For the last few years, the net has been awash with crude, dumbed-down content. Perhaps we can make things somewhat more thoughtful this coming year?
My heart despairs when I see lists of the most visited sites online. The Daily Mail Online? You can't be serious. For an intelligent species, I'd hoped for more.
Fortunately, not all hope is lost. Not yet, anyway. There's still a chance to revive some of that faltering intellectual curiosity Read the World's Best Books for Free With the Harvard Classics Read the World's Best Books for Free With the Harvard Classics The Harvard Classics is a multi-volume collection of the world's best books. Collated by Dr. Charles W. Eliot in the early 20th century, these can now be downloaded absolutely free of charge. Read More . There are still the odd online pockets that shelter more thoughtful, nuanced discussion, and commentary.
For a couple of years now, we've occasionally brought to light some of these refuges of intelligence. In 2013 we introduced you 8 Great Places To Find Articles Worth Reading On The Web 8 Great Places To Find Articles Worth Reading On The Web The Internet is arguably the best news morgue on the planet right now. And apart from that great collection of old articles, thousands of new ones are added every day. Find the good ones. Read More to Reddit's In Depth Stories, and The Feature. In 2014 we told you Too Long But Do Read: 6 Places To Go To For Some Of The Best Reading On The Web Too Long But Do Read: 6 Places To Go To For Some Of The Best Reading On The Web TLDR is now an accepted part of Internet slang. Too Long Didn't Read is symptomatic of our attention spans…or rather lack of it. But there's a subtle shift that's happening beneath the layers of the... Read More about Narrative.ly and The Browser. Now at the end of 2015, we're offering a much more comprehensive list of where to find the best online content, and journalism.
The Conversation offers in-depth news analysis written by professional academics. Each article is then edited to ensure high readability while maintaining credibility. This "knowledge-based journalism" is always evidence based, treating all data responsibly.
What's more, all articles have a Creative Commons license What Is Creative Commons, And Should You Use It? What Is Creative Commons, And Should You Use It? Creative Commons is a set of licenses which automatically give you permission to do various things, such as reuse and distribute the content. Let's find out more about it and how to use it. Read More , meaning they can be republished at no cost.
Since 2012, Aeon has been publishing what it calls "some of the most profound and provocative thinking on the web". Its aim is to ask the large questions, and to offer new perspectives on common topics. Its "Essays" are written by many world-leading authorities.
Insatiable reader, Maria Popova, began Brain Pickings in 2006 as a weekly email to her friends. It's now an immensely popular site, though still ran solely by Maria. Within its many articles you'll find plenty of "knowledge, insight, information, inspiration" over a huge number of topics. Each one is aiming to give us a somewhat deeper glance at life.
Roads and Kingdoms is a relatively new "independent journal of food, politics, travel and culture". Its dispatches, photos, and interviews shine light on many areas of the world you would otherwise never know existed. The interests and experiences of its many writers make for exciting, daily reading.
Harper's Magazine has been publishing insightful, often challenging, narrative journalism and essays since 1850. Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt both felt Harper's Magazine worthy of their words. Its focus is on "fine writing Improve Your Writing With Expresso, The Style Checker Improve Your Writing With Expresso, The Style Checker Meet Expresso. It will change the way you blog – for the better. Read More and original thought", spanning society, politics, culture, and the environment, makes this one of the great intellectual spaces on the web.
Quartz is a mobile-focused digital magazine. Their content is all crafted for perfect display on mobile and tablet, without the need to dumb-down. Born from the ashes of the financial crisis, its focus is generally on the world economy, aimed largely at world business leaders. This being said, its content is often incredibly hard-hitting.
The FarnhamStreet blog consistently produces brain-food across a wide spectrum of interests, from science to philosophy. These aren't necessarily related to current affairs, but are sure to force you to stop and think. They also have an incredible weekly newsletter that I'd urge you to sign up to.
OZY promises to only publish "original content, focused not simply on where the world is but, more importantly, where the world is going". They do this by thinking big, and by "challenging the assumptions" of traditional media. Boasting writers such as Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, many of OZY's stories have been months ahead of the general media.
Founded in 1857, The Atlantic offers cultural and literary commentary on foreign affairs, politics, and cultural trends. It's been the springboard for many great journalists' careers, as well as a megaphone for new writers. Its content is almost always of a moderate stance, containing more than a hint of insightfulness.
Over the past couple of years, Vice has seen explosive growth in its popularity. Known for consistently creating hard daring, controversial writing and video, the site has become home to many who want an alternative view on what's happening in the world.
Arts and Letters Daily covers topics relating to all forms of "art", from art history and aesthetics to linguistics and music. This is a curated collection of quality articles from around the web, meaning you don't need to go scouring to find them yourself.
Highline is a lesser-known section of The Huffington post. Its aim is to offer a "new digital home for an old journalistic tradition. Think of it as a magazine that only runs cover stories — big, ambitious pieces intended to change the way you see the world or influence the course of policy".
If you're on the lookout for stories that are much less read, If Everyone Knew should be your first port of call. This is a curation of stories that are not receiving the media attention they deserve. The focus is primarily on articles that, if everyone knew about them, would cause an uproar. This site deserves more visitors.
Intelligent Life is a magazine run by The Economist, thereby keeping to its high journalistic standards. This is a culture and lifestyle magazine covering anything "as long as it's interesting". It's all about "crisp prose, dry wit and free thinking. But rather than covering politics and economics, it is about life in general and making the most of your time off".
For multimedia storytelling, it doesn't come much better than Interactive Narratives. This site aims to find and promote the best online visual storytelling it can find. The aim is to not just focus in what's being said in a piece, but how it's said, whether that be through photography, design, video, prose, animation, etc.
The well known curatorial site, brings the best long-form content (usually over 3,000-4,000 words) to your screen. This can be on any topic under the sun. And with easy ways to send articles directly to your Pocket, or Instapaper (find out how to become a power user Become an Instapaper Power User With These 6 Cool Features Become an Instapaper Power User With These 6 Cool Features Despite an impressive adoption rate, a plethora of Instapaper features often remain unexplored. Let's take a look at a few of them. Read More ) account, finding quality reading for later couldn't be easier.
The New Yorker's commentary on "politics, international affairs, popular culture and the arts" along with "fiction, poetry, humor, and cartoons" is often among the best you'll find online. Every day, dispatches are published from the site's many contributors, along with the content from the weekly print edition.
The high quality journalism that Newsweek consistently brings is much welcomed. Its analysis on global issues and current affairs have kept this a popular publication for over 80 years. Its daily articles are still of such a quality.
Politico was set up with a single aim: "to prove there's a robust and profitable future for tough, fair and fun coverage of politics and government". Their breaking stories, insightful commentary, and incessant need to make real, considered change in politics makes for some great reading.
ProPublica's tagline is "Journalism in the Public Interest". This is precisely what they do. Each article published by this non-profit newsroom focuses on important, moral stories. They do this by "producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them".
Join the Best Of Reddit community to see a never-ending list of quality content that this group of almost 5000 members have found. The stories here are almost exclusively moving and forceful. They are pieces of content you're not likely to come across otherwise, so subscribing is definitely recommended. If you're new to Reddit, our Reddit user guide How To Use Reddit Like an Old Pro How To Use Reddit Like an Old Pro There are plenty of online communities which can be found on the Internet - Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube are easily the most popular and recognizable ones. However, there are plenty of other gems online... Read More will help you get started.
Reveal News is home to some of the best investigative reporting I've ever seen. It's through this kind of reporting that Reveal is attempting to "spark action, improve lives and protect our democracy". It's here that you'll find revelations of government fraud, taxpayer misspending, human rights violations, and much more.
This American Life, though not written content, is an immensely popular public radio show for a reason. It has received a huge number of broadcasting awards due to the quality of its content. Each episode usually has a theme, often revolving around journalism. These themes aim to shed light onto the American life, in all its manifestations.
Open Culture is aimed at the lifelong learning community. These are people who are constantly striving to expand their knowledge in many areas. In their own words, "web 2.0 has given us great amounts of intelligent audio and video. It's all free. It's all enriching. But it's also scattered across the web, and not easy to find. Our whole mission is to centralize this content".
Nautilus chooses one scientific topic each month, and reports on this topic from a number of perspectives over the coming weeks. In a world where one scientific study can change public opinion, it's always valuable to understand that there are many sides to each story, even when it comes to science.
Maptia is a site focused on storytelling though beautiful writing, and stunning photography. There are several sections to the site, each having its own goals and themes. Stories that inspire us to get out there and make the most of our time on Earth is one example. Stories that foster empathy and understanding for other cultures is another.
If 2016 is the year we can begin to ditch the simplistic, biased content, and welcome more nuanced and thoughtful pieces; these are the sites that will lead us there.
Which other thought-provoking sites would you add to the list? And which of the above do you most enjoy reading?
I am grateful for this list to check into more deeply... it reminds me of the potential of the 4th Estate - as an intelligent and responsive format for rich discussion that offers in-Depth personal research and finding in media for expanding and enhancing an individual's experience of both truth and facts... resulting in a more open-sourced connection for recreating reality on pace with its ever-changing quickening so that one can actually help themselves in actualizing fully in persona, soul, and body.
That said, I must state that from personal experience at the hand of tweaked, twisted, myopic, biased and fear-based reporting of Win McCormack for decades - Editor in Chief of The New Republic- that rag must be removed even from secondary consideration for this list.
It's funny. What I've come to know at the hands of fear-based, egoist and self-agrandizing reporting done for the purpose of self-promotion as a journalist or a publication - whether consciously or unconsciously - lives can be so negatively affected as to give rise to new Darkness cast upon our social behaviors and individual growth potential.
Until a writer or editor is willing to immerse themselves into the full life of which they claim they are reporting, they remain outside, tertiary observers unequivocally infected with their own biased lens... and any reporting as such is null, void, and potentially even harm-creating.
This is my experience personally of Win McCormack and his reporting methods - his, in my experience, is a disguised version of a yellowing Fox News-style sensationalism made to feel more "researched" not by deeper digging or putting himself on the frontlines, but by better and more verbiage decorative of his limited and pale research to make it appear more widely gleaned. Basically he uses his already prejudiced opinions to drive where his research and reporting goes, minimizing actual truth possibilities by recording their voice as only surface, thin and corrupt in the face of his lens and point of view.
Until he and The New Republic come to terms with their decorated FoxNews stylistic adoptions for reporting, there is little valid in anything they put forward as other than yellow journalism.
Until anyone has a direct experience of the falsehoods, bias, and incomplete reporting like McCormack's and how it effects their lives in negative and toxic ways in the arena of ideas and intelligent discourse, you cannot know how important mainstream media is and the responsibility of the 4th Estate for serving integrity before income. I only speak out on this now - without detail because of limited time and space - to further the makings of more singularly intelligent and inspiring and insightful reporting. Obviously there are a dearth of writers and editors and only a handful of true genius to attempt such reporting.
I can tell you now - at this time in a shaken world and rattled history - The New Republic as Win McCormack's puppet-of-pen is not a reliable, or even integrity-oriented source material. Maybe one day. Certainly without McCormack.
Of much help. Thank you.
Seriously brilliant list Rob. I knew about several of these, but the new additions to my reading list are most welcome.
Pleased you found the list useful, Charles! There were quite a few left leaning sites here, but Ted left a comment (above) with some more Conservative options you might want to check out.
Thank you again for the great piece, it was a pleasure reading it and finding all those great new sources of inspiration.
Pleased you found the list useful, Alex! You'll be spoilt for choice with these.
Amazing list! Thank you. If it is a bit left leaning as accused so much the better because so am I.
"...ditch the simplistic, biased content..."
There is no unbiased content. The sites you list seem to lean left, while there are plenty of others with a right bent. I just want a good story, and rely on my own BS filter to sort out the facts from opinion presented as facts.
I've probably checked out most of the sites at one time or another and while two or three of them are well-written, for the most part they are the usual leftist blather.
I'm not going to try to suggest you read conservative sites but you might want to try the realclear family of websites -- there are close to a dozen of them.
If you start at realclearbooks.com you can easily find your way to the others.
They offer a consistently good mix of liberal and conservative and everything else.
Thanks for the links, Ted! I'm checking these out now.
Thanks! I was aware of several of these but you've given me more to explore.
A little on finding least biased reporting, at the risk of opening a can of worms. I get most of my news from NPR, don't care at all for Fox News. For sites on current affairs I'd say Politico provides the most balance in ideological bias, but each writer is different. There is clear liberal bias and grandstanding going on with ProPublica, tho I think overall they do very good meaningful reporting. The Atlantic is also excellent though somewhat left-leaning.
For many of the great sites mentioned, these are simply not an issue.


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When Stein isn't working, he enjoys his favorite Columbus restaurant, Basi Italia in Victorian Village, which is also where he recommends guests go.
Steven was named to our annual list of 52 Young Professionals You Should Know in Columbus – one for every week in the year!


text:
Microsoft is promoting a pirated ROM that can be played from Edge
This phrase from Homer Simpson now comes to mind as he says:It's my first day …The community manager for a Microsoft Edge Dev account in his Canary version should say something like this. The Microsoft Browser is Not only compatible with Google Chrome extensionsIf not also with Microsoft stores.
You know well, simulation It is prohibited, but for any reason it is permitted to encapsulate the ROM of the game and run it as an application to run it from the browser. Microsoft things I think. And that's what got the Redmond people in little trouble.
Illegal ROM in Microsoft Edge
Turns out, some add-ons have appeared in Microsoft Edge that allow you to play games like Mario Kart 64 or Super Mario Bros. Or Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Pac-Man, Tetris, or Cut The Rope among others. What these extensions do Download the emulator in the browser It allows you to play without much problem. But what Microsoft didn't know was that these ROMS were put out there without the approval of SEGA or Nintendo among other publishers.
Good so far, it could pass through a security breach and much more. However, as I said, the browser's official account resonated then The Verge has been published The story is about the origin of ROMS.
Capture a Tweet that has already been deleted.
Maybe the last straw is that even There is an Edge emulator that emulates Minecraft itself, A sign that we're likely experiencing a security and protocol failure rather than something malicious. In fact, one of the emulators leaves this description:
Important: This emulator is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo. All graphics, games and other multimedia files are copyrighted to their respective owners and authors. This game is for all Mario fans!
Before closing the news, I remember paragraph 10.13.10 of the Microsoft Store itself, which reads:Products that simulate a game system are not allowed on any family of devicesWhile composing these lines, I can verify that some (but not all) of these extensions have been removed.
See also WhatsApp | This is what new chat bubbles look like on iPhone | SPORTS-PLAY
Economy. Spain is extending restrictions on flights from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil until March 2
Rosario Robles' defense formalizes FGR's request for shortened proceedings

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Is it possible to know the serial number of the block of input data on which map function is currently working? I am a novice in Hadoop and here I have the following questions:
(1) As I can understand, the original input file is split into several blocks and distributed over the network. Does a map function always execute on a block in its entirety? Could there be more than one map functions executing on data in a single block?
(2) Is there any way that it can be learned, from within the map function, which section of the original input text the mapper is currently working on? I would like to get something like a serial number, for instance, for each block starting from the first block of the input text.
(3) Is it possible to make the splits of the input text in such a way that each block has a predefined word count? If possible then how?
Any help would be appreciated.

A: *

*As I can understand, the original input file is split into several blocks and distributed over the network. Does a map function always execute on a block in its entirety? Could there be more than one map functions executing on data in a single block?
No. A block(split to be precise) gets processed by only one mapper.

*Is there any way that it can be learned, from within the map function, which section of the original input text the mapper is currently working on? I would like to get something like a serial number, for instance, for each block starting from the first block of the input text.
You can get some valuable info, like the file containing split's data, the position of the first byte in the file to process. etc, with the help of FileSplit class. You might find it helpful.

*Is it possible to make the splits of the input text in such a way that each block has a predefined word count? If possible then how?
You can do that by extending FileInputFormat class. To begin with you could do this :
In your getSplits() method maintain a counter. Now, as you read the file line by line keep on tokenizing them. Collect each token and increase the counter by 1. Once the counter reaches the desired value, emit the data read upto this point as one split. Reset the counter and start with the second split.
HTH

A: *

*If you define a small max split size you can actually have multiple mappers processing a single HDFS block (say 32mb max split for a 128 MB block size - you'll get 4 mappers working on the same HDFS block). With the standard input formats, you'll typically never see two or more mappers processing the same part of the block (the same records).

*MapContext.getInputSplit() can usually be cast to a FileSplit and then you have the Path, offset and length of the file being / block being processed).

*If your input files are true text flies, then you can use the method suggested by Tariq, but note this is highly inefficient for larger data sources as the Job Client has to process each input file to discover the split locations (so you end up reading each file twice). If you really only want each mapper to process a set number of words, you could run a job to re-format the text files into sequence files (or another format), and write the records down to disk with a fixed number of words per file (using Multiple outputs to get a file per number of words, but this again is inefficient). Maybe if you shared the use case as for why you want a fixed number of words, we can better understand your needs and come up with alternatives

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: pandas dataframe how to compare datetime while ignoring the date The built-in functionality of datetime supports comparing two datetime.datetime objects directly using '< > =...'. However, I would like to compare the two datetime with respect to only the hour and minute.
For example, if we have '2016-07-01 11:00:00' and '2017-07-01 09:00:00', I want to say that '2016-07-01 11:00:00' is greater since 11:00 > 9:00. I did not see any built-in functionality that we can use.
Instead, I did things like comparing each row whether
data = data[time_start.hour * 60 + time_start.minute
            < (data['time'].hour * 60 + data['time'].minute)
            < time_end.hour * 60 + time_end.minute ]

But there is error:
AttributeError: 'Series' object has no attribute 'hour'

I am using python 2.7, is this also a problem in python 3?
What would be a good way of doing such comparison? Thanks!

A:
I am using python 2.7, is this also a problem in python 3?

This has nothing to do with the Python version.
If you are using pandas > 0.16 you will need to use the dt accessor:
data['time'].dt.hour and data['time'].dt.minute
For example:
import pandas as pd
import datetime as dt

df = pd.DataFrame({'a': [dt.datetime(2016, 7, 1, 11), dt.datetime(2017, 7, 7, 9)]})
df['b'] = df['a'].dt.hour

print(df)

#                      a   b
#  0 2016-07-01 11:00:00  11
#  1 2017-07-07 09:00:00   9

df = df[df['a'].dt.hour > 10]

print(df)

#                      a   b
#  0 2016-07-01 11:00:00  11

A: If the input dates is a str and are arranged from yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss, why don't just compare this as a string.
import pandas as pd
dates = [ '2016-07-01 11:00:00','2016-07-01 13:00:00','2016-07-01 15:00:00']
df = pd.DataFrame(dates,columns=['dates'])

a = (df['dates'].str[-8:] > '09:00:00') & (df['dates'].str[-8:] <= '11:00:00')

print(df [a])


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text:
Home » Blog » Culture » The Rich History of Buddhism in Odisha
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The Rich History of Buddhism in Odisha
by Ruchie Das|Published July 15, 2020 -Updated July 15, 2020
Where Buddhism is talked about, Odisha's name is certainly one of the leads. Having embraced the rich Buddhist heritage from the 6th century BC, Odisha has its share of the many Buddhist sites scattered across the length & breath. Moreover, there are some which not only have the largest concentration of Buddhist remains but are also a must-visit for instant enlightenment.
With recent developments, more than 200 Buddhist sites, scattered across the length and breadth of the state, were revealed by archeological excavations.
They show the prominence of Buddhism in Odisha from the 6th century BC to a minimum of the 15th-16th centuries AD, with the 8th-10th centuries being the time when it really prospered. Buddhist teachings from all sects (including Hinayana, Mahayana, Tantrayana, and offshoots like Vajrayana, Kalacakrayana, and Sahajayana) are believed to have been conducted in Odisha, giving the state a rich Buddhist heritage.
The largest concentration of Buddhist remains are often found at three sites — Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, and Lalitgiri — mentioned as the "Diamond Triangle". The site contains a series of monasteries, temples, shrines, stupas, and exquisite sculptures of Buddhist images. The rural setting of the place, among fertile hills and beautiful paddy fields, is considered picturesque and peaceful.
Along with them we have a few other locations where Buddhism had reached and prospered like Dhauligiri, Chandragiri, Jaugada, Padmasambhava Mahavihara Monastery & Langudi.
Ratnagiri or Jewel Mountain is now an excavated area comprising two quadrangular monasteries, along with the remains of eight temples and about 300 minor stupas. The development of Buddhist art and architecture at Ratnagiri, whose ancient name was Ratnagiri Mahaviharaya Arya Viksu Sangha, materialized between 5th century AD and 13th century AD. Most of the sculptures found here date back to the 8th and 9th centuries. It was a section of the Puspagiri University, alongside Lalitgiri and Udayagiri.
Udaygiri
courtesy Wikipedia
Udayagiri is the most picturesque out of all Buddhist inspired locations in Odisha. Located at the bottom of verdant rolling hills forming a semi circle, this site exemplifies the blissful and tranquil natural surroundings selected for the development of Buddhist monasteries in ancient India. It is a Buddhist complex in Odisha comprising major stupas and monasteries and is also famous for its Jain monuments.
Lalitgiri
Set amongst the valley of two rivers, Birupa and Chitrotpala, the monastery was discovered by a local British official in 1905. A variety of stone inscriptions, seals, sealing, and potsherds, were discovered front the site which proved that it flourished between the 2nd-3rd and 14-15th century AD. It is a popular tourist destination and pilgrimage site for its enormous brick monasteries.
Dhauligiri
Dhauli is also famous for its Shanti Stupa. It happens to be the place where the bloodiest of battles was fought and won by Emperor Ashoka. This monument marked his transformation from an ambitious king of a prospering kingdom to a disciple of Buddha and his teaching. The evidence of this transformation can be seen at Dhauli, 8 km from Bhubaneswar, in the form of a rock edict marked by the image of an elephant sculpted from the overhanging rock. Two such rock edicts still exist in Odisha.
Jaugada
courtesy Odikala.com
Jaugada Hill in Ganjam District is a place where one of the famous rock edicts of emperor Ashoka is found . Jaugada was also an ancient fortified settlement that had boundary walls with four main gates each and is located 30 km away from Berhampur.
It is believed that Duryodhan built the fort, inside which there are five stone images worshipped within the temple of Gupteswar. It is believed the five images represent the five Pandavas.
Jaugada Hill, a region of the Malati Range of hills, features a large clean surface of granite where there's an Ashokan edict that gives valuable information about the pattern of administration followed by the Kalingan emperor.
Langudi
courtesy OdishaPost
Langudi hills are the remains of a Buddhist centre of learning that flourished till the 11th century & is located 90 km far from Bhubaneswar. This site is situated in Salipur village of Jajpur district. There are a series of 34 rock-cut Buddhist stupas and a number of other early medieval Buddhist monuments and shrines atop the hill. The most popular of those rock-cut stupas is the 7th century 'Smaudra Mudra' image of Lord Buddha.
Historians have said the hill also contains the remains of Pushpagiri University or Pushpagiri Mahavihara, a significant Buddhist centre of learning that flourished from 2nd century BC to 10th century AD.
The remains indicate that it had been a centre of the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana sects of Buddhism. The northern part of the hill houses the country's oldest Ashoka stupa.
Padmasambhava Mahavihara Monastery
courtesy ODBUS
Padmasambhava Mahavihara monastery stands tall amidst the prolific surroundings in Jirang near Chandragiri of Gajapati district, & is reportedly the biggest in eastern India. The colony which houses the monastery is Buddha Vihar (the land of happiness and plenty) and the area is popularly known as a mini Tibet in Odisha. It is a section of the Rigon Thubten Mindolling monastery that was a part of the Tibetan settlement near Chandragiri. The monastery has been named after Acharya Padmasambhava, who was born in Odisha and was the one to spread Buddhism to Tibet in the 7th century.
Inaugurated by Dalai Lama in 2010, it has been built as per the 'Atanpuri style of Nalanda' and in the assembly hall, a 23-foot-high idol of Lord Buddha along with his two disciples have been installed. On the right side of the Buddha's idol is a 1000-armed, 1000-eyed Avalokiteswar. While on the left, is a large idol of Guru Nangsi Zilnon.
The monastery is five-storied & has its interiors richly decorated with religious traditional paintings of Tibetan culture.The 70-feet-high monastery can house over 200 Lamas. Also, Jirang is considered as one of the earliest Tibetan resettlement areas in the country.
Aragarh
courtesy Telegraph India
Aragarh or Airagarh, is an ancient Buddhist destination in Odisha, which is situated north of the river Daya in the Godiput-Matiapada panchayat under Delanga block.
Discovery of broken Buddhist icons made of igneous rock and carving of Naga Kanyas and Gaja Sinhas in the four pillars of the temple stand ample testimony of Buddhist memory. The site is said to have flourished between 1st-2nd BC and 10th-11th AD.
Muchalinda Monastery
courtesy TourMyIndia
Muchalinda's history is traced back from Gupta Period. It is a Buddha Monastery in Odisha which is situated near the confluence of the Magar and Ang Rivers in Gaisilat Block, Padmapur Subdivision in Bargarh district. The famous statue of Muchalinda was discovered by an art historian, Charles Fabri in 1961.
This popular heritage site in Odisha once had a multi-storied structure.
During excavation here, two Buddha idols were also recovered on a small stone called mandapa. These idols included the statues of a Muchalinda Buddha and Buddha at Sarnath while giving the homily.
Buddhism is believed to have been known to the people of Orissa from the life time of Buddha itself i.e. sixth century BCE and continued with or without royal patronage up to its decline in the sixteenth century CE and subsequently survived under disguise or getting assimilated into the fold of Brahmanical Hinduism (Vaishnavism) in an incipient form. Although changed with time, the Buddhist structures of Odisha are considered architectural marvels.
If on a trip to Odisha, make sure to visit the above sites if you're a connoisseur of History.
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Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, particularly from the time of King Alfred (871-899), when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions, to the Norman Conquest in 1066, when the move to the Romanesque style becomes complete. Prior to King Alfred the Migration period style based on that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent is seen to superb effect in the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo (early 7th century).
After their conversion to Christianity, the fusion of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic techniques and motifs, together with the requirement for books, created Hiberno-Saxon style, or Insular art, probably mostly drawing from decorative metalwork motifs. At about the same time as the Insular Lindisfarne Gospels was being made in Northumbria in the far north of England, in the early 8th century, the Vespasian Psalter from Canterbury in the far south, which the missionaries from Rome had made their headquarters, shows a wholly different, classically-based art. These two styles mixed and developed together and by the following century the resulting Anglo-Saxon style had reached maturity.
Anglo-Saxon art survives mostly in illuminated manuscripts, Anglo-Saxon architecture, a number of very fine ivory carvings, and some works in metal and other materials. Opus Anglicanum ("English work") was already recognised as the finest embroidery in Europe, although only a few pieces from the Anglo-Saxon period remain - the Bayeux Tapestry is a rather different sort of embroidery, on a far larger scale. As in most of Europe at the time, metalwork was the most highly-regarded form of art by the Anglo-Saxons, but hardly any survives - there was enormous plundering of Anglo-Saxon churches, monasteries and the possessions of the dispossessed nobility by the new Norman rulers in their first decades, and most survivals were once on the continent.
The manuscripts include the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold manuscript, which drew on Insular art, Carolingian art and Byzantine art for style and iconography. In the 11th century a 'Winchester style' developed that combined both northern ornamental traditions with Mediterranean figural traditions, and can be seen in the Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodl, 579). Anglo-Saxon illustration included many lively pen drawings, on which the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter, in Canterbury from about 1000, was highly influential; the Harley Psalter is a copy of it. This is an example of the larger trend of an Anglo-Saxon culture coming into increasing contact with, and under the influence of, a wider Latin Mediaeval Europe. Anglo-Saxon drawing had a great influence in Northern France throughout the 11th century, in the so-called "Channel school".
Perhaps the best known piece of Anglo-Saxon art is the Bayeux Tapestry which was commissioned by a Norman patron from English artists working in the traditional Anglo-Saxon style. Anglo-Saxon artists also worked in fresco, ivory, stone, metalwork (for example the Fuller brooch), glass and enamel, many examples of which have been recovered through archaeological excavation and some of which have simply been preserved over the centuries, especially in churches on the Continent, as the Vikings, Normans and Reformation iconoclasm between them left virtually nothing in England except for books and archaeological finds.
Anglo-Saxon iconographical innovations include the animal Hellmouth, and the ascending Christ shown only as a pair of legs and feet disappearing at the top of the image, both later used all over Europe.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Anglo-Saxon art" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
This page was last modified 12:38, 11 August 2009.


Tao, J-Q; Sorokina, E M; Vazquez Medina, J P; Mishra, M K; Yamada, Y; Satalin, J; Nieman, G F; Nellen, J R; Beduhn, B; Cantu, E; Habashi, N M; Jungraithmayr, W; Christie, J D; Chatterjee, S (2016). Onset of inflammation with ischemia: implications for donor lung preservation and transplant survival. American Journal of Transplantation, 16(9):2598-2611.
This list was generated on Sat Apr 20 17:33:10 2019 CEST.


There are more beehives in Greece than any other country in Europe, so it comes as no surprise that Greek honey is considered the best in the world.
Honey is the first traditional sweetener used by Greeks since antiquity.
Honey along with olives & grapes formed the beginnings of Greek gastronomy. Greek honey is one of the most nutritional, natural foods, filled with antioxidants.
Greek honey is considered to be some of the finest on a global scale due to the unlimited summer sun, the biodiversity of the countryside plus the rich variety of Greek flora, which includes over 850 species found nowhere else in the world.
Scientists and botanists consider Greece a country with the richest flora in the Mediterranean basin, (7,500 different species of herbs, plants, wild flowers & trees).
Greek honeys are richer in aromatic substances, compared to other honeys produced in other countries; they have less humidity, which means they are denser and richer.
White sugar, yes but it is imported from south.
Well i agree greek honey is liquid gold. About sunlight… its dark at night….. about environmental dirt chemicals and so on there is one country where it is not dark at night and sun is not burning hot thru daytime. Allmost nobody lives there and there is about 160000 lakes. Winter kills all materia that cannot survive cold. It is said the air in that country is the freshest in world… What is that country?


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Physics Strength of Materials
Hooke's Law and Modulus of Elasticity
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This page is all about
Young's Modulus of Elasticity (Y)
Bulk Modulus of Elasticity (B)
Modulus of Rigidity (η)
According to Hooke's law for a small deformation, the stress in a body is proportional to the corresponding strain." i.e.,
stress ∝ strain
stress = (E) (strain)
Here, E = stress/strain is a constant called modulus of elasticity.
Depending upon the nature of force applied on the body, the modulus of the elasticity is classified in the following three types:
1. Young's Modulus of Elasticity (Y)
When a wire is acted upon by two equal and opposite forces in the direction of its length, the length of the body is changed. The change in length per unit length (Δl/l) is called the longitudinal strain and the restoring force (which is equal to the applied force in equilibrium) per unit area of cross-section of wire is called the longitudinal stress.
For small change in the length of the wire, the ratio of the longitudinal stress to the corresponding strain is called the Young's modulus of elasticity (Y) of the wire. Thus,
Let there be a wire of length 'l' and radius 'r'. Its one end is clamped to a rigid support and a mass M is attached at the other end. Then
F = Mg and A = πr2
Substituting in above equation, we have
2. Bulk Modulus of Elasticity (B)
When a uniform pressure (normal force) is applied all over the surface of a body, the volume of the body changes. The change in volume per unit volume of the body is called the 'volume strain' and the normal force acting per unit area of the surface (pressure) is called the normal stress or volume stress. For small strains, the ratio of the volume stress to the volume strain is called the 'Bulk modulus' of the material of the body. It is denoted by B. Then
Here, the negative sign in formula implies that when the pressure increases volume decreases and vice-versa.
Compressibility
The reciprocal of the Bulk modulus of the material of a body is called the "compressibility' of that material. Thus,
Compressibility = 1/B
3. Modulus of Rigidity (η)
When a body is acted upon by an external force tangential to a surface of the body, the opposite surfaces being kept fixed, it suffers a change in shape of the body, its volume remains unchanged. Then the body is said to be sheared.
The ratio of the displacement of a layer in the direction of the tangential force and the distance of the layer from the fixed surface is called the shearing strain and the tangential force acting per unit area of the surface is called the 'shearing stress'.
For small strain in the ratio of the shearing stress to the shearing strain is called the 'modulus of rigidity' of the material of the body. It is denoted by 'η'.
Selection of an Appropriate Factor of Safety
Factors of Safety
Pascal's Law
Modes of Heat Transfer
Wood Timber: Types, Quality and Uses
By email reply, can you please tell me what the differences are between the mechanical properties and mechanical features of elastic membranes and corrugated cardboard?
Appreciate a speedy email reply.
Alley Cat Apr 2, 2017 1:36 pm Reply
Sadiq Aug 14, 2019 7:36 pm Reply


Task Based Personality Assessments - Alternative to Personality Questionnaires? This is the question that Max Choi covered at this years DOP Conference.
SHL Scenarios | How do I measure managerial judgement?
Quest Partnership's very own Max Choi has co-authored a book chapter about the similarities and differences in managerial judgement around the world.
Once you have BPS Verified Qualifications in Test Use and have registered with them, you can renew your listing annually for a period of 6 years.


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Best Web OpEds 2/18/2017 at 6:43 PM EST H3'ed 2/18/17
Armed Services Committee Democrat: Gen. Mattis Might Resign Because Trump Is 'So Crazy'
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Moulton said Trump's immigration ban also impacts the Arab translators who help soldiers overseas. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren that he's worried President Donald Trump's Sec. of Defense James Mattis will eventually resign because "his boss is so crazy.""It seems like Democrats and Republicans like Mattis," Van Susteren noted.Mattis has worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
At www.alternet.org
Daniel Geery Social Media Pages:
In my run for U.S. Senate against Utah's Orrin Hatch, I posted many progressive ideas and principles that I internalized over the years. I'm leaving that site up indefinitely, since it describes what I believe most members of our species truly (more...)
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"Rob Kall has been in on the modern bottom-up revolution from the ground floor. While the last two years have put the dangers of social media and connectivity at the forefront of our national debate, Rob Kall knows as well as anybody the infinite positive potential of our new world."
Jesse Lee, former White House Director of Rapid Response and Social Media Director for Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi


Friday, August 4, 2017 • 7 p.m.
Saturday, August 5, 2017 • 7 p.m.
Sunday, August 6, 2017 • 2 p.m.
For sold out performances, a waiting list will begin one hour prior to the performance. Waiting list sign up will be in person only at the Box Office. Should any tickets become available, they will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
It is a time of great inequality, with a few 'Haves' and many 'Have Nots', when new technologies and convulsive changes in society challenge the established order, when the Western world is fighting in the Middle East, and when cynical leaders promote fear and tribal fervor back at home. It's a time when women are woefully undervalued, and the powerful elite view poverty and sickness as character flaws.
Now fast forward 800 years to today.
Above is a description of the Medieval Age, when Francis and Clare of Assisi began a movement that envisioned a new world, one that honored all human beings regardless of wealth, status or gender. A vision that still inspires us today.
The Sisters of Saint Francis will stage the world premiere of Francis & Clare, a musical about two extraordinary lives, August 4-6. It's set in the early thirteenth century, when Francis and Clare, both born to privilege and wealth, begin questioning the values of their parents and their society, and struggle to find meaning and personal identity. They search in darkness for the inner light to guide their path. Once they discover shared values in community and relationships, their movement motivates others to live with greater mutual respect. And today, tens of thousands who belong to Franciscan religious orders worldwide continue to live by and inspire others with the teachings and legacy of Francis and Clare.
The creators of the musical believe the new world vision of Francis and Clare – that of seeking greater peace and joy and love in our lives – is worth striving for. Moreover, they hope you'll leave the theater both entertained and moved by Francis and Clare's faith in God, their undaunted human spirit and the power of love.
Starring Tim Olstad as Francis and Anastacia Wells as Clare.


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Q: Question of linear map I am appreciated your help

Consider the linear map, $T\in\mathcal L\left(\mathcal P_3(F), F\right)$ given by the formula $$T_p = \int_0^1 x^2p(x)\, dx.$$ (a) Compute (with proof) a basis for null $T$ and range $T$.  (b) Compute $\mathcal M(T)$ with respect to the monomial basis.  (c) Let $S\in\mathcal L\left(P_3(F)\right)$ denote the change of basis operator which transforms vectors from the monomial basis to the basis, $B:= \left\lbrace x - 1, x + 1, (x - 1)^3, (x + 1)^3\right\rbrace$. Compute $\mathcal M(S)$ and use it to compute $\mathcal M(T)$ with respect to $B$.


Whisk lemon juice, Dijon mustard, vinegar, and garlic in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Return to room temperature before using.
A bit too oily for my liking, I added more mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar to taste.
I ended up adding probably 2 more tablespoons of vinegar and 2 more tablespoons of mustard, as well as microplaning in an additional garlic clove. Good base recipe though.
This is my go to recipe for salad dressings. It has a light and refreshing taste that is always a hit. Takes just a few minutes to make and keeps well for a few days. Classic!
Nice, easy vinaigrette. We mixed it up and used champagne mustard and champagne vinegar for a nice alternative.


Did you know that 63% of shoppers say the reason they backed out of a purchase was because the shipping charge was too high? Have you looked into your shipping costs and done everything you can to reduce them?
We bet you haven't looked into inventory tracking. If we are right, then you are missing a big piece of the shipping cost puzzle.
By practicing effective inventory management, you can help keep your shipping costs down. Don't believe us, that's ok, keep reading and we'll show you how.
Have you calculated your logistics costs taking into account both shipping and inventory costs? If not, you aren't getting an accurate view of your logistic expenses.
This ratio of shipping and inventory costs can tell you if you need to reduce your shipping costs or reduce the amount of inventory you currently have on hold.
First, figure out your shipping costs for a specific amount of time. Then figure out what your average inventory numbers were during that same period of time.
Now, take those two numbers and divide your shipping cost by the inventory total. The number you get is the shipping cost as a percent of the inventory.
When it comes to online retailers, accurate inventory tracking has an overall positive effect on your business. This positive influence translates to a better bottom line.
Companies that accurately track their inventory tend to have better market feedback. This is because they have lower warehouse and customer service costs. They also have fewer out of stock items, returns, and mis-picks.
By reducing all of these, you have lower shipping and operating costs.
One of the most famous idioms we have is "to err is human", meaning that making mistakes is an inherent part of being a human being. But you don't want to make mistakes when it comes to your inventory numbers.
So to fix this consider shifting over to a barcode and scanner system. This can significantly improve your inventory counts. You'll see the results in the lower occurrences of "out of stock" items.
Do you sell your products in more than one location? If so, how are you ensuring that the inventory counts are accurate from one channel to the next?
If you sync your channels, you no longer have to update the others when one sells an item. The first thing this will do is save you a ton of time, reducing labor costs.
The second thing it will do is reduce the number of times a customer orders an item, only to find out that it is out of stock afterward.
Are you using two different sheets of paper for your pick list and the packing slip? This may seem small, but think about the amount of money you would save by only using one sheet for both?
When looking at inventory management systems ask if they let you customize your pick list. This reduces the number of steps to fulfill an order and the number of resources required.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is let the professionals handle the heavy lifting. By working with a company that provides warehousing and freight you effectively streamline your logistics process.
This means you are no longer paying top dollar for warehousing as you are leveraging their much large space. They also already have a system in place for storage, pick/pack/ship, barcodes, and archiving.
This lets you consolidate the process into one bill, reduce your overhead in-house, and utilize their expertise. You can also sync their system to yours, which reduces the lost productivity and training costs required in adopting a new system and software.
Now let's assume you have more than one warehouse. If you aren't tracking the inventory at each location, you may be spending too much on shipping.
Say a customer orders a widget. Instead of shipping it from the nearby warehouse, you ship from the further away one. This means a higher shipping cost for you. Then if you promised delivery by a certain day, the cost gets even more expensive for expedited shipping.
If you knew the widget was in the closer warehouse, you could have spent less, and probably not expedited it. This is because the closer warehouse would have gotten the widget to the customer within the promised time with regular shipping.
By knowing where your inventory is you can plan our shipments strategically. This will save you on logistics by not shipping products from further away than necessary.
Take Control of Your Inventory!
By taking control of your inventory management system, you will reduce your overall shipping costs. Inventory tracking is vital for ensuring that you have the right amount of product to meet customer demand at any given time.
When you can meet customer demand you have fewer returns, exchanges, and mis-picks. This translates to happier customers and lowers costs for your business.
Make the switch over to scanners so that you lower the rate of human error. At this same time, you can plan to sync all of your sales channels to give you real-time updates to all channels.
You can then also use this new system to create a single pick and packing list. This will save you on paper costs.
You've reduced shipping costs with inventory management, now contact us to reduce your shipping rates for even more savings.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you've sent someone close to you a lovely package that will surprise and delight them. There's also nothing quite like the sinking feeling you get when they call and tell you it arrived in a million pieces… Yes, packaging for shipping can seem like a lottery. But don't worry, we're here to show you the science behind it. Follow our 5 tips and spare yourself the heartache of sending a box of bits!
Are you someone who never throws away a box because it "might come in useful"? You've got to weigh up the pros of such thriftiness against the potential damage and cost that might ensue if your items are not properly packaged. Boxes that have been used before or have been stored for any length of time can easily lose their strength.
Atmospheric conditions, previous mistreatment and general wear and tear can mean they may give out when you need them the most. Also, even to start with, not all boxes are created equal. There is a big difference in strength between specialist shipping boxes and general moving/storage boxes. Look for something that's marketed as packaging for shipping, and that is robust enough to go the whole journey in one piece.
Also, consider the size of the box. A good rule of thumb is when packing fragile items, leave at least two inches of space all the way around whatever you're packing. Then fill that space with protective packing peanuts or other filler.
Whilst we're talking about boxes, if an item is fragile or valuable, it's good to think about double boxing. This involves using a second, larger box to enclose the original complete package. A void should be left around the original box that can be filled with packing peanuts to make another layer of protection. This means that even if the box were to be dropped, there are two separate layers protecting your item from the impact.
3. Bubbles are Key for Packaging for Shipping!
Before you even get to the box stage, it's useful to think about how large your item will be once it's been fully wrapped in bubble wrap. Again, this is not a time for frugality. A few cents more spent on bubble wrap will save tears later. Consider the shape of the item you are sending. Where is it most vulnerable? Especially with items that are irregular in shape, it is important to take time to wrap them carefully. If not, you could easily leave a section under-protected.
Whether to package items with the bubbles on the inside or outside can also be confusing. The answer is definitely bubbles on the inside. This will keep your items safe and in position, as the bubbles are more protected from bursting. Also, take care to tape it securely. Look at the item from all angles to check for any weaknesses, and tape them up.
For safe packaging for shipping, gaps are your friend, but only if you fill them correctly. Packing peanuts, the little peanut shaped styrofoam pieces, are the ideal solution to making the gaps a protective buffer between your item and the outside world. Again, don't scrimp on them. By all means, save them when you get new electronics and use them when packaging for shipping. If you don't have enough, simply order some online or pick up from your local self-store.
First, fill around a third of the box with the peanuts. This may seem like a lot, but there will be some displacement when you put your item in, and it's vital to have a cushioned base for protection. Then ensure that any air pockets have been completely filled before the package is finally sealed.
A good test is to close up the package and carefully give it a gentle shake. If there is movement within the box, it is not packed well enough. Open it up and add more packing peanuts.
It's also worth mentioning at this point, that you should ensure that all slips and enclosures are in before applying the final tape. Removing the tape will weaken the box.
You've carefully wrapped, boxed and packed your precious cargo. Now the time has come to seal the deal. There's a dizzying array of tapes on the market all making dramatic claims as to how strong their grip is. However, when it comes to shipping boxes, there is really just one reliable option.
Living up to its name, our top recommendation is shipping tape, also known as hot melt tape. This wide, brown favorite might not win any beauty awards, but when it comes to sticking power, it can't be beaten. Always use a fresh roll, as it could degrade over time when stored, and again purchase a quality tape. Take care to seal all joins and exposed edges carefully.
For additional strength, also tape across the box in the opposite direction to the join.
So now you know the secret to successful packaging for shipping – great boxes, bubble wrap cushioning, carefully filled voids and careful taping. You can take the guesswork out of packaging for shipping and rest assured it will arrive in one piece. Now that the packaging's sorted, you need to put your cargo into a trusted, safe pair of hands.
With outlets across the country, we offer a range of services to meet your needs. Whether your shipping is planned well ahead, or you need it in a rush, we've got the courier service for you. Click here to see our great services and get a quote for fully tracked shipping.


So, You're Scared to Date a Single Mom?
As a 31-year-old woman raising a six-year-old daughter, I never thought I'd have the time to date nor did I really consider it. This belief has changed recently.
Dating without a child in the picture is hard enough. When that gets thrown into the mix and advice the guy that "I have one child" it's likely that person won't want a serious relationship and will cut off all communication.
Obviously dating a single mom is different than dating a single woman who either don't have children or don't have them living at home.
A single moms time will have its limits balancing it with work, taking care of her child and possibility spending time with friends and if she's lucky enough a romantic partner.
My own experience has taught me that men don't care for "kid baggage" and if I do get someone past the first date, he's impatient, gets mad that I can't give him my full attention or in some cases wants to meet my daughter right away.
These are some things that I've come up with to have a successful relationship while with a single mother.
There's no way to have a spontaneous date at a moments notice, need time to find a babysitter and plan out what's going to happen.
Depending on the relationship, the child's father will be involved in her life. There is a reason they're not together anymore. Stop being jealous.
Be considerate of our time. We work, have a social life, have families, athletic practices and games, ballet recitals, music lessons, and maybe we get to squeeze in some time for ourselves.
Be flexible. If the only time we get to see each other would be at my kids basketball game, come watch. That means a lot to us to have you engaged in our child's life.
Expect to have "the talk" about being in a long-term relationship early on. She doesn't want men passing through her or her kids life constantly. If you're not in it for the long run, you're not in it at all.
The kids might not like you at the start. Get over it and don't take it personally. They're going to be jealous that mom's attention is going elsewhere. They will eventually get over it.
Above anything else, don't ask to meet her kid early on. She want's to make sure that you're trustworthy, and good enough for her kids. I personally have a three-month rule.
Single mothers are among the most mature, responsible, and loving people on the planet. Their usually juggling something and in some cases are looking for someone to love them too as well as developing friendships with others. So, go in open-minded and more importantly keep and open mind, be understanding and sincere.
There's an interesting stat that shows that single mothers are 50 percent less likely to cheat on their partners than a woman without children. Just like you we crave a stable relationship, open communication and someone who won't runaway and is understanding that they're no.2.


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It takes less than a minute to order an EPC through your account. The case then automatically gets assigned to the closest energy assessor who will make contact with the client within 24 hours to book in an appointment for between 1 and 3 days later. As soon as an appointment has been made you will receive an automated email keeping you informed of the appointment. Within 24 hours after the visit the complete EPC will be uploaded onto your account and you will immediately get email notification.
If you would like to start ordering our services please click here to set up an account. This site is only designed for customers looking to order either in bulk or on a continued basis. If you need an EPC for just one or two properties please visit our partner site.


On Saturday, J and I took the T downtown, where we converged on Boston Common with some 175,000 other folks for the Boston Women's March. I knew tens of thousands of people had registered, but it was clear the turnout would be larger than expected when we arrived at our local T station more than an hour before the march and saw a crowd of pink-hatted women, men, and children waiting for the second of two back-to-back, already-full trolleys.
At each stop, some people on the platforms would shake their heads, determined to wait for the next, presumably less-packed train…but at each stop, a brave handful would squeeze into the train, and the rest of us would jostle closer to our neighbors, making as much room as possible.
I'm not a fan of crowds, which sometimes make me claustrophobic. But the massive swell of pink-hatted protesters on Boston Common on Saturday didn't feel like a crowd: instead, it felt warm and safe, like a hug or a snug blanket. It was a press of friendly flesh where we all quite literally had one another's backs as we listened for nearly two hours to speeches by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, local labor leaders, civil rights activists, clergy, and local schoolchildren.
One of the questions frequently asked of this weekend's marchers, particularly by Trump supporters, is why are you marching? Why march against a President who has just taken office and hasn't yet had time to implement any policies: why not wait and give him a chance? I have a very simple answer to this question. Trump, his administration, and the Republican Congress will have a chance to implement their policies whether I like it or not. But even though I didn't elect the man driving this particular train, I marched on Saturday because I recognize humans are social creatures, and in a democracy we are bound together by a social contract.
After a campaign where our civil unity was stretched to tatters, I marched on Saturday to affirm one simple truth: regardless of who is in the White House, we citizens here on the ground need to have one another's backs. As a white woman, I marched to affirm black lives. As a straight woman, I marched to affirm LGBT rights. As a United States citizen, I marched to affirm the rights of immigrants and their families. As a Christian, I marched to affirm the civil liberties of Muslims, Jews, and other targets of post-election hate crimes. And as a woman, I marched to affirm that women's rights are human rights, every person deserves affordable health care, and every woman has the right to decide what happens to her own body.
But even though J and I didn't actually march at Saturday's March, it was enough to have been there. It was awesome to be subsumed by a crowd of peaceful protestors. It was inspiring to surge on a sea of positive energy even though we were collectively protesting an election that was an affront to our shared values. And it was encouraging to affirm what we believe is the bedrock of our American democracy: rights and dignity for all, and promises based on facts, evidence, and reality.
Instead of moving our feet, J and I took a stand, and I'm immensely glad we did. Watching news coverage of marches in DC and around the world makes me realize the awesome power of millions of people who've got one another's backs.
Click here for more photos from Saturday's Boston Women's March. Enjoy!
Happy to hear you marched. My wife and made to the march here in San Jose – had a similar experience on the train. Way more people showed up than planed.
Thank you for taking me there with your words. In solidarity for democracy. Trump is divisive, disgusting, disgraceful and a sociopath of immense proportions. God help Americans and the world.


text:
Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 20 years on
Billy Corgan took a risk by demanding his band's third record be a double album, but it went on to become the last great alternative-rock record of the 90s, propelling them on to the Simpsons, the Grammys – and an eventual split
Marc Burrows
@20thcenturymarc
Thu 29 Oct 2015 12.48 EDT Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 06.24 EST
Height of their powers … Smashing Pumpkins' D'arcy Wretzky, Billy Corgan and James Iha at MTV Awards Europe in January 1996. Photograph: Patrick Ford/Redferns/Getty
When Smashing Pumpkins announced a double album, almost everyone, from the press to their panicked record company, assumed it would be commercial suicide. It's just not something alternative rock bands did – certainly not something anyone got away with. There were rare exceptions, of course – the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Who – but those were super-league acts, already selling in their tens of millions. Almost everyone expected the worst.
Last stop for gen-X rock … Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
They were wrong. Released 20 years ago this month, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness remains a high-water mark, not just a commercial peak for the band, but the last really big record of the alternative rock era. After Mellon Collie, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and the Pumpkins themselves (all of whom are still touring and releasing music today) would struggle to carry the momentum that had begn with Nirvana's Nevermind four years earlier. This was generation X's last big, overground hurrah.
The 1993 record Siamese Dream, with its MTV-friendly videos, had put Smashing Pumpkins into the grunge big league, trailing just behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam. By the end of 1996 their next album had gone 10 times platinum and the band were the dominant rock act in the US, stealing the show at the Grammys and MTV awards, and appearing on The Simpsons.
Mellon Collie deserves its success. It's one of the most varied, far-reaching rock records of the last 30 years, moving from gentle lullabies to heavy metal epics via electronic pop and razor-edged alt rock. Smashing Pumpkins fans used to the sonic sheen of Siamese Dream, or the screaming, muddy fury of recent single Bullet With Butterfly Wings, pressed play on Mellon Collie to find an instrumental piano ditty, followed by the swelling strings and glorious, sweeping pomp of Tonight Tonight. It's three songs in before you hear a distorted guitar, though when it comes, on the thunderous intro to Jellybelly, it's worth the wait. Still, it was a massive gamble to assume fans raised on Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, Metallica's Enter Sandman or the Pumpkin's own Cherub Rock would get that far.
Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has always been prolific (fan site spfc.org credits more than 700 songs to him since he formed the Pumpkins in 1988), but in the period immediately before Mellon Collie he'd gotten married (to the artist Chris Fabian) and was enjoying the first flushes of real fame, which saw him go into a song writing frenzy. The album itself boasts 28 songs, another 28 were released as B-sides and collected in the Aeroplane Flies High box set the following year, and a further 40 were unearthed for recent reissues, all written between 1993 and 1995. What's staggering is that, certainly across the album itself, the quality remains consistently high.
Billy Corgan: 'Nobody believes I made a three-star record. Nobody!'
Take the singles: Bullet With Butterfly Wings has become the definitive "Smashing Pumpkins" song, a ludicrously angsty snarl, powered by drummer Jimmy Chamberlin's thundering toms and some massive, towering distortion. If you know just one line of Corgan's work, it's probably him screaming: "Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage" on this song's chorus. It teeters on the side of ridiculous, but has enough conviction to pull it off. Then there's 1979, a downbeat, New Order-influenced ballad. Tonight Tonight is an emotional, orchestral rush that sounds like running downhill feels, Zero is compacted cyberpunk and 33 is a wistful, deconstructed breeze. These songs don't sound like the same band, let alone the same album. Elsewhere, the record strips down to just acoustic guitar and a single voice on Stumbleine, stacks layer upon layer of sound into the proggy Thru the Eyes of a Ruby, and screams in fury on XYU. There's squelchy electronica (Beautiful) cute homage (We Only Come Out at Night,) and downbeat folk (Talk Me Down.)
Calm before the storm … Smashing Pumpkins photographed in London, July 1993. Photograph: Paul Bergen/Redferns
This is a confident band, sensing their imperial phase and operating at the peak of their powers – so confident in fact, that they headlined the Reading festival three months earlier with a set comprising 75% new material and went down a storm. That confidence was a big factor in Mellon Collie's success: its secret weapon was preposterous ambition and the bolshiness required to pull it off.
That success also lies in the neatness of the concept, the two halves of the album representing day and night, with the first disc more traditionally Pumpkins fare, while the second pushing in more extreme directions – heavier riffs, softer lullabies, weirder sounds, coming full circle as the final track resolves into the piano melody that opens the album. There's a looser, more collaborative approach here than on previous Pumpkins records, with the famously dictatorial Corgan slackening the reins. Both Siamese Dream and 1991 debut Gish had been played almost entirely by Corgan and Chamberlin, with guitarist James Iha and bass player D'arcy Wretzky barely adding a note – cramming Mellon Collie's scale into the allotted studio time didn't allow for such perfectionism.
Smashing Pumpkins interviewed at reading festival in 1995 – video
With the band well-drilled after two years hard touring, many tracks – Porcelina of the Vast Oceans, Fuck You (An Ode to No One), XYU – were recorded live in the studio, preserving the energy and chemistry that always marked Smashing Pumpkins as a live band, with Corgan and producer Flood then adding a layer of studio gloss. Iha even gets his moment in the sun, taking lead vocal on his Take Me Down, though its relegation to a low-profile spot at the end of disc one would sour his relationship with Corgan, sowing the seeds for the band's split five years later.
More than that though, Mellon Collie was an album of its time. Its boundless confidence and ambition chimed with an America settling into the Clinton administration, its economy gathering strength, the first Iraq war receding into memory and the paranoia of the post-9/11 years still half a decade away. This resonated with the optimism in Tonight Tonight ("tonight, so bright!") and the celebrate-the-moment nostalgia in 1979. The irony was that the optimism was misleading, in truth much of the album deals with Corgan's abusive childhood and with the anxieties and emotional trauma of youth. But then maybe audiences understood that the confidence was all bravado and that the anger of a more uncertain time was still raw?
Smashing Pumpkins in 1998. Photograph: Charles Sykes/Rex Shutterstock
Billy Corgan says music industry is run by 'feckless idiots'
For Smashing Pumpkins it couldn't last. Success ripped the band to shreds on tour, and tragedy dogged them across the globe. A young fan was killed in a crowd crush in Dublin and touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin died following a heroin binge, after which Chamberlin, who struggled with his own drug addictions, was ejected from the band for his own good. Corgan's mother succumbed to cancer and his marriage succumbed to divorce. Tensions within the group meant Wretzky and Iha's contribution to the band's next record, 1998's Adore, were limited. Just as Mellon Collie reflected the confidence and camaraderie in the band, its successor captured the aftermath: fractured, awkward and heartbroken. It's a strange, electronic, gentle and quite beautiful album, which managed only a 10th of its predecessors sales, opposing the zeitgeist just as much as Mellon Collie had defined it.


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Q: How do I get a series of buttons to copy text from an input field into a series of input fields whose IDs match button IDs I have this select list that loads a number of text input boxes with a button. The selected value determines the number of text input boxes and buttons that appear.

Colors: Hex (#) values
    <select name="howManyClrs" id="numOfClrs">
        <option value="0">0</option>
        <option value="1">1</option>
        <option value="2">2</option>
        <option value="3">3</option>
        <option value="4">4</option>
        <option value="5">5</option>
        <option value="6">6</option>
        <option value="7">7</option>
        <option value="8">8</option>
    </select>

I also have another text input box that is loaded with a HEX value from a color picker.

<input type="text" id="origHex" />

Here are all the text input boxes and button pairs.

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c1" id="clr1" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn1">Copy from picker</button>

2. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c2" id="clr2" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn2">Copy from picker</button>

3. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c3" id="clr3" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn3">Copy from picker</button>

4. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c4" id="clr4" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn4">Copy from picker</button>

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c5" id="clr5" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn5">Copy from picker</button>

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c6" id="clr6" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn6">Copy from picker</button>

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c7" id="clr7" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn7">Copy from picker</button>

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c8" id="clr8" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn8">Copy from picker</button>

I want to use jQuery for this. I want to be able to push the button to copy the text into its corresponding text input box. I have the following jQuery, but it doesn't work. Any help is appreciated.
$('button.cpy').each(function() {
    var boxNum = $('#numOfClrs').val();
    $('#btn' + boxNum).on('click', function() {
        $('input#clr' + boxNum).val() = $('#origHex').val();
    });
});

A: $('input#clr' + boxNum).val() = $('#origHex').val();

should be
$('input#clr' + boxNum).val($('#origHex').val());

Also remove this:
$('button.cpy').each(function() {

jQuery does that for you when you use $('#btn' + boxNum).on('click', function() ...
Final code:
var boxNum = $('#numOfClrs').val();
$('.cpy').on('click', function() {
    $('#clr' + boxNum).val($('#origHex').val());
});

A: Well Here's how i'd skin this cat... brace yourself :P

Note: And Unlike Other suggestions atm, this is scalable, you can have
  as many input<->button pairs as you desire.

First We create html DOM.

Colors: Hex (#) values
<select name="howManyClrs" id="numOfClrs">
    <option value="0">0</option>
    <option value="1">1</option>
    <option value="2">2</option>
    <option value="3">3</option>
    <option value="4">4</option>
    <option value="5">5</option>
    <option value="6">6</option>
    <option value="7">7</option>
    <option value="8">8</option>
</select>

Then, we add the color chooser(just a text box for now, you can add it later) and a container div to hold up our input and button pairs

<input type="text" id="origHex" />

Now we add a sample model of our dom elements to be added

1. # <input class="hex" type="text" name="c1" id="clr1" /><button type="button" class="cpy" id="btn1">Copy from picker</button>

Now's the time for Fireworks JQuery,
$(window).load(function() {
    $("#numOfClrs").change(function() {
        $("#conty").html("");
        var num = $(this).val();
        for (i = 1; i <= num; i++) {
            $("#color1").clone().attr('id', 'id' + i).css("display", "block").appendTo("#conty");
            $('input', '#id' + i).attr({'id': 'c' + i, name: 'c' + i});
            $('button', '#id' + i).attr('id', 'btn' + i);
        }
        $(".cpy").click(function() {
            $(this).prev('input').val($("#origHex").val());
        });
    });
});

And We are Done!!! JSbin!

A: $(document).on('click', '.cpy', function() {
    $(this).prev().val($('#origHex').val());
});

FIDDLE


text:
We all have to ask ourselves the question, "Do we really trust God and believe that he can do anything?" This also relates to the issue of seemingly impossible prophecy. With over 25% of Scripture being prophetical in nature and over 50% already fulfilled with absolutely perfect precision, many still feel like they have to help God out with the prophecies yet to be fulfilled. If God's prophecies made sense then they wouldn't necessarily need God's sovereign help. Over and over again God says through his prophets after declaring a future prophecy that will be fulfilled, "then they shall know that I am the Lord their God." As years go by and prophecies have seemed unlikely commentators tend to allegorize portions of Scripture that seem improbable and in so doing would have to take an eraser to large portions of Scripture to accomplish their views.
Replacement theology where Israel is completely disregarded in end time prophecy is one of these areas. From a human standpoint it made sense why they would try to replace Israel with the church, because it made sense. Mark Twain visited the area of Israel in 1867 and described it as desolate, given over to weeds, having worthless soil. So many portions of Scripture speak of the Jewish people returning to their homeland but the likelihood of it seemed impossible since the destruction of their Temple in 70 AD and being cast out after the second Jewish revolt against the Romans in 135 AD. For over 1800 years Israel was not the Jewish nation, and when it seemed like they would even be wiped out as a people after the Holocaust, the miraculous occurs. On May 14, 1948 the Jewish nation of Israel is established. In Ezekiel 37 this is foretold along with many other areas of Scripture. If you ever see pictures of the holocaust victims they truly were left with nothing but skin and bones like the valley of dry bones mentioned in Ezekiel 37:2-3, where we read in verse 3, "And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" We see prophecy move forward with these bones becoming a nation as it has in 1948. Israel is the only nation to have ceased to be a nation for over 1800 years to come back to their original land maintaining their national identity, their religion, and their language. Even a child in Israel can read documents written 2000 years ago in their original writing. God promised in Ezekiel 37:21-22, "...Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all;...". Though Israel is a nation, as a whole they have not yet returned to God, many in their nation claiming to be agnostic or atheistic, and certainly for the most part rejecting Jesus as their Messiah. But we see in Ez 37:14 that this prophecy concerning Israel is not yet finished, as we read, "I will put my Spirit in you,.." We read in Ez 36:26-27, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you...". The nation and the Jewish people will one day come to know Jesus as their Messiah, mostly during the Tribulation. We read in Zechariah 12:10 of this realization, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."
Chapter 38-39 of Ezekiel contains the future prophecies concerning Gog and Magog. These nations may sound unfamiliar but were originally named in Genesis 10:2. Their identities have changed through the centuries. Magog who eventually became a group of people known as the Scythians now comprise the area of Russia and Ukraine. For years, even recently after the cold war seemingly ended with the USSR becomingly irrelevant made commentators question how this portion could come true. But here we are at present with a very powerful and influential Russia with a leader in Putin with no evidence of ever backing down. As an aside, Russia is the major exporter of natural gas in the world. Israel has recently uncovered tremendous natural gas reserves off it's coast which could destabilize Russia's economy. This could be the hook in the jaw mentioned in Ez 38:4 which will prompt Russia to come against Israel. Since Iraq, with Suddam Hussain it's former leader. was defeated and was no longer the powerful Middle Eastern ally of Russia that they desired, as depicted in this prophecy, Russia has become powerful allies with Iran (Persia). The other Muslim nations mentioned in this prophecy include those of Northern Africa including Libya and Ethiopia (Cush and Put). What was difficult to envision was how Togarmah or Turkey fit in. For years wanting to become part of the EU, it seemed that this nation with over 90% Muslim was trying to westernize. All of that changed with their new leader who is moving their nation back to a more radicalized position. With the destruction of Damascus (the longest inhabited city) on the brink (prophesied in Isaiah 17) and with many of the above nations in Syria at the present time, this coming prediction seems on the verge of being fulfilled.
Some of the conclusions and hypotheses by commentators of future Biblical events may prove wrong, but God's Word will never be wrong. We can be confident that this Bible which is always correct will continue to accurately predict future events. Our role as Christians is not to guess, and certainly not fear, but to be confident and committed and warn those in our own sphere of influence before the Rapture and the Tribulation, before it may be too late for many of our friends, family and acquaintances.
Prophesy of Israel's Restoration - Part 1, Ezekiel 35-37
The Prophesy of Israel's Restoration - Part 2, Ezekiel 37


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Resin EJB timer. This object is mostly an adapter/decorator over the underlying scheduled task.
Cause the timer and all its associated expiration notifications to be Canceled.
Get a serializable handle to the timer.
Get the information associated with the timer at the time of creation.
Get the point in time at which the next timer expiration is scheduled to occur.
Get the schedule expression corresponding to this timer.
Get the number of milliseconds that will elapse before the next scheduled timer expiration.
Query whether this timer is a calendar-based timer.
Query whether this timer has persistent semantics.
Sets the underlying scheduled task.
scheduledTask - The underlying scheduled task.
Schedule expression corresponding to this timer.
java.lang.IllegalStateException - If this method is invoked while the instance is in a state that does not allow access to this method. Also thrown if invoked on a timer that was created with one of the non-ScheduleExpression TimerService.createTimer APIs.
NoSuchObjectLocalException - If invoked on a timer that has expired or has been canceled.
EJBException - If this method could not complete due to a system-level failure.
The Serializable object that was passed in at timer creation, or null if the info argument passed in at timer creation was null.
java.lang.IllegalStateException - If this method is invoked while the instance is in a state that does not allow access to this method.
true if this timer has persistent guarantees.
true if this timer is a calendar-based timer.
NoSuchObjectLocalException - If invoked on a timer that has expired or has been cancelled.
The point in time at which the next timer expiration is scheduled to occur.
The number of milliseconds that will elapse before the next scheduled timer expiration.
Get a serializable handle to the timer. This handle can be used at a later time to re-obtain the timer reference.
A serializable handle to the timer.


text:
Review - The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
by Carolyn Mackler
Candlewick, 2003
Dec 9th 2008 (Volume 12, Issue 50)
Virginia Shreeves is 15 years old and she lives in New York City. Her mother is an adolescent psychologist, her father is a software executive, her older sister is in the Peace Corps, working in western Africa, and her brother is a sophomore at Columbia University. It's a pretty wealthy lifestyle, with her parents going off to their cottage in Connecticut every weekend, leaving Virginia and her brother Byron in their Manhattan residence. All the rest of her family are thin, but she is plump. Carolyn Mackler's young-adult novel tells the story of a year in her life as she starts making out with a boy, getting humiliated by the skinny girls at school, is told by her mother that she needs to go on a diet, fights with her mother on a regular basis, tries some rebellious behavior, and deals with a family crisis involving the criminal behavior of one of her siblings. Virginia is ashamed of her body, and although she is happy for her pal "Froggy" to touch it, she won't let him see it. When she is stressed, Virginia mostly copes by eating junk food, and so when her family tells her she needs to lose weight or she feels isolated by her weight from people at school, she calms herself by eating. Of course, this just makes problems work. Virginia is especially isolated this year because her best friend Shannon has gone with her family to New Zealand, and she can only communicate with her by email, instant messaging and the occasional phone call. Shannon has a problem with stuttering, and so the two girls bond over their outsider status.
Mackler makes Virginia a smart and funny narrator of her own story. Although she has plenty of worries, she is also feisty and insightful. Even when she is mistaken or confused, she is articulate in her error. For example, she spells out The Fat Girl Code of Conduct: she says that she is not allowed public displays of affection, she needs to go further than other girls, and she should not hope to find the best boyfriends. So she does not expect Froggy to acknowledge at school, and does not complain when he ignores her. Virginia looks at her teachers, her school, and her parents with a skeptical eye, and even when her own self-esteem is low, she is able to see other people's faults quite clearly.
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is entertaining and touching. It is occasionally sexually frank, although nothing happens that teenagers will not be familiar with. Not many books provide stories of heavy girls in the modern world, and Virginia is an appealing character, even though her life is in many ways privileged. Many teen readers should enjoy Mackler's book. The unabridged audiobook is read by Johanna Parker and her performance is strong.
© 2007 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.
Christian Perring, Ph.D., is Academic Chair of the Arts & Humanities Division and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is also editor of Metapsychology Online Reviews. His main research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.


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text:
The Crime of Being
Alice Lichtenstein
Upper Hand Press (Nov 15, 2019)
Softcover $18.00 (325pp)
On Good Friday, a white high school student, Shawnee, shoots his black classmate, Gunther, before attempting suicide. Alice Lichtenstein's provocative novel The Crime of Being covers the fallout after both teens survive the hate crime.
The story explores the sources of Shawnee's white supremacy; Gunther's response to being targeted; and the city's frustrated handling of the event. In the circling plot, Gunther is made a lightning rod for the community's emotions. Lichtenstein paints the chilling divide between those who push for justice and those who hope to save Shawnee with an insanity plea.
Nods to the Black Lives Matter movement arrive in the form of "Gun Lives" signs. The book mines Gunther's discomfort at being made a cause for others and touches on the complications of white allies who take up a banner when they don't fully comprehend what it's like to live at risk.
At times, the sweep of the case and its racially motivated origins overshadow the characters. Some background threads are underdeveloped, from bullying and abuse to an estranged friendship in Gunther's mother's life. A few townsfolk whose personal pain is brought to the fore also recede.
Subtler details stand out. These include Gunther's growing silence around his white, adoptive parents, who made a mistake in thinking it would be possible to live with color blindness; Shawnee's disturbed perspective, which is eerie and complicates ideas of criminality without placing outright blame on any single factor; and, in one of the more surprising arcs, Shawnee's mother's life, which is one of survival, acquiescence to a brutish husband, strength, and conviction.
The Crime of Being features vibrant characters caught in maelstrom, but it's the timeless problem of parents who want the best for their sons that lingers.
Reviewed by Karen Rigby
November / December 2019
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Raise My Ebenezer