"Come join me as I once again offer a personal yet shared journey into the realm's of shadow.
Come dance with me hand in hand as we explore the mystries of our inner deeper selves.
N.B: Comfortable clothing for workshop duration with a change of clothing for ritual.
This is a clothing optional ritual space.
April was chilly, but was dotted with lots of PCV goodness, especially catch-ups in cosy corners, and a beautiful Samhain rite.
On the 30th of April The PCV held our Samhain public ritual. It was held by Seline Ines (of Into Me I See) at her lovely home.
We started by walking up to the ritual space while singing Earth My Body. Once in the ritual space and in a circle the elements were welcomed, Hecate was called upon. We proceeded to do a visualisation of all our loved ones. From there we went to the ancestor tree while singing Bone by Bone. We then walked around the ancestor tree and tied our ribbons to the tree.
Once this was completed we stood in a circle around the tree as Seline tied a large black ribbon to the tree. We then charged a drink as a sacrament which was then poured into each person's goblet and then drank of. After this we then headed down the path back to the house while singing The River is Flowing.
Once back at the house we shared a meal. A drum circle was set up and people started dancing. There were discussions among the group on various topics. People caught up with old friends new friends and memories made. We were taught about rue, a herb of cleansing that had been used to cleanse the ritual space.
It was a lovely night and I would love to thank Seline and all involved for participating in such a lovely and powerful event.
Safely nestled inside The Last Jar, protected from stormy Melbourne weather outside, the April CBD moot was a huge success with several new faces and many regulars in attendance.
A stimulating discussion was had about the nature of altars; what they are, what purpose they serve, where to place them and of course what people put on them. From rustic immovable stone plinths to piles of books, statues, and the benefits of electric candles, each an expression of self and personal flair. After the formal discussion was done, the moot enjoyed a relaxed conversational setting which lasted well into the evening while still maintaining paganism as the primary focus. A phenomenal time was had by all, sharing perspectives on each's respective craft, and enjoying wonderful company.
I keep forgetting to take photos of the Hillsmeets. I have the very best of intentions, knowing that I have to report back to the PCV blog with (hopefully) a jolly photo of everyone looking jolly, but what actually happens is that honestly we're all having too much fun and by the time someone says "Oh, did you need to take a photo for the blog because you got a bit sweary about forgetting to take one last month?" the cafe staff are politely throwing us out because we're the last people in the venue and they've been vacuuming around us while we continue to talk a mile a minute, and the photo would look a bit sad. So I do my now-a-monthly-tradition swear, and make someone promise to remind me to take a photo for the blog *next* month, and no-one does, because we're all talking too much.
So you don't get a photo, but it's a really good thing because it means that the Hillsmeets are a ridiculous amount of fun. This month we talked about our journeys; where we started, where we're going, how our practices have changed, and continue to evolve. There's something really special about sitting around a table with a bunch of people who Get It, and understand how these journeys can evolve; who listen and share their own experiences. It feels like home, and it's lovely. It's even better with cake, but I don't have to tell you that, reader.
The Hillsmeets have got so popular and we're all rather fond of them and so it looks as though we'll be branching out with the odd weekday dinner, which will be advertised in the usual places. Because a month really is too long between catch-ups sometimes, and a couple of the regulars can't make the usual weekend ones any more, and honestly, why not. So stay tuned for updates, and if you haven't come along to one of the Hills gatherings yet, come along! They really are that much fun.
We relocated the Central Vic Meet to Ballarat this month, to coincide with our committee meeting (minutes will be available soon). This meet was well attended, and we enjoyed a delicious Irish lunch while we talked over, under, in and out of all things Pagan.
Our next meet is in July, with the final in November. During these meets we'll be deciding on meeting dates for next year, as well as whether we keep them quarterly or move to monthly or bi-monthly. If you'd like to have a say, or even if you are a Pagan sort from central Victoria who enjoys a coffee and a chat, come down and say hi!
At the April 2017 Central Victorian Pagans and Heathens in the Cafe. Photo by Josie.
March was such an amazing crazily fun month, full of great events. The roll out of Pagan Pride Day, Community Safety Month and the great concert by Spiral Dance and KC Guy, were all great initiatives that couldn't have happened without a lot of hard work from a lot of people.
We've had 18 new memberships since the last meeting, which have all been approved and over 30 new FB likes. So the memberships continue to grow steadily.
The meetups continue to be a massive success with an average of 14 people every month, consisting of a group of regulars as well as new faces appearing too. The possibility of having a weekday meet to discuss personal practice and other topics has been raised. The community here are quite fantastic and have built something really positive.
These meets are now on average getting 20 people every month. The meet-up had a quest speaker recently, a move which was well received and had a lot of positive feedback. People responded to having Dr David Waldron come and talk, and to have a chance to engage in discussion with him.
The central meet-ups are changing venue to the Farmers Arms, still located in Creswick, just down the road from the old venue, it is still a friendly atmosphere suitable for all types.
This event was the culmination of a lot of hard-work by a number of people as well as the amazing support and response from the community, not to mention the guest speakers from traditions and groups. There is a need to decide on a date for another one so that planning can commence. The possibility of having some panel discussions by guest talkers was suggested as a possibility for next year. The theme of community safety was a great message going in and should be considered in the preparations for the next one.
An amazingly good evening was had by those that attended, there was an amazingly positive response to the concert. This would not have been possible without Spiral Dance and KC Guy's co-operation, support and willingness. It would also not have been possible without the hard work put in by people, particularly Ryan. This would be something fantastic to have happen again, provided of course that the musical talents are willing.
Community safety month seems to have been received well and should definitely be an annual thing, as there are always new people finding their way to the community and existing members that may not be aware of what resources and help is available.
There has been a lot of positive discussion coming out of this month, and some positive outcomes too. A new values statement was written after several discussions that occurred in March as part of Community Safety Month.
The PCV is putting its foot down on this issue, the policy to make it a mandatory requirement to hold a Working With Children Check passed unanimously in a previous meeting and this will be enforced at the AGM. You need to have one to run for committee, an aspect that will be made clear when the calls for committee involvement start so that no potential new committee members are caught unawares.
The Hills would love to have mugs and shirts and to that end think it would be great if there was a Redbubble account. However it would be ace if the PCV itself had the Redbubble account and that way there could be PCV merch too.
Ryan needs to send Sarah all the master copy files of the logo etc. so that she can toy around with designs for approval for merch.
The Morris team is going amazing, they recently had a fabulous and highly productive workshop with Adrienne and Paul who gave very generously of their time to help the side with the dance they are working on as well as providing heaps of helpful information.
The side is on track with their goal of dancing at Mount Franklin this year.
The team is in the process of being insured by the Morris Ring but it hasn't gone through yet.
We have access to the same venue that we used for the previous Yule Dinner and the same space.
Currently have menu options and pricing being prepared for our consideration, which is meant to include a Gluten Free/Vegan option.
The event should not conflict with Monselvat.
The ticket sales will be on Eventbrite, it worked will previously.
Josie is going to tart up the event on Facebook to give more information and appeal to the community.
Ryan is going to see if KC can perform again since he was a real hit at the last one.
Alex has kindly offered to help run the kids maypole at Mount Franklin.
Josie is going to print up more of the PPD flyers to have at the mountain for us to hand out because it has all the groups information and contact details on.
It is proposed we trial having a rotating roster of people running the social media (weekly round-ups, blog article announcements, etc.).
We need to add more topics for the blog, one possibility is changing from recipe of week instead having other topics that can fit in that slot such as book or music of the week.
The AGM is going to be on the 20th of August at the Last Jar in Melbourne. More announcements and round-ups for nominations etc to come later.
Ryan has proposed that we have a BBQ/picnic day at Fairy Park, the potential date for this being 25th Nov, more details to be confirmed later.
Witches of Oz Movie Night 2017 – coming out of a discussion on Witches of Oz a movie night in conjunction with the PCV is proposed. Details to be worked out.
Alex presented an idea for a PCV student pagans run uni group, to provide a social and networking opportunity for uni students and potentially a support network. More details to be presented at a later date.


text:
Die Kaliakra ist ein Segelschulschiff der bulgarischen Handelsmarine.

Das Schiff
Kaliakra ist eines von drei Schwesterschiffen, die zu Schulungs- und Ausbildungszwecken gebaut wurden: Die Pogoria des Vereins der "Eisernen Schäkel" dient der Ausbildung von Offizieranwärtern der polnischen Handelsmarine, die Iskra ist ein Segelschulschiff der polnischen Marine.

Das dreimastige Segelschiff wurde 1984 nach Plänen des polnischen Konstrukteurs Zygmunt Choren in der Werft "Pariser Kommune" in Gdingen (Rohbau) und der Leninwerft Danzig, (Polen) gebaut. Rumpf, Masten und stehendes Gut sind aus Stahl hergestellt, das laufende Gut teils aus Stahl, teils aus Textil.

Aufgabe
Das Segelschulschiff nimmt üblicherweise 34 Studenten der Marineakademie Warna an Bord, künftige Schiffsoffiziere der bulgarischen Handelsmarine, die so die traditionelle Seemannschaft auf einer großen Barkentine erlernen. Diese Ausbildungstörns im Schwarzen und Mittelmeer dauern meist vier bis fünf Wochen.

Wenn die Kaliakra im Sommer in ihrem Heimathafen Warna liegt, können auch Touristen auf kurzen Segelpartien entlang der bulgarischen Schwarzmeerküste als Mitsegler mitfahren. An Bord wurden auch schon Mitglieder von Königshäusern und Staatsoberhäupter ebenso wie die Spitzen der internationalen Segelschulvereinigungen begrüßt.

Name
Die Kaliakra hat ihren Namen nach dem legendären bulgarischen Mädchen Kaliakra bekommen, das unter der türkischen Besatzung den Tod der gewaltsamen Konversion zum Islam vorgezogen haben soll. Dieses Mädchen soll sich zusammen mit 39 Schicksalsgenossinnen von den Felsen des Kaps Kaliakra in die See gestürzt haben.

Regatten
Neben ihrer eigentlichen Aufgabe nimmt die Kaliakra auch an Regatten teil:
1986: Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race: die Kaliakra belegte in beiden Läufen den ersten Platz und kam mit Zeitkorrektur auf Platz drei
1987: Cutty Sark '87; Baltische Regatta
1988: Cutty Sark '88; Baltische Regatta
1989: Segelschulvereinigung NL (STAN)
1990: Cutty Sark Schulschiffregatta '90
1992: Grand Regatta Columbus 92-Quincentenary (Große Kolumbus-Regatta '92)
1996: Cutty Sark Mittelmeerregatta: die Kaliakra konnte Silberpokal und Plakette für den ersten Platz in Klasse A an Bord nehmen
1997: Cutty Sark '97
1998: Cutty Sark '98: Tall Ship Race Loyalty Price
2001: Tall Ship '01: 1. Platz in der ersten Etappe
2002: Cutty Sark '02

Literatur
 Otmar Schäuffelen, Herbert Böhm: Die letzten großen Segelschiffe, Delius Klasing Verlag, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-7688-3191-8.

Weblinks

Dreimaster
Segelschulschiff
Warna
Schulschiff (Bulgarien)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


During our trip to Carmel, California we stayed at the Monte Verde Inn. I researched a lot of lodging options in both Carmel and Monterey well in advance of our trip.
I always look at Trip Advisor for reviews but sometimes you just can't believe them all and some people are just plain picky. We are pretty easy going so not much bothers us.
I was drawn to this bed and breakfast because of their social media activity to be totally honest. I was also impressed with their summer special deal I found that they were offering on Facebook. Pay up front and get your room at HALF price was the offer for the time frame we were staying. What a deal.
As you'll notice they have quite the variety of unique rooms. We stayed in Queen Room 9 and absolutely loved it.
The room had a skylight and french doors that opened out to a mini deck. It was a very small (read tight quarters) but a cozy room for two. There was no air conditioner but they had a fan!
The bathroom was very spacious and they had robes and nice bath soaps. There was also a refrigerator and even a bottle of Sherry.
They had a breakfast basket which included pastries and yogurt plus orange juice. In the video I had seen before we went, it showed hard boiled eggs but we didn't get those in our basket. I was pretty bummed about that because I didn't eat the other items but Kev enjoyed them.
The door to our room opened like a horse stall where you could keep the top open and enjoy the breeze while the bottom of the door stayed closed. Our room faced the beautiful courtyard.
It was so pretty out there with white lights hanging from the trees, cushions and pillows lining the benches and chairs and the relaxing sound of a water fountain. I enjoyed writing out there.
They also had wine tasting/appetizer gatherings out there but we never attended those since we were always on the go. The parking there was a bit tight but thankfully we didn't have to leave much. Carmel, CA is the perfect town to walk everywhere.
It was so quiet and peaceful. Just what we needed.
They also have another bed & breakfast across the street called Casa de Carmel that looks more like a mini motel.
Here is a video you might enjoy from them. And you can find the Trip Advisor reviews I mentioned above for the Monte Verde Inn here.
There is a lot to do in Carmel which we'll go into in another post. The Carmel, CA Monte Verde Inn is close to a variety of activities like 17 Mile Drive, Big Sur, Carmel Beach, Carmel River State Beach, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf Monterey and much more.
We went to Monterey from there for a whale watching tour and to have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. It was so easy to get to and not far at all from the Monte Verde Inn.
From the beginning, Ashley who works the front desk and does their social media was awesome. She was always helpful and very personable.
We would highly recommend this bed and breakfast and would stay there again if we have the opportunity.
We stayed here a few years back when we drove up the coast. It's a wonderful little place.
Hi Carmen, thanks for your feedback. Glad you ya'll enjoyed it too.


text:
Arby's Buys Pharrell's Grammys Hat for $44,000 in eBay Bid
The producer-rapper-singer put the hat on eBay two weeks ago. The earnings will support his charity From One Hand to Another.
By The Associated Press	• Published March 3, 2014 • Updated on March 3, 2014 at 6:51 pm
Arby's has won the bid for Pharrell's famous hat.
The fast food restaurant announced Sunday it paid $44,100 for the Vivienne Westwood hat, made famous when Pharrell wore it at the Grammy Awards in January.
The Arby's logo uses a design similar to the brown fedora, which became a trending topic on Twitter after Pharrell sported it.
Pharrell's Grammys Hat Is Gigantic, and Obviously It Already Has Its Own Twitter Account
Pharrell tweeted thanks to the buyer Sunday, to which Arby's replied: "You're welcome. We're HAPPY to support a great cause & get our hat back."
Pharrell wore a similar hat when he performed at the Academy Awards on Sunday. His No. 1 hit "Happy" was nominated for best original song.
Thank you to whoever bought my Grammy hat on @eBay for $44,100. Your donation benefits From One Hand To AnOTHER. �� — Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) March 3, 2014
.@Pharrell You're welcome. We're HAPPY to support a great cause & get our hat back. Good luck at the #Oscars tonight! pic.twitter.com/2oA7qDPX9z — Arby's (@Arbys) March 3, 2014
Pharrell Ditches His Giant Grammys Hat, Wears Tuxedo Shorts on the Oscars Red Carpet

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Popularity - 116 views, 0.2 views per day, 465 days on eBay. Very high amount of views. 0 sold, 50 available.
116 views, 0.2 views per day, 465 days on eBay. Very high amount of views. 0 sold, 50 available.
Seller - 2,916+ items sold. 0.1% negative feedback. Top-Rated Plus! Top-Rated Seller, 30-day return policy, ships in 1 business day with tracking.
2,916+ items sold. 0.1% negative feedback. Top-Rated Plus! Top-Rated Seller, 30-day return policy, ships in 1 business day with tracking.


text:
Today The Messenger Spacecraft Will Crash Into Mercury
After years of exciting observations and stunning pictures of Mercury, the spacecraft has run out of fuel
Marissa Fessenden
Mercury as seen by Messenger HO/Reuters/Corbis
Nearly a decade after the spacecraft launched and four years after it settled into orbit around the inner-most planet of the solar system, NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemisty and Ranging probe, Messenger for short, is expected to and crash-land on Mercury. Since running out of fuel the spacecraft has slowly sunk lower in orbit. NASA predicts the crash will happen around 3:30 pm EDT today, April 30.
Jonathan Webb reports for BBC News:
It is only slowly losing altitude but will hit at 8,750mph (14,000km/h).
That means the 513kg craft, which is only 3m across, will blast a 16m crater into an area near the planet's north pole, according to scientists' calculations.
All of Messenger's fuel, half its weight at launch, is completely spent; its last four maneuvers, extending the flight as far as possible, have been accomplished by venting the helium gas normally used to pressurize actual rocket fuel into the thrusters.
The collision marks the end of the spacecraft's history-making lifetime of scientific observation. Messenger successfully gathered enough images and data to make a full map of Mercury's pock-marked surface. Researchers learned that the closest planet to the Sun shrank by almost seven miles in diameter a few billion years ago and gained an understanding of the tiny planet's structure, history and tectonic activity. Messenger also spotted ice lurking in the shadows of polar craters. JoAnna Wendel writes for EOS:
This finding forces scientists to rethink how the solar system evolved to bring volatiles to the inner planets. MESSENGER also discovered coatings of organic-rich material on some of the ice within these craters, a finding that excited astrobiologists everywhere.
Don't get too excited just yet though."I don't think anybody could count Mercury as habitable," says Messenger mission head Sean Solomon, in an interview with Alexandra Witze for Nature News. "But it is a witness to the delivery of the ingredients for habitability, from the outer Solar System to the inner Solar System."
Solomon elaborates on the the most surprising Messenger findings:
The big surprise was the high abundances of volatile elements. All of the ideas for how Mercury got put together predicted that it would be depleted in volatiles, much like the Moon. But instead, we see sulphur [at] ten times the average for Earth. We see sodium and potassium. We see chlorine, one of the most volatile elements that we have the ability to measure.
That means we really didn't understand the particular way that Mercury became an iron-rich planet. It wasn't a process with sustained high temperatures that drove off the volatile elements. I don't think the final chapter has been written on what the most likely explanation is for the formation of Mercury.
He also explains what will happen when the spacecraft finally meets its end:
The last couple of hours will probably be pretty quiet. There will be a final orbit when the spacecraft passes behind the planet and we won't hear from it again. We think that we know where the impact will be, near the crater Shakespeare. [When it hits], it will become one of the youngest, albeit one of the tiniest, impact features on Mercury. And that will be the end of MESSENGER.
I have worked on the mission for 19 years. It's like losing a member of the family. Even pre-knowledge doesn't prepare you completely for the loss.
Messenger won't be able to send final images because it will be on the back side of Mercury for the crash. However, keep an eye on the spacecraft's Twitter persona for farewell messages.
Marissa Fessenden | | READ MORE
Marissa Fessenden is a freelance science writer and artist who appreciates small things and wide open spaces.
Mercury NASA Outer Space Space Travel Trending Today


I am sitting here try to do some homework, and sometimes I just can't understand it. I really hate it when I can't understand something. I don't consider myself an unintelligent person, just some things trip me up. The problem I face is that if I don't get something fairly quickly it discourages me to the point of wanting to give up. I try to find an answer, but sometimes text books are so poorly written and unorganized it's impossible to actually find a trace of the information you are looking for. It absolutely drives me crazy when homework differs from notes in class and in the book. It pretty much defeats the purpose of homework. If I have to go see someone about the homework then you need to restructure the way homework is assigned. I understand homework is supposed to be hard sometimes, but if they give you ridiculously simple examples and then lay it on than that is not really teaching at all is it? I am just ticked and annoyed at some of my assignments. How about you guys?
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text:
Video games workers create union to demand rights
The Games Workers' Union is a UK first and hopes to tackle issues like excessive overtime and sexism in the games industry.
By Bethan Staton, news reporter
Sunday 16 December 2018 06:57, UK
Image: The union says it is fighting against exploitative conditions. File pic
Workers in the video games industry have formed a union for the first time in the UK.
Excessive and unpaid overtime, precarious contracts and discrimination are all serious problems in the industry, according the the Games Workers' Union, which launched on Friday.
Now it is hoping to use collective organising to fix a "broken sector and create an ethical industry", according to founding member Dec Peach.
"For as long as I can remember it has been considered normal for games workers to endure zero-hours contracts, excessive unpaid overtime, and even sexism and homophobia as the necessary price to pay for the privilege of working in the industry," he said.
When the union holds its first meeting on Sunday, one of the biggest concerns for Mr Peach and his follow members is likely to be "crunch" - the practice of excessive unpaid overtime that's common in the industry.
In a 2016 survey by the International Games Developers' Association (IGDA), 51% of game developers said their job involved "crunch time" and a further 44% reported working long or extended hours.
Karn Bianco, a general programmer and GWU UK spokesperson, told Sky News that when he started in the industry he would work around 80 hours a week, much of which was unpaid.
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"It was voluntary then, because I was so excited to be working in this industry," he said, estimating his average working week at around 80 hours. "But it didn't take long for it to affect me, and I started making an effort to work less."
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More than 120,000 people have signed the petition - have you?
Burnout is common in the video games industry. Mr Bianco said it's normal for people to last five years or so, then move on to other areas of work where conditions and pay are better.
Crunch is not the only concern. Surveys show a majority of games developers think diversity is important, but scandals like GamerGate - which saw targeted harassment, death and rape threats against women in the industry - have suggested the scene can be hostile to minorities and women.
"Diversity and inclusion is a problem in what's a majority white male industry," Mr Bianco.
"There's a lot of toxicity that doesn't necessarily come from that but certainly isn't helped. And it's something companies have historically been bad at tackling."
GWU-UK is part of the global Games Workers' Union, but in the UK it is a branch of Independent Workers of Great Britain, a union that's made waves unionising "gig-economy" workforces like Uber drivers or cycle couriers.
Some games workers share much in common with these precariously employed groups.
According to the IGDA, 27% of employed developers had worked for three to five employers in the last five years - a figure that indicates serious volatility in the industry.
People are welcome to join the union if they are involved in any area of video game production. Artists, producers, programmers and testers - both freelance and staff - will be part of the branch.


text:
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        <title>LAS Global Studies Event Calendar</title>
        <link>http://illinois.edu/calendar/list/2070</link>
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Tito's Vodka Is Not In The Clear Yet In California
Blog At The Bar With Bowditch
Bowditch & Dewey LLP
USA December 16 2015
In August of this year, Beam Suntory Import Co., the owner of Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbons, won the last of three federal lawsuits against it concerning the allegation that the words "handcrafted" and "handmade" on its labels were misleading. The courts in those cases found that no reasonable consumer could actually believe that the bourbons were handmade. Read my previous article covering the topic HERE.
These decisions appeared to be a victory for all distilleries and alcohol manufacturers who tout their products as "handmade." However, this does not seem to be the case for Fifth Generation, Inc., the owner of Tito's Vodka - at least in California. Like Beam Suntory, Fifth Generation has been named in a number of federal class action suits, at least nine, alleging that the use of the term "handmade" on Tito's Vodka labels is false advertising.
Some of the cases against Fifth Generation have been thrown out entirely, like in Illinois. Some have been whittled down to only one remaining claim, like in Ohio where the only remaining claim is for promissory estoppel (that the use of the term "handmade" constitutes a "promise" on which people reasonably relied) and in Florida where a claim for breach of express warranty survives (that "handmade" is a warranty made about the vodka). However, in California, Fifth Generation's fight rages on.
In March, plaintiffs in a class action case against the vodka maker in California survived a motion to dismiss. The Court decided that, on the facts alleged, it could be possible for consumers to believe that the vodka is handmade in old-fashion pot stills.
Most recently, Fifth Generation filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that because the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved of its label that it is protected by a California safe harbor - essentially, that because a federal agency vetted its label, it must not be false. However, the court shot that argument down, holding that the safe harbor only applies to instances where the TTB's actions are "the result of a formal, deliberative process akin to… an adjudicative enforcement action." The judge found that the review process by the TTB with respect to whether the vodka is "handmade" is vague and subjective. What is notable about this ruling is that it opens the door for all TTB approved labels to be questioned, with companies no longer being able to simply argue that they are immune from scrutiny because the TTB approved their label.
It looks like Fifth Generation may have to actually prove that the use of the term "handmade" is not misleading because no one actually is misled. How it will prove this will be interesting.
Bowditch & Dewey LLP - AiVi Nguyen
Product Regulation & Liability
To B, or Not to B: Redemption Rock Becomes the 1st Massachusetts Certified B Corp Brewery *
Why Does David Robert Jones Control David Bowie's Music and Assets? *
Client Alert: Delaying the Inevitable? Pier 1, Chuck E. Cheese, and Rent Abatement in Bankruptcy *
Legal Considerations of Living Together in a Multi-Generational Home *
Can I Withdraw Funds From My Retirement Account During COVID-19? *
More from At The Bar With Bowditch
To B, or Not to B: Redemption Rock Becomes the 1st Massachusetts Certified B Corp Brewery
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Another round: advertising suits against alcohol companies continue *
Did you know Jim Beam bourbon is not "handcrafted"? *
The label on your "handmade" whiskey is causing more problems than you think *
The Civil Code of Quebec to the rescue of the Federal Court * - Canada
"I can't believe it's not vodka" Diageo and ICB settle their two-year dispute * - United Kingdom


A dental crown or "cap" is a covering that fits over a damaged, decayed or unattractive tooth. It can even replace a tooth entirely as part of dental bridgework. A crown completely covers a tooth above the gum line. Crowns strengthen damaged teeth, allowing them to function normally again. When crafted from today's high-tech porcelains (dental ceramics), crowns are virtually indistinguishable from natural teeth. They can even be designed to improve upon a tooth's original appearance.
Before you leave, a temporary crown will be attached to your tooth to protect it until the permanent crown is ready. At the second visit, your permanent crown will be attached to your tooth with either a resin that hardens when exposed to a special light source, or a type of permanent cement.
Crowns and bridgework require the same conscientious care as your natural teeth. Be sure to brush and floss between all of your teeth — restored and natural — every day to reduce the buildup of dental plaque. When you have crowns, it is even more important to maintain your regular schedule of cleanings at our Cantonment, FL dental office. Avoid using your teeth as tools (to open packages, for example). If you have a grinding habit, wearing a nightguard would be a good idea to protect your teeth and your investment.
For more information on Crowns & Bridgework in the Cantonment and Pensacola, FL area call us at (850)968-2106 today!


text:
Nokia's CEO on the Challenges & Promise of the New Mobile Industry
Om Malik on April 8, 2010
Nokia Chairman, CEO and President Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has the second-toughest job in the mobile industry — that of turning the decades-old, set-in-its-ways, $58-billion-a-year mobile handset maker into a services-driven, Internet-oriented monster that not only catches up to but surpasses new upstart rivals Apple (s AAPL) and Google (s GOOG). The good news is that unlike Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein (who has the toughest mobile gig), he doesn't have to worry about running out of money anytime soon.
"You can't really call it a mobile industry. Things are quite blurry. The Internet and mobile are converging and the PC and cell phone are merging," said Kallasvuo when I met him for a brief conversation earlier this week. If sales of the iPhone and Google's Android-based smartphones are any indication, the mobile industry is indeed overhauling itself for the future — one that revolves around the Internet, and the content and services that come with persistent connectivity to it.
"Today consumers expect more from the device than just hardware. They want hardware along with services such as music and navigation built into the price of the device," Kallasvuo said. So while in the past Nokia competed with other handset makers on hardware features, now it's competing on new ways of doing business. "The industry competition now is about ecosystem and business models."
The Rise of the Mobile Internet
The tragic part, of course, is that Nokia was the first one to see this change coming — long before Apple started working on the iPhone. I've followed the Espoo, Finland-based company for a long time, nearly a decade and a half. My first cell phone, in 1995, was from Nokia; it was the device that exposed me to the potential of wireless. It was the phone I used to call my parents in India, so for me, Nokia represented a way to connect with the people I love. What excited me even more back then was Nokia's vision of phones as a "multimedia computers" that put the Internet in your pocket. The company was talking about disrupting not only the industry it already dominated, but itself.
And then Nokia blew it. Rather than disrupting anything, the company started going down the path of incremental evolution. It sacrificed its boldness at the altar of scale and commoditization. It became the Dell of the handset business. And then, in 2007, the iPhone was launched, and cell phones stopped being just about hardware and instead became all about services, content and developers. The stock prices of the two companies tell the whole story.
When I outlined this — not in as many words, of course — Kallasvuo listened to me patiently and then responded by pointing out that over the past two years, Nokia has been trying to move in this direction, mostly by acquiring companies and by launching new mapping and music-related services. "We have made investments in adding these capabilities," he said. "Others," he said, "have not made it clear in their value." By others he means Nokia's hardware-focused handset rivals.
"We have been transforming the company from a hardware company to a more value-added services company," he said. "We have brought in new people with new processes and are doing things in a new way. This change has been extremely complex and time-consuming."
To that end, Kallasvuo candidly admitted that while the "direction is very clear" for Nokia, the key will be executing on that vision. He's confident Nokia can do it, pointing, by way of example, to its Ovi services, which it's been localizing for countries around the world. "From 2008 to 2010 we have made a lot of progress and in 2010 you are going to see the results of that," he said.
Symbian…Why Why Why?
When I asked him why Nokia still hadn't introduced a great touchscreen phone, he would only say that the company was working on new products, refusing to get into details. I've been pretty tough on Nokia when it comes to this point, as most of its touchphones have been extremely disappointing (at least to me). However, Kallasvuo was willing to talk about Nokia's reliance on Symbian , a mobile operating system that's long in the tooth.
"Symbian has a lot of positive telecom-centric legacy which allows it to scale really well," Kallasvuo said. The new version of the OS, he added, has improvements — said to include better graphics, multitouch, support of multiple home pages and a better music store, amongst other things — that will speak for themselves. I'm not holding my breath, however, mostly because I think the guys at Apple and Android are innovating at Internet speed. Plus the new Symbian isn't likely to make it to the market until late June.
Kallasvuo also pointed out that Nokia sells an enormous number of feature phones (reasonably priced devices that aren't as powerful as smartphones), and can bring the Internet to those devices. Hence the company's recent purchase of Novarra. I think this could end up being Nokia's big opportunity. With Apple and Google succeeding at the top end of the market, Nokia would do well to shore up its bread-and-butter business and even try and take market share from rivals such as the beleaguered Sony Ericsson.
Location Gives the Internet Relevance
One of the things that gets Kallasvuo excited is location — or more specifically, location-based services. "Location is not an app, instead it adds a whole new dimension (and value) to the Internet," he said, explaining why his company has made huge investments in location, including its $8 billion purchase of mapping company Navteq. Nokia earlier this year released a new Ovi Maps application that allows it to compete in markets such as India, Brazil and Russia, places where Google and Apple haven't made inroads just yet.
"Putting location elements into different type of services is a big opportunity which makes the Internet more exciting," Kallasvuo said. (I've written about Nokia's location-oriented strategy in the past.) Location, along with different types of sensors and augmented reality, will open the mobile world up to different possibilities, he said.
If there was one point Nokia's big boss wanted to make before we ended our conversation, it was that the Nokia in 2010 is going to be a lot different from the Nokia of the past. The company has its work cut out for it. The good news, if you can call it that, is that its CEO knows what to do. Acceptance is the first step toward recovery. And for me that's a good start. I look forward to falling in love with Nokia all over again.
Photo courtesy of NokiaConnectZA.
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Q: Delete rows if combination of two column values is satisfied in python I've below data: I need to delete all rows which have a combination of (ColX='F' and ColY='Y').
I'm trying the below different codes as suggested by below answers.

*

*df = df[(df.ColX != 'F')&(df.ColY !='Y')]
But this code is removing all rows with (ColX=P and ColY=Y) along with (ColX=F and ColY=Y).  I need rows with (ColX=P and ColY=Y) in my data.

*mask = (df.ColX == 'F') & (df.ColY == 'Y')
  df[~mask]
This code is not removing any of the rows which I want to remove.
3.mask = (df.ColX == 'F') | (df.ColY == 'Y')
df[~mask]
This code is removing all rows with (ColX=P and ColY=Y) along with (ColX=F and ColY=Y).  I need rows with (ColX=P and ColY=Y) in my data.
Any inputs are highly appreciated. Thank you!
 line_date      ColX       ColY    ColZ   rating        rw

 2007-03-31       P         Y        56     1.000000  56.000000
 2007-03-10       P         Y        67     1.000000  67.000000
 2007-02-10       F         Y        66     1.000000  66.000000
 2007-01-13       2                  83     0.880678  73.096278
 2006-12-23       2         Y        88     0.793033  69.786942
 2006-11-09       F                  52     0.636655  33.106077
 2006-10-22       P                  66     0.581946  38.408408
 2006-09-29       F         Y        70     0.518825  36.317752

A: Try this:
mask = (df.ColX == 'F') & (df.ColY == 'Y')
df[~mask]

Output:
    line_date ColX ColY  ColZ    rating         rw
0  2007-03-31    P    Y    56  1.000000  56.000000
1  2007-03-10    P    Y    67  1.000000  67.000000
3  2007-01-13    2  NaN    83  0.880678  73.096278
4  2006-12-23    2    Y    88  0.793033  69.786942
5  2006-11-09    F  NaN    52  0.636655  33.106077
6  2006-10-22    P  NaN    66  0.581946  38.408408

Or, because I am a little confused what your output should be.
mask = (df.ColX == 'F') | (df.ColY == 'Y')
df[~mask]

Output:
    line_date ColX ColY  ColZ    rating         rw
3  2007-01-13    2  NaN    83  0.880678  73.096278
6  2006-10-22    P  NaN    66  0.581946  38.408408

A: you can use DataFrame.query() method:
In [20]: df.query("ColX != 'F' or ColY != 'Y'")
Out[20]:
    line_date ColX ColY  ColZ    rating         rw
0  2007-03-31    P    Y    56  1.000000  56.000000
1  2007-03-10    P    Y    67  1.000000  67.000000
3  2007-01-13    2  NaN    83  0.880678  73.096278
4  2006-12-23    2    Y    88  0.793033  69.786942
5  2006-11-09    F  NaN    52  0.636655  33.106077
6  2006-10-22    P  NaN    66  0.581946  38.408408

A: The below code gave me my expected dataset:
filter_df=df[ ~(df['ColY'].str.contains("Y") & df['ColX'].str.contains("F")) ]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Some people prefer to color inside the lines, and some can't help but wander outside of them. This year's Pantone Color of the Year, Ultra Violet, inspires us to color as if there are no lines at all. This dazzling color encourages individuality of style and energizes a space. It speaks of impressive confidence and artistic expression. Like the mystical qualities of the cosmos, it imagines and cultivates a vision of the future.
Pantone's bold choice is a welcome break from the pastels and muted neutrals of previous years. Paired with other bold tones like bright yellows and oranges on accent pieces, Ultra Violet brings a once drab room back to life. Used more subtly—a stone tabletop or area rug, for example—the color infuses a space with a rich sense of tradition and luxury. Whether it's highlighting a feature wall or in the tuft of a pillow, Ultra Violet makes a statement.


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Share this Story: Demand for Fraser Valley homes continues to soar: FVRB
Demand for Fraser Valley homes continues to soar: FVRB
'All levels of government must work together to correct the structural housing shortage,' says Fraser Valley Real Estate Board CEO Baldev Gill.
Tiffany Crawford
Sep 02, 2021 • September 2, 2021 • 2 minute read • 15 Comments
Demand for homes in the Fraser Valley continues to soar as housing supply continues to drop. Photo by Mike Bell /PNG
Demand for Fraser Valley real estate reached the second highest sales ever in August, as supply dropped, according to a report from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.
The report Thursday says 2,087 homes were sold in the region last month, up four per cent from July and 2.4 per cent from the same month last year. Sales were unusually high for the month, and second only to August 2005, the board said.
Demand for Fraser Valley homes continues to soar: FVRB Back to video
Board president Larry Anderson said homebuyers are facing one of the worst supply shortages in Fraser Valley history.
"Our sales are over 30 per cent above normal, while our housing stock is at levels last seen in the early '80s," he said in a statement. He added that realtors sold 94 of every 100 townhouses that came on the market in August.
Anderson said a lack of supply continues to increase the cost of a home and the market conditions remain in favour of the seller.
New listings were down 36.3 per cent last month compared with last year to 2,107 listings.
Board CEO Baldev Gill noted that the B.C. government introduced the foreign-buyers tax in 2016 and the federal government introduced the mortgage stress test two years later to improve affordability.
"And yet, in the last five years, the price of a typical detached home in the Fraser Valley has increased by 50 per cent," he said in a statement. "Those measures did not address the core issue, which is insufficient supply to meet the rise in our population growth. All levels of government must work together to correct the structural housing shortage."
In August, the average price for a detached home was $1,336,800, an increase of 1.3 per cent compared with July and up a whopping 31.1 per cent over last August.
The average price for a townhouse went up 1.3 per cent from the month previous to $697,500, representing a 23.7 per cent hike compared with the same month last year. Condos were up one per cent to $498,800, an increase of 14.1 per cent compared with August 2020.
ticrawford@postmedia.com
COVID-19 update for Jan. 18: Gyms and fitness facilities to reopen Jan 20 | Canucks place Bo Horvat on COVID protocol list | Nurses, doctors exhausted as next peak comes
COVID-19 update for Jan. 17: 22 deaths over past three days | B.C.'s COVID restrictions extended | Pfizer antiviral treatment approved


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Prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia among school children in Kenitra, northwest of Morocco
Iron deficiency anaemia is an important health problem in Morocco. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of anaemia among school children in Kenitra. The sample represents school children of all educational levels and age ranged between 6-15 years
The level of hemoglobin, haematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration was measured in a group of 271 school children. The seric iron was assessed and anaemia was defined when hemoglobin < 11.5 g dL(-1). A questionnaire was developed to obtain information about the daily food consumption and socio-economic conditions
. The prevalence of anaemia was 16.2%. The mean hemoglobin concentration was 12.53 g dL(-1) in boys and 12.52 g dL(-1) in girls. The results suggest that iron deficiency is an important determinant of anaemia in this population. There was a significant relationship between education of the mother and anaemia in children (p = 0.004) but not with the family income
It is concluded that anemia is less prevalent in this study and it was found to be higherin children who take foods of both plant and animal sources less frequently


a. Be free and clear of any rocky coastal areas, islets, reefs, piers, buoys, fishing nets, or any other obstacles.
b. Be ample distances away from airports and especially airspaces used by planes for takeoff and landing. In such cases the minimum distances required are set per specific location and in accordance with rules set by the respective Airport Authorities.
c. Be a minimum distance of one (01) nautical mile away from ports, marinas, and fish farms. The distance may be reduced to five hundred (500) depending on the specific area, if deemed necessary by the respective Committee under Article #35, Hellenic Port Authority #20.
3. Kite surfers must be extra careful when launching the kite from the shore so as to avoid any unintentional takeoffs.
(i) the consent of the parent/guardian in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code, who certifies that the child is qualified to swim; (ii) when a child is accompanied by the lessor or another person who is connected with him via a working relationship, at a distance no more than one hundred (100) meters from the windshield during its use. Only two (2) minors are allowed to be accompanied by the aforesaid person and they must follow the given instructions".
d. At open seas and less than two hundred (200) meters from anchored boats, markers denoting other underwater activities, rocky areas, islets, reefs, buoys, boaters, or any other obstacles.
e. When at piers, docks, fish farm tanks, and sea areas around them, as described in paragraph ¶1c of this Article.
f. During sever or adverse weather conditions.
h. An operator is under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances.
i. Wind directions force the vessel towards open seas and lifeguards/authorized individuals equipped with a power operated vessel, are not present to assist in case of emergency.
j. Wind speeds are greater than seven (6) Beaufort and licensed lifeguards are not present along with a power operated/motorized vessel to assist recovery in case of emergency. Additionally, its use is prohibited when visibility is limited.
k. When distances are less than two hundred (200) meters from swimmers.
i. An established waterway, with a minimum length and width of one-hundred (100) meters and whose limits are clearly marked by yellow floating buoys, cone shaped on the right and cylinders on the left (as seen from shore) and set at three (3) meters apart from each yet not connected by rope.
ii. The launching area must be completely unobstructed from any objects and or individuals during the launch/take off procedure.
iii. The installation of two (2) permanent signs on both sides of the waterways' entrances, and stating "WARNING -KITESURF TAKEOFF LAUNCH AREA" written in both the Greek and English language.
5. Licenses can be allocated simultaneously for kitesurfing and other recreational watercraft under the condition, that other R.W.C. cannot be leased simultaneously with the exception of Windsurfing activities.
6. Launching is allowed only when the launch area is free and clear from all individuals and any objects within a hundred (100) meter radius from the kitersurfer taking-off.
7. Kitesurfing is prohibited when less than Two Hundred (200) meters from the shoreline.
Note, at beaches where floating buoys designate swimmers limits, kitesurfing is allowed only when past such buoys.
8. The above terms and conditions in this article, with the exception of 4.l.i, 4.l.iii and 5, also apply such craft owned and operated for personal use.


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text:
FDA, CDC say outbreak linked to fish ends with more than 100 people sickened
By News Desk on December 7, 2021
Federal officials have declared that a Salmonella Thompson outbreak is over after having sickened at least 115 people in 15 states.
Seafood from Northeast Seafood Products Inc. of Denver was named as the cause of the outbreak based on investigations by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"FDA's traceback investigation identified Northeast Seafood Products Inc. as a common distributor among illness subclusters," according to the FDA outbreak update. "As part of this outbreak investigation, environmental samples were collected from Northeast Seafood Products Inc. On Oct. 7, 2021, environmental samples collected from Northeast Seafood Products, Inc. were reported positive for Salmonella Thompson and were determined to be a match to the outbreak strain through whole genome sequencing."
Most of the sick people were either Colorado residents, 93 people, or reported traveling to Colorado in the week before they got sick, 14 people. Illnesses started on dates ranging from May 11, 2021, to Oct. 16, 2021. Sick people ranged in age from less than 1 to 85 years, with a median age of 39, and 53 percent were female. Of 111 people with information available, 20 were hospitalized and no deaths were reported, according to the CDC.
"The true number of sick people in an outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella," the CDC reported.
On Oct. 8, Northeast Seafood Products Inc. recalled Haddock, Monkfish, Bone-in Trout, Grouper, Red Snapper, Red Rock Cod, Ocean Perch, Pacific Cod, Halibut, Coho Salmon, Atlantic Salmon Portions, Lane Snapper, Tilapia, All Natural Salmon Fillet, Pacific Sole, and Farm Raised Striped Bass. These products were sold to unnamed restaurants and Albertsons, Safeway, and Sprouts supermarkets in Colorado.
The Pacific Cod sold through Sprouts was not recalled. A full list of recalled products is available on FDA's website.
Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or serve any of the recalled seafood. Recalled seafood was sold fresh and would be past shelf-life unless it was frozen after purchase. The FDA recommends that anyone who might have purchased or received recalled product, check their freezers and throw away recalled product.
Tags: CDC, FDA, Northeast Seafood Products, outbreaks, Salmonella


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Traffick Stop
Timothy Dumas
If you think we're immune to HUMAN TRAFFICKING, consider this: One of the most downloaded pornographic photos in the world was taken of an eight-year-old girl RIGHT HERE IN GREENWICH
Krishna Patel, a former federal prosecutor in Connecticut, and Rod Khattabi, a former special agent based in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's New Haven office, are two of the state's leading authorities on human trafficking. They are sitting in the tea pavilion at Grace Farms in New Canaan, talking about trafficking cases they have worked here in leafy, affluent Fairfield County; they are talking about pimps, johns and assorted creeps; about massage parlors, strip bars and nail salons; about assignations between Jeffrey Epstein-aged men and girls as young as twelve at hotels and motels in our Gold Coast towns. "This happens in Greenwich," Patel says. "It happens in Fairfield. It happens in Westport and in all of these towns."
Let's begin with the case of Theodore Briggs of Norwalk. Only twenty-three years old in 2011, the year he was arrested, Briggs lived an unaccountably posh lifestyle, tooling about in a Hummer and a BMW and dressing himself in Gucci clothing. He hoped to be a rapper and looked the part, but in fact the cars and the clothing, not to mention the wads of cash he carried, had been earned by his stable of prostitute-victims.
In the lexicon of his trade, Briggs was a "Romeo pimp," one who woos and flatters girls into his fold, rather than a "gorilla pimp," who rules by violence, usually with the help of a "bottom bitch," a female right hand who sits atop the prostitute hierarchy. "He was a really smooth, savvy pimp," recalls Khattabi, who led the Briggs investigation.
"He never brutalized his girls." Briggs had the pimp's knack for scenting out vulnerable young women, girls who had come from broken homes or suffered from poor self-esteem. "He would groom them and sort of become their boyfriend." Khattabi gazes out the pavilion's broad glass windows to the tranquil fields beyond. He has a granite face and deep-set eyes that lend him an intimidating air; it's a relief to discover that he's a gentle, jovial soul. "When we interviewed these girls, they felt like we were destroying their lives," he says. "Because this was a guy who's been so good to them, okay? He was providing them with what we think of as a family. And they were glad to give him the money. All the money."
At least two of Briggs's girls were under eighteen years old. In other words, they were trafficked, since the law presumes a minor can't engage in prostitution voluntarily. (State law prohibits those under eighteen from being prosecuted for prostitution—a fairly recent and much lauded change.) One of Briggs's girls kept a diary in which she sketched hearts and flowers, as befit her age: fourteen. In the diary she noted with heartbreaking approval, "He was the one who turned me into a real ho."
Briggs sold the girls in the new way: over the internet. His venue of choice was backpage.com, a notorious classified advertising website that held a virtual monopoly on internet prostitution. Federal agencies shuttered Backpage last year, but numerous imitation sites have popped up to fill the demand. "Come and do anything you want to me. I love getting it everywhere," runs a typical ad on a Backpage imitator called Bedpage, under the heading "Connecticut, Bridgeport." Interested parties click the link, send a text, and the transaction is carried out at a (probably) unwitting hotel or motel in the vicinity. (In 2016, Connecticut became the first state to require hotel and motel staff to be trained to spot trafficking; Patel helped draft the law, but admits that it's still an uphill battle. Trafficking occurs in hotels from Greenwich to the Berlin Turnpike outside Hartford, she says, and all the way up to the casinos at the eastern end of the state.)
"It's like ordering a pizza," observes Elizabeth Boolbol, who founded the Greenwich-based Partnership to End Human Trafficking, or PEHT, in 2015. "You can order a woman to your hotel room. You don't have to stand out on 42nd Street and proposition somebody."
Khattabi found that Briggs had received 6,000 text messages from clients in six weeks, and that those clients lived all over the county, including in Greenwich and Westport, and as far away as Atlantic City. In 2012 Judge Janet C. Hall sentenced Briggs to ten years in prison. "You took children who had no idea of this life and ruined theirs," she told him. "I have difficulty comprehending how one person can sell another."
Patel, the founding director of Grace Farms Foundation's Justice Initiative, is a petite woman with luxuriant, coffee-dark hair. She prosecuted many cases that Khattabi—Grace Farms Foundation's Global Justice Training Director and Risk Officer—investigated, including the Briggs case. "The thing that was so heinous," she says, "was that Backpage actually became complicit, masking the fact that these girls were minors." How so? Backpage would delete transparently coded ad lingo like "Lolita" and "Amber alert," and thereby cover up the fact that it was enabling a brisk trade in child rape.
Strange to say that Briggs's victims could have been less lucky: They could have fallen prey to a gorilla pimp like Corey "Magnificent" Davis, one of Patel's most memorable cases. "He'd gang rape these girls," she says. "He'd beat them. He'd cut them." And he'd stomp on them with his Timberland boots, or his "Tims," as he liked to call them.
One of Davis's victims was a twelve-year-old runaway from New York. Though based at Bishop's Corner Café, a strip club in Bridgeport, her meetings with johns took place at hotels up and down Connecticut's I-95 corridor. Often Davis required her to work twelve hours and bring in a thousand dollars a day. "When we went to the strip club in Bridgeport to confirm that that's where she was working," Patel says, "they told us she would come in with a teddy bear." And when she was placed in protective custody for a period, "she asked for Harry Potter books."
Davis kept some of his victims confined to a two-family house owned by his mother in Queens, New York. One girl, a seventeen-year-old, initially went there (she thought) to look at an apartment offered for rent. Davis seized her cell phone and ID and locked her in the house. So began this young woman's life of forced prostitution. Working out of Bridgeport's Pleasant Moments strip club, she suffered regular beatings at Davis's hands; sometimes Davis hit her with a handgun, and once he put the muzzle in her mouth.
She told investigators, "I had to tell people I fell off the stage because I had so many bruises on my ribs, face and legs .… I have a permanent twitch in my eye from him hitting me in my face so much. I have none of my irreplaceable things from my youth."
Davis is serving twenty-five years in prison.
EVEN CLOSER TO HOME
Stories like these may seem far removed from any experience a Greenwich girl or boy is likely to have. And they are. Sort of. But sex trafficking (we'll deal with labor trafficking later) happens in myriad ways, not all of them gritty and streetwise. Indeed, trafficking could be going on in the house next door.
Take the case of William Oehne. In 2004 Oehne was a truck driver living in Stamford and dating a woman who lived in Greenwich with her eight-year-old daughter. Oehne moved in. Then came the grooming—the gradual bending of a victim to the perpetrator's will—done with gifts and promises and subtle threats, as he moved to sexualize the relationship. Oehne's process began with the flaunting of his "nudist philosophy." He would walk around naked in front of the girl, or surprise her as a "prank" when she was taking a shower. He'd show her pornography. He told her she could be a model. He began touching her sexually and persuading her to pose nude for his camera. He took explicit photos of the girl over the course of three years, and those photos found an avid following among pedophiles, turning up in 3,300 criminal investigations in the United States alone.
But the big break came from overseas. "French Interpol figured out that the number one downloaded [pornographic] image in the entire world was an image of this girl, and they thought from the background that she must be American," says Patel, who prosecuted Oehne. Interpol had magnified the photo and discovered in the background a commemorative plate with a girl's first name and her apparent birth date. The FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, together with the Greenwich Police Department, astutely traced her to Greenwich. (Greenwich Captain of Detectives Robert Berry gives particular credit to Detective Christy Girard.) Investigation showed that Oehne's crimes might have gone deeper but for the girl's resistance: Under questioning, Oehne admitted that he and a male porn actor took her to a hotel in Stamford. She refused to go inside.
After his arrest, Oehne "shamefully tried to claim that it was in fact the minor victim who seduced him and even suggested that he was powerless to refuse," said the prosecution's sentencing memo. In 2011 Oehne was convicted of sexual assault and creating and disseminating child pornography, and sentenced to forty-five years in prison.
But did he traffick the girl? Here we come to an evolving definition of what trafficking means. Robert Berry says that Oehne's crimes, though "a tragic example of the horrors that can be exacerbated through the internet," do not constitute human trafficking by Connecticut law, and he's right. Krishna Patel says that federal law sees the matter more broadly, and she's right, too.
According to the groundbreaking Trafficking Victim Protection Act of 2000, minor sex trafficking is "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining" of a person under eighteen for "a commercial sex act." A commercial sex act is defined as "anything of value," and pornography certainly qualifies. (Patel says Oehne could have been charged federally with sex trafficking, but that, in this case, the child pornography charges were more straightforward.)
The essence of both sex and labor trafficking is exploitation—compelled work, Patel says. In producing pornographic photos, William Oehne coerced his young victim into doing "work" that had commercial value. The photos are still circulating today. As U.S. Attorney David B. Fein observed, the girl "will continue to be victimized by traders and viewers of child pornography for the rest of her life."
Tammy Sneed, the director of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families' Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team (HART), laments that efforts to align state law with federal law at the trafficking-pornography nexus have failed in our legislature. "It's been very painful," she says. "We've tried for the last couple of years to change it. Hopefully we will this term."
When Rod Khattabi is asked what his most memorable case was, he says "Sensi," and goes quiet for a moment. Edgardo Sensi, a stout man with graying curls and a goatee, was working in Westport in the early 2000s when he began videotaping himself raping an eight-year-old girl who lived in Fairfield. "He was an executive with a big travel company, and he was an opera singer. He sang in church. He had a YouTube video of himself singing 'Ave Maria,' beautifully." Khattabi shakes his head. "What really disturbed me," he continues, "was the violence he used." Beyond the rape itself? "I don't want to get too graphic. He used electrical wires on her private parts. She was screaming in the video."
It gets worse. The girl's mother was fully complicit, coaching her daughter how to touch Sensi and perform oral sex on him. Khattabi later had a chance to question the woman. "I asked, 'As a mother, how can you do this?' I was really puzzled. 'You gave birth to this girl.' I'll always remember this—she said, 'Look at me.' She was pretty heavy; she had such low self-esteem. 'Look at me. I just didn't want to lose him.'"
Patel recalls the day in 2008 that they arrested the mother and pulled the daughter, then in ninth grade, out of school. "I sent a team in to interview her," she says. "The entire time, she denied anything had happened."
This girl was not Sensi's only victim. In 2004, Sensi traveled to Nicaragua with a small charitable organization based in Fairfield County.
He befriended a nineteen-year-old maid from a destitute town outside Managua, showered her with gifts and money, and promised her family that he would marry her. But, reminding the maid that he was "a powerful man," Sensi trafficked her—coerced her to have sex with other men. The woman had a four-year-old daughter. Once in Fairfield County, Sensi used his relationship with the mother to molest the daughter, the mother again taking part. Yet another victim said she had twice attempted suicide.
In 2012 this so-called "Hitler of child pornography" was sentenced to life in prison; the girl's mother was given what Patel considers a lenient eight years. (She and Khattabi report that, with extensive therapy, the girl has recovered nicely.)
It's not only girls who are trafficked. In Connecticut, the most diabolical of recent cases centers on Bruce Bemer of Glastonbury, a millionaire who paid for sex with young adult men procured by a Danbury trailer park resident named Robert King. King selected mentally ill and drug-prone men at group homes and rehab centers from Stamford to Danbury and drew them into a cycle of predation: He would befriend them, press cocaine on them, run up their drug tab, then prostitute them to Bemer to pay it off—a kind of debt bondage. The young men said they were threatened with death if they told anyone; one of fifteen who came forward may have committed suicide. And yet, King told police, "My only crime is trying to help people." (He pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges last year, and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.)
This past spring, a jury in Danbury convicted Bemer on four counts of patronizing a trafficked person and one count of criminal liability for trafficking a person; Judge Robin Pavia sentenced him to ten years in prison. While Bemer admits to using prostitutes supplied by King for more than twenty years, he denies the more serious trafficking charge and is appealing the conviction. A civil suit, meanwhile, accuses Bemer of having unprotected sex with his victims while knowingly being infected with HIV.
The Bemer-King case reflects a very twenty-first century understanding of human trafficking. Before the Trafficking Victim Protection Act took effect in 2001, Patel says, "we weren't prosecuting these cases very well," because the idea of coercion was so narrowly construed. Psychological coercion wasn't even a thing. To the contrary, the U.S. Supreme Court, in what's known as the Kozminski decision of 1988, ruled that "involuntary servitude" meant using violence or threats to secure the work, "what you think of in the transatlantic slave trade" of our brutal past, Patel says. In that worldview, Robert King would have gone free and his victims would have been arrested, since they weren't physically forced into prostitution but were "merely" desperate.
When we turn the discussion to minors, it's not desperation so much as vulnerability that leads down the trafficking rabbit hole. Adolescence itself is a vulnerability, of course. Add low self-esteem, or depression, or ostracization from a friend group, and quite suddenly even kids from stable families can find themselves gaining the attentions of a trafficker.
"Malls are where a lot of recruitment happens," Elizabeth Boolbol says. "Traffickers hang around malls because girls hang out there all the time. It's frightening. There's this documentary where they interviewed a pimp in jail, and he's talking about how he recruits these girls. He'll say, 'Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful,' and if the girl says thank you, he just sort of moves on. But if the girl sort of puts her head down and says, 'No, I'm not,' he's like, 'Boom—that's the one.' They start a conversation, they get a cup of coffee…" she trails off, sighing.
The trafficker makes himself a source of comfort and even love. "He tells the girl, 'I know your mother sucks, I know your father sucks, but don't worry, I'm here for you, I'll give you what you need,'" Boolbol says. He might secretly post her picture to Bedpage. He might give her heroin. "Once that happens, there's an addiction, and the addiction needs to be fed. And he says, 'Just sleep with my friend and we'll get some money, and we can get more heroin.' Pretty soon she's sleeping with five people and the trafficker has moved on. That's the sad, awful story that happens in this country."
A nasty variation on this story concerns the online world, says Alicia Kinsman, senior attorney for the Bridgeport-based Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI), whose Project Rescue deals specifically with trafficking victims. A trafficker forms a relationship with a teen on social media, and over time persuades her to send sexually explicit pictures or video. Then he betrays his true intent: "He'll say, 'I need you to do this other thing, and if you don't, I'm going to send your parents the pictures and the video; I'm going to send it to everyone in your school.'"
The electronic universe, in fact, knows no boundaries. Krishna Patel says it has "collapsed" sex trafficking and child pornography into a truly evil thing: private live-cam sex clubs "where the only way you can participate is by showing images of yourself abusing a child. They know law enforcement can't do that." Some distant server beams you into a private house in Russia or Ukraine, in Cambodia or Thailand, and you get to watch the child abuse as it happens. "Some people want very, very, very young children. Like babies. And they pay a lot of money. It's just become a ridiculously disturbing world."
Though trafficking is an age-old practice, it strikes us as a twenty-first century phenomenon because it's expanding so rapidly, and because we have a better understanding of the staggering numbers: Roughly 40 million humans are enslaved in some fashion—more than at any other time in history, according to the Polaris Project, which seeks to eradicate global human trafficking. Trafficking is now the second largest criminal industry in the world, after drug dealing. "It is so insanely profitable—much more profitable than weapons or drugs, because you sell 'the product' multiple times a day," Elizabeth Boolbol says. "There really is no cost of goods, it's just recruitment." A look of revulsion briefly crosses her face. "And demand is sooo high." But most Americans, ignorant of the scope of the problem, do not rank it as a pressing concern. "We have to get people to stop thinking it's only happening in India or Cambodia or Bangladesh. They need to know that it's happening here, and it's growing."
So far, we have dealt only with the sex trafficking of young Americans. This is but one facet of the problem—the one we know best in Fairfield County. Another facet is the sex trafficking of internationals. Young women from Eastern Europe—where trafficking is depressingly, brutally rampant—who come to the United States often end up being trafficked out of strip clubs, working off the debt to those who brought them here.
"A lot of these women come from Russia or Romania thinking they'll work as models or have some kind of better job," Khattabi says. "Then all of a sudden they have to work in these strip joints." (He notes that he's done many "blitzes" in Bridgeport in tandem with local police. "We closed down so many of them here in Connecticut, but they pop up again. I don't know what the solution is.")
Asian women, particularly Chinese, North Korean and Vietnamese, are trafficked not out of strip clubs, but massage parlors. "That entire illicit massage industry is thriving," Krishna Patel says. "You can go on websites right now and you're going to find it all through Connecticut. Law enforcement goes into these chat rooms and will find the johns actually giving ratings to all the women." (In 2017 a massage parlor on Greenwich Avenue was busted for prostitution. Neither of the two employees arrested, Xue Mei Jiang and Yuhong Zeng, were found to be trafficked, said police, though both lived in Flushing, Queens, a nexus for Asian human trafficking.)
Alicia Kinsman, of CIRI, recalls a case of hers in which an undocumented woman from China answered an ad in a Chinese newspaper: A massage parlor in Connecticut was looking to hire. "She was desperate for work, desperate to survive," Kinsman says. "If you're undocumented, you don't have that many options. What they wanted her to do was perform commercial sexual acts. She was threatened that if she objected, if she left, she would be arrested and deported. And so she stayed." She was forced to live in a virtual closet in the strip mall where she worked, security cameras monitoring all her movements. "Eventually she just ran out and down the strip mall, until she found somebody who helped her call the police."
Human trafficking is sometimes called a crime "hidden in plain sight." This is especially true of labor trafficking, whose victims, usually foreign-born, work in the metaphorical light of day, on farms, in factories, at construction sites, in hotels and restaurants, on our lawns, in our neighbors' homes. "The trafficking cases I've seen in Connecticut that are recent and active have been domestic servitude," Kinsman says. "Individuals held in deplorable conditions in wealthy households in lower Fairfield County."
Contrary to popular belief, many trafficked laborers enter the country legally, on temporary worker visas. One woman Project Rescue worked with, a Filipina, came legally as a nanny to a foreign family living temporarily in Easton. But when the family decided to stay permanently "they took her passport and ripped up the contract," Kinsman says. "Eventually she escaped by literally running out the door."
Project Rescue, established in 2006 to serve chiefly foreign-born trafficking victims, sees a startling range of cases. There are undocumented kids put to work by an extended family member, or by someone who posed as one. There are foreign-born women enslaved by their citizen husbands. There are tree-cutters, tobacco-farm laborers, hotel workers. Not long ago, an undocumented middle-aged man, speaking little English and having no money, walked through CIRI's door after escaping from a Fairfield County horse farm.
Though Project Rescue has not dealt with them in Connecticut, nail salon workers are believed to be highly trafficked. "When we talk about 'typologies,' we talk about industries that draw trafficking," says Krishna Patel. "Nail salons fall under the typologies in the trafficking world." As with illicit spas, they are almost exclusively Asian, and some salons offer (far more profitable) sex services on the sly. Of course, scads of law-abiding nail salons exist. But until May of this year, Connecticut invited trafficking in salons by being the only state in the country that did not require an operating license or mandatory training.
When labor trafficking is discovered, what is the fate of the trafficked? It's little understood that international human trafficking and immigration law are intimately braided. And so when the Trump administration dramatically tightened immigration policies ("America is full," the president declared), victims of trafficking took a direct hit. Many specific policy changes appear to be small, and the public will never notice them—such as the new obstacles in applying for humanitarian visas. (The "T" visa is specifically for trafficking victims; the "U" visa is for crime victims including trafficked persons.) These obstacles terrify applicants. In the past, a person who reports being trafficked but is denied a T visa would have other avenues to exhaust and could remain in the country; now, says Alicia Kinsman, that person "will be put into removal proceedings." Worse, say immigration lawyers, T visas are harder to get than ever.
One Project Rescue client now fighting deportation is from Central America's perilous Northern Triangle. (Kinsman does not specify the country, but she would mean Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.) "The only reason he's in this position is because he came forward and reported what happened to him to law enforcement," Kinsman says. Denied a T visa, the man's prospects look bleak. If he goes back to the Triangle? "There's a presumption that you have money. You were here, so you must've been working, so you must be rich. You're a target for gangs to extort."
The Trump administration's aggressive stance has strained relations between Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and do-good nonprofits like Project Rescue. ICE and such groups used to work harmoniously to establish the facts of a trafficking case and situate victims. "We still do work with them, but they are under a lot of pressure," Kinsman says. "I no longer feel comfortable having my clients interviewed by ICE agents, because I know the position that they're in, and it's too risky."
ARE WE CONTRIBUTING?
What about the rest of the world? With all the trafficking going on in our own country, it seems too much to have to worry about slaves in African mines or Indian quarries or Chinese sweatshops. And yet here is why we must: We're part of the problem. We are consumers of goods made by slaves.
Our tech toys—computers, cell phones and electric cars—top the list: Their lithium ion batteries contain cobalt, mined mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under brutal conditions, sometimes by children as young as seven. "This is every Apple, every Samsung, every Tesla," says Krishna Patel, "and they're not doing anything to clear up the supply chains." (Tesla has said it hopes to establish a North American supply chain.) "You add to it all the other stuff needed, coltan, tungsten, and it's a nightmare. There are so few places you can get these minerals. If you look right now, there isn't one tech company that can claim a slave-free supply chain."
Garments, fish, cocoa and sugar round out the top five slave-made and harvested goods we consume (though the U.S. Department of Labor reports that 148 goods from seventy-five countries are made by forced and child labor).
There are about 2.1 million child "chocolate slaves" in West Africa the source of 70 percent of the world's cocoa. Some of these children were abducted from their villages; many were sold into slavery for as little as thirty dollars. BBC documentarians asked one slave boy what he thought about faraway people enjoying the fruits of his labor. "They are enjoying something that I suffered to make," he told them. "They are eating my flesh."
Commercial fishing is even more notorious. Low-income countries like Thailand and Cambodia specialize in catching "forage" fish, such as anchovies, sardines and krill, used to make our pet food and to feed our pigs, poultry and farm-raised fish. (The U.S. is the biggest consumer of Thai fish.) According to a report in the New York Times, seagoing slaves who managed to flee their captors told stories of "the sick cast overboard, the defiant beheaded, the insubordinate sealed for days below deck in a dark, fetid fishing hold."
Few large clothing companies have slave-free supply chains. If you buy clothing at Walmart, for example, you can be pretty sure that slaves made it in a country like Bangladesh. "I think it's just so critically important to tell people that if you're spending six dollars on a dress, that dress was made by a slave," says Elizabeth Boolbol. "The economics just don't work, unless the person making it is not getting paid a living wage."
This knowledge, she suggests, ought to make us reconsider how we buy things in the age of global commerce. "The whole idea of disposable clothes, disposable items, disposable everything, and we need to get it now, we need to get it cheap—that has really fueled the labor trafficking."
According to the International Labour Organization, 24.9 million people are trapped in forced labor, and 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation (another several million are in forced marriages). "The labor trafficking issue is a much bigger issue than the sex trafficking issue," Patel says, and one that Grace Farms Foundation has begun to tackle. "There is so much we can do about it as a society—if we just decide to."
We can start by educating ourselves. We can buy "fair trade" coffee and chocolate and seek out sustainably grown foods. We can patronize clothing stores with transparent supply chains; we can buy goods made by trafficking survivors. We can stay abreast of groups that give us news of trafficking, like Human Rights Watch, the Polaris Project, End Slavery Now, and closer to home, Grace Farms and the Partnership to End Human Trafficking.
Elizabeth Boolbol thinks Americans have a special obligation to fight human trafficking. "We're a country founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and yet we have slavery as a stain on our own history," she says. "So we know better. America has to lead. And I think rich communities like Greenwich need to step in. We may not be able to cure cancer, but we can do this."
SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS THAT CAN SHED LIGHT ON A VERY DARK SITUATION
We typically think of the sex-trafficked kid as a runaway. To be sure, runaways are in acute danger of being trafficked. "Studies show that within forty-eight hours of running away, a third have been approached by a trafficker," Tammy Sneed, director of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families' Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team (HART), informs us. "And one in seven are pulled into 'the life,'" as prostitution is colloquially known. If a runaway were to alight at a busy traveling hub like the Port Authority in New York, she would be approached by a trafficker in a matter of seconds.
But most victims never leave their parents' homes. HART keeps statistics on trafficked Connecticut minors (or possibly trafficked, because certain cases take months to sort out), and so can tell us that of the 212 minors referred to it in 2017, 141 lived with a parent or guardian, and only twenty-six were runaways or otherwise AWOL. Another twenty-two lived in foster care at the time of their possible trafficking. (Almost a quarter of the 2017 referrals, forty-nine of the 212, came from our neck of the woods, coastal Fairfield County.) There are doubtless hundreds of trafficked teens who never enter HART's orbit, given the hidden nature of sex trafficking, but the statistics do give us an understanding of one important fact: Our teens can be trafficked while they're living under our roofs, and we are none the wiser.
THINGS TO NOTICE AT HOME.
• Frequent unexplained absences, even brief ones
• Disappearing for a weekend
• New clothing or items that the child can't afford
• New hairstyles and manicures that the child can't afford
• The presence of a companion who answers for the child
• A tattoo that the child is reluctant to explain, especially on the neck or lower back
• Bruises, and medical and dental issues
• Signs of malnourishment
• A change in language to reflect "the life"
• A change in demeanor: tense, anxious, secretive, defensive
• Always carrying a bag with a change of clothes
• Having more than one cell phone
One or two of these things may not mean much in themselves; there is no foolproof checklist. We have to look at our children whole, and pay attention to any gut uneasiness that tells us something is wrong.
TO EXTEND YOUR AWARENESS OUTSIDE THE HOME, THESE ARE THE THINGS TO LOOK FOR.
• At airports and hotels, the presence of a teen with an older man that does not appear to be a relative
• Seemingly unaccompanied teens at busy rest stops, such as on I-95
• An adult who does not allow a teen or child to speak for themselves
• In certain business establishments, notably nail salons, workers who appear timid and withdrawn
• Workers whose responses to questions seem shallow and scripted
• Signs of excessive security measures, like security cameras and barred windows
• Signs of living quarters in an establishment
• A boss who seems overly watchful and controlling
The Polaris Project (polarisproject.org) runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline. If you need assistance, call the hotline at 888-373-7888, or text "befree" (233733). Or, if you believe a child is being trafficked or suffering abuse or neglect, you can call the Connecticut DCF careline at 800-842-2288.
A MODERN-DAY ABOLITIONIST
TAKING ACTION RIGHT HERE IN GREENWICH
ELIZABETH KOLDYKE BOOLBOL is a tall, slender blonde with a background in public relations, marketing and real estate. She is also a devout Christian from a family steeped in doing civic good: Her parents, Mike and the late Pat Koldyke, are noted Chicago philanthropists with a particular interest in education and handgun control.
Boolbol's area is human trafficking. The Greenwich resident founded the Partnership to End Human Trafficking (PEHT) after reading Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's 2015 book A Path Appears, an account of humanitarians who are changing the world. One woman the authors profiled was Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms in Nashville, a place of regeneration for victims of prostitution and sex trafficking. Sex trafficking had seemed a distant issue to Boolbol then, as it does to many now. "But once you know about it," says the married mother of four, "it's hard to turn away."
As for prostitution, "I grew up watching Pretty Woman, so I'm as guilty as anybody else" of not giving the subject serious thought. But she began to wonder, was prostitution ever really voluntary? "Becca Stevens always says that there's no such thing, really, as prostitution in the way we think about it—that a woman chooses to do this as a business, to make money. What little girl says, 'I want to be a prostitute when I grow up'?" (She notes that some trafficking victims think they're acting of their own accord and have a strange, Stockholm syndrome–like attachment to their pimps.)
The women at Thistle Farms do two-year residencies; they're provided the basics, like food, healthcare and clothing, and a loving space to heal. They also learn new job skills. The women manufacture healthful bath, beauty and home products sold under the now-national Thistle Farms brand. (The women can continue working for Thistle Farms after their residencies are over.) "That's the model that Thistle Farms has been doing for twenty years, and they've had like a 95 percent success rate, which is unheard of in this arena."
In the United States, roughly 100,000 young people are sex trafficked each year. Given that number, there simply aren't enough Thistle Farms–like places to go around, and so Becca Stevens encourages sister groups to help carry the mission.
The Partnership to End Human Trafficking is one such group. Its organizing strategy is to "educate, embrace, empower," Boolbol says. "We have to galvanize the community if this is going to be a success." Embrace the victims by opening a residence for them in Stamford or Norwalk in the very near future: "If a child is trafficked, they go to DCF, the Department of Children and Families. But once that child is eighteen, there's really nothing. That's the gap we're trying to address."
And finally, empower the women through "social enterprise," or dignified work that teaches them new skills, as Thistle Farms does. PEHT's enterprise focuses on making and selling pet products, from essential oils and tick repellants to collars and leashes.
In May, Boolbol held a fundraiser at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich; it raised over $150,000 and drew more than 200 people. "They couldn't believe this stuff is happening right here in Connecticut," reports speaker Rod Khattabi of Grace Farms' Justice Initiative; Khattabi is a former Homeland Security special agent who trains police all over the world to disrupt trafficking. "They were horrified."
For many attendees, that night was when their education began; Boolbol hopes that they, like her, will now be unable to turn away from the scourge that is human trafficking.
Learn more about the Partnership to End Human Trafficking at peht.org.


text:
Katsuya Nagato (Chiba, 15 de janeiro de 1995) é um futebolista profissional japonês que atua como defensor.

Carreira
Katsuya Nagato começou a carreira no Vegalta Sendai.

Naturais de Chiba
Futebolistas do Japão
Futebolistas do Vegalta Sendai


In Leviticus chapter 10 we read about the disobedience of Nadab and Abihu. You'll recall 2 days ago that we read in Leviticus Chapter 6 verse 13: "Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out." Commentaries state that the fire was never to go out because the fire was started by God. Humans were not to bring man-made fire to the altar, or they would die. I realize that this can seem like a very harsh punishment for disobedience. Commentaries suggest that because Nadab and Abihu were in such high spiritual leadership positions, their disobedience carried the risk of leading many people astray. One commentary at this link suggests that Nadab and Abihu may have been intoxicated on wine, based on God's subsequent instruction for priestly worship in Leviticus 10:9 - "You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die." It may help to remember that we saw disobedience from others earlier in the Bible - and we'll see disobedience again later in the Bible - without the consequence of immediate death. But, in this case, disobedience brought death. Think about the risk of disobedience in our lives today. Yeah, sure, maybe we can get away with something dangerous/disobedient 9 times out of 10 - but, there is always the risk that perhaps the 10th time could prove lethal. So - why take the risk of disobedience at all? Is it worth it? Ever?
Proverbs - Proverbs 10 verse 7 is so simple but so true... "We all have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away." Who do you have happy memories of? Who have you forgotten? How will you be remembered? What will be your legacy?
Do you know your eternal Legacy? Click here to meet your Legacy Maker!
Prayer Point: Pray that you will shout for joy for the Lord. Pray that you will humble yourself to fall before the Lord face down on the ground.
The farming analogies were great and meant to me Patience something I'm not good with but hopefully with God's Help I can get better. God Willing !! Thanks for the reminder.
Do the Levitical laws apply today? Or are they voided by the New Covenant? I thought of this question as I was reading Lev 10:8,9 today: "Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: "Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations"
As for most of the other laws - the old covenant was replaced by the sacrifice and blood of Christ who atoned for our sins on the cross.
city people have no idea about farming techniques, we are about instant gratifications.We can't wait one minute for any thing that is why we can buy flowers and plants that are fully matured. we need not wait. we pass that down to our children who have no patience and want it now, now now.I have to work on being more patience especially when it comes to my relationship with my family. It seem i can be more patient with people out side my immediate family and no patience when it comes to family. I loved the reading in psalms today. verse 35-36 stood out to me today.


text:
Personality that is loved extremely or hated extremely (word request)
I'm looking for a word to describe a person that has contrasting opinions about them and their opinions are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
The words controversial and dividing are not suitable.
Kyle could not fathom what people think of him, as he either was very popular with loads of friends who could get stuff for free, or very unpopular with no one wanting to talk to him as he was classed as boring or a sociopath. The differing love and hate he received depending on the environment, was at polar extremeties.
Alex on Monday was gossiped about in a good way by several people boosting her status by becoming one of the few people worth talking about positively, but she was shunned by one of her classes.
Sheridan gave a look, and Kayleigh didn't know whether to hug him or slap him. She could never decipher his true intentions. He was _______
desbest
desbestdesbest
Two edits have been made to your question. Please take a look. It would be better if you could write an example sentence where the word would be used. The following is the rule of this community: Questions on choosing an ideal word or phrase must include information on how it will be used in order to be answered. – user140086 Dec 15 '15 at 17:41
That person polarizes opinions. A polarizing person. Although it's rare according to ngram.
to cause people to adopt extreme opposing positions" ⇒ ■ to polarize opinion"
P. O.P. O.
"Polarizing figure" is the first thing that comes to mind, although ngrams says it's less popular than "controversial personality". – nollidge Dec 15 '15 at 18:05
"Polarising" (British English) or "polarizing" (US English) could be what you're looking for.
From Merriam-Webster's definition of polarize
: to cause (people, opinions, etc.) to separate into opposing groups
Laconic DroidLaconic Droid
From Google Books...
Harry Challenor was a 'Marmite' character: either loved or loathed.
From Oxford Dictionaries online...
Marmite Used in reference to something that tends to arouse strongly positive or negative reactions rather than indifference:
the styling is 'Marmite' — some hate it, many love it
a proper Marmite sitcom, which people are either utterly loving or totally despising
I don't know if this usage would be understood in Australia, where I think they call this "polarising" yeast spread Vegemite.
FumbleFingersFumbleFingers
I'd prefer not to use the word marmite because it doesn't convey the contrasting extremity of the opinions. If I say "I'm like marmite people either love or or hate me" it doesn't make the person any more unique than anyone else. – desbest Dec 15 '15 at 17:49
@desbest: I'm afraid I don't understand your point. The very reason this usage has been so enthusiastically adopted is because it's a simple metaphor for "contrasting extremity of the opinions" that doesn't require speakers and audience to know obscure "scientific" terms like polarising. – FumbleFingers Dec 15 '15 at 17:54
People don't love or hate marmite to the same extent they love or hate a person. – desbest Dec 15 '15 at 17:57
@desbest: Are you actually familiar with the usage? Or indeed the spread itself? Not that it matters whether you personally don't have such strong opinions about the taste of Marmite as you do about someone like the odious Donald Trump, for example. The fact of the matter is that (for BrE speakers, at least), the expression is predicated on the premise that everyone has very, very extreme views about Marmite. – FumbleFingers Dec 15 '15 at 18:03
Yes to both questions. You don't understand me. I'm from Britain so I am familiar with how the word marmite is used from a cultural standpoint. Certain adjectives mean practically the same thing, but are more extreme than others, such as big, large and humungous. All three words describe a big size, but each word is more (or less) extreme than the other. The same applies to the word marmite. The word marmite is a weak word. If someone says that they are like marmite, the listener will not infer from that statement that they polarise opinion and make others cry or obsessed with them. – desbest Dec 15 '15 at 18:08
Animal demography - Single word request
Single word: extremely frustrated, but relieved
Word for non remembering a deceased loved one
A word meaning sth I extremely hate
Specfic word request
Car component - single word request
Single Word Request - An object that makes you happy
Single word request: the person that "picks up things"
Single word request for "that have to be returned to"