text:
Advent Wreath at Home
The domestic custom of the Advent wreath draws attention to the light that Christ brings as Christmas approaches and emboldens us to bear witness to that light in the world. With an Advent wreath at home, we can keep our focus on Christ by reading a passage of Scripture or saying an Advent prayer each evening as they light the candle(s).
Learn about the history and symbolism of the Advent Wreath.
Blessing the Advent Wreath at Home
All make the sign of the cross as the leader says:
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
(R/.) Who made heaven and earth.
Then the Scripture, Isaiah 9: (lines 1-2 and 5-6) or Isaiah 63 (lines 16-17 & 19) or Isaiah 64 (lines 2-7) is read:
Reader: The Word of the Lord.
R/. Thanks be to God.
With hands joined, the leader says:
Lord our God, we praise you for your Son, Jesus Christ:
he is Emmanuel, the hope of the peoples,
he is the wisdom that teaches and guides us,
he is the Savior of every nation.
Lord God, let your blessing come upon us as we light the candles of this wreath.
May the wreath and its light be a sign of Christ's promise to bring us salvation.
May he come quickly and not delay. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen.
The blessing may conclude with a verse from "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
O come, desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of humankind;
bid ev'ry sad division cease and be thyself our Prince of peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
Prayer taken from the Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers
Prayers for Advent Candle Lighting
All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good that Christ may find an eager welcome at his coming and call us to his side in the kingdom of heaven, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, forever and ever. ~AMEN.
Second Week
God of power and mercy open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. ~AMEN.
Third Week
Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving. We ask this through Christ our Lord. ~AMEN.
Fourth Week
Father, all-powerful God, your eternal Word took flesh on our earth when the Virgin Mary placed her life at the service of your plan. Lift our minds in watchful hope to hear the voice which announces his glory and open our minds to receive the Spirit who prepares us for his coming. We ask this through Christ our Lord. ~AMEN.
Prayers taken from A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions
Advent Calendar resources
Advent Children Calendar
Advent Calendar for Adults or Family
Deacon Raymond Wagner
DEACON RAYMOND WAGNER, beloved husband of Ellen Wagner, passed away suddenly at home with his loving wife of 54 years by his side, on Monday, November 25, 2019 at the age of 74 years. Deacon Ray was the Deacon of St. Ambrose, Coaldale and St. Catherine, Picture Butte.
A Prayer Service will be held at St. Ambrose Catholic Churh, 1513 - 23 Avenue, Coaldale, AB, on Friday, November 29, 2019 at 7:00 P.M. with Father Ian Gagne officiating.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Ambrose Catholic Churh, on Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 10:00 A.M. with Father Ian Gagne celebrating. A Private Family Graveside will be held at Mountain View Cemetery following the reception.
Flowers are gratefully declined. Donations in memory of Raymond may be made to St. Ambrose Building Fund.
Obituary of Deacon Ray Wagner:
https://www.cornerstonefuneralhome.com/obituary/wagner-deacon-raymond
Choice in Education Survey
The government of Alberta has recently created and distributed a survey asking Albertans to provide feedback on choice in education. It is essential that all who support Catholic education take the time to make their voices heard. Here's what you can do to support Catholic schools:
Read this letter from the Bishops of Alberta. Download.
Complete the survey and ensure that you speak directly in support of Catholic education!
The survey link is here. The deadline for response is December 6, 2019.
Forward the survey link to friends, family and supporters and encourage them to do the same.
Grateful Advocates for Catholic Education (GrACE)
Follow in Social Media: Facebook | Twitter
Fr. Dennis McDonald
It is with deep sadness that we share with you the passing of Reverend Dennis McDonald tonight (Monday, Nov. 4) at Rockyview General Hospital at 9:15 pm. At his passing, he was in the company of immediate family and friends. Fr. Dennis was 80 years of age. Funeral details:
Funeral Vigil
7:00 pm | Tuesday, November 12, 2019
St. Mary's Cathedral
10:00 am | Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Immediately following the Funeral Mass
St. Mary's Cemetery
Immediately following the burial
St. Mary's Cathedral Hall
Faithfully remembered
Fr. Michael Storey knows he might not be able to attend a formal Remembrance Day service this November 11. As a hospital chaplain in the Diocese of Calgary, the Catholic priest could find himself beside a hospital bed when other Calgarians pause in reverent silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. But make no mistake. While Fr. Storey may not be able to hear the dying notes of the Last Post, he will feel the lament in his heart. And he will remember. November 11, for this priest, is a matter of country, family and faith.
Fr. Storey's dad and brother served the Canadian navy in the Second World War. During the same conflict, where 42,000 Canadians died and another 55,000 were wounded, his uncles were soldiers in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).
Having grown up in a family that sacrificed so much for so many, Fr. Storey admits it wasn't difficult to step up when a friend and Calgary-based reservist mentioned the need for a military chaplain in Calgary. "I realized that military personnel needed spiritual support. I was also working at St. James parish, so it was easy for me to go back and forth between the parish and Currie Barracks." Fr. Storey served that role in Calgary from 1987 to 1999.
Fr. Sajo Jacob, parish priest at Mother Teresa Syro Malabar Church in Calgary, assumed the military chaplaincy about two years ago. He was introduced to the ministry by students he met while serving as the campus chaplain at SAIT and Mount Royal University, a role he held from 2009 to 2019. Some of the students he met there joined the military and invited Fr. Jacob to bring his ministry there. Two years into the role, he's grateful for the chance to serve military personnel, many of them young people, as they encounter the challenges of military service in defense of the country. "They are often away from their homes, they face personal crisis, they sacrifice for the country and people, and I felt a calling that I will be able to help them."
A ministry of presence
Unlike more typical priestly ministries which focus on bringing sacraments to the faithful, military chaplaincy is a "ministry of presence." As a chaplain, Fr. Storey met military personnel at formal events. He also dropped by places like a military rifle range if he knew soldiers and reservists were there to practise. "You do what you can to remind them that you are there if they need you," he explains.
His formal role also included being one of two uniformed military officers who made next-of-kin calls to the families of military personnel who died in service to their country. "I was on three of those calls during my 12 years in the service. It was humbling," he recalls.
The chaplain's role is akin to "being a guide and mentor," adds Fr. Jacob. "Sometimes you become a point of contact at a time of crisis and challenges. It is a vocation where you journey with people and you become God's instrument to share peace and love."
Whereas parish priests serve Catholic congregations, campus and military chaplains work in secular and interfaith spaces. "Chaplains are there for everyone and we guide and support whoever seeks help, regardless of religion, or orientation," explains Fr. Jacob. His faithful presence in personal crises has included talking to people contemplating suicide.
There is no question that military chaplains witness Christ for others, adds Fr. Storey. He remembers being touched by the words of a former altar boy who attended an event to commemorate the priest's 40th anniversary in the priesthood. "He told me, 'I was so proud of my parish priest when I saw him in his uniform,' That meant a lot to me."
He and Fr. Jacob both view military chaplaincy as service to their nation. "It is my role in the nation-building process," explains Fr. Jacob, himself an immigrant from India. In addition to serving military personnel as a spiritual guide and mentor, Fr. Jacob helps organize religious services and advises commanding officers in matters of religious accommodations and spiritual and ethical issues.
This Remembrance Day, Fr. Jacob will officiate at a November 11 ceremony. He says the events do more than remember fallen soldiers and veterans, they also inspire young Canadians in their message of service.
Written by Joy Gregory for Faithfully
Why the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed?
There are several certainties in our life as human beings. One such certainty is the reality of our eventual death. This experience of dying embraces family members, friends, and eventually ourselves. In the cycle of life, both birth and death are part of the natural order. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states, "Death is the end of earthly life. Our lives are measured by time, in the course of which we change, grow old and, as with all living beings on earth, death seems like the normal end of life. That aspect of death lends urgency to our lives: remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment." (CCC, 1007.)
The "urgency" that this "limited time" for living presents, can make us aware each day of the importance of family relationships and friendships, the pursuit of meaningful work, the necessity of outreach to others and the primacy of our spiritual life of faith. As Christians, our future mortality should inspire us to live in the anticipation of being eternally with God.
In his book, The Spirituality of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann says, "the Book of Psalms provides the most reliable theological, pastoral, and liturgical resource given us in the biblical tradition. In season and out of season, generation after generation, faithful women and men turn to the Psalms as a most helpful resource for conversations with God about things that matter most." (p. 15.) Psalm 16 is a song of trust in God which speaks about the fullness of living in God and seeking His path of love in our lives as we approach each day and ultimately our own death. Saint John Paul II describes Psalm 16 as follows: "these words fit perfectly into an interpretation that broadens the prospect to the hope of communion with God beyond death, in eternal life." (General Audience, July 28, 2004.)
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalm 16: 7-11)
This faith and trust in God has the power to transform our understanding of death and places it within the context of the redemptive, salvific mercy of God as revealed in Jesus Christ who is as Pope Francis states "the face of the Father's mercy". (Misericordiae Vultus, Bull of Indiction of The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, 2015.) The Catechism expresses this truth in the following way:
CCC, 1009 "Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free submission to his Father's will. The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blessing."
CCC, 1010 "Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him. What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already "died with Christ" sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ's grace, physical death completes this "dying with Christ" and so completes our incorporation into him in his redeeming act."
Jesus did not choose to take his life nor hasten his death in order to avoid suffering. His obedient surrender to the Father would become the path that would ultimately conquer death itself. At a funeral, the priest offers this final Prayer of Commendation to all who are present, "Before we go our separate ways, let us take leave of our sister/brother. May our farewell express our affection for her/him; may it ease our sadness and strengthen our hope. One day we shall joyfully greet her/him again when the love of Christ, which conquers all things, destroys even death itself." (Order of Christian Funerals, 2016, p. 245.)
On November 2, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, (or more commonly known as the Feast of All Souls), we do not go our separate ways but rather come together to celebrate and remember in prayer those who have died. This universal day of prayer within the life of the Church allows those who mourn the death of a loved to be comforted (ref. Matthew 5:4) and to be strengthened in faith and hope in the promise of everlasting life that comes to us through Christ. Our human death may be a certainty but through, with and in Christ, it receives new meaning.
Written by Bishop William McGrattan for Faithfully, November 2019
Most Reverend W. T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
Newman's Canonization
Celebration of the Canonization of St. John Henry Newman at St. John the Evangelist, Calgary
Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics converged on St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Oct. 13 for the canonization of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. Medical doctor Thomas Bouchard of Calgary was one of many Canadians in the jubilant crowd. A week before the event, Bouchard admitted he was not sure where he'd be seated. "I'm happy to be where ever I'm placed," said Bouchard, who was grateful to bear witness to the canonization of a saint whose work informs his own intellectual, professional and personal life.
Newman, who died in 1890, will be the patron saint of seekers. He converted to evangelical Christianity as a young man and was later ordained a priest in the Anglican church. Renowned as an Oxford academic, theologian and poet, Newman was received into the Catholic church in 1845 at the age of 44. Newman embraced the Catholic tradition as a call from God, but acknowledged his conversion, a controversial move in the United Kingdom, ended some relationships with friends and family.
Introduced to Newman's theology at Newman Centre of McGill University, Bouchard attributes his intellectual formation in the faith to the Catholic academics who lectured there. Friends from that period of his life include Fr. Kim D'Souza, a Toronto priest who is studying in Rome. Bouchard was D'Souza's guest at the canonization.
"The miracle that led to Cardinal Newman's canonization is incredibly beautiful," says Bouchard, who says the story has special resonance for him as a family doctor who delivers babies. The miracle involves an American woman who experienced severe bleeding during her fifth pregnancy. Alone with her other four children, Melissa Villalobos realized she was bleeding so badly she was likely to die. Devoted to Cardinal Newman since her days at university, she called out to Newman for help. The bleeding stopped and an ultrasound done later the same day confirmed her placenta was no longer torn.
The miracle, which occurred in 2013, was formally accepted by Pope Francis in February 2019.
To Bouchard, the miracle demonstrates the universality of the saints. "They care about everybody and I just think it's beautiful that Newman, who is an academic, is also interceding on behalf of this woman."
Back in Calgary, Newman's canonization received special attention at St. John the Evangelist parish in Inglewood. A Roman Catholic parish of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, St. John offers a special welcome to Anglicans who seek to join the Catholic Church.
Fr. Robert Bengry, who came to the Catholic Church through the Anglican tradition, recognizes a kindred spirit in Newman. "Unless one is entirely an adventurer, it helps to know someone has already successfully made a journey one is about to embark upon. Newman made the journey home to the Catholic Church and gives others the courage to walk in his footsteps."
Newman teaches that "one must be prepared to lose everything in order to follow Christ," adds Bengry. "This certainly happened to Newman—loss of friendships, status, identity—but of course one gains everything of what is truly important. Chiefly the salvation of one's own soul."
To celebrate Newman's sainthood, St. John the Evangelist invited Bishop Fred Henry to give the homily at the 10 am Mass on Sunday, Oct. 13.
The parish will welcome a first-class relic of the new saint on Friday, Nov. 29. The relic will be exposed at 6:30 pm with Sung Evensong. That will be followed by individual veneration. The relic will then be placed in view for collective veneration for an hour. During that time, a number of reflections from St. Newman's writings will be shared. The evening will feature Newman hymns and will end with Sung Compline at 8 pm.
Fr. Bengry says the event is open to anyone who wants to attend. The veneration of a Saint John Henry Newman relic has special meaning for his parishioners since the event marks 10 years since the Anglicanorum coetibus was promulgated, providing a process for Anglicans to return to the fold.
Newman's story
Details of Newman's life and canonization can be found at www.newmancanonisation.com. Dr. Thomas Bouchard encourages people to read Newman's story. Like Pope Benedict, Bouchard views stories about the lives of saints as a kind of second gospel. "Because they live out the gospel in their lives, reading about the lives of saints is really like reading the gospel."
St. John Henry Newman
Bishop Emeritus Henry & Fr. Bengry after the Canonization Celebration at St. John the Evangelist Parish, Calgary.
Photos courtesy of St. John Evangelist, Calgary
A community that puts faith in action
St. Mary's Cathedral, Chrism Mass 2017. Photo credit: Ryan Factura.
Calgary's position on the 51st parallel means daily worshipers at St. Mary's Cathedral are finding their way to morning and late-afternoon Masses in the near dark. In early spring and late fall, those arriving in time for daily morning prayers and the rosary at 6:30 am will enter the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary as east-facing office towers, and dew- or frost-tipped lawns, reflect the first rays of the rising sun.
Long-time parishioner Lillian Illescas says many of the daily Mass goers resolutely start or end their work days on their knees at the Cathedral. They come to spend time in the sacred space; they return because the priests at the Cathedral anchor a community that makes them "feel so welcome. Here, they see a community that puts faith in action."
Small parish, big heart
Officially known as the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Mary's list of registered parishioners represents about half of the 1,400 people who regularly attend weekend Masses at the Cathedral. Another 500 guests and 100 volunteers fill the parish hall for Feed the Hungry dinners held on Sunday afternoons. Hundreds of other Catholics come to the Cathedral for special events, including The Way of The Cross, Chrism Mass and the Rite of Election. Holy days, like Easter and Christmas Masses welcome regular parishioners, their families and guests to our city. The Cathedral also welcomes its share of convention visitors and tourists who are in Calgary throughout the year and to attend the annual Stampede.
Other Catholics approach the Cathedral to receive the sacraments of marriage and baptism. "We may be small, but I want people to know that we are a community of hospitality and faith," says Fr. Dielissen.
Fr. Dielissen came to St. Mary's in 2014 following a year sabbatical that included time in Africa and Rome. He recognizes the Cathedral assignment is remarkably different from his time at other parishes in the Diocese.
A historic and Catholic landmark
History buffs recognize the Cathedral as a cornerstone of Rouleauville, a village that housed Calgary's French Catholic quarter in the early 1900s. The original sandstone church opened on the site in 1889. It received Cathedral designation when the Calgary Catholic Diocese was established in 1912. Today's building was completed in 1959 and is a modern Gothic structure that features bells donated by Senator Patrick Burns, stained-glass windows from Germany and a 4.9-metre stone statue of the Virgin Mary with Child sculpted by local artist Luke Lindoe.
Given its role in the Diocese, much of the pastor's role at the Cathedral is necessarily administrative. Here, Fr. Bob Dielissen oversees a rectory with six resident priests. The rectory also has three additional rooms for visiting priests and is the home parish for several religious communities, including the Faithful Companions of Jesus. Fr. Bob Dielissen is also involved in organizing special Masses for the local schools and the graduation Masses for Catholic High Schools. Other Masses throughout the year include an annual Red Mass for lawyers and others who work in the legal profession, Migrant Mass for all the diverse cultures, Red Wednesday Mass for persecuted Christians and Masses for ministries such as the Couples in Christ, CWL and Knights of Columbus. This year, the Cathedral also hosted Mass for those attending the National CWL convention.
An imposing architectural presence in Calgary's Mission District (named for its missionary role in bringing the Catholic Church to Calgary), St. Mary's purpose is welcoming all those who knock on her doors. Fr. Bob Dielissen say it's common for the area's street people to seek shelter in the Cathedral by attending services. One of these men, known as Kipper, assumed a kind of protective role, even keeping watch to make sure the morning paper was still there when staff arrived. When Kipper died, priests and religious sisters organized a funeral service that brought his family to tears knowing that he was loved.
Fr. Dielissen has targeted stewardship and its three pillars of Time, Talent and Treasure since he came to St. Mary's Cathedral. Fr. Dielissen has sent staff for ministry training, to help bring parishioners into the stewardship concepts of sharing their gifts. Each year a Stewardship Fair invites people to participate in the parish community with the offering of their Time, Talents and Treasure. This year, over one hundred parishioners signed up for service in ministries ranging in Liturgical, Hospitality and Community Ministries.
Whether it be gathering for a weekly scheduled Mass to a funeral, all are welcomed. Fr. Dielissen invites funeral directors to have coffee and lunch while they're waiting at the Cathedral. It's a small act of kindness as Fr. Dielissen is always looking for ways to open the door to welcome people.
To Fr. Dielissen, "it's about hospitality and the need to reach out with signs of Christ's ministry. People come from all over Calgary to attend Mass at the Cathedral, and we want this to be a good experience."
The focus on building a strong Catholic community to serve the corporal heart of the Church in Calgary is paying off, as parishioners come together at the Cathedral for worship and service.
Lasting lessons from the war
Students at Bishop Carroll High School in Calgary, Alberta know that their Remembrance Day ceremony is not something to miss.
"I remember it being very moving. I felt really connected with some of the past soldiers, and like we really honoured them with our liturgy," says Paxton Cote, a 17-year-old football player at the school. " It is just such a sad thing, and so, we need to remember what happened."
Students at the high school play an active role in composing the Remembrance Day ceremony, due to a connection they have with previous graduates serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. The ceremony is opened by the cadet lead Flag Party, a prayer, and followed by respectful music by the school's band, choir and string ensemble.
Graduate and former Bishop Carroll football player Corporal Nathan Hornburg lost his life serving in Afghanistan at the age of 24 in September 2007. Every year following 2007, football players from the school have played a part in the Remembrance Day ceremony, acting as Masters of Ceremonies for the event.
"We lost one of our own," says Barb Waddell, the school chaplain and organizer of the ceremony."Both our Remembrance Day celebration and the participation of our football players have come from that."
Every year, students hear personal stories that connect them with what Canadians remember on Remembrance Day. Previous speakers included several members of Canada's Armed Forces, as well as Corporal Hornburg's mother and Veteran Mark Fuchko. Fuchko, also a graduate and former football player of the high school, was serving in Afghanistan mere months after Corporal Hornburg when he lost both his legs in an explosion.
Photos courtesy of Bishop Carroll High School, Calgary
Riley Isaacs, a 17-year-old football player at the school said, "Hearing from somebody who has served in the Canadian Military, really opens your eyes to how much of a sacrifice they made for the rest of us."
Students from the school continue to share a connection with the veterans beyond Remembrance Day. Corporal Hornburg's number has been retired from the team, and every year a student is awarded the Corporal Nathan Hornburg Award. Fuchko has also inspired the football team to wear "Remember Our Troops" stickers on all their helmets.
"It makes you feel inspired to love and support those who have fought for our country, in order to represent the ideals we support--that every human deserves," said student Ben Beaudry, 17, "It's just inspiring."
In preparation for this Remembrance Day, students at Bishop Carroll have come together to collect non-perishable food items for the Veteran's Association Food Bank.
Written by Katherine Szojka, a recent graduate of St Gabriel High School, and is currently living in Calgary, Alberta.
Read Veteran Mark Fuchko's story here
Find Corporal Nathan Hornburg's memorial here
Be still and know that I am God
As the Season of Lent begins, it is a good time for us to seek an interior renewal and to face the distracting attachments and preoccupations that have become part of our often very busy lives. These forty days serve to remind us of Christ's journey into the desert. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) tells us that "Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.
By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. (CCC, 540)
It is this Lenten discipline of penance, renunciation, and detachment which reawakens within us the awareness of our dependence on God and His great love for each of us. While retreating to the desert might be impossible on a practical level, our Lenten observance of penance, abstinence, prayer, and almsgiving helps us to grow in Christ daily and to avoid temptation.
In particular, the psalmist's refrain, "Be still and know that I am God" invites us to be attentive to our times of personal and communal prayer. One of the Desert Fathers, Amma Syncletica said, "There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts." (Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Cistercian Publications: 1975, p. 19)
Listening to God in prayer is an important part of a life of faith. God desires to speak to us and we have the privilege of listening to the promptings of His Spirit through the consolations and desolations with which He graces us during our prayer. William Barclay's reflection on prayer and silence is often quoted as follows, "… Prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest, we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him."
The psalmist writes in Psalm 46, "Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." Walter Brueggemann, a well-known scholar of the psalms, says that some psalms were written for the good times while others were written for the times when the future seemed uncertain and perhaps filled with impending troubles. These psalms were written for people living in times of change and uncertainty who were experiencing feelings of anxiety and even dismay. (The Spirituality of the Psalms, Brueggemann, pp. 19-25.) Psalm 46 provides the reassurance that God is stable when all else seems unstable. At a deeply personal and spiritual level, this is important for each of us.
This is the deeper experience of prayer and listening which the time of silence and stillness offers to us.
"In the silence of the heart, God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence." (Saint Teresa of Calcutta, In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers)
Let us embrace this season of Lent as a time to "be solitary in one's mind." (Benedicta Ward, Ibid.) If we allow God's grace to renew our hearts during this Lenten season through prayer, then in the solitary stillness of such experiences we will know His great love, wisdom, and charity and be moved more generously to witness and share this with others.
Written by Most Rev. William McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
Living and dying healed
I am a volunteer in a busy, hospital in a sizeable Canadian city. I have been visiting someone that I'll call Linda. Linda has terminal cancer. Her family doesn't live nearby and her husband is also ill in another facility. Linda is alone.
I had been visiting Linda for weeks when one day she suddenly confided in me that she has been offered MAID (Medical Aid In Dying, or euthanasia) many times by her doctor. She lay there, frail and alone, with tears in her eyes saying, "It's not what I want. It is against my faith. But they keep offering it. I feel so depressed."
Linda is one of many in our country facing the consequences of legalized euthanasia. She is alone. She is vulnerable. And what is our culture offering her during her time of crisis? A lethal injection?
Surely, we can do better. Surely, the answer to someone like Linda is not "Let me kill you," but instead "Let me help make your last days as beautiful and meaningful as they can be. You are loved. You are valued. You are not alone." Surely, the answer is to lift up, not to put down.
I have found that it is the little things that restore our dignity and make us feel loved and valued. In Linda's case, I told her she must never feel pressured to accept MAID. I allowed Linda to express her fears, and she came to the conclusion that God must have a plan for her.
Then, I went to the hospital kitchen and found a plant with bright, beautiful flowers and placed it in her window. "These flowers are here to cheer you up. When you look at them, you will know that someone cares."
It was a small gesture. It was all I could do, and I continue to visit Linda every week to offer her hope.
The above was written by one of more than 800 volunteers who have participated in LifeCanada's Dying Healed program since April 2017. The Program effectively trains people to serve in pastoral care settings.
The testimony exemplifies what this program and indeed ALL of LifeCanada's programs are about giving hope and affirming the dignity and value of all human life.
Did you know that since June 2016, over 8,000 Canadians have been victims of Medical Aid in Dying?
The Dying Healed Program has become a major aspect of our work at LifeCanada and we are continuing to expand into areas all across Canada.
Submitted by Natalie Sonnen, Executive Director,
Life Canada
Six gifts
This is me at 38 weeks pregnant.
This is my body: pregnant or nursing for 10 consecutive years.
This is my deepest creative contribution: giving, sustaining, birthing and raising new life.
This is a snapshot of my life. And that is all this is: one moment in my life captured in a portrait.
I remember the ache.
My husband consoling me as I sat motionless in my bed with my empty womb.
I remember hearing radio static. Feeling cramping, dizziness. Stumbling up and down the hall from my bed to the bathroom again and again as the life inside continued to slip away.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry baby." I kept saying over and over. And then it was over.
But actually, losing a child is never over. A mother never forgets.
I will never stop contemplating how the short life and death of our little Jude Francis made room for this new life inside my womb. Jude died last October. And now baby number six is due this October.
Sara Francis. Photo: Victor Panlilio.
I couldn't go into labour without acknowledging that we are a family with six children.
I am so grateful for each of my babies; each one an unmerited gift.
Life after loss is incredibly humbling. I thought my womb was the safest place on Earth. I thought I was good at having babies. I thought miscarriage happens… to other people. What value did Jude's short life hold, or my own? I pondered these and countless other thoughts. I kept coming back to these words:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am made strong." Corinthians 12:9-10.
And in my weakness, I was met with many new and old consoling friends. To my friends still looking for a husband or wife and wanting to start a family. To my friends who silently struggle with infertility. To my friends who've experienced miscarriage, stillborn or infant loss, loss of a child to sickness, suicide, an accident and other kinds of loss. Thank you for opening your hearts to me this past year. Our family and friends loved us back to life with each act of kindness.
Pregnancy after loss is incredibly humbling. I carried distrust of my body and anxiety throughout this pregnancy. I am grateful for the ways my eyes have been opened to the world of hidden suffering.
Nearly a year later, Jude continues to come into my life in the most unexpected moments. I am still his mother and he my son. And he continues to transform my interior life and turn my gaze from ground-level to the glory of God.
As most of us know by now, life isn't as it appears in a nicely lit, staged snapshot. But it's good to let our lights shine and to celebrate the joy that triumphs over the woundedness and pain we each uniquely experience throughout life. Here's to this final stretch of pregnancy (due date Oct. 6). Praying for a safe labour, blessed birth and all the unfolding of life that is to follow!
Written by: Sara Francis
Photo credit: Sara Francis
Updates from Sara
Just a little note of thanks to our dear friends and family. October 29 marks one year since our little Jude Francis died. Today, we received some surprise deliveries, which helped us celebrate his short life and birth into Heaven. Our dear friend Stephanie Howe brought by an ice cream cake and our dear friend Kamila Strutinsky ordered a stunningly beautiful bouquet over to us from Winnipeg.
When I miscarried last year it was the love of our friends and family that got us through. They showered us with prayers, meals, flowers, words of love and sympathy. A few people gave us art to commemorate our baby, which continues to be very meaningful for us. Thank you for reaching into our lives and loving us back to life.
Saint Jude pray for us ❤
Catholic Pastoral Centre Staff and Guest Writers
Bishop Emeritus Henry
Bishop McGrattan
Catholic Charities & Development
Development & Peace
Diocesan Event
Faithfully
From The Bishop's Office
Lay Associations
Mission Mexico
One Rock
Online Formation
Scripture & Reflection
Our Staff
Catholic Community
Lay Associations
Find a Parish/Mass
Parish Boundaries
Reporting Abuse
NEED INFO ON
Vocations
Sacraments Prep
GIVE TO
Together in Action
Your Parish Church
Other Ministry
Catholic Pastoral Centre | 120 - 17th Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2S 2T2 | Phone: 403-218-5500 | communications@calgarydiocese.ca
Charitable Number: 10790-9939-RR0076. Donate Now.


text:
Smart House is a project created by [Timbo Cole](https://github.com/DiNozzo97) and [Nick Fitton](https://github.com/Alignak) as part as our First Year Computer Science Course.

It is based around the current idea of "Internet of Things" and is an interactive scale house which is controllable from a Web Application, that encases all of the required electronics inside of it.

For Documentation, please visit the [Wiki](https://www.github.com/DiNozzo97/smartHome/wiki)

For a Demo see the [Demo Video](https://youtu.be/3cEG87-J5SY)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The BA owner is set to sell its stake in Norwegian Air. When IAG bought in last April, higher oil prices made it plausible that its unhedged smaller rival would become vulnerable to a takeover. As it happens, a sharp fall in crude values means the egg is instead on its own face.
Bjorn Kjos, CEO of Norwegian Group, speaks during the presentation of Norwegian Air first low cost transatlantic flight service from Argentina at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 8, 2018.
British Airways owner IAG said on Jan. 24 it would not make a new bid for Norwegian Air and would sell its remaining 3.9 percent stake in the budget airline.
IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh last year ruled out a hostile takeover for Norwegian and said he would not get drawn into a bidding war.
Norwegian Air shares plunged as much as 26 percent to a six-year low of 132 Norwegian crowns on Jan 24. Its shares were down 21.7 percent at 132.85 Norwegian crowns by 1335 GMT.
IAG shares rose as much as 1.7 percent to 643.8 pence, their highest since Dec. 28.


There's been some discussion about the use of the Hobsons Bay Churches website to promote information about the ministries of individual churches. I'd certainly appreciate being able to check out where, for example, Alpha courses or Answers in Genesis meetings are being held. As individual churches usually arrange these rather than all the churches together, a ban on mentioning the ministries of individual churches would make it harder to put people in touch with such courses.
I come down heavily on the side of sharing of information through the website rather than restricting it to the half-a-dozen things we do together. It would be really great if churches wanted to advertise a visiting speaker, school holiday programme or course. It would make it a much more useful site.


We hear reports of the hybrid hypercar is nearly sold out!
Are you still looking at getting your hands on a Porsche 918 Spyder? You will need to be quick, because word has it that the hybrid hypercar is nearly sold out!
We hear that, so far, Porsche has only delivered a little over 35 examples of the Spyder out of the 918 it plans to manufacture in total.
This is unbelievable for a car with a base price of almost £625,000, not to mention the huge deposit just to get your name on the list. This high price is still significantly less than its competitors get for the McLaren P1 or LaFerrari, both of which sell for over £800,000 and don't forget that production of each is limited to less than half of the 918 Spyder.
Source: Automotive News – sub. req.


text:
Home / editorial /
Plan A for Samoa's aspiring students
By The Editorial Board, 14/12/2020
For what was a challenging 12 months brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing the smiles on the faces of children at their schools' graduation or prize-giving ceremony in recent weeks is priceless.
Parents everywhere are heaving a sigh of relief, that their children got to conclude another school year without further disruption, and teachers and school administrations can take a well-deserved break from December 17 before they return in January 2021 to do it all over again.
And the next generation of Samoa's workforce haven't been caught short in terms of their future aspirations. If you were following the various end-of-the-school-year stories the Samoa Observer has published in recent weeks, the graduating students' options range from teachers, lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers and journalists.
It is music to the ears to hear our children talk about what they aspire to be one day. At least they are already mentally visualizing a journey that they would take, in order to become that person.
The aspirations of our students brings to mind a great quote by African-American civil rights activist Harriet Tubman (1820–1913).
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
Therefore, having a dream can be the first step in one's journey to becoming a lawyer, doctor, accountant, engineer, teacher, journalist, carpenter, electrician or plumber.
But how realistic would it be for these youngsters in a world that's been trampled on by a deadly pandemic, which has already shrunk Samoa's national economy as well as the global economy and led to the collapse of one of our major foreign revenue earners in tourism?
Since last Monday students from 41 colleges in Samoa have started to sit for the final state exams. Over 4,000 students are expected to sit their S.S.C. and S.S.L.C. exams from December 7-17 according to an estimate by the Ministry of Education Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.).
But what does the future hold for students who are on the verge of finishing but are unable to pursue their dreams due to the lack of opportunities to further their education including State-funded scholarship?
And are there sufficient employment opportunities for students who complete the Government's T.V.E.T. (Technical and Vocational Education Training) Programme to specialise in fields such as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, welding and automotive?
Will our shrinking national economy be able to create new jobs for these up-and-coming professionals to enter the workforce when most if not all private sector companies have freezed recruitment due to the economic downturn?
We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that continues to have local consequences – as it has over the past nine months – but pinning our hopes on the reopening of the international border and the return of tourism through a travel bubble would be counterproductive.
It would be devastating for the students to graduate from their colleges or university with flying colours, only to discover that there are no viable employment opportunities to impart their skills and knowledge, to contribute to the country's development.
The M.E.S.C. has in the last month put out public notices on revised examination schedules, due to the disrupted school year, and the students who will be affected. The uncertainty over the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to hang over any future planning by the Ministry as we countdown to the end of 2020.
But the fact that hundreds of students will soon graduate, following their completion of secondary education or university, should compel the Government to ponder employment options for our young people in a post-COVID economy.
Failure to put in place mechanisms to enable these youngsters to realise their dreams of becoming someone that they aspire to be in life could have long-term repercussions, if not dealt with quickly and appropriately by the relevant authorities.
Life today has examples of citizens who took the other path, due to the lack of educational or employment opportunities. Let us not make that Plan B.
Light must be shone on Govt.'s court powers
The Government's overhaul of the judicial system has generated plenty of heat but some of its most fundamental changes have escaped the spotlight.
By The Editorial Board 18/01/2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
DJI drones pose potential threats to national security says Department of Defense
In Breaking News, Data Security, Department of Defense, DJI
Today the Department of Defense released the following statement saying that DJI drones pose a potential threat to national security.
Updated with DJI's response on 7/24/21.
According to the statement, the Department of Defense (DOD) position is that systems (drones) produced by Chinese dronemaker Da Jiang Innovations, better known as DJI, pose potential threats to national security.
Contrary to any written reports that were not approved for release by the DOD, the existing policies and practices related to the use of DJI systems and drones by U.S. Government entities and forces working with U.S. military services remain unchanged.
A recent report, that indicated that certain DJI drones had been approved for use by the US government departments and agencies, is inaccurate. DOD is currently reviewing its unauthorized release.
According to the DOD statement: "In 2018, DOD issued a ban on the purchase and use of all commercial off-the-shelf drones, regardless of manufacturer, due to cybersecurity concerns. The following year, Congress passed legislation specifically banning the purchase and use of drones and components manufactured in China. DOD complies with Section 848 of the FY20 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and additional guidance provided by Executive Order 13981."
Only when the DOD has a valid and authorized requirement for the use of Chinese-made drones for specific operations can exceptions be made as outlined in the FY20 NDAA.
"The Secretary of Defense is exempt from the restriction [of using covered systems] if the operation or procurement is for the purposes of— (1) Counter-UAS surrogate testing and training; or (2) Intelligence, electronic warfare, and information warfare operations, testing, analysis, and training."
Government purchases of off-the-shelf Chinese-made drones will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and if allowed measures would be taken to make sure that sensitive data is not released.
The DOD prioritizes the mitigation of threats posed by small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), including DJI drones, and the department will continue to ensure that existing policy remains current and appropriately implemented, the statement says.
DJI's response
A DJI spokesperson reached out to DroneXL with the following response.
The DOD statement confirms what DJI was told by a DOD official earlier this year, that an internal, technical security review involving reverse-engineering of all source code was performed on DJI products and that this deep technical analysis confirmed DJI products show no malicious code or intent and are recommended for use from a security perspective.
It was not a report that commented on or changed DOD procurement policy, which is governed by a 2019 statute, and which is what the DOD statement today simply reiterates.
The DOD source code analysis is the latest on a long list of third-party security examinations of DJI technology during the past three years, and no evidence has ever been presented in support of the notion that DJI products are a threat to national security.
DJI busts five common myths about the Chinese drone maker
Drone security concerns and how to solve them
Domestic drones can be hacked, and foreign drones can be secure
U.S. Air Force bought 57 DJI drones in September
Drone Amplified: Washington needs to reconsider drone-banning proposals
Australian government is 'comfortable' with data security of DJI drones
DJI expands data privacy protections for government and commercial drone operators
Booz Allen Hamilton finds no unauthorized data transfer from DJI drones


text:
Yes, Your Grace
Narrative kingdom simulator Yes, Your Grace launches in March
Heavy is the head that has an audience
News by Lauren Morton Contributor
Published on 12 Feb, 2020
The kingdoms I play in most management games are doomed, though that's most often a consequence of my poor management skills. In Yes, Your Grace, I'm convinced that the kingdom of Davern is meant for the ashes either way. You'll take over as king and spend part of your days approving or denying requests from your petitioners with your meager resources and the rest attempting to be a not too crappy dad to your three kids. Brave At Night have just announced that you'll be able to make your own poor kingdom-crashing choices in March.
I got to play in the beta version of Yes, Your Grace late last year and, like Alice Bee, I'm pretty sure it's one of the most exciting games of 2020. YYG has a sort of Game Of Thrones meets Reigns vibe where you're constantly trying to keep all of your competing interests at equilibrium but everything is a disaster anyway. I'll be shocked if there's no deadly wedding. That's a medieval drama law now.
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.
You've only got so much money and food to go around and every one of your subjects (and family members) wants an allotment from the man with the crown. Some of them will outright lie to you, as I learned in the beta when I tried to kindly accept the share of profits offered to me by a peasant whose inn I invested in only to find out he'd totally fleeced me on the percentage. I made plenty of other mistakes in the first hour and eventually went back to try again. When I insisted on a higher cut from the same innkeeper, his operation went under and he blamed me for being greedy.
Similarly, one my daughters is miffed at the prospect of eventual marriage but it seems like she'll end up a bargaining chip in Davern's future no matter what kind of promises I make her. Heavy is the head and all.
Brave At Night have announced that their kingdom 'em up will launch on March 6th for £15.49/€16.79/$19.99. You can wishlist it on Steam until it's time to doom the kingdom yourself next month.
Brave At Night
No More Robots


Ft. Lauderdale, FL – If your pet becomes lost, what would you do, who would you call? If you live in south Florida, you'd call Jamie Katz – Pet Detective! Jamie, who has a learning disability, has been finding lost pets since 2015 and developed her business with help from Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), a federal-state agency that helps people with disabilities get or keep a job.
Jamie worked with VR counselors, Michael Coard and Elizabeth Gonzalez, to find a career that worked for her. "My whole life growing up I've loved animals, but I always wondered how could I make money working with them?" she says.
She was on a different career path when the idea for a pet detective business hit her. "I was interning as a private investigator because I wanted to start my own business as an unclaimed property tracer, when my friend's cat went missing." Jamie saw an online ad for a pet detective company with tracking dogs and contacted them to help find her friend's cat. They never showed up, but, fortunately, Jamie found the cat.
This was a turning point for Jamie who now had two new goals, 1, to find out if tracking dogs really can find lost pets, and, 2, to see how she could help people and animals who were in such a desperate state.
To Jamie, this was a perfect way to combine her love of animals and investigation. She researched the career and found out that it was, in fact, real, and she found a company she could train with, so she brought the idea to Elizabeth.
One white, fluffy Bichon Frise is glad VR got Jamie started as a pet detective. Little Finnegan snuck out of the house one afternoon and ran off on a great adventure, leaving his panicked family behind. They read Jamie's ad on craigslist and contacted her to find their four-legged family member. Jamie took the case and began her search.
She brought in Gable and Fletcher, her tracking dogs, to figure out just where Finnegan had gone. They tracked him across town to a neighborhood where the children had seen a little white dog eating pizza out of the trash bin. She also brought the story to the local news team so they could share it with the community. With the help of Jamie and her tracking dogs, the family was able to get Finnegan home again safe and sound. Hopefully, that will be enough adventure for Finnegan; however, his family knows exactly who to call if he decides to run off again.
Florida's Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is a federal-state program committed to helping people with disabilities become part of America's workforce. The employer-focused website, https://abilitieswork.employflorida.com/, allows businesses to search at no charge for employees who are ready to go to work, as well as to post available jobs. VR has 90 offices across Florida, and last year helped 5,194 Floridians with significant disabilities get or keep a job. For more information about VR and its services, call (800) 451-4327 or visit http://www.Rehabworks.org.


In September 2011 the Government of Vietnam implemented the National Power Development plan to promote energy security, efficiency, renewable energy deployment and power market liberalisation. The goal is to increase the percentage of electricity production from renewable energy sources to 4.5% in 2020 and 6% by 2030 from 3.5% in 2010.
Also, the deployment of wind energy is set as a priority for Vietnam which has a good resource endowment for this technology.
As of June 2011 the government fixed the price the Vientam Electricity company ENV must pay for wind energy purchase at VND 1,614/kWh, equivalent to EUR 0.00006/kWh and entitled ENV for a subsidy of VND 207/kWh of purchased wind power.
As of August 2011, wind power developers are exempted from import duties on equipment and from corporation tax rates.


Borrower interest in fixed rate products could wane as a handful of lenders raise the interest on their fixed rate suite.
Last week, ANZ lifted the interest on its one and three year fixed rates by 10 and 20 basis points respectively.
And ANZ wasn't the only lender to lift the interest on its fixed rate products last week.
Suncorp Bank also increased its residential and investment two year fixed mortgage rates by 16 basis points to 6.14 per cent.
Greater Building Society, Queensland Police Credit Union, MyState, RAMS Home Loans, Illawarra Credit Union, Catalyst Mutual and Mortgage House have also lifted various rates since last Tuesday.
While all of the rates are still largely competitive, these recent rate increases could stop many borrowers from taking out a fixed rate home loan.
Over the past few months, the popularity of fixed rate products has been on the rise, with data from AFG found fixed rates now account for 23.2 per cent of all loans – far higher than the 12.6 per cent recorded in December 2010.
Last week Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said while some borrowers will be "put off" by the small fixed rate increases, they should get used to them.
"I expect to see more lenders make smaller rate moves more often," Ms Kelly told media last week.


text:
/* -*- Mode: C++; tab-width: 8; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*- */
/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */

#include "nsCycleCollectionParticipant.h"
#include "nsCOMPtr.h"

void
nsScriptObjectTracer::NoteJSChild(void *aScriptThing, const char *name,
                                  void *aClosure)
{
  nsCycleCollectionTraversalCallback *cb =
    static_cast<nsCycleCollectionTraversalCallback*>(aClosure);
  NS_CYCLE_COLLECTION_NOTE_EDGE_NAME(*cb, name);
  cb->NoteJSChild(aScriptThing);
}

nsresult
nsXPCOMCycleCollectionParticipant::RootImpl(void *p)
{
    nsISupports *s = static_cast<nsISupports*>(p);
    NS_ADDREF(s);
    return NS_OK;
}

nsresult
nsXPCOMCycleCollectionParticipant::UnrootImpl(void *p)
{
    nsISupports *s = static_cast<nsISupports*>(p);
    NS_RELEASE(s);
    return NS_OK;
}

// We define a default trace function because some participants don't need
// to trace anything, so it is okay for them not to define one.
NS_IMETHODIMP_(void)
nsXPCOMCycleCollectionParticipant::TraceImpl(void *p, TraceCallback cb,
                                             void *closure)
{
}

bool
nsXPCOMCycleCollectionParticipant::CheckForRightISupports(nsISupports *s)
{
    nsISupports* foo;
    s->QueryInterface(NS_GET_IID(nsCycleCollectionISupports),
                      reinterpret_cast<void**>(&foo));
    return s == foo;
}


IT company that does mobile, software development and digital marketing in Dhaka having 78 clients.
Reason: To finance a new project that will be in the mobile app based education industry.
- An IT company located in Bangladesh that has been operating since 2015.
- We specialize in mobile application and software development, and digital marketing.
- We have developed 50 mobile applications for our clients. We have also developed 13 software that we currently sell. These software are used in the online education, social media, hospital management, pharmacy management, school management industries.
- We also develop customized softwares for our clients.
- Our business has a total of 78 clients out of which 23 are recurring.
- In digital marketing we provide SEO services, social media optimization and analysis.
- Our revenue has increased this year as we have converted many leads into clients.
Software & Mobile Application, Digital Marketing, Online Service Provider, Cloud Business.


text:
Comparative Constitutional Law in Asia
Edited by Rosalind Dixon and Tom Ginsburg
Comparative constitutional law is a field of increasing importance around the world, but much of the literature is focused on Europe, North America, and English-speaking jurisdictions. The importance of Asia for the broader field is demonstrated here in original contributions that look thematically at issues from a general perspective, with special attention on how they have been treated in East Asian jurisdictions.
Chapter 2: Participation in constitutional design: Asian exceptionalism
Chapter 3: Constitutional courts in East Asia
Chapter 4: Judicial engagement
Chapter 5: Weak-form review and its constitutional relatives: An Asian perspective
Chapter 6: The structure of legislative-executive relations: Asia in comparative perspective
Chapter 7: Classical and post-conflict federalism: Implications for Asia
Chapter 8: Constitutions and emergency regimes in Asia
Chapter 9: The comparative constitutional law of freedom of expression in Asia
Chapter 10: The right to property in Asia
Chapter 11: Equality in Asia
Chapter 12: Comparative constitutional law and religion in Asia
80–101 (22 total)
Collection: Law 2014
This chapter examines whether and how judges of courts in Asian jurisdictions engage with foreign and international sources of law in resolving constitutional cases. 'Engagement' is used in a neutral sense, to encompass any reference to transnational legal sources, whether positive, negative or bland (cf. Jackson 2010). It extends to consultation of transnational sources by courts, even where this is not reflected in their published reasons. Like the other chapters in this book, this one builds on earlier work, which examined the topic from a more global perspective (Saunders 2011). By adopting an exclusive focus on courts in the Asian region, the chapter seeks both to throw light on constitutional review in Asia and to deepen understanding of judicial engagement as a practice. In doing so, it has the potential also to identify any distinctive characteristics of judicial engagement in the Asian region and thus to provide insight into the utility of regions as a tool of analysis in comparative constitutional law. The earlier chapter took into account experience with judicial engagement in a small number of selected Asian jurisdictions: Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. The approach in this chapter is to determine the extent to which conclusions based on a global sample of jurisdictions are verified, qualified, elaborated or altered by an exclusively Asian focus. In one important respect, which itself is instructive, I depart from the parameters of the earlier study, by including judicial engagement with international, as well as foreign law.
Rosalind Dixon and Tom Ginsburg
PART I: CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN, AMENDMENT AND INTERPRETATION
Justin Blount and Tom Ginsburg
Tom Ginsburg
Mark Tushnet and Rosalind Dixon
PART II: CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE
José Antonio Cheibub and Fernando Limongi
Sujit Choudhry
Victor V. Ramraj
PART III: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
Adrienne Stone, Rishad Chowdhury and Martin Clark
Tom Allen
Kate O'Regan and Madhav Khosla
Ran Hirschl
Open Section Asian Studies
Asian Law
Open Section Law - Academic
Constitutional and Administrative Law


FOSFOMYCIN (fos foe MYE sin) is an antibiotic. It is used to treat bacterial infections of the urinary tract.
Take this medicine by mouth. Follow the directions on the prescription label. Mix the contents of package in 3 to 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of cold water, stir well and drink. Take this medicine with food or on an empty stomach. Do not take your medicine more often than directed. Talk to your pediatrician regarding the use of this medicine in children. Special care may be needed.
This does not apply. This medicine is taken as a one-time dose.
Tell your doctor or health care professional if your symptoms do not start to get better in 2 to 3 days or if they get worse.


text:
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE
AN INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
ANGELS UNAWARES
EDITORIAL: RANDOM THOUGHTS ON RECENT GOINGS-ON IN NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOXY
2 Comments June 28, 2019 The Editors
Readers who are more familiar with the Russian system of ecclesiastical titles (such as practiced in the OCA, ROCOR, and the OCU) should note that, according to the Greek system, an Archbishop ranks higher than a Metropolitan—and ipso facto, a Greek Archdiocese may consist of several Metropolises.
This explains why the Primates of the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America and the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine are called Metropolitans, while the Primate of the autocephalous Church of Greece is called an Archbishop.
Likewise, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has an Archbishop as its head and consists of several Metropolises headed each by its own Metropolitan.
✠
Archbishop Elpidophoros reading his Enthronment Address. June 22, 2019.
Perhaps the most momentous event of recent days in North American Orthodoxy was the enthronement of Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese on June 22-23.
By all accounts, the Archbishop has a winsome personality. Yet the concerns that Orthodoxy in Dialogue raised in our Editorial: Orthodox Popery Comes to America? or Time for a Greek Orthodox Revolt in America? of May 12 remain, namely:
The hierarchy, clergy, monastics, and laity of the GOA had no role whatever in the election of their Archbishop—a role which the Archdiocese expressly requested. This top-down imposition of bishops without consultation stands in marked contrast with how the OCA selects its Primate and diocesan bishops.
The Archbishop has no discernible pastoral experience and no experience of life in America.
The Archbishop has distinguished himself as the apologist for a notably neo-papist understanding of Phanariot primacy in The Ecumenical Patriarch: First without Equals, which finds no resonance anywhere in modern Orthodox ecclesiology.
The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America—once again—has no role whatever in the election of its president. The presidents of this and the other multi-jurisdictional "episcopal assemblies" around the world are ex offiicio the senior ranking hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in each given region. This seems to be predicated on the long outdated premise that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has sole authority over "the barbarian lands" and the outright ecclesiological heresy of an "Orthodox diaspora" enshrined at the 2016 Council of Crete.
The Archbishop's relative youth (early 50s) and his birth in Turkey make him a prime candidate for Patriarch Bartholomew's successor on the Ecumenical Throne. It seems plausible that Elpidophoros' appointment (called an "election" in Phanariot parlance) was motivated in part by a power play to tighten the Phanar's grip on the North American Church. If he becomes the next Ecumenical Patriarch, by his own admission he will consider himself to be "the first without equals."
Numbers 3, 4, and 5 suggest yet another nail in the coffin of American autocephaly. As we noted a year ago in Orthodoxy in America: Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams?, the core purpose for which the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops was formed was to take concrete steps toward the creation of an autocephalous American Orthodox Church inclusive of all the present "jurisdictions"—and yet, the Ecumenical Patriarchate's own "Archons" consider any talk of American autocephaly to be treasonous. In this context the following stands out from the Archbishop's Enthronement Address:
I sincerely pledge to devote myself—with all my heart, soul and mind—to the reaffirmation and reinvigoration of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in order that we may collaborate with greater unity, while witnessing with greater conviction and credibility to the broader American society.
The Assembly's new president, appointed in Turkey without the consent of its member hierarchs from multiple jurisdictions, frames the organization's purpose as one of "collaboration." Yet its own About page describes its ultimate goal as not mere collaboration, but the creation of an autocephalous American Church:
The purpose of the Assembly of Bishops of the United States of America is to preserve and contribute to the unity of the Orthodox Church…. To accomplish this, the Assembly has…as an express goal…the organization of the Church in the United States in accordance with the ecclesiological and the canonical tradition of the Orthodox Church.
…[T]he Assembly is a transitional body. If it achieves its goal, it will make itself obsolete by developing a proposal for the canonical organization of the Church in the United States. […T]he Assembly of Bishops will then come to an end, ultimately to be succeeded by a governing Synod of a united Church in the United States.
We would like to hear how the Archbishop plans to advance the cause of American autocephaly, or if he too considers any such talk as treasonous to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Or rather, we would like to see the Assembly reject the Phanar's ecclesiastical hegemony in American church affairs and elect its own president from any of the 50+ canonical bishops in the US.
The accession of Archbishop Elpidophoros to his de jure and de facto primatial position in American Orthodoxy has repercussions far beyond the GOA. His appointment by the Phanar is far more consequential than a merely internal GOA matter.
Archbishop Sotirios of Canada
Lost in the brouhaha south of the border, here in Canada the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto became the Archdiocese of Canada on June 13, and Metropolitan Sotirios of Toronto was elevated to the newly created rank of Archbishop of Canada. (It seems curious that The National Reporter should break this story on June 20 when—two weeks after the Phanar's decision—we find no mention of it either on the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate or that of the Archdiocese.) This places Canada's Greek Orthodox Church and its Archbishop on a par with the GOA. Again, it seems plausible to see this move as a tightening of the Phanar's grip on "barbarian lands."
What does this mean for Orthodox unity in Canada? Probably nothing at all. Depressingly, Canadian Orthodoxy is even more ethnophyletistic than American Orthodoxy. The so-called "Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of Canada," created as a separate entity from its US counterpart in March 2014, has no website and no discernible signs of life at all. A few years ago a brief report and photo of an Assembly meeting were posted to the Greek Metropolis' website, but seem to have been removed.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (L) and Metropolitan Tikhon (R) of the OCA
More curious still, the website of the Orthodox Church in America reports that Metropolitan Tikhon concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Bartholomew in Cappadocia on the same weekend as Archbishop Elpidophoros' enthronement.
Our readers will recall that the Phanar does not recognize the autocephaly of the OCA but has never broken communion with it or with the Moscow Patriarchate who granted its autocephaly. OCA bishops and priests have been concelebrating with the Ecumenical Patriarch since the days of the old Metropolia. Finally, as we noted in December 2018 in Ukrainian Autocephaly: An Awkward Spot for the OCA, the OCA Primate was invited for the first time to concelebrate with the Ecumenical Patriarch in March 2016.
But that was then and this is now. As we wrote in January and February 2019 (see The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Ignores Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, Bows to the Will of Moscow, Rejects the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), The OCA: Moscow's Pawns in America & the American Region of "Russkii Mir", Well, Well, Well. What Perfect Timing for the OCA to Reject Ukraine., and The Moral Bankruptcy of the OCA Synod of Bishops on Full Display), the Holy Synod of the OCA seems to have followed orders from its Moscow overlords not only by rejecting the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, but by refusing even to enter into communion with it.
That Metropolitan Tikhon accepted the quasi validation of serving with the Ecumenical Patriarch comes as no surprise. What raises questions is what the Patriarch hoped to gain from issuing the invitation in the first place, or—if the invitation was made prior to the OCA's rejection of communion with the OCU, as one of our sources tells us—from not rescinding it after such a public slap in the face from the OCA.
Will the OCA soften its stance toward the OCU as a result of private conversations and promises between Bartholomew and Tikhon? This remains to be seen.
In the meantime, on June 24-25 the OCA participated in a gala in honour of the Russian Orthodox Church's redundant Metropolitan Onuphrius of Kyiv.
Orthodoxy in Dialogue seeks to promote the free exchange of ideas by offering a wide range of perspectives on an unlimited variety of topics. Our decision to publish implies neither our agreement nor disagreement with an author, in whole or in part.
Note to Our Readers: Please consider becoming a Patron by making a one-time, occasional, or monthly financial contribution to support the work of Orthodoxy in Dialogue. To make a monthly commitment visit our Patreon page. To make a one-time or occasional contribution send the amount of your choice to editors@orthodoxyindialogue.com via PayPal or (if you reside in Canada) interac e-Transfer. Your support is deeply appreciated.
Join the conversation on Twitter and/or Facebook.
2 thoughts on "EDITORIAL: RANDOM THOUGHTS ON RECENT GOINGS-ON IN NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOXY"
Pingback: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: JUNE | ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE
Pingback: THE PATRIARCHAL SAGA THAT KEEPS ON GIVING by Giacomo Sanfilippo | ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE
thank you for visiting us today
SUBSCRIBE TO ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE
Enter your email address to follow Orthodoxy in Dialogue and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Follow ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE on WordPress.com
A COPTIC OVERVIEW OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S "RETRACTIONS" by Daniel Michalski
LEAKED: SECRET DIRECTIVE TO THE CLERGY OF THE ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE
ON JOSIAH TRENHAM: WHY THE DEAFENING SILENCE FROM METROPOLITAN JOSEPH?
THE CHURCH, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE by Randal Rauser
OPEN STATEMENT AGAINST THE COPTIC CHURCH'S POSITION ON THE LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY by Progressive Copts
THE GOVERNMENT OF GREECE FUNDS THE GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA?
AN OPEN LETTER TO METROPOLITAN JOSEPH: STOP. TRENHAM. NOW. by a Clergyman of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
FROM THE NETHERLANDS: RESPONDING TO FATHER AARON WARWICK AND FATHER SERAPHIM HOLLAND by Monica Spoor
OPEN LETTER TO FATHER AARON WARWICK: A GOOD MAN TAKEN IN BY HOMOSEXUALIST RHETORIC by Priest Seraphim Holland
FATHER JOHN WHITEFORD'S APPALLING IGNORANCE AND PASTORAL MALFEASANCE by Giacomo Sanfilippo
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE ON ABORTION
EDITORIAL: ROD DREHER'S LIMITED (AND THEOLOGICALLY MEANINGLESS) VOCABULARY
ORTHODOXY: THE BREXIT CHURCH? by James Chater
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE'S SECRET DIRECTORY OF LGBTQ-ACCEPTING ORTHODOX PRIESTS
600 PARISHES LEAVE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE FOR AUTOCEPHALOUS UKRAINIAN CHURCH
today's most popular articles
OPEN STATEMENT AGAINST THE COPTIC CHURCH'S POSITION ON THE LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY by Progressive Copts
A COPTIC OVERVIEW OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S "RETRACTIONS" by Daniel Michalski
"THE GOOD WIFE" ACCORDING TO FATHER JOSIAH TRENHAM: DOES METROPOLITAN JOSEPH APPROVE?
PASTORING LGBTQ INDIVIDUALS IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH by Priest Aaron Warwick
EDITORIAL: THE "MORALITY" OF THE ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN ARCHDIOCESE?
COMMENTS ENABLED ON FACEBOOK
Archives Select Month January 2020 (26) December 2019 (30) November 2019 (23) October 2019 (21) September 2019 (8) August 2019 (20) July 2019 (32) June 2019 (27) May 2019 (17) April 2019 (6) March 2019 (11) February 2019 (18) January 2019 (55) December 2018 (47) November 2018 (27) October 2018 (23) September 2018 (13) August 2018 (28) July 2018 (30) June 2018 (39) May 2018 (35) April 2018 (41) March 2018 (32) February 2018 (33) January 2018 (32) December 2017 (22) November 2017 (16) October 2017 (17) September 2017 (24) August 2017 (10)


back yard. When they found out what was inside the tent, they understood why they were called.
A couple in New Mexico were trying to teach their son a lesson by forcing him to spend his days in a tent out in the back yard. The neighbors noticed and reported the couple to the police for child abuse. When police came and investigated the matter, they agreed with the parents.
Jacob and Angela Boggus decided to employ some tough love when their 16-year-old son started getting out of control. The young man had taken up the habit of stealing from his parents, and they made several attempts to stop him. The latest, most extreme attempt was to pitch a tent for him so that he could spend his days outside in the yard.
"We are trying to do the best that we can," said Mrs. Boggus.
The parents aren't making their son sleep in the yard. He's brought in every night at 9 p.m. to sleep in his room. He's also allowed to use the bathroom inside the house. They don't deprive him of food, either: they bring him his meals to the tent. He has water and shade. The purpose of the punishment is to teach him a lesson by depriving him of comforts in hopes that he'll come to appreciate what he has a little bit more.
"We're not doing anything wrong here," Angela said to KRQE. "We're simply trying to teach our child a lesson."
"If he doesn't learn that now, it's gonna be the whole world's problem, not just ours, in a couple of years," said Mr. Boggus.
But a neighbor felt differently. One of the neighbors noticed the boy spending his days out in the tent and called the police to investigate. Police arrived and didn't think the parents were doing anything wrong.
"It's not like he's been banished out to the mesa a hundred miles away from civilization," said Deputy Gary Hall, chief of the Valencia County Sheriff's Department.
The sheriff's office isn't taking any action against the parents at this time. Considering the child is well fed, clothed, has access to the bathroom and a safe, comfortable bed at night, letting him sit in the yard all day is hardly an abusive situation. In fact, for centuries, before kids became dependent on electronic devices for socialization and entertainment, that's what kids did: they spent their days outside.
The teen was sentenced to a month in the tent where he is supposed to catch up on homework, including five book reports. So far, he's spent two weeks in it.
Some neighbors didn't agree. "It's an awful thing to do to a human being," said a neighbor to the local news.
Others agree with the parents. "If you do something wrong, there are consequences; there is cause and there is effect," said one local.
The Boggus say that anyone who wishes to come and try to talk some sense into the boy is welcome. But for the time being, the punishment stands.
The memory of Thursday's shooting of police officer Blake Snyder is a heavy weight on St. Louis county police lieutenant Karl Bulla.


Riteish Deshmukh opts for herbal cigarettes for his role in Banjo!
Riteish Deshmukh, who will be seen playing a street musician in Eros International's musical drama, Banjo, had to come out of his comfort zone to shoot for a smoking sequence.
While shooting for the movie, directed by critically-acclaimed filmmaker Ravi Jadhav, Riteish had to enact couple of scenes in which his role required him to smoke. But since the talented actor is a non-smoker, he used herbal cigarettes to make his performance look real and believable.


text:
Taika Waititi's hotly-anticipated anti-hate satire is an odd duck.
If you're across the Kiwi creator's career in particular, or even cool kine in general, you'll know the gist: towards the end of World War II apple-cheeked cherub and committed Nazi Johannes 'Jojo' Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) contends with all the world can throw at him — which is a lot, to be frank — with the help of his imaginary best friend, Adolf Hitler (played by Waititi himself). 10-year-old Jojo isn't really cut out for Nazi life; unlike some of the nascent psychopaths in their Hitlerjugend troop, he and best mate Yorki (Archie Yates, the film's real find) are just 10-year-old kids caught up in something bigger than themselves, and not really au fait with the real meaning behind all this goose-stepping, heiling, and, to quote Sam Rockwell's foppish, soused Captain Klenzendorf, 'blowing schtuff up.'
Jojo's true nature and his idealized Nazi self-image are on a collision course, as if we couldn't tell by his failure to kill a cute little bunny at the orders of an older Jugend bell end (the source of the cruel titular nickname). Things hit crisis when he discovers that his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), is hiding a Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), in their home. What will Jojo do? More importantly, what will Hitler think?
'Can we trust her Jojo? She seems to be chewing on grapes for dinner.'
Adapted by Waititi from the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, as a film Jojo Rabbit is not a dramedy but a drama and a comedy by turns, with the comedic elements forefronted in the film's early stages, while drama is heightened as the narrative progresses. The mix is imprecise and not always effective; while we get plenty of opportunities to laugh at the ludicrous beliefs of the National Socialists, and the film gets plenty of mileage out of contrasting the constrained worldview of children with the largely implied horrors of the Nazi regime, it's actually Waititi's turn as Jojo's imaginary Hitler that's the film's weakest link — an element just a tad too fantastical and forced to work in the milieu the film presents us with. Like a low-key Robin Williams Genie in Disney's animated Aladdin (1992), Waititi's Führer drops into a modern-day patois on several occasions, a move which plays up the artificiality of the film and works to undercut the more dramatic beats.
Of which there are plenty — Jojo Rabbit swerves hard from goofy Nazi hijinks to public hangings and what have you, again and again, a tonal whiplash that really takes the wind out of you. One moment we're giggling at Rockwell's closeted wounded warrior (he and adjutant Alfie Allen are clearly lovers and get less concerned with concealing the fact as Berlin prepares for the Allied onslaught) or Rebel Wilson's enthusiastic true believer Fräulein Rahm, the next … well, that would be telling. It works most of the time; there's a staginess, an almost pantomime tone to the comedy, and you can see what Waititi is going for — Nazis, after all, deserve ceaseless mockery at minimum, and as portrayed here they are certainly a buffoonish bunch — however, too often the tone is off by a few small but crucial degrees. But then the film socks you with an emotional wallop or a belly laugh, and we're back on an even keel. Still, the ship lists.
Blowing stuff up for Adolf before the der Scheiß hits the fan!
What does work is the sense of mounting tension as the horrors of the world encroach on Jojo's little fantasy world. The film is set just prior to the fall of Berlin, and from our privileged position in the audience, we know that any day now American and Russian troops are going to be swarming through the city and not being particularly concerned about who's in the crossfire. Nazi Germany's straitened position is played for queasy laughs: tubby, adorable Yorki is recruited into the Wehrmacht, old cripples charge into battle on shaky legs, and at one point Wilson's matronly fanatic sticks a live grenade down a kid's pants and instructs him to give the nearest American dogface a big hug (check the history books —the fall of Germany was a goddamn rolling nightmare, and all of this stuff is on point).
These moments are striking in their mix of horror and hilarity; it's when the film flip-flops from one to the other that it skips a groove. Irrespective, there's so much to enjoy here. Rockwell's cynical, one-eyed drunkard is a standout, and it's fun to see Stephen Merchant, Fighting with My Family (2019), embody bland, bureaucratic evil as a Gestapo agent who drifts in and out of the action to provide some uneasily comical menace. Thomasin McKenzie, who made the world really sit up and take notice with her turn as Ben Foster's daughter in Leave No Trace (2018), does similarly assured and nuanced work here as Elsa, who has her own rather more sanguine fantasies in place to protect her from the grim realities of her situation, and newcomer Roman Griffin Davis is perfectly cast as Jojo who is, as Elsa skewers him, not a Nazi but '… a 10-year-old kid who likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club.' There's a palpable energy and verve to the proceedings, an inventiveness in the staging and framing that is deliciously fun.
What now for the tenacious Hitler Jugend Jojo?
Yet I'm stuck with the feeling that I should love it more, or at the very least, that I don't love it the way other commentators do (I'm a massive fan of Waititi's work and came to this one predisposed to gush). Jojo Rabbit's a good film, don't get me wrong, and you can't fault its ambitions or its huge heart, but it doesn't quite nail the task it sets itself the way What We Do in the Shadows (2014) or Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) do. This is Waititi stretching himself as a creator rather than resting on his considerable laurels, which can only ever be a good thing, but carries with it the risk of not quite bulls-eyeing the target. But hey, the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin, and laughing at Nazis is always a worthwhile investment of your time.
3.5 / 5 – Great
Reviewed by Travis Johnson
Jojo Rabbit is released through 20th Century Fox Australia
Adolf HitlerAlfie AllenArchie YatesCaging SkiesChristine LeunensGreatJojo RabbitRebel WilsonRoman Griffin DavisSam RockwellScarlett JohanssonStephen MerchantTaika WaititiThomasin McKenzieTravis JohnsonWorld War II
Previous Previous post: Cats (2019)
Next Next post: The Mandalorian (2019)
Bollywood Reviews
Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2013
Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2016 – 19
Monster Fest Melbourne


text:
Location in Europe, Switzerland
Bachelor: TOEFL 83 (ibt) / IELTS 6.0; Master: TOEFL 89 (ibt) / IELTS 6.5
http://www.unisg.ch/
Continent: Europe Country : Switzerland City: St. Gallen Exchange Level: Bacheloar, Master, Ph.D. Exchange Quota: 4 Language Special : None Website: http://www.unisg.ch/ Introduction: University of St. Gallen was established in 1898, with legal, economic, management and international relations as its main fields of studies. Although it is unheard of in Asia, the school is in fact quite famous in Europe, especially among German-speaking countries, where the university is often referred to as "Europe's Harvard." St. Gallen is a small-scale university, however, it possesses Switzerland's best faculty resources in the field of economic science. The school has acquired both high-standard EQUIS and AACSB accreditations. And in addition, it is also an active member of two main higher education alliances namely, CEMS ((M.Sc. in International Management) and APSIA (Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs).
ISP_CourseProgramme_Autumn2021_Spring2022.pdf 872.52 KB
St. Gallen Factsheet 2021-2022.pdf 3.98 MB
The United States of America - The George Washington University School of Business
The George Washington University School of Business was established in 1928 with donations from the League of...
ESCP Business School
Established in 1819, ESCP Europe belongs to the CCIP (Chambre de Commerce et d'...


text:
На головну Про асоціацію Експерти асоціації Учасники асоціації Молодіжне крило Асоціації Праці учасників Контакти In English En español
The Ukrainian Association for American Studies
- In English -
The Ukrainian Association for American Studies - a non-governmental (NGO), nonprofit organization. Our mission - to promote development of more engaged and multi-dimensional relations between Ukraine and the United States of America, Canada and countries of the Americas as a whole at different levels: informational, academic, social, political, cultural and others. We are convinced that the institutional and bureaucratic way of interaction with the world in very dynamic international environment cannot be efficient and flexible for the country and society. Global competitiveness of Ukraine largely depends on the community initiatives aiming to cherish the appropriate values. Nowadays the people-to-people social contacts among the intellectual, business, cultural elites should play more crucial role and the UAAS is one of the platform for these communications.
We believe that Ukraine is able to withstand the political, economic and military-strategic challenges and competition only in interaction with the outside world. The United States, Canada and the great number of other countries in the Americas have become key Associates by supporting Ukrainian sovereign statehood. An engagement of Ukraine in global processes, its dynamic presence there are the crucial factors of security. Despite the geographical distance, the countries of the Americas have become not only a substantial factor of political survival, but also to a source of economic development for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Association For American Studies - an open community of members that is characterized by a flexible structure, freedom of belief, and wide dissemination of information where all those who is seeking a quality, creative and effective content of American-Ukrainian relations. We suppose that the proper educational and information activities should be implemented for these purposes.
Ukrainian Association for American Studies is a Member of the Public Council with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The Association has launched and kept on developing the following projects:
- Specialization "American Studies" at the History Department of the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv;
- Academic journal "American History & Politics";
- Annual American History contest of high-school students;
- Annual Conference on the USA, Canada and other countries of Americas historical and current issues as well as Ukrainian-American relations etc.
The Association empowers compilation of analytical materials, organization and support of cultural and educational projects, international conferences, roundtables, scientific and practical seminars and summer schools. The UAAS experts follow up and submit to government agencies, the media, educational institutions their assessments, evaluations, appraisals in various fields: politics, economics, law etc.
Our core intellectual values are:
Activity – Expertise – Mutual Development
Copyright © 2017-2019 The Ukrainian Association for American Studies


text:
Q: Prove that $x^n e^{-x} $ is uniformly continuous on $[0, \infty)$ Thus far I have shown that $|f(x)-f(y)| = e^{-x} |x^n - y^n e^{x-y}|$

A: It is enough to prove that $f(x) = x^ne^{-x}$ is continuously differentiable and its derivative is bounded. Computing the first derivative you get
$$f'(x) = x^{n-1}(n-x)e^{-x}$$
which is continuous on $[0,+\infty)$. To find its maximum you can compute
\begin{align}
f''(x) & = (n-1)x^{n-2}(n-x)e^{-x}-x^{n-1}e^{-x}-x^{n-1}(n-x)e^{-x}\\
& = x^{n-2}e^{-x}((n-1)(n-x)-x-x(n-x)) \\
& = x^{n-2}e^{-x}(x^2-2nx+n^2-n).
\end{align}
This is positive when $0 < x < n-\sqrt{n}$ or $x > n+\sqrt{n}$. Since $f'$ tends to $0$ when $x \to +\infty$, it has a maximum at $x = n-\sqrt{n}$, where $f'(n-\sqrt{n}) = \sqrt{n}(n-\sqrt{n})^{n-1}e^{-n+\sqrt{n}} > 0$. Hence $f$ is uniformly continuous.

A: hint
$f_n$  is unifomly continuous at $[0,+\infty)$ since $f_n$ is continuous at $[0,+\infty)$ and $\lim_{x\to+\infty}=0\in \Bbb R$.
For a given $\epsilon>0,$
Use the fact that $f_n$ is uniformly continuous at some compact  $[0,a]$ wher $a$ is such that
$$x\ge a \text{ and } y\ge a \implies $$
$$|f(x)-f(y)|<|f(x)|+|f(y)|<\epsilon$$
to prove that $f_n$ is uniformly continuous at $[a,+\infty)$.
Now, we use the continuity of $f_n$ at the point $x=a$.
there exist some $\eta$ such that
$$x,y\in ]a-\eta,a+\eta[\implies $$
$$|f(x)-f(y)|\le |f(x)-f(a)|+|f(y)-f(a)|<\epsilon$$
You can take it.

A: The function $f(x) = x^n e^{-x}$ is uniformly continuous on all compact intervals, as a continuous function, and tends to zero as $x \to \infty$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$. It is therefore uniformly continuous by this.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Prevent GNU Emacs Exiting While Composing Log Entry Whenever I accidentally fat-finger C-x C-c (or Cmd-Q on a Mac), GNU Emacs exits right away unless shells are open or buffers, backed by files, are modified -- in which case it prompts as to how to proceed.
Unfortunately, if I've got no shell sessions open and have saved my files, but am in the midst of composing a brilliant, yet perhaps not entirely pithy, git log message (in the *vc-log* buffer), that won't prevent me exiting in one fell, promptless, swoop -- thus losing that draft, which apparently doesn't get autosaved anywhere that I've been able to find.
What's the best way to address this issue? I would think it's best for *vc-log*, and any other such buffer that provides for "on-the-fly" composition not backed by a traditional file (such as a commit/checkin message or email), to nevertheless be backed by a "pending draft" file. That would not only help avoid accidentally exiting Emacs, but allow restoring of such a draft if Emacs (or the computer itself) crashed.
If that's a reasonable approach, how should it be implemented?
Other approaches I've considered (which seem less than ideal):

*

*Somehow convince the pertinent Emacs exit hook to always prompt before exiting, even if there are no shell sessions nor modified, file-backed, buffers

*Use a fresh Emacs session, auto-invoked by (e.g.) git commit (with no -m option and assuming GIT_EDITOR=emacs in the environment), so the file-backed COMMIT_EDITMSG buffer is used to compose the commit message -- which prevents that new Emacs session from quitting without prompting and avoids accidentally quitting the original Emacs session (typically "fatter" with many buffers and other context)

*Use git commit -m ... for single-line commit messages

*Always keep a shell session open (within Emacs), so quitting always prompts first

Any recommendations?

A: M-x customize-option RET confirm-kill-emacs RET
allows you to set a confirmation prompt.


text:
Q: Can the Twisted logger log in UTC? If I log with logging, I can force the timestamp to be in UTC time by setting
logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime

like this:
import sys
import time
import logging

handler = logging.StreamHandler(sys.stdout)
out_fmt = '[%(asctime)s.%(msecs)03dZ] [%(levelname)s] %(message)s'
dt_fmt = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
logging.Formatter.converter = time.gmtime
formatter = logging.Formatter(out_fmt, dt_fmt)
handler.setFormatter(formatter)
root = logging.getLogger()
root.setLevel(10)
root.addHandler(handler)
logging.log(logging.INFO, 'Start logging')

Since my application will be using Twisted, I want to use twisted.logger instead for logging. And, indeed, it is much simpler:
import sys

from twisted.logger import Logger, textFileLogObserver

log = Logger(observer=textFileLogObserver(sys.stdout, '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%fZ'))
log.info('Start logging')

Problem is, the timestamp is in local time - not in UTC time. Is there a way to make the Twisted logger use UTC time?

A: I ended up overriding formatTime in FileLogObserver:
import sys
from datetime import datetime
from twisted.python import log

def myFLOformatTime(self, when):
    timeFormatString = self.timeFormat
    if timeFormatString is None:
        timeFormatString = '[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%fZ]'
    return datetime.utcfromtimestamp(when).strftime(timeFormatString)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    log.FileLogObserver.formatTime = myFLOformatTime
    log.startLogging(sys.stdout)


I'm a fan of In 'n Out....maybe it's because I only get them when I go to Cali, but their quality reminds me of Wendys when they first opened up and gave a sh!t.
Besides that there is no other chain I get burgers from. Lots of good independant burger joints in Chicagoland though.
Never ever was an In 'n Out fan to be honest.
Five Guys for local but there are a lot of places here that I've never been to that people swear by Slater's 50/50 and Hodadies to name two.
There's one around here called Juicy Burger. They use really good sirloin for their burgers and they're mostly build your own.
1) Love Shack. Yes, that's the name. It's a small place about a mile from my house. Limited hours and days of operation. Run by a husband and wife who do all the cooking. The burgers are fantastic; they take great pride in them and it shows. My favorite has caramelized onions, grilled mushrooms, and blue cheese on it. It is a sublime burger.
2) Mugshots. A local place that started in Hattiesburg, Mississippi then grew to have franchises throughout the state and in Alabama. Has won awards for best burger in the state every year for pretty much the last decade. Just flat-out great burgers. Their wings are great too, especially with the Carolina honey-mustard sauce.
3) Whataburger. When it comes to a fast-food burger, it's hard to beat Whataburger.
Honorable mention: McD's Quarter Pounder w/cheese and a side of hot and salty fries. Ol' reliable. Toss in a large Sprite and you have what was in my youth my hangover cure.
My favorite burger joint isn't anymore. As a fat prepubescent in the early/mid '60s my dear departed mother used to take me to the lunch counter at G.C. Murphy's a few Saturdays a month. I can still taste those big grilled burgers today, crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle. Perfectly balanced with lettuce, tomato, bacon, and cheese, all on a bun always as fresh as the ground round . . . man, they were great, each and every time.
There's no more Murphy's, there's no more Mom, and there's damn few lunch counters left in this world also. I'd give my left one for one more of those Saturdays.
I'm in the minority here, so don't go too hard on me: Burger King. Yeah, the whopper does it for me, better than anywhere else... though, we don't have the same selection in Canada as you 'muricans.
I usually get a burger and take an order of wings home.
Big chains: Smashburger. Love the bacon and blue.
Local joint: Mercury Burger Bar. Some creative combinations, with a side of tater tot poutine. Worth killing my diet for once in a while.
Local place, Plainfield Station. Was a gas & service station built in the 1930's for a town that no longer exists (Plainfield). Somewhere along the way it turned into the complete dive that it is today. Great sloppy burgers, cold beer often short poured because they won't dump the foam, nutty owner, trashy old barmaids, at least a 35% chance you are going to run into someone you know there, torn barstools, slightly dilapidated building, **** adorning most every spot on the walls and ceiling, neons and posters from beers they don't even sell, and a huge back patio where you can smoke (a rarity here in CA). Someone once published a review and called it "The rural version of Cheers". Everything that goes together to make a dive bar & grill great.
As for chains, they are all about the same to me. Krush and Habit are a bit better, followed by In-N-Out and Five Guys.
PS: I miss the old Hamptons on Highland. Nothing really compared to that place, something so unique about it.
Local - Urban Butcher, they cure their own meats and make their burgers using dry aged steak. It's a $20 burger after you add the house cured bacon and cheese, but it is the best burger I have ever had.


text:
Qingyuan () ist ein Kreis der bezirksfreien Stadt Lishui in der südchinesischen Provinz Zhejiang. Er hat eine Fläche von 1895 km² und 142.551 Einwohner (Stand: Zensus 2020) Ende 2009 betrug die Einwohnerzahl ca. 200.000.

Administrative Gliederung
Auf Gemeindeebene setzt sich Qingyuan aus drei Straßenvierteln, fünf Großgemeinden und zwölf Gemeinden zusammen.

Weblinks
 Offizielle Website

Einzelnachweise

Ort in Zhejiang
Kreis / Banner (China)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia