Good Sam Show is going to hold certain major highlights like silent auction, tools and technique programs and more. Miniature Oil Paintings & Turnings, lighting, pottery and more are going to get real focus in this podium.
First time to the miniature show. It was great and am looking forward to next years.
Very nice place to go to..I highly recommend it to others.
Loved the show! Tons of beautiful miniatures. Lots of friendly vendors. Hotel was easy to find. Will be back!
There are 100 dealers in Good Sam Show featuring artisans along with 14 or so foreign dealers, including a number of IGMA Artisans and Fellows who are going to gather here from various corners of the world and the products which they will showcase are dollhouses, room boxes, unique furniture, beautiful dolls, Fine Miniatures, collectibles, paintings, Miniature Oil Paintings & Turnings, lighting, pottery, a number of power and hand tools, as well as information on roofing, flooring, wall treatments, basic landscaping, and other aspects of making miniatures and more.


Bleach Vs Naruto 2.5 | My Happy Games - Play Angry Birds Online,KOF Online,Plants vs Zombies Online,ect..
Tags: BLEACH VS NARUTO 2.5 - Play Bleach Vs Naruto 2.5 for Free at Poki!
Description: Bleach Vs Naruto 2.5: Engage ruthless anime characters in an array of highly intense battles! - Play Bleach Vs Naruto 2.5 for Free, and Have Fun!


text:
$packageName = "{{PackageName}}"
$packageWildCard = $packageName + "*";

$app = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object { $_.Name -like $packageWildCard  -and ($_.Version -eq "{{PackageVersion}}") }
$result = $app.Uninstall();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Metal and glass candelabra. We can offer different colors as you requested. For powder coated, Electroplate, Rusty and so on. For home decoration and located in living room, bath room for indoor ,hotel,bar.etc. PACKING: offer different price as normal packing, inner packing,color packing..


Weekly marketing tips, updates on trends and strategy pointers.
Straight to your inbox, no spam allowed.
Automation makes your email marketing better. The ability to reach more customers, faster, with more accurate messaging, is undoubtedly a good thing.
But many marketers are still making mistakes, from tiny typos to head-splitting data problems. Here are some of the most common mistakes you'll make as a marketer using email automation software.
Nobody likes spammers. Spammers don't even like spammers.
When automation makes things so quick and easy, the temptation to blast your contact list with emails is hard to resist. The metrics might even be looking good — but I guarantee it won't last.
Irrelevant, continuous emails hurt your business one by one until your customers hate you and your brand image is totally diluted.
Just because you can send emails frequently, doesn't mean you should. Email automation is perfect for sending relevant, personalized emails at the right time and place. Not annoying spam.
Yes, it happens. Email automation saves you time on manual processes, but you should never cut back on writing empathetic, personalized messages. Your customers are human, and you're human — keep it that way!
The average click-through rates for personalized emails are 2.5x higher than non-personalized emails (RichRelevance), so not engaging personally is a huge mistake. Use automation as a chance to speak to your audience directly, and with your unique personality.
"My open rate is high, so I must be doing something right!" Yes, but don't get swept up in vanity metrics. Open rates are all good and well, but what about your conversions? Click-throughs? Unsubscribes? And how are they performing in relation to each other?
It's better to see a 10% open rate with 5% conversions than a 50% open rate with no conversions. A 10% open rate means the subject line probably needs some work, but conversions are what drives business value where it counts.
Don't get complacent — look at your metrics realistically and find places add value.
If you're not testing, how do you know that your strategy, campaign, or customer journey are worthwhile? Short answer: you don't.
Making the most of email automation software means using testing wherever possible. Otherwise, you'll never know which idea is the best performing.
Tip: you can test email variations with AB testing integrations, and you can test landing pages with an app like Instapage.
If you've implented a tracking code, created beautiful lead magnets, and generally captured your customer's data, you're sitting on a treasure trove of information.
Not making the most of it is very, very silly.
Take the time to review your customer data, segment it, and use it to its full potential. It's the key to effective, personalized marketing strategies that have brought brands like Netflix and Spotify to the top of the data-driven food chain.
You may have convinced yourself that email automation is highly-expensive. This only true if you're using "all-in-one" automation software. These all-in-one platforms have insanely high subscription costs under the guise that they "do everything."
Yes, these automation products "do everything" but they don't really do any of it particularly well. The phrase "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" comes to mind here.
Unbundled marketing automation software doesn't pretend to "do everything." Instead, it integrates best-of-breed applications (Salesforce, Typeform, LiveChat, Twilio, etc.) into a single platform — and you only pay for what you use.
When it comes to retaining your customers, all hands should be on deck. They're your most important asset — much more valuable than new leads.
Prevent losing your existing customers by setting up automated journeys that nurture, retain, and connect with them. This automation journey sends customers a survey email 90 days after they've become a customer. You can use customer feedback to improve your product, customize your content, and reveal marketing opportunities.
At any level, buying an audience is a mistake. You're essentially forking out for a list of people that are highly-unqualified, are likely to churn, and probably don't want to hear from you. It's a strategy that costs a lot of money and provides little-to-zero long term growth.
Instead of buying lists, opt for an inbound marketing strategy supported by a strong content rollout. Organic customers are more likely to buy from you, and more receptive to lifecycle lead nurturing. It's slower, but highly effective, and much more sustainable.
I'll be fair — batch and blast does have a couple of applications. When you're a brand new business, you don't have many other decent options. But once you have your target audience mapped out, you're much better off segmenting your audience into lists based on data like demographics or past behaviors.
Sales teams don't operate in a vacuum. In fact, they're a critical part of the marketing funnel. In many businesses, they're a critical part of closing deals. So don't leave them out.
When you're creating automated email journeys, get your sales team involved with collaboration features like Annotate and Collaborate. They can give you extremely valuable input into the bottom of the funnel, including follow-up procedures, turnaround times, suggested messaging frequency, and more.
Automation doesn't end at emails. You can automate every part of the customer journey, from the moment a customer lands on your website, up until they convert, and as they continue down the path of being a loyal customer.
Autopilot's unbundled automation software helps apps like Delighted NPS, Segment, Typeform, and Pipedrive play together with your email strategy. You can also automate internal processes, like Slack messages, Trello projects, and more. See the full list of integrations.
Your customers are spread out across multiple channels, devices, and apps at all times.
Keeping up with them is becoming harder and harder to do.
Without automation to take care of all the datasets, audience segments, touchpoints, and tedious manual tasks, you risk falling behind. With automation, you'll have more time and capability to drive conversions and maximize your business' ROI.
Try Autopilot today Start a free 30 day trial.
Try Autopilot for 30 days, no credit card required. Sign up now.


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text:
Technics é uma empresa japonesa de propriedade da Panasonic Corporation, que produz uma variedade de produtos eletrônicos.

Nome

O nome é sempre pronunciado de maneira incorreta como "tek-nicks".  Entretanto, de acordo com a empresa, a pronúncia correta é techniques.

Descrição

Sob o nome Technics, a companhia produz uma variedade de produtos de alta-fidelidade, como toca-discos, amplificadores, receivers, tape-decks, CD players e alto-falantes disponíveis para vários países. Foi concebida originalmente para produzir equipamentos de áudio competindo com companhias como a Nakamichi, mas a maioria de seus produtos passaram a usar a marca Panasonic a partir de 2002 (exceto no Japão, onde a marca é muito popular). Equipamento para DJs, pianos eletrônicos e micro-systems são alguns dos produtos sob o nome Technics atualmente sendo vendidos no EUA e Europa.

História

O nome Technics foi primeiramente usado para uma série de alto-falantes comercializados pela Matsushita em 1965. O nome tornou-se conhecido mundialmente por seus famosos toca-discos. Em 1969, a empresa apresentou a SP-10, o primeiro toca-discos para o mercado profissional, e em 1971 a SL-1100 para o mercado consumidor. A SL-1100 foi usada pelo influente DJ Kool Herc. Este último modelo foi o predecessor das SL-1200 que foram aperfeiçoadas no modelo SL-1200 MK2, que se tornou mundialmente usada pelos DJs. A SL-1200 MK2 era uma máquina robusta que incorporava um controle de pitch o que a fez uma ferramenta bastante popular entre os DJs.

A Matsushita retirou o nome Technics do mercado quase completamente no começos dos anos 2000. Atualmente é usado apenas para o toca-discos da série SL-1200, pianos digitais, limitando seu comércio a revendedores de áudio profissional e estúdios.

Ligações externas
 Equipamentos da Technics
 Instrumentos musicais Technics

Fabricantes de instrumentos musicais do Japão
Empresas de eletrônicos do Japão
Panasonic Corporation
Empresas fundadas em 1918

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


hello, could you please tell me the estimated abv of this product?
Hi Gary, the ABV of all our Orchard Breezin' wines will be 6-6.5% if a final specific gravity of 0.998 or lower is obtained.
can you tell me how sweet this is? My wife likes moscato wine so I would want it that sweet.
We classify this as a sweet (5-6) wine. It would be a little more sweet than a muscato.


We have about 40 volunteers, mostly from the two Coventry Universities but also others who support our various projects, and we would like to celebrate their achievements in our first fantastic year.
The details of the party and the venue are still be decided.
If you wish to become a volunteer, please register here.


Providence Catholic currently has more than 10,000 alumni. Thanks to the continued involvement and generous support of our alumni, we are able to continue to thrive despite our challenging economic times. Please continue to keep our legacy alive.
Alumni involvement is crucial to the overall stability of Providence Catholic. In fact, our alumni are one of the best testaments of our school and greatly influence its vitality. When alumni have positive experiences as students and become successful adults, many attribute their success to the skills they learned and the nurturing environment at Providence Catholic.
We are humbled and grateful by the number of alumni families that currently attend Providence Catholic, support the school through donations and those who participate by attending the many events we host. One of the greatest compliments we can receive is when alumni choose to send their children to their alma mater and carry on the Celtic tradition.
The alumni webpages were designed with you in mind. Whether you are wanting to provide updated contact information or request your high school transcript, you have come to the right place.


EI-SD500 is a new product featured with special algorithm; it is designed and developed for security inspection of the liquid hold in a closed container. It can not only distinguish the safe liquid and the dangerous liquid, but also identify the flammability and the explosion hazard. This design offer effective security solution for the public security by indicating the flammable and explosive threats with sound and light.
◆detect liquid in both metal and non-metal containers.
◆Data statistics function added and data could be updated to computer.
◆the minimum volume could be detected is 50 ml, and the maximum no limit.
◆smart and light design, easy to carry and use.
◆equipped with systems of automatic self-inspection, self-adjusting, restoration, and digital parameter adjusting box.
Government Buildings, Customs, Airport, Conference Center, Tourist Attractions, Transportation System.
Gasoline, diesel oil, propylene oxide, nitro methane, ethylene dichloride, toluene, benzene, nitrobenzene, acetone, methanol, ethanol, ethanol concentrations of 70% and above), ethylene glycol, ethylene propylene alcohol, aldehyde, ether, isopropyl ether, carbon disulfide, isopropyl alcohol, kerosene, oleic acid, paint, resin, n-heptane, pentane, water ring already ketone, acetic acid, thinner and other dangerous liquids.


text:
Terrible job! Abiodun blasts contractors on site of judiciary complex project
Six dead,12 injured in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Christmas Day accident
Monarch's son, woman found naked, dead inside car
Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on Tuesday lambasted the contractors handling the construction of the new judiciary complex on Kobape Road in Abeokuta.
Recall that the judiciary complex was one of the projects President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned on May 25 in the twilight of the administration of immediate past governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
At the commissioning of the Judicial Complex, Buhari had described the project as first class and in tune with international standard.
But when Governor Abiodun visited the site of the complex on Tuesday, he expressed deep disappointment at the level of work done, describing the quality and design as "flawed."
His words: "In my opinion, I think that the design itself has some flaws, not so sure about the quality of finishing I am seeing, but again, I feel that once we sit down with the contractors, both the civil and the contractors handling the fixtures, we should be able to work something out, there might be some design changes around here.
"As you can see, there are some pipes exposed , they look like designs from the sixties, you can also see rain water gathering on the floor, the receptionist cannot seat down there when it is raining even in the sun, we need to do some design changes."
As he was conducted round the premises, Abiodun wondered why it was yet to be completed and delivered despite the fact that the Amosun administration had fully paid the contractors.
"But this job was fully paid for by the previous administration?,he asked rhetorically.
He immediately summoned the contractors, Menterota Limited to see him immediately to justify why there was a delay in fully delivering the complex and "why you are asking for variation after being fully paid."
He said he was prompted to visit the complex because the state judiciary was set to host a National Judicial Conference at the venue in September when the judiciary would return from vacation.
The State Chief Judge(CJ), Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu lauded the governor for having the comfort of the judiciary at heart, saying that the gesture of the governor to see the timely completion of the complex in readiness for a conference coming up in September would be repaid with the cooperation of the state judiciary.
The governor was accompanied on the project inspection by the Secretary to the State Government(SSG), Mr Tokunbo Talabi and other officials of the state.
Tags: ContractorsDapo AbiodunGovernorOgun state
How to get free tickets for Big Brother Naija live eviction show in Lagos
Nigerian 'graduates' sent to us from Benin Republic universities can't write a word in English – NYSC
Nigerian 'graduates' sent to us from Benin Republic universities can't write a word in English - NYSC

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Delve Special was a UK BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Stephen Fry as investigative reporter David Lander.  It ran for four series from 1984 to 1987, each series being four 30-minute episodes long.  It was written by Tony Sarchet and produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer.  The first series was wiped by the BBC but has since been found and consisted of a four-part investigation into the proposed building of London's third airport in "Shifton", a small village situated 'just to the north east of Birmingham', and the alleged bribery and corruption that accompanied the choice of location and building contractor.

David Lander's investigative technique was usually somewhere between the questionable and the illegal - during each episode he also displayed some degree of ineptitude or lack of understanding in the subject matter he was reporting on.  As a result, he occasionally found himself being set upon physically by those concerned.  The programme heavily spoofed the style of topical radio reporters such as John Waite of Face the Facts and Roger Cook, a Radio 4 presenter who went on to television work such as The Cook Report.

Actors appearing in Delve Special included: Tony Robinson, Felicity Montagu, Stephen Frost, Mark Arden, Jack Klaff, Harry Enfield, Dawn French, Brenda Blethyn, Arthur Smith, Janine Duvitski, Philip Pope and Robert Bathurst Andrew Sachs.

The theme music to the programme was Crunch by Soft Machine.

A follow-up television version ran for two series: This is David Lander (starring Stephen Fry) in 1988, and This is David Harper (starring Tony Slattery) in 1990 - Fry being unavailable for the second series due to other commitments.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

External links
 Delve Special on BBC Sounds

BBC Radio comedy programmes
Radio programs adapted into television shows
1984 radio programme debuts
1987 radio programme endings


text:
Page 16 of 16 First ... 6141516
Thread: January's Jests
KahrTalk 1K Member
Sounds like he needs to rein in his desires...
Twin Cities MN.
The Pope and the Rabbi
Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to convert to Catholicism or leave Italy. There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He'd have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community. If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy; if the Pope won, they'd have to convert or leave.
The Jewish people met and picked an aged and wise Rabbi to represent them in the debate. However, as the Rabbi spoke no Italian, and the Pope spoke no Yiddish, they agreed that it would be a 'silent' debate. On the chosen day the Pope and Rabbi sat opposite each other.
The Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. The Rabbi looked back and raised one finger.
Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head. The Rabbi pointed to the ground where he sat.
The Pope brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine. The Rabbi pulled out an apple.
With that, the Pope stood up and declared himself beaten and said that the Rabbi was too clever. The Jews could stay in Italy.
Later the cardinals met with the Pope and asked him what had happened.
The Pope said, 'First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up a single finger to remind me there is still only one God common to both our beliefs.
Then, I waved my finger around my head to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us.
'I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of all our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of the original sin. 'He bested me at every move and I could not continue.'
Meanwhile, the Jewish community gathered to ask the Rabbi how he'd won.
'I haven't a clue' the Rabbi said. 'First, he told me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I gave him the finger.
'Then he told me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews and I told him that we were staying right here.'
'And then what?' asked a woman.
'Who knows?' said the Rabbi. 'He took out his lunch so I took out mine.'
"Life Member NRA"
I am addicted to brake fluid...don't worry I can STOP at anytime!
GROTMAN
"If we ever forget we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." Ronald Reagan
real.jpg (14.6 KB, 6 views)


Stop by Rafters after a great day out on the hill and spin some tunes at Open Decks hosted by DJ Soulman! Equipment and sound tech will be provided for you so all you need to do is show up.
Contact DJ Soulman (Josh Solman) here and send him a private message if you are interested in playing.


This volume contains a collection of Jewish works composed during the intertestamental period linked to biblical texts through characters, themes, or genre. Some of these were known previously as part of the Pseudepigrapha, while others were not previously known. They all enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of pseudepigraphy (writing in the name of a famous biblical or religious character) and of biblical interpretation during the Second Temple period.


text:
Q: Wrong value for function parameter This javascript function parameter does not have the right value when the script is run. If I add an alert statement to print the parameter value, it looks right and the script runs properly.  What could explain this?
#ADDED
<form name="add_event_form" id="add_event_form"><input id="event_id" name="event_id" style="visibility: hidden;"/><input id="event_title" name="event_title" style="position: absolute; top: 25px; left: 0px; margin-left: 49px; width: 432px;" onclick="clear_field_color(this);"/>Title<fieldset style="position: absolute; top: 55px; width:276px; padding:3px 5px 10px 5px;"><legend>Event Source</legend><input type="radio" id="select_LiveMass" name="source_select" value="LiveMass" CHECKED onClick="set_selected(\'LiveMass\');" style="margin-right: 5px;"/>LiveMass
Channel<select id="channel_list_id" name="channel_list" onfocus="set_radio_button(\'LiveMass\');" onclick="clear_field_color(this);" style="width: 200px;"><option value=""></option></select>
<input type="radio" id="select_Other" name="source_select" value="Other" onClick="set_selected(\'Other\');" style="margin-right: 5px;"/>Other
Name<input id="event_site" name="event_site" onfocus="set_radio_button(\'Other\');"  onclick="clear_field_color(this);" style="width:196px;"/>
Url<input id="event_url" name="event_url" onfocus="set_radio_button(\'Other\');"  onclick="clear_field_color(this);" onchange="validate_url();" style="width:196px;"/></fieldset><fieldset style="position: absolute; top: 55px; margin-left: 299px; width:170px; height: 119px; padding:3px 0px 10px 5px;"><legend>Event Schedule</legend>Start date<input id="start_date" name="start_date" class="date_select" onclick="clear_field_color(this);" style="width:89px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px;"/>
Start time
<input id="start_time" name="start_time" style="width: 40px; margin-left: 6px; padding-left:0px;"/><select id="start_ampm" name="start_time_ampm"><option value="AM">AM</option><option value="PM">PM</option></select>

End date<input id="end_date" name="end_date" class="date_select" style="width: 89px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px;"/>
End time
<input id="end_time" name="end_time" style="width: 40px; margin-left:11px; padding-left:0px;"/><select id="end_ampm" name="end_time_ampm"><option value="AM">AM</option><option value="PM">PM</option></select>

<button href="#" id="event_remind" onclick="show_event_remind(); return false;" style="width: 80px;">Reminders</button>  <button href="#" id="recur" onclick="show_event_recur(); return false;" style="width: 80px;">Recurrence</button>
</fieldset><fieldset id="notes" style="position: absolute; top: 192px; width:462px; padding:3px 5px 10px 5px;"><legend>Event Notes</legend><textarea id="event_notes" name="event_notes" style="width: 449px; height:110px; margin-left: 3px;"></textarea></fieldset>
<button href="#" id="save" onclick="save_event(0); return false;" style="width: 70px;">Save</button>    <button href="#" id="cancel" onclick="cancel_event(); return false;" style="width: 70px;">Cancel</button>
</form>

####
function set_radio_button(selection) {
    /* alert ('radio button selection '); */
    switch (selection) {
        case 'LiveMass':
            document.add_event_form.source_select[0].checked = true;
            break;

        case 'Other':
            document.add_event_form.source_select[1].checked = true;
            break;
    }
    set_selected(selection);
}

function set_selected(selection) {
    switch (selection) {
        case 'LiveMass':
            $('#event_site_span').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#event_site').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#event_url_span').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#event_url').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#channel_span').prop("disabled", false);
            $('#channel_list_id').prop("disabled", false);
            break;

        case 'Other':
            $('#channel_span').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#channel_list_id').prop("disabled", true);
            $('#event_site_span').prop("disabled", false);
            $('#event_site').prop("disabled", false);
            $('#event_url_span').prop("disabled", false);
            $('#event_url').prop("disabled", false);
            break;
    }
}

A: You have an error in your HTML, on the onClick event:
onClick="set_selected(\'Other\');"

You are using double quotes " to wrap the onClick but then you are using escaped single quotes ' to delimit the string Other. There's no need to escape them here; only if you were to use double quotes again (\"Other\"). Remove them and it should work:
onClick="set_selected('Other');"

Note that this error repeats for other ocurrences of (\'LiveMass\') and (\'Other\').
DEMO.

A: I found that if I have this instead it works!
<input type="radio" id="select_LiveMass" name="source_select" value="LiveMass" CHECKED onClick="set_selected(\"LiveMass\");" style="margin-right: 5px;"/>LiveMass

<input type="radio" id="select_Other" name="source_select" value="Other" onClick="set_selected(\"Other\");" style="margin-right: 5px;"/>Other

So instead of having set_selected(\'LiveMass\'); with escaped single quotes, I have set_selected(\"LiveMass\"); with escaped double quotes and this works. I'd like to understand why.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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*We offer a 10% discount to Military Families. Thank you for your service.


text:
Home News Payworks Announces $14.5M...
Payworks Announces $14.5M Series B Investment Round
MUNICH, SAN FRANCISCO, FRANKFURT, 14-02-18
Payment technology company, Payworks, announced today the successful completion of a $14.5M Series B Financing round. CommerzVentures and Visa (NYSE:V), among other investors, participated in this round to help support the company's growth and innovation of the global payment infrastructure market.
The additional $14.5M funding round follows a period of strong growth for Payworks as their next generation Point of Sale technology has increasingly become an important offering for leading omnichannel payment providers. With CommerzVentures and Visa joining the Series B, existing investors, Speedinvest and Finparx also contributed to the round. The recent financing brings Payworks' total funding to $19M. FT Partners served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Payworks.
Founded in 2012, Payworks has developed a next generation payment gateway technology, operated in the cloud and provided in a Software as a Service model to payment providers. Payworks' technology has simplified omnichannel card acceptance by offering a pre-certified and easily accessible gateway solution which is significantly facilitating innovation in the integrated Point of Sale space. Payworks also provides a full suite of developer tools and seamless integrations into systems such as loyalty programs and CRM, allowing merchants and payment providers to optimize the customer experience quickly and easily.
Payworks plans to use the new funds to drive global growth and scale, focusing on increasing its R&D and Product teams across offices in Munich, New York, London and Barcelona. This will enable the company to fulfill the growing demand for its solutions amongst its growing global client base.
"With the rapid evolution of how customers pay and get paid, Visa is committed to ensuring secure, fast and convenient payments at the Point of Sale," said Carleigh Jaques, SVP, global head of digital merchant products at Visa. "As a payments industry leader, Visa is excited to help the Payworks team grow and bring innovative solutions to market and enable merchants to remain at the forefront of digital-payments evolution."
"CommerzVentures invests in founders with a passion for innovation and proven ability to execute. We back businesses that can have a significant impact on the financial services industry", adds Stefan Tirtey, Managing Partner of CommerzVentures. "We believe that Payworks has both, a great team, and an offering that can have real impact in the fast-changing world of card payments."
Christian Deger, CEO & Founder of Payworks says, "We are on a great mission to build a new operating system for the Point of Sale and are very excited to have CommerzVentures and Visa join us on that journey. With the additional funding we are fully equipped to further develop our technology and product and support the demand coming from leading payment players looking to modernize their solutions."
About Payworks:
Payworks (www.payworks.com) is the provider of next generation Point of Sale payment gateway technology. Developers of Point of Sale solutions for merchants can quickly and cost-efficiently integrate card payment functionality into their applications, and securely process EMV, contactless and mobile wallet transactions at the Point of Sale. With headquarters in Germany and offices in the U.K., the U.S. and Spain, Payworks provides its technology to leading acquirers and payment providers globally.
Aida Hadzibegovic
E-mail: ahadzibe@visa.com
Payworks
Jana Riddick
E-mail: jana.riddick@payworks.com
Phone: +49 (0) 89 215438-421


text:
Коллапса́р (, от  — сколлапсировавшая звезда) — термин, ранее использовавшийся в астрофизике для обозначения космического объекта, возникающего в результате гравитационного коллапса массивных тел и обладающего сверхмощным гравитационным полем. Свойства таких объектов описываются, согласно современным научным представлениям, общей теорией относительности.

Поскольку коллапс может приводить к образованию чёрной дыры (этот процесс может завершиться сравнительно быстро и во всяком случае за конечное время в системе отсчёта, связанной с самой звездой, т. е. для наблюдателя, который в итоге оказывается под горизонтом событий), то такие объекты часто называют чёрными дырами, хотя с точки зрения удалённого наблюдателя горизонт событий при коллапсе не образуется за конечное время; для такого наблюдателя — то есть для любого наблюдателя в нашей Вселенной — коллапсар, строго говоря, лишь приближается по свойствам к чёрной дыре. Однако это различие не имеет большого практического значения, поскольку наблюдательные проявления такого объекта и настоящей чёрной дыры, имеющей горизонт событий, одинаковы.

В современной астрофизике такое использование термина коллапсар является устаревшим. Теперь слово коллапсар, как правило, применяют как обозначение гипотетической модели, в которой ядро быстро вращающейся звезды Вольфа — Райе с массой ядра более 30 солнечных масс претерпевает коллапс и формирует крупную вращающуюся чёрную дыру и массивный аккреционный диск.

См. также

 Гиперновая звезда
 Чёрная дыра

Примечания

Астрофизика
Релятивистские и гравитационные явления
Чёрные дыры
Классы звёзд
Звёздная эволюция


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"PAI-1 gain-of-function genotype, factors increasing PAI-1 levels, and " by M G Sherenian, S H Cho et al.
Sherenian M, Cho S, Levin AM, Min J, Oh S, Hu D, Galanter J, Sen S, Huntsman S, Eng C, Rodriguez-Santana J, Serebrisky D, Avila P, Kalhan R, Smith L, Borrell L, Seibold M, Williams KL, Burchard E, Kumar R. PAI-1 gain-of-function genotype, factors increasing PAI-1 levels, and airway obstruction: The GALA II Cohort.. Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2017; 47(9):1150-1158.
BACKGROUND: PAI-1 gain-of-function variants promote airway fibrosis and are associated with asthma and with worse lung function in subjects with asthma.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether the association of a gain-of-function polymorphism in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) with airway obstruction is modified by asthma status, and whether any genotype effect persists after accounting for common exposures that increase PAI-1 level.
METHODS: We studied 2070 Latino children (8-21y) with genotypic and pulmonary function data from the GALA II cohort. We estimated the relationship of the PAI-1 risk allele with FEV1/FVC by multivariate linear regression, stratified by asthma status. We examined the association of the polymorphism with asthma and airway obstruction within asthmatics via multivariate logistic regression. We replicated associations in the SAPPHIRE cohort of African Americans (n=1056). Secondary analysis included the effect of the at-risk polymorphism on postbronchodilator lung function.
RESULTS: There was an interaction between asthma status and the PAI-1 polymorphism on FEV1 /FVC (P=.03). The gain-of-function variants, genotypes (AA/AG), were associated with lower FEV1 /FVC in subjects with asthma (β=-1.25, CI: -2.14,-0.35, P=.006), but not in controls. Subjects with asthma and the AA/AG genotypes had a 5% decrease in FEV1 /FVC (P<.001). In asthmatics, the risk genotype (AA/AG) was associated with a 39% increase in risk of clinically relevant airway obstruction (OR=1.39, CI: 1.01, 1.92, P=.04). These associations persisted after exclusion of factors that increase PAI-1 including tobacco exposure and obesity.
CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The decrease in the FEV1 /FVC ratio associated with the risk genotype was modified by asthma status. The genotype increased the odds of airway obstruction by 75% within asthmatics only. As exposures known to increase PAI-1 levels did not mitigate this association, PAI-1 may contribute to airway obstruction in the context of chronic asthmatic airway inflammation.


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Although intraoperative periarticular multi-drug injection has been used for postoperative pain control after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), the injection has the inherent shortcoming of limited acting time. This randomized controlled trial was performed to assess whether adding percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA would improve the postoperative pain relief.
A total of 43 participants were randomly assigned to receive additional periarticular injection at 08:30, postoperative day 1 or no additional injection. The multi-drug solution including 40 mg of methylprednisolone, 150 mg of ropivacaine, and 0.1 mg of epinephrine was infiltrated into the muscle belly of the vastus medialis. In both groups, patients were treated with intraoperative periarticular multi-drug injection and postoperative intravenous and oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. We did not use any narcotic pain medications postoperatively. The primary outcome was the patients' global assessment of postoperative pain at rest measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) and quantified as the area under the curve (AUC) of serial assessments until 20:00, postoperative day 5.
The mean AUC for the postoperative pain VAS at rest was 1616 ± 1191 in patients received the additional periarticular injection versus 2808 ± 1494 in those received no injection (mean difference, − 1192; 95% confidence interval, − 2043 to − 340; p = 0.007). No wound complication or surgical site infection was observed in either groups.
Adding percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA may provide better postoperative pain relief. Further studies are needed to confirm the safety of the percutaneous injection.
University Hospital Medical Information Network UMIN000029003. Registered 5 September 2017.
Pain is severe after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) . Multimodal pain management including periarticular multi-drug injection has provided an improvement on the pain in the early postoperative period of TKA [1, 2]. During the early postoperative period, the pain score below the threshold value of patient acceptable symptom state (PASS), which is defined as a symptom state that a patient considers acceptable , was reported in patients treated with intraoperative periarticular injections including opioid, local anesthetic, corticosteroid, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and epinephrine [4, 5]. However, the pain score elevated 24 h after TKA [4, 5]. The rebounding pain after the early postoperative period remains a critical issue in patients treated with multimodal pain management .
Several investigators tried to add continuous intraarticular infusion to multimodal pain management including periarticular multi-drug injection [2, 7–10]. However, Ali et al. reported that the surgical site infection rate increased with use of the continuous intraarticular infusion technique . A percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection technique at the day following TKA was developed, in which the infusion catheter was not used.
We conducted a prospective, randomized, open-label trial to investigate the impact of the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA on multimodal pain management for TKA. The hypothesis of this study was that the postoperative pain score would be lower in patients that received the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection.
We did a single-center, two-arm, parallel group, randomized, open-label trial with 1:1 treatment allocation. The randomized controlled trial was approved by the institutional review board on 3 September 2017. Written informed consent was obtained from eligible participants. Before the onset of participant enrolment, the trial was registered as a randomized controlled trial titled "Percutaneous periarticular analgesic injection at one day after total knee arthroplasty as a component of multimodal pain management: a randomized control trial" with the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) that is accepted registration by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).
Patients were recruited between October 2017 and March 2018 from a single orthopedic clinic (Nekoyama Miyao Hospital, Niigata, Japan). We prespecified the inclusion criteria of this randomized controlled trial as patients older than 20 years of age and scheduled for TKA of the unilateral knee. We prespecified the exclusion criteria as below: (1) patients scheduled for revision TKA, (2) scheduled for TKA combined with implant removal, (3) having allergy or intolerance to one of the study drugs, and (4) having poorly controlled diabetic mellitus defined as hemoglobin A1c with levels over 7.0%. Patients were not excluded based on their primary disease to maintain generalizability.
Patients were randomly assigned to receive either percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA or no injection. The randomization schedule was generated by an independent investigator (KK) who did not take part in surgery or the assessment of outcome, by means of a computer-derived random-number sequence. The investigator created the randomization sequence by permuted block randomization with a block size of 4 and a 1:1 allocation generated using a computer software (R, The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). When a patient participated in the trial, the generated randomized number was assigned accordingly. Patients with even numbers were allocated to the group scheduled to receive percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA, and those with odd numbers were allocated to receive no injection.
The pre- and postoperative medications were identical in both groups except for the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA. We routinely performed intraoperative periarticular injection for the perioperative pain management. The multi-drug solution of the injection included methylprednisolone 40 mg (Sol Mercort; Fuji, Toyama, Japan) [1 mL] as corticosteroid, 7.5 mg/mL ropivacaine (Anapeine; AstraZeneca, Osaka, Japan) [40 mL] as local anesthetics, 10 mg/mL morphine hydrochloride hydrate (Takeda, Osaka, Japan) [0.8 mL] as opioid, 1.0 mg/mL epinephrine (Bosmin; Daiichi-Sankyo, Tokyo, Japan) [0.3 mL], and 50 mg of ketoprofen (Capisten; Kissei, Matsumoto, Japan) [2.5 mL] as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [4, 5]. The solution was mixed with 15.4 mL of saline to a combined volume of 60 mL. Intravenous 50 mg of flurbiprofen axetil (Ropion; Kaken, Tokyo, Japan) was given 1 h after turning back to the hospital ward. From the day following TKA, oral 60 mg of loxoprofen (Surinofen; Aska, Tokyo, Japan) was given three times per day. Study protocol permitted 25 mg of diclofenac sodium suppository (Adefuroniczupo; Teva, Nagoya, Japan) as rescue therapy. Opioid usage was prohibited apart from the morphine hydrochloride hydrate contained in the intraoperative periarticular injection.
All TKAs were carried out in a unified manner. Surgeries were managed under lumbar analgesia with 2.0 to 2.8 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine (Marcaine; AstraZeneca). One of three surgeons (TI, ST and MW) conducted all surgical procedures. We did not use any pneumatic tourniquets. No drain was applied to any of the patients. We designed an anteromedial straight skin incision that began 4 cm proximal to the patella and ended 1 cm distal to the tibial tuberosity with the knee flexed. We lengthened the skin incision as necessary to adequately expose the knee joint during surgery. A subvastus approach was used for surgical approach. All patients received Scorpio NRG-PS (Stryker Orthopaedics, Mahwah, NJ), a cemented posterior stabilized prosthesis. The postoperative rehabilitation regimens were the same for both groups and started from the afternoon on the day following surgery.
The study treatments were percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA (additional periarticular injection group) and no injection (no additional injection group). The percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection was routinely performed at 08:30 AM regardless of the time that TKA was performed.
In the additional periarticular injection group, patients received percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection including methylprednisolone 40 mg [1 mL], ropivacaine 150 mg [20 mL], and epinephrine 0.1 mg [0.1 mL] at the day following TKA. The injection was performed at approximately 3 cm above the superior border of the antero-medial skin incision using 23-gauge needle with the knee extended (Fig. 1). After disinfecting skin using povidone iodine and ethanol, a total of 21.1 mL of multi-drug solution was injected into the muscle belly of vastus mediallis. We were careful not to inject the solution into joint space of the knee or subcutaneous tissue. The injection point was a single location. After insertion of the needle, we moved the needle tip to the aiming site without pulling out the needle from the skin. First, we infiltrated 11.1 mL of solution into the muscle belly of the vastus medialis just medial to the quadriceps tendon (Fig. 1a). Second, we moved the needle tip to medial, and infiltrated remaining 10 mL of solution into the muscle belly of vastus medialis at a more medial site than the first infiltration (Fig. 1b).
We prespecified the pain scale at rest measured using VAS score as the primary outcome of this study. The VAS score ranged from 0 mm (indicating no pain) to 100 mm (indicating extreme pain). The VAS score was measured 1 day after surgery at 12:00 and 20:00, and 2, 3, 4, and 5 days after surgery at 6:00, 12:00, and 20:00. The measurement of VAS score at rest was performed during the hospital stay.
The prespecified secondary outcomes of this study were postoperative level of pain during activity, range of motion of the knee, and complications. We defined the strongest pain experienced during physical therapy exercise on a day as the VAS score during activity. We also recorded the amount of the consumption of rescue analgesia during the study period. The data was collected from postoperative days 1 to 5.
A total of 16 patients per group was needed to fulfill the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of 20 mm in the point-by-point assessment of primary outcome [4, 5], with a type I error rate of 5%, and a type II error rate of 10% (90% power). A standard deviation of 17 mm was determined to the results of our previous randomized controlled trial .
Study protocol prescribed that missing data of the primary outcome were filled up by linear interpolation between two valid data. When the missing data did not lie between two valid data, the missing data were filled up by the medians of the treatment groups at the same measurement time.
To compare the cumulative pain VAS score at rest after TKA, we quantified area under the curve (AUC) of each study patient. The calculation was performed as follows: we made a line graph for each patient in which VAS score was on the vertical axis and time after surgery was on the horizontal axis and we divided the area under the graph into a series of trapezoids. The sum of the areas of each of the individual trapezoids was calculated as the AUC [5, 11–13]. The AUC integrates all VAS scores at rest measured over time . The mean differences in the AUC of the VAS scores at rest until 20:00, postoperative day 5 and 95% confidence intervals were compared between additional periarticular injection group and no additional injection group using Student's t test.
The serial measurements of pain VAS scores were also analyzed applying repeated-measures analysis of variance to data obtained at each time point to establish whether there were significant differences over time between two groups . We applied Mauchly sphericity test, and corrections were made using the Greenhouse-Geisser test when sphericity was rejected. P value for the effect of group, which means the effect of the additional periarticular injection, was assessed.
In addition to statistical significance, the effect size of patient-reported outcomes should be assessed whether they are meaningful in the clinical setting . The VAS score at rest in each time point was also assessed to determine whether they would reach the PASS and MCID. The threshold of PASS was defined as 33 mm according to the study conducted by Myles et al. . The threshold of MCID was determined as 20 mm as mentioned above [4, 5].
Patient demographics and baseline clinical characteristics were compared with Student's t test for continuous variables and the Fisher's exact test for categorical variables between the study groups. We assessed changes in the VAS scores during activity, the consumption of diclofenac sodium suppository as rescue analgesia, and the range of knee motion between groups using analysis of variance for a repeated-measures analysis of variance. All tests were two-sided. We considered P < 0.05 as statistically significant. All statistical analyses were done using R software.
A total of 49 patients underwent unilateral TKA during the study period and were eligible for inclusion in the study. The flowchart presented in Fig. 2 outlines the trial. Of 49 patients screened for eligibility, 43 were randomly assigned to receive an additional periarticular injection or no injection (n = 22 and n = 21, respectively). Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the patients in the two groups. After randomization, we excluded one patient in each group because of cancelled surgery.
Figure 3 shows the mean value of postoperative pain VAS scores at rest. The additional periarticular injection group had significantly lower AUC of VAS score at rest than the no injection group (1616 ± 1191 compared with 2808 ± 1494, 95% confidence interval, − 2043 to − 340, p = 0.007).
The sphericity was rejected with Mauchly sphericity test (p < 0.001). Repeated measures analysis of variance with the Greenhouse-Geisser correction also showed that the effect of group (additional periarticular injection) was associated with the difference of VAS at rest (p = 0.04).
In the additional periarticular injection group, the mean pain VAS scores at rest were below the threshold value of the PASS of 33 mm in all assessment time points after TKA (Fig. 3). In the no additional injection group, the mean pain VAS score at rest exceeded the threshold value of the PASS of 33 mm at postoperative day 1, 20:00 and postoperative day 2, 06:00 and dropped below the threshold value of the PASS at the postoperative day 2, 12:00 (Fig. 3). Table 2 summarizes the number of patients whose VAS score was over the threshold values of PASS.
The difference between two groups reached 20 mm of the MCID only at 20:00, postoperative day 1. The mean VAS scores at postoperative day 1, 20:00 were 9 mm in the additional periarticular injection group and 35 mm in the no injection group, respectively.
The additional periarticular injection group was associated with lower VAS during activity (p = 0.03) (Table 3). The consumption of diclofenac sodium suppository as rescue treatment was similar between the two groups (Table 4). No significant difference was seen in terms of the range of knee motion between two groups (Table 5).
No wound complication was recorded in any study patient. There were no patients that developed surgical site infection. In addition, no cardiac or central nervous system toxicity was observed in any study patient.
In this randomized trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection at the day following TKA as a component of multimodal pain management including intraoperative periarticular multi-drug injection. The percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection was associated with significantly lower postoperative pain VAS score at rest. The mean pain VAS scores were under the threshold value of the PASS in the additional periarticular injection group in all assessment points. The difference of pain VAS score reached the MCID at 20:00, postoperative day 1. In addition, the pain VAS score during activity was less in the periarticular injection group.
The cumulative postoperative pain VAS score was significantly better in the additional periarticular injection group than no additional injection group. However, the difference of the mean pain VAS scores between groups reached the MCID of 20 mm only at 20:00, postoperative day 1. We believe that this short-duration difference may be meaningful for patients undergoing TKA since the time point of 20:00, postoperative day 1 generally corresponds to the peak of rebounding pain after intraoperative periarticular injection [4, 5].
Postoperative intraarticular local anesthetics through catheter has been applied to the multimodal pain management after TKA [2, 7, 8]. To our own knowledge, the first study of intraarticular multi-drug injection through catheter was reported by Ikeuchi et al.: they injected solution including local anesthetics, corticosteroid, and antibiotics every 12 h until 48 h after TKA . The distinctive features of the technique used in this study were no placement of the infusion catheter and the injection into the muscle belly of vastus mediallis.
Our postoperative pain management regimen did not include any opioids. The United States is faced with the opioid epidemic [15, 16]. The excessive postoperative prescription of opioid medication has been one of the most crucial factors of the opioid epidemic . Because a recent study revealed patients who underwent TKA tend to receive the highest amount of opioid medication among the major elective orthopedic surgeries , effective non-opioid pain management is important for patients undergoing TKA. We believe that our non-opioid pain management regimen may be an alternative regimen to the pain relief after TKA.
The most important limitation of our study is that the treatment team members and patients were not blinded. The non-blinding design is known to cause overestimation in randomized controlled trials . Second, although this study showed a significant difference between groups in terms of primary outcome, the sample size was underpowered to provide conclusion whether percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection would increase the postoperative complication. Third, the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection was routinely performed at postoperative day 1, 08:30 regardless of the time that TKA was performed. Thus, the periods of time between the completion of TKA and the injection were not standardized among study patients. Fourth, although the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection was painful procedure, we did not evaluate the pain provoked by this injection. Finally, we did not assess the accuracy of procedure of the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection.
The randomized, controlled design is the most important strength of our study. Another strength is the use of the remote method of randomization, in which the study institution is different from the site managing randomization schedule. We believe that the use of the AUC to analyses serial measurements of primary outcome may be the strength of this study since the AUC can avoid the serious problems associated with the use of comparisons at each time point when analyzing serial measurements on patients [11, 19, 20].
The percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection including methylprednisolone, ropivacaine, and epinephrine may have better postoperative pain relief than no additional injection after TKA. Further studies are needed to confirm the safety of the percutaneous periarticular multi-drug injection.
The authors thank Dr. Tadashi Kikuchi of Bange Kousei General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan and Dr. Hideto Fujii of Saiseikai Toyama Hospital, Toyama, Japan for their help in the development of the percutaneous periarticular injection technique used in this study.
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available. Data are however available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
TI, ST, and MW perforemed surgeries and drafted manuscript. ST developed the study design and performed formal analyses. KK managed randomizing. SY surpervised the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board of Nekoyama Miyao Hospital. All patients provided written informed consent to participate.
All patients provided written informed consent to publish.


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I'm a difficult person to get to know.
Recently I've become more and more willing to admit this about myself, and now I'm admitting it to everyone. The recipe for this is likely a mix of one part introversion, one part bald and scary-looking, one part quiet-spoken, and about eleven parts ridiculously insecure. While I was sitting here staring at the first few sentences, trying desperately to come up with an excuse not to use the word "shy" in the lines that followed, Merriam-Webster offered up this definition of the word: "3. hesitant in committing oneself : circumspect". It then defines circumspect as "careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences".
Almost a year ago now, I joined my first community group at City Church. That story is for another day, but one of the first ice breaker questions we answered was what one movie best depicted our lives. After thinking for a while, I eventually chose Groundhog's Day. If you've never seen the movie, Bill Murray's character gets stuck living the same day over and over again, and basically he spends the majority of this experience trying every way possible to win the girl, finding 10,000 ways that don't work before finally living out the perfect day in such a way as to achieve his goal, winning over the heart of Andie McDowell's character. I then proceeded to tell everyone that this is pretty much what goes on in my head constantly. I play through all the various scenarios, seeing how each one fails, carefully considering all the circumstances and possible consequences of my actions (see: circumspect, ridiculously insecure).
When I'm unsure which of those various scenarios will play out, I happen to know there's one that produces a very constant result: doing nothing. So in a room of twenty people I don't know, I tend to lean back in the corner and just watch. Almost as if in the back of my mind I can hear my inner self chanting, "the only winning move is not to play the game." This, as a general rule, is fine when the game is global thermonuclear war, but not so great as a modus operandi for life.
Earlier this week, I was doing some work for one of my client hotels down in Greenwich. Unlike my typical work wearing a suit schlepping microphones around, this time my clients hired me to build shelves for their storage room. I brought my dad in to do the work with me, so he got to step into my world there for a couple of days and meet the people I work with in Greenwich quite often. In particular, he got to meet one of the housekeeping ladies that I've come to admire over the past couple years.
Everyone in the hotel knows and loves Madame. It's pretty impossible not to. She's one of the biggest personalities I've ever met, wrapped in the tiniest five-foot frame of a petite woman. Madame does not understand any of the first three paragraphs I wrote. She does not understand the things that go on inside my head. In her world, there is only expressive love and much of it.
Madame scolded me this week, because when she first saw me standing there in grubby work clothes, drill in hand, I did not immediately come over and give her a proper hug. Now, when I say scolded, I don't just mean she asked why I didn't come right over and greet her. I mean, she scolded me for about a solid five minutes, going on about how she is always the same person day in and day out, about how there are no days she doesn't want to be hugged and greeted, no days where she feels extra loving. She is just Madame, and Madame expects to get her hug and greeting. And yes, she understands in this country it's not the normal, it's not the expected social policy, and that that is very hard for us Americans to overcome. But it's no excuse. She will get her hug, do you hear me?
In the past few weeks, God has been working in my life in some pretty unexpected ways. I've spent the last decade or more of my life trying to figure what exactly it was I was supposed to do with myself. Wrestled with whether I had a calling to ministry. Worked a steady job for five years. Quit that and spent some time learning to fly airplanes. And now, approaching my first 29th birthday, I have very few answers to those questions of purpose and heading. But I know what direction I'm going.
You see over the past year I've become more and more convinced that God is much less concerned with what we do with our lives and much more concerned with who we are. I've ambled through a whole lot of years not understanding this, only to largely lose myself in the process. This year, God has only one desire for me: to focus on being the person he wants me to be. That's it. Tomorrow will worry about itself; my responsibility is to zero in on taking care of who I am today.
So I'm working on a list of what originally began as New Year's resolutions. We're three weeks into the new year and the list isn't done yet, so I don't suppose it's appropriate to call them that anymore. They are becoming a treatise of change, a systematic review of the facts and history, and the direction I am establishing to move forward in the days to come. It's a shift in the focus I have had for most of my life, a shift I welcome more with each passing day.
The funny thing is, I keep saying that to myself and yet I think the truth is that at the core depths of my being, I've known who I was all along. Maybe that truth has been clouded by poor choices, lack of discipline, and laziness. But a disquiet follows my soul–the work of an almighty God who for some inexplicable reason cares enough about me to stir those feelings within–and I can no longer coexist with this disquiet. My first reaction may be to tell myself that the only winning move is not to play. But I think it's exactly the opposite–the only winning move is to play with reckless abandon.
That's not to say there aren't times when it's good to be "hesitant in committing oneself : circumspect." Certainly one of the last phrases I want running through my head is "reckless abandon" as I strap into the controls of an airplane to go punch holes in the sky. But I withhold too much, too often. And now I'm refusing to be content to wallow in mediocrity and disinterest.
In the days to come I'll be wrapping up my treatise of change. Much of it will be a return to things I used to do and somewhere along the way forgot how. It will include things like going hiking, camping, and backpacking. Dusting off piano scales and getting proficient at music once again. Finding time to play sports. Setting new health and wellness goals (20-week workout program starts next week!). But also things like breaking the Groundhog's Day cycle. Exuding love like Madame. Playing the game with reckless abandon.
I'm a difficult person to get to know. But God is teaching me about who I am, and more importantly who he wants me to be, and maybe I'm finally starting to listen.
"Of dreams gone by" is a prepositional phrase. In sixth grade Mrs. Siberski made us memorize about 70 of the most common prepositions in the English language so we would know how to treat them properly in our writing. She would tell her sixth graders that you shouldn't start a sentence with a preposition anymore than you should start one with a conjunction. But as any good student of music theory knows, the rules only apply until you know them well enough to break them. I've always been good at breaking the rules. (This coming from the kid who once tried to play wiffle ball on the street while still crossing at the corner because he didn't want to jaywalk.) One personal rule I used to have was that I would write on my blog at least once a week. That rule, which was broken often, finally became obsolete 5 years ago today when I wrote the last post here on joshmorton.com.
I've always been interested by the notion that at points throughout our lives, we do something for the last time. Sometimes we're fully aware of it, but often it happens very unknowingly. I knew when we were playing our last high school baseball game, I knew I was singing at my last Chorale concert, I knew I was working my last service at Frontline Arlington. We are usually quite prescient of these events, often marking them with emotional speeches, ceremonies, and reminiscence. But these are not the events that intrigue me so much. What's much more fascinating to me are the ones we're completely unaware of: at some point in time, I walked out the front door of a house at 707 E. 41st street, never to walk through it again. In the moment I had no idea I'd never see that little house again; I was simply leaving it to make the long trip back to DC. Months later, the house was sold, and by the time I made it back to Indiana it was a parking lot.
Of course often the unknown last times are markers of tragedy in our lives. On a Thursday in late August, I took the last flight lesson I'd ever take with Aaron, my flight instructor, in the seat next to me. Ten days later, he died in a crash during a flight lesson. I remember standing out on the ramp with him waiting to go flying that cloudy Thursday. Our plane had some mechanical issues that needed sorting out, and we were passing the time talking with the pilot of the helicopter parked next to us. Retrospectively, I remember that point in time so vividly; yet neither one of us was aware or even considering it was the last such chat we'd ever have.
After five years, I suppose I couldn't handle the thought that I had done my last serious writing. It's something I'm far too gifted at, and enjoy far too much, to have a last time so many years ago. Just in these 500 short words, it's been evident to me how rusty and out of shape my writing is. All the evidence you need is in the number of times the word "I" appears in this post. So I intend to get some of my form back, and brush up on a talent long gathering dust up on a top shelf somewhere. And I want to start by addressing the last five years of my life, at least in part, for I feel it a shame to keep it to myself.
So that's what I intend to do for a while. Below I reposted three of my favorite old posts, posts that made people think and feel and ask questions. You'll be able to get a glimpse of how this blog used to be and to what it may one day return. But for the next few weeks, I want to focus on what's happened in my life since November 17, 2007. And while in the end the narrative is one of healing and redemption, I want to warn you that much of the story is about darkness, poor choices, and missed opportunity. Yes, along the way we'll get to rehash learning how to fly airplanes, meeting new friends, and the blessing of an unexpected chapter in my life. It will not always be an easy read, not always a fun one. But it is a story too compelling, a story the demands to be told. It is a tale of dreams gone by.
Today was my day to eat supper with Jeremy Holtrop. I don't think I've said much about him on the site so far, but he is an incredible guy, and I feel so blessed to call him my friend, and have a chance to eat with him once a week just to share our feelings. Sometimes we just get together and laugh, and sometimes we have very deep conversation. Today we had one of our best conversations, just about being Christians and what it means.
Our conversation eventually focused around what it really means to be a Christian, and how we feel like it's not at all what most people live it or believe it to be. We both talked about how much we hate the fake, shallow lives that Christians lead. To most people, it's not about what we actually feel or think, it's about saying the right things, doing the good things, and never saying or doing the bad things. That's crap.
I believe absolutely in very few things. I believe that God is the one true sovereign God. I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived, died on a cross, was dead and buried, and then rose on the third day. I believe that now the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, and is our direct connection to God, made possible by the blood of Christ. Other than that, you can pretty much disprove anything else I believe, and it may make me feel like an idiot, but it won't change the fact I believe in God.
Go to Dr. Drury's website, and read his article, and especially Dr. Schenck's article (which is linked right below Drury's) to see who started me thinking these things.
To fuel the fire, earlier today in Church Music class we had a discussion on whether or not to use non-Christian musicians in a worship team. I think everyone pretty much agreed that a non-Christian could never be a worship leader, but there was a rift between the class on whether or not to use non-Christians. I understand the argument against it, I do. But I just have a real problem with the way we run our churches today.
Nothing about Jesus was acceptable to the church. He didn't hang out with all the religious leaders talking theology and worship, he hung out with the sinners, making them feel like they were loved and accepted, regardless of the condition of their lives. In Luke 19 Jesus meets up with Zaccheus, and ends up going to his house for dinner. The verse that gets me is verse seven. It says that people grumbled because Jesus was going to be a guest in the house of a sinner. WHAT IS THE CHURCH FOR??? Why are we bickering over whether or not to let a musician play guitar in our band? The fact that there is an opportunity is one more chance to witness to one more person. There are countless stories of worship team members coming to Christ through being involved in a church!
One argument people use is the one that everyone on the worship team–regardles of their role–is a leader. Well, unless they left it out, none of the gospel writers ever mentioned Jesus asking if the boy was a Christian before taking his small lunch and feeding thousands with it. Maybe you don't think so, but I'm pretty sure all the other little boys looked up to that kid after that. Jesus didn't ask if he was a Christian, he simply used the opportunity to change that boy's life forever. It wasn't normal! It wasn't "right"! Jesus didn't do things that made religious leaders happy. He did things that changed the world.
In Mark 9, the disciples stopped a man who was casting out demons in Jesus' name, but wasn't traveling with Jesus. But Jesus told them not to stop him, and said these words about it: "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward." (Mark 9:39b-41, NASB) Now, without doing an in-depth study, I will say that the context was a bit different then than it is now, but I believe that this verse is not taken out of context when applied now.
In a world that's full of pharisees, I just don't feel like being equated with "Christians" anymore. I don't want to be stuck in the IWU bubble my whole life. I want my life to resemble Christ's, and Christ's life was anything but religious by the standards of his day. Don't romanticize Jesus' life and ministry. 'Religious' people hated him. He wasn't preaching in front of huge congregations and broadcast to 176 countries around the world. He didn't say the things that made him accepted by the church, or made him look good. He said the things that were true.
I read an article somewhere on the web (I forget where, and I'm too tired to look it up in my web history) where someone was saying he had a surefire way to bring in 9 out of 10 families who visited their Sunday School into their church. You know what it was? They had them over on Friday to play cards.
I'm tired of being associated with "Christians" who are voting on whether or not to have gay pastors. I'm tired of being associated with Christians who insist on shoving Jesus down everyone's throat instead of building relationships, the effective way of reaching out. I'm tired of being associated with "Christians" who go to church on Sunday, and then live like the rest of the world the rest of the time.
I'm tired of being associated with Christians who don't think we should ever have non-Christians in our worship teams, even if that is the only way that person will ever get into a church.
I quit being a Christian. I'll never quit following Christ, and living a life that he has called me to. But I quit being a Christian. I want to be able to proclaim to people when I'm having a hard time. I want to be honsest with people and let them know it's been a month since I've done my devotions. That 's what real Christianity is. It's not the peaches and cream we ascribe it to be. It's not about being perfect. It's about doing the best we can, despite our imperfections. Sometimes I don't feel like being a Christian anymore. It doesn't mean I'm not, just beacuse I have that feeling. Sometimes I have to question my entire belief system, including the existence of God himself. That doesn't mean I'm not a Christian. I have doubts. I have questions. Sometimes I just don't feel like doing it. That doesn't make me any less of a Christian. No, the fact that I am open and honest about those things to me means that if anything, my relationship with God is just that much truer. No human relationship that's worth anything is all about being perfect. My friends and I share all our emotions–the times when we feel great, and the times when we feel crappy. Telling God I'm doubting something about my faith doesn't mean he doesn't love me anymore, praise Him!
So be honest. Be open about your struggles. If not with others, at least with God. He already knows you feel that way, anyways!
So, it is with virulent disdain I say goodbye to Christianity. I'm not about pretending anymore. Out with Christianity. In with a true, honest, relationship with Jesus Christ–and the people he loved so much, he died for them.
Then there are people who listen with their soul. There's no really easy way to classify these people. Some of them don't know the difference between a quarter note and a quarter rest. Some have probed the depths of music theory for decades, and can give the play-by-play of every piece as it unfolds. But regardless of head knowledge, these people connect with the music on a deeper level. They listen with their eyes closed, but would never be mistaken for a sleeper. Their head moves from side to side, and follows every crescendo in the music. They tap their fingers on the beat, conducting the orchestra of imagination as the musical imagery plays out before them. As the second movement darkens they begin to feel the tangible struggle between good and evil. The battle turns south, and the antagonist gains position. Defeat for our hero is imminent. And then, with a single chord, a single note, evil is struck down. The hero has triumphed, we are victorious! The score reverberates sounds of victory, and of the peace that lies ahead. Evil has been conquered!
I went to the National Cathedral tonight to hear an organ concert from Dr. Paul Jacobs, the division chair of organ from Julliard School of Music. It was phenomenal, sitting there in the chancel of the national cathedral, watching a man disappear behind an enormous organ and play amazing music. There are something like 10,000 pipes in the cathedral organ, and sitting there in the chancel is a full 3-dimensional musical experience. Music comes from every direction–above, behind, and beside you. About 150 of us sat there in the chancel, and not a single one of us could see the organist, so instead the northern three rows stared across at the southern rows, and they stared back. It was in this rather unusual people-watching experience that I realized how differently people listen to music.
The ear listeners were typically easy to spot because they flaked out. Some left after only a few minutes (and were rude enough to come back for their sunglasses in the middle of a song), and others were enjoying their Sunday afternoon naps, completely unaware of what was happening around them. Maybe some of them didn't know what they were in for, and sat down thinking this would only last a few minutes. Or maybe they've never been to a recital before and just don't understand the etiquette. But there they were, plain as day, sitting there bored out of their skulls.
The brain listeners constituted the majority of the crowd. Young and old alike, they sit quietly and listen carefully. They smile when the music, full of emotion, crescendos into one enormous cacophony of sound, the low end rumbling in your chest, and appreciate the moment. Of course they recognize the extreme talent as the organist seamlessly transitions into the light, airy fugue movement, and nod in appreciation of the mastery of the musician's craft.
Then there were the soul listeners. Some lean back and close their eyes. Others lean forward, eyes wide with anticipation. The old man across from me listened with his soul, anticipating every measure as much as the one before, beaming with happiness, while the rest of his family listened with their minds. The lady behind him listened intently, eyes closed. She moved in rhythm to the music–not a lot–but just enough to be seen. Of the 150 or so people in the chancel, probably only a dozen of us listened with our souls. And at the end of the recital, as the different listeners collectively rose to offer our thunderous applause, we all looked the same. The ears and the minds looked no different than the souls, and may have even clapped louder and faster and cheered more often. But there is no comparing the experience of the three. One heard music. One heard years of practice and study, and technical proficiency. One caught an extraordinary glimpse of a composer's soul, a piece of paper and ink, brought to life, again, for the very first time.
I'm thankful for God's gift of music, and the ability to listen to it with my soul.
And no, there's nothing wrong with hip-hop and pop music. I listen to it some. But it doesn't have soul.


South Carolina is home to some archaeological gems - underground and underwater.
From Native American shell mounds to a Civil War submarine to tools from an ice age more than 16,000 years ago, there's plenty of history to uncover. There even are a few sites where you can get your hands dirty - sifting through the pieces of the past.
Just off the Ashley River, Charles Towne Landing marks the birthplace of the Carolina colony, located where English settlers landed in 1670. The 664-acre site includes gardens, a natural habitat zoo, a 17th century replica sailing ship, a self-guided history tour - and archaeological excavations.
Archaeology: Excavations at the park have provided clues to previous inhabitants - from Native Americans to European settlers to African slaves. Evidence suggests there was continual human occupation of this land for at least 6,000 years. Excavations began in 1967, and the archaeology work continues today.
What's been found: Evidence of Native American shell mounds, campsites, villages and a ceremonial center. Household artifacts from the Colonial period have been found, followed by Revolutionary War earthen fortifications, an 18th century plantation house, outbuildings and slave quarters, vineyards, barns and a tavern.
What you can do:Charles Towne Landing has an active volunteer program for anyone interested in archaeology. There are archaeology programs and excavations are open to visitors.
Of note: The findings have helped the park recreate a portion of the 17th century palisade and earthen fortifications. Charles Towne Landing is now planning a large-scale excavation to provide research needed to recreate the palisade wall built by the Charles Towne residents during the early years of the settlement.
Located 15 miles up the Ashley River from Charleston, the busy trading town of Dorchester existed from 1697 until it was abandoned at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
Archaeology: Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site's remarkably preserved archaeological remains let visitors gain an understanding of a South Carolina Colonial town.
What's been found: Some of the town's original structures or their remains are at the site, including a brick bell tower from St. George's Anglican Church and a fort made of tabby (a type of concrete made with oyster shells, lime and sand).
What you can do: Visitors can watch as archaeologists continue to uncover the site's history. Field archaeologists are on-site and available to talk about what they find and what can be learned from the artifacts found there.
Of note: Programs featuring ranger demonstrations and current excavations are planned throughout the year.
A Spanish settlement on Port Royal Sound near what is now Parris Island in Beaufort County, Santa Elena was the capital of Spanish Florida from 1566 to 1587. Until the mid-20th century, archaeologists and historians assumed the site was French, not Spanish.
Archaeology: The site was first excavated in the 1850s, but because there were no written records from Spain, historians relied on 16th-century French illustrations and believed it was strictly a French site. During World War I, when the Marine Corps began to use Parris Island as a training site, pottery from the 16th century was uncovered. In 1957, National Park Service archaeologists examined the artifacts and determined they were from Spain or made by Spaniards. Later excavations proved that both the French and Spanish had occupied the site. Santa Elena was named a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
What's there:The new Santa Elena History Center and the inaugural exhibit, "Santa Elena: America's Untold Story" opened in April 2016. The interpretive museum is located in the old Federal Courthouse at 1501 Bay St. in Beaufort.
Of Note: Santa Elena's Camp Dig-It is geared toward children ages 6-14 and offers an introduction to the field of archaeology by a professional archaeologist.
In February 1864, the Confederate H.L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. The sub then sank into Charleston Harbor with nine crew members. More than 135 years later, in August 2000, underwater archaeologists raised the Hunley and transported it to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston. There it was placed in a large steel tank filled with 55,000 gallons of chilled fresh water to minimize bacteria and corrosion and to protect and stabilize the sub. Since then, scientists have been working to study and preserve the Civil War submarine.
What's there: Hunley tours are available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The guided portion of the tour showing the submarine in its 90,000-gallon conservation tank lasts approximately 20 minutes. Tours are not available on weekdays so scientists can continue their work preserving the Hunley.
The University of South Carolina's SC Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology began excavating Clovis artifacts along the Savannah River in Allendale County in 1984. It became one of the most well-known Clovis sites in the US. More discoveries at the site showed a pre-Clovis culture, with inhabitants believed to be living there much earlier than the accepted 13,100 years.
What's been discovered: Small tools such as scrapers and blades made of the local chert from an ice age culture back 16,000 years or more. Older artifacts of a pre-Clovis type buried in sediment stained with charcoal, suggesting man was in South Carolina long before the last ice age.
What's there: Topper is home to a shelter and viewing deck sitting above the dig site. Teams of graduate students from around the country work at the dig.
Of note: In 2008, PBS spent a week at Topper filming for an hour-long television special "Time Team America."
What you can see: A permanent exhibit of Topper artifacts is on display at the library at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie. Items on display include man-made stone tools that were created by flaking and chipping flint. These tools include fluted spear points that the Clovis people used for hunting around 13,100 to 12,900 years ago. Also on display are blades by an earlier occupation that dates 50,000 years or more.


Although it looks similar to the previous-generation Camaro, the 6th generation bows in smaller, leaner form with more-powerful engines and numerous new features.
This was one press preview that was as much about the journey as it was about the car.
Although the body is unchanged, the face is new. Altima adopts Nissan's "corporate" V-Motion grille for 2016 along with several added high-tech safety and infotainment features.
Steve Martin once famously said, "Comedy is not pretty." Nevertheless, Martin's album bearing that title would go on to be a smash commercial success—proof that ugliness is a relative thing. And so it goes in the world of taxicabs—well, at least one cab in particular.
Chinese truck builder Foton was established in 1998 and produces primarily heavy-duty vehicles for its home market.
As a professional car guy and amateur curmudgeon and skeptic, I miss the early years of the 21st century. I miss them, because those were the years that Chinese automakers were making the most noise about selling cars in the U.S.
Journalists who attended auto shows in the early 2000s where companies such as Brilliance, BYD, Geely, and Changfeng Liebao presented their wares will recall with glee spectacular U.S. sales projections and shockingly tone-deaf video presentations.


When it comes to picking out new sunglasses, it's tempting to go to the nearest mall and pick up the pair with the cheapest price tag. But think about it – if the first thing people notice about you is your face, don't you want them to see something stunning and unique? It's important that these frames fit not only your face, but also your own individual style – in other words, that they help you stand out from the crowd.
And this is where wood sunglasses come in – not only do they come in all kinds of sleek styles and colors, but they also let your true personality shine. With celebrities like Beyoncé sporting them around town, this is one trend that has consistently gained interest since it first became a thing. And here's why you should consider getting in on it too, if you haven't already.
If you're concerned about taking care of the environment, you're not alone – not even in the fashion industry. Awareness has been spreading about key environmental issues, such as how much plastic we humans consume on a daily basis. Even our oceans are full of plastic, and the microplastic that fish eat eventually gets to the digestive systems of the humans who eat those fish. That's not good – at all – and doesn't even touch on the not-earth-friendly processes often used to make plastic products. And then, although plastic can last for seemingly forever – it isn't biodegradable. Meaning that after it's thrown out, it just sits in piles, not in any hurry to decompose.
In contrast, wood doesn't harm the environment – wood is biodegradable, and it's a natural resource. Not only that, but often the companies selling sunglasses made from wood have policies in place that are environmentally conscious, as well. Here's where you will want to do your research, though – make sure the company you buy from doesn't use endangered wood in their designs, or ship lumber all across the globe to make their frames. As long as companies follow ethical practices, you can feel better in your shades, which being made from wood will in itself help you to feel a bit more connected to nature – even in a big city like New York or London.
As if being earth-friendly materials wasn't enough, has anyone mentioned lately how comfortable sunglasses made from wood are? They're lightweight, meaning no tacky marks on your nose, and you can wear them all day at the beach. Often these glasses also have hinges that snap into place, and even arms that adjust to different face sizes and shapes. This is especially great news for anyone who may be allergic to synthetic materials, as you get a double bonus! And did you know that since these glasses are handcrafted, no one else will have the exact same glasses as yours? Talk about exuding style while showcasing your personality! It's true – since each piece of wood is different, the grain and texture of each pair of shades will also be different. Now not only your beer can be craft – now your sunglasses can be too.
With wood's growing popularity, companies have been offering a wider variety of designs and colors. There's also a variety of woods to choose from, including walnut, oak, mahogany, beechwood and zebra wood. And don't worry about splinters – each frame is treated to provide a smooth surface.
As with any pair of sunglasses, if you sit on them or run them over with a car – chances are very good they'll break. Common sense aside, wood typically offers greater durability than plastic as these shades are more likely to survive after being dropped or slid around in your car. That being said, they are wood, so extra care will be needed, and the color may change slightly with age. But a color change isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the extra care required only highlights the pride you take in choosing unique, quality shades. Just make sure you have a microfiber cloth (often included with the purchase of these glasses) and follow any specific manufacturer instructions.
As you can see, wood sunglasses are a worthy investment. Not only will you be standing apart from mass-produced shades all your friends and co-workers are wearing, but you'll also be helping take care of the earth. Reviews of customers show how wood makes a fantastic material for these shades that now come in all kinds of styles, wood options, and colors. For a light, cool feel, check out the Earthshade's Beechwood Polarized Wood Sunglasses with Blue Mirrored Lens – with these classy lenses you'll be sure to get heads turning as you walk by anywhere. And Remember, they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee!


The Italian Renaissance led to developments in science and the arts, as well as in music. Music of Man: New Voices for Man looks at opera, which blended music and drama, a genre the Italians embraced. Also during the Renaissance, the sonata and the concerto made their first appearances through the composer Corelli, and musical instruments became more sophisticated as Stradivari perfected his craft. Host Yehudi Menuhin also discusses the effects of African music on Europeans.