Situation #1 – Bob recently agreed to be an elder in his Church. The elders meet monthly for a 60-90 minute meeting. But 4 times a year, they meet for half a day on Saturday. The next Saturday meeting falls on the same day as one of his daughter's softball games. Bob is one of 3 volunteer coaches. There is no Church "crisis" to be dealt with, but the Church is facing tremendous opportunity on several fronts. Typically in these half-day Saturday meetings, as the elders prayerfully discuss the course of the Church, God moves, bringing fresh insight and discernment that impacts the life of the Church. Should Bob go to the elders meeting or the softball game?
Situation #2 – When he was a teenager, God put it in Tony's heart that he should become a missionary doctor as a way to help reach unreached people groups in Southeast Asia. In college, he met Alicia. They fell in love and married after college. While Tony was in med school they had their first child and became pregnant with a second. After med-school, Tony was offered a fellowship in a prestigious infectious disease program. One thing led to another, and Tony's plans to become a missionary doctor were delayed time and time again. The children were now 7 and 9. One night at Church, Tony's heart was again stirred by a visiting speaker; a missionary from Southeast Asia. As Tony and Alicia discussed this, the main hurdle was the children. They were both exceptionally bright and were flourishing in one of the best private schools in the city. Tony and Alicia were concerned that the children could not reach their full potential on the mission field. What should Tony and Alicia do?
Who wouldn't want the best for their children, right? But many Christians in America today are obsessed with positioning their children for success (as the culture around them defines it) to the point that it is actually detrimental. Their motives may be good, but these parents may actually be buffering their children from the very life experience, and perhaps the adversity, that God would use to shape their soul and character, preparing them for their calling in life.
Categories: bible, calling, challenges, conflict, direction, follow god's lead, god's way, god's will, guiding principles, leadership, mission, missionary, purpose, raising children, sacrifice | Tags: faith, god's will, lead by example, life, work | Permalink.
As a young shepherd boy, David did a lot of watching and waiting. He would certainly lead his flock to water or to grassy areas, but once arrived, there was much waiting. Waiting for the sheep to drink and eat. Watching out for predators. Thinking about where to graze next. It is easy to see how this job lent itself to learning about God through observing nature and pouring out his own heart back to God.
David certainly knew that there were animals in his realm that would love to feast on one of his charges. But he did not have to go looking for these enemies, instead, he used his alone time to prepare himself for when they would eventually attack.
Chapter 22 of our book finds King David and Joab discussing what to do about the growing rebellion of his son, Absalom. As the general of the king's armies, Joab was used to being a man of action. Thus, he queried the king what should be done about Absalom. King David says that he has no plan and will do as he always has; he will do nothing.
David had the realization that God was in control and if he were to step in and try to do something without clear direction from God, he might interfere with God's plan.
Are you able to "be still" and seek God in the face of opposition or trials?
In closing, read Psalm 5, which is a psalm of David. You will notice that in the presence of his enemies, David's action is to take refuge in the Lord, his righteous defender!
Categories: adversity, brokenness, challenges, character, deliverance, guiding principles, king, know god, patience, Uncategorized, waiting | Tags: david, faith, god's way, waiting | Permalink.
Murmuring, grumbling, and complaining. We all do it. We express our discontent with our world, sometimes under our breaths where few can hear it and sometimes a bit more audibly for the benefit of others. It may seem innocuous enough…like we are just venting or letting off steam. But, there is actually great harm at the root of it and as the Scripture passages above reveal, these expressions of discontent are an affront to God.
Absalom was angered when his half-brother raped his sister. We can only imagine the frustration and bitterness that Absalom felt when their father, King David did nothing about the situation! No discipline, no confrontation, no acknowledgment, no rectification.
David failed to deal with the issue, and that sin brought much grief to the family and kingdom. But, his failure does not let Absalom off the hook for his own failure to deal with the situation in a just and open manner.
Instead of bringing the matter to the King and more importantly to THE King, God Himself, Absalom let his discontent simmer under the surface. He let it affect his every thought and action. It drove him to find his own solution…take over and become the new king! Over years, he methodically charmed his way into the peoples' hearts by tapping into their own discontent, with promises that he could and would fix their problems. Eventually, it led him to full rebellion against his father, the King and ultimately to his own death.
As noted in Lesson 13, God uses discontent to accomplish His purposes in us. The question is how will we respond to our discontent? Saul's response was to go mad and throw spears. Absalom chose instead to let his discontent fester over a long period and turn into a full on outright rebellion. Yet David, for all his sins and faults, stayed faithful in recognizing that God was sovereign over all and the source for all wisdom, instruction, and direction for life.
Categories: brokenness, challenges, complaining, difficulties, discontent, grumbling, murmuring, rebellion, satisfaction, sovereignty, Uncategorized | Tags: absalom, david, life, trusting god | Permalink.
"How does a person know when it is okay to separate oneself from the Lord's anointed – especially if the Lord's anointed is after the order of King Saul?
David never made that decision. The Lord's anointed made it for him. The king's own decree settled the matter!
And so begins the next chapter of our book. Saul's jealousy and madness have finally progressed to the point that he is demanding David's death. David, knowing that he has been anointed by God to be the next king at some future time which has yet to be revealed, chooses wisely to flee and hide. David could have fought back. He had garnered enough fame and support that he likely could have persuaded many in King Saul's court and army to turn their allegiance to him instead. But David knew that it is God who makes kings and appoints times, and God had not yet given the go-ahead for him to be king. The only thing left to do then was to get out of Saul's way.
This sets the stage for our discussion using the following questions: Sometimes God leads us into a situation which turns sour; how do we know when it is okay to leave that situation? And, what should our exit strategy be?
The kinds of situations we talked about included those such as jobs, churches, volunteer commitments, and the like. Things usually look pretty good when you commit to a church, but after some time the leadership may start to take you in a direction you don't want to go. Perhaps the worship style changes or the leaders demand that you take a more active role in engaging the community.
We should not leave a situation because we have become uncomfortable or unhappy. Like David, we leave when we are no longer capable of fulfilling God's purpose for our lives in that situation. And, like David, it may take a while to come to that realization …and we may go through a season of having spears chucked at us before the full intentions of the king are made known.
This is not to say that we should stick it out in situations of actual abuse! But there are times when our situation may actually be one of being tested like Job rather than hunted by King Saul. The point is to seek God's leading rather than cater to our own discomfort. God may be using discomfort to draw out or build up something in us.
Lastly, when you see that it is time to depart, don't try to take an entourage with you! Don't gossip about it. Don't work others up into a frenzy. Just be obedient to your call and go. We are each responsible to follow God's leading and we should not want to lead others away from what God may be doing in their lives.
Below are two excerpts from Psalm 18, written by David, in response to his tough situation. Think about the heart of David and the mindset that he had in trusting God so completely that his relationship with Saul did not undo him.
Categories: adversity, anointing, appointed time, authority, brokenness, calling, challenges, difficulties, follow god's lead, god's plan, perseverance, trials, Uncategorized, waiting | Tags: bible, christ, direction, jesus | Permalink.
Unlike anyone else in spear-throwing history, David did not know what to do when a spear was thrown at him. He did not throw Saul's spears back at him. Nor did he make any spears of his own and throw them. Something was different about David. All he did was dodge the spears.
David could have retaliated. But he didn't. He could have defended himself or questioned or complained. But there was something in David that produced a much different response. It was as if David was unoffended by what was happening around him.
Think about it. David had no way of knowing Saul's motivations for attack. But his reaction speaks to what he did know – that God's justice doesn't require our defense. Or to say it another away, acting on our own defense is an interference to God's justice.
In the face of injustice Jesus didn't retaliate but instead trusted in what His Father had prepared for him to do. Jesus understood that the mockers and guards and religious leaders with their barrage of insults and accusations were merely the instruments chosen by God, to accomplish a greater divine purpose. Knowing this, Jesus uttered no threats but pressed into trusting the Father.
David had the attitude that was Christ's, one we should aim for today in our own hearts. When we trust in God as our defender and deliverer, we can rest knowing that in Him we are spear-proof. We will never control the spears that are thrown our way, but today we can establish our response.
It is with the mind of Christ, like David, we can live the unoffended life. A life dependent on God's justice, not our own retribution.
Categories: brokenness, challenges, character, difficulties, experiencing god, guiding principles, Uncategorized | Tags: bible, brokenness, faith | Permalink.
The Mars Hill staff is going through a series of devotionals drawn from the book, A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. We share highlights from the book each week, but we invite you to get a copy and read along with us. The drama is a multi-act play telling the stories of three kings. It is a portrait of submission and authority within the Kingdom of God; offering hope and healing to the spiritually wounded.
Even though David is growing up, our story today finds the young man still tending to the family's flock of sheep. But something was about to change. The prophet, Samuel paid a visit to David's household looking for one whom God was calling out for a destiny of leadership, and it was not until Samuel had seen the very last of the brothers in this family that God's choice was revealed. This young sheepherder was anointed; set apart as a future king.
The second observation was that the Lord's anointing was not followed immediately by David's appointment as king. On the contrary, he went through a decade of agony and suffering; as the book says, on that day, David was enrolled into the school of brokenness.
In many ways, David's life is a metaphor for the Christian life. It is often misperceived that when a person follows Christ, everything in their life will suddenly be made right and carefree. Just the opposite is likely to occur. When we become a child of God, He brings people and circumstances into our lives that will help to shape us to be more like Christ. Our lives here on earth are about preparing us for the day when we will reign with Christ.
Categories: adversity, anointing, appointed time, brokenness, calling, challenges, character, preparation, sanctification, Uncategorized, waiting, worship | Tags: bible, david | Permalink.


Today we are starting the new Halloween season with this very explicit special effects makeup, if you have trypophobia better move on to the next post, cause we are doing a holes effects on the face, very striking and realistic.
We are doing two types of effects here, one using a prosthetic and other one using modeling wax creating the effect right away on the face.
Alcohol activated colors Skin Illustrator.


Donna Struve and In Print won the gold medal in the USHJA Adult Amateur Hunter Individual Championships presented by SmartPak, at Ledges Sporting Horses. Photo Marketing4Equestrians.
Roscoe, IL – August 14, 2016 – Hunter and jumper riders tackled the beautiful Grand Prix ring at Ledges Sporting Horses in Roscoe, Illinois for the 2016 USHJA Children's and Adult Amateur Jumper and Hunter Championships during the Showplace End of Summer Show. Hunter riders from USHJA Zones 1, 2 and 5 competed for individual championship titles in the USHJA Children's and Adult Amateur Hunter North Regional Championships, presented by SmartPak, while jumper riders from USHJA Zones 5 and 6 had an exciting jump off for medals in the USHJA Zones 5 & 6 Children's and Adult Amateur Jumper Championships.
Show manager Patrick Boyle is known for his fantastic horse show productions and feature events, once again outdoing himself from beginning to end. Exhibitors and spectators arrived at the show to see a perfectly groomed arena with beautifully decorated derby jumps. The ring was lined with hundreds of matching evergreens, ferns and potted plants for the start of the Children's Hunter section of the individual championships. Course designers Michael Puffer and Patrick Boyle created a track that gave riders options for turns in the handy round and allowed them to show off their horses' gallop and balance. Three high option jumps allowed riders to gain bonus points to increase their scores.
After the under saddle, Bravo and Delaney Hoffman of South Elgin, Illinois, were at the top of the pack, followed by Molly Canfield and Penny Lane in second and Abigail Lefkowitz from Scarsdale, NY, and Valmont in the top three.
In the classic style derby round, Lindsey McDonald of Geneva, Illinois, and Prescott took the top position with Canfield and Penny Lane taking second again and Off The Menu and Kassandra Parker of Melbourne, Kentucky, in third.
Parker kicked it up a notch, returning for the handy round earning an 84 and an 88 plus 6 bonus points for the win. Haley Kane and Lincoln were second with Canfield again, placing in the top three.
Canfield's consistent placings gave her and Penny Lane a grand total of 494 points for the USHJA Children's Hunter North Region Individual gold medal. Off the Menu and Parker took the silver medal, earning 476.5 points and Bravo and Hoffman took home the bronze with 460 points.
Canfield and Penny Lane, the 14-year-old Oldenburg owned by Michelle Shapiro, was named Best Turned Out in the Children's section, and groom Sergio Mendoza received a bucket of Shapley's products and the Shapley's Best Turned Out Award. The pair trains with Lorrie Canady at Galway Farm in Long Grove, Illinois. Canfield added she would love to return to compete at the championships again.
The adult riders took their turn with Donna Struve of Lake Bluff, Illinois and her mare, In Print, starting off their day with the win in the under saddle portion of the competition. Sophie Cohen from Greenwich, Connecticut and her Que Sera followed for second and Maria Kogen of Deerfield, Illinois and her True North wrapped up the top three.
Sophie Cohen and Que Sera earned the silver medal in the USHJA Adult Amateur Hunter Individual Championships.
Twelve jumps later, Struve and In Print held the lead while Kogen and True North bumped into second with Cohen and Que Sera moving to third after the judges panel broke a tie score.
Struve rode a beautiful and conservative round in the handy to earn scores of 84 and 86 plus six points for high options, giving her the win in all three sections and the gold medal. Struve had never done a handy round before the championships but still managed to win with 524 points and a 14-point lead ahead of silver medal winner, Cohen and Que Sera with 510 points. Cohen rode a few tighter turns in her handy round earning her an 80 and 84 plus six high option points. Kogen and True North earned the bronze medal with 480 points.
"I could tell the judges really liked consistency so it was smarter to keep it smooth and consistent and just produce smooth rounds," said Cohen regarding her handy strategy.
Kogen had the chance to compete in the Chicago Equestrian 2'6" Derby Series last year, earning the Leading Horse and Leading Adult Rider Awards. She fell in love with the derbies and was happy to have the chance to ride in a derby format class again.
"Some of us never get to ride in a handy round. It's nice to have a chance to try a handy round and change things up from a regular hunter class," added Struve.
The three top adult riders all agreed they would participate in the event again. They praised everyone that made it possible to have the spectacular event; Showplace Productions, USHJA and Danny Foster to name a few. They loved the footing and the beautiful venue along with their newfound friendships and cheering on their teammates in the jumper sections as well.
Maria Kogen's True North was named Best Turned Out in the Adult Amateurs, and groom Katie Pohlman received a bucket of Shapley's products along with the Shapley's Best Turned Out Award.
In addition to their medal, Individual gold medalists in the Hunter Championships each took home an embroidered cooler, Charles Owen Helmet, Professional's Choice Pro Performance Schooling Boots, Essex Classics riding shirt, and FITS Riding breeches.
Course designer Danny Foster made an efficient and well thought out change to the track for the jumper team competition. His design made it tough for riders to go clean but not impossible or tricky to get around. The first round produced only four clear riders with only three riders double clean after both rounds.
Excitement grew as riders came back for the second round of the Nation's Cup format, producing more clear rounds and fewer team faults. The scores were close up to the bitter end, forcing the Zone 5 Children's Teams 1 and 2 to jump off to break the tie for the silver medal.
Chefs d'Equipe elected Hailey Royce and Rapidash to represent Team 1 in the jump off and Kristen Franz and Cypress for Team 2. Both had double clear rounds in the day's competition. Franz rode to the challenge, earning a fast time and four faults to beat out Royce for the silver slot.
It was the zone 5 adult amateur jumper riders who stole the show taking the gold medal with a team total of only 16 faults. Members Jean McLaren and Lisa Baker were on the gold winning team in 2015. Both veterans put in a fault free second round. Christie Rugh-Bileddo and Megan Thomas completed the team.
The USHJA Zone 5 and 6 Children's and Adult Jumper Team Championship.
The silver medal went to the Zone 5 Children's Team 2 with 20 faults and the tie-breaking win thanks to Franz. Cassidy Rasch, Colby Kelly and Courtney Berlin rounded out the team.
The bronze medal went home with Zone 5 Children's Team 1 with 20 faults. Adding to the team scores was Royce, Christina Meeks, Natalie Schaffer and Madison Mitchell. Fourth went to the combined Zone 5 and 6 Child and Adult team with Mikayla Schmidt, Hannah Coleman, Stacy Ryback and Shawnea Osborne with 28 faults.
The Zone 6 Children's Team 1 with Grace Mortenson, Sierra Osborne, Taylor Caniglia and Jennifer Lanoha landed the fifth place prize.
"It was definitely a great course to test everyone, it was fair but had some challenges," said Megan Thomas from the gold team.
"We're really grateful to all the sponsors and organizers. It's a big deal and a lot of work to put on this event and we're grateful to Showplace Productions and Diane Carney, Pat (Boyle) and everyone that makes it happen," added second time gold team member Jean McLaren.
"It's a great program and people should keep talking about it and encourage other riders to attend," said gold medalist Lisa Baker.
Jumper riders will compete in the fourth and final round of the USHJA Children's and Adult Amateur Individual Jumper Championships on Sunday with Kristen Franz currently in the lead for the individual gold medal.
All the action can be watched live with commentary by Diane Carney atwww.starcreeklive.com.
To learn more about the Children's and Adult Amateur Hunter and Jumper Championships, visit www.ushja.org.


I'll start this off by saying that you may not agree with me. I'm okay with that. Actually, that is kind of my point about all of this.
The first position I take on this is that I am unashamed to say that I am a Christian. Not a Christmas & Easter or only on Sundays Christian but a person who has a genuine faith in Christ and seeks to live my life differently because I trust in His teachings. I believe in the seen and the unseen. The temporal and the eternal.
The second position I take is that I am a teacher. I have taught in both public and private schools. I have been employed to teach students about the world and how to be good citizens of the world. I have been employed by the church to teach students about God and how to be citizens of Heaven.
Thirdly, I am American. I have traveled out of the country and I have experienced third world conditions and governments who oppress their people through laws or intimidation. I love America. I love our diversity of land and people. I love that we have the freedom to move within her borders and express our opinions, disagreements, and elect our leaders.
With these three understandings I would like to talk about my position on God in schools.
I start with sharing my belief in the character of God. I believe his Word to inform and form my understanding of Him. Psalm 139 asks the question "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" The passage continues to answer the question....there is no place on Earth where the presence of God is absent. In the book of Job, God finally gets his say and begins to question and instruct Job (and us!) about how the earth and its inhabitants live. God is big enough, capable enough and qualified enough to be anywhere He chooses. So, I firmly believe that God is present in schools.
I have had the experience of attending and teaching in public schools. My experience was positive and a privilege. Never once was I instructed or restricted from expressing my personal faith. I decorated with posters that had verses, offered to pray with students and coworkers, and shared by interpretation of facts, literature and history from a Biblical Worldview. I was never reprimanded or discouraged from these expressions. In fact, legally a teacher can address the topic of faith in the classroom. Students can also discuss faith. Many secular literature textbooks contain large portions of the Old and New Testament as literary examples. Many states have time within the school day to attend religious instruction.God is discussed and studied in schools.
We live in America. We fundamentally value the freedom of/from religion. The pilgrims fled to this land because they were not free to express their faith as they wanted. Do we forget it was "The Church" that pushed them out? As a believer, I want there to be a separation of church and state. I do not want anyone and everyone to have the opportunity to teach their interpretations of "god" to my children or my students. By demanding public prayer in school or the insistance that the 10 Commandments be posted, we are also opening the door for each faith to have equal time or position. Isn't that fair? Isn't that America?
When people wax on about God being erased from schools, I think they are looking for something different than God. They are seeking societal morals. Governmental religion NEVER works. Look at Europe and how they have become a secularized society in rebellion to the state church. Look at Asian nations that have used Atheism as a method to rule their people. Religion cannot be legislated. Values are passed from person to person, generation to generation. So, the question we believers must ask is am I passing my values to another person or the next generation?
Are we asking God to do a job He has already given to us? He is present in the schools. He has invited, instructed, and equipped us to be His representative in the lives of others. Have you taken every opportunity to be loving and kind to "the least of these?"Every class seems to have at least one kid that has been set aside because they are weird, different or difficult. Has that kid come for dinner or a sleep over at your house? Have you invested in the outcasts of society to show them love and compassion? What would our schools, our society, look like if each person felt valued and as though they were living out God's purpose right now?
Perhaps before we demand prayer in school, we should demand ourselves to be "the change we wish to see in the world." What a great honor and so very humbling that God has chosen such imperfect and weak people to be His representative! Oh, that God would consume my words and deeds so that I may live His teachings.
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text:
Czech-ing out!
By Czechboy Dec 9, 2020, 1:10pm MST
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My first ever article for SBNation was not for Copper and Blue. It was for Puckworld's and it was about the Czech Jr team. It was written in 2010. I reread it today and it holds true still. 10 years, no medals and a program consistently in decline. Neat thing about that article. No one read it (just like this one won't be popular either) but one of the comments was by my fav Oiler writer Bruce McCurdy!
I thought I'd look at the Czech roster for the upcoming World Jr's in Edmonton. Here is who has been invited.
The Czech #WorldJuniors Camp roster has been announced.
There are five 2003-born players on the roster, goalie Jakub Dobes (MTL) is the biggest omission. pic.twitter.com/Sd589N1zYv
— Czech Prospects (@CZprospects) December 2, 2020
Omissions:
Marcel Barinka opted to stay on his club team in Europe. Jakub Dobes (drafted by the Habs) had complications with getting back for camp as he plays in the USHL (and is doing really well). Jakub Konecny was drafted by the Sabres but not invited. It would be fair to say that these 3 not invited to camp is different than, say, Lafrenierre, Seider or Hughes not going to their respective countries camps. Dobes is a bit upsetting because he is playing very well on small ice in North America. The tourney is on small ice in North America. Not sure why we wouldn't have all 3 of our drafted goalies coming?
Notables:
Jan Mysak was projected by some as a first rounder but ended up going in round 2. Jaromir Pytlik started last season as a potential first rounder but dropped as the season went along. Michal Teply had a very good tournament last year and I could see the Blackhawk's prospect being a leader on the club. Novak and Raska were drafted this summer and stand to make an impact at forward. To be clear, we have 5 forwards drafted between the 2nd and 7th rounds. The rest are undrafted and none of the youngers guys currently project to be first rounders. I'm not sure any of our forwards would make the Big 5 teams.
Martin Has had a good tournament last year and should be a key defender. Klikorka, Kubicek and Kucerik all played last year and should round out the Top 4. Stanislav Svozil is a potential first rounder for the next draft and should make this team and could make some noise. David Jiricek is a potential first rounder in 2 drafts from now and could also make the team. Please note there are only a small handful of Czech D in the NHL so a Czech with 'first round potential' can quickly equal fourth round pick. Martin Has was considered a first rounder for a little while for instance. So our D corps consists of one drafted player, 3 guys that were passed in the draft and 2 underagers potentially. The Czechs routinely have a very poor D group but this may be the weakest in awhile. On a bright note, Jiricek and Svozil do look promising. I can't fathom any of our D making the Canadian, Finnish, Swedish, Russian or US squads. I don't know enough about Michael Krutil to say he will make the team or an impact but he did get drafted. Maybe one day we will look back and realize that Has, Krutil, Svozil and Jiricek were all NHL defenders?
Goalies:
We had 3 drafted goalies but only 2 are making the trip. Expect the King's pick Parik to be the starter. However, given our competition and weak team I'd also expect to see Bednar get in games. Malik was on the team last year and will probably also see some action. For the record, this won't be the goalies faults. They are literally staring down the wrong end of the gun barrel. Prime Hasek would not survive this team. Unlike our D or Forwards, I do think our goalies are as good as the other teams goalies (except Askarov).
Well, it's bad. We are in a pool with Austria, Sweden, USA and Russia. You might think Austria will be an easy win but Marco Rossi is on that team and he's better than anyone on our team. They definitely have a chance to beat us. On paper, we are the 4th best team in this pool of 5. Our hopes lie in things like 'any given Sunday', 'a puncher's chance' and 'that's why they play the game'. Put another way, we are the Oiler's from the Decade of Darkness (TM).
Assuming things go as planned and we finish fourth and make the quarters. That would leave us playing a almost 100% Team Canada. This tournament could very realistically end with us winning 1 match against Austria (maybe) and getting taken to the 'woodshed' by US, Sweden, Russia and then Canada in the quarters. Much like my Oil, I hope I'm wrong! I will cheer to the end, I will watch every game, I will celebrate every goal and I will have a good quality Pilsner/Kozel/Czechvar in hand.
Yelling at clouds
What frustrates me is that this is our best team. There is no controversy. We aren't missing anyone. No one is injured. We currently don't have top end players not being allowed to join or with Covid (eg. Lafrenière, Kakko and Hughes were not released. Sweden has lost a lot of players/staff to Covid, the Germans had Seider decline and Reichel catch Covid and not be allowed, Cajkovic was headhunting his own teammates and got kicked of his team).
Czechs have been screaming about our lack of good D for a decade now. A decade later and we may only have one drafted Dman on our entire squad. We are producing about 2 NHL players per year while countries like Germany having 2 or 3 players go in round 1 (and Seider from the year before). Hockey has become a big 5 and we've been at 6th forever. Instead of improving it feels like we are placeholders for the likes of Switzerland and Germany. This is a proud nation with a tremendous history and it needs to be turned around.
Lastly, I don't think the 40 guys on the invite list have played 100 games combined this season. Czechs have had a lot of Covid issues and some of our players simply aren't playing very much. I can't say any of them are lighting up the Extraliga or the Czech 2nd Division.
Prediction - 3 thumpings, 1 close win over Austria followed by a quarter final thumping. Goals for 8. Goals against 20. It's a great year to not have relegation.
Best case scenario - for the first time in forever, all the Czechs are in one place. They realize there is no go to superstar. If the coach can get them to gel as a team and a goalie gets hot then we can win a game or 2 and maybe upset someone in the quarters. I do know that the Czechs will play hard and not quit. They always do. Their issue isn't about lack of heart but a lack of talent.
I've always said that I'd prefer to have a team lose all the games but have 10 or so high end prospects on it vs a team that wins gold but has no future NHLer's on it. No matter the outcome, Czech hockey needs to start producing better players (especially on D). 10 years since that article and no improvement. No medal since 2005!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Synapticality: The End For Mercator?
Boston public schools are ditching the familiar world map we all grew up with based on the Mercator projection, in favor of the Gall-Peters projection. The advantage of the latter projection is that it depicts continents with their proper land areas.
The Mercator has been roundly criticized for distorting land areas, making countries in the Northern Hemisphere appear larger than those in the Southern Hemisphere, thus giving the mistaken impression that they are somehow grander and more important.
But, all the political furor notwithstanding, that was not Mercator's intention. Mercator was creating an aid for navigation, and it worked for that purpose for hundreds of years, in fact, it revolutionized navigation in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. He didn't put Europe in the center of the map as a political statement; he did it because the mariners most likely to use his map at the time were departing from and returning to that region.
In short, Mercator has been getting a bad rap.
I'm not saying that Mercator's map deserves it's position as the default depiction of the world, and I don't think Mercator, a brilliant cartographer, would have approved that application. What I am saying is that schools are taking altogether the wrong approach, and very much sending the wrong message.
Instead of arguing over which map is "fairer," they should recognize that any flat map of a spherical Earth is going to be distorted in some way. It's the nature of projection. Instead of teaching the lesson that one world map is better than another, they should be teaching the truth about maps: that they are created for specific purposes, and some maps are better suited to some purposes than are other maps.
The map that's best suited to teaching the proper size and distance relationships of the world's continents is a globe! But because a globe of usable size can't be carried about in the glove compartment, or pasted on a wall, cartographers have come up with different depictions to suit different purposes.
A lesson is geography should be a lesson about how geography is done. It should emphasize that the only way to get a true picture of the Earth is to look at something that's the same shape as the Earth. Maps are useful, but they are all fictions in one way or another.
To present the idea that Gall-Peters is somehow more "right" than Mercator is to propagate a lie in public schools. I hope that we are trying to get away from that.
And on that note, please stop teaching children that Columbus proved that the world is a sphere. Somebody made that up.


text:
The Arts January 25, 2017
How feature film "Goliath" will battle the giants of mental health stigmas
Jessica Sipos stars as Robin Walker in "Goliath." Image courtesy of "Goliath's" Director of Photography, Jordan Kennington.
For years, film student Luke Villemaire has been trying to tell his story about mental illness. But he just didn't know how. Although he was successful in various aspects of his life, he knew there was a void that needed to be filled.
"There came a point when I had a revelation about myself on how unhappy I was," he said. "This perfect image that I had built for myself was completely going out the window."
After he noticed the lack of mental health awareness in the entertainment industry, he decided to use his passion for filmmaking as an outlet to channel all of the emotions that he was feeling. He saw this as an opportunity reach out to those who are suffering from mental illness as well.
And that was when Goliath was born: a feature film written, directed and produced by Villemaire.
The film revolves around Robin Walker, who suffers from depression and borderline personality disorder. After her father passes away, she returns back home to her family and tries to bring them all together once again, while dealing with her own problems. The obstacles that Robin face reflect Villemaire's struggle with mental illness.
"I've made it a priority to tell the story of someone struggling with a mental illness in a way that doesn't feel forced, manufactured or manipulated," he said.
"Goliath to Robin is her inability to deal with what's going on in her life, it's the biggest, most difficult force working against her," Nathan Dharamshi, a third-year Ryerson film student and the producer of Goliath, said.
Jessica Sipos, who plays Robin Walker, knew she wanted to be a part of Goliath after reading the script for the first time. "I felt Luke created a story that didn't avoid confrontation and dealt with real-world problems in a very human way," she said.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, one in five Canadians will experience mental illness. A StatsCanada health report reveals that about seven per cent of 15-to-24-year-olds have had depression in the past year. People who suffer from mental illness are often seen in a negative light, and Villemaire and Dharamshi are using their voices to stop the stigma and get more people involved in raising mental health awareness.
"As filmmakers, we have an obligation because we have a medium and an outreach to express the importance of mental health issues. Because you don't see mental health, it's often not taken seriously." Dharamshi said. "It does affect more people than you know, and because you don't see it, you don't think it will."
"Don't be the person who sits back and says there's nothing we can do about it. We place a lot of emphasis on the person's responsibility to ask for help, but there is so much importance in us supporting people and being good listeners," Villemaire said. "Practice empathy, practice gratitude."
Villemaire hopes the audience will see Goliath and Robin Walker as a "cautionary tale and a lighthouse to those who find themselves on a similar course" and see mental health in a different perspective.
"It makes me feel proud to be a part of a project and team that has the courage to tackle such a sensitive, and at times, intimidating subject," Sipos said. "Being outspoken and proactive halts the stigma of mental illness by eliminating misperceptions and reducing negative attitudes towards the subject."
"This is my experience. This is what's happening to me. I'm sure someone else can relate, and I want to put that on the screen," he said. "If they can take something from that, then I've done my job because I'm getting a message across."
Goliath is expected to be released in film festivals and select movie theatres later this year.
Kathleen Francisco
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text:
Episode 276 "You´ve got to push through"
We´re Live. Google Hangouts is finally going die and supposedly going to be replaced by Youtube Webcam, we´ll see how it goes. Other topics, Charles feel off a roof and really hurt his elbow, he has a really funny anecdote on it. He´s a little worried because he´s got a 5k really soon, his doctor will tell him.
There´s an interesting argument with the guys about how Doctors do stuff, are they really needed? They all agree that doctors (Medics) mostly work o tell you what is wrong and prescribe you medicine, but there´s an actual belief that they don't actually fix the stuff that you wanted to be fixed. Charles says clearly that he will go to anyone who really believes that he can fix him!
Charles is getting really serious about running, Jonh has solid advice on how to push through the fatigue that accumulates off all the training. It's really a difficult job to do the only way to do it its to have the mindset for it.
John talks about the Pomodoro technique, It has been doing 10 Pomodoro a day, but the game changer here is that he´s not looking at his phone until he completes the 10 Pomodoro. The results are amazingly good.
Thoughts of the day
JOHN – "Put the phone down and do the work!"


About one thing let us be clear. Love is something better done than spoken of. Whilst most people, if pressed, would assert or acknowledge the reality and even the necessity of loving in at least some aspects of human experience they are likely to become uncertain or confused if pushed to be more specific. Despite the relief to be obtained from the range of available clich–s, strange things tend to happen when we talk of love. Statements become either pious and heavy or sloppy and sentimental and quickly take on an uncomfortable detachment from reality. As these abstractions become more convoluted we are attracted to pursue them in the false hope that clarity may be available at the other end of confusion.
The problem is that the intensity and volatility, the uniqueness and paradox of the loving relationship is probably inexpressible. Even the poets retreat before it. It will slip through even the most skillfully constructed web of words. Personal accounts are not very satisfactory either. When it happens it is unlikely that reflection is possible or, if it is, that it can be recalled intelligibly afterwards. Lovers do not so much speak nonsense to each other, as is often alleged. Rather they communicate in the manner of the moment. Language and action become an integrated experience which can be understood only by the participants. To even attempt to explain it would be hopeless.
So I realise that I am stepping into a trap to take this any further, but it may be possible to clear the ground a little so that I can speak directly to experience.
Whatever it might be, love is not a quiet or serene activity. It is disturbing and disruptive, it is unpredictable and furious, it is irreducible to specific emotions, although it may contain them all. Hate is not the antithesis of love because it may be contained within it. I have often thought that the statement "God is Love" means that He is everything that is "at a particular level of intensity.
The story of the God who is Love and became flesh carries with it a singular warning. It is extremely dangerous and can lead to agony. Perhaps that is why organisations like that for which I work will happily declare and even declaim the primacy of loving but will twitch defensively if it shows signs of becoming a reality. To talk about it is much safer, a defence and an avoidance. It is often quite incredible to hear the most exploitative and destructive relationships being duplicitously dignified in the rhetoric of loving. Indeed those who make such assertions deserve the suspicion and distrust which they so often evoke. Often they are consigned as hypocrites. But that is a fairly ordinary failing not, in itself, of great importance. Much worse, they are repressed zealots for whom hurt is not just foreseen but intended. To confirm their own self-righteousness they need to see others suffer. Perhaps love itself should never speak its name and live only in being seen and experienced.
In one of those profound contrarieties which are so central and essential in human experiencing, the only truly creative and healing activity, the loving relationship, contains within it the potentiality for pain and destruction. This acute contradiction is at the root of that chilling confrontation between the Grand Inquisitor and the returned Christ in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. The inquisitor bitterly points out that if love were to be applied, in the way it is expressed in the Gospels, there could be no stability and no certainty. No ethic and no polity can be constructed on so unstable a foundation. It is notable that under his verbal assault Christ remains silent. He does not rise to the defence or claim any justification. For Him there can be no argument and the love which even the hardened sensibilities of His interrogator responds to is experienced only through His eyes.
At a rational level the case cannot be won, only the example can stand against the words. That final loving gesture, the kiss, with which Christ leaves the prison cell remains, to those who insist upon rationality in all things, one of the strangest and more equivocal acts in all literature. It is irrational, there is no sense in it "but it works. The inquisitor bore the experience of that kiss for the rest of his life. He was right to say that love is disruptive and dangerous but what answer can there be to the act of loving itself.
Because it is generated in instability and finds its movements in reaction, love is essential to the lively and uncertain processes of growth. The disturbed child is not one that is going off in the wrong direction but one that is not moving at all, in at least some aspects of her experience. They go around in circles or phrenetically mark time. The headmaster of one of our special schools recently observed that, looking back on his years of experience, it was the most disruptive and unco-operative children who seemed to have made the most progress, both inside and outside school. This may not stand as an accurate generalisation but there is some humane truth in it. At least the naughty child is prepared to take the world on: he has not yet been induced to give up on it. Indeed the recovery of the ability to get angry is often the first step towards independent life for the miserable child. Love can look beyond the immediate advantages of conformity and apparent tranquility to the unsettled and possibly violent processes of disordered growth.
Love is not an attitude or a feeling or a set of feelings, or a particular behaviour or set of behaviours "it may be revealed in a widely disparate variety of ways of doing things. It is never pure and I would go so far as to say that corruption is inherent to it. The loving relationship provides tough work, it taints as well as refines and this is at the centre of its power. It may be that it is the reaction of good and evil within it that generates its energy. When a soiling child needs to be cuddled and comforted our feelings and attitudes are likely to be in disarray. This the child will experience. But the over-riding reaction will derive from the inescapable fact that, against her sense of badness, she is being held.
Those who would wish to practise this impracticable, confusing and acutely painful art of loving must know what it will exact from them. It is always done at a loss, we always have to give more than we can ever regain. Of course, at the outset it is impossible to know how great the price will be "that compounds the risk. It means relinquishing certainty and accepting confusion; it means letting go of defence and becoming vulnerable; it means abandoning security and embracing fear. Here I advise nothing and prescribe nothing. Those who will do it are fools, and it is not possible to advocate such foolishness or to censor those who are unwilling or unable to do it. It might even be easier if the risks were ours alone. For us they may be onerous enough but we are likely to be better equipped to withstand them than those we seek to help who are already damaged.
I am often asked whether the healing relationship involves the danger of adding more hurt to the pain. Of course, it does. Even to contribute to removing the analgesic of defence is to open wounds and to become responsible for the pain "even though we did not cause it. Perhaps it is not therefore surprising that love is often expressed as a form of madness.
We must so conduct ourselves that they will come to see in us something they have hitherto not known, and which it is no sin to covet for themselves. They must be loved in order that they may learn to love. That is not only Christian teaching; it is sound modern psychology.
That is a typically uncompromising way of putting it, but I agree.
There may be many important child care tasks which can be performed without the burden of this commitment, but nothing else can heal. Recently I saw a young member of staff, who had been injured in a particularly nasty way by a particularly nasty child, holding her and comforting her. When she was having her injuries treated she insisted that the child have the opportunity to be with her so that she was not left to fantasise about what might be happening. She then defended her against a moralising attack from the head of the unit. She may be young and foolish "but I hope she never grows out of it.
There is a lot of talk these days about being a profession. I do not regard this as something that you belong to, a special interest group protected by jargon and bureaucratic organisation. Like the religious we ought to make our profession. This is not a statement or an article but a way of living. We can make a profession of loving.
It is important now to address the real lest we float off in any particular direction on the hot air of abstraction.


text:
Echo and Narcissus, or, Man O Man!
A Very Tragical Comedy in One Act, possibly Two.
in Critical Survey
Author: Mary Baine Campbell 1
1 Brandeis University campbell@brandeis.edu
https://doi.org/10.3167/cs.2016.280208
Echo and Narcissus, or, Man O Man! is the only surviving fragment of an early dramatic work of Shakespeare's, perhaps his first – some critics argue it was composed before he left home and saw his first play performed. It shows signs of immaturity in its stagecraft. (Though a well-funded contemporary production could work technological magic with the pool in which Narcissus sees his mirror image and, perhaps, hears his mirror voice. Or sees his mirror-voice.) Shakespeare would return to Ovid for material more than once in his career (Carroll, 1985), and his wry, choric clowns are often taken, as here, from folk culture, but the sense of imminent catastrophe evident in even the casual opening lines of his tragedies is missing in this early effort, as is the barely suppressed power struggle of the initial exchange in his first completed Ovidian comedy Midsummer Night's Dream. Greenblatt has suggested that this fragment, apparently abandoned, was sketched by the young playwright during detention, as a display of nonchalance intended to frustrate an embittered Latin teacher (Shakespearian Negotiations, 1989).
Mary Baine Campbell is a poet and Professor of English at Brandeis University (US), where she also teaches Comparative Literature and Women's and Gender Studies. She has published two collections of poems (The World, the Flesh, and Angels and Trouble) and two scholarly books (The Witness and the Other World and Wonder and Science). She is currently writing a book on early modern dreams.
Critical Survey
© Critical Survey and Berghahn Books 2016
Responses to Responses to Shakespeare's Sonnets
Exit, pursued by a fan
A Merry Midsummer Labor Merchant's Tempest in King Beatrice's Verona
Pickled Red Herring
Enter Nurse, or Love's Labour's Won
The Fair Maid of Alexandria, or The Glass Tower
A Tragedy of the Plantation of Virginia
Othello, Original Practices
Article by Mary Baine Campbell


text:
Home » Asia » 'Looking for a needle in a haystack'
'Looking for a needle in a haystack'
mediabest 11/12/2018 AIR CRASHESIndonesia
With his body perched precariously on the side of a rubberised boat, and one hand clutching a hydrophone, Mr Bryan Siow strains to listen for signals in the water.
As he handles what is basically a souped-up microphone designed to pick up sounds underwater, the senior air safety investigator also has to deal with the bobbing waves, taking care not to fall overboard, or drop his equipment into the sea.
"It's always challenging when you work off a small boat," he told The Sunday Times. "Even when the waves are not heavy, the motion tends to reduce your effectiveness when you're trying to listen for what is quite a faint sound."
Mr Siow, 38, is one of three investigators from Singapore's Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) sent to join Indonesia's national transportation safety committee KNKT in the open-water search for the "black box" recorders from Lion Air Flight JT610.
It is a gruelling mission that could go on for days, but a critical step in the probe for answers on why the relatively new Boeing 737 Max-8 passenger jet, with 189 people on board, plunged into the Java Sea on the morning of Oct 29.
The TSIB team, led by senior investigator and the bureau's head of operations Steven Teo, was mobilised after KNKT accepted Singapore's offer to help in their search.
The team was en route to Jakarta within hours of the crash, arriving at about 7pm local time, before being whisked away to rendezvous on the research ship Baruna Jaya 1 with their KNKT counterparts.
At midnight, they set sail together for the crash site in waters off Karawang regency, in West Java, fully aware that they might be out at sea for some time to search for the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the ill-fated flight.
The search began at sunrise but it did not take long for the teams to catch a lucky break. They picked up the first 'ping' – a short high-pitched signal – from an underwater locator beacon attached to one of the black boxes, on the first day of their search with the KNKT.
Recounting how it happened, Mr Teo, 40, said KNKT and TSIB investigators had earlier agreed on a search area with eight points, four on each side of a grid based on the flight profile of Flight JT610 before contact with the plane was lost.
"The aircraft seems to have continued its flight profile," he added. "And once we reached the first point, we could hear the ping."
The next day, investigators from both agencies managed to narrow down the estimated location of the signal source from 200m to 20m from where the FDR was later recovered by divers on Nov 1.
That was no mean feat, considering the radius of the search and rescue operation had stretched to 15 nautical miles (27,780m) by then.
Also, despite having a rough bearing on the signal, Indonesian divers still had to manually comb the area to find the source of the ping, and eventually the FDR.
"And it was not in plain sight, it was actually buried," said Mr Siow.
Indeed, dive teams reported encountering mud of up to 1.5m deep on the seabed, which not only hampered their movement but also affected their visibility underwater.
"So, really, our hats off to the divers who found it," said Mr Teo, describing their job as not unlike "looking for a needle in a haystack".
EVERY CRASH HAS ITS CHALLENGES
The TSIB search team, along with a fourth investigator, Mr Ng Junsheng, met with The Sunday Times last Monday when the Baruna Jaya 1 returned to port for resupply.
Mr Ng, 37, who is also head of technical support at TSIB, had arrived in Jakarta on Nov 1, to join KNKT in processing the flight recorder retrieved by divers earlier that day.
It was the first time Mr Siow, Mr Teo and Mr Alexander Leong, 34, had returned to shore since the night of the crash.
During the operation, the team would set out from the Baruna Jaya 1 in smaller rigid inflatable boats, or RIBs, and deploy their underwater locator beacon detector system, alongside KNKT officers.
"Our longest stretch at sea actively searching for the recorders on a RIB was about four hours," said Mr Teo, who has been an air safety investigator for almost eight years.
For the search, TSIB had sent two sets of the underwater locator beacon detector system, which comprises a hydrophone that "listens" for the ping, and allows its user to triangulate its approximate location with a ruggedised tablet computer.
"The system depends on the human ear, so sometimes when we get a signal, we may also want a second confirmation, so between ourselves and KNKT, we take turns to listen for the ping and work as a team to determine the direction where it is coming from," said Mr Teo.
The day after their interview, Mr Teo and Mr Leong were out at sea again to search for the CVR.
Mr Siow, an air safety investigator for about 10 years, was involved in a similar operation during the 2014 crash of Air Asia Flight QZ8501 in the Java Sea. He says there is no telling when the CVR will be found this time round.
"Every crash comes with its own challenges and if you compare this crash with QZ8501, the recorders then were found a day apart from each other," he added. "But for this incident, we are still looking for the second one."
With the exception of Mr Leong, who joined TSIB three years ago, the rest of the team were also involved in the operation to recover the Air Asia flight recorders. All agreed that weather conditions were more favourable this time.
"For this mission, they can reach the search location in three hours, but for the QZ crash, they needed to travel for at least 14 hours," said Mr Ng.
"QZ also happened in the middle of the monsoon season and so for safety reasons, it took the team quite a few days before they could deploy out to sea."
EVOLUTION IN AIR CRASH PROBES
When asked if he ever thought he would spend so much time at sea even though he is an air safety investigator, Mr Siow said he did not.
"But after the crash of Air France 447, the investigator's role seems to have evolved, and we are now very focused on sea operations," he said, referring to the Paris-bound flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing all 228 on board.
"Even the training has evolved to focus on the search for flight recorders at sea, not just on land."
All four TSIB investigators are back in Singapore as of yesterday, even as the Indonesian authorities called off the search for crash victims after almost two weeks.
Mr Teo said TSIB has a close working relationship with KNKT, and besides search and recovery operations, they also cooperate in training, often sharing investigation techniques and lessons learned.
The TSIB also works with its other international peers, and is often sought out to assist in the search for black boxes at sea and to recover data from flight recorders.
For instance,Mr Teo was involved in a search operation in South Korea, after an Asiana Airlines cargo plane went down in waters off Jeju island, in July 2011.
"It's always easy to make mistakes, and it's a lot harder to do it right," said Mr Ng, when asked how it was like when tasked with processing data read-outs from recovered flight recorders, which are crucial in any air crash investigation.
"They have placed a fair amount of faith in you," he said. "So you really want to ensure you did a thorough analysis, that the data is accurate, and you were able to support the wider investigation in a meaningful way."
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text:
Q: "NULL expression encountered" on FTDI's libMPSSE My question is specific to the library libMPSSE from FTDI to work with USB to serial port (SPI, I2C, etc) adapters on Linux.
When I execute any program linked with the library, the method Init_libMPSSE() is called (without explicit invocation) and throws the following message.
../../Infra/src/ftdi_infra.c:243:Init_libMPSSE(): NULL expression encountered

Has anybody experienced this issue and found a workaround?.
Thanks.

A: You get this error when libMPSSE can't open the libftd2xx.so shared library. You need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the path where this library was installed. For example if the library is in /usr/local/lib you would run the SPI static example like this:
sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib ./sample-static.o

A: A:
Using:
sudo LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib ./your_application

is only one of the important steps!

Important: not using sudo can result in a failure like described here!

B:
But on Linux make sure that before you execute the command above, you disable the FTDI's VCP drivers that are already included in the Linux kernel. VCP drivers and libftd2xx drivers cant coexist! So, even before you execute the command above, you have to (a) plug in the device and (b) dissable the VCP drivers:
┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > Downloads
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/3
  └─> sudo rmmod ftdi_sio
┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > Downloads
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/3
  └─> sudo rmmod usbserial

Now, your application will be able to talk with libftd2xx drivers because VCP drivers will not interfere. So now you can execute the command in A:.
C:
Pay attention that bitness of the libMPSSE (& therefore your application) and libftd2xx have to also be the same! 32-bit or 64 bit!
For Linux, FTDI only provides 32-bit precompiled libMPSSE library here, but they provide 32-bit and 64-bit libftd2xx drivers here. So if you installed 64-bit libftd2xx, you need to compile the 64-bit libMPSSE library yourself! Sources are available here.
If we are on 64-bit system, we download the sources and we will get the compressed file libMPSSE_Source.zip. We extract it:
┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > Downloads
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> unzip libMPSSE_Source.zip

and we will get a folder libMPSSE__0-6_Source.  We move inside and try to build the library!
┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > Downloads
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> cd ./libMPSSE__0-6_Source/LibMPSSE/

┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > LibMPSSE
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> cp ../External/Linux/libftd2xx1.1.12/release/ftd2xx.h .

┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > LibMPSSE
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> cp ../External/Linux/libftd2xx1.1.12/release/WinTypes.h .

┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > LibMPSSE
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> gcc -Wall -c *.c
ftdi_mid.c: In function 'Mid_CheckMPSSEAvailable':
ftdi_mid.c:653:2: error: unknown type name 'byte'
  653 |  byte los = strlen(devList.Description);
      |  ^~~~

We will see that there is an error but it is fixable. We just open a file ftdi_mid.h and move to the line 653 which we edit like this:
unsigned char los = strlen(devList.Description);

Now we compile .h files to .o files and create an archive  i.e. static library libMPSSE.a:
┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > LibMPSSE
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> gcc -Wall -c *.c

┌───┐
│ $ │ ziga > ziga--workstation > LibMPSSE
└─┬─┘ /dev/pts/4
  └─> ar -cvq libMPSSE.a *.o
a - ftdi_common.o
a - ftdi_i2c.o
a - ftdi_infra.o
a - ftdi_mid.o
a - ftdi_spi.o

We can now also move this 64-bit library in our project's folder and we can use this one, but doing this would demand us to remove or rename the 32-bit libraries that are already there.
D:
To compile my application with 32-bit libraries, I used:
gcc -Wall -Wpedantic -g -gdwarf-2 -m32 -L. -o main.elf main.c -lMPSSE -ldl

Note that I am on Debian 11 and in order to crosscompile with -m32 flag, you need to install the package gcc-multiarch.

But to compile my application with 64-bit libraries, I used:
gcc -Wall -Wpedantic -g -gdwarf-2 -L. -o main.elf main.c -lMPSSE -ldl

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Q: I have paid off 3/4th of my car. I have monthly payments. Do I deduct what I still owe or the monthly payments. Deduct one monthly payment or 1 year of payments?
A: You can deduct up to one year worth of the loan repayment after interest.


Website: organisation: Diabetes SA website. Features advice and news. Carries some advertising, details on application.
Official publication of Diabetes South Africa. Covers management of diabetes, new research and products available.
Members of Diabetes SA membership, plus via Dischem and CNA.


Calpers was entirely correct in cutting high-fee, underperforming hedge funds from its pension portfolio, said Roger Martin, author of the Harvard Business Review article titled 'The Talent Economy'.
Calpers was entirely correct in cutting high-fee, underperforming hedge funds from its pension portfolio, said Roger Martin, author of the Harvard Business Review article titled 'The Talent Economy'. Martin said hedge fund managers are taking a wildly disproportionate share of the profits and this will ultimately lead to more pension funds following Calpers lead. He said technology entrepreneurs are more valuable to the economy than money managers because they create value as opposed to trading value. Finally, he said the government should step in if the free market will not solve the problem of wage inequality.


text:
Founder of 'Super Straight' Movement Receives Death Threats, Harassment After Media Hit Pieces
clownworld
Reddit bans forum, TikTok censors hashtag.
Video Screenshot
The founder of the 'super straight' movement, which asserts the right to not be attracted to transgenders without being labeled "transphobic," received a wave of harassment and death threats after the media ran hit pieces against him.
The movement began last week when Kyle Royce posted a video to TikTok outlining how he'd created a new sexual identity – super straight.
Anyone else super straight? Big respect to this guy createing a new thing. #superstraight pic.twitter.com/hdLdeV82xK
— 👑Super S+ Movement👑 (@OGSuperstraight) March 3, 2021
In the clip, Royce explains, "Since straight men get called transphobic because I wouldn't date a trans woman…now I'm super straight, I only date the opposite gender – women that are born women – so you can't say that I'm transphobic now because that's my sexuality."
Immediately after the clip went viral, media outlets like Pink News attacked Royce and claimed the trend "has links to the far-right and neo-nazis."
This led to Royce's family being targeted and him being on the receiving end of death threats.
In a message posted on a GoFundMe page (which will probably get shut down when the woke mob finds it), Royce explains how after making the video, he "received an insane amount of backlash and death threats. People found my family and have been set to ruin our lives; even attacking my mothers business."
Royce says he is homeless and is temporarily living at his girlfriend's house.
Innumerable Twitter users also expressed their desire to kill anyone who identifies as super straight.
Unbelievable amounts of superphobia on Twitter.
The #SuperStraight community are definitely the MOST persecuted group of people on earth today.
Unacceptable. But we'll counter your hate with love.
🖤🧡 pic.twitter.com/wSkMLsThOO
— Super Straight India 🇮🇳 (@SuperStr8IND) March 7, 2021
Meanwhile, as Chris Menahan notes, Reddit banned the rapidly-growing "SuperStraight" subreddit over its apparently "hateful" satire, while TikTok has also banned the 'superstraight' hashtag after it amassed over 103 million views.
"Our liberal world order can't withstand even the mildest of mockery," writes Menahan. "How much longer can this system survive?"
As the screenshots of Reddit posts below illustrate, the content was not "hateful" at all, it was merely a funny repudiation of woke clown world nonsense.
Kew Gardens to Tell Visitors How Racist Its Plants Are
Mumford & Sons Guitarist Forced Into Groveling Apology Over Antifa Book
Video: CNN's Lemon Says Unvaccinated "Idiots" Like Novak Djokovic Shouldn't Be Part Of "Polite Society"
CNN host wants those who "do their own research" ostracised for "the greater good"
CNN host Don Lemon declared Tuesday that those who choose not to take coronavirus vaccines are "idiots" who need to be ostracised from "polite society" for the "greater good".
Referring to a viral rant against the unvaccinated by a Mexican news anchor, Lemon stated "He's right," further noting "I've gotten criticized for saying that we need to stop listening to the people and they should not be part of polite society, so to speak."
Lemon continued, "the unvaccinated people in the U.S., they're key to the reason that coronavirus, the variants are emerging. And that the reason – I'm looking at the stats from the CDC – and the reason why it's replicating and mutating. It's because of unvaccinated people, who are doing their own research online!"
"I can't do my own research better than experts who do have devoted their lives to medical and scientific research," Lemon continued, adding that those who don't "believe in science" shouldn't be allowed to travel.
"We have to start doing things for the greater good of society and not for idiots who think that they can do their own research, or that they are above the law and they can break the rules," Lemon further proclaimed, pointing to tennis champion Novak Djokovic.
Lemon stated that Australia told Djokovic "No, no, no, no, no. We're going to look at the greater good of everyone in our society, and you're not part of that. We don't care that you're the number one tennis player in the world."
"And good on them because they are keeping their population and their citizens – people who want to be good citizens – they're keeping them healthy and safe and alive," Lemon declared.
"We have to start doing things for the greater good of society and not for idiots who think that they can do their own research, or that they are above the law and they can break the rules." – Don Lemon pic.twitter.com/wLUOZklmsF
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) January 18, 2022
Lemon keeps suggesting that it is time to segregate society. Last month he declared that conservatives and people who dislike wearing face masks are to blame for a rise in traffic accident deaths, because they are contributing to a "lack of civility" in society.
Lemon is, of course, another massive hypocrite preaching 'do as I say not as I do'.
Video: Virginia Kids Made To Sit Outside on Concrete In Freezing Cold For 'Mask And Snack Break'
This time they didn't even get buckets to sit on
The Fairfax County Parents Association has posted video taken from this week showing school children being seated on the ground outside in the snow in what school officials have described as a 'mask and snack break.'
The footage shows a teacher from Waynewood Elementary school close to Alexandria reading to the kids while they sit apart on the concrete.
The group noted that the temperature was 'well below freezing':
Video of the elementary school kids sitting in 24 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, below freezing) at @waynewoodes today. This is Virginia, where kids don't routinely wear down and wool. @Karen4Schools @FCPSSupt @fcpsnews pic.twitter.com/6scCWizHEy
— Fairfax County Parents Association (@FFXParentsAssoc) January 11, 2022
Fairfax County Public Schools issued a statement in response noting "This morning on Twitter, an anonymous parent group posted a video that was taken outside of Waynewood Elementary School in Alexandria. In the video, a group of third grade students are taking a snack and mask break in front of the school."
The statement continues, "The weather conditions were monitored, and the students were outside for less than seven minutes. The teacher was reading a story to keep the students entertained. Students do go outside for mask and snack breaks in cold weather, but that time is limited."
Regarding this video, the students are taking a snack & mask break in front of the school. Weather conditions were monitored & students were outside less than 7 min.
Note that students do go outside for breaks in cold weather, but that time is limited, as was the case here.
— Fairfax Schools 🌟 (@fcpsnews) January 11, 2022
The response did little to offset anger over the incident:
Did the person who wrote this tweet take your mask and snack break outside today?
— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) January 11, 2022
It takes at least five minutes to get kids that age situated. Then add the story time. Why not take a break in the sunshine while moving around instead of sitting on the cold ground in the shade? Sorry, no excuses for this. Prisoners are treated better than our children.
— Legally Red (@LegallyRed73) January 11, 2022
They can mask off inside. This whole thing is ridiculous. Masks DO NOT WORK!
— Kim in VA (@VASweetTea) January 11, 2022
I was outside for 3 min. today, IN THE SUN, and my face hurt for a long time after. 7 min. In the shade, sitting on the cold cement is not ok.
Also, we've MORE than established that cloth masks aren't even effective so….. why are they still wearing them?
— Erin Rexroth (@erin_rexroth) January 11, 2022
I don't think you got the approval from their parents asking them that their children will be out side on a cold day is a bad idea No wonder children get sick because of this
— D⃝ X⃝ (@AC3DX) January 11, 2022
I would not consider a "break" to be sitting in freezing weather on cold concrete. Not for myself- and certainly not for children. This is unacceptable. DO BETTER.
— Amy Noelle (@NoelleTMD) January 12, 2022
This activity has been ongoing in schools across the country.
Last month, kindergarten students in Portland, Oregon were forced to sit outside eating lunch on buckets in the near-freezing cold while socially distanced from their classmates.
CHILD ABUSE: Kindergartners are forced to eat lunch outside in 40 degree weather at Capitol Hill Elementary School in Portland, Oregon.
They sit on buckets to social distance from their classmates. pic.twitter.com/KqFcliTFYf
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) December 8, 2021
At least those kids got buckets to sit on, so they're doing better than in Virginia.
Video: CNN Panics Over More People Beginning To Ignore COVID Fear Propaganda
"They're just ignoring everything and living their lives"
CNN's Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy expressed disbelief and horror Monday that more Americans are beginning to live their lives normally again after two years of media driven pandemic panic and fear.
Stelter asked a question that everyone already knows the answer to, "is the media out of touch with the public about COVID?"
In a statement the irony of which can be lost on no one, Darcy replied that yes, the media is out of touch.
Darcy further proclaimed "I think this is an issue because if people are tuning out what's going on in cable news…the general population… you know, they're just, you know, ignoring everything and living their lives and we're not really getting the information that they need to them."
However will fewer than 200,000 Americans who regularly watch primetime CNN be able to cope without their daily dose of virus fearmongering?
And how will CNN be able to sell more ad time if Americans turn it off and leave their homes?


text:
Brachidontes modiolus is een tweekleppigensoort uit de familie van de Mytilidae. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1767 door Linnaeus.

Mytilidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Join tables insert into third Table1
id  class_id  class
1
2
3

Table2
sameid  class_id
2       20
3       30
1       40

Table3
class_id    desc
30          forest
40          urban
20          water

I want to insert Table3.class_id and Table3.desc into Table1.class_id and Table1.class by joining Table1-Table2-Table3.
So I try:
INSERT INTO Table1 (class_id,class)
SELECT Table3.class_id, Table3.desc
FROM Table2
INNER JOIN Table3 ON Table2.class_id=Table3.class_id
WHERE Table1.id = Table2.sameid

But I get error: invalid reference FROM-clause entry for table "Table1". What am I doing wrong?

A: We can do an update join with the help of the following CTE:
WITH cte AS (
    SELECT t2.sameid, t2.class_id, t3.desc
    FROM table2 t2
    INNER JOIN table3 t3
        ON t2.class_id = t3.class_id
)

UPDATE table1 AS t1
SET
    class_id = t2.class_id,
    class    = t2.desc
FROM cte AS t2
WHERE t1.id = t2.sameid;

The strategy here is to create a CTE which contains all the columns we want to use in the update, addressable by sameid, which maps to the id in table1.  Then, we just use a Postgres update join to bring in the values.

A: I'm aware an accepted answer already exists, but you can leverage views if you want to keep your "Table1" concept up to date without having to periodically insert more data
CREATE VIEW Table1_vw AS
SELECT Table3.class_id, Table3.desc
FROM Table2
INNER JOIN Table3 ON Table2.class_id=Table3.class_id
WHERE Table1.id = Table2.sameid

Then you can query Table1_vw as if it was a real table
SELECT * FROM Table1_vw;

Edit: Read through the comments to see how inserts and updates work in the context of views.


My first time at the dessert place, Sweet Obsession on 16th and Trafalgar. On first look, the decoration was not all that elaborate, and the cakes look quite like the other cafe/cake shops.
Once I had a bite of their cakes, I knew why that place still had so many people late at night. The Chocolate Obsession was very very rich, and I don't think I've had a quite a "hazelnuty-flavoured" cake (not even sure if that's a word) with so much big chunks of the nut as the Chocolate Hazelnut Zuccotto. Quite a treat!
Suika is another Japanese izakaya restaurant (much like Guu) located on Broadway and Fir in Vancouver. 'Suika' actually means watermelon in Japanese – interesting. They replaced a Thai restaurant that was at that location. They've got a 88% rating on Urbanspoon and is one of the top Japanese restaurants in town. It was no surprise that they were still quite packed on a Wednesday night.
We ordered a variety of food from salads to fresh seafood to pressed sushi, an overall good mix. Their seafood is fresh, salad is well flavoured. The ma-po rice cake and Ebi-mayo could use a bit more work. Dish size wise they are about what you would expect from an izakaya place, and expect to spend roughly $20 per person to satisfy your stomach.
Aburi "Shime-Saba" Sushi – awesome pressed sushi!
Tonight a my friends and I checked out a French restaurant on Cambie called Pied-à-Terre. The friend who recommended it had already been two previous times, and liked the food and atmosphere. It's a quaint little restaurant, reminded me of La Quercia – seats about 30 people with simple decoration.
Their prices were pretty reasonable at about $10 for an appetizer (which can almost double as an entree), $25-$30 for an entree, and ~$8 for dessert. We started with some bread, which this one I found to be one of the better ones! (I'm picky about my bread, heh). I got some awesome BC mussels with chirozo and tomato (big, fat juicy mussels – delicious by the way) as appetizer, duck three-ways as main, and an apple and calvados parfait to finish off. Great food!


Service Charges 4.57 per SQ.FT.
A premium new flat for sale with 1 bedroom and private terrace. The apartment provides views over the London skyline. Onyx Apartments is located in the new regeneration area of Kings Cross, N1C.
The new flat for sale includes a light-filled, open plan reception room and kitchen finished with Siemens and Bosch appliances and stone work top. The spacious master bedroom enjoys a dual aspect, plenty of built in wardrobe space. The bedroom is a generously sized doubles and all are finished with luxurious, soft carpets. There are a family bathroom and 2 utility cupboards, one of which will house your washer dryer. Comfort cooling and underfloor heating are provided to keep you effortlessly cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
An exquisite collection of apartments in King's Cross, overlooking Regent's Canal. Onyx is superbly positioned for explorers, with unrivalled travel connections and a wealth of new cultural places to discover and enjoy in London's newest district, N1C. Esteemed universities are in abundance with University College of London and London School of Economics within a 25 minutes commute, not to mention the new home of Central Saint Martins' which is just moments away in vibrant Granary Square.
The regeneration of Kings Cross includes over 2,000 new homes, 3.4 million sq ft of workspace including Google's Head Quarters, Facebook and a new Covent Garden style piazza, Coal Drops Yard. Brands include top British designers Tom Dixon and Paul Smith, & other stories, Jigsaw, Carharrt WIP and Nike.
For beauty and wellbeing head to the new Pancras leisure centre, Move Your Frame for fitness and yoga, Space NK or Sweaty Betty. There are restaurants and bars to suit all tastes including Dishoom, German Gymnasium, Granger & Co. and Kimchee, and with more eateries opening up all of the time you'll never run out of new places to discover.
Onyx Apartments will provide an elegant building of 12 storeys which harmoniously balances brick and glass. Residents will benefit from two enticing entrance lobbies, a 24-hour concierge, residents roof terrace and cycle storage.


Timber Creek is a gorgeous tree-lined community of low maintenance Villas in Winfield. These attached single family homes are set among ponds and a golf course, and feature walking paths throughout, making it easy to stay active and enjoy nature. To cover even more ground, the expansive Great Western Trail runs along the northern edge of the community. The central location in Winfield allows easy access to North Avenue, Roosevelt Road, I-355, and Route 59. You'll also be less than 2 miles from the Winfield Metra Station and Cadence Health Central DuPage Hospital, which is consistently ranked as one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals. You'll love to call Winfield home, with quiet neighborhoods, shopping, dining, and a bustling business district. Timber Creek is a part of the highly-rated Benjamin Grade School District 25, earning a 10/10 rating, and Community High School District 94. Students attend Evergreen Elementary, Benjamin Middle School, and West Chicago High School.


text:
Are there bathrooms on Mount Kilimanjaro?
On Kilimanjaro, I need to use the restroom. On a Kilimanjaro trek, there are public bathrooms at each camp site. You will, however, need to decrease your expectations. Forget about porcelain urinals with locked doors, marble sinks with soap dispensers, hot water, and high-tech hand dryers. These amenities are available in Western toilets, but not everywhere they exist.
In general, there are two types of toilets on hiking trails: portable toilets and diggings. Portable toilets are small cabins with toilet seats that you pull down after you use them. They usually have cold water and a washrag for hand washing. Diggings are large holes in the ground where people can relieve themselves. Sometimes there is room beside the hole for a camping table or an incinerator to burn waste material.
On Mount Kilimanjaro, there are no private bathrooms except for those at hotels. However, most hikers using the bathroom at the Kibo Camp Site will also be carrying food up the mountain so they won't need to go too often. The best times to use the restrooms on Mount Kilimanjaro are early in the morning before it gets crowded and late at night when no one else is around.
There are two ways to carry water on a Mount Kilimanjaro trek: in bottles or in plastic bags. Bottled water is expensive on Kilimanjaro because there are no refills.
Are there toilets at Kew Gardens?
Can you shower on Kilimanjaro?
Are toilets open in North Yorkshire?
Are there toilets at Highcliffe beach?
Do beaches have bathrooms?
Most restrooms at Kew Gardens are open, and some will have capacity measures in place. Handwashing facilities are located at each gate and at strategic areas. Please be aware that the bathrooms at Kew Palace are being renovated. The Orangery, which has amenities, is a short walk away.
On Mount Kilimanjaro, there are no permanent showers or bathing facilities. All of our tour operator partners, on the other hand, will give you with a hot bowl of washing water every day. Some also provide a hand washing facility for campers to use. You can take a bath at these sites when it's convenient for you.
You should plan your trip around the availability of water because there are only a limited number of locations where you can find water. Most people who attempt the climb without taking a bath risk life-threatening conditions like dehydration and heat exhaustion.
If you do choose to take a bath, wear clean underpants and a shirt that you don't mind getting dirty. Avoid wearing silk underwear because the material keeps your body temperature down which can lead to colds or the flu.
Also, be sure to bring a towel with you because there are no towels available anywhere on the mountain.
Finally, carry a small amount of toilet paper with you so that you don't have to go in search of water while climbing.
The bathroom I described above is known as a "basic" site. These categories include hot showers, flush toilets, laundry facilities, and dining rooms. The quality varies between companies but most offer at least one of each.
The restrooms are open every day. (National Park Authority for the North York Moors).
Toilets are located on the cliff top, adjacent to the cafe. You can't miss them!
There is also a toilet block next to the car park with several free-to-use toilets. These are open during normal opening hours of the visitor centre.
Please do not leave any litter behind you in the woods - this includes toilet paper!
Also beware of snakes in the woods - they may be disturbed by your presence and will usually move away from people. If you encounter one, back away slowly and call for help if necessary.
Finally, keep an eye out for drop bears - they like to hang around the edge of the wood near the toilets.
These are just a few tips - we hope you have a safe trip!
Nonetheless, practically every beach controlled by the Department of Beaches and Harbors has open facilities or portable toilets. The only exception is when the state government closes a section of beach due to hazardous conditions such as high tide or severe storms.
Beaches are part of public property so they are available to everyone. Generally, there are two types of facilities on beaches: free ones and paid ones. Free beaches have no entrance fees and offer no services other than parking spaces. These are popular with people who want to bring their own food and drink or who just want to relax without spending any money. Paid beaches require you to pay an entry fee which usually covers parking costs and use of some amenities. In addition, they often have coin-operated showers, laundry machines, and snack bars.
Most public beaches have restrooms but these can be difficult to find so it's best to carry your own supplies in case of emergency situations. Some larger beaches may have changing rooms but these are usually only found at paid beaches.
Public beaches are safe places to play if you follow some simple rules. Don't go in the water if you're not wearing a swimsuit (even if it's just your underwear). Never leave your child alone in the bathroom.
Are the toilets open at Bodiam Castle?
Where is the National Cryptologic Museum in Baltimore located?
Author: Gregory Delaine
Can you visit Versailles for free?
Do you have to pay to get into MGM National Harbor?
Author: Trinidad Helwig
Are there toilets in Jesmond Dene?
Is there parking at Beachy Head?
By Spring Haage
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By Sylvester Mathews
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By Traci Buchheit
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By Ricky Simcox


Nike faux-leather trainers. Lace-up fastening at front. Round toe, perforated upper, injected unitsole midsole/outsole, Air Sole unit at heel, rubber toe and heel, branding at tongue, vamp and heel. Synthetic upper, textile lining, rubber sole.


Lead yourself with intentional self-care. Self-care is about taking care of you so you can give your best to others. It supports your physical, mental, and spiritual health. Below, are 10 tips and techniques to support your goals, such as exercising, reducing stress, relaxing and to get you started on the path to taking care of YOU.
Your body is your partner in getting things done and enjoying life. Take care of it with sleep, eating protein, physical activity, and preventative care. Physical activity increases the production of endorphins, which help to reduce stress and increase positive feelings in the body. Value your doctor appointments as much as you value your families' appointments and your work appointments. Take care of your psychological, emotional and cognitive well-being. What helps you feel good, think positively and be in a good mood? Explore your values and beliefs and connect with yourself, others, nature, or a higher power through religion, prayer, meditation, mindfulness, or yoga. Take time develop inner peace, be open to different points of view, and practice forgiveness.
Without growth, you lose momentum and stagnation sets in. Intentional growth is growth with a purpose, which motivates you to reach your full potential. Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree reminds us that if we give everything we have to others and don't take care of ourselves, we will not have anything left to give. Take a strengths-based approach to life and intentionally develop your strengths.
Attitude is a choice you make every day. We have thousands of thoughts each day. If the majority of them are negative, it will pull you down. Remove/limit toxic people and thoughts from your life. Support your choice to have a positive attitude by identifying who/what helps you stay positive. Surround yourself with things that make you smile.
Taking time to reflect allows you to pause, learn from experiences, transition, and make intentional decisions. Discover the best location for reflection, and be aware of the signs that you need to take time to reflect, such as feeling overwhelmed. Journal in your handwriting to take ownership of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Your energy levels vary throughout the day. Manage your energy by discovering and supporting your daily energy pattern. Are you a morning, afternoon or evening person? When do you get your charge? Take breaks during your lower-energy times to re-energize. Identify the best ways you re-energize, such as a walk, listening to music, stretching, or laughing with a friend.
The average child laughs about 400 times per day while the average adult laughs only 15 times per day. The Mayo Clinic reports that there are emotional and physical benefits to finding humor in your life. It reduces your response to stress, improves your mood, relieves pain, and soothes tension. A laugh shared with others also builds a connection and makes you more approachable.
Technology is a valuable tool; however just as you need breaks from your personal and professional life to re-energize, you also need breaks from technology. Even if you are sitting on the couch watching a movie and flipping through social media when you hear notifications on your cellular device, your physical body may be relaxing, but your brain is not. Your best ideas come when you give your brain a break. Create a family household charging station, remove all technology from the dinner table, have a no-technology living room, and limit the amount of time you use a device.
Focusing on your ever-growing to-do list causes you to feel overwhelmed. Only thinking about what you have to do is not the full picture. Reflect on what you can stop doing and make a not-to-do list. Before you even add something to your to-do list, consider if it supports your values and priorities. If it doesn't, add it to your not-to-do list. Ask yourself: Is this really important? Does it have to be done today, tomorrow, ever?
Music improves your mood and increases your energy. Listening to music causes your brain to release more dopamine, which can create positive feelings. Songs become part of your memories. When you hear them, they bring that memory to the forefront. Create playlists that make you feel like dancing and singing out loud.
You cannot change the number of hours in a day, only how you use them. Schedule your priorities to stay focused and reduce your stress. Identify your self-care practices, connect them to what works for you, and organize a self-care plan. If it is important to you, it deserves time on your calendar.
Mind, body, and spirit are all connected and require consistent care and attention to be at your best for yourself and others. What self-care practices do you recommend? What is one tip/technique you are committing to try? Share your thoughts and experiences, join the conversation below.
For more information about our Customized Training and Strengths-Based Coaching services, reach out to us at Info@bscorbettconsulting.com, follow us on Twitter, and read our Move to Action blogs.