Click here to see an example Procedure for Determining Context of the Organization and Interested Parties.
Click here to see an example List of Interested parties.
4. Have you determined and documented the boundaries and applicability of your QMS by considering external and internal issues, requirements of interested parties and your products and services?
You need to determine and document the boundaries and applicability of your QMS by considering external and internal issues, requirements of interested parties and your products and services.
Click here to see an example Scope of the Quality Management System.
5. Have you established, implemented, maintained and continually improved a QMS including all processes needed; including interactions and sequences of processes and assigning resources?
You need to establish, implement, maintain and continually improve a QMS including all processes needed; including interactions and sequences of processes and assigning resources.
7. Does top management demonstrate leadership of the QMS by accounting for the efficiency of the QMS, promoting QMS principles, promoting improvement and ensuring resources are available?
Top management needs to demonstrate leadership of the QMS by accounting for the efficiency of the QMS, promoting QMS principles, promoting improvement and ensuring resources are available.
8. Does top management show leadership with respect to customer focus, customer and statutory requirements, risks and opportunities and enhancing customer satisfaction?
Top management must show leadership with respect to customer focus, customer and statutory requirements, risks and opportunities and enhancing customer satisfaction.
9. Is a quality policy established that is appropriate for the organization, provides a framework for quality objectives and shows commitment to satisfying requirements and continual improvement?
A quality policy must be established that is appropriate for the organization, provides a framework for quality objectives and shows commitment to satisfying requirements and continual improvement.
Click here to see an example Quality Policy.
10. Is the quality policy available, maintained, communicated and understood by relevant interested parties?
The quality policy needs to be available, maintained, communicated and understood by relevant interested parties.
11. Has top management assigned responsibilities and relevant roles for the QMS development, reporting and maintenance so that it meets the intended goals?
Top management must assign responsibilities and relevant roles for the QMS development, reporting and maintenance so that it meets the intended goals.
12. Has planning for the QMS considered issues and requirements that determine the risks and opportunities to be addressed?
Click here to see an example Procedure for Addressing Risks and Opportunities.
13. Has planning taken place to address the risks and opportunities identified and integrate these into the QMS?
Planning must take place to address the risks and opportunities identified and integrate these into the QMS.
Click here to see an example Registry of Key Risks and Opportunities.
14. Have you established quality objectives for the QMS that are measurable, monitored, communicated, updated and documented?
You need to establish quality objectives for the QMS that are measurable, monitored, communicated, updated and documented.
Click here to see example Quality Objectives.
15. When QMS changes are needed are they carried out in a planned manner?
When QMS changes are needed they must be carried out in a planned manner.
16. Have you determined the resources needed for the QMS including internal and external resources, people, infrastructure and the environment necessary for the QMS?
You need to determine the resources needed for the QMS including internal and external resources, people, infrastructure and the environment necessary for the QMS.
17. Have you identified the resources needed for valid monitoring and measurement results for product and service conformity including measurement traceability , safeguards for measurement and organizational knowledge necessary for operations?
You need to identify the resources needed for valid monitoring and measurement results for product and service conformity including measurement traceability, safeguards for measurement and organizational knowledge necessary for operations.
18. Have you determined the necessary competence required of persons who will perform functions within the QMS processes?
You need to determine the necessary competence required of persons who will perform functions within the QMS processes.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Competence, Training and Awareness.
19. Have you taken actions to ensure persons doing work within the QMS know the quality policy, quality objectives and how they contribute to the QMS including the implications of non-conformance?
You need to take actions to ensure persons doing work within the QMS know the quality policy, quality objectives and how they contribute to the QMS including the implications of non-conformance.
20. Have you determined the what, when, with whom, how and who communicates for both internal and external communications relevant to the QMS?
You need to determine the what, when, with whom, how and who of QMS communication for both internal and external communications relevant to the QMS.
21. Have you set up a process to control documented information of the QMS including creating and updating, control of use, adequate protection, control of distribution and changes?
You need to set up a process to control documented information of the QMS including creating and updating, control of use, adequate protection, control of distribution and changes.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Document and Record Control.
22. Do you plan and control processes needed for your product or service including criteria for acceptance, resources needed, control necessary and what documented information is needed, including control of planned changes?
You need to plan and control processes needed for your product or service including criteria for acceptance, resources needed, control necessary and what documented information is needed, including control of planned changes.
23. Have you implemented processes for customer communication, determining requirements for products and services, reviewing requirements of products and services and updating documents when changes occur?
You need to implement processes for customer communication, determining requirements for products and services, reviewing requirements of products and services and updating documents when changes occur.
Click here to see an example Sales Procedure.
24. Have you established, implemented and maintained a design and development process for your products and services that addresses design and development planning, inputs, controls, outputs and changes?
You need to establish, implement and maintain a design and development process for your products and services that addresses design and development planning, inputs, controls, outputs and changes.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Design and Development.
25. Have you taken steps to ensure externally provided processes meet requirements by determining the type and extent of control needed and the information needed for external providers?
Click here to see an example Procedure for Purchasing and Evaluation of Suppliers.
26. Have you implemented the controlled conditions necessary for your production and service provision including; necessary documented information, monitoring and measurement, identification and traceability (if necessary), property belonging to customers or external parties, preservation of product or service, control of changes and post delivery activities associated with your product and service?
You need to implement the controlled conditions necessary for your production and service provision including; necessary documented information, monitoring and measurement, identification and traceability (if necessary), property belonging to customers or external parties, preservation of product or service, control of changes and post delivery activities associated with your product and service.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Production and Service Provision.
27. Have you implemented planned arrangements to verify that requirements have been met before release of products and services?
Click here to see an example Record of Product/Service Conformance.
28. Have you implemented a process to identify and control nonconforming outputs of your processes so that they are not unintentionally used until a disposition has been made? Is documented information maintained for this process?
You need to implement a process to identify and control nonconforming outputs of your processes so that they are not unintentionally used until a disposition has been made and you must maintain documented information for this process.
Click here to see an example Procedure for the Management of Nonconformities and Corrective Actions.
29. Have you determined the monitoring and measurement needs, how it will be done and when it shall be performed for the processes of the QMS and customer satisfaction? Is analysis and evaluation done on the data and information arising from monitoring and measurement?
You need to determine the monitoring and measurement needs, how they will be done and when they shall be performed for the processes of the QMS and customer satisfaction. You must also analyze and evaluate the data and information arising from monitoring and measurement.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Measuring Customer Satisfaction.
30. Are there audit procedures to evaluate the QMS against the planned arrangements (including effectiveness, proper implementation and maintenance) at planned intervals? Are results reported to management?
You need to have audit procedures to evaluate the QMS against the planned arrangements (including effectiveness, proper implementation and maintenance) at planned intervals and results must be reported to management.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Internal Audit.
31. Does top management review the data from the QMS to assess the need for change in the QMS, resource adequacy and the effectiveness of the QMS?
Top management must review the data from the QMS to assess the need for change in the QMS, resource adequacy and the effectiveness of the QMS.
Click here to see an example Procedure for Management Review.
32. Do you identify opportunities for improvement and implement action to meet requirements and enhance customer satisfaction?
33. When a nonconformity occurs do you take action to deal with the nonconformity and deal with the consequences, evaluate the need to eliminate the root cause of the nonconformity and review the effectiveness of the corrective action taken?
When a nonconformity occurs you must take action to deal with the nonconformity and deal with the consequences, evaluate the need to eliminate the root cause of the nonconformity and review the effectiveness of the corrective action taken.
34. After action is taken do you update any risks and opportunities found during the corrective action and update the QMS if necessary?
After action is taken you need to update any risks and opportunities found during the corrective action and update the QMS if necessary.
35. Do you continually improve the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the QMS?
You need to continually improve the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the QMS.
% of the requirements of ISO 9001 in your quality management system. Here are some notes on what is still needed.


text:
Vall Companys takes full control of Spanish meat peer Embutidos Rodríguez
Vall Companys already held a 40% stake in Embutidos Rodríguez, building from 10% in 2017.
Simon Harvey
Grupo Vall Companys has taken full control of fellow Spanish meat firm Embutidos Rodríguez, an Iberian ham specialist.
Family-owned Vall Companys already held a stake in Embutidos Rodríguez, otherwise known as Sausages Rodríguez. The Lledia-based business, Spain's largest poultry processor, initially took a 10% interest in 2017 and then increased the holding to stand at 40% as of last year.
Spain's market regulator – the National Commission of Markets and Competition – has now approved a full takeover, although Vall Companys did not reveal in a statement yesterday (12 January) how much it has paid for the remainder of Embutidos Rodríguez.
Based in the municipality of Soto de la Vega in the north-western province of León, Embutidos Rodríguez specialises in pork products such as a range of chorizo, Iberian hams and cold meats. The business, founded in 1910, was the dedicated supplier of Iberian ham to Vall Company's before 2017.
Pork is the second-largest part of Vall Company's EUR2.3bn (US$2.4bn) turnover business (2021) after poultry, with the firm also having a presence in beef and cured meats. The business also supplies flour and animal feed.
Embutidos Rodríguez, meanwhile, generates a turnover of EUR220m and employs 600 people at its factory in Soto de la Vega.
Spain's overall meat market was expected to reach more than $26bn last year, according to estimates from Just Food's parent company – analytics and research firm GlobalData. Ten years earlier, it was valued around $21bn.
Vall Company's said the takeover of Embutidos Rodríguez consolidates its Iberian ham operations and "strengthens its growth prospects in the short- and medium- term in the national and international markets".
Last year, Vall Companys also fortified its position in poultry, buying a 75% interest in Grupo Sada from Netherlands-based agri-food group Nutreco.
Simon has been writing about the food industry with Just Food since 2017. Prior to that, he was a financial news editor at Bloomberg and Dow Jones for around 17 years, working out of bureaus in London, Singapore and Malaysia.
Fermented Meats (Savory & Deli Foods) Market in Spain - Outlook to 2023: Market Size, Growth and Forecast Analytics
Chilled Raw Packaged Meat - Whole Cuts (Meat) Market in Spain - Outlook to 2023: Market Size, Growth and Forecast Analytics
Fermented Meats (Savory and Deli Foods) Market in Spain - Outlook to 2025; Market Size, Growth and Forecast Analytics
Grupo Vall Companys
Embutidos Rodriguez, Sl

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Central Places of Interest
East Places of Interest
London Places of Interest
North West Places of Interest
Northern Ireland Places of Interest
Scotland Places of Interest
South East Places of Interest
South Places of Interest
South West Places of Interest
Wales Places of Interest
Mystical Britain: Britain's most sacred sites
As the two halves of King Arthur's Tintagel are reunited for the first time in more than 500 years, Ravneet Ahluwalia goes in search...
London's Victorian Landmarks
London's Victorian landmarks are among the capital's most iconic sights. Alice Rush picks five of the most famous Trafalgar Square Although its name and most famous...
Explore the Coastal Way in Wales
The Coastal Way in Wales is one of three national routes that take you through some of the country's most dramatic landscapes and fascinating...
A ghost tour of Chillingham Castle
Graced by royalty for centuries, Chillingham Castle is also one of England's most haunted castles. Gilly Pickup explores this spooky history on her guided...
Stuck for ideas to keep the family entertained this month? Here are our top tips for things to see and do in the wintery...
Hidden Tudor architecture in London
Away from the popular destinations, the capital's lesser-known Tudor palaces and houses paint a more vivid portrait of this fascinating era, as Nicola Rayner...
Five things to do in Oxfordshire
The southeast English county of Oxfordshire is home to one of the world's leading universities, the oldest public museum and a wealth of quaint...
Stuck for ideas to stay entertained this month? Here are our top tips for things to see and do in the month of October, from...
Visit the UK in autumn: 5 Best country estates
All over Britain, country parks and estates are now dressed in their seasonal best, so wrap up warm and get outside to enjoy the...
A historical Beatles tour of Liverpool
As Strawberry Field re-opens and fans celebrate 50 years since The Beatles' final recordings, David Atkinson visits Liverpool for a magical history tour of...


CNY Centro 624 (ex-S&O Coach Lines)970 viewsCNY Centro #624 crosses the CSX tracks on Old Liverpool Road on an outbound route 9N run on April 19, 1999. Originally purchased by S&O Coach Lines and was acquired when Centro took over S&O's express routes in the early 1990's.
SMMBL 471393 viewsSMMBL #471 at the garage. Photograph taken November 2, 1988 by Steve Hoskins.


text:
The Chaucer Review
Locating Authorial Ethics: The Idea of the Male or Book-Bag in the Canterbury Tales and Other Middle English Poems
Megan G. Leitch
Penn State University Press
Volume 46, Number 4, 2012
Locating Authorial Ethics:The Idea of the Male or Book-Bag in the Canterbury Tales and Other Middle English Poems
Oure Hooste lough and swoor, "So moot I gon,This gooth aright; unbokeled is the male.Lat se now who shal telle another tale;For trewely the game is wel bigonne."—miller's prologue
(I 3114-17)1
Occurrences of the word male as 'bag or pouch' are curiously rare and distinctive in the Chaucerian canon. The term appears in only five instances, all of which are in the Canterbury Tales,2 where it seems to carry connotations different from the mundane meanings of its synonyms. In the Host's proclamation, "unbokeled is the male," this physical object is configured as a conceptual analogue for Chaucer's incipient Canterbury storytelling project. In addition to this self-reflexive locus, Chaucer associates males with religious "authors" who present radically different attitudes toward, and radically different models of, authorship: the Pardoner (twice), the Parson, and the Canon. This article reads Chaucer's selective deployment of the signifier male as a strategic juxtaposition of certain figures and moments whose interrelation of sinful and salvific discourse interrogate authors' roles and the moral implications of their work. Male can mean not only 'bag or pouch,' but [End Page 403] also 'man, male gender, or genitals,' 'stomach,' and 'wrongdoing'—and the very inappropriateness of this polysemy is appropriate for the way in which Chaucer invests the word with an exploration of authorial ethics that partly concerns the scatological registers of his poetics, and in which he refuses to articulate a single verdict. In the second half of this article, the nature of this network of associations as a seemingly conscious—and consequential—wordplay is further contextualized by examining distinctions in use between male and its synonym objects in the Canterbury Tales, and by an analysis of related tropes in other Middle English poems. Chaucer seems to have been the first and, in certain respects, the only Middle English writer to employ the motif of the literary male. The final section of this article addresses how Chaucer's exploration of the problematic ethics of secular authorship through his use of male can productively inform our understanding of the place of an ending such as the Retraction—Chaucer's act of confession for his own authorship—as a textual utterance with a multiplicity of conflicting yet coexisting intentions.
When Chaucerian males are read in dialogue with each other (a reading that their placement and attributes seem to invite), they present reflections upon the issues of being an (im)moral author. The first instance of the word occurs when the Host refers to the Canterbury Tales as a male in his expressed metanarrative assessment of the literary work-in-progress of which he is a part (I 3114-17), associating this project-inaugurating male with Chaucer and his literary undertakings. Here, Chaucer establishes the identity of a male as a container for texts. The authorial implications for this signifier are further solidifed through rhyme. Every time male appears in line-final position (I 3115, VI 920, and X 26, but not I 694 or VIII 566), it rhymes with tale, creating a thematically resonant collocation.3 Each Chaucerian male is imagined, moreover, as a material and metaphorical analogue for a literary locus, such as a book. Each also connects literature to, or serves as a reminder of, [End Page 404] the authorial bodies who produce the tales, wearing a male attached to their persons—that is, the particular pilgrims who explicitly possess them within the frame, and also Chaucer as both pilgrim-narrator and external author.
Yet male could signify more than something that can be attached to the author's body. It could signify that body itself, in whole and in parts. Male as 'gender' and male as 'masculine genitals' were both usages current in the late fourteenth century.4 Tison Pugh has argued that Harry Bailey's unbuckle the male phrase contains an "oblique reference to male genitalia and sexuality" that "powerfully link[s] manhood to narrative."5 It is also worth observing that tale, as the common rhyme-word (and literary complement) for male...


When we saw the stunning intense colours of the Semperfli Inferno Biots and the Semperfli Intense Beads we knew we must try these in a fly pattern. In 2014 we went our with a variety of patterns and the Inferno Bug proved deadly, suspended under a bung, slowly retrieved and even resting on weed best Rainbow Trout hammered this cracking range of flies. Once we had over 100 fish on this pattern we knew we had to put it into production. For those of you that want to tie your own the pattern is below.
Wind forward the tying thread to behind the bead.
With the remaining Peacock Herl wrap 3 times over the wings behind the bead.


Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has once again failed to bring the Turnbull Government's flawed media reform legislation into the Senate.
For weeks the Minister has talked about introducing the legislation in the media, but in the last sitting week before the Budget the Bill is not even listed for debate.
Despite having the support of Labor to repeal the 75 per cent reach rule and bolster local content following a trigger event, the Minister is stubbornly refusing to split the Bill and see these sensible measures passed through the Parliament.
Labor knows the 75 per cent reach rule is past its used-by date but, unlike the Minister, we understand that any change to the two out of three rule needs to be considered in a broader context, which takes account of Australia's already highly-concentrated media landscape.
Despite repeated calls from Labor and industry for holistic reform, all the Minister has managed to do is waste more than a year in posturing and blame-shifting.
There could have been a comprehensive, evidence-based inquiry into the ownership and control rules, content rules and licence fees in the context of the emerging digital media environment by now.
To face continuing disruption and change with confidence the media sector needs a comprehensive vision and sound principles-based policy from the Government to help ensure our media laws support a both thriving democracy, and a competitive sector.
There's no hope for either under this Minister.


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text:
Stuck Behind Walls
Joyriding into Space
A Stick Up My Nose
It could be worse, of course.
I could be without Internet, TV and a view of the construction site next door. I could be somewhere without a restaurant downstairs that sends food up just for the dialing. And, let's face it, I could be in a place with gun-toting guards ordering pushups every morning.
Thankfully, none of that is happening. And yet I am in prison, nonetheless, surrounded by four impenetrable walls. They will define my world for the next 10 days, or until powerful people wearing spacesuits deem me fit to rejoin society. Welcome to international travel in the age of COVID. More specifically, to the regimen facing foreigners entering the Philippines.
Despite all evidence to the contrary however, I'm really not complaining. For I brought this on myself by insisting on returning. And now am succored because, well, I finally got my wish. Please allow a small digression to tell you how it happened.
Anyone who reads this column regularly knows that Southern California recently ensnared me. What began as a three-month sojourn stretched into nearly a year. And so I've been going with the flow, completing tasks that needed completing while enjoying the proximity of long-lost relatives and friends. But recently, it became apparent that my prolonged absence could jeopardize the permanent-resident status I enjoy in the Philippines. And so I made plans to return despite the necessity, at least for now, of leaving the family behind. The reason: to allow 10-year-old Isaac the benefits of actual in-class learning after more than a year of what passed for learning in front of a screen.
But saying goodbye to my beautiful wife and children proved harder than I'd imagined. Driving away after bidding the kids farewell, both my wife and I cried. And parting from her at the airport rendered a repeat of that ungainly spectacle.
Ah, but anxiety soon replaced grief. Had I remembered to bring the long list of required documents? If I forgot something, would it delay my trip? It wasn't confidence-inspiring to hear that a family of friends attempting the same journey a few days earlier had been denied boarding passes because they couldn't produce the birth certificate of their Filipino/American son. Nor was I buoyed to read that President Duterte was once again considering a border shutdown.
So I focused on doing what I had to. Five days prior to departure, I registered on a government website to be issued the requisite barcode. I also downloaded the indicated tracing app to my phone, filled out several questionnaires, and carefully prepared a folder full of documents. Finally, I booked ten nights at a government-certified hotel in Cebu for the critical and very-strict quarantine.
The flight was as uneventful as it was long. About two hours before deplaning, the crew presented each passenger with yet another stack of papers to complete. And then we were in the terminal at Mactan-Cebu International Airport waiting in long lines for briefings, document and temperature checks, swab testing of our noses and throats, baggage retrieval and, finally, rides to our respective hotels.
So here I am, confined behind these four walls. The room isn't bad; it's got a bed, closet, minibar, soaking-wet bathroom and the aforementioned window looking out on that building site. A nice young woman delivers breakfast every morning at my door; the rest I have to order by phone. There's a TV, though the volume's too low and my favorite channels are missing. And, while I'm tempted to loll the time away in pajamas, I try daily to put on some clothes.
On the seventh day, I'm told, one of those spacesuit-clad strangers will reemerge for another swabbing. Then, barring any unfortunate surprises, I will be free to go home. To quarantine again for another four days. This time, thank God, in my house. Which, last time I checked, had more than four walls.
To receive "Expat Eye" each week by email, sign up here.
David Haldane's latest book is a short-story collection called "Jenny on the Street." A former Los Angeles Times staff writer, he is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster dividing his time between homes in Joshua Tree, California, and Northern Mindanao, Philippines, where this column appears weekly in the Mindanao Gold Star Daily.


Now save time, energy and money on pedicures with the new compact Ideale 4-in-1 manicure set. Specially designed for working women, the set comes with all the basic tools for hand and toe nail grooming in a neat and compact space design. The set is always ready at hand for a quick, easy and smart manicure. It comes in an attractive leather case and is a pleasure to carry and use. Stay well groomed and you can also gift it to someone for enjoying a well groomed life with the Celestial 6-in-1 SS nail clipper set. Celestial is brand dedicated to excel with a combination of new age design and quality material which contribute to its growing stature in the industry. A one stop shop for home decor and furniture, Pepperfry sells a home product every 30 seconds.


So today's the day I've been waiting for, release day for the last original book in the Rena Series.
As of right now (I checked bookworms) it is available on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Apple IBooks, and Kobo. Amazon should be up by the end of the day (as I play the waiting game for that). All links are posted below in the last blog or on Return's page here at lyzaledo.com.
Also don't forget about the month long book sale on all my books!! The ENTIRE Secrets Trilogy AND the ENTIRE Rena Files Series will be 99 cents. Once January is here the prices will go back up. So get them while you can.
Return is now available on Amazon!


"It is the giving and the receiving of Love that is not only the pulse beat of God. It is the only form of life that can be sustained indefinitely. Love is your spiritual food. It is more than just your identity. It is the way that you breathe as a spiritual being. It is your truth as My pulsing heart. Therefore, I ask you to open into this flow of grace, into the giving and the receiving of the one heart that is awakening as humanity - that you might be this entry point...bringing consciousness to the awakening of unity in the whole of Earth and every life upon it..." - From The Messages from God (channelled through Yael & Doug Powell, 19 March 2012, Circle of Light).
"Each (of us is) a miracle of love." - A Course in Miracles.
"Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." - Rumi.
"To an Earthkeeper, love is not a feeling or something you barter with. Love is the essence of who you are, and it radiates from you as a brilliant aura: You become love, practice fearlessness, and attain enlightenment." – Alberto Villoldo.
For us all to discuss - until we all die."
"In love is found the secret of divine unity; it is love that unites the higher and lower stages, and that lifts every thing to that stage where all must be one."
"All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know."
"The head is a marketplace, the heart is the shrine of being. All that is beautiful and true arises out of the heart, never out of the head."
Beloved ones, it is a new time and it is a new world alive within the old one. It is a new experience of Love. At the center of it all is a new awakening to gratitude.
You have often heard "turn within," that the truth is within you. And this is so. The truth of the world of Love is within the world of duality as well. The key to the awakening of your experience of it every day is Real Gratitude. The gratitude that is often known is the gratitude of being thankful with the mind, of noticing the things the mind deems good and turning to Me with prayers of thanks.
I Am here today this moment with you to open your heart to Real Gratitude now. The experience of gratitude as you live it in the Real of God is an all-consuming, indescribably ecstatic form of worship as real to you as the cosmic breath of Love that breathes your being into existence, as powerful as the Moment of Creation.
In aligning your heart with the truth of its energy as the conduit of this outward flowing Love, gratitude is the song of life, and it sings your being into its fullness continually. Just as the breath of God is ever breathing All That Is, gratitude for the gift of life, the amazing gift of the relationship in consciousness of all the realms of Love is such a profound part of My being, such a stunning awareness of the full possibilities of All That I Am, that it is the basis of this conscious creation, this hologram of Love extending.
Gratitude is the highest vibration of God in synch with Love, in perfect harmony. It holds such a pure experience of Love that in it is the seed of our relationship that blossoms in the Now Moment.
The resonance of gratitude is so clear and so penetrating that it moves within Creation, expressing God outward. It is the kernel of all relationship in the endless kaleidoscope of Love's conversation, alive in All That Is.
To align with Real Gratitude is to be instantly in resonance with the clear and perfect truth of who you are, beloved ones, and the overflowing joy of life.
Because gratitude in its Real form is the kernel of this explosion of God that Creation is, in this world, in this moment, in the midst of awakening… when you attune to Real Gratitude, it awakens from the center of your being, your life, all things that touch you. Every bit of your field of energy rushes forth to bring into experience the perfect relationship of all things as Love.
And so it is, beloved ones, as I align you with the truth of gratitude, as you begin to allow this to sing itself alive in you, it shall come alive in your experience of life, of breath in every moment. It shall crack open the shell of the mind's imaginings, break free of the illusion of separation, the sub-creation -- and bring into full and glorious birth the experience of the world as pure Love.
The song of gratitude is in your heart. It is not something that you pray with your little mind. It has nothing to do with the mind's judgments of things, of what is good and what is bad…what is acceptable and what is not, gold and dreams and visions and facts. Gratitude is far grander than all of it and does not exist in this world in its pure form. But it can align this world with the truth of God, the moment that you allow yourself to experience it.
I have encouraged you to "pray gratitude" with your thoughts because this begins to turn you to Me in right relationship, and helps you understand just how important gratitude is. But you are ready now, beloved ones, to leave behind the world of mind, to step into the glorious truth of gratitude for everything as a perfect seed of life, holding in you My wonder at the blessing that Creation is and the splendor, the miracle of relationship throughout the whole of God.
When you open to this experience of Real Gratitude, beloved ones, it lifts you up and shakes you to the core of your being. It shakes you awake into the full awareness of the miracle of life that Creation is and that I Am, fully alive in all things and all are in relationship with Me, in the midst of the song of oneness.
It is a miracle beyond any description. The power of this miracle is in your hearts, proclaiming itself in every moment and truly bowing in reverence to the gift of this whole and holy life.
Because Real Gratitude is free of duality, free of the judgments of the little mind, free of the experiences of both "bad" and "good," Love and not-Love, Light and darkness, then the moment that you allow it to fully live in you, you burst free from the confines of the world of mind. From within, from the center of your being, from the center of all life, the Light of God, the Love I Am shatters all illusion and shines forth as the one creation that is the miracle that life is in Me.
It is time to allow gratitude to live you, to let the purity of its pure tone sing you clear of all illusion. It is time, beloved ones, for bravery, for it takes courage to allow gratitude to rise up and claim you and to shake you free of all that has held you in the world of time.
When you are alive from within and the song of gratitude sings your name, then your view of life is very different. Your resonance goes instantly into the center of all things and ignites the fire of this glorious remembrance that life is a stunning miracle, that relationship of Creator and Creation is the greatest blessing – that every breath is a song of exquisite Love that rushes through the hologram and sees itself in everything.
And so it is that you become that seed of Real awareness and life on Earth is revealed at last to be this song of continual gratitude whose vibration shakes free the heart of God I Am from the rigid forms of illusion, the duality that has held you. From within, it sings its song and from the heart you shall acknowledge that the old perceptions of life are gone and I Am expressing fully as you.
Everything that you acknowledge in any way in this Now Moment becomes a part of the expansion of Love from the center ecstatically outward until the false identities, until all beliefs in other than Love effortlessly disappear.
When you live, My dearest ones, in this kind of gratitude, you will discover that all that you see and touch and experience is luminous, life-filled and moving with grace. Those things that once seemed so ordinary, the movements of daily life that once you called "boring," are so rich with luminous color, so deep as the core of Love as expressed, so magical as you feel the response of all life singing this gratitude with you and in you. Suddenly you are part of the hologram of God, aware that everything is alive in you and you are fully part of All.
The communion of Love is indescribably delicious, shimmering through your being and pulsing through your heart. Everything that you see with your heart is then painted on the canvas of the world in the colors of God. So, from within, as gratitude comes and trumpets itself forth as the endless prayer of God, then All That I Am comes to embrace you as it rises from within, in great waves of gratitude, and the two meet in the moment to honor the miracle of Creation.
Beloved ones, you have yet no experience of Real Gratitude. You must be ready to let it take you, to let it sing you forth into eternity, to let it shake you from your roots and sing your heart into existence, as you fully accept the Now Moment's beauty and become the true prayer of life that beyond all possibilities of judgment, there is only life, and it is amazing.
There is only Love and it is so powerful. It is impossible to be grateful enough for the miraculous gift that Creation is. And yet, this gratitude lives within you and brings to you the prayer of being, astounding in its magnitude and perfect in its simplicity as it paves the way for Love.
It is gratitude that opens the heart. Even prayers of gratitude through the mind will open doorways that lift you up in resonance and begin to align you with the truth of life. Yet, even more than daily prayers is the power of gratitude, to not only restore you but to take you to the core of your being and let you live there.
In gratitude every life is a shining gem and every breath is a gift of Love. Every movement is a cosmic show of artistry that is so beautiful that your very breath becomes your "I am grateful." Every life connects to your core in this prayer, until you feel the song of gratitude as the voice of unity, singing into existence the pathways of Love, dissolving every barrier to the full expression of All That I Am.
It brings you into a state of reverence – reverence for life, reverence for the miracle of the Now Moment with such power that it opens the way for others to be restored to their gratitude as well, until the song of Real life becomes the world and humanity is sung forth as Creation is, as part of My prayer of gratitude, of thanks for the miracle of Love now shared and now extended.
Will you open your heart and let gratitude come to life? Will you release all of your protectiveness? Will you let gratitude begin to sing in the depths of your heart, and beloved ones, will you let it take you where it will? I promise you, where gratitude leads, miracles follow – beauty, discovery and humble availability to be the song of perfect Love.
Are you ready to truly live a grateful life? Not once in a while and not for things that you judge as good but rather, are you willing to allow the prayer of God that sings itself forth in Me as the song of Creation itself? Are you willing to let that be your truth as well – the prayer of Creation bringing itself alive, here and now, as you?
Beloved ones, we come to a point where the heart of God becomes your experience. We come to the place that is so important - when as an experience you realize that this is not about a person who is opening his/her heart. It is not about the ego identity. It is far greater than working on a spiritual life and making choices that seem to bring you closer to Me.
Ah, no. Beloved ones, this is about a leap that is so profound, so dramatic and so vital that it completely eliminates all effort, all choice, all involvement in the ego's drama. It is the leap into the experience of being the heart of God, completely open, ever glorious and eternal, limitless, ecstatic, indescribable and completely Real – where there is nothing to change or reach for. The truth is the truth. You are the heart of Love and nothing has ever changed this.
The moment that you realize this experience of Love – in that moment you realize that the human who suffers, who struggles or who makes choices to become more spiritual – this is not who you are. To approach this Love from the perspective of the ego is to only have ideas about the heart and to ever have that mis-perception of separation that creates something to long for, to reach for. It creates resistance to those things in the human experience that are less than the experience of the heart.
But, dearest ones, when you leap through this doorway, when you recognize the personality is totally not who you are… when you open to this effulgence of Love and become only this experience of the limitless Love of God you are… Then, all resistance is gone. All attachment, all duality, becomes like smoke, and every electron that has made up the physical is free to celebrate the expansiveness of your heart and the limitless joy of being All That You Are.
There is a place, then, where every spiritual path is dropped and where all perspectives of the mind are stopped by Love. When you ask yourself: Who is it? What is it that is here right now? The only answer is the heart of God I Am, and this answer pours into your being, lifts you up into an experience of Love and releases the dream of separation instantly, until you are freedom and expansion and the endless possibilities of Love.
So this is the shift to the heart, beloved ones. It is not the shift to the heart of a human being. It is the shift out of the perception of the ego into the experience of being your true nature, the heart of the living hologram. In this shift, dearest ones, the world is free to change, for you recognize that what you resist, persists.
Every aspect of the ego is a resistance to Love. This is obvious the moment you understand what the ego is. As long as you are identified with the person, with the story of your life in any way, you are not fully immersed in the experience of the heart … of being the heart…not having a heart to shift to. This is an important difference.
So I Am here, whispering to you that in the truth of Love the world of the ego ends. It disappears, beloved ones, into the Now Moment, where there can be no story line at all, for the stories of the mind require time. They require the building of a past, an extrapolation of a future. But you are the timeless heart of God, and when you allow this to claim you, time is ended. The world is gone and the pulse of Creation moves through you, free to create for the heart of Love the most exquisite expressions of God. You are free to dance through the cosmos, rejoicing in the release of the dream of a world based on separation from Love.
You stand in this point of awakening to the experience of the heart of God that you are. Love is your only identity, and then, from Love the urge and movement, the acceptance of the heart beat, the desire to give. Not giving that comes through a limited identity but giving that sweeps through the vastness of your being and informs through the Will of Love your every movement. You blaze as the one flame of life that holds within it two pulse beats of consciousness that give the impetus to all Creation for expansion and for experience of new possibilities of Love.
You are ready now to understand this distinction and to surrender the ego mind's identity. You are ready to release the human persona, to explode into the glory of freedom of the experience of your true identity that is right now the reality for everyone. It has just been ignored for a while as the focus of the heart has been directed into the experience of separation from Love that in truth, of course, is impossible.
This resonance of the truth of who you are is now becoming so strong and so palpable that every moment that you stop the little mind even for an instant, it overcomes you and lifts you into the ecstasy that you are – that you share with the Whole, with the hologram. It brings you into the pure Light of true awareness of All that Love Is and all that is possible, experienced directly in Me as the truth of who you are – the limitless beauty of God, the exquisitely awesome power of Love, the song of the universe in which Creation says a resounding and endless "Yes" to Love.
That "Yes" to Love resonates to the heart and is ready to burst free right now to become your experience of life, that you might perceive each moment as the Now and find yourself only extending Love, recognizing the heart of God in everyone, experiencing the world as truly profound expressions of the beauty and the Love in which you are fully immersed now in the endless song of ecstasy.
So let us no longer say, "Shift to your heart," but rather, "Be the heart of God you are, Now." Let these words be for you the launching point. Let them catapult you into the experience of your truth and in the glory of your being as peace, as the deep awareness of Homecoming – that you are Home in Me as the one heart of God I Am, fully present and beyond all stories of the little mind.
Every identity of the world, beloved ones, dissolves in this Love. All the stories of all the lifetimes that you have lived have all been creations of the mind and you are ready now to accept that you are the heart, and that the time for the mind is ended – that the heart of God can BE the world - not discover it, create it or perceive it…but simply be present to the truth that Love is all that is here anyway and everything else was a shadow play of finger puppets on the wall of the mind's limited drawings.
Now we open to the Real Light that I Am, that "I AM" may resonate fully in you and that resonance is the Word with which Love creates the elements of ever expanding expression of the discovery of the limitless possibilities of Love's perfection.
Beloved ones, it may be challenging to place in words what this shift means - from perceiving yourselves as human, as a human being with a story line that includes resistance to many things that have been unpleasant – now shifting into the limitless truth of Love, the heart of which is the vehicle of Love's expansion - and that, beloved ones, is you.
(20 October 2011, Circle of Light).
Beloved ones, the power of Love changes everything. It can bring to you a whole new reality, but you must choose to live in it. Love is such a different state that it does not relate to the world. When you stand in this Love, you are the expression of everything that is whole, that is perfect, that is glorious, that is powerful that comes forth brand new in an explosion of grace that will carry you and live you and create your real faith – if, dear ones, you allow it.
If you step into the grand flow of Love, then you are living in the Reality of God. This is why I say to you that you must choose your heart, for the Reality of Love is a completely different substance from the experience of the dream of the mind. It is Reality with a capital R, unchanging and yet perfect, ever expanding and glorious. In it, you come forth as the perfection of Love in every way, expressing the heart of the hologram containing the whole package of everything I Am that speaks these words as you. I Am the power of Love.
When you are in your mind, you cannot access this state for the mind is rushing along the horizontal access keeping you away from this moment of power, keeping you away from the direct experience of life, keeping you out of the heart, of the hologram, by insisting that you keep whirling through the convoluted life of thought and the world that it creates.
The shift to the heart is imperative. Nothing else will do it. But the mind, beloved ones, is tricky and keeps telling you that you can get there from here, that you can think your way into the Kingdom, so to speak…that you can somehow be the little you and gain perception…that you can keep your perception of your human self, your baggage, your past, your story, all of it and yet also be the heart of Love.
I must insist that it isn't true. The Love you are is so astounding and perfect that it contains the whole power of Creation itself and nothing illusory can stand before it. If you stand in this flow in the power of Love, you have to have the courage to let it dissolve the human you. You have to open your heart in a surrender to a greater life. It is an ego death, beloved ones, and the ego, of course, is terrified of it.
Yet once you make the choice to stand in the power of Love, claim it and reclaim it if necessary, you will find that it de-calcifies, dissolves the whole persona, the whole perception that there is other than the perfect Love of God. It dissolves the whole idea of duality, of human good and bad and the judgment that is inherent in every aspect of the mind.
Step into the power of your heart and surrender to this glory. Surrender to the truth of who you are. Surrender to this pure communion. The Moment of Creation is now. Right now you are born, crystal clear, the perfect reflection of the Love I Am and we are both astounded to be given such a gift as this. Love rejoices and expands itself instantly creating what you name "the cosmos," every idea of Love's perfection and every possibility for the heart of God to expand, to give forth, multiply this indescribable and limitless power of Love.
Just as you take your shower in the morning, make time to shift your reality – to completely leave behind the world of ego mind and to step into the experience of God, to step into the explosion of Love and let it show you all that you are – that you are vast and yet purposeful, that you are life in its magnificence, that you are the fire of Creation itself. Let it blast apart the ego's world that you might be the very fires of God.
When you feel Love's freedom, when you are the power of Love, let Love re-assemble your electrons. Let Love attract your molecules. Let Love be the expression of who you are and prepare to be amazed at the miracle of the perfect life of God that you are. If you find yourself once again perceiving that you have a body, the communion of Love will inform you of the truth and you will hear the sweet communion of your consciousness and heart with very pure electron of Love's expression that dances into images that create a different world – a world acknowledging the essence and the truth that only Love is Real.
From this place, the body is ethereal. It is an agreement to focus here now. It has no extension into the future. It has no story line, and yet, Love creates the perfect vehicle for its expression in service to this world.
When you've experienced the freedom of Love and your heart is your instrument of perceiving your life, then if you find yourself expressing something that the ego mind would deem imperfect, then you must trust it is the perfect tool for Love's expression into service, into the giving of the truth.
If every day you dissolve your life into the pulsing stream of Love's endless power and allow Love to re-assemble you, using your heart to perceive the results, then nothing of the story line that you've been living for all these years can find you in any way anymore. You are the free wheeling electrons of Light that are moving forth as Love in expression, faster than the speed of Light, more expansive than the very cosmos, powered, beloved ones, by your hearts that are the dynamic source of pure life.
It is time, my dearest ones, for freedom. It is time to drop the old ball and chain or ego. Time to make such a shift to the heart that all perceptions of the world are glorious because the heart only perceives the truth that only Love is Real and nothing else.
Your mind says: how will I live in the world like that? Will I pay my bills and take care of what is needed? The answer is: Love flows forth through the heart to be reflected in this painting made of Light that is the world, and you can trust it. There may be times that it is perfect to use the mind but you will use it from the place of true expansiveness, consciously picking it up like a tool or a pen and using it as a form of communication, though heart-to-heart is certainly more effective.
Everyone who is drawn into your energy field will receive through your heart what is perfect for them. When you stand in the moment in the power of Love, anything that comes near you is exposed as well to the great and eternal flow of life. In that resonance there is no ego and thus shall all others receive the gift as well…even if it is for but a moment…the gift of what it means to shift to the heart, to be free of the perceptions of the ego.
If it seems to take a while for the effect of Love to penetrate the view that you hold of yourself through the mind, then trust that this is what is needed. In the dissolving, others will be transformed as well. Every heart is part of each other and every moment Love is born, brand new, pristine, and urgent in its desire to give more. In the heart there is always our communion. It is the gift of life. It is the miracle. It is the power of Creation acknowledging itself, that Love may always be given and received and the Circle of Creation made complete.
The power of Love is alive in the world. Nothing exists without it, but the experience of reclaiming it must be your choice. You, beloved ones, choose your instrument of perception. You choose the vehicle through which you live your life and I encourage you to let it be your heart, to have the courage to surrender the ego, to jump into the explosion of this Love, to recognize you are created anew this moment and that you can feel all that you are perfectly in your heart.
The most important part of this Message, beloved ones, is that you can't get here through the mind. And yet, the mind would make you think it can bring you to this experience. It can somehow carry you to illumination, that if you just keep working on your issues, clarity will come and with it, freedom.
The focal point of God I Am is through your heart and the consciousness that it creates. The ego mind will never deliver you to "Heaven." Oh, it might create its version thereof but something would always be excluded for it sees duality, however hard it tries to see only the unity of Love.
So I encourage you to open up your heart, which simply means making the shift to only Love. It means standing by your choice in the Now Moment, the only time that truly exists and allowing the power of Love to live you, to express the whole of God in you, as you, here and now. The power of Love is what creates the seeming miracles – not, working it out through the mind.
Everything you know binds you, wraps you up in stories of limitation. They only create more of themselves as you work to free yourself from them because resistance to what is, is duality. Dissolve them through the shift to the heart. You must be willing to let go of your identity, to believe the story line is no longer needed, to release your identity of a world outside yourself that has created in you something powerless, a victim.
It cannot be true. It cannot, dear ones, for you are…you ARE the power of Love. You are the heart of all Creation. You are the pulse. You are the fiery furnace. If you allow it, every one of you can feel it. In its blast, in its explosion of joyous life, it will dissolve every issue of the ego mind and make real for you the reality that Love and consciousness are the only things you are seeing anyhow. Isn't it time to let it be the truth of only good, only the one life, only the power of Love?
If the story line, the ego mind keeps holding you, bring it all into the flow of Love. Bring it, beloved ones, out of the ego world and let it be consumed by Love. You will experience through your heart the freedom as Love dissolves the human persona that comes from your surrender to the heart.
When I say to you, bring the old identity into this endless stream of pulsing Love, it's not the same as using the mind to work it through, to somehow reach for change. It is shifting your reality, that you might feel it dissolve in the River of Life, in the power of Love, and stand free as the one heart of All That Is, expressing itself perfectly through you in changing facets of diamond Light and atomic life that the little mind can barely observe and absolutely cannot direct.
When you are ready to become the Light of living Love, jump in. Stand in the Now Moment and say 'Yes.' Take your morning shower in the Moment of Creation itself, and if mind returns, let it be the observer of the pulsing, blazing power of the heart and the luminous colors of Light which it creates, extending forth to manifest as a luminous world, clearly experienced as non-physical and absolutely all good.
To do this shift to the heart, you must stop believing in the story of the world that is filled with strife. It is a weaving of the little mind's duality and now the creation of the heart. And yet, the heart of God is ready to dissolve it, to open up the conduits of communion, to show forth the example of our tender respect, our absolute gratitude for the gift of communing together, the whole of God and God's heart.
The world, for you, is just this. In its truth, it is your own heart expressing its Love and communing with every aspect of itself as the world, completing the circle of giving and receiving Love. The world, as you know, lives within you, in your consciousness and in your heart. When you are paying attention to the world of the little mind, the world of the heart is still being born again in this limitless Now Moment.
The power of Love can shift you instantly out of the convoluted, self-focused little mind, the one that constantly continues to create the story that keeps you clinging to the old world. Are you ready to take the leap and to surrender the perceptions of ego to the power of Love?
You are so beautiful. And you already remember the truth. Sink into your heart beloved ones and feel this. Experience this beautiful world as the unfolding of humanity's heart's beliefs. Every precious person can see and know themselves by looking into the mirror of their life and their experiences. Yet even in this there is nothing to do. There is only the need to remember the truth. That that which shines from the center of all images, that which unites itself in your heart over and over is the only thing that you truly know and the only thing you'll ever need.
You are standing on the threshold of the end of time. Because time cannot exist when you don't believe in a future. When you know that you are here now. That you are Me. That you are this Love and that anything that your mind imagines can never be as beautiful as what I give - can never equal the gifts of your heart.
So dearest ones, even your paradigm of life is now changing. From seeing the need to help the world to living the truth of the wholeness of Love. And when you unfold into this, when you feel it as your truth, when you celebrate the gift of life as the continuous delivery of the wonders of Love, then that which you see as the world is different. And what you experience as yourself is unlimited. And between this moment of your current perception and this moment of experiencing yourself as the heart of Love there is only one conscious breath. One deep and holy surrender. One powerful "yes" to life. And the opening into what is Real - that this Love may be fully present in the world as you.
Beloved ones, it is not something you can do through the ego-mind. You cannot study enough, try hard enough, choose moment after moment to change. You can't do enough from the level of the ego-mind to change the dream, to experience a human being awakening. You can only give yourself over completely. Let Love take you and totally live you. Surrender again and again until the surrender takes root and you drop the separation and become the awareness of Me celebrating Myself as everything.
It is so difficult to explain from the perspective of language and thought. How you can be thousands of fractal points in the instantaneous burst of Love's creation. How you can be the awareness of the center, My heart, that sees within itself all life becoming more and Love giving itself into a greater experience of the gift of life.
In this interim, while you are dropping the dream of the ego, it can be interesting beloved ones. Because your heart sees that you exist in the most abundant universe that is pouring abundance into you. Delivering the manna of heaven, filling up this heart that you know as yours. Full to totally overflowing while at the very same time you still see the human, the identity you've worked with, "known and loved" struggling to believe that it has enough of what it needs while it exists in the midst of paradise and the abundant wealth of God.


Under Water Photo Gallery. These dive spots or dive sites, such as Balicasag Island, Arco Point, Puntod Island, Doljo Point and many more, are all around us. Philippine Fun Divers dive professionals will be happy to to guide and show you these amazing creatures!


Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect. He is commonly referred to and was addressed as Mies, his surname. March 27, 1886, Aachen, Germany.
March TWENTY-SEVENTH the Day of ORIGINATOR: March 27 people are highly individualistic. Like children, they are quick to learn, but once having learned pursue their own vision. In doing so, they acquire an unmistakable style, and an often overpowering technique built on what they have developed with others during their formative years. Exceptional people born on this day are originators, often the first to accomplish something in their field, but even those with more modest talents tend to make a contribution that is uniquely their own.
ADVICE: Cultivate diplomacy and learn to be more tolerant. Forget technique once in a while and let it all hang out. Be kind and understanding. Learn to compromise when absolutely necessary. You are not as strong and indestructible as you think you are.
BORN ON THIS DAY: Mariah Carey, Cyrus Vance (Secretary of State), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (German-American architect), Romulus )Rome's founder), Sarah Vaughn (Jazz singer), Sir Henry Royce (founded Rolls-Royce car company), Gloria Swanson (film actress), Miller Huggins (NY Yankees baseball manager, 13 seasons, three World Series victories, six AL pennants), Cale Yarborough (race car driver Daytona, NASCAR champion). Source: The Secret Language of Birthdays, Gary Goldschneider & Joost Elffers.
MEDITATION: The secret to concentration is the acceptance of endless distractions.
FAMOUS NINE of Clubs Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has been nominated for ten Golden Globe Awards, winning two, and four Academy Awards. November 11, 1974 (age 40), Los Angeles, CA.
ARIES I - The Week of the CHILD March 25-April 2: Because Aries I's show the frank and open demeanor of the child, they are sometimes accused of having a naïve or superficial view of life. But the so called naivete that they project is only one manifestation of the awe and wonder they experience in response to the world around them, which they are constantly rediscovering. An intense need to expressis wonder, and to share their observations with others, is also characteristic. Like children, they not only exhibit spontaneity and liveliness themselves but also appreciate these qualities in others. In fact, many may not understand how deep their neede for direct expression really is.
ARIES I NOTABLE Vincent Willem van Gogh was a major Post-Impressionist painter. He was a Dutch artist whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. March 30, 1853, Zundert, Netherlands.


Since beginning to actually consider what those values might be, I have been astonished by the amount of obstacles that can sit in the way – either externally through some persuasive social logic and system organisation that holds different values, or internally, which I suppose is the prisoner mentality that arises from internalising those external values. Either way, it's following orders that everyone might be better off not following.
Extrinsic values of popularity, financial success and status competition that underlay most of my previous efforts are inherently incarcerating. It seems like we all know this, and accept at different levels that self-interest above all else is, below the surface, displeasing and diseasing. But it's still difficult to imagine a way to live any differently; prisoner mentality.
These values create modern day wonders such as high-carbon lifestyles, which feel very nice, feel insane to consider giving up. But these days it takes more and more drastic measures to deny that something utterly atrocious is happening. I sometimes wonder whether, in my inability in the past to see the obvious flaws in the Myth of Endless Growth, there was a similar psychological process going on to the one that might make me bury a personal trauma, act like it never happened. This would be understandable in a situation which threatens the very ground I stand on, both in the sense that it shatters a worldview that I was raised to subscribe to, and that it literally erodes away the soil under my toes that grows my food.
These values alienate me from what my heart truly desires: loving relationships, connectedness to something bigger than myself, and an attempt at service towards that bigger thing. And not killing things.
Our common pursuit of economic unhappiness creates such horrendous social and ecological conditions that we would do well to be deeply concerned. But the prisoner mentality says that there's nothing that can be done, so we seem to proceed as normal. Our culture creates a black hole that we don't want to fall in, and so we run away from it like frightened rabbits. And those who succeed in running away from it achieve the further widening of the hole to swallow those not fast enough.
For those who are not in the hole, opting out of this madness is a real and necessary option, if we can get past our denial and indoctrination. And an important step towards slowing the damage – to ourselves, to those who are in the hole, and to the natural support systems we take for granted. The funny thing is, my experience of ceasing to pour my energy into accumulating my way to imagined security has involved a swelling of wellbeing, and also deep appreciation and sense of responsibility for those systems that sustain us (and that I am trashing).
Stand and fight or roll over and give in? Honour my own values or meekly accept someone else's? The first carries the fear of the unknown, a leap of faith and the discomfort of being responsible for my own actions and all their consequences, the inconvenience of radical behaviour change. The second comes with the slow, deep, grating anxiety of not being true to myself, of being in service to attractive but dark forces… and dark days ahead.
To die inside and carry on living like that sounds like a terrible way to go. On the path of unhappiness, a bit of me dies with each step, and the most I can do is tell myself it doesn't matter. Freedom, however, is quickening… and by its very nature, it means it doesn't have a path. So a zombie walks through life very differently to a human being.


On the face of it drone strikes aren't such a bad idea. Approval ratings plummeted for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan once Americans no longer saw these causes worthy of sacrificing the brave men and woman who serve in the trust their government will put them in harms way only in the best interests of the Country's defense. The military is used for a far broader purpose than defense. National defense, defense contractors – these are soothing names to justify the enormous budget and cost of life and human suffering involved in their endeavors. More accurately the military serve the interests of our Country and our allies. These interests could range from noble to motivated by greed. The more corporations are in power the more likely it is that the US will find itself in continual wars, an unsettling number involving strategic regions for cultivating natural resources; oil being the most likely candidate to come to mind first.
What's the real reason the majority of Americans tired of the perpetual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? For some at least one factor was the consideration of the hundreds thousands of Iraqi and Afghanistan people died and suffered over near to the length of a generation. These same people could also be expected to be angered by the death of our own sons and daughters, friends and family, who sacrifice their lives, physical and mental well being, to serve the Country's interests. The majority though don't lose sleep over the death of the innocents not counted as our allies and brethren. They are collateral damage, necessary to keep America and our children safe. That's what we are told, not just by Fox News, but by the other major networks as well. Imagine a world where people who had the same financial interests in the military industrial complex were also heavily invested in the mass media. Welcome to it.
The drones remove a large number of our soldiers from harms way to carry out certain missions, or executions, as the case may be. This is good, we don't want our soldiers to die, and could any ethical or moral reason be good enough to surmount that? It depends how the drones are used of course, but those who control them are those in power, and those in power usually, historically speaking, probably don't have the best interests of the people at heart. Not really. Not the people beyond the sphere of their family, friends and coworkers, or their bubble, to be precise. They might believe they do, but that's to better sleep at night.
There's two kinds of drone strikes that I'm aware of. Personality strikes, and signature strikes. A case can be made, one I can on occasion agree with, that these can be the best option. These are precision strikes against known imminent threats to the US. Though we're unfortunately going to have to explore the new definition of imminent in the context of drone strikes. Theoretically if you could eliminate the bad guy without any collateral damage, and no safety risk to our troops, then where's the harm?
First let's talk about what's imminent. It was imminent that this sentence be born following the last. My next breath is imminent. If someone broke into the house with a weapon, that would be imminent danger. We can extend the timeline to be generous. If we know an asteroid is headed to Earth and that it will strike then we know an imminent threat is on our hands. The time table is well understood, and destruction is inevitable unless action is taken. That's my take on imminent anyway, that's how I would use it.
It's still possible this too initially might sound reasonable. Consider though that there's no due process involved in any of this, and American citizens too can be killed if they are abroad. And they have been. Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed by a drone strike, a US citizen believed to have significant ties to Al-Qaeda. Putting that aside, a couple of weeks later his 16 year old son was killed by a drone strike. Also a US citizen.
Sure There's Due Process, Just Not Judicial Process, That's all.
I referenced a lack of due process and maybe I was hasty in my choice of words. Let Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States explain, "the Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process," OK, so we have due process, but not judicial process when it comes to drone strikes and the killing of American citizens abroad. Also while we're at it the NDAA act allows for the indefinite detention of US citizens without a trial. Always good to keep in mind. So what's due process without judicial process? In short, the Obama administration gets to kill who they want based upon whatever evidence they see fit, be it bad evidence or not.
Signature strikes are a different story. Such a strike could encompass a location that is suspected to be important to blow up, and it just might be in a populated area. We know we're using drone strikes in Afghanistan, so I won't trouble you with the numbers there, but consider Pakistan. Pakistan's not happy with the US, but if you watch the mainstream networks you might not appreciate why the animosity is so great.
As of December 17, 2012, 176 children were killed in drone strikes in Pakistan. That's just children and says nothing of the deaths of suffering of the innocent civilians in general left in the wake of these strikes. We're told that these strikes are surgical, that every precaution is taken to avoid collateral damage. 176 children dying is a surgery gone terribly wrong.
There are drones flying overhead in well populated regions of Pakistan everyday. These people have heard the explosions, they have witnessed the carnage in the aftermath, and they have attended the funerals of family, friends, or in the least those in their community. They never know when the explosion will go off, they never know where. There are record amounts of citizens seeking pharmaceutical assistance which can fairly be attributed to post traumatic syndrome while living in a same traumatizing conditions day after day. What would we, as American citizens, think if another country with drones flying over our cities imposed those same conditions upon us. We would fight back, and hate those who oppress us.
Then there are miniature drones. These are in the shape of a helicopter, quite small, enough so to go unnoticed while it lands in a tree, or perhaps atop a building. The drone can then monitor a three mile radius. Sure they're expensive, but the US military is spared no expense in the interest of peace. There are private corporations who line the wallets of politicians that ensure the proper legislation is passed to allow them to conduct business. And this is, and will become increasingly more so, big business.
What perhaps is most disturbing is that the majority of the American people are OK with drones. There are many who are adamantly outspoken about them, but they are not the one's in power, and they are in the minority. Science Fiction movies were invented for a reason. There's a wisdom there, glimpses of possible futures, ones that have already come to light in too many respects. I may as well mention 1984 by George Orwell. That book never hurts to name drop on a topic like this. With all the possibilities we have to look forward to with the advances Mankind has made and will make, the only chance it's not going to end badly is if enough people care. Are drones a step in the right direction towards the future you want?
If you're interested in learning more, Judge Napolitano wants to talk to you about it, and despite the fact he's on Fox News, he actually has the capacity to talk sense now and again.
Jon Stewart: A Comedian, And A Credible News Source?
• Reliant on the intelligence of the Pakistani and Yemeni governments, we might not know whether drone strikes truly serve our interests.


First of all I'd like to thank TED Talks for gathering some of the greatest thinkers and the spreading of important ideas. Specifically, I'd like to thank Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for inspiring me to write this article and to tell this story. I'll undoubtedly be addressing some of her insights for this post. Thanks again Chimamanda.
I watched Chimamanda's Ted Talk about the single story, and I saw so many parallels in myself and in my life as well as how I've been looked at and described as well as how I've addressed and thought of others in my own rather shortsighted thinking. I think we all tend to buy in to these over simplifications of each other, and while some of those descriptions may be true, there is always more. No one and no group of people can be characterized by only one or two or even three descriptors. We are way too complex for that.
The problem with the "Single story" is that if it's repeated enough, and especially if it's propagated by the media it seems to become the gospel in our minds. It becomes the default perception or point of view about people, their habits, the way they live and their beliefs. We usually use these very limiting accounts of each other to complete a very incomplete picture. Then of course some of these turn into accepted stereotypes, either widely or just among ourselves. My point is that stereotypes aren't necessarily wrong, Moreover, they are incomplete, they don't tell the complete story. When we give in to the "Single Story" or stereotypes it becomes hard for us to pierce the mental veil of seeing people as they truly are since we've already prejudged what they're all about.
As I see it, stereotypes are harmful because they highlight our differences making people less than equal. Generally, these "Single Stories" are used only to cast indignities and insults upon others. These are used to separate us instead of uniting us which is what we really need.
One of the reasons that I decided to write this piece is that I've been as guilty of this as anyone else. Here's an example of one of my past personal bouts with ignorance: A few years ago I was talking with a few coworkers and one of them was from Mexico. His home country came up in the conversation, and I found myself regurgitating snippets of what I'd heard from the news. Now at this time the only thing that was on the news about Mexico were immigration reform, border drug wars and kidnapping. This particular week the media had chosen the drug wars as the definitive Mexico that they wanted to represent to the entire world. I mentioned something half jokingly about being apprehensive about traveling to Mexico because of those troubles. The comments made by me really had no relevance to the conversation whatsoever. I think I was just trying to be funny by taking a jab at an entire country, at someone's national identity, someone's source of pride.
My coworker was livid and in my fog of ignorance and insensitivity I couldn't really understand why. I get it now. While my coworker may have been angry (and rightfully so) for multiple reasons, I didn't even think about the other 99.9 percent of happenings in that country that we don't hear about on a daily basis. What about all of the good things that happen there? What about the warmness of the people, the beautiful country or the culture and traditions? I guess that doesn't make very good news.
While it is true that we are all have minor distinctions, we are much more alike than we are different. We need much more love, compassion, and empathy toward each other going forward.
This entry was posted on September 16, 2013 by leon in Learning, Mental Floss and tagged insight, Single Story, Thinking out of the box, tolerance.


The Witch's Familiar has debuted in Australia, averaging 541,000 viewers in the five major capital cities. It was the second-highest rating ABC drama of the day and the eighth highest rating program of the day overall. These ratings do not include regional or time-shifted viewers.


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A recent, independently-verified competition sponsored by Tamarack Aerospace demonstrated the effectiveness of the company's Active Winglet system toward improved efficiency and reduced total trip time.
Tamarack Photo
On Tuesday, January 26, two CJ1s departed Portland, ME (PWN) bound for West Palm Beach, FL (PBI). The aircraft, N741CC and N44VS, were essentially identical, but for the Tamarack winglets installed on the latter. (Tamarack noted N44VS also carried a deliberate 200 lb. weight penalty.)
After departing Portland, N44VS flew to PBI non-stop and burned 155 gallons less fuel than the flat-wing aircraft despite a stiff headwind. The unmodified CJ1 had to refuel at Columbia Metro Airport (CAE) in South Carolina due to weather-related performance restrictions.
Tamarack CEO Nick Guida noted N44VS benefitted from "about a 30% more efficient flight profile in terms of fuel consumption" thanks to the winglet-enabled performance gains. In total, N741CC traveled 1,496 miles after being forced inland by weather conditions, spent 5 hours and 37 minutes in the air (plus 45 minutes on the ground for the fuel stop) and used 3,650 pounds of fuel. N44VS was able to fly a more direct, 1,386-mile route, spending 4 hours and 36 minutes in the air and using a total of 2,610 pounds of fuel.
N44VS was flown by CJP member Wick Zimmerman, CEO and co-founder of Outside the Lines. The unmodified aircraft was flown by Mike Laver, owner of Carolina Turbine Support. "I am very pleased with how the Active Winglets performed in [the] fly-off," said Zimmerman, while Laver called the winglet system "impressive technology that continue to prove they help with fuel efficiency."
Staffers with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) were onboard both aircraft to document the event, which was also tracked in real-time online. The fly-off was also documented according to National Aeronautic Association (NAA) rules, and the company said it will be considered for a record flight time between the city pairs.
Tamarack's Active Winglets have been installed in more than 100 CJs.


Symphony in Lights: 6 to 9 p.m. daily through Dec. 31, Shops at Wiregrass, 28211 Paseo Drive, Wesley Chapel. Featuring two different shows — one presenting the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at 6 and 8 p.m., the other featuring holiday favorites with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at 7 and 9 p.m. Visit theshopsatwiregrass.com.
Eve of the Eve: Grab your commemorative tasting glass for the second-annual formal masquerade ball and pre-New Year's Eve party at 7 p.m. Dec. 30 at In the Loop Brewing, 3338 Land O' Lakes Blvd., Land O' Lakes. Tickets are $35 and include free beer and wine tastings, a prosecco toast at 10 p.m., cigar rolling and live music by the Jazz Phools. Call (813) 997-9189.
New Year's Eve at Caliente: The nudist camp greets the new year with a masquerade-style, formal Venetian Ball starting at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 at Caliente Resort and Spa, 21240 Gran Via Blvd, Land O' Lakes. With dancing to music by DJ Ian, piano music by Shelly and Marcus, buffet dinner and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets vary, up to $130. Call (813) 996-3700.
New Year's Eve at the Palms: The public is invited to this formal party starting at 8 p.m. Dec. 31 at Plantation Palms Golf Club, 23253 Plantation Blvd., Land O' Lakes. With appetizers, choice of main course, two drinks and dancing to music by DJ Ray. The party ends at 12:30 a.m. Tickets are $65. Call (813) 996-4653, ext. 3.
Holiday Spirit exhibit: The exhibit continues through Jan. 12 at Uptown Art Gallery/Brooksville City Hall, 201 Howell Ave., Brooksville. It includes display of works by local artists, as well as Just Poets. Works in the gallery will be for sale. Call (207) 809-9066.
Family Movie: Children 12 and younger and their parents can enjoy a recently-released movie and popcorn. Call the library for movie title. 2 p.m. Hugh Embry Library, 14215 Fourth St, Dade City. Free. (352) 567-3576.
Family Game Night: 5:30 p.m. Regency Park Library, 9701 Little Road, New Port Richey. Free. (727) 861-3049.
Reptile Show: Meet some cold-blooded friends from Dunndee Farms. 2 p.m. New Port Richey Library, 5939 Main St, New Port Richey. Free. (727) 853-1279.
First Hike: Start the New Year off right with a ranger-led walk around the trails of Dade Battlefield including the historical Fort King Road and the Pine Flatwoods Trail. 10 a.m. Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, 7200 County Road 603, Bushnell. $3 per vehicle (352) 793-4781.
Ask A Master Gardener: Pasco County Master Gardeners will answer gardening questions. If you have an ailing plant, bring a sample for an on-the-spot diagnosis. 5:30 p.m. Hudson Regional Library, 8012 Library Road, Hudson. Free. (352) 518-0156.
Archery Beyond Beginners: This two-day archery exploration program takes students from the basics of archery to planning a hunt and the ethics of hunting. All equipment provided. Participants are to bring their own water and a lunch. For youth ages 10-16. Limited to 12 participants. 9 a.m. Chinsegut Conservation Center, 23212 Lake Lindsey Road, Brooksville. $20; registration required. (352) 754-6722.
Walking Sticks Hike: Join the monthly hiking club that meets at a variety of Florida Wildlife Conservation-managed lands around Brooksville. This hike will be along the connector trail from Chinsegut to Big Pine. Call to register as parking is limited. The hike is approximately 1.5 miles. 8 a.m. Chinsegut Conservation Center, 23212 Lake Lindsey Road, Brooksville. Free. (352) 754-6722.
Brooksville Farmers Market: 10 a.m. Brooksville Farmers' Market, 615 Old Hospital Drive, Brooksville. No cover (food/drink additional).


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Este artigo traz um resumo da participação brasileira nos Jogos Mundiais de 2017, disputado de 20 a 30 de julho na cidade de  Wroclaw, Polônia.

Quadro de Medalhas Oficial
O Brasil terminou esta edição dos Jogos Mundiais na 16a posição do quadro de medalhas.

Atletas Medalhados
  Ouro
 Valeria Kumikazi - Karate classe Kumite 55kg
 Ana Castellain - Levantamento de Peso Básico Feminino
 Seleção Brasileira de Handebol de Praia Masculino - Thiago Barcellos, Nailson Amaral, Marcelo Machado, Cristiano Rossa, Bruno Oliveira , Diogo Vieira, Thiago Claudio, Wellington Esteves Pires, Pedro Wirtzbiki
 Seleção Brasileira de Handebol de Praia Feminino - Carolina Braz, Patrícia Scheppa, Nathalie Sena, Ingrid Frazão, Renata Santiago, Juliana Oliveira, Camila Souza, Jessica Barros, Cinthya Pires, Millena Alencar

  Prata
 Luciana Higuchi - Sumô peso leve
 A dupla formada por Ana Caroline Martins e Noeli Dalla Corte na bocha (categoria: duplas feminina)

  Bronze
 Rafaela Freitas - patinação artística estilo livre
 Hernanit Veríssimo - Karate classe Kumite 75kg

Quadro de Medalhas - Esportes de Demonstração
No Quadro de Medalhas dos Esportes de demonstração, o Brasil figurou na 8a posição.

Atletas Medalhados
  Ouro
 Guto Inocente - Kickboxing, categoria "Super Peso pesado (+91 kg)

Lista de Atletas

Esportes Coletivos
O Brasil tem três seleções de esportes coletivos competindo na Polônia: handebol de areia feminino e masculino e punhobol masculino.

Esportes Individuais

Bocha
 Ana Carolina Martins, Nei Cenci, Noeli Corte e Volnei Branchi competirão na disciplina rafa da bocha. Eles tentam medalhas individuais e nas duplas.

Corrida de Orientação
Os brasileiros participam da distância média, do Sprint e do revezamento. Os atletas são: Elaine Lenz, Franciely Chiles, Henrique Araújo e Sidnaldo Sousa.

Danças
Larissa dos Santos e Robinson da Silva competirão na prova de casais no ritmo de salsa.

Esportes Aéreos
Nos esportes aéreos, a bandeira brasileira será representada por Paulo Marques.

Ginástica de Trampolim
Mariana Aquino defenderá a bandeira brasileira na categoria mini duplo.

Levantamento de Peso Básico
O país será representado por Ana Castellain, Cícera Taveres, David Coimbra e Érica Bueno.

Lutas e Artes Marciais
 Na disciplina ne-waza, do jiu-jitsu, Gabriel de Sousa representará o país na categoria até 85kg.
 No karatê, o Brasil terá nomes apenas na disciplina do kumitê. São eles: Douglas Brose, Hernanit Veríssimo, Isabela Rodrigues e Valéria Kumizaki.
 No kickboxing o país terá representantes espalhados pelos diversos pesos: Bruno Gazani, Carlos Augusto Filho, Pâmela Assis, Wallace Lopes e Willer Alves.
 No sumô aparecem Cristiano Mori, Daniela Vaqueiro, Fernanda Pelegrini, Flávio Kosaihira, Juliana Medeiros, Luciana Higuchi, Sarah Gomes e Takahiro Higuchi.

Patinação Artística
 Rafaela Freitas na disciplina livre da patinação artística.

Links Externos
 theworldgames.org/ Resultados Oficiais - Delegação do Brasil
 ganhador.com/ A festa dos Jogos Mundiais de 2017 - Delegação Brasileira

Jogos Mundiais de 2017
2017

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Excellent!!!! Sashimi great! Cali roll great! Rainbow roll excellent! Service excellent as well as the sake!
Beautiful fresh food and fabulous service! Totally recommend!!
The best sushi restaurant anywhere — high quality food and OUTSTANDING service. We have been constant customers for years. The service and food are consistently superior.


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Søvik (Møre og Romsdal)
 Søvik (Vestland)


Stop feeling bad about doodling during meetings and phone calls.
Here's a great article from Discover about how doodling helps concentration during monotonous stuff, like meetins and phone calls—participants recalled 29% more than those who were just listening without doodling.
There's another write-up of the same study here from Time.
I think artists could have told you this all along. I'm always doodling, especially during meetings and phone calls.
Then, darling Jeff Fisher posted this on FB, via Brain Pickings (I LOVE that blog—so much goodness there!).
"Beloved cartoonist Lynda Barry is teaching a university-level course on doodling and neuroscience that you can audit remotely for free. She's posting the weekly assignments on her Tumblr – this is the first one."
p.s. Your good juju today"


Animals are usually smarter than we give them credit for, but sometimes they need a little help, too. As any pet owner can tell you, the combination of a small opening and a pudgy animal sometimes leads to a sticky situation. One lucky hedgehog is lucky to have escaped intact after getting stuck in a hole in a wall in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. It took Inspector Jason Finch an hour of chipping away at the wall to free the hedgehog from the wall, but fortunately he's okay.


Your pup is a member of the family, and bringing him on the family vacation can be part of the fun. Thankfully many resorts and hotels finally realize this – instead of banishing your dog to a far away kennel or allowing you to walk him, but not have him in your room, you can now be together in one place. Some research is needed to determine what a hotel's pet policy is and you should include your pet on your reservation to be sure you won't encounter a problem when you arrive.
In early 2018, Disney announced they would be allowing dogs in select hotels as guests. Many smaller brands and chains followed suit. If you have visited a destination in the past that did not allow pets, it may be time to take a fresh look. Typing the name of the establishment into Google with "pet policy" can yield the details you need.
A quick search of the location you plan on visiting with the term "pet friendly hotel" can yield some starting points. It is important to ask where the pets can go, though. Calling the hotel directly can help you determine if that pet friendly policy means your dog can share your room or if they simply have a kennel on the premises. Locations vary, even within a single chain or brand, so calling first can put your mind at ease.
During a declared state of emergency like a hurricane or wildfire, some hotels that do not normally accept pets begin to do so. This should not be part of your vacation plans but if you need a pet friendly hotel during an evacuation situation, then you should know that most locations will open their doors to all family members, even the four legged ones.
Before you go, your pet needs to be up to date on vaccinations and have the documents to prove it. When you plan a trip, make your pet's reservations or plans at the same time, whether you bring him along, hire a pet sitter or send him to a boarding facility. We can help you make sure your pup is ready for the trip and that he has everything he needs to enjoy the pet friendly hotel you have chosen.