This article is about the Clone Wars battle. You may be looking for the battle during the Yuuzhan Vong War.
"The Banking Clan has hidden huge factories on Muunilinst, building huge droid armies and massive warships. We must act quickly!"
The Battle of Muunilinst was a major engagement that took place four months after the Battle of Geonosis in 22 BBY, initiated by the Republic to put a curb on CIS funding and battle droid production. Storming the planet, the Republic assaulted the main city of Harnaidan, using a team of Advanced Recon Commandos to eliminate key enemy defenses within the city. Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker led the space assault, taking out various separatist orbital stations.
This was the first battle Durge was seen in, and caused major Republic casualties when he appeared. The IG lancer droids also made their first appearance, jousting with the similar clone lancer troopers of the Lancer Battalion. Despite heavy Separatist resistance, the Republic nonetheless succeeded in capturing the Separatist command, with the efforts of The Muunilinst 10 and other contributing to this. The battle would also signify the Jedi's first encounter with the minion of Dooku's known as Asajj Ventress.
MTTs deploying battle droids on Muunilinst.
"I doubt even Master Qui-Gon could have prepared a Jedi for this."
The battle was arranged in a meeting between Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and Chancellor Palpatine in the Chancellor's Suite, four months after Geonosis. Anakin and Obi-Wan were enlisted by Palpatine to lead an assault on Muunilinst, home of the InterGalactic Banking Clan. The Intergalactic Banking Clan was a heavy monetary, warship, and battle droid contributor to the Separatists, and the Chancellor believed they could deal the Separatists a major blow by capturing the IBC's headquarters. Despite concern from Yoda and Kenobi, Skywalker was made commander of the Republic spaceborne forces.
Immediately afterwards, a large Republic force was mustered for this task, and was loaded aboard a flotilla of Acclamator-class assault ships. Before leaving, Anakin took the opportunity to bid farewell to his wife Padmé Amidala.
"Those guns are destroying our forward positions! The Republic is breaking through!"
InterGalactic Banking Clan members presiding over the battle.
The Republic fleet of Acclamator-I-class assault ships led by Anakin and Obi-Wan, encountered resistance as it entered the orbit of the planet Muunilinst. Despite losing several gunships to enemy missile fire, the Republic's invasion force, including gunships and the assault ships carrying SPHA walkers, managed to land on the planet, where they engaged the Separatist Droid Army in front of the city of Harnaidan, while Anakin led the flight groups against Separatist fighter craft in orbit. Hundreds of assault ships landed throughout the heavily fortified world, with their hulls filled with troops and vehicles, even though they took losses. They proceeded to besiege the cities.
The Republic forces made considerable progress during the initial stage of the Harnaidan siege, with SPHA artillery pieces concentrating fire on the ground just before the clone front lines. Any units coming to the front lines on the Separatist side were almost instantaneously decimated by artillery barrage, forcing the droids to pull back. Buildings fell quickly to the amount of artillery firepower as the SPHA batteries were brought to the frontlines, which caused much collateral damage.
During the initial landing, the specialized landing craft of the ARC troopers of The Muunilinst 10 was deployed to go on a special mission within Harnaidan. These ARCs were led by Captain Fordo. Pulling away from the main force, it entered the city with little difficulty.
However, they were shot down by a missile launcher-wielding battle droid, and the gunship crashed into a street. After taking out surrounding droid snipers, taking one casualty in the process, the troops found they were cut off from their original drop zone, but still made their way to the enemy command center. Along the way, they faced off against an Armored Assault Tank, which they successfully destroyed with a ARC Trooper shooting it from inside, blowing it to pieces.
After reaching the Separatist command center, the commandos eliminated surrounding droids and proceeded to lay explosive charges on a large cannon that was bombarding the Republic forces. Once the cannon was destroyed, they rappeled up to the roof of the command center to await Kenobi. The destruction of the artillery gun contributed to CIS commander San Hill's scare about the battle, as he now believed that the Republic artillery reached far enough into the city to blow up the cannon.
The Republic's initial success panicked San Hill, and he turned to the bounty hunter Durge, who was present, and demanded to know why Count Dooku would dispatch him to the battle if all he was going to do was stand around. Durge responded by briefly grappling Hill, and then decided to move into action with a contingent of IG lancer droids. Leaving the CIS command post, Durge and his force of droids moved to the front lines and tore towards the heart of the Republic's forces, causing huge casualties in the Republic ranks and destroying nearly all the SPHA walkers.
An IG Lancer Droid on his mount.
Durge's success spurred General Kenobi to lead a team of clone lancer troopers out to meet Durge's forces. The two bands of swoop riders entered into a vicious mass joust, both clone and droid alike being impaled or thrown aside like debris. Obi-Wan and Durge both slew a good share of the enemy. As both sides sustained massive casualties, the two commanders spotted one another and engaged in personal combat.
On the first jousting pass, Durge deprived Kenobi of both his lance and helmet. In response, Kenobi drew his lightsaber and on the second pass, sliced Durge's lance to pieces and destroyed his bike. As he charged in to skewer his dismounted opponent, Durge, in an incredible display of strength and reflex, caught Kenobi's swoop by the steering vanes and flipped the Jedi off. Wielding the bike as a club, Durge then charged Kenobi. Kenobi sliced it to pieces and stabbed Durge through the chest. Durge merely laughed, surprising Kenobi.
Durge's decentralized Gen'Dai physique allowed him to easily survive the stabbing, and he proceeded to beat Kenobi with his fists. Kenobi, with his saber still lodged in Durge's chest, couldn't retaliate, and was lifted bodily off the ground by a solid punch to the gut. Durge proceeded to fire at Kenobi with a small rapid projectile launcher, but the Jedi deflected the slugs with the Force. Switching to a flamethrower, Durge's attacks were again deflected and the flamethrower was crushed with the Force.
Brandishing a massive flail, he prepared to finish off Kenobi, but Kenobi used the Force to summon his lightsaber back to him and severed the flail's chain. Though he drew his two blaster pistols, Durge was disarmed before he could use them. Switching on the energy shields built into his gauntlets, he deflected Kenobi's lightsaber slashes, but was unable to adequately counterattack.
Kenobi pressed his advantage, Durge barely blocking, until finally, Kenobi sliced of Durge's right arm and bisected him through the middle. After seemingly defeating Durge, he salvaged a remaining swoop on the field and proceeded to join the ARC troopers. As Kenobi jetted off into the city, he failed to notice Durge's body pulling itself back together.
"Ah yes. I believe you were surrendering."
After the joust and battle with Durge, General Kenobi rushed through the city to the command tower, where he met up with the Muunilinst 10. Blasting open the roof of the structure with explosives, the troops, led by Kenobi, rappeled into the control room and quickly destroyed all the security droids.
Capturing San Hill, Kenobi offered to spare his life in exchange for an unconditional surrender. Before Hill had a chance to answer, Durge smashed through the tower window into the room on a jetpack. However, he was quickly shot down by concentrated fire from the clone troopers and ARC's. Hill took the opportunity to take cover under the situation table.
Kenobi facing Durge a second time.
Thinking Durge to be dead, the troopers approached the smoking crater they had made, only to be knocked aside by a massive fleshy arm. Durge climbed from the crater, all his armor save a few, small fragments along with his helmet and gloves blasted off, revealing his true Gen'Dai form. He quickly attacked Kenobi, driving the Jedi atop the situation table, which Durge snapped in half with his fists. He was then attacked by clones rappelling down on grappling hooks which they attached to him.
The blaster fire had no effect, and Durge simply ripped the lines from the wall with his sheer strength, toppling the clones. Charging Kenobi, Durge disarmed him and almost literally absorbed him into his body, hoping to suffocate him, and then approached the ARC commander, Fordo. Fordo then fired a taser at Durge, electrocuting him. This only succeeded in enraging the Gen'Dai, who charged Fordo, knocking aside the clones in his way.
However, before Durge could kill him, he suddenly bloated to massive size and exploded. Kenobi had used the Force to push outward and destroy Durge's body from the inside out. Commenting on how much of a mess he had made, Kenobi turned back to Hill, who promptly surrendered.
"This is no droid pilot..."
The space portion of the Battle of Muunilinst.
Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker was leading the clone navy in a fierce space battle above Muunilinst. Several Republic Acclamator-class assault ships engaged the Confederacy's gun platforms. The Republic's V-19 Torrents were engaged by large numbers of Nantex-class starfighters. Skywalker ordered the clone pilots to disengage, and destroyed large numbers of the enemy fighters with his proton torpedoes.
Pursued by yet more enemy fighters, he ordered his clones to fire all their concussion missiles across the bow of Cruiser 8, much to the confusion of the clones. He flew past the ship as the missiles started arriving; the missiles hit the swarm of fighters pursuing him, destroying a large number of them. Trailed by missiles, Skywalker flew through the hangar of one of the gun platforms. The missiles collided with various objects within the hangar and destroyed the gun platform from the inside. Sustained turbolaser fire from the Republic capital ships destroyed another one.
Only a few Separatist fighters remained, but a mysterious ship appeared engaged the Republic forces, annihilating Blue Squadron. Skywalker personally engaged the fighter, pursuing it into the atmosphere and through the streets of Harnaidan. When the pilot, a mysterious Force-sensitive protégé of Dooku, Asajj Ventress, jumped into hyperspace, the impetuous young Jedi followed, disobeying a direct order from Obi-Wan, leading to a fateful duel.
"The IG Banking Clan has surrendered! The day is ours! The Republic is victorious!"
Having surrendered, San Hill was taken into custody, although he later escaped. The majority of the battle droids were deactivated as Voolvif Monn and the Third Systems Army battled through the Droid Army in Harnaidan, and the battle was won for the Republic.
Meanwhile, Anakin tracked Asajj Ventress down to the fourth moon of Yavin. There, Ventress killed the clone troopers accompanying Skywalker and destroyed his ship. Anakin and Ventress engaged in a lightsaber duel through the jungles and on top of a Massassi temple. In the end, Ventress was defeated, though not killed. This event was of some significance, as in the process, Anakin was pushed a little closer to the dark side. Years down the road, he would fall completely and become Darth Vader.
After the duel, Skywalker returned to Muunilinst in Ventress's fighter and was scolded by Kenobi for his hotheadedness. Kenobi noted his concern in the Sith's interest in his apprentice. At that point, Kenobi received a transmission from General Daakman Barrek on Hypori, a distress call, which would lead to another significant turn of events with the introduction of a new foe: General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies.
The scene in which the Republic and Separatist forces fight in mounted combat on swoops is meant to resemble a futuristic version of a Medieval joust, further supporting George Lucas' ideas and plans for the Jedi that are related to things such as chivalry and knights.
Although no explicit figure has been given of the size of the Republic assault force, a passage in The New Essential Chronology, describes the Republic besieging the "unassailable castle keep" of the planet Muunilinst with "sheer numbers... hundreds of assault ships, each one groaning from the weight of troopers and war machines". If these ships were Acclamator-class assault ships and were filled to their maximum specifications as would be expected, at least 3.2 million clone troopers would have been deployed to the battle. The main assault ships in this era were the Acclamator-class and the Supercruiser, which was able to take even more troops. At minimal figure, eleven Acclamator-class warships are seen together above Muunilinst in Clone Wars, which would give a minimum troop capacity of at least 176,000. This does not account for the ones that landed on the planet and deployed troops and artillery walkers.
The debate over numbers at Muunilinst is part of a wider disagreement among fans as to the size of the Grand Army of the Republic and the scale of forces involved in the Clone Wars: a book-level canon source  states explicitly that the GAR could deploy only 1.2 million clone troopers in total at this stage in the war, rising later to a total muster strength of three million; this is contradicted by many other, higher-canon sources, and many fans believe that these numbers are unworkable. They argue that other evidence indicates clone forces numbering in millions of divisions. For fuller discussion, see here.


last night was a pretty scary thing for me. owen and i were playing in the living room, waiting for brian to come home. as we were chasing each other around the room, owen decided to grab onto the back of the couch and try to climb up it. he slipped and fell and hit the side of his temple on the hardwood floor. i quickly grabbed him and thought nothing of it.... kids always take spills. he cried, but then he took a long deep breath and i was thinking 'oh gosh, here is comes... the scream.' but nothing, he started passing out.... eyes rolling back and everything. i was in shock, i couldnt believe it. so i called 911 right away. as i was talking to the operator he started coming to... but of course the guy couldnt figure out where we lived.... incredibly frustrating. well, owen started acting ok, a bit of a scrape on the side of his head, nothing major. i started to tell the operator 'i think he's ok... he's ok...' the guy was like... 'nope, i'm sending the ambulance.' the ambulance came and the emt's were great with him and he was so fascinated with all the stuff in the ambulance, he was just as happy as can be. they did end up taking him to the hospital though for precautionary reasons. the whole ride he asked for dada. and when we did arrive and get checked in, he figured that since he was stuck in this bed he would stand up and tackle the pillow as the doctor and nurse came in. basically, he was fine.... and he passed out cause he was holding his breath and there isnt even a mark on his head. there is something about taking an ambulance to the er though, from the time i called 911 to the time we arrived home - 1hr. it's the way to go... that is until we see the bill.


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Rachel Aba Yankey  OBE (* 1. November 1979 in London) ist eine ehemalige englische Fußballspielerin. Sie spielte zuletzt für die Arsenal Ladies in der FA Women's Premier League und in der englischen Nationalmannschaft, deren Rekordnationalspielerin sie bis August 2014 war.

Werdegang
Rachel Yankey begann ihre Fußballlaufbahn in einer Jungenmannschaft. Über den Verein Mill Hill United wechselte die Stürmerin 1995 zu Arsenal London. Kurzzeitig wurde sie an den kanadischen Verein Laval Dynamite ausgeliehen, ehe sie bei Arsenal zur Stammspielerin wurde und 1997 erstmals die Meisterschaft gewann. 2002 wechselte sie zum Lokalrivalen FC Fulham, wo sie als erste professionelle Fußballspielerin Englands registriert wurde. Mit Fulham schaffte sie 2003 das Triple aus Meisterschaft, Pokal und Ligapokal. Ein Jahr später wechselte Yankey zu Birmingham City. Da der Verein in finanzielle Schwierigkeiten geriet kehrte Yankey 2005 zu Arsenal zurück. Zuvor gab sie zusammen mit ihrer Mannschaftskameradin Rachel Unitt ein kurzes Gastspiel bei den New Jersey Wildcats in der W-League. Mit Arsenal gewann sie 2006 sowohl die Meisterschaft als auch den Pokal und 2007 den UEFA Women's Cup. 2011 und 2012 erreichte sie jeweils mit Arsenal das Halbfinale der UEFA Women's Champions League, wo sie gegen Olympique Lyon bzw. den 1. FFC Frankfurt ausschied.

Yankey ist zurzeit die bekannteste englische Fußballspielerin. Rachel Yankey wurde 2006 in den Order of the British Empire aufgenommen und 2014 zum Officer ernannt.

Sie stand im Kader für die WM 2011 und in den ersten beiden Spielen gegen Mexiko und Neuseeland in der Startelf. Im dritten Spiel gegen Japan wurde sie erst zur zweiten Halbzeit eingewechselt. In der 66. Minute erzielte sie den Treffer zum 2:0-Endstand. Im Viertelfinale gegen Frankreich, das England im Elfmeterschießen verlor, stand sie wieder in der Startelf, wurde aber in der 84. Minute ausgewechselt. Mit vier Einsätzen bei der WM in Deutschland hat sie nun zusammen mit vier anderen Spielerinnen mit insgesamt acht WM-Einsätzen die meisten WM-Spiele für Englands Frauen bestritten.

Am 21. Juni stellte sie mit ihrem 119. Länderspiel den Rekord von Gillian Coultard ein, die zwischen 1981 und 2000 ebenfalls 119 Länderspiele bestritten hatte.

2012 stand sie im Team GB das an den Olympischen Spielen in London teilnahm. Sie kam in allen vier Spielen zum Einsatz, schied aber im Viertelfinale gegen Kanada aus.

Am 19. September machte sie beim 3:0 gegen Kroatien ihr 120. Länderspiel und ist seitdem alleinige Rekordnationalspielerin Englands.

Am 13. März 2013 gewann sie mit ihrer Mannschaft den Zypern-Cup, wobei sie im Finale gegen Kanada den 1:0-Siegtreffer erzielte.

Am 7. April 2013 stellte sie beim 1:0 gegen Kanada mit ihrem 125. Länderspiel für England den englischen Rekord von Peter Shilton ein. Am 26. Juni 2013 überbot sie beim Spiel gegen Japan den Rekord und wurde mit 126 Länderspielen für England Rekordnationalspielerin für beide Geschlechter.

Yankey stand auch im Kader für die EM 2013 und kam in den ersten beiden Gruppenspielen zum Einsatz, musste aber im zweiten Gruppenspiel aufgrund einer Verletzung bereits nach 18 Minuten ausgewechselt werden und konnte auch im letzten Gruppenspiel, in dem die englische Mannschaft Frankreich mit 0:3 unterlag und aus dem Turnier ausschied, nicht eingesetzt werden.

Erfolge
 Englische Meisterin: 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006
 Englische Pokalsiegerin: 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006
 Englische Ligapokalsiegerin: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
 UEFA-Women's-Cup-Siegerin: 2006/07
 Zyper-Cup-Siegerin: 2013

Weblinks

 Offizielle Homepage von Arsenal London
 Rachel Yankey in der Nationalmannschaft

Einzelnachweise

Fußballnationalspieler (England)
Fußballspieler (FC Arsenal)
Fußballspieler (FC Fulham)
Fußballspieler (New Jersey Wildcats)
Fußballspieler (Birmingham City)
Fußballspieler (Notts County)
Teilnehmer an einer Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft (England)
Olympiateilnehmer (Vereinigtes Königreich)
Teilnehmer der Olympischen Sommerspiele 2012
Officer des Order of the British Empire
Sportler (London)
Engländer
Brite
Geboren 1979
Frau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Sanya Burgess
Aung San Suu Kyi: loss of Dublin award latest blow in Burmese leader's fall from grace
Once regarded as a peaceful protester, many world leaders now hold her responsible for the fate of the half a million Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh following recent violence
Dublin has voted to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi's Freedom of Dublin City award. AP Photo/Thein Zaw
Known as Asia's Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi was lauded on the global stage, awarded a Nobel Peace Prize and regarded as a guardian of democracy.
Now, she has been striped of her Freedom of Dublin award in the latest in a string of setbacks as the West rebukes Mrs Suu Kyi for ignoring the persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims.
This Burmese politician, diplomat, and author has broken down barriers for women by blazing a trail through the echelons of domestic power and has risen to become the first State Counsellor and de facto ruler of Myanmar.
Once regarded as a peaceful protester, she was praised for refusing to incite violence while she was forced under house arrest for 15 years after winning a presidential election the ruling military refused to acknowledge.
Many world leaders now hold her responsible for the fate of the half a million Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh following recent violence.
Britain didn't do enough to rally world behind Rohingya: MPs
UN will be involved in Rohingya repatriation, Bangladesh says
Over 620,00 Rohingya Muslims have been driven from Rakhine state in western Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh by the military. The United Nations has described the actions as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Aid group Doctors Without Borders says at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed between August and September in Myanmar.
In response, Dublin has voted to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi's Freedom of Dublin City award, a month after musician Bob Geldof handed back his Freedom of Dublin award last month to protest against the inclusion of Mrs Suu Kyi on the honours list.
The news comes just over two weeks after Oxford, where the Burmese leader attended university, formally stripped her of the Freedom of the City of Oxford award.
Oxford city council voted unanimously to permanently remove the honour and said it did not want to celebrate "those who turn a blind eye to violence".
Almost half a million people have signed a petition asking the The Norwegian Nobel Committee to revoke her award and a clip of the Bangladesh's leader, Sheikh Hasina, condemning Myanmar and saying her country would continue to offer sanctuary to the forcibly displaced Rohingyas has been widely viewed and quoted.
Addressing the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September she said: "I have come here just after seeing the hungry, distressed, and hopeless Rohingyas from Myanmar," she said from the podium.
"We are horrified to see that the Myanmar authorities are laying landmines along their stretch of the border to prevent the Rohingya from returning to Myanmar," Mrs Hasina said, as she called for safe zones to be enforced to allow the population to return to their homes.
Mrs Suu Kyi missed the UNGA this year, with her office citing the Rohingya crisis as the reason.
In September fellow peace prize holder Desmond Tutu wrote an open letter to Mrs Suu Kyi on social media and called on her to end the military-led operations.
The 85-year-old archbishop said the "unfolding horror" and "ethnic cleansing" had left him no choice but to speak out against the woman he said he admired and considered "a dearly beloved sister".
"As we witness the unfolding horror we pray for you to be courageous and resilient again. We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene in the escalating crisis and guide your people back towards the path of righteousness again," he wrote.
Criticism of Mrs Suu Kyi has slowly built up as her reputation has steadily receded.
A turning point in the West's view of the Burmese leader was during a 2013 interview with the BBC during which she she dismissed questions about rising violence against the Rohingya, saying that Buddhists had also been displaced from their homes. Asked why the violence had overwhelmingly affected Muslims, she replied saying that Buddhists lived in fear of "global Muslim power."
In May 2015, the Dalai Lama publicly called upon her to do more to help the Rohingya people. He said he has raised the issue in two separate private meetings previously.
In December 2016, more than 20 Nobel Peace Laureate and influential figures signed an open letter to the United Nations demanding action to end the Rohingyas crisis.
In the statement, they wrote: "Despite repeated appeals to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi we are frustrated that she has not taken any initiative to ensure full and equal citizenship rights of the Rohingyas".
Updated: December 14, 2017 04:16 PM
Mubadala Petroleum picks up 20 per cent stakes in two Indonesian concessions
US puts sanctions on Myanmar military leader over Rohingya abuses
Hong Kong: no end in sight as protests expand to oppose China
Miracle bus smash escape caught on CCTV
Undersea Bali quake causes panic and damage but no deaths
Special report: Inside China's 'boarding schools' for adult Muslims
The dogs who sniff out explosives in Kabul
Mumbai building collapse: many dead and dozens trapped
Landmine kills 11 pilgrims in southern Afghanistan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Forums - NSFW Discussion - Would you have sex with an alien?
Page 10 of 10 < Prev1 789 10
Would you have sex with an alien?
Definitely! 24 32.88%
Depends on the circumstances 38 52.05%
No, I'm a space racist! 11 15.07%
Shadow1980 on 17 April 2019
Depends. Are they an attractive humanoid and have the same... naughty bits that we do? If so, yeah, I would. It would be impossible to have kids with them, which may or may not be a plus, and certainly any diseases attuned to a species to radically different genetically (despite the convergent morphological evolution) would be unlikely to cross over (you'd be more likely to contract tobacco mosaic virus from a plant and have it make you sick). This means sex would likely be less risky than it would be with another human.
Visit http://shadowofthevoid.wordpress.com
MrWayne
Medieval II: Total War (PC)
Endless Legend (PC)
Warframe (PC)
MrWayne on 17 April 2019
Ganoncrotch said:
bowserthedog said:
Depends on the plumbing and if they hot!
Just imagine the incredible oral sensation....
right before you die.
You know everything has a price even your life
Shadow1980 said:
That's right, If life on the home planet of the alien is based on different Amino acids than life on Earth, we would be probably immune to all diseases the alien might have. You have to be careful about the ph-value of the alien genitals because it could potentially be very painful
ArchangelMadzz
ArchangelMadzz on 17 April 2019
Considering that there's millions of other species on this earth and I'm not attracted to any of them. I doubt adding alien species to the mix would change much.
MrWayne said:
That's not really how immune systems work. You're FAR more likely to be very vulnerable to whatever diseases they may have, assuming they can work in our biology which is questionable in itself.
ArchangelMadzz said:
That's what I meant, the alien viruses and bacteria could possibly not work at all in our biology.


In cooperation with the Services (SA Army, SA Air Force and SA Navy), Defence Intelligence is offering young South African citizens an excellent opportunity to serve in uniform over a two-year period.
Applicant aged between 18 and 22 with Grade 12 or 18 and 26 for applicants with tertiary qualifications (national diploma / degree/post graduate diplomas and post graduate degrees).
Training will be decentralized to operational units where members will appointed to undergo basic Basic Military Training, mustering training and be deployed as per requirements of the SA Army.
Members with Commercial Pilots License (CPL) not older than 26 years of age with level - 4 Maths and Science required.
26 years if in possession of a degree with level - 4 Maths and Science.
Engineering and technical applicants aged between 18 and 22 must have completed grade 12 with Mathmatics and Physical Science Level 3 for both subjects.


You're providing great customer service, your products are awesome, your staff is motivated, so how come you're not getting any reviews? For many business owners the answer lies in the fact that they simply don't have a business process for getting reviews. Like everything else, getting review should be ingrained within your customer touch-points. Here are three important ways to jump-start the process.
SAY PLEASE. When asked, 70% of customers will follow through with leaving a review, when asked. You can solicit a review in an email following a transaction, via text message or in person. You can also add a link to the whyilike review form from your website to make collecting customer feedback quick and easy. Make sure you let your customers know how important the reviews are for your business.
MAKE IT EASY. If you make the review process difficult, odds are people won't leave them. Try to minimize the steps needed to get a review. Having an option of simply clicking a star-rating and posting is a great place to start. You should also encourage, not force your customers to leave a review. If you have a review section on your website, make the process straightforward. It's without saying that the review process should be mobile friendly, since most of your customers are probably on the go.
SAY THANK YOU. Remember, a review is a favor to your business. Acknowledge each review and write a response thanking the customer for taking their time to leave you a review. Try to refrain from incentivizing customers with discounts or other monetary gifts for leaving a review. This could jeopardize the legitimacy of your reviews, plus if your customers are genuinely happy, they don't expect to get anything in return for leaving you a review.


I've never been spoken to by a tree before or perhaps, more accurately, I'd never paid attention sufficiently to hear what they were saying! But when I deliberately and consciously direct my awareness, and let go of my ideas about how difficult it's going to be, I find there's good conversation to be had, and in this case some useful insights.
I've never been spoken to by a tree before or perhaps, more accurately, I'd never paid attention sufficiently to hear what they were saying! But when I deliberately and consciously direct my awareness, and let go of my ideas about how difficult it's going to be, I find there's good conversation to be had, and in this case some useful insights which I've accepted, embraced and incorporated into my way of working.
The following is an extract from my journal, written as soon as I returned home from this walk. What makes it 'real' for me is that there are things here I'd never thought of; I couldn't have sat down and written this myself – these are not my ideas, not at all the way I looked at things before these conversations.
[dropcap1]I[/dropcap1] ventured out to journey in, heading towards the Cot Valley, its cliffs and beaches, but nature, it seems, had other ideas. I was stopped along the way by the sight of a new adventure. A cave, half glimpsed among the trees beside the road. I ventured in, drawn by the energy of the place and found a path, little trodden, but clear to my sense of discovering.
The cave turned out not to be a cave but a trick of the light and shadow, but it acted as a sign that pointed to the cave that was indeed right next to it. A cave, man-made perhaps, its purpose, if so crafted, lost to time, yet it fitted my needs perfectly and so, perhaps, this was, and is, its purpose. A shelter from the elements, yet intimately connected in its space, it welcomed me and invited me in to stop and sit a while.
Once settled on the dry and feeling connected to the energy of the place I turned my awareness to my physical surroundings. I noticed a small, leafy plant growing on the floor of the cave in front of me. The round leaves looked like they might be more at home on water, yet clearly it was quite at home this far from the passing stream. I thanked the plant for letting its spirit enter my awareness and started to imagine what it must be like to be this plant. The plant liked to spread; it rooted down into the earth and grew up into the light but, above all, it spread. It said that there was strength in breadth, not only in depth, but also in the width, that to spread widely increased the chances of finding new opportunities, new life, new avenues and areas to explore and grow into.
I asked how I should structure my work and play according to this philosophy and the plant said to send out shoots, to tentatively explore new possibilities to see if they worked for me. If the new ground was good then I should put down some roots to ground my energy there and cultivate this new knowledge, letting it flourish and blossom into something strong and vibrant. If the new ground was not to my liking then I could simply withdraw my attention from it and let it whither away without affecting my core. If the new growth took hold then it would become integrated and part of who and what I was in time, and would add to my strength.
I thanked the plant for its wisdom and turned my attention to a tree* growing outside the mouth of the cave. I imagined what it would be like to be the tree and felt roots growing deep, down into the nourishing earth, but also spreading wide, seeking out new opportunities. I felt myself growing tall and strong, reaching upward, ever upward, towards the light. It was important, the tree said, to always be reaching, not necessarily to be the tallest, but always to be reaching. To reach the light, to see the light, it was necessary to be seen.
I asked the tree how I should work and it said that I should let there be seasons. The seasons would be there anyway, so I should embrace them and work with them as trees did; even the evergreens worked with the seasons, it's just that the others make it more obvious that they are following a cycle of growth, celebration, harvest, letting go, regathering and rejuvenation for new growth.
The tree said that I should follow a similar pattern, that it was, in fact, already there and that I should embrace it rather than battling against it. There would be periods of learning, working inwardly, gathering of resources, contemplating and working things out. Then there would be a time of new growth, of bring this new work out into the world, reaching upward to allow it to be seen. Then, when it is seen, I also receive the light of recognition; this is the celebration and harvest. Then follows a time of letting go of what no longer is needed or useful, in time for a return inward for the repeating of the cycle. I thanked the tree for this wisdom and prepared for my journey home.
* as you may have guessed, I'm no botanist! I have little interest in labeling, I simply see, and allow myself to be touched by, the beauty of these and all natural, living things.
Tree. Plant. Beautiful. I like simplicity too.
There is a way. There is a journey to be taken. There are many paths but only one way. There are many signs that point to the way but you must follow your own path. Many will help you along the way but none will make you go. You must decide. You must choose. There are many roads, some less traveled, some better defined – you must choose your own.
When you start to see the way you may recognise it for what it is and you may not. Follow it anyway. There are no wrong turns along the way, all paths, all obstacles, all the twists and turns, mires and mountains, all have their purpose. All paths lead to the way. You may stop, you may get stuck, you may not know which way to turn. Turn anyway. You will always come back to the way.
Some will see the way clearly, some will talk of it, others will deny its existence, but all will find the way eventually. There is only one way. There is only the way. You may choose to follow the way, you may wait. No one can tell you when, you will know when. The way is always there for you when you choose to look.
The way may look too difficult, too arduous, too distant. You may be looking in the wrong direction. The way is here, it is now, in this moment, in this moment. When would now be a good time to look for the way? There is no other time, there is no other way. It is not too late. It is not too early. It is now. It is here.
Where are you? You are here, where else would you be? What time is it? It is now, what other time could it be? When would now be a good time to begin? When would here be a good place to start?
Welcome home, you are already here.


text:
BVI company formation is done in the British Virgin Islands which is a tax haven and offers many offshore services such as offshore banking and offshore trust formation. The BVI offshore company is one of the most requested offshore companies available today. offshore company formation in the BVI tax haven has been carried out for more than a decade and the service is supported by modern legislation. The BVI offshore company legislation is constantly updated with the laws being completely revised and reintroduced in 2004.
Company incorporation in the BVI is a service that is carried out by agents. Likewise, second citizenship programs which nicely fit in international inheritance and succession planning strategies are regulated. Besides forming BVI companies, we work with renowned tax planning firms that help families to secure a stable financial future through second citizenship www.stkittscitizenship.com.
For offshore company formations in the British Virgin Islands a registered agent is required. A registered agent also referred to as offshore service provider is someone or an office which has been granted a license by the government authorities in the tax haven which enables that person or office to carry out services such as the incorporation of offshore companies.
The BVI Companies law allows for the formation of the following types of companies:
Companies limited by shares
Companies limited by guarantee but authorized to issue shares
Companies limited by guarantee with no authority to issue shares
Unlimited companies authorized to issue shares
Unlimited companies not authorized to issue shares
The preparation of documents for offshore companies' formation in the tax haven of BVI is done by the registered agent. The documents must be submitted to the Registrar of Companies for review and if all the requirements are met then a Certificate of Incorporation will be granted to the offshore company. a registration fee must be paid when documents are being submitted. A Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association must be prepared for revision by the Registrar of Companies. The required information for offshore company incorporation in the British Virgin Islands tax haven is as follows:
A proposed name for the BVI company
The name and address of the registered agent
The local registered address for the offshore company
The number of shares the company intends to issue
The classes of shares to be issued
State the rights, privileges, restrictions, voting rights and powers of shares if more than one class of share is to be issued
Companies limited by guarantee must state the liability that each member intends to take up
The names and addresses of the shareholders or members of the company
The names and addresses of company directors
The objectives of the company
The by-laws of the BVI offshore company
BVI offshore company formation can take two (2) working days for completion and the cost of offshore company formation in the BVI is very affordable
British Virgin Island company formation has many benefits including tax exemptions on the worldwide income of the offshore company, exemptions are granted on the following taxes; corporate tax, income tax, capital gains tax, stamp duty, withholding tax and many others. Offshore companies in the BVI are not obligated by law to do any financial reporting to the local authorities. A BVI offshore company must pay an annual license fee to remain in Good Standing.


It is called "Golden Milk" and should be regularly consumed in the morning. Turmericis the main ingredient of the golden milk. The primary component of this fantastic spice, curcumin, has been found to have 150 different therapeutic properties, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties.


text:
Q: Can't get values from jsf page My managed bean gets null values from a simple form in a jsf page. In reality I have a fairly developed interface but the problem is happening even with a simple form.
(JSF 2.1.0, java compiler 1.6, primefaces 6.0 and tomcat7)
It seems to be a duplicated question. But, 5 days ago I am looking for the solution to this strange problem. I found a lot of solutions, but it does not work for me. Maybe I did not quite understand them as the answer from BalusC (commandButton/commandLink/ajax action/listener method not invoked or input value not updated) .
The JSF page:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
    xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
    xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
    xmlns:p="http://primefaces.org/ui"
    xmlns:c="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core">
<h:head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
</h:head>
<h:body>
    <h:form>
            <h:inputText value="#{notification.typeSelected}"></h:inputText>
            <p:commandButton value="Enregistrer"
                actionListener="#{notificationBean.filtrer}" process="@this"
                style="float:right">
            </p:commandButton>
        </h:form>
</h:body>
</html>

The managed bean:
package presentation;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.SessionScoped;
import javax.faces.event.ActionEvent;
//import javax.faces.event.ValueChangeEvent;
import javax.faces.model.SelectItem;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import entities.Contrainte;
import metier.ContrainteMetier;
import metier.ContrainteMetierImp;
@ManagedBean
@SessionScoped
public class NotificationBean implements java.io.Serializable{
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(ProjetMODBean.class);

    private ContrainteMetier contrainteM = new ContrainteMetierImp();
    private List<Contrainte> contrainteL;
    private List<Contrainte> filtreL;
    private List<SelectItem> classificationL;
    private String typeSelected;
    //Constructeurs
    public NotificationBean() {
    }
    public NotificationBean(ContrainteMetier contrainteM, List<Contrainte> contrainteL) {
        super();
        this.contrainteM = contrainteM;
        this.contrainteL = contrainteL;
    }

    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {

        contrainteL = contrainteM.findAll();
        classificationL = new ArrayList<SelectItem>();

        for(Contrainte c:contrainteL)
        {//Attention, il ne faut pas dupliquer les types dans la liste déroulante
            classificationL.add(new SelectItem(c.getClassification()));
        }
        log.info(" dans init je filtre selon: " + getTypeSelected());

    }

    //Méthodes
    public void filtrer(ActionEvent e)
    {
        setTypeSelected(typeSelected);
        log.info("je filtre selon: " + getTypeSelected());
    }

The console output:
2017-03-24 18:06:43 INFO  ProjetMODBean:57 -  dans init je filtre selon: null
2017-03-24 18:06:43 INFO  ProjetMODBean:76 - je filtre selon: null

I tried to correct my error but a detail escapes me.

A: Imho your problem is process="@this" change it to process="@form" (it is default value so change it only if you have good reason) or add id to input and use process="@this idOfInputField".
See question.
Please post questions fully in english.
I will assume, that  //Méthodes mean getter/setter for fields (JSF require getter/setter for inputs).
Also use injection for services.
Change method header from public void filtrer(ActionEvent e) to public void filtrer()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


You may have noticed that I've recently started using soundcloud to post new songs rather than bandcamp, whilst still keeping the bandcamp site live.
What, you might ask, gives?
Well I was listening to a podcast by Steve Lawson where he talked about the various music hosting sites and their strengths and weaknesses with the conclusion (sorry, a conclusion) that soundcloud is good for single songs and demos, whereas Bandcamp is good for albums and finished, ready-for-sale works.
Having had a bit of a play with both sites I have concluded that in this, as in most matters, Mr Lawson knows what he's talking about.
I'll be using bandcamp for fully completed stuff that's all ready for sale - at the moment that's the EP (Digging for Bones) and the album (A Driven Man). All there in PWYW* and a variety of formats.
Whilst I'm explaining a few thought processes, here's a quick overview of my social-media web-presence.
Facebook Music site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Drew-Stephenson-Music/168462393216571?ref=hl This is a site that just deals with my music (funnily enough). If you don't want amusing cat pictures, rants about courier companies and random links to various subjects scientific, just like this (and then be sure to do the whole "add notifications" thing that you have to do now as well).
Facebook personal site: https://www.facebook.com/drew.stephenson.92 for all the previously mentioned cat pictures etc that aren't included on the music site. There are a lot.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blinddrew much the same as my facebook page but also has a few business-strategy and customer-service type thoughts in there as well.
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115421899490213383559/posts Similar to my facebook page but I don't use it very much. Not the best way to contact me really. Interestingly I can see no way of getting a hyperlink to my G+ profile. It's things like this that mean I don't use it so much. Update: Thanks to Stew for finding that!
YAMDAC: http://yamdac.blogspot.co.uk/ My other blog for all kinds of stuff that doesn't directly relate to my music. Mostly copyright, cycling, design and other music stuff.
So there you have it, if you just like the music then keep an eye on this blog and the facebook music page, if you don't mind all the other inane stuff then add me into whatever stream is your poison of choice.
Does this link work for anyone else....?
Cheers Stew, that seems to work for me at least. I'll add it to the list.


text:
Check: Shah Rukh Khan's message on 'Women's Day'
King Khan- Shah Rukh Khan is the first super star who put his name after the name of his actress in the opening credits of all his films. He became the first Indian actor to take such a step towards gender equality. WOW!! Shah Rukh we are so proud of you and that's the reason why he is so much loved by women be it of any age.
Today being Woman's Day, SRK has a special message to all his favourite fans; he said that he is an admirer of all women. He also said that there is nothing better in the world than being a woman and that he wishes to see women gain more strength and independence. Shah Rukh Khan also took to twitter and posted saying, "Often I wish I was a woman...then realise I don't have enough guts, talent,sense of sacrifice, selfless love or beauty to be one. Thk u girls."
Shah Rukh Khan will soon be seen in the most awaited and talked about movie 'Fan' that will hit the screen on April 15.


In case your laptop is appearing bizarre—displaying pop-ups from packages you've never heard of, showing your desktop icons working away from your pc mouse, or immediately working terribly sluggish—your pc could also be infected. Nashville Software program Faculty is allowed by the Tennessee Greater Schooling Fee This authorization should be renewed each year and is based on an analysis by minimum requirements concerning high quality of education, moral business practices, health and security, and financial accountability.
When you're in search of a quick technique to get began, look through our collection of website templates for a professional, responsive option that is ready to customize to your subsequent mission. One last nice cause for checking your supply code is to be sure to have Google Analytics or KISSmetrics installed on every webpage of your website.
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By establishing on-line presence, you avail loads of benefits, no matter the niche you focus on. You encourage more users to explore the companies and products your company gives, appeal to the attention of latest purchasers, grow the shopper base and, eventually, get an opportunity to face up to niche competitors. GoogieHost provides 1,000MB disk house, unlimited bandwith, no adverts, 2 MySQL databases, free emails, website templates, and installers that make installing WordPress or similar administration systems straightforward. Hassle Free Clip Art – This web site, like its title suggests, offers free clip art with no strings hooked up.


Parker No-Skive 88 Series Fittings is a 1-piece field attachable (reusable) clamp style fitting which permits quick, easy field assembly without special tools. Assembly of 88 Series No-Skive hose and fittings requires a wormdrive or deadbolt clamp, depending on the working pressure. 88 Series Fittings has zinc dichromate plating and are used with 811, 881 (88HC), 881 Hoses - Parker Suction and Return Hydraulic Hoses.


Thin Blue Line Ring Mens Firefighter Ring Stainless Steel Thin Blue Line Ring Top is one of the best ring designs for this year. With the right combination of motifs and colors, this ring fits perfectly on your finger. Here you can find various other examples of rings.


I just want to share my favourite trolling activity. I subscribe to a lot of the youtube catholic channels. They are extremely right wing and they hate Pope Francis because he is a liberal. This morning I watched a video by Church Militant. They were upset because priests were being persecuted for teaching that "outside the church there is no salvation". I posted a response saying that I wish we could go back to the good old days when we could torture and burn people for heresy. I guess that most of them know that I´m trolling but I´ve received some likes.
Humans are glorified chimps. I am not surprised.


Going to college can be a life-changing experience for many of us. It's that first foray into the middle ground between daily enforced school and living with your parents, to suddenly having your own digs and venturing away from the school friends. You've journeyed up through secondary school all the way from nursery and finding new friends from different parts of the country, or even different countries. For everyone at least it can start a little daunting, unless of course you've chosen to stay close to home, and have several of your existing mates accompanying you into new territory. Anyway, what I'm really trying to say is that very first day of college can really hit home the old saying that first impressions do count so your choice of outfit can really make or break your initial experience of the start of a brand new term.
The Franklin and Marshall designs may show a worship of American college culture but is actually Italian. It takes on the classic vintage college look from the States, specifically Pennsylvania where its college namesake exists today. If you're looking for some vintage American, classic clothes that are new and reminiscent of cheer leaders and American football then take a look at the collection of Franklin and Marshall t-shirts, polos, and hoodies that we have on Stand Out today. Posted by Roger Martin for Stand Out.


text:
Pitch your novel across the Pond and Beyond. Oxford Author Courses tell you how to do it
You've written your novel, and you want to sell it into the biggest and most prestigious markets in the world. But you don't know how to begin, or what to do. Attend Oxford Author Courses' day-long crash course, Pitch Across the Pond and Beyond, at St. Hilda's College, Oxford on 13th April and you'll come away knowing exactly what you should do.
You'll hear from a very savvy and highly successful US agent who'll tell you what's hot and what's not. Christine Witthohn is founder of Book Cents Agency, which she started in 2006. Her approach is simple: she loves a great story, but more importantly wants to be the one to sell it. She represents both published and unpublished authors.
Stéphane Marsan, founder of successful, independent French publisher, Bragelonne will talk about the kind of books that have made his company such a force within the French publishing industry. Fresh from the Paris Book Fair (held late March) he's actively looking for books in romance, horror, fantasy and young adult genres. Come and hear what he's looking for now and how to submit your novel to his company – and don't worry, Bragelonne do the translation!
Lynne Connolly is a British author who sells almost exclusively to the American market. She writes sexy, sophisticated romance in contemporary, historical and paranormal genres. Lynne writes mainly for digital-first publishers in the USA. It was her agent who suggested she try America when her first book was turned down in England. She it to the USA, it was accepted and she's never looked back. She'll tell you how she made herself successful in America with tips and hints of how to approach this biggest and richest of all English speaking markets.
Other bestselling British authors, who specialise in pitching, selling and marketing their work abroad, will tell you their secrets: how they do it – and continue to do it.
What works for other countries?
Which way to go – traditional, independent or self-publish?
Enjoy a fact packed day and come you away buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm for venturing away from the UK's shores and into larger, more profitable markets. Broaden your horizons for just £120* with Oxford Author Courses Pitch Across the Pond and Beyond day.
For more details and booking form go to http://www.oxfordauthorcourses.com.
*Discount available for writers' groups as detailed on the website.
For further information please contact: Maggi Fox, Press Officer, Oxford Author Courses, maggi@oxfordauthorcourses.com, 07770 754811
Tagged as books, Courses, fiction, literature, Oxford Author Courses, ting courses, Writers, Writing courses
Inheritance Books – Sue Moorcroft
Inheritance Books – Sue Moorcroft.
If you want to win a copy of All That Mullarkey, you can enter the Goodreads Giveaway here.
Choc Lit are working with Goodreads – just follow the link and click 'Enter to Win'.
All That Mullarkey is about Cleo, who discovers that the writing's on the wall for her marriage – the bedroom wall – and hurtles off for a bit of an adventure …
The lovely Justin is happy to benefit from her moment of wildness and their encounter sets off a series of events that turns life upside down for both of them.
Tempted? Just enter.
Tagged as books, Choc Lit, ebook, fiction, literature, mullarkey, romance, romantic fiction, Sue Moorcroft, women's fiction
March 1, 2013 · 9:52 am
What happened at the RoNAs
Jane Wenham Jones introduces Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley
Well, I had an excellent time!
I didn't win my category – that honour went to the lovely Katie Fforde – but I had an absolute blast at the party at the RAF Club in London's Piccadilly. It's a gorgeous venue and the staff kept the canapes and wine coming all evening.
And almost as Jane Wenham-Jones introduced the guests of honour, Richard & Judy, someone tripped or something and sent me absolutely flying. So I arrived on my bum pretty much at the feet of Richard and Judy to begin the proceedings with a bang. You'd think they'd have given me the RoNA just for that, really, wouldn't you? But no …
Here's the full list of winners:
Contemporary Romantic Novel winner – Katie Fforde
Epic Romantic Novel winner – Rowan Coleman
Historical Romantic Novel winner – Charlotte Betts
Romantic Comedy Novel winner – Jenny Colgan
Young Adult Romantic Novel Winner – Victoria Lamb
And the winners above go forward now to the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in May.
RoNA Rose – Sarah Mallory
Sophie Kinsella presented with Outstanding Achievement Award
Congratulations to them all. You can find photos on the Romantic Novelists' Association's website here.
My thanks to everybody concerned in the running of the RoNAs. I know a huge amount of hard work went into it and the event was just amazing, honestly. Slick and controlled (apart from the odd person flying through the air) and joyous.
Tagged as awards, books, jane wenham jones, literature, RoNAs, Sue Moorcroft
Happy Publication Day Alison Morton!
Today I welcome the lovely Alison Morton to the blog to talk about her debut novel – Inceptio – published today. Congratulations, Alison!
For Sue Moorcroft's blog 1 March
Thank you for welcoming me to your blog, Sue.
Today, is a very special day – my debut novel, INCEPTIO, is published. Hooray! Three years of slog – researching, writing, and polishing – have led to this exciting moment of holding my book in my hands. But it started when I was eleven years old with a day-dream under a hot Spanish sky.
Not many Year 6 children are obsessed by ancient peoples, history or archeological sites. But I was that sad kid. Fascinated by the mosaics in Ampurias (huge Roman site in Spain), I asked my father, "What would it be like if Roman women were in charge, instead of men? If it was now?" Maybe it was the fierce sun boiling my brain that day, maybe it was just a precocious kid asking a smartarse question. But clever man and senior 'Roman nut' that he was, my father replied, "What do you think it would be like?" Off went my brain on a dream…
Real life intervened (school, university, career, military, marriage, motherhood, business ownership), but the idea bubbled away in my mind and INCEPTIO slowly took shape. Three years ago, in a ninety day burst, I'd written the first draft of 95,000 words. Of course, like many first drafts it was raw, but since then it's been edited, tempered and burnished. And I've learned what the craft of writing demands…
Does dreaming still help me write books? I know that if I'm trying to work through a glitch in the plot or develop dialogue between two people, I'll often wake up in the morning with the answer. Sometimes I'm aware I've been dreaming, more often not. And it usually takes until I've finished in the shower for the new words to exit my brain in a coherent form.
In popular culture, Romans believed dreams were messages from the gods sent to reveal their wishes and took them very seriously. Emperor Augustus – cynical and politically adept – ruled that anyone who had a dream about the state was, by law, to proclaim it in the marketplace. The Roman writer Artemidorus (c. AD 150) concluded that dreams were unique to the dreamer and that the dreamer's occupation, social status and health affected the symbols in their dreams.
Stories with Romans are usually about famous emperors, epic battles, superstition (back to dreams and their interpretation!), depravity, intrigue, wicked empresses and a lot of sandals, tunics and swords. But imagine the Roman theme projected sixteen hundred years further forward into the 21st century. How different would that world be? Transferred from a dream into reality, this is one of the things INCEPTIO explores…
New York – present day, alternate reality. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother's homeland in Europe. Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety, a ready-made family and a new career. But a shocking discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus who rescued her in America, isolates her.
Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it…
INCEPTIO is released today as both paperback and eBook, in the UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inceptio-Alison-Morton/dp/1781320624
and in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Inceptio-Roma-Nova-Alison-Morton/dp/1781320624
And next? I'm working on PERFIDITAS, the second book in the Roma Nova series where it all turns into a bit of a nightmare.
You can read more about Alison, Romans, alternate history and writing at:
http://www.alison-morton.com, http://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor and follow her on Twitter @alison_morton


text:
This segment is part of the Degrees Of Change spotlight
View Spotlight
As U.S. Drags On Climate Action, Mayors Take The Lead
Credit: Shutterstock
This story is part of Degrees Of Change, a series that explores the problem of climate change and how we as a planet are adapting to it. Tell us how you or your community are responding to climate change here.
At a United Nations climate meeting in Poland last year, President Trump's advisor on energy and climate change didn't advance a forward-thinking plan to tackle climate change, but instead extolled the virtues of natural gas and even coal—one of the dirtiest fossil fuels. So, in the absence of meaningful federal policy on climate change, a grassroots effort by 435 U.S. mayors seeks to solve the climate problem, starting at the local level instead.
Emily Atkin, who writes the HEATED newsletter about the climate crisis, talks about that and other climate policy stories in the news, such as the lack of climate questions at the Democratic debate and the candidates' views on punishing fossil fuel companies; Google donations that fuel climate science denial; and the Department of Agriculture's lack of assistance for farmers dealing with increasingly extreme weather.
Check out Emily Atkin's newsletter HEATED
Find out what's happening on Science Friday…on Thursday. Subscribe to our preview newsletter.
Emily Atkin
Emily Atkin is author and founder of HEATED, a daily newsletter about the climate crisis. She's based in Washington, D.C..
IRA FLATOW: This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flatow.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The climate is changing, and because we need to deal with it now, we open the next chapter of our series, Degrees of Change. Our series explores the challenges of a changing climate and how we, as a planet and a people, are adapting to the crisis. We'll be talking about retreat, communities that are encouraging people to escape floods and rising seas. More info on how you can get involved in our coverage and sign up for our climate newsletter at ScienceFriday.com/degreesofchange.
But first, we check in on the gatekeepers, the decision makers, the controllers of the purse strings. This week, we, again, saw the Democratic contenders for the presidency onstage to debate. And did you notice what was missing from three hours of debate? Did you notice not one question about climate change? With climate change rapidly morphing into climate crisis, not one of the CNN moderators saw it fit to find out how a dozen candidates would handle it. Emily Atkin writes Heated, a newsletter about the climate crisis, and she's here to talk about that and other climate policy stories in the news this week. Welcome, Emily.
EMILY ATKIN: Hello, thank you for having me.
IRA FLATOW: You're welcome. Climate change is polling right up there with health care among Democrats. And while we got a lot of talk about Medicare for All, not a peep about climate change in the debate, really.
EMILY ATKIN: No, it's like flashback to 2012 and 2016 and just being ignored all over again.
IRA FLATOW: Well, I mean, let's be fair to CNN. They did hold a seven-hour climate town hall a while back, right?
EMILY ATKIN: Sure, they did. That's a little different than a debate, sort of targeted to a more niche audience, and the candidates can't interact with each other during this forum. So we haven't seen, really, the candidates have a robust argument about the climate crisis yet.
IRA FLATOW: And of course, they ruled out having a climate debate, the DNC. So that's not going to happen very soon.
EMILY ATKIN: No, I don't think that's going to happen ever. Well, at least not this cycle.
IRA FLATOW: Not this cycle. And all the candidates on stage this week have also gone on the record to talk about how they'd hold fossil fuel companies accountable on climate change. What sort of solutions are they talking about?
EMILY ATKIN: I think the number one solution that people are talking about is holding companies liable through litigation. There are a number of consumer protection laws and state laws that seek to hold companies accountable for making false claims to consumers. So say you buy a candy bar and the candy bar causes you to get migraines or something like that, and the companies know that, but they don't tell you. And you get migraines, so you can sue them.
That's the same with fossil fuels. Candidates and lawsuits are seeking to hold them accountable for making false claims, misleading the public about the fact that their product caused climate change.
IRA FLATOW: This is something like the tobacco industry. Is that what they're arguing?
EMILY ATKIN: It is exactly like that.
IRA FLATOW: Yeah, but they're not talking about a carbon tax or something like that.
EMILY ATKIN: I mean, sure. That's part of many different policies that candidates have to talk about. But the fact is that cities and states and the federal government, which means taxpayers, are– we're going have to pay a lot of money to prepare ourselves for the damage that is coming with the climate crisis. And the strategy is to take some of the load off of taxpayers' shoulders by saying that fossil fuel companies have a duty through the law to pay for some of this, because they lied about it.
IRA FLATOW: Your next story is about the Department of Agriculture and how little money it's devoting to prepping farmers for the effects of climate change, like extreme weather.
EMILY ATKIN: Right, so this year, the extreme weather was really bad for farmers. About 20 million acres of land, a record breaking amount of land were left unable to be planted by wet weather just in the Midwest. That's without mentioning fires in the west and hurricanes in the southeast. And the Agriculture Department is only devoting 0.3% of its budget to help farmers prepare for and adapt to events like this, which, again, is a taxpayer concern because this year, taxpayers have paid $2.5 billion in crop insurance. So that will also only stand to get worse and worse.
IRA FLATOW: Yeah, because we are seeing all these record rainfalls and flooding on these farms.
EMILY ATKIN: Right, and we're sort of in this place now, too, where the farmers see that this is happening, but there's also widespread– farmers don't tend to not think that this is climate change, because they're so connected to the climate. They see the climate changing. And they think, yeah, the climate is changing, and this is bad, but there's still a reluctance to accept that this is human caused and thus preventable.
IRA FLATOW: Let's move on to another topic. Google has a whole sustainability website talking about how they're purchasing clean energy installations, how they're fighting climate change with data, and so on. But that website isn't really telling the whole story about Google's complicated relationship with climate change, is it?
EMILY ATKIN: No, so The Guardian has this story published earlier this week revealing Google's support for policy groups that back climate science denial and back repealing of environmental regulations to solve climate change. So the main two groups that The Guardian revealed Google was sponsoring is the state policy network, which is this umbrella organization for conservative groups.
And those groups include the Heartland Institute, which is like this very radical anti science group, climate denial group. And then also just financial support for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which was one of the leading groups to help convince the Trump administration to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement and withdraw some Obama era climate regulations.
IRA FLATOW: Have they been called out on any of this stuff?
EMILY ATKIN: Oh, oh, yeah. I mean, if you read the article, there's a quote from I believe Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who's– he's a senator from Rhode Island. He's one of the most outspoken senators on climate change. And he basically just says, you don't get to have it two ways. You don't get to say that you're a leader on climate change and then support primarily climate denying front groups.
Essentially, I've been covering this issue for a long time. And it's pretty clear that one of the biggest problems towards acting on climate change is misinformation about climate change. Science denial– it's one of the biggest, most insidious problems. And so if Google is supporting climate science denial group while saying that they're leaders in climate action, they're definitely being called out for hypocrisy.
IRA FLATOW: And social communities is the right place where people are residing and keeping track of this stuff.
EMILY ATKIN: Yeah, and I mean, we have problems there, too. Social networks, I mean, willingly or not, that is where a lot of the misinformation takes place and spreads.
IRA FLATOW: Finally, mayors from around the country are stepping up to negotiate directly at the UN climate talks. They aren't leaving it to federal diplomats, are they?
EMILY ATKIN: No. The United States has a federal presence at the UN climate talks has sort of devolved into maybe, like, a sideshow at this point. There's not a real actual negotiating on climate change happening anymore now that the Trump administration is leading federal talks, US talks at the UN Climate Summit. So mayors are just taking it into their own hands.
IRA FLATOW: Yeah, we are seeing a lot more of this in all the climate issues, aren't we? We're seeing that the mayors and the states, they're saying, we have a political and we have an economic impact. We've got to take this on ourselves.
EMILY ATKIN: Well, I mean, that makes sense because they're the ones directly dealing with the impacts to their communities. They're the ones whose budgets pay for maintaining infrastructures. And they're the ones who have to respond first to extreme weather. They don't really have much of a choice. They're on the front lines every day.
And it should be noted that the US Conference of Mayors, they have submitted a resolution in support of those accountability measures we were talking about earlier, those lawsuits. Because fossil fuel companies have been saying, OK, we'll support climate policy in exchange for immunity from lawsuits that seek to make us pay for it. And just recently, the US Conference of Mayors submitted a resolution to the UN saying, we can't have that. We need that money from those fossil fuel companies to help pay for these measures because it's expensive.
IRA FLATOW: Yeah, because they saw what happened to the tobacco industry when people were allowed to sue them. They had giant settlements.
EMILY ATKIN: Exactly, and I think mayors are hoping that similar settlements will ease some of the financial burden on their citizens.
IRA FLATOW: I was reminded of the recent story about California trying to push back against the White House, which wants to take away their car emission standards that are higher than federal standards. It seems like states are being emboldened now, aren't they, looking at each other and what they're trying to do.
EMILY ATKIN: Right, and I think their main argument is that if you're a Republican government and you're for states' rights, let us do what we want to do. OK, your federal regulations aren't going to be that strong on fossil fuel companies or climate change. Well, let us do it if you're not going to. And that's something the Trump administration is trying to prevent, is to prevent states from being able to go further than the Trump administration is going.
IRA FLATOW: I mentioned at the top about health care, climate change right up there or even sometimes topping health care as an issue among Democrats. I'm really surprised since, as you mentioned, 2012 and 2016, I've talked about this before. Are you as surprised how quickly this has risen as an issue?
EMILY ATKIN: I'm surprised as a person particularly who has been covering climate change for that long, because– I've said this before– it's almost been like for the last six years, I've been just throwing quotes into the void. And all of a sudden, I'm throwing quotes into not a void, and people are listening to them. And it is very surprising. But also at the same time, it's not that surprising because from a journalistic standpoint, I've always looked at climate change and just been like, wow, this is a very big, very important issue. I wonder when people are going to start paying attention. And it turns out it's now, and I think that's partially just because it's starting to become a little more obvious than it once was.
IRA FLATOW: You really can't deny what you can see, can you?
EMILY ATKIN: Yeah.
IRA FLATOW: You can't deny these giant storms, the hurricanes, the floods, the fires. I could go on. You could go on.
EMILY ATKIN: Well, I mean, you can deny it. You certainly can. It's possible. We still see it all the time. But something you can't deny is that it is polling at the same level of interest among Democratic voters as health care. But we are seeing so much more discussion of health care than climate change in our journalistic realms, like these debates. And so I think that's where a lot of the controversy comes from. It's like, listen. People care. We need to start talking about it.
IRA FLATOW: Well, we'll see if it shows up in the next debate. Thank you, Emily, for taking time to be with us today.
EMILY ATKIN: Thanks for having me.
IRA FLATOW: Emily Atkin writes Heated, a newsletter about the climate crisis.
Meet the Producers and Host
Katie Feather
About Katie Feather
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Katie Feather is an associate producer for Science Friday and the proud mother of two cats, Charleigh and Sadie.
Ira Flatow
About Ira Flatow
@iraflatow
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death's door.
Saturn's Moon Count Goes Up, Overtaking The Number Of Jupiter's Moons
Astronomers found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn, edging out Jupiter as the planet with the most moons in the solar system.
A Somber Room of Climate Scientists
Science and environment reporter Lauren Sommer delivers the news from the American Geophysical Union meeting.


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text:
Labor Day shorts
Offending and defending Jesus: Previously I've mentioned uproars over offensive depictions of Jesus in the mass media. (Here, for example.) Assistnews.net provided another case in the news story, "Jesus Caricature Draws Flak in Malaysia." The offending newspaper is in "hot water" with angry Christians and angry Muslims alike.
According to the story, "The daily apologized for the publication, but [Malaysian Indian Congress] deputy president G. Palanivel urged the country's internal security ministry to act against the newspaper for hurting the feelings of Christians in the country."
When Jesus was in the very process of being cruelly executed, he asked the Creator of the Universe to "forgive them, they don't know what they are doing." But his followers and admirers want the coercive forces of the government to "act against" offenders. Isn't there a more imaginative way to respond? What about asking the newspaper to host a panel discussion on what to do when people are offended? Or submitting another cartoon in response, showing Jesus reading a newspaper with yet another "violence in the Holy Land" headline and saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."
How hard it is for us to understand that Jesus is not an object of austere reverence, but a loving brother, the firstborn of God's heirs, and we're right in there with him. Only with Jesus by our side, not on our wall, can we have the perspective to challenge the same forces in our time who objectified and tortured and murdered him 2000 years ago.
And those forces, luring us into arrogance and objectification of the other, are partly inside us! We don't overcome those forces by turning right around and practicing that same objectification, that same impulse to punish, that led Jesus' executioners to wish to delete him from the human family.
If we don't learn this lesson, we earn the derision we get from principled religion-haters like Bill Maher. When I watch a Maher clip like this one (New Rule: "Orwell that ends well"), I cheer for the passion he displays, but somehow he cannot see that for many of us, the ground for that passion is the crucified and risen Savior who opens our eyes to the cost of torture.
Like thousands of others, I was captivated by this article in the New York Times about Mother Teresa's dark night of the soul--and grateful for Peggy Parsons' beautiful reflections on these revelations about her.
I'm truly of two minds about whether Mother Teresa's instructions about burning her papers should have been followed, but that very discussion presupposes an extremely important dimension of her reality: she was in a community, and her personal wishes were not the ultimate value held by that community. If Teresa of Avila had not been commanded to write, we might never have had the incredible teachings that caused her to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church. In this case, the command seems to have been made posthumously, but our modern Teresa will not suffer from the process; indeed she now has the advantage of all of us!
This kind of obedience is a mystery to many of us autonomous Americans. As I thought about this aspect of Mother Teresa's story, I remembered reading about icon-painter Liudmila Minina, and, happily, just now I was still able to find the book that features her art: S.V.Timchenko's illustrated collection, Russian Icons Today, published in 1994 by Sovremennik.
Timchenko introduces her work with a brief biographical sketch. Minina wrote poetry all through her youth: "...she very early felt the need of creation."
Having graduated from Moscow Art College she worked as a scene-painter at the Dramatic Theatre in Kazan. After her son's birth she stayed at home a long time and earned her living by needlework. There was a period when she got seriously interested in oriental mysticism and philosophy. She didn't give up painting, painted in water-colours. But like many of her generation her understanding of God and true spirituality were still vague. Enlightenment came suddenly when she was already past 30.
--I even remember the place where it happened, where I felt God,--she says.
A year later Lyudmila was baptized and entered the spiritual world of Church with a firm belief that her future life could only be in it, that there's nothing outside this world.
In Orthodox Church she realized for the first time that she was Russian--and suddenly opened the spiritual depth of this world... [ellipsis in original]
She stopped writing poetry, feeling that after prayers and divine service at the cathedral there was nothing more important left she would like to say.
I find very few if any comparable events in my own life. In my early adulthood, shortly after I'd said "yes" to Jesus and subsequently joined Friends, I visited Toronto and got to know Ruth Morris, who was then the staff for Canadian Friends Service Committee. I was impressed that Ruth would take the time to visit with young long-haired me, and therefore I really took it in when she told me to prepare for serious service with Friends. Later, I got similar messages from a couple of other Friends I respected (Jim Lenhart was one of them, I remember). In retrospect, I feel very fortunate to have experienced a sort of eldership that may have since gone somewhat out of style.
Then, around twenty years ago I was practically commanded to take on the clerkship of the meeting of Ministry and Counsel at First Friends in Richmond. This was not something I wanted to do or felt aptitude for, but I think I was persuaded because of my intuition that the person doing the persuading had inner authority.
These examples are not exactly in the same league as Lyudmila Minina, because I never believed or was told that, henceforth, my public voice would passively serve as the trumpet of the Church and its doctrines. However, in my private life as a writer, there's a semblance of such subordination: almost all my paid output is on behalf of schools and colleges and nonprofits, for whom I write marketing materials in which my name never appears. What counts is not my ego, but my faithfulness in creatively expressing the essence of the client's values. (Happily, we only have clients who actually have very worthwhile values!) Furthermore, my output does not appear unfiltered; I have co-creators who edit me (and whom I edit), and who fold word and image together, resulting in a far more rich and complex message than I could ever put out on my own. At the end of the process, there's nothing that I can point out to and say, "That's 100% mine."
Maybe the closest I get to the true marriage of community and personal voice is in unprogrammed Quaker worship, and especially when we speak during worship. The experience of preparing sermons during my time as a pastor was a close second: time after time, I would sit down on Sunday morning at 5 a.m. and begin to outline the apparent message that had been growing in me during the week. In my prior speaking experiences before becoming a pastor, I would nearly always speak from sketchy outlines. What was remarkable about my experiences of sermon preparation--in stark distinction to almost all other times I prepare talks, and it didn't even always happen for sermons--was that words, whole sentences, whole paragraphs would tumble out, demanding to be written down verbatim, and it was all my poor fingers could do to keep up. This was not "automatic writing"--my brain was very much engaged--but I definitely felt like a co-creator rather than a soloist. Time and time again the story arc landed in a place I'd not intended or expected.
Righteous links: Is your meeting one of those congregations where some prefer traditional hymns, some prefer contemporary choruses? Read Mark Labberton's Leadership article, "The real worship war: Forget about choruses versus hymns—what about justice?" ~~~ Peter Guralnick defends Elvis Presley from charges of racism. ~~~ The Friends International Library has updated its Web site--revisit it and tell us what you think. Our Power of Goodness project has just received a warm endorsement from the Minister of Education and Science of the Chechen Republic. Among other things, he writes, "The publication of collected stories for children on tolerance, kindness, and compassion for people is a part of that help that the children of Chechnya especially need. On earth, where cruelty and callousness have continued to dominate for decades, the people, the children, yearn for kindness, the spirit of charity, and creative work. For this reason, those who took part in this noble work deserve special appreciation."
Another of the fantastic davidaron videos from nearly 40 years ago: Muddy Waters tells a Danish audience that "blues and trouble keep on worrying me."
Posted by Johan Maurer at 30 August
Labels: blues, orthodox, personal, quakers, spirituality, worship


…though I did have a lovely time on Saturday with a friend who's in from out of town. I needed a girlie day, and since she has two little ones of her own (including a 2.5 month old) it was great hearing her perspective on things.
Generally I've been pretty darn tired. Normally I can't nap if I try, but I'm all over the naps right now. It's actually pretty nice.
It looks like I've got my first food aversion, though aversion might be too strong of a word. Apparently I no longer like zucchini – what has been my go-to veg for a while now. It's a real bummer… but at least when I tried to eat it, it just tasted bad instead of making me heave.
Hrm, as I'm writing this I'm starting to feel a little queasy, but it's probably all in my head.
Lots of exciting things coming up! This weekend is the 4th, so that means going to the cottage for fireworks and kayaking (not at the same time, don't worry).
Next Wednesday is my first CNM appt of the pregnancy. It'll be a full physical and blood tests (probably urine too, oh boy). No ultrasound, but I'm not surprised at all. The CNM and her group are not test-happy — I'll have to be patient for my first US as there's really no medical need to have one this soon.


Target Marketing: Can You Spot an Ideal Client? Target Marketing: Can You Spot an Ideal Client?
Target Marketing: Can You Spot an Ideal Client?
Imagine there are 100 potential prospects for your business in a room and you could select only 3 of them to become clients. Do you know the questions you would ask to identify the ideal 3?
This question is posed as part of our quiz. We often ask this question when helping business owner-operators plan their marketing strategy. Their response is often preceded by a long pause. Just when you thought you knew everything about your clients, it appears there's more to know.
A potential client is anyone who might possibly buy your product or service. For example, a recruitment business may define a potential client as "any business that needs a temp", or a tea manufacturer may say "anyone who drinks tea".
In both of these examples the definition of "potential clients" is correct. However, it provides a shaky foundation for your marketing strategy. You need to push your thinking further.
Sea eagles are very savvy birds. Essentially any fish in the sea is a potential meal for them yet they don't dive after every fish they see. Why not? They know there is a limit to their energy and resources so they need to wisely pick out fish that will maximise the return on the energy expended during the catch. White bait is too small and marlin are too big.
Small and medium businesses also have limited resources. Are you going to wildly dive after every opportunity you see or wisely select those catches that have a good return? If your limited marketing budget is going to deliver results, you need to focus all of your activities on your ideal clients.
Ideal clients are a subset of your potential clients. Ideal clients are those prospects who will provide you with the maximum return on your marketing investment. The challenge is to establish some specific and observable criteria to clearly separate your potential and ideal clients. Here are some working examples to get you thinking.
Potential clients - "any business that needs a temp"
Potential clients - "anyone who drinks tea"
Can you see how you could walk into a room of 100 people and ask specific questions about these criteria to identify your ideal clients? Another interesting exercise is to ask everyone on your team the question that we have posed and see what answers they come back with. It will tell you very quickly if you need to upskill and train your team to become more effective at spotting sales opportunities.