, that churches should observe the period from September 1st to the second Sunday of October as a period of celebration of the Creator and Creation.
Jan 2000 Tourism is the title of the newest web page just created on the CEL website. Find out about air pollution caused by planes, and some of the problems experienced in third world countries.. and first world countries by the development of tourism.
Aug 1 1999 Should the Church of England allow trials of genetically modified crops on its land?
Dec 5th 1998 The account of the London Churches Conference on the environment at Southwark on 28th November has been added. This has big pictures.
Oct 24 1998 The News Page has been added. News will be added to the page as events happen.
Oct 15 1998 Pages in four other languages have been provided which can be accessed from the index page: Welsh, German, French and Italian. They are summaries of some of the main activities of CEL. They are not identical. The Welsh page (Cymraeg) is based on our long English introductory leaflet.


text:
Dowsing for Divinity
Pagan Theology, Poetry, and Praxis
Totalising systems
February 25, 2018 February 22, 2018 / Yewtree	/ 4 Comments
A totalising system is one that seeks to subsume all other paradigms within its paradigm, rather than accepting that other paradigms exist alongside it. It regards itself as a complete and universal system which can explain all experience and needs no supplemental systems.
A non-totalising or pluralist system recognises its particularity to its local culture and sees that different philosophies emerge out of different cultural contexts and local histories. A totalising system ignores local contexts or seeks to explain them through its paradigm.
Dharma and sangha
January 24, 2013 / Yewtree	/ 43 Comments
In 1991, I became a Wiccan, and in 2007, I also joined the Unitarians. However, I have realised that it is too hard to follow two paths and do them both justice. I can only be fully part of one sangha (spiritual community), in one dharma (model of how the universe works), and in one tribe. Wicca is my dharma, my sangha, my tribe. I have learnt much of value from Unitarianism and will always value it (also, some of their hymns are awesome). But I need the wildness and eros of Wiccan spirituality; it's in my soul.
There is currently much debate about whether Unitarianism (and its American sibling, Unitarian Universalism) is Christian, post-Christian, eclectic, or just itself. In many ways, the liberal Christian interpretations of the Christian mythos that are offered by Unitarians helped me to overcome the fears induced by my fundamentalist Christian upbringing, and made me a better Wiccan. In addition, Unitarians have long held the view that the Divine is immanent in the world, transcends gender and yet includes both masculine and feminine, and there is a strong Pagan and pantheistic strand in Unitarianism. In America, many Pagans are also Unitarian Universalists, including Margot Adler, Jason Pitzl-Waters, and Pax (Geoffrey). They are represented by CUUPS (the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans). In the UK, they are represented by UESN (the Unitarian Earth Spirit Network). So the two traditions are definitely compatible, and their worldviews overlap in many ways.
Even so, I have still reached the conclusion that one cannot be fully a member of two traditions at once. You can partially participate in more than one tradition – you might pop along to a Druid ritual, or a Unitarian service, or a Quaker meeting, or a Sufi dhikr, or a Heathen blot, from time to time, in addition to practising your main tradition. You might incorporate a practice from another tradition into your own (always being mindful of issues of cultural appropriation). But you can't be fully a member of two traditions, in my experience. You will almost inevitably end up giving precedence to one or other of your paths. And gods help you if you try to take up leadership roles in more than one tradition (it's way too much like hard work).
There aren't enough hours in the day. What with work, sleep, travel, recreation, socialising, and other things, you don't have time to be fully in two traditions.
Dharma. This is the Hindu word for truth, and implies the world-view of a religion or tradition. Different religions are like languages – a system of signs and symbols for describing the world. Different religions regard different things as sacred; for example, Unitarians are justly proud of their tradition of reason, and they are also keen on community and compassion; whereas Pagans often prioritise eros and mysticism, and individualism.
Dharma-space. I use the term "dharma-space" to mean a group of religions with compatible or similar world-views (even though they may regard themselves as competing versions of the truth).
Sangha. The term sangha refers in Buddhism to the community in which you take refuge; it's a bit like a tribe. Some communities are intersecting and overlapping (I can be a feminist, a poet, bisexual, genderqueer, left-handed, etc without mutual conflict, but being a member of two religions in different dharma-spaces is much harder).
Membership and identity. You can identify as anything you like, but do the existing members of a group recognise you as a member? If you are a member of two traditions, how do the other members feel about your dual membership? There are some paths which are "obviously" compatible, and some which are not. That's not to say that a combination of the two can't be made to work, but it might take more effort to combine the worldviews, and more effort to convince others.
Depth of engagement. If you have a daily spiritual practice, which of your traditions does it most resemble? Who or what are you worshipping / honouring? Have you read up on the history and traditions of both religions? Could you comfortably lead a ritual or service in both traditions? Do you feel the presence of the Divine / deities in both traditions? If you try to import a practice from one tradition to the other, does it fit, or do you have to adapt it in significant ways?
This is not a criticism of people who try to be a member of more than one tradition – indeed, some of the people I most deeply admire are members of more than one tradition, and they are clearly serious and dedicated spiritual practitioners. All that I am saying is that it is very hard work. I have tried it for five years, and I found it really hard. There's nothing inherently wrong in trying to be a dual-faith practitioner; but it can be very painful trying to juggle the values, loyalties and demands of two different traditions. You can't just be a passive participant in Wicca, and it's quite hard to be that in Unitarianism too (especially if you are used to leading ritual in Wicca).
I would love to hear from other dual-faith practitioners about your experiences. If it works for you, that's great. How do you make it work? Are your two traditions in the same dharma-space?
UPDATE (in response to comments)
I did try to make it clear that this post was about my personal experience (and I think it should be read in the context of, and as a coda to, the previous four posts about dual-faith practice, which also explored others' experiences).
My experience is of practising Unitarianism (the UK variety) and Wicca as two distinct traditions – this ended up being dvoeverie rather than coinherence, and did not work for me personally. Others who have commented seem to be practising more syncretically, or in a manner that more closely resembles the coinherence model.
All I am saying is that I found dual-faith practice really hard. I was practising two traditions alongside each other which I personally found it really hard to syncretise. If your personal practice is more syncretism or coinherence than dvoeverie, then this post is not really about you.
If your two traditions mix together like wine and water, then having two traditions will very likely work for you. If your two traditions mix together like oil and water, then it will be much harder.
Another important caveat is that many of the commenters do their Paganism within UUism or Quakerism. I was trying to do something different – attending Wiccan rituals and Unitarian services. I ended up practicing dvoeverie (following two distinct traditions) rather than syncretism (blending) or coinherence (holding two traditions in dialogue, or having one nesting within the other).
It may very well be that you can combine Quakerism with another spiritual practice more easily than can be done with Unitarianism in the UK. (I am not talking about Unitarian Universalism as I have no direct experience of it – but the existence of CUUPS chapters clearly makes combining the two much easier.)
I did not mean to sound prescriptive, and certainly would not want to erase or ignore anyone's spiritual identity, or make it harder for them to exist as a dual-faith practitioner. (So if I was writing this again, I'd edit out the use of "You can't…")
Dual-faith practice (part 4 of 4)
January 22, 2013 / Yewtree	/ Leave a comment
Criticisms of dual-faith practice
Me, a Wiccan priestess, doing a Unitarian Tenebrae service with lapsed Anglicans and a Jewish candlestick (Hanukiah). Sorry for the inappropriate cultural appropriation but it was the only candle-holder in the building.
Much of the criticism of dual-faith practice seems to revolve around the issue of authority, and whether this is derived from the individual, the group, the tradition, or the Divine.
Other possible criticisms include the idea that each tradition is complete in itself and does not require input from outside (Bloom, 1994: 164-5); and the possible danger of 'pick'n'mix' spirituality, which might mean that the dual-faith practitioner chooses only the parts of each tradition that appeal to him or her, and avoids aspects which seem difficult or repellent now but may later turn out to be useful, or which the tradition insists are necessary. Brooks (2003) writes:
There is minimal intellectual or moral rigour to "bespoke belief" that knits together the cosiest aspects of the systems on offer and ignores any broader inconsistencies.
There are also issues like loyalty to one's tradition and to the martyrs who died for the principles espoused by that tradition (Thurston, 1994: 178).
The degree of difficulty in combining two or more traditions depends on how exclusive the truth claims of each tradition may be. Bloom (1994: 164-5) distinguishes between exclusivism (claims of completeness) and sectarianism (claims to sole possession of the truth):
Exclusivism may appear to be a negative feature of religious faith. However, I believe it can be distinguished from sectarianism, which is more an attitude that denies any validity or truth in other views. On the positive side, the exclusive character of a religious faith may indicate the conviction that the faith is comprehensive, complete, needing nothing from the outside to justify itself. It is my personal observation that religious traditions are integral wholes, growing up out of the experience of founders and members and evolving through the centuries. Though they may appear to outside observers as lacking in some dimension, the participants in these traditions may not experience that lack. What appears to be lacking to some observer may, for historical or other reasons, be latent, though not fully articulated within a tradition.
People who have had direct mystical experiences of the numinous often find it difficult to fit them into the norms of the traditions they are following. Various mystics, particularly women (Herzig, 2006: 25), attracted the attention of the Inquisition to determine whether or not their mystical revelations fitted in with Catholic doctrine, or whether their miracles or stigmata were genuine (Herzig, 2006: 31). Some revelations cannot be accommodated in the existing paradigm: new religions were founded on the teachings of Buddha and Jesus because they were not accepted by the traditions from which they emerged (Case, 1913: 64). Sometimes people will break away to form or join a new tradition because of dissatisfaction with some feature of their existing tradition; this may involve a total rejection of the existing tradition, and/or a return to an earlier tradition – as, for example, Goddess feminists' rejection of Christianity on the grounds of its patriarchal associations and their creation of new traditions (Harvey, 1997: 74). Alternatively, the new tradition may be a syncretic amalgam of the old with the new, as early Christianity was an amalgam of the new insights of its founders with its Jewish heritage and the Graeco-Roman religions that were contemporary with it (Case, 1913: 66).
Another possible criticism of dual-faith and syncretistic practice is the charge of cultural appropriation. This issue was first raised by Native Americans in objection to the 'borrowing' of Native American ideas, rituals and practices. They objected that this was just another form of imperialism. If using ideas from other cultures is not done respectfully and with a sensitivity to their original context, it can seem like theft to the originators of those ideas (Harrison, 1999: 11).
Whatever models are used to describe or explain dual-faith practice, it is clear that fidelity to the traditions being followed (or to the spirit of them, if not the letter) is of paramount importance to dual-faith practitioners. They are not merely 'spiritual shoppers', but rather people who are attempting to follow what they have experienced as a call, coming from a source perceived to be external, but heard inwardly.
It seems that it is possible to follow two or more traditions simultaneously, but never easy, and sometimes painful, both because of contradictions which may be felt internally, and because of hostility from people whose religion is almost entirely a matter of external authority.
Various models may be offered to describe practising more than one faith: dvoeverie, inculturation, syncretism, and coinherence – but in reality, experience, practice and belief are always more complex than theology and theory might suggest. Beliefs and practices vary dramatically within faith traditions as well as between them, so it is sometimes hard to draw accurate boundaries on a map of faiths.
This article was originally published in the Unitarian journal, Faith and Freedom.
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Religious Society of Friends ([1985] 2003) The Quaker Way. (leaflet) London: Quaker Home Service.
Rock, S. (2001) 'What's in a Word? A Historical Study of the Concept of Dvoeverie.' Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 35(1): 19-28.
Sealy, C. (2006). 'The State of Paganism Today.' [online] Available from: Unitarian Universalist Association. http://www.uua.org/events/generalassembly/2006/presentations/13157.shtml (accessed 25.9.2007)
Stephenson, J. (2005) 'Muddled in your head? Come to Buddha.' The Independent. 20 June 2005. [online] Available from: http://environment.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/article226513.ece (accessed 4.9.2007)
Tamney, J., Johnson, S. (1988) 'Explaining Support for the Moral Majority.' Sociological Forum, 3 (2), pp. 234-255 [online] Available from: JSTOR http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0884-8971%28198821%293%3A2%3C234%3AESFTMM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z (accessed 24.9.2007)
Thomas, O. C., (Jan., 2000) 'Interiority and Christian Spirituality.' The Journal of Religion, 80 (1), pp. 41-60. [online] Available from: JSTOR http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28200001%2980%3A1%3C41%3AIACS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O (accessed 4.9.2007)
Thurston, B. (1994) 'Joint Practice A Christian Response to Joint Buddhist-Christian Practice.' Buddhist-Christian Studies, 14, pp 177-180 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0882-0945%281994%2914%3C177%3AACRTJB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z (accessed 8.9.2007)
Unitarian Universalist Association (2007) Our Principles. [online] Available from: http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml (accessed 9.9.2007)
Webster, J. (1997) 'Necessary Comparisons: A Post-Colonial Approach to Religious Syncretism in the Roman Provinces.' World Archaeology, 28 (3), Culture Contact and Colonialism, pp. 324-338. [online] Available from: JSTOR http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-8243%28199702%2928%3A3%3C324%3ANCAPAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A (accessed 28.8.2007)
Woodburne, A.W., (1927) 'The Indian Appreciation of Jesus'. The Journal of Religion, 7 (1)., pp. 43-55. [online] Available from: JSTOR http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189%28192701%297%3A1%3C43%3ATIAOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C (accessed 29.8.2007)
January 20, 2013 / Yewtree	/ 4 Comments
Membership and identity
Dual and multi-faith practice can also bring up questions of membership and identity.
Many people identify as being of a particular religion; but what constitutes membership? In Christianity, the boundary between membership and identity is fairly blurred – it could be measured by attendance, baptism, belief, or adherence to the Nicene Creed. Traditionally, Christianity has expected a clearly demarcated religious identity (Thurston, 1994: 177). In Paganism, identity and membership of the community are largely negotiated at festivals, which people attend both to discover the self and to develop the self (Griffin, 2001: 499).
Peter Chapin-Bishop (2007) is clear that membership in a tradition consists of having received divine communication in that setting. Liz Opp (2007) writes that identity is a sense of one's personal values being close to the group identified with, whereas membership is participation in that group, its norms, values and social life. She adds that identity is the ground of a person's being, and may come into conflict with membership of a group. In her formulation, identity seems more important than membership, which might suggest that she is advocating a subjective-life approach rather than a life-as approach; but she also talks about experiencing an inner call. There is clearly a subtle balance between membership and identity whenever people participate in a group. Perhaps people join groups because they admire the values of those groups and want to become more like those who are in them. Perhaps people join because they admire the practices of the group, but then find that the values are different to what they are expecting, or that they are expected to transform their own identity, values and insights to conform with that of the group and its traditions to a degree which violates their identity. Either way, the formation of a person's identity happens in a social context (Edwards, 2005: 116), and groups that someone becomes involved in will reflect that identity.
The issue of membership and identity is important in any discussion of a dual or multi-faith practice. A person may identify with a group, but if the membership requirements of that group are that its members do not belong to other groups perceived to be in conflict with its values or beliefs, can that person be said to be a member of the group? It could be argued that if a person identifies with a group, the criteria of membership need to expand to include that person; on the other hand, it might be held that the person has to adjust to the mores of the group in order to belong. However, if the practices of the group contradict its stated ideals and values, perhaps the newcomer is the very person best placed to call attention to that contradiction, since they are bringing a fresh perspective.
The process of "conversion" (a rather loaded term) often plays a part in a change of religious allegiance. However, if the person finds truth in both their new group and their previous group, and the old group emphasises one thing that the person finds worth in, and the new group another thing, it will be difficult for the person to make a choice to leave the old group and join the new group; indeed, such a choice may not even be considered (C. Chapin-Bishop, 2007).
Lewis Rambo's (2000) model of conversion is more complex than the "road to Damascus" experience that most people think of when they think about conversion. In phase one, he says, people go through some kind of crisis (which could be dissatisfaction with their current belief system, or a mystical experience). In phase two, they go on a quest to find something that fits their new model of the world. The third phase involves interaction (learning how to do their chosen religious practice). The fourth phase is commitment ("rituals that create a new identity, a new set of relationships, a new set of roles that lead to a new and different kind of life"), and the fifth stage is consequences – the transformation effected by the commitment (which could be lifelong development in the chosen faith, or it could be disillusionment and going back to phase one).
In the case of dual or multi-faith practice, the conversion process may be experienced as an expansion of understanding, rather than a change of direction. Michelle Guinness (1994: 15), who was brought up Jewish, read the "forbidden bit" of the Bible and decided that Jesus was the Messiah – but when she became a Christian, she introduced many Jewish ideas and practices to her family and her church, feeling incomplete without the Jewish side of herself. The contrast between the life-affirming Judaism she grew up in and the asceticism of the Christianity she joined was too great; she had to find a compromise.
Cat Chapin-Bishop's crisis moment was the destruction by terrorists of the World Trade Centre in 2001, when she "knew in my body as well as my mind that deep and absolute conviction that war was just not the answer for anything". However, the crisis was an occasion for the expansion of her worldview, not a change of direction; she says, "I am still Pagan–my love for the earth and the Old Gods does not change. But other Quaker testimonies and practices have grown in me, about oaths, clergy, simplicity… and they have changed how I worship, if not what or why." The quest phase was very short (between 11 September and 12 October), and the commitment phase began when she sought formal membership of the Religious Society of Friends. The consequences are still being worked out in the internal dialogue of the two faiths.
Christianity and Buddhism have sought to privilege external revelations over the subjective promptings of the body and the inner life (Corless, 1994: 181); Paganisms and Judaism seek to integrate the life of mind, body and spirit by following the round of seasonal festivals (Harvey, 1997: 223). When someone who follows inner promptings engages in dialogue with someone who follows an external authority such as a tradition or a book, the result is usually mutual incomprehension (King, 1994). Those who experience an inner guide often relate it to an external entity which can also be found in the depths of the self (Harvey, 1997: 212).
The 'subjective turn'
The theory of subjectivisation proposes that "'the massive subjective turn of modern culture' favours and reinforces those (subjective-life) forms of spirituality which resource unique subjectivities and treat them as a primary source of significance, and undermines those (life-as) forms of religion which do not." (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 78)
'Subjective-life' is life lived as an unique individual with an emphasis on self-expression, whereas 'life-as' is life lived according to a specific role or identity (wife, mother, Christian, etc.) The turn towards subjective-life has affected not only religion and spirituality, but also the world of work and the family (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 79).
'Subjective-life' spirituality is often characterised as a pick-and-mix approach (Stephenson, 2005), whereas practitioners of dual faith appear to desire fidelity to the traditions being followed (Corless, 1994: 182). Clearly, in feeling a vocation to follow both faiths, such practitioners are responding to a subjective inner feeling, but trying to do so within the framework of a tradition.
Heelas and Woodhead (2005) make much of the oppositional tension between 'subjective-life' spirituality and 'life-as' religion, but Thomas (2000: 42) suggests that the distinction between spirituality and religion – the "assumption that whereas religion deals with the outer life, that is, institutions, traditions, practices, doctrines, and moral codes, spirituality treats the inner life, which thus tends to be individualized and privatized" – may in fact be a false dichotomy, arising out of Western discourse. Taylor (1989: 111) explains:
In our language of self-understanding, the opposition "inside-outside" plays an important role. We think of our thoughts, ideas, or feelings as being "within" us, while the objects in the world which these mental states bear on are "without."
. . . But strong as this partitioning of the world appears to us, as solid as this localization may seem, and anchored in the very nature of the human agent, it is in large part a feature of our world, the world of modern, Western people. (cited in Thomas, 2000: 42-43)
Thomas (2000: 43) adds that there is both a tradition of inwardness and a tradition of outwardness in Christianity, but argues that the outward should be considered primary, and a major source of the inner.
'Subjective-life' spirituality seems mainly focused on the inner as the primary source for validating experience. Hence it is likely to conflict with solely outward-focused religions (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 18).
However, dual-faith practitioners seem to be answering an inner call whilst attempting to be faithful to the whole of their chosen traditions. Corless (1994: 181) says:
Both Buddhism and Christianity recommend that practice be done for others rather than oneself … Insofar as the coinherence practitioner looks for the practice to aid him- or herself on the way to salvation or liberation, or to be of benefit to oneself in any way whatever, just to that extent is one's practice faulty, deficient, or sinful. Insofar as the coinherence practitioner seeks only to be of service to the Christian and Buddhist traditions, and whatever aims they wish to set forward, just to that extent is one's practice meritorious, authentic, and righteous.
What is significant about this passage is the way in which Corless denies that the practice is intended to be of benefit to himself; instead it is about benefiting others, whereas 'subjective-life' spirituality is usually about self-development.
In a discussion of her dual-faith practice of being a Quaker and a Pagan, Cat Chapin-Bishop (2007) says:
But that's just what keeps me Quaker — we center down, and I can find you, Friend, in the shining place: you and the sea of limitless Light. And that's what keeps me Pagan — I go out into the woods, and the trees are not things but friends, and the moonlight makes what is sacred shine out all around me.
…. No matter how the labels fit or don't fit, my job is to keep walking… just keep walking. … Just… keep going the way I'm led.
("But I wanna be in the Quaker club, too, dammit. Why don't I ever get to sit at the cool kids' table?" A small voice asks. Shut up, voice. This isn't about that. Keep walkin'.)
Here, it seems, the emphasis is on the path rather than on the one walking it, and on making connections with others which is as important as the inner sense of vocation.
Peter Chapin-Bishop (2007), also a Quaker Pagan, echoes the idea that the Divine is outside and permeating inwards, and is more important than the social norms and conventions of the respective faiths, and that the core or defining aspect of belonging to the tradition is that a connection to the numinous happened in that context:
God (the Divine, the Gods…whatever you want to call Him/Her/It/Them) calls to us. Divinity "bleeds through" from the realm of the Divine into our world. … When I say I am a Quaker, it is because I have been a conduit for the Divine in that context. Once I'd had the experience of…well, call it "drawing down the Light," the rest was just a formality. My clearness committee tested that leading and concurred, but I'm not a Quaker because they said so. I'm a Quaker because I listened for the presence of Spirit in the silence, and It spoke through me, and that's what Quakers do. Just like I'm Wiccan because I invoked the presence of the God in circle and He came to me, and that's what Wiccans do.
What these people are doing does not seem to be 'pick'n'mix' spirituality, or even dvoeverie (the practice of two faiths side by side without any mutual feedback – if this is even possible). It is much more like Corless's idea of coinherence, whereby the two traditions mutually inform and enrich each other, and somehow this is of service to both communities, or it involves serving the Divine, which encompasses both people and nature. Corless makes it clear that the practice of coinherence is painful, not something that anyone should choose deliberately (Corless, 1994: 181). The concept of walking a path, or being led, crops up several times in these writings. Their spirituality is not merely eclectic or inner-directed ('subjective-life'), nor is it entirely outwardly directed ('life-as'): it is about the connection of inner realities with outer numinosity.
From the evidence of people's explanations of what they are doing in their coinherence practices, it would seem that they may well be evidence for the 'subjective turn', but that the practitioners are not entirely subjectively led or inner-directed, as they still feel the need for a community of practice and have a sense of the external promptings of the numinous.
An increasing number of people are beginning to identify themselves as belonging to more than one spiritual tradition – not merely in the sense of selecting attractive ideas from each tradition, but trying to be faithful to the ethos of both traditions.
Questions that might arise about dual or multi-faith practice are whether and how it is possible to combine them, especially if there is potential conflict between their worldviews, or their worldviews are mutually exclusive; how a particular person came to follow more than one tradition; what constitutes membership of a tradition; whether identification with a tradition is sufficient; and whether practising more than one faith is merely part of the 'subjective turn' of contemporary culture. There has been criticism of dual-faith practitioners (e.g. Thurston, 1994), and this may also shed some light on these questions.
In many religions, the idea of practising more than one tradition is uncontroversial – for example, many people practice Wicca and Druidry alongside each other (Carr-Gomm, 2002), or Paganism and Unitarian Universalism (Sealy, 2006), or Buddhism and Shinto (Kuroda, 1981: 3) – but for those faiths which claim the exclusive loyalty of their followers, practising more than one tradition may be seen as deeply problematic.
Combining worldviews
Hayes (2003: 8) identifies four models for an encounter between a missionising religion and an indigenous one:
Rejection. The traditional knowledge is rejected as purely evil.
Dvoeverie. Two incompatible beliefs or worldviews are held side by side, with little or no interaction between them.
Syncretism. The two different beliefs are mingled, to make a third, and new belief, which is different from either component.
Inculturation. Where the original local culture is transformed, and the incoming belief becomes part of it.
He is writing from the perspective of Orthodox Christian missionary endeavours, which seek to respect as far as possible the pre-Christian traditions of the culture being evangelised, and acknowledge that there is good in indigenous traditions. Nevertheless there is a fifth possibility, that instead of trying to convert people of other religions, the traditions agree to co-exist, whilst engaging in dialogue.
A similar example of an encounter between a missionising religion and an indigenous one can be found in the interaction of Buddhism and Shinto. According to Kuroda (1981: 3), Shinto was not a distinct religion prior to the arrival of Buddhism (Shinto was originally a Chinese word signifying any and all folk religion in China, Korea and Japan). In Japan, it is possible to be both Buddhist and Shinto at the same time, because neither world-view necessarily denies the other. This is perhaps similar to Hayes' (2003) model of inculturation, whereby the incoming tradition transforms the indigenous one (though I suspect the process is actually one of mutual transformation).
Examples of religious encounter range from explaining one religion using the symbolism and terminology of another, to a full-blown mingling of the two traditions.
There have been various historical instances of rejection, syncretism, dvoeverie and inculturation. An example of rejection is the Protestant evangelisation of indigenous cultures, where there is a tendency to view the indigenous culture negatively (Hayes, 2003: 8). An example of dvoeverie is the simultaneous belief in Christian and Pagan entities allegedly held by many Russian peasants (Crummey, 1993: 701). Examples of syncretism are the mixing of Buddhist and Shinto themes in Japanese culture (Grayson, 1992: 202), or the practices of Santeria and Voudun. Examples of inculturation include the continuation of pre-Christian ideas within Christianity (McGinn, 1999: 282), or the incorporation of Bön practices within Tibetan Buddhism (Kvaerne, 1972). Of course, the boundaries between these four models will be rather blurred.
It seems that, whenever a religion encounters another religion, a need is felt to make some form of accommodation with the truth claims of the other religion, sometimes by denying them, sometimes by recasting them in the language of one's own tradition, and sometimes by assigning the other religion's holy figure a position in one's own tradition; for example, Hindus regarding Jesus as a 'supremely religious soul' (Woodburne, 1927). The outcome of this process depends on the willingness of the faith communities to co-exist. At the level of the individual, religious belief is always more 'messy' than a cursory examination of the creeds and teachings of the religion would lead one to think:
People's maps of belief are complex and they are shifting all the time. Interfaith encounter is one factor in those shifts, in the mutation of religions. People listen and try to explain. (Morgan, 1995: 163)
More than one form of syncretism can be identified, depending on the relative political and cultural status of the two systems being syncretised. Grayson (1992: 200) defines syncretism as the accommodation made by a world missionary religion (in the context he is discussing, Buddhism) to an 'autocthonous religion' (in this case, the indigenous folk religion of Korea). He further defines two forms of syncretism, 'high' and 'low'. High syncretism is when the core values of the indigenous religion are retained, with only a veneer of the foreign religion; low syncretism is when only the surface trappings of the indigenous religion are retained, and its core values are replaced by those of the foreign religion.
Reverse syncretism (Grayson, 1992: 205) is when an indigenous religion begins to voluntarily incorporate elements of foreign religion into its practice (rather than the missionising religion making a compromise with the indigenous religion). An example here might be the way in which the Pagan revival has incorporated elements of Hindu belief and practice (e.g. chakras) to fill gaps in its repertoire of magical practices.
Another form of syncretism is 'coinherence' (Corless, 1994: 182), where two religions that both make sense to the practitioner are followed side-by-side. In the case of Corless (1994: 181) and other Christo-Buddhists, this seems to be because of the similarity of the two faiths. Corless (1994: 183) held the two traditions in a creative tension, an internal dialogue. This may sound superficially similar to dvoeverie, but in dvoeverie there is said to be little or no interaction between the two faiths in the mind of the practitioner, whereas in coinherence practice, the two are held in dialogue.
There have also been examples of deliberate syncretism, such as Ryōbu Shinto, a formal mixture of Buddhism and Shinto (Grayson, 1992: 202); the reorganisation of Roman paganism in response to Greek and Etruscan paganism (Grayson, 1992: 201); the Romanisation of indigenous deities, for example the cult of Mercury and Rosmerta (Webster, 1997: 326); and the creation of the syncretistic Din-I-Ilahi religion by the Mughal emperor Akbar (Lawrence, 1973: 61).
In a global and post-colonial culture, encounters between faiths no longer occur at the boundaries of their traditional heartlands, but everywhere. The interfaith movement is growing, both in order to make peace between conflicting traditions and to explore the idea that all religions are honouring the same Divine, or numinous (Morgan, 1995: 163).
At the same time, there seems to be a widening polarisation between liberal, tolerant and inclusivist views of religion, and ecstatic or evangelical practices which are frequently associated with fundamentalist and exclusivist views. The people who are attracted to this type of religion tend to long for a stable and ordered society but also want to feel their faith inwardly; however there is evidence for a decline of this sort of religion in England since the 1990s (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 146). Church-going in general has sharply declined in both Britain and the USA (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 56), whereas spirituality in the holistic milieu has been on the increase (Heelas and Woodhead, 2005: 42).
So it seems there are a range of possible responses to diversity: to embrace it and celebrate it; to tolerate it; or to reject it and seek to impose norms. However, no matter how a particular tradition responds to it, it is impossible to ignore it.
Poem: The Earth Child July 18, 2019
Polytheism in Wicca July 8, 2019
Being nonbinary July 7, 2019
Spiritual Books for Kids July 4, 2019
Books I've read in June June 30, 2019
Notable and quotable 16 June 21, 2019
Pride is a Protest June 15, 2019
Steve Wilson June 13, 2019
Notable and quotable 14 June 7, 2019
Pride questionnaire June 6, 2019
Books I've read in May June 1, 2019
Notable and quotable 13 May 31, 2019
Believing Survivors May 30, 2019
200 followers May 28, 2019
Dublin Botanical Gardens May 27, 2019
Dublin Harbour boat trip May 26, 2019
Out and about in Dublin May 25, 2019
Dublin Castle May 24, 2019
Archaeology Museum, Dublin May 23, 2019
Knowth, Ireland May 22, 2019
Greening your business May 22, 2019
Review: Tolkien Movie May 14, 2019
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Don't blame the baby – stretch marks are in your genes! Stretch marks are the price of pregnancy for many women. But some escape without any. Now scientists have uncovered the reason why women suffer such scars - it's all in the genes.
Mbgadget: Don't blame the baby – stretch marks are in your genes!


If you were the one convincing your friends that your meticulously choreographed rain dance designed to make cannabis rain from the heavens would someday work, congratulations, it did. On September 8, an Arizona family awoke to what they initially thought was a clap of thunder, but it turned out to something much more potent.
A bundle of cannabis had somehow fallen from the sky, plummeting through the Donnelly family's carport and smashing a (thankfully empty) dog crate. Since the Donnellys live in Nogales, which is located a few miles from the border between the United States and Mexico, they immediately assumed the sky package contained drugs.
And wouldn't you know it, it did — and they were worth a pretty penny, too. Authorities estimate the 28-pound "air freight" is worth a cool $10,000, and that it was mistakenly dropped too early by a pilot in a small, ultralight aircraft.


Tesco is set to announce a bumper profits haul next week, while the supermarket's staff brace for thousands of job cuts.
City analysts forecast the grocery giant will post a 22 per cent surge in bottom line full year pre-tax profits to £1.6 billion when it reports figures on Wednesday, with sales tipped to jump 12 per cent to £64.5 billion.
Fourth quarter like-for-like sales are also expected to rise by up to 2.2% in the UK, the 13th consecutive period of positive figures.
Strong annual figures follow a stellar December when Tesco emerged as a festive winner, unveiling its best set of Christmas trading figures in nearly a decade.
Nick Coulter, analyst at Citi, said: "While Tesco UK's... Christmas and January performance benefited from successful seasonal and centenary promotional programmes, survey data points to another positive volume out-turn for February as Tesco continues to drive value into its grocery offer."
However, January also saw Tesco announce that up to 9,000 jobs are at risk across its head office and stores as part of a major cost-cutting drive.
Sweeping changes across the business will include a reduction in deli counters, with 90 stores set to lose the service altogether.
In addition to those directly employed by Tesco, the changes will also impact third-party caterers as the company replaces the hot food service in its staff rooms with self-service kitchens.
Consultation with impacted staff is ongoing.
The results will come at a difficult time for the retail sector as consumer confidence takes a knock from Brexit worries.
In addition, supermarkets are battling rising costs and fierce competition in the sector as Lidl and Aldi continue their relentless march.
Sainsbury's and Asda have also agreed to merge, but are sweating on the competition watchdog's approval.
As part of efforts to position Tesco to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing market, chief executive Dave Lewis forked out £3.7 billion to acquire cash-and-carry business Booker and launched Jack's, a discount chain that will supposedly rival the German discounters.
Experts believe the deal will continue to help drive profits.
Daniel Ekstein, analyst at UBS, said: "We think Booker can deliver multi-year profitable growth. The deal plays to Tesco's strengths, addresses Booker's challenges and the customer wins.
"Booker's terms of trade improve as prices are aligned with market leader Tesco, allowing it to sell more competitively.
"Tesco's expertise in fresh and private label credentials, plus its delivery fleet, transforms Booker's capability to deliver meal solutions."


"אִם־בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ .../If you will follow my statues …" (VaYikra 26:3) Chazal teach us that בְּחֻקֹתַי/my statutes, refers to mitzvos that have no apparent reason. "תֵּלֵכוּ/You will follow" on the other hand, from the root הָלוֹךְ/go, implies a reasoned decision. People generally think about where they want to go, decide, then go. It seems that חֹק/statute with הָלוֹךְ/go is an awkward combination.
The Sfas Emes is teaching us that we reach uprightness by performing mitzvos rather than trying to figure it out for ourselves. We use our intelligence to understand what we must do to submit to God's will.
Clarifying the point further, Chazal tell us that regarding words of Torah a person should make himself like an ox to a yoke and a donkey to a burden. The Sfas Emes explains that just as an ox must go wherever the yoke leads him, so a person should follow the will of God wherever it leads him. Just as a donkey carries his burden, so a person carries with him the entire Creation which is elevated because of him.
This double comparison exactly parallels learning Torah and performing mitzvos. We need to learn Torah to determine the will of God and follow it just as an ox is lead by the yoke. When we learn Torah with this in mind, our actions are influenced as well. We take a moment before a mitzvah to consider, "I am doing God's will." Then our actions are elevated and become a vehicle for elevating the entire Creation just as the donkey carries his burden.
The results are illustrated in the next pesukim which describe a world of plenty. Our actions, with the proper intent, draw the power of Torah into the physical world even to the point where barren trees, representing the lowest most impure places, are imbued with that power and give fruit.
 BaMidbar R. 19:6 The prohibition against wearing a garment made of linen and wool, for example, is a decree having no apparent reason. It is a חֹק/statute.


text:
How platforms built for kids are giving them a political voice
Mike Hutchison
Kids Insights , Kidtech , PopJam
2017 was the year of the "youthquake." Millennials and Gen-Zers were dismissed as too busy taking selfies and eating avocados to vote; but the UK general election saw the 18-24 year old turnout reach a 25-year high.
In fact, there's been a noticeable trend of increasing youth political participation; from the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum where 75% of 16-17 year olds turned out, to Virginia's 2017 gubernatorial election where young people voted in historic numbers.
What's this got to do with kids' social platforms? Hear me out.
Young voters are more opinionated, politically conscious and socially engaged than they have been in decades – but why? One theory suggests that the development and growth of social media usage over the last decade has been a key catalyst for change. Since January 2014 there has been a 6% growth in social media users in the UK – there are now 38 million active social media users across the country.
You only need look at the extent of the Labour campaign across social media to see the impact social media usage had on increasing youth turnout: Jeremy Corbyn's Facebook page saw 4,360,000 engagements from May 8 to June 8, compared to Theresa May's 554,000 engagements.
Corbyn's team also posted significantly more: from May 17 to June 8 they posted 217 times, compared to May's 57 posts. It's no surprise, then, that 18-24 year olds came forward on polling day to cast their vote for the Labour party, tipping the scale back in their direction and assisting them to a 30-seat increase in one of the most shocking election results of recent years. Social media platforms not only help to keep their users in the loop with political news updates, but allow for voters to experience a deeper, more personal level of connectivity with campaigns.
What kids need is a place where they can express their opinions to an audience who want to hear what they have to say.
All of that said, the youth vote remains significantly lower than that of any other age group. Evidently, a huge number of young people remain disengaged from the political process and feel unable to make their voices heard. Are we not teaching our youth the importance of having and expressing opinions at an early enough age?
At home and at school, kids often find their opinions swept aside and ignored. Lacking education in how to communicate their dissatisfactions assertively – but not disrespectfully – they can find that contradicting adult opinion results in punishment. Perhaps then, this is a reason why so many young adults lack the confidence or ability to voice their concerns, and are uninterested in political processes.
What kids need is a place where they can express their opinions to an audience who want to hear what they have to say. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are out of the question – their lack of moderation and data collection practices make them absolutely unsafe for the under-13 digital audience. Should we therefore be looking at further developing safe, moderated, kid-friendly social media networks, so that this generation of kids can develop into a future generation of engaged and informed young adults?
On PopJam, our under-13 social media platform, we regularly see kids in our community developing their social skills and learning how to effectively articulate their opinions.
On a weekly basis, tens of thousands of kids on PopJam run campaigns on their channels explaining why they should be appointed a Neon Star. Neon Stars are leaders in our community – kids chosen personally by our community team, and differentiated with the Neon Star badge next to their username. It's a reward and responsibility given to those we identify as being the most active, engaged, and positive members of our community.
In return, they're given frequent shoutouts, featured next to influencers and brands in the platform, and their channels tend to grow in followers exponentially. With incentives like these, kids are desperate to reach Neon Star status. We encourage the kids to catch our attention by running campaigns on their channels using the hashtags #NeedANeon and #NominateForNeon, explaining why they fit our criteria and encouraging support from their followers and friends.
Neon Star campaign posts and nominations!
They can even directly petition PopJam Staff – our community and content team, who also have channels – and thereby cut out the middleman. Recognition and opportunities to promote themselves like this are rarely available IRL.
Further to this, we frequently see our users running campaigns to demand new features and improvements. Kids as young as 6 are learning to encourage comments and shares on their posts to increase the visibility of their campaigns, and are effectively identifying the influential figures on the platform – staff, Neons, Daily Challenge winners – whose support will bolster their message.
Demands for a colour wheel!
Those who do not initiate campaigns themselves are engaging and showing support to others by commenting and heart-ing (liking) these posts. For example, as our platform heavily revolves around drawing tools, we saw multiple campaigns asking for a colour wheel with enormous support from the community at large.
Kids excited that their campaign for a colour wheel was successful!
When we responded to this demand by installing a colour wheel tool, we saw an overwhelmingly positive response from the kids – not just about the colour wheel itself, but at having had their opinions listened to, respected, and responded to.
On the flip side, the kids also know how to express their discontent when we fail to be transparent with them. Like all platforms we have occasional bugs – and can't always fix them quickly. Initiated by one of our Neon Stars, one campaign has gained enormous traction on PopJam – somewhat melodramatically (but effectively!) named #SaveUs – through which kids are campaigning for a save button for their art. We have a hashtag following feature, and #SaveUs is our most followed hashtag.
As you can see, the kids are very assertive and persuasive in their demand for a save button and are very clever about how they demonstrate their opinions – from posting illustrative storyboards, to writing emotional appeals.
#SaveUs – Posts campaigning for a save button!
They also aren't shy about calling us out. Although in school they might never dare to criticise their teacher, on PopJam they feel confident enough to shame us for not being transparent and treating them like adults. Very persuasively.
A user criticising us for lack of transparency regarding bugs and glitches.
We don't take away user privileges or ban kids for complaining on PopJam. PopJam is THEIRS, and we both respect and encourage their right to air their grievances. We also love to see posts suggesting features, and use their feedback to plan PopJam's future.
When we don't respond in a community post our staff can reply individually to users, assuring them that they are heard and are a part of the conversation. We treat our users like individual, thinking, intelligent members of a global community, and from this they learn the importance of their own voice in effecting change.
Social lessons like these are invaluable for kids as they develop into intelligent, confident, engaging adults. If kids find their voices ineffective at home and school, no wonder so many 18-25 year olds have grown up to be apathetic and disengaged. On a safe social media platform built for the under-13 digital audience, kids have a safe space to develop and express opinions. Our hope is that they will be able to confidently draw upon this experience of nominations, voting, and campaigning when they are called upon as adults to make their voices heard.
Michaela Jefferson is a Content Producer for PopJam, the largest kid-safe social content platform.


I'm back to blogging.. again. :) We lost Internet last week and finally got it fixed today. If you're like me, that is a crisis that severely limits daily functionality! I totally went through an Internet detox!! LOL Not proud of it, but I'll be the first to admit I depend on the Internet, email, Facebook, and social media connection on a daily basis. [A quick disclaimer, that I do this all in the right balance to make sure my little man is well taken care of and he always gets my first attention and time every single day. :) We are an Attachment Parenting family and our child always comes first!] But any free time I have during the day goes to the computer. I learned this because last week my house got REALLY clean with all that don't-know-what-to-do-with-myself time.
I'm happy to be wired up again and have another dessert recipe for you that we enjoyed over the holidays. It's another remake of a traditional, the pear upside-down cake. Hope you enjoy it! It's perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!
1.) Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with coconut oil and set aside. Cut the pears in half, then quarters, then core each quarter. Remove the stems and butts, then cut each quarter into 2 or 3 wedges (depending on thickness of your pear). In a small bowl, toss together pear slices with lemon juice, raw honey, and cinnamon. Let sit while you prepare the cake batter.
2.) In a stand mixer, cream together the coconut oil and stevia. Add eggs one at a time with mixer on low speed, scraping down the bowl as needed. Finally, add the molasses.
3.) With the mixer on low speed, add in remaining dry ingredients/spices one at a time.
5.) Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center, comes out clean. To serve cake right side up, let the cake cool in pan until completely room temperature. Run a knife around the edges of the pan. Place a plate over the top of the pan, and holding the plate with your fingers and the cake pan with your thumbs, flip the cake pan over, and remove gently (you may need to give it a little shake to release).
Kudos to you for creating this delicious and moist cake! I'll have to pace myself from having another piece.


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text:
The lamentations of the rich
By Alex Lantier & David North
(source: World Socialist WebSite)
Recent months have seen the eruption of popular anger throughout the United States at the staggering levels of social inequality, with the Occupy Wall Street protests gathering broad popular sympathy and support.
This development, unforeseen and unscripted by the media, has left Wall Street's "masters of the universe" wallowing not only in money, but also in self-pity. What have they done, complain these tender-hearted architects of hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and countless other forms of financial swindling, to merit such popular disdain? The Financial Times web site reported in an article posted Wednesday that the rich are "indignant," resentful of the "class war" rhetoric that is being heard in public protests.
The protesters, they argue, have been misled into believing that higher taxes and the imposition of limits on the accumulation of personal wealth would have any significant impact on the national debt. The attention being given to their multi-million- and even billion-dollar annual winnings, the indignant rich maintain, is without the slightest economic justification.
According to Steven Schwarzman (CEO of private equity/corporate raider firm Blackstone Group), whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $4.7 billion, "Just raising taxes on the wealthiest two percent, for example, will not reduce a $1.3 trillion annual deficit enough to restore fiscal balance."
Given the billions that he has raked in on Wall Street, Mr. Schwarzman seems strangely deficient in arithmetic. Prior to the Wall Street crash of 2008, the richest one percent of the population owned approximately $19 trillion in US financial assets. A moderate surcharge of, let's say, 30 percent would have a rather significant impact on not only US deficits, but global deficits as well.
More radical—and, given the circumstances, fully justified—measures, such as the confiscation of the personal wealth of the richest 0.1 percent of Americans, would release immense resources to deal not only with deficits, but with the massive social crisis in the United States and throughout the world.
The obscene level of wealth concentration in the United States is the malignant expression of the protracted decay of American capitalism. Thesuper-rich investment bankers, Wall Street traders, and hedge fund operators are nothing more than the personification of the rampant economic parasitism that arose out of this decay. The essence of this parasitism is the ever-greater separation of personal wealth accumulation from the process of production and the creation of real value.
In the era of the explosive development of American capitalism, which began in the aftermath of the Civil War, the great fortunes accumulated by the "robber barons" were associated with a massive growth in the industrial and social infrastructure of the United States. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan and others were rapacious and ruthless; but they could at least claim that there was some progressive social purpose connected to their pursuit of private wealth.
That age is long past. The wealth of today's super-rich is bound up withthe destruction, not the development, of the productive forces. The riches of these few depend on the impoverishment of hundreds of millions. In fact, the Financial Times reported last week that "the share of US national income that goes to workers as wages rather than toinvestors as profits and interest" has fallen to its lowest level sincethe end of World War II. The precipitous fall of the workers' share of the national income below the post-war average translates into an annualcollective wage loss in 2011 of $740 billion—approximately $5,000 per worker. That staggering amount has been funneled into the salaries and investment accounts of the super-rich.
Despite this fact, the indignant rich argue that it would make no economic sense to disturb their wealth. But every day, in the United States and throughout the world, the media they own and the politicians they bribe demand and implement cuts in wages and the slashing of budgets that fund essential social services.
The economic and social crisis in the United States and throughout the world cannot be addressed by reforms, such as a change in tax rates, which seek within the framework of capitalism a less irrational distribution of the national income. However justified such a measure would be, if only as an initial step toward more fundamental change, thelords of Wall Street and the corporate conglomerates will not accept any reform that threatens their domination of economic life and pursuit of limitless personal riches. Like all ruling classes whose interests are antagonistic to the needs of society as a whole, they will defend what they perceive to be their interests without restraint and without mercy. This is the social instinct that underlies the lowering of workers' living standards, the systematic erosion of democratic rights, and the ever-more reckless resort to war as a means of securing the ruling elite's global economic interests.
In the course of the past year, ever-growing numbers of youth and older workers have begun to realize that there is a burning need for a profound change in society. The popularity of the call for social equality testifies to the basically socialistic impulse that motivates the growing social movement. Of course, this impulse has not yet assumedthe form of a conscious movement for socialism. But as the scale and scope of the social movement expands, the impulse will become a program of action: for the nationalization of the banks and major corporations, the expropriation of economically irrational and socially-destructive personal fortunes, the establishment of workers' power, the ending of capitalism and the creation of a global socialist society.
The super-rich complain that they are confronted with class war? They haven't seen anything yet.


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Q: ISNULL function confusion l am wondering about what "=YES" means
case when ISNULL (sales_id, 'NO') ='YES' then 1 else 0;

I got what ISNULL means but the remaining part after yes is little confusing to get.

A: This logic is exactly equivalent to:
(case when sales_id = 'YES' then 1 else 0 end);

(well, this fixes a syntax error -- the missing end)
The isnull() is doing nothing, because a null value doesn't match anyway.  The more common function for this purpose is coalesce().
Note:  This assumes that sales_id is a string.  I suspect the logic that is actually intended is:
(case when sales_id is not null then 1 else 0 end);

A: Let's ignore, for a moment, the presence of the IFNULL call. If we do so we get
CASE WHEN SALES_ID = 'YES' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END

What this CASE expression is doing is translating a 'YES' in the SALES_ID column to 1, and translating any other non-NULL value in the SALES_ID column to 0. Without further context I don't know why this is being done, but that's the purpose of this expression.
The IFNULL call is needed because apparently SALES_ID can be NULL, and because of the way NULL is treated in a comparison or other operation. Think of it this way: NULLs are poison. Any operation with NULL returns NULL. Adding NULL to a number returns NULL. Multiplying by, dividing by, or subtracting NULL returns...NULL. NULLs poison operations. Comparisons work the same way - a comparison with NULL returns NULL. Not "equal". Not "not equal". The comparison returns NULL. So we don't want to do operations or comparisons with NULL because it will cause our code to do strange things - mostly, we'll get back NULL where we expected to get something else, and that will cause us to scratch our heads, pound our fists upon the table, scream, shout, cry, laugh (maniacally), contemplate calling down the wrath of (your favorite deity) from upon high, etc. So, we don't want to do operations on NULL. So to avoid all these potentially bad results (although, y'know, every once in a while I think that a little wrath-o-god unleashed upon some of my co-workers would be...appropriate...but, still... :-) we use IFNULL. In this case, IFNULL(SALES_ID, 'NO') means "If SALES_ID is NULL, give me back 'NO'. Otherwise, give me back the value of SALES_ID, whatever that may be".
So, there you are. Best of luck.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Using her then box-type cellular phone with a 15-minute battery life, my unassuming mother delivered the good news that would ultimately lay down my career path.
She could not stop thanking me profusely.
"Dok, maraming maraming salamat po sa lahat ng tulong ninyo sa anak ko," she said, one hand clutching both handkerchief and rosary, the other stroking her son's forehead. I had just signed the necessary discharge orders and I approached my patient to remove the thin tube sticking out of the back of his head. The tube was inserted in the operating room to drain excessive cerebrospinal fluid. It would serve no purpose now.
I never liked going on duty on Sundays. Sundays are never quiet in the hospital. Somehow, people get into all sorts of trouble and find a convenient excuse to drag themselves to the hospital on a day that used to be dedicated to attending mass, rest, and mellow music on the radio.
"Good morning, Dok!" he would always say in the morning when we did our rounds. Despite being 18 years old, his voice was a high-pitched squeak of a boy reaching puberty — awkward, but always happy and thankful nevertheless. It was one of the effects of his brain tumor, in addition to his short stature and delayed maturation of physical appearance. Any stranger would incorrectly guess his age to be no more than 12 or 13.
Every day begins at 5:30 am. As I walk past the charity wards on the way to the Neurosurgical Special Care Unit, I mumble a short prayer asking for a little more kindness and a little less impatience. That has become my morning habit. I used to wish for fewer patients, until I realized that I didn't need the daily disappointment, and thus directed my morning offering to self-improvement instead.
Suot ang toga at hawak ang kunwaring diploma, mahirap bilangin kung ilang daang araw na nga ba ang lumipas mula nang una kang tumayo sa harap ni Lady Med. Natapos ka rin, sa wakas.
Tuwing magdu-duty ako sa ER, kasama sa mga trabaho ko bilang intern ang pag-upo sa triage. Ito ang pambungad na mesa kung saan kailangan kong tulungan ang triage officer, karaniwang ER resident o kaya ay rotator mula sa ibang department, na harapin ang mga pasyenteng kumukonsulta sa ER ng PGH. Sa loob ng itinakdang oras, kami ang magpapasya kung ang pasyente ay kailangang i-admit, papuntahin sa outpatient department, o palipatin sa ibang ospital. Ito ang trabahong hindi ko kailanman nagustuhan.


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'SNL' Alum Abby Elliott Is Expecting First Child With Husband Billy Kennedy
By Jackie Willis 1:16 PM PDT, September 4, 2020
David Livingston/Getty Images
Abby Elliott is going to be a mom very soon! The Saturday Night Live alum announced on Instagram that she and her husband, Billy Kennedy, are expecting their first child.
Elliott shared a selfie of her and Kennedy in celebration of their four-year anniversary, as well as a pic of her growing baby bump. "Happy 4 Years my love! Here's to many more wonderful adventures with you— the greatest one of all coming next month❤," she captioned the post.
Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy was taken aback by the news, commenting, "OMG! 🥰🥰🥰"
A post shared by Abby Elliott Kennedy (@lilcutieforever)
Earlier this year, Elliott was very open on The Kelly Clarkson Show about how she and her husband were trying to have a baby via IVF treatments. The 33-year-old actress joked that her Valentine's Day would be "very romantic" as Kennedy would have to give her hormone "shots in [her] butt."
"The hormones are very intense, and so many people go through this and we don't talk about it enough, I think, as women," she told Clarkson. "We need to raise more understanding and awareness."
Elliott, who has shared on social media in the past that she froze five embryos, also took to Instagram to talk about her fertility struggles.
"This is an emotionally difficult process but in my case talking about it and hearing other people's stories has made me feel less alone," she wrote. "To anyone going through infertility, you are so strong.❤"
Another celebrity that has been very candid about her IVF journey is Amy Schumer. Here's a look at what she told ET about her pregnancy and trying for another child.
Amy Schumer on Sharing Uncomfortable Moments in 'Expecting Amy' (Exclusive)
Amy Schumer 'Feels Lucky' to Have One Embryo as She Shares Update on IVF Journey
Amy Schumer Posts Photo About Undergoing IVF and Says She's 'Figuring Out' How to Have Another Child
Kristen Wiig on 'Isolating' IVF Struggles & Quarantining With Her Kids
Baby On Board! Find Out Which Celebs Are Expecting
Pregnancies


ISTANBUL—Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, representative of the Armenian Church at the Vatican and Shahe Ananyan, Director of the Inter-Church relations Department of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara on Monday to discuss the election of the Istanbul Patriarch, which has been marred by government interference that has created tensions within the Patriarchate. Agos first reported on the meeting, which was also Patriarchate's Vicar-General Archbishop Aram Ateshian, who has been at the center of controversy for effectively carrying out the government's wishes.
According to Agos, the Patriarchate issued a statement saying a "sincere" dialogue took place during the hour-long meeting, during which Çavuşoğlu said that the state was following the developments of the election closely, but urged patience by the church's leadership.
"The minister received us very warmly and I made it clear that my goal was not to interfere from outside, but express our concerns and understand the ways we can be useful," Archbishop Barsamian, who is the former Primate of Eastern Diocese, told Agos.
"The minister said that he also understands that it's a problem and noted that the state also wants the Patriarchal elections to take place, but it was necessary to wait a little for that," added Barsamian without specifying the reasons for the delay.
After the Istanbul Patriarch Archbishop Mesrop Mutafian was declared unable to carry out his duties due to illness, the Patriarchate's religious council came up with a timetable to hold the elections. To facilitate this effort, Archbishop Karekin Bekjian was elected Locum Tenens of the Patriarchate. However, the Istanbul Governor's office, acting on orders from Ankara, deemed the election unlawful and installed Ateshian as Vicar-General, prompting Bekjian's retreat from his elected position.
Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament representing the People's Democratic Party (HDP) has raised the issue of the election of a Patriarch in the legislature and has called for official Ankara to allow the Armenian community to carry out the elections on its own terms.


text:
Arthur Bennett (1 December 1884 – 9 November 1918) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played in three first-class matches for Wellington from 1913 and 1918.

See also
 List of Wellington representative cricketers

References

External links

1884 births
1918 deaths
New Zealand cricketers
Wellington cricketers
Cricketers from Wellington City

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
SPECIALIZED NEWS
WHO RECEIVED THE FIRST BATCH OF COVID-19 VACCINES IMPORTED TO VIETNAM?
Post author By BP Logistics
Post date 19 February, 2021
Why did Vietnam choose to import AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and how to allocate when more than 4.8 million doses of the first vaccine returned to Vietnam?
Early delivery of COVID – 19 vaccine to people
At the end of February, the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Vietnam. Will the vaccine allocation mechanism ensure fairness for poor countries?
Currently, the Ministry of Health is ready to receive more than 4.8 million doses of aid vaccine from the global outreach mechanism. Vietnam is one of the first countries to receive aid. It is expected that about 5 million people, including those on the frontlines against the epidemic, will receive their first injection. AstraZeneca is a vaccine approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization. This decision will give the green light for the distribution of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to low-income countries through the COVAX mechanism.
Ass. Dr. Le Van Truyền – Chairman of the Advisory Council granted the registration certificate of circulation of drugs and medicinal materials, former Deputy Minister of Health said, after reviewing the expert's appraisal opinion, as well as after the 12 panel members discussed during the 3-hour meeting, The Advisory Council has agreed to agree to be presented to the Minister of Health approved the licensing of AstraZeneca's AZD1222 vaccine due to the urgent need to prevent COVID-19 in Vietnam.
This vaccine has the advantage of being stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius, which means it can be stored in the refrigerator, unlike many other vaccines that must be stored at -80 degrees Celsius – which is difficult to have. can be guaranteed in many countries when organizing a large-scale vaccination. AstraZeneca already has production facilities in the UK, Italy and Germany. Recently, AstraZeneca has transferred technology, cooperating with India, Thailand and Korea. AstraZeneca also participated in the COVAX program initiated by WHO ", Mr. Truyen explained why Vietnam chose AstraZeneca.
Mr. Truyền added: "The importer and distributor of COVID-19 vaccine can be a business but must have experience and financial potential because of the large number of imports. In addition, this unit needs to have a warehouse meeting the standards required by the manufacturer, capable of distributing to the State, the Ministry of Health, organizing vaccination to support the State system.
Regarding who is vaccinated with the first batch of vaccine, the National Committee for COVID Prevention and Control will propose priority to who first. In my opinion, the cost of injections for the priority subjects comes from the State budget ".
There are currently two vaccines for COVID-19 in the country: NanoCovax and Covivax. In March, Covivac was clinically tested for phase 1 and NanoCovax was tested in phase 2. Previously, NanoCovax had a phase 1 clinical trial and was rated safe, creating a good immune response, effective for SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
Source: cafef.vn
← PETROL PRICES TODAY FEBRUARY 19: UNEXPECTEDLY FALLING DESPITE SHARP DROP IN INVENTORIES → VIETNAM WAS RANKED 2ND FOR SUCCESSFULLY HANDLING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, AND ITS CONTACT TRACING WAS SO GOOD IT BARELY HAD TO LOCK DOWN


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Nine9 is Revolutionizing the Entertainment Scene by Helping Models and Actors to Succeed in It
May 4, 2017 Business People, Business Successadmin
The nine9 Unagency is a brainchild of Anthony Toma. He serves in the position of chief executive officer of this innovative company. He recently had a privilege of sharing his personal and career story with ideamensch.
Origin of the idea to establish Nine9
Toma came up with the concept of building Nine9 when he was still running a grocery business. In his quest to identify profitable opportunities in the food sector, Toma bumped into an agency that focused on acting and modeling matters. He decided to acquire the business, studied it, and eventually expanded it by opening up to 26 branches across the nation.
A look at Toma's typical day
CEO Anthony Toma begins his day by preparing his children and taking them to school. Upon arriving at the office, he prepares the schedule for the day, replies to emails, and then jumps on social media to acquaint himself with current trends.
Developing ideas and executing them
CEO Toma pens down ideas that come to his mind, identify strengths and weaknesses of the idea, and then shares it with his team. At times, Toma and his team may put the idea online, carry out some tests, and eventually launch it and more information click here.
What is Nine9?
he Nine9 is reputable Unagency that helps actors and models established professional and well-paying careers in the entertainment sector. The organization delivers innovative tools, lucrative opportunities, and unwavering support that assist entertainers in starting and developing their careers. When Nine9 began its official operations, its main agenda was to offer tools and necessary resources for all ambitious talent to succeed in their endeavors.
Over a decade or so, Nine9 has grown drastically to become an esteemed authority in casting throughout the nation. The firm leverages cutting-edge technology and committed staff with more than ten years of experience to nurture strong client relationships, organize events, and offer reliable advice. The Unagency boasts a competent staff that upholds the virtues of kindness, honesty, and respect when dealing with clients and what Nine9 knows.
More visit: https://www.facebook.com/nine9dallas/
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