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Home » Blog article: Despite A Good Year, IT Workers Were Less Optimistic About Jobs In December
Despite A Good Year, IT Workers Were Less Optimistic About Jobs In December
While job prospects for tech workers look solid for 2007, IT workers in December were less optimistic than in previous months, according to the latest monthly job confidence survey.
Tech pros were less optimistic about their job in December, despite 2006 being an overall steady and strong year for IT and telecom work and with 2007 job prospects looking solid, according to the latest monthly job confidence survey released on Wednesday by IT staffing and outsourcing firm Hudson.
Compared to a base score of 100, IT and telecom professional rated their job confidence in December at 109.8 — which is strong, but 6 points lower than the 115.8 score recorded in November when optimism-levels hit a year-long high for 2006.
Some key drivers for December's relative soberness were worries among some contract workers that their gigs may not be extended into the new year, end-of-year reflections about job-satisfaction and greener pastures, as well as anxiousness about paying holiday bills, says Tim Bosse, Hudson executive VP of IT and telecom practice in North America.
In December, 22% of techies were expecting a reduction in headcount at their employers, up 8 points from November. Also, in December, slightly more techies — 23% — worried about losing their jobs, compared with only 21% in November. And while most — 74% — said they were satisfied with their jobs in December, that was 3% slide from November when 77% said they were happy with their jobs.
In reality, contract renewals were strong, yet IT workers worry "until they find out a project is extended," Bosse says. Also, in some sectors, especially financial services and investment banking, "the [work] pace slows down in the second half of December," which also fuels anxiousness among tech contractors assigned to projects there, he says.
Compared to 2005, last year was "very strong and consistent," for tech workers, says Bosse. While tech job optimism fluctuated dramatically during 2005, with a 20 point difference between the highs and lows of job confidence, in 2006 the ride was less rocky, with only a 13 point difference between the November high of 115.8 and the lowest rating, which was 103.1 in August, he says.
Overall, 2006 ended with an average tech job confidence score of 109.6, up 2.8 points from the 2005 average of 105.8.
Also, the 400-plus IT and tech workers Hudson surveyed in December were more optimistic than the 9,000 workers nationally across all sectors who participated in the study and rated their optimism level at 102.7, a drop of 2.6 points from November.
Looking ahead, 2007 is expected to be another steady year for tech workers, especially key talent such as project managers, data-warehousing experts, and ERP specialists, according to projections by tech staffing firms.
The maturity curve around some technologies — especially around ERP — has created a demand for very specific mixes of skills, says Jim Lanzalotto, VP of strategy and marketing at Yoh, a staffing and outsourcing firm.
For instance, while CRM specialists have been in demand for a few years, the sort of combined expertise companies are looking to hire are becoming even more specialized, says Lanzalotto. "Now, clients are looking for Siebel CRM experts who know the pharmaceutical industry and distribution channels," he says.
As for compensation, Lanzalotto expects pay for tech workers "across the board" to rise about 3.5% to 4% in 2007. However, strong talent with hot skills, such as SAP experts, could see pay increase "in the low double-digits," he says.
Finally, while Hudson's survey indicates that some IT workers were more worried about job security last month, a new report released on Wednesday by the Conference Board indicated that job vacancies in computer and mathematical occupations were the third most advertised online and second highest-paying in December.
Last month, there were online job ads for 273,700 vacancies in computer and mathematical occupations with an average hourly wage of $32.26.
The most sought after talent, according to the Conference Board analysis of online advertised vacancies, was managers, which were also the highest-paying segment. In December, the Conference Board found 383,900 online advertised vacancies nationally for manager positions, paying an average hourly wage of $42.52.
Source: InformationWeek
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Buying a new home can often be an overwhelming process, especially when that home is older, and you are presented with a multitude of items that your home inspector identified need attention. One of these items is likely the roof.
However, are you getting the REAL story on the condition of your roof?
Most home inspectors do a good job of finding the items that need repair on the home you are interested in purchasing. However, the inspectors assessment of the roof is limited to what they visually see from the rooftop.
What does this mean to you the prospective home buyer?
You may not be getting all the information that you need regarding the condition of your roof. It also means that you may be purchasing a home with a "soon-to-be" $10K to $15K repair shortly after you take ownership. This roof repair WOULD NOT BE covered by your homeowner's insurance policy nor would it be covered under your home warranty.
1. Is the home close to or exceed 20 years of age?
2. Does the home have a tile roof?
If your answer to these questions is YES, then you are missing an integral piece to the puzzle in determining whether the roof is in sound condition or in need of significant, costly repairs. Again, the home inspector is only able to make a visual inspection of your roof and in some instances only inspect from a ladder's edge. The home inspector typically includes a disclaimer in their report that suggests further evaluation by a licensed roofing contractor. However, this suggestion is often brushed over and only the visual items that are identified are repaired (i.e. broken or shifted tiles, cleaning excessive debris, and sealing vents). These items can usually be repaired for under $1000 and handled quickly to not interfere with the closing, however, they do not address the REAL CONCERN with the roof.
What should I really be concerned about?
When a tile roof in our area approaches or exceeds the 20-year mark the underlayment begins to fail. When this occurs, interior leaks are the result. The tile itself is typically made of concrete and will last beyond 50 years, but the underlayment is a different story, and it is the underlayment that ultimately keeps water from getting into your home. The use of builder grade materials combined with our hot, dry desert climate conditions can lead to failure of the underlayment more quickly than in other parts of the country, which is why it is imperative to have the underlayment inspected as well. This type of inspection involves removing the tiles in various areas of the roof and observing the condition of the underlayment below. This is not an inspection method performed by home inspectors. The typical findings on a home at or near the 20-year mark are cracking, curling and brittleness of the material. If this is the case, substantial leaks are soon to follow. Even though the home may not have leaks currently, the likelihood of this occurring within the first few years you own your new home are great. The cost to replace the underlayment on the typical home in our area can easily exceed $10K.
Don't get caught with an unwanted surprise! Often those involved with the purchase of your home (realtors, sellers etc.) want to gloss over these issues because it leads to the cancellation of the contract. However, as an informed consumer you NEED to have all the facts before you decide on whether to complete your purchase.
At In-Ex Designs, we are experts in properly inspecting and assessing the condition of the roof. Whether it be tile, asphalt shingles or flat roof systems, we will provide a thorough inspection and comprehensive report of our findings. Furthermore, we will provide a face-to-face consultation with you to review the needed repairs, ensuring costs for the repairs and answer any questions you might have.
Let us show you the In-Ex Difference!


Google Translate FTW | If This, Then What?
Unfortunately, I do not get typo3 run locally on, despite all subsidies. I installed MAMPP quite common, and the TYPO3 dummy package to the htdocs folder copied without a sperate Unterodner. Am I PlemPlem opder KlimBim? Or what's wrong?
As you can imagine, things can get confusing at times. I'm sure there are many far, FAR worse examples out there, though.


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"Doubly So" @ CCS Center Galleries
April 3, 2016 by Clara DeGalan
Duplicity from Without and Within: Molly Soda, Sheida Soleimani, Sofia Szamosi, and Dessislava Terzieva
Installation Image – "Doubly So" All Images Courtesy of Clara DeGalan
"Doubly So," an exhibition conceived and curated by Samantha 'Banks' Schefman of Playground Detroit, that opened last Friday at Center Galleries at Detroit's College for Creative Studies, features four up and coming artists exploring identity within social media from a (surprisingly illusive) outside perspective. The four engage with what builds an identity in the age of social media which, essentially, comprises being constantly seen, and our conflicted desires both for privacy (another increasingly illusive phenomenon) and for maximum exposure. That frisson between a desire for and retreat from exposure is grappled with most tellingly in the work of two of the artists, Molly Soda, and Sofia Szamosi. Both primarily feature their own faces and bodies in their work in "Doubly So," and the impression is that they are objectifying themselves in an aim to draw discourse of the exhibitionism of the female body in popular culture back into the hands of women.
Molly Soda – Mary Kate 2015 – Printed Fleece Blanket 60 in x 50″
This practice has been pretty widespread in women's art since the 1970's (Szamosi's archive of selfies strongly reference Hannah Wilke's photographic self-portraits in content and form, and her film "Tarred and Feathered" channels the visceral imagery of the Abjectionist movement.)
Sofia Szamosi – Tarred and Feathered – 2015 Digital Print with frame 31 in x 22″
In "Doubly So," Szamosi's identity unpacking feels a bit outdated at first look- the knee-jerk response is that this argument has already been made, again and again, and is past its vital currency. However, it still possesses the power to unsettle. Moving along Szamosi's selfie chronology, taken in photo booths between 2005 and 2015, I couldn't tell whether I was tired of seeing her body or jealous of its beauty. This uncertain response that wells up in me pretty much every time I am confronted with such work is a clue that our relationship with depictions of the female body, even by other females, is far from liberated or resolved.
Sofia Szamosi – 10 Years of Photobooth Self Portraits detail 2005 to 2015 194 original photo booth strips 8 in x 23 ft
Molly Soda has gained critical acclaim for her work in and about social media, and she plays with its tropes really cleverly. Her website (mollysoda.biz) is hilarious- for a moment you truly fear you've stumbled onto a bit of porn-saturated malware that is going to eat your computer alive, tiny gyrating women and pixilated graphics abounding. Her work in "Doubly So" follows Szamosi's in winking exhibitionism that seeks to subvert assumptions about the exposure of women in social media. Soda poses as various celebrities caught in paparazzi shots as they fill parking meters, climb out of cars, pause for an ill-fated moment of unselfconsciousness while wading in the ocean.
Molly Soda – Selena 2016 – Printed Fleece Blanket 60 in x 50″
There is an interesting commentary here on the scorn heaped upon these women for daring to appear in public in an un-camera-ready state. The large-scale portraits are printed on fleece blankets in a nod to commemorative kitsch- and perhaps a suggestion that we draw comfort from the exposed humanity of these pop culture goddesses. But should we? Are these images not as objectifying and offensive as the idealized, photo shopped guises we are used to seeing celebrities in? Soda's work in "Doubly So" left me with a grim suspicion that autonomy of image in social media still alludes women, and it's a problem we are going to have to spend a few more decades thinking our way around.
Soleimani and Terzieva, by contrast, do not place their likenesses into their work in "Doubly So," which creates a wholly different dialog with identity's plight in social media. So much of our engagement with the online world revolves around the persona we create for ourselves there, it's easy to forget what that world is doing outside of our identity-building enterprise, and how the signals we receive (and do not receive) from it are informing or misleading us. Terzieva's sprawling installation of twining USB cords, false flowers, and technological baubles in various states of decay comments on the mounds of obsolescence we leave in our wake in our hunger for ever swifter, sexier, newer conduits. Her sculptures of moss-coated smartphones embedded in piles of organic material are beautiful, and could have stood on their own without the prefabricated environment installed around them, which becomes a bit distracting. Terzieva's best sculptures have old-school magnifying glasses affixed to them, through which one sees these objects blown up into delicate terrarium-like landscapes, in which the cell phone becomes strangely monolithic, or dissolves altogether into glittering shells and pebbles.
Dessi Terzieva – Nostalgia Feels Like Deja Vu – 2016 Acrylic Concrete Seaweed Wax Cell Phone Battery iPhone 8 x 7 x 3″
Soleimani's work, bright and bubbly though its surfaces are, instantly grounds this digital universe in the grimmest of real calamities. Her series of archival pigment prints, and their accompanying soft sculptures, present portraits of Iranian women who have been publicly executed for what the governing regime in Iran defines as crimes, such as defending themselves from rape. Voices of dissent under a totalitarian government are rapidly squelched- the freedom with which we share our political beliefs on Facebook, and other social media is as much taken for granted in the United States as is the objectification of women's bodies for worship, derision, or personal affirmation. Soleimani's work achieves ever refining tension between sensual beauty and hard-hitting political content- her elaborate collages juxtapose brilliant colors and moist glittering surfaces with dismembered body parts and visual fever dream montages of oppression, control, rebellion, and terror. Her work in "Doubly So" tones things down a bit formally, maintaining the bright palette but letting the subjects of her portraits engage the viewer more quietly and directly, with stunned but defiant gazes and wringing, desperate hands.
Sheida Soleimani – Delara 2015 Soft Sculpture
Sheida Soleimani Sakineh 2015 Archival pigment print with frame 41 in x 28 in
Soleimani's soft sculpture portraits of these doomed women call to mind a passage from Lewis H. Lapham's preamble essay to the Spring 2016 issue of Lapham's Quarterly, the theme of which is "Disaster." "…( a joint venture of money and machine), the danse macabre surrounding us onscreen reduces human beings to things- broken toys, smashed dollhouse furniture… Too far removed or arriving too late on the scene, the camera doesn't grasp the human response in the eye of the storm." The doll-like construction of Soleimani's sculptures evokes the loss in translation of the real horror of these women's lives and deaths, glimpsed briefly via digital stream. As the press release for "Doubly So" is careful to note, "Though it has been an ongoing political struggle for American women to fight for gender justice and equality, it pales in comparison to the totalitarian government of Iran that will sentence one to death for speaking up against them on such social media streams as Facebook." "Doubly So" attempts to find common ground between the struggle for autonomous identity faced by American women and the daily life-and-death struggle Iranian women must undergo, yet, as the press release cannot help but state, the former struggle simply pales when juxtaposed with the latter.
"Doubly So" is on display at Center Galleries at The College for Creative Studies March 19 through April 23, 2016
Posted in: Installation, Paintings, Photography, Sculpture

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


All Equipment that has been sorted from the 3rd of May that is no longer used due to policies and procedures we will be putting in the yardsale this day.
We are looking for volunteers to assist throughout the day to help organized, setup, and teardown the stand.
This will also be a good time to have some Seniors and Cadets in uniform to setup a recruiting stand at the same time for any youth or parents that might have kid interested in the program since we are already there.
Please advise Lt Vaughan as soon as possible for your attendance for this event to ensure we have appropriate coverage.


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National Security - 23m 2s ago
Morning Report - 58m 2s ago
Energy & Environment - 1h 23m ago
Tillerson: Keep Texas in your thoughts and prayers
by Max Greenwood - 08/29/17 11:37 AM ET
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday called on Americans to keep the residents of Texas in their "thoughts and prayers" as the state deals with the devastation from Hurricane Harvey.
"Being a native Texan, my wife and I still make our home in Texas, and we have a lot of family and friends that have been directly impacted and – but also just millions and millions of Texans are really, really suffering right now," Tillerson told reporters ahead of a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. "So I'd simply ask that all Americans keep them in your thoughts and prayers."
The remnants of the hurricane hurdled toward Louisiana on Tuesday, but its effects were still being felt in Texas. In the Houston area, two reservoirs began spilling over amid historic flooding and rescue operations are underway for those trapped by the rising water.
Meanwhile, President Trump on Tuesday headed to southern Texas to visit the Corpus Christi area, which is among the areas hit the hardest by the storm.
"I think the state of Texas is doing a remarkable, remarkable job dealing with what is an extraordinarily difficult situation of historic proportions," Tillerson said.
"As you know, the president is on his way down today," he continued. "I think he has plans to go back a second time, I think, indicating the seriousness of the situation, but also the commitment of the federal government to provide all the assets that the state of Texas needs to respond to what's going to be a very, very, very long rebuilding process."
Tags Hurricane Harvey Rex Tillerson State Deparmtnet Texas
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Kevrock
Troll So Hard University
Perhaps this dispute was inevitable.
Local TV contracts for major-league teams are rising dramatically. The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals share ownership of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), but the Orioles hold by far the larger stake.
Now, according to sources, a panel of baseball officials will decide what the two teams could not resolve in negotiations — the annual rights fee that the Nationals will receive from MASN.
The matter went to arbitration after talks between the Orioles and Nationals sputtered. While there is no known deadline for a decision, the panel is meeting regularly due to the urgency of the situation, sources say.
The decision of the panel will be binding, and could double or even triple the reported $29 million annually that the Nationals currently receive, sources say.
The fee, according to the agreement that created the network, is re-set to market rates every five years. Still, the teams disagree over what the new terms should be.
Washington D.C. is the ninth largest television market, according to Nielsen. The San Diego Padres, who play in the 28th-ranked market, recently completed a deal with FOX Sports San Diego that will pay them a $200 million upfront bonus and $50 million annually for 20 years.
The Texas Rangers, who play in the fifth-ranked market, will receive $150 million per year under a 20-year extension with FOX Sports Southwest, according to USA Today. That deal begins in 2015.
Local TV money is the Nationals' second-largest source of revenue after ticket sales, and is growing even more critical to the team's future.
The Nationals, because they play in one of the sport's 15 largest markets, will be ineligible to receive revenue sharing by 2016, according to the new collective-bargaining agreement.
And the Nats already are at a severe disadvantage in their co-ownership of MASN.
Baseball helped create the network in 2004 as part of a deal in which the Orioles allowed the new Washington franchise to move into their territory.
The Nationals' share will increase from its original 10 percent over the 25-year agreement, but max out at 33 percent. The Nats currently hold about a 13 percent stake, compared with about 87 percent for the Orioles.


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Translations for "odor"
smell (GB) Your browser does not support any audio element.
odeur (F) Your browser does not support any audio element.
odore (I) Your browser does not support any audio element.
reuk (N) Your browser does not support any audio element.
reek (ES) Your browser does not support any audio element.
odor (PO) Your browser does not support any audio element.
Fragrances determine our lives, like the well-known gastronomy and wine specialist Guy Bonnefoit writes in his book "Fascination Wine & Aromas": The human skin has a surface of about two square meters and has up to 300 odor components. Depending on the physical condition and state of mind, the odorants also change. A dog can differentiate exactly between well-disposed and fearful people. Every mood has its own smell - you can smell the state of "happy". An experienced country doctor reports that he is able to recognize certain diseases when entering a hospital room. Every disease develops its typical "scent". Diabetes smells fruity, diphtheria sweet, typhoid after baked bread and gout after lion cage or pet shop (end of quote).
The sense of smell is the ability to perceive gaseous substances or substances dissolved in water at the molecular level. Again taste the smell is one of the chemical senses. The ability is only proven in vertebrates and insects. Smell perceptions are more emotionally charged than any other sense organ. This means that an evaluation is immediately made in pleasant (smells) or unpleasant (smells). In behavioral biology, the smell has a special meaning with regard to food intake, reproductive behavior and detection of enemies. Smells promote appetite and the formation of digestive juices. And the statement "that you can't smell someone" is much more than just a play on words.
Scientific tests have shown that the scent is unconsciously of great importance when choosing a partner. Likewise, smells play an important role in memory and associative brain processes. Smells become olfactory perceived through the yellow olfactory mucosa (about 2 x 5 cm²) in the uppermost part of the nasal cavity directly under the brain. Fragrances are not only guided and perceived nasally (orthonasally, pronasally) when inhaling through the two nostrils, but also retro-nasally when exhaling from the oral cavity via the nasopharynx to the olfactory mucosa. It depends on the amount of an odorant when it is perceived. This is called Perceptual threshold (Limit).
Around 20 million olfactory threads absorb the fragrances. A dog has ten times more olfactory threads, that is around 200 million on 2 x 25 cm². These absorb the smell and act as receptors and pass it on to the olfactory bulb. Here they are first perceived and passed on to the brain for "dissolution". Women have around 50% more nerve cells in the olfactory bulb and therefore better smell. The olfactory bulb (rhinencephalon) is a delimited part below the right hemisphere and is connected to the limbic system (limbis = joint). This is responsible for the entire processing of feelings such as love, sexual arousal, fear and anger. There are also numerous in wine pheromones (Sexual fragrances) are included, wine can also be considered aphrodisiac Act. However, there are two in the sense of smell sensory Systems involved. In addition to the olfactory, that's also trigeminal (regarding the sense of touch) system.
A severe limitation arises with a runny nose, in which you perceive the taste directions, but no smells. Odor impressions are often wrong taste attributed. Because with the enjoyment of food and beverages as of course Weingenuss these impressions of the tongue and nose received in the brain mix to form an overall impression, so that the definitive origin can no longer be traced. The combination of taste and smell sensations creates a complex variety of sensory nuances. The human tongue is primitive with the six flavors opposite the nose. Richard Axel and Linda Buck received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine for unraveling their sense of smell. The two US researchers demonstrated that humans can absorb, memorize and distinguish around 10,000 smells.
In order to recognize the smell, the concentration of the fragrance must be about 50 times higher. Fragrances can open the gates of memory. However, civilized people have forgotten how to identify smells exactly. Because we no longer need it as in primeval times, where survival depended on it. In addition, according to a hypothesis, when "he straightened up" people lost part of their sense of smell and at the same time increased their performance in seeing and hearing. Nevertheless, the nose is still much closer to our psyche than the eye or ear. The numerous cause in wine flavorings the fragrance impressions. Of the University of California became the so-called aroma wheel with the help of which these fragrances can be identified. During normal breathing, only a small part of the scents reach the receptors. That's why you have to wine review "sniff" with the nose deep in the glass. However, this must not be done too intensely, otherwise the fragrances will sweep past the olfactory mucosa and will not be absorbed there.
At the end of June 2014, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) issued the following press release: "Odor code of food decoded". Scientists from TUM and the German Research Institute for Food Chemistry (DFA) performed a meta-analysis of the odorant samples from 227 food samples. The study clarified and identified the molecular fragrance signatures of foods. More than 10,000 different volatile substances are found in food. But only about 230 of them shape the aroma of the most common foods. And only three to 40 of these key flavors encode the typical and unmistakable fragrance of a single food from pineapple to roasted meat to Wien . The scent of sour cream butter, for example, is encoded by a combination of only three key molecules; for fresh strawberries, it is 12 and is the frontrunner cognac at 36.
The chemical odor codes are translated into olfactory stimulus patterns when eating food. To do this, the key odorants have to interact with one or more of the 400 odor receptors in the nose. Prof. Thomas Hofmann (Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensor Technology) comments: "With the combination of only a few key flavors, an authentic smell perception can be generated. The odor quality of the combinations is not determined by the individual components. The individual aroma components do not simply add up in the perception and neural processing of the odor patterns. Rather, the individual information is translated into a new fragrance. In view of the combinatorial nature of the chemical aroma code and the large number of around 400 odor receptors, the number of perceptible odors seems to be almost unlimited ".
The identification of the odor codes opens up completely new possibilities for biotechnological applications. For example, at breeding be helpful that the aroma codes of crops and fruits are known at the molecular level: in the past, breeding was less based on the sensory quality than on the increase in earnings and area performance. The findings also form the scientific basis for the next generation of bio aroma production, which uses the potential of optimized biosynthetic pathways in plants for the industrial production of high-quality food fragrances.
With the current odorant mapping, the natural replication of aromas is made possible with increasing precision. Completely new applications in mobile communication systems, such as sending smell messages with a smartphone or developing bioelectronic noses, are within reach. (Publication: Andreas Dunkel, Martin Steinhaus, Matthias Kotthoff, Bettina Nowak, Dietmar Krautwurst, Peterieberle and Thomas Hofmann; genuine scent signatures of nature, perspectives from food chemistry for future biotechnology, applied chemistry).
Graphics: Von Chabacano - from Brain and mouth anatomy ,
by Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator, CC BY-SA 2.5 , Link


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Pray, Hope and Don't Worry – Issue 45 – October-December 2010
Posted on October 15, 2010 by Editor
Download Newsletter Issue 45, October-December 2010
I am ready for everything, as long as Jesus is content to save the souls of my brothers,
especially those he has entrusted to my care.
– St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Stories from the War Years
Teseo Isani was a military officer who was stationed in Verona, Italy during World War II. During that time, a friend confided to Teseo that for many days he had been hiding an American soldier in his home. He was aware of the danger of the situation. If he was caught by the Gestapo, it would be his death sentence. He asked Teseo if he would be willing to take the American soldier and he agreed to do so.
For a temporary solution, Teseo hid the American in his truck under a large load of wood. Unfortunately, soon after Teseo did so, the Gestapo became suspicious. Teseo's truck was searched and the American was found. Teseo was immediately arrested and placed in custody. He was condemned to death for his crime of harboring an enemy.
In the detention facility, Teseo waited for his execution day. There was nothing he could do to save himself. One day, Teseo suddenly heard a very distinct voice which said to him with great insistence, "Escape! Escape!" Teseo did not know where the voice had come from. He was not sure of the meaning of the message either. He did not have the means to escape. He knew that if he tried to walk out of the detention facility, he would be instantly shot. There were armed guards stationed at every check point who were not afraid to use their weapons at a moment's notice. However, Teseo reasoned to himself that he was going die anyway. "What does it matter if I die today or tomorrow?" he said to himself.
Teseo opened the door of his cell and looked down the hall. Armed guards were standing at various posts all along the corridor. He decided to take the plunge. He stepped out into the corridor and started walking and to his utter amazement, the guards did not seem to notice him. Suddenly, one of the guards became aware of Teseo and reached for his gun. He pointed it at Teseo and pulled the trigger but it failed to go off. Teseo then broke into a run and managed to flee unharmed.
The Nazis posted Teseo's picture throughout the city of Verona. A large sum of 100,000 lire was offered to anyone who could find the fugitive. But Teseo was safe. He had already made his way into Switzerland.
Three years later, Teseo listened with great interest as someone told him about a holy priest named Padre Pio who lived in the southern part of Italy. He decided to make a trip to Padre Pio's monastery in hopes of meeting him. At the monastery of Our Lady of Grace, Teseo was able to make his confession to Padre Pio. That evening when he returned to his hotel, he had a very unusual experience. As soon as he opened the door to his room, he heard a voice which said to him, "Escape! Escape!" It was the very same voice he had heard during the second World War. Since he had just spoken to Padre Pio for the first time, he now recognized the voice as belonging to Padre Pio. He made his way immediately back to the monastery. When Teseo stood in the presence of Padre Pio once again, he was overcome with emotion and burst into tears. Padre Pio understood. Referring all of the credit to God, Padre Pio said simply, "Let us thank the Lord."
Francesco Cavicchi and his wife visited Padre Pio's monastery for the first time in June 1967. Francesco's wife had a great desire to meet Padre Pio. She spoke to Francesco about it and insisted that he accompany her. He did not share his wife's enthusiasm regarding the trip to the monastery but in order to please her, he finally agreed to go.
Francesco had learned that Padre Pio would not hear a person's confession if it had been less than ten days since their last confession. Francesco had been to confession just three days before. But since he had made a special trip to San Giovanni Rotondo, he did not want to miss the opportunity. He decided to take a chance and go to confession anyway and he hoped that he would not be found out.
Padre Pio was hearing the men's confessions in the sacristy of the old church. As Francesco waited in the confessional line, he grew more and more uneasy. He wondered to himself how he had the nerve to disregard the "ten-day rule." Padre Pio looked out at the men waiting in the line, and his eyes fell on Francesco. "Come forward, my son," Padre Pio said to Francesco. "I have been waiting for you for a long time." Francesco could not grasp the meaning of his words. How could Padre Pio have been waiting for him for a long time? They had never even met.
Francesco knelt down in the dim light of the sacristy. As he made a move to kiss Padre Pio's hand, Padre Pio withdrew it from him. It was not a good sign and Francesco knew it. Next, Padre Pio asked Francesco the question that he did not want to hear. "How long has it been since your last confession?" There was a silence while Francesco pretended to be thinking about the answer to the question. He told Padre Pio that he could not remember when he made his last confession.
Padre Pio then asked him some other questions, and Francesco breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been sent out of the confessional like he feared. He was grateful that he was still kneeling beside Padre Pio. Once again Padre Pio asked him, "Now tell me, how many days has it been since your last confession?" Before Francesco could answer, Padre Pio changed the subject and began talking about the Prayer Groups. Finally, he said once again, "How long has it been since your last confession?"
Francesco did not know what to say. He was sure that Padre Pio could read his heart and his mind. It seemed obvious that Francesco was trying to avoid the question. Francesco had kept head down and his eyes lowered from the time he had entered the confessional. He did not have the courage to look at Padre Pio full in the face. But now, for the first time, Francesco lifted his gaze and looked directly at him.
Padre Pio was looking at Francesco with an expression of great tenderness and love. "I do not remember how long it has been since my last confession," Francesco repeated. Padre Pio then became serious. "You have a short memory, don't you. But let me ask you this. Do you remember the bombardment in Rimini many years back? Do you remember the air raid shelter? Do you remember the trolley bus? But why am I asking you to go back in time? You cannot even remember what you did less that one week ago!"
Padre Pio was speaking to Francesco about an incident that had happened back in 1943, during the second World War. Francesco remembered the incident well. He would never be able to forget it for as long as he lived. He was twenty-eight years old at the time and worked for the State Railway in the city of Rimini.
On that particular November day in 1943, Francesco happened to be riding the trolley bus back to his home for his lunch break. There were about ten other people on the bus that day. Included in the number was a middle-aged Capuchin monk.
Suddenly, the sirens in the city gave warning of an air-raid. Bombs then began to fall all around. The bus driver accelerated to a frantic speed in an effort to escape the danger. When fragments from falling bombs cut the electric power lines, the driver was forced to stop the bus. The passengers were filled with panic. Francesco was certain that he was going to die.
In the midst of great fear and confusion, everyone then exited the bus and ran toward an air-raid shelter that was nearby. Due to an obstacle in his path, Francesco had great difficulty getting off of the bus. He was the last person to enter the air-raid shelter. Inside the shelter, the Capuchin monk who had been on the bus, had already begun to recite the Rosary. It had a calming effect on all who were gathered there. Soon everyone was praying with the Capuchin. Meanwhile, bombs continued to explode all around. The air-raid shelter shook on its foundation and Francesco knew that it could collapse at any moment. However, amid all the noise and destruction, there was no panic or screaming inside the shelter. The Capuchin monk seemed to inspire confidence in everyone. Thirty minutes passed. The small group had just finished reciting the Rosary when the sirens in the city gave the "all clear" signal.
The Capuchin was the first to leave the shelter. Everyone then followed out behind him. "Were you the monk who was on the bus with me?" Francesco asked Padre Pio. "Well, who did you think it was?" Padre Pio answered. "I have already explained to you that Jesus and the Blessed Mother can intervene in our lives, even if we are not aware of it." Francesco had always known how lucky he had been to escape death that frightful November day. He was convinced that Divine Providence had assisted everyone who was in the air-raid shelter with him. At the time, he had not even heard of Padre Pio.
When Padre Pio saw Francesco in the confessional line, he told him that he had been waiting for him for a long time. The wartime incident that Padre Pio brought to Francesco's attention had happened twenty-four years before. Had he actually been waiting for Francesco to return after all those years? Francesco was convinced that he had.
Corporal Joe Asterita was an American serviceman who was stationed in Cerignola, Italy during World War II. Along with other soldiers in his squadron, Joe used to visit Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo when he had the opportunity. Joe was fluent in Italian with the added benefit of being able to understand the dialect of those who lived in San Giovanni Rotondo. He often translated for the other GI's who wanted to speak to Padre Pio.
On one occasion, Padre Pio told Joe that five people who had visited the monastery needed a ride back to their home in Foggia. He asked Joe to drive them back. Joe told Padre Pio that it was against United States Army regulations to use military vehicles to provide transportation for civilians. Padre Pio was very firm and insisted that Joe do him the favor. Joe carefully considered the matter but finally decided against it. The risk of getting caught was too great. "Army regulations forbid me to transport those who are non-military. I am sorry but I cannot break the rule," Joe said.
Speaking with authority, Padre Pio then said to Joe, "Remember this. Anytime I ask you to do something for me, it will work out. You need have no fear." Joe was finally convinced. He then allowed the two men, two women and a little boy to get into his military jeep. Shortly after they were on the road, Joe saw two Military Police Officers coming in their direction. The Military Police Officers looked in the jeep but passed right on by without stopping Joe. At that moment, the air became filled with a delightful perfume. As they continued on the road to Foggia, they encountered one Military Police Officer after another, but they were never pulled over. The fragrant perfume stayed in the air until the five Italian citizens were dropped off safely in Foggia.
The Souls of the Departed – Padre Pio often reminded people of the importance of praying for the souls of the departed. He used to say, "We must empty Purgatory with our prayers." When Padre Pio celebrated Mass, during the time of the prayers for the living and the deceased, he would pause for an extended period of silence. At times, the Lord enlightened him regarding the state of those who had already passed away. He once said to Father Alessio Parente, "You are going to be amazed to find souls in Heaven who you would never have expected to find there."
In the monastery of Our Lady of Grace, there was a wooden box mounted to the wall with a notice above it reminding the Capuchins to pray for the deceased. A categorical list was posted, which included souls of deceased priests, souls close to heaven, forgotten souls, etc. Small disks were inside the wooden box with numbers on them referring to the category of souls to pray for. Regularly, Padre Pio would take a disk from the box and pause in silence as he devoutly recited the prayer for the deceased – "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen."
The efficacy of Padre Pio's prayers for the deceased was revealed on one occasion in a startling way. During the first World War, the main door of the monastery of Our Lady of Grace was locked every evening after the ringing of the Angelus bell. An iron bar secured the door and kept the monastery safe from intruders. One evening, the superior of the monastery, Father Raffaele, heard voices shouting, "Viva Padre Pio! Viva Padre Pio!" (Long live Padre Pio!) He immediately notified the porter, Brother Gerardo. "Strangers have somehow managed to enter the monastery, even though the door is locked," Father Raffaele said. "They are downstairs in the hallway shouting in unison. You must go down there immediately and make them leave!"
Brother Gerardo left at once to take care of the matter. He returned a short time later and said to Father Raffaele, "The door is locked and secured and there are no intruders downstairs." Father Raffaele was perplexed. He knew what he had heard and he could not doubt it. He was also well aware that unusual incidents happened from time to time at the monastery of Our Lady of Grace. Those unusual events almost always involved Padre Pio. Father Raffaele had lived with Padre Pio long enough to know that he was living in a supernatural reality. As one of the Capuchins described it, "Padre Pio was living with one foot on earth and one foot in Heaven."
Father Raffaele decided to ask Padre Pio about the mysterious voices he had heard in the hallway. The next morning he said to Padre Pio, "Something very strange happened last night. Even though the doors were locked and secured, I was certain that intruders had broken into the monastery. I distinctly heard them shouting your name in the corridor and saying, "Viva Padre Pio!" I have no doubt about what I heard. When Brother Gerardo went downstairs to escort the people out, there was no one there. Do you know anything about this?" "Those were the souls of deceased soldiers who had walked up the hill to thank me for my prayers," Padre Pio replied. "There are more souls of the dead than of the living who climb the hill to the monastery to request my prayers."
Jerry Berrigan wrote to us at Padre Pio Devotions regarding his experience with Padre Pio during World War II. This is Jerry's story:
I met Padre Pio when I served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. I had enlisted in January 1942 and was eventually sent to the U.S. military base in Cerignola, Italy. As a Staff Sargent, I was assigned to the ground crew and worked in the technical supply department for the U.S. fighter planes. I was also the assistant to our chaplain, Father Stanley Kusman, S.M., a Marianist priest.
One day, Father Kusman asked me an unusual question. "Jerry, how would you like to visit a saint today?" He went on to tell me a little bit about Padre Pio and invited me to go with him to Padre Pio's monastery. I had never heard of Padre Pio but I was happy to accept his invitation. Two other GIs from my squadron went along with us.
Father Kusman drove us to the monastery of Our Lady of Grace in a military jeep. The church of Our Lady of Grace was a poor little country church. It was very plain and very simple. As soon as we walked through the door, I realized that I had forgotten something and I went back out to the jeep to get it. When I walked back into the church, I was overwhelmed by an intense fragrance of fresh flowers. The wonderful scent of carnations, lilies, and roses filled the air. I looked around but there were no flowers anywhere inside.
Father Kusman was in the sacristy, conversing in Italian with a Capuchin who wore a brown habit with a cord at his waist. As I drew closer, I realized that he was talking to Padre Pio. As I looked at Padre Pio, I felt wonderstruck. I knew immediately that he was an extraordinary human being. Father Kusman then introduced me to him. I did not speak Italian but even if I did, I would not have been able to say even one word. I felt overwhelmed by his presence. Father Kusman asked Padre Pio if we could attend his Mass on our next visit and if I could be his altar server. "Si, si," he replied. There were a few children in the church making noise and Padre Pio let them know in no uncertain terms that they were to be quiet. That was my first brief meeting with Padre Pio.
After we left to return to the base, I told Father Kusman and the other GIs about the beautiful fragrance of flowers in the church. None of them had experienced it. Father Kusman then explained to me that it was a sign of blessing from Padre Pio. Father Kusman also shared more about Padre Pio's life with us. He told us that Padre Pio had a spiritual connection with the German mystic, Therese Neumann. Therese Neumann was a simple and devout lay woman who lived in a small farming village in Konnersreuth, Germany. Her deep spirituality touched many souls. She had many of the charismatic gifts that Padre Pio possessed, including the gift of reading hearts, miracles, healing, and more. Like Padre Pio, she bore the five wounds of Christ. Many of the American GIs went to Germany to visit Therese at the end of World War II. Padre Pio had a great deal of knowledge about Therese Neumann. Father Kusman had been told
that Padre Pio had visited her through bilocation.
The next time Father Kusman took us to the monastery, I was apprehensive. Thinking about being Padre Pio's altar server was more than a little unsettling. I hoped that I would be able to perform all the duties of the altar server well and that I would not forget any of the Latin responses.
It turned out to be a very long Mass. As I knelt on the stone floor of the dimly lit church, my knees began to ache. It was very cold inside the church. Since it was wartime, the congregation consisted mainly of women and children. Most of the men in the village had no doubt been called up to serve in the Italian army. During the Mass, everyone stared at Padre Pio's hands. I saw that the wounds in the center of his hands were bleeding at the time of the Consecration. All of the American soldiers who were there that day were deeply impressed.
Meeting Padre Pio and assisting at his Mass served to strengthen my faith. It also gave me a sense of confidence that I would be protected. As soldiers in the second World War, our lives were in constant danger. I felt a peace within and I knew that I had met a living saint.
After the war, I attended Holy Cross College in Massachusetts. I eventually got a PhD in English and I enjoyed being a college professor for more than 25 years. I turned 90 years old, this year, 2010. The experience of meeting Padre Pio has stayed with me for my whole life.
There was a woman once (name withheld) who lived in Italy whose husband had died in the second World War. After the death of her husband, her in-laws treated her and her two children very badly. The woman was in great financial need but her in-laws were not willing to help in any way. To make matters worse, they took possession of the home that had belonged to her and her husband.
The woman and her children moved from the city into the country, thinking that it would be less expensive. When her eldest son was about to make his first Holy Communion, the woman had a dilemma. She could not afford to buy the proper clothing for him for that very special day. She decided to alter one of her husband's suits to fit him. In that way, her son would be able to be dressed appropriately, just like all the other children. Her relatives refused to return her husband's suit to her. They also confiscated most of the household possessions. Finally, they sold her husband's home and kept all of the profits for themselves. The woman tried to confront them about the injustice of their actions, but they refused to speak to her.
The woman needed advice about her many problems, especially her desperate financial situation. She wanted to talk to Padre Pio but she could not afford to make the trip to San Giovanni Rotondo. Her faith in Padre Pio was indeed great. She knew in her heart that nothing was impossible and she never lost hope that one day she would be able to visit him at the monastery of Our Lady of Grace.
As it turned out, the woman won 25,000 lire in the Italian lottery. The unexpected money enabled her to make the trip. Everything seemed to work out in her favor. Once she arrived in San Giovanni Rotondo, she began to look for lodging. Finding a room was harder than she had ever imagined. Although she had to settle for sleeping in the corridor of a local establishment, she was grateful that at least she had a roof over her head.
The woman attended Padre Pio's Mass and was very inspired. She had the unmistakable impression that Padre Pio was in "direct contact with God." She felt carried away into a place of great peace. The Mass had such an impact on her that she felt totally transformed. She began to have the desire to change her life. She had been living with a man whom she loved very much. She decided that when she returned home, she would end the illicit relationship. She wanted to talk to Padre Pio about her decision.
The woman was very nervous when she stepped into Padre Pio's confessional. "I want to make a full confession," she said to Padre Pio. "I want my life to change. When I go back to my home, I want to feel like I have felt during these days that I have spent here in San Giovanni Rotondo." "Are you truly sorry for your past sins?" Padre Pio asked her. "Yes, I am truly sorry for all of them," the woman replied. "Go in peace," Padre Pio said. He gave her absolution and placed his wounded hand on her head. He let his hand rest on her head for quite a long time. "When I return to my home, what can I do so that I will be able to live as I have lived these days near the monastery?" the woman asked. "When you go back to your town, you will meet someone who will help you," Padre Pio answered.
About a week after returning to her home, the woman happened to make the acquaintance of a kind lady who helped her in incalculable ways. She remembered that Padre Pio had told her that she would meet such a person. Back at the factory where she worked, she made a public statement. She apologized to all of her co-workers and told them that she was sorry that she had used bad language in the past. "I apologize for the off-color jokes I once told you all. I promise you that you will never hear me tell them again." She let go of the resentment and anger that she had held in her heart for her relatives. She knew that her desire for revenge was wrong and through prayer she was able to overcome her feelings of bitterness.
The woman decided not to marry again. Eventually, she was able to receive her deceased husband's war pension which was a great financial help to her. She continued to pray to Padre Pio faithfully. Through Padre Pio's intercession, one of her sons received a physical healing. As the years passed, the woman's situation continued to improve and she received many graces for which she felt a profound gratitude.
Padre Pio Devotions Books – by Diane Allen
1. Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry: True Stories of Padre Pio – Book I
2. Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry: True Stories of Padre Pio – Book II
3. Daily Reflection: 365 Reflections from the Saints and Other Holy Men and Women of God
4. They Walked with God: St. Bernadette Soubirous, St. John Vianney, St. Damien of Molokai, St. Andre Bessette, Bl. Solanus Casey
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Home » News aggregator » Sources » Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.
URL: https://www.splcenter.org/rss/homepage/feed/rss.xml
Updated: 9 hours 12 min ago
Karen Baynes-Dunning named interim president and CEO
We're proud to announce that the Southern Poverty Law Center's board of directors has voted unanimously to name Karen Baynes-Dunning as our interim president and CEO.
Categories: Anti Fascism , Anti Racism, Bnp, Canada, Europe, International, United Kingdom, United States
White Supremacist Symbol Found Spray-Painted at the Site of Fire, Civil Rights Center Says
Someone painted a white supremacist symbol at the scene where fire ravaged a building tied to the civil rights movement, according to a statement from the Highlander Research and Education Center.
Following SPLC investigation, Mississippi city agrees to overhaul fine and bail practices
The city council of Meridian, Mississippi, approved an agreement today with the SPLC that will end the city's practice of incarcerating residents who are unable to pay fines and fees, and to stop using secured money bail in misdemeanor cases.
Alabama Voting Rights Project helps 2,000 people cast ballots in Alabama, but many more do not know they can vote
Rodney Lofton had never cast a ballot before a felony conviction stripped him of his voting rights in 2015.
Solitary Confinement: Inhumane, Ineffective, and Wasteful
Around the world and increasingly in the United States, there's a growing consensus that solitary confinement of incarcerated persons is, at best, an ineffective and inhumane practice with little or no carceral benefit and, at worst, outright torture.
SPLC: Conversion therapy provider continues to secretly operate nearly four years after jury finds practices unconscionable
The SPLC this week filed a motion asking a judge to institute contempt proceedings against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), now known as JIFGA (Jewish Institute for Global Awareness), for violating an injunction entered over three years ago requiring that it permanently cease all operations and completely halt all elements of its fraudulent gay-to-straight "conversion therapy" program.
Federal judge rules against Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas
A federal judge this week ruled against the Trump administration's approval of Medicaid waiver projects in Kentucky and Arkansas that include work mandates and other cuts to health coverage.
SPLC statement on judge's order blocking Trump administration's Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas
A federal judge today rejected the Trump administration's efforts to require people who depend on Medicaid to work in exchange for health benefits in Kentucky and Arkansas.
SPLC reacts to Facebook policy on white nationalism
The internet, and social media in particular, continues to be a powerful tool used by the radical right to accelerate the spread of hate into the mainstream.
Gab Moves to Withdraw SEC Filing Amid Growing Financial Challenges
Gab, best known for operating an online space where white supremacists organize, abruptly withdrew its request to sell stocks to finance the company.


E. F. "Skip" Laratonda, Jr.
Skip has over 38 years of experience related to computer and microprocessor-based Product Design, Programming and Computer Systems Training. His career includes tenures with Texas Instruments, United Technologies, Westinghouse and the Xerox Corporation. He also has over twenty-five years experience on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University.
Jennifer has been an educator for 25 years. She has served on the teaching faculty at the Allegheny Institute since 1990. Previously, at Community College of Allegheny County, Boyce Campus, she served as Coordinator of the Business and Industry Computer Training Program, while teaching credit and non-credit computer courses. She has also done extensive computer training of faculty and staff at a number of area school districts and institutions of higher education.
Maggie has 8 years teaching experience with the Allegheny Valley Institute of Technology and Penn College.
Doc has 35 years experience in the application of computers to the industrial and business environments. His career includes providing a variety of consulting service to Fortune 500 companies as well as full-time positions with Westinghouse Electric and Tippins, Inc. He also has 15 years teaching experience at the Penn State New Kensington Campus.
Kimberly has 10 years teaching experience in Microsoft Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. She has worked in the Information Technology field for over 20 years and is an independent consultant.
Bernie is responsible for all levels of academics at the Allegheny Valley Institute. He has over 15 years of teaching experience and 30 years of business experience related to Operations Management, Inventory Control, Point of Sale Systems, Product Training, Product Presentations, Budget Creation, and Customer Service. His career includes positions with Montgomery Ward and The Sharper Image.
Beth has 20 years teaching experience at the Butler Community College, Lenape Area Technical School, and the Allegheny Valley Institute. She has worked as a database administrator at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for four years and was Director of Educational Services at MicroPower from 1990 to 1993.


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Todd Wofford's Movie Reviews
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Hobbs and Shaw (2019)
This will probably cost me some votes for Prom Queen, but I'll just come out and say it: There came a point when these Fast and Furious movies stopped doing a damn thing for me, and I can tell you exactly when it happened. A few films back, Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto flips his car down the side of a mountain, a la Toonces the Driving Cat. If you combined the accident that maimed Ricky Bobby with Skylab crashing to Earth, you still wouldn't have as much twisted metal as this particular wreckage. Still, Toretto crawls out like a pristine Mr. Clean, with nary a scatch on him.
It was here that I realized I was watching the Ed Hardy equivalent of Looney Toons. Physics don't matter. Logic doesn't matter. There are no stakes to anything, because no matter what, characters will just dust themselves off, pose triumphantly, and fire off douchey one-liners. And make no mistake, I ain't no art house movie snob. I can suspend disbelief through a thousand-million Bournes, Bonds, and Batmans. But when dudes start driving cars from one skyscraper to the next, that suspension snaps and I'm left feeling like this is all just the live-action version of Grand Theft Auto.
It seems this franchise has now reached the point where it can spin-off tangents, kinda like Happy Days. For this particular cinematic hayride, our Joanie and Chachi take the form of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), two peripheral attachments to the main Furious gang. Hobbs is a burly tracker who excels at finding bad guys who don't wanna be found. Shaw is a disgraced MI-6 agent with a major chip on his shoulder. It seems that Shaw's sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), an elite agent herself, has been exposed to a lethal super-virus, and has to find a way to both neutralize it and prevent some real nasty villains from unleashing on the general population. This forces our reluctant heroes to team up and bring her to safety.
This plan gets complicated when Brixton (Idris Elba) inserts himself into the situation. Brixton is a turncoat agent who has been enhanced with cybernetics to superhuman levels of strength and endurance. Just how goofy have these movies become? Cyborgs. That's how goofy.
And you can't fault Johnson or Statham. They have an easy chemistry with each other, even when the script feeds them the usual diet of cheap one-liners. (Hobbs: "I'm just a cold can of ass-whuppin'.") Kirby clearly has a lot of fun as the face-stomping sister, so maybe we could spin her off as well? (Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw Presenting: Shaw's Little Sister) But a lot of the things that bugged me about the recent Furious movies get baked into this one, as well. Characters fall out of buildings, crash in helicopters, get blown up by missiles, only to come out of it looking like they cut themselves shaving. It takes away any reason I have to root for any of these people, any more than I do for Tom or Jerry, because I know everything will be just fine in time for the next cartoon.
Author: Todd Wofford
← The Kitchen (2019)
Cinemavino — Clichés for Days →
"Citizen Kane is the one American talking picture that seems as fresh now as the day it opened. Perhaps even fresher."
— Pauline Kael
https://youtu.be/tL4McUzXfFI
https://youtu.be/osP9iJjvlAE
Recent Picks
Crawl sets out to be an old-fashioned, armrest-grabbing hootenanny, and damned if it doesn't accomplish exactly that Read more…
Peter Parker's immersion into Marvel's cinematic canon seamlessly continues with a well-acted, richly-textured sequel that somehow manages to be dramatically compelling and a consistently fun from start to finish. Read more…
Yesterday tiptoes around the fact that it creates an unappealing world by keeping its tone breezy and fun. Read more…
This third reunion of Pixar's flagship characters finds everyone in great form, with some brilliant additions who prove that the famed digital studio still has plenty of tricks stored in its magic Mary Poppins-style bag. Read more…
Copyright © 2020 Todd Wofford's Movie Reviews


MongoDB is an open source NoSQL database. MongoDB uses documents (which resemble JSON) with schema. NoSQL is gaining popularity over SQL as the database technology of choice among many startups and companies. NoSQL databases is modeled in a way that use techniques that are different from relational databases. MongoDB has quickly become the go to option when using NoSQL databases. These are the best MongoDB tutorials, best MongoDB courses and best MongoDB books to learn MongoDB in 2019.
The Complete Developers Guide to MongoDB by Stephen Grider is a test driven approach to mastering MongoDB and Mongoose. You will understand how MongoDB stores data. You will learn how to write queries for reading data from MongoDB. You will learn about Mongoose and all it's features. This MongoDB course will make you get started with MongoDB fast. You will learn MongoDB features needed to master MongoDB. This is the best MongoDB tutorial in 2019.
Master MongoDB, the NOSQL leader with Clarity and Confidence by Gandhi Kumarasamy Sezhian will teach you how to be good with MongoDB. Java, C#, PHP and Nodejs are the programming languages used along with MongoDB. You will also learn to use MongoDB tools such as MongoCHEF, NOSQL Manager, RoboMongo and MongoBooster .
Learn MongoDB : Leading NoSQL Database from scratch by Sunil Kumar Gupta will help you master MongoDB based application development. This course will show you how to design a MongoDB database. Upon completion, you will able have all the necessary knowledge to decide if you should use MongoDB in your applications.
Learn Node by Wes Bos will teach you how to build apps using MongoDB, Node.js and Express. Even though this course takes a particular focus on Node, you will learn how to use MongoDB in the real world. Learn Node is a perfect course for those wanting to learn the power of MongoDB in web development.
Projects in MongoDB – Learn MongoDB Building Projects by Eduonix will show you real world examples of MongoDB by building 12 MongoDB apps. This course is an in depth exploration of the power of MongoDB.
MongoDB: The Definitive Guide by Kristina Chodorow is a guide to all of the bells and whistles of MongoDB. MongoDB: The Definitive Guide will get you started on the right path to learning MongoDB with core concepts and vocabulary. No prior knowledge of NoSQL or MongoDB is required or assumed. You will learn the many advantages and reasons for using document-oriented databases. This book also touches upon the complex MongoDB administrative tasks such as monitoring, security and authentication,etc.
MongoDB: The Definitive Guide certainly lives up to its name as one of the best books to learn MongoDB. MongoDB: The Definitive Guide is a great book for beginners and experienced MongoDB users alike. This is a well written book that anyone wishing to get serious with MongoDB should check out. This maybe the best MongoDB book for beginners in 2019.
MongoDB in Action by Kyle Banker, Peter Bakkum , Shaun Verch, Doug Garrett and Tim Hawkins is an excellent book for newcomers and software developers to MongoDB. MongoDB in Action is a technical and well written guide to the world of MongoDB. Even though it is very technical, newcomers have nothing to worry about because of how practical it is. This book will teach you about indexes, queries, data modeling, Map-Reduce, etc. MongoDB in Action is packed with real world code examples to help you gain confidence in data modeling. The practice lessons will make you more proficient in MongoDB.
MongoDB in Action is a book that is filled with great explanations of how MongoDB works. Even though this book is geared towards Software Engineers, beginners will love it as well. Scale ability of MongoDB is one of its biggest strengths and this book shows you how to make best use of it. This is one of the best advanced MongoDB book in 2019.
Mastering MongoDB 3.x: An expert's guide to building fault-tolerant MongoDB applications by Alex Giamas will help you become a MongoDB expert. This Mongo book will teach you how to master the advanced modeling, querying, and administration techniques in MongoDB. The book covers topics ranging from database querying using the shell, built in drivers, and popular ODM mappers to more advanced topics such as sharding, high availability, and integration with big data sources.


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Grading the Week: Barry Bonds might not be a good guy, but he's definitely a Hall of Famer – The Denver Post
Reasonable people can disagree.
And unreasonable people can disagree vehemently.
HOF voters — Inc.
That's where the Grading the Week staff finds itself this holiday season, as the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWA) prepares to deliver another lump of coal to the stockings of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
The two Steroid Era superstars are on the ballot for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the 10th and final time this winter. And as voters' ballots begin to pop up on social media, including one gentlemen who saw fit to submit a blank ballot, it's becoming more and more clear both will be denied a Hall call once again.
The Post's own Patrick Saunders revealed himself to be among this group earlier this week when he posted his Hall of Fame ballot to Twitter, disclosing votes for Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, David Ortiz, Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield and Billy Wagner.
Saunders' reasoning was simple and straightforward:
Both Clemens and Bonds are suspected drug cheats with reams of reporting indicating they took performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) for several years, lied about it, and have yet to show any remorse for their actions. The PED-fueled seasons they produced ultimately did irrevocable damage to the game, and forever altered the sacred records and traditions that make baseball special.
This makes them unworthy of inclusion in the game's most hallowed halls, if only for the horrible example it would set for future generations. And the "character clause" contained within BBWAA's voting instructions — which calls on Hall of Fame voters to take into account a player's integrity, sportsmanship and character when casting votes — provides voters full latitude to consider such conduct.
Taken at its face, it all seems very reasonable, if not right.
Except, of course, for one very small thing: The National Baseball Hall of Fame is not the Sistine Chapel. It's a museum — one that should tell the full story of the game. To leave out two of the game's biggest stars is to leave out two of its most noteworthy figures.
It's not as if those sacred halls aren't already filled with scores of detestable characters.
A visitor need not walk very far to come across bigots, segregationists and drug cheats of a different nature. (It's widely known many players in the mid-to-late 20th century regularly used amphetamines to boost performance.)
Are Bonds and Clemens so despicable as to be unworthy of standing alongside them?.
Sure, mounds of evidence exists that both were bad guys. Mounds of evidence also exists that both were exceptional baseball players.
Just consider the first half of their careers, when it is widely believed neither player used PEDs.
Roger Clemens through age 33 (1984-96): 3.06 ERA, 192 wins, 2,590 strikeouts, three AL Cy Young Awards, five top-three finishes in AL Cy Young voting and five All-Star nods.
Barry Bonds through age 33 (1986-98): .290/.411/.556 slash line, 411 home runs, 1,357 walks, 445 stolen bases, three NL MVPs, seven top-five finishes in NL MVP voting, eight Gold Gloves and one 40/40 campaign.
If either one of those players died before spring training of their age-34 season, they'd be sure-fire Hall of Famers.
The fact that they didn't, and later went on to join their contemporaries in taking PEDs, ultimately doomed their candidacies. But should it?
Saunders' own votes show just how difficult it is to submit a clean ballot. Sheffield is an admitted PED user, and Ortiz has been implicated in PED use as well, although no smoking gun exists.
That's the thing about the Steroid Era: It is a fool's errand to guess who cheated and who did not.
What is clear is that Bonds and Clemens were among the best — if not the best — of that particular time. And if we're going to tell the history of the game, they both need to be a part of it.
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Happy New Year! I was thinking about the new year that is upon us and how excited I am to be running THREE Community choirs in good old London Town in 2013. It is interesting how people get to join and find us. As none of the three choirs have the name 'community choir' in their titles, they fly under the radar a bit, and most people join because of word of mouth, which is a wonderful thing.
A community choir, as I am lead to understand, it is a group that usually has no auditions and does not tend to use notation – so it is singing for all, both experienced, inexperienced and returning singers…it's like the idea comprehensive model…everyone grows. No judges, we sing because we love it….we 'share' not perform…none can ask for a refund…the audience always get a chance to join in.
Of course different groups will suit different singers. I have heard it told, oo aaarrr, that my choirs have a level of difficulty, due to the fact that some of my choral arrangements are sometimes quite challenging. The thing is, we have weeks of practicing, and going over things over and over, in little bite sized chunks and I put recordings of all the parts on my website, so singers get to download, listen to them on the train, in the car, while jogging ( perish the thought!) Only once did a newcomer run from the building at the end of the first session because he said he would never keep up. I pleaded, but he would not have it….I blame myself…who else is there to blame? If he had stayed he would have been fine, as people in community choirs are team players, help each other, not every one is as experienced to begin with. When a group has been running for a while, and The Bishopsgate Singers has been going for over 7 years, people will naturally become more experienced and delight in the challenge of some meaty pieces, but still welcome newcomers every term. Our repertoire spans so many genres, last term we 'did ' the 80's. This term we are going to visit Gershwin, Cole Porter, Bob Marley and the Rolling Stones, for starters!
The Tubthumping Chorus -a choir nestling under the large umbrella of 'folk' repertoire which starts in about a week will not leap into challenging vocal arrangements straightaway, but I do like to challenge people, and if you teach with bravery and a clear vision, having confidence, knowing where the finishing line is , and your singers are up for the challenge and willing to stay with the journey I think we can try all sorts of music. If you are not so brave, your musical choices can be a bit limited sometimes.
The Acland Burghley Harmony SIngers are about to start their official second term on Jan 30th. I am attaching a video taken on a shonky little camera of one of the songs we shared for the first time at the end of our first 6 week season. This again is what I would describe as a real community choir – run by the school, The choir is a mixture of teachers, parents and locals, which means I get to recognise more of my neighbours, so the community choir is not just abut the singing, it is about making connections – and new friends.


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Home Covid-19 Portalegre: latest casualty unit to report lack of doctors
Portugal Healthcare
Portalegre: latest casualty unit to report lack of doctors
Natasha Donn
Continuing crises in terms of staffing in Portugal's SNS State hospitals have seen Portalegre cited as the latest A&E department that is critically low on doctors.
Says SIM, the independent syndicate of doctors: "All levels are in total non-compliance of minimum safety requirements for patients and personnel".
The managing body of the north Alentejan health unit however insists "at this moment" A&E is "answering necessities".
These 'small soundbites' appear in the press everyday: referring to one hospital or another. But the reality is that focus on Covid continues to be overwhelming to the detriment of almost everything else in terms of citizens' health requirements.
Luís Campos Ferreira, a PSD MP writing in Correio da Manhã today, talks about the "state of siege in various public hospitals due to lack of resources and conditions to treat people" manifesting "all the other illnesses and diseases".
"The mass-resignations of A&E chiefs of service (at Lisbon's Hospital de Santa Maria click here), the requests for 'excuse of responsibility' (click here), the total saturation of extra hours demanded of health professionals and the state of exhaustion that they reach after almost two years of struggle against the pandemic show that those in positions of responsibility have not learnt the lesson", he says.
"Even yesterday, (the prime minister) António Costa accepted there is "more to health than Covid". Yes, there is. And who also says it is the General Medical Council (Ordem dos Médicos) which accuses hospitals of having empty spaces waiting for patients with Covid-19 when these spaces are absolutely essential for the treatment of other pathologies".
This reserving of space for potential Covid casualties "is happening in hospital infirmaries, in intensive care, in surgical blocs", Campos Ferreira explains..
"The government should be aware of the elevated human cost of leaving non-Covid patients behind. All the reports from diverse entities point to this tragic failing in non-Covid response in Portugal".
It's a problem that can never be solved with "crocodile tears", the centre-right MP concludes, claiming the only solution is a "serious and competent government" which in his opinion Portugal does not have.
In the wider sphere, commentaries like this can apply across the board. The description almost certainly applies for example to the United Kingdom, where feelings against the current Conservative government have never been so obvious.
But another aspect barely mentioned in the daily soundbites – either when they refer to Covid news, or the 'health service in crisis' topic – are the huge differences in numbers this year, even when it comes to infections.
Right now, the wider media is bombarding the public about concerns over the 'increasing number of infections' of SARS-CoV-2.
There is no information however on how this data is collected.
The Our World in Data website – widely cited to show, for example, how excellent Portugal's vaccine coverage is – also indicates how many more tests are being carried out this year to show these 'increased numbers'.
In a nutshell, authorities have had to triple the number of tests to find positive cases:
December 6, 2020, saw 3.16 tests performed per 1,000 people, while the same date this year saw 10.68.
Increasing testing did not find more infections: confirmed cases for December 6 were 358 per 1,000; for the same date this year the confirmed cases came down to 346.
And deaths this year remain well below deaths last year. For example, on December 6 last year, DGS health authorities registered 87 fatalities; the same date this year saw only 14.
In other words, the number of cases is only rising rapidly because authorities have increased the number of tests.
If testing had remained the same, less cases would almost certainly be being flagged.
At least, that is one way of looking at the data, and one way of interpreting a situation that is leaving so many people with other health issues at quite some considerable risk.
Coincidentally, shortly after this text was uploaded, the city council of Porto announced that it would be opening 18 testing centres by the end of the week for 'free antigen testing to detect Covid-19'.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
PM insists "nothing to fear" from deluge of investigations hitting ministers
Costa announces €2.7 billion in EU 'bazooka' spending to invest in housing
Death threat to President: police have their man
Appeal court judges rule book should be thrown at environmental offenders
Union wants President Marcelo to 'pronounce on ongoing teachers' strike'


text:
The Orwell Prize is Britain's most prestigious prize for political writing. Every year, we award prizes to the work – for the book, for the journalism, and since 2009, for the blog – which comes closest to George Orwell's ambition 'to make political writing into an art'. But we do much more than that, taking political argument and discussions about Orwell, literature and politics all over the country, and promoting Orwell's writing through online projects such as this blog.
For more about the Prize, you can visit the Orwell Prize website, follow the Prize on twitter, subscribe to the weekly newsletter or watch some of our previous events on our YouTube Channel. We also have a flickr stream, and following the success of this blog, we've also post-blogged Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier diary.
If you have any questions, you can contact the deputy director of the Orwell Prize, Gavin Freeguard.
3 Responses to The Orwell Prize
Pingback: George Orwell's Diaries and A Random Application of Kevin Smith « Story Song
Jean Oubien says:
25 August at 6:55 pm
Blair's genius gave the world the definitive bluprint for today's society, from the People's Republic of China to our own Newspeak in political correctness.
Muskan garg says:
5 August at 10:19 am
nice diary


Rajasthan, literally means a Land of Kingdoms, is located in the northwest of India and is the largest state of India was formed on 30 March 1949 with Jaipur as the state capital. It is bordered by Pakistan to the west, Gujarat to the southwest, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to the northeast and Punjab to the north.
Geographically, the great Thar Desert is replete with arid plains and shifting sand dunes while the rugged Aravallis form the backbone of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan is famous for its majestic forts, intricately carved temples, and decorated havelis, which were built by Rajput kings in pre-Muslim era. It is often called a shopper's paradise and is famous for textiles, semi-precious stones and handicrafts.


text:
Here's how sports medicine is transforming battlefield airmen's training
By: Stephen Losey November 22, 2018
Air Force pararescuemen, assigned to the 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, survey the landscape during a training exercise in the mountains of Afghanistan March 14. The Air Force is increasingly worried about the punishment taken on by special warfare airmen during their careers. (Tech. Sgt. Gregory Brook/Air Force)
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas — After 10 years of intense combat and regular deployments, many of the Air Force's most skilled and elite troops often are "held together with duct tape and bailing wire," said Maj. Sam Schindler, director of operations for the 350th Special Warfare Training Squadron.
But now, the Air Force is trying to change that with the help of cutting-edge technology, new thinking and an intense focus on injury prevention and rehab inspired by college sports medicine programs.
The 350th is tracking everything from trainees' body fat, to what muscles they use when they work out, to their sleep cycles and moods, in order to lessen the wear and tear on their bodies. And if the new philosophy at the prep course works, the Air Force hopes it will instill good habits in these special warfare — until recently known as battlefield — airmen that will last throughout their entire careers.
"We're trying to bring in as much technology as we can, and as many experts as we can, to get the best that we can out of the airmen coming to us," Schindler said.
Air Education and Training Command said the techniques being pioneered at the Special Warfare Preparatory Course at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland could be used to help refine training for other, non-special warfare airmen.
The Air Force is increasingly worried about the punishment taken on by special warfare airmen such as pararescuemen, tactical air control party members, and combat controllers.
Rachael Matson and Timothy Kelly, athletic trainers with the 350th Battlefield Airmen Training Squadron, conduct an injury assessment of a preparatory course trainee at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, July 25. (Johnny Saldivar/Air Force)
In a July memo — which outlined major changes to how the Air Force will organize, train and sustain its special warfare airmen and signed by Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson — the Air Force raised concerns that many of those airmen end up "physically, mentally and psychologically broken due to their combat experience and service commitment."
In October, the Air Force stood up a new Special Warfare Training Wing, with a Human Performance Support Group that aims "to find the most efficient and effective methods for improving human performance," wing commander Col. James Hughes said in an Oct. 12 interview.
The physical toll taken on their bodies can be so bad, Schindler said, that when they retire and go to a Veterans Affairs center for medical attention, their doctors often immediately tell them "your back is jacked up, your knees are jacked up, your ankle's jacked up, your shoulder's jacked up."
And that's if they even make it through training without a serious injury that could delay — or even scuttle — their dreams of becoming a special warfare airman.
'A college sports medicine model'
The heart of the nine-week prep course's effort to prevent or alleviate injuries is in its athletic training facility, a large room stocked with specialized exercise equipment, mats to stretch on, cryotherapy units and other rehab technology, tables for injured students to lay on for treatment — and most importantly, trainers with experience in college athletic programs.
New wing aims to transform how special warfare airmen are trained
The wing is planning to combine the various courses of initial entry for all special warfare candidates into one combined course. This will help build a "team mentality" between airmen from the seven special warfare career fields that focuses on their similarities, as well as improving efficiency.
"We're trying to model it off of a college sports medicine model, where we have athletic trainers on site, and we have other providers who are able to come by as needed — and they come by rather routinely," said athletic trainer Laura Mertz, one of three at the prep course.
Since the training facility opened in February, trainees who feel like they may be coming down with an injury — leg injuries are most common — come in before they go out to train for "prehab," or treatments to keep those problems from getting worse.
For example, the training bay has specialized anti-gravity treadmills called the AlterG, which allows an injured student to keep exercising without worsening ailments such as shin splints or knee injuries. A student pulls on a specialized pair of shorts, which zip into a giant pocket over the treadmill that inflates and lifts him up. This allows a student to run at a fraction of his normal body weight, so his injured leg is still getting worked out, but isn't taking the full brunt of his weight.
Rachael Matson conducts an injury assessment of a preparatory course trainee July 25. (Johnny Saldivar/Air Force)
The AlterG treadmill also has a camera trained on the runner's legs, so the trainer can see if he's favoring a leg, which could create an imbalance and lead to further injuries down the line. If a trainer spots such an imbalance, she can take more weight off and correct the student's gait.
"A lot of times in the military the thinking is, you're either healthy and training, or you're hurt and not training," Mertz said. "We're trying to help them understand that it's not black and white. There is that area where you can still be participating in some things while you're still receiving care."
Mertz and the other trainers said they used their own personal experiences at college athletic programs to set up the training, treatment and recovery program for battlefield airmen.
The Air Force needs more special ops airmen. This is how it plans to get them.
A new recruiting squadron will focus on sourcing candidates for Air Force special operations career fields.
By: Kyle Rempfer
Early in the training process, the Air Force uses a motion capture system called DARI — which stands for Dynamic Athletic Research Institute, the company that created it — to scan all aspiring battlefield airmen, recording exactly how their bodies jump, flex and balance. During the DARI test, an airman stands on a greenscreen floor, surrounded by cameras that map a virtual skeleton on his body.
As the airman moves through a sequence of 19 squats, jumps, flexes, lunges and balances, the virtual skeleton records how his hips, knees, ankles, and other body parts move. This tells the trainers which muscles he's using — or in some cases, not using, which if uncorrected, could lead to injuries down the line such as strained hamstrings.
Trainees listen to the poolside instructions of an airman with the 350th Special Warfare Training Squadron. (Johnny Saldivar/Air Force)
"If we could get you to fire the proper muscles, you would run faster, you would jump higher, you would lift heavier," athletic trainer Rachel Matson said. "You would just be a better-functioning candidate all around."
Schindler said this will give the Air Force a baseline for all future operators, recording exactly how their bodies move. And down the line, the Air Force hopes to push DARI systems out to units. That way, if a special warfare airman starts to feel like he's breaking down after a decade or so, he can get a new scan. The unit would then be able to compare it to his old scan, find out where he developed a hidden injury on his last deployment, and then come up with a plan to get healthy again.
If a trainee's DARI scan flags some problem areas, he is put into a corrective exercise program. The trainee puts on a specialized pair of training shorts that sends signals to an iPad, which show which muscles are firing during exercises by lighting them up from blue, to yellow, and finally to dark red when they're fully engaged.
Biometric feedback
Tracking how well aspiring special warfare trainees are doing goes a lot deeper than their muscles. Pat Wilson, the program manager for the 350th's innovation cell, displayed a series of three sensors used to track their heart rates, sleep patterns and other data while they work out.
Each morning, right after trainees wake up, they pee in a cup and use a device called a gravity pen to measure how hydrated they are. They then lay down and have a four-minute echocardiogram taken by an Omegawave sensor strapped to their chest, which is typically used for sports training.
And when they go out to train, they strap a puck called a Zephyr onto their chest, which records 40 different pieces of data during each workout.
After all that data is collected and downloaded — and each class generates about a million data points, Wilson said — the prep course's human performance technicians comb through the data, to spot warning signs that could suggest a trainee is having trouble.
For example, a trainee could take a wellness survey one morning and suggest he doesn't care about being a battlefield airman anymore and might want to leave. That sends up a red flag, and the technicians can see if he needs to talk to anyone.
The technicians also start analyzing his data, such as his sleep patterns and central nervous system readings. That could show whether the trainee truly feels like he's given up or not. For example, Wilson said, he could say he doesn't care, and he could even believe that at the moment, but his body could tell a different story.
Air Force rolls out new job-specific PT tests to better prepare airmen for the fight
The Air Force is designing physical fitness tests, tailored to specific career fields, to see if airmen can perform the physical tasks required for their jobs.
"We've been able to see … when we look at their physiology, they're jamming," Wilson said. "They're right where they need to be, everything's telling us their body is right. The Omegawave tells on you. It's insane the amount of information you get from that four minute" scan.
The data could also show if someone's nervous system is in a sympathetic state — also known as the "fight or flight" response — which could tell the human performance technicians that the trainee needs to spend some time in a float tank, and bring his nervous system down to a relaxed, parasympathetic state.
And the data could also show if a trainee is in too much of a parasympathetic state, Wilson said, which would mean time in a float tank is the last thing he needs. That trainee could instead need to spend 15 minutes in contrasting hot and cold baths to stimulate him, Wilson said.
Barefoot in the grass
Wilson also said something as simple — and unexpected — as walking barefoot on the grass can do the trick to reset a trainee and get them ready to reach new heights in their next workout.
"Special forces guys, they do it," Wilson said of relaxation exercises such as walking on grass. "You can't imagine the stuff that they're doing down there that everybody would probably laugh, but it's moving the ball. Call it a combat walk, or warrior walk, or something like that, at the end of the day … walking barefoot on the beach has a huge influence."
By pushing trainees' central nervous systems into new autonomic states, they're being prepared for the intense challenges that await them in their next phase: the grueling initial entry course.
Pararescuemen get hoisted to an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter during a training mission in Florida. The pace of combat operations and training is taking its toll on special warfare airmen. (Staff Sgt. Jamal Sutter/Air Force)
And by focusing so intensely on the condition of the minds and bodies of special warfare trainee and airmen, Wilson hopes the Air Force will be able to lengthen their careers. It takes too much time and effort to train up special warfare airmen, only to have them burn out and break down after five years or so, Wilson said. The Air Force needs to get entire careers out of special warfare airmen — and take care of them the way maintenance wings take care of their fighters and bombers.
"They call them athletes? They're weapons systems," Wilson said. "At the end of the day, it's no different than airplanes. There's a reason why you go through phase inspections, there's a reason why an airplane comes off the line, you do certain maintenance at certain times. This stuff is actually now starting to treat humans like the weapon system that we fly in the air."
The facilities also have two sensory deprivation tanks, in which students can float for a half-hour or hour and bring their bodies back down to a destressed state much more quickly than the old method of recovering in hot and cold baths, which could sometimes take days.
"The less stress the students are under, the more training they're able to take in," Schindler said.
Matson said that by floating weightless in the tanks, students with injuries such as lower back pain can rest without putting pressure on body parts that hurt, facilitating the healing process.
Those tanks are opened up to injured students during the training day, and after hours, non-injured students who feel worn down can sign up to spend time in it, Matson said. Instructors at the prep course, who themselves are operators and are often "pretty beat up as well," Matson said, can also recuperate in there.
Matson said that she sometimes suggests trainees spend time in the float tanks after particularly intense Friday ruck marches, or extended training days. She said that the rucks had been particularly hard for the handful of female trainees who have attempted the prep course.
And what is happening at the 350th could possibly be replicated at other training units shaping non-special warfare airmen.
AETC spokeswoman Marilyn Holliday said in an email that the human performance support techniques being crafted by the Special Warfare Training Wing could be used as a model to shape training, injury prevention and recovery of other airmen in the future.
And, Holliday said, the biometric feedback being collected on special warfare trainees is helping provide data on training in high-stress environments. This will help show AETC ways that it can train airmen better, throughout the command, she said.


I, Philip Coats, Planter and Fisherman, residing at Eddys Cove, Strait of Belle Isle, North West Coast of Newfoundland do solemnly declare this to be my last Will and Testament, being in sound mind at the date of execution thereof.
I die in the faith of the Church of England and desire to be buried according to the Rites and Ceremonies of that Church in the Cemetery situated at Anchor Point.
I give and bequeath to my beloved wife Sarah Coats for her exclusive use and control during the term of her natural life should she survive me all the Freehold and landed property Dwelling Houses Stores Boats Nets Fishing Gear, Seal frame, Salmon Berth at Green Island Brook, Cattle, monies Furniture and household effects and everything else of value in my possession at West Point and Eddys Cove, which property and goods mentioned herein after her decease are to be divided equally between my sons Philip Coats and Andrew Coats, on the condition that the property and goods in question are not to be sold or disposed of by either or all of them, but to be worked together by them and the profits thereof divided between them in equal parts. Further. I fully release and discharge my son William Coats from the amount due to me for various goods etc supplied to him from time to time which amount must be considered by him to be his fair share of my property.
I appoint Mr John White Senior and Mr Thomas White Senior now residing at Poverty Cove as my Executors of this my last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I have this twenty ninth day of April one thousand eight hundred and ninety signed my hand in the presence of the witnesses named. PHILIP COATS.
G Raymond Howells, Clerk in Holy Orders.