text:
Tag Archives: bless
Vietnamese Authorities in Hanoi Thwart Easter Celebrations
Local officials prevent events featuring U.S. evangelist Luis Palau.
HANOI, Vietnam, April 18 (CDN) — Authorities in Vietnam prevented much-anticipated public Easter celebrations in Hanoi planned for Friday and Saturday (April 15-16) after giving a verbal promise to organizers that the events would proceed.
An interchurch organizing committee had submitted a request for permission well in advance and had made elaborate preparations for the special events featuring renowned evangelist Luis Palau.
The organizers said they were disappointed but not entirely surprised by the Communist government's action.
"The authorities have clearly demonstrated to the world what we experience regularly – that their promises, whether verbal or written, cannot be trusted," said one church leader who requested anonymity.
Asked to speculate on the reasons for the government's ultimate refusal, another key church leader said, "I don't know why, but it almost seems as if the government is deliberately damaging its own reputation."
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Friday (April 15), after long negotiations, authorities gave verbal assent for the events to proceed, promising the required written permission would be issued imminently. The government-approved venue was the Dien Kinh My Dinh Sports Complex, a state-of-the-art indoor track and field stadium in Hanoi's Tu Liem district. It reportedly holds 3,100 people; organizers had requested a place with considerably larger capacity.
After receiving the verbal promise, organizers said they went directly to the sports complex hoping to begin preparing the sound and lighting systems. They were not given access.
When no written permission was forthcoming by the scheduled start at 7 p.m., organizers said they were forced to turn away many hundreds of people arriving from the provinces by chartered buses. They urged the people to return home quietly and to pray for the event scheduled for the next evening, they said.
Very late Friday evening, the organizing committee received written permission from the Hanoi People's Committee to hold what was to have been the second night of the event on Saturday (April 16). They immediately posted the document on Vietnam's most popular Christian website http://www.hoithanh.com, they said.
Apparently, however, public security and city authorities quietly overrode the reluctant permission granted by Vietnam's religion bureaucracy. Organizers told Compass that even with the official letter from the People's Committee, several hurdles had remained. They had still needed to secure a contract from the sports complex on Saturday morning for use of the facilities, and they had yet to request the Committee for Religious Affairs for permission for Palau to speak.
Early on Saturday, Pastor Nguyen Huu Mac, president of the registered Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), or ECVN(N), who had signed the request, went with colleagues from unregistered house churches to the sports complex to pursue the contract. When they were told that Saturday was not a work day, they went to the Tu Liem district office.
There they were stalled for several more hours by fruitless discussion. District officials eventually told them that although the sports complex was in their area of the city, it was owned and managed by another entity over which they had no control.
Finally, at 1 p.m., the manager of the sports complex arrived. He proceeded to give the organizing committee what Christian leaders described as unreasonable conditions for a contract. For instance, the manager said they could not enter the complex to prepare until 4:30 p.m. – hardly enough time for the scheduled 7 p.m. start. Organizers said he further told them that the sports complex would retain control over who and how many entered the building; he said they would not honor the tickets/invitations that had been widely distributed by the event organizers but would distribute their own and count every head.
The organizers sensed trouble.
Faced with such government duplicity and control over their event and without enough time to set up properly, church leaders said, they unanimously decided they could not proceed with integrity. Shortly after 4 p.m., they issued an indefinite postponement notice.
Reached by Compass late Saturday Hanoi time, a Luis Palau Association spokesman reported that the evangelist had just spent significant time encouraging the tired organizers. Palau told them that the Lord would bless them for their diligence and predicted that they would soon reap a great spiritual harvest. In a few years, he said, they would look on the disappointments of this weekend as insignificant, according to the spokesman.
Despite their disappointment, church leaders took note of gains: The effort to stage the events, they said, marked unprecedented cooperation among various groups, with the ECVN(N), the only registered church based in the north, applying for the permission document on behalf of all groups. Cooperating in the organizing were northern house churches belonging to the Hanoi Christian Fellowship and southern-based house churches belonging to the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship, as well as some smaller groups.
Together, the church leaders said, they determined not to bow to government manipulation and pressure.
"Clearly someone at the top disallowed these events and then left it to clumsy underlings to create bureaucratic obstacles," said a long-time overseas Vietnam analyst. "Most people will see through this ruse and recognize simple lack of religious freedom."
In Ho Chi Minh City, similar Easter celebrations were given last-minute approval and went ahead the previous weekend with considerable response to Palau's messages.
It is not known if or how the cancellation of the events in Hanoi will affect plans for the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, both the northern and southern entities, to include Palau in their June centennial celebrations in Danang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.
Permission has been long requested, but so far the government has only given general verbal approval.
http://www.compassdirect.org
Posted in Christianity, Communism, Easter, Luis Palau, Vietnam	| Tagged action, advance, approved, authorities, belonging, bless, bureaucracy, cancellation, cannot, celebrations, centennial, Christian, Christianity, Christians, clearly, colleagues, committee, Committee for Religious Affairs, Communism, communist, communists, contract, Danang, demonstrated, Dien Kinh My Dinh Sports Complex, diligence, disappointed, disappointments, district, Easter, ECVN(N), elaborate, encouraging, entirely, Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), evangelist, events, experience, facilities, featuring, general, government, Hanoi, Hanoi Christian Fellowship, Hanoi People's Committee, harvest, Ho Chi Minh City, house churches, indoor, insignificant, interchurch, leader, letter, lighting, local, Lord, Luis Palau, Luis Palau Association, Nguyen Huu Mac, official, officials, organizers, organizing, overrode, Pastor, permission, Persecution, planned, predicted, preparations, President, prevent, proceed, promise, promises, public, reap, registered, regularly, religion, religious freedom, reluctant, renowned, request, security, signed, sound, southern-based, special, spiritual, spokesman, stadium, submitted, surprised, systems, thwart, tired, track and field, trusted, Tu Liem, unregistered, USA, venue, verbal, Vietnam, Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship, Vietnamese, Website, world, written | Leave a comment
SRI LANKA: RASH OF ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS REPORTED
Assaults by local mobs, including Buddhist monks, surge.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, August 17 (Compass Direct News) – Attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka have surged noticeably in recent weeks, following the government's defeat of Tamil separatists in May.
Attacks were reported in Puttlam, Gampaha and Kurunegala districts in western Sri Lanka, central Polonnaruwa district, Mannar district in the north and Matara district in the south, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).
Most recently, attackers on July 28 set fire to an Assemblies of God church in Norachcholai, Puttlam district, destroying the building. The pastor received frantic calls from neighbors at about 8:45 p.m. reporting that the building was in flames, echoing a similar arson attack almost a year ago that destroyed the original building on the site.
Church members have registered a complaint with police, but at press time no arrests had been made.
When a pastor of a Foursquare Gospel church and his wife visited a church member in Radawana village, Gampaha district during the third week of July, a 50-strong mob gathered at the door and shouted that they would not tolerate any further Christian activity in the village, NCEASL reported. The mob then prevented the couple from leaving the house, hit the pastor with a rod and threw a bucket of cow dung at him.
The disturbance continued for two hours before police finally answered repeated requests for assistance and arrived at the house, arresting three people who were later released.
Earlier, on June 28, a mob consisting of more than 100 people, including Buddhist monks, surrounded the home of a female pastor of another Foursquare Gospel church in the village, according to the NCEASL. At the time the pastor, whose name was withheld for security reasons, and her husband were away. Their 13-year-old daughter watched helplessly as the mob broke in, shouted insults and destroyed chairs and other furniture.
Hearing that their home was under attack, the parents rushed to get police help, but the mob had dispersed by the time officers arrived. Police called the pastor into the Gampaha police station for questioning on July 9 and July 11; on the second occasion, protestors surrounded her and other pastors who accompanied her, spitting on them and initially preventing them from entering the police station.
Later, in the presence of Buddhist monks and other protestors, the pastor was forced to sign a document promising not to host worship services for non-family members.
Also in Gampaha district, a mob on July 14 destroyed the partially-built home of Sanjana Kumara, a Christian resident of Obawatte village. On receiving a phone call from a friend, Kumara rushed to the scene to find the supporting pillars of the house pulled down, damaging the structure beyond repair.
Villagers launched a smear campaign against Kumara on July 6, after he invited his pastor and other Christians to bless the construction of his home. As the group prayed, about 30 people entered the premises and demanded that they stop worshiping. The mob then threatened to kill Kumara, falsely accusing him of constructing a church building.
On July 8, Kumara discovered that unknown persons had broken into a storage shed on the property, stealing tools and painting a Buddhist blessing on the walls. Police were reluctant to record Kumara's complaint until a lawyer intervened.
The Sri Lanka population is 69.1 percent Buddhist, 7.6 percent Muslim, 7.1 percent Hindu and 6.2 percent Christian, with the remaining 10 percent unspecified.
Sword Attack
In Markandura village, Kurunegala district, seven men wielding swords on July 12 attacked caretaker Akila Dias and three other members of the Vineyard Community church, causing serious injury to church members and church property. Dias and others received emergency care at a local hospital before being transferred to a larger hospital in the area for treatment.
Church members filed a complaint with police, identifying one of the attackers as the same man who had assaulted the church pastor and another worker with a machete in March; at that time police had arrested the man but released him on bail. Several other attacks followed, including one on June 29 in which the church premises were desecrated with human feces. Documents were also circulated on July 18 describing the church as a divisive force aiming to destroy peace in the local community.
On the night of July 12, attackers tore off roof tiles from the church building and threw them to the ground, leaving it exposed to the elements.
On July 5, a mob of around 100 people, half of them Buddhist monks, forcibly entered an Assemblies of God church in Dickwella, Matara district, warning church members to cease all Christian worship in the area and pasting notices on the walls declaring that "any form of Christian worship in this place is completely prohibited."
The congregation has filed a complaint with local police.
On June 23, a Foursquare Gospel pastor from Polonnaruwa district was stopped by a group of men riding motorcycles as he drove home after attending a late evening prayer meeting. Three men wearing masks attacked him with knives and shouted, "This is your last day! If we let you live, you will convert the whole town!"
The pastor sustained severe cuts to his arms as he warded off blows aimed at his neck, before driving away to seek medical help. Police in Polonnaruwa have initiated an inquiry.
Finally, in Thalvapadu village, Mannar district, members of an Apostolic church were dedicating their newly constructed building on June 7 when a mob of about 300 people forcibly entered the premises, threatening the pastor and congregation. They demolished the new church building, throwing roofing sheets and bricks onto a plot of adjacent land.
When church members filed a complaint, police arrested seven of the attackers; a case has been filed with a local court.
Posted in Buddhism, Christianity, Sri Lanka	| Tagged accompanied, accusing, activity, adjacent, aiming, Akila Dias, answered, Apostolic Church, arms, arresting, arrests, arrived, arson, assaulted, assaults, Assemblies of God, assistance, attackers, attacks, attending, bail, bless, blessing, blows, bricks, broken, bucket, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhists, building, calls, campaign, care, caretaker, cease, central, chairs, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, circulated, Colombo, community, complaint, completely, congregation, constructing, construction, continued, convert, couple, court, cow, cuts, damaging, daughter, Day, declaring, dedicating, defeat, demanded, describing, desecrated, destroy, destroying, Dickwella, discovered, dispersed, districts, disturbance, divisive, documents, door, drove, dung, echoing, elements, emergency, entering, exposed, faeces, falsely, female, fire, flames, following, force, form, Foursquare Gospel Church, frantic, friend, furniture, Gampaha, government, ground, group, help, helplessly, Hindu, hit, hospital, house, human, husband, identifying, initiated, injury, inquiry, insults, intervened, invited, kill, knives, Kurunegala, land, larger, last, launched, lawyer, leaving, live, local, machete, Mannar, Markandure, masks, Matara, medical, members, mobs, Monks, motorcycles, Muslim, name, National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, NCEASL, neck, neighbors, newly, Norachcholai, north, noticeably, notices, Obawatte, officers, original, painting, pasting, Pastor, peace, people, Persecution, persons, phone call, pillars, plot, police, police station, Polonnaruwa, prayed, prayer meeting, premises, press time, prevented, preventing, prohibited, property, protestors, Puttlam, questioning, Radawana, rash, reasons, received, record, registered, released, reluctant, repair, repeated, reported, requests, resident, riding, rod, roof, roofing, rushed, Sanjana Kumara, scene, security, separatists, serious, severe, shed, sheets, shouted, similar, site, smear, south, spitting, Sri Lanka, stealing, stop, stopped, storage, structure, supporting, surge, surged, surrounded, sustained, sword, swords, Tamil, Thalvapadu, threatened, threw, tolerate, tools, tore, town, transferred, treatment, unknown, unspecified, village, villagers, Vineyard Community Church, visited, walls, warded, watched, wearing, western, whole, wielding, wife, withheld, worker, worship, worshipping | Leave a comment
CHINA: DETAINED UYGHUR CHRISTIAN TAKEN TO HOSPITAL
Family fears for his safety; planned Easter celebration near earthquake area quashed.
DUBLIN, April 17 (Compass Direct News) – Family members of detained Uyghur Christian Alimjan Yimit are increasingly concerned for his safety following reports that police and a prison doctor escorted him in handcuffs to a hospital in Kashgar two weeks ago.
Alimjan (Alimujiang Yimiti in Chinese) called out to onlookers, "I'm sick. Tell my lawyer to come quickly to see me," according to a China Aid Association (CAA) report.
Sources told Compass that Alimjan had been beaten in prison, although it was not clear who beat him or why.
The transfer from the Kashi Municipal Detention Center in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, came just one week after Alimjan's lawyer met with him to discuss a court trial anticipated in May. According to CAA, this was only the second time authorities have allowed anyone to visit Alimjan since his arrest in January 2008.
Court authorities last May returned Alimjan's case to state prosecutors, citing lack of evidence for charges of "leaking state secrets" and "inciting secession." Family, friends and work colleagues have insisted that Alimjan is a loyal citizen with no access to state secrets, and that his arrest was due largely to his Christian faith and association with foreign Christians.
Compass sources confirmed this week that Alimjan's family members are emotionally distraught over his continued detention and over lack of communication from prison authorities.
If convicted, Alimjan could face execution; Chinese authorities executed two alleged Uyghur separatists as recently as last Thursday (April 9).
Authorities first detained Alimjan on Jan. 12, 2008 on charges of endangering state security before formally re-arresting him on Feb. 20, 2008 for allegedly "inciting secession" and leaking state secrets to foreign organizations.
After court authorities returned Alimjan's case to state prosecutors and after their further investigation, his case was returned to court officials for consideration in mid-October.
Compass sources claim Kashgar authorities are wary of the case due to its sensitivity. Officials initially interrogated Alimjan during his employment for two foreign-owned companies and forbade him to discuss the questioning with anyone. In September 2007 they closed the business he then worked for and accused him of using it as a cover for "preaching Christianity" among the Uyghurs. Alimjan was arrested several months later on political charges.
A second Uyghur Christian, Osman Imin (Wusiman Yaming in Chinese), sentenced to two years in labor camp for "leaking state secrets" and "illegal proselytizing," is due for release this October. Authorities had originally called for a 10-15 year prison sentence for Osman but significantly reduced the term following international media attention.
Authorities permit Osman's wife and children to visit him once a month.
Human Rights Proposal
On Monday (April 13), as family members waited to hear news of Alimjan's condition, China's State Council released a new document outlining proposed human rights improvements. The document focused heavily on protecting the rights of prisoners and included a pledge to abolish torture and other forms of abuse within two years.
The "National Human Rights Action Plan" was one of several measures proposed by a Chinese government delegation at a United Nations review of China's human rights record held on Feb. 9.
The plan includes a ban on confessions extracted through torture and a new requirement for physical examinations before and after interrogations. It also affirms the right of prisoners to hire and meet with lawyers and to report abuses in writing to the appropriate authorities.
China's state-run English newspaper, the China Daily, reported on March 24 that bullying and torture were a significant problem in the nation's detention centers, and that at least five inmates had died under suspicious circumstances since Feb. 8, according to CAA.
'Break-through' for Christianity in China a Mirage
By Xu Mei
BEIJING, April 17 (Compass Direct News) – Prior to the event it was publicized abroad as the next great break-through for house church Christianity in China.
A giant, open celebration was to be held on Easter Sunday (April 12) in the western city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Finally, it seemed, the government would acknowledge the sacrificial work of house church Christians who came to Sichuan from throughout the country to help with rescue and reconstruction for those suffering from last May's earthquake. It would be an open admission that Christianity – even of the house church variety – was a positive element in Chinese society.
Verbal permission had been obtained for 2,500 house church Christians throughout China to meet for the special celebration entitled, "Build Up the Church and Bless Society." Some 50 government officials had been invited to the event, to be held at Chengdu's new exhibition center. Christians from Singapore and the United States flew in for it.
But the day before Easter, police abruptly informed the center that the event was cancelled. Organizers hastily changed the venue to a smaller, old exhibition center where only about 1,000 people could be accommodated. Plans for a more low-key event were stitched together, to start at 5 p.m. on Easter Sunday.
But even this was too much. An hour before the event, police barred the door. The foreigners left. None of the promised government officials turned up. A few hundred bemused Chinese house church Christians seized the opportunity to hold an impromptu worship service in a nearby parking lot.
Police intervened there, too, and arrested some local house church leaders. They were released later that evening.
The debacle comes after another much-publicized "break-through," a supposedly government-sponsored seminar in Beijing last Nov. 21-22 in which officials were said to have met with house church leaders (see http://www.compassdirect.org, "Officials Reach Out to House Churches; Raids, Arrests Continue," Dec. 9, 2008). The chief organizer later denied there was any government involvement, much less a break-through.
Rather, a minor Non-Governmental Organization had assembled academics, including some Christians, to meet with house church leaders to discuss church-state relations and make proposals they hoped might be passed on to the government at some future stage.
Observers speculate that in both the symposium and the Easter celebration, Christians overseas and perhaps some younger Chinese Christians – who have less experience than their elders with the machinations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – had overestimated the benevolence of government authorities. Faced with the enormity of an economic crisis, sources said, the government seems to be in no mood to take major steps to liberalize oppressive religious policies, let alone legalize house churches.
That the Beijing seminar was actually held, and that the Chengdu celebration could be organized only to be stopped at the last minute, could be viewed as hopeful signs of how the Chinese government has lumbered forward, at glacial pace, towards a more open policy towards Christians over the last decade or so. But powerful reactionary forces within the CCP view with dismay the extraordinary growth of the church, sources say.
Many officials still view Christianity – and especially house churches – as an ideological and political threat. Limits on the public expression of Christian worship and evangelism are clearly laid down in a welter of national, provincial and local documents issued by CCP and government over the past 25 years. Sources say minor infractions may be winked at, but major changes in a more liberal direction are not to be expected.
Officials are struggling to control a country that threatens to become increasingly uncontrollable. Depending on how long the economic recession grips China, sources say, it seems likely that for the next two years at least, the government will err on the side of caution.
Report from Compass News Direct
Posted in China, Christianity, Communism, Singapore, USA	| Tagged ;province, abolish, abroad, abruptly, abuse, academics, access, accommodated, accused, acknowledge, admission, affirms, Alimjan Yimit, Alimujiang Yimiti, alleged, allowed, anticipated, appropriate, area, arrest, arrested, assembled, association, attention, authorities, ban, barred, beat, beaten, Beijing, bemused, benevolence, bless, break-through, build, bullying, business, CAA, called, cancelled, capital, case, caution, CCP, celebration, centers, changed, charges, Chengdu, chief, children, China, China Aid Association, China Daily, Chinese, Chinese Communist Party, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, church-state, circumstances, citing, citizen, city, clear, closed, colleagues, communication, Communism, communist, communists, companies, concerned, condition, confessions, confirmed, consideration, continue, continued, control, convicted, council, country, court, cover, crisis, debacle, delegation, denied, depending, detained, detention, died, direction, discuss, dismay, distraught, doctor, document, door, Earthquake, Easter, economic, elders, element, emotionally, employment, endangering, enormity, err, escorted, evangelism, event, evidence, examinations, executed, execution, Exhibition, expected, experience, expression, extracted, extraordinary, faced, faith, family, fears, finally, flew, focused, following, forbade, forces, foreign, foreigners, formally, forms, forward, friends, future, glacial, government, government-sponsered, great, grips, growth, handcuffs, hastily, hear, heavily, held, help, hire, hopeful, hospital, house church, human rights, ideological, illegal, impromptu, improvements, inciting, included, increasingly, informed, infractions, inmates, insisted, international, interrogated, interrogations, intervened, investigation, invited, involvement, issued, Kashgar, Kashi Municipal Detention Center, labor camp, lack, lawyer, leaders, leaking, legalize, Liberal, liberalize, limits, local, lot, low key, loyal, lumbered, machinations, major, measures, media, meet, members, minor, mirage, mood, national, National Human Rights Action Plan, new, news, newspaper, next, non-governmental, observors, obtained, officials, old, onlookers, open, opportunity, oppressive, organizations, organizer, organizers, Osman Imin, outlining, overestimated, overseas, pace, parking, passed, people, permission, permit, Persecution, physical, plan, planned, pledge, police, policies, policy, political, positive, powerful, preaching, prison, prisoners, problem, promised, proposal, proposed, prosecutors, proselytizing, protecting, provincial, public, publicized, quashed, questioning, quickly, raids, re-arresting, reactionary, recession, reconstruction, record, reduced, relations, religious, reports, requirement, rescue, returned, review, right, rights, sacrificial, safety, secession, secrets, security, seemed, seized, seminar, sensitivity, separatists, service, several, Sichuan, sick, significant, signs, Singapore, smaller, Society, sources, special, speculate, stage, state, state-run, steps, stitched, stopped, struggling, suffering, Sunday, supposedly, suspicious, symposium, term, threat, threatens, torture, transfer, trial, uncontrollable, United Nations, United States, Uyghur, variety, venue, verbal, viewed, visit, waited, wary, welter, western, wife, winked, work, worked, worship, writing, Wusiman Yaming, Xinjiang, Xu Mei, younger | Leave a comment
JESUS BOAT FOUND IN THE SEA OF GALILEE IN ISRAEL
In 1986, two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, found something beyond all expectations, reports Brian Nixon, special to ASSIST News Service.
According to Pastor Skip Heitzig, who has recently finished filming a documentary on the find, the brothers felt that they would discover something wonderful on that day.
And wonderful it was.
Tucked away in the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, the brothers unearthed a 1st century boat, now named the "Jesus Boat."
Heitzig explained to me in a recent interview that in 1986 there was a tremendous drought in Israel. This allowed the brothers access to deeper regions of the lake.
One of the brothers stumbled upon some wood, and after a little digging, determined that the wood was actually a boat. According to the brothers, a double rainbow revealed itself in the sky after the find.
The brothers retreated to the Kibbutz Ginasar to get help. The Antiquity Authorities were brought in. After a long, 12-day archeological excavation (the boat was kept in a preserving environment and sailed across the Galilee river), the "Jesus Boat" was put in a 7-year chemical bath (a wax paraffin, Heitzig explained) before it could be displayed in the open air.
Since the time of its unearthing, the boat has been officially dated to the 1st century. Almost 27 feet long, and over 7 feet wide, the boat was dated based upon the nails used and the construction of the hull.
Most scholars agree that the era during which the boat was built falls somewhere between 100 B.C and 100 A.D.
Archeologists state that the "Jesus Boat" is the first near-complete boat ever to be found in the Sea of Galilee, and is therefore a considerable discovery.
Though some have attempted to draw conclusions that Jesus (or His disciples) may have used the boat, the reality is that know one knows. Chances are the boat served its purpose for fishing and trade, and then when it got old; it was allowed to submerge in the lake.
Though scientists can't determine if this exact boat was one Jesus would have sailed on, it can be said that it is representative of the boats the people of His day would have used.
Since the boat's discovery, the Pope came to view the vessel- hoping it needed a home in the Vatican. The President came to see it, as did many other men of science and politics. For the past few years, the "Jesus Boat" has generated great interest across the world.
In as much as Heitzig finds the boat a fascinating and important archeological discovery, he also sees the boat as a picture of more than an ancient sailing craft. In the boat, Heitzig finds a parallel to the nation the boat was discovered in.
For Heitzig, the boat is a picture of Israel: a nation that was considered dead and submerged. But through His wonderful providence, God brought Israel forth in 1948. He reemerged it as a bud for a new generation, and established Israel as a nation.
In the soon to be released documentary, The Jesus Boat, Heitzig, as host, takes viewers on a journey through the discovery, preservation, and display of the boat (the boat can be seen in the Yigal Alon Museum in Kibbutz Ginasar), though Heitzig makes it a point to draw a strong parallel to the rebirth of the Nation of Israel.
According to Heitzig, "The Jesus Boat was way more than a documentary about an ancient boat. It's really a testimony to the faithfulness of God. Through the film, we paralleled the story of a lost boat and a lost nation- Israel- both of which were "resurrected" after 2,000 years. It tells of a boat that wouldn't stay buried in a land that couldn't stay buried!"
"Just like the boat was buried under the shores for 2,000 years, the land of Israel was submerged – virtually not a nation – a dispersed people group. Yet against all odds, Israel re-emerged in 1948. As the prophet Ezekiel predicted, there was a re-gathering of Jews from the four corners of the world into that ancient piece of real estate. It would seem as impossible as dried bones, bleached and parched under the Middle Eastern sun, coming to life again." (See Ezekiel 36-37).
"And yet it happened – 1948, the re-establishment of the nation. And why? Because God made promises to Abraham: 'I'll bless you, I'll make you a great nation, your name will be great, I'll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.'"(See Genesis 12:1-3).
Posted in Archaeology, Christianity, Israel, Jesus Christ, Jews, Middle East, Movie	| Tagged 1948, 1986, Abraham, access, according, agree, allowed, ancient, Antiquity Authorities, archeological, attempted, based, bleached, bless, boat, boats, bones, brothers, bud, built, buried, century, chances, chemical bath, conclusions, considerable, considered, construction, corners, craft, curse, dated, dead, determine, determined, digging, disciples, discover, discovered, discovery, dispersed, display, displayed, documentary, double rainbow, draw, dried, drought, Environment, era, established, exact, excavation, expectations, explained, Ezekiel, faithfulness, fascinating, film, filming, find, finished, first, fishing, found, Galilee River, generated, generation, God, great, group, happened, help, home, host, hull, interest, interview, Israel, Jesus, Jesus Boat, Jews, journey, kept, Kibbutz Ginasar, lake, land, life, lost, Middle Eastern, Moshe Lufan, nails, nation, near-complete, northwestern, odds, officially, old, open-air, paraffin, parallel, paralleled, parched, Pastor, people, picture, point, Politics, Pope, predicted, preservation, preserving, President, promises, prophet, providence, purpose, re-establishment, real estate, reality, rebirth, recently, reemerged, regions, released, representative, resurrected, retreated, revealed, sailed, sailing, scholars, science, scientists, Sea of Galilee, served, shore, shores, Skip Heitzig, sky, state, story, stumbled, submerge, submerged, Sun, testimony, trade, tremendous, unearthed, unearthing, Vatican, vessel, view, viewers, virtually, wax, wonderful, wood, world, Yigal Alon Museum, Yuval Lufan | 2 Comments
CENTRAL INTERIOR ASSEMBLY SAYS 'YES' TO SAME-SEX BLESSINGS
Posted on November 8, 2008 by particularkev
The assembly of the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) has requested its bishop, Gordon Light, to allow clergy whose conscience permits to bless civilly-married gay couples where at least one party is baptized. The assembly passed the motion when it met Oct. 17 to 19, reports Anglican Journal.
A notice of a similar motion was filed at the synod of the diocese of Ontario but was declared out of order by the diocesan bishop, George Bruce, who acted on the advice of the diocesan chancellor (legal advisor). The ruling was appealed at the synod held Oct. 16 to 18 but was upheld by a majority vote of delegates.
At the APCI assembly, Bishop Light gave concurrence to the motion but suspended any action pending consultations with the Canadian house of bishops, which meets Oct. 27 to 31 to discuss, among others, how best to respond to renewed proposals for moratoria on the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of persons living in same-sex unions to the episcopate, and cross-border interventions.
Since the 2007 General Synod four dioceses have already passed similar motions – Ottawa, Montreal, Niagara, and Huron. The diocesan synod of New Westminster approved same-sex blessings in 2002.
Of the 50 clergy and lay delegates at the APCI assembly, 36 voted yes (72 per cent), 10 voted no (20 per cent), and four (8 per cent) abstained. APCI is composed of 18 parishes (including 35 congregations) which was constituted after the former diocese of Cariboo closed its diocesan office in 2001 because of financial pressures surrounding lawsuits about abuse at the St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C.
"We had a very respectful discussion. All voices were heard," said Rev. Susan Hermanson, rector of St. Peter's Anglican church in Williams Lake, who moved the motion. She said that approval of the motion "allows us to accept gays and lesbians fully as part of our family and, as in all families, we can disagree with one another and still be part of the family."
In a telephone interview, she added that the motion was also meant to "take a reading" of where APCI was on the issue. She noted that in 2000, the diocesan synod of Cariboo had approved a motion affirming the full inclusion of gay and lesbian couples in the life of the church. Since then, parishes have been discussing and studying the issue further, she said. "We have, in fact, been discussing this issue for the last 30 years now," she said.
In her written background and explanation, Ms. Hermanson noted that APCI "is a diverse community and therefore respects and honours those who, because of their theological position or as a matter of conscience, cannot agree with the blessing of same-sex unions."
Anglicans opposed to same-sex blessings believe that homosexuality is contrary to scripture and to Anglican teaching. To date, 14 of about 2,800 congregations have left the Canadian Anglican church over theological disagreements over homosexuality. These churches have joined a group called the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and placed themselves under the episcopal oversight of the primate of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Gregory Venables.
Posted in Anglicans, Canada, Christianity, Homosexuality	| Tagged 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, abstained, abuse, accept, acted, action, advice, agree, allow, Anglican, Anglican Network of the Southern Cone, Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior, Anglicans, APCI, appealed, approved, Archbishop, assembly, background, baptized, bishop, bishops, bless, blessings, British Columbia, called, Canada, Canadian, Cariboo, central, Chancellor, church, civilly-married, clergy, closed, community, composed, concurrence, congregations, conscience, constituted, consultations, contrary, couples, cross-border, declared, delegates, diocesan, diocese, dioceses, disagree, disagreements, discuss, discussing, discussion, diverse, episcopate, explanation, families, family, filed, financial, former, fully, gay, gays, General Synod, George Bruce, Gordon Light, Gregory Venables, group, heard, Homosexuality, honours, house, Huron, inclusion, interior, interventions, interview, issue, lawsuits, lay, legal advisor, lesbians, life, living, Lytton, majority, meets, Montreal, moratoria, motion, New Westminster, Niagara, no, noted, notice, office, Ontario, opposed, ordination, Ottawa, out of order, parishes, party, passed, pending, permits, persons, position, proposals, reading, rector, renewed, reports, requested, respectful, respects, respond, Rev, ruling, same-sex, Scripture, similar, St. George's Indian Residential School, St. Peter's Anglican Church, studying, surrounding, Susan Hermanson, suspended, synod, teaching, telephone, theological, unions, upheld, voices, vote, voted, Williams Lake, written, yes | Leave a comment


text:
'Get out': some Mexico border residents reject migrant arrivals
Migrants, part of a caravan of thousands traveling from Central America en route to the United States, sit in a bus while the bus stop for them to get food and water from a store on a highway in Culiacan, Mexico November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
By Lizbeth Diaz
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – Exhausted after a harrowing journey, members of Central American migrant caravans now face a new threat: open hostility from some Mexicans on the U.S. border.
A small group of residents of an upscale neighborhood in the Mexican border of Tijuana confronted caravan migrants late on Wednesday, throwing stones and telling them to go back to their home countries.
"Get out of here," a group of around 20 people shouted at a camp of Hondurans near the border. "We want you to return to your country. You are not welcome."
Migrants shouted back, in a confrontation that belied Tijuana's reputation as a free-wheeling, tolerant city and lasted into the early hours of Thursday. Dozens of police arrived at the scene.
A caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty at home set off for the United States in mid-October, with the bulk of them still to arrive at the border. Other large bands of mostly Salvadorans have followed behind.
Trump has declared the caravans an "invasion," and has sent some 5,800 troops to "harden" the border, including with barbed wire.
With some exceptions, Mexico has welcomed the Central Americans, offering food and lodging in towns during their journey. The migrants said they were stunned by the hostile attitude in Tijuana.
"We are not criminals. Why do treat us like this if everywhere we have traveled in Mexico they treated us well?" migrants shouted back. "Think about the children who are here, please."
Tensions began brewing several days ago when residents complained about a group of 80 or so LGBT migrants who broke away from the caravan and arrived in an upscale part of the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood, near where the stones were thrown.
A popular party town for U.S. tourists, Tijuana has a history of absorbing visitors, including Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. It has a large American population and some 3,000 Haitians settled in the city, just south of San Diego, in 2016 after failing to cross the U.S. border.
But the arrival of hundreds of members of the caravans has stretched to the limit migrant shelters that were already overflowing with people. While Tijuana's traditional generosity was also on display, with the government setting up a new shelter and citizens offering food and clothing, a harder attitude also emerged.
Reuters gained access to a WhatsApp chat group called "Citizen Blockade" where some 250 members using strong language discussed strategies to harass the migrants or block their arrival.
Tijuana's city government opened a shelter for 360 people of an estimated 810 that arrived this week, and officials warned there was little room to house more than 2,000 more who are expected to arrive this week.
Irineo Mujica, representative of the organization Pueblos Sin Fronteras, which is advising the migrants in the caravan, said the migrants wanted to seek asylum in the United States.
Their arrival adds to already long lines of people who have been waiting their turn at the Tijuana crossing. Last week, Trump suspended the granting of asylum to migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
"We are looking for solutions, not confrontations," Mujica said following the clash with Mexicans as a helicopter hovered above, surveying the scene from the American side.
(Writing by Michael O'Boyle; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Alistair Bell)
Jim-Bakkers-82nd-Bday-Offers-800×125
Posted on November 15, 2018 By Reuters News Agency
This entry was tagged Central American migrants, hostility, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Mexico, Tijuana, U.S. Border. Bookmark the permalink.
← Netanyahu faces snap election calls after …
'Design errors' faulted in Florida bridge … →
Ukraine prepares for War, while U.S. and Russia hold discussion
Northeast expected to reach -40F, while there's a fresh tornado threat in the south
'Astounded' by Empty Shelves and thinning supplies
Breaking records Inflation highest since 1982
Be a good citizen or go on a List
M5 south of the Fiji Islands 45 mins ago
M5.6 Mongolia 1 hour ago
M5.3 Afghanistan 5 hours ago
M4.5 Peru 7 hours ago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Five new opportunities to provide support for teachers are getting underway this term. They are part of Networks of Expertise, a component of the broader redesign of professional learning and development (PLD), which has been carried out in conjunction with sector representative groups and the Education Council.
Networks of Expertise seeks to grow and develop existing and new curriculum, teaching and learning networks. Five initial components are now being implemented ahead of a wider roll-out over the coming 12 months by established networks or subject associations. The support will be tailored to the specific needs of teachers.
The associations will develop workshops and online resource material for both primary and secondary teachers. They will also cover the development of new resources for teachers.
Support in this area is being coordinated by the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers (NZALT).
Annabelle of NZALT says the association is "very pleased to have been given this opportunity", stating it will allow them to "support teachers of all languages, including te reo Māori, Pasifika languages and NZSL".
NZALT has plans to provide a regular newsletter, run inquiry clusters and offer financial awards for teachers to access learning opportunities. It will work collaboratively with the different language groups to identify and address the needs teachers have.
This area is being coordinated by Massey University.
learning networks: completing short course learning modules and projects for credentialing with the potential to cross-credit towards a formal qualification.
Mandia of Massey University says, "The exciting aspect of Network of Expertise is how learning support leaders and teachers can collaborate to share good practice, with the opportunity to use this as a professional learning pathway to formal certification".
This area is being coordinated by New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital and Information Technology Teachers (NZACDITT).
In July educators from across New Zealand participated in a week-long event supported by the Ministry and Google's Outreach Programme. It was aimed at developing teacher capability in implementing the new Digital Technologies curriculum.
Julie of NZACDITT says the event was "hugely successful in meeting its aims and demonstrated the power of collaboration across sectors and across schools for the delivery of PLD".
NZACDITT is offering free membership to all primary, intermediate and Kura Kaupapa Māori teachers until the end of the year.
New networks will be established to support Māori medium and Māori language educators across the entire learning pathway (0–18 years). These networks are initially being formed in the Bay of Plenty/Waiariki and Waikato regions.
The networks will provide opportunities for online and face-to-face support, and will actively explore how iwi can be used as a key repository of expertise. A core focus of the support will be developing local, tailored solutions to issues that teachers and leaders face on a day-to-day basis.
These five areas are the first phase of a broader roll out of support in 2018. Over the next two months, further design work will be carried out with sector representatives.


An eLearning template is supposed to be the gift that keeps on giving, right? It might not, and here's why! In this article, I'll share the 7 top reasons why graphic designers loathe eLearning templates, along with tips to use them more effectively.
Good assessment design, like solving a mystery, can pinpoint training areas you'll want to focus on in future business development.
It's easy to get swept up in new eLearning trends and technologies without realizing that not all training is created equal.
UX is a crucial part of your app. If it is too hard to use or complicated more than it has any right to be, then chances are users will look for other options in the market and trust us, there are many. So if you don't want to lose your users, you need to work a little harder on your UX/UI design.


text:
Tag Archives: Foucault
Briefly noted: The Monogamy Gap — Eric Anderson
December 29, 2013 By Jake Seliger in Books, Briefly Noted, Nonfiction Tags: anderson, camille paglia, eric anderson, Foucault, monogamy, paglia, sociology, the monogamy gap	2 Comments
Any book that claims rigor but approvingly cites Michel Foucault undermines its claim to rigorousness. While the subject of The Monogamy Gap is interesting, the book draws on 120 interviews of university men. That's all. Its conclusions might be mildly useful for understanding that particular group but its claims shouldn't be applied beyond that tiny group. There are many useful things to be said about monogamy, but most of them have been and are being said by evolutionary biologists, psychologists, novelists, and memoirists ("memoir writers?"), and to a lesser extent economists.
What Camille Paglia said in "Scholars in Bondage" also applies to The Monogamy Gap.
June 14, 2008 By Jake Seliger in Books, Life Tags: Books, Foucault, Foucault's Pendulum, Literature, Umberto Eco	Leave a comment
"You live on the surface," Lia told me years later. "You sometimes seem profound, but it's only because you piece a lot of surfaces together to create the impression of depth, solidity. That solidity would collapse if you tried to stand it up."
—Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Reading: Wheaties, marijuana, or boring? You decide.
June 11, 2008 By Jake Seliger in Books, Culture, Links Tags: Alain Badiou, art, Badiou, Books, English Novel, Foucault, Literature, Mikita Brottman, Novel, novels, Read, Reading, Stories, The New Yorker, Twilight of the Books	6 Comments
Eventually one must tire of reading the debates about reading and prefer to just read, or, if you're the sort of person who doesn't, watch T.V., or whatever—though if you don't like reading, I'm rather puzzled that you're at this site. Regardless, you should read this long, worthwhile, and non-polemical look at the decline of reading from Heather Harris (hat tip Books, Inq.):
One of the great pastimes of the literati, aside from complaining about the Bush administration and attending live tapings of A Prairie Home Companion, is collective hand-wringing about the sad fact that Americans no longer read. Apparently, most of us would sooner watch Rock of Love–Bret and Ambre are so not going to make it–than pick up a novel. Enter Mikita Brottman: Maryland Institute College of Art professor, Oxford scholar, author, and patron saint of the tome-averse masses in her new book The Solitary Vice: Against Reading. Brottman is the latest in a long line of philosophers and writers to question reading's value, and in this day of reading campaigns and self-important book clubs, the question of whether reading per se is a virtuous activity is timely.
I've been collecting examples of quotes and articles concerning the decline of reading, as the debate about whether reading is good or bad for you seems to have been rolling around since the origins of the English novel. Other required reading on reading is Steven Johnson's Dawn of the Digital Natives, whose perspective is closer to Brottman's than the unnamed literati of the article.
I fall into more of the rah-rah reading crowd, both for personal and societal reasons. The argument about writing and reading changing our culture resonates with me, as even people who never read have been affected by the innumerable writers and reformers of various kinds whose work extends perpetually backwards in time. In addition, as Foucault argues, power and knowledge are inherently bound, and the most efficient way to transmit knowledge seems to be reading.
Why have we dismantled most forms of racial discrimination or many of the barriers to women in the workforce or other kinds of discrimination based on things other than ability? Why do we let atheists maintain their beliefs openly? It's largely because some people were willing to challenge the larger culture, chiefly through writing, and enough people were interested in reading to have absorbed those principles or ideas, which now come at us through a thousand outlets. I just read in Alain Badiou's 'Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (Wo Es War): "When Nietzsche proposes to 'break the history of the world in two' by exploding Christian nihilism and generalizing the great Dionysian 'yes' to Life […]" I thought, really? Although I don't necessarily buy the "exploding Christian nihilism" bit (what nihilism?), count me as a late convert to the Dionysian principle. Without books, it's doubtful that I would've made it there, and it's in part my own trajectory that leads me to believe, perhaps irrationally, in the transformative value of thinking about the world through reading.
To delve into personal territory, books helped me leave the social carapace that hardened when I was 10 or 11, not create it, as Brottman says happened to her. Books were a recovery from an unhappy move and from video games and helped me articulate more of a worldview and change my behavior, and while I don't think of books as therapy, they do have some therapeutic aspects to them. To bring the level of seriousness back to an appropriate level, consider what Richard Feynman said in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: "And Von Neumann gave me an interesting idea: that you don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in. So I have developed a very powerful sense of social irresponsibility as a result of Von Neumann's advice. It's made me a very happy man ever since. But it was Von Neumann who put the seed in that grew into my active irresponsibility!"
Without reading, I might lack this powerful sense of social irresponsibility and instead just have accepted accepted received wisdom instead of revising received wisdom. Let this be a lesson, by the way, to the natterers, including myself, on getting young people to read—instead of pushing reading ceaselessly like whole wheat bread, maybe it's time to forbid it, and stock copies of Henry Miller and Bret Easton Ellis in the liquor store, thereby necessitating that teenagers get their older siblings or boyfriends or whatever to buy it for them. They might pass copies of Lost Girls around like furtive bongs at parties. I call this the "gateway drug" approach to reading, as opposed to the "whole wheat" approach.
Still, on a marginally more serious note, if no one reads, then who will write the challenges to cultural, legal, social, and technical problems? And who will read them? That, implicitly, is what many of hand-wringers worry about. Steven Johnson might argue, perhaps correctly, that those challenges will come from visual media, and that's possible—but I doubt most visual media can match the depth of depth of text. I'm convinced that reading causes you to think—as Caleb Crain's Twilight of the Books argues—differently and gives you the tools to argue against bad public policy, bureaucracies, and the like. To me, reading is linked to freedom itself, and I don't think it's mere correlation that the initial moves toward democracy coincided with the rise of what evidence we have for written languages, or that repressive governments fear and try to control books and knowledge. Thus, I see reading as important in the personal sphere for individual growth and in the societal sphere for correcting the excesses of organizations with power. And they're fun—Feynman often criticized such organizations through his social irresponsibility, and has helped transmit that sense to others. Reading doesn't have to be antisocial, and I usually find being social around people who read is more fun than being around people who don't, simply because the readers get more and get it faster. Once again, the correlation/causation issue arises, but from my perspective, it doesn't matter—I'll take the reader over the non-reader, and many people not in positions of, say, government authority would probably do the same. Without falling prey to Godwin's Law, I'll note that many authoritarian regimes try to control knowledge and specific manifestations of knowledge, like books and professors. As a result, I see reading as both a public and private good, although one that, paradoxically, might be best inculcated in young people by trying to show it as dangerous, rather than good for you like Wheaties.
This argument might not matter, since surveys keep appearing that claim people read less and less, but like any believer, I'm still convinced of the faith's importance. I'm not as much a proselytizer as someone who thinks others should come to it on their volition—I'm less of a Christian missionary and more of a Buddhist monk. Or maybe I've just got an economic interest in reading, since I spend an enormous amount of time writing. I think it's deeper than that, although I won't be so ridiculously grandiose as to say things like, "The future depends on it!" like a character from a bad superhero movie, I will say that reading still matters as a component of free thought and free life, and it doesn't have to come at the expense of sociability. It can be good for you but shouldn't necessarily be pitched that way. The culture, however, will move in whatever way it does, and I suspect those in the debate will be increasingly on the margins of the culture as a whole.
EDIT: Added last paragraph on 6/11/08.


It's all about the gather. The Stevie Gown is expertly draped to conceal and enhance all the parts you want to show and those you don't. It's got a high split in the front to show off your pins and an open back for added effect.


text:
/*
 * MRustC - Rust Compiler
 * - By John Hodge (Mutabah/thePowersGang)
 *
 * parse/token.hpp
 * - Lexer Tokens
 */
#pragma once

#include <rc_string.hpp>
#include <tagged_union.hpp>
#include "../coretypes.hpp"
#include <ident.hpp>
#include <memory>
#include <int128.h>

enum eTokenType
{
    #define _(t)    t,
    #include "eTokenType.enum.h"
    #undef _
};

class Position
{
public:
    RcString    filename;
    unsigned int    line;
    unsigned int    ofs;

    Position():
        filename(""),
        line(0),
        ofs(0)
    {}
    Position(RcString filename, unsigned int line, unsigned int ofs):
        filename(filename),
        line(line),
        ofs(ofs)
    {
    }
};
extern ::std::ostream& operator<<(::std::ostream& os, const Position& p);

class TypeRef;
class TokenTree;
namespace AST {
    typedef bool Visibility;
    class Pattern;
    class Path;
    class ExprNode;
    class Attribute;
    class Item;

    template<typename T>
    struct Named;
};

class InterpolatedFragment;

class Token
{
    friend class HirSerialiser;
    friend class HirDeserialiser;

    TAGGED_UNION(Data, None,
    (None, struct {}),
    (Ident, Ident),
    (String, ::std::string),
    (Integer, struct {
        enum eCoreType  m_datatype;
        U128    m_intval;
        }),
    (Float, struct {
        enum eCoreType  m_datatype;
        double  m_floatval;
        }),
    (Fragment, void*)
    );

    enum eTokenType m_type;
    Data    m_data;
    Position    m_pos;

    Token(enum eTokenType t, Data d, Position p):
        m_type(t),
        m_data( ::std::move(d) ),
        m_pos( ::std::move(p) )
    {
    }
public:
    virtual ~Token();
    Token();
    Token& operator=(Token&& t)
    {
        m_type = t.m_type;  t.m_type = TOK_NULL;
        m_data = ::std::move(t.m_data);
        m_pos = ::std::move(t.m_pos);
        return *this;
    }
    Token(Token&& t):
        m_type(t.m_type),
        m_data( ::std::move(t.m_data) ),
        m_pos( ::std::move(t.m_pos) )
    {
        t.m_type = TOK_NULL;
    }
    Token& operator=(const Token& t) {
        this->~Token();
        new (this) Token(t);
        return *this;
    }
    Token(const Token& t);
    Token clone() const;

    Token(enum eTokenType type);
    Token(enum eTokenType type, ::std::string str);
    Token(enum eTokenType type, Ident i);
    Token(U128 val, enum eCoreType datatype);
    static Token make_float(double val, enum eCoreType datatype);
    Token(const InterpolatedFragment& );
    struct TagTakeIP {};
    Token(TagTakeIP, InterpolatedFragment );

    enum eTokenType type() const { return m_type; }
    bool has_data() const { return !m_data.is_None(); }

    const Ident& ident() const { return m_data.as_Ident(); }
    ::std::string& str() { return m_data.as_String(); }
    const ::std::string& str() const { return m_data.as_String(); }
    enum eCoreType  datatype() const { TU_MATCH_DEF(Data, (m_data), (e), (assert(!"Getting datatype of invalid token type");), (Integer, return e.m_datatype;), (Float, return e.m_datatype;)) throw ""; }
    U128 intval() const { return m_data.as_Integer().m_intval; }
    double floatval() const { return m_data.as_Float().m_floatval; }

    // TODO: Replace these with a way of getting a InterpolatedFragment&
    TypeRef& frag_type() { assert(m_type == TOK_INTERPOLATED_TYPE); return *reinterpret_cast<TypeRef*>( m_data.as_Fragment() ); }
    AST::Path& frag_path() { assert(m_type == TOK_INTERPOLATED_PATH); return *reinterpret_cast<AST::Path*>( m_data.as_Fragment() ); }
    AST::Pattern& frag_pattern() { assert(m_type == TOK_INTERPOLATED_PATTERN); return *reinterpret_cast<AST::Pattern*>( m_data.as_Fragment() ); }
    AST::Attribute& frag_meta() { assert(m_type == TOK_INTERPOLATED_META); return *reinterpret_cast<AST::Attribute*>( m_data.as_Fragment() ); }

    ::std::unique_ptr<AST::ExprNode> take_frag_node();
    ::AST::Named<AST::Item> take_frag_item();
    ::AST::Visibility take_frag_vis();

    bool operator==(eTokenType tty) const {
        return type() == tty;
    }
    bool operator!=(eTokenType tty) const { return !(*this == tty); }
    bool operator==(const Token& r) const {
        if(type() != r.type())
            return false;
        TU_MATCH(Data, (m_data, r.m_data), (e, re),
        (None, return true;),
        (Ident, return e == re; ),
        (String, return e == re; ),
        (Integer, return e.m_datatype == re.m_datatype && e.m_intval == re.m_intval;),
        (Float, return e.m_datatype == re.m_datatype && e.m_floatval == re.m_floatval;),
        (Fragment, assert(!"Token equality on Fragment");)
        )
        throw "";
    }
    bool operator!=(const Token& r) const { return !(*this == r); }

    ::std::string to_str() const;

    void set_pos(Position pos) { m_pos = pos; }
    const Position& get_pos() const { return m_pos; }

    static bool type_is_rword(enum eTokenType type) {
        return type >= TOK_RWORD_PUB;
    }
    static const char* typestr(enum eTokenType type);
    static eTokenType typefromstr(const ::std::string& s);

    friend ::std::ostream&  operator<<(::std::ostream& os, const Token& tok);
};
extern ::std::ostream&  operator<<(::std::ostream& os, const Token& tok);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


- In 1924 was founded by the Tashkent Zoo. Under the area of the zoo were approximately 3 hectares of land. By the late forties was already almost completely formed by the zoo, and his exhibition consisted of 200 species of animals.
In 1994 it was decided to build a new zoo, which will respond to all international requirements and standards. And in 1997, Independence Day opened its doors a new zoo, located near the botanical gardens. And in 1998 became a member of Tashkent Zoo EREZA (Eurasian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums).
The new zoo 22, 7 acres of land in investing landscape type contains about 349 species of animals: mammals, reptiles, birds and fish. Pride of New Tashkent Zoo - Aquarium, where the water created by artificial means, live marine animals, including sharks, eels moray, turtles, etc.
The next point of our route - Bukhara. "Buhera-ay-Sharif" - "noble and sacred" - is one of the many epithets, which awarded the ancient city. Bukhara - one of the few cities in the world which is continuously developed on the same spot, with the V century BC In 1993, the historical part of Bukhara, was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Cities of humanity. In 1997, under the auspices of UNESCO around the world celebrate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the city. Conservation of the architectural heritage of Bukhara - a rare combination of monuments from different eras, describing the development of architectural architecture for more than twenty-five centuries.


text:
White wins KMC Cross Fest Day 2
Rochette second, Keough third
PREVIOUS STAGE
Heavy favorite Emma White (Cannondale) got the first call-up (Image credit: Dave McElwaine)
U23 World Cup leader Emma White (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) scored her first win of the cyclocross season Sunday at the KMC Cross Fest.
Kaitlin Keough (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) lead the explosive start, but an early flat saw her dropped from the front group. Keough's teammate White, along with Canadian Maghalie Rochette (Clif Pro Team), took over the front and asserted a gap to drive the pace. Keough rallied just in time for the bell lap to chase back into third position. With a half of a lap to go, White attacked to cross the line solo for the win, leaving second place to Rochette. Keough took a hard-fought third place.
"This is definitely the biggest ride of the season. I haven't had a ride that I was totally happy with until today," said White, who finished third in Friday's C1 race. "I was pretty confident going into today. It's the fourth weekend of racing, and coming off of road season I knew I had a little bit left in the tank. I felt good in the (final) runup, so I just attacked, got a little bit of a gap and then went 100 per cent from there."
Rochette repeated in second place at KMC Cross Fest.
"Both days were good battles with the Cannondale girls, which are also my friends," she said. "I really wanted to win. I'm kind of tired of being second. I couldn't do any more today and I am happy with that. It is all good."
1 Emma White (USA) 0:48:35
2 Maghalie Rochette (Can) 0:00:13
3 Kaitlin Keough (USA) 0:00:31
4 Rebecca Fahringer (USA) 0:00:41
5 Crystal Anthony (USA)
6 Christel Ferrier Bruneau (Can) 0:00:47
7 Ellen Noble (USA) 0:01:17
8 Caroline Mani (Fra) 0:01:26
9 Arley Kemmerer (USA) 0:01:38
10 Allison Arensman (USA) 0:02:29
11 Ruby West (Can) 0:02:38
12 Jennifer Malik (USA) 0:02:48
13 Laurel Rathbun (USA) 0:03:33
14 Regina Legge (USA) 0:03:39
15 Christa Ghent (USA) 0:03:48
16 Katie Clouse (USA) 0:04:20
17 Rachel Rubino (USA) 0:04:31
18 Taylor Kuyk-White (USA) 0:04:39
19 Erin Faccone (USA) 0:04:46
20 Brittlee Bowman (USA) 0:04:57
21 Natalie Tapias (USA) 0:05:07
22 Julie Wright (USA) 0:05:08
23 Rebecca Gross (USA) 0:06:12
24 Erica Leonard (Can) 0:06:29
25 Dana Gilligan (Can) 0:06:39
26 Leslie Lupien (USA) 0:06:46
27 Sophie Russenberger (USA) 0:06:48
28 Fiona Morris (Aus)
29 Philicia Marion (USA)
30 Meghan Owens (USA)
31 Turner Ramsay (USA)
32 Alex Carlson (USA)


text:
Q: Does the Windows scheduler sometimes fail to preempt a running thread immediately to let a higher-priority thread run? My application operates on pairs of long vectors - say it adds them together to produce a vector result.  Its rules state that it must completely finish with one pair before it can be given another.  I would like to use multiple threads to speed things up.  I am running Windows 10.
I created an OpenMP parallel for construct and divided the vector among all the threads of the team.  All threads start, all threads run pretty fast, so the multithreading is effective.
But the speedup is slight, and the reason is that some of the time, one of the worker threads takes way longer than usual.  I have instrumented the operation, and I see that sometimes the worker threads take a long time to start - delay varies from 20 microseconds on average to dozens of milliseconds depending on system load.  The master thread does not show this delay.
That makes me think that the scheduler is taking some time to start the worker threads.  The master thread is already running, so it doesn't have to wait to be started.
But here is the nub of the question: raising the priority of the process doesn't make any difference.  I can raise it to high priority or even realtime priority, and I still see that startup of the worker threads is often delayed.  It looks like the Windows scheduler is not fully preemptive, and sometimes lets a lower-priority thread run when a higher-priority one is eligible.  Can anyone confirm this?
I have verified that the worker threads are created with the default OS priority, namely the base priority of the class of the master process.  This should be higher that the priority of any running thread, I think.  Or is it normal for there to be some thread with realtime priority that might be blocking my workers?  I don't see one with Task Manager.
I guess one last possibility is that the task switch might take 20 usec.  Is that plausible?
I have a 4-core system without hyperthreading.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I have found another spotting game for you to solve. Do you really like them so much? I got this impression from emails I receive. Today, your assignment is somewhat harder: try and find 17 wolves in the picture below. Some can be easily seen, but few of them are real experts in hiding themselves. Yeah, I know we had wolves before (… and previous to that). But this one was so beautiful I just had to share it with my friends – at least I hope I can call you that 🙂 The artwork was done by Steven Michael Gardner, but you can probably recognize his works by now. We had so MANY of them here. He is truly an amazing artist. Check out more of his stuff inside spot the object category.


We do the full circle, starting from understanding the needs and user education at the end.
We develop websites of any difficulty, from Landing Pages to enterprise portals. Modern websites, and individual projects. From business card websites all the way to the internet shops.
We use all the newest technologies which we select due to the needs and business tasks that are lying ahead of us.
Польско-украинская сервисная компания, лидер на рынке клининга Украины.
The core of our success is the professionalism of our team and the quality of products and services, the constant use of new technologies and systematic approach.


Basic mathematical and programming skills are required. It is an advantage, but not absolutely necessary, to be familiar with Matlab. Some background concerning microcontrollers is advantageous, but not a requirement.
The course aims at giving the students an understanding of design principles for autonomous systems, both robots and software agens, and also gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice through the construction of a simple autonomous robot.
- Understand and describe basic properties of robotic hardware, including sensors, actuators and microcontrollers.
- Describe the basics of animal behavior (ethology) and its connection to robotic behaviors.
- Understand the basics of behavior-based robotics and evolutionary robotics.
- Set up and use basic kinematic and dynamic equations for robot motion.
- Define and set up computer simulations of wheeled autonomous robots (using a simulator provided by the lecturer).
- Define and set up evolutionary simulations for the optimization of robotic control systems (using a simulator provided by the lecturer).
- Understand and apply basic methods for behavior generation and behavior selection in autonomous robots.
- Understand the basics of utility theory and its application in robotic behavior selection.
- Understand and describe the basics of swarm intelligence and agent-based economics.
- Construct and use a simple autonomous robot.
The course extends over two quarters. In the first part of the course, the theory is covered in 14 lectures. In the second part, a robot construction project is carried out (in groups of 5-6 students). In the final weeks of the course, the constructed robots are applied in a variety of simple tasks.
The robot construction project is graded and corresponds to around 30% of the grade. 40% of the grade is determined based on the results of two home problems, and the remaining 30% are determined by the results on a written exam (at the end of the first half of the course).


text:
HometechScientists Bred Healthy Mice Using Artificial Eggs and Ovaries Made From Stem Cells
Scientists Bred Healthy Mice Using Artificial Eggs and Ovaries Made From Stem Cells
The Editors July 27, 2021
The baby mice popcorning around their cages looked utterly normal. But in fact, they're a technological wonder: they were born from bioengineered eggs matured inside a man-made ovary. Even crazier, both the eggs and the ovary were grown from stem cells.
That's right—for the first time, scientists were able to grow functional egg cells completely outside the (mouse) body.
The experiment is the brainchild of Dr. Katsuhiko Hayashi of Kyushu University, who's led the pursuit of making gametes—sperm and eggs—without the constraints of a living body. If adapted for humans, these wild reproductive pursuits are bound to shake up our entire conception of the beginning of life—similar to the way "test-tube" babies did when in vitro fertilization (IVF) was first introduced.
Hayashi dreams of even bigger possibilities. Because stem cells can be rapidly created from skin or other cells, they are an endless source of raw material to make sperm and egg cells. If fully functional, these basic components of reproduction can merge into a fertilized egg inside a test tube, be transplanted into a surrogate, and birth a new generation without ever seeing testes or ovaries.
"This technical breakthrough…holds enormous potential for germ cell research," commented Drs. Lin Yang and Huck-Hui Ng at the Genome Institute of Singapore, who were not involved in the study.
The technology, in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, comes with mind-bending possibilities. Researchers can use these lab-grown models to better understand how reproductive cells form and mature—and how the process can falter. For couples struggling to conceive, or people who've lost reproductive function due to diseases like cancer, IVG would offer a new route towards pregnancy. It also raises the potential of same-sex couples conceiving children with their own genetic makeup.
To be clear: there are far more hurdles to clear before IVG can be tested in humans. But Hayashi shows a rainbow of potential applications ahead—and reigniting debates on the limits of how IVG should be tested and used in humans.
Engineering Life
For the past decade, Hayashi has been rewriting the classic tale of boy meets girl. Or rather, sperm meets egg. His secret ingredient? Stem cells.
Stem cells are like the playdough of our bodies. By dousing them with specific mixes of biomolecules, it's possible to nudge them into different types of cells—including sperm and egg. Back in 2011, Hayashi dazzled the world of reproductive science. By bathing stem cells in a particular chemical soup, his team was able to make the precursor to sperm cells outside the body. It didn't matter where the stem cells came from. Those naturally occurring in embryos or those "reversed" or "deprogrammed" from skin cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), both had the capacity to turn into functional sperm.
Fast-forward to 2016, and the team achieved the same with eggs in mice. Using stem cells, they were able to mimic the entire process of how ovaries make eggs. The tube-grown eggs went on to create healthy, living mouse pups—another scientific first.
During the study, however, the team ran into a massive technological bottleneck. Eggs made in a test tube couldn't develop naturally outside the ovary. For the cells to mature, the team had to incubate them with fresh ovarian tissue from mice—a workaround that's both a bit icky and totally impractical for any future infertility treatments.
Living Incubator
The new study tackled that bottleneck: Is it possible to make an artificial ovary floating in a dish?
The team honed in on support cells that normally encapsulate a developing egg. These support cells thrive inside the ovary and secrete hormones and other nutrients that help support the metabolic needs of an egg. "This connection is crucial for many developmental milestones," explained Yang and Ng, including forming ovarian follicles, or fluid-filled sacks in the ovaries that work as living incubators for the eggs to mature.
Similar to any other cell type, these ovary-supporting cells can also be made from stem cells—if we know the secret chemical recipe. After five long years of tenacious work, Hayashi figured out the keys to building these ovary tissues. Many have fanciful names—for example, sonic hedgehog (SHH)—but most of these proteins are in a family called morphogens, in that they can morph the physical structure and identity of a tissue.
After dousing stem cells with this soup, the cells shed their previous identity, instead adopting that of fetal ovary supporting cells. Their gene expression profile also closely mimicked that of their natural counterparts.
The team next mixed in a dose of precursor immature egg cells, also made from stem cells. Together, the cells coalesced into tiny ovarian follicles, with support cells forming a bubble that tightly hugged the developing egg. The eggs were then fertilized with sperm, transplanted into surrogate mouse mothers, and after normal pregnancies, gave rise to roughly a dozen healthy pups. The baby mice, covered with a silky coat of white or brown fur, eventually gave birth to babies of their own.
This is the "gold standard" of making sperm or eggs inside a test tube, said Yang and Ng.
"It's a very serious piece of work," said Dr. Richard Anderson at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study.
A New Concept of Reproduction?
The new paper has been hailed as a "technological breakthrough" with enormous potential.
For one, it opens the floodgates for researching the very early stages of how our bodies make reproductive cells—something that remains relatively mysterious. One clue is that the artificial ovary produces mature eggs less effectively than its natural counterpart, suggesting there's much we still don't know.
As for assisted reproductive technologies in humans, this particular technology is still decades away. That said, "the proof-of-concept study…has made clear strides towards enabling IVG at scale," wrote Yang and Ng. What remains to be seen is how much the method translates to humans. Compared to mice, our reproductive cells take far longer to mature, and likely require different supporting nutrients for the sperm, egg, and surrounding tissue.
The team is now testing their chemical soup in marmosets. If successful, they may move towards nonhuman primates before attempting to create life for expecting parents.
Even with these cautions, it's easy to see how things could go wrong when it comes to creating a new human being. So far, we don't yet have existing international legal or ethical frameworks around IVG babies—humans essentially made from stem cells, or even skin cells—largely because the technology isn't there. But it's not too soon to consider the ethical implications and potential impacts on society as a whole.
Hayashi is taking it very slow, while welcoming public discourse before even considering any clinical use. The first step, he said, is to verify the quality of the lab-made eggs, adding, "That could take a long, long time."
Image Credit: Karsten Paulick from Pixabay


text:
Eutrichota spinosissima este o specie de muște din genul Eutrichota, familia Anthomyiidae. A fost descrisă pentru prima dată de Stein în anul 1898. Conform Catalogue of Life specia Eutrichota spinosissima nu are subspecii cunoscute.

Referințe

Eutrichota

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


For General Inquiries please email info@wsba.co.
For Press or Media Inquiries please email media@wsba.co.
Please use this form to apply for Individual Membership. We will respond as soon as possible.
and background on your company.


Background: Solid organ transplant recipients require lifelong immunosuppressive therapy in order to prevent graft rejection. Unfortunately, these multiple-drug regimens are associated with frequent adverse effects that can negatively impact quality of life (QoL), cause interruptions in treatment, and may even contribute to treatment failure (i.e., graft rejection). Objectives: To develop and pilot test a survey that characterizes patient perceptions of adverse symptoms of immunosuppressants (ASI), QoL, and medication adherence in a population of patients who have received a solid organ transplant. Methods: A literature review was undertaken to identify tools assessing patient symptom experience, QoL, and adherence in transplant recipients. A single questionnaire was developed to assess all of these domains. On completion of the survey development phase, the tool was piloted electronically to all adult transplant recipient members of the Canadian Transplant Association. Questionnaires were interpreted using descriptive analysis and frequencies, and respondent's comments were qualitatively assessed using thematic analysis. Feasibility was assessed by response rate, patient's feedback and missing data. Results: The literature search identified three tools that were incorporated into the questionnaire: the Modified Transplant Symptom Occurrence and Symptom Distress Scale (MTSOSD), the Short Form- 12 (SF- 12), and the Basel Assessment of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Medications Scale (BAASIS) to measure symptom experience, QoL, and nonadherence to immunosuppressive medications, respectively. The questionnaire was distributed to 249 solid organ transplant recipients and achieved a 51% response rate (n=127). Mean age of survey respondents was 55.5 ±13.2 years, most had good allograft function, few co-morbidities, and reported a similar QoL to that of the general public. More than half of the respondents (61%) received their transplant over 6 years ago, and respondents reported a median of 19 different adverse symptoms (IQR 12- 27). The most prevalent symptoms for both men and women were tiredness, flatulence, and lack of energy (reported at an incidence of 84%, 82% and 70% for women and 80%, 76%, and 66% for men, respectively), while the most distressing symptoms were tiredness, flatulence, and sleeplessness (mean 2.2, 2.2 and 2.1 on a scale of 0 to 4, respectively) in men and joint pain, diarrhea, and lack of energy in women (mean 2.4, 2.4, and 2.3 on a scale of 0 to 4, respectively). Nonadherence to immunosuppressive medications was reported by 29-50% of respondents. Conclusion: It is feasible to assess symptom experience, QoL and nonadherence to immunosuppressive medications using a single tool in transplant recipients. Despite the high prevalence of adverse symptoms, QoL remained high in members of the Canadian Transplant Association. Wider application of this tool will determine if the findings from this study sample are representative of a general population of patients with solid organ transplants.


text:
Pierre François Xavier Bouchard (* 29. April 1772 in Orgelet (Jura); † 5. August 1822 in Givet, Frankreich) war der Entdecker des Steins von Rosetta im Hafen der bzw. im Fort St. Julien bei der ägyptischen Stadt Rašīd (frz. Rosette, arabisch: رشيد – Rashid) am 15. Juli 1799.

Er war damals beim Ägypten-Feldzug Leutnant in Napoleon Bonapartes Armee. Der Stein wanderte nach der französischen Niederlage in Ägypten ins British Museum, London. Bouchard blieb in der Pioniertruppe bis zu seinem Tod. Er wurde mehrfach ausgezeichnet (auch Ehrenlegion), aber auch dreimal gefangen genommen. Ein Bild von ihm ist nicht bekannt.

Weblinks

 Biographie (französisch, recht ausführlich, mit einer Bibliografie zu den Nachforschungen in den 1990ern)

Person in den Koalitionskriegen (Frankreich)
Mitglied der Ehrenlegion (Offizier)
Franzose
Geboren 1772
Gestorben 1822
Mann


BrandLoyalty creates and implement innovative, tailor-made loyalty concepts for the world's leading retailers. Our clients include top players in the food retail sector worldwide, operating in a competitive environment. BrandLoyalty is part of Alliance Data Systems (ADS), a SEC listed company.
The Sales Director will work on growing the business by prospecting new clients across different channels, and help to establish BrandLoyalty as the market leader in consumer loyalty solutions. The Sales Director will open doors at the most senior level (CEO) of the client organization and work diligently to successfully build new client accounts. This will involve building strong customer relationships, developing client growth strategies through consultative selling and creating program proposals, all of which will entail daily interaction with, and clear communications between internal and external key stakeholders.
The Sales Director will also be responsible for developing the sales strategy for Japan. On a daily basis, the Sales Director will be involved in the development of client projects and contract negotiations, concept development, program mechanics and planning, program P&L and problem resolution. S/He will partner with Accounts, Data and Digital teams to help establish a relationship with new clients and diversify expansion of services among existing clients and the broader positioning of the company in the marketplace.
Can do attitude, quick learner, independent and self-motivated.
Excellent communication skills in written and spoken English and Japanese.
Confidence, passion and the determination to succeed within a fast-paced organization.
Comfortable with up to 50-75% travel.


text:
Now displaying: August, 2011
Norm MacDonald and Mark McGrath 5
Greg has Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath on today's podcast, as well as co-host Mike Gibbons. They start off by talking about Mark's life, and what music Greg's kids are listening to lately. Greg talks about masturbating in the studio earlier, his masturbation habits when he flies, and what living in Venice is like. They break down the standup of Mike Gibbons, when a surprise knock on the backdoor reveals Norm MacDonald who sits in for the rest of the podcast.
Mike O'Malley 5
Greg has friend of the show and fellow Bostonian Mike O'Malley back on the show to discuss last week's Andy Dick hijinks, the use of language, and the true impact of harmful rhetoric, and what should be done about it.
Live from Philly 5
Greg talks about being in Philadelphia, and what the shows have been like at the Helium Comedy Clubso far. He also talks about his fall is looking like, busy with some road shows, and TV show that just got picked up. He also covers the Andy Dick incident, what he was thinking during it, and what happened after it. He plays fan favorites "Malebag" and "Overheard".
In the podcast that occurred post-Andy-Dick-fit-of-rage, Greg covers a variety of wholesome topics like pedophilia, gay puppet marriage and asking women to go topless in films. Greg and Andy then go on to the fun stuff by discussing how they would like to die. Once they've covered all the sobering topics, Greg moves on to overheards and the classic "Talk Your Way Out of It!"
Rao's 3
Greg discusses being on vacation on the East Coast with his family, staying at extended family members places, and missing a few podcasts during that time. He also talks about some podcasts he recorded while on the trip that have yet to be released, and what his plan is for the fall. He then discusses his father, some hard times in his relationship, his final memories of him, and a nice story about remembering him at Rao's.
Adam Carolla talks to Greg about his annoyance with lazy people, what it means to be successful, and when Adam feels okay with mailing it in. Then Greg and Adam exchange dog poop stories and Greg brings a Carolla-hater to Adam's attention. Greg asks Adam a serious question about life and death, how to deal with it, and how it relates to some every day scenarios. They wrap up the podcast with some talk of hemorrhoids and a Talk Your Way Out Of It?
Greg's Family Vacation 4
Greg starts off this podcast from his sister's house in Northern Westchester, NY and doesn't have much to do. He talks about his work on the pilot, how being dead inside helps him power through the business a bit, and what's up next for him. He talks about a great trip to Nantucket where he did a set, and celebrated his anniversary. He wraps up the monologue with some Overheards before getting to some interviews with other comedians.


I have always been a synchrotron addict – since the day I first walked through the storage ring of SOLEIL while it was still under construction. I was just an undergrad then, but it was love at first sight! After that, I had the opportunity to perform experiments at multiple beamlines at SOLEIL (where I did my PhD), but also ESRF, SPring-8, Elettra, APS, SRC, SSRL, and ALS, allowing me to acquire a solid experience in synchrotron radiation. Five years ago, I joined the new intermediate-energy x-ray beamline (29-ID IEX) at the APS, where I am now a beamline scientist.
I have been a member of the ALS Users' Executive Committee (UEC) since 2016, and I have truly enjoyed the experience. My involvement started as co-chair for the 2016 ALS User Meeting, which has been a wonderful and rewarding (yet quite terrifying) adventure. For my second year as a UEC member, I was appointed secretary by our then-Chair Monika Blum (who did not leave me much choice!); it gave me the opportunity to work more closely with her in a joint effort to make the UEC more proactive. Last year we focused our effort on reformatting the User Meeting, and it worked out really well. One of last year's novelties was launching the "Light Sources 101" UEC tutorial that I organized with Moni. It was such a great success that we are considering expanding the tutorial to two days this year, adding to the existing program to include basics about synchrotron radiation and a hands-on demo at the beamline. It is not going to be easy to pull off, but we had so much fun last year that I am really looking forward to the 2019 edition!
This year's User Meeting will be held October 1–3 and will reinforce the changes spearheaded by Will Chueh (past Chair) and the 2018 User Meeting organizers Alex Frañó, Jennifer Ciezak-Jenkins, and Michael Jacobs. Please send us your suggestions for keynote/science speakers!
There is still a lot to do, both in terms of broadening the UEC outreach towards the user community and DOE, and increasing our impact on the ALS user operations and management, but I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far and I am looking forward to all the exciting challenges yet to come, especially with the ALS-U coming along. As the new Chair, I am hoping to bring a fresh perspective and insights from my user experience, while keeping in mind the concerns beamline staff are facing on a daily basis. I am a mother of two, so I know what it is like to have too many balls in the air. By fostering new ideas and helping make them a reality, I am confident that the UEC can make a difference in the ALS user community.
We are always looking for more feedback from the ALS user community and staff, so if you have any suggestions, please contact the UEC.


text:
Q: Can I run an HTTP server on a mobile platform? I am building a webapp that cannot be put into the app store (security reasons). The webapp needs access to more data than can be held in localStorage or other offline-storage means (let's say up to 1GB of data).
My idea of a solution is to code up an HTTP server for Android and iOS, and then get/post data with AJAX so I can have access to the device's internal storage.
My question is,
Can this be done on iOS and Android?
By 'Can', I mean both technically (is there API access to the required components, and can it be always running in the background) and legally (is it consistent with the terms of service of both the App Store and Android Marketplace).
I don't know much about either platform and the capabilities, but I could figure it out if I was confident that it is possible.
The reason for this is so that large amounts of data can be made available all the time to a webapp, regardless of the presence of wifi or a cell-tower.

A: Yes

*

*Android examples: How to create a HTTP server in Android?.

*iOS examples: iPhone HTTP Server.

For a full app that uses an http server, check out Websharing on Android.


text:
Q: Typo3 - Extbase CommandController for scheduler task i ve created an empty extbase/fluid extension and added an ImportCommandController for a scheduler task. For some reason i am not able to load that task in my scheduler. Please note that i want to realise my task via CommandController (http://wiki.typo3.org/CommandController_In_Scheduler_Task) and NOT via \TYPO3\CMS\Scheduler\Task\AbstractTask.
ext_localconf.php
<?php
if (!defined('TYPO3_MODE')) {
die('Access denied.');
}

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['SC_OPTIONS']['extbase']['commandControllers'][] = 'VENDORx\\Sched\\Command\\ImportCommandController';

Classes/Command/ImportCommandController.php
<?php
    namespace VENDORx\Sched\Command;

    /**
     *
     *
     * @package Sched
     * @license http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html GNU General Public License, version 3 or later
     *
     */

    class ImportCommandController extends \TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Mvc\Controller\CommandController {

        public function importCommand($commandIdentifier= NULL) {

        echo 'command run';

        }
      }
?>

any idea whats missing??

A: As Jost already mentioned you neet proper Annotations:
/**
 * @param integer $commandIdentifier
 */
public function importCommand($commandIdentifier = NULL) {
    $this->outputLine('command run');
}

A: Select "Extbase-CommandController-Task" in dropdown
You'll get another select field on the bottom where you can find your "ImportCommand" select and save


The good thing of having crap snow conditions in your own resort is that you have the possibility to move, travel and visit new places.
I heard from friends that the conditions are definitely better in the Gran Paradiso massif just an hour driving away on the italian side.
The dark side of the story is that all the approaches there are endless.
We skinned up for 8 kms and 1300 vertical meters with heavy backpacks along the Lillaz valley (a place very famous for ice climbing) to reach the eagle nest bivouac Malvezzi – Antoldi standing on the side of a bowl surrounded by severals appealing lines with all kind of exposures.
The lines are not very long (generally 400 – 500 meters) and not extreme (40°-50°) but it is a magic wild place that does not see too much human traffic.
The next day we skied 2 lines, following the sun, a Northeast facing one in the morning and a West facing one in the afternoon for a total of 850 vertical meters riding.
Surprisingly we found still cold powder on the right bank of the first couloir while we rode the second one in spring corn as expected.
Thanks to my friends Nicklas Hansen, Jerome Defruyt and John Minougue (tracker of the day) for sharing this nice day out and to Davide and Lolò for the infos.
This entry was posted in News. Tagged Aosta valley, big mountain riding, big mountain snowboarding, Bivacco, Bivacco Malvezzi - Antoldi, camp, Cogne, couloir, epic, extreme, fitwell, freeride, Gran Paradiso massif, hors piste, italia, italie, italy, Jerome Defruyt, John Minogue, jonessnowboards, Lillaz, long day, luca pandolfi, Malvezzi, Malvezzi-Antoldi bivouac, massiccio del Gran Paradiso, montagna, montagne, mountain, mystycfreeride, neige, neve, Nicklas Hansen, Noone around, northwave, pente raide, polvo, poudreuse, powder, ripido, salewa, Scott. Levelgloves, snow, snowboard, snowboarding, spark, splitboarding, steep, steep skiing, Valeille, Valeille valley, Valle d'Aosta, Vallone di Valeille, vertical attitude.


text:
Base rate held
The Bank of England has again decided to keep the base rate at 0.5%, as they continue to see the impact of earlier government initiatives to kick-start the UK housing market.
Contractors with low deposits have been reaping the benefits of the Government's Funding for Lending scheme, which has prompted a surge in the availably of competitive mortgage deals for lower deposit products. The effects of the scheme were confirmed by a 38% increase in the number of low deposit deals available since last year when Funding for Lending was launched. Currently, there are now 443 mortgage products for those with a deposit of 5 or 10%, a figure which has more than tripled over the past year.
The scheme, which gives access to low rate finance in order to incentivise cheaper lending to households and businesses, is great news for any contractor who is unable to access large amounts of cash, and rates are now at their lowest for some years. The average rate on a five year fixed product at 90% loan to value now stands at just 4.92%, a substantial decrease in comparison to last year's average of 5.60%. The average rate on offer to those with a deposit of just 5% has also dropped to 5.13%, down from 5.82% in July 2012.
However, whilst there are currently some fantastic opportunities for those with small deposits to cash in on competitive deals, experts predict that the bubble may soon be about to burst.
Swap rates, the rates at which banks borrow at and feed into mortgage pricing, jumped last month, which prompted numerous changes to fixed rate deals, with some lenders jumping off the fixed rate bandwagon altogether. Over the past few weeks, specialist buy to let lender Paragon pulled their range of fixed rate buy to let deals entirely. Platform Mortgages also acted upon the swap rate increase, upping their pricing on two and five year fixed rate deals by up to 0.68%.
Rate increases have also been implemented by a range of building societies, including Skipton, Newcastle, Coventry and Cambridge. Contractor friendly mortgage lender Halifax have also announced rate on increases of 0.2% on selected fixed deals. Whilst other lenders are currently opting to 'ride the storm' of swap rate increases, experts predict that deals may not be as competitive in the near future as swaps appear to be flat lining at higher prices.
As the tide begins to turn on fixed rate deals, there has also been a significant amount of negative speculation against schemes designed to help those with lower deposits onto the property ladder. Experts predict that the Government's Help to Buy scheme, introduced as part of the April 2013 budget, could have unintended consequences. The scheme, described by experts as 'reckless', has prompted predictions that the average house price could rise to as much as £300,000 by the end of 2015, as public funding is used to incentivise lending to those who would be seen as a high risk without the help that the scheme provides.
Former Bank of England Economists said that property prices would remain relatively stagnant whilst housing remained unaffordable to many people, but forecast that falling values would be inevitable if prices rose as predicted by almost 30% on the current UK average of £233,000. Commenting on the scheme, Vince Cable said "I did warn about it, and I am worried about the danger of getting into another housing bubble."
What seems clear from recent revelations is that contractors with a small deposit need to act fast if they want to cash in on competitive deals. If the market changes as predicted, contractors could lose out on some great opportunities to invest in property.
Article By: Taj Kang, Business Development Director at Contractor Mortgages Made Easy