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« Mormon Doctrine: Confusion or Clarity? | Main | Polygamy 2012 »
Esoteric Mormonism: Marginal or Mainstream?
I recently finished reading Samuel Brown's In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death (Oxford University Press, 2012; publisher's page). It's an impressive book, although I disagree with the implicit argument of the book that the esoteric branch of Joseph Smith's eclectic and diverse theology is central to his thinking and, by extension, should be central to present-day Mormonism. It is a book anyone interested in Mormon Studies should read (twice), but probably not the first or even second book on Joseph Smith that a practicing Mormon should read.
The book is dense enough that only a long and thorough review can do it justice. I consider this post to be a discussion of some interesting points raised by the book rather than a full or even a short review. I won't even attempt a summary of the book (the table of contents and the description of the book from the dust jacket are available at the linked publisher's page). This paragraph from the Introduction (p. 8) gives something like an overview and also a taste of the author's approach:
After the Book of Mormon emerged as a distinctive grave artifact in the late 1820s, Joseph Smith continued to explore relics and rituals central to the problem of death. In the late 1830s, after moving to Ohio, Smith acquired and interpreted Egyptian mummies and their funerary papyri. Finally arriving in Illinois, where he founded a biblical-sounding utopia called Nauvoo, Smith elaborated his religious vision, encompassing an afterlife theology that could vanquish death, ensure permanent personal election, and maintain the human family intact forever in a sacerdotal structure. To this end, Smith drew on, adapted, and reformulated rites and doctrines from sources inside and outside normative Protestantism, yielding an intensely biblical system that combined elements of the Radical Reformation, Western esotericism, and Christian perfectionism. By the time of his death, Smith had revealed a polyvalent family system, a utopian communitarianism grounded in mystical traditions about Enoch, a temple liturgy that taught his followers how to negotiate the afterlife and promised them postmortal divinity, and a scandalously anthropomorphic God whom all humans could call Father. These surprisingly varied themes and innovations of early Mormonism find coherence in Smith's encounters with, and attempted conquest of, death.
In the book's favor, it does a better job of relating and synthesizing this material than prior book-length attempts. Brooke's The Refiner's Fire went too far afield and did not make the case for causal connections between the hermetic material he reviewed and Joseph Smith. Brown stays closer to home with his material. Davies' The Mormon Culture of Salvation has a thesis that is similar to Brown's, but employed a variety of models from religious studies and the sociology of religion to guide the analysis. In contrast, Brown bases his discussion on a much larger set of detailed historical facts and employs no social science models (although he does cite the literature from time to time). I found Brown's fact-based discussion more credible than Davies' model-driven discussion. To compare favorably with both Brooke and Davies, two well-respected scholars, is certainly an admirable accomplishment.
At the same time, I have a few issues with the book. First, I'm not convinced foregrounding a "Mormon conquest of death" theme is defensible. First, there is nothing unique about the Mormon view of a "conquest of death." Every Christian denomination takes the conquest of death as a common point of departure, rooted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's not like existential dread hangs over most people or other Christians until they convert to a Mormon doctrine of salvation that promises unique access to immortality and the afterlife. Even the Mormon claim of eternal families is hardly unique: while not incorporated in the formal theology of other Christian denominations, most Christians nevertheless assume their families will be around in the next life. No one thinks of heaven as a form of solitary confinement where you would be barred from contact with former family members. "[T]hat same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there" (D&C 130:2).
More generally, there's an odd connotation to the term "conquest of death." It brings up images of familiar movie plots where some 19th-century eccentric is hacking his way through the African rain forest in search of the fountain of youth or the golden elixir of life. And there is a secular view, often enough reflected in media stories on religion these days, that all religious beliefs are in some sense strange, not much different from the jungle eccentric on a misguided quest for a technology of eternal life. To confirm that bias journalists are drawn to stories that accentuate strange and bizarre religious beliefs or practices. I don't know what Brown's own perspective is (the author reveals very little in the book), but making "the Mormon conquest of death" the central theme of the book perhaps unwittingly plays the same game, suggesting it is also the central theme of Joseph's life and the central concern of modern Latter-day Saints. As noted in the book, Joseph lost several family members during his life, which understandably intensified his feelings on the subject (see D&C 137, for example). But the implicit suggestion that Latter-day Saints in general have a strange preoccupation with death is an idea that will not survive actual attendance at a Mormon funeral, which is more likely to give the impression that Mormons do not take the idea of death seriously enough.
Brown does attempt to define the term "conquest of death" in broader terms:
When ... I refer to death "conquest," I mean a set of approaches to the meaning of life, a framing of aspirations for the afterlife, and controversies about the security of stability of salvation, as expressed in human struggles with mortality. When and under what circumstances life ends, how much of earthly experience will persist, and what constitutes preparation for death are problems that can be distinguished from salvation per se. Framing Mormonism as an attempted conquest of death illuminates its theology and enriches the texture of the lived experience of believers. (p. 5)
I'm not sure that broad definition was really carried forward through the balance of the book. I don't think a balanced discussion of an LDS view of the meaning of life or an LDS view of the stability of salvation would focus on the themes discussed in the book. My sense is that such a discussion would reflect what we used to call the Plan of Salvation (now known as the Plan of Happiness), essentially "salvation per se." So my impression was that the book's discussion of the "Mormon conquest of death" was rather narrower than the definition given by Brown implies.
So what's the right perspective or balance for a book about Joseph Smith or early Mormonism? The topics and themes treated in Brown's book are part of the story, of course. A very good discussion can be had over how much weight to accord those themes as opposed to others that generally get more coverage in a biography of Joseph Smith or a history of early Mormonism. I think the book would be stronger if a chapter were devoted to that discussion and an effort was made to place the themes discussed in the book within the fuller context of Joseph Smith's life and early Mormonism.
That is a discussion that could easily apply to present-day Mormonism as well. So a case can be made that the book is more than just a discussion of (what I consider to be) marginal themes and practices in early Mormonism. Consider the rise of "temple Mormonism" in just the last generation: a vastly expanded temple construction program, coupled with a redefinition of normative Mormonism in which holding a temple recommend is now essentially a requirement of being a Mormon in good standing (rather than simply being a baptized, attending, believing member of the Church), even extending to the use of the temple recommend as a requirement for teaching at BYU or for confirming one's son or daughter a member of the Church.
Both esoteric doctrine and temple Mormonism fall on the retrenchment side of Armand Mauss's assimilation/retrenchment spectrum, emphasizing Mormon distinctiveness rather than community with other Christians. It may be that the direction of current LDS organizational and doctrinal change implies that the themes discussed by Brown, which I view as being largely marginal to present LDS belief and practice, are in fact becoming the new Mormon mainstream, but I hope not. I won't give up without a fight.
Originally posted with comments at Times and Seasons.
Apr 11, 2012 at 10:15 AM in LDS Doctrine, My T&S posts | Permalink


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A History of Thanksgiving Pro Football in Philadelphia
Quick note before you begin reading: Shibe Sports at 13th and Walnut will be having a blowout sale all weekend. 30% off everything between 9-12 on Friday, and 20% off everything for the remainder of the weekend! If you're a fan of the history of Philadelphia sports, you'll love the store. In addition to running this site, I'm also one of the owners.
This year will mark the 7th time the Eagles have done battle on Thanksgiving Day. Before them the Yellow Jackets actually had a Thanksgiving Day rivalry. Here's a brief synopsis of every Thanksgiving Day NFL game played involving one of the two Philly teams.
1924-The Frankford Yellow Jackets defeated the Dayton Triangles, 32-7. In the pick below player/coach Guy Chamberlin and Johnny Budd chase down the Triangles Faye Abbot.
1926– The Yellow Jackets knocked off the Packers, 20-14, in front of a packed stadium of 12,000 people. The Jackets would go to on to finish the season 14-1-2 and win the NFL championship. They're the last team to win an NFL title and later fold. The game also marked the start of a Thanksgiving Day rivalry with the Packers that would last until 1930. Here's a great pic of that 1926 championship team.
1927-The Packers returned the favor, winning 17-9. You can read more about the Packers-Yellow Jackets Thanksgiving rivalry here. (The games were all played in Frankford. Once November hit, the Packers would play most of their games on the road.)
1928-The Yellow Jackets edged the Packers 2-0, the only score coming on a bad snap during a botched punt attempt by the Packers.
1929– Hard to believe that the 1929 game could be lower scoring than the 1928 affair, but it was. 0-0 was the final. The Yellow Jackets got the ball down to the 2-yard line at one point, but couldn't punch it in. The tie would be the only blemish on the Packers 12-0-1 championship season.
1930– The Yellow Jackets franchise was starting to fall apart, and the Packers were on their way to a 2nd straight NFL title. The result of this game was never in doubt. The Packers, led by QB Red Dunn, won 25-7.
A fire to their stadium right before the 1931 season forced the Yellow Jackets to scramble to find places to play. Playing outside of Frankford meant that their fans couldn't make it to the games, and fans in other parts of town didn't come out to support a team from Frankford. The team folded midway through the 1931 season. Two years later the lesson was learned…don't just represent a small section of the city, represent the whole city. The Philadelphia Eagles were born. They would play on Thanksgiving far less frequently than the Frankford Yellow Jackets did.
1939– The Eagles defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 17-14, on Thanksgiving Day. It would be the Eagles only win all season. Their young QB Davey O'Brien led the way with 208 yards passing.
1940– The Steelers (having changed their name from the Pirates) got their revenge, knocking off the Eagles 7-0. The Birds would finish the season 1-10. Of course, these two teams would join forces a few years later.
1968– The Eagles would finally play on Thanksgiving 28 years later. Once again they were one of the worst teams in the league, heading into their Thanksgiving Day tilt with an 0-11 record. A torrential downpour over the previous 36-hours turned the field into a swamp. The Eagles won the game 12-0 on four Sam Hall field goals, a rare bright spot in a disastrous season, one best remembered for the "Santa game".
1989– This one is deserving of it's own post, which I may do later in the week. The Bounty Bowl ended with the Eagles winning 27-0, the team trying to injure Luis Zendejas, and Jimmie Johnson screaming about Buddy Ryan's big fat rear end. Here is Jimmie Johnson talking about that game a few years ago.
2008– The Eagles entered this game against the Cardinals with some quarterback controversy. The week before Andy Reid had benched a struggling Donovan McNabb against the Ravens and played Kevin Kolb. He didn't announce McNabb as his starter until late in the week. McNabb seemed rejuvenated, and his 4 TD passes led the Eagles to a 48-20 win. Of course, these same two teams would meet in the NFC championship game later that season, and the Cardinals would knock off the Eagles 32-25.
2014- The Eagles both came into this game 8-3, with first place in the NFC East on the line. The Eagles, led by backup QB Mark Sanchez, dominated from the outset. Tony Romo, meanwhile, floundered against the Eagles defensive line which dominated the game. The 33-10 win established the Eagles as the class of the NFC East. It also marked the high water mark for the Chip Kellie regime. At that point, the Eagles had gone 19-9 under his tutelage, and the local press was singing his praises. Then the wheels came off. The Eagles would lose to the Seahawks a week later, then fall to the Cowboys in a rematch, before finally falling to the 3-11 Redskins and being eliminated from playoff contention. Since that Cowboys win, the Eagles have gone 5-9 and now the local media is calling for Kellie's head.
And so the Eagles head to Detroit for only their 7th Thanksgiving Day game in 82 years. The same number that the Yellow Jackets played over a 7-year stretch. Let's hope the Eagles improve upon their 5-1 Thanksgiving Day record.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Certain vendors offer borrowers a wide variety of lending options, from signature loans to personal loans and more. Auto equity loans are one other type of loan offered by them. We are here to let you in on how they work.
An auto equity loan is the best solution for an individual who needs fast cash but does not own their car completely. Usually title loan lenders can provide you with a loan up to $3,000 even if you still owe payments on your vehicle.
There are only a few requirements when you wish to qualify for an auto equity loan. You'll need to have a government-issued identification card, proof of income and a vehicle that is registered in your name. With these three things, you can be approved for up to $3,000. Your credit score will not hold you back when you apply for a car equity loan. If you are up-to-date on your auto loan and have made at least six monthly payments in a row, you will almost certainly be approved for an auto equity loan with many companies like Better Title Loans, Title Max and Easy Cash.
You may easily fall into financial difficulty at any time. Unexpected bills happen when you are least expecting it or a medical bill needs to be paid right away. With an auto equity loan you will get the cash that you need while still retaining possession of your vehicle. It only takes a mere 30 minutes to complete the application for the loan. You'll be in and out quickly when you do business with these types of lenders!
You can fill out online forms, visit a stores near you or call to get started. Most business operate out of every state including Arizona, Delaware and New Hampshire.
Don't forget, you do not have to have the title to your vehicle in order to be approved for a loan. They require just four things- a vehicle, your government-issued ID, car title or current loan paperwork and current proof of income.
As long as you have these four items and have made at least six consecutive car payments on your vehicle, you will typically be approved my most car title loan providers that are not banks.


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Cycling in the Valencian Community, Spain. News, routes and climbs in Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.
About onyour.bike
Alto de Javalambre
Casas de Benalí
Puerto de Barx
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Roda la Vall
Ribera del Xúquer
Coll de Rates
La Carrasqueta
Vall de Ebo
Serpis Greenway
Coll de Fredes
>> La Panavista Villa, Tàrbena
>> e-bikes in Villafamés
>> Are we nearly there yet?
>> Preparing for the Transcontinental Nº6 in deepest Castellón
>> Protected Cycling Routes
>> Dones Bicibles Gran Fondo for women
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Sierra del Espadán. Mostrar todas las entradas
The Valencian province of Castellón is to host the 2018 Spanish Road Cycling Championships on 22nd, 23rd and 24th June.
Individual Time Trial
The first event of this year's championships will be the Individual Time Trial, to be held on Friday 22nd in the village of Vall d'Alba. The sub-23 and women's events, both to be held over 20km, will take place in the morning, while the men's event will be held over a 38km-course in the afternoon.
Sub-23 and Women's Road Race
On the following day, Saturday 23rd, the sub-23 and women's road races will be held between the towns of Oropesa del Mar, located on the Castellón coast, and Culla, located at an altitude of more than 1000 metres above sea level in the inland mountainous region of "El Maestrat". The sub-23 race will cover 3 laps of a final finishing ciruit and a total of 160km, whilst the women's race will cover 2 laps of the final circuit and cover a total of 120 km.
Men's Road Race
The final day of the championship's, Sunday 24th June, sees the men's road race, which starts in the city of Castellón de la Plana and covers some 210km, finishing in the coastal town of Benicàssim. The course takes in various climbs in the Serra d'Espadà range, located in the south of the province, and three climbs of El Desierto de Las Palmas, situated near to the finish.
Royal Spanish Cycling Federation website (Spanish)
Royal Spanish Cycling Federation twitter (Spanish)
Province of Castellón (English)
Vall d'Alba (English)
Oropesa del Mar (English)
Culla (English)
Benicàssim (English)
Further information about the championships will be published via Twitter under the hastag #CECastellón18.
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Why it is now 'dangerous' to be group admin on WhatsApp, Facebook
May 5, 2017 May 19, 2017 rajtechnewsUncategorized
Think twice before becoming administrator of a group on WhatsApp or Facebook as one is liable for prosecution if any rumour or fake news is circulated on it.
Social media platforms allow a person to create a group on which members can share views, photographs or videos.
Concerns have been raised about social media misuse as fake news, morphed photographs and disturbing videos with fabricated local narratives can easily be circulated that can trigger tension and even communal rift in an area.
In a joint order issued by District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and Senior Superintendent of Police Nitin Tiwari, it has been made clear that any factually incorrect, rumour or misleading information on a social media group could result in an FIR against the group administrator.
"There are several groups on social media which are named on news groups and also groups with other names which are propagating news and information which is not authentic. These are being forwarded without cross checking," it said.
Considering this issue, directives are being issued to social media groups, WhatsApp and Facebook group administrators and members, the order said.
There are over 200 million WhatsApp users in India.
It directed that social media group administrators should be ready to bear the responsibility and ownership of the groups.
The administrator must include only those members who are personally known to him or her.
If any statement is made by a group member which is fake, can cause religious disharmony, or rumour, the group admin must deny it on the group and remove the member from the group, the order said.
"In the event of inaction from the group admin, he or she will be considered guilty and action will be taken against the group admin," it said.
Such a post must also be reported to the nearest police station so that action can be taken against the member under the law, it said.
The order, issued yesterday, says while freedom of expression on social media is important, it also comes with a responsibility.
Source by:- couragez.com
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Last month I was scheduled to speak at Happiness Conf in Boston (my home base city). The mission of this unique conference was to meet and share what makes a startup team productive and happy. This was supposed to be an event just about the productivity and team building, not focused on any specific technology or methodology. I really liked this idea, and wanted to share the Kensho successes in hiring smart people and growing rock star developers in-house.
Suddenly 2 weeks before the event I received an email from the organizers stating that the Happiness Conf was cancelled due to low ticket sales. Considering that the organizers have not promoted the event (I have not seen any mentions on any Boston newsletters or twitter campaigns), this was not very surprising. Sadly this unique opportunity was not to be.
I was so upset and so set on being at the conference that I have decided to organize a mini-event on the same topic. Instead of 2 full days I planned to find a space for a couple of hours in the evening; invite a couple of people from the startup / meetup community to deliver short talks about what makes their teams productive and organize a panel with smart people to answer questions from the audience. Luckily, there were a couple of spaces that could accommodate this event at a very short notice. We picked the Brightcove downtown Boston office: it is at a great location and has space for up to 200 people.
I am extremely grateful to the 3 speakers who agreed to spend time preparing the content and speaking about what makes them productive as engineers (or unproductive!) Ben Rubin was an excellent non-engineer speaker who provided a good balance and fit very well with the rest of the presentations (thanks, Ben).
A strong emphasis on "playing ball" with the business / sales teams. The developer teams usually complain that the business people sell a product before it is even technologically proved possible. The panel really agreed that this is a necessary evil: the business trends are sometimes aligned against the technology trends and must be dealt with, whether an engineering team likes it or not. We have to sell a product to pay the bills.
Several members of the panel shared the same biggest error of their careers: jumping into the management position too soon. Everyone who has made this mistake felt the longing to go back to coding, and felt like missing on learning new technologies and contributing meaningfully to the team.
Between the talks and the panel, the word "passion" was said several times. I agree that whenever one discusses what makes the team productive, it must be that the team's goals align with the engineers' passion for coding, for tinkering, for building systems. We are most productive when we do what we love. The dev team is the happiest and most productive when the passion of the individual members aligns with the overall company's goals.
Any team lead or manager, or even CEO should go through the linked slides (I will ping each presenter to make sure I have all the slides) and make notes. We are engineers, we love challenges, respect the market realities, and ultimately love solving problems - it is up to the leaders to pose the goals worth reaching for.


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Dame Katherine Grainger DBE first stepped in a boat at the West Boathouse in Glasgow.
With 4 silver medals and 1 gold medal from 5 different Olympic Games, Dame Katherine is the UK's most decorated female Olympian.
In September 2017, Dame Katherine returned to her native Glasgow to share her experience in sport and her thoughts on our project.
Credit: Rob Eyton-Jones
Working with volunteers from the rowing clubs, this project will deliver strong community benefits through opening access to the building and the river Clyde, providing:
Activities to support use of the river
Removal of barriers to access the river
Skills development + volunteer training
Multi-function spaces for community use
Improved inclusion and well-being
Interpretation of heritage of the site
A new lease of life for a historic building
If you'd like to get involved in any of our activities or events, please get in touch!
We still need your help to repair, adapt and rejuvenate the West Boathouse. By donating to Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, you will be contributing directly to the project costs. Get in touch with GBPT on 0141 554 4411 or email Andrew for more information.
Glasgow Building Preservation Trust is an independent charity registered in Scotland (No. SC015443).
News from the Boathouse


Costas Lapavitsas - his concerns about the Greek 'extension'.
How will the National Reconstruction plan be funded when the 3 billion euros from the Financial Stability Fund is now outwith Greek control? That these funds have now been removed puts all the more pressure on recovering large amounts from tax evasion and debt collection in a short period of time. How feasible is this?
How will a debt write-off be effected when Greece is committed to fulfill - fully and promptly - all its financial obligations to its partners?
How will Austerity be ended when Greece is committed to achieve 'appropriate' primary surpluses in order to make the current massive debt 'sustainable'? The 'sustainability' of the debt - as evaluated by the Troika - was what caused the mad chase after primary surpluses. As the debt will not be significantly reduced, how will we put an end to primary surpluses which are destructive for the Greek economy and which are the very substance of austerity?
How will there be any progressive change in the country when the 'Institutions' will implement strict inspections and prohibit unilateral actions [on the part of the Greek government]. Will the 'Institutions' allow the implementation of the 'Thessaloniki' pledges, given that they may have a direct or indirect fiscal cost?
What exactly will change in the next four months of the 'extension' that will improve our negotiating position with our partners? What will prevent a worsening of the political, economic and social conditions in the country?


Psychological studies into the phenomenon of mysticism link disturbing aspects of certain mystics' experiences to childhood abuse. Clifford A. Pickover found evidence suggesting that temporal lobe epilepsy may be linked to a variety of so-called spiritual or "other worldly" experiences, such as spiritual possession, originating from altered electrical activity in the brain. Carl Sagan, in his last book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, presented his case for the miraculous sightings of religious figures and modern sightings of UFOs coming from the same mental disorder. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran suggests "It's possible that many great religious leaders had temporal lobe seizures and this predisposes them to having visions, having mystical experiences". Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of the brain artificially with a magnetic field using a device nicknamed the "God helmet" and was able to artificially induce religious experiences along with near-death experiences and ghost sightings. According to John Bradshaw "Some forms of temporal lobe tumours or epilepsy are associated with extreme religiosity." In his research recent brain imaging of religious subjects praying or meditating show identical activity in the respective human section of the brain which Ramachandran calls God-spots.
Psilocybin from mushrooms affect regions of the brain includingthe serotonergic system, which generating a sense of strong religious meaning, unity and ecstasy. Certain physical rituals may generate similar feelings.
In Michael Shermer's book Why People Believe Strange Things he theorizes on how emerging mankind imposed made-up explanations and bizarre rituals for natural phenomena they didn't and couldn't understand. This is similar to the arguments made by Daniel Dennett in Breaking the Spell however Shermer's argument goes further in that the peculiar and at times frightening rituals of religion are but one of many forms of strange customs that survive to this day.
কেইথ ওয়ার্ড তার ইজ রিলিজিয়ন ডেঞ্জারাস, গ্রন্থে উল্লেখ করেন, সব মিথ্যা মতামতই বিভ্রম নয় এবং ঈশ্বরে বিশ্বাস করা ভিন্ন বিষয় এবং বিখ্যাত মানুষের অনেকে ঈশ্বরে বিশ্বাস করে। তাছাড়াও যারা ঈশ্বরে বিশ্বাস করে, তাদের অনেকে খুবই সাধারণ মানুষ এবং ঈশ্বরে বিশ্বাস কোনো অযৌক্তিক বিষয় নয়। Hyperreligiosity or even "intensely professed atheism" can emerge from emotional disturbances involving temporal lobe epilepsy.
ধর্ম আর বিজ্ঞানের মধ্যে যে এক প্রকার আনুমানিক সংঘর্ষ আছে তার বিরুদ্ধেও পাল্টা যুক্তি দেওয়া হয়। যেমন C. S. Lewis, একজন খ্রিষ্টান পরামর্শ দেন সকল ধর্মই বিশ্বাসের সাথে সম্পৃক্ত, এজন্য একে বিজ্ঞান দ্বারা সত্যি বা মিথ্যা প্রমাণ করা যায় না।তারপরেও কিছু ধর্মীয় বিশ্বাস আছে,যার সাথে বিজ্ঞানের কোনো কিছুরই মিল নেই, যেমন: নব্য সৃজনবাদিতা.
A Brief History of Disbelief – 3-part PBS series (2007).
↑ Gelber, Katharine; Sarah Ackary Stone, Adrienne (২০০৭)। Hate Speech and Freedom of Speech in Australia। Federation Press। পৃষ্ঠা 179। আইএসবিএন 978-1-86287-653-8। In some belief systems, religious leaders and believers maintain the right to both emphasise the benefits of their own religion and criticise other religions; that is, they make their own claims and deny the truth claims of others.
↑ Herz, Michael; Molnar, Peter (এপ্রিল ৯, ২০১২)। The Content and Context of Hate Speech: Rethinking Regulation and Responses। Cambridge University Press। আইএসবিএন 978-1-107-37561-1। ...people of every religion, as well as of no religion, have a reason for wanting it to be possible to face other people with challenges to their faith, namely that this is the only way those people can be brought to see the truth.
↑ Bashevkin, Dovid. "Jonah and the Varieties of Religious Motivation." ওয়েব্যাক মেশিনে আর্কাইভকৃত ১২ অক্টোবর ২০১৬ তারিখে Lehrhaus. 9 October 2016. 2 October 2017.
↑ Dawkins's God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life, p.136, citing Koenig and Cohen, The Link between Religion and Health, OUP, 2002.
↑ Brooke, J.H. (১৯৯১)। Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives। Cambridge University Press। পৃষ্ঠা 42। আইএসবিএন 0-521-28374-4। ওসিএলসি 22451451। In its traditional forms, the conflict thesis has been largely discredited.
↑ Russell, Colin A. (২০০২)। "The Conflict Thesis"। Gary Ferngren। Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction। Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press। আইএসবিএন 0-8018-7038-0। The conflict thesis, at least in its simple form, is perceived by some historians as a wholly inadequate intellectual framework within which to construct a sensible and realistic historiography of Western science.
↑ ক খ Keeter, Scott; Smith, Gregory; Masci, David (২০১১)। "Religious Belief and Attitudes about Science in the United States"। The Culture of science: How the Public Relates to Science Across the Globe। New York: Routledge। পৃষ্ঠা 336, 345–346। আইএসবিএন 978-0415873697। The United States is perhaps the most religious out of the advanced industrial democracies." ; "In fact, large majorities of the traditionally religious American nevertheless hold very positive views of science and scientists. Even people who accept a strict creationist view, regarding the origins of life are mostly favorable towards science." ; "According to the National Science Foundation, public attitudes about science are more favorable in the United States than in Europe, Russia, and Japan, despite great differences across these cultures in level of religiosity (National Science Foundation, 2008).
↑  quote - "Hinduism, unlike Christianity and Islam, does not view homosexuality as a religious sin."


text: For details check SVMDocs.ipynb

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Enjoy being wrapped in love in this bestselling Wrap Style maternity and nursing top in versatile black. Made with the softest bio based fabrics for you and your baby. Soft, stylish, and comfortable this is one of our signature tops that can mix and match with anything.
Made with a beautiful blend of Cotton / Modal or bamboo, this top is simply beautiful to wear with the touch of spandex added to make it flexible and easy to look after.
The wrap style creates support and definition around your bust particularly flattering for larger chests! A lovely flowing A-Line style to the hips is flattering to most figures. The slightly longer hem means this top will also be suitable for early pregnancy.
Easy discrete breastfeeding access at the neckline. Simply pull the neckline down to access the openings in the inner lining.
This is a beautiful basic that can be dressed up or down.
Our model is 170cm tall and is wearing a size Small.
Mothers En Vogue was the first brand at Milk and Love! We have loved providing Mothers En Vogue clothes for our customers since 2014 because their range is so flattering for new mums and mums-to-be, and the premium natural fabrics they use are so comfortable to wear and better for the environment.
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Q: Movesense direct access to GATT endpoints I am trying to read ECG real-time data from a movesense sensor by using another generic BT-LE module.
GATT characteristics can be used for Heart Rate (read or notify) or other predefined services : we simply send a raw command to an endpoint, for example a 0x0100 (START_NOTIFY) on the corresponding UUID for a heart rate notification streaming.
The problem is that with a micro controller and a BT LE module we can not use any of the C, Java, React... libraries since all of the underlying code is not open source ( the movesense device-lib and community-lib do define how to use and program the services, but we can not discover what to send on one of the 2 other services that are defined, the UART service or the Unknown Service, which are probably used by the movesense library to send all of the URL requests).
As a footnote, we access our generic BT-LE module with AT UART commands to communicate to the movesense platform.
Thanks for any help or guidance,
FS

A: Have you looked https://bitbucket.org/suunto/movesense-device-lib/src/master/samples/ble_std_services/CustomBleController.cpp
void CustomBleController::OnUartData(uint8_t * p_data, uint16_t length)

for receiving and
send_ble_nus_data(buffer, BUFFER_LENGTH);

to send using NUS (Nordic UART service).

A: It is possible to do your own GATT service on Movesense sensor (since v. 1.6.0) using the CustomGATTService module. Please look into latest movesense-device-lib and the sample "custom_gattsvc_app" (and with 2.0, the "gatt_sensordata_app")
Full Disclaimer: I work for the Movesense team

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Q: Any tips on poses to help sciatic pain?
A: Sciatica refers to pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in the leg. It is caused by injury to, or pressure on, the sciatic nerve. Sciatica is often caused by stress, which causes the nerves to be oxygen deprived. We recommend the So Long Sciatica segment on our Yoga Quick Fixes DVD. Included in that segment is Shoulder Stand, with the legs wide, doing Breath of Fire, for 3 min. Other anti-sciatica measures are cutting down on sugar, coffee, meat, etc. which create a acidic (constricting) condition in the body. We also recommend Fire Log Pose and the rest of our Yoga for Beginners & Beyond: Stretch Strengthen, Be Stress Free DVD. The Rag Doll exercise, which is in many of our warm-up sets, is a great one as well. Try not to sit for long periods. Get up and move around at intervals.


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Katy Perry: Part of Me is the visual diary of Katy Perry's rise from being a nobody to finding international pop stardom. It follows her over a 12-month period while she performs a world tour to promote her latest album. Throughout the movie, we get an insight into the real person behind the success. This includes snippets from Katy's childhood and references to her very public marriage breakdown.
The movie lets us feel that we are with Katy on tour or in the audience as she goes through the ups and downs of her life as a pop star.
Celebrity; relationship breakdown
Nothing of concern
Content that may disturb children
Children in this age group might be worried by scenes that show Katy upset and crying.
From 8-13
Younger children in this age group might also be worried by the scenes that show Katy upset and crying.
Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this movie.
Sexual references
This movie has some sexual references. For example, many of Katy Perry's songs have sexually provocative words, including 'Let's go all the way tonight', 'You turn me on', I want to see your peacock' and 'I kissed a girl'.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some use of substances. For example:
Katy and other people of legal drinking age drink alcohol.
Russell Brand smokes.
Some songs are about being drunk.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie shows some partial nudity and sexual activity. For example:
Katy wears a variety of brief and sexy-looking outfits including a bra top with tassels and a dress with spirals on her breasts.
Katy and her dancers perform some provocative dance movements to some of her songs.
The following products and brands are mentioned or seen in this movie: Apple, McDonalds, Adidas, Nike, Make a Wish foundation, Twitter, Facebook, Capital Records and Rolling Stone, In Style and Vanity Fair magazines.
The movie also promotes Katy Perry as a product. And it refers to lots of other famous people, including Russell Brand and his movie Get Him to the Greek, Lady Gaga, Adele, Jessie J, Ellen Degeneres, Alanis Morrisette, Queen and Whoopi Goldberg and her movies Sister Act 1 and Sister Act 2.
Coarse language
There is some coarse language in this movie.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Katy Perry: Part of Me is the visual diary of Katy Perry's meteoric rise to success, told through her music and her world tour.
The main messages from this movie are about the determination and sacrifice you need to make it big.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include determination, hard work and loyalty.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as the following:
The cost of success: what does Katy have to give up to make it big? How does her success impact on her marriage? Does it contribute to the marriage breakdown?
Looking after yourself: Katy pushes herself very hard. What are the risks of pushing yourself? Do you think Katy should have taken time out of her tour when she was very down and upset?
Fame: what does the movie tell us about being a celebrity?
Religion: how do Katy's parents react to her success? Why do you think they support her despite their own views about some of her music?


Siassie Kenneally was born on May 29, 1969. She comes from a family of notable Cape Dorset artists. Her mother Mayoreak Ashoona has been a mainstay of the Cape Dorset annual print collection for many years and her father was the renowned sculptor, Kaka Ashoona.. Her two cousins, Annie Pootoogook and Shuvinai Ashoona are well known contemporary artists. The three cousins have shown together on occasion.
Siassie began drawing at the Kinngait Studios in the early 2000's. Her striking iridescent print, 'Fish Tails' from the 2008 spring collection was a hugely admired etching/aquatint and she has displayed a remarkable faculty with the medium of oil stick on paper.
Siassie tends to work on a large scale and her drawings are characterized by an intimate and contemporary approach to the depiction of traditional lifestyles.


text:
Vga To Vga Cable
Vga To Rca Cable
Vga Cable Connector
Vga To Hdmi Cable
Buy Vga Cable
Vga Cable Adapter
What is VGA?
R. Kayne
VGA (Video Graphics Array) is a basic standard for color resolution in computer monitors that, today, represents the lowest common denominator for compatibility. For example, when a computer boots into the Microsoft™ Windows™ operating system, the opening splash screen or Windows logo is presented in VGA mode using a palette of 32 colors and a resolution of 640 x 480. Once the system is fully loaded, the video card's device driver takes over at a higher resolution.
In the early days of computers, monitors were originally monochrome or two-color. This was followed by IBM's Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) in 1981 that boasted a 4-bit palette of 8 colors and a maximum resolution of 640 x 280. The adapter was standard in the new IBM personal computer line, known as the IBM PC.
A VGA cable.
In 1984 IBM introduced an upgraded video card. The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) built on the previous standard by doubling the color palette to 16 colors at a resolution of 640 x 350. This video card coincided with the new IBM PC Advanced Technology line, better known as the IBM PC-AT, or simply, "an AT." The AT had specific motherboard technology and configuration parameters that became an ad-hoc standard for clones, whose motherboard footprints and cases were deemed "ATs" because they conformed to the IBM standard.
Video card drivers handle higher resolution displays.
In 1987 IMB introduced VGA, which manufacturers adopted en masse. This led to the longstanding tradition of VGA being the "base" or "fall back" display standard of video hardware. Every modern graphics adapter or card is capable of displaying the VGA mode, but will only do so if the proper device driver is not present or cannot be located; if it has been purposely disabled; or if the operating system cannot find a better driver. In Windows operating systems, booting into Safe Mode will display VGA, as unnecessary device drivers are not loaded in this case.
VGA (Video Graphics Array) is a basic standard for color resolution in computer monitors that, today, represents the lowest common denominator for compatibility.
IBM did replace VGA in 1990 with XGA (eXtended Graphics Array), but by this time the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) had released a similar standard referred to as Super VGA (SVGA). XGA was capable of 65,536 colors at a resolution of 800 x 600, or 256 colors at 1024 x 768, similar to early SVGA standards. Accordingly, Super XGA (SXGA), Ultra XGA (UXGA) and Quad XGA (QXGA) followed, along with many others.
Display standards evolved rapidly from this point forward with many grouped under the general heading of "SVGA." Widescreen flavors feature a "W" in front of the display acronym, such as "WXGA." Just as video cards have a maximum resolution, so do computer monitors. When purchasing a card or monitor, be sure the highest standards of each device are compatible.
What Is a Splash Screen?
What Is a Double Array?
What is IBM's Watson?
What Is a Display Adapter?
What is a Video Card Driver?
What is a D-Sub Connector?
What is a VGA Cable?
rory0576
I just bought a mini projector to attach to my Dell 1545 laptop and upon installation I keep getting an error message that says "No SubVGA driver found". Does this mean I have to go purchase the driver to download? This was supposed to be an easy installation and it's been anything but that. Anyone have any advice.
@win199 - As far as cable connections go, you can find a vast array at local electronics stores. A VGA to RCA cable and a DVI to VGA cable are just two of many. In addition to that, you can also find a VGA cable connector should you need one. If you're not familiar with any of those cables, there is a bonus in shopping in stores that provide them as many associates can tell you the ideal use of said cables.
@ellaesans - I think many people often have this misconception that VGA is stuck at nothing but 640x480 as MrPolitic99 pointed out earlier. Aside from all of that, there are several different options to simply enhance your resolution and display, such as the VGA to HDMI cable many electronics stores now provide.
ellaesans
@MrPolitic99 - Agreed. I definitely agree with your angle on this and think that most people don't understand that aspect about VGA - even though there are several different options of resolutions. It seems almost silly that society as a whole would refer to just one specific increment and not just say that there are several different varieties. I think, however, to save this article it was pointing out the typical boot up settings for the Windows OS and the fact that it's logo comes up with said settings already preset.
MrPolitic99
It seems that referring to VGA as a specific display resolution size is an archaic use of the term. Because of recent and more advance digital display technologies, VGA is most often seen next to a specific type of display port on monitors and computers.
This 15-pin connection, labeled VGA, is capable of carrying a video signal at a variety of resolutions, not just 640x480.
By: de_marco
By: nikkytok
By: Igor Mojzes


text:
Brigantia ("De geëxalteerde") was een Brits-Keltische godin uit de late oudheid. Zij was de beschermgodin van de machtige Britse stam der Brigantes.
In de interpretatio Romana wordt ze gelijkgesteld met Victoria of Minerva en waarschijnlijk zijn ook de Ierse godin Brigid en bepaalde aspecten van Sint-Brigida van haar afgeleid.

Keltische god

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text:
Headhunters and diplomats in the Truman Library
August 2, 2011 by hparkins, posted in - Spies and Espionage, - World War II, Myth or History, Unusual documents
Drawing of men parachuting from planes, John Paton Davies Papers, Truman Library
Today's guest post is from Samuel Rushay, senior archivist at the Truman Presidential Library and Museum, who is featured in our newest "Inside the Vaults" video about the adventure of John Paton Davies.
"…I stood in the open door of that miserable [C-46, Curtis] Commando and decided—`Well, if nobody else is going to jump, I'll jump. Somebody had to break the ice.' So I wheeled out and dove." John Paton Davies (Excerpt from letter to Flossie [September 22, 1943], John Paton Davies Papers, Truman Presidential Library and Museum).
The date was August 2, 1943.
Twenty-one men, including John Paton Davies, second secretary of the American embassy in Chungking, China, and journalist Eric Sevareid of CBS, were aboard a C-46 transport plane. Their mission was to carry supplies from India to China in support of Chiang Kai-shek's forces fighting the Japanese during World War II. They were flying over the "hump," as mountainous Burma was known, when engine trouble developed, a not uncommon problem for the newly developed C-46.
In The American Journey of Eric Sevareid by Raymond Schroth, when it became clear the plane was going to crash, Davies maintained a calm demeanor and remarked, "Just kids, kids running this thing" (he was 35 years old), and jumped. He was the first person to leave the plane. The others followed.
The plane crashed into the Himalayan Mountains of northern Burma and exploded. Twenty of the men survived the jump, but other perils lurked in the jungle below: wild animals and, potentially, hostile tribespeople and the Japanese Imperial Army.
Drawing of flags from the John Paton Davies Papers, Truman Library
In The American Journey of Eric Sevareid, although Davies admitted that he was "scared fairly stiff," he tried to communicate with a group of about a half-dozen Naga tribesmen, allegedly "fierce headhunters," who came upon Davies and his group. The Nagas did not speak English, of course, nor did they seem to understand Chinese. Therefore, Davies took out a small notebook and began making sketches, or "pictographs."
Trying to determine where signs of western civilization might be, he sketched a locomotive with cars and uttered "choo-choo, chuff-chuff." The response was "blank incomprehension." Next he drew a Japanese flag and tried to vocalize the sound of battle. Again, there was no understanding. He also drew British and American flags and outposts in an effort to determine where his group might find assistance and rescue. Davies' jots also included men parachuting from airplanes, perhaps his way of communicating to the Nagas how he and his men had arrived in their company.
The Nagas' reaction to Davies' written and oral efforts was impassive attention, but, significantly, not hostility. The Nagas led the men to their village, and the fear Davies felt when one of the tribesman made a cutting motion across his throat was relieved when the victim ended up being a goat that was sacrificed for a banquet.
Eventually, C-47s, perhaps responding to the downed airplane's radio distress signals sent before it crashed, arrived. The C-47s dropped supplies, including weapons, to the stranded men, who conducted a lively trade with the Nagas. In Davies' words, "instead of decapitating us, the savages adopted us" until the party's eventual safe trek to India a few weeks later.
Drawing of a train from the John Paton Davies Papers, Truman Library
It's impossible to know whether or not Davies' drawings helped ensure the survival of the downed airmen. Still,it is safe to conclude that his written efforts, and their verbal accompaniment, showed the tribesmen that Davies was not hostile and was trying to communicate in a peaceful— and amusing—way. These drawings are located in the John Paton Davies Papers, which are available for research at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
In 1948, Davies received the Medal of Freedom for his service in China and India during World War II. Davies would soon become a victim of McCarthyism, however, as his frank reporting about wartime ally Chiang Kai-shek came under fire from friends of Chiang. In 1954, he was dismissed from the Foreign Service as a security risk by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a sad chapter also documented in Davies' papers at the Truman Library.
Tagged Chiang Kai-Shek, choo-choo, Foreign Service, headhunter, John Paton Davies, Nagas, Truman PResidential Library
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Jobhoney is in the .com extension. TLDs may be used for diffrent purpose. Example: .com extension inherited from "commercial" and used for generally commercial activities, .net extension inherited from "network" and used for generally internet activites etc.
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text:
Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Science
WHO: 'The worst is yet to come' and the coronavirus pandemic is 'speeding up' because some countries aren't taking it seriously enough
Hilary Brueck
A park ranger wears a face mask while patrolling a trail in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on May 25.
The World Health Organization said on Monday that "the worst is yet to come" in the fight against the novel coronavirus and that "the pandemic is actually speeding up."
There's already a playbook for what works well to stop the virus, but not everyone is using it, WHO said.
The multipronged strategy includes widespread testing, tracing, and continued vigilance with social distancing when new clusters of cases emerge.
"Every politician needs to look in the mirror and say, 'Am I doing enough to stop this virus?'" the executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program said.
It's been six months since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, but on Monday it told the world to prepare for the "long haul" ahead.
"The worst is yet to come," WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on a call with reporters from Geneva. "I'm sorry to say that. But with this kind of environment and condition, we fear the worst."
WHO officials stressed repeatedly on the call that not all countries were combatting the virus with the same levels of success or vigilance. With more than half of the 10 million coronavirus cases to date and almost half of the 500,000 deaths in the Americas, there's a lot more that both governments and people in overburdened countries like the US and Brazil could be doing to stop this virus.
"We all want this to be over, we all want to get on with our lives, but the hard reality is this is not even close to being over," Tedros said. "Although many countries have made some progress, globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up."
Without naming any names, Tedros chided countries for not doing more to stop the spread of the virus as economies reopen.
The virus' spread "could have been prevented through the tools that we have at hand," Tedros said. "Time after time and country after country, what we have seen is this virus can be suppressed if the governments are serious about the things they have to do — their share — and if the community can do its share."
Read more: Dozens of drugmakers are racing to develop coronavirus vaccines. Here's how they see 2020 playing out and when the first vaccines might be available.
Some countries can 'pounce on disease' better than others
Emerson Gorman, 66, a Navajo elder, at his property near the Navajo Nation town of Steamboat, Arizona, on May 23. The traditional healer, who lives on the largest Native American reservation in the US, said he sees it as his duty to pass on his wisdom as the community elders face an existential threat from the coronavirus pandemic.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
WHO applauded previously hard-hit countries, like South Korea and China, and others that dealt with recent recurrences of the virus, including Germany, Singapore, and Japan, adding that coronavirus vigilance requires a concerted effort from both politicians and citizens.
Many of the most successful coronavirus-fighting countries have adopted a multilayered public-health approach allowing them "to pounce on disease" quickly and effectively where it reemerges, said Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program.
"What you have to do is push the disease down to the lowest possible level," he said, stressing that in addition to more nationwide testing and tracing and good public-health surveillance systems, the most successful strategies relied on diligent citizens who stay home when coronavirus transmission is widespread.
"Communities have made a huge sacrifice for that to happen," Ryan said. "They're staying at home. They're staying away from their families. They've contributed tremendously to suppressing infection."
Read more: Antibody drugs to prevent and treat the coronavirus are storming into the clinic. Here are the 8 top drugmakers crafting these treatments, which could be ready this fall.
But that hasn't been the case across much of the US, where many basic public-health measures, such as wearing a mask to prevent asymptomatic transmission and staying home when the virus is spreading in a community, have been couched as political choices.
In a poll conducted earlier this month by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center poll, a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning independents said they thought the worst of the coronavirus outbreak and its related problems "is behind us," while less than a quarter of Democrats and Democratic-leaning participants said the same.
"We cannot continue to allow the fight against this virus to become and be sustained as an ideologic fight," Ryan said. "We cannot beat this virus with ideologies. We simply cannot."
Medical staff members consult with a Navajo man at a COVID-19 testing center in the Navajo Nation town of Monument Valley, Arizona, on May 21.
Increasingly, top health officials and politicians on both sides of the aisle in the US have encouraged people — including President Donald Trump — to wear masks when they're out in public. Masks can help prevent the disease from spreading to other people, especially from asymptomatic people who may feel perfectly healthy. (Trump said on the first day that the federal government recommended face coverings, "I don't see it for myself.")
Meanwhile, some governors have started to allow cities and local communities more control over their own virus precautions, as more cases have sprouted up in some heavily populated areas of the US.
"Every individual needs to look in the mirror and say, 'Am I doing enough?'" Ryan said. "And every politician needs to look in the mirror and say, 'Am I doing enough to stop this virus?'"
NOW WATCH: What it's like to be a 'deathcare' worker collecting bodies during the coronavirus pandemic
More: coronavirus Public Health World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19


Over the course of the human lifespan, most people will suffer from a single bout, or multiple bouts of lower back pain. For some, it might be a minor nuisance, and for others, it might be completely debilitating. Lower back pain is a very polarizing and controversial topic as there is no clear strategy to remedy the problem, and there is no one root cause of the pain and dysfunction.
Tony Gentilcore gives some extremely practical, level-headed, and effective solutions for managing and recovering from lower back pain, and no, it does not involve rest, or living with back pain. This bad advice that is frequently doled out by health professionals is preventing many people from regaining optimal levels of health, performance, and the ability to go about their daily lives.


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Is it worth going back into the garden?
To re-imagine a classic children's novel will always be a tenuous endeavour, because every generation has their vision of what these famous characters mean to them. Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved tale of The Secret Garden has been given cinematic life four times since its publication in 1911. The challenge is to see if the filmmakers can capture the magic that spills off the pages of the beautiful story of the orphan and her discovery of the mystical garden on the property of Misselthwaite Manor.
This alliteration of the coming of age story is moved ahead to post-war England where Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx) finds herself after losing her parents to disease and war in British India. She has been taken in by her reclusive uncle Lord Archibald Craven (Colin Firth) who provides her with shelter and sustenance, but little attention. Even though she is given strict instructions to remain in her room and to only go to certain parts of the house by the head of household, Mrs. Medlock (Julie Walters), she manages to explore a bit more. The young girl's only time of solace comes during her exploration of the various portions of the vast estate.
As she strolls through the moors and overgrown gardens, Mary befriends a stray dog and a mischievous robin who guide her to the secret garden. A magical place that allows her imagination to sow seeds of hope and joy into her life. Thoughts and actions that begin to impact the lives of those who reside in the manor on the hill. One resident of the dark and depressing rooms of this haunting residence is her cousin Colin (Edan Hayhurst) who is bedridden and convinced he suffers from a debilitating disease. Then Mary enters his room and brings a fresh new wave of hope into his life. A relationship that grows from introductions to a series of covert adventures that involve their new friend from the moors, Dickon (Amir Wilson).
The Secret Garden is a tale that has been woven into the fabric of multiple generations. A classic journey that ebbs and flows between the harsh realities of this world and the beautifully imaginative vision of a child. Yet, it is risky to give it new life to a celebrated world with a modern spin and artistic revisions to the original novel. Unlike previous ventures that stay close to Frances Hodgson Burnett's narrative, director Marc Munden pushes the boundaries a bit further than many faithful fans may be willing to accept. He chooses to move the story into post-World War II and the contrived conclusion is added unnecessarily for the sake of a more dramatic finish. These new inclusions fail to add anything to the overall cinematic experience and only serve as a distraction.
What does stand out about this production is the visual spectacle of the dream-like world of the garden. After a while, it seems to have a bigger geographical footprint than the Misselthwaite Manor estate itself. Along with the stunning cinematography, the majority of the cast does manage to embody the characters we have come to love over the years. Dixie Egerickx is a treasure and manages to bring the role of Mary to life and she gets the strong veteran support of Julie Walters and Colin Firth. These two components help to inject the magic into this fantasy world, but they are not enough to make this into a new cinematic classic. This version is not bad, but in the end, it does not live up to the visionary masterpiece that it tries to retell.
What should parents know about The Secret Garden? During this time of isolation, this film should provide you with the motivation to engage with a classic novel. There is a reason that this book has been remade so many times in history, because it manages to transcend time itself. The challenge for parents should be to take time to read The Secret Garden with their children and then watch the 1993 version from director Agnieszka Holland.
What are the big themes of this film that would lead to rich conversations with your children? Grief, imagination, hope, determination and the love of a parent.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10
Russ Matthews
Russ Matthews works for City Bible Forum as the Product Manager for The Edge and Reel Dialogue. He enjoys developing large public forums throughout the city to engage workers with the bigger questions of life. Russ writes film reviews and articles for various publications. He has a passion for film and getting the conversations started on themes from these visual creations. Discussions that can include topics like Jesus, the Bible and God.


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We haven't posted in a while, and a lot of great new music cropped up in 2017. To make up for the time since the last music report, here's an expanded list of the top 50 current country-western dance songs you might hear at Sundance Saloon. These are arranged in alphabetical order by artist. Enjoy!


The German state of Brandenburg surrounds the city state of Berlin. The fifth largest state in Germany, Brandenburg is among the least populated.
This makes traveling as a tourist so enjoyable. Go by bike, foot, skates, or horseback through the peaceful meadows and woods, such as the Spreewald Forest. With more than 30,000 km. of waterways (of which 1,600 are navigable), tour through this paradise by motor boat, steamship, or houseboat. By canoe you can follow about 6,500 km. of tranquil, clear waters.
As in other parts of Germany, castles and monuments abound. The most famous is Sanssouci Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, alone has 77 castles and palaces to explore. Brandenburg's tourism is promoting this area as "Berlin's Beautiful Backdrop" to encourage visitors to come and explore.
Brandenburg's history dates back to the 7th century with the Slavic peoples. Later it was one of the Holy Roman Empire states, became part of Prussia, and much later, in 1952, was dissolved to become part of East Germany. In 1990, the present Brandenburg state was reestablished and is now part of the unified Germany.
Among the "famous" people from this area are Otto Lilienthal, who by means of a wingbeating flying machine, was the first to attempt flight and in 1894, flew 250 meters. Albert Einstein lived here for a time as well. Many authors and playwrights have congregated here the Babelsberger Film Studios, located here, are worldrenown.
The foods enjoyed by the Brandenburgers have as much to do with its recent history as part of East Germany as well as its landscape. Potato dishes abound. Fish and game dishes and self-harvested vegetables and fruit are part of the traditional foods.
Potatoes boiled, fried, deep-fried, soups, stews, creamed, dumplings, salads, and mashed. Varieties such as Agria, Anni, Cilena, Dobra, Bettina, Hansa, and Forelle.
There really is no one traditional German potato salad recipe. Basically, in southern Germany the salads are without mayo and in northern Germany (where my Mutti is from), mayo is often included. Below, is my Mutti's German Cold Potato Salad.
The only common ingredient in German potato salads are boiled potatoes. After that, almost anything goes. Ingredients can include mayonnaise, meat stock, vinegar, or lemon juice. Gherkins, garlic, apples, onions, cabbage, bacon, leek, egg, fish, beets, sausage, dill, caraway seeds, chives, parsley are some of the additional possibilities.
You choose what you like. Add it. And, you've got your own version of German potato salad!


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Q: How to connect a sqlite data base to Node red in IBM cloud? If sqlite is not ppossible what database is? I would like to add a database to my Node-red flow running on the IBM cloud. I would prefer to use the node-red-sqlite node and store either on local or cloud but am not sure how to do this please advise.

A: Short answer, you don't.
Longer answer:
The node-red-node-sqlite node requires the database to be on the same machine as the the Node-RED runtime (This is generally the same for all SQLite databases). But the filesystem on IBM Cloud is not persistent, that means that anything stored on the filesystem can be lost at any time. IBM Cloud may need to restart your Node-RED instance or move it to a new host and when it does so the database file would be lost. This is why the Node-RED flow is actually stored in a Cloudant DB (Cloudant is a JSON Object store rather than a relational database like SQLite) instance bound to the Node-RED app.
If you want to use a persistent database you need to choose one that allows connections over a network and is hosted somewhere that will allow you to connect to it from the IBM Cloud machine running Node-RED. That could be any one of the many that IBM Cloud offer as a service or it could be some other hosting provider. If you want you can even re-use the existing Cloudant DB instance used to store the flows (just be careful not to clash with the objects already used)


Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are among the most powerful growth tools available to companies. The oft-repeated maxim that "one plus one makes three" sums it up. Thanks to the synergies created when legal entities combine, mergers facilitate growth that's seldom attainable on a year-over-year, organic basis. While deals principally seek to create shareholder value, successful mergers can accomplish much more than that. They can extend corporate power, increase market share, aid in diversification, and enhance a company's likelihood of obtaining future financing.
Along with their financial rewards, though, mergers and acquisitions come with a number of thorny compliance challenges. They're some of the most complex transactions that arise during the corporate life cycle, and place considerable demands on everyone who is involved with them. With recent trends favoring more aggressive deal timelines, the likelihood that stakeholders will overlook key compliance requirements is growing all the time. In the overheated atmosphere of a deal, even experienced legal teams may let some of the underappreciated, but no less important, SEC M&A filings and jurisdictional filings slip by.
The good news is that with a little planning you can take care of your SEC filings for mergers and acquisitions as well as other important filings, in a timely, comprehensive fashion. In the following sections, we'll take a look at the filings needed for a post-merger integration plan and pre-merger integration that mergers and acquisitions typically call for, including the merger agreement SEC filing, and other fundamental tips on how to take care of M&A filings.
Mergers and acquisitions: The purchase, sale, division, or act of otherwise combining different companies and entities.
Acquisition: The outright purchase by one company of another company (or a division of that company).
Merger: The combination of two or more companies.
Full-blown merger: A merger in which there is no common ownership between or among the companies. For a full-blown merger to move forward, the shareholders of all the constituent companies must approve it.
Parent-subsidiary merger: Occurs when one company owns all or substantially all (usually 90% or greater, depending on the jurisdiction) of the shares of the other constituent companies. Shareholders don't need to approve a parent-subsidiary merger; instead, the board of directors of the parent company can act alone.
Upstream merger: A parent-subsidiary merger in which the parent company survives.
Downstream merger: A parent-subsidiary merger in which a subsidiary company survives.
Primary merger: The merger that occurs in the domestic states of the merging entities.
Surviving entities: Entities that continue to exist after a merger.
Non-surviving entities: Entities that are absorbed by a surviving entity.
When planning for the filings a deal requires, be sure to examine the big picture. It's not enough to take care of your filings in the affected entities' home jurisdictions and hope the rest sorts itself out. You've got to look beyond the primary merger to all the other jurisdictions in which the entities are registered during the pre-merger integration process, during the merger, and as part of the post-merger integration plan.
Take foreign qualification for example. Let's say you have a Delaware entity that is merging into another Delaware entity. Is the non-surviving entity qualified to do business in states outside of Delaware? If so, you'll need to update those states with evidence of the merger or file a withdrawal if required. (Sure, you may have completed your Delaware filings, but don't forget to notify other states that the non-surviving entity is no longer in existence.) How about the surviving entity? Is it qualified in those states where the non-surviving entity currently exists? If it isn't, does it need to be? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking.
You also need to consider assumed name filings. If the non-surviving entity has Doing Business As names, and the surviving entity wants to hold on to those names, name reservations or name changes will be a necessary part of the merger.
The risks posed by missed filings vary. They range from unsettling, like a surprise notice from the secretary of state that the non-surviving entity still exists in a foreign jurisdiction, to punitive. The state of Arizona, for example, charges a $100 fine if a name change is not filed within 60 days of a merger. While this might seem like pocket change in light of the millions of dollars passing hands during a typical deal, money is money, and it's an expenditure—and embarrassment—that can be easily avoided with careful planning and execution.
Agreement of Merger: A full-blown merger may require either an Agreement of Merger or a Plan of Merger and Articles/Certificate of Merger. Requirements vary by jurisdiction; in several jurisdictions, including Delaware, the directors of the companies approve an Agreement of Merger between the companies and submit it to the shareholders of each company for approval. Depending on what jurisdiction you're in and the types of entities involved, different forms may apply. Delaware, for instance, offers different forms according to surviving entity type.
Qualifications: If, before the merger, the surviving entity is qualified in all states where the business of the non-surviving entity will continue to operate, this allows for a continuous presence in those jurisdictions. Pre-merger qualification may also facilitate—or eliminate the need for—tax clearance, and may make the post-merger filing process easier.
Amendment: A company may change its name, increase its authorized capital, or amend any other portion of its articles/certificate of incorporation in the merger document. Companies are usually restricted to a name change only when filing a certificate of ownership.
Post-merger filings: These filings are made in qualified foreign jurisdictions as a result of a domestic merger. They can include filing evidence of merger and formal withdrawals of non-surviving entities.
Tax clearances: A tax clearance is written confirmation from the jurisdiction that an entity is up to date with its tax payments and not in arrears. Many jurisdictions have tax clearance requirements that must be completed before the withdrawal of a non-surviving entity will become effective.
Depending on the type of entity and the jurisdictional requirements, the tax clearance process can take months to be completed.
Pre-clearance: Delaware offers a service for pre-clearance of mergers that can ensure that the merger will be effective on the date desired.
Keep in mind that most merger and acquisition filings take time and require a significant amount of internal coordination. For one, filings should be timed to take advantage of any favorable tax situations. Post-filing effective dates allow the pre-merger integration to be effective on the same date in different jurisdictions. For certain filings, pre-clearances and expedited filings may be available at the jurisdiction, but it's prudent not to lean too heavily on that possibility. You should anticipate, too, that required tax clearances may delay your filings. With mergers and acquisitions, as with so much in life, a little planning goes a long way.
CSC® entity formation services can help you manage merger and acquisition filings for your business and can help you manage a variety of other filings for your existing corporation. Learn more by filling out the form on the right and a CSC specialist will be in touch to answer any questions you have.


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BlogWGC-Bridgestone Invitational Preview and Picks
WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
August 1 – 4, 2013
Firestone C.C. (South)
Purse: $8.75 million
with $1,575,000 to the winner
Keegan Bradley
The field includes 48 of the top 50 in the latest Official World Rankings. The only players not in the field is Louis Oosthuizen, who is suffering from hip and neck pains. He announced this week that he was shutting it down for a couple of months to allow his body to recover from all of the problems. The other top-50 player not in the field is Hunter Mahan who withdrew from the RBC Canadian Open after leading going into Saturday for the birth of his first child, a daughter that was born over the weekend. Mahan has taken this week off to be with his new daughter and wife.
The field includes 21 of the Top 25 on this year's PGA Tour money list. Those players include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose, Bill Haas, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Kevin Streelman, Boo Weekley, Keegan Bradley, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, D.A. Points, Webb Simpson, Harris English, Graeme McDowell, Russell Henley and Lee Westwood. Those not in the field are Hunter Mahan, Jordan Spieth, Jimmy Walker and Charles Howell III. Jordan Spieth made a decision to take a second straight week off to get ready for the PGA Championship. A very strange choice not playing in one of the richest events of the year, but that is his style.
The field includes 4 past champions: Keegan Bradley (2012), Adam Scott (2011), Tiger Woods (2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2001, 2000, 1999), Phil Mickelson (1996)
The field includes 23 players that have won on the PGA Tour this year: Dustin Johnson (Hyundai Tournament of Champions), Russell Henley (Sony Open), Brian Gay (Humana Challenge), Phil Mickelson (WM Phoenix Open, British Open), Tiger Woods (Farmers Insurance, WGC Cadillac, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship), Brandt Snedeker (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, RBC Canadian Open), John Merrick (Northern Trust Open), Matt Kuchar (WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the Memorial Tournament), Michael Thompson (Honda Classic), Kevin Streelman (Tampa Bay), D.A. Points (Shell Houston), Martin Laird (Valero Texas), Adam Scott (Masters), Graeme McDowell (RBC Heritage), Billy Horschel (Zurich Classic), Sang-Moon Bae (HP Byron Nelson Championship), Derek Ernst (Wells Fargo Championship), Boo Weekley (Crowne Plaza Colonial), Harris English (FedEx St. Jude), Justin Rose (U.S. Open). Ken Duke (Travelers), Bill Haas (AT&T National) and Jonas Bilxt (Greenbrier),
A perfect way for fantasy golfers to check on the past performance of all the players in the WGC Bridgestone field is our performance chart listed by average finish. One last way to check who is the best is through a special formula worked out in Golfstats that gives us the best average performances at WGC Bridgestone in the last five years or check out our brand new and sortable 8-year glance at the WGC Bridgestone.
Who's Hot in the field for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
Canadian Open
Sanderson Farms
(489.33 pts) DNP
(132) CUT
(66.67) T2
Henrik Stenson
(336 pts) DNP
(26.67) T21
Brandt Snedeker
(262 pts) Win
(132) T11
(22) CUT
(-3.33)
Ian Poulter
Zach Johnson
(29) T26
(88) T4
Lee Westwood
Matt Kuchar
Hideki Matsuyama
Richard Sterne
Bubba Watson
Angel Cabrera
Francesco Molinari
Jonas Blixt
Shane Lowry
Paul Casey
Charl Schwartzel
(116 pts) T28
Martin Laird
Who's Not Hot in the field for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
(-43.33 pts) DNP
D.A. Points
(-40 pts) DNP
Thorbjorn Olesen
Scott Piercy
(0) CUT
Derek Ernst
Rory McIlroy
Satoshi Kodaira
Toru Taniguchi
Peter Hanson
Kiradech Aphibarnrat
It will be an interesting week for Tiger Woods. Pressure is mounting for him to win, not only this week but the last major of the year. He has been more than confident going into the first three majors and has had poor final rounds only to say that he played well. This week is a weird week, before 2011 he owned this event, winning seven times and finishing in the top-four ever year from 1999 through his win in 2009. Things changed, the following year he finished T8th followed by a T37th finish in 2011 and then a dismal 78th place finish last year.
So the question is can he pull it off, thus adding more pressure to his PGA Championship performance.
Many will be watching Phil Mickelson who returns after his British Open win. He joins the other major winners Justin Rose and Adam Scott, who will all be looking to get rid of the stigma of being a major champion winner that has gone flat with their game.
Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the WGC-bridgestone-invitational:
Key stat for the winner:
Firestone is one of the most respected courses on the PGA Tour. The par-70 layout plays to over 7,400 yards and if there is a key to the course its the long par 3s and par 4s. Three of the par 3s play over 200 yards while eleven of the twelve par 4s play over 400 yards and eight play over 440 yards. You have to be accurate with your drives, as the fairways are very well bunkered and bordered with high rough. Shots into the greeens, usually with long irons, have to be precise and if the players do get a break its in the greens, they are pretty flat with very little undulations. The list of champions is pretty impressive but underdogs have won the event. Its also interesting to note that since 1995 all of the winners (except for Darren Clarke in 2003 and Vijay Singh 2008) have won a tournament five months prior to their Firestone victory.
Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:
Since the course will play at more than 7,400 yards, the "experts" will say bombers hold an advantage. Still as you will see length is not the only strength you need to play well at Firestone. Average hitters like Jim Furyk, David Toms and Stewart Cink have done well at Firestone, so does long hitters have an advantage, yes because Tiger seems to win a lot but don't discount the shorter hitter.
Accuracy will rule this week. The fairways are very narrow and the rough has always played a factor. Of the 20 players that have finished in the top-five in the tournaments first three years, 15 of them have finished in the top-20 of the driving accuracy category. Things changed drastically in 2007 as only five players out of the top 21 finished in the top-ten of the driving distance category. In 2008 of the players in the top-19, only four were in the top-ten. The same in 2009 as of those in the top-15 the best rank in driving accuracy is T10th. In 2010 only two players out of the top 22 finished in the top-ten of fairways hit. Things got better in 2011 as six of the top-six were in the top-15 while in 2012 ten of the top-15 were in the top-20 So if fairways get dry this week, look for accuracy to again not being the King this week.
The only problem is that the course will not be dry. Lot's of rain have dropped in the last month and a thundery Thursday and Saturday making the course play soft, despite winds and clear skies on Friday and Sunday.
Now in the years that Woods has won, hitting greens was the key to victory, but in the two years that Darren Clarke and Stewart Cink won, putting was the key. In 2009 greens hit was the key to victory for Tiger as he ranked T2nd in that stat, while in 2010 Hunter Mahan was T8th in greens hit and T4th in number of putts. In 2011 Adam Scott was T9th in greens hit and T4th in putting while in 2012 Keegan Bradley was T11th in greens hit and T2nd in putting So which one is the favorite? I have to say that the ball striker will always win.
Does a non-marquee guy have a chance this week? Could Kiradech Aphibamrat, RIchard Sterne orJonas Bilxt win? Not a chance, look for either one of the usual suspects or someone like a Lee Westwood who really wants to do well in a big events. As for an underdog, no chance as underdogs have not fared well at Firestone.
Who to watch for at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
T45 Win T9 T51 T56 T36 T10 T36 T55 T64
Full WGC-Bridgestone Invitational RecordFull 8 year glance at his record
Think he is the smartest bet this week, has won before at Firestone and always finds a way to stay in contention. Scott is always a good bet.
T43 T48 T46 T58 T4 T46 T54 T51 T43 T23 T9 T8
Think his good form will continue, he feeds off of good play and he is putting the best of any time in his career. He too is a good bet.
T8 T37 T78 Win Win Win Win T2 T4 4 Win
Now normally this is a great bet, but has played terribly the last three years running. Important week for him to show that he still has it without having to hear his lame excuses for his poor play.
We saw this good run of play last year as he again has things rolling again.
T8 T19 T9 T38
Can't forget him and his good record on this course. He seems to win like every three months and it's been about 3 months since his last victory.
T5 T33 T19 T29 T27 T2 T33 5
His type of course, he has three top-five finishes along with runner-up finish in 2007.
80 T29 T16 T41 T31 T13
Have to watch him this week, he is in the groove and you never know what that could mean.
Steve Stricker
T2 14 T9 T6 T43 T41
Even with a limited schedule seems to always be in contention, look for the same this week.
T29 T68 T65 T15 T16 T30 T13 T33 T33 T13
He is playing great golf, this could be a good course for him.
Rickie Fowler
T60 T2 T33
His game is not that great right now, but this could be a good week for him on a course he has had success on.
You know I will always ride this guy hard after his last couple of finishes
T45 T22 0 T8 T51 T4 T19 T16 T17
Looking to regain his game, has been sharp over in Europe and that could rub off on this week.
Boo Weekley
T46 T58 T66 T30
This is a ball striker course and he should do well despite some bad finishes
Branden Grace
He could be a good pick this week on this course
Not this week
T5 T6 T9 T68
Still have no faith in him, his game seems to be getting worst instead of better. So the best bet is not to touch any part of him.
alex munro says
your right about Hideki ,i bet him each way in the last two majors, will win soon, may be good enough for a place here,
in saying that Woods is still the one to beat and whom I expect to win.