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May 26, 2021 May 29, 2021 travsd
Dorothy Christy: Well-Named for Comedy
Could there be a better name for a fictional classic comedy star than Dorothy Christy (1906-1977), seeing as how it combines the surname of Al Chistie with the given name of all those comedy Dorothies like Dorothy Dwan, Dorothy Sebastian, Dorothy Devore, Dorothy Granger, and Dorothy Lee. But Dorothy Christy wasn't fictional, she was real, which may be why we don't remember her as well (i.e., on account of the similarity). So she might have been better served by her given surname — Seltzer!
Christy is best remembered by classic comedy fans for playing Mrs. Laurel in Laurel and Hardy's Sons of the Desert (1933) and for appearing with Buster Keaton in Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931). But she has a long list of credits, including numerous classic comedies, to know abou. The first references to her I have found are from local papers from 1925 mentioning her performances in her hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania. In 1928 she turns up in the chorus of the Broadway show The New Moon. In 1929 she got a proper speaking role in Follow Thru starring Jack Haley and Eleanor Powell. This show played a full year — well enough to give her a leg up into movie parts. In 1930 she played a domineering wife to Tom Dugan in the Vitaphone comedy short She Who Gets Slapped, directed by Carter de Haven. Next came a supporting part as a British aristocrat in Will Rogers' So This is London (1930). Then over 100 subsequent credits, including films like Gold Dust Gertie (1931) with Winnie Lightner and Olsen and Johnson, the aforementioned Keaton picture, The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood (1932) with Charles Murray and George Sidney, Sons of the Desert (1933), 6 Day Bike Rider (1934) with Joe E. Brown, Bright Eyes (1934) with Shirley Temple, the Phantom Empire serial (1935) with Gene Autry, and several comedy shorts with the likes of James Gleason, Andy Clyde, Billy Bevan, Franklin Pangborn, Leon Errol, et al.
By the late '30s she was mostly a bit player and extra, but you could still see her in such things as George Whites Scandals (1945), Little Giant (1946) with Abbott and Costello, Scared to Death (1947) with Bela Lugosi, Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) with Danny Kaye. Her last film was the 1953 remake of Edna Ferber's So Big.
It is almost invariably given out that Christy also appeared with the Marx Brothers, though she is credited in none of their films or Broadway shows. However, it is more than possible she appeared in a touring or out of town production of one of their Broadway productions, or the live try-outs of their MGM vehicles. Confirmation of that awaits however.
For more on vaudeville history, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and for more on classic and silent slapstick comedy read Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.
Dorothea Seltzer
Dorothy Christie
Dorothy Christy
Mrs. Laurel
Sons of the Desert
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Next Isabelle Keith: Was Both Mrs. Laurel and Mrs. Hardy


FYI!!!!! For those who may not be aware the contract that the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology had with PCS "Professional Services Credentials", our testing company contract ended December 31, 2016 December 9, 2016... PCS did disclose to the Board ITS "Information Technology Services", that they did not plan on bidding to renew their contract… However, PCS did extend their contract through the end of February but your students only had until Monday January 23, 2017 to be approved for the testing in February… So basically no more testing is available for OUR students….
I feel pretty certain that there will be NO TESTING for the month of MARCH or APRIL with the hope to be back up and testing by the end of May first of June… I am sure that the Board will need to make some consensus for permits but we have been down this road and survived and hopefully we will emerge having something more stable than a 2 year contract.
I for one hope it is Pearson!


Tom performs his scores LIVE for the films The Rink, The Pawn Shop and a newly revised version of One A.M. with Mary Beth Malek on the clarinet.
Free will donation for this family friendly event which appeals to everyone on different levels of consciousness!
Intrigued? Wait 'til you hear the story of the staff of Jerry's Records, the college professors, and the Holocaust survivors!
If you've seen it before, see it again! You will discover new wonders within the films and scores!


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Industrial 3DPrinting in Italy
Friday 24th September, 2021 - Bruce Sterling
*It's a good idea for makers and hobbyists to keep an eye on the manufacturing professionals. "Aerospace, defense and medical."
*This is a press release from "GE Additive," which is General Electric's 3DPrinting arm.
RIVALTA DI TORINO, ITALY – 23 SEPTEMBER 2021 – Avio Aero and GE Additive have signed a non-binding letter of intent (the "LOI"), outlining a strategic technology collaboration agreement with BEAMIT Group (BEAMIT) partly owned by SANDVIK.
Under the LOI, BEAMIT would collaborate with Avio Aero on technology development and, in particular, the post-processing of certain additively manufactured components for the GE9X and the Catalyst engines.
"Industrializing metal additive manufacturing in aerospace continues at pace and we need trusted partners in our ecosystem who can grow with us. I am thrilled that we are strengthening our relationship with BEAMIT and its shareholder Sandvik. BEAMIT's sound strategic vision and the wider team's advanced additive expertise is world-class," said Riccardo Procacci, CEO of Avio Aero and GE Additive.
"It is an honor for me to enter into this LOI with GE for projects of this magnitude. Being where we are today, as one of the largest, most integrated and advanced additive manufacturing groups in the world, we are in a position to offer leading capabilities across the entire AM value chain, also through our shareholder Sandvik's leading material expertise and extensive metal powder capabilities. This definitely confirms the hard work that started seven years ago as a vision, and has been pursued with great commitment and strength," said Mauro Antolotti, President, BEAMIT Group.
BEAMIT is a longstanding GE Additive customer and operates a fleet of Concept Laser and Arcam EBM machines including the Mlab, M2 and X Line platforms, as well as two Q10plus machines across its subsidiaries – Pres-X and Zare – serving customers in multiple industries, including aerospace, defense and medical.
The intention is for GE Additive and BEAMIT to cooperate on a number of strategic projects, such as special post-processing machinery and technologies as well as materials, to meet long-term production needs.
GE Additive would become BEAMIT's strategic equipment supplier, as it continues to scale its operations and enhances its existing facilities to meet long-term production needs.
The LOI includes collaboration and assessment on post-processing technologies for the specific requirements of certain GE9X and Catalyst engine components such as MRI and tomographic inspection, HIP and machining equipment. BEAMIT would contribute to the reduction of the lead times necessary to build components, including machining and testing processes, and it would also support new modalities under development at Avio Aero with super-cleaning and super-finishing surfaces.
BEAMIT would also support in the development of GE Additive's Concept Laser M Line Factory system. The M Line is a highly-advanced, industrialized production system that is best-suited to experienced metal additive users who have already started to scale production volumes. M Line's stitching capability enables especially customers with large part size demand to increase productivity and drive cost out for additive production.
The BEAMIT team would work with GE Additive to fine-tune and qualify the M Line specifically for aerospace components in accordance with the necessary qualitative requirements. In connection with this activity, BEAMIT would file for and obtain the aerospace qualification for a dedicated R&D division that it would establish.
In the mid-term future, as GE and BEAMIT grow together, BEAMIT has the intention to further expand its operations and develop a completely digitalized and sustainable production line, dedicated to the production of "engine ready" components, for assembly, where the GE parts will be produced. In parallel with this LOI, BEAMIT has recently opened a brand new facility, fully dedicated to coatings, in order to enhance the special process range available for the wider aerospace sector.
The projects contemplated by the LOI go a long way to help BEAMIT achieve its 'One Stop Shop' approach, which is driven by market demand, technological evolution and the inclusion of new processes and new accreditations. Today, the entire BEAMIT Group is covered by five NADCAP accreditations – with three new others in progress – and by the TULPS for defense sector activities. BEAMIT has also started the ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and EASA part 21 pathway.
"Our strategic and industrial partnership with our shareholder Sandvik gives us a competitive advantage when it comes to leading materials expertise, materials development capabilities and supply of the widest range of alloys. Now, making the 'One Stop Shop' concept a reality, together with the digital integration of the entire value chain is a differentiating element, which can play an essential role in making additive manufacturing even more sustainable – without a waiver to the technical advantages offered by technology. In Avio Aero and GE Additive, we have found companies who share a similar strategic vision and a strong focus on the research of new materials for additive manufacturing as well as new technologies," said Andrea Scanavini, Group General Manager, BEAMIT Group.
"Ultimately, the digitalized factory is a key element of our mid-term strategy to enable a win-win relationship with GE. A dedicated factory where all the manufacturing phases are installed and directly interconnected allows us to reach the maximum grade of efficiency, high productivity and total quality required by GE," he added.
– ends –
About BEAMIT Group
BEAMIT Group is one of the most advanced additive manufacturing service providers in the world and serves the most demanding industries through its strategic positioning as a one-stop shop: the first company to become a truly global additive manufacturing (AM) hub offering a fully integrated value chain. Based in Fornovo di Taro (Parma, Italy), BEAMIT has been operating in the field of AM with metal powders for 24 years.
With close to 60 dedicated AM systems distributed across 7 facilities in Italy and the UK, the Group now counts over 140 employees.
BEAMIT Group specialises in high-end metal AM components for demanding industries like aerospace, automotive, energy, racing and industrial engineering, and holds many relevant quality certifications, including AS/EN 9100:2018 for aerospace, IATF Automotive, NADCAP accreditation for heat treatment processes and laboratories, and NADCAP accreditation for welding – additive manufacturing commodity.
In 2019, Sandvik Group, global leader in hi-tech engineering and metal powder with the widest range of alloys for additive manufacturing as well as remarkable expertise in AM printing technologies for advanced metal components, acquired a significant stake in BEAMIT.
In 2020, BEAMIT acquired a significant stake in PRES-X, an innovative start-up in the field of special post-production processes for 3D printing. BEAMIT then acquired 100% of Italian AM service bureau ZARE.
In 2021, BEAMIT Group acquired 3T Additive Manufacturing (Newbury, UK). 3T Additive Manufacturing holds some of the highest quality certifications for deliveries to aerospace and medical and is an approved supplier for serial production by many leading OEMs across the UK, Europe, US and Japan. BEAMIT Group has a turnover of €22 million.
About Sandvik Additive Manufacturing
Sandvik Additive Manufacturing has a world-leading position in metal powder with the widest range of AM-alloys on the market. The company has also made sizeable investments into a wide range of AM printing technologies since 2013. Adding 159 years of leading expertise in materials technology, 75 years in post processing methods like metal cutting, sintering and heat treatment, Sandvik has well established and leading competence across the entire additive value chain. In 2019, Sandvik acquired a significant stake in the BEAMIT Group, a leading European-based AM service provider, and in 2020 and 2021, the BEAMIT Group acquired 100% of ZARE in Italy and 3T Additive Manufacturing in the UK, bringing together three leading AM service bureaus in Europe – to create one of the largest independent AM service providers in the world, serving the most demanding industries. Sandvik AB is a high-tech and global engineering group with approximately 37,000 employees and sales of approximately 86 billion SEK in more than 160 countries (2020). The company was founded in Sweden in 1862.
About Avio Aero
Avio Aero is a GE Aviation business that designs, manufactures and maintains propulsion systems for civil and military aviation. It is the center of excellence for the entire General Electric group in the field of mechanical transmissions and low-pressure turbines. The company's headquarter and largest production plant are in Rivalta di Torino, its other Italian main plants are located in Brindisi and Pomigliano d'Arco (Naples), where it employs more than 4,300 people. Abroad, it has a plant and a test center in Poland and a plant in Czech Republic, in which works 900 employees. Founded in 1908, the company has overcome many technological challenges in over a century of history. Continuous investments in research and development and an established network of relationships with leading universities and international research centers have enabled Avio Aero to develop technological and manufacturing excellence recognized across the globe: an achievement borne out by a range of collaborative partnerships with key operators in the global aviation industry.
About GE Additive
GE Additive – part of GE (NYSE: GE) is a world leader in metal additive design and manufacturing, a pioneering process that has the power and potential to transform businesses. Through our integrated offering of additive experts, advanced machines, and quality powders, we empower our customers to build innovative new products. Products that solve manufacturing challenges, improve business outcomes, and help change the world for the better. GE Additive includes additive machine brands Concept Laser and Arcam EBM, along with additive powder supplier AP&C.
The Official Raspberry Pi Handbook 2022
Christo posthumously wrapping Paris

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


For undergraduates and MBA scholars, this booklet deals the appropriate coaching for the not easy and rigorous funding banking recruitment method. It positive aspects an outline of funding banking and careers within the box, via chapters at the middle accounting and finance abilities that make up the mandatory framework for fulfillment as a junior funding banker. The publication then strikes directly to tackle the type of particular technical interview and recruiting questions that scholars will stumble upon within the task seek procedure, making this the fitting source for somebody who desires to input the field.
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This publication is the tale of ways 4 busy executives, from diversified backgrounds and assorted views, have been shocked to discover themselves converging at the notion of narrative as a very beneficial lens for knowing and coping with businesses within the twenty-first century. the concept that narrative and storytelling can be so robust a device on the earth of firms used to be at first counter-intuitive.
The Evolution of imperative Banks employs a variety of historic proof and reassesses present financial research to argue that the advance of non-profit-maximizing and noncompetitive primary banks to oversee and keep an eye on the economic banking procedure fulfils an important and normal functionality.
Around the globe, a revolution is going on in finance for low-income humans. The microfinance revolution is supplying monetary companies to the economically lively bad on a wide scale via competing, financially self-sufficient associations. In a couple of international locations this has already occurred; in others it really is lower than manner.
The Silver Bomb isn't really a publication approximately a few predictive monetary philosophy, yet fairly a frank, no-excuses glimpse on the present country of items, and a good, candid, examine logical results. The prestidigitations of valuable banking, that have until eventually lately been protected against scrutiny by means of a cloak of pro-banking cultural bias, are laid naked inside of those pages.
It goes without saying that they need the ability to work extremely hard and be able to handle having little sleep. People skills and a pleasant personality are also helpful. However, since most analysts have limited interaction with clients, analytical skills and attitude generally trump people skills. People skills do help you make friends internally, which, given the political nature of all investment banks, can be beneficial for getting staffed on deals, come bonus time, and for being considered for a third year and/or associate �promotion.
The private banking department advises and manages money for high net worth individuals, their families, and their estates. In addition to managing money, they might help with such things as tax planning and estate planning. Private banking is sometimes also referred to as private client services (PCS) or private wealth management (PWM). This division may be a standalone division of the investment bank, or it may fall under the asset management or investment management umbrella. Most large financial institutions that offer private banking have different tiers of service, depending on the wealth of the client and the amount of assets a client has under the firm's management.
People skills and a pleasant personality are also helpful. However, since most analysts have limited interaction with clients, analytical skills and attitude generally trump people skills. People skills do help you make friends internally, which, given the political nature of all investment banks, can be beneficial for getting staffed on deals, come bonus time, and for being considered for a third year and/or associate �promotion. Associate╅ Associates are typically men or women recruited directly out of top MBA programs.


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Tales of a Seminary Nothing
0 0 Thursday, September 15, 2011 Edit this post
By Jason Bachand ~
There is a bit of common wisdom, in religious circles anyway, that seminaries make more atheists than clergy. I'm proof that - at least occasionally - the adage proves true.
As an outspoken non-believer, many have taken it upon themselves (as a moral imperative apparently) to explain my atheism using the vocabulary of the religious, ethical, and (I'm not kidding) psychological disciplines. That's a delicate way of saying that I've been accused of being an apostate, a nihilist, and a bitter, angry killjoy - among other things. The possibility that someone might come to not believe in gods or the supernatural through a combination of experience and rational deliberation seems foreign to many; they suppose (or perhaps prefer) that non-belief must arise from wickedness, vindictiveness or neurosis. I wonder if these same people apply a similar rubric to the nature of faith - could it be that belief is the product of negative experiences, wishful thinking, or emotional insufficiency? But let's reserve that investigation for a future date. Presently, I'd like to share my personal journey from belief to reason.
I have been an atheist for most of my life. From a young age, I was an avid science buff who was greatly awed by the rationalism of scientists like Carl Sagan (whose Cosmos was a staple of television consumption when I was in my early teens) and Stephen Hawking (I read "A Brief History of Time" in middle school). I enjoyed science fiction programs like Doctor Who and Star Trek in part because they presented an optimistic vision of a human future built on reason. The good Doctor never failed to point out the superstitions or wayward thinking of those he met, and earned victories over his adversaries through wit and intelligence. "To the rational mind nothing is inexplicable - only unexplained," he mused.
True to my character, I studied behavioral neuroscience in college and remained a steadfast if taciturn atheist throughout. Atheism is the default position in the scientific community so I was never challenged on my non-belief. The one practitioner of religion I did encounter, a professor with whom I did two research units in hippocampal learning, admitted to only practicing Judaism for its cultural value - he, too, did not believe in any gods.
After I completed my undergraduate work, I was employed to work in research laboratories at UConn and Brown University. After several years, however, I became uncomfortable with the use of animal subjects -particularly felines and primates - in experimentation. (It was a cost/benefit analysis. The life of two or three cats sacrificed weekly did not justify the marginal increase in mapping the corticothalamic neuronal connections in the visual system). A pragmatic concern also came up when I became violently allergic to rodent fur. My career in neuroscience - at least of the type based on animal experimentation - was over.
Concurrent with this major change in vocational plans came several personal tragedies: the passing of two family members, the end of a long-term relationship, the discovery that my siblings had become addicted to narcotics, and an episode of crippling depression. I was weak and floundering, in search of a new self-definition and some source of hope.
One autumn evening I was entreated by my mother to come to Sunday service at the church I had attended as a child. I had not set foot in the sanctuary in some 16 years, but eager to show support to my family I chose to go. I remember feeling uncomfortable at first, but perceiving two things about the service that had a powerful appeal. First, I was attracted to the respect and deference that the congregation showed to the pastor. The unquestioning loyalty and devotion a church shows to its clergy can be quite astonishing to behold. Second, I recall the powerful feeling of truth which pervaded the air. Even if the statements made and the rituals offered were based on a mirage, they were nevertheless offered with the gravity of absolute certitude.
It wasn't long after that I began to entertain thoughts of entering ministry. The liberal stance of my childhood denomination (the United Church of Christ) on social concerns like same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, and scriptural authority added to the allure of a career in their clergy. I imagined quite simply that "these theists are different" from the militant sorts of which the majority of Christians in America are comprised. (In retrospect, had I known more about the cognitive components of religiosity I would have quickly understood that all belief arises from essentially the same neural processes.) The evident social justice aspects of progressive Christianity also appealed to me. The regions of my frontal and temporal lobes and limbic system implicated in moral reasoning and empathy must be robust indeed, as I have always had strong affective responses to injustice and human suffering. In the event, I made a decision to apply to several seminaries and pursue a Master of Divinity degree. I was accepted to three, and opted for Andover-Newton Theological School (ANTS) for its distinguished alumni, historical significance as the oldest Protestant seminary in America, and ideal location in the suburbs of Boston.
I began my proper schooling in theology in September 2004. And it was a proper education indeed, as I began with almost no knowledge of the bible, or the ancient traditions of the Christian faith, or of the expectations and duties of the clergy. It's quite simple for me to grasp, now, why faith thrives in ignorance; before I undertook a study of the bible, for example, I was easily enthralled by the (apparent) epistemic power of its baronial tales. The long journey of demystification began on day one of the semester, as my Old Testament professor commenced with the statement that "the bible is a beautiful work of fiction." To be fair, I was dutifully warned by the faculty that my faith would endure an obligatory "dark night" of doubt, but I was also promised a "second naivete," the reallocation of child-like innocence in my belief. The blackest hour of that long night came during my second year, when the many challenges to my faith thrust me into a more conservative posture on such matters as biblical inerrancy and denominational authority. This period of reaction formation was mercifully brief, however, and by the third year of seminary I was ready to accept that my trust in religion and indeed God had been tragically misplaced. I had succumbed, like so many others, to wishful thinking and subjugated my rational faculties in order to serve a selfish emotional end. I had made the all-too-common error of mistaking what I wanted to be true to reflect the material reality of the universe. But the universe doesn't exist to make us feel good about our mistakes or soothe our fears in the face of the mystery. And so I became a universalist, then a deist, then a Tillich-ian non-theist, and at last an atheist. I abandoned my divinity degree and took up the phenomenological study of religion, a path that ended in 2010 with my graduation from Harvard University.
The spartan living quarters in Farwell dormitory. Each student was given a battered wooden desk, a lamp, a bureau, and a cot.
Giving up faith wasn't solely an intellectual process, however. It was also a gradual disillusionment with the intent and ends of formal ministry and the touted "holiness" of the clergy. Ma vie quotidienne on the sprawling, countrified campus of ANTS (an anomaly in the greater Boston metropolis) was nothing like I expected it to be. For a start, the ancient crumbling buildings and pock-marked roads presented all the vigor of a bone yard, hardly the atmosphere of an institution that trumpeted its relevance on the American religious scene. The massive water boiler creaked and - when it worked - squeaked out a meager heat during the frigid winter; the long silent corridors of the dormitories were scarred with mold and chipping paint; the student center in Sturtevant Hall had less endearing charm than a funeral home. (I must have visited the student center two hundred times in my years on campus, and reckon the number of encounters with fellow students there to be about thirty. The damp basement of the building housed the Operations staff, the second floor had been rented to an outside concern, the third floor served as a center for art and meditation but received such scant use that it was eventually closed, and the fourth floor had been abandoned due to irreparable environmental damage.) Colby Chapel, the center of worship on campus, groaned under the weight of centuries; its most notable feature was a plaque on the hardwood floor marking the spot where a worshiper had given up the ghost. In fine, the seminary that pleaded its vitality in the cluttered religious landscape was, much like the denominations associated with it, a corpse in the making - disused, disregarded, and derelict.
ANTS proudly proclaimed the building of a"beloved community" as primary among its many missions. But some significant percentage of the student body (I have heard 70% but n.b. that I cannot verify that number) were commuters, and thus when classes weren't in session the campus became a veritable ghost town. The resident population was indistinguishable from that of a retirement home - mostly over 50, at least two thirds female, statistically Caucasian and middle class. I sensed immediately that one of two types of people came to seminary: the wounded, seeking an escape from the real world in the ideal retreat, and the vainglorious who quite literally believed to be God's elite. For this latter type, it's an essential aspect of "vocation" (itself derived for the Latin "to call") in ministry to feel the directed, personal, and unambiguous "hand" of God guiding herself to ordination. My "call" was examined and discussed as part of my denominational evaluation for candidacy in ministry, it was a compulsory piece of my admissions essays, and it was almost unfailingly broached in any conversation with new people I met. By the time one enters seminary, and certainly by the close of the first semester of study, I daresay every seminarian is imbued with the confidence that they have been personally chosen by God to lead the people. (If that thought makes you uncomfortable, good. It ought to.)
The silent campus, December 2005
It would be fascinating to see a proper sociological study of seminary populations. Certainly my experience of seminary life suggests that a large group of people with a divine sense of entitlement fosters suspicion, distrust, and conflict. I saw more of these undesirable qualities than I did examples of authentic compassion and selfless concern. The elderly population, for instance, exhibited a barely masked disdain for us "younger" folks (I was 28, one of only a handful of students under the age of 30). The population as a whole, moreover, sorted itself into like-minded tribes - by denomination, or age and gender, or else by ideological persuasion. The conservative students, by far a minority, were openly shunned by the progressive majority - a fact which I now understand to be part of the "in-group" mentality inherent in religious behavior. Every hero must have a villain, every crusader pursues a heretic, and every "called" Christian needs a Pharisee or a demon to cast out. Faith cannot exist without an "other" that serves as the template for evil against which a definition of "holiness" is fashioned. I suppose I thought it would be different in a "progressive" context, but I was wrong.
I mentioned previously the wounded who gathered for healing in seminary as well. Though less likely to put on the vestment of ostentatious piety, the wounded were beset by internal conflict and self-harm. My heart goes out to those who, by virtue of emotional incapacity - and I count myself among this lot - sought faith and seminary as a palliative for deeply rooted anguish. These were the folks who, in my tenure at ANTS, acted out through drug use (including two dear friends expelled for it in my first year), showed up to classes inebriated and nursing soda bottles filled with vodka, cheated on spouses, cut themselves, engaged in promiscuous sex, or sank into suicidal depression. (In my second year, I called attention to this silent and unacknowledged group at a town-hall meeting. To the great credit of the Dean of Students, resources for mental health and addiction services became highly advertised on campus and remain so to this day.) I recount these tragedies not to impugn the collective population of aspiring clergy, but rather to discredit the notion that there's anything select or superior about the "called." They, like all of us, are human - all too human. With that understanding, we can begin to understand and indeed sympathize with the pathology or incompleteness that bestows belief on the most vulnerable of us.
What should be made of all this? For once, I'm saving the broader implications and extrapolations to others. As I stated earlier by way of introduction, here I am being merely anecdotal. I present this personal history only to explain my present atheism. I believe that my seminary experience is representative of some greater truths about faith and religion, make no mistake. Yet for me, it was the combination of imminent truths about supernatural claims and the reducibility of even the most intricate systematic theology to basic cognitive drives and universal behaviors that sealed the coffin of my belief. No matter how alluring the character of an article of faith may be - and make no mistake, the prospect of an all-loving God who answers our deepest needs has a powerful attraction to the human mind - any claim made without evidence can, and should, be dismissed as misguided wish-fulfilment. If one does truly desire social justice and human flourishing, arguments from faith are a dead end. The hopelessly subjective character of faith will always cause moral deliberations to collapse into a struggle for power to enforce and impose one view upon all, with no objective reality to provide a corrective and mitigating influence.
I must give credit where it is due, however - to the faculty at ANTS who presented the facts about the bible and theology without obscurantism or apologies. Whatever the state of the campus itself, and ultimately that is a negligible concern, the faculty during my tenure were unfailing in their dedication to scholarship, even when it came with the cost of eroding a theological ideal. A lesser seminary would have spared no effort to hide or excuse the blatant lies about the accuracy (in historical and archaeological terms), reliability, and relevance of Christian traditions. (This is precisely how most conservative seminaries define theological education.) I once queried Old Testament professor Greg Mobley on what percentage of his conclusions about the Book of Job were intellectually accurate (we were scrutinizing the Hebrew source text) and how much he was simply "fudging it." The class erupted in awkward laughter, and Greg walked out of the room momentarily - presumably out of shock at the audacity of the question. But he came back in, smiled, and answered as silence settled in the room: "Liberal or conservative, we all fudge it, Jason."
Thank you, Greg.
One Hell of a Summer
Jesus Interrupts an Enjoyable Review of Harry Potter
14 Problems with Christianity (Part II)
Faith, not 'sense'
The Mechanics of Spiritual Experiences for Freethi...
Pastor Potter and the Demons of Predestination Palace
Mental illness in the making
The Christian Banana!
Our Narcissistic Nation
Dirty Words
Contemplating Christian Life
Never christians to begin with!
Fire in the Mind – Quantum Leap
Sex was made for pleasure -- Oh Really?
Annoying Books And Magic Christmas Presents
OPERATION STREET PREACHERS
From one end to the other and back again
Providing or Proslelytizing
How Living in the Bible Belt Destroyed My Faith
Ex Catholic Consumed by Guilt Dilemna
My Journey to Hell
Jesus Interrupts an Enjoyable Day at The Book Fair
Right Wing Family Values and the World's Greatest ...
Finding My Humanity
Good Without God?
The Real World Changes You
How Can Really Intelligent People Be Christian?
Why I Don't Believe
9/11 Memorial: Which God to Pray To?
ExChristian.Net: Tales of a Seminary Nothing
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https://new.exchristian.net/2011/09/tales-of-seminary-nothing.html


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PM Marape: PNG looks to strengthen ties with Solomon Islands
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape says Papua New Guinea is looking to strengthen its relationships with neighbouring Solomon Islands.
He said this after meeting Solomon Islands' Governor-General, His Excellency Sir David Vunagi, in Honiara on Thursday evening (pictured) .
The occasion marked PM Marape's first bilateral visit to Solomon Islands.
"Our two countries are bound by our rich Melanesian cultural heritage, our maritime border and shared Christian and democratic values hence, my first visit to our closest Pacific Island neighbor, Solomon Islands to renew and strengthen our neighborly ties and cooperation, a key strategy of Papua New Guinea's foreign policy, " he said.
"The people-to-people linkages since pre-independence days has seen Solomon Islands missionaries contribute to peace and harmony by spreading Christianity in Papua New Guinea.
" The post-independence era has seen both our countries work hand-in-hand alongside our Pacific neighbors in assisting to restore peace in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and in the Solomon Islands and other neighboring countries in recent times.
" This is a testament to our common desire to maintain, peace, harmony, unity and stabiliy in our region.
" Our discussions therefore on protecting our sovereignity, our borders and the sustainable management of our resources particulaly fisheries, forestry and agriculture, amongst others is vital for the long term economic benefit of our people and future generations."
PM Marape said educating the human resources of the two nations was also essential to nation-building and to their successes as nations.
" I am pleased with our discussions on educational opportunities for our citizens, " he said.
" I will be discussing with the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Hon. Manasseh Sogavare, ways we can continue to provide more opportunities for Solomon Island students to study in tertiary institutions in Papua New Guinea.
"I will also promote the establishment of the PNG/Solomon Islands Alumni Association so we can maintain the network and friendships created through education."
PM Marape said it was his intention to deepen trade, investment and economic links between the two countries.
" There is huge economic potential in Solomon Islands and I will be encouraging my delegation, comprising mainly of people from the private sector, to engage with their Solomon Islands counterparts, in our combined efforts to grow our economies,."
PM Marape thanked Sir David for the Solomon Islands' hospitality.
" Let me take this moment to express my most humble appreciation for the hospitalities extended to my delegation and I when I visited you'" he said.
" It was a privilege to meet with you.
" I wish to therefore extend, on behalf of the Government and people of Papua New Guinea, our best wishes to you during your term as the Governor-General of Solomon Islands."
PM Marape arrives to a red carpet welcome in Solomon Islands
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape arrived to a red carpet welcome in Honiara, Solomon Islands, yesterday.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare welcomes PNG Prime Minister Hon. James Marape at Honiara International Airport.
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape is welcomed at Honiara International Airport.
A red carpet welcome for Prime Minister James Marape at Honiara International Airport.
Prime Minister James Marape and a large business delegation from PNG are welcomed at Honiara International Airport.
PM Marape is leading a large business delegation from Papua New Guinea, representing Government and private sector, on his first official State Visit.
Papua New Guinea businesses in Solomon Islands, as well as those wanting to invest there, are also accompanying the Prime Minister.
He was welcomed at Honiara International Airport by Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Hon. Manasseh Sogavare, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Hon. Jeremiah Manele, Acting PNG High Commissioner to Solomon Islands Dr John Balavu, Solomon Islands' High Commissioner to PNG Barnabas Anga, and a large crowd of people.
PM Marape was then taken to Government House where he paid a courtesy call on Solomon Islands' Governor-General Sir David Vunagu.
This was followed by a State Dinner in Honiara.
PM Marape has a meeting with Hon. Sogavare today, followed by the Solomon Islands and PNG Bilateral Meeting, and a Joint Press Conference.
The PNG business delegation will meet with its counterparts from Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
PM Marape continues his State Visit and church service with Hon. Sogavare on Saturday before returning home to PNG.
PM Marape addresses New Zealand Institute of International Affairs
Parliament House, Wellington
Monday 24th February, 2020
Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you about the important changes, I am initiating in Papua New Guinea.
As you know, I was elected as my country's 8th Prime Minister on the 30th May 2019. It is, without doubt, the greatest honour of my life, and I give thanks to God for giving me this opportunity.
Before I proceed, I would also like to take this opportunity to again thank Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the New Zealand Government for the warm hospitality my delegation and I have received this week.
As I said on Friday at our joint press conference in Auckland. our bilateral relations is in good shape and will continue to grow and flourish through various development cooperation arrangements.
The fact that I accepted an invitation by Prime Minister Ardern as Guest of the New Zealand Government for my first official visit to this beautiful country speaks volumes about the closeness of our relationship.
Australia and New Zealand are my first official engagements overseas. This underpins the significance of our strategic interests as close neighbours in the region.
The imperative to interface on issues of mutual interests, including sharing of information on our common security concerns among others, is becoming perceptible more than ever.
New Zealand has always been a close bilateral partner and friend indeed. In many instances when PNG has needed assistance, New Zealand has always been the first country to offer its support.
The uplift of 17 PNG students from Wuhan, China, to New Zealand is a case in point.
I have been invited to speak to you today on "A New Direction for Papua New Guinea". This topic resonates and underline determination of my Government to bring about change, progress and sustainable growth.
My Government includes a core group of young, educated, like-minded leaders who are with me to forge a new partnership and direction for Papua New Guinea.
Ladies and gentlemen, Papua New Guinea is at the crossroads.
We have come a long way in 44 years as a young nation and we anticipate to herald a new beginning in the 21st Century.
Notwithstanding the many pronounced challenges including systematic weaknesses of service delivery, PNG, a nation of over 830 tribal and language groups, has maintained unity in a democratic system of government, with a functional and independent judiciary, has managed to survive as one united country.
We have developed a vibrant economy, we have refined our political systems, we have enhanced democratic processes and the rule of law and made great headway in addressing the development challenges of the most geographically and culturally-diverse nation on planet earth.
But it is clear to me - and must be clear to all who care to listen - that the new generation of leaders I lead on behalf of my constituents demand change for the better through equitable and proportionate benefits are gained from the extraction of our natural resource.
In a country where population growth trends above economic growth or GDP, our annual budget provisions continues to be far less than actual need for development, it is now time to do things differently.
Generational change demands change in our modus operandi.
Now is the time to embrace economic opportunity so that we can provide for all of our people, both today and for future generations.
We have a responsibility to ensure that we invest in our future, so that our children, our children's children and all those that come beyond, have a strong foundation.
We must take advantage of ICT and the digital economy platform and invite foreign investors in potentially high-yielding investments, downstream processing, agriculture, fisheries and other sectors of the economy.
The simple fact is that for far too long we have allowed external forces to dictate the direction that we take. I can assure you that this will now change under my watch.
We will shift from an introduced culture of dependency and complacency, where we rely on overseas aid and inward investment alone, to one where we become a vibrant economic powerhouse and are totally economically independent by expansion and diversification of our economic base.
This means that we must advance for the interests of our people. Create opportunities for growth. We must work with responsive economic partners and ensure a fair and equitable distribution of our resources.
We must embrace reform including policies and tweaking resource laws and institutions in all sectors that ensures our national net take home, whether in tax or equity or royalties for every resources, adds up to above 50 percent. But gaining more for our national coffers without stopping wastage through corruption and complacency will be injustice and efforts in vain.
Therefore, we must and will stamp out corruption. And we must and will build the institutional and governance frameworks that support sustained development, both now and in the years and decades to come.
Through all of this, it is my dream that Papua New Guinea becomes the richest black Christian nation on earth.
This is because God has blessed PNG with abundant natural resources, and by investing in correct strategies today, we have the capacity to harness those resources for the benefit of all.
We must and will examine ways to harness and unlock our natural resources. We must and will make use of local talent from our human resource pools, some of whom are so competent that they are working internationally including New Zealand. In short, we must take back our country, our economy and seize our own destiny.
As with any maturing democracy, this means that we need to change our focus. This is why I am so pleased that during our discussions this week, Prime Minister Ardern and I were able to agree to a comprehensive strategic and economic partnership, where as equals we will work together to tackle the mutual challenges that face both our great nations, in the pristine Pacific region.
This is where New Zealand's commitment to infrastructure support is sincerely appreciated, in partnership with us, to enhance electrification and telecommunication capacity. These are the key economic enablers – enablers that will allow our economy to grow.
And of course, New Zealand's continued partnership in a vast range of other areas to support health, education, policing, defence cooperation and so on continues to be warmly welcomed and received. All of this is evidence of the warmth of our relationship and our enduring historical ties.
But I don't envisage this type of aid donor recipient relationship to last. In fact, within the next 10 years, I want my country to grow into economic self-reliance and independence that we ourselves become a partner in the region. This is the new chapter of the new book I want to write for my country for the next 44 years if Jesus Christ has not come back yet by then.
Now is the time to take the next step where we achieve true economic independence and determine what our future should be.
We must and will invest in technology and embrace innovation.
We must and will develop downstream processing and manufacturing capabilities and develop the human capital with appropriate skills to drive and fully industrialise our economy.
This is vital for our economic survival and an integral part of our plan for achieving long-term sustainable development.
We have a population of more than 8 million people.
We have a pool of committed and capable workers. Now is the time to harness that opportunity, create revenue, generate growth and enable wealth creation for all.
But to achieve full economic independence we need to change the mindset of our people, as well as those that seek to control or influence us.
Developers must become more attuned to our unique needs. We must and will empower our provinces to raise their own revenue and stimulate economic growth. We must overcome the rural divide and the entrapment of our people by ensuring that we create equal opportunity for all, where any person, man or woman, can achieve his or her full potential.
This means that we must and will harness the collective contributions and capacity of all our citizens. We must provide an environment where quality education and health care is available to all levels, and where all Papua New Guineans can fulfil their true potential, regardless of where they have come from or where they now live.
Embarking upon a process of substantial social, economic and structural reform cannot be achieved over night, and it cannot be achieved by one man alone. It requires a team effort, and as I have said many times, I do not have every answer to every problem that may arise.
That is why as Prime Minister I am consulting widely. I am reaching out across both sides of the political aisle to draw on and make use of the greatest talent available to us. The Ministers appointed to my cabinet have been selected on the basis of merit, and as Prime Minister, I expect them to deliver on the challenges and the tasks ahead.
All ministers must have a sense of collective belief and an intention to do what is good and right for Papua New Guinea, and Papua New Guinea alone.
Self- interest plays no role in the Government that I lead, and those that seek to profit from public office have no place in my Government and will be made to face the full brunt of the law.
Our people have had enough, and now is the time to tackle the cancer of corruption that has taken hold, using the power of prosecution and all other means that we have at our disposal.
As a first step, the Government is currently undertaking a comprehensive diagnostic on our law-and-order capacity, and other critical areas of social service.
As Prime Minister, I want to ensure that we have the right services available in the right places to meet the needs of all our people. This requires that we review our current law-and-order and service delivery footprint so that we can determine where new investment may be required, and where needs may have changed. I want to reform, reconstruct and rehabilitate a system of government that is so cumbersome with systematic and systemic service delivery impediments including corruption.
As Prime Minister, it is my intention to reform the public service to be leaner, efficient, effective and ethical. The waste must stop. Services must be guided by economic drivers and social need, not by misguided or uninformed policy. Previously, as Finance Minister, I initiated a number of reforms to bring greater accountability to our public service and this process of reform will continue under the leadership of the Minister for the Public Service.
We must create a leaner public service that provides more joined-up Government services and reduces unnecessary duplication, and where necessary outsource or establish partnerships with the private sector and the Churches. Our public servants must be properly equipped with the skills that they need to do their jobs more efficiently, effectively and ethically, and we must place services and people where they are most needed.
By investing in our public servants, by ensuring that they have the skills and tools they need, we can truly make Papua New Guinea the country it is meant to be. A country where children are educated, the sick are treated, infrastructure is developed and where the rule of law prevails.
I am pleased to announce here that I intend to model the Papua New Guinea public service against the New Zealand model. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Service Committee and Oro Governor Hon. Gary Juffa, MP will lead a government delegation to New Zealand in the near future to study the New Zealand public service system.
A key priority for our new Government is to finalise the Organic Law on the Independent Commission Against Corruption. I have asked that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice treat this as a priority. I want the Commission established without delay and will ensure it has all power and authority to investigate and refer allegations of corruption. As a maturing democracy this is the right and proper path to take, and I intend to make sure it happens before the end of the Parliamentary year.
As I have already said, as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, I want to provide opportunity for all. It is a known fact that over 80 per cent of our people live subsistence lives. We are blessed by fertile soil, and for so many, the land provides for their needs. But we need to be smarter. Papua New Guinea is endowed by enormous natural resources and it is time for us to harness those renewable resources to achieve maximum economic gain.
We must grow our primary producer sector and support our people to rise above poverty. We must create economic corridors that enable our people to get their goods to market which means we must continue to invest in roads and infrastructure. We must provide market opportunities, empower our people and open up PNG to the world. Most importantly, we must ensure income generation and job opportunities.
At the same time, we must work with our multinational commercial partners. I have said to our partners that they have nothing to fear by my election as Prime Minister. I recognise the importance of economic partnership and working together to grow our economy to ensure our people receive the benefits they so rightly deserve.
I have been clear that we will honor existing project agreements that are in full compliance with the laws of PNG. But I have also said that we will be reviewing our existing policies and laws, to ensure that future projects provide greater benefits to our people.
I already have a fresh team of PNG advisors in place who are looking at our policies and resource laws so that they can be tailored to provide the maximum domestic benefit and opportunity to our people.
This is the proper, right and fair thing to do. It does not mean that our partners cannot achieve economic benefits. Rather, the Government wants to ensure that there is a fair and equitable share of benefits of all our natural resources. This is the key for ensuring long-term project security, empowering our people and improving living standards.
The fact is, that under current benefit sharing arrangements we have witnessed minimal economic and social improvements. You simply just have to look at all the key economic and social indexes. Papua New Guinea is one of the worst in the world despite all our natural resources and world class operations by multinational companies.
What I am proposing is a new and holistic economic and social partnership. One that garners opportunity for all, not just a few. For as it stands, we have little to show for years of resource harvests and give away and little to celebrate today.
This has to change.
Foreign investors that respect our laws will be protected and we will work in partnership. But let me be clear, foreign owned companies that break our laws, exploit our people, or harm our natural resources will be held to account.
We will work with investors willing to develop meaningful downstream processing facilities so that we can truly harness the benefits that economic sectors, such as gold, copper, iron, oil, gas, forestry and fisheries can provide. But, we will no longer allow foreign companies to profit unfairly from our natural resources, and those that fail to adhere to regulatory requirements will suffer the full force of law.
PNG will turn 50 years as an independent nation six years from now in 2025. Many of the resource policies and laws we have now were developed earlier to attract investors and many of our present industry players have enjoyed the benefit of those generous policies and laws and various incentives we have conceded along the way.
Our Government intends to develop and refine our policies and rewrite our laws for a new chapter in our new PNG Book to be effective in 2025 and beyond.
Those promulgations will embrace world best practices where most global investors already know including my new focus on downstream processing, better definition of local content, domestic market and industry fed from our resources.
These policies embraces all sectors including renewable resources like sustainable harvest of agriculture, forestry and marine resources.
Agriculture and food industry will receive my special attention because PNG is closer to over 3 billion people in Asia, Indo-Pacific region who will need to eat food and especially organic food that we are capable of producing.
The need for energy and other resources in Asia is also good for PNG too, and my Government will tailor correct policy framework including tax incentives to ensure low cost of doing business in PNG like having cheaper and reliable power and communication. This will sustain our quest to grow our economy.
So for those investors who hold exploration licenses or permits and want to enjoy present terms, you are encouraged to progress your license conditions because regime shifts are coming to be implemented in 2025.
To conclude, I simply say this, PNG is shifting to a new gear for change.
Majority of Papua New Guinean's demand this change that not honouring them borders on treason against a national cause. We will take back PNG, empower our people and write a great new book with many successful chapters going into the future.
We will make Papua New Guinea one of the most successful countries and economies of the world. This will ensure the present global assets we house in PNG, like the 6 to 7 percent of world's biodiversity and also our huge tropical rainforest that continues to contribute to global oxygen supply is not lost through unsustainable deforestation.
It is my desire to diversify PNG's economic base and make it rich, from this perspective and utilise our global assets like rainforest and biodiversity.
Esteemed members of Lowy Institute and participants and media, you can help me sell the story of PNG better, for it is a global story too.
You need oxygen as much as I need it, we need biodiversity for world's healing, we need our Pacific Ocean to be healthy and pollution-free. Such can only happen when a leading country in the Pacific in Papua New Guinea in which God placed such global assets to have a diverse and improved economy that is harvested sustainably.
For the world is littered with stories of irreversible environmental degradation where economically hungry people or nation plunder resources unsustainably. The chapters and book I choose to write for PNG has benefits not only for PNG but the world too.
PM Marape applauds PNG seasonal workers in New Zealand
Prime Minister James Marape has applauded the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, where over 30 young Papua New Guineans have been given an opportunity of employment in New Zealand.
During his visit to the T&G Apple Orchard in Evenden yesterday , he commended the PNG fruit-pickers on the outstanding report he received from their employer.
PM Marape and his delegation were given the opportunity to see and participate in the fruit-picking process of the T&G Apple Orchard in Evenden.
PM Marape picking apples at the T&G Apple Orchard
PM Marape, wife Rachael and the delegation which visited the T&G Apple Ochard in Hawke's Bay, with the PNG seasonal workers.
He assured the students that he would return to PNG and get the Labour Department and the NID Office to speed up their processes, so that more PNG students can come to New Zealand and Australia and find employment through our labour mobility program with New Zealand.
"My delegation has taken note of the issues hindering the process of engaging more of our people in this labour mobility programme, and we look forward to rectifying this matter, " PM Marape said.
"Our Government aims to promote this programmw with New Zealand and Australia, where our people can save some of the money they earn and engage in starting up SMEs when they return home to PNG after they retire."
He said the Government not only looks to having Papua New Guineans to join the RSE scheme as fruit-pickers, but aims to increase this programme in the technical avenues as well.
"It is obvious Australia and New Zealand will require our skilled labour in the not-too-distant future; hence, we have to prepare our young people for this, and in the SME secter as well," PM Marape said.
"With this, our delegation will return home and ensure our Labour Department and NID processes are streamlined to quickly send more people over to work in New Zealand, and Australia for that matter."
Whilst visiting the orchard, PM Marape participated in the fruit-picking process and was able to taste freshly-grown apples nurtured by our very own Papua New Guineans at the orchard.
He later visited the geothermal plant and hotsping in Rotorua, saying PNG could gain a lot in terms of electrification programmes from New Zealand.
PM Marape thanks New Zealand for assisting in evacuating PNG students from Wuhan
AUCKLAND: Prime Minister James Marape, MP, has expressed utmost gratitude to New Zealand for its assistance in evacuating the 17 Papua New Guinean students from Wuhan in China and for housing and treating them in New Zealand, during the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus.
He began his official visit to New Zealand last Friday, starting with him meeting with his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, in Auckland.
Leading a high level delegation of parliamentarians and senior Government officials, PM Marape said: "Papua New Guinea and New Zealand continue to maintain a warm and pleasant relationship, spanning well over four decades.
"I am humbled by the warm welcome and reception Prime Minister Arden has given my delegation and I, and I look forward to further strengthening the cordial relationship between our two countries.
In support of PM Ardern's welcoming remarks, PM Marape acknowledged that PNG's close relationship with NZ is of great importance during a time of global change and turbulence.
"First and foremost, let me on behalf of the people of Papua New Guinea thank New Zealand for its most recent effort and assistance in working together on aspects of our response to the Coronavirus outbreak, including the safe evacuation, treatment and the return of a number of Papua New Guinean students from Wuhan in China.
"My visit is certainly an opportunity to increase engagement with NZ as part of PNG's bilateral cooperation as well as to discuss shared regional interests and New Zealand's support to the Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership. "
PM Marape said New Zealand's humanitarian gesture in assisting our students by bringing them home during the Coronavirus outbreak, goes to show that New Zealand and PNG share robust and strong relations.
"Also, New Zealand's efforts in ensuring the Bougainville Peace Agreement was upheld in Bougainville from 2001 till the Referendum in 2019, through its deployment of New Zealand police personnel throughout the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, is a clear demonstration that NZ has played a vital role in the peace process and is clearly a sigmificant partner in the Pacific region," PM Marape said.
He said PNG also looks forward to adopting the New Zealand public service model - as it has one of the best public services in the world.
The PNG delegation then visited PNG fruit pickers engaged throught the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme at Hawke's Bay, in New Zealand
PM Marape receives a New Zealand welcome
Prime Minister James Marape and wife Rachael are greeted by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Government House in Auckland this morning.
Marape and his PNG delegation were welcomed by the NZ traditional ceremony - Powhiri.
He also inspected a guard-of-honour.
PM Marape arrives in New Zealand for official visit
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape has just touched down in New Zealand for his official visit.
Upon arriving in Auckland from Fiji, PM Marape is scheduled to meet his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, at Government House.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape with his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern at Government House in Auckland, New Zealand, this morning.
There, PM Marape and his counterpart will hold a one-on-one prime ministerial discussion, followed by bilateral discussion with the PNG-NZ delegations.
Points of discussion include our diplomatic relations and political representation, immigration and consular relations, high level bilateral consultations, defence and security cooperation, trade and investment cooperation; development and technical cooperation, the Bougainville Referendum 2019; new areas of future cooperation between PNG and New Zealand; along with selected regional and international issues.
After the bilateral discussions, both prime ministers will hold a joint media conference, followed by a courtesy call paid to PM Marape by New Zealand's Leader of Opposition, Simon Bridges.
Prime Minister Marape is accompanied by Minister for National Planning Sam Basil, Oro Governor Gary Juffa, West New Britain Governor Francis Maneke and Tewai-Siassi MP Kobby Bomareo.
PM Marape attends roundtable discussions at the Israel-Pacific Island Leaders' Summit
Prime Minister James Marape, MP, attended roundtable discussions at the Israel-Pacific Island Leaders' Summit in Nadi yesterday.
PM Marape (left) in talks with the Israelis
In his intervention points, he acknowledged the Government of Fiji through the Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama for hosting the first meeting.
Prime Minister Marape thanked the people and Government of Israel for the initiative to have discussions on issues of mutual concern with leaders of 16 Pacific Island countries who are all members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
He said although there were 16 countries, when there are issues of common interest, their voices are combined as one through the PIF.
"And some of the common issues that we face every day include climate change and rising sea levels," Prime Minister Marape said.
"We may be small in land mass but the entire Pacific put together, is a big space that we occupy on planet earth.
"In the ocean that we share, we also have vast resources.
"Possibly 50% of the world's tuna supply are caught in our waters."
The Prime Minister said Papua New Guineans were also known to be the first people to go into agriculture 10, 000 years ago and today, with Israel having advanced in agricultural technologies," we would like to embrace those technologies as well".
"PNG values the agricultural expertise and support from Israel and will continue to work together in this sector," he said.
"We also welcome Israel scholarship programmes in the field of agriculture.
Prime Minister Marape is very appreciative of the Government of Israel's offer to train 100 professionals in Israel in areas of agriculture, technology and security.
Papua New Guinea established relations with Israel in May 1978 and Papua New Guinea has benefited from Israeli expertise in the field of agriculture, including citrus farming.
Bogia Coconut Syndrome workshop held in Madang
A two-day workshop on the Bogia Coconut Syndrome (BCS) and Related Phytoplasma Syndromes in Papua New Guinea was held in Madang on Feb 12-13.
It brought together scientists from Australia, PNG and other stakeholders to discuss BCS, a plant disease that has caused severe losses to coconut palms in the Bogia, Sumkar and Madang districts of Madang Province.
Workshop participants seeing coconut palms affected by Bogia Coconut Syndrome at Kananam along the North Coast Road of Madang.~Pictures by JAMES KILA
The BCS spread has now been reported on Karkar Island also in Sumakar district.
Many thousands of palms have been killed since it was first detected in Bogia in the late 1970s, where it wiped out coconut plantations at Yaro.
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has funded a project over the last five years with a multi-national team to undertake more in-depth studies to fill important knowledge gaps and to develop a clear understanding of the biology of BCS and related phytoplasmas in PNG.
Key partners included Ramu Agri-Industries (New Britain Palm Oil Ltd), Oil Palm Research Association (OPRA), National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA), National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), University of Southern Queensland, Charles Sturt University and Kokonas Indastri Koporesen (KIK).
Workshop participants at Kokonas Indastri Koporesen's Stewart Research Station at Murnas along the North Coast of Madang.
Phytoplasmas are bacteria with no cell-wall that live in the vascular bundle of plant tissue blocking off water and nutrients that the plants need for normal growth and in severe cases can lead to death of the plants and in this case coconut palms.
Insect vectors having fed on infected host plants can transmit the phytoplasma through their salivary glands in to healthy plants and cause them to become sick and died, something similar to mosquitoes when transmitting malaria.
An ACIAR Technical Report presented at the meeting said plant tissues of BCS symptomatic palms were found to contain the BCS phytoplasma and when its DNA was sequenced using the LAMP technology this closely matched a group of phytoplasmas that were responsible for Coconut Lethal Yellowing Disease.
"Coconut lethal yellowing-like diseases have been responsible for repeatedly devastating coconut industries around the world since the early 1900s," it said.
A house at Kananam outside Madang surrounded by Bogia Coconut Syndrome-affected palms.
"This was the first time a coconut lethal yellowing disease has been found in the Oceania region and concerns were raised for the PNG coconut industry.
"Previous outbreaks of this disease in other parts of the world caused widespread death of millions of coconut and other closely-related palm trees.
"A molecular study also found banana plants with similar yellowing symptoms contain a closely-related phytoplasma which was called Banana Wilt-Associated Phytoplasma (BWAP) now widespread in Madang, Morobe, East Sepik, Western and North Solomon provinces."
A banana tree affected by Banana Wilt-Associated Phytoplasma (BWAP) in Madang.
Early responses to the discovery of this disease included a road block preventing the movement of coconuts that has not been de-husked and any planting materials going out from the Madang Province.
An extensive awareness programme was also initiated in the affected areas.
Workshop participants also saw for themselves palms affected by BCS at Kananam along the North Coast of Madang, and visited the International Coconut Gene Bank at Murnas Plantation.
PM Marape reveals next step after P'nyang stalemate
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has informed the nation and all stakeholders what happens after the stalemate between the State Negotiating Team (SNT) and ExxonMobil over P'nyang LNG Project.
Prime Minister Marape
"It is no secret that I am not pleased with the lack of interest shown by ExxonMobil to migrate towards a mid-point," Prime Minister Marape said.
"A mid-point in which the State takes home a better deal, instead of terms similar to concession-based gas agreements Papua New Guinea has signed with ExxonMobil and partners of PNG LNG, and Total and partners of Papua LNG.
"I am satisfied that our SNT has subscribed to the mandate bestowed upon Petroleum Minister, Hon. Kerenga Kua.
"ExxonMobil has been told what our intentions are.
"In the interests of fairness, a Ministerial Gas Committee (MGC) will request both the SNT and ExxonMobil to present their positions for the State - through a committee of leaders - to decide what is the best outcome for PNG."
Prime Minister Marape said he had indicated on all levels of discussions that fundamental policy principles that influenced his Government's mindset would not change.
"These include no fiscal concessions in P'nyang, treating P'nyang as separate from both PNG and Papua LNG projects, increase in Domestic Market Obligations (DMOs) and local content participation," he said.
"These will be fundamental in progressing P'nyang.
"In the meantime, I call upon ExxonMobil and Oil Search not to hold the Total project in Gulf to ransom.
"I call upon these two multi-nationals to work with Total to deliver Papua LNG.
"You are beneficiaries of concessions previous Governments have given.
"If you model the project to be uneconomical, then don't push it: let's leave the gas in my land and you develop Papua plus further work in PNG LNG.
"After SNT and ExxonMobil present to the MGC, Cabinet will decide on P'nyang.
"We will shift focus to Wafi-Golpu and Porgera mines, Pascal LNG plus other resources sectors so life in PNG is not only dependent on P'nyang and other LNG projects."
Prime Minister Marape assured the nation that the Mining and Petroleum Ministers would bring in reforms to the Mining and Oil and Gas Acts through enabling Organic Laws this year.
PM Marape: PNG looks to strengthen ties with Solom...
PM Marape arrives to a red carpet welcome in Solom...
PM Marape addresses New Zealand Institute of Inter...
PM Marape applauds PNG seasonal workers in New Ze...
PM Marape thanks New Zealand for assisting in evac...
PM Marape attends roundtable discussions at the Is...


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Q: Counting csv column occurrences on the fly in Python I have a csv file that has 200 million lines in it.
The best way to load in this file is line by line using a csv reader (as I have many of these files and so parallelising the code later requires not loading in massive datasets and overloading RAM).
I'm trying to count the number of occurrences of values in a certain column and record both their values and frequency in a dictionary. For example, count the number of unique IDs in a column and the number of times those IDs appear.
Here is an example of how I would do this:
import csv
from tqdm import tqdm

field_names = ['A','B','ID','C','D']
filename = '/PATH/file'

ID_dict = {}
with open(data_path+filename) as f:
    reader = csv.DictReader(f,field_names,delimiter=',')
    for row in tqdm(reader):
        label = row['ID']
        if label not in ID_dict.keys():
                ID_dict[label] = 0
        ID_dict[label] += 1

So the column labelled 'ID' is what I'm interested in here, but imagine it has ~200 million entries in it.
Iterating through all those lines and populating a dictionary is slow (it would take around 10 hours on my machine).
Alternatively, appending the values to a new array and then using Counter to find the number of appearances of each unique element also takes too long. (see How do I count unique values inside a list)
Is there a much faster way of doing this that I'm missing? Perhaps there is a Pandas way that is faster?
Thanks in advance

A: Don't use DictReader(). DictReader() does a lot of work converting a row to a dictionary, with configurable handling of missing and extra columns, that you really don't need here. Just use a regular reader and access the 3rd column of each row.
You can further speed this up by using a Counter() object to begin with (it'll automatically handle the 0 case for you). You may be able to get a very minor speed boost by opening the file with newline=''; the CSV module recommends you do this anyway as it wants to make sure it knows about line endings versus possible embedded newlines in columns.
If you use a map() object and operator.itemgetter(), you can further avoid the evaluation loop overhead, and pass the ids directly to the counter:
import csv
import os.path
from collections import Counter
from operator import itemgetter

filename = '/PATH/file'

with open(os.path(data_path, filename), newline='') as f:
    reader = csv.reader(f)
    id_counts = Counter(map(itemgetter(2), reader))

Still, 200 million rows is a lot of work to handle. I generated 1 million rows of semi-realistic data using Faker, copied those rows 200 times into a new file, and my 2017 model Macbook Pro with SSD processed the resulting 12GB of data in just over 6 minutes with tqdm included, and 5 minutes 14 seconds without. tqdm claims it adds only 60 nanoseconds to each iteration (12 seconds over 200 million rows) but in my tests it appears to be easily 3 or 4 times that number.
Pandas reading the data is going to be about the same speed, as Pandas' read_csv() is built on top of csv.reader(), and the above is as fast as Python can make reading a file with 200 million rows. However, it'll then build a dataframe for those 200 million rows, and that'll take a significant amount of memory to process. You'd have to process your data in chunks and aggregate the results for this to be feasible at all.
Lets do some speed tests, comparing your version (one with and one without the tqdm speed bump), Pandas, and the above approach. We'll use a test set of 10k rows with about 100 unique ids to compare things evenly, without using I/O. This tests just the counting capabilities of each approach. So, setting up the test data and tests; the name=name keyword assignments help avoid global name lookups for repeated tests:
>>> import csv, pandas
>>> from timeit import Timer
>>> from collections import Counter
>>> from contextlib import redirect_stderr
>>> from io import StringIO
>>> from operator import itemgetter
>>> from random import randrange
>>> from tqdm import tqdm
>>> row = lambda: f",,{randrange(100)},,\r\n"  # 5 columns, only care about middle column
>>> test_data = ''.join([row() for _ in range(10 ** 4)])  # CSV of 10.000 rows
>>> field_names = ['A', 'B', 'ID', 'C', 'D']
>>> filename = '/PATH/file'
>>> tests = []
>>> def as_test(f):
...     tests.append((f.__name__, f))
...
>>> @as_test
... def in_question(f, csv=csv, tqdm=tqdm, field_names=field_names):
...     ID_dict = {}
...     reader = csv.DictReader(f, field_names, delimiter=',')
...     for row in tqdm(reader):
...         label = row['ID']
...         if label not in ID_dict.keys():
...                 ID_dict[label] = 0
...         ID_dict[label] += 1
...
>>> @as_test
... def in_question_no_tqdm(f, csv=csv, tqdm=tqdm, field_names=field_names):
...     ID_dict = {}
...     reader = csv.DictReader(f, field_names, delimiter=',')
...     for row in reader:
...         label = row['ID']
...         if label not in ID_dict.keys():
...                 ID_dict[label] = 0
...         ID_dict[label] += 1
...
>>> @as_test
... def pandas_groupby_count(f, pandas=pandas, field_names=field_names):
...     df = pandas.read_csv(f, names=field_names)
...     grouped_counts = df.groupby('ID').count()
...
>>> @as_test
... def pandas_value_counts(f, pandas=pandas, field_names=field_names):
...     df = pandas.read_csv(f, names=field_names)
...     counts = df['ID'].value_counts()
...
>>> @as_test
... def counter_over_map(f, csv=csv, Counter=Counter, ig2=itemgetter(2)):
...     reader = csv.reader(f)
...     id_counts = Counter(map(ig2, reader))
...

and the running the timed tests:
>>> for testname, testfunc in tests:
...     timer = Timer(lambda s=StringIO, t=test_data: testfunc(s(t)))
...     with redirect_stderr(StringIO()):  # silence tqdm
...         count, totaltime = timer.autorange()
...         print(f"{testname:>25}: {totaltime / count * 1000:6.3f} microseconds ({count:>2d} runs)")
...
              in_question: 33.303 microseconds (10 runs)
      in_question_no_tqdm: 30.467 microseconds (10 runs)
     pandas_groupby_count:  5.298 microseconds (50 runs)
      pandas_value_counts:  5.975 microseconds (50 runs)
         counter_over_map:  4.047 microseconds (50 runs)

The combination of a DictReader() and Python for loop is what really causes your version to be 6 to 7 times as slow. tqdm's overhead has dropped to 0.3 nanosecond with stderr suppressed; dropping the with redirect_stderr() context manager made output more verbose and increases the time to 50 microseconds, so about 2 nanoseconds per iteration:
>>> timer = Timer(lambda s=StringIO, t=test_data: tests[0][1](s(t)))
>>> count, totaltime = timer.autorange()
10000it [00:00, 263935.46it/s]
10000it [00:00, 240672.96it/s]
10000it [00:00, 215298.98it/s]
10000it [00:00, 226025.18it/s]
10000it [00:00, 201787.96it/s]
10000it [00:00, 202984.24it/s]
10000it [00:00, 192296.06it/s]
10000it [00:00, 195963.46it/s]
>>> print(f"{totaltime / count * 1000:6.3f} microseconds ({count:>2d} runs)")
50.193 microseconds ( 5 runs)

Pandas is keeping up well here however! But without chunking the gigabytes of memory needed to read all 200 million rows of data into memory (with the actual dataset, not empty columns as I produced here) is going to be a lot slower and perhaps not something your machine can actually carry. Using a Counter() doesn't require gigabytes of memory here.
If you need to do more processing of the CSV dataset, then using SQLite is going to be a good idea too. I wouldn't even use Python then; just use the SQLite command line tool to import the CSV data directly:
$  csvanalysis.db
SQLite version 3.19.3 2017-06-27 16:48:08
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> CREATE TABLE csvdata (A, B, ID, C, D);
sqlite> CREATE INDEX csvdata_id on csvdata (ID);
sqlite> .import /path/to/file.csv csvdata
sqlite> SELECT ID, COUNT(*) FROM csvdata GROUP BY ID;

etc.

A: Try to convert the cvs files into a sql database, e.g. each file represents a table, in a one-time pre-processing step.
Searching in a single column would reduce to a sql-query.
Memory optimisation is take care of by the datebase-engine.
Since you use python, I would suggest sqlite3 (import sqlite3).

A: How about:
1) df.groupby('ID').count()
or
2) df['ID'].value_counts()
See also:
When is it appropriate to use df.value_counts() vs df.groupby('...').count()?
Then you could use the data and create a dictionary from two lists that already have tallied the entries.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: How to write ANSI compatible bytes in Python 3 (0x80 and up)? I am new to python and try to write a script which makes byte 0x00-0xff output to a file.
This is the code i am currently looking at
import sys

filename="binarywriter.txt"
openmode="wb"
charset="utf8"

file=open(filename, openmode)
for x in range(16,256):
    s="0x%.2x=\\x" %x
    s+=hex(x)[2:]
    d=bytes(s, charset).decode("unicode_escape")
    file.write(d.encode(charset))
    file.write("\r\n".encode(charset))
file.close()
sys.stdin.readline()

The thing is that the python script writes all well until byte 0x7f (which is ascii) after this (0x80) it converts all output in utf8 encoding which has 2 bytes. The thing is to avoid this and only write something like this:
...
0x7f
0x80
0x81
...

so i need something like 8bit encoding but after hour of searching there has not been any result for me
there is also a little problem, where numbers <16 return a single hex value which cannot be decoded, but i might find a solution for this

A: You can use Latin-1 (also known as ISO_8859-1) encoding.
charset="iso-8859-1"

See the screenshot for the proof that every character only needs one byte in the file:

A: If you're after a file of 256 bytes in length that represents 0x00 through 0xFF then you can use:
with open('binary.dat', 'wb') as fout:
    fout.write(bytes(range(256)))


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text:
Past Wildfires Offer Future Roadmap for Forest Management's Effects on Water
By Jaquelyn Lugg, UC Merced
Prescribed burns are part of forest-management practices. Photo courtesy of Qin Ma.
Forest restoration is often associated with mitigating wildfire risk and improving ecosystem health throughout the Sierra Nevada. But restoration also dramatically affects water use within forests and the amount of runoff that flows downstream.
The Sierra Nevada provides more than 60 percent of California's water supply and sustains a globally important agricultural region. Quantifying the water-related benefits can be critical in showing the true value and cost-benefit of forest management. But until now, there hasn't been enough locally relevant data to incentivize restoration projects.
New research from UC Merced's Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) fills this data gap and provides a method to monetize the water-related benefits of forest thinning.
The research team, led by former SNRI postdoctoral researcher Qin Ma, used satellite imagery of Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade Range forests from 1985 to 2017 to track changes in evapotranspiration — mainly water use by vegetation — before and after large fires. The study area covered nearly 53,000 square miles and included 14 major source-water basins.
Recently published in the Journal of Hydrology, "Wildfire Controls on Evapotranspiration in California's Sierra Nevada," details the team's findings:
On average, evapotranspiration dropped 36 percent, or 265 mm in the first year after a fire;
Continued reductions averaged 23 percent annually in the first 15 years after a fire; and
Changes varied in different areas depending on burn severity and forest density before the fire.
"This historical data about water yield from Sierra forests after fire are important because it acts as a guide," explained Ma, now an assistant professor in the Mississippi State University Department of Forestry. "Understanding how water use in forests has changed after disturbances in the past can help us predict how forests — and the water supply they provide — will respond to comparable management actions such as thinning or the reintroduction of low-intensity fire in the future."
While high-severity fires led to the greatest reductions in evapotranspiration, these events also often have detrimental impacts on human communities, wildlife habitat, carbon storage and water quality through erosion. The challenge, the researchers note, is to mitigate these negative effects while increasing runoff.
Using an analysis based on the historical data, the team found that a future moderate-severity burn, or an equivalent management action such as thinning over just 27 percent of the Sierra Nevada would result in a 9 percent reduction in evapotranspiration.
"Our data not only show that ecological restoration can simultaneously reduce drought stress in Sierra Nevada forests and increase water yield, it also demonstrates a way to quantify the benefits of forest management actions," said study co-author Professor Martha Conklin, with UC Merced's School of Engineering. "Because restoration projects are so often limited by cost, it's critical that we monetize the water-related benefits to help incentivize forest management."
The research team also included SNRI's Professor Roger Bales and then-graduate student Joseph Rungee; research scientist Brandon Collins from UC Berkeley; and Professor Michael Goulden of UC Irvine. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the UC Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the California Strategic Growth Council through the Innovation Center for Ecosystem Climate Solutions.
Lorena Anderson
Senior Writer and Public Information Representative
landerson4@ucmerced.edu
Sierra Nevada Research Institute
UC Water


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