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Politics, Religion, Religion and the Public Square
Too Many Abraham Lincolns
August 20, 2019July 17, 2020By Matthew J. Franck
Like Abraham Lincoln, a growing number of our young people are "unchurched." As a result, our "us vs. them" politics functions as a substitute for religious observance, membership, and devotion. If there were more authentic religious practice in our society, there might be less of the bitterly partisan politics that divide our country.
This essay is part of our series on the significance of the rise of the "Nones." See the full collection here.
In 1846, while running for the only term he would serve in the US House of Representatives, Abraham Lincoln had to respond to the talk going around his Illinois district that he was "an open scoffer at Christianity." In a country still very saturated with the reinvigorated faith of the Second Great Awakening, this was the sort of reputation that could end a political career.
Lincoln's response was interesting for its combination of candor and canniness. In a handbill distributed in the community (the text of which also appeared in a local newspaper), he wrote: "That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular." He went on to say that as a younger man (he was still only thirty-seven), he had for a time entertained the "Doctrine of Necessity," disbelieving in free will—but added that he had "always understood this same opinion to be held by several of the Christian denominations." Then he concluded:
I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion. Leaving the higher matter of eternal consequences, between him and his Maker, I still do not think any man has the right thus to insult the feelings, and injure the morals, of the community in which he may live. If, then, I was guilty of such conduct, I should blame no man who should condemn me for it; but I do blame those, whoever they may be, who falsely put such a charge in circulation against me.
Notice that Lincoln appealed both to the moral sense of the community—which he seemed to believe rested on religion—and to the toleration of his neighbors whose votes he desired. After all, he admitted that he was "not a member of any Christian Church."
He was what we would today call a "None."
An "Unchurched" Man
Indeed, two of Lincoln's earliest notable speeches—the Lyceum Address of 1838 and the Temperance Address of 1842—speak glowingly of "unimpassioned reason" as the best ground of the nation's "political religion," and of the "reign of Reason" as leading to the country's "moral reformation." Why, this fellow Lincoln, were he alive today, might pronounce himself one of the "brights" who can do without conventional religious faith of any kind, who can live without the myths others seem to need.
To be fair, these early speeches and statements of Lincoln's bear closer study; their arguments are not so simple as I've made them appear. And we know that in the crisis of the Civil War, as the carnage cost lives almost beyond counting, Lincoln turned more and more to the view that God's providential hand was at work in American affairs. The explicitly Christian thrust of his great Second Inaugural Address is impossible to miss.
But dwell for another moment on that final paragraph of Lincoln's 1846 handbill. It's one thing, Lincoln says, to be an unchurched man; that he is, and he admits he is. It's another thing to be "an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion." For to be such a man is to "insult the feelings, and injure the morals, of the community." For all the differences there might be among Christian denominations—differences that remind us that the freedom to differ in belief, and even to disbelieve, is essential—there is, Lincoln seems to be saying, an intimate relation of the people's religious beliefs to their morals and their feelings. The man who mocks or disregards the first harms the second and wounds the third. He is not to be honored by being made the people's representative.
This is not about imposing a formal "religious test" for serving in office, of the kind that Article VI of the Constitution forbids; Lincoln is not advocating that. It's not even about what the candidate himself—such as Lincoln—actually believes. It's about the trust that must obtain between officeholder and constituents. Lincoln here affirms that the American people are a religious people, that their religion does great good, and that they should be represented by leaders who recognize and honor their faith and the sensibilities that arise from it.
The Loss of Religious Institutions
But Abraham Lincoln was unusual in his own time. What happens if, as is the case today, the "nones" are much greater in number? As Nathaniel Peters has noted here at Public Discourse, the University of Chicago's General Social Survey puts the (non)affiliation "no religion" at 23 percent. To be sure, a high proportion of Americans still pray, view the Bible as sacred scripture, and attend religious services—though frequency of church attendance is falling rapidly.
What seems to be happening is that our nones today are not frankly atheist, or even more cautiously agnostic. What they are is unchurched, like Abraham Lincoln. Peters suggests in his essay that many of these nominally religious (for the most part nominally Christian) Americans are actually adherents of what Christian Smith and Melinda Denton call "moralistic therapeutic deism." Perhaps so. What they might even more probably be are people who have conceived a deep skepticism, even a hostility, toward "organized religion," the institutional churches to which they or their forebears once belonged. Given the scandalous moral and leadership failures of many of our churches, it is hard to blame them for such disaffection.
But the effective "de-institutionalization" of so many Americans' spiritual lives unavoidably entails some serious fallout in various ways. For one thing, an authentic involvement in any religion requires a communal experience, which ordinarily entails some institutional structure as well. This does not necessarily require a class of clerical leaders, of course. The "unprogrammed" Quakers of the Philadelphia tradition have no ordained clergy, only rotating lay leaders of each Friends Meeting, yet they have a recognizable institutional structure and a real community of worship, with traditions and doctrines that they maintain as a body.
Resolving to be "spiritual but not religious," or sliding into being "Christian" but unchurched, staying home on Sundays or randomly dropping into this church or that, means forgoing all of this. The brotherhood, the shared devotion, the joint responsibility for everything from the church's physical maintenance to the preservation of its teachings and their transmission to the next generation—all these one jettisons if one opts for solitary Bible reading, prayer, and contemplation. Even those solitary pursuits are apt to fall by the wayside of one's life, since all that supports them is individual determination. Then all one has left, like some vestigial bone with no function, is the box one checks "Christian" or "Catholic" or "evangelical" on a survey.
Political Fallout
This in turn may have a political effect. As people drift away from organized religion—which is itself one of the most powerful organizers of collective human effort in civil society—they may be inclined to rest too much of their hope for society's betterment in politics instead.
As civic organizations based on face-to-face interactions, our political parties are pretty much dead. But they survive rather like the faux "communities" of sports fanatics who wear "their" teams' jerseys and caps. Being a partisan Democrat or Republican can easily become just a way of saying "our side" and "their side," in many ways as empty and atomized as being Yankees or Red Sox fans, except the stakes in the governance of the nation are very real. And just as the fan attaches himself emotionally to the star players on his team, the partisan attaches himself to his party's leaders, sometimes beyond rational cause.
But while it is permissible, even part of the harmless fun of the game, for the Yankees fan to loathe and despise the Red Sox and their fans, and vice versa—but, I hasten to add, only in the abstract case of the distant "type" of the rival, not in the actual case of the person one knows—it is far from harmless for Democrats and Republicans to indulge in hatred of one another. Again, this is because the stakes are so real, with elections and policy decisions that can profoundly affect people's material conditions, their moral standing in the community, even their freedom itself.
Is the increasing political polarization we see today in some measure a consequence of the rise of the nones? It certainly could be.
America's political parties have always cultivated their animosities toward one another, and spikes of real intensity (even violent ones) have occurred in the past, ever since our first parties formed in the 1790s. But America's religious communities, at their best, have always been capable of cutting across our partisanship at its worst. This has been true in the pews of each church, and often even in ecumenical and interfaith fellow-feeling. It will not do to project onto the past a false image either of milder partisanship or of brotherly religious sentiment. But it does feel at times as though our "us vs. them" politics functions as an effective substitute for religious observance, membership, and devotion. If there were more of the latter—more authentic religious practice—there might be less of the former.
Secularists vs. Theocrats?
It is often observed that today's Democratic Party is the central locus of secular America, whereas the Republican Party is where one increasingly finds those citizens who are most observant and orthodox in their religious traditions. The nones are undeniably a force in both parties, for it is also the case that support for President Trump in 2016 and to this day has been strongest among those Republicans who are notionally but not actively Christian. Yet there is much truth to the generalization "secular progressive Democrats vs. religious conservative Republicans." We can certainly say that the most aggressive actors in the culture wars, answering these descriptions, are essential components of the two-party coalitions.
And so we might conclude that one consequence of attenuated religious practice and declining belief is that many of the nones gravitate to one party and the observant religious to the other, giving rise to lurid portraits of both sides by one another—"radical secularists" and "theocrats" in a Kulturkampf to the death. This only accelerates the centrifugal pull of our polarized politics, driving us further away from one another as citizens and neighbors.
The force of that centrifuge even affects relationships within the opposing groups—among the liberals, the Democrats, the nones, and among the conservatives, the Republicans, the religious. So a respected liberal law professor at Harvard loses his residence-house deanship because "woke" students are outraged at his joining the defense team of Harvey Weinstein. And transgender activists are intent on taking down "TERFs" whose feminist credentials were impeccable the day before yesterday. Meanwhile, on the right, divisions over President Trump, as well as over how to respond to "them" on the left, feed into internecine strife even among erstwhile allies in the conservative punditocracy.
It's hard not to conclude that with rising "none-ism," too many Americans have too much invested in politics as the center of their belief systems. Now it seems that an overinvestment in politics is even affecting Americans furthest of all from being "nones." We might conclude that when the morals of the community are up for grabs, the feelings of the community are bound to be on edge and hyper-sensitized.
It turns out that America can tolerate a modest number of unchurched folks, but not too many. We can have, it seems, too many Abraham Lincolns in our midst.
The Nones: Education without Divinity or Selfhood
If questions of ultimate meaning and purpose are shuttled to the side, as they are…
The Rise of the Nones
The rise in numbers of people with no religious affiliation reflects the emergence of a…
God or Government: What an Economy of "Nones" May Mean for Our Future
G.K. Chesterton may have summed up our current situation best: men who stop believing in…
How the Rise in Unreligious Americans affects Sex and Marriage: Comparative Evidence from New Survey Data
Permissive sexual attitudes and practices have not stimulated the religious revival many Christians believe the…
Matthew Franck
Matthew J. Franck is Contributing Editor of Public Discourse. He is also Lecturer in Politics at Princeton University, Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute, and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Radford University, where he chaired the department and taught cours... READ MORE
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Okay, I'll admit it. Pinterest has changed my life. At first I thought Pinterest was simply a fun marketing tool for Espresso Dave's Coffee Catering, our Boston-area, traveling, espresso coffee bar service. Brides, wedding planners, trade show organizers, and human resources professionals scour our boards for new ways to enhance their events and make their clients/employees/guests feel special. Following a few months of pinning, Pinterest has expanded my horizons in ways I couldn't have predicted.
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard on which you organize and share all the amazing things you discover on the web. I explore and capture new ideas for coffee drinks, espresso bar service, special events, and just this week, posted my wish list for Father's Day (hint, hint kids!) I build new relationships; business and social.
I must confess my favorite pinboard is, Have Coffee? Will Travel. It's a bucket list of locations, near and far, where I plan to sip the local, java brew.
Some of these heavenly spots I've traveled to; others are dream destinations waiting to be assigned a plane ticket and itinerary. Each pin represents a mini-vacation in my mind that I hope to make into a reality someday. Whenever I stumble upon an enticing photo, I picture myself seated with a steaming cup of espresso, soaking in the ambiance of my surroundings, then I pin it to the board. Ahhh, the pause that refreshes!
Dave sipping a cappuccino in a Chi-town cafe.
If you have time, take a moment to review the board. Where's your favorite paradise for my next trip, errh, I mean pin?


Andrew Vasquez's Togobegs to be more than just background music and instead evokes a musical scenery that is soothing and haunting. Member of the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma (though his home is in North Dakota), Vasquez has a rich history of keeping alive the traditions of Native Americans through dance, music and film, not to mention receiving nominations and awards for his previous three CDs.
The title track "Togo" launches the listener into a journey filled with Vasquez's soulful flute playing, some chunky back up beat and bass and the sounds of Vasquez's children and grandchildren.
Vasquez doesn't travel this road alone. He rounds out is mix of traditional and modern with environmental sounds and Jovino Santos Neto on keyboards, Joe Hagele on percussion, Doug Klein on bass and David Swenson on guitar, keyboards and percussion.
The track "Spirit Eyes" takes the simplicity of flute and percussion and invites the listener to follow the subtle changes as one would quietly mark the passage of the sun during the day.
Vasquez's flute playing is the call of the all the elements with each composition rooted heavily in the traditional and some not so traditional rhythms. In some of the flute CDs I've heard all the songs tend to sound the same but tracks on Togo like "Morning Sun," Night Shadows," "Wild Horses" and "Cry for a Vision" offer beautiful and varied journeys.


Trained volunteers meet with Washington County residents facing a crisis to offer encouragement, advice and referrals to other providers, as well as monetary assistance. Our primary focus is the prevention of homelessness which includes funding for eviction prevention, rent deposits and/or first month's rent, utility deposits and other housing related needs. We also help those with little or no income secure birth certificates and identification cards when necessary for employment and/or services from other local agencies. Occasional assistance is provided for emergency prescriptions.


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Browse by Department at the University of Warwick
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Breslin, Shaun (1999) The politics of Chinese trade and the Asian financial crises : questioning the wisdom of export-led growth. Third World Quarterly, Vol.20 (No.6). pp. 1179-1199. doi:10.1080/01436599913352
Hay, Colin and Watson, Matthew (1999) Globalisation : 'sceptical' notes on the 1999 Reith lectures. Political Quarterly, Vol.70 (No.4). pp. 418-425. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.00265
Marshall, Gordon and Swift, Adam (1999) On the meaning and measurement of inequality. Acta Sociologica, Volume 42 (Number 3). pp. 241-250. doi:10.1177/000169939904200304
Marshall, Gordon, Swift, Adam, Routh, David and Burgoyn, Carole (1999) What is and what ought to be popular beliefs about distributive justice in thirteen countries. European Sociological Review, Volume 15 (Number 4). pp. 349-367.
Page, Edward (1999) Intergenerational justice and climate change. Political Studies, Vol.47 (No.1). pp. 53-66. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.00187
Swift, Adam (1999) Public opinion and political philosophy : the relation between social-scientific and philosophical analyses of distributive justice. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Volume 2 (Number 4). pp. 337-363. doi:10.1023/A:1009903718660
Watson, Matthew (1999) Rethinking capital mobility, re-regulating financial markets. New Political Economy, Vol.4 (No.1). pp. 55-75. doi:10.1080/13563469908406385
Book Item
Swift, Adam and Marshall, Gordon (1999) Wesolowski, Walzer and the complex good of education. In: Jasińska-Kania, Aleksandra and Kohn, Melvin L. and Słomczyński, Kazimierz M. , (eds.) Title Power and social structure : essays in honor of Włodzimierz Wesołowski. Warszawa : Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, pp. 11-26. ISBN 8323501289
Working or Discussion Paper
Breslin, Shaun (1999) Decentralisation, globalisation and the 'creation' of trans-national economic regions in the People's Republic of China. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation. Working papers (University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation) (No.38/).
Higgott, Richard A. and Phillips, Nicola (1999) The limits of global liberalisation: lessons from Asia and Latin America. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation. Working papers (University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation) (No.22/).
Hughes, Christopher W. (1999) Japanese policy and the East Asian currency crisis: abject defeat or quiet victory? Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation. Working papers (University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation) (No.24/).
Phillips, Nicola and Higgott, Richard A. (1999) Global governance and the public domain: collective goods in a 'Post-Washington Consensus' era. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation. Working papers (University of Warwick. Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation) (No.47/).
Hughes, Christopher W. (1999) Japan's economic power and security : Japan and North Korea. Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge Series . London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415201834

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We present work aimed at facilitating the comprehensibility of healthrelated English-Spanish parallel texts by means of the semantic annotation of biomedical concepts and the automatic expansion of their definitions. In order to overcome the limitations posed by the scarcity of resources available for Spanish, we propose to exploit existing tools targeted at English and then transfer the produced annotations. The evaluations performed show the feasibility of this approach. An enriched set of texts is made available, which can be retrieved, visualized and downloaded through a web interface.


being MVP: Baroni Jewelry & Giveaway!
Baroni Designs jewelry is hand crafted and truly a piece of art. The designs are spiritual and I was happy to receive the Amore Necklace from their Tapestry Collection.
This beautiful necklace is simple and features a large faceted ruby framed in gold. The color of the ruby is It is hung from a classic cable chain (24 gold plate over sterling). I like that it is adjustable in length and easy to layer with other pieces. The gem is pretty hefty in weight and one can tell this is a quality piece of jewelry. I've already received several compliments on it.
One can wear it with dresses to work, casual tees and much more. I think even Bean will be fascinated with it when he is able to see it around my neck. Kenzie already claimed it as her own... smart girl!
Buy It: You can purchase the Amore Necklace for $108 (gold).
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I love the Hamsa link necklace, buddha carnelia necklace, moonstone cluster earrings, wavy ring... saddle ring... gosh! So much to luv!
I like the Believe Charm.
I love the Daydream necklace, very pretty!
I like the Perfect Pair Earrings.
I like the aquamarine cluster earrings.
I like the etched tree earrings.
I would love to have the Hamsa Carnelian Link Necklace!
the inlaid circle bracelet is beautiful!
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I love the Kids Happiness Necklace.
I am in love with the Serpent Ring Set!


We are pleased to announce the DRA Summer School taking place 24 August 2018.
There will be three keynote speaker at the DRA Summer School.
PhD students' registration and programme participation, supervisors and other participants' registration are open.


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Distance Dominates
On an evening when distance dominated at Eugene's Prefontaine Classic, few distances were more impressive than Joe Kovacs' 72' 7" final round throw in the shot put.
In a scintillating series in which three of his throws would have won, Kovacs reinforced his position as the leading putter in the world this year and the favorite to make the deep US World Championships team.
Germany's two-time World champion David Storl kept the heat on with his 71'11" in second, while the rest of the stellar field finished over two feet behind Kovacs, so dominant were the leading pair.
Tianna Bartoletta mastered swirling winds with her 23'4" long jump win. Canada's Christabel Nettey took second in 22' 11 1/4"; the rising star's personal best remains fractions from long jumping's 23' and 7 meter stratosphere. Surprising in 5th was World and Olympic champion Britnney Reese.
With his scintillating 27:07.51 10k, Cam Levins smashed the Canadian record of 27:23.63 set by Simon Bairu in 2010. Levins moved through the field dramatically from 7k and stormed to a fourth place finish.
"It's my first outdoor record, and I'm feeling good," said Levins. Levins spoke with Bairu before the race and said of his record, "It's going down!" Right he was.
Next up for Levins is the Portland Track Classic 5k with the goal of achieving the World qualifier.
Mo Farah outkicked Paul Tanui and Geoffrey Kamworor for the win, but was disappointed in the time of 26:50.97.
Tanui and Farah helped each other by exchanging the lead when the pacers were not as effective for as long as hoped. "We had a chat at the beginning of the race and said, 'Let's help each other,' said Farah. "We wanted to run a fast time."
Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha blew open the men's 5k with unofficial splits of 55-62 - before the last 200! Last year's World Junior champion is undefeated on this track.
In spite of his third place finish, Galen Rupp felt that this 5,000m in particular was helpful in establishing where he is in his season, especially after his first scheduled race was cancelled due to lightning wto weeks ago.
"I was really happy that it ended up being tactical," Rupp said. "It's good practice for the meets coming up, which are probably going to be tactical, too."
Posted by Mark Cullen at 7:26 AM
Dynamic Duos and Triple Treats
World Record(s) in Eugene Today?
"Pre"View: Field Events for Friday in Eugene


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Q: Can't figure out how to set Path for Cron job I have been going through all the different cases and examples online but I really don't understand how to set the Path for my cron job.
When I try to add the job I get this error:
/bin/sh: 1: /usr/bin/crontab: not found
adding cronjob: (671a82cf1733e868bud228e0587aec4d) -> ('1 0-23/3 * 3-10 1-7', 'management.cron.mlb_games_today')
sh: 1: /usr/bin/crontab: not found
I see this question has been asked a million times but any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Settings.py
    CRONJOBS = [
    ('1 0-23/3 * 3-10 1-7', 'management.cron.mlb_games_today')
    ]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Etxeondo's Argi socks make use of their Microsystem Fresh fabric to allow for excellent breathability and moisture transfer. They have breathable panels and no inner seams for the very best in pedalling comfort.
What sort of blue is this?
Is the blue a 'baby blue' or is it more of an electric blue? Cheers!
This is 'baby blue' rather than 'electric blue'.


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The Wellstone
Wil McCarthy
Mass Market
List Price: 8.99*
Mass Market (3/4/2003)
A CLASSIC OF HARD SF FROM WIL MCCARTHY. Back in print and just as relevant as ever! Exploring what the economics of abundance will really look like.
Humanity has conquered the Solar System. What's more, death itself has been vanquished. Wellstone—programmable matter—ensures that no one need every die, or indeed, age past adulthood. But for the children of immortal parents, life remains a constant state of arrested development. And a prince shall remain a prince forever, never inheriting the throne. So what is a royal minor to do?
Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui is tired of his parents—the Queen of Sol and her consort—treating his complaints as so much teenage whining. Exiled to a "summer camp" on a planette where he will be out of his royal mother's hair, he decides to do something about his lot in life. Along with his fellow malcontents, he manages to make an improbable spaceship and set out for the far reaches of the colonized space. With hijacked weapons and programmable matter at their disposal, Bascal Edward de Towaji Lutui and his companions are set to prove themselves a force to be reckoned with.
About Wil McCarthy:
"McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Heinlein's knack for breakneck plotting and, at the same time, Clarke's thoughtfulness." —Booklist
"Imagination really is the only limit." —The New York Times
"The future as McCarthy sees it is a wondrous place." —Publishers Weekly
"A bright light on the SF horizon." —David Brin
"Wil McCarthy demonstrates that he has a sharp intelligence, a galaxy-spanning imagination, and the solid scientific background to make it all work." —Connie Willis
"In nearly every passage, we get another slice of the science of McCarthy's construction, and a deeper sense of danger and foreboding . . . McCarthy develops considerable tension." —San Diego Union-Tribune
"An ingenious yarn with challenging ideas, well-handled technical details, and plenty of twists and turns." —Kirkus
Baen, 9781982125882, 432pp.
Engineer/novelist/journalist/entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is an award-winning author whose short fiction has graced the pages of magazines including Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, and SF Age. His novels include the New York Times notable Bloom, national bestseller The Collapsium, and To Crush the Moon.


Download High School Musical sheet music for Everyday, Breaking Free, Gotta Go My Own Way, Fabulous, I Don't Dance and more online here.
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The High School Musical 3 sheet music collection includes 11 songs from the soundtrack.
Download sheet music for The Boys Are Back, Can I Have This Dance, High School Musical, I Want It All, Just Wanna Be with You, Last Chance, A Night to Remember, Now or Never, Right Here Right Now, Scream and Walk Away here.
Or buy The High School Musical 3 songbook right here.
The High School Musical 2 digital collection includes 10 songs.
Save over 50% for piano sheet music for Gotta Go My Own Way, You Are the Music in Me, All for One, Bet on It, Everyday, Fabulous, I Don't Dance, What Time Is It, Work This Out, and Humu Humu Nuku Nuku Apuaa.
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The Vocal Selections sheet music digital collection contains 9 songs from High School Musical.
Save over 50% when you download sheet music for Bop To the Top, Breaking Free, Get'Cha Head In the Game, I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Start of Something New, Stick To the Status Quo, We're All In This Together, What I've Been Looking For and When There Was Me and You here.
The Vocal Selections sheet music book contains nine songs from the High School Musical.
Find sheet music for Breaking Free, Bop To The Top, Get'cha Head In The Game, I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Start Of Something New, Stick To The Status Quo, We're All In This Together, What I've Been Looking For and When There Was Me And You.


Dunk a piece of blanched cucumber into the tank each night. 1 hr after lights off the snails will be on the cucumber. Remove them. Do it for a couple of weeks.
Reduce feeding and the snails will reduce.
I went through some literature ststing that when the PH is low the shell of the snails disintegerate and finally die.
Iam into this snail trouble.
If your water is naturally on the soft side then snails will find that difficult to live in - their shells will slowly dissolve in soft acidic water. If the water is hard then there is little hope of their shells dissolving. Even if you plan to make your water soft you will have to do it for a long time to get the snail shells to dissolve.
In addition Malaysian trumpets must be the rhinos of the aquarium snails. Tough hard shells.
Madan's idea is great for trapping snails fast.
You have/had a nice tank there....Sad you had to pull it apart.
Well I have seen it happen in my tank, of course I did not want the population of trumpet snails to go down a lot....they really help in aerating the substrate.
Nice tank you have there. Have you done all this with only DIY CO2 (!) ? If yes, please let me know your bubble rate(bubbles per second) and tell us how you did it. I am using pressurized CO2 but still my 30 gal has not turned into a jungle.. It's been 2 months... how long does it take to become a jungle ?


text:
Q: Laravel routing error: GET method is not supported for this route Can anyone please help me find the exact error in the route?

Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\MethodNotAllowedHttpException
The GET method is not supported for this route. Supported methods: POST.
Route::get('/leave'[App\Http\Controllers\LeaveController::class,'leave']);

Route::post('/save',[App\Http\Controllers\LeaveController::class,'saveRecord'])
    ->name('save');

<form action="{{ route('save') }}" method="post">

Controller
public function saveRecord(Request $request)
{
    $request->validate([
        'fromdate' => 'required|string|max:255',
        'todate' => 'required|string|max:255',
        'leave_reason' => 'required|string|max:255',
    ]);

    DB::beginTransaction();
    try {
        $Leaves = new Leaves;
        $Leaves->rec_id = $request->rec_id;
        $Leaves->fromdate = $request->fromdate;
        $Leaves->todate = $request->todate;
        $Leaves->leave_reason = $request->todate;
        $Leaves->save();

        DB::commit();

        redirect()->back()->with('success', 'Add leaves successfully.');
    } catch (\Exception $e) {
        DB::rollback();

        return redirect()->back()->with('error', 'Add leaves fail');
    }
}

A: You defined the request method as "POST" below, which means it only accepts post requests. If you try to go that route from the browser, it gonna end up with that error you mentioned. If you change the post to get it gonna work.
If you making a request to that route from forms or ajax request, just change request method to "POST"

Route::post('/save',[App\Http\Controllers\LeaveController::class,'saveRecord'])->name('save');


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A Stolen Election Part 1
Do the Pilgrims Still Matter?
Thanksgiving... It is a tribute to God!
First published Thanksgiving 2008
Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the indians that took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of a good harvest, and the local indians did participate, this "first Thanksgiving" was not a holiday, simply a gathering. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.
However, since most school children are taught that the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 with the pilgrims and indians, let us take a closer look at just what took place leading up to that event, and then what happened in the centuries afterward that finally gave us our modern Thanksgiving.
The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church. They were NOT the Puritans that we read so much about. Puritans did not believe in separting themselves from society, as the Pilgrims did. They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.
The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.
Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.
Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There was no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.
This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. Many years passed before the event was repeated. It wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of thanksgiving was proclaimed. On June 20 of that year the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did not include the Indians, as the celebration was meant partly to be in recognition of the colonists' recent victory over the "heathen natives," (see the proclamation).
A hundred years later, in October of 1777 all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it was a one-time affair.
George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea of having a day of thanksgiving.
It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.
Thanksgiving Day: Pilgrims were a surprisingly worldly, tolerant lot
Should You Celebrate Thanksgiving Day?
Five Things You Didn't Know About American Thanksgiving
Column: 5 myths about the Pilgrims
A Recipe for Gratitude!
Posted at 07:11 PM in A History Lesson, American's fight for America!, Why We Do What We Do Series | Permalink | Comments (1)


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In 1911/12 werd het achtste Kiels voetbalkampioenschap gespeeld, dat georganiseerd werd door de Noord-Duitse voetbalbond.

Holstein Kiel werd kampioen en plaatste zich voor de Noord-Duitse eindronde. De club versloeg Seminar FC 07 Lübeck, Rendsburger FC, Bremer SC 1891 en Eintracht Braunschweig en werd opnieuw kampioen. Hierdoor plaatste de club zich ook voor de eindronde om de Duitse landstitel. Na een overwinning op BFC Preußen 1894 en BTuFC Viktoria 1889 plaatste de club zich voor de tweede keer voor de finale. Het werd een heruitgave van de finale van twee jaar terug tegen Karlsruher FV. Deze keer trok Holstein aan het langste eind met 1-0 en kroonde zich zo voor de eerste en tot dusver enige keer tot landskampioen.

Eindstand

Externe links
 Euroleagues
 fussball-historie

Kiels voetbalkampioenschap
Duits competitievoetbal 1911/12

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Pelosi stands behind Swalwell despite reports of ties to alleged Chinese spy
Robert Ayers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may have just made a fatal mistake — one that could cost Democrats deeply in the near future.
According to Fox News, Pelosi has decided to stand behind fellow California Democrat Eric Swalwell rather than reprimand him amid reports of ties between the congressman and a suspected Chinese spy.
"The Speaker has full confidence in Congressman Swalwell's service in the Congress and on the Intelligence Committee," Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Pelosi, told Fox on Wednesday.
This likely means that Swalwell's position on the House Intelligence Committee is safe, since it is Pelosi herself who gets to determine committee membership. Pelosi first appointed Swalwell to the Intel panel in 2015 — and it appears that he will be allowed to remain on that committee until there is new leadership.
Swalwell under fire
Swalwell was a major figure in pushing claims of improprieties involving President Donald Trump and countries like Ukraine and Russia. But now, the Democrat is back in the spotlight for his own nefarious foreign ties.
A report from Axios first revealed that Swalwell was infiltrated by a Chinese national named Fang Fang or Christine Fang.
According to Axios, Fang met Swalwell through the Chinese Student Association, and, by 2014, she had developed "close ties" with his office. She participated in Swalwell's 2014 re-election campaign, she interacted with him at many events over the span of several years, and she placed at least one intern in his office, the report alleged.
In 2015, however, the FBI alerted Swalwell to concerns it had about Fang, and that is when Swalwell is said to have cut off all ties with her. Accordingly, the FBI does not believe that Swalwell did anything wrong, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
"A national security threat"
But that's not how Republicans are seeing it. "This is a national security threat," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said in a Thursday interview with Fox.
"Now we have Eric Swalwell, who's been swindled by the Chinese, but what's even more interesting here is why did he attack the American Director of Intelligence John Ratcliffe's report talking about the expansion of China spying throughout…just last week," McCarthy added, according to Fox.
Reports indicated that McCarthy and other GOP members of the House want to see Swalwell removed from his committee assignments in light of the news, but it seems Pelosi is standing her ground on this one.
The only question left is how long it will take for the speaker's defense of Swalwell to come back and bite her.
Two female members of Afghanistan's Supreme Court gunned down
Melania Trump delivers heartfelt farewell address to the American people
Fox News Channel's senior vice president announces retirement
Giuliani will not be on Trump's impeachment defense team because he 'gave a speech' at DC rally
Mike Huckabee suggests Kamala Harris should be impeached for supporting riots
Wyoming GOP formally censures Liz Cheney for supporting Trump impeachment


Oculus is inventing a new kind of VR experience, coming next year, that brings a virtual play with live actors into your home. Could it be the hit VR's been waiting for?
Scattered around Earth, you and other audience members slip on VR headsets and convene in a common virtual world. As you explore, you're approached by a character different from avatars you've met in VR before. It reacts to you like somebody in the same room would, but this isn't a creature of our world. It's sewn together by the same threads as the rest of this invented universe unspooling around you. And by following it, you unlock the possibility of a unique journey.
Rather than preprogrammed avatars, these characters are all powered by live, trained actors. Far away on a motion-capture stage, a cast leads you and others through a performance that's never exactly the same story twice.
Yelena Rachitsky, executive producer of experiences at Facebook's VR giant, Oculus, describes it as indie video game phenom Journey meets immersive play Sleep No More. The project, tentatively expected for release next year, is inventing a new VR format that attempts to widen the audience for some of today's most exciting VR experiences -- installations with live actors.
As executive producer of experiences at Oculus, Rachitsky also helped produce Pixar's first virtual reality experience, based on the movie Coco.
"We're really interested in, how do you create that experience of live actors without needing to be in a site-specific location," Rachitsky said in an interview this month ahead of the Tribeca Film Festival. "It's a way to scale."
The idea of VR as immersive theater is the latest twist on one of technology's buzziest trends, attracting giant investments by heavyweights like Google and Facebook, the latter of which is expected to showcase its new virtual reality hardware at its F8 developer conference on Tuesday. Despite the hype, widespread adoption of VR has been elusive. Without a gotta-see-it experience compelling them to try the unfamiliar format, consumers have resisted pouring hundreds of dollars into a souped-up computer and a high-end headset like Facebook's Oculus Rift.
But Oculus' experimental immersive play, even at this early stage, mixes together some promising ingredients: It builds upon a trend of theater converging with VRthat's spurring some of VR's most exciting experiences, and it could piggyback on the booming popularity with immersive theater.
Immersive theater has grown as a trend over the last five years, kickstarted by the success of Sleep No More, an elaborate film-noir-style riff on Shakespeare's Macbeth that allows audience members to explore and chase live actors through a three-warehouse set. The production by Punchdrunk Theater Company continues to run in New York City seven years after its debut.
Other immersive theater companies have gained acclaim. Third Rail Theater Company's Then She Fell, an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland set in a Victorian asylum, has been performed in a former outpatient hospital in Brooklyn since 2013. Last year, its Ghost Light was performed at Lincoln Center in backstage corridors and dressing rooms.
In Draw Me Close, an actor in a motion-capture suit embraces a viewer experiencing the interaction in VR.
As they've grown in popularity, immersive theater and escape rooms have focused on exploring ways to transport audiences into storytelling in the real world. In VR, immersive theater could attempt the same without a physical set.
Earlier this year, Third Rail ventured into virtual reality, contributing to Wolves in the Walls, an experience that was also under Rachitsky's wing at Oculus. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
And VR performances in real spaces with actors already exist, too, like Jack: Part One by Baobob Studios, and Draw Me Close, a coproduction between the National Theater and the National Film Board of Canada. Using motion-tracking in a space that's mapped onto a live performance area, audience and performers interact together as in immersive theater, but the audience's visuals are a virtual world instead.
There are also live theater performances that are cast into VR, in which participants beam in from anywhere to be audience members or actors. The Actor's Theater of NYC has started delivering theater mini-performances and monologues within the Altspace VR app. Comedy shows are performed there, too. During a rendition of Hamlet in New York City last year, performers acted together in a remote location while audience members could virtually attend and hover around as ghosts.
"At Sleep No More, people are chasing after an experience, they want to have that special moment," Rachitsky said. In VR, "how do we recreate the special moment?"


Priorities are easier said than done. It is also true that when everything becomes a priority, nothing is a priority. Life gets busy and eventually it is hard to keep up with the important things in life. The key to getting back on track is, first, to recognize and become aware when we are out-of-step or our life is out of balance. And then, secondly, become proactive in adjusting course and continue to do those things that are vital for our growth. Our relationship with God is one of those "unnegotiables" in life.
The Children of Israel, as well as Jesus Christ and his early disciples, recognized the value of placing their relationship with God above all else. No wonder the first of the "Ten Commandments" states: "You shall have no other gods before me," re-emphasizing that God should always take first place in the lives of his people. (Exodus 20:3) All other commands fall apart when God does not take pre-eminence in our lives, since he alone is our sustenance and strength.
There are many benefits of giving God the rightful place in our lives. Jesus Christ again assures us of this fact in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first [the kingdom of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well". These blessings in prioritizing God in our lives are not only spiritual in nature but also physical, mental, and emotional. God's blessings cover every aspect and dimension in our lives. Even in challenging times we can discover God's sustaining grace and strength.
Prioritizing our lives is not just a one-time exercise. It has to be a daily, intentional, practice for it to become most effective and transforming. And, by the way, in case you are feeling guilty after reading this article, none of us are perfect in this regard. We all side-track or stumble along the journey of life. The difference is that, no matter how many times we falter, we still get up by God's grace and take another step in the right direction.


The loud outcry at the alleged inefficiency of the police exhibited in their inability to arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators of the East End murders, and the demand for the instant dismissal of the Home Secretary and Sir Charles Warren, culminated in a letter addressed by the Whitechapel Board of Works to Sir Charles Warren, and which letter has evoked not only a reply, but a well-merited rebuke from that functionary.
The complaints against the police and Sir Charles Warren are absurd on the face of it, the members of the force are as anxious for the arrest of the author of the crimes which have of late so startled London, as any of the members of the Board or Vigilance Committees can be; and Sir Charles is quite right when he points out as a proof of the efficiency of the work that is being done by the detective department that that work is unknown to the local authorities.
He furthermore carries the war into the enemy's country when he points out how ill-lighted streets, courts, and alleys tend to the commission of crime, and urges the Whitechapel Board to set their own house in order in this respect. This is, indeed, a blot not only on the administration of Whitechapel, but in many local other districts within the metropolitan area.
It is well to remember, however, that the greater part of the simulated indignation against the police and heads of the force, the Home Secretary and Sir Charles Warren, is the outcome of political fanaticism. Even in the letter we have been noticing, the Daily News finds occasion to rebuke Sir Charles for his "lecturing" propensities, when most people, we should imagine, would admit that the letter clearly spewed the writer's desire to co-operate with the local authorities for the prevention of crime. But the Radical wire pullers never lose an opportunity to harass and embarrass the Government whenever an opportunity occurs, and, although it might appear a difficult matter to arouse a political controversy over the dead bodies of the poor women so foully done to death, yet the ghoul-like prowlers of the Radical party seek to create an impression that a Conservative Government cares nothing for the lives of the "people" and raise an outcry against, and a demand for the removal of a responsible officer of the Crown.


VIDEO: An Iguana Fleeing Snakes Has Become An Internet Star : The Two-Way A video of a marine iguana hatchling chased by a pit of snakes has gone viral. We think it's a stressful but ultimately cathartic diversion.
As if our collective blood pressure weren't already sky-high today, a video showing a marine iguana hatchling chased by a pit of snakes is setting the Internet on fire.
It's the "first time snakes have been filmed hunting en masse," according to the BBC.
We wouldn't want to spoil the nail-biting ending to this chase, which was filmed on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos. But it's fair to say that the odds are stacked against the tiny iguana as he faces what appear to be dozens of stealthy, hungry snakes.
The breathtaking footage is from the BBC's Planet Earth II, which premiered in the U.K. on Sunday. It begins airing on BBC America on Jan. 28.
The episode's editor, Matthew Meech, tells The Independent that they wanted to "set up the feeling that something wasn't quite right" from the very beginning, when the iguana pops out from under the sand and starts its harrowing journey.
"One of the most amazing things about the encounter was that it was shot at such high speed," Meech tells the newspaper. "So in real life those things are moving much, much faster."


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2021-22 NBA Season Preview: Northwest Division
Nekias Duncan
With the regular season set to tip off on Oct.19, let's take a look at where each team in the Northwest Division stands. We'll break down what's to like and dislike, a lineup to watch and a reasonable range for them to finish in the standings.
If you missed it, read our previews on the Atlantic, Central, and Southeast Divisions.
WHAT TO LIKE: OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
Even with Jamal Murray still recovering from a torn ACL, the Nuggets shouldn't have much trouble generating offense.
Nikola Jokic is one of the best offensive players in NBA history and the reigning MVP. He can score at all three levels, sling passes from everywhere, and bludgeon you on the offensive glass if all else fails.
Michael Porter Jr. just flirted with one of the most efficient 20-a-night seasons in recent memory (19.0 points, 66.3% True Shooting percentage) and should be tasked with more responsibility while Murray is out.
A healthy Will Barton can get buckets and beat scrambling defenses with kick-outs and dump-offs when necessary. Austin Rivers can provide relief buckets.
I think the Nuggets will be okay on that end.
OTHER LIKES
- "Aaron Gordon, Professional Gap-Filler" was a rousing success. A full training camp with this group should lead to an even more effective season from him.
-I like the frontcourt versatility of JaMychal and Jeff Green (no relation). Both can shoot, while Jeff adds a little more punch with his rudimentary ball skills. I'm here for lineups featuring both of those guys.
- Are we still allowed to call Monte Morris underrated, or did his series against the Blazers end that noise for good?
- *Raises hand* I still love Bol Bol. I will hype up his garbage time buckets like they're playoff-clinching shots. Sue me.
WHAT TO DISLIKE: RIM PROTECTION
The Nuggets want to play ball screens more aggressively with their bigs. Jokic plays at the level of the screen or higher to cut off ball handlers. That puts stress on the backline to rotate behind him.
There's a reason the Nuggets ranked well in percentage of rim attempts allowed (28.2, 9th), and very poorly in terms of field goal percentage allowed (68.6, last).
A ton of pressure will be on Porter Jr. in particular to rotate in a timely manner and contest shots. There also isn't a pure 5 behind Jokic in the rotation. The Greens, JaMychal and Jeff, will get those frontcourt reps off the bench, and neither of those guys are staunch rim protectors.
OTHER DISLIKES
- I really wish Jamal Murray was healthy. Sigh.
- I wonder who the threatening rim pressure guys are going to be while Murray is gone. Jokic will create a ton with his high post passing to cutters, but it'd be nice if someone could consistently get downhill without assistance.
LINEUP TO WATCH: Morris-Barton-Gordon-Porter Jr.-Jokic
I can't guarantee this will be the starting unit while Murray is out, but I'm sure we'll see this group quite a bit. Between Gordon being added via trade mid-season and Barton's injury woes, this group only played 55 minutes together last season.
They did generate an absurd 134.6 offensive rating, if you care about that kind of thing. I'm interested to see what the numbers are with a larger sample.
BEST CASE: No. 2 Seed
The table is set for another MVP campaign for Jokic. Porter Jr. could reasonably average 25 points a night, at least until Murray gets back. Guys like Monte Morris and Will Barton can handle some of the creation void left from Murray in the short-term.
There's enough depth for the Nuggets to churn out regular season wins.
WORST CASE: No. 6 Seed
Unless Jokic himself gets hurt, I don't see the Nuggets falling out of the firm playoff picture. I do think there's room for the shot creation behind Jokic and Porter Jr. to underwhelm before Murray gets back. That combined with the general strength of the conference could force the Nuggets to slide a bit.
WHAT TO LIKE: KAT UNLEASHED
After the Ryan Saunders firing, I wrote about the need for the Wolves to truly build this thing out around Karl-Anthony Towns. Reimagine who he is. Get a stronger sense on what his strengths and weaknesses are, then put him in position to succeed on both ends.
We saw fruits of the former after Chris Finch was hired. More threes. More touches, particularly in the high post. More decision-making reps. Ultimately, more possessions like this:
It would appear that the Wolves are going to make similar adjustments on the defensive end, opting for a more aggressive approach that could save Towns from navigating the gap in Drop defense.
Chris Finch said the Wolves have started putting in a defensive concept that is different from last season.
What I saw in defensive PnR drills today:
- Big at level of screen
- tag man in hard to force kick to corner
- wings X-out to recover to corner
So yeah, very different.
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) September 28, 2021
I am here for Towns to establish himself as a top-15-ish player in the sport, if healthy.
- Anthony Edwards might already be the best interview in the NBA. But seriously — this dude is so physically gifted. He can get to the rim when he wants — it's the "when he wants" part he needs to take a step in.
- I'm all in on Jaden McDaniels. He's a rangy defender with some shot-creating chops that may be worth exploring in spurts. I'll yell about him more on the pod, don't you worry.
- Malik Beasley might be the best shooter nobody really knows about. The Wolves will certainly welcome having him be more available than he was last season.
- MOAR NAZ REID.
WHAT TO DISLIKE: ROSTER BALANCE
The Wolves have players that can shoot. They have guys that can get to the rim. They have guys that can defend. They have guys that can fill gaps — screening, cutting, chain-moving passes.
What they don't have, however, are a lot of guys that can check multiple boxes.
Consolidating for someone, say, I don't know, Ben Simmons, could help solve some of that. For now, though, there are a lot of one-way players that head coach Chris Finch will have to figure out how (and who) to play together.
- It's worth noting that there's a difference between being able to get to the rim and being able to finish once you're there. The Wolves did the former last season, ranking fourth in rim frequency. They also ranked 24th in field goal percentage at the rim. They'll need massive steps from Edwards in particular within that context. As explosive as he is, he took some tough shots in traffic. I think he'll figure it out, though.
- The wing/forward depth on this team isn't very good on paper, though I'd love for one of Jake Layman or Taurean Prince to prove me wrong.
LINEUP TO WATCH: Russell-Edwards-Vanderbilt-McDaniels-Towns
Russell has legit pull-up and playmaking chops. Edwards can get downhill whenever he wants, and the jumper looked good during the last 20 or so games of the season. Both Vanderbilt and McDaniels can fly around defensively and clean up mistakes.
We only got 23 minutes out of this grouping last season, but this may be Minnesota's best hope at protecting Towns on the backline while also taking some of the creation burden off of him on the other end.
BEST CASE: Play-In Tournament
If you can get a somewhat efficient 60-65 points a night from the Towns/Russell/Edwards triumvirate and fill the gaps elsewhere, you can talk me into the Wolves as a back-end play-in team. Chris Finch has pieces to mix and match; his ability to do so will help decide where this team lands.
WORST CASE: Near the Bottom of the West
A third straight season of Towns missing time would end any postseason hopes the Wolves have. Beyond that, the rest of the West is still pretty strong. There exists a world in which the Wolves look better on both ends, and it doesn't matter much in terms of seeding.
WHAT TO LIKE: SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER
This is one funky dude.
By funky, I mean unorthodox. Nobody in the NBA plays like him, plays with the cadence he does. He's the league's most prolific driver from the perimeter — a lofty title when guys like LeBron James and James Harden exist. The numbers bear it out, though.
SGA led the NBA in drives (25.2) and shot attempts via drive (9.3) by a healthy margin. Among the 42 players that averaged at least 5.0 shot attempts on drives, only six converted those looks at a higher clip than SGA did (55.4). Of those six, only Luka Doncic came close to SGA's volume (20.3 drives, 59.2 FG%).
The drive sets up everything else with SGA. He's growing as a passer, though not a master manipulator by any stretch right now. The more encouraging thing is the development of his jumper. He shot a shade under 42% from three on nearly five attempts, showcased new comfort getting it off the dribble.
He'll have to prove that the leap was real. He still saw a ton of "under" coverage in ball screens, so I'm curious to see what his shot looks like if teams press him more. Though, if they press him more, he's won a battle that I didn't see him winning this soon.
- I'm here for Year 2 of the Poku Experience. He looked like an NBA player during the second half of the season after, well, not looking like one during the first half. His blend of size, skill, and unearned confidence intrigues me.
- I sounded like a disappointed father on the pod this year at times, but I'm in on Theo Maledon if he plays with a little more aggression.
- Lu Dort will stuff your favorite player in a locker, and the Velveeta account will likely tweet about it. He also has an interesting catch-and-go game and shot roughly 37% on catch-and-shoot triples last year. Interesting guy to track moving forward.
- I like the Josh Giddey pick. Another tall playmaker next to SGA is a solid investment. Any concerns about him breaking down defenders should be alleviated by the fact that SGA can bend the defense first.
- KENRICH WILLIAMS IS GOOD AT BASKETBALL AND A PLAYOFF TEAM SHOULD TRADE FOR HIM IF THEY CAN.
WHAT TO DISLIKE: THE DEFENSE
Yeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhh, I'm not sure what to expect this year.
Last year's group had a top-ten defense before the All-Star break, then fell off a cliff. I wonder if there was a series of rotation and/or injury-related decisions that affected that number.
Who's to say, really.
In all seriousness: no Al Horford to quarterback things will hurt. Derrick Favors should help some on the interior, but there's virtually nothing resembling rim protection behind him on the depth chart right now.
Outside of Dort, I'm not sure who to trust on the perimeter either. SGA has the tools to be a good defender, but issues with screen navigation and off-ball attentiveness have him squarely in the "liability" tab right now.
- I'm the resident "let the young guys play" person, and even I am a bit concerned by the lack of veterans on this team. Favors and Mike Muscala are the oldest players on the team, and they're both 30. Williams is third and he's 26.
LINEUP TO WATCH: SGA-Dort-Giddey-Bazley-Pokusevski
I want to say this up front: this unit would get absolutely demolished defensively. Poku would need to have done borderline illegal things to bulk up enough to play the 5 defensively.
I do want to see what the young core looks like together. There's plenty of drive-and-kick potential with this group, headlined by SGA. Bazley and Poku have the ball skills to run some inverted ball screens. It's a 2K five, but a five I'd watch on League Pass.
BEST CASE: Bottom of the West, young guys shine
SGA is the blue-chipper, so improvement within the margins would make the season a success on its own. But meaningful steps from The Others in the core — Giddey, Dort, Poku, Bazley — would put OKC in a good spot.
WORST CASE: Bottom of the West, jumbled mess
There's not much in the way of veteran help here, and head coach Mark Daigneault is heading into Year 2 himself. There's a line to walk between "giving the young guys freedom" and "letting the young guys do whatever the heck they want" that he'll need to balance. If it goes too far in the wrong direction, we could be looking at this team wondering what the actual plan is at the end of the year.
WHAT TO LIKE: THREE-HEADED MONSTER
There are a few guys in the league that guarantee you a top-10 offense when they're on the court, almost regardless of who you put around them. Damian Lillard is one of those guys.
He's the second-most dangerous pull-up shooter in the NBA and complements that with legit driving and passing chops.
Joining him in the backcourt is CJ McCollum, one of the NBA's best number twos and a pull-up artist in his own right.
Flanking them is Norman Powell, a 40% three-point shooter on high volume that drives with ruthless aggression.
If healthy, that's a trio that's going to flirt with 70 points a night on a high-30%, low-40% clip from three. Good luck dealing with that.
- I wrote about it not too long ago, but I love Larry Nance Jr.'s unique skill set on both ends of the floor for this Blazers team. Heck of a trade to get him in the building.
- I like the Cody Zeller signing. He'll bring value as a rim-runner; he's also more scheme-versatile on defense than you'd think.
WHAT TO DISLIKE: POINT-OF-ATTACK DEFENSE
Nance Jr. can wreck stuff defensively as a helper, as can Covington. Jusuf Nurkic is a productive rim protector when healthy. Portland's backline should be really good. It also has to be, because I'm not sure who can fight over screens in the backcourt.
Lillard is coming off, by my eye, his worst defensive season since his rookie year, if not ever. Screen navigation isn't a strong suit for McCollum either. The options aren't that much better on the bench.
Luckily, the rest of the West is lacking in guard talent so the Blazers don't have to worry about-
- Wing depth is a bit of a concern for me. Gotta get something out of Tony Snell or Nassir Little; I'm not sure how comfortable I am betting on either right now.
- Aside from the general, uh, let's call it "weirdness" surrounding the Chauncey Billups hire, I have no real sense of what he wants to do on either end of the floor. This is less of a dislike and more of a "guess we'll see."
LINEUP TO WATCH: Lillard-McCollum-Powell-Covington-Nance Jr.
This is what you make the Nance Jr. trade for. On nights Nurkic isn't there or isn't a good defensive matchup, downsizing with a Covington-Nance Jr. frontcourt is a remedy. I'm not sure what you do with this group as an opposing defense. Lillard and McCollum are flamethrowers, Powell can shoot and get to the rim whenever he needs to; Covington can knock down spot up looks, while Nance Jr can create havoc as a roller.
The Blazers ranked second in offensive rating last season and return most of the personnel that helped them get there. With added depth and versatility in the frontcourt, the pathway to a below-average (or better!) defense is there. I don't think homecourt is out of the question if they stay healthy.
WORST CASE: Play-In Tournament
Of course, if the defense doesn't come together, they could find themselves fighting for a playoff spot.
Despite being historically good offensively last year, the Blazers ranked 12th in net rating (8th in the West). Depth has been added, but point-of-attack issues could still throw the defense in flux. The Blazers have the shot-makers to win shootouts, but that's a tough diet to live on in the West.
WHAT TO LIKE: DONOVAN MITCHELL'S ASCENSION
We didn't get the capital-L leap from Mitchell last season, at least not statistically, but he grew a bit around the margins.
On the numbers front: he posted career highs in points (26.4), assists (5.2), and True Shooting percentage (56.9).
On the shot selection front: Last season marked the first time in Mitchell's career that he improved his three-point rate (.352 to .423) and free throw rate (.24 to .29) in the same season. Nearly 63% of his shots came from three or at the rim last season; that isn't a Hardenian number, but it's a major leap from the year before (56.3%).
As his game has nudged into more efficient areas, it's also slowed down for him. His basic passing reads are being made quicker, and we're seeing more flashes of legit manipulation.
He's good, folks.
- Rudy Gobert's the best Drop big on planet Earth. It's hilarious watching drivers probe the paint, say "NOPE" and drive back out to the perimeter.
- Flirting with a 70% TS percentage with a three-point rate over 70% is absurd, but that's what Joe Ingles (67.2% TS, .722 3PAr) did last season. The Aussie is still trucking, one slingshot triple at a time.
- I ... am a fan of the Hassan Whiteside signing? Not sure if you can get a better blend of rebounding and rim protection at the veteran minimum than that. Hopefully Gobert teaches him how to screen.
- Speaking of free agent gets, Rudy Gay should help quite a bit offensively. Another guy that can shoot and attack a closeout should help keep the offense humming.
WHAT TO DISLIKE: PERIMETER DEFENSE
This isn't something new; I hammered it quite a bit on The Dunker Spot during last season. Royce O'Neale is a good defender. Can hang with most forwards at either spot, and can offer some switchability in a pinch. Every team would love to have O'Neale as part of their stopper lineup.
The fact that O'Neale is Utah's best option defensively against star wings or forwards is a problem to me within the context of their title aspirations.
O'Neale, Ingles, and Gay is a good group. It's sub-elite, though, and leaves them susceptible to certain matchups in a playoff setting (ahem, Lakers).
- To that point, I'm still not sure how often the Jazz can afford to go small. There was a clear effort to answer that question by adding Gay and Eric Paschall, both of which fit the physical profiles of 4s that can swing down to 5 when needed. I'm a bit worried about both of those guys in space against guards, assuming they'd have to swtich in a small-ball alignment.
- Though I believe Gobert is ultimately underrated, the "self-creation to dollars earned" ratio is a bit concerning. Hopefully the Gobert we saw with the French national team this summer is the one the Jazz get. Because the Gobert we saw last season generated 0.57 PPP on post-ups, per Synergy.
- I really, really want Conley to stay healthy. I'm worried about him.
LINEUP TO WATCH: Conley-Mitchell-Ingles-O'Neale-Gay
If Utah's going to go small while trying to maximize their defense, this will probably be the unit. The quartet of Conley-Mitchell-Ingles-O'Neale had a plus-22.6 net rating in 65 minutes last season, and I'm honestly not sure which number is more head-shake-worthy. If Gay can hold up at the 5, and if the group can rebound well enough, they should be able to blitz most teams.
BEST CASE: Top Seed
Gobert guarantees you an elite defense. The creation from Mitchell and Conley, combined with the half-court wizardry of Quin Snyder guarantees you a high-level offesne. The roster is deeper this year. It's not hard to envision the Jazz leading the West, if not the NBA, in wins.
A long-term injury to Mitchell or especially Gobert could obviously derail things. Beyond that, the only real slippage I could really forsee would be general aging from Conley or Ingles. Even with that, this Jazz team is deep and disciplined enough to churn out regular season wins at a high clip.
Sixers will not pay Ben Simmons, but he might show up to training camp?
Giannis explains why he doesn't want to be buddies with NBA players


text:
Q: jQuery - multiple modals separate handling If you click the Apple icon the modal appears and then if click away it disappears.
If you click the Google icon the modal appears (and is set to not disappear).
The goal: to toggle the active class for the Google modal when the #google icon is clicked (i.e show/hide the modal when the google img is clicked and not when the user clicks away like the apple modal)

$('.button').on('click', function() {
  const id = $(this).prop('id');
  $('.modal').each(function() {
    $(this).toggleClass('active', $(this).data('id') == id);
  });
});
$(document).on("click", function(e) {
  if (($(".apple-modal").hasClass("active")) && (!$(".modal, .modal *, .button").is(e.target))) {
    $(".modal").removeClass("active");
  }
});
.button {
  height: 30px;
}

.header {
  height: 15px;
  background: #eee;
}

.modal {
  position: fixed;
  top: 72px;
  right: 15px;
  z-index: 6;
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
  transform: scale(0.5);
  transform-origin: top right;
  transition: 0.15s;
  box-shadow: 0 1.5px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.24), 0 1.5px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
}

.modal:after {
  content: "";
  width: 15px;
  height: 15px;
  background: inherit;
  position: absolute;
  background: #eee;
  top: -6px;
  right: 8px;
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
  transform: rotate(45deg) scale(0.5);
  transition: 0.15s;
}

.modal.active {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
  transform: scale(1);
}

.modal.active:after {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
  transform: rotate(45deg) scale(1);
}

Google

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Apple

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A: You can add a click event listener for Elements with the data-close attribute to remove the active class from the selector given to the data-close attribute when the Element is clicked on and the element the selector gets is visible and has a class of active.

$('[data-close]').click(function(e){
  const dataClose = $(this).attr('data-close');
  const elem = $('[data-id="'+dataClose+'"]').length?$('[data-id="'+dataClose+'"]'):$(dataClose);
  if(elem.hasClass("active")&&elem.is(":visible")){
    elem.removeClass("active");
    e.stopImmediatePropagation();
  }
});
$('.button').on('click', function() {
  const id = $(this).prop('id');
  $('.modal').each(function() {
    $(this).toggleClass('active', $(this).data('id') == id);
  });
});
$(document).on("click", function(e) {
  if (($(".apple-modal").hasClass("active")) && (!$(".modal, .modal *, .button").is(e.target))) {
    $(".modal").removeClass("active");
  }
});
.button {
  height: 30px;
}

.header {
  height: 15px;
  background: #eee;
}

.modal {
  position: fixed;
  top: 72px;
  right: 15px;
  z-index: 6;
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
  transform: scale(0.5);
  transform-origin: top right;
  transition: 0.15s;
  box-shadow: 0 1.5px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.24), 0 1.5px 6px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
}

.modal:after {
  content: "";
  width: 15px;
  height: 15px;
  background: inherit;
  position: absolute;
  background: #eee;
  top: -6px;
  right: 8px;
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
  transform: rotate(45deg) scale(0.5);
  transition: 0.15s;
}

.modal.active {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
  transform: scale(1);
}

.modal.active:after {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
  transform: rotate(45deg) scale(1);
}

Google

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Apple

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Get on your bike, Mike!
Back to the Atrium. For a day.
We've been shortlisted for a Canmol Award!
Tom and Rob talk about "Personality on the web"
A Merry Christmas from Bluegg!
Sorry we're closed this afternoon!
Stuff we like - Pica Pic Retro Gaming!
Tom pops up in .net magazine!
Mike goes for a 260 mile bike ride!
Merry Christmas from everyone at Bluegg!
Mike and Rob's big adventure to the .Net Awards!
Bluegg wins best packaging design award!


text:
/**
 * This class contains methods for creating the Menu DisplayObjectNode
 */

"use strict";

// var KEY_W = 87;
// var KEY_A = 65;
// var KEY_S = 83;
// var KEY_D = 68;
// var KEY_UP_ARROW = 38;
// var KEY_LEFT_ARROW = 37;
// var KEY_DOWN_ARROW = 40;
// var KEY_RIGHT_ARROW = 39;
// var KEY_ENTER = 13;

// var FONT_HEIGHT = 60;
// var MENU_FONT = "" + FONT_HEIGHT + "px Comic Sans MS";
// var TEXT_COLOR = "";

var PAUSE_MENU_SPACING = 10;
var PAUSE_MENU_PADDING = 15;
var PAUSE_MENU_POSITION_X = 70;

class GameOverMenu extends DisplayObjectNode {

    constructor(id, filename) {
        super(id, ""); // has no image, just a parent node

        // levels (nodes of level names for player to select)
        this.options = [];
        // this.levelSelected = 0;
        this.background = false; // a background sprite (to be set)
        this.selected = -1;
        this.cursor = false; // a node represented the cursor for selecting things

        this.upPressed = false;
        this.downPressed = false;

        this.restartGame = false;
        this.backToMainMenu = false;

        this.sounds = [];

        this.cursorUpSound = new Audio();
        this.cursorUpSound.src = 'resources/sounds/menu_select_2_trimmed.wav';
        this.sounds.push(this.cursorUpSound);

        this.cursorDownSound = new Audio();
        this.cursorDownSound.src = 'resources/sounds/menu_select_1_trimmed.wav';
        this.sounds.push(this.cursorDownSound);

        this.chooseSound = new Audio();
        this.chooseSound.src = 'resources/sounds/menu_enter_1.wav';
        this.sounds.push(this.chooseSound);

    }

    update(pressedKeys, dt) {

        this.pollPressedKeys(pressedKeys);

        this.updateChildren(pressedKeys, dt);
    }

    /**
     * Handles key presses
     */
    pollPressedKeys(pressedKeys) {

        // Up
        if (pressedKeys.contains(KEY_W) || pressedKeys.contains(KEY_UP_ARROW)) {
            if (!this.upPressed) {
                this.moveCursorUp();
                this.upPressed = true;
            }
        }
        else {
            this.upPressed = false;
        }

        // Down
        if (pressedKeys.contains(KEY_S) || pressedKeys.contains(KEY_DOWN_ARROW)) {
            if (!this.downPressed) {
                this.moveCursorDown();
                this.downPressed = true;
            }
        }
        else {
            this.downPressed = false;
        }

        // Enter
        if (pressedKeys.contains(KEY_ENTER)) {
            if (this.selected != -1) {
                this.choose(this.selected);
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * "Chooses" the level specified. AKA hitting enter on the level
     *  specified, or clicking on it.
     */
    choose(optionNumber) {
        this.chooseSound.play();
        if (optionNumber < 0 || optionNumber > this.options.length - 1) return;
        switch (optionNumber) {

            // resume game
            case 0:
                this.restartGame = true;
                break;
            case 1:
                this.backToMainMenu = true;

        }
    }

    /**
     * Selects the level with the specified number, but doesn't 'click' it
     * Unselects the level which was previously selected, if there was one
     */
    select(optionNumber) {
        if (this.selected != -1) this.options[this.selected].unselect(this.cursor);
        this.selected = optionNumber;
        this.options[optionNumber].select(this.cursor);
    }

    /**
     * Moves the cursor up
     */
    moveCursorUp() {
        this.cursorUpSound.play();
        if (this.selected == -1) {
            var selected = 0;
            this.select(selected);
            return;
        }
        var selected = this.selected - 1;
        if (selected < 0) selected = this.options.length - 1;
        this.select(selected);
    }

    /**
     * Moves the cursor down
     */
    moveCursorDown() {
        this.cursorDownSound.play();
        if (this.selected == -1) {
            var selected = 0;
            this.select(selected);
            return;
        }
        var selected = (this.selected + 1) % this.options.length;
        this.select(selected);
    }

    /**
     * Returns the parent node of the level's walls
     * success is a boolean
     */
    static makeGameOverMenuLayer(score) {

        var layer = new GameOverMenu("GameOverMenu", "");
        layer.background = makePauseLayer();
        layer.addChild(layer.background);

        layer.cursor = this.makeCursor();

        var optionCount = 2;
        var optionRestart = this.makeRestartGame(0, 2);
        var optionBack = this.makeBackToMainMenu(1, 2);

        var gameOverMessageNode = this.makeGameOverMessage(score);
        layer.addChild(gameOverMessageNode);

        layer.options.push(optionRestart);
        layer.addChild(optionRestart);

        layer.options.push(optionBack);
        layer.addChild(optionBack);

        layer.select(0);
        return layer;
    };

    /**
     * Makes the level title nodes for the player to select from
     */
    static makeGameOverMessage(score) {
        var gameOverMessage = "Your score: " + score;
        var gameOverMessageNode = new TextNode("GameOverMessage", gameOverMessage);
        gameOverMessageNode.font = MENU_FONT_SMALL;
        gameOverMessageNode.fontColor = (score > 0) ? "green" : "red";
        var gameOverMessagePositionX = 620;
        var gameOverMessagePositionY = 200;
        gameOverMessageNode.position = ({x: gameOverMessagePositionX, y: gameOverMessagePositionY});

        return gameOverMessageNode;
    }

    /**
     * Makes the level title nodes for the player to select from
     */
    static makeRestartGame(optionNumber, optionCount) {
        var optionText = "Restart Game";
        var optionNode = new TextNode("RestartGame", optionText);
        optionNode.font = MENU_FONT;
        var optionPositionX = PAUSE_MENU_POSITION_X;
        var optionPositionY = this.generateYCoordinate(optionNumber, optionCount);
        optionNode.position = ({x: optionPositionX, y: optionPositionY});

        return optionNode;
    }

    /**
     * Makes the "Back to Main Menu" option TextNode
     */
    static makeBackToMainMenu(optionNumber, optionCount) {
        var optionText = "Back to Main Menu";
        var optionNode = new TextNode("BackToMainMenu", optionText);
        optionNode.font = MENU_FONT;
        var optionPositionX = PAUSE_MENU_POSITION_X;
        var optionPositionY = this.generateYCoordinate(optionNumber, optionCount);
        optionNode.position = ({x: optionPositionX, y: optionPositionY});

        return optionNode;
    }

    /**
     * Generates the Y coordinate of the option TextNode
     */
    static generateYCoordinate(optionNumber, optionCount) {
        var paddingTop = PAUSE_MENU_PADDING*8;
        var paddingBottom = PAUSE_MENU_PADDING;
        var spacing = PAUSE_MENU_SPACING;
        var yCoord = (((600.0 - paddingTop - paddingBottom) / optionCount) * optionNumber);
        yCoord += spacing + MENU_FONT_HEIGHT + paddingTop;
        return yCoord;
    }

    /**
     * Makes the cursor node
     */
    static makeCursor() {

        var cursorNode = new Sprite("Cursor", "Ball.png");
        cursorNode.setPosition({x: -30, y: -20});
        cursorNode.setPivotPoint({x:75,y:70});
        cursorNode.setScale({x:.35, y:.35});
        cursorNode.physics = new Physics(cursorNode);
        cursorNode.physics.gravity = {x:0, y:0};
        cursorNode.physics.angularVelocity = -0.001;

        return cursorNode;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This New Zealand and Cook Islands Vacations: Beach and Adventure package is perfect for the weekend warrior. This one was planned for a couple from Virginia who had only a week for their vacation. They wanted to have some outdoor adventures in New Zealand, but also relax on the beach.
Next for their New Zealand and Cook Islands Vacations: Beach and Adventure package, they flew to Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island. Nestled on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range, Queenstown offers breathtaking views at every turn. It's also known as the adventure capital of the South Pacific and a world-renowned bungy jumping destination!
They had 3 nights in Queenstown completely at their leisure. They enjoyed lots of hiking in the mountains, a day trip to the beautiful Milford Sound, quad biking, and a boutique winery tour in the nearby Central Otago wine region.
Continuing their New Zealand and Cook Islands Vacations: Beach and Adventure package, they flew to Rotorua. This North Island town is known for its volcanic landscape, with interesting rock formations, steam vents, and boiling mud pools. They did some hiking through the geothermal wonderlands here and were able to see a traditional Maori haka dance. Then, they drove up to the capital city of Auckland. They overnighted in Auckland and had an evening to explore the trendy bars and restaurants. The next morning, it was time to say goodbye to New Zealand and begin their journey back home.
Welcome to the Cook Islands! Stay at the fabulous Muri Beach Club Hotel on the main island of Rarotonga. This adults-only resort puts you right at the heart of one of Rarotonga's most outstanding natural features: Muri Lagoon. The lagoon is Rarotonga's aquatic playground, superb for snorkeling and swimming. With other water sports like kayaking, wind surfing, kite surfing, sailing and glass-bottomed boat rides, there's always an opportunity to get out on the water and away from it all.
Today is yours to spend at your leisure. Renting a scooter is a great way to see the island of Rarotonga and explore hidden beaches. You can also choose to have a delicious and authentic dinner with some local families on the island. Or, simply relax by the pool at your beautiful resort.
Say goodbye to the Cook Islands and hello to adventure-filled New Zealand! Your first stop is Queenstown, the adventure capital of the South Pacific. Nestled on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range, Queenstown offers breathtaking views at every turn. Your time here is at your leisure to enjoy the many adventures on offer, including hiking, bungy jumping, mountain biking, quad bike tours, jet boat rides, Lord of the Rings scenery tours, and much more! The iconic Milford and Doubtful Sounds, plus fabulous wineries in Central Otago, are great for day trips.
Take a short flight to Rotorua and pick up your rental car. Rotorua is a geothermal wonderland and a sacred place for New Zealand's Maori people. Around Rotorua, you'll find adventure, caving, blackwater rafting, glowworms, and fabulous landscapes. Perhaps explore the fascinating natural attractions at Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, including colorful sulphur formations and boiling mud pools. Experience an authentic Maori feast and haka performance at Te Puia. You can also take a helicopter excursion to White Island and tour the active volcano!
Drive north to the capital city of Auckland today through scenic North Island farmland. Enjoy the evening in Auckland, perhaps exploring some of the fabulous shops and restaurants along the bustling Viaduct Harbour.
Today, your wonderful Cook Islands and New Zealand vacation comes to an end. Drop off your rental car at the airport and board your flight back home.
After a trip across Lake Wakatipu on the TSS Earnslaw, pull up a chair and enjoy a pint with the locals at Atlas Pub on Steamer Wharf. A boutique bar that's about the size of your kitchen is the watering hole for locals after a hard day at work/mountain biking/paragliding/kayaking. To ensure you don't go hungry, the tapas here are great as well, but the best thing…the $18 steak! It's the best steak in town and what a price! A tasty piece of NZ beef, jus, fries, garlic butter, and salad will keep your whole party happy. Enjoy the last of the evening sun, which if you're lucky enough will paint the landscape with a lovely amber glow as it sets behind the mountains in front of you. The pub is abundant with friendly locals who are always up for a chat, so pull up a chair and start talking!


Since many years law enforcement teams have been using many tracking technologies depending upon their requirements.
But GPS tracking stands out from all other as it is the most reliable as well as the most affordable one.
Law enforcement officers can use this even in the remote areas and can also monitor the behaviour of team from a distance if necessary.
Having GPS tracking can help the officers in doing their job more accurately.
Still, having doubt about GPS tracking, then here we are shedding 10 benefits of GPS tracking in law enforcement.
• Real-time Location – This technology enables dispatchers to identify the closest officer in case a call comes in.
• Suspect Tracking – With the help of GPS trackers the time-consuming process of tracking a suspect can be successfully made with more efficiency.
• GPS Tracking for Investigations – GPS tracking provides a highly successful method of suspect tracking.
• Object Tracking –GPS is often used to track shipments, packages, and other materials as part of the investigation.
• Immediate Assistance – In case an officer is injured, GPS tracking will help the officer to receive immediate assistance even if he or she is unable to call for help.
• Historical Data – GPS helps in retrieving historical tracking data such as movement status and vehicle idle duration, which could become invaluable evidence.
• Updates During Pursuits – While monitoring vehicles during a pursuit, tactical decisions can be made while on the go. During the multi-vehicle pursuit, the whole team can see where the rest of the vehicles are located.
• Geo Location –Real-time mapping with GPS enhances call for back up support to know where they are headed and enables the team to arrive where it is needed at the right time.
• Geo Fencing – Spatial fences or virtual perimeters can be digitally set to restrict assets and people under house arrest to a prescribed geographic region With Alerts for breaching the set perimeter.
• Paperless Reports – GPS tracking solutions generates digital reports so that supervisors can view the data in an easy-to-read format.
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text:
Muslim talaq law in India
Divorce by email
India's Supreme Court is currently considering the Muslim practice of instant divorce. The family law allows Muslim men to end their marriages by simply repeating the word "talaq" (Arabic for divorce) three times. But there is growing opposition to the practice. Ronald Meinardus reports from New Delhi
The citizens of India have been in conflict for decades – and especially since the nation's independence in the year 1947 – over the constitutionality of Islam′s archaic divorce law and its highly illiberal practice. The government in New Delhi now hopes that a Supreme Court decision will finally lay the long-standing dispute to rest.
Commentaries on the talaq issue are again filling the opinion pages of Indian daily newspapers; on television talk shows supporters and opponents wage vociferous verbal warfare. The question as to which divorce law should apply to India's Muslims is much more than a legal dispute. It is about the precarious relationship between the country′s Hindu majority and its Muslim minority, yet first and foremost – and above all else – about the fundamental question: how secular is India?
India is home to 180 million Muslims. Indonesia is the only nation with a larger Muslim population. These people are subject to their own Islamic personal law – a situation attributable to the country's colonial legacy. This tradition has not been touched by any government, regardless of ideological hue. Even when the nation attained independence, the status quo was preserved. This means that for India's Muslims, Sharia law applies to marriage, divorce, adoption and succession.
Islamic legal scholars, who continue to exert a strong influence on certain sections of this minority population group, say that the talaq divorce is covered by Islamic law. Meanwhile many column inches are devoted to reports on Muslim women whose marriages have been dissolved through talaq; sometimes these "instant divorces" – readers learn – may occur electronically via email and more recently, even via text message or WhatsApp.
Hardened fronts
In this legal conflict, the battle fronts are unyielding and clearly defined: "talaq is a question of faith for the Muslims, a practice that's 1,400 years old. It's beyond the remit of the court to rule on it," says a representative of the "All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board" (AIMPLB). Behind this rather clunky name is an association founded in 1973 with the primary aim of defending the Islamic Personal Law for Muslims in India. Conservative Muslims support the association, but its reception among liberal-minded members of the minority is rather more lukewarm.
At a time when minorities are increasingly becoming the target of aggression, behaviour that is encouraged by the ruling Hindu BJP party, the controversy surrounding instant divorces has developed into a discussion about protecting the rights of religious communities. Thirteen percent of Indians are Muslims – the sub-continent′s largest religious minority
The government's line of argument is diametrically opposed. "Talaq is not an integral part of religion," says Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who then makes reference to the legal practice in a series of Muslim-majority nations, for example Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Morocco. There, Islam is the national religion, but family law prohibits "instant divorce", he says. In addition, the practice of talaq violates the principle of equality. It discriminates against the women concerned – both with regard to their position within their marriages, as well as with regard to the majority of Indian women who are not affected by the archaic practice.
The divorce law debate does indeed only affect a comparatively small group of people. In a report for The Hindu newspaper, the General Secretary of the "Islamic Forum", A. Faizur Rahman, quotes data from the 2011 national census: according to these, of India's 84 million female Muslims, "only" 212,000 are divorced. This represents a share of 0.25 percent. There is no record as to how many of these marriages were brought to an end in accordance with the Sharia procedure.
Experts agree that tolerance of the talaq practice is first and foremost the result of a lack of education. They substantiate the theory by observing that "instant divorce" is more common in rural regions than in the comparatively modern urban centres of India.
Divorce law for Muslims at the behest of the government?
The government has now announced that it will approve a divorce law for Muslims if the Supreme Court declares the practice of talaq unconstitutional. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has so far maintained a highly noticeable silence in the current debate, could in this way score political points with liberal Indians of all confessions.
Critics say the secular zeal of the Hindu nationalist BJP government over this issue is out of synch with the religious flavour of its agenda in other questions: they are thinking first and foremost here of the BJP's "cow policy": policies focused on the protection of the cow, an animal considered holy by Hindus, have led to the imposition of beef bans in federal states governed by the party. This is popular with devout Hindus, but disregards the interests (and the traditions) of religious minorities. For a while now people have been talking about a process of "majorisation", which sees Muslims suffer more than most.
Whatever the outcome of the divorce law dispute: the debate over the role of religion in politics and legislation and the rights of religious minorities in the world's largest democracy is unlikely to fall silent.
Ronald Meinardus
Islamic divorce law in India: Trouncing triple talaqMuslims in India: Nothing like equal opportunitiesHindus and Muslims in India: Why census data is a priority political issue
Gender, Justice, Muslim women, Narendra Modi, Sexism and violence against women, Women in the Islamic world
Discrimination against Muslims in India: mass protests against new citizenship law
Dozens of people have been killed as a result of protests against India's controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. Critics say the law is aimed at marginalising Muslims and goes ...More
Protesting Modi's Citizenship Amendment Act
The rape of India's soul
India's rapid descent into xenophobia, violence and irrationality has an important economic dimension, but it takes politicians to channel these emotions into nationalism and to ...More
Kashmir: Living with the curfew
Since the leadership in New Delhi revoked the special autonomy status, previously laid down in the Indian constitution, for the state of Jammu and Kashmir at the beginning of ...More
India and Pakistan
"If Germany can be reunified, so can Kashmir"
Calls for a free Kashmir are becoming louder on both sides of the divided region. Can the German reunification model be applied to the India- and Pakistan-ruled Kashmirs? And what ...More
Modiʹs identity politics
Islamophobia threatens to engulf India
Indiaʹs constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, but the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not care. Run by Hindu-supremacists, it is ...More
India's Muslims under Narendra Modi
Gandhi bows out
150 years after the birth of the Indian freedom fighter, the Hindu nationalist government in Delhi has distanced itself from Gandhi's legacy of peace more than any other preceding ...More
Sexuality in Iran
Facing a "sex putsch"