text:
US President Donald Trump speaks, flanked by Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner (L), during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 2, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)MANDEL NGAN
Capitol Attack
Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Probably Won't Be Splitting a Milkshake With Two Straws Any Time Soon
The former first son-in-law reportedly gave the House January 6 committee "valuable" and "helpful" information about the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol.
In the nine months since the House of Representatives formed a select committee to investigate the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, numerous members of Donald Trump's inner circle have refused to cooperate, preferring instead to risk contempt of Congress charges than reveal what is, more than likely, extremely damaging information about the former president. Surprisingly not among them? Jared Kushner, who was apparently more than happy to bring investigators up to speed on what he knows.
NBC News reports that Kushner—husband of Ivanka, son-in-law of Donald, and former senior White House adviser—met virtually with the panel on Thursday for more than six hours, after voluntarily agreeing to speak with the committee. While Trump family members have been known in the past to meet with officials investigating the ex-president only to plead the Fifth hundreds of times, Kushner reportedly saw no reason to stonewall the group. Though the details of what he revealed are not known at this time, Virginia Democratic representative Elaine Luria told MSNBC the former first son-in-law provided the panel with "really valuable" information. Speaking to NPR, Luria said, "I think that the committee really appreciates hearing information directly from people who have relevant facts about January 6, and the fact that Jared Kushner came as a witness is helpful to building the story of our investigation."
Kushner was en route back to Washington from Saudi Arabia while the Capitol was being attacked, but the panel is obviously also interested in the events leading up to the insurrection (for example, Trump's monthslong campaign to convince people a second term had been stolen from him, and attempts to get Mike Pence to block the certification of Joe Biden's win.) According to NBC News, "the panel had been expected to inquire about Trump's false claims that he won the election and other information related to the deadly attack on the Capitol," as well as "any dealings [Kushner] had with Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in the lead-up to Jan. 6." (Last week, The Washington Post revealed that the committee was in possession of more than two dozen text messages between Thomas and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows re: overturning the election. One of them, from November 13, 2020, seemingly referred to Kushner, with Thomas writing: "Just forwarded to yr gmail an email I sent Jared this am. Sidney Powell & improved coordination now will help the cavalry come and Fraud exposed and America saved." Powell, of course, is the unhinged Trump attorney who promoted claims like "there is a secret server that all the votes go to where they [are] manipulate[d].")
In June, CNN reported that an alleged chilliness had developed between Jared and Ivanka and the 45th president, supposedly, in part, over the couple's annoyance that Trump wouldn't stop harping about the 2020 election. Having said that, they apparently had no issue following him to Florida and spending the summer at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where their accommodations are "separated by mere tens of feet." It should also never, ever be forgotten that the duo's go-to move while working in the administration was to literally flee the scene any time there was blowback for something extra bad Trump did, in apparent hopes people would forget they were senior advisers to the president. And, to date, they have never publicly declared that Biden won the election fair and square. So no one should be hailing Kushner as some kind of hero or defender of democracy.
Nevertheless, Kushner's apparent helpfulness to the committee—which could change should he be asked to turn over documents—is in stark contrast to numerous other insiders. In November, former senior White House adviser Stephen Bannon was criminally charged for ignoring a subpoena from the panel. In January, the House voted to hold Meadows in criminal contempt, after he initially said he would cooperate—and turned over thousands of pages of documents—before abruptly changing his mind. And just this week, the panel unanimously voted to hold former Trump advisers Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro in contempt of Congress. According to the committee, it is in talks with Ivanka Trump for her to answer questions, but a final agreement has not been reached. "The expectation is that it will take place, as to when I can't tell you right now, I know we are engaging her as a committee," chairman Bennie Thompson said Wednesday. In a letter sent to the former first daughter in January, the committee noted that she was in the Oval Office during a phone call between her father and Mike Pence on the morning of January 6. That's the phone call the president reportedly told his V.P. he didn't have "the courage" to block the certification of Biden's win. Rep. Liz Cheney has also said the committee had "firsthand testimony" that Ivanka asked her father "at least twice" to stop the riot. (For her part Ivanka tweeted that day "the violence must stop," which would have meant more if she hadn't initially addressed the people attacking the Capitol as "American patriots.")
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Nothing to see here, just the wife of a Supreme Court justice telling the executive branch who to hire and fire
Ginni Thomas sees your "separations of power" and raises you a "but what if there weren't separations of power"? Per the Daily Beast:
On multiple occasions throughout the Trump era, Thomas would show up in the White House, sometimes for a private meeting or a luncheon with the president. She often came armed with written memos of who she and her allies believed Trump should hire for plum jobs—and who she thought Trump should promptly purge—that she distributed to Trump and other high-ranking government officials.
The fire lists were particularly problematic, as they were frequently based on pure conjecture, rumor, or score-settling, where even steadfastly MAGA aides were targeted for being part of the "Deep State" or some other supposedly anti-Trump coalition, according to people who saw them during the Trump administration. The hire lists were so often filled with infamous bigots and conspiracy theorists, woefully under-qualified names, and obvious close friends of Thomas that several senior Trump aides would laugh at them—that is, until Trump would force his staff to put certain names through the official vetting process, three sources familiar with the matter said…. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
"These fucking lists were so insane and unworkable," a former Trump White House official told the Daily Beast. "A lot of them were dripping with paranoia and read like they were written by a disturbed person." Which, based on the text messages we now know Thomas sent the former White House chief off staff—like the one in which she quoted a right-wing website's claims that the Biden family had been "arrested" and would be "living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition," sounds pretty apt!
GOP Senate candidate unconcerned about getting caught telling bold-faced lie
Time was, candidates for office would be deeply embarrassed and/or ashamed for reporters to find out that a story they'd told multiple times over the years was a flat-out lie. But in the post-truth world the GOP lives in? It's water off a duck's back and anyone trying to claim otherwise can go f--k themselves. Per CNN's KFILE:
For years, Herschel Walker has told the same inspiring story: that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia. He's told the story, according to a review of his speeches by CNN's KFile, during motivational speeches over the years and as recently as 2017. The only problem: it's not true…. Walker did not graduate from Georgia, where he was a star running back after entering as a prized high school recruit.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Walker told KFILE that voters won't care that the Senate candidate repeatedly lied about his history. "There is not a single voter in Georgia who believes that whether Herschel graduated at the 'top of his class' or as Valedictorian 40 years ago has any bearing on his ability to be a great United States Senator," Mallory Blount insisted. Asked why the campaign recently removed a reference to him graduating valedictorian from the University of Georgia, Walker's campaign manager, Scott Paradise, told KFILE, "Multiple reporters wrote about this 40 years ago. If you have a problem with what they wrote, please contact them. If you have a difficult time getting in touch with them, ask yourself why you are asking such a stupid question."
In addition to lying about his background, Herschel recently suggested the jury was still out on evolution. So he really ticks all the GOP boxes.
Joe Biden asks Trump how do you like dem…deficit reductions
Remind us again, is it better to be above the x-axis or below the x-axis?
Elsewhere!
As Russia drafts young men, some fear ending up on Ukraine's front line (The Washington Post)
Ron DeSantis Is Threatening Disney With Regulations Because It Spoke Out Against Florida's Anti-LBGTQ Law (V.F.)
Amazon Union Win in NYC Holds Potential to Spread Far and Wide (Bloomberg)
House passes bill decriminalizing marijuana; Senate fortunes unclear (The Washington Post)
The latest threat to democracy? A Trump-backed candidate willing to "find extra votes" (The Guardian)
Scoop: Jen Psaki planning to leave White House this spring for MSNBC gig (The Hill)
Madison Cawthorn to speak at North Carolina Trump rally (The Hill)
Robot dog patrolling the ruins of ancient Italian city Pompeii (UPI)
The Oscars Swag Bag Was $137,000 Worth of the Weirdest Gifts Known to Man (Jezebel)
— Fox News Hosts Entertained Putin-Friendly Talking Points. Then Their Colleagues Were Killed in Ukraine
— The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio
— Kremlin Keeps Blurring Its Red Line Around Nuclear War
— Calls for Recusals, Resignations, and Even Impeachment: Democrats Escalate Ethics Campaign Around Clarence Thomas
— Two Ukrainian AP Journalists Capture the Most Devastating Moments of War
— Trump: If I Was President I'd Threaten to Drop a Nuclear Bomb on Russia
— What Will Dems Do If Biden Doesn't Run?
— Orgies, Beheadings, Jewish Space Lasers: Everything Kevin McCarthy Has Had to "Speak" to Republican Lawmakers About
— The Truth Behind Republicans' Vile Questioning of Ketanji Brown Jackson
— From the Archive: Molly Bloom's House of Cards
Politics Correspondent
Bess Levin is a politics correspondent at Vanity Fair. An essential voice of our current tragicomedy, she is an incisive, hilarious daily narrator of the horrors that never seem to stop. If you need catharsis in these terrifying times—or even if you don't!—she is a must-read. You can follow her... Read more
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Levin Report
Report: Jared and Ivanka Aren't Winning Any Popularity Contests With Florida Neighbors
There have been complaints.
You Scratch My Back...
Jared Kushner's Saudi Ass-Kissing and Murder-Excusing Is About to Pay Off
The former first son-in-law is poised to receive a very large check from his Saudi pals, and all he had to do was let them get away with murder.
Jared Kushner's Most Unexpected Photo Ops
Kushner once was just a rich boy hobnobbing with the liberal elite.
By Erika Harwood


A total number of 10 analysts provided estimations over revenues.
The highest price FTR stock touched in the last 12 month was $53.7 and the lowest price it hit in the same period was $6.08. The company has managed to keep price to sales ratio of 0.06. The business is scheduled to report its next quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th.
Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR) opened the session with a $7.35 price tag, later ranging from $7.18 to $7.4, the range at which the stock has traded at throughout the day.
Windstream Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIN), stock is trading $8.35 above the 52-week high and has displayed a high EPS growth of -32.70% in last 5 years.
Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR) have shown a high EPS growth of -40.40% in the last 5 years and has earnings decline of -72.30% yoy. Frontier Communications Corporation has been given an analysts' mean target of 13.34. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that Frontier Communications will post -4.16 earnings per share for the current year. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter past year. Finally, Vetr downgraded Frontier Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $13.35 price target for the company.in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. The sales growth rate helps investors determine how strong the overall growth-orientation is for a stock or portfolio. Frontier Communications had 39 analyst reports since August 4, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel.
Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR) has the market capitalization of $659.27 Million. Below is a list of Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) latest ratings and price target changes. Out of 4 Wall Street analysts rating Frontier Communications, 0 give it "Buy", 0 "Sell" rating, while 4 recommend "Hold". Frontier Communications Corporation now has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $2.97.
Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) belongs to Technology sector, shares plunged -5.12% to close at $7.42. The company has a market cap of $565.68, a PE ratio of -0.52 and a beta of 0.52. The return on equity (ROE), also known as return on investment (ROI), is the best measure of the return, since it is the product of the operating performance, asset turnover, and debt-equity management of the firm. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th.
For the trailing twelve months, this company is paying dividend with the payout ratio of 33.29% to its shareholders. The number of shares now owned by investors are 244.43 mln. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Frontier Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $113,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.90% of the company's stock. State Street Corp now owns 49,574,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,507,000 after buying an additional 6,445,036 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Frontier Communications by 204.3% during the second quarter. The stock decreased 5.12% or $0.4 during the last trading session, reaching $7.42. Finally, UBS AG reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Frontier Communications Corporation in a research note on Thursday, May 4th.
Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: This piece was originally reported by Week Herald and is owned by of Week Herald. If you are viewing this news story on another publication, it was stolen and republished in violation of United States and global trademark and copyright legislation. The companyÂ's Telephonics segment designs, develops, makes, and provides logistical support and lifecycle sustainment services; and intelligence, surveillance, and communications solutions to defense, aerospace, and commercial customers. The firm also provides broadband, Ethernet, traditional circuit-based, data and optical transport, and voice services, as well as Multiprotocol Label Switching and Time Division Multiplexing services to small business, medium business, and larger enterprises, as well as sells customer premise equipment.
Deux des quatre affiches des quarts de finale de la Champions Cup sont déjà connues. Teddy Thomas et le Racing 92 ont battu Leicester, ce dimanche.
Mais les Grenats, qui veulent se sauver de la relégation, restaient sur trois victoires et un nul en championnat. Cinq minutes après retour des vestiaires, le portier de Metz sera exclu pour une faute sur Adama Diakhaby.
La question maintenant est de savoir si toutes ces bonnes intentions seront suivies d'effets sur le terrain. Messahel, qui a coprésidé la réunion avec son homologue français, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Mais la presse américaine a exhumé des propos de lui en 2013, lors du " shutdown " sous le mandat de Barack Obama. Dans un court commentaire, la Maison-Blanche a désigné les responsables de cette situation.
Voici La Rochelle qualifiée pour les quarts pour sa toute première Champions Cup, un bel exploit. Mais l'équipe n'a pas inscrit cet essai, qui aurait été le troisième à son actif.
Ballottés dès le début de match, les hommes de Zidane inquiètent et encaissent l'ouverture du score par Lopez (0-1, 23ème). Peut-être est-ce un effet du retour au 4-3-3, avec le trio "BBC", qui n'avait plus été aligné ensemble depuis neuf mois!
The CDU botched its last leadership handover. "When Merkel calls it quits, a new game will begin", it said in an editorial. But Mr Schulz said that holding out hope for a better outcome from another election was a risky strategy.
Kylian Mbappé a quitté prématurément la pelouse du Groupama Stadium lors du choc entre l'OL et le PSG ce dimanche. L'attaquant de l'équipe francilienne est sorti à cause d'un coup pris à la tête.
Battu pour la première fois de la saison, le PSG reste un solide leader avec 56 points, et donc 8 points d'avance. En seconde période, Dani Alves a été exclu et l'OL a disputé une grosse demi-heure en supériorité numérique.
According to the report, Gettleman sold Manning on how he will rebuild the offense with a strong run game and offensive line. If the Giants win with Manning at quarterback in 2018, there will be no need to play anyone else as the young QB (s) develop.
Invesco Ltd has 0% invested in SemGroup Corporation (NYSE:SEMG) for 145,575 shares. 7,675 are owned by Mitsubishi Ufj Tru Bk Corp. First Republic Investment Management Inc sold 15,073 shares as the company's stock declined 1.27% while stock markets rallied.
"We had a huge rally, which was wonderful ", march spokeswoman Martha Shaughnessy, 38, of San Francisco , said . Las Vegas is holding its rally on Sunday to coincide with a voter registration drive.
Rallies were held in Chicago, Ill., Washington , D.C., Houston, Texas, and hundreds of cities elsewhere across the country. In Virginia state legislative polls, 11 of the 15 newly elected Democrats were women. "It's disturbing", she said.
Bombing raids on the Kurdish enclave of Afrin open a new front in the battle for territory reclaimed from Islamic State. Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan had called the USA -proposed force an "army of terror", and vowed to crush it.


text:
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

const errorHandler = require('./error-handler');
const morgan = require('morgan');
const redirectHttp = require('./redirect-http')();
const cors = require('cors')();
const checkDb = require('./check-connection')();
const ensureAuth = require('./auth/ensure-auth')();
const ensureAdmin = require('./auth/ensure-admin')();

const beers = require('./routes/beers');
const reviews = require('./routes/reviews');
const auth = require('./routes/auth');
const admin = require('./routes/admin');

app.use(morgan('dev'));
// Redirect http to https only in production
if(process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
    app.use(redirectHttp);
}
app.use(cors);
app.use(express.static('./public'));
app.use(checkDb);
app.use('/api/auth', auth);
app.use('/api/beers', ensureAuth, beers);
app.use('/api/reviews', ensureAuth, reviews);
app.use('/api/admin', ensureAuth, ensureAdmin, admin);
app.use(errorHandler);

module.exports = app;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Merit Construction Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan association that believes the awarding of construction contracts should be based solely on merit, applying criteria such as quality, value, budget, schedule and safety. The MCA educates the public, government officials and industry leaders on the skills and capabilities of open shop contractors and employees. The MCA also challenges attempts to restrict fair and open competition for the benefit of any special interest.
The Merit Construction Alliance represents the interests of open shop contractors and employees, who make up 80 percent of the construction workforce in Massachusetts, according to the latest available, independent data.
In other words, four out of five construction workers choose to work in the open shop setting. The personal decision of these employees speaks volumes about the open shop philosophy. It is a philosophy that respects the individual worker, providing job security, competitive salary and wages, and potential for career advancement.


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Furman started the match off strong by taking the doubles point after winning all three matches. ETSU would get on the board with the help of freshman Raquel Amaro (Caracas, Venezuela) who defeated Madison Dillion 6-1, 6-0. Amaro would tie the match, but Furman would go ahead at the No. 3 spot after Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga (Basauri, Spain) fell to Julia Adams 7-5, 6-2. The Paladins took a 3-1 advantage after #73 Katarina Kozarov defeated Laylo Bakhodirova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot. Alejandra Morales (Santiago, Chile) won her first set, but Katty Weymouth came from behind to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 2 spot to clinch the match. Yi Chi Ma (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) felt to Georgie Walker 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot. Rounding out play for the Bucs would be Yunuen Elizarraras (Cuernavaca, Mexico) who didn't go down without a fight. Furman's Carol Kerman gave the Paladins their final point with a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) win over the Elizarraras.
ETSU will return to action next weekend in Macon, Ga. for the 2019 Southern Conference Tournament. The Bucs clinched the No. 2 spot and will play at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 18 against the No. 7 seed.


text:
Interview: Troubled Coast
By Patrick Haynes · On August 11, 2011
Upon their signing to Pure Noise Records, Troubled Coast were kind enough to talk to us about why they chose the label, their plans for the rest of the year, and the reception of their latest full length, Letters, which you can see the review for here.
MEB: You guys just announced that you have signed with Pure Noise Records. What went into the signing process and why did you decide on Pure Noise?
Troubled Coast: I think our friends in The American Scene may have shown Pure Noise our record before we went on a small Northwest tour with them in April. Anyways, we slowly started talking to Jake (the Pure Noise Records owner) soon after about releasing material with him. I don't really remember how or who started the conversations but it was an easy decision to join the Pure Noise team because of Jake. He's just a rad dude who works hard for his bands and supports an awesome label.
Now that you are signed to a label, is there any news of recordings or tours in the works?
We have recording dates set in late September to record a new EP that we are really excited about. We've put a lot of work into it so far, probably more than anything else we've released.
We also have a September west coast tour set up with our buds from Erie, PA, Deadhorse. I'm sure we will be on the road again after our EP is released in the early winter. Hopefully with our buds in The American Scene again.
You guys released your full-length Letters earlier this year. Now that about half a year has passed, how has the reception been?
We did just release Letters this year and the reception has been really positive. We feel like not a lot of people have heard it yet and it wasn't really promoted terrifically but from those who have heard it, we've received really encouraging feedback. Of course, we've also received criticism, all constructive, and are taking that to heart but we will ultimately always just write music for ourselves and no one else.
You guys experimented with a bunch of different sounds on Letters, incorporating harmonica and acoustics into songs with hardcore elements. What was the inspiration behind this shift in sound?
There was no inspiration for the sound shift. Just a curiosity and an overall want to never be static with our music. Even if it doesn't work, we'll try it just for kicks. There's kind of an unspoken pact in Troubled Coast to never do the same thing twice. Not because it won't work but just to always pursue growth. We like change, change for us is crucial. It doesn't have to be that way for every band but we think it's necessary for us. Also, we just want to write cool music and what we are into while writing music changes a lot. I think that taking inspiration from other bands is a good thing. Talking back to the music you love, in a sense. Not copying though. And yes, it is a fine line.
Can you guys talk about some of the lyrical themes touched on in Letters?
The lyrical content of Letters, I realize more as time goes by, is very jumbled. The underlying theme is a story about a woman living a troubled life and a man who loves her; it's about her death, her drowning in the ocean and the man's ensuing obsessions with the ocean as he believes he has become the embodiment of her, with all its perfections and imperfections. There is more going on though. A lot of personal struggle with friends I've watched blindly stumbling through life and, of course, my own personal demons.
What have been some of your favorite releases from 2011 thus far?
Mile: Mansions – Dig Up The Dead
Tahm: City and Colour – Little Hell
Brandon: Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Cory: Balance and Composure – Separation
Randy: The Men – Leave Home
With this being quite a big year for you guys, what would you pinpoint as the highlight?
Probably the highlight of our year was getting signed to Pure Noise because we had so many plans and ideas for the future but no logistical way to execute them. Pure Noise is really enabling us to take off in a direction we're excited about.
If you could tour with any four bands, including yourselves, what would that lineup be?
Troubled Coast, Seahaven, Mansions, Listener.
For anyone reading this who hasn't heard of Troubled Coast, what song would you recommend to them? Also, what's a song by another band that you personally have been enjoying lately?
Start with "Breathing" or "XX/XY" from Letters.
Mile: The Smiths – "Bigmouth Strikes Again"
Tahm: Thrice – "Yellow Belly"
Brandon: Marcy Playground – "Sex and Candy"
Cory: Thrice – "Broken Lungs"
Randy: Any Jimi Hendrix song.
DeadhorseJimi HendrixLettersListenerMansionsMarcy Playgroundpost-hardcorePure Noise RecordsSeahavenThe American SceneThe MenThe SmithsThriceTroubled Coast
Patrick Haynes
I'm a 22 year old journalism graduate from Round Lake, Illinois that went to Western Illinois University. I work for Paper + Plastick Records, where I handle marketing and help out with things like coming up with ideas for sales and finding new bands to put out releases by. I played a variety of instruments in a few bands, including guitar, bass and saxophone. I pretty much live and breathe music and the only sports team worth watching, the Boston Red Sox. I like cats, beer, and my beard. Let me know if you want to talk music, I'm always down.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Instruction on Advent - Goffine's Devout Instruction Imprimatur 1874
What is the meaning of Advent and what do we understand by the term?
THE word Advent signifies coming, and by it is understood the visible coming of the Son of God into this world, at two different times.
When was the first coming of Christ?
It was when the Son of God, conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, was born, according to the flesh, in the fulness of time, and sanctified the world by His coming, for which the patriarchs and prophets had so longed. (Gen. XLIX. to.; Isai. LXIV. i.; Luke, X. 24.)
Since Christ had not yet come, how could the Just of the Old Law be saved?
Immediately after their sin, God revealed to our first parents that His only -begotten Son would become man and redeem the world. (Gen. III. 15J In the hope of this Redeemer and through His merits, all in the old covenant who participated in His merits by innocence or by penance, and who died in the grace of God, were saved, although they were excluded from heaven until the Ascension of Christ.
When will the second coming of Christ take place?
At the end of the world when Christ will come, with great power and majesty, to judge both the living and the dead.
What is Advent, and why has the Church instituted it?
Advent is that solemn time, immediately preceding" Christmas, instituted by the Church in order that we should, in the first place, meditate on the Incarnation of Christ, the love, patience and humility which He has shown us, and prove our gratitude to Him, because He came from the bosom of His heavenly Father into this valley of tears, to redeem us; secondly, that we may prepare ourselves by sincere repentance, fasting, prayer, alms-deeds, and other works pleasing to God, for the coming of Christ and His birth in our hearts, and thus participate in the graces which He has obtained for us; finally, that He may be merciful to us, when He shall come again as judge of the world. "Watch ye, for ye know not at what hour your Lord will come". (Matt. XXIV. 42.) "Wherefore be you also ready; because at what hour you know not, the Son ofman will come". (Matt. XXIV. 44.)
How was Advent formerly observed?
Very differently from now. It then commenced with the feast of St. Martin, and was observed by the faithful like the Forty Days' Fast, with strict penance and devotional exercises, as even now the most of the religious communities do to the present day. The Church has forbidden all turbulent amusements, weddings, dancing and concerts, during Advent. Pope Sylverius ordered that those who seldom receive Holy Communion should, at least, do so on every Sunday in Advent.
How should this solemn time be spent by Christians?
They should recall, during these four weeks, the four thousand years in which the Just under the Old Law expected and desired the promised Redeemer, think of those days of darkness in which nearly all nations were blinded by satan and drawn into the most horrible crimes, then consider their own sins and evil deeds and purify their souls from them by a worthy reception of the Sacraments, so that our Lord may come with His grace to dwell in their hearts and be merciful to them in life and in death. Further, to awaken in the faithful the feelings of repentance so necessary for the reception of the Saviour in their hearts, the Church orders that besides the observance of certain fast -days, the altar shall be draped in violet, that Mass shall be celebrated in violet vestments, that the organ shall be silent and no Gloria sung, Unjust to themselves, disobedient to the Church, and ungrateful, indeed, to God are those Christians who spend this solemn time of grace in sinful amusements without performing any good works, with no longing for Christ's Advent into their hearts.
What are Rorate High Masses and why are they celebrated?
They are the solemn high Masses celebrated in some countries in commemoration of the tidings brought to the Blessed Virgin by the Archangel Gabriel, announcing to her that she was to become the Mother of God; they derive their name from the words of the Introit in the Votive Mass, "Rorate coeli desuper." They are celebrated very early in the morning because the Blessed Virgin preceded our Lord, as the aurora precedes the rising sun.
PRAYER IN ADVENT
O God, who by Thy gracious Advent hast brought joy into this world, grant us, we beseech Thee, Thy grace to prepare ourselves by sincere penance for its celebration and for the Last Judgment. Amen.


text:
The Gospel of John: Prologue
Kevin Mesher
To listen to the sermon click here.
I'm a bit of an Anglophile when it comes to television comedies. Not too long ago BBC America was airing a sketch comedy called That Mitchell and Webb Feeling, that was pretty funny.
One of my favorites was a sketch about a husband and wife browsing around a flea market, when they hear a vendor say, "Wardrobe, 250 quid." "250 quid?" says the husband. "How do you figure?" And the vendor says, "Well it's made from 100 year old Mahogany for one," looking admiringly at the old armoire. "Comes with a shoe rack, is the portal to Narnia, and she has all the original knobs and handles."
"Wait, back up, did you stay this is a portal to Narnia?" The vendor nods. "You mean witches and gnomes and what not?" "Yep. dwarves. Aslan." And the wife says, "I mean, can we test it out first?" "Most certainly he says. Take your time."
So the two step into the wardrobe and shut the door and then, almost immediately it opens again. When they step out they are both dressed as Narnian royalty, for, as you know, time works differently there.
"Well, what did you think?" Asks the vendor. "It was great, yeah, great," one says. Says the other, "yeah, good…" "Just good?" Says the vendor. "Yeah, good…I mean it was all very nice. But…" "But what?" "I mean, well, it was a bit Christian."
Now, as most of us here live in the Pacific Northwest, you have probably heard similar comments about religion and believers–I've even heard recently complaints that Christmas itself was becoming a little too Christian. And, as we live in the "none of the above zone," or "the none zone" for short, Heaven help us if we reach a time when Christians are coming off a bit too like themselves!
However, I remind myself, the Word, Christ, just five days old, the infant God, the light that enlightens everyone, is in the world and the darkness has not yet overcome it. But this anti-religion attitude is getting worse and worse, or more personal, at any rate.
Lately I have found myself in an increasing number of those frustrating conversations–if you can call them that–with non or, ex, believers. Perhaps you have been cornered in a similar situation.
Now, in this modern, global era there seems to be an insinuation that I am, at best, foolish for my Christian beliefs, or more insultingly, that I am an idiot for being a Christian in the first place. These voices are becoming more prevalent. Sadly, in this increasingly secular and divisive age, the impact of religion has noticeably waned, along with–and this is the lamentable outcome–the discipline to apprehend the mysteries of the sacred.
And when it is discovered I am a Christian, I see the attention drop, and a familiar Winchelizing process begins–a sugar-slick glaze washes over the features and before I can say anything else I know I've lost them.
To continue would be a fool's errand. Yet, ever a fool for God, I fumble and stutter, grasping for the words–the just right words–to defend myself–not to answer the question; to try and describe, on the one hand, what is indescribable, while on the other, recounting the entire history of my life's faith journey, so they can track and see exactly how and why I became an Episcopalian–gotta make sure they hear that–one of the "cool" Christians–which only prevents me from getting to the heart of the matter, which is this; that my faith brings me the greatest joy imaginable, it keeps me right-sized and present, and it is steeped in the absolute Divine Reason–the Logos–of the universe that interpenetrates all things, and that especially in this Christmas season, it is actually and literally the light returned to the world–a cause for joy and celebration!
But I don't explain this and I can't explain this, because engaging the sacred is like exercising a muscle, a muscle that atrophies from disuse and it is painfully clear that my inquirer and I have extremely different fitness goals–I wonder why they asked in the first place. So, Inquisitor, 1, Christian apologist, 0.
On the one hand, it seems to me a problem of words. We've got about 3 million of them in the English language, and I couldn't find a tiny handful to bring clarity to my thoughts in that moment. So many of them. Words upon words. Why, I'm using them right now! Some are truly life giving. Others–weapons, more destructive than a sword. We just heard the reading of the Word, and this, being a sermon–well, I can guarantee you're going to hear a lot more words. Because ours is a religion of the Word.
How many words comprise our theology? Take just one major doctrine–the Trinity, for instance. In our Articles of the Faith, tucked near the back of the Book of Common prayer (the red one), St. Athanasius drily manages to explain it in just 40 near mathematical sentences. Impressive, but it reads more like a a technical manual or a Monty Python sketch about a belief in a geometric deity than it does the poetic and dynamic center of our faith. It's got all the right intellectual bits in place but it is lacking something just beyond the reach of even our best words–something; we'll call the Ineffable. Because it is and we have a word for that. Adding more words in hopes of understanding the Ineffable–seems counterintuitive.
Don't get me wrong. Theology is an integral part of the Christian Faith, it is edifying in a wholly different way, but it often lacks the mind-bending expansiveness of that glimmering moment in time–two thousand plus years ago–one that still–to this day–splashes its glorious overflow on the modern believer.
It is also quite true that many people are defended because they have been abused by the Church, or have been traumatized by misused theological words; Words like "sinner" and "repentance," a lot of damage done there no denying that. So it isn't so much about my being articulate enough to converse about big topics, although most days I am quite inarticulate, it is sometimes about the sheer power of some words, made so by the very personal and historical associations we make with them. It is a bit of a wonder we understand each other at all–let alone God.
Theologian Thomas Aquinas had kind of a similar problem when it came to articulating the ineffable, but obviously on a much larger scale, and with a different outcome. On December 6th, 1273, after years and years of dedicated scholarship, and about 100 written works to his credit, Aquinas underwent a mystical transformation. So intense was it, that he quietly set down his goose feather pen, closed the cover on his, by then, formidable compendium of the main teachings of the Catholic Faith–the summa theologica–and never again wrote another word about theology. Tradition records him as saying to his secretary, "After what I have seen today, I can write no more. For all that I have written is but straw." Aquinas caught sight of the Ineffable, and it deftly evaded capture by his quill. Josef Piepers in his essay about the silence of Aquinas, writes, "His tongue [was] stilled by the superabundance of life in the mystery of God". Let me repeat that: "His tongue was stilled by the superabundance of life in the mystery of God. Silence was really the only response possible. He was silent because he had been allowed a rare glimpse into the inexpressible depths of that mystery, unreadable by any human thought or speech." Aquinas fails to articulate about the Ineffable with words, however, by the absence of words he does, and he does this by leaving a space for it. The Taoist sage Lao Tsu would concur: "Those who speak do not know. Those who know do not speak." Aquinas' refusal to finish the summa tells volumes not only about the magnitude of God, but also about the limits of theology. Yet, seen in a different way, the summa is finished: Aquinas' silence, then, becomes the final chapter, which teaches us something about doing theology that he could not have taught by any other means. Silence becomes the "sound" of the rest of the story.
It reminds me of a tale about the Buddha teaching his disciples about the nature of reality and, because he knew he couldn't do it with words, all he could think to do was to pluck a lotus out of the muddy water and hold it aloft. One of his disciples started smiling and then broke into laughter, fully grokking the Buddha's teaching in an instant. It is known as the flower sutra.
And then it hit me, given that the yearning to know the Ineffable will always be frustrated by the inability to secure a definitive image of it with words, it seems to me, again, mathematics, right? Reduce the amount of words! But I soon discovered, the less words, the greater the Ineffability quotient in like measure. But this yearning to know, to articulate these Christian mysteries of faith, have always led to symbolic shortcuts–like parables, archetypes, and music. There are icons, paintings, stories, and pictures. Pictures–worth at least a thousand words, right?
So, for a challenge, I decided to write a Haiku. Briefly, Haiku's are simply observations designed to convey and celebrate the essence of a moment with just 17 syllables. Like a Zen Koan they should frustrate the reason in an effort to pierce beyond it to apprehend the All. to paraphrase the poet Ezra Pound, the image is the word beyond formulated language,
The exercise failed–you can probably see why–and you can read the Haiku in your order of service.
Cool breeze, stroll at dusk,
Terra cotta brick still warm,
Rumor of day's sun.
Once again, we run into the problem of interpretation. The Haiku isn't meant to hold the cool mentation of western theology, but is instead designed to catapult one into a full-tilt gestalt of direct experience, and this is where the Haiku falls short for our purposes.
So what's all this to say? Are we never meant to use words again? Hardly! Words are the tools we have–words are how we extend our reach so as to know God ever more intimately. We're Episcopalians! When we pray, we reach for a book! We're not done with words…!
But words are fallible. You've probably heard the adage, "the menu is not the meal." Words can separate us from an authentic experience of the divine like the thin gauze of mosquito netting; wherein we can see, but not clearly enough.
Martin Buber observed that the relationship between the human and the divine is "without speech, yet begets it." That's the deal. Words are the gifts we are given to seek God, even if, like Aquinas we cannot find them, we keep at it, because the chase is so exquisitely frustrating. Every so often, through the curtain of words, we are AMbushed by God's fiery Ineffability and by this fire we are slaked–if but for a joyous moment. But not with words—and also with words. Again, rich paradox.
So where does that leave us? One thing became abundantly clear as I meditated upon the gospel for today–as well as the Gospel of John itself–something I hadn't seen before as it was eclipsed by John's beautiful, but heady, high-Christological portrait of Jesus: but less is more.
For instance, moving away from the Prologue for a moment, in the first account of the feeding of the 5,000, we are met by a Jesus simply attending to the needs of hungry people. Feed people what they truly hunger for (which may be words, incidentally)! In a couple of verses later Jesus will begin to employ ever deepening metaphors so that his disciples—and we—can understand who he is.
But right now, he is pure action. Jesus doesn't explain himself, Jesus just does Jesus. You wish to learn from a holy man? Don't listen to his words–watch him tie his shoes, an old Hassidic tale tells us. Watch him feed 5,000 people. You wish to glimpse the Ineffable? Feed people what they hunger for. Our actions call down the Holy. Khalil Gibran wrote, "Our work is our love made visible." Jesus' work is God's love–and light–made visible. Jesus' activity of feeding the 5,000 is the haiku—this image of him is the word beyond language. Jesus is at the nexus of silence and sound. Of light and darkness, above and below, flesh, spirit. The fiery center of all spiritual paradoxes. He is the raised lotus of Ineffability. Jesus is the Word and feeding us is his wordless sutra.
"O Holy child of Bethlehem
Descend on us we pray; cast out
Our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.


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Disney is constantly making improvements. I am on top of all the latest and greatest news and promotions. I happily share my knowledge and experience with you, freeing you from the worry of missing out on anything magical. I am excited to help you choose the perfect hotel, select dining options and reservations, personalize touring plans, and all the other amazing activities offered by Disney.
Celebrations—every day is worth celebrating, let me plan extra touches!
Food Lovers list of restaurants and MUST TRY snacks Sit back and relax while I do the hard work!
A little bit about me, I am happily married and have been blessed with two beautiful girls. I have a Bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University in Leisure Education…clearly I see the value in adventure and time away from the 9 to 5. Home for me and my family is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am a food fanatic, a travel enthusiast, and most importantly a Disney addict! I truly have a passion to explore the world through travel and adventures! Disney's attention to detail, guest services, and MAGIC is what keeps me coming back time and time again. Young or old, a day at Disney is truly the Best. Day. Ever!
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Dear Dakupoto, Thank you for answering. I understand your point. But I am not just looking to bypass the problem, otherwise I would have used the standard types provided with SystemC. I would like to understand why my piece of code is not working. In fact, if I run the same code with: sc_signal<bool> data; sc_signal<sc_uint<5> > data0;I get : SystemC 2.3.1-Accellera --- Sep 20 2014 12:00:32 Copyright (c) 1996-2014 by all Contributors, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED data 0 name = signal_0 value = 0 new value = 1 data0 0 name = signal_1 value = 0 new value = 6 data1 (5,1,1,1,1,1) name = signal_2 value = (5,1,1,1,1,1) new value = (5,5,3,1,2,3) data2 (1,1,1) name = signal_3 value = (1,1,1) new value = (1,64,130) Simulation... data 1 <-- Update to the right value name = signal_0 value = 1 new value = 0 data0 6 <-- OK name = signal_1 value = 6 new value = 0 data1 (5,5,3,1,2,3) <-- OK name = signal_2 value = (5,5,3,1,2,3) new value = (5,0,0,0,0,0) data2 (1,1,1) <-- Not OK name = signal_3 value = (1,1,1) new value = (1,0,0) Simulation... data 0 <-- OK name = signal_0 value = 0 new value = 0 data0 0 <-- OK name = signal_1 value = 0 new value = 0 data1 (5,5,3,1,2,3) <-- Not OK name = signal_2 value = (5,5,3,1,2,3) new value = (5,0,0,0,0,0) data2 (1,1,1) <-- Not OK name = signal_3 value = (1,1,1) new value = (1,0,0) Finally, my question is: where is the problem ? - in the definition of my custom type / usage of static matrices;  - there are some constraints related to sc_signal / systemC / C++, I am ignoring; - a specialization of the sc_signal::write () method that is required for my own custom type. Thank you in advance.


In Santa Cruz, California, July 31 through August 14, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music will celebrate Marin Alsop's 20th anniversary season as Music Director/Conductor. Fifteen composers-in-residence will join Marin and the award-winning Festival Orchestra for nine West Coast Premieres, two U.S. Premieres, and seven World Premieres written in honor of the Maestra. Marin welcomes guest artists pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, guitarist D.J. Sparr, and French horn player Kristin Jurkscheit; and NPR Radio's Scott Simon joins her for a special anniversary event. Participating composers include Mason Bates, Margaret Brouwer, Chiayu, Anna Clyne, Michael Daugherty, Tina Davidson, Robin de Raaff, Zosha Di Castri, Pierre Jalbert, Elena Kats-Chernin, Shuko Mizuno, Behzad Ranjbaran, Christopher Rouse, George Tsontakis, and Dan Welcher.


text:
No one is immune from hacks, says former Yahoo CEO
Former Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer waits to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, during a hearing on "Protecting Consumers in the Era of Major Data Breaches" after the 2013 data breach at Yahoo! that affected 3 billion user accounts. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told lawmakers Wednesday that the threat from state-sponsored hackers has changed the playing field so dramatically that even the best-defended companies can fall victim.
Mayer joined former and current CEOs of Equifax in testifying before a Senate committee examining recent data breaches that affected millions of Americans. Lawmakers said they hoped to use the information learned to shape future legislation.
In Yahoo's case, stolen information for billions of users included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. Mayer said the thefts occurred during her nearly five-year tenure and she wants to "sincerely apologize to each and every one of our users."
"As we all have witnessed: no company, individual or even government agency is immune from these threats," Mayer said.
Mayer said Yahoo successfully defended itself against a barrage of state-sponsored and private hacks over the years and even employed hackers to test the company's defenses. In the end, she said "Russian agents intruded on our systems and stole our users' data."
Mayer is part of a long line of company executives and former executives who have made their way to Capitol Hill in recent years to explain how their company fell victim to a cyberattack. She was joined by the interim CEO of Equifax, Paulino Barros, Jr., who took over after hackers exposed the personal information of 145 million Americans.
Barros told the committee he has focused on improving customer service and revising the company's structure so that the company's chief security officer reports directly to him. He also said the company is on schedule to release a computer app in January that will allow consumers to lock and unlock their credit data.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the committee chairman, said 48 states have separate laws governing how and when companies must notify consumers of a breach. He said a federal law should replace that patchwork of laws.
"A single federal standard would ensure all consumers are treated the same with regard to notification of data breaches that might cause them harm," Thune said.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said lawmakers need to have the political will to hold corporations more accountable for breaches.
"Only stiffer enforcement and stringent penalties will help incentivize companies to properly safeguard consumer information and promptly notify them when their data has been compromised," Nelson said.
Some of the most pointed questioning came from Thune when he asked Mayer how the company for so long failed to recognize that data for all 3 billion of its user accounts were compromised. She said Yahoo still has not been able to identify the intrusion that led to that theft.
"We don't exactly understand how the act was perpetrated," which explains why there are some gaps in information, she said.
Associated Press writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.
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I had to wait a short walk from a beach and so I out I went to the shoreline and shot the snow blanketed seascape.
I really like how the contrast of the snow against the shoreline and dark wood of the trees came through. Especially considering these are color photographs.
The following morning had already melted the snow from the rocks, making this particular view a fleeting one that I was lucky to capture.


Seguin, Texas, July 10, 2008 — The hiring of a team of scientists to evaluate biological impacts of spring and river flow conditions on three endangered species in the Comal and San Marcos springs was approved today by the Steering Committee of the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program (EARIP).
The team is led by Thomas Hardy, Ph.D. of Utah State University and includes members of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas State University, the Edwards Aquifer Authority, Bio-West, Inc., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas A&M University and the U.S. Geological Survey. Information developed by the group will be subject to review by Science Subcommittee of the EARIP and be used to make recommendations on withdrawals from the Edwards Aquifer during critical periods.
The three species, Texas wild rice, Comal Springs riffle beetle and the fountain darter, are believed to be indicator species with respect to the impacts of flows on other federally listed threatened and endangered species associated with the Edwards Aquifer.
O Appointed 18 members to the Recharge Facility Subcommittee, which will consider options for enhancing recharge to the Edwards Aquifer.
O Directed the Public Outreach Subcommittee to inform and educate the public, public officials, and the media regarding EARIP activities.
In accordance with Texas Senate Bill 3 from 2007, the EARIP is working through a formal consensus-building process among regional stakeholders to arrive at a plan to protect the endangered species while managing the aquifer for the benefit of all. Stakeholders include water utilities, cities, agricultural users, industrial users, environmental organizations, river authorities, downstream and coastal interests.
The EARIP created its organizational structure in the past year (2007-2008), hiring a Program Manager and appointing subcommittees on science, recharge, finance, public outreach and a workgroup on biological modeling. The Steering Committee has a goal of completing a habitat conservation plan that includes recommendations for aquifer management by September 2012.


text:
Karen Hochman Brown [USA, b. 1958] is a Los Angeles-based digital artist who uses her own photography as a base for manipulation in 2-D formats and animations. Explorations in this field have led to projects involving prints on fabric married to laser-cut wood elements as well as purely digital forays based in line, shape and movement. The work is sensitive to the inherent beauty of the subjects she captures as she strives to magnify that quality of beauty through focus and repetition. The resulting forms resonate in harmony and discord, creating unique energies.
Hochman Brown studied art at Pitzer College, California College of Art and Art Center College of Design, but self-developed her processes through experimentation, relying heavily on skills learned as a graphic designer. Inspirations include Georgia O'Keeffe, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, and René Magritte.
Hochman Brown has had solo shows with Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, Santa Barbara, CA, Gallery 825 and TAG Gallery Los Angeles, California Center for Digital Art, Santa Ana, CA, The Gallery at Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia, CA, Yuma Art Center, Yuma, AZ. She has participated in numerous group shows in the Los Angeles area and throughout the United States.
Exhibition History can be found on the Exhbitions Page
2007-09 ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1992-2003 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, Continuing Education
1996 Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA
1991 Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1981-83 California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA, Art Teaching Credential
1979 Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, B.A. in Art
1977 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
Special Projects and Commissions
Through the Eyes of Artists poster series, LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA
She Loves Me, Set Design, JFed Players, Pasadena, CA
Fools, Set Design, JFed Players, Pasadena CA
A Little Night Music, Set Design, JFed Players, Pasadena CA
2018 Crowell Public Library, San Marino, CA
2016 The Gallery at The Arboretum Library, Arcadia, CA
Diversion LA, "The Scent of a Flowered World" May 1, 2020
Art and Cake, "Anonymous@theBeach is the perfect summer exhibition," June 27, 2019
Full Blede, "ISSUE EIGHT: Interpenetrate," April 2019
Art and Cake, "Shoreline Symmetry: Seas Both Fragile and Grand," September 26, 2018
AEQAI, "Karen Hochman Brown Shows Us the Beauty of Math in 'Botanic Geometry,'" March 2018
Full Blede, "ISSUE FOUR: The Pattern," March 2018
Art and Cake, "Botanic Geometry with Karen Hochman Brown," March 19, 2018
KCRW Design & Architecture "5 design things to do this week," March 26, 2018
Diversion LA, "Inward and Outward: The Kaleidoscopic Art of Karen Hochman Brown," December 30, 2017
JLife Magazine, "Karen Hochman Brown: How One Local Artist Creates & Inspires," July 2017 Issue
Sunrise Spotlight on Karen Hochman Brown, Artist, Crown City News, Pasadena, CA, September 19, 2016
365 Days Artists, "Karen Hochman Brown-Altadena California," Oct 17, 2015
Representation & Affiliation
TAG Gallery
Los Angeles Art Association
Pasadena Society of Artists
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA
Shoebox PR, Los Angeles, CA
Jewish Artists Initiative
Women's Caucus for Art
2019 James Ackley McBride Landscape Award, 94th Annual Juried Exhibition, Pasadena Society of Artists
2018 Honorable Mention, "Vibrant", N.Y. Photo Curators
2016 Honorable Mention, Awarded by Spotlight Art Solo Exhibition, International Gallery of the Arts, Toronto, Canada
Construction Geometry via Art, Waldorf School, Altadena, CA, 1994
Construction Geometry via Art, Arts Magnet High School, Oakland, CA, 1981-1983
facebook.com/KarenHochmanBrownArtist
linkedin.com/in/KarenHochmanBrown
instagram.com/hochmanbrown
vimeo.com/hochmanbrown
Contact through Messenger


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text:
\section{Introduction}
Recently, much research work targeted different aspects related to the processing of Arabic and its dialects such as morphological analysis, resource building, machine translation, etc. However, according to \cite{GUELLIL2021497}, most research  concentrated on building resources (lexicon, corpora, datasets). Arguably, the growth in NLP research also brings growth in datasets, which presents substantial challenges for potential users in terms of resource retrieval, access, and re-use. However, research efforts that addressed metadata sourcing for Arabic, are available either as a review \cite{Zaghouani2017CriticalSO}, or as a public catalogue \cite{alyafeai2021masader} only. An intuitive user interface (UI) design \cite{intuitiveUI-Bernal} capturing all required functionalities such as dynamic search and filtering, sorting functions, descriptive statistics, and data visualization need to be implemented to target different audience like researchers, social scientists, and regular users.
The primary goal of this work is to enhance the work of \cite{alyafeai2021masader} on both contextual and visual features of datasets. Masader Plus ensures up-to-date availability of dataset's metadata. Furthermore, the interface provides researchers with a set of user controls for filtering, refining, and visualizing depending on metadata qualities to aid in user exploration of the metadata. Masader Plus is completely open source and available with \texttt{GPL-3.0} license at \url{https://github.com/arbml/masader}.
We summarize our contributions as the following:

\begin{enumerate}
    \item API endpoints that support search, filtration, indexing, and reporting discussed in \ref{sec:apis}.
    \item Search page with advanced filtration detailed in section \ref{sec:filter}
    \item Metadata visualization by cluster, task, domain etc. detailed in section \ref{sec:vis}
\end{enumerate}

In the following section, we highlight the related works. Then, in section \ref{sec:system}, we outline our system description, which is followed by a presentation of the system architecture and a demonstration of the system features in section \ref{sec:arc}. We, then, present the community contribution effort in section \ref{sec:com}. Section  \ref{sec:eth} discusses the ethics and a broad impact statement. Finally, we conclude the paper with a conclusion and future work in section \ref{sec:conc}.

\begin{figure*}[htp!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/screen_top.pdf}
\caption{Frontend components.}
\label{fig:frontend}
\end{figure*}

\section{Related Work}
\label{sec:lit}
There have been continuous efforts to collect, categorize, and group NLP datasets in different languages with the goal of facilitating research practice.
Masader catalogue follows a community driven approach to adding and documenting datasets, which is similar to the approach of \cite{lhoest2021datasets} in the creation of \textit{Datasets} library.
HuggingFace \textit{Datasets} \footnote{\url{https://huggingface.co/datasets}} is a community-driven, open-source library that standardizes the processing, distribution, and documentation of NLP datasets. It facilitates different stages of working with a dataset; which includes loading the whole dataset, accessing its features schema and metadata, slicing, batching, and parallel processing. However the number of Arabic NLP datasets is below 100 as accessed on August 1st, 2022.\\
While \textit{Datasets} does not host most of the underlying raw datasets, there are other frameworks that offer cloud-based storage of large databases of datasets. These efforts have mainly emerged with the recent development of deep learning technologies. Examples include \cite{tfdatasets} and \cite{torch} which create cloud based repositories of datasets. They store the datasets in a common cloud format. \\
Lanfrica \footnote{\url{https://lanfrica.com/records}} is another community specific search engine that aims to create a centralised hub for all African language resources to make it easy for NLP researchers, linguists, government officials, and general users to access this data \cite{emezue2020lanfrica}. They provide a small number of annotations for the metadata. \\
Other language-specific catalogues include \cite{german} for German, \cite{french} for French, \cite{indic} for Indic NLP resources, and \cite{tamil} a Tamil NLP catalogue. These catalogues only offer a list of resources without indicating their metadata, they also do not offer any filtration capabilities which makes it difficult to navigate through and explore the resources.

\section{System Description}
\label{sec:system}
Masader Plus system consists of four main workflows that are related to the users, contributors, administrators, and data. The four workflows are illustrated in Figure \ref{fig:system_design}. The list below explains these workflows in their natural order and shows how they are interacting together to deliver up-to-date datasets metadata:

\begin{figure*}[htp!]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{figures/system_design.png}
\caption{System design and workflow illustration for the users, contributors, administrators, and data.}
\label{fig:system_design}
\end{figure*}

\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Contributors Workflow}: To contribute a new dataset to Masader, contributors need to fill \href{https://forms.gle/JnMrJjHumT6ktK9cA}{Masader Google Form} and submit it with the required information.
    \item \textbf{Administrators Workflow}: After receiving the contribution submission, administrators will review the submission and either update it if there are any issues, or approve it and update the Google Sheet with the new dataset metadata.
    \item \textbf{Data Workflow}: In the backend side, the server will be triggered every 10 minutes automatically to get the newly updated datasets metadata through the \href{https://huggingface.co/datasets/arbml/masader}{Masader dataset}. After getting the updated datasets metadata, the server will request HuggingFace Inference APIs to compute the new datasets embeddings using \href{https://huggingface.co/sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2}{\texttt{all-MiniLM-L6-v2}} model from Sentence Transformers. Using the newly computed embeddings, the server will compute the new clustring information for all datasets and cache the full datasets metadata in Redis to respond to requests in a constant time.
    \item \textbf{Users Workflow}: Masader Plus end users can use the frontend application to explore the available up-to-date datasets metadata through: 1) Tabular view that can be filtered to find the required dataset; 2) The available datasets metadata statistics to understand the distribution of the datasets and get more useful insights.
\end{itemize}

\section{Architecture and Features}
\label{sec:arc}
Masader Plus is a web application that consists of a backend layer and a frontend layer.

\paragraph{Backend.} Masader Plus backend application is hosted on Heroku hosting service\footnote{\url{https://www.heroku.com/}} and it is built on top of Flask framework\footnote{\url{https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/2.1.x/changes/\#version-2-1-2}} that supports rapid development. For storage, Masader Plus is relying on Redis\footnote{\url{https://github.com/redis/redis-py/releases/tag/v4.3.4}} as a caching service for the computed datasets metadata. To do the heavy computations for embeddings extraction, Masader Plus is utilizing HuggingFace Inference API\footnote{\url{https://huggingface.co/inference-api}} to calculate the embeddings for each dataset in the data store. Lightweight computations like clustering are computed on the same backend server.
\paragraph{Frontend.} The application frontend is implemented using HTML, JavaScript, CSS and Bootstrap v5. We also use Ruby, Bundler and Jekyll as a templating language. To run the server locally, contributors can use the contributing page \footnote{\url{https://github.com/arbml/masader/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md}}. Figure \ref{fig:frontend} depicts the main interface of Masader Plus after running the server locally.

\subsection{Masader APIs}
\label{sec:apis}

Masader APIs \footnote{\url{https://github.com/arbml/masader-webservice}} provide a set of endpoints to simplify the access to the metadata:

\begin{itemize}
    \item \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets/schema}{\texttt{\textbf{/datasets/schema}}}: Returns a list of available features for the datasets. Example response:
    \begin{lstlisting}[language=json,basicstyle=\small]
["Name", "Year", "Unit", ...]
    \end{lstlisting}
    \item \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets}{\texttt{\textbf{/datasets}}}: Returns a list of available datasets based on the passed \texttt{query} and the requested \texttt{features} parameters.
    Using the \texttt{query} parameter, a \texttt{filtration} query will be applied on the datasets before selecting the required features and returning the output (e.g. \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets?query=Year>2003 and Year<2008 and Unit=='tokens'}{\texttt{query=Year>2003 and Year<2008 and Unit=={\textquotesingle}tokens\textquotesingle}}). We use the Pandas query language, for more information see \href{https://pandas.pydata.org/docs/reference/api/pandas.DataFrame.query.html}{here}.
    Using \texttt{features} parameter, the list of features for each dataset will be filtered based on the passed value (e.g. \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets?features=Name,Year,Unit}{\texttt{features=Name,Year,Unit}}). Example response:
    \begin{lstlisting}[language=json,basicstyle=\small]
[
    {
        "Name": "Shami",
        "Unit": "sentences",
        "Year": 2018
    },
    ...
]
    \end{lstlisting}
    \item \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets/2}{\texttt{\textbf{/datasets/[index]}}}: Returns a specific dataset from the available datasets based on its \texttt{index}. Example response:
    \begin{lstlisting}[language=json,basicstyle=\small]
{
    "Name": "LABR",
    "Year": 2018,
    "Dialect":"mixed",
    ...
}
    \end{lstlisting}
    \item \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets/tags}{\texttt{\textbf{/datasets/tags}}}: Returns the unique values of the requested \texttt{features}. Using \texttt{features} parameter, the list of features will be filtered based on the passed value (e.g. \href{http://apis.masader.arbml.org/datasets/tags?features=Dialect,Year}{\texttt{features=Dialect,Year}}). Example response:
    \begin{lstlisting}[language=json,basicstyle=\small]
{
    "Dialect": [
        "Algeria",
        "Bahrain",
        ...
    ],
    "Year": [
        2001,
        2002,
        ...
    ]
    ...
}
    \end{lstlisting}
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Data Cards}

Data Cards are defined as \emph{structured summaries of essential facts about various aspects of ML datasets needed by stakeholders across a dataset's life-cycle for responsible AI development} \cite{datacardsPushkarna}. In our project each data card contains documentation about its host, year of publication, access type, etc. refer to the Masader paper \cite{alyafeai2021masader} for more information about the metadata. Besides, a reporting functionality is implemented to report any issue on the data cards either anonymously or using a GitHub account. Figure \ref{fig:datacard1} presents an example of the data card page on the Masader Plus website.

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.40\textwidth]{figures/datacard.png}
\caption{An example data card.}
\label{fig:datacard1}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Feature \#1: Advanced Filtration}
\label{sec:filter}
We want to allow users to easily explore the datasets by searching with advanced conditions. Given there are many conditions that could be applied, we added some endpoints to the web service to make this possible (see subsection \ref{sec:apis}). To allow a simple usage of such \emph{endpoints}, we created a simple search page that could be used to extract the datasets with specific conditions. In Figure \ref{fig:filter}, we highlight the main filtration conditions in the interface:
\begin{itemize}
    \item \textbf{Tasks}: filter by NLP tasks. We show the first 20 most used tasks at the beginning.
    \item \textbf{Dialect} allow filtering by either region or a given country dialect.
    \item \textbf{Access} filtration by how easy the access of the dataset is.
    \item \textbf{License} Licenses for accessing the datasets.
    \item \textbf{Year} allow filtering by a given year range. The current Masader catalogue contains datasets from 2000 to 2022.
\end{itemize}
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.40\textwidth]{figures/filter.png}
\caption{Filtration Sidebar.}
\label{fig:filter}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Feature \#2: Datasets and Metadata Visualization}
\label{sec:vis}
The Stats page contains various visuals outlining the specific features of the dataset in different formats. The first graph (as shown in Figure \ref{fig:clusters}) presents the datasets as nodes in the embedding space clustered using K-Means. The embeddings were encoded using the Name, Description and Abstract metadata of the datasets. Other graphs, show the metadata like the Host, Year, Access, Tasks, Domain, Licenses, Dialects, Forms, Venues, Ethical Risks, and Scripts. Such metadata apart from the dialects, are visualized using bar charts, while a doughnut-chart is used for the dialects.

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{figures/clusters.png}
\caption{The clusters graph when hovering over a dataset node.}
\label{fig:clusters}
\end{figure}

\section{Community Contributions}
\label{sec:com}
Masader Plus was not possible without the help of the community, especially in adding the datasets. In Figure \ref{fig:timeline}, we highlight the timeline. In the next two subsections, we discuss the main events that helped in reaching our current state.
\begin{figure*}[h]
\begin{center}
    \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{figures/timeline.png}
  \caption{Timeline for our community work.}
  \label{fig:timeline}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}

\subsection{Contribution Form}

In the previous version of Masader  \cite{alyafeai2021masader}, two Google Sheets were maintained to track the community input and add it into the catalogue. One of these sheets contains the final reviewed version of the dataset. The other sheet is publicly available for community contribution. The rationale behind this transparency is that anyone who contributes an addition to the catalogue can learn from any prior similar entry.

Despite its simplicity, this data entry strategy is cumbersome to track. First and foremost, the authors must keep track of two sheets. Second, because there is no description for each metadata attribute, it may be unclear to new contributors. There is also a limited flexibility for fields with predefined options (e.g, dialect field). Furthermore, due to the lack of automation, this strategy is prone to errors.

Masader Plus is being developed in collaboration with a developer community. It provides a more accessible way for the community to contribute, as well as for dataset developers to maintain their contributions. In this release,  a Google Contribution Form is enhanced with the following improvements: a) a description for each metadata field; and b) a drop-down list with multiple-options fields.
From the perspective of dataset contributors, they are notified about the status of their submission to Masader. This form was first utilized as part of a two-hour community collaboration hackathon (see Section \ref{community_hackathon}), which resulted in Masader being updated with more than 100 additional datasets. The hackathon demonstrated the effectiveness of our pipeline.

\subsection{Community Hackathon}
\label{community_hackathon}

Using an initial list of datasets that we developed, we invited Arabic NLP students, researchers, and practitioners to join us in a hackathon to add dataset metadata to a Google sheet. We organized the hackathon in collaboration with HuggingFace who supported our initiative. Further, the response from the community to the initiative was very encouraging and we had more than 100 people joining our discord server in one week. After explaining to our community the objectives of the hackathon, we launched the hackathon on the \nth{10} of June 2022 and for two hours the majority of datasets were added. But we allowed anyone to keep adding or modifying  their entries till the \nth{20} of June 2022. At the end of the hackathon, 145 new datasets were added.

\section{Ethics/Broader Impact Statement}
\label{sec:eth}

Masader began as part of the Big Science initiative\footnote{\url{https://bigscience.huggingface.co/}}. Since its release, it has ignited the interest and support of the Arabic NLP community.  As a result, volunteers, dataset authors, and dataset developers have added more datasets into Masader. Throughout the Masader timeline, we tried to make our process as transparent as possible; by maintaining documentations, engaging with Arabic dataset stakeholders, participating in regular community meetings, and giving the users the option to report instances where metadata is erroneous or incomplete.  By adopting an open and transparent approach, more contributors are joining, leading to growth in both the project's architecture and its content.

Currently, Masader only supports publicly accessible datasets; Due to licensing, the platform does not host the datasets; rather, it simply aggregates the metadata and offers insights.

\section{Discussion and Conclusion}
\label{sec:conc}
In this paper, we presented Masader Plus an interface for exploring over 500 Arabic NLP datasets. We addressed the system description, the design choices and the various features of the interface. We also discussed the significance of community contributions to the Masader Plus experience. This presented version of Masader Plus is considered as version \texttt{1.0.0}, and we intend to make considerable improvements with the following releases. To keep track of updates, we maintain a  changelog\footnote{\url{https://arbml.github.io/masader/changelog}} on our website.

Our primary goal of version \texttt{2.0.0} is to enable seamless integration between the Contribution Form and Google Sheet, as well as to improve the admin and user experience by simplifying the review process and enabling the addition of private datasets respectively.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
We would like to thank Nizar Habash for the helpful conversations. Also, we would like to thank the community for adding new datasets: Abdelrahman Kaseb, Mourad Mars, Abderrahmane Issam,  Afrah Altamimi, Ibrahim Abu Farha, Tarek Eldeeb,  Abdullah Alsaleh, Abdulrahman Kamar, Ahmed Ruby, Aljoharah AlRasheed, Amr Keleg, Bashar Alhafni, Fatima Haouari, Iskander Gaba, Khalid Almubarak, Mohammad Al-Fetyani, Nizar Habash, Nora Alturayeif, Reem Suwaileh, Rua Ismail, Shatha Hakami, Yonatan Belinkov and Saad Benjelloun.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Search term: "Walcott, Charles D. (Charles Doolittle), 1850-1927" Smithsonian Museum & Research Centers: Smithsonian American Art Museum
Charles D Walcott (11)
S. P Langley (6)
Alexander Wetmore (4)
C. G Abbot (4)
Spencer Fullerton Baird (2)
Joseph Henry (2)
Leonard Carmichael (1)
United States National Museum (7)
National Museum of Natural History (4)
Freer Gallery of Art (3)
Smithsonian Institution Building (2)
National Gallery of Art Exhibit in SI Building
Creator: Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
After One Hundred Years
Creator: Wetmore, Alexander 1886-
Physical Description:pp. 115-116
I Have Considered the Days
Creator: Adler, Cyrus 1863-1940
National Collection of Fine Arts (U.S.) Office of the Director
Records, 1912-1965
SIA RU000312
1912, 1912-1965 Manuscripts, Collection descriptions, Black-and-white photographs
Smithsonian Institution Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum
1897, 1897-1918 Manuscripts, Collection descriptions, Black-and-white negatives, Nitrate materials
Exhibit of Paintings of U.S. National Parks and Monuments, January 2 - March 5, 1917
Creator: Deming, Edwin H
Date: January 2 - March 5, 1917
The Smithsonian Institution
Creator: Abbot, C. G
Smithsonian Institution Office of the Secretary
1890, 1890-1929 Manuscripts, Collection descriptions, Clippings, Black-and-white photographs
Charles Doolittle Walcott
Creator: Smith, George Otis 1871-1944
1925, 1925-1949, 1929 Black-and-white photographs, Collection descriptions, Black-and-white negatives, Serials (publications), Maps, Clippings, Manuscripts, Architectural drawings
1892, 1892-1960 Black-and-white photographs, Collection descriptions, Manuscripts


I'm a bit sad that Summer Fridays will soon be over. My little tradition of wandering the streets of Manhattan with Brian in search of graffiti and stopping somewhere for late lunch will be replaced with a longer workday in the office. Urg.
A couple of Fridays ago, we finally got to stop by Made Nice. I first heard about it when Shepard Fairey mentioned painting a large wall for this eatery. Made Nice has a relatively small, well-curated menu from the guys behind Eleven Madison Park (if you've never been, you HAVE to experience it – it's one of my favorites). Recently, the NY Times & Eater both published articles talking about how Made Nice falls short of it's high-end "counterparts" which makes me sad because I did enjoy my meal there. I thought that the Chicken Rice bowl & the Khao Salad were both yum – I mean, a $15 salad bowl is as ubiquitous in New York as a scavenging pigeon, what do people expect? Our meal was punctuated with a cup of the Milk & Honey soft serve – it was perfect. Click through for more photos!


text:
Wallabies' centre battle good for everyone
24 May 2016 Super Rugby
Who will be the Wallabies' starting 13? Photo: Getty Images
by Beth Newman
Israel Folau's switch into the centres has been a good thing for everybody, especially Tevita Kuridrani, Brumbies prop Scott Sio says.
While Folau's Wallabies spot remains to be seen, with the national players going into camp later this week, Sio said the possibility of the Waratahs star playing in the centres would motivate Kuridrani.
"Talking to Izzy, he's relishing being able to be around the ball," he said.
"Tevita loves it, it's another challenge for him if Adam Ashley-Cooper having left and he was his main rival. Folau moving to 13 has refreshed a big rivalry.
"It's great for Australian rugby to have all our best players battling it out and testing each other."
Sio said he was yet to be told whether he was in the Wallabies squad for the June series but that wasn't worrying him.
"It keeps everyone motivated and going because you never really know," he said.
"At the end of the day you've just got to believe that you've done everything you can in your preparation and in your playing to be able to give yourself the best opportunity to make the squad.
"That's the mindset I'm taking in all this.
"You always aspire to be playing for your country and playing for higher honours.
Sio said he was beginning to feel like he was coming into his own after an injury-interrupted start to the season.
"For that to come into fruition I need to be playing my best rugby for the Brumbies.
"Personally I feel like I've started to find my way a bit there but it's a game where you're always improving week in, week out and I've still got a lot I need to work on.
"If I'm given the opportunity I'll be very grateful."
With one round of Super Rugby left before the Test break, Sio said his focus was on the Brumbies' task of beating the Sunwolves this weekend.
"One of the beauties of our squad is we always remind everyone about the opportunity you have to play Super Rugby and to do what you love every day," he said.
"Not a lot of people get to do that and we need to make sure we don't take that for granted and that's what helps drive people.
"(You) keep those aspirations at the back of your head, knowing that as long as you're doing what you need to do at the best of your abilities for your franchise higher honours will take care of themselves."
Super Rugby Brumbies Scott Sio Wallabies


We always strive to produce unique and lovingly handcrafted pieces that our children will love to wear all day, if needbe! We use only the finest GOTS Certified Organic cotton and hand woven, traditional Indian textiles. Our anarkali set is perfect for the trendy Miss. The floor length anarkali kurta with gold edging and cold shoulders is complemented by the leheriya, hand-dyed dupatta with tassels and intricate, hand-embroidered, mirror work belt. Comes with matching tights.


Our client, the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) on-line training. For over sixty years the NSA has proudly served its membership by providing professional law enforcement services, training and technical assistance. In an effort to keep its members on the leading edge of training, they wanted us to develop an on-line training website for law enforcement professionals which would meet the ever-changing dynamics of the Office of the Sheriff and the importance of professional development. Also it should be easy to navigate and simple to use.
We designed the flow, navigation and interface of the website from ground up. The exclusive look & feel let the member browse through the course content. The site was developed in ASP platform and makes use of MSSQL. The administrator of the site has been provided with a strong interface that he can use to manage courses, registrants profile, tests and assignments.


Full contact details for Colmain Services, Mont Albert, VIC 3127. COLMAIN SERVICES belongs to category LANDSCAPING CONTRACTORS in Mont Albert, Australia.
This is automatic search on map. Location may be incorrect. We advise to contact the Colmain Services to be sure about their location.


One ship drives east and another drives west with the selfsame winds that blow. It's the set of the sails and not the gales that tell us the way to go. As we voyage along through life, It's the set of a soul that decides its goal, and not the calm or the strife.


text:
Judith Exner, auch Judith Campbell und Judith Campbell Exner (* 11. Januar 1934 als Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor in New York City; † 24. September 1999 in Duarte (Kalifornien)) war eine US-amerikanische Society-Frau, die die Geliebte des US-Präsidenten John F. Kennedy und eine enge Freundin des Mafia-Bosses Sam Giancana war.

Kindheit
Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor wurde in New York City als Tochter des aus Deutschland eingewanderten Architekten Frederick Immoor und seiner Frau Katherine Shea Immoor geboren. Nach einem Umzug der wohlhabenden Familie in die Gegend um Los Angeles wuchs Exner in Pacific Palisades heran. Nachdem ihre Mutter, als Judith 14 war, fast bei einem Autounfall gestorben wäre, wurde Judith von der Schule genommen und zuhause unterrichtet. Judith hatte eine ältere Schwester Jacqueline (1931–1985, sie wurde später unter dem Namen Susan Morrow Schauspielerin), und eine Schwester Joan Collingwood. Außerdem hatte sie zwei Brüder, Allen und Fred Immoor.

Ehen und Familie
Im Alter von 18 Jahren, 1952, heiratete Judith Immoor den Schauspieler William Campbell und nahm seinen Namen an. Er war Alkoholiker, und sie ließen sich 1958 wieder scheiden. 1975 heiratete sie Dan Exner, einen Golfer; sie trennten sich 1988 wieder. Aus einer späteren Beziehung hatte Judith Exner einen Sohn, David Bohrer.

John F. Kennedy
1959 lernte sie Frank Sinatra kennen und hatte mit ihm eine kurze Affäre. Am 7. Februar 1960 wurde Exner (damals hieß sie noch Campbell) von Sinatra in Las Vegas mit John F. Kennedy bekannt gemacht, der damals Senator und Präsidentschaftskandidat war. Sie wurde seine Geliebte für etwa zwei Jahre. Im März 1960 machte Sinatra Judith Exner auch mit dem Boss der Chicagoer Mafia Sam Giancana (der ihr als Sam Flood vorgestellt wurde) bekannt.

Vor dem Church Committee, das 1975 Mordversuche der CIA untersuchte, in einer Pressekonferenz 1975 und in ihren Memoiren 1977 (My Story) behauptete Exner, ihre Beziehung zu Kennedy sei rein privat gewesen und sie habe nicht zwischen ihm und Giancana vermittelt.

1988, in einem Interview der Zeitschrift People, gab Exner an, sie habe Giancana und John Roselli nur im Auftrag Kennedys getroffen und in den Jahren 1960 und 1961 für 18 Monate als Mittlerin zwischen Kennedy und der Mafia gedient. Sie habe früher gelogen aus Angst, ermordet zu werden. 1997, sie war inzwischen unheilbar an Krebs erkrankt, korrigierte sie sich erneut und berichtete, sie habe des Öfteren Umschläge mit Geld für Kennedy transportiert, sie habe gewusst, dass es in den Dokumenten um die Ermordung Fidel Castros gehe. Außerdem sei sie von ihrer letzten Begegnung mit Kennedy schwanger gewesen und Giancana habe ihr bei der Abtreibung geholfen.

Exners Aussagen bis zu ihren Memoiren wurden zwar häufig durch Kennedy-Mitarbeiter bestritten, sie sind aber gut durch viele offizielle Dokumente, wie Telefonmitschnitte durch das FBI, belegt. Für ihre späteren Korrekturen und Detaillierungen gibt es hingegen keine Belege und keine Zeugen.

Späte Jahre und Tod
Judith Exner lebte später als Malerin in Newport Beach und starb am 25. September 1999 in Duarte (Kalifornien) an Brustkrebs.

In der Kultur
Exners Memoiren dienten dem Fernsehfilm Power and Beauty (2002) von Susan Seidelman als Vorlage. Sie wurde dort von Natasha Henstridge gespielt.

Weiterführende Literatur
 Michael O'Brien: The Exner File – Truth and fantasy from a president's mistress. In: The Washington Monthly, Dezember 1999, Band 31, Nr. 12.
 Judith Campbell Exner, Ovid Demetrias: My Story. Grove Press, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8021-0139-6.
 Seymour Hersh: Kennedy: das Ende einer Legende. 3. Aufl., Hamburg 1999 (The Dark Side of Camelot, 1998). Auszüge davon in englisch (PDF; 212 kB)

Weblinks
 Foto von Billy Campbell und Judith Exner auf flickr
 Vollständige Dokumentation der Berichte des Church Committee (14 Bände) sowie rund 1000 Seiten freigegebene Originalakten in der AARC Public Library
 America's most wanted. Sam Giancana auf america-most-wanted.blogspot.de vom 17. August 2006
 Vance R. Rowe: Mafia Boss Giuseppe Morello auf bellaonline.com
 Sam Sloan: Judith Exner: Mistress to President John F. Kennedy auf anusha.com
 John Simkin: Sam Giancana auf Spartacus Educational

Einzelnachweise

Autor
Autobiografie
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1934
Gestorben 1999
Frau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Microstrip slot antenna fed by matching network of microstrip line to increase very wide-bandwidth and multiband is proposed. The microstrip line composed of multi tuning stubs is used to control slots antenna real impedance to match with impwdance cahracteristic of feeding line so that it could increase the bandwidth. The design are achieves good input impedance in the ranges frequency of 1.3 - 5.1 GHz for single slot and 1.1 - 6.4 GHz for two slots. The bandwidths of antennas become very wide if the slots made in array configuration. The measured return loss S11 agrees well with the simulation results for single slot as axample. Keywords: microstrip slot antenna, array configuration, network impedance, multi tuning stub.
This work discusses the development of information technology service management using cloud computing approach to improve the performance of administration system and online learning at STMIK IBBI Medan, Indonesia. The network topology is modeled and simulated for system administration and online learning. The same network topology is developed in cloud computing using Amazon AWS architecture. The model is designed and modeled using Riverbed Academic Edition Modeler to obtain values of the parameters: delay, load, CPU utilization, and throughput. The simu- lation results are the following. For network topology 1, without cloud computing, the average delay is 54 ms, load 110 000 bits/s, CPU utilization 1.1%, and throughput 440 bits/s. With cloud computing, the average delay is 45 ms, load 2 800 bits/s, CPU utilization 0.03%, and throughput 540 bits/s. For network topology 2, without cloud computing, the average delay is 39 ms, load 3 500 bits/s, CPU utilization 0.02%, and throughput database server 1 400 bits/s. With cloud computing, the average delay is 26 ms, load 5 400 bits/s, CPU utilization email server 0.0001%, FTP server 0.001%, HTTP server 0.0002%, throughput email server 85 bits/s, FTP   server 100 bits/sec, and HTTP server 95 bits/s. Thus, the delay, the load, and the CPU utilization decrease; but, the throughput increases. Information technology service management with cloud computing approach has better performance.


text:
Pins & Aces: Making Golf Accessories and Apparel More Accessible For The Modern Golfer
Courtesy Image
by Men's Journal editors
Millennial golfers are breathing life into the sport and the industry has started providing greater awareness on what's of interest to this age group. The National Golf Foundation's annual study of golf participation in the United States found that 36 percent of the nearly 24 million golfers in the United States are young adults aged 18 to 39, and over 15 million additional millennials expressed interest in taking up the game. This increase has millennials on track to overtake all other age groups as the largest market share in the sport, and many in the industry have taken note. One such industry leader is Pins & Aces.
In 2017, they changed the headcover game. By creating wild, unique headcovers that redefined the golf bag, Pins & Aces founder Nick Mertz filled a gap in the golf accessory industry. Creating headcovers that could reflect your favorite state, themes, and even political affiliations hadn't been done before. Then in 2020, Pins & Aces changed the game again.
They started investing in American Made and committed to making more products in Colorado. They're creating more jobs from an ever-expanding business and making better product lines right in America. Moving forward, Pins & Aces aims to offer a complete line of golf headcovers made entirely in the U.S.
What differentiates Pins & Aces is its intricate designs. They have headcovers that come in the form of a beer or even a boxing glove. What started out as just headcovers is now expanding into polos, hats, belts, gloves, and more. The line of accessories has also grown, offering golf bags, towels, stamps, and the most unique, diverse, and hilarious variety of ball markers any golfer has ever come across.
To learn more about the brand, visit the Pins & Aces website or follow them on Instagram.
This article was produced in partnership with Thomas Herd
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