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Anshu Appointed as President of the NDLSCA
by HSKSG | May 22, 2018 | Press Releases
HSKS Greenhalgh Director Anshu Mehan has been appointed as the President of the Nottingham, Derby and Lincoln Society of Chartered Accountants (NDLSCA) for 2018/19.
Anshu, who is also a Chartered Tax Adviser and a member of Society of Trust and Estate practitioners, takes over the role from George Acquah of Rolls Royce. Christine Turner will take over the role of Deputy President.
The NDLSCA organise events for members, ranging from courses to annual dinners, social events and discussion groups, as well as representing the interests of Chartered Accountants in the district to the wider business community.
During her presidency, Anshu will represent the views of local members at national level, set the NDLSCA's strategy for the next 12 months and attend a variety of events across England and Wales on behalf of the Society.
Whilst it is a challenge, she is however, very much looking forward to taking over from George Acquah, whose contribution in bringing younger members to the society and greater engagement with the Institute at national level, is commendable.
Anshu commented, "Over the next 12 months we are looking to put on a series of events which will appeal to younger members and increase the use of social media to connect with our membership.
"On a personal level I am honoured to be the District's representative and am looking forward to attending a variety of events across the country to raise the profile of the region's accountancy professionals.
"I am also mindful that my year in office will coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the admittance of Mary Harris Smith as the first female member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, her application having twice being rejected previously on account of her gender. She was 72 years old at the time of her admittance. Since then women have made considerable progress and now account for nearly 29% of the Institute's membership in UK. I want to encourage more women to get involved in representing the profession at both district and national level and promote Women in Business Forums".


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Beauty's Reign
On August 18, 2019 August 18, 2019 By Donny DukeIn black and white photography, ego activism, Inner Voice and Vision, supermind, the integral yoga, the psychic being, video artLeave a comment
I submit this music video as an introduction to and example of ego activism.
Ego Activism – dynamic social action using one's creativity to undermine the dominance of the human ego in the world, one's own ego as well as the ego in general. It has the aim to quicken human evolution out of this ego stage of identity. It recognizes the primacy of the ego as the root of the problems in the human condition, and while it may address individual problems, such as climate change, sexual assault, and mass murder, to name pressing ones today, it sees the solution in not giving primacy to the ego but to a more integral and unified human identity based on oneness, on the part of everybody, not just the people manifesting this wrong or that, their own ego being the primary ego the activist aims to surpass. It does not point the finger at the behavior of others without three fingers pointing back at the activist, and when it does point the finger, it does so with compassion and understanding, for one's self as well the ones being pointed out, keeping out of its attitude self-righteousness, judging, blaming, anger, hatred, and violence. It engages people with sincerity, vulnerability, beauty, and a knowledge of truth, truth not being any religious name or formula but what's actually going on. While pacifism is its preferred mode of action, it's not adverse to the activist physically defending themselves and others if the genuine need arises. Self-sacrifice, however, is a major characteristic of ego activism, not however, the kind that surrenders to the condemnation and punishment of the world, which would be surrendering to the ego and its methods, but the kind whereby the activist is willing to put themselves at great risk in conducting the action, not foolish, impulsive risk that has harm to the activist or death as its probable or certain outcome, but wise, calculated risk that has both the needs of the activist and the world at heart and in harmony whatever the outcome.
d a g
It's been a long time,
long, long, long time,
g a d g
everything that's sung and in one line.
Work up slowly your way to it.
d g a
And the folk song's driftin' on a better day.
The folk song's liftin' on a inner ray:
d g a g d
the many splendors of beauty's reign.
Here the heart wants to share
g a d
snow covered music for my kind,
on the wings of the time, on the wings of a dove, on the wings of love.
So many changes for my kind,
everything to do with the divine,
everything that's true,
beauty's ray, beauty's role, beauty's reign,
d a g d
beauty's ray, beauty's role, beauty's reign.
Let go,
let, let, let go.
Land wide release.
You are llamada up above. (Spanish, pronounced 'yamada')
A time of change,
change, change, change, change,
when the world pipe knows only one thing.
You have to know it very well.
And the folk song is tempted by an adverse fate.
The folk song is driftin' wrong on the Titan's urge.
He saw my sun, moon, and stars.
Put all change back.
But in the play there's a process aware of,
d g a d
Look out of the psychic being's urge.
And that weakness was no longer,
and that weakness was no longer.
It shattered not
This is from the sun (3xs):
Help You From the Rear View Mirror
On July 27, 2019 By Donny DukeIn applied nonduality, movie review, Silent Mind, supermind, the integral yoga, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo1 Comment
(The full movie can be seen here: https://youtu.be/dFyt4ejRiJI The article on the film was originally posted in July 2015 at: https://theawakenedstate.net/help-rearview-mirror/)
Who's Driving the Dreambus? (2009) That's an insightful and inviting title for a film that interviews some of the people in contemporary non-duality spirituality (Advaita) who say or are said to be Awakened: Tony Parsons, Jeff Foster, Timothy Freke, Genpo Roshi, Gangaji, Toni Packer, Amit Goswami, and Guy Smith. It's described by the filmmakers as "a feature-length documentary exploring life's most profound mystery, 'Who am I?'"
Explore that mystery it does, and from an extraordinary perspective: a rare station of consciousness experienced by people from all faiths and all cultures down through the ages, hence panhuman, one considered spiritual or elevated because it's beyond the ego, a state ontologically hard to define and equally difficult to divine who's actually there and who's just able to sound like they are, difficulties that have been a major source of debate and division in spirituality since the beginning I'd imagine because we're talking about realization, here called Awakening.
While the film does explore the ontological question, the latter question of which of those interviewed is in that state and who isn't this film does not bridge or even discuss. Only the title suggests it, asking, from one possible interpretation, which one of those interviewed is driving the dreambus, that here meaning something in the neighborhood of the bus to Awakening, in other words, who is Awakened? And when you interpret the title as asking is there anyone driving the dreambus (if anyone's really there in the driver's seat at all), dreambus here meaning this dream of a body and a world, neither does the film bridge existence, nor, in my view, even the spiritual path.
According to those interviewed there is no spiritual path (or anything else: you, I, or the world) because everything is one, or it just 'is', some mystery we cannot hope to penetrate. For us staring fruitlessly at that impenetrable mystery, it boils down to a nullity of everything in oneness or 'isness', and in fact when your consciousness is seated there you experience that nullity, and you no longer have a self-reflective consciousness, no I or inner chatter, hence Silent Mind and no-self it's also called, and it's as though you live in the infinite vast because there are no objects in your consciousness and no boundaries between you and everything else save the body and some little sliver of something never in view.
It's quite a shock to go into the Silence, what it's called in other circles, and if you visit that place if only for a moment your whole view of things shifts to that 'nullity in oneness' when you return to normal mind, so convincing is the experience, like you know it's the background of everything, or so it seems, a pure undifferentiated consciousness, basic raw awareness and nothing else, the One, who doesn't from that perspective even appear aware, since all sense of God and soul vanishes too with the loss of a self and a center.
If this really were the ultimate place in consciousness and oneness we can get to and dwell in, in all infinity and beyond, in all the universes and what's bigger than universes, then I'd say mainstream science is on the right track with its reductionist materialism, reducing everything to material process, meaning that everything is the result of that, consciousness too just the interaction of chemicals in the brain and spinal column. And I'd say that because it amounts to the same thing as science in saying consciousness has no higher purpose, no intent in it or beyond it except that which hapless creatures such as ourselves put in it, creatures that in reality do not even exist: in other words, meaninglessness, where nonexistence is supreme.
However, in that station itself, and here's the difficulty of seeing beyond it, there is that peace that passes understanding and in most cases, not all, an unbounded joy not dependent on outer circumstances. Attachment and desire are no longer a problem because they don't arise. Contentment in nothing and the sheer freedom that entails makes not only ego consciousness but also any other possible station appear a state of bondage, and so it's understandable if you're there or have been there to feel that there's no station beyond (because there's nothing here in the first place!).
Experientially, though, at the fullest manifestation of the station described above, at its deepest in emptiness and silence, which none of those interviewed seem to have experienced or to even know about, not only the mind shuts off but the respiration and heartbeat too, and, if conditions are right, you feel at the base of the spine something like a rocket blasting off (the kundalini smote stark awake), a rocket that appears to take the seat of the consciousness up out the top of the head. I say appears because I aborted the ascension when I experienced that deepest state of Silent Mind (you can read a brief description in a published essay here: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/03/winged-information-a-peer-into-the-mountaintop-donny-duke/)
Based on that experience and ones where I did go into the regions (or chakras) overhead, though not from the Silence, and what I've read of others' experiences, it stands to reason it's from that deepest emptiness that you go up out through the crown chakra to either leave phenomenal existence in Nirvana, if that indeed is the case (I suspect it's not so final), or go up into the higher self, or Supermind as it's called in an Indian yoga. It depends on where you're orientated to go, on your soul's orientation, not your mind's choice.
Like being in the emptiness, this is not iffy business, and there's no guessing involved. It cannot be confused with an out of body experience because you remain very much within You, though an overhead extension of you you're probably not aware you have. You go out the top of your head, all your awareness, the seat of your consciousness, and see from there, hear from there, have no feeling of being in the body below you other than seeing it down there inhabited by the little self shut up in its little prison, though this describes an unmanifested Supermind several meters above a little self on the earth plane. What position it has in relation to the body when it's manifested is beyond my knowledge, but, according to the Integral Yoga, the full manifestation would mean a divinized body and earth too, what the hope of the New Age and of the kingdom of heaven on earth hint at, though Supermind is beyond heaven and the cosmic Gods, beyond the confines of the cosmos. You can find a detailed description of that experience here: http://www.shift.is/2015/03/whats-bigger-than-the-universe-hang-on-whats-bigger-than-everything/
In that higher self you do experience an individual existence, though it's egoless like the Silence, know yourself as the true individual that is evolving little selves through time, that line of many lives you ride above, bringing them to it, an individuality based on oneness, the One, but here it's aware, not a nonexistence as it seems in the emptiness, though it's still an ever impenetrable mystery. You know yourself as a symbol of That, as if it has impossibly provided a driving car of timelessness in time to bring all to it.
One in the essence of consciousness means, if you really are, that you see and act at multiple poles of experience at the same time, have an all-vision of everything happening and all-being of everything that exists, or have some concentric degree of that like in Supermind, and you can see through anything you look at, for example see through whatever roof or ceiling separates you from your little self, seeing the essence or nature of anything that meets your gaze. The utter stillness, peace, joy, and compassion for all are no longer grounded in emptiness but in fullness unimaginable, fullness of being.
Nor is this the ultimate station of consciousness, what you know seeing from Supermind because you're pointed more up to the regions above than down to the little I, unlike the cosmic Gods, who are primarily concerned with little lives like ours. There's no end to the evolution of consciousness. From Supermind you go to ever more all-encompassing stations of consciousness all the way to the One, to express in a linear fashion what isn't linear, which, as it appears from this 'one pole of experience' at a time existence, you can never get to but only are always becoming. In Supermind itself, however, you are the One, and that there is an ever more all-encompassing seeing of the 'all at once' does not negate either your being or becoming, contrary to non-identity described above where you aren't the One or anybody else for that matter.
In no-self you only see oneness and live in its vast store content with your see, and, also in contrast to Supermind, you're both in the body and in the one pole of experience existence, though without an ego or any other sense of self and identity. Another contrast is in the emptiness you're in a blissful ignorance unaware and unconcerned with either life after death or the past and future, as those interviewed repeatedly point out. According to the Integral Yoga, that has as its foundation a knowledge based on many experiences of the higher self and not only on one as I have, in Supermind, however, nothing is unknown to you, though you might have to bring something into view if it's not, and you live in the now of the eternal moment, in undivided time, which is a seeing of the past, present, and future at the same time, what can only be possible when you move, live, and have your being in multiple poles of experience simultaneously, naturally.
I'm not a fan of New Age spirituality, but I give it credit for keeping this hope alive, this ancient and hidden knowledge of who we are up top, albeit confusedly. Contemporary spirituality as a whole laughs at New Age thought, but it cannot see out of that box of emptiness, due to such an influence of Buddhism, particularly Zen, on spirituality today. In fact, it's often said, by those interviewed and others similarly minded, that seeking is fruitless because you're already there (but ask yourself this: is it manifested yet?), and so spiritual practice, if it's admitted at all, is centered on mindfulness and/or meditation, stilling the thought, not identifying with the I or any separation or distinction.
If you practice Avaita, or non-duality spirituality, you may or may not think, read, eat, exercise, or whatever, in a way that's conducive to that mindfulness, but chances are you probably do. You don't, however, as rule accept divine or spirit aid, the guidance of your soul, the help of your animal powers, use sequent number, synchronicity, power spots, and significant calendar days such as full moon, your birthday, the solstices and equinoxes, or even give serious attention to dreams, visions, and inner voices (all of which I use avidly). Here too New Age spirituality saves us from putting to sleep completely the ways and means of ascension, although at the same time it has everything thrown together in such a pell-mell fashion it's not easy to choose between what helps and what definitely doesn't.
Even to go into that place at the top of mind I've called the emptiness and the Silence (there are so many names for it, attesting to its panhuman existence) you need all the help you can get, and so how much more so to get to Supermind, or, to say it differently, not only to get to that emptiness but through it to the fullness of Supermind, to be orientated there. The trick is to be able to discern what help is natural to our individuality and humanity as whole in a divine transformation and what is not or frivolous. It's tricky, like walking a razor's edge, because when you begin to open the inner consciousness so many things come flooding in it seems pointing to your heights, not only the all too plentiful purposeful distractions orchestrated by powers hostile to divinity, but also "distractions in gold cuffs" my muse (the muse of poetry) calls them, because they can also be divine distractions, like getting sidetracked from your own divine transformation with Jesus, Krishna, some other divine name, or a divinely inspired book, though avoiding all the distractions, divine or undivine, in no way precludes an indispensible, integral, and unconditional surrender to the Supreme, without which a divine transformation isn't possible. Nor does it preclude using and adoring some divine name as your guide to get there. They just wouldn't be the goal.
If, however, you are content with gold cuffs and the cosmic Gods ("the story Gods" in my muse) and want nothing more than to draw ever nigh to some divine person, have no drive to exceed the human formula and go up into Supermind (who would also be coming down to you), then you'll be in good company and on hallowed ground, but just make sure it's your soul's choice. A good question: where would aliens or channeled entities fit into all of this? Or, I should ask, do they?
So far this may seem like just a bunch of philosophy, but shot through it are brief descriptions of my personal experience (which is by no means exhaustive), else I couldn't describe what I'm describing, and so it's more the result of experience than thought, hence engaged philosophy. Though we all have our personal truth, our uniqueness in Spirit, that silent empty station of consciousness is at the top of everyone's mind, since it's truth in its most basic sense, meaning simply what is, not a name or ideal to believe in, and everyone has a higher self above them, as both become visible when you reach them with the seat of your consciousness, your awareness. In other words they exist independent of belief.
You don't have to take my word for it; see for yourself if you are able. I didn't believe in Supermind before experiencing it, had no idea it was even there. I did know about the emptiness, but upon experiencing it I found it to be as ineffable and hard to describe in language as mystics for thousands of years have said it is. Nothing really prepares you for its hard to bear intensity. For reasons that probably has to do with enabling me to see out of that box of emptiness, seeing something's beyond it, I first experienced Supermind and then a year later the Silence (several times since that initial supramental experience I've gone overhead some distance, though not yet again to that height). Even having seen what's above it beforehand, that emptiness was still overwhelming. I greatly needed spiritual aid.
After the Silence I was devastated. I had seen that the world is an illusion and a cheat, myself included, and so there was no reason to continue spiritual practice, or even school for that matter (I was studying Classical Greek in the university at the time). In fact, there was no reason to do anything except wait for death as comfortably as I could. If I would've stayed in the Silence, while adjustment to it would be difficult, it would've been much easier, since you are like I said content, and so the meaninglessness is just that, nothing at all. It's hard to give the picture of my utter despair because it wasn't depression; the peace from the experience lasted weeks.
About two weeks after the experience, as I was on the verge of stopping everything, sadhana, school, what have you, I flung myself on my bed one afternoon and was enveloped in flaming vision. It happened without any trigger. All was in storm at sea at night, and a purple sky was sending down lightning bolts on water just a slightly different shade of violet than it, water that was mad with waves. Riding on the waves not the least bothered by the storm was a young Caucasian woman on a white horse dressed in traditional American Indian buckskin, not as a squaw but as a warrior. As I looked into her eyes I found myself looking through innumerable eyes at the same time, hers included, not all eyes there are but saw as she saw through all the beings like her, and it was as though they were one being seeing and experiencing existence through all those many eyes, though each one was its own distinct personality acting on its own scene, which was in identity-unison with all the rest. Just a flash that seeing was, and then I was back behind my own eyes looking at her again riding so expertly that storm. She looked at me and gave me a smile that held within it all I hold dear about love, and she said, in a line of poetry I lost, something like, "Nirvana expresses itself through the forms."
The vision vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, but it put my whole world back in place. It used the word Nirvana for That because I was studying Buddhism at the time, and voice and vision uses what you know and believe in. To interpret what she said I was told that existence is not meaningless because the One, or whatever you want to call the Absolute, expresses itself through existence, or samsara as the Buddhists would call it. In other words, these symbol lives and worlds are real because That is behind them, what they are in reality. So the world and its inhabitants and all above it are a living symbols and not illusions, and that makes all the difference in the world.
That woman on the horse was a representation of my Supermind, what became apparent to me afterwards, whose nature is expressed in the symbols of the vision, i.e. a rider of storms, feminine in a masculine role, and 'Western' or 'White' but dressed in the life of native or tribal culture, all of which is proving to be my basic nature also, of this little self too. Though at the time I called her (them) the Nirvana people, because I was using the symbols of Buddhism, all those many eyes were the one Supermind, something I only glanced at when I was in Supermind so briefly I was there and such a shock it was just to see through everything as I did. At the time I had no name for it, as I was years from encountering the Integral Yoga, and I just called Supermind 'who I really am'.
When I was able to integrate the experience of the Silence with that of Supermind, in my understanding, I left Buddhism's ideal behind, though its thought and technique to get to the emptiness are unparalleled, which I yet use, since that no-self is a way station on the way to the Truth Consciousness (Supermind) and must be experienced and surpassed. Also a good question: where does God fit into the picture? I think I might venture to answer that one. Supermind is the first rung on the ladder of God above or beyond the universe, in other words, God from there on up.
Now, after saying all this, I can go back to the beginning and say that there is no spiritual path, not because all is one and therefore negated, but because all is One and at the same time the path to return there, and that's a supreme positive. So life itself is the spiritual path, afterlife too. Existence is that whether we realize it or not. We evolve despite ourselves, although we can certainly speed things up conceiving of for convenience sake a spiritual path. And while on that path there are check points, like emptiness and Supermind, as well as other things, the soul change (surfacing the soul) for one, they aren't the destination, just take you closer to it, and so they hold no all-importance, and making them the goal is as much of a trap as ignoring them altogether, believe me, but it is good to know of them, since your understanding and not only your heart take you forward on the path, and what the mind sees it can identify with, like what the soul envisions creates a world or a universe.
So relax, though you are God like many think, maybe even yourself, you'll only know yourself God when you can see through innumerable eyes at the same time, and you would also have superpowers.
As far as the question of being Awakened or not, I think the film in question gives a good picture of how different that is from being in ego consciousness when it shows that not as a philosophy but as a radical change of consciousness on the part of those interviewed. Are you there?
I'll finish with poems from my Twitter feed https://twitter.com/donnyduke7/media
My Vampire Takes A Bow And Other Tales Of Dream Theater
On February 28, 2019 July 31, 2019 By Douglas M.In Dream InterpretationLeave a comment
This article will hopefully be an interesting follow-up to my last one, 'There's Color In My Keyboard,' since it shows how a dream prompted me to finish that article and get it posted. Let's start with the dream:
This was a multi-part dream, but it was all related to my starring in a play as a vampire. There was a part where I'm looking at myself in a mirror checking out my phony fangs. Then there was another part where I don't have fangs, and know I need to go to the costume store to buy some so I'll have them for the performance. In the last part of the dream, I'm actually in the audience during the curtain call, and I know I have been sitting here as an audience member watching myself give the performance as the vampire. Other actors are on stage, and I can't remember for sure how 'I' came out on the stage, but I seem to recall it was by flying down from the rafters as a bat and transforming into the vampire before taking a bow. I do remember though, once 'I' join the other actors, five more actors, who are tall shadowy shapes, drop down from the rafters and land behind us, joining us for the curtain call. One of them falls over and stays down once he hits the stage. Afterwards there's a shift, and I'm in the vampire costume down in the audience area talking to people who are congratulating me on my performance. One was a gay guy, and there were also two attractive young women. Someone, I think it was the gay guy, compliments me on my eyes and the women agree. I admit that I know I have beautiful eyes.
Performing in live theater was a big part of my life during my childhood and teenage years, so it's no surprise being involved in the theater is a common dream theme for me. For a long time, I wondered what some of those dreams might mean. Within the last year or so, it came clear that, at least in some cases, theater dreams represent my creative endeavors, which are mainly writing, but video work also. That makes sense because theater was my main creative outlet growing up. I also put most of what I create on the web, so one could see how the idea of 'performing' would apply to putting yourself out before the public online, even though only a handful of people read this blog.
As I thought about the dream afterwards, it seemed to me this theater dream was related to the nearly completed and aforementioned article I was working on because in it I'm basically putting the vampire part of myself on public display. Now in this particular article, I was trying to show how I was allowing sexual/romantic feelings to color my email exchanges with a business associate, A.. At the time of the dream, the article had been lying idle for a week or so, since I wanted to have Donny take a look at a few small changes I'd made to it. But as he was quite busy with other things, I didn't push the issue. So I took the dream as a message from my inner to get Donny to have one last proofread, and to then post the article. So I dusted off the article, and actually ended up reworking some of it a bit more extensively, as well as putting the finishing touches on a GIF I created to accompany it. I asked Donny if he would take a final look at it, which he did, and then I posted it.
So if I'm on target here with the meaning of this dream, then the beginning of the dream, where I'm looking at my fangs, and thinking about how I need to buy fangs, would seem to be indicative of the last minute re-working of the article. And if that's the case, the curtain call and the end of the dream must have to do with the process of the article after it was posted, and the way readers felt about it. Dreams often exaggerate things however, as I often point out. So the actual reaction of the readers might not have been as glowing as the praise I received after the curtain call in the dream. The post got three likes though, so perhaps at least one of those readers felt like they got something valuable out of the article. It also seems possible to me that the praise after the curtain call may just be an acknowledgement by my inner for a job well done.
Regarding the other characters that were part of the curtain call, I'm not sure what they represent, though it seems to me the shadowy figures probably symbolize obscure or hostile forces that are having their play or influence during the sort of sexual/romantic indulgences that I describe in the article. I never mentioned the possible involvement of these kinds of forces in the article, and I only briefly brought out the idea that allowing these movements to have their play could possibly be harmful to A., that they might still have an effect on her even though she's on the other side of the globe. But the dream I think tells it like it is, showing not only that it's a vampiric thing to do, but also by revealing the presence of these shadowy hostile elements that are involved.
Perhaps the example I've shared above might not be enough to get the reader on the same wavelength as me regarding this idea that some of my theater dreams represent my creative work, and the placing of it on the internet. So I would like to share one more clear example. This one happened back in July 2018 on the night following the posting of my article 'You Have To Read Between The Letters.'
I'm in a production of Peter Pan starring as Peter Pan. It's towards the end of the performance, and I remember giving a short monologue, and then going outside and flying up to the top of a building, and then flying back to the stage for the curtain call. The theater is only about 15% full. We don't get a standing ovation, but the people are giving a lot of applause. I tell the people in the audience to bring their friends to the performances we are having over the next few days.
As I said before, not many people read this blog, so that would fit with having a small audience in the dream for my 'performance'. And perhaps the few people who read this article liked it, and that's reflected in the dream by the hearty applause. Or, as I postulated about the vampire dream, maybe this dream is also or even primarily just giving an acknowledgement of a job well done on my part by my inner being. Here again I can't say for sure.
I'm also unsure as to why Peter Pan was chosen to represent this article, which was about a dream that was an example of very specific and blatant guidance about a book I should read. Peter Pan is an adventurer though, and his world is one of dreams and fantasy, so I'm guessing it has something to do with that. Perhaps he represents my ongoing dream exploration, which, in its own way, is an adventure with new discoveries happening all the time. I don't think it has anything to do with being mischievous or shirking responsibility in some area of my life, though I can see how Peter Pan couldrepresent those things in a dream.
Regardless of whether or not my speculation is on the money as far as the symbolism of Peter Pan goes, I hope the reader can follow my logic here and see how the symbolism of performing and theater could represent one's creative work and putting oneself out in the public eye creatively and artistically. As for myself, as you can see, I'm convinced enough that I was able to take the first dream as guidance and finish an article.
In the future I hope to have more insight into other things a theater dream could represent. It hasn't come up recently, but I've had a recurring theme in theater dreams over the years that a performance is imminent, but I've missed most or all of the rehearsals, and I'm not sure what that relates to. Perhaps dreams like that are related to my creative work also, and indicate times where I haven't given something I was working on enough attention, and then finished it up in a hurry. I don't know, but I will be paying more attention the next time I have one of these dreams. There is definitely more to uncover here.
There's Color In My Keyboard
On January 5, 2019 August 13, 2019 By Douglas M.In Dream Interpretation1 Comment
I recently had a dream that was clearly prevision and is worth sharing just from that standpoint. What's perhaps more interesting though is the way the dream portrayed what was going to happen, because, even though there was a correlation, the events in the dream were much more dramatic and momentous than what happened waking life. Because of this, it's a good example of the way dreams do things.
Here is the dream:
I'm working at the Mermaid Grill as a server. A. also works there. We find ourselves out in the entryway to the restaurant and start kissing and fooling around. S. is sitting there at a desk and tells us in so many words to get a room. There was more in between I don't recall clearly, but then later on (or in a different dream of that night following the same scenario) it's six months later, and A. and I have broken up after being in a relationship during that time. She has shown up with her new boyfriend at the Mermaid Grill to have dinner while I am working in order to rub my nose in it.
The two women in the dream, A. and S., both work for an advertising company that has been a long time partner with my employer as the publisher of our visitors guide. The first thing I should mention is that I find A. very attractive. She wasn't someone I saw or interacted with very often however, so the attraction wasn't something that came up much. You could definitely say though that I fancied her a little bit. Then, almost a year after I relocated to India, my employer expanded our partnership with her company, and they designed a new website for us and also took over handling all advertising sales for the site. I was instructed to pass any referrals for advertising on to A.. So about once a month or so I needed to email her about something related to website advertising or the visitors guide.
The day following the dream I got an email from A. In it she told me that her coworker K. would be handling all the advertising from here on out, and to refer everything to her. Looking at A.'s signature I saw that her title had changed from Account Executive to General Manager, and I realized that was the reason. Then I noticed that the vital was a little bit deflated by this news. It realized I wouldn't be emailing with A. anymore, or at least not nearly as often, and experienced some disappointment because of that. Seeing this, I realized how the vital had taken pleasure in corresponding with her simply because of my attraction. And even though our emails were all business, it was still a little pop for the vital to get an email from her or to send her one. There was a thrill in that little contact.
This is the first time I can ever remember dreaming of A., and I think the prevision is obvious, though as I've found with prevision in my dreams at least, there isn't an exact correlation. According to Sri Aurobindo, in this regard I'm the rule and not the exception. Aurobindo states in his Letters on Yoga that the power to have dreams with exact physical prevision "is comparatively rare, for ordinarily such previsions come in inner vision but not in sleep. In dreams vital or mental formations often take shape which sometimes fulfill themselves in essence, but not with this accuracy of detail."1
I think we can see how this applies here, because this wasn't anything like a romantic split in waking life. Nor was A.'s email anything but congenial, and there's no reason why it wouldn't be. I'm pretty sure she likes me as a person, and it was, after all, just business. And the truth is my vital wasn't really that upset about the whole thing, just a little disappointed. The disappointment though was because of the attraction, and that seems to me to be why the dream portrayed what happened as a romance and a breakup. While writing this article I read something the Mother said which supports this idea as a reasonable explanation. She was talking about visions in the subtle physical plane, but I think the same mechanism would apply to dreams. In her words:
If you have a power of vision that is objective and sincere, you see the thing accurately; if you add your own feelings and impressions to it, it is coloured by them. So accuracy in the subtle physical depends exclusively on the instrument, that is to say, on the one who sees.2
To conclude the analysis of the dream, I'd like to take a look at the fact that this dream took place at the Mermaid Grill. As Donny once pointed out, a restaurant is a logical symbol for somewhere people are exchanging life force. That would fit in this case since I feel that actually occurs when you're corresponding with someone or, as I pointed out in a recent post, during things like social media interactions. I honestly hadn't ever given much thought to what a mermaid might symbolize. Nor can I remember ever having a dream of an actual mermaid, though that may have happened. I wasn't sure what to make of it so I ran it by Donny, who said that to him, in the case of this dream, it suggested a desire that was still somewhat subconscious and unformed, still 'under the water' to some extent. That idea makes sense since my attraction to A. has been more of a fancy, and not something that has really taken a hold of my mind or my vital the way an actual infatuation with someone would. It could perhaps be compared with having a celebrity crush. Unless you're deluded or it's an obsession, you don't really take it that seriously, though it's fun to think about, and you might go see every movie that person is in in order to bask in their on screen presence. In the same way, I've been basking in these kinds of feelings in my emailing with A. And like my celebrity crush example here, I've also had some fun along the way thinking about what it would be like to be the center of her universe.
Now compared to the way people living a normal life indulge these kinds of fancies, I'm not indulging them all that much. As a sadhak, however, I have to keep setting the bar higher and higher, and the goal of the yoga I follow is not to indulge these things at all. That's been my goal for a long time, but I haven't reached it yet due I think to a combination of excusing it, but also by being carried away in the groove of a habit I indulged for many years. One thing I've noticed is that sometimes you can catch these things when they enter the mind and in that moment you can make the choice to push them away, while there are other times where they get in and start having their play for a while before you wake up and objectively realize what's happening. So I think the best thing I can do is to take the writing and posting of this article as a call to make the most definitive push I can to stop entertaining these things whether it's right at the moment they enter the mind or once I become aware they're having their play due to the groove of habit. As far as A. goes, this isn't just for me and my attempts at purification, but for her too, because if I'm basking in my attraction while emailing with her, that vibe still colors the exchange and has an adverse effect on her, however small, even if I never drop the slightest hint in my emails that I have these feelings.
So in conclusion, my main point here was to draw attention to the larger than life element of dreams and also to the possibility of distortion by the dreamer. There's certainly more to be said though on this subject of prevision in dreams, and I have another recent occurrence of dream prevision I want to share in an upcoming post that involved myself, and our dog, Lucy. This example takes things a bit farther, however, because there were prevision dreams both before the occurrence, as well as dreams afterwards that shed more light on what happened.
Sri Aurobindo, Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo Volume 31: Letters On Yoga IV, page 457
The Mother, Collected Works of The Mother Volume 10: On Thoughts and Aphorisms, page 124
The Settling Stone a Carve
On August 20, 2018 By Donny DukeIn black and white photography, film photography, Inner Voice and Vision, spoken word poetry, the Mother and Sri AurobindoLeave a comment
Made images out of light.
Feed them to this world.
Beat me.
I'm a meeting of soul wings.
It doesn't bother me.
Use your head.
Reflected on the walls of the mirror.
In any event,
where I sit and represent God.
That's the power lines.
What compassionate consideration.
It's like he loves himself.
He's the photographer you see,
the photograph,
all these images,
the poem,
not an ounce of color.
Do you see the address?
It's in the face of everything.
Image Pondicherry
On July 31, 2018 August 1, 2018 By Donny DukeIn black and white photography, Inner Voice and Vision, overhead poetry, the integral yoga, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, the soul, video poetryLeave a comment
I need you.
He fell into the bricks.
Thank God let him through.
He's an image in a photograph.
What visibility.
All citywide wears one face.
It gathers in the gloom.
Was to fight
till the front soul noon.
Let's give soft yoga shoes
a copy of The Letters
and give those bored little crazies the cubbyholes.
Came out peaceful Pondicherry.
An Audience Song
On July 30, 2018 July 30, 2018 By Donny DukeIn black and white photography, film photography, Inner Voice and Vision, overhead poetry, Poetry, spoken word poetryLeave a comment
I took this at the theater of Alliance Française in Pondicherry and developed it in our darkroom
Poetry enhances
our little corner of life's room.
It's what we splash on our faces
to get the stories out.
You would contradict this song.
That's the mystery.
And we look at an iceberg,
it roses from the ground.
Underneath it stalls in light.
A brief ocean
has rounded in our ears
the equity
of a larger see than ours.
Alimony this payment
to that stuff in us
at noontide's sing.
I've rounded poetry.
You hear the contradiction?
It's a blistery see
with what ails yah,
the exuberance
of a state of being
laughing at the stars.
It's a transaction
between you and sight
that calls all what you don't see
into play.
I measure my life by it
one poem at a time,
a poet in my room
attended by verse itself.
You are my audience
lines of poetry.
What people there
the contradictory note,
the flowers of which I speak.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Is there any action /filter hook I can use to disable login for some user role? I want to block user role called "pending" loging to the site. (pending is a custom user rolled created by me).
Is there any action/filter to block all users who are in "pendin" user role?

A: Yes, there is. You can use authenticate hook:
add_action( 'authenticate' , 'check_custom_authentication', 20, 3 );

function check_custom_authentication ( $user, $username, $password ) {

    if ( is_a($user, 'WP_User') && in_array('pending', $user->roles) ) {
        return new WP_Error('pending', 'Your error msg');
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
9 Things You Didn't Know About Dreams
We all have them — a lot of them, in fact.
By Sarah Jio
Multi-bits/Getty Images
Everyone dreams — every single night — and yet we tend to know so little about them. Where do they come from? What do they mean? Can we control them and should we try to interpret them? We spoke to a few dream experts who shared surprising facts about dreams. Read this before your next snooze.
1. Dreaming can help you learn.
If you're studying for a test or trying to learn a new task, you might consider taking a nap or heading to bed early rather than hovering over a textbook an hour longer. Here's why: When the brain dreams, it helps you learn and solve problems, say researchers at Harvard Medical School. In a study that appeared in a recent issue of Current Biology, researchers report that dreams are the brain's way of processing, integrating and understanding new information. To improve the quality of your sleep — and your brain's ability to learn — avoid noise in the bedroom, such as the TV, which may negatively impact the length and quality of dreams.
2. Just like men, women can have orgasms during dreams.
Did you think only men experience this phenomenon? Not true, says Barbara Bartlik, MD, a psychiatrist and sex therapist in New York. Warning, further reading may produce blushing: "Women have orgasms during their sleep, just as men do," she says. "These orgasms often accompany erotic dreams, but they also may occur during dreams of a nonerotic nature." When women dream, she says, it's not uncommon for their genitals to become engorged and lubricated. "This occurs during REM sleep, which happens several times during the night," she says. A similar thing happens to men. "Men get erections during REM sleep, whether or not the man is having an erotic dream."
3. The most common dream? Your spouse is cheating.
If you've ever woken up in a cold sweat after dreaming about your husband's extramarital escapade with your best friend, you're not alone, says Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, a dream expert, author and media personality. "The most commonly reported dream is the one where your mate is cheating," she says. Loewenberg conducted a survey of more than 5,000 people, and found that the infidelity dream is the nightmare that haunts most people — sometimes on a recurring basis. It rarely has anything to do with an actual affair, she explains, but rather the common and universal fear of being wronged or left alone.
RELATED: The Hidden Meaning Behind Common Dreams »
4. You can have several — even a dozen — dreams in one night.
It's not just one dream per night, but rather dozens of them, say experts — you just may not remember them all. "We dream every 90 minutes throughout the night, with each cycle of dreaming being longer than the previous," explains Loewenberg. "The first dream of the night is about 5 minutes long and the last dream you have before awakening can be 45 minutes to an hour long." It is estimated that most people have more than 100,000 dreams in a lifetime.
5. Even bizarre dreams can be interpreted.
While it can be hard to believe that an oddball dream about your mother, a circus and a snowstorm can have any bearing on real life, there may be symbolism and potential meaning to be mined in every dream — you just have to look for it, says Harvard-trained psychotherapist Jeffrey Sumber. "The meaning of our dreams oftentimes relates to things we are needing to understand about ourselves and the world around us," he says. Instead of shrugging off strange dreams, think about how they make you feel. "We tend to dismiss these dreams due to the strange components, yet it is the feeling we have in these dreams that matters most," he explains. "Sometimes the circus and the snowstorm are just fillers that allow us to process the range of emotions we feel about our mother and give us the necessary distraction so we can actually experience that spectrum of emotion."
6. Recurring dreams may be your mind's way of telling you something.
Do you have the same nightmare over and over again? Loewenberg suggests looking for underlying messages in recurring dreams so that you can rid yourself of them. For example, a common recurring nightmare people have involves losing or cracking their teeth. For this dream, she recommends that people think about what your teeth and your mouth represent. "To the dreaming mind, your teeth, as well as any part of your mouth, are symbolic of your words," she says. "Paying attention to your teeth dreams helps you to monitor and improve the way you communicate."
7. You can control your dreams.
The premise of the movie Inception is that people can take the reins of their dreams and make them what they want them to be. But it may not just be a Hollywood fantasy. According to the results of a new survey of 3,000 people, dream control, or "lucid dreaming" may be a real thing. In fact, 64.9 percent of participants reported being aware they were dreaming within a dream, and 34 percent said they can sometimes control what happens in their dreams.
Taking charge of the content of your dreams isn't a skill everyone has, but it can be developed, says Kelly Bulkeley, PhD, a dream researcher and visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, California. The technique is particularly useful for people who suffer from recurring nightmares, he says. Dr. Bulkeley suggests giving yourself a pep talk of sorts before you go to sleep by saying: "If I have that dream again, I'm going to try to remember that's it's only a dream, and be aware of that." When you learn to be aware that you are dreaming — within a dream — you not only have the power to steer yourself away from the monster and into the arms of Brad Pitt, for instance, but you train your mind to avoid nightmares in the first place. "Lucid dreaming enhances your ability to learn from the dream state," says Dr. Bulkeley.
8. You can linger in a dream after waking.
Have you ever woken up from such a beautiful, perfect dream that you wished you could go back to sleep to soak it all up (you know, the dream about George Clooney?)? You can! Just lie still — don't move a muscle — and you can remain in a semi-dreamlike state for a few minutes. "The best way to remember your dreams is to simply stay put when you wake up," says Loewenberg. "Remain in the position you woke up in, because that is the position you were dreaming in. When you move your body, you disconnect yourself from the dream you were just in seconds ago."
9. You don't have to be asleep to dream.
Turns out, you can dream at your desk at work, in the car, even at your kid's soccer game. Wakeful dreaming — not to be confused with daydreaming — is real and somewhat easy to do, says Dr. Bulkeley; it just involves tapping into your active imagination. The first step is to think about a recent dream you had (preferably a good one!). "Find a quiet contemplative place and bring a dream that you remember back into your waking awareness and let it unfold," he says. "Let the dream re-energize." Wakeful dreaming can be used as a relaxation tool, but Dr. Bulkeley says it can also help your mind process a puzzling dream. "It creates a more fluid interaction between unconscious parts of the mind and wakeful parts of the mind," he says.
NEXT: 13 Common Dreams Decoded »
This story originally appeared onWomansDay.com
More from Woman's Day:
• Surprising Things That Affect Your Dreams
• 6 Common Sex Dreams — Decoded
• 6 Dream Mysteries Solved
Photos: Multi-bits/Getty Images; Image Source/Getty Images; Yulia Popkova/Getty Images; Robert Daly/Getty Images
From: Woman's Day US
13 Impactful Meditation Apps, According to Experts
10 Ways to Be Ready for Cold & Flu Season
40+ Simple Self-Care Ideas to Change Your Life
60 Achievable New Year's Resolutions
How a Genetic Test Gave Me a Sense of Empowerment
Invitae
Expert Strategies to Stop Feeling Anxious
How You Can Break Away From Hustle Culture
Why Doing Nothing Is Good for You
When Menopause Inspires You to Dream Bigger
Equelle


4-H is a global network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times in the organization's original motto 'head, heart, hands, and health' which was later incorporated into the fuller pledge officially adopted in 1927. In the United States, the organization is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA. Throughout the world, 4-H organizations exist in over 50 countries; the organization and administration varies from country to country. Each of these programs operates independently but cooperatively through international exchanges, global education programs, and communications.
The 4-H name represents four personal development areas of focus for the organization: head, heart, hands, and health. As of 2007, the organization had over 6.5 million members in the United States, from ages 5 to 21, in approximately 90,000 clubs.
The goal of 4-H is to develop citizenship, leadership, responsibility and life skills of youth through experiential learning programs and a positive youth development approach. Though typically thought of as an agriculturally focused organization as a result of its history, 4-H today focuses on citizenship, healthy living, science, engineering, and technology programs. The 4-H motto is "To make the best better", while its slogan is "Learn by doing" (sometimes written as "Learn to do by doing").


This step is SO SO important! Really, I can't emphasize this enough! People seem to think that Photoshop has magical powers and that you can take a really poorly exposed picture and then just fix everything in post-processing. While there is a lot that Lightroom and Photoshop can do, that is SO not the case. Your images will always look better if you get them properly exposed in the camera as you possibly can. That's why it's so important to learn how to understand exposure and how to understand your gear.
Jpeg files are processed right in the camera. The camera adds blacks, contrast, brightness, sharpening, etc. and then renders the file to a compressed .jpg. Because the file is compressed, a lot of the original information in the image is lost when it is saved as a .jpg.
RAW files are uncompressed and unprocessed images and they are much larger files than .jpgs.
While RAW files are undoubtedly a far superior format to the .jpg because of all of the information you get from the file and the amount of changes you can make to the file, there are benefits to both image types. Shooting in .jpg can be helpful when you want to display an image right away or when you don't have post-processing software to edit your images. .Jpgs are also beneficial because they're much smaller files and so they don't take up nearly as much space on your computer or external hard drive. I often shoot in .JPG when I'm taking pictures on vacation and don't want to have to deal with a lot of editing or really large files. Shooting in RAW is best when you are in difficult or changing lighting and you want to have the ability to have enough information to edit exposure, white balance, etc. in post-processing. Shooting in RAW is also best really any time you want to have much more control over and flexibility with your image. You do need to keep in mind that if you shoot in RAW, you must do some post processing (even though it can be very minimal) because no post-processing is done for you in the camera. Another thing to keep in mind, you want to make sure that after you edit your file, you export it as a .jpg. You don't ever want to use RAW files for web or print use, they need to be edited and converted to a .jpg and then they're ready for web or print.
If you're unsure whether or not you want to shoot in RAW or .JPG, you can always shoot in both (as pictured below). This takes up more space but it gives you the option to work with both types of files! I did this a lot when I first started in photography and was still learning how to edit RAW files.
Adobe Lightroom is the editing software that I use 95% of the time. I use Photoshop the other 5% of the time when I need to do more major editing like photoshopping an object out of an image, making major cosmetic changes, etc. I love Lightroom and I find it pretty easy to use! I'm definitely not a software guru and I know Lightroom has a lot of features I'm not even aware of (I'm always trying to learn more about Lightroom and about post-processing and I have a long way to go!). Lightroom has also become pretty affordable! I am on a plan with Adobe where I pay $9.99/month for Lightroom and Photoshop. There's a lot more I could go into with Lightroom and I may do future posts about it, but for now, here's a few good resources: Creative Live, Digital Photography School, and Lynda.
I almost always make further adjustments to my images because each picture has different needs based on lighting, white balance, etc. However, using the preset I created gives me a good starting point. I encourage you to play around and figure out your "style" because everyone is different and prefers different things!
I hope you found this helpful! If you're enjoying this series, please share it when friends and leave me feedback on other questions you have or posts you'd like to see!
My hope in this post is to help you understand the basics about photography gear and what you need to know as you begin learning about digital photography. I am by no means an expert about all the gear that is out there, I simply want to share with you some of my favorites and some things I've learned along the way! I am a Canon user and so I will be focusing on Canon products (even though there's other great brands out there!).
I plan to do a more detailed post soon on all of the gear that I use for other professional photographers. However, I will go ahead and share the main gear that I use: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 50mm 1.2L, Sigma Art 35mm 1.4, Canon 85mm 1.8, Canon 70-200 2.8L, Canon 50mm 2.5 Macro (I'm saving up for the 100L Macro), and the Canon 600EX Speedlite.
One of the first things you need to understand is the difference between zoom lenses and prime lenses. Zoom lenses offer a range of focal lengths allowing you to zoom in and out. Prime lens have a fixed focal length and the only way to "zoom" is to physically move your body. Every photographer has different preferences and a different style, but I almost solely use prime lenses. The reason I prefer prime lenses is primarily because they produce sharper pictures and they perform better in low light settings (because you can drop your aperture down as low as 1.2 depending on the lens). However, there are benefits to zoom lenses and one of the biggest is the versatility they offer you. Zoom lenses can be better for beginners because of the versatility and flexibility and because it's easier to compose a picture since you don't necessarily need to move your body to get the shot you want. Most starter DSLR's come with a zoom lens (usually an 18-55mm).
The First Lens I recommend Purchasing: The "Nifty Fifty"
Outside of your kit zoom lens, the first lens I always recommend purchasing is whats called the "Nifty Fifty" or the Canon 50mm 1.8. The 50mm 1.8 is Canon's least expensive lens and I think it's one of the best! It's very sharp and creates great bokeh (bokeh is the blur produced in the background of pictures). The 50mm is also versatile and can be used as a portrait lens but it can also be used in a lot of other situations. I remember when I first got the 50mm and I was AMAZED at how much better the quality was than my 18-55mm kit lens.
Another great lens that I highly recommend (and still use to this day!) if you plan to take a lot of portraits of your children, family and friends, etc. is the Canon 85mm 1.8.The 85 produces amazingly sharp pictures, gives you great bokeh, and it gives you a beautiful, creamy background because the long focal length compresses the image. The 85 can be a little tricky to use because you can't fit much in the frame and it's only good for photographing small groups or one person. It's much less versatile than the 50mm which is why I don't recommend it being the first lens you purchase, but it is an excellent lens if you want to add to your collection!
The image to the right was taken with my 85mm. See what I mean about the creaminess?!!
There's a lot of great options out there for beginners and this list is by no means exhaustive! The first DSLR I purchased was a Canon Rebel XS which isn't even being made anymore. Canon Rebels are great options and one that I recommend is the Canon Rebel T5.or the Canon Rebel T5i. The second camera I purchased was the Canon 60D and I still recommend the 60D to beginners if you have more money to spend.
If you found this post helpful, please share it with friends! Also, please leave comments below with questions or other posts you'd like to see and check back in two weeks for my next post in this series on: "Understanding Post-Processing."
*Please note: There are affiliate links throughout this post and I make a small commission off anything you decide to purchase through my links. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.


Aohua once had a lot of firsts. The first electronic endoscope in China, the first electronic Bronchoscope in China... but that is not enough. In recent years, the continuous increase of Aussie R&D investment, the cultivation of top talents, the persistence of products, and the continuous updating of marketing services have enabled us to scream "import substitution" and make China's manufacturing go abroad. World inspection and recognition.
At one time, exhibitors from the US and Europe were the most desirable presences at major exhibitions. But after the efforts of generation after generation, this "gap of following" is really shrinking rapidly. We can see our own gaps, but the world also can see our progress.
Coming to the booth of Aohua Endoscopy, dealers and visitors from all over the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and other places have stopped. Some are the new one, and some are the old friends of Aohua Endoscopy, and they all want to know something new from Aohua Booth.


Hours after the UFC announced they had inked boxing legend James Toney to a multi-fight contract, Hall of Famer Randy Couture immediately hit up Twitter to volunteer his services in welcoming the 41-year-old into the violent world of mixed martial arts.
"I hope I'm the first guy they call to fight Tony! :)," Couture Tweeted late Wednesday evening.
Although "Lights Out" has never set foot inside an MMA cage, he does own a dominant 72-6 professional boxing record, including 3 draws and 2 no-contests. The IBF middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight titles have all been wrapped around Toney's waist at one point in time.
Whenever there's a big fight mentioned in the light heavyweight or heavyweight divisions, "The Natural's" name will always be thrown on the table. At this stage in his illustrious career, there's nothing left for him to prove so his talents should be reserved strictly for blockbuster scraps.
A Couture/Toney bout would definitely attract massive mainstream attention and could do wonders for legitimizing MMA amongst casual fans. However, someone needs to explain to Captain America how this Twitter thing actually works, otherwise he's going back to promoting and negotiating fights the old school way.
Come on Randy, you're IT skills aren't THAT bad. At least you know how to text Smiley Faces!
This would be the epitome of a striker vs. grappler matchup if it were to go down, although Couture has been a world class wrestler for decades so we all know what the outcome will be if the soon-to-be 47-year-old is able to get his mitts around Toney and take him to the mat.
Toney fans would take the flip-side of that argument and say James has been an elite marksman for 25 years and Couture could end up unconscious before he gets close enough to attempt a takedown.


This extremely compact USB dongle allows you to easily connect to a wireless network. The dongle complies with the IEEE802.11n standard and is backward compatible with the IEEE802.11b/g standard. The used 11n technology gives you a 4x wider range, and speeds up to 6 times as fast. The installation and configuration is easy and can be done with the included installation CD. You`ll be able to reach 150 Mbps and supports WEP, WPA, and WPA2 encryption.


text:
Why Is Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan Playing Games with Transit?
Photo: The Urbanist
There's an alarming transit drama playing out right now in Seattle.
New Mayor Jenny Durkan is considering killing a nearly shovel-ready transit project that many experts think is critical for the city's continued progress in boosting transit ridership.
Durkan has singled out the Center City Connector, a 15-block streetcar project, for possible cancellation. The project was planned to connect two short existing streetcar routes: the First Hill and South Lake Union streetcars. Neither line has had stellar ridership, but a third line that connects them is expected to greatly improve the usefulness of the system and boost ridership considerably.
Seattle is one of the few cities in the country that has grown transit ridership, and reduced solo car commuting, even as the economy has rebounded and gas prices have been low. And Seattle residents are invested. The region passed a $50 billion transit measure in 2016 that will add 62 miles to its light rail system.
Part of the reason Seattle has been so successful at managing the cars coming into its center city is necessity. The downtown has added more than 45,000 jobs in the last seven years. And the streets are near capacity.
That's one way the Center City Connector can help, supporters say. It can move more people through the crowded space than cars.
There have been some high-profile streetcar projects in other cities — hello, Atlanta! — have not lived up to expectations. But the Center City Streetcar avoids some of the pitfalls of those lines: it will run on dedicated lanes in the center of the street, will add to a larger 3.8-mile network and will run every five minutes.
But Durkan has said she's looking at a bus route instead — though that could squander $90 million that's already been committed to the project.
The saga goes back to March, when a $23-million shortfall was discovered, and Durkan halted the project and hired the accounting firm KPMG to evaluate the project. The results of the KPMG review were dropped late Friday — a sign, some have said, that the mayor was trying to bury the result.
And here's why: Yes, costs had jumped by $50 million, bringing the project to an estimated $252 million on the high end. But the firm largely agreed that the full line would be well used, with 18,700 to 22,000 daily weekday passengers. Urbanist reports that KPMG predicts the line could even be operationally profitable once it opens, something that is very unusual for American transit lines, which almost all rely on an operating subsidy.
Durkan hasn't made a final decision yet about the project. A spokesman told Curbed that the mayor will consider the project from a number of angles over the next few weeks. Meanwhile, delays are adding to projects costs. Seattle Transit Blog says foot-dragging as contributed an estimated $8 million to the project's costs.
Too much delay may even threaten the project altogether. Under President Trump, the U.S. DOT has slowed the process of releasing federal funds practically to a halt. There's no guarantee that if the project was restarted again from the planning phase, federal support would be forthcoming.
Durkan's hostility to the project seems to go past just fiscal concerns. Earlier this summer she made a misleading claim — nevertheless parroted by the media — that the trains chosen for the project would not fit the tracks.
And some of her other early moves as mayor have been disappointing from a transit perspective. She appears, for example, to have put the kibosh on an exciting public-private partnership that would have helped improve bus stops, using ad revenue.
Filed Under: Seattle, Transit, Promoted
Should Seattle Extend Its Streetcar?
By Angie Schmitt	| Jul 2, 2018
Like other cities that have built low-ridership streetcars, Seattle is facing a choice: keep throwing money at a mode of transportation that hasn't paid off, or stick with it in the hopes that more people will ride routes that connect more places.
Seattle: Uber/Lyft Riders Should Pay for New Streetcar
By Vince DiMiceli	| Sep 19, 2019
Mayor Jenny Durkan hopes to raise nearly $25 million a year with a 51-cent tax on every Uber and Lyft ride — with a portion of the money funding new transit.
Seattle Could Be the First U.S. City to Institute Congestion Pricing
By Angie Schmitt	| Apr 5, 2018
Mayor Jenny Durkan says she wants to have a true central city congestion pricing system in place by 2021.
Before You Get Too Excited About Seattle's Big Transit Expansion…
By Ben Fried	| Mar 25, 2016
Read Doug Trumm's post at the Urbanist about Sound Transit's $50 billion, 25-year expansion plan, known as ST3, which the agency revealed yesterday. It's ambitious in scope, but will the new lines meet the region's most pressing transit needs? Piecing together the project list has been an exercise in regional politics, since voters will decide this November whether […]
The Nashville Media Is Getting Played by Transit-Bashing Hired Guns
By Angie Schmitt	| Jan 3, 2018
Real transit experts, meanwhile, consider Nashville's ambitious plan to expand bus and rail service to be top-notch.
Seattle Sues To Keep Car Tabs And Save Transit
By Aaron Short	| Nov 7, 2019
Seattle leaders are not wasting any time to stymie a statewide ballot measure voters approved on Tuesday, announcing a lawsuit to block Initiative 976, which could drain tens of billions in transportation funding across the entire state by reducing annual vehicle registration fees. King County Executive Dow Constantine along with Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and […]


Please read this excellent post by Michael Gungor on the problem with the Christian Music Industry. He is the front-man of the most excellent band, Gungor, who is, though I shouldn't have to point this out, very creative.
Here's one of their songs for your listening enjoyment.


text:
Logistics Turning 'Green'
January 16, 2023 China Report ASEAN Features Leave a comment
By Huang Jiangqin
"Green" has become a highlight of this year's Double 11 shopping spree, an online shopping festival in China. Various major e-commerce platforms, brands, and logistics companies have been promoting services featuring eco-friendly logistics, green consumption, and simple and recyclable packages to facilitate the green transformation of the logistics industry.
The recyclable shipping boxes of JD Logistics.
On November 15, Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, released a report on the Double 11 green logistics efforts of Tmall, Alibaba Group's major online shopping platform. The report showed that Cainiao Network managed to trim an average of 15 percent off the materials used to make each package. The improvement required seven technological approaches adapted to Cainiao's green supply chain, namely, electronic express sheets, a packing algorithm, delivery in original boxes, green packaging, intelligent planning of delivery routes, green distribution and delivery, and intelligent sorting. During the Double 11 shopping festival, over 150,000 kinds of products were delivered by the green supply chain, realizing a whole carbon-reduction cycle from storage to delivery and finally to recycling.
Shanghai-based YTO Express proposed an initiative to avoid over-packaging, excessive use of packing tape, the usage of disposable plastic woven bags, and unnecessary packing of paper boxes and plastic bags.
JD Logistics, a Chinese logistics services provider, pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 200,000 tons during the Double 11 festival and rolled out further carbon-reduction measures including trimming the weight of packages and using original packaging.
Plastic reduction, on the other hand, could be realized in the processes of both packaging and delivery. During the Double 11 this year, all physical stores of Intime Department Store, a Chinese retailer, started using "green delivery bags," a new kind of degradable plastic bag employing "PBAT+PLA+MD" materials. In compost conditions, the plastic fully decomposes into water, carbon dioxide, and methane as fast as six months if temperature and moisture are ideal.
Industry Consensus
Fourteen years have passed since the Double 11shopping festival first launched in 2009. During the online event each November, packages quickly pile up in logistics outlets and parcel couriers endure the busiest stretch of the year. Indeed, e-commerce stimulates consumption remarkably, but the resulting surge of discarded plastic and paper boxes exerts greater pressure on pollution control.
Research from China Environmental United Certification Center under China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment shows that waste produced by the logistics industry increases by over 9 million tons each year, 1.8 million tons of which are plastic waste, and the numbers are still growing.
Before this year's Double 11, three departments of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) including the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection held meetings with e-commerce companies like Alibaba and JD.com as well as logistics providers such as China Post and SF Express on controlling packaging pollution. The meetings stressed that even though Double 11 is such an important time for online retail, all relevant companies must do more to reduce plastic pollution and avoid over-packaging.
Reducing plastic pollution and packaging waste has become a topic of national and social concern. Wen Zongguo, a professor at the School of the Environment of Tsinghua University, said that policies on green packaging are increasing and that organizations issuing related policies or regulations are becoming more diverse.
In 2021, the NDRC issued Opinions on Further Enhancing Pollution Control of Plastics, which stipulated that by 2025, non-degradable plastic bags, tape, and disposable woven plastic bags would be banned in all postal delivery outlets nationwide.
According to The Plan of Action (2020-2025) on Governance of Plastic Pollution (Consultation Paper) issued by the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, by the end of 2025, non-degradable plastic tape will be banned from all logistics outlets in the city. The document also clarified different responsibilities for specific organizations.
At its 2022 fourth quarter press conference, the State Post Bureau made it clear that by the end of 2025, all postal delivery outlets would ban usage of non-degradable plastic bags, tape, and disposable plastic woven bags.
Reducing plastic packaging and facilitating green logistics have become the consensus of the logistics industry. On September 28, 2021, 18 logistics companies including China Post EMS, SF Express, and ZTO Express signed and released Self-regulation Convention on Sustainable Packaging and Plastic Reduction in China's Express Industry.
The document includes 11 initiatives requiring all signatory companies to standardize management of packaging, avoid environmentally damaging packaging materials, reduce usage of plastic packaging, and encourage reuse and recycling of plastic packaging products to build a plastic recycling economy and achieve sustainable development.
The logistics industry's first code of practice on green packaging, the document is an effective guideline for enhancing plastic pollution control in parcel delivery.
E-commerce platforms, on the upstream demand side, exert a decisive impact on downstream logistics service providers. To facilitate green packaging, e-commerce platforms need to play an active role in the management of the green supply chain. During the Double 11 this year, Cainiao Network cooperated with Tmall Supermarket and various online stores to send products in their original packages. Logistics service providers also tried to reuse the old bags and boxes this year, so around 70 percent of products were delivered without using new paper boxes.
Although logistics companies have been stressing their efforts on sustainable packaging, following all of the rules intended to reduce plastic packaging and promote recycling and usage of degradable materials may still be difficult.
During this year's Double 11, "over-packaged" parcels were still seen in many distribution outlets in Beijing's Haidian District and Xicheng District. Some were wrapped in layers of plastic bags or sealed with thick plastic tape.
Li Ming (a pseudonym), a courier who delivers parcels in the Zhongguancun area of Haidian District, revealed that he "did not receive any notice to reduce usage of plastic bags and tape."
Packaging a parcel generally involves tape, seal-capping and packaging bags made of film, air cushions, and plastic woven fabric. Since plastic bags are provided for free and are more flexible, packing workers usually reach for them first. "We have to use a lot of tape and cushioning to protect the products or we'll get complaints about product damage," said Li.
According to statistics from the State Post Bureau, the number of parcel deliveries in China exceeded 60 billion in 2019, and each parcel used 0.8 meters of tape on average. The 48 billion meters of tape used on all the 60 billion parcels would wrap around the equator nearly 1,200 times. In addition to the shocking numbers, the main material of tape is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which takes almost a century to decompose.
Plastic bags are classified as residual waste, which means that such materials are not collected and recycled by organizations like logistics companies.
According to a parcel courier in Beijing's Xicheng District, recycling the packaging is completely up to the customer. "Our company has no workers assigned to package recycling because it costs time and money," he said.
In 2019, Greenpeace and several organizations working on environmental protection jointly released a report on characteristics and management of packaging waste in China. The report indicated that such waste is hard to recycle and that the cost of recycling is high compared to the profit margin. Therefore, 99 percent (weight ratio) of plastic packaging waste from logistics delivery is treated alongside household waste.
Degradable plastic bags are not yet widely used in the logistics industry. Another parcel courier in Xicheng District reveals that he prefers to use regular plastic bags when packing items. "Degradable bags are generally thin and tear easily," he explained. "I received complaints from customers when degradable bags break." So he only uses biodegradable plastic bags on small and light items when he runs out of regular bags.
At a November 15 seminar to discuss recycling delivery packages and promoting sustainable packaging, Wen Zongguo noted that multiple challenges remain for the logistics industry in fields including green packaging certification and applying biodegradable plastic materials to reduce the impact on the environment. "The industry needs to consider the impact of the whole delivery process on the environment and raise awareness on scientific environmental protection," said Wen.
Scaled Application of Recyclable Packages
A highlight of this year's Double 11, package recycling is a significant step towards a green transformation of the logistics industry.
To encourage package recycling, JD Logistics continued its measures to recycle paper boxes. Online shoppers could leave the packages directly at the logistics outlets after receiving purchased products. Such action was rewarded when customers received "carbon points" on the Cainiao mobile application which could be exchanged for gifts like eggs. The Cainiao Network estimated that a total of 6 million packages were recycled during this year's shopping festival.
Meanwhile, some logistics companies are reinforcing efforts to develop recyclable packaging materials. Deppon Express has developed and put into use many environmentally-friendly products including recyclable bags, recyclable cases, intelligent recyclable boxes, and tape-less paper boxes. According to Deppon, disposable packaging is a big chunk of the budget for every logistics company. Therefore, using recyclable packaging materials benefits not only the environment but also the companies themselves.
However, recyclable packaging still faces many restrictions. The recyclable "π-BOX" developed by SF Express and Deppon Express' environmentally-friendly sealing cases solely target customers who sign for packages face-to-face. The delivery addresses of such customers are usually shopping malls or central business districts where couriers can collect the packaging from customers directly and bring it back to the logistics outlet. If the customers do not sign for their parcels face-to-face, it's much harder for the courier to get the packaging back.
And if such recyclable packages are sent from eastern China to remote western regions, the cost to recycle empty boxes surges because of the cost of long-distance transportation and resource management.
Duan Yanjian oversees the Green Logistics program for JD Logistics. "Currently, recycling of delivery packages is limited to within the same city or region, particularly developed areas such as the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta," said Duan.
Technology is working to help solve the problem. Fuhai Recycle Box Inc. and Hongbulin, an e-commerce platform promoting a recycling lifestyle, jointly launched "smart recyclable packaging" in Shanghai on November 5. Customers can scan the codes on the packages with their mobile phones to unlock parcels. The packaging boxes are subsequently collected by couriers or customers can choose to return them to recycling stations.
Yan Haiying, president of Fuhai Recycle Box Inc., believes that standardization is essential for scaled application of recyclable packages. Yan pointed out that the first step is to realize standardization and package-sharing. "In addition to standardizing the sizes of shipping boxes, we need to cancel customization of packages to realize package circulation among various logistics companies," said Yan.
eco-friendly logistics
Previous Post: Saving the Ocean from Plastic
Next Post: 'Plastic Smart Cities' in China


text:
package org.pmiops.workbench.api;

import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;

import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.pmiops.workbench.FakeClockConfiguration;
import org.pmiops.workbench.access.AccessTierService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cdr.CdrVersionMapper;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cdr.CdrVersionService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cdr.ConceptBigQueryService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cdr.dao.DSDataDictionaryDao;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cdr.model.DbDSDataDictionary;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cohortbuilder.CohortQueryBuilder;
import org.pmiops.workbench.cohorts.CohortService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.conceptset.ConceptSetService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.conceptset.mapper.ConceptSetMapper;
import org.pmiops.workbench.config.CdrBigQuerySchemaConfigService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.dataset.BigQueryTableInfo;
import org.pmiops.workbench.dataset.DataSetServiceImpl;
import org.pmiops.workbench.dataset.mapper.DataSetMapperImpl;
import org.pmiops.workbench.db.dao.AccessTierDao;
import org.pmiops.workbench.db.dao.CdrVersionDao;
import org.pmiops.workbench.db.model.DbCdrVersion;
import org.pmiops.workbench.exceptions.BadRequestException;
import org.pmiops.workbench.exceptions.NotFoundException;
import org.pmiops.workbench.firecloud.FireCloudService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.genomics.GenomicExtractionService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.model.DataDictionaryEntry;
import org.pmiops.workbench.model.Domain;
import org.pmiops.workbench.notebooks.NotebooksService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.utils.TestMockFactory;
import org.pmiops.workbench.utils.mappers.CommonMappers;
import org.pmiops.workbench.workspaces.WorkspaceAuthService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.workspaces.WorkspaceService;
import org.pmiops.workbench.workspaces.resources.UserRecentResourceService;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.orm.jpa.DataJpaTest;
import org.springframework.boot.test.context.TestConfiguration;
import org.springframework.boot.test.mock.mockito.MockBean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
import org.springframework.test.annotation.DirtiesContext;

@DataJpaTest
@DirtiesContext(classMode = DirtiesContext.ClassMode.BEFORE_EACH_TEST_METHOD)
public class DataDictionaryTest {

  @Autowired private AccessTierDao accessTierDao;
  @Autowired private CdrVersionDao cdrVersionDao;
  @Autowired private DSDataDictionaryDao dsDataDictionaryDao;
  @Autowired private DataSetController dataSetController;

  private static DbCdrVersion cdrVersion;

  @TestConfiguration
  @Import({
    FakeClockConfiguration.class,
    CommonMappers.class,
    DataSetController.class,
    DataSetServiceImpl.class,
    DataSetMapperImpl.class,
    CdrVersionService.class,
  })
  @MockBean({
    BigQueryService.class,
    CdrBigQuerySchemaConfigService.class,
    CohortService.class,
    CohortQueryBuilder.class,
    ConceptBigQueryService.class,
    ConceptSetService.class,
    ConceptSetMapper.class,
    FireCloudService.class,
    NotebooksService.class,
    WorkspaceService.class,
    WorkspaceAuthService.class,
    AccessTierService.class,
    CdrVersionMapper.class,
    GenomicExtractionService.class,
    UserRecentResourceService.class
  })
  static class Configuration {}

  @BeforeEach
  public void setUp() {
    cdrVersion = TestMockFactory.createDefaultCdrVersion(cdrVersionDao, accessTierDao);

    DbDSDataDictionary dbDSDataDictionary = new DbDSDataDictionary();
    dbDSDataDictionary.setRelevantOmopTable(BigQueryTableInfo.getTableName(Domain.DRUG));
    dbDSDataDictionary.setFieldName("TEST FIELD");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setOmopCdmStandardOrCustomField("A");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDescription("B");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setFieldType("C");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDataProvenance("D");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setSourcePpiModule("E");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDomain("Drug");

    dsDataDictionaryDao.save(dbDSDataDictionary);
  }

  @Test
  public void testGetDataDictionaryEntry() {
    final Domain domain = Domain.DRUG;
    final String domainValue = "FIELD NAME / DOMAIN VALUE";

    DbDSDataDictionary dbDSDataDictionary = new DbDSDataDictionary();
    dbDSDataDictionary.setRelevantOmopTable(BigQueryTableInfo.getTableName(domain));
    dbDSDataDictionary.setFieldName(domainValue);
    dbDSDataDictionary.setOmopCdmStandardOrCustomField("A");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDescription("B");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setFieldType("C");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDataProvenance("D");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setSourcePpiModule("E");
    dbDSDataDictionary.setDomain("DRUG");
    dsDataDictionaryDao.save(dbDSDataDictionary);

    DataDictionaryEntry response =
        dataSetController
            .getDataDictionaryEntry(cdrVersion.getCdrVersionId(), domain.toString(), domainValue)
            .getBody();

    assertThat(response.getRelevantOmopTable())
        .isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getRelevantOmopTable());
    assertThat(response.getFieldName()).isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getFieldName());
    assertThat(response.getOmopCdmStandardOrCustomField())
        .isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getOmopCdmStandardOrCustomField());
    assertThat(response.getDescription()).isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getDescription());
    assertThat(response.getFieldType()).isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getFieldType());
    assertThat(response.getDataProvenance()).isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getDataProvenance());
    assertThat(response.getSourcePpiModule()).isEqualTo(dbDSDataDictionary.getSourcePpiModule());
  }

  @Test
  public void testGetDataDictionaryEntry_invalidCdr() {
    assertThrows(
        BadRequestException.class,
        () -> dataSetController.getDataDictionaryEntry(-1L, Domain.DRUG.toString(), "TEST FIELD"),
        "Invalid CDR Version");
  }

  @Test
  public void testGetDataDictionaryEntry_invalidDomain() {
    assertThrows(
        BadRequestException.class,
        () ->
            dataSetController.getDataDictionaryEntry(
                cdrVersionDao.findAll().iterator().next().getCdrVersionId(),
                "random",
                "TEST FIELD"));
  }

  @Test
  public void testGetDataDictionaryEntry_notFound() {
    assertThrows(
        NotFoundException.class,
        () -> dataSetController.getDataDictionaryEntry(1L, Domain.DRUG.toString(), "random"));
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
Labanczné Milák Brigitta (Békés, 1968. január 20. –) roma származású magyar festőművész.

Életpályája

Magyar cigány családban született, rajztehetségét gyermekének óvónője fedezte fel. Mestere Vágréti János festőművész, a mester útmutatásai nyomán választja meg képeinek témáit, melyek a cigány nép múltját, vándorlásait, hitéletét, mesterségeit, a még élő vagy elfeledett foglalkozásokat ábrázolják. 1994 óta kiállító művész, bemutatkozásának első színhelye Mezőberény. Nagyméretű képein gyakran magával ragadja a mesélő kedv, színes történetekben dolgozza fel a cigányság eredet-mítoszait. A mesterségeket dokumentarista aprólékossággal festi fatáblákra egyénileg ötvözve az életképi és a karakterábrázolással. Az 1990-es évek végétől bekapcsolódik a Cigány Ház alkotótáborainak munkájába és csoportos kiállításaiba. Nevezetes képei a budapesti Néprajzi Múzeumban található alkotásai:
A telepen (olaj, vászon, 164x227 cm, 1997)
Hűség és eredetiség (olaj, vászon, 197x300 cm, 1998)
Az ősiség törvénye (olaj, vászon, 200x350 cm, 1999)
Cigány koldus (olaj, vászon, 155x116 cm, 1998)

A cigányság történeti múltjának megismeréséből merített ihletet, mint sok más roma festő, megfigyelte a Néprajzi Múzeumban található régi képeket, tárgyakat, stb. S így szükségszerűen bizonyos sztereotípiák alakultak ki, s mindenki ezt festette kisebb-nagyobb egyéni invencióval. Milák Brigittát is őszintén magával ragadta a roma történetiség feldolgozása, s szinte követte a 19. századi naturalizmus stílusát, de valójában mégsem egészen, hiszen a jelenből nézett a múltba szeretettel, humanizmussal, nosztalgiával, s úgy mint aki elvesztett valamit, talán a cigányság összefogását hiányolva. Szintén nevezetes 1-12 olajfestményből álló holokauszt-sorozata, amelyet 2004-ben alkotott. Külföldön is több országban bemutatkozott képeivel, Kanadában, Ausztriában, Svájcban, Svédországban, Dániában és Olaszországban, Olaszországban külön díjat is nyert. Itthon Orosházán, Békéscsabán, Békésen, Vésztőn, Dobozon, Sarkadon, Gyomaendrődön, Szegeden és a Nyírségben mutatta be alkotásait. Budapesten a Roma Parlament Társalgó Galériájában, s a Néprajzi Múzeumban szerepeltek képei. A 2009-es Magyar festészet című reprezentatív albumba az ezredforduló körül született kilenc olajfestményét válogatták be.

A 2009-es Cigány festők című albumba beválogatott képei

Meztelen nő háttal (olaj, farost, 60x80 cm, 1997)
Kosárfonó (olaj, farost, 60x80 cm, 2001)
Kovács (olaj, vászon 100x120 cm, 2000)
Mulató cigányok (olaj, farost, 60x80 cm, 1998)
Zenész cigány  (olaj, farost, 118x164 cm, 1997)
Himnusz az éhséghez (olaj, farost, 60x80 cm, 1999)
A tánc szeretete: az első lépések (olaj, forost, 60x80 cm, 1999)
Madonna (olaj, vászon, 115x151 cm, 1997)
Napi főtt étel (olaj, vászon, 102x123 cm, 1999)

Kiállításai (válogatás)

Egyéni

1994 • Mezőberény

Csoportos

2003 • Kortárs roma nőművészet II., Balázs János Galéria, Budapest
2004 • Elhallgatott holokauszt, Műcsarnok, Budapest
2007 • Az emlékezés színes álmai, Peking • Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest;
2008, 2009 • Az emlékezés színes álmai, vándorkiállítás, Szolnok • Eger • Pécs • Salgótarján • Miskolc • Szekszárd;

Alkotásai közgyűjteményekben

Képeit őrzik a Roma Parlament Képtárában, a Néprajzi Múzeumban és a Magyar Művelődési Intézet gyűjteményében.

Jegyzetek

Források

Cigány festészet : Gypsy painting : Magyarország 1969-2009 : a Cigány Ház Közgyűjteményéből : Hungary, 1969-2009 / [főszerk. ... Zsigó Jenő] ; [szerk. ... Fris E. Kata]. Budapest : Fővárosi Önkormányzat ; Cigány Ház – Romano Kher, 2009. 545 p. ill. Milák Brigitta életrajzát és képeit lásd 304-309. p.   és

Magyar festők
Roma képzőművészet
Magyar cigányok
1968-ban született személyek
Élő személyek
Magyar nők
Békésiek

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia