Unfortunately, I had two things going against me. First, I had no idea how to obtain a tenure track position. A great deal of my time was spent trying to figure out how this process differed from the typical corporate job search. In fact, it all seemed rather highbrowed and mysterious: finding faculty search postings, preparing a dossier, writing an application letter, going through an interview, and negotiating a job contract. I didn't understand how faculty searches were really conducted. I naively believed that academics functioned above and beyond any form of political dynamics. My second "problem" was that I was a person of color, and therefore on the margins of the "good-old boy" system. As much as I wanted to believe that hires were chosen solely because of the scholastic rigor demonstrated by the applicant, the truth of the matter was that even within academic settings, race and ethnicity still mattered.
Fortunately for me, I came across a book that was partly responsible in helping me reach my goal - the prized tenure track position. The text was the Guide to the Perplexing: A Survival Manual for Women in Religious Studies published by the American Academy of Religion. Even though I am male, the practical advice, elucidation of the politics involved in faculty searches, and step-by-step explanation of the hiring process proved to be invaluable. The prevailing oppressive structures faced by women due to institutional sexism are similar to those faced by scholars of color. It was not too difficult to mentally adjust the book's advice to the situations I would probably be facing as a Hispanic male. Still, even though the Guide to the Perplexing is well written, and remains a must-read for any woman entering the profession, I wish there had been a text dealing with the unique and specific challenges faced by scholars of color - both male and female.


Defib For Life are proud to be part of the Clifton Hill / North Fitzroy Community Bank Branch achievements.
We are proud to be a Community Bank and to have contributed over $1.7million to our local community.
Thank you to Carol and to all our customers for making our community a great place to live, work play and grow.
Ventricular fibrillation causes most sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs). V-fib is a type of arrhythmia.
During v-fib, the ventricles (the heart's lower chambers) don't beat normally. Instead, they quiver very rapidly and irregularly. When this happens, the heart pumps little or no blood to the body. V-fib is fatal if not treated within a few minutes.
Certain diseases and conditions can cause the electrical problems that lead to SCA. Examples include coronary heart disease (CHD), severe physical stress; certain inherited disorders; and structural changes in the heart.
During my recent family trip to the UK, I couldn't help but continually notice the placement of AED's, something that has become second nature for me since we started Defib For Life in 2010.
Our journey commenced at Tullamarine airport Melbourne, where AED's have been in place now for many years and have been responsible for saving many lives. Throughout my journey I passed through 6 airports and like Tullamarine these airports all had strategically placed AED's. Thankfully, it appears that the placement of AED's in international airports has become the norm.
It was pleasing to see that government departments around the world clearly understood the importance of AED's as indicated by the proliferation of defibrillators at international airports, or do they? For some reason they have not felt it necessary to mandate them in locations other than international airports. In my opinion, the main reason why defibrillators are policy at international airports and not elsewhere is to safe guard them against the embarrassment of an international incident should an overseas traveler die suddenly of a cardiac arrest whilst in transit.
Throughout my travels outside of the airport system, AED's did appear ad-hoc across the UK, mostly at large shopping centres and tourist attractions. What was quite interesting to me though was that defibrillators had become common in the small village setting. The common theme was that most had been purchased through their local community either via a fundraiser or a substantial donation by a single resident.
Thanks to some great conversations with some key sporting clubs at local level, we started looking around for some ways to help out with clubs who needed support with funding. With our looking came a whole host of different government grants which support the purchase of one of our Defib For Life packages….how cool is that!
Whats even cooler is that we have done the research on when they all open, when they close and also some tips on writing your application and some information for your application. Here is the TASMANIAN one which opens today….but stick around if you are in another state as they are coming up.
If you are not in our data base, simply send us an email and that way you will be on our alerts for your state. We will let you know when they open, send you some useful stuff to include and remind you prior to closure too.
So many out there want to ensure their communities are safe, which is great. This is getting you another step closer.
Keep in touch and let us know how we can help, or how you get on.
Don't wait til its too late.


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About ICAEW
Truth, Lies and Numbers
In the second episode of the More Than number podcast series, Louise Cooper and guests discussed whether numbers would always be subverted and who can we depend on to stop it.
Fast forward a few months and we are in the middle of a global pandemic, the likes of which the human population has not seen in over 100 years. The public are now being bombarded with even more data than ever before, each number telling its own story depending on the context in which it is used. The situation we find ourselves in forces us to yet again question what numbers we can trust and as accountants, what ethical considerations are at play when presenting data.
ICAEW's Richard Spencer revisits this compelling episode to discuss numbers, ethics and COVID-19 with special guests Jessica Bingham, Assistant Auditor at the NAO and Peter Morland, CEO, Unicorn Analytics.
Listen as Jessica argues harnessing people's scepticism towards numbers can encourage them to make more informed decisions, and how multiple independent bodies should be employed to present data in an unbiased manner to encourage people to create their own narrative. At the other end of the discussion, Peter points out that Chartered Accountants have already developed the fundamental tools needed to tackle the problem, they just need to be applied to new world of data driven decisions.
Listen to the full virtual event on demand now.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Фалмут () је главни град и престоница жупе Трелавни на Јамајци. Налази се на северној обали Јамајке,  источно од Монтего Беја.

Историја
Основао га је Томас Рајд 1769. године. Фалмут је процветао као центар трговине и лука за четрдесет година у време када је Јамајка била водећи светски произвођач шећера. Град је добио име по Фалмоту, Корнволу у Великој Британији, родном месту Сер Вилијамса Трелавнија, гувернера Јамајке, који је био најзначајнији у њеном оснивању. Град је помно планиран од самог почетка, са широким улицама, адекватним снабдевањем водом и јавним зградама. Чак је имао воду из водовода пре Њујорка.

Крајем 18. и почетком 19. века, Фалмут је била једна од најпрометнијих лука на Јамајци. То је био дом зидара, тесара, кафанских чувара, морепловаца и других. Био је богат град у богатој парохији. У оквиру парохије, скоро стотину плантажа је активно производило шећер и рум за извоз у Британију. Јамајка је овом периоду постала водећи светски произвођач шећера.

Све горе наведено је Фалмут претворило у централно чвориште трговине робљем. Град је био део, данас познате, преко Атлантске "троугласте трговине", тако да се његова економија у великој мери заснивала на ропству. У луци Фалмут свакога дана могло се видети и по 30 великих бродова који су довозили робове из Африке.

Као резултат, почевши од 1840. судбина Фалмута као трговачког центра почела је да опада због еманципације робова у Британској империји. Због овог пада и недостатка подршке за развој, многе зграде остале су недовршене. Улице су биле изпуњене малим кућама, јединствених мрежастих украса и прозора, бројним трговцима и трговачким зградама, а све то датира из периода од 1790. до 1840.

У другој половини 19. века, услед успона Фалмута као трговинског центра, обнављају се недовршене грађевине и настају нове. Заједничке карактеристике ових грађевина, повезују различите стилове изградње у препознатљивом обрасцу ране џорџијанске архитектуре и чини град необичним, препознатљивим местом.

Архитектура

Фалмут има велики број интересантних историјских грађевина, којима је потребна рестаурација. Организација Баштина обнове Фалмута, непрофитабила организација базирана на САД. је преузела овај посао.

Најзначајније грађевине су:
 Фалмутски суд
 Англиканска црква Св. Петра, која је једна од најстаријих на Јамајци датира из 1795. године.
 Кућа Гринвуд која има највећу колекцију ретких музичких инструмената у држави.
 Зграда поште која се налази у улици Маркет, којој је потребна рестаурација.

Развој инфраструктуре

Нова 180 милиона долара вредна лука, направљена је да прима најновије и највеће бродове за крстарења. Лука је отворена почетком 2011. године.

Фалмут је био ценатр церемоније отварања Светског купа у крикету 2007. године. Церемонија је одржана на новоизграђеном Гринфилд стадиону, који се налази на само  од центра града.

Туризам

Једна од најзначајнијих привредних грана Фалмута јесте туризам. У оквиру туристичке понуде град нуди велики број екскурзија, неке од њих су:

 Плажа Црвена пруга- најближа плажа луци Фалмут прекривена је прелепим белим песком
 Историја Фалмута- 60-о минутна тура кроз град
 Рафтинг на Марта Беи
 Дивњи сафари
 Мистичне планине- одлазак у џунглу
У понуди многих светских агенција које нуде крстарење Карибским морем, лука Фалмут је главно пристаниште на Јамајци. Разлог томе огледа се у разноликој понуди коју овај град нуди, од мирних места за одмор до невероватних авантура.

Референце

Спољашње везе
https://dmoztools.net/Regional/Caribbean/Jamaica/Localities/Falmouth/  (на језику: енглески)

Јамајка
Кариби
Луке
Википројект географија/Насеља у Јамајци

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: Using command blocks to set players on fire I want to use a command block to set a player (which already has permanent fire resistance) permanently on fire, mostly as an aesthetic. Right now I have the following command:
/data merge entity <Playername> {Fire:100}

When I run it it says "Unable to modify player data". How do I get this to work? I'm new to commands in Minecraft.

A: This approach could work:
/execute at @p run summon minecraft:small_fireball ~ ~3 ~ {direction:[0.0,-10.0,0.0]}

It targets a player and constantly summons a small fireball from a Fire Charge around them, which would set the player on fire. You could potentially modify this a bit to create a permanent "on fire" effect.
(Source)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


There is an electricity crisis in Gaza. Essential services rely heavily on back-up generators but these require fuel.
The UN appealed for donors to fund US$6.5m to provide 7.7m litres of emergency fuel for 2018.
However, funding is not the real barrier to solving the crisis. After all, Hamas invests tens of millions of dollars into terror tunnels.
A recent article has highlighted what is the major problem – Palestinian politics.
Essam Aldalis, deputy head of Hamas's "Political Department," said that Qatar has paid for the required fuel and that "Israel agreed to the pumping of the fuel to the power plant in the Gaza Strip,".
It is disappointing that mainstream NZ news, some commentators, and elected officials who have condemned Israel for maintaining strong borders and defending against the Gaza riots are all silent when the Palestinian Authority is actually besieging Gaza.


the covenant breakers are the people who claim they are chosen people. due to this belief they think they have the right to do anything to the other people. it is mentioned in Torah that God said to them you are selected if you don't break the covenant. but they broke it repeatedly.


Meet the Destination Moon, a rocket-shaped table clock with little details that will bring a smile to your face.
Over the last few years, we've grown accustomed to getting imaginative creations from MB&F that aren't watches. Chief amongst these are clocks made in collaboration with L'Epée and what we have here today is the latest result of this partnership. Meet the Destination Moon, a rocket-shaped table clock with little details that will bring a smile to your face.
The Destination Moon by MB&F and L'Epée.
For those of you who have been following the MB&F x L'Epée projects over the years, such as Arachnophobia, Balthazar, and the Starfleet Machine, you'll know that there's always an element of the fantastic about them. Destination Moon is probably the most sober of the clocks in years, but it's also the most delightful.
At its foundation, Destination Moon is a table top clock that displays just the hours and minutes using a pair of rotating stainless steel discs at the top of the rocket. They line up with a double-sided pointer on the front and are constantly in motion. The clock is 41.4cm high and 23.3cm in diameter (about 16.3 inches and 9.2 inches, respectively) and the main structure sits on a trio of landing pods so it looks ready for take-off at all times. It weighs approximately four kilograms (8.8 pounds).
The movement is completely visible in the top portion of the clock.
The movement is completely visible, running up the center of the open rocket structure. It was designed and made by L'Epée and is made of 164 components, 17 of which are jewels. The escapement is vertically-oriented and proudly displayed behind a pane of mineral glass right below the time telling discs. The balance beats at 2.5 Hz and you wind up the 8-day power reserve using the large winding crown at the bottom of the clock.
Neil climbing the ladder up to the movement.
Of course though, there's that little astronaut. His name is Neil, and you might remember his appearance as part of the Astrograph pen just a few months ago. He can scale the ladder from the winding crown up to the main section of the movement and provides a little additional levity to the package.
The Destination Moon is available in four limited edition colors, black, blue, green, and palladium, all of which retail for 19,900 CHF (approximately $20,020 at time of publishing). Only 50 pieces will be made in each color.
For more, visit MB&F online.


The laggard of the Modern Family throughout this rally has been Retail (XRT), which mainly represents the brick and mortar stores.
While the rest of the Family (Russell 2000, Biotech, Transports, Regional Banks, and Semiconductors) have been trading over their 200-WMA (week moving average), XRT has not.
Plus, honorary mention goes to Semiconductors SMH, now above its 50-WMA, provided it holds above 101.
So, when XRT finally cleared the 200-WMA at 44.66, she put her bear totem on the shelf.
Will we see Granny's green yarn turn into a green blanket? Or will her bear totem come flying off the shelf and knock her down?
Before I begin analyzing the weekly chart of XRT, since I wrote about the U.S. Dollar yesterday a quick follow-up.
Today, the dollar declined after making a new 2019 high yesterday.
One reason could be that foreign countries have been buying the dollar to hedge in case a China trade deal fails. With uncertainty on the future of tariffs, but with a more hopeful spin of some deal in the making, sellers of the dollar showed up.
With that said, commodities had a happier day today. Will that sustain?
Retail responded today to the uptick in the indices.
Looking at XRT, the 200-WMA (green) finally pierced. Again, the week is still young.
So we will look to see if XRT can hold 44.66, and then clear 45.00.
The resistance overhead at the 50-WMA (blue) is at 46.80.
To date, the most impressive aspect of this chart is the triple bottoms at 38.00 made in 2016, 2017, and in 2018.
If we are to enter into a slowdown or worse, a recession, as many predict, a breakdown under 38.00 would be an extremely clear signal of terrible times for our dear Granny Retail.
Until then, bulls hope for a warm, green, hand-knitted blanket.
Dow (DIA) Has the move to 254.35 excited the bulls? It closed just above which makes it pivotal for tomorrow.
Nasdaq (QQQ) 170.14 cleared exciting the bulls.171.74 the 200-DMA.
KRE (Regional Banks) 55 now pivotal with 56 next resistance.
SMH (Semiconductors) 101 key pivotal area on weekly chart with 100.35 support at the 20 DMA.
IYT (Transportation) 185.37 now support with 189.65 the next bigger resistance point.
IBB (Biotechnology) 109.92 the 50-WMA resistance. 107 the weekly support held.


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Nontraditional pastas, like those made from beans, rice, and soy products, have become increasingly popular as a healthier option for pasta fans. However, that doesn't mean you can load up on veggie noodles with no consequences. "We would be wise to remember that these pastas, while more nutrient dense than traditional white pasta, still have calories and carbohydrates," says Monica Auslander Moreno, MS, RD, LD/N, nutrition consultant for RSP Nutrition. "Portions are still set at a measly 1/2 cup cooked; most of us do 2-3 cups of cooked pasta at a time. Try going 'half and half' with pasta alternatives and a vegetable pasta substitute." Check out these weight-loss breakthroughs doctors wish you knew.
How many times have you seen a super slim girl pass through your vision today? Whether it was in person, in an add, or even scrolling through your social media. It's inevitable. People are always posting things of ladies who look outrageously fit, and it hurts to know you're not in that category. We get it. We're right there with you. That's why we're here to tell you about something that might be able to help you break your way into that category. It's a product called Keto Shred, and we're excited to tell you about what we've found.
We just don't feel full by liquid calories in quite the same way as we do real food. Drinking a juice or caramel coffee drink just isn't as satisfying as eating a bowl of veggie- and protein-packed stir-fry. So monitor your intake of juice, soda, sweetened coffee and tea, and alcoholic beverages. If you consume each of those beverages during the day, you'll have taken in at least 800 extra calories by nighttime — and you'll still be hungry. (Incidentally, alcohol may suppress the metabolism of fat, making it tougher for you to burn those calories.)
Schedule workouts and meal prep times. Keep your workouts in your calendar. Additionally, schedule two blocks of time each week to prepare meals in bulk, so that you have healthy food in the fridge ready to eat at all times. Set reminder alerts to go off an hour before each workout and meal prep, and treat this as work- only a real emergency should stop you from getting it done.
But before we get into how to go about losing weight, please consider this: Weight loss isn't a healthy goal for everyone, Susan Albers, Psy.D., a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic specializing in body image and eating issues, tells SELF. "I work in a medical facility," she says. "I have access to people's blood work. You can be healthy or unhealthy at every size."
The calorie restriction diet myth suggests you will win the fight against flab. While losing weight does come down to how many calories you consume, it's the types of foods you eat that will determine how you feel as you lose weight and the kind of weight you will lose. If you have a poorquality diet — counting calories but eating junk food — chances are you'll lose muscle rather than fat, and thus, suffer from slow metabolism.
So what type of exercise is best when it comes to burning belly fat? Olson recommends intense weight training, Tabata interval training, sprint-style cardio, and kettlebell exercises. Of course, a little ab work won't hurt either—especially moves (like dead bug) that target the transverse abdominus, the deep core muscles that act like a girdle for the waist, cinching you in all over.
Skimp on fluids, and your body will release an antidiuretic hormone that leads to water retention that could affect the scale, Dr. Setlzer says. While this sneaky effect is one reason why the scale is a poor measure of body mass loss, you can outsmart it by drinking more—particularly if you fill your glass with water or non-calorie alternatives like unsweetened coffee and tea.
Aloe juice aka aloe water has been touted as the new coconut water. The bulk of aloe juice is made with aloe vera gel, water, or tea, and then sweeteners and natural flavors may be added. While aloe vera juice supposedly has health benefits, like weight loss and anti-aging properties, none of these claims have ever been scientifically proven. "Although aloe vera does contain high amounts of antioxidants, it has a slightly bitter, citrus-like flavor which is very difficult to drink on its own," says Amidor. "It also has diuretic properties, which if taken in large amounts, can lead to loss of potassium from your body, which is potentially dangerous."
And some of these factors can go pretty deep. Albers says that people often don't realize how dramatically past experiences influence our relationships with ourselves and bodies. For example, having to clean your plate as a child, getting sweet treats to "cheer up" after a bad day at school, or being called "fat" when you were 8 years old all likely have an impact. "Comments about your body or being urged to lose weight by a parent can do emotional damage for the rest of your life," Albers says. Unless you deal with these issues, "many people spin their wheels and don't know why they feel so stuck," she says. For this reason, Langer often refers clients to psychologists who specialize in food issues, and she won't work with those clients on the nutrition side of things until they've started to unpack these fundamental emotional factors. Understanding your relationship to food is an important step in trying to change it.
Practice intermittent fasting. Skip breakfast and compress your daily eating into a smaller window of time. If you're a man, fast for at least 16 hours and eat in an 8-hour window every day- noon to 8 PM works best for most people. If you're a woman, fast for at least 14 hours and eat for 10. In either case, this means you're having two small meals and one smaller low-calorie snack each day.
8. Drink more water. You may not realize how important water is for weight loss—it's not just a tool to help you eat less. Being properly hydrated will balance your energy levels, which allows you to exercise with intensity. (Have you ever been so thirsty during a workout that you couldn't perform as well as usual?) Drinking enough water may also increase your metabolism and promote muscle building—a well-hydrated body can more efficiently repair and build muscles. On the other hand, being dehydrated encourages muscle breakdown. So drink up, especially since you are exercising regularly.
That's because it theoretically causes a mild ketosis (yep, the basis of the keto diet), which is a fat-burning state that should make you feel less hungry. The key in being successful with a low-carb diet (especially if you're used to a more high-carb lifestyle) is to compensate for those lost carbs with protein-rich foods, says Dr. Cheskin. That way, your volume of food stays the same, but you're doing it healthfully rather than in a way that exacerbates your weight gain.
Sure, you can lose weight quickly. There are plenty of fad diets that work to shed pounds rapidly -- while leaving you feeling hungry and deprived. But what good is losing weight only to regain it? To keep pounds off permanently, it's best to lose weight slowly. And many experts say you can do that without going on a "diet." Instead, the key is making simple tweaks to your lifestyle.


In Fall 2016, West Chester University students Erinn Brown, Annmarie Geist, Matt Gilberg, and Casey Monaghan produced this podcast drawing on Quilters' S.O.S. — Save Our Stories oral history interviews. The podcast explores how individuals have used quiltmaking as a form of therapy.


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To Watch: Meet the Patels
Film still courtesy of Meet the Patels © Four in a Billion Pictures
Not all family home movies have the makings of a heartwarming yet sidesplitting film — an award-winning one at that. But then not all home films are helmed by the sibling duo of Ravi and Geeta Patel; he's a comedian, actor and entrepreneur while she's a writer, director and cinematographer with one documentary, Project Kashmir, already under her belt.
Meet the Patels, the first cinematic collaboration between the two, turns the lens on their own family and their Indian heritage — namely, the culture of arranged marriages. And for this first-generation Indian-American duo, its personal. Their parents want Ravi to marry someone Indian, a Patel in fact. It's a custom: Patels marry Patels. And so the movie — mostly filmed by Geeta with a handheld camera, with the occasional animated bit — follows Ravi as he embarks on date after date after date, with his mother as matchmaker (as well as the Patel community at large). There are dating resumes, conventions, a redheaded non-Desi ex-girlfriend who was kept hidden from the family…
Here, we talk to the brother and sister about the project, which has been heating up the film festival circuit, and that other Patel duo who stole the show: Champa and Vasant, a.k.a mom and dad.
Yes, Patels marry other Patels…
Geeta Patel: From the outside, that sounds insane. The film looks at that culture, the fact that Patels only marry Patels and the process of how they do so…
Ravi Patel: Our parents had an arranged marriage and they married someone with the same last name as them. It's a system of marriage that allows them to marry within the culture — not only within the same kind of culture but the same kind of cultural values. In the Western world today, there's a loosely connected Patel network. Back in the day you would just go a couple of villages over. Now, mom might call an uncle and that uncle calls 10 of his friends… Next thing you know, mom and dad are receiving 30 matrimonial resumes of other kids named Patel, who are also of marriage age.
A Patel Convention is…
RP: Bio-dating is that loose network of calling people and getting resume submissions — now imagine the convention version of it. Parents send all unmarried Patel kids to one hotel — in this case, it was in Baltimore. It's basically a weekend of speed-dating Patels.
The origins of Meet the Patels…
RP: Geeta and I were on a trip in India, and had these interesting conversations because of what I was going through — this pressure to get married while hiding [my then-girlfriend Audrey, who's not Indian]. Gheeta had bought a video camera to learn how to operate one, and was filming our family vacation. When we came back, we saw something in the footage. I thought, Oh, this could be a cool Morgan Spurlock- or Michael Moore-like journalistic adventure.
GP: I'm behind the camera the whole time, so when Ravi isn't narrating, he's just bantering with me, like you do when you're on a road trip with your sibling. There's this family intimacy. It brings an extra layer. And Ravi being the natural comedian he is, the funny banter is up a few levels. So we thought, OK, forget the journalistic way — let's just keep going with this crazy nontraditional format.
At its core, the film is really about…
RP: Love and family.
GP: The film changed our relationship. It made us a stronger family. The relationship we have, because of this film, is the greatest gift in the world.
Favorite scene…
GP: Ravi goes on a date through our parents' matchmaking and I've filmed it. Afterwards, I ask him how he felt about the date and he's telling me — but then realizes I was there, and asks me how I felt about it!
RP: The one where we're at a wedding and mom and dad want to set me up with a girl. They're giving me this pep talk and my dad kind of backhand slaps me on my chest, like he's the coach of a football team amd this is Friday Night Lights. He's like, "C'mon! You're my son!" and telling me how to talk to girls. That was, for me, the funniest moment.
Our mom, the matchmaker…
RP: It's not her job title per se, but she's definitely responsible for setting up a number of successful couples. I'm sure she would take it as a job because the whole family is capitalistic. She's one of those people who, when she meets you for the first time, will get into your deepest sh** and will find a way to go deeper, make you feel uncomfortable and also help you at the same time. And, obviously, relationships are at the core of that. She's like an agent to the world. She's a connector and she's really good at it, honestly.
And our dad…
RP: Our dad, in those departments, is like our mom's sidekick. They're a great team because they have very different personalities but are complementary. He's the more relaxed of the two, the guru of the family. Imagine mom on the phone in the kitchen doing deals and dad is at the table, sipping chai and calmly giving my mom life advice. It's basically just one big enterprise of unsolicited advice.
And our parents now…
RP: They are celebrities when they go to these film festivals. They're still the same people, but they're starting to catch on to things like free food, craft services, gifting suites… They basically could care less about the attention and care more about the free stuff.
Our dating recommendations…
RP: Don't bring your sister along to film it.
GP: Find somebody who's interested in the journey of having a relationship, who is willing to take the pain — you know, no pain, no gain.
RP: The best thing I ever heard was that there are three pillars of a successful relationship: commitment, compatibility and chemistry. In the Western culture we tend to put too much emphasis on chemistry, but if you keep an eye on all three of those pillars, you have a greater opportunity for a successful relationship.
RP: Geeta and I are writing and directing some projects together. I'm on the new FOX show, with John Stamos, Grandfathered. And I also have the granola company I co-founded, called This Bar Saves Lives.
GP: I have an action-drama film, Mouse, that I wrote and will be directing. I also just did some directing for the Wachowskis' new Netflix show, Sense8. Watching those siblings work together and seeing how much fun they have together… it actually has a lot to do with my wanting to work with Ravi again. Ravi and I fight all the time and it can be really hard, but the camaraderie and the beautiful moments of working with someone you really care about is priceless.
Labels: Culture, Film, Meet the Patels
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← Board 2 Pieces October 11, 2012: Essen Preview: Bumm Bumm Ballon!
Despite the obvious attractiveness of the theme, the superhero genre has always had a difficult time succeeding, both in boardgames as well as video games. Gamers' expectations always run high and games tend to either disappoint by providing too narrow a spectrum of hero abilities or fail by providing such a wealth of choices that the game must necessarily be over-complicated. The recent card game entry, Sentinels of the Multiverse, (see the previous Opinionated Gamers review) overcomes some of the complexity issues by providing prebuilt decks of cards for each superhero. This places special rules or behaviors for each hero into their cards rather than having a cluttered rulebook. Sentinels also overcomes the problem of having heroes in direct conflict by making it a cooperative game with players all attempting to defeat a central villain. Having had success (particularly in my gaming circles) with their initial run, the folks at Greater Than Games have produced a new Enhanced Edition of the base game along with two new expansions that bring new villains, environments, and a couple heroes to the mix.
For rules details, see the aforementioned review, but here's a quick overview for anyone coming late to the party. Each player has a deck of cards representing their particular superhero. At the game start a villain deck and an environment deck (representing the location of the battle) is chosen. In one round, the villain will take their turn (activating effects and playing a card from the villain deck) followed by each of the heroes. The round ends with the environment deck playing a card and performing effects which can help or hurt the heroes in their efforts. (More often than not, it damages or limits something's abilities although that something might not always be a hero.) Players, villains, and some other cards (in any of the decks) have hit points and are legal targets for attacks. Players try to attack the villain and its minions while the villain and its cards primarily attack the heroes. Typically, if enough damage is done to the villain, his or her card "flips" to a new, slightly more powerful side and the battle continues. If this side is also defeated, the heroes win. If all the heroes are defeated, the villain wins. Note that even if a hero goes to 0 HP, that player is still allowed to participate in the game via minor actions they can do (depending on their hero) on their turns after they are eliminated.
A player's turn consists primarily of playing a card, using a power, and then ending the turn by drawing a new card. Each hero starts with a very basic power to activate, but as the game progresses cards can be played that offer different powers to use and/or upgrades to existing powers. This is the meat of the game. Within a hero deck there are synergies to be exploited as well as between hero decks. For example, in the base game there is a villain whose sole power starts out as the ability to damage himself with 1 point of fire damage or 1 point of cold damage. While this is truly a lame superhero, as the game progresses, that character can play cards to gain the ability to damage other cards whenever he takes fire damage, and heal himself whenever he takes cold damage. Thus, the ability to damage himself can become quite useful if the correct cards are out. Some heros focus on doing lots of damage, others excel at damaging many targets, and still others tend to be better at empowering and improving their fellow heroes.
There is a lot going on in the game, perhaps overwhelmingly so at first to anyone unfamiliar with more complex synergistic card games like Magic: the Gathering. However, I see this as a partial strength of the game. It helps to prevent the classic cooperative game blunder of a single player making everyone else's turn, and also provides depth of play for gamers to explore new pairings of abilities. The game can be a bit unbalanced at times with unlucky card draws in the villain or environment decks, but as with all card games things tend to even out in the end. Fans of superhero games, cooperative games, or more complex and synergistic card games should find something to enjoy here.
The new enhanced edition is leaps and bounds a better presentation of the game than the previous small box edition. The new box is sturdier and a far better storage method. Similar to AEG's boxes for Thunderstone or Nightfall, the new box has two rows for card storage and provides nice graphic dividers for keeping the various card decks separate. There are even dividers provided for all the expansion cards. The cards themselves are on slightly better card stock (I find them good, but not the highest end available) and there are cardboard tokens provided to help keep track of damage and game effects. The damage tokens are a godsend (you had to make do with pencil and paper or whatever you had on hand before) and the game effect tokens do help considerably to manage the many complexities that interacting heroes and villains can create.
The Enhanced Edition is clearly the preferred edition to purchase for new players (if you even can find the old version around), but fans who have the previous game can buy just the box, dividers, and tokens as an "upgrade" set to give themselves a much better storage situation as well as the handy tokens.
The second expansion, Infernal Relics, has a Cthulhu / Demonic theme with a spell caster and a mystical bard/musician. Villains include a huge nature aspect, a relic hunter, a zombie king, and even a supervillain team of Egyptian gods. There are fewer new global mechanics in this second expansion, but most of the new stuff is found within the way individual hero and villain decks operate.
Both expansions are a no-brainer purchase for fans of the game, and I'm hard pressed to pick one favorite over the other. Infernal Relics has slightly more interesting (and different) hero mechanics than Rook City, but both expansions' villains introduce quite different game experiences. For those who just love spoilers (or who want to pick and choose an expansion), here is a list of the heroes, villains, and environment decks of the two expansions.
Mr. Fixer is an old mechanic turned martial artist who uses tools (equipment) and styles (a type of ongoing card) in order to do irreducible damage, redirect damage, or simply do extra damage.
Expatriette is a gun specialist who has both guns (equipment cards) as well as ammo cards which modify (for a single use) the abilities of her gun cards. These most often are able to increase and modify the damage type performed by her guns.
Plague Rat does a small amount of irreducible damage and infects the heroes. Infected heroes deal damage to themselves and sometimes others. Plague Rat incrases in power as more heroes become infected.
The Chairman is a stereotypical crime boss. You can't even identify (and damage him) until you first take out his right-hand "man" The Operative. Thus it becomes two medium-sized villains for the price of one. In addition, The Chairman has a deck of low power thugs, and medium strength Underbosses which have unique powers and can be recalled back into play.
Spite the mutant drug-crazed serial killer is perhaps the strangest villain in the set. He has (indestructible) drug cards which improve his powers, and a safe house card players use to squirrel away "victims" from Spite's clutches. When Spite flips to his his "drug-wracked monstrosity" side and victims thus hidden away will deal a one-time burst of major damage to Spite.
Rook City – yes you can fight on the streets of the city itself. This deck typically messes with itself and the villain deck and has a healthy dose of NPC cards that wander into play to change things up.
Pike Industrial Complex has many chemical Vat cards that stack up and affect the game play. If they are left lying around too long, they can explode and do serious damage. There are rat cards that gang up on low HP non-environment targets and can all be brought back from the environment discards.
Nightmist is an occult practitioner who casts spells. All her cards have a spell icon containing a number. Many of her powers and abilities key off this number for damage or healing effects. She has a high number of cards that cause herself damage but also some the can be used for self-healing.
Argent Adept is a mystic musician who uses Instruments (equipment cards) to use ongoing abilities that must be activated. These abilities consist of three types: Melodies, Harmonies, and Rhythm. The Argent Adept can even use his powers to activate multiple abilities at once. The deck specializes in many healing options as well as ways to assist other heroes with card management, attacks, and defenses.
Akash'Bhuta is a huge aspect of nature that isn't all that damaging, but has a HUGE number of hitpoints (200, twice the previous "big guy"). Hopefully that doesn't translate into a much longer game. Akash'Bhuta interacts with environment cards so will probably vary quite a bit with the environment deck chosen.
Apostate has a number of very powerful relic cards that enhance him and are sacrificed if he is about to be defeated.
GloomWeaver also has a few relic cards, but they have a high number of hit points. However, if the players can destroy them early they automatically win. GloomWeaver also has five zombie cards that just don't want to stay in the trash and keep coming back.
The Tomb of Anubis has a plethora of minion-type cards as well as Trial cards which are ongoing and challenge the players. There is also a powerful recurring NPC that must be repeatedly beaten down.
Realm of Discord has several Distortion cards that can only be in play one at a time. They significantly change how the game is played by giving players and villains bonus cards, cause damage increases, and even limit abilities that can be used.
Mike Siggins: I still think this is one of the most original and better designed games of the last couple of years. I have found it a little difficult to keep up with enhancements once it went off into The Land of Kickstarting, but frankly the base game has plenty of mileage. Still, today I ordered Infernal Relics and look forward to further games.


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Scottish software firm Voxar develops high-end 3-D for PCs
Company claims library provides speed edgeA Scottish software company called Voxar has developed a library of 3-D software development tools that it claims will enable off-the-shelf PCs to perform high-end 3-D applications like volume rendering.
Company claims library provides speed edge
A Scottish software company called Voxar has developed a library of 3-D software development tools that it claims will enable off-the-shelf PCs to perform high-end 3-D applications like volume rendering. The Edinburgh company hopes to rewrite the rules of 3-D image rendering, a technology that for the most part has been limited to high-powered workstations capable of the processing speeds necessary to handle large 3-D data sets.
Voxar made its debut at December's Radiological Society of North America meeting, where its demonstration of volume rendering on off-the-shelf Intel Pentium PCs impressed attendees in the infoRad section of the conference. Voxar's development package is called Voxarlib Medical, which consists of C++ code that medical imaging vendors can use to write 3-D applications to be sold directly to end users or incorporated into other products, such as PACS software.
Voxarlib Medical's basic configuration began shipping in June and supports 3-D techniques such as surface rendering, maximum intensity projection (MIP), and multiplanar resampling (MPR). The company is developing a version that supports more sophisticated volume-rendering techniques and should have that software in beta testing later this year.
How fast is Voxarlib Medical? On applications running on a standard PC with a 200-MHz Pentium MMX processor, users can rotate a full-volume 20-MB CT scan of 512 x 512 x 40 slices at dozens of frames per second. When users stop the rotation to zoom in on a selected area, the image gains full resolution in less than a third of a second. The result is interactive 3-D on a PC or Macintosh at a fraction of the cost of workstation-based systems, according to the company.
The speed of Voxarlib's applications comes from the library's treatment of 3-D objects as voxels, or cubes, rather than as polygons, as most other 3-D software programs handle objects. A CT, MRI, or ultrasound scan reproduces patient anatomy as thousands of voxels that fit together to form an image. Therefore, rendering the scan in 3-D using voxels is a more faithful representation of the original data than polygons, according to Euan Mackenzie, commercial director for the company. Software developers have resorted to polygons to display 3-D images because of the difficulty in rendering voxel-based images quickly, he said.
Voxar was founded in 1991 by Andrew Bissell, a computer science graduate from Edinburgh University. In its early days, the company considered entering the market for custom 3-D graphics hardware, but decided that such a direction would be difficult due to the massive amounts of capital that would be required to keep its hardware a step ahead of Intel's. Instead, Voxar decided to take advantage of Intel's engineering muscle by developing 3-D software that would run faster with each new generation of processing chip. Voxar also sells versions of Voxarlib to the oil exploration and entertainment industries.
In addition to offering development tools to OEMs, Voxar is developing a complete 3-D rendering package based on Voxarlib Medical that OEMs can market under their labels without having to do their own software development work. Apart from the research market, however, Voxar does not plan to sell its product directly to clinicians.
"I don't think that's where our core skill set is," Bissell said. "We have OEMs who have that core skill set, and they can add a great deal of value through what they know about the end-customer markets."
Voxarlib Medical runs on Windows 95 and NT, Macintosh, and Unix platforms. A Voxarlib Medical surface-rendering package costs $5000 for a Windows or Mac version and $7500 for a Unix version, while a Voxarlib Medical volume-rendering package will cost $15,000 for a Windows or Mac version and $22,500 for a Unix version. OEMs also pay licensing fees based on applications they develop using Voxarlib Medical.


Matthew Kotsovolos of Durham, who had LASIK surgery 16 months ago, has such dry eyes he wears gogglelike glasses and takes fish oil to stimulate tear production. He also has severe pain in his face and head.
Millions of Americans have undergone laser eye surgery to correct bad vision, and along with the procedure's popularity something else is coming into focus: its hazards.
Advertising stresses the surgery's safety, and most procedures are successful. Tiger Woods, who relies on keen eyesight as the world's best golfer, pitches it as a quick and painless way to restore sharp vision. Even the U.S. Air Force, long skeptical of the surgery, changed its policy in May to let people who had LASIK apply for pilot training.
But every year thousands of Americans who undergo LASIK are left with chronic pain, dryness of the eyes, distorted night vision and even blindness, according to Food and Drug Administration statistics.
LASIK -- which stands for laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis -- uses lasers to cut and reshape the cornea. It can improve eyesight without complications, but equipment flaws, a surgeon's error or a failure to screen out patients whose eyes are ill-suited for the treatment can cause the operation to go awry.
The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, which represents about 9,000 ophthalmologists specializing in laser eye surgery, estimates that only 2 percent to 3 percent of the more than 1 million LASIK surgeries each year are unsuccessful. But Food and Drug Administration records of clinical studies show that six months after the surgery, up to 28 percent of patients complained of eye dryness, up to 16 percent had blurry vision and up to 18 percent had difficulty driving at night.
The Triangle, home to two medical schools, is a hot spot for LASIK; 11 eye centers will perform LASIK on about 8,000 patients this year, according to market research.
One of the leaders is Duke Eye Center, whose LASIK surgeons are among the best-trained and best-equipped in the field. But even surgery at Duke's level has damaged a few patients' eyes beyond repair.
One of those patients is Matthew Kotsovolos, 38, of Raleigh. He was the Duke Eye Center's head of finances and received the surgery for free June 8, 2006. It gave him 20-20 vision but left him with intensely dry eyes and excruciating facial pain. He wakes up with sore eyes every morning, wears special goggles to preserve eye moisture and wonders when the pain in his face will kick in.
"I traded in my glasses for permanent head pain, eye pain and these things," Kotsovolos said, pointing to the goggles.
Nine months after his surgery, Kotsovolos quit his job at the Duke Eye Center, took a 25 percent pay cut and started work as business manager in the Duke University Medical Center's gastroenterology division. He is organizing a support group for LASIK patients with complications.
"It may help inform people that this is a surgery with real risks that are understated by LASIK surgeons," Kotsovolos said.
Alan Carlson, head of the Duke Eye Center, said his experience with LASIK is that complications are rare. Carlson, who did not operate on Kotsovolos, said only a handful of the roughly 6,000 LASIK patients he has treated at Duke since 1996 ended up with problems. The eye center does very well in patient satisfaction surveys, he said.
But Carlson acknowledged that the procedure can cause serious complications.
"It's imperfect surgery in an imperfect world," he said.
How many LASIK patients develop post-surgery complications is obscured by a lack of regulation and reporting. Because health insurers don't pay for LASIK, they generally don't track complications. The FDA doesn't require reports from doctors, and regulatory enforcement has been largely limited to recalling malfunctioning lasers.
Evidence of problems is accumulating. Some of the strongest is the growing market for contact lenses designed for people who have undergone LASIK and still have vision problems, some seeing worse than before the surgery. One of the leading post-LASIK lens makers is MedLens Innovations, a Front Royal, Va., company founded in 2000.
Robert Breece, an optometrist and MedLens' president, said his company provides hard contacts to more than 2,500 post-LASIK patients annually and business is increasing about 10 percent every year. Breece said his company serves more than 200 people per year who have been seriously disabled by the surgery.
"I don't get to talk to happy LASIK patients," he said.
By the end of the year, SynergEyes of Carlsbad, Calif., plans to bring to market the first line of contact lenses designed specially for laser eye surgery patients with complications who cannot tolerate hard lenses.
A trial version of the SynergEyes contact lenses have given Paula Cofer, 49, of Tampa, Fla., some relief from dry, itchy eyes and night vision so distorted that she sees up to eight moons.
The specially fitted contacts cost $300 every six months, Cofer said. Contact lenses solution, sterile saline solution, artificial tears and lenses rewetting drops run another $150 to $160 per month.
"Life was very simple then," she said about the 30 years she wore glasses. "Now, it's very complicated."
Patients with complications are starting to fight back on the Internet and through support groups. Medical research in the past three years has come up with insights about LASIK worrisome enough that some eye surgeons have begun to ease away from the procedure.
"We've learned the limitations of LASIK," said Dr. Stephen Pflugfelder, professor of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
An expert in laser eye surgery for more than 15 years, Pflugfelder is increasingly falling back on an older, less invasive procedure known as photorefractive keratectomy, or PRK, which involves only the surface of the eye.
In the past three years, the number of LASIK procedures at Baylor has dropped from about 70 percent to about 50 percent of all laser eye surgeries.
At Duke, LASIK makes up about 80 percent of all laser eye surgeries. Carlson, head of the Duke Eye Center, is comfortable with that.
"Dry eye hasn't been a big problem," he said.
The university buys the most sophisticated lasers on the market, he said. Patients are screened for risk factors and informed of what they can and cannot expect from LASIK. A surgeon might even do the surgery on one eye at a time.
Those precautions did not prevent Lauranell Burch, a former Duke medical researcher, from suffering a serious complications after undergoing LASIK at the Duke Eye Center.
Burch 47, said that since the surgery March 31, 2004, her eyes sting and burn all the time, her eye tissue is wrinkled like a Ruffles potato chip and her night vision is distorted.
"[The damage] is noticeable and on the front of your mind all your waking hours," Burch said. "There's no escape."
In the winter, she takes an anti-anxiety pill about 15 minutes before she drives home in the dark from her job in Research Triangle Park. She compares the distortions she sees at night, also known as star bursts, to explosions of light without a bang.
Burch cut short her follow-up treatment at Duke, became an avid patients' advocate and started to take on LASIK surgeons on the Internet.
All LASIK surgeons make an effort to screen patients, and many turn away patients with obvious risk factors.
But LASIK is essentially a buyer-beware procedure.
In choosing a surgeon, patients are usually advised to go with doctors who perform the procedure most frequently. But with LASIK, that advice can be risky.
Dr. Christopher Fleming, a Cary ophthalmologist and former president of the N.C. Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, said patients should beware of LASIK surgeons who perform a high volume of operations.
Surgeons who do 10 or 15 LASIK operations a week tend to contract with optometrists who refer patients, Fleming said. In return, the optometrists, who are not medical doctors, screen the patients and do the follow-up care. Some also receive referral fees.
The emphasis on volume, Fleming said, can draw patients into surgery whose eyes are not suited to LASIK. Patients also end up getting follow-up care from optometrists instead of their surgeons.
Fleming performs no more than one or two dozen LASIK surgeries a year and personally screens patients and does the follow-up care. As a result, his patients rarely have complications, he said.
"When you're high-volume and relinquish part of the care to non-physicians," Fleming said, "you don't have time to be thorough. That can lead to problems."
How many North Carolinians have problems after LASIK is not a public record. Patient complaints filed with the N.C. Medical Board are confidential, and the data are not organized by medical procedure.
Only a few complaints become lawsuits, said Bill Faison, a well-known medical malpractice lawyer in Durham who has represented one LASIK patient in court in the past three years.
What foils most attempts to sue for damages, Faison said, are the costs to mount a legal challenge. Also, carefully worded patient consent forms spell out the risks of the surgery and often require patients to first try to work out their differences with the LASIK center.
"Short of the [LASIK surgeon] being stupid, if it's just a bad outcome, there's nothing to recover," Faison said.
The procedure is safe and effective for many, said Dr. Brad Randleman, a laser eye surgeon at Emory University in Atlanta who has done LASIK on about 1,000 patients over the past five years.
Post-surgical complications such as dry eyes and vision distortions often subside after a few weeks.
"I had nothing but a great experience," said Jim Branch, 55, a Raleigh real estate developer who had LASIK at Duke about five years ago.
Medical research has found that cutting the cornea permanently weakens it. The severed nerves need years to recover and might misfire pain signals. But those findings have not been conclusively linked to lingering complications from LASIK, said Dr. William Bourne, an ophthalmology professor and LASIK surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
"I don't think we've proven what it is," Bourne said.
A better understanding of what causes the complications is essential to screen patients more effectively and eliminate those at risk, he said.
Kotsovolos said he was considered a good candidate for LASIK. His Duke LASIK surgeon blamed part of his problems on an eye inflammation unrelated to the procedure. Another eye specialist has since diagnosed Kotsovolos with a severe dysfunction of the glands lining the eyelids. The condition is considered a red flag when it is found during screening for LASIK.
Charles Hybarger, a building contractor who lives near Chattanooga, Tenn., changed his mind about LASIK after his wife, Kim, a 44-year-old trained nurse, had an unsuccessful procedure Dec. 21 and the complications triggered a deep depression.
Hybarger wonders whether his wife's rheumatoid arthritis should have eliminated her from having LASIK. Laser eye surgery should not be done on patients with auto-immune diseases.
"I wouldn't let any doctor cut on me unless it's life or death," Hybarger said. "I just wear my glasses and be happy with it."
News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.


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Devotion 127
A person whose desire rests on You, You preserve in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)
Are we currently living in perfect peace? As I write this short message, our country and our world are struggling through the onslaught of the Corona Virus, a new set of 29 proteins[1] which have spawned Covid 19. If we were at peace before this pandemic struck, we certainly are not at peace now. Why would I say that?
Twenty-four hours per day, television is filled with news of hundreds of thousands of those around the world, who have been laid low and the thousands who have died each day. Facebook and Twitter have only added to this cacophony. With so much news, most of it unfiltered, coming to us in a steady stream, how is it possible for us to be at peace?
There is an answer to this question – GOD! Throughout the Scriptures, there are over one hundred verses which reassure us of the peace that the Ruler of the universe and the Lover of our souls offers us. For example, in Isaiah 26:3, posted above, we read of Yahveh's perfect peace for us, if we but trust in Him. What does it mean to trust in God?
First, we must believe that He exists. Looking around, we see an incredible amount of evidence pointing to His existence. Who else but God could have created the incredible variety of vegetation that grows around the world? If you believe random sets of single celled organisms arrived on earth via alien rocks, comets and asteroids which bombarded many millions of years ago, then you have a gargantuan amount of trust, more than it takes to believe in God. If you believe that, in addition to plants, these same alien rocks brought the building blocks of animal life, then I'm afraid you are living in a fantasy world. The only plausible explanation for all of our plant and animal life, from the time of the earth's creation, is God.
What evidence do we have of God's existence? Our own universe, with all the galaxies and their suns and their planets, are here because, as Eugene Wigner wrote, "the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and there is no rational explanation for it."[2] This led Dr. Robert Nelson to conclude, "I would argue that the supernatural character of the workings of human consciousness adds grounds for raising the probability of the existence of a supernatural god "[3]. With a growing chorus of researchers joining into the understanding of God's existence, it is hard not to accept that God exists. I could go on, but this is not a thesis. So, what does all this have to do with peace?
As I wrote earlier, God loves order, not chaos, and harmony, not disharmony. In order for there to be peace, there must be order and harmony. What is required, then, for us to achieve both order and harmony in our lives, our communities, our nation and the world? Below are just a few necessary components[4] of peace:
Non-violence: Impatience, unrealistic expectations, pride, all create levels of frustration that easily lead to violence. These and more elements of negativity will draw us into the direction of confrontation and, ultimately, violence. Many years ago, Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, declared: everyone who uses the sword will die by the sword. (Matthew 26:52)
Love of Truth: As sad as it may seem, most of us alive today, will hide from the Truth, rather than allow it to upset our comfort or stability. However, for peace to be our hallmark, there must be a love of truth throughout our community. Many of us, who post on Twitter and Face Book, do so, not to share the Truth but to receive affirmation from our peers. This desire to be applauded brings greater satisfaction, than the criticism received from the Truth. King David wrote about Yahveh, God: The main thing about Your word is that it's true; and all Your just rulings last forever. (Psalm 119:160) We add to this, then, Proverbs 12:22 – Lying lips are an abomination to Adonai, but those who deal faithfully are his delight.
Goodness: As simple as this may sound, goodness is one of the prime requirements for peace in our community; with goodness, we have homelessness, abandonment, spousal and child abuse and many more societal afflictions. Goodness equates with kindness and gentleness. So important is goodness for and to us, the Apostle Paul included it in his list of the nine elements of the Fruit of the Spirit. How much would it take us to bring in goodness as a symbol of our society. From the looks of things, quite a bit.
Justice: Do you remember when Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, was prepared to allow a starving farmer to die, simply because he did not want to listen to his grievances? There is no greater lack of justice, than not hearing another's concerns. Isaiah, living in the midst of one of the greatest calamities faced by Israel, stated: learn to do good! Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, defend orphans, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) How much more direction do we need?
Listening to our Teachers: All of us have had or currently do have teachers we admired and respected. Some of us even listened to them, when they taught. These were and are men and women with vast life experience and degrees of wisdom many of us aspire to but may never achieve. Proverbs 1:7 tells us: The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. But, then, adds to it with: Happy the person who finds wisdom, the person who acquires understanding; for her profit exceeds that of silver, gaining her is better than gold, she is more precious than pearls. . . (Proverbs 3:13-15)
These five attributes may be what is required of all human beings, in order for there to be peace in our lives. I would love to say that I feel optimistic they are achievable, but I am not; at least not by our efforts alone. Here is where we need to seek Yahveh's help in achieving what man is incapable of doing on our own.
CONSIDER: Have you contemplated what is needed in your home to achieve peace? Have you been faced with obstacles that have threatened to destroy whatever peace you had? What have you done about these?
ACT: Understand that we human beings are unable to bring about peace alone, even in our own minds and homes. But this is where it must start. How can we expect to reach a peaceful state in our communities, if we have not seen peace in our homes? Here is where we must ask for God's help!
PRAY: Abba B'Shamayim, our Heavenly Father, hear our prayers, as we lift our voices up to You. Be with us in our time of need. We need You to bring peace into our lives. We need you to help us deal with the conflicts within ourselves, within our family. We need you to bring harmony into our lives. B'Shem Adonai Yeshua, Mashichainu, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, our Messiah, Amen.
[1] Katsnelson, A. What do we know about the novel coronavirus' 29 proteins?, Chemical and Engineering News, April 1, 2020.
[2] Wigner, Eugene. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics, 13:1. (1960)
[3] Nelson, R. God? Very Probably: Five Rational Ways to Think about the Question of God, Cascade Books, Eugene, OR. 2015,
[4] Adapted from Ron House, Peace Legacy, June 2009.


Korean tech giant Samsung displayed two new additions to its line of consumer audio products at CES this year, the WAM6500 and WAM7500 speakers, both of which boast their proprietary "Ring Radiator" technology. The new speakers, which promise to project well-balanced sound in a 360-degree radius, feature wireless connectivity, a major trend in the world of home audio.
The 6500 offers a portable design with a built-in battery, ideal for picnics and backyard parties, while the7500 is a stationary speaker with a stand, making it a great choice for bedrooms and home theatres. Both were developed at Samsung's new state-of-the-art audio lab, in Valencia, California, and feature a futuristic aesthetic design, allowing them to blend in stylishly with any home decor.
Just wandering how much the cost would be like.


[map] [street view] Due east of Corinth, Mississippi on County Road 200 (Farmington Road), just east of County Road 177.
[Image] Radio's RDS text display as seen on an Insignia HD portable.
[Image] RDS display on the same radio, but via the translator W225AB in the Florence area.
[Studio] Fun 91's studios as seen on Street View in downtown Iuka, Mississippi.
This station, with its eclectic mix of music on a non-commercial channel, got started in 1999, when it came on the air as WOWL. Those calls were previously on a TV channel in Florence (now WHDF). The station's RDS data has been used in the past to send "shout outs" and hellos to listeners, as well as send the station's request line phone number.


Get ready for awesome audio experience from fully loaded music system. If you are looking for Sony MHCEC719iP review then you are at the right place. Our team picked this hot selling music system for the comprehensive review and to find whether it is worth for its price. The reason behind choosing this product for detailed review is its popularity and unmatched specification at competitive price. Performance of this model was really awesome and more than our expectations. Let's have a closer look at its features and performance.
This music system has everything to satisfy user's expectations. Best audio quality, playback from smartphones, USB flash drives, CDs, built-in AM/FM tuner and much more. Very attractive price and best features to price ratio.
Audio output quality of Sony MHCEC719iP really enjoyable at medium sized living room. This music system comes with total output power of 470 watts. Its two-way bass reflex system technology brings amazing audio experience. At this price band, the audio quality was more than what we expected. The system has 8 preset EQ settings, you can also set your own EQ curves to enhance the audio experience. No doubt you get glued to this music system and the quality output turns you into a music addict.
Apart from best audio performance, this model also offers tons of features which we can never expect from below $150 music systems. Sony MHCEC719iP has built-in dock to support iPhone and iPad. It's quite easy to playback media files stored on your Apple products and keep them charging at the same time. This best music system also supports USB flash drives. Just plug pen drives or USB supported media players and start playing them with high quality sound.
This model has many good features other than few key features listed above. This all-in-one music system supports audio playback from CDs with clear crisp quality. It also has built-in AM/FM tuner with 20 channels FM and 10 channels AM preset options. The built quality of the product is also good and looks attractive. Overall Sony MHCEC719iP has got everything to fulfill good entertainment needs. For a small budget home entertainment, we recommend this is the best music system to consider buying.