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Bonus Episode 9 - Culture Shock in Italy for British Father
Aug 10 / Charlie Baxter
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By Charlie Baxter
What's this episode about?
In this episode, Charlie invites Martin from Rock n Roll English back on the show to talk about the cultural differences he is noticing now that he is a father raising a child in Italy with his Italian wife. We also made another episode on his podcast (Episode 231). Go check it out!
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Transcript of Bonus Ep 9 - Pt. 1 Transcript
And we have Martin. Hello, Martin, from Rock and Roll English. You're back again. How the hell are you?
Martin:
I'm fine, thanks, Charlie. Thanks for having me on. I always mention how it is so strange when we record these podcasts. So you just ask how I am. And we've been speaking for like twenty minutes already. So to ask someone how they are after 20 minutes is always a strange thing, isn't it?
It is, but I deliberately didn't ask you that question and we went straight into you talking about your wallet and your piece of string that we might recycle if if you really want. But so I didn't actually ask "How are you?".
That's such a good point. Yeah. Well, how rude was that? We were talking for 20 minutes and you didn't even ask me how I am?
But there we go. I can now get an authentic response. How are you?
True. Very true. Very well. Thank you. Very well. You?
Yeah I'm good. I'm good. I did actually answer your question earlier. I've had a bit of a lazy day today. I shouldn't really admit that, but. Yeah. Yeah. So it's good to get a podcast done today. This evening for me. Morning for you. But yeah, today we're talking about fatherhood because you of course know that you are a father.
Yeah. I mean, I still struggle to believe it's true, but apparently it is. So yeah. Already, this guy.
Yeah. How long have you been a father?
When people ask me this, my first thought is when is the 14th because she was actually born on Valentine's Day. Easy to remember. Yeah. I'm not one of those people. You know, when you speak to someone, they say like she's like twenty eight and a half weeks. That's really strange. I just go by months. Well, at the first, you know, you go by days originally and then once you get to the one week mark, you go by weeks, you get to that a month and then you go by months and then you get to a year and you go by years. You get some people, don't you? And they say, like, you- say, how old is your baby? They said, 36 months. So- well that- that's exactly three years then. You can just say three.
And they might even dare to do that in weeks.
Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah. Yeah. So she's almost four months. Yes. I've been a dad now for nearly four months.
Exactly the same time that she's been alive.
So thank you very much for not making me do the calculation of how many weeks in a month. I agree with that. A lot of people do that. I think probably when you become a father or when I would potentially become a father, I might be a sucker for the average, like, opinion on how to phrase it. I might might go the wrong way. But you've- you've been strong and you've held your ground.
Yeah, no, I generally just lost count as well. You can't- you know, you get to life after, like, four weeks. I think we got to like eight and then after that you've got to go by months. It's too difficult.
Yeah. Did you do it with the pregnancy? Because that's- that's one that I get a bit frustrated with as well. Oh, she's 15 weeks.
Yeah. You know what, with the pregnancy I kind of did mainly because my wife was always up to date with that one, because after so many weeks, this happens. How many more weeks to go because you've kind of got the count down. So, yeah. So I suppose with the pregnancy that- we kind of did, I was kind of kept up to date with that one, but-.
I suppose that app tells you each week how big the baby gets.
All of that. So in fact I- I always had oh the baby's like the size of like an apple the size of- and then you got like all of this fruit, basically, until the baby is actually born. Which is a strange thing comparing your baby to fruit the whole time. But yeah, that's basically how it works.
So I'm just trying to think if there's anything British in comparison to other cultures there, did you notice anything with your partner? She's Italian, right?
Mmm, yeah.
Any any differences in the lead up to having the child that you're like, Oh, that's a bit different.
One, I suppose was here. Straight away, you tell someone like you're expecting a baby and they're like, what's the name? Whilst in England, we kind of like to keep that a bit of a secret, don't we? Like, no one really tells you that before for no reason really, whilst here it's like, yeah, very much everyone's like, direct question. What are you calling the baby? And so I was a bit like, whoa, like, you know, that's a really personal question. And it was- my wife was like, no, it's not. Everyone does it here. So- so that was a bit strange. They also do this another thing, which I find strange anyway, here, of like when people I dunno like in the last few weeks they go to a photographer and basically they get their, like, stomach painted of like with a baby and the baby's name. So the baby was say, like Ricardo and they'll have that. And yes, it's a bit weird. We- we obviously didn't do that.
Sorry I thought your- the C, in that name, was a T. I was a bit confused.
Ok, no, sorry. I was trying. I thought I'd be flash and do the Italian pronunciation. Ricardo, for the English one, yeah.
That's a tradition that we definitely don't have. But I've noticed in America and may- and Australia, they- they do the photo shoot of being pregnant and the husband cupping the belly. I don't think we do that in England. I think we take-.
We- we'd- we scoff at that, don't we? We think that's too ridiculous.
Yeah, very much so. I mean, the Italian equivalent of that is the one I sort of just mentioned.
Because they do that and then they have this thing of, like, the- the painted baby on this stomach and. Yeah, but yeah, we're- we're very much so. I didn't want- I didn't want to do any of that.
Ok, so, was- was your partner disappointed?
No. Luckily, she's actually got yeah quite, erm, I think a British mentality of like low-key kind of stuff. So she was very happy to not, and do this. And I- I suppose this one, another cultural difference. When the baby arrived immediately because we had a girl and here it's very common (to) pierce the baby's ears immediately whilst- and then I saw, I believe in other cultures, I think in South America as well.
Whilst again, in Britain, that's very much considered a big no no.
Yeah. I would say that even at a young age of like under teenage years, people would frown upon it, wouldn't they?
Definitely. So obviously we didn't do this for my daughter. And so to give you an example, my niece, who is coming up nine recently basically insisted on getting her ears pierced. And yeah, my brother was not so happy about it, to be honest, but he gave in to the pressure and like, yeah, she's nearly nine.
Right. She's in- in England.
Yeah, in England. Yeah, but but yeah, just to like, demonstrate the point we were making of, it's not something young children do, that's all.
Yeah. Yeah. Your brother would be quite shocked if he was married to your- your partner.
Yeah. Although again my partner didn't really want that to happen, but it was mainly like family and friends saying, saying "Are we-", "Are you going to get her ears pierced?"
Ah, they came with a gun.
Come here, little baby! Yeah.
So, yes- so that- that was another strange thing for us as well.
Don't need to spend too much time on it, but is there much maternity, paternity leave in Italy?
No, not much at all really in comparison to the UK. So the UK, I mean for the women, I think it's around about a year. I don't know how it works. I think maybe the last few months you maybe get paid a little bit less. In Italy, it's basically three months. Well, the women- I actually literally just went self-employed just before she was born, so I didn't actually get any-.
Good- good move!
Yeah, exactly. But I think I think you get like two days anyway for, like, paternity leave-
Two days?!
- missed out. Yeah, exactly.
Wow. I remember in Germany, they- they give the women two years. They- shhww- one year or two years split between the- the one year of salary. Yeah. And then you can come back to your job. But I don't get how companies survive. If I- as a company as your- as you're a self-employed man, imagine if you got one employee and then she turned out to be pregnant in a year you'd be bankrupt before she got to the 12th week.
Yeah, I mean, I agree. Yeah. Especially if you're paying them for like, for two years or whatever. No, no idea.
I suppose that comes across a bit sexist. It's just- just thinking about the finances, guys. Nothing more. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so I got some questions from my Instagram followers asking you about your- your fatherhood, your journey that you've been on. And one of them @ls_natasha is asking, "What books will you read to your child?"
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Ok, I mentioned something about this recently on a podcast, so I bought a few books because I'm very much, and I'm very keen to, like, teach her English, let's say, because obviously she's growing up in Italy. My wife speaks to her in Italian, like my wife's family, obviously speak to her in Italian. So the only real English input she's got is from me. So obviously, I literally, just like, "Come, I've had a really busy day today." "Oh, I did so many lessons. I'm so tired." Just keep talking and talking and talking. But, so, reading stories. So I got a few books. So I was reading one the other day. So first of all, the stories have got some vocabulary in there. It- it- it goes over my head. It's too- it's too difficult for me and it's more like- for like, children. Children basically.
What? What kind of like-?
There's just some weird vocabulary in there and I'm sort of thinking what does that- and I'm trying to pronounce it. I'm like, yeah, but- but- but- so I don't think I'm the best, like, story reader and but yeah, I was reading one the other day about The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.
Oh yeah. Classic.
Yeah, exactly. And there was one bit though where- yeah, ah, I'm reading it. And then it says- because obviously the word pussy-cat, if you take off the word "cat" off that, you're in trouble, basically. I'm- I'm sure everyone's familiar with that. But-
You know, our generation-
Female area, let's say private area.
Private area. Very good. Yeah.
So then it- I was reading it and it just said like, "Oh, pussy, my lovely pussy, my beautiful pussy." And I'm kind of reading this thinking, this is a bit x-rated, to be reading to my daughter. That's like, not even four months old. "Oh, you beautiful pussy."
And I just felt extremely uncomfortable saying those words.
To my thoughts. So yeah, I had to add on Pussy Cat, but yes, I've got some lovely story books. Actually, have lots of pictures and then I try to like tell her what's going on. You know, there's the mouse, there's the cat, there's a dog, whatever.
Is she engaging visually with them?
Sometimes. Sometimes she, you know, she couldn't give a sh-
Shut up, Dad. Shut up about that pussy.
Exactly. Although, we read in a story about the pussy, okay. Sometimes she starts crying and then her mum has to come in and say, "Look, that's enough. She's really not interested." But sometimes she is. Such- her mum has to like break it up! It's like a fight.
No, is it a generational thing, though. My auntie has a cat and whenever I go round, it really disturbs me because she strokes it and she said, "Oh, beautiful pussy. Mwah! Aww, lovely pussy! Mwah, pussy!" And I- yeah, I feel like you in that situation.
Yeah, very awkward.
That one is called the cat and the-
No, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.
The Owl and the Pussy-cat. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Yes. Any others?
Err well so generally you by the books and there's like quite a few stories in there. Yeah. They're pretty expensive as well, these books, because they got, like, lots of big pictures, you know, when you go through them pretty quick and then you're like, 'oh, am I going to recycle them?' Because if I- if I'm buying these books for the pace we're reading these stories, I'm going to go bankrupt. It will be like hiring someone that gets pregnant after two weeks. It's like everyone's just trying to bankrupt me.
Yeah. Yeah. I've actually- I've actually thought of a- a product that I want to do in the future. I do voiceovers and I've been doing children's books occasionally.
And I quite enjoyed the little characters.
And I thought a good option would- would be to build an app for the iPad or whatever device. But, you know, I can imagine a kid engaging with an iPad like that. And doing loads of these short stories, writing them in good illustrations. But then at the end of it, having this sort of pronunciation drilling and like the hard sounds to produce like, you know, in an interactive way. And if it was an app form, you could have loads of different stories and it wouldn't be much of a waste of product.
Exactly. You don't have to keep buying the books. Yeah, you just buy the app. I kind of like it. Yeah. Count me in.
I'll be there. You can count me - one subscriber.
Yeah, I think it'd be nice. Okay. So but just for others who are wanting to get books for their children, any others that you can remember that you're enjoying?
I'd like to say, I've only got these actual books which I think they're called- I can't remember, like Usborne Books, Usborne, something like that. They seem to be quite big. So I'm trying to build a collection of them. I've got three at the moment and there's probably about stories in each of them, I think it's called-
Edward Lear is the author or illustrator.
So the Usborne Children's books. Yeah, although I don't know if my pronunciation's correct. They're-.
They're bloody good, bloody good place to start, which is basically where I've started.
Nice. Nice. Okay, great. There we go. Next one was from Miriam. "How different is the education in Italy considering the culture?" I've reworded it, I didn't need to. "How different is the education considering Italian culture and English culture?" Obviously, that's a little bit later on in the journey for you. But do you know anything about it, based on the fact that you've lived there for quite a few years now?
This episode comes with a free worksheet over on the website www.thebritishenglish.com So grab that and you can listen along whilst using it.
Yeah, also, obviously, although I have lived here for quite a few years, obviously I haven't been through the school system myself. So, like, you hear things. Yeah, it seems to be very much more intense here of like doing lots more homework, especially for the young kids. I often hear stories of parents having to do like their homework for their kids and like, you know, eight year old children falling asleep on their books. And this kind of thing- whilst, I remember I didn't actually get any homework till I was in the last year of primary school, which was 10 to 11. And it was very minimal.
I think the same, yeah. I thought you were going to say I didn't get any homework until the last year of school, which would have been worrying. I think so, about 10 years old, you start getting homework, maybe a few things to do with the topic books. Do you remember topic books?
Ah, not one hundred percent sure. Maybe because I'm older than you.
Like Year Two, Year Three. Now, my sisters, they were three, five years older than me. They had them. So you have like ten or so pages and you have to stick things in and then mount them and like display something visual about a historic thing about your geographical thing.
Yeah sort of primary school stuff. Yeah, kind of. I can't remember doing anything in primary school except sort of just playing football in the playground. Exactly. And the other things that we used to do sometimes- again, this was a choice thing I think, and then so, no one really did it. D'you know like after the summer holidays and you like, right. What- and you had like a sort of book about what you did during the summer holidays. Did you do that one?
Yes, yeah.
Pictures stick them on some pages. Yeah. So yeah, a lot of these things, they all seem sort of like, you know, nice fun things. Whilst here, it seems to be a bit more, a bit more intense. And they did- they have these things called interrogations here.
Wow. That does sound intense.
Yeah. Exactly. Which are their exams. Which all the exams are verbal here-.
And it's called an interrogation?
Yeah. Yeah. It's like the direct translation would be an interrogation. People often say to me, how do I translate- by- the word in Italian is 'interrogation', how do I translate it? It translates as 'interrogation'. But because we don't- we don't have that. And yeah, the only translation is 'interrogation'.
But we would say 'oral exam', wouldn't we?
Yeah, I- I suppose an oral exam, but yeah. I mean, and they make you apparently like do this oral exam in front of the whole class as well. You have to stand up in front of the whole class. Pretty intense from, ah, just, like, sticking in a few pictures in a book.
Right, definitely. So this is primary school when they're young-
Ah, I'm not sure if- if the interrogations go on at primary school, definitely go on at middle school, which again, is not really a thing in England, definitely go on there, which is I think for about 10 to 13.
Right. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Okay, interesting. Well, there we go. I- I feel like you've- you've hit the nail on the head there. You've answered Miriam's questions about the cultural differences, although, timings, I want to know that for some reason. Do you- have- do they have different times to go to school than English kids?
Yes. Yes. They generally start earlier, I think from around like eight, eight-thirty, I'm not sure. And then they finish at like maybe two o'clock, maybe a bit before two o'clock because it's like, you have lunch at home. They don't have, you know, like, we have like a lunch break at school. We eat at school.
They might finish and they go home for lunch.
That would be quite a late lunch.
Yeah. So they, I think they have a break around about eleven o'clock and they like apparently they've got to have something quick to eat then. But sometimes I think some schools, between one and two, they finish. I'm not 100 percent sure. It depends on the school, but they finish between one and two, maybe primary school finish a bit earlier.
Okay. Do you remember having the half day when you went in reception and then finally you did the full day?
Yeah, that was- that was a step up, wasn't it? Yeah.
Big boy,
It's that big boy shit, yeah.
Oh, okay. Well, thank you very much, Miriam, for that question. Going on to Petra's question, "Are you raising your child bilingual, English and Italian?"
I'm certainly hoping to. That's- that's definitely the plan.
I was actually very worried about this before because I kind of find it a bit strange to talk to my wife in English, because when you- when you do that, which is really strange for me, because English is obviously my native language. So I never thought I would feel strange speak in my native language, but I do. When I speak to my wife in English, because everything changes, like the tone of voice changes. It's like you're a different person.
And also- so like with her as well. So it's like, 'Who are you?' Like, yeah, where's my- where's my wife gone? So I, I was really worried that I was going to feel uncomfortable talking to our child in English as well. And I was thinking, oh God, this is going to be a nightmare. She's going to- she's not going to learn English and she's only going to learn bad Italian from me. Like, so I was really worried, but it's actually not the case at all, because I don't feel strange talking to her in English, to my- my daughter, that is. And now it's actually a bit more normal to speak to my wife in English because she hears me speak in English much more now whilst before she didn't. Whilst now I'll be speaking English a lot more at home. So, yeah, the- the plan is to raise her bilingual. I actually read a book about this as well, raising a bilingual child. And it's one of those books, you read the whole thing and you kind of think, well, someone could have just given me the whole one line, which I already knew anyway, which was like, basically one parent, one language.
I was just going to say that I think I've heard that. You can't try to do both languages with your-.
With your daughter as one person. You've got to be- yeah. Which- which would not encourage or favour a single parent, family, would it? That would- that would be quite a hard challenge.
Very much so. Very much so, yeah. And so yeah, we're trying to raise her obviously to be bilingual. And another strange thing about this is you kind of learn lots of, like, kids vocabulary. So also- even for like my wife, like the other day, she said to me, like, what- "What does din-dins mean?" Because like- I said, I was talking to, like, my baby girl. I said, "Ah, did you have some din-dins?" Because you kind of have this, like, baby kind of vocabulary, don't you?
Yeah. Yeah, we do.
Which you hadn't really thought about. But there's lots of kind of baby words.
You know, like 'cheeky monkey' is another one.
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. And also, as you said, being different languages, you change your tone and stuff. So it's strange for you to talk to your wife in a different tone. You're almost a different person. And when you speak to a child, you often have that raised- raised tone, don't you? Do you get a bit confused and you just start talking to her in that tone because she only knows that version of you in English?
Maybe, actually. Well, because normally when I'm talking to my wife in English, it's like talking to my wife and baby at the same time. If we're just having just me and my wife, then we're talking.
So who are the cheeky monkeys in the room? You kind of-
Yeah, exactly. So, so yeah. I suppose my wife is also learning the same kind of baby talk.
That my daughter is.
Yeah. Useful stuff though. Yeah. Let's squeeze one more into Part One of the episode. Sasser says "How different he would behave with his child from his father, with himself?" I think what Sasser's saying is-.
OK, so like-.
Do you understand that?
Mmm, I think so- so like- so like how my father was with me and how I am with my daughter.
Yeah. Can you rephrase that, like, kind of in that way, but in a question?
Would you say- how would you compare your fathering skills to your father's. Something like that, I don't know.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's good.
Yeah that would do. I got the message across. That- that's what language is for. Just to get- so you can communicate the message, doesn't matter how you do it.
Exactly. Thank you, Sasser. So, what do you think?
I mean obviously to my, my daughter's only we mentioned not even four months old.
So I don't really remember what my dad was like in that period.
That's a great point, yeah. I suppose we don't need to get the Freudian sofa out quite yet.
Yeah, I'm not 100 percent sure. So, what do I think of like my dad and things I think of like going to the park to play football when I was, you know, a kid.
Well, let- let's think of it how you want to be, in relation.
You know, I want to put my dad down here. He did a good job. So, yeah, if I raise my daughter like my dad raised me, I would be fairly happy. Yeah.
I didn't quite appreciate how you could be putting your- your dad in it, but, for that question, yeah.
Yeah. He did a shit job like, I- I- I- as long as I do better than him then I'll be okay.
Well I feel like we can, we can say that we're- we're learning- improve our family's existence as we get one generation wise.
Of course, I think that- that's- that's always the thing. I think for my dad, with his dad, I think that just generally happens. One thing as well, I read recently, because I obviously read a lot of stuff about parenting stuff when- when you get there, is that now obviously people like me become parents much older. So my dad was a dad when he was probably, I don't know, 23? Already, that's a big difference in your in you personally so if you're asking someone that's like 23 or 36 to be a dad, like they're different people. So that makes a big difference. So yeah. So like, in the past, when people were having babies, when they were like, you know, 20 and stuff like that, like, I'm sure they were doing their best. But sometimes they didn't even know, like, what to do. That's the other thing about being a parent. You realise no one's got a clue. No one knows what's going on. I kind of just thought people know this stuff, but no one- no one knows. Everyone just kind of makes it up as they go along.
That's why we're so scared. Or a lot of people are quite scared of having a child because you feel like you don't know. But yeah, that is interesting to- to be that side of it. And you can see that no one's got a clue, especially first time parents.
Yeah. And then as well, lots of people tell you stuff like, 'Oh, you've- you've got to do this, for example, when doctors tell you the complete opposite of like, for example- Now, just to give an example, it's standard practise for babies to sleep on their back, whilst in the past I think they had babies on their stomach. But apparently, there's actually a risk of like, the baby suffocating. So maybe the older people would say, 'Oh, no, the baby needs to sleep, but she needs to sleep on her stomach.' Well, you know because the doctor who's, like, probably knows a little bit more than you, told me, that's like strictly forbidden. As- I would in this one, I'm going to trust the doctor.
And your wife is saying, 'Shut up! Shut up! Yes, that's a lovely idea. Thank you. We're going to be leaving now! Come on, Martin!'
Yeah, exactly. So, but, yeah, as I said, you realise no one's got a clue. Basically.
Yeah. Or a people, have lots of opinions, but they're not necessarily based on- on facts. Yeah.
I heard something about how much you sleep, how much the baby sleeps on- like their head tilt, like whether it's, it's, you know-
And, and that apparently forms the skull a bit.
And I'm really paranoid of my head being quite weird, like that ways. So I imagine that I was always on my side.
Very possibly, yeah.
And then I look at people who have really flat back head, back part of their head. I don't really know the- other than cranium, I don't have more vocabulary to give you. But I think that they must have been, you know, lying on their-.
OK. I- I- I hadn't really checked out forms of heads before, but I thought-.
Have you not?! Ahh. I used to be very paranoid about it. I got over it, eventually. Yeah. Quite alien-like, isn't it?
Yeah. I hadn't really noticed. But now- now you mention it, I can- I can see something. Yeah.
Yeah. Bit of a ledge.
Still- still, I don't think- it's a good head. It's a good head.
Do Italians have a very sensitive opinion around the disciplining of a child as British people do now? I feel like our generation have really gone away from, you know, any kind of physical punishment.
Okay, right. I see what you mean. Yeah. I mean I, cert- certainly if you're talking about that, then I would say-.
Again, not thinking about four month, year old.
No, exactly. Yeah, let's give it like, a smack for- for being a cheeky monkey. Yeah.
Don't put your head that way when you're sleeping.
Yeah, exactly. 'I bloody told you this already.' 'Well, we'll read in this bloody story whether you like it or not.' 'No breast milk for you tonight.'
Bribing. That's another low.
Yeah. I mean, I said- maybe find out further down the line. Yeah, certainly. So when we're talking about sort of like physical punishment of like giving someone a smack, I think that's very much frowned upon here as well now, like you said, like in the UK.
For some reason, I can imagine Italians being a little bit less offended by it just because of sort of the-.
More emotional, uh, ability to express themselves than British people.
Although I have had a mother once of one of my students say- we have to do like these kind of like parents meetings when you have to, like, tell them maybe their child is a bit like misbehaving. And she said to me, like, 'If you need to, like, give him a smack to, to, like, put him in his place,
Then you can do that. Well, obviously, I didn't take her up on the offer.
Quite wise. Yeah. Actually, I do want to keep my job for now, but as soon as I'm leaving, I will give him a bloody good thumping.
Yeah, exactly. So in fact, yeah I suppose I don't really know yet but like yeah I think it's yeah I'm, I'm not 100 percent sure.
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Guys, if you haven't heard of Martin's channel, or his podcast, sorry, then Rock and Roll English. It's been around lot much, much longer than mine. It's much better than mine. And he's hilarious. So head over there. And the website is https://rockandrollenglish.com
Yeah. And everything will be in the show notes. OK, thank you very much though.
Thank, thank you very much.
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From Rock N' Roll English
Martin is from the UK but lives in Italy and teaches English at International House Palermo and runs a wonderful podcast called Rock N' Roll English which has a similar mission statement to The British English Podcast although I'd say his is a bit more informal and unfiltered focusing less on culture and more on authentic stories and conversations.
He has many years experience teaching English and has taught English at various different schools, large financial companies, law firms and now he teaches at International House, Palermo.
He has a TEFL qualification and is also CELTA qualified.
Martin also likes reading books and going to bed early cos he's so Rock n'Roll.
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Podcast host: Charlie:
This will be quite a bit harder for you to understand, as there are a number of accents in the conversation, some poorly delivered at times, as you will notice.
But the aim is to give you a variety of dialects in one conversation and some dialogue to give you native expressions in context. So enter, if you will, to Charlie's pub and his imaginary world.
Character: Mike:
Alright geezer, how's it going?
Character: Chris:
Yes, I'm well thanks. How about you? Have you had a good day?
Can't say good mate. No my old man he's been giving me a right old earful for what happened on site last week.
Oh that's a pity. Are you back on your dad's building project again?
Sad to say mate, but yeah, I am. Couldn't resist this one though. Cash in hand, you know.
Oh fair play, hard to resist those I imagine. Oh, here she is.
Character: Emily:
I was wondering if you're ever going to join us tonight.
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State Officials Urge People Not to Travel in Many Areas of Southeastern North Carolina
State Highway Patrol, emergency response and transportation officials are urging motorists not to travel in many areas in southeastern North Carolina because many roads remain impassable due to flooding and road conditions are continuing to change.
Travel is not recommended in the following counties: Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, western Craven (west of U.S. 17), Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, southern Johnston (south of U.S. 70), Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland and southern Wayne (south of U.S. 70 Business).
"Several roadways in the affected areas are still under water, presenting very dangerous driving conditions," said Colonel Glenn McNeill Jr., commander of the State Highway Patrol. "While some routes are starting to open, motorists should avoid travel in flooded areas unless absolutely necessary and should never drive on flooded roads."
There are many roads where water levels will continue to rise making the roads impassable during the next 72 hours or more depending on when the local rivers crest. Although water is receding on some roads, those roads and bridges may be damaged and road closures are still in effect. Motorists should follow signs to avoid dangerous roads.
Under normal conditions, GPS systems are reliable for navigation but are less reliable in the aftermath of a hurricane when conditions are frequently changing. As such, motorists should avoid completely relying on their GPS systems for roadway information as these systems may re-route them to a road that is closed.
Many areas affected by the storm only have a few safe roads in and out. These routes are vital for recovery efforts and need to be kept clear of excess traffic and stalled or wrecked vehicles that can hinder recovery work. Motorists are urged to keep those routes clear for law enforcement, fire, EMS, National Guard, utility companies, and others who must have access to the hardest-hit areas of the state.
"We're working hard to get essentials such as food, water and fuel to the hardest-hit parts of our state," said Mike Sprayberry, director of the N.C. Division of Emergency Management. "Residents and visitors can help us by staying away from the areas most impacted by the hurricane while these relief efforts are in full swing."
Sections of Interstates 95 and 40 remain flooded with multiple closures. At this time, there is not a safe, stable or reliable route for the public to use to get to and from Wilmington.
Traffic using I-95 South from Virginia should use U.S. 64 West (Exit 138) to Interstate 540 West to I-40 West to U.S. 321 South to I-85 South. Follow directions in South Carolina to re-access I-95.
If you must travel, be prepared for long delays. State officials said Thursday morning the following routes are the least likely to flood but urged people to get the latest information on travel conditions from www.DriveNC.gov. Roads that are clear at one time may not be later.
From Raleigh to Kinston
I-440 to U.S. 64 East
Take Exit 436 to U.S. 264 East
U.S. 264 East to N.C. 11 South in Greenville
Continue on N.C. 11 South to Kinston
From Raleigh to New Bern
U.S. 264 East through Greenville to Washington
In Washington, take U.S. 264 East to U.S. 17 South
U.S. 17 South to New Bern
From Raleigh to Havelock
In New Bern, take U.S. 17 South to U.S. 70 East
U.S. 70 East to Havelock
From Raleigh to Morehead City
U.S. 70 East through Havelock to Morehead City
From Raleigh to Jacksonville
U.S. 70 East to Morehead City
N.C. 24 West to Jacksonville
Conditions continue to change and travel should be confirmed before traveling. For more information on road conditions, please visit www.DriveNC.gov.
If you would rather not receive future communications from North Carolina Department of Public Safety, let us know by clicking here.
North Carolina Department of Public Safety, 4201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4201 United States
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Bellevue, Washington – January 18, 2019 – T-Mobile US today announced that Ulf Ewaldsson has joined the company as its new Senior Vice President, Technology Transformation, reporting directly to Chief Technology Officer and EVP, Neville Ray. Ewaldsson brings years of network innovation experience to this new role where he will drive T-Mobile's 5G technology evolution strategy.
Ewaldsson joins the Un-carrier after nearly 30 years at networking and telecommunications company Ericsson, where he most recently served as a senior advisor to the company's CEO. Prior to that, Ewaldsson held various senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy & Technology Officer, Head of Group Function Strategy & Technology, and Head of Product Area Radio.
Ewaldsson holds a Master of Science and Master of Business Management from Linköping Technical University. He currently serves on several Board of Directors as both member and Chairman, including the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, ASSA-ABLOY AB, Telecom Management Forum and others. He will be relocating with his family from Sweden and joining T-Mobile the last week of January.
As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. Our advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 79.7 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.


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August 21, 2021 August 28, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
À bientôt et merci à tous.
If you enjoyed reading why not share it with your friends:
Why the Dirac Notation Works?
July 22, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
When we first learn Dirac notation (the bra and ket thing to represent state vectors), the notation for the inner product becomes so succinct.
But why? Why does it become so succinct? I know there are a lot of questions that are meaningless or they need not have an answer for the theory to work but there should be an explanation for it. Is there a theory or something deep inside that makes it work. Or it is a mere coincidence.
Are there other such notations that promise to make the notations look more succinct like the Dirac notation or is it unique?
Perpetual Tourists — Our Natural Places
July 5, 2021 July 5, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
I loved this Blog so much! ❤
Following are the best lines that I always wanted to read and yet never found in any article or any book 🥺😭
"We visit places in nature. We look at things. We like the things we see. We like doing this more than going other places which are not in nature.
We are simply tourists. Rather than visiting monuments, museums or massive commercial theme-parks, we prefer the sights and sounds of forest, swamp, field and coast."
Header Image: Swallow-tailed Kite "Are you a birder?" The question was simple enough. My answer was quick: "Yes." Once upon a time, I considered myself a "bird watcher", but somewhere along the way I discovered that term had become replaced with the more trendy "birder". Sitting next to Gini that evening, sipping tea and taking […]
My Another Blog 😮
June 13, 2021 July 5, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
I have also been blogging at technoshivani.wordpress.com but now I am thinking to transfer it here for my own convenience. Also, I would like to share a few things that I made in Blender. I still haven't worked a lot. I can post it on twitter or facebook but these days I am taking a break from all of it. So I am sharing it here.
A little collage of my very early attempts at 3D art 😊🤭
I love Blender sometime, but sometime I don't. Also it was shocking for me that The Blender Guru, Andrew Price said in a video in which he was interviewing the creator of Blender, that he does not do programming! 😳
Sometimes It's Just Too Much
June 9, 2021 July 5, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
I hate the questions I cannot solve; the theories that look so cool and yet I cannot understand. I hate the documentaries that make physics look cool and interesting and yet don't ever tell you how hard it is to actually do it on paper. Our brain is not very good at handling complex informations. The easier, the better. So, some people said Earth is Flat. Too complicated if it were round. Let's just stick with two dimensions, its easier. Phew. I guess if we could perceive four or five dimensions, then some people would actually think the earth is three dimensional, because then it will be inherent. But they would still believe other silly things, like, God. It's actually really funny that the word God has so many meanings. There was a time when I knew only one. So, given the fact that we like simple things, our God is also simple, LIKE US. I mean literally LIKE US. So, there. That itself disproves the actual existence of a god.
"Hey, who do you think made all of this.. huh?"
The easiest answer:
"A really powerful person"
"Who made fire?"
"Fire GOD"
"water?"
"Water GOD"
And so problem solved.
But then why do we always need to believe what majority of people on a planet think. I mean there are people who are skeptical, rational and use scientist's toolkit to find how and why of things. Why don't we take them as the representatives and say, we do like complex things. And our mind is not afraid of handling the vastness of the universe. It's not easy but it is easy for atleast some people on the planet.
So I hate physics. The How of things is so boring that it makes the Why of things which is actually interesting, also boring. I mean I like it sometimes but I hate it most of the time. The process. The system. I hate the books people recommend and the books I recommended myself.
Also I know it's not related to whatever I said before but "Never listen to someone so deeply that you forget your own voice."
Goodbye.
Electromagnetism Is the Weirdest Force
May 1, 2021 May 1, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
Really awesome article by 4 gravitons ☺
For a long time, physicists only knew about two fundamental forces: electromagnetism, and gravity. Physics students follow the same path, studying Newtonian gravity, then E&M, and only later learning about the other fundamental forces. If you've just recently heard about the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force, it can be tempting to think […]
I like to think about QM sometimes…
April 17, 2021 April 17, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
My ramblings – part one
I woke up this morning and just randomly opened a chapter in the quantum mechanics book. I could see all those paragraphs, some underlined, things written here and there. "Yes I've been here before", I thought. I don't really wanted to read but then I started reading unwillingly. Questions started popping in my head. Its like when you read a thing but when you come back to it after a long time, you ask something to yourself and then the whole paragraph makes sense, like why it was written in the first place. "Oh, so that's what it was trying to say!". Now you understand that thing because you asked the right question in your mind. And you were curious to know why. The answers were just sitting there (like all of the truth) but what was missing is the right question.
And that right question was, "How do you solve a time dependent schroedinger equation?". I have only focused on how the time independent one is solved that I forgot why we were doing it in the first place. You get different solutions for different energy values, so called infinite solutions. But then you can always form a linear combination of all of them to get the more general solution, or the solution of time dependent shroedinger equation.
My ramblings – part two
In mechanics, finding x and t is just the beginning. After that we have velocity, acceleration, force etc. to calculate. But calculating psi in quantum is such a difficult task.
In mechanics there are so many situations you have to apply those formulas to. But in quantum mechanics its so hard to even get past the first step. It's just one of the many problems during qm learning process.
And another thing that's even more daunting is that, the whole edifice of QM is based on the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics (whatever that means 😕).
Probably because QM is so hyped of being mysterious and fundamental; that's why there is an awe when we read these things, even if it's hard. But in that sense, mechanics or statistical mechanics is as much mysterious and fundamental. But it still doesn't feel that way (to me). I don't know why.
The Boring History Of Quantum Theory
So, this boring history of quantum theory starts when scientists began realizing that not everything can be explained using classical mechanics (though even today i dont see how it describes things 🤔; nothing seems real). Actually, in a sense they were already aware of their ignorance but as the experimental observations began piling up and they couldn't figure out why, they started doubting that there is more to this world than the mold they were trying to fit it all in. Too bad 💔🥺😑… But life goes on…
If I remember correctly, there was this blackbody radiation experiment; it turned out that warm bodies are quite picky in what kind of radiation they want to emit (like i set aside anything that i don't like in my plate, no matter how fresh or healthy it is) no matter how powerful or energetic. And then Max Planck came to the rescue and told us that the electromagnetic radiation is very picky and can't be helped.
In a pile of pages, there was a paper explaining how matter particles ignore the number of photons coming to its rescue unless they really struck the right cord. How romantic ☺❤🥰 After reading this paper that person (you know who 🤭) declared that not only the electromagnetic radiation but atoms themselves are very picky. There are teenii tiny bits inside them; these little babies are very nauseas about leaving their home 🥺😭💔
I don't know if he woke up from a dream where he saw a swarm of photons shouting, We Are Bored…, We Are Bored…, We are Bored…!!! It was really cute, so he decided to do something about it. He thought why not announce a race between them. So, he made two holes in a paper, and… listen carefully, made them Real Close. "Get, Set, annnnnnddddd GO!!!", he said. Cute, chubby, and yellow photons glittering everywhere around him. The Sun must be really happy today; its children, little pieces of its own heart are having a bllaaassstttt!!! Those yellow babies started racing faster and faster…. "me going fassttt 🥺" … "nooo me going faster"… but they didn't realize that they were all racing at the same speed. "It's so fun to see these cuties mushmashing in there", he thought. "I should do it more often".
Sadly, when people found out what was going on, they weren't happy at all 😑😐. They said that's not how a swarm of photons should behave! It's against the law… blah blah blah. But Remember, the photons were already having a blast so they never listened to anyone, and they even started enjoying when humans were annoyed by their behavior. So they decided to do something bigger…. 🤭
One of them, who had just arrived on earth and was pretty bored travelling for millions of years, suggested. "hey buddies, i've heard they are going to install cameras in tomorrow's race, to spy on us!" … "whooaaaa really!", a little photon who just got up from its nap said. "I'm telling you, we need to really mess it up!". And after explaining them what its plan was (author: which is always kept secret in movies so i'm not gonna tell you either) raising both of the hands said, "Are You With Me!??" And everyone shouted, "Yes We Are! We Are Bored… Yes We Are! We Are Bored".
And again, no one was happy how the swarm of photons were behaving. Suddenly, they were famous all over the world. They kept making new plans for annoying the humans, (who were always so keen to have a control over it all) and enjoyed every bit of it. People started telling these stories generation after generation.
Not only humans, but there were others who were not happy about their fame. And they decided to beat 'em up. They were teeny tiny bits inside the atoms. But no matter how silently they talked about their plan, the atom was bound to find out. So they took it in their plan as well. 🤫
So now not only photons, but those teenii tiny bits and their atoms also became famous. But photons had their own charm and no one could ever take their place. 🥰
Humans were always having a blast, destroying everything, and killing each other but it wasn't enough so they decided to find out why and how the photons and atoms were having such a blast without killing each other 🤔. But NO ONE EVER FOUND OUT WHY OR HOW. 🤯
While photons were celebrating and having a blast, humans were getting mad, scribbling on papers, trying to find out how they can figure out the secrets of the universe. (🤫🤭There were no secrets at all🤭🤫).
But there were some photons… They leaked some of the information to a german guy…,"Hey buddy, what's up? You know we have decided to have some privacy. Hope you people don't mind… and blah blah blah". And he got so happy that he couldn't sleep all night and waited for the sunrise with a big smile on his face.
Books… hmmm…
April 10, 2021 | Cosmoshivani
if a book doesn't make you smile, throw it away and actually throw away all of them until you find the right one ❤🌼🦋🌿


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The First-Ever 'Museum Of Broadway' Has Announced Its First Special Exhibit Opening This November
We have pretty much every type of museum possible in NYC, except for one dedicated to the most iconic stages in the world…
Claire Leaden • October 5, 2022
Museum of Broadway_Ain't Misbehavin'_Designed by Derek McLane
Until now! NYC getting its very own "Museum of Broadway" opening on November 15, 2022, and they just announced their first rotating special exhibit.
Curated by David Leopold, this exhibit, titled The American Theatre as seen by Hirschfeld, will take visitors through nine decades of Hirschfeld's iconic images of theater in this country through 25 drawings and prints dating back from 1928 to 2002.
Hirschfeld created more posters for shows than any other artist, and the exhibit will also allow visitors to sit in a replica of Hirschfeld's barber chair, where he drew all the finished drawings in his career.
Visitors will be brought face to face with the original productions of The Phantom of the Opera, Funny Girl, Beauty and the Beast, and Hairspray, among others. Visitors will also have the chance to create a Hirschfeld portrait of themselves with an app created exclusively for this exhibition.
The concept for this museum has been in the works for a while, and on June 14, the museum released the following teaser video, giving fans a sneak peek at what they can expect to see when the Museum opens this November:
The museum, which will also be interactive for guests, is founded by entrepreneur and four-time Tony Award® nominated producer Julie Boardman, and Diane Nicoletti, founder of award-winning experiential agency Rubik Marketing.
Visitors can expect a behind-the-scenes look at some of Broadway's most iconic shows, with the help of internationally renowned artists, designers, and theatre historians who have all come together create NYC's first fabulous, multi-floor, experiential Museum of Broadway.
Paul Bennett Architects, PC
This includes but is not limited to:
A visual history of Broadway from its birth to the present day highlighting theater's pioneers, landmark moments of social change, and many of the most beloved plays and musicals of all time
Immersive installations designed by leading contemporary visual artists and acclaimed Broadway designers, highlighting pivotal shows that transformed the landscape of Broadway
"The Making of a Broadway Show," a special exhibit honoring the community of brilliantly talented professionals – both onstage and off – who bring Broadway plays and musicals to life every night
A retail store, created in partnership with Creative Goods, that will sell everything a Broadway fan could want, from show-specific merchandise to bespoke products from small local businesses
MuseumofBroadway_Ziegfeld Follies_Designed by Sam and Ryan Ratelle
Overall, the Museum will highlight more than 500 individual productions from the 1700s-present, including The Ziegfeld Follies, Oklahoma!, The Wiz, Ain't Misbehavin', and Rent, among many more yet to be announced.
In addition, the Museum will also feature work from Emmy Award winning illustrator I. Javier Ameijeiras (Rent Live!), neon artist Dani B, Tony Award nominated dancer Robert Fairchild (An American in Paris, former NYCB principal), Drama Desk Award winning scenic designer David Korins (Hamilton, Beetlejuice), choreographer Julio Monge (West Side Story), and dancer Tanairi Vazquez (West Side Story, Hamilton).
Museum of Broadway_Rent_Designed by Paul Clay
"For people all over the world, Broadway is synonymous with NYC. Whether you're a local or a tourist, a die-hard fan or just a casual theatre lover, The Museum of Broadway aims to offer a bit of education, plenty of appreciation and a whole lot of fun for everyone, young and old and everywhere in between," co-founder Diane Nicoletti said.
The Museum of Broadway is founded in collaboration with Playbill, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, The Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, Concord Theatricals, Goodspeed Musicals and additional partners to be announced soon.
Museum of Broadway_The Wiz_Art by Jiahne Li
Timed tickets start at $39, and a portion of every ticket sold will be donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Tickets can be purchased here.
The museum will open at 145 West 45th Street on November 15, 2022.
In other news: Lincoln Center To Open $550 Million New David Geffen Hall
Culture Top News


Welcome! The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC) is part of the NASA Funded National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program established by Congress in 1988. Nationally, Space Grant is a network of 52 university-based statewide consortia (all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) with nearly 1000 affiliates.
Occasional stratospheric weather balloon launches throughout the year. Write to the "Contact Us" link for more details.


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On Ambassador Qin Gang's Balancing Act
Brian Wong
DPhil in Politics candidate and Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford
Ambassador Qin Gang recently replaced the long-serving Cui Tiankai as China's top representative in the United States. Qin Gang had previously served as the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, having risen through the ranks of the Foreign Ministry and serving an extended stint as Spokesperson from 2005 to 2010.
Known to many for his pragmatism, amicability, and willingness to engage in closed-room conversations, Qin possesses a trait that is rare amongst many other diplomats – access to and a robust understanding of the needs and preferences of the upper echelons of Chinese politics. His ability to interpret and implement the Politburo's decisions would be vital – as well as tested – as he navigates the precipitously hostile political landscape in Washington D.C. Indeed, one may reasonably characterise the task ahead as a precarious balancing act.
On one hand, Qin must repair the frazzled relations between the U.S. and China – animosity that has accumulated over recent years, in response to deeply rooted economic anxieties in America concerning China's astronomical ascent, the increasingly bellicose and confrontational rhetoric adopted by Chinese and American diplomats alike, as well as allegations concerning China's ostensible role in the COVID-19 pandemic and human rights abuses. Much of these flashpoints have paved the way for rapidly declining trust, dwindling civil society-to-civil society and government-to-government exchanges, and considerable mutual hardening in stances amongst senior leaders in Zhongnanhai and the White House. In conjunction with his recently appointed counterpart (Ambassador Nicholas Burns) – in Beijing, Ambassador Qin must find a way to engage with the challenges, criticisms, and opposition from the American establishment, to assuage worries over an excessively expansionist and aggressive China amongst the American public, whilst ensuring that he successfully upholds the core interests of China.
He has – thus far – appeared to have performed reasonably well. In a widely circulated Tweet on America's ongoing resurgence of COVID (under the Delta variant), he has asked – perhaps rhetorically, perhaps spontaneously – "How about our two countries [China and the U.S.] work together on solutions, e.g. more effective vaccines and helping other countries?" The conciliatory rhetoric there both highlights China's willingness and commitment to greater leadership roles as a global power, as well as openness to collaboration with America on issues of mutual concern, including public health challenges and tackling climate change.
On the latter, Qin's highlighting of China's positive track record in another Tweet – "new records" in production of new energy vehicles – as opposed to detracting from and criticising America's approach to emissions curbing, offers a refreshing departure from the more bellicose comments made by some of his peers at the Foreign Ministry, concerning the "environmental damage" inflicted by the United States. This is not to say that calling out American inconsistencies and inadequacies should not be an imperative – but that the tone and framing of such criticisms could be substantially more constructive. As The Guardianputs it, Qin Gang "struck a conciliatory tone in his debut press conference upon arrival in Washington DC".
Yet on the other hand, Qin must also be mindful of two critical facts. Firstly, conflicts between Chinese and Western interests – whilst exaggerated – are increasingly real, in two senses: across the world, liberal democracies have been compelled by domestic populism and rampant Sinophobia to shift towards a more hawkish and trenchant stance towards China; leading the pack, of course, is America. Furthermore, as China continues to amass economic influence and presence, it is likely that the unipolar world order would inevitably transition towards a multipolar one – this move certainly would ruffle many feathers, as well as upset vested interests in positions of power. From Beijing's perspective, Qin must be willing to stand up and speak for Chinese economic interests on American soil, on fronts ranging from lifting the ongoing tariffs and protecting the interests of Chinese citizens residing abroad, to refuting allegations concerning China's domestic affairs. To do so – without inducing unnecessary offense or resentment – requires Qin to be artful and precise in his messaging, as well as dexterous in his means of communication.
Furthermore, the Chinese diplomat must also reckon with the increasingly vocal and pronounced nationalistic sentiments in his home country, as netizens and civil society actors alike rally behind a more assertive, emboldened China. The rise of defensive nationalism – in response to what the Chinese public perceives to be neo-colonialist impositions – and revanchist nationalism – in relation to the country's claims to and over disputed territories, have inevitably caused the Foreign Ministry to shift towards drawing and sticking to conspicuous trench lines. Not only does Qin answer to the Politburo and senior advisors on foreign affairs, he must also answer to the precipitously powerful crowd back home.
Satisfying any one of the above prerogatives should not be a particularly Herculean task. Satisfying all of them at once – and then some, however – is incredibly difficult. Days before his departure for America, the veteran diplomat paid a visit to the Jin Jiang Hotel Auditorium – where the Sino-U.S. Joint Communique was issued during Nixon's monumental 1972 visit to China, one that had unthawed a relationship previously "frozen" by Cold War tensions. One would hope that Ambassador Qin could channel some of the diplomatic tactfulness embodied by Premier Zhou Enlai in his facilitation of that seminal visit – and bring about some much-needed reset to U.S.-China relations. The world needs it.
China's Foreign PolicyChina's U.S. Policy
The Hot Peace Paradigm
Wang Jisi President, Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University
Avoiding War, but Always Worried
Yan Xuetong Distinguished Professor, Tsinghua University
Redefining U.S. Competition with China
Sun Chenghao Non-resident Research Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University
Maximise the Payoff and Minimise the Damage
Brian Wong DPhil in Politics candidate and Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford
A Matter of Guardrails
Jin Liangxiang Senior Research Fellow, Shanghai Institute of Int'l Studies


Do you believe in Gods? Well, not everyone in the world of Varlonan does, and that is perfectly fine. Though they do exist, and if you get on the wrong side of them even if you are blissfully ignorant of their presence, you'll still feel their wrath. Perhaps you will simply think it an act of nature however, or a streak of bad luck... or even just coincidence. There are others who will not agree with you, because they know the strength and influence of the pantheon, and choose to attempt favor in their eyes.
What kind of favor? Well you see the pantheon has a deity of every flavor: some enjoy sacrifice, some encourage the strengthening of life, while others delight in a full blood war that brings misery and chaos. Each deity is different even if some appear to be on the 'same side' of things. To gain favor amidst them, you simply have to spread their word and desire in the world. A deity becomes stronger the more followers they have, because it means their word touches the living better. More devoted acts dedicated to a deity will most likely benefit you even more. I'm sure a God of Disease would thoroughly be pleased at the invention and spread of something new and not yet resisted by the living's immune system for example.
You do not have to worship the Gods however, because they will always be there in the background of the world, pulling the puppet strings of life to let the world flow on as it has for centuries prior. It will not hurt you to believe or pretend they do not exist, usually. You may even come face to face with a God and still believe them a mortal... though I assure you an attempt in battle with them may very well be the last thing you do in Varlonan.
Welcome to the realm of the pantheon. Venture further to expand your knowledge of the wiser or the powerful, to gain insight on the beings who claim to be the very ones to create the world and all within it.
Click below for to learn about the different gods of this game. They are NPC's and will only appear and be used by game staff for the use and guidance of a quest or event. There are three sets of Gods to choose from: the Varlonan Gods, the Human Era Gods, and the Mortal Rising Gods. The first is a list of NPC deities created to aid player's in their story creation, and for GM's to use as tools in quests and events to elevate certain type stories. The second group is the guide and rules to using non-Varlonan deities (Zeus for example) and how to refer to them in this game. The last group is the rules, guide, and listing of PC Gods, earned by any player who can reach the achievements to obtain that title. Yes, any player in this game if they so choose can rise to become a "God" in a sense. It has limits, and it doesn't come with any OOC rights or privileges, but it will give some extra status to a character within the game. That still doesn't mean others have to recognize your God however!


text:
California Struggling with Growing Numbers of Elderly Prisoners
VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) – The state's prisons are experiencing a steep and subsequently costly rise in the number of elderly inmates.
The number of inmates 55 and older has nearly tripled in a dozen years to 5,800, comprising 4 percent of the prison population. The trend is a result of more stringent parole and longer sentences, notably through the "three strikes" law that makes repeat offenders eligible for terms of 25 years to life.
Older inmates are less violent and dangerous but housing them may cost three times as much as housing younger inmates, studies show.
Last year, the state spent $676 million on inmate medical care, nearly twice as much as seven years ago. Officials can't say how much of that went for elderly patients, but the elderly they fall ill more often and are more likely to require expensive care for problems such as cancer and dementia.
Ernest Pendergrass, 79, serving a life sentence at the Vacaville prison, has survived four types of cancer and a stroke. His daughter, a pharmacist, estimated that his 12 daily pills run $1,800 a month.
Although California has the nation's largest penal system, with 33 lockups, it does not have a rules for the handling of elderly inmates, who are mixed in with the regular prison population.
In other states, including Louisiana, North Carolina and Ohio, the elderly are housed in special units or entire prisons of their own.
Youth and Adult Correctional Secretary Robert Presley said change is overdue. He told the Los Angeles Times for a story Sunday that he wants to put old inmates in one prison.
"We're not talking about mollycoddling prisoners," said Jonathan Turley, law professor and founder of the Project for Older Prisoners, a national advocacy group. "It's a matter of realizing your population is not homogenous and taking steps that can save a lot of money."
Another option, freeing old inmates, repeatedly has failed to win support.
Assemblyman John Longville, D–Rialto, sponsored a 1999 bill to shift some inmates over 60 to nursing centers or home detention. It died in the Assembly.
"A lot of people around here have no interest in letting anybody out of prison," Longville said. "It's almost a religious thing. It's certainly not a pragmatic approach."
National studies show that only about 2 percent of men paroled after 55 return to prison.
See Mike's Desk Page for comments


text:
Q: Facing issue in Json parsing user profile feed
I am working on a project in which I have to parse user feed data
  using Json.

Here is the url of json:
http://ourfield.affixwebsolution.com/api/feed?data={%22userId%22:210}

This is my code where I am parsing the json

 public static ArrayList<FeedDataClass> parseFeedddata(String res)
    {
        ArrayList<FeedDataClass>arr =new ArrayList<FeedDataClass>();
        FeedDataClass obj=new FeedDataClass();
           JSONArray jsonArray ;
           JSONObject jsonInnerObj = null;
        try {
            JSONObject jsonObject =new JSONObject(res);

             jsonArray =jsonObject.getJSONArray("data");
             Log.d("eaweaer", jsonArray.toString());
            for (int i = 0; i < jsonArray.length(); i++) {

                  jsonInnerObj=jsonArray.getJSONObject(i);

                  try {
                      obj.strid = jsonInnerObj.getString("id");
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    // TODO: handle exception
                }

                try {
                    JSONObject timeline = new JSONObject(jsonInnerObj.getJSONObject("timeline").toString());
                    obj.strusername=timeline.getString("username");
                    Log.d("efe", obj.strusername);
                    obj.strurl=timeline.getString("avatar_url");
                    Log.d("aeefwe", obj.strurl);

                } catch (Exception e) {
                    // TODO: handle exception
                }
                try {
                    obj.strtext=jsonInnerObj.getString("text");
                    Log.d("qeeqf", obj.strtext);

                } catch (Exception e) {
                    // TODO: handle exception
                }
                arr.add(obj);
            }

        } catch (Exception e) {
            // TODO: handle exception
        }

        return arr;
    }

now the problem is, there are total three posts in json, but everytime
  I am getting last feed . also it is getting printed 3 times in UI
  because loop is running perfectly. dont know what is the mistake I am
  doing here.

Help me to sort out this issue, Thank in advance.

A: You have only one instance of obj which keeps on updating the same memory location. In the final loop cycle it gets updated with 3rd value and shows you. But yes you add it 3 times in the list so you have same object thrice.
Move
FeedDataClass obj=new FeedDataClass();
JSONObject jsonInnerObj = null;

inside for loop.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Nowadays fashion blogs are living the the first generation blowing up on the Internet, thousands of girls update everyday their dailystyle websites to show and inspire other people. Chicisimo has understood perfectly the need to share and document outfits so they created the website which aims to be catalizer of streetstyle tendencies.
Some weeks ago Techcrunch echoed the new era of the fashion blogs so we decided to interview Gabriel Aldamiz Chicisimo founder, check out the interview not to be out of style.


Best Buy $20 off $200 Purchase with American Express Link, Like, Love Statement Credits!
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text:
PAINE, Martyn. The Institutes of Medicine...
New York: Harper & Brothers/London: Sampson, Low & Co., 1867. Eighth edition, revised. With a presentation inscription from the author reading 'Franklin Institute Philadelphia, Pa., Presented by Martyn Paine.' Tall thick 8vo., rebound in library cloth (with a marble pattern), xvi, 1145, 9pp. ads. Ex-library with the bookplate and perforated stamp of the 'Franklin Institute Philadelphia' (on first and last pages), library pocket at rear, call number in gilt at foot of the spine, an unworn copy but with all the usual library markings and binding.
Martyn Paine [1794-1877] American physician, born in Williamstown, Vt., July 8, 1794. He graduated at Harvard college in 1813, studied medicine in Boston, and practised in Montreal, Canada, from 1816 to 1822, before returning to New York. 'During the prevalence of the cholera in 1832 he published a series of letters upon the disease to Dr. J. C. Warren of Boston, which were collected into a volume entitled "The Cholera Asphyxia of New York " (1832). In 1841 he united with five other physicians in establishing the university medical college (the medical department of the university of New York), in which he held for many years the chair of the institutes of medicine and materia medica, and afterward that of therapeutics and materia medica. In 1854 he was prominent in securing a repeal of the law against dissections of the human body, which was till then a state prison offence. He is a member of many of the principal learned societies in Europe and America. His principal works are: "Medical and Physiological Commentaries" (3 vols. 8vo, 1840-'44); "Materia Medica and Therapeutics," on an original plan (1842); " The Institutes of Medicine " (1847; last ed., 1870); " The Soul and Instinct, physiologically distinguished from Materialism" (1848; enlarged ed., 1872); and "A Review of Theoretical Geology" (1856).'


A film about the famous Pamplona Festival in Spain. A place where you can run in front of raging bulls, eat drink and party with friends and strangers all night long.
A film with very little dialogue. The camera is registering events at a distance without comments, actors or added music. The film is questioning things rather than giving answers.


Dmitry Shparo (born 1941) is a Russian Arctic explorer and endurance skier. He is internationally known for twice reaching the North Pole on snow skis.
In 1979, Shparo led the first ski expedition from Eurasia to the North Pole. In 1988, he completed a full traverse across the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Canada via the North Pole. In 1998, Shparo and his son, Matvey, became the first people in modern times to ski across the Bering Strait, from Russia into North America.
Dmitry Shparo was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1941, shortly after the Soviet Union was invaded by German troops. Shparo was the son of Igor and Nina (née Gimers) Shparo. His father was a journalist and a fiction writer, while his mother was a mathematician.
In 1927, when Shparo's mother was only three years old, her father was arrested and declared an "enemy of the nation". He was sent to a labor camp in Siberia, where he disappeared, never to be heard from again.
In 1953, following Joseph Stalin's death, Nina Gimer got a job at the Institute of Applied Mechanics, where she was involved in calculating the trajectories of both the first Soviet cruise missile and the first artificial satellite, Sputnik.
In 1967, Shparo graduated from the Moscow State University, earning a PhD in Mathematics. Following graduation, he began teaching full-time at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISIS).
In 1970, Shparo traveled from Lake Taymyr, the largest freshwater body in Eurasia north of the Arctic Circle, to Cape Cheluskin (the northernmost point of Asia) via the islands of Komsomolskya Pravda in the Laptev Sea. Following completion of this expedition, Shparo was recognized by the national press and news affiliates. Newspapers published his journals and announced their sponsorship of a new polar expedition, with Dmitry Shparo leading the way.
In 1973, Shparo developed an interest in Arctic exploration. At this time, explorers were viewed with a great deal of suspicion in the Soviet Union. Their routes had to be approved by the Communist Party committees and local KGB offices. Following Soviet approval, Shparo led several low-profile expeditions up the outskirts of Russia.
Soviet authorities were taking the Arctic Region seriously. The Polar Ocean was a place d'armes of the ongoing military competition with the US. The Kremlin wanted to see victories in this battle field and not defeats. The stakes of the proposed ski-trip to the North Pole were such that the final decision rested with the Politburo. Its response was laconic: the expedition to the North Pole was "unsuitable and pointless". In March 1979, Shparo left to the North Pole on skis secretly, without the Politburo's permission.
In late April, when news of the flagrant disobedience finally reached the Politburo, its conformist majority was outraged. Kremlin leadership urged the Chief of the KGB, Yuri Andropov, and the Minister of Defense, Dmitriy Ustinov, to send out military helicopters in order to return the escapees and punish them accordingly. Shparo and his teammates were halfway there and Mihail Suslov, the Party's chief ideologist, suggested that chances of their successful arrival to the Pole were quite high. Shparo was allowed to finish his trip, and reached the North Pole on May 31, 1979.
Soon after Shparo's name went into the Guinness World Records, he undertook a new trip, crossing the Arctic Ocean during the Arctic night in total darkness. He walked in the night for two months, from the drifting polar station "North Pole-27" to another drifting polar station "North Pole-28". His 700 km (430 mi) route lay through constantly drifting and crashing ice, and temperatures dropped as low as −70 °C (−94 °F). In February 1986 he arrived at the pole, becoming the first man to reach it on skis.
His projects include an expedition to Franz Josef Land where the winter home of Fridtjof Nansen was found; an expedition to the Commander Islands in Kamchatka, where the grave of Vitus Bering, a world-famous navigator, was discovered, and many others.
As a mathematician, Shparo insisted that the North Pole, as an ever-shifting spot, existed only as a mathematical concept. But even with such an abstract goal in mind, his trips always had a very practical component. Shparo had become one of the earliest Soviet ambassadors of goodwill to the West, before glasnost and perestroika.
In 1989, Shparo and his American colleague, Paul Schurke, led the Bering Bridge Expedition from Siberia to Alaska in an attempt to reconnect Arctic cultures separated by the Cold War. Until World War II, the Inuit of Siberia and Alaska had traveled back and forth across the Bering Strait to hunt walrus and visit relatives. However, in 1948, the Stalin and the Truman governments locked down the border. Shparo and Schurke asked the Kremlin and the White House to open the border to a sled dog expedition.
Along with the preparation of dogs and sleds, Shparo and Schurke had drawn a protocol of intentions and talked the Governors of both Alaska and Chukotka into signing it on the ice on the Bering Strait. According to this protocol, native Chukotkans and Alaskans were allowed to travel, hunt and trade freely again. The protocol was signed at the end of April 1989, several months before the Berlin Wall collapsed. The border was reopened and presidents Bush and Gorbachev both prized Shparo and Schurke for their achievement. Disintegration of the Ice Curtain did not receive the same high-profile treatment as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, yet the main goal of the expedition had been achieved: Inuit families across the border were reunited.
In 1996, Shparo attempted to cross the Bering Strait again – this time on skis and in the company of his two young sons. The expedition failed when overnight the coastal ice had carried the sleeping adventurers 16 mi (26 km) away into the open Bering Sea. Shparo, conceding defeat, set off the rescue beacon, and awaited rescue. A United States Coast Guard (USCG) C-130 Hercules was dispatched from Kodiak to pin down the location. To the horror of the USCG they found approximately 20 polar bears, and the group was feared lost until they were finally spotted, and rescued by USCG helicopters from Nome. In 1997 a second attempt failed when Nikita, the oldest of Shparo's children, fell through the weak ice and sustained severe frostbite. In 1998, in the course of the third attempt, Dmitry and Matvey Shparo managed to successfully cross the Bering Strait, becoming the first people to do so by skis and thus securing another spot in the Guinness World Records and personal congratulations from presidents Clinton and Yeltsin.
In 2005, Prince Albert of Monaco chose Dmitry Shparo, along with son Matvey as partners and advisers in his April 2006 North Pole dog-sled expedition aimed to highlight global warming and to commemorate his great-great-grandfather, Prince Albert I, who made four Arctic trips a century ago.
In 1989, Dmitry Shparo influenced by Rick Hansen, a Canadian paraplegic athlete and activist for people with spinal cord injuries, founded Adventure Club. It is a Moscow-based charity foundation, that in the past 23 years, sponsored countless adventures for disabled athletes and disadvantaged children all across the world. Under the personal leadership of Shparo, blind, deaf, amputees and quadriplegic people have ascended mountain peaks and crossed deserts, including the ice ones.
Dmitry Shparo also stood behind the parachute jumps on the North Pole, running races to the top of Europe – Mt. Elbrus, round-the world ZiL truck expedition, Moscow – Uelen – Seattle – Toronto – New York City – London – Kaliningrad – Moscow and circumnavigation in the yacht Apostol Andre. The Cruising Club of America's Bluewater Medal 2001 was awarded to the crew in New York. In 2005 Dmitry Shparo with the World Race Trust co-organized The Great Russian Race - a 15-week, 7,000 mi (11,000 km) charity ultra-marathon relay from Vladivostok – at the intersection of North Korea, Russia and China, 7 time zones east of Moscow – to St. Petersburg – near the border of Finland and Russia. $340,000 were raised for the benefit of abandoned, orphaned and homeless children in Russia.
In recognition of his polar achievements, Dmitry Shparo has received several honors and awards: the Order of Lenin, the highest national decoration of the former Soviet Union, (other prizewinners include cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Fidel Castro, and Nikita Khrushchev), the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, the prestigious UNESCO award, Fair Play, and gold medals from several geographical societies.
Shparo's career as an author has developed alongside that of explorer. Among his books are A Way to the North, To the Pole! and Three Mysteries of the Arctic. In 2006, Shparo completed a biography of Frederick Cook, defending Cook's achievements and reputation which had been strongly questioned by other historians and biographers.


So the Court Jester goes to the Royal Goldsmith and has him make a tiny round moon just a little smaller than a thumbnail, and he has him string it on a golden chain. The Princess is overjoyed, and is able to play again, for now the moon can always be with her.
Well, years have gone by since we read that story to our girls – the oldest 3 are all adults now. And I had forgotten all about that story until one day a couple of years ago, when Sarah was watching a movie on her computer.
From out of the blue, she asked me, "What do you think about abortion?" (it was a topic in the movie she was watching).
And all of a sudden, there was the "teachable moment". For in all of the information that is being spoon-fed to our society about "women's reproductive rights", a key piece of information is deliberately being left out.
So I explained that to Sarah – I told her what the Guttmacher Institute – 2008 Report and Statistics cites as statistics for abortions per year (~1,200,000 – see Table 1 on p.3), and how many have been "officially" performed since 1973 (more than 50 million). I told her how I had been fooled, just like her, into believing that abortion was a rare thing (the reality is that 22 out of every 100 pregnancies are aborted) – and how my views had changed since I saw those numbers.
I'd like to think that she came away from that conversation with a lot of stuff to think about – she had started to see things from a different perspective than she did a few years earlier, now that she was older and out in the world.
And that's when it hit me – if we are ever going to change the perception of abortion in this country, we first have to understand what each individual THINKS it is. Without that, we cannot go any further. And we won't go anywhere if we tell them that what they think is wrong – but we MIGHT be able to give them something to think about.
This entry was posted in Family, Think about it and tagged Abortion, Abortion Statistics, Guttmacher Institute, James Thurber, Many Moons, Tooth Fairy. Bookmark the permalink.


Awoke to a still overcast sky and 47°. It is Saturday with nothing on our schedule so Ella chose to sleep in. I know that she was awake and coughing a lot during the night.
In the meantime I got up and fixed pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast.
For a change, I used our George Foreman® Grilling Machine to prepare our food.
At one time we used this a lot. However, it has been unused for over a year now. Mostly because it was stored way in the back of a bottom cupboard where it was easily forgotten.
It is very versatile with five interchangeable plates.
Two plates for making waffles. Two plates for grilling, and one shallow pan for griddle frying and etc.
This is actually our second one of these machines. The first one we purchased last century (yes, way back in the 1990s) while we still lived in a sticks and stones house. At some point the first one quit heating and we went to buy a replacement.
What we found was there were a lot of George Foreman grills, but we couldn't find the exact machine. We ended purchasing a used one on eBay® that didn't have the griddle pan or the waffle plates. However, our existing plates fit the machine just fine.
It is now 9:30 a.m. and the sun has come out from hiding. Ella is still asleep. And I have been working on this post while preparing and eating breakfast. So now I'm going to do some reading, studying, and more serious writing. More later.
After Ella was up and fed, we took three loads of laundry to the laundromat.
The sky to the northeast of us looked very dark and threatening for most of the day but didn't amount to anything here. The sun was in and out of clouds until mid afternoon when it came out to stay.
Yesterday I'd posted about Walmart not having Ella's prescriptions ready every though they had sent her text messages saying that they were ready. The pharmacy tech had said that they would be ready today.
I had no intentions of driving back to Cedar Park (approximately 20 miles one way) just to pick up the meds, since Ella had enough to go through the weekend.
We normally go to the Leander Senior center on Mondays. Walmart is only an additional couple of miles from the center. So it made sense to wait.
Well, we went to do laundry in Leander and the laundromat is even closer to Walmart than the senior center. So, yes, we got her medications and some groceries also. At ten miles to the gallon and gas $2.15 a gallon I think you'll understand my reasoning.


To cancel your account, please email us at support@veromo.com.au along with your business name and we will assist you with the cancelation.
Contact one of our friendly Customer Support staff through our live chat during business hours or email at any other time.
Simply go to the login page, click "I forgot my password" and enter your email address. You will be sent instructions via email on how to reset your password.
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Your login email address is the email you use to access the Veromo plaform and serves as the primary identifier through which you will receive communication from our team.


text:
Monbulk Bowling Club seeks 10 new poker machines
Tue, May 21, 2:31pm by Staff Writer
The Monbulk Bowling Club has applied to the Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor Regulation for 10 new poker machines in its venue in Monbulk.
According to the Yarra Ranges Council, The Bowling Club is situated in a recreation complex in Monbulk and has operated pokies since 1995.
They currently have 30 poker machines.
The public are being asked to make submissions regarding to the application via the VCGLR website.
The council has two roles relating to pokies according to its own clauses.
Clause 52.28 regarding the planning scheme in gaming instances requires a planning permit to install or use a gaming machine.
Council's local planning policy under clause 22.08 provides guidance in relation to such applications, in relation to the location of venues.
It is also the shire's responsibility to assess the potential net social and economic impacts of new gaming machines.
The council can make a submission on behalf of the community if it believes there will be a net social and economic detriment from an application for more pokies.
Mitchell Shire wants pokies warning messages
Mitchell Shire Council is calling on the state government to introduce warning signs on all poker machines in the state.
The Victorian council made a submission opposing Hogan's Hotel's application for an extra 20 poker machines at its Wallan premises.
The submission was unsuccessful, with Hogan's Hotel increasing its gaming machines from 45 to 65 earlier this month.
As a condition of the new permit, Hogan's Hotel must increase its community contributions to $100,000 a year for as long as any of the additional gaming machines are in operation.
If the contributions are not allocated, the operation of the gaming machines must cease until the outstanding contributions are paid.
Mitchell Shire is home to more than 40,000 residents and includes towns such as Broadford, Kilmore, Seymour and Wallan.
The North Central Review is reporting the council is calling for the change in a further stance against poker machines.
Deputy mayor David Atkinson moved the motion, which was seconded by Cr Annie Goble, and passed unanimously.
The stand comes after council made a submission to the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation opposing the application for an additional 20 machines at Hogan's Hotel in Wallan.
Cr Atkinson said pokies were the most addictive form of gambling and there was a fundamental issue with the product.
"Electronic gaming machines are designed to keep you playing and programmed to lose money. Stronger regulation is needed to make our community healthier," he said.
A ripper @NthCntrlReview this week – we look at Mitchell Shire Council's stance on pokies; police to start wearing body cameras; independent candidate for federal seat of McEwen; Kilmore Leisure Centre re-opens after 6-month closure & new flight paths over Wallan/ Beveridge. pic.twitter.com/fuD3QLhGSE
— Lauren Duffy (@laurenhenry26) March 5, 2019
"There are a lot of people, often the ones who can't afford it, that get addicted to these machines. These people need to have in front of their face that the machines are designed to make them lose."
Cr Atkinson likened the messages to those used on retail tobacco packaging in Australia.
"These warnings provide a clear message about harmful health consequences of tobacco products," he said.
"Mandating public health product warning messages stating, 'this machine is designed to keep you playing and programmed for you to lose money', clearly visible on each machine to anyone who is using would ensure those using the machines are provided with evidence-based warning message."
Cr Goble applauded the motion.
"Sadly, I believe the power of poker machine operators is too great and this outcome is highly unlikely," she said.
"I think it will be fought against and we could possibly compromise with signs in venues or bathrooms," she said.
Packer to face inquiry
Thu, Jan 23, 12:16pm by William Brown
James Packer will be called to give evidence at an inquiry into the proposed sale of his $1.76 billion stake in Crown…
NT has highest pokies gambling rate in Australia
Wed, Jan 22, 1:37pm by Ethan Anderson
Market research company Roy Morgan has published its Gambling Currency Report, revealing data that gambling on poker machines is declining. The results…
Packer could be called to inquiry
Wed, Jan 22, 1:33pm by Charlotte Lee
James Packer is set to be thrust into the spotlight as an inquiry was launched on Tuesday into the billionaire's proposal to…


Well after much planning and design we now have the new RaceTwitch Iphone application in iTtunes ready for downloading for those of you who have iPhones!
The goal of the iPhone application was to allow athletes to search for endurance races in our large worldwide RaceTwitch.com database. This will come in handy when your spouse is forcing you to attend a wedding, family function, etc. that your not to thrilled to attend!
Grab your iPhone while in the car (not while driving please!) or at the airport and search for a race within a specific distance of your family event and your all set to race! You can now search wherever you are and you don't need your computer.
This is the first version and will be enhanced with additional functionality in the future. Go to Itunes today and search for Racetwitch and download the App today!