text:
Ruth and Work
Bible Commentary / Produced by TOW Project
Introduction to the Book of Ruth
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The book of Ruth tells the extraordinary story of God's faithfulness to Israel in the life and work of three ordinary people, Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. As they work through both economic hardship and prosperity, we see the hand of God at work most clearly in their productive agricultural labor, generous management of resources for the good of all, respectful treatment of co-workers, ingenuity in the face of necessity, and the conception and raising of children. Throughout everything God's faithfulness to them creates opportunities for fruitful work, and their faithfulness to God brings the blessing of provision and security to each other and the people around them.
The events in the book of Ruth take place at the time of the festival of the barley harvest (Ruth 1:22; 2:17, 23; 3:2, 15, 17), when the connection between God's blessing and human labor was celebrated. Two passages from the Torah give the background of the festival (emphasis added):
You shall observe the festival of harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. (Exodus 23:16)
You shall keep the festival of weeks for the Lord your God, contributing a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing that you have received from the Lord your God. Rejoice before the Lord your God—you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, the Levites resident in your towns, as well as the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who are among you—at the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and diligently observe these statutes. (Deuteronomy 16:10–12.)
Together these passages establish a theological foundation for the events in the Book of Ruth.
God's blessing is the source of human productivity ("blessing that you have received from the Lord").
God bestows his blessing of productivity through human labor ("fruits of your labor").
God calls people to provide opportunities to work productively ("remember that you were a slave in Egypt," an allusion to God's liberation of his people from slavery in Egypt and his provision for them in the wilderness and the land of Canaan) for poor and vulnerable people ("the strangers, the orphans and the widows.")
In sum, productivity of human labor is an extension of God's work in the world, and God's blessing on human labor is inextricably linked to God's command to provide generously for those without the means to provide for themselves. These principles underlie the Book of Ruth. But the book is a narrative, not a theological treatise, and the story is compelling.
Tragedy Strikes the Family of Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:1-22)
The story begins with a famine "in the days when the judges ruled" (Ruth 1:1). This was a time when the people of Israel had abandoned God's ways and fallen into idolatry, horrific social conditions, and a disastrous civil war, as told in the chapters of Judges immediately preceding the Book of Ruth in Christian Bibles. (The books occur in different order in Hebrew Bibles.) As a whole the nation certainly had not been following the precepts of Torah with respect to work or anything else. The characters in the story—Naomi at least— recognized the loss of God's blessing this brought (Ruth 1:13, 1:20-21). As a result, the socio-economic fabric of society was falling apart, and a famine gripped the land.
Responding to the famine, Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons moved to Moab—a move of desperation given the long enmity between Israel and Moab—where they thought the prospects for productive work were greater. We do not know whether they were successful in finding work, but the sons both found wives in Moab. But within ten years, they experienced both social and economic tragedy—the death of all the men, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law without husbands (Ruth 1:3–5). The three widows then had to support themselves without the legal and economic rights accorded to men in their society. In short, they had no husbands, no clear title to land, and no resources with which to make a living. "Call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me." Naomi lamented (Ruth 1:20), reflecting the harshness of their situation.
Along with aliens and the fatherless, widows received a great deal of attention in the Law of Israel.[1] Because they had lost the protection and support of their husbands, they were easy targets for economic and social abuse and exploitation. Many resorted to prostitution simply to survive, a situation all too common for vulnerable women in our day as well. Naomi had not only become a widow, but was also an alien in Moab. Yet, if she returned to Bethlehem with her daughters-in-law, the younger women would be widows and aliens in Israel.[2] Perhaps in response to the vulnerability they faced no matter where they might live, Naomi urged them to return to their maternal homes, and prayed that the God of Israel would grant each of them security within the household of a (Moabite) husband (Ruth 1:8–9). Yet one of the daughters-in-law, Ruth, could not bear to be separated from Naomi, no matter the hardship. Her words to Naomi sing the depth of her love and loyalty:
Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. (Ruth 1:16–17)
Life can be hard, and these women faced its worst.
Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19–22; 26:12–13; 27:19.
On the difficulties of being a Moabite in an Israelite world, see Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002), 627.
God's Blessing is the Source of Human Productivity (Ruth 2:1-4)
Naomi and Ruth face agonizing hardship, but in God, hardship is not hopelessness. Although we encounter no obvious miraculous interventions in the Book of Ruth, the hand of God is by no means absent. On the contrary, God is at work at every moment, especially through the actions of faithful people in the book. Long ago God had promised Abraham, "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you" (Genesis 17:6). The Lord made good his promise by restoring Israel's agricultural productivity (Ruth 1:6), despite his people's unfaithfulness. When Naomi heard of it, she determined to return home to Bethlehem to try to find food. Ruth, true to her word, went with her, intending to find work to support both herself and Naomi. As the story unfolds, God's blessings pour out on the two of them—and ultimately on all humanity—through Ruth's work and its results.
God's Faithfulness to Us Underlies All Productivity
Overall, the Hebrew Scriptures portray God as the divine Worker, who provides a paradigm for human work. The Bible opens with a picture of God at work—speaking, creating, forming, building. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, God not only appears as the subject of many "work" verbs, but people often refer to him metaphorically as "Worker." Throughout the Hebrew Bible God not only engages in many kinds of work himself,[1] he also commands the people of Israel to work according to the divine pattern (Exodus 20:9–11). That is, God works directly, and God works through people.
The main characters in the book of Ruth acknowledged God as the foundation for their work by the way they bless each other and through their repeated declarations of faith.[2] Some of these expressions are praise for actions God has already taken (he has not withheld his kindness Ruth 1:20; he provided a kinsman redeemer Ruth 4:14). Others are pleas for divine blessing (Ruth 2:4, 19; 3:10), or presence (Ruth 2:4), or kindness (Ruth 1:8). A third group involves more specific requests for divine action. May God grant rest (Ruth 1:9). May God make Ruth an equal of Rachel and Leah (Ruth 4:11–12). The blessing in Ruth 2:12 is particularly significant: "May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!" All of these blessings expressed the assurance that God is at work to provide for his people.
Ruth desired to receive God's blessing of productivity, whether from God himself (Ruth 2:12) or through a human being "in whose sight I might find favor" (Ruth 2:2). Despite being a Moabite, she was wiser than many in Israel when it came to recognizing the Lord's hand in her work.
For the action of the story, one of the most important blessings from God is that he had blessed Boaz with a productive farm (Ruth 2:3). Boaz was fully aware of God's role in his labor, as shown in his repeated invoking of the Lord's blessing (Ruth 2:4; 3:10).
God Uses Apparently Chance Events to Empower People's Work
One of the ways God fulfills his promise of fruitfulness is his mastery of the world's circumstances. The odd construction of "her chance chanced upon" (rendered, "as it happened" by the NRSV) in Ruth 2:3 is deliberate. In colloquial English, we would say, "As her luck would have it." But the statement is ironic. The narrator intentionally uses an expression that forces the reader to sit up and ask how it could be that Ruth "happened" to land in the field of a man who was not only gracious (Ruth 2:2) but also a kinsman (Ruth 2:1). As the story unfolds, we see that Ruth's arrival at Boaz' field was evidence of God's providential hand. The same can be said for the appearance of the next-of-kin just as Boaz sat down at the gate in Ruth 4:1–2.
What a dreary world it would be if we had to go to work every day expecting nothing except what we ourselves have the power to accomplish. We must depend on the work of others, the unexpected opportunity, the burst of creativity, the unforeseen blessing. Surely one of the most comforting blessings of following Christ is his promise that when we go to work, he goes to work alongside us and shoulders the load with us. "Take my yoke upon you…for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30). Ruth did not have the words of Jesus, but she lived in faith that under God's wings, she would find all that she needed (Ruth 2:12).
Human Productivity is an Outgrowth of Our Faithfulness to God
God's faithfulness to Israel was mirrored in Ruth's faithfulness to Naomi. Ruth had promised, "Where you go I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). Ruth's promise was not a plea to stay on as a passive consumer in what remained of Elimelech's household, but a commitment to provide her mother-in-law as much as she was able. Although not an Israelite herself, she seems to have been living according to the Law of Israel, as embodied in the 5th Commandment, "Honor your mother and father." The restoration of productive work for her and her family began with her commitment to working in faithfulness to God's law.
God creates (Genesis 1:1); builds (2 Samuel 7:27; 1 Sam. 2:35), makes (Genesis 2:4), forms (Genesis 2:7, 8, and fashions " works of his hands" (Psalms 8:6). He is depicted as a creator (Genesis 1–2; Job 10:3–12; Psalms 139:13–16), builder, architect (Proverbs 8:27–31), musician/composer (Deuteronomy 31:19), metalworker (Isaiah. 1:24–26), tailor (Job 29:14; Isaiah 40:22), potter (Isaiah 31:9), farmer (Hosea 10:11), shepherd (Psalm 23; Ezekiel 34), tentmaker/camper (Job 9:8), temple designer and builder (Exodus 25, 35; 1 Chronicles 28:11–19), and scribe/writer (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 34:34:28; etc.).
Ruth 1:8–9; 2:4a; 2:4b; 2:12; 2:19 [without naming the Lord]; 2:20; 3:10; 4:11–12; 4:14a; 4:14b–15.
God Bestows His Blessing of Productivity Through Human Labor (Ruth 2:5-7)
God's faithfulness underlies human productivity, but people have to do the actual work. This was God's intent from the beginning (Genesis 1:28, 2:5, 2:15). Ruth was eager to work hard to support herself and Naomi. "Let me go to the field," she implored, and when she was given a chance to work, her co-workers reported that "she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment" (Ruth 2:7). Her work was exceptionally productive. When she came home after her first day at work and beat out the barley from the stalks, her harvest yielded a full ephah of grain (Ruth 2:17). This amounted to approximately five gallons of barley.[1] Both God and Boaz commended (and rewarded) her for her faith and industry (Ruth 2:12, 17–23; 3:15–18).
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In greater or lesser degree, we are all vulnerable to circumstances that make it difficult or impossible to earn a living. Natural disaster, layoff, redundancy, prejudice, injury, illness, bankruptcy, unfair treatment, legal restrictions, language barriers, lack of relevant training or experience, age, sex, economic mismanagement by government or industry, geographic barriers, getting fired, the need to take care of family members, and a host of other factors can prevent us from working to support ourselves and the people who depend on us. Nonetheless, God expects us to work as fully as we are able (Exodus 20:9).
Even if we cannot find a job that meets our needs, we need to work to the highest degree we can. Ruth did not have a steady job with regular hours and a paycheck. She was anxious about whether her station in life would be enough to find "favor" (Ruth 2:12) in the workplace, and she could not necessarily expect to earn enough to feed her family. She went to work anyway. Many of the conditions we face today in unemployment and underemployment are deeply discouraging. If the lack of high-skilled jobs leaves us only what seem like menial opportunities, if discrimination prevents us from getting the job we are qualified for, if circumstances prevent us from getting the education we need for a good job, if conditions make work seem hopeless, Ruth's example is that we are called to work nonetheless. Our work might not even earn any income at first, be it volunteering to help others, caring for family members, getting education or training, or caring for our homes.
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The saving grace is that God is the power behind our work. We do not depend on our own ability or the circumstances around us to provide for our needs. Instead we work faithfully as we are able, knowing that God's faithfulness to his promise of fruitfulness is what gives us confidence that our work is worthwhile, even in the most adverse situations. We are seldom able to see in advance how God can make use of our work to fulfill his promises, but God's power extends far beyond what we can see.
Jack B. Scott, "82 אֵיפָה", in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. and Bruce K. Waltke, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 38.
Receiving God's Blessing of Productivity Means Respecting Co-workers (Ruth 2:8-16)
As Ruth 2:2 relates, Boaz was "a prominent rich man." Whatever connotations that might have today, in Boaz's case that meant he was one of the best bosses in the Bible. His leadership style began with respect. When he came out to the field where his men are working, he greeted them with a blessing ("The Lord be with you."), and they responded in kind ("The Lord bless you." Ruth 2:4). Boaz's workplace is remarkable at many levels. He owned and managed an enterprise that depended on a hired workforce. He controlled the work environment of others. In contrast to many work environments where supervisors and owners treat their workers with disdain and workers have no respect for their bosses, Boaz had fostered a relationship of trust and mutual respect.
Boaz put his respect for his workers into practice by providing them with water as they worked (Ruth 2:9), by eating with them, and most of all by sharing his food with the person regarded as the lowest among them (Ruth 2:14). Later we learn that at harvest time, Boaz the landowner winnowed with his harvesters and slept with them out in the field (Ruth 3:2–4, 14).
Boaz demonstrated a high view of every human being as an image of God (Genesis 1:27, Proverbs 14:31, 17:5) by the sensitive way he treated the alien woman in his workplace. When he spotted her among the workers, he asked gently, "To whom does this woman belong?" (Ruth 2:5), assuming she was attached/dependent upon some man—either as wife or daughter—perhaps some landowner in the area. When he heard that she was a Moabite woman who had returned from Moab with Naomi (Ruth 2:6), and heard of her plea for permission to glean behind his harvesters (Ruth 2:7), shockingly, the first words he said were, "Listen carefully my daughter." Sharing his food with a foreign woman (Ruth 2:14) was a more significant act than it might appear. Respectable landowning men were not accustomed to conversing with foreign women,[1] as Ruth herself points out (Ruth 2:10). A man with more concern for social appearances and business opportunities, and less compassion for someone in need, might have sent a female Moabite intruder off his land at once. But Boaz was more than willing to stand up for the vulnerable worker in their midst, whatever the reaction of others might be.
Indeed with this account we may have encountered the world's earliest recorded anti-sexual harassment policy in the workplace. Perhaps he was aware that many farm owners and workers were abusive men[2] and perhaps this is why he informed Ruth that he has told his men not to touch her (Ruth 2:9). Naomi's comment, "It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise you might be bothered in another field" (Ruth 2:22), certainly shows that she feared for the safety of her daughter-in-law. The terms of Boaz's policy are clear:
The male workers were not to "bother" this woman. Normally the word, naga, means "to touch," but here it functions more generally for "to strike, harass, take advantage of, mistreat."[3] Boaz recognizes that the implication of being touched is determined by how the person being touched perceives it.
Ruth was to have equal access to water (Ruth 2:9) and to the lunch table (Ruth 2:14). At meal time, Boaz invited Ruth to come sit with him and his workers and to dip her morsel of bread in his sauce (Ruth 2:14). Then he himself served her until she was more than satisfied. The choice of verb, nagash, "to come near, approach," suggests that as a stranger Ruth had deliberately and appropriately (according to custom) kept her distance. Boaz' sexual harassment policy is not simply restrictive—prohibiting certain actions— but it is positive in its intent, meaning that the response of the one in danger of harassment is the gauge of what others may do. Boaz looked to whether Ruth felt safe as the measure of whether he was offering the protection she needed. He demonstrated by example how he expected vulnerable female workers to be respected.
Boaz' regular employees were not to reproach (Ruth 2:15) or rebuke (Ruth 2:16) her. Along with the word "bother" in 2:9 , these expressions demonstrate that harassment comes in many forms: physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. In fact, with his effusive pronouncement of blessing upon Ruth (Ruth 2:12), Boaz represents a dramatically affirming model.
The regular employees were to make Ruth's work environment as secure as possible and to go out of their way to assist her in achieving her work tasks (Ruth 2:15–16). In the workplace, prevention of harassment means not only creating a safe environment, but a productive one for those at risk. Barriers to productivity, advancement, and their attendant rewards must be eliminated. Boaz could have made Ruth safe by keeping her at a great distance from the male workers. But this would have denied her access to water and food, and may have caused loss of grain due to wind or animals before she could gather the sheaves. Boaz made sure that the safeguards he created enabled her to be fully productive.
Boaz' workers seemed to catch his generous spirit. When their boss greeted them with a blessing, they blessed him in return (Ruth 2:4). When Boaz asked about the identity of the woman who had appeared at his field, the supervisor of the workforce acknowledged that Ruth is a Moabite, but exhibited a gracious tone (Ruth 2:6–7). The fact that Ruth brought an entire ephah of grain home to Naomi testifies to the workers' positive response to Boaz's charge to treat Ruth well. Not only had they obviously cut a lot of grain for her, but they had also accepted this Moabite woman as a co-worker for the duration of the harvest (Ruth 2:21–23).
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The positive effects of Boaz' leadership extend beyond the workplace. When Naomi sees the results of Ruth's efforts, she blesses the employer who had given her work and praises God for his kindness and generosity (Ruth 2:20). Later, it becomes obvious that Boaz's high reputation in the community is bringing social harmony and glory to God (Ruth 4:11-12). All leaders—indeed all workers—shape the culture in which they work. Although we may think that we are constrained by our culture to conform to unfair, meaningless, or unproductive ways of working, in reality the way we work profoundly influences others. Boaz, a man of means in the midst of a corrupt and faithless society (Ruth 1:1, where "when the judges ruled" is a shorthand for a corrupt society) succeeds in creating an honest, successful business. The harvest supervisor shapes egalitarian practices in a society shot through with misogyny and racism ( Judges 19-21 ). Ruth and Naomi create a loving family in the face of great loss and hardship. When we feel pressure to conform to a bad environment at work, the promise of God's faithfulness can overcome all the doubts we take on board from the cultural and social dysfunction around us.
Fredric W. Bush, vol. 9, Ruth, Esther, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 129.
Daniel I. Block, "Unspeakable Crimes: The Abuse of Women in the Book of Judges," The Southern Baptist Theological Journal 2 (1998): 46–55.
Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002), 659–60.
David W. Gill, "Happy 40th Birthday, Southwest Airlines!", Ethix 73, January 9, 2011, http://ethix.org/2011/01/09/happy-40th-birthday-southwest-airlines.
God Calls People to Provide Opportunities for the Poor to Work Productively (Ruth 2:17-23)
The most important way God overcomes the barriers to our fruitfulness is through the actions of other people. In the Book of Ruth, we see this both in God's law in society and in his guidance of individuals.
God's Law Calls People of Means to Provide Economic Opportunities for the Poor (Ruth 2:17-23)
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The action of the Book of Ruth centers around gleaning, which was one of the most important elements of the Law for the protection of poor and vulnerable people. The requirements are laid out in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Exodus (click on the links below to see more on each of the relevant passages.)
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:9–10, repeated in part in Leviticus 23:22) See "Leviticus 19:9-10" in Leviticus and Work at www.theologyofwork.org.
When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this. (Deuteronomy 24:19–22)
For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. (Exodus 23:10–11) See "Exodus 22:21-27 & 23:10-11" in Exodus and Work at www.theologyofwork.org.
The basis of the law is the intention that all people are to have access to the means of production necessary to support themselves and their families. In general, every family (except among the priestly tribe of Levites, who were supported by tithes and offerings) was to have a perpetual allotment of land that could never be alienated (Numbers 27:5-11, 36:5-1; Deuteronomy 19:14, 27:17; Leviticus 25). Thus everyone in Israel would have the means to grow food. But foreigners, widows, and orphans typically would not receive an inheritance of land, so they were vulnerable to poverty and abuse. The gleaning law gave them the opportunity to provide for themselves by harvesting the edges of the field, the grain and produce that were unripe or missed during the initial harvest, and whatever sprang up in the fields that lay fallow any given year. Access to gleaning was to be provided free of charge by every landowner.
These passages suggest three grounds for the gleaning laws. Generosity toward the poor (1) was a prerequisite to God blessing the work of peoples' hands (Deuteronomy 24:19); (2) was to be driven by the memory of Israel's experience under cruel and abusive slave-masters in Egypt (Deuteronomy 24:22a); and (3) is a matter of obedience to the will of God (Deuteronomy 24:22b). We see all three of these motivations in Boaz' actions: (1) he blessed Ruth, (2) remembered God's graciousness to Israel, and (3) commended her for placing herself in God's hands (Ruth 2:12). It is an open question how fully the land and harvest laws were enforced in ancient Israel, but Boaz kept them in exemplary fashion.
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The gleaning laws provided a remarkable support network for poor and marginalized people, at least to the extent they were actually practiced. We have already seen that God's intention is for people to receive his fruitfulness by working. Gleaning did exactly this. It provided an opportunity for productive work for those who otherwise would have to depend on begging, slavery, prostitution or other forms of degradation. Gleaners maintained the skills, self-respect, physical conditioning and work habits that would make them productive in ordinary farming, should the opportunity of marriage, adoption, or return to their country of origin arise. Landowners provided opportunities but did not gain an opportunity for exploitation. There was no forced labor. The benefit was available locally everywhere in the nation without the need for a cumbersome and corruption-prone bureaucracy. It did, however, depend on the character formation of every landowner to fulfill the gleaning law, and we should not romanticize the circumstances poor people faced in ancient Israel.
In the case of Boaz, Ruth and Naomi, the gleaning laws worked as intended. If it weren't for the possibility of gleaning, Boaz would have faced two alternatives once he became aware of Ruth and Naomi's poverty. He could have them starve, or he could have had ready-made food (bread) delivered to their house. The former is unacceptable, but the latter, while it may have alleviated their hunger, would have made them ever more dependent on Boaz. Because of the opportunity of gleaning, however, Ruth not only could work for the harvest, but she would also be able to use the grain to make bread through her own labors. The process preserved her dignity, made use of her skills and abilities, freed her and Naomi from long-term dependency, and made them less vulnerable to exploitation.
In today's social, political, and theological debates about poverty and private and public responses to it, these aspects of gleaning are well worth keeping in mind and debating vigorously. Christians disagree with each other about questions such as individual vs. social responsibilities, private vs. public means, and income distribution. Careful reflection on the Book of Ruth is unlikely to resolve these disagreements, but perhaps it can highlight shared aims and common ground. Modern society may not be well-suited to gleaning in the literal, agricultural sense, but are there aspects that can be incorporated into ways societies care for poor and vulnerable people today? In particular, how can we provide opportunities for people to gain access to the means of productive work rather than being smothered by dependency or exploitation?
God Leads Individuals to Provide Economic Opportunities for the Poor and Vulnerable (Ruth 2:17-23)
Boaz was inspired to go significantly beyond what the law required in providing for the poor and vulnerable. The gleaning laws merely required landowners to leave some produce in the fields for foreigners, orphans and widows to glean. This generally meant the poor and vulnerable had difficult, dangerous, uncomfortable work, such as harvesting grain at the weedy edges of fields or high up in olive trees. The produce they obtained this way was usually of inferior quality, such as grapes and olives that had fallen to the ground or had not fully ripened. But Boaz tells his workers to be actively generous. They were to remove first-quality grain from the stalks they had cut, and leave them lying on top of the stubble so Ruth would need merely to pick them up. Boaz's concern was not to minimally fulfill a regulation, but to genuinely provide for Ruth and her family.
Furthermore, he insisted that she glean in his fields (keeping what she harvested for herself and Naomi, of course) and attach herself to his workers. He not only gave her access to his fields, he effectively made her one of his hired hands, even to the point of making sure she received a pro-rata share of the harvest (Ruth 2:16).
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In a world in which every nation, every society, has under- and un-employed people in need of opportunities for work, how can Christians emulate Boaz? How can we encourage people to apply their God-given skills and talents to creating goods and services that employ people productively? How can we shape the character formation of people who own and manage society's resources so that they eagerly and creatively provide opportunities for the poor and marginalized?
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How, indeed, do these questions apply to us? Is each of us a person of means, even if we are not rich like Boaz? Do middle class people have the means and the responsibility to provide opportunities for poor people? How about poor people themselves? What might God be leading each of us to do to bring his blessing of fruitfulness to other workers and would-be workers?
God's Blessing is Redoubled When People Work According to His Ways (Ruth 3:1-4:18)
In the remarkable episode of Ruth gleaning in Boaz's field, we see a vivid demonstration of Boaz's compassion, generosity, and ethnic tolerance. This raises the questions, Why was Boaz's heart so soft toward Ruth, and why would he create this environment where anyone, even an alien Moabite woman, would feel at home? According to Boaz's own testimony Ruth embodied nobility and faithfulness to the true God (Ruth 3:10–11). As a result, he wished her to "have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge" (Ruth 2:12). Born in Moab, she had nonetheless turned to the God of Israel for salvation (Ruth 1:16). Boaz recognized God's wings over her and was eager to be the instrument of God's blessing for her. By caring for a destitute foreigner, he honored the God of Israel. In the words of the Israelite proverb: "Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him" (Proverbs 14:31; see also Proverbs 17:5). The apostle Paul expressed this theme centuries later, "Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith" (Galatians 6:10)
As the story progressed, Boaz began to see Ruth as more than an industrious worker and faithful daughter-in-law to Naomi. In time he spread the wings of his garment over Ruth (Ruth 3:9)—an apt metaphor for marriage, mirroring the love and commitment represented by the wings of God. There is a work-related aspect to this love story, for there is real estate involved. Naomi still has some claim to the land that belonged to her late husband, and according to Israelite Law, his next-of-kin had the right to acquire the land and keep it in the family by marrying Naomi. Boaz, whom Naomi has mentioned was a kinsman of her husband (Ruth 2:1), was actually second in line to this right. He informs the man who is next-of-kin of his right, but when the man learns that claiming the land means he must also bring the Moabite Ruth into his household, he repudiates the right (Ruth 4:1-6).
Boaz, in contrast, was pleased to be chosen by God to show favor to this woman, despite her being considered racially, economically, and socially inferior (Ruth 4:1–12). He exercises his right to redeem the property, not by wedding the elderly Naomi in a marriage of convenience, but with Naomi's permission by marrying Ruth in a match of love and respect. By marrying this Moabite woman, he fulfills in his own way a bit of God's promise to Abraham that "by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing" (Genesis 22:18). He also gains yet more property, which we may assume he manages as productively and generously as the property he already owned, foreshadowing Christ's words that "to those who have, more will be given" (Mark 4:25). As we will soon learn, it is entirely apt that Boaz should serve as a forerunner to Jesus. Along the way, the events of the story reveal still more about how God is at work in the world for good.
God Works Through Human Ingenuity (Ruth 3:1-18)
In instigating the courtship between Boaz and Ruth, necessity once again leads Naomi to move beyond the bounds of convention. She sends Ruth to Boaz's threshing floor in the middle of the night to "uncover his feet and lie down" (Ruth 3:4). Regardless of the meaning of "feet" in Ruth 3:4, 7, 8, 14—which may be a sexual euphemism[1]— the scheme Naomi concocts is suspicious from the standpoint of custom and morality, and it is fraught with danger. Ruth's preparations and the choice of location for the encounter suggest the actions of a prostitute. Under normal circumstances, if a self-respecting and morally noble man like Boaz, sleeping at the threshing floor, should wake up in the middle of the night and discover a woman beside him he would surely send her off, protesting that he had nothing to do with women like her. Ruth's request that Boaz marry her is similarly bold from the perspective of custom: a foreigner propositioning an Israelite; a woman propositioning a man; a young person propositioning an older person; a destitute field worker propositioning a rich landowner. But instead of taking offense at Ruth's forwardness, Boaz blessed her, praised her for her commitment to the well-being of her family, called her "my daughter," reassured her by telling her not to fear, promised to do whatever she asked, and pronounced her a noble woman (Ruth 3:10-13). This extraordinary reaction is best attributed to the inspiration of God filling his heart and his tongue when he awoke.
God Works Through Legal Processes (Ruth 4:1-12)
Redemption: The Peculiar Calling of Jesus' Followers at Work (Click to listen)
Boaz accepts Ruth's request to marry her if her next of kin relinquishes his right to do so. He wastes no time arranging for the legal resolution of the issue (Ruth 4:1–12). By now the reader knows that nothing in this book happens by chance, and when on the very next day the next-of-kin happens to pass by the gate where Boaz has sat down, this too is attributable to the hand of God. If Ruth had been present for the legal proceedings in the gate, her heart would have sunk as the man with first rights announces he would claim Elimelech's land. However, when Boaz reminded him that Ruth goes with the land, and he consequently changed his mind, her hope would have risen. What accounted for his change of mind? He says that he has just remembered he has a contravening legal obligation. "I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance" (Ruth 4:6), but the excuse is garbled and feeble. Yet it is enough for Boaz, whose speech of acceptance of the verdict is a model of clarity and logic. The case could easily have gone the other way, but it appears that the outcome was guided by God from the beginning.
God Works Through the Fruitfulness of Childbearing (Ruth 4:13-18)
In Ruth 4:13, we encounter only the second instance in the book (in addition to Ruth 1:6) where an event is expressly attributed to the hand of God. "When they [meaning Ruth and Boaz] came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son." While the Hebrew term for conception/pregnancy (herayon) occurs elsewhere only in Genesis 3:16 and Hosea 9:11, the particular idiom "to grant/give conception," occurs only here. We should interpret this statement against the backdrop of Ruth's apparently ten-year, childless marriage with Mahlon (Ruth 1:4). After Ruth's faithfulness in coming to Israel with Naomi, after Boaz' faithfulness in providing for Ruth to glean his fields, and his faithfulness in serving as her kinsman-redeemer, after the faithful prayer of the witnesses in the gate (Ruth 1:11–12), and apparently as soon as Ruth and Boaz consummated the marriage, God conceived in Ruth a child. All human effort, even sexual intercourse, depends on God for the achievement of intended or desired goals (Ruth 4:13–15; cf. 1:4).
Could Family Be Part of a Calling? (Click to Watch)
The birth of any child is a gift from God, but there was a bigger story in the birth of Ruth and Boaz' son, Obed. He would become the grandfather of David, Israel's greatest king (Ruth 4:22), and ultimately the ancestor of Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 1:5, 16–17). In this way the foreigner Ruth became a blessing to Israel and to everyone who follows Jesus to this day.
Conclusions About the Book of Ruth
The book of Ruth presents a powerful story of God at work, directing events from all sides to take care of his people, and more importantly, to accomplish his purposes. Faithfulness—both God's faithfulness to people and people's faithfulness to God—is enacted through work and its resulting fruitfulness. The characters in the book work diligently, justly, generously, ingeniously, in accordance with God's law and inspiration. They recognize the image of God in human beings, and they work together in harmony and compassion.
From the events in the book of Ruth, we can conclude that Christians today must recognize not only the dignity, but also the value of work. Work brings glory to God. It brings benefits to others. It serves the world in which we live. As Christians today we may be accustomed to recognizing God's hand most clearly in the work of pastors, missionaries and evangelists, but theirs is not the only legitimate work in the kingdom of God. The Book of Ruth reminds us that ordinary work such as agriculture is a faith-filled calling, whether it is performed by wealthy landowners or poverty-stricken foreigners. Feeding our families is holy work, and anyone who has the means to help others feed their families becomes a blessing from God. Every legitimate occupation is God's work. Through us God makes, designs, organizes, beautifies, helps, leads, cultivates, cares, heals, empowers, informs, decorates, teaches, and loves. We are the wings of God.
Our work honors God when we treat co-workers with honor and dignity, whether we have the power to shape others' working conditions or whether we put ourselves at risk by standing up for others. We live out our covenant with God when we work for the good of our fellow human beings—especially the socially and economically marginalized. We honor God when we seek others' interests and do everything in our power to humanize their work and advance their well being.
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Ruth Bible Study
This study of Ruth helps readers explore how God is at work in and through our lives, even when can't see it in the moment. Designed for 30-minute lunch breaks, the study contains Scripture references, thought-provoking questions and prayers.
Theology of Work Bible Commentary Volume 2: Joshua Through Song of Songs
If you like reading the Theology of Work Bible Commentary free online, you might enjoy it in print!—Business, education, law, service industries, medicine, government - wherever you work, in whatever capacity, the Scriptures have something to say about it.
Theology of Work Bible Commentary - One Volume Edition
The Theology of Work Bible Commentary is an in-depth Bible study tool put together by a group of biblical scholars, pastors, and workplace Christians to help you discover what the whole Bible--from Genesis to Revelation--says about work. Business, education, law, service industries, medicine, government--wherever you work, in whatever capacity, the Scriptures have something to say about it. This edition is a one-volume hardcover version.
Contributors: Daniel I. Block
Adopted by the Theology of Work Project Board May 15, 2013. Image by Theology of Work Project.
Author: Theology of Work Project
Theology of Work Project Online Materials by Theology of Work Project, Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.theologyofwork.org
You are free to share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work), and remix (to adapt the work) for non-commercial use only, under the condition that you must attribute the work to the Theology of Work Project, Inc., but not in any way that suggests that it endorses you or your use of the work.
© 2013 by the Theology of Work Project, Inc.
Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.


I'm writing up this post primarily as a reference tool for the community group who will be trying to run Operations shortly, but my hope is that it might be helpful to anyone who might be new to MMO raiding and interested in learning more, whether or not you're part of the group we'll be running.
Adds - This refers to enemies that might might spawn and join a fight sometime after the fight is first initiated. They are "additions" to the fight at a later time, hence "adds." The term is most commonly used to talk about weaker enemies that appear during a fight against a boss-level enemy that may have scripted phases to their tactics. Often a fight might have several waves of adds, spawning into the battle at different times/phases. Instructions for party members to 'focus on defeating adds' generally means that players in the DPS role should stop attacking the boss and instead target all adds until these weaker enemies are defeated. Sometimes adds must be taken out in a specific order, or moved to specific areas of the battlefield. There are all sorts of instructions that might come about in the effort to defeat or manage adds.
Rotation - Although it is possible for most class types/roles to have a rotation, primarily this is relevant to characters in the DPS role. A 'rotation' refers to executing a character's abilities in a specific sequence so as to maximize damage output. Depending on the complexity of any given class, a rotation might be short (maybe 8-12 sequenced abilities), or very long and including multiple insertions of an ability, or sequencing variations, depending on the random-chance triggers of things like critical chance or gear set bonuses. Although a heavy focus on understanding, memorizing, and executing a rotation generally only comes into play at higher level game difficulties and raiding efforts, it doesn't hurt for any DPS player to spend some time learning their abilities and looking at which abilities gain bonuses from being executed before or after other specific abilities. A simple Google search on your class + 'DPS rotation' will likely point the curious player to many resources.
Cooldowns - Although in a general sense, 'cooldown' refers to the period of time it takes any ability to recharge before it can be used again, usually when referred to in the plural as 'cooldowns' the term is being used to describe a class's powerful defensive abilities, most of which come with significant cooldown times of 1+ minutes. Learning when to "pop your cooldowns" is about reading the situation in a battle to determine if you need to give yourself an extra boost of protection at any given moment. Players who are very comfortable with reading battles and managing their abilities may incorporate these into their rotations (and tanks in particular need to learn to use these very well), while others will simply hold them in reserve for emergencies, or for when their party's healer or raid leader might call out for party members to use them because they are seeing danger signs. Offensive powers (such as boosts to critical chance) can also be referred to as "cooldowns" but these are rarely called out by others in a raiding context, as it is assumed that players will be incorporating offense boosts into their rotation as a matter of course.
LOS - This is an abbreviation of Line Of Sight. It can be used in its more straight-forward sense to talk about whether or not an avatar has line of sight on an enemy in order to execute an attack (the game itself will give you a flash-message telling you when your line of sight on an enemy is being blocked by other avatars/enemies or by the environment). 'LOS' can also be used as a verb or command, when discussing executing a tactic that involves a character attacking an enemy (thereby getting the enemy to focus attacks on them) and then positioning themselves behind a piece of environmental geometry in order to force the enemies to chase them; this tactic is often used to move enemies into a more favorable position for the rest of the party. When used in this fashion you might hear a tank say, "I'm going to LOS that group behind this corner. Everyone wait here while I bring them over."
Pull - This term is used to describe the act of deliberately grabbing enemy attention and engaging enemy NPCs in combat, either by attacking them directly or by entering the enemy's attack radius. You 'pull' an enemy or a group of enemies by engaging with them, which usually results in enemies moving over to you (hence the choice of the word 'pull' for to describe this). You will often hear a raid leader give a tank permission to "pull when ready," which means clearing them to begin the fight. You might also hear someone say "I'm going to pull this group over to the left," which is both a game-specific and literal use of the term. Or, in keeping with the above explanation of LOS, you might hear a tank explain they are going to "LOS pull this group to spot X." And of course, you might hear a warning along the lines of, "Walk close along the right wall to make sure you don't unintentionally pull that group over by the left door."
CC - This is an abbreviation of Crowd Control, and refers to specific abilities that allow a player to stun or immobilize an enemy. These are referred to as 'crowd control' abilities because they can temporarily eliminate an enemy from a fight, thereby minimizing the number of active enemies and allowing a party to maintain better control over the 'crowd.' If a player is instructed to "CC that droid on the far right" they are being asked to use their stun ability on said target. Note that some players have short-duration stuns (abilities that might immobilize an enemy for something like 4 seconds), and though these might technically fall under the same umbrella, generally speaking when referring to CC you are only talking about abilities that can stun/immobilize for long durations such as 1 minute. It's also important to note that almost all CC abilities can be broken if the target takes damage, so when your party chooses to employ Crowd Control on a group of enemies it is very important that players do not damage the stunned enemy; being careful about targeting your AOE abilities (or foregoing AOE abilities altogether) when there is a Crowd Controlled enemy around can be crucial.
Stun breaker - All classes in SWTOR have an ability that allows them to break the effects of a stun or immobilization effect being used against them. These abilities generally have a long cool down, and should be used strategically. If a raid leader warns about a particular mechanic for which you should (or should not) use your 'stun breaker,' this what they're talking about.
Cast Bar / Channeled Abilities - Both players and NPCs have some abilities that might take 1-3 seconds to execute, as opposed to instantly triggering. These abilities, usually called 'channeled abilities,' have a visual indicator to them within the user interface of the game, represented by a "castbar" that appears and shows a meter marking the progress of the cast/channel. By adjusting your User Interface in SWTOR, you can turn on and move both your own castbar (player castbar) as well as the castbars for your target, and your focus target. In a raid, it can often be very important for players to pay attention to an enemy's castbars, so making sure that these are activated in your User Interface and placed in a position that is easy for you to see is a good idea.
Interrupt - All classes in SWTOR have an ability that allows them to interrupt an enemy's cast of a channeled ability. (This is often described in the tooltip as "interrupts the target's current action.") Some classes have an interrupt ability that works at range, while others will need to be within melee range to use theirs. It will often fall on a player in the tank role to interrupt key enemy abilities, but this is a responsibility that can frequently go to a DPS player as well. Sometimes interrupting an enemy ability can be crucial to success, and mean instant death of a player if the interrupt is missed. Many Operations or FP bosses have a "boss immunity" that prevents interrupts, so use of interrupts depends on the specific fight's mechanics.
Telegraphs - Many powerful enemy abilities affect wide areas of the battlefield. Players are often given advance warning that such an attack is going to be executed by virtue of symbols that appear on the ground - circles or bars or auras of varying colors and patterns. These indicators are called 'telegraphs,' because they are telegraphing where an attack is going to hit. Telegraphs might appear several seconds in advance of an ability being triggered, or they might give only the briefest second/sliver of warning; the amount of time a telegraph lasts before the attack is actually triggered depends on the difficulty of the fight and the size/radius of the attack. A raid leader may often explain a fight by telling you about telegraphs to look out for (usually describing them by shape and color), and they might also call out telegraphs to be conscious of during a fight itself. It's a general rule of thumb that when the game gives you a telegraph warning, it's usually doing so because you are supposed to move out of the indicated area before the attack triggers, or stay out of it for the duration of an area effect. If you've ever heard people talking about the importance of not "standing in stupid" they are talking about the importance of getting out of a telegraphed danger area promptly, rather than staying put to keep attacking at the expense of taking massive damage when the enemy attack you were warned about finally goes off.
Threat - SWTOR, like most MMOs, has built into it a mechanic by which enemies are drawn to attack certain player characters over others. That is the most simple way to describe the mechanism of 'threat.' You can think of 'threat' as the amount of enemy interest a player is generating. In traditional MMO roles, it is the job of a character in the role of a tank to try to maintain the highest threat level in their party, to keep enemies focused on attacking them rather than the DPS or healers. Tanking classes have both passive and active abilities that increase the threat they generate, and it is the tank's job to learn to use these effectively to help manage a battlefield. But doing damage and healing allies also generates threat; DPS will generate threat on the target you are currently attacking, and healing will generate threat on all enemies in the area. This means that a DPS will usually only draw the attention of an enemy they are attacking (which is often the boss, who should otherwise be focused on a tank), whereas healers might generate threat on the entire room at once (something that frequently puts healers in peril when adds first spawn into a fight). Although SWTOR uses the term 'threat' in its ability tooltips, some players might use the alternate term 'aggro' to mean exactly the same thing.
Threat dump - All DPS and healer classes should have an ability that, when triggered, instantly lowers the amount of threat they are generating against all enemies. It is important to identify and familiarize yourself with this ability for your class. Knowing when to use it is something that will come with experience, but failing all else your raid leader or tank may call out for a DPS character to use their 'threat/aggro dump' at any given time - often because, as a tank, they can see when the boss whose attention they are trying to hold has now turned its attention to you instead. As a healer you are going to need to learn when to use a threat dump on your own, but generally speaking if you find you are being swarmed by adds it's a good time to use your threat dump!
"Let the tank build threat" - You might hear your read leader call for this tactic when explaining an upcoming fight to you. Generally this refers to an opening tactic that calls for the party to hold back and let a tanking character engage a boss by themselves for a few seconds. During that time a tank may be executing a specific sequence of high-threat abilities in order to really make sure they've got the boss's attention locked in, before the DPS get in there and start generating threat caused by their damaging attacks.
Cleave - This term is used to refer to any variety of boss attacks that might affect a wide area in front of the boss, and will damage any character within that area. A cleave attack may be targeted on a single character (usually the tank, or whomever is holding threat) which means it isn't technically an AOE attack, but it will still do damage to anyone within the cleave telegraph. For this reason you will often see that a common tanking tactic is for a tank to turn the boss away from the rest of the party (resulting in the rest of the party standing at the boss's back while the tank is alone at their front). As a general rule of thumb it's better for DPS and healers to stay behind the boss whenever possible, but sometimes the mechanics of a fight require too much movement to maintain that positioning. At minimum, it's important to know if the boss has any cleave attacks of which you should be aware, so that you know how critical it may or may not be to be mindful of that positioning.
Target markers and kill order - During a fight, your raid leader might use game tools in order to place target markers on enemies - colored symbols that will float above a NPC's head to make them easier to spot and to target. This might be used to indicate which targets need to be CCed, or even just to call out specific targets of interest. It might also be used to designate a 'kill order' - a priority order in which enemies need to be focused and taken down by the DPS in a group. For example, your raid leader might mark three out of four enemies with a Fire, Target, and Star symbol, and tell you to kill enemies in that order.
Raid-wide damage - When an enemy has an attack that will deal damage to everyone in the party at the same time, this is called raid-wide damage. Raid-wide damage often does not take range or LOS into account, meaning that it won't matter how far away you are from the boss or whether or not you are hiding behind something. Raid-wide damage can be some of the most difficult mechanics for a healer to contend with, so it is often going to be called out as something to be particularly wary of. Often a fight will call on a party to successfully execute interrupts or other mechanics in order to specifically avoid a raid-wide damage attack.
DOT - This abbreviation stands for "Damage Over Time" and refers to the effect an attack might place on a target in which smaller increments of periodic damage are dealt to the target over a set period of time, lasting after the attack is initially executed. Both PCs and NPCs can have attacks that inflict DOTs. These lingering effects can sometimes be removed by a healer with a special "cleanse" ability, but sometimes there is nothing that can be done and you just have to hope for the best!
Stacks - This term is used to discuss buffs and debuffs that can be applied multiple times on the same target. If the effects of the buff/debuff are cumulative or additive in nature, then they can be called "stacking" buffs/debuffs. The number of times - or "stacks" - that a buff/debuff has been applied is indicated by a number on the buff/debuff icon. Stacking debuffs can be particularly crucial for players to be aware of, because a fight's mechanics might hinge on them. For example: a certain number of stacks on a debuff could trigger instant death, or a tank may need to switch places with their co-tank once they've been hit with a particular number of stacks on a debuff, or a healer may need to know to cleanse a particular debuff from a party member when it's reached a certain number of stacks.
"Stack up" or "Stack on" - These phrases generally have nothing to do with stacking buffs or debuffs, which is why they are being called out here for clarification. When the party is instructed to "stack up" it means that the players should all reposition themselves in order to be standing closely together, usually to avoid damage or to bring the whole party into proximity to allow your healers to hit everyone with AOE healing abilities at the same time. The party may also be called to specifically "stack on the tank" or "stack on the healer," meaning to reposition themselves around the player thus called out - again usually to avoid specific types of damage or to enable group heals.
Raid buffs - Many SWTOR classes have an ability that grants a temporary party-wide (or raid-wide, depending on the tooltip wording) buff. These are potent abilities that generally have a long cooldown, and as such might only be used once during a fight (or twice, if it's a particularly long boss fight). As a general rule of thumb it's a good idea to only use these abilities when your raid leader calls for it. Because most raid buffs specifically increase damage output, raid buffs are often used during a phase in a boss fight where the party might be required to reduce a boss's health by a certain percentage within a limited window of time.
Resource-starved - If a player is "resource-starved" it means that the resource their class uses in order trigger their abilities has been depleted or is close to being so. This might be Force power, or energy cells, or ammunition (or it might work in "reverse" and be a generation of heat which, once maxed, prevents you from triggering more abilities). Learning how to manage your resource, either by using abilities that regenerate it or measuring out your high-consumption abilities to allow your normal regeneration rate to catch up, is part of the process of learning how to most efficiently play your class. This will come with time! Most commonly, concerns around being resource-starved will relate to those players in the healer's role, who may find themselves pressed to the resource breaking point in tough fights, and for whom being resource-starved might mean the death of the party.
Enrage / enrage timer / hard vs soft enrage - Many bosses in Operations have a built in mechanic called Enrage. A boss might be set to "enrage" after a specific amount of time has passed from when the fight was first initiated (for example, maybe 5 or 10 minutes into a fight). That is the enrage timer. When a boss becomes "enraged" they generally acquire a reddish sheen to their avatar and will begin dealing out massively increased amounts of damage. Usually when a boss enrages that means the party is going to be wiped out in very short order, since the enrage exists to indicate to the party that you took too long to beat the encounter, and that successfully passing the fight will mean trying again and being more efficient next time. (Yes, sometimes it's possible to survive a a boss enrage by the skin of your teeth, but generally speaking this mechanic exists to force a party wipe and a retry.) The enrage described so far is what is sometimes called a "hard enrage" - something deliberately designed to kill the party off. A "soft enrage" can be any mechanic wherein a boss suddenly acquires a significant boost to their damage output, either because you failed a mechanic that resulted in giving the boss this new buff, or because you killed enemies in the incorrect order and thus triggered an enemy's extra rage upon seeing their allies fall. So basically: a "hard enrage" is a mechanic meant to end a fight as indication that you just took too damn long, while a "soft enrage" is a mechanic meant to indicate you took a wrong turn and make the fight much harder for you but isn't necessarily a guaranteed failure.
There are probably tons more terms I could put in here, but I think this is more than enough to get started with.
If anyone has any suggestions for terms to be added, or any questions about terms you've heard that you've never understood, please post with a reply here and I'll try to make updates!


Nintendo has announced at The Game Awards 2018 that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is heading exclusively to Nintendo Switch in 2019.
The new game, which arrives nearly 10 years after the previous installment in the series, is being developed by Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja and published by Nintendo.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order brings together Super Heroes and Super Villains from across the Marvel Universe to battle for the limitless power of the Infinity Gauntlet, one Stone at a time. This unprecedented team of characters must use their unique superpowers to defeat the mad cosmic tyrant Thanos and his ruthless warmasters, The Black Order.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order will feature an original story and a playable cast of dozens of Marvel Super Heroes, including the Avengers, the X-Men, and – for the first time in series history – the Guardians of the Galaxy. The new game features the same kind of action-RPG gameplay that made the franchise such a hit over a decade ago.
In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, up to four players can drop in for co-op battles in a variety of ways: They can play online, link up offline via local wireless or pass a Joy-Con controller to a friend to join the team. With another pair of Joy-Con, four players can team up on one system.
In addition to the series' traditional perspective, the new entry will let players select a dynamic, zoomed-in heroic view, allowing for a more immersive play style for single-player or multiplayer when using multiple systems.
Additional details about the game will be announced in the future.


text:
Turbulence is the second and last album by rock band Aviator.

Track listing
All tracks composed by Aviator; except where indicated
 "Way of the World" (4:53)
 "The American" (4:40)
 "Turbulence" (6:44)
 "Ovation" (4:54)
 "Fallen Star" (7:22)
 "Track Eleven" (1:33)
 "Get Your Rocks Off" (Bob Dylan) (5:01)
 "Strange Worlds" (7:01)

Personnel
Aviator
Mick Rogers - guitar, lead vocals
John G. Perry - bass, vocals, pedal keyboard
Clive Bunker- drums, percussion, vocals
with:
Betsy Cook, Vivienne McAuliffe, Carol Stocker - backing vocals
Technical
Mike Hedges - engineer
Martyn Webster - engineer
David Kemp - engineer
Mark Lawrence - photography
Wil Malone - producer

References

Aviator (British band) albums
1980 albums
Albums with cover art by Roger Dean (artist)
Harvest Records albums
albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
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Document from CIS Legislation database © 2003-2019 SojuzPravoInform LLC
LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
of December 12, 2013 No. 94-Z
About counteraction of monopolistic activities and development of the competition
(In edition of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of 08.01.2018 No. 98-Z)
This Law determines the organizational and legal basis of counteraction of monopolistic activities and unfair competition and is aimed at providing conditions for development of the competition, creation and effective functioning of the goods markets.
Chapter 1. General provisions
Article 1. The main terms used in this Law and their determinations
For the purposes of this Law the following main terms and their determinations are used:
the vertical agreement – the agreement between business entities, one of whom acquires goods or intends to acquire it, and another provides goods or is his potential seller;
interchangeable (similar) goods – in such a way that the consumer replaces or one goods are ready to replace with another goods which can be comparable on their functional purpose, application, quality and technical characteristics, the price (rate) and other parameters in case of consumption, including in case of consumption in the production purposes;
state bodies – National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, National academy of Sciences of Belarus, other state bodies and the state organizations, the subordinate Republic of Belarus (accountable) to the President, the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus, republican state bodies and other state organizations subordinated to Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, the local executive and administrative organs, other organizations performing functions of the specified bodies, and also the temporary or permanent interdepartmental forming consisting of representatives of state bodies which acts of the legislation are given separate state powers of authority;
discrimination conditions – conditions of access to the goods market, and also conditions of production (production), exchange, consumption, acquisition, sale, other transfer of goods under which the business entity or several business entities are put in unequal position in comparison with other business entity or other business entities taking into account conditions, the restrictions and features established by international treaties of the Republic of Belarus;
purchase of goods – purchase of goods on competitive basis in which accept or two and more participant, including purchase of goods when implementing public procurements (except for procurement procedures from one source), purchases at the expense of own means (except for procurement procedures from one source), purchases can take part in case of construction;
competitors are the business entities performing sale and (or) purchase of goods in one goods market;
the competition – competitiveness of business entities in case of which independent actions of each of them exclude or limited opportunity unilaterally to influence general terms of the goods circulation in the corresponding goods market;
monopolistic activities – abuse of business entity, group of persons of the dominant position, the conclusion of agreements or making of coordinated actions, and also making of other actions (failure to act) directed to non-admission, restriction or elimination of the competition and prohibited by this Law and other acts of the antitrust law;
unfair competition – the actions of business entity directed to acquisition of benefits (benefits) in business activity or several business entities who contradict this Law and can cause to other legal acts and acts of the antitrust law or requirements of conscientiousness and rationality or caused losses to other competitors or can do or did harm to their goodwill;
the consumer – the physical person or legal entity intending to order, acquire or use goods or ordering, acquiring or using goods if in the latter case goods, including the component of other goods, is subject of the made or made civil transactions;
the seller – the business entity alienating goods or intending to perform its alienation;
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8.4.21 2:15PM
Home Living with Arthritis Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccines
Coronavirus, COVID-19 Vaccines, Living with Arthritis
Breakthrough COVID-19 Infections: What to Know If You're Immunocompromised
PUBLISHED 08/04/21 BY Kelsey Kloss
Breakthrough infections, in which COVID-19 can develop and spread in vaccinated people, are still considered rare. But people with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions who are immunocompromised have extra concerns when it comes to the risk of COVID-19 and how to stay safe.
Credit: Tatiana Ayazo
If you're immunocompromised, you likely have a lot of concerns about breakthrough infections — i.e., COVID-19 infections among people who are fully vaccinated. Are you more likely to get a breakthrough COVID-19 infection? If so, are you at a greater risk of getting very sick or needing to be hospitalized? When can you get a third COVID-19 vaccine dose to garner more protection against the virus? What else can you do to stay safe in this new chapter of the pandemic?
While data is still emerging and recommendations are changing quickly, initial research shows that people who are immunocompromised are more likely to experience breakthrough infections than those who are not. However, breakthrough infections are still uncommon — and those that lead to serious complications are much rarer still.
Here's everything you need to know about the latest research, and what you can do to stay safe.
What Is a Breakthrough Infection of COVID-19?
For research purposes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has defined a COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infection as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 or antigen in a respiratory specimen from a person 14 days or more after receipt of all recommended doses of FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines.
If someone receives two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — but still contracts COVID-19 two weeks or more later — they have a breakthrough infection.
The CDC is not tracking all breakthrough infections; only those that lead to hospitalization or death. As of August 23, 2021, the CDC reports that 11,050 patients with breakthrough infections were hospitalized or died — out of more than 171 million people who are fully vaccinated.
This does not consider breakthrough infections that do not lead to hospitalization or death, so it's challenging to get a full picture of how common breakthrough infections are and who is more likely to get them — say, immunocompromised people vs. not.
Last month, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been reviewing data on breakthrough infections at the state level, issued a report that showed that the share of COVID-19 infections among those who are fully vaccinated ranges from less than 1 percent in states such as Connecticut, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Virginia to around 3 percent in states such as Arkansas, Montana, and Utah. Arizona and Alaska had the highest shares at 5.9 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
Experts have stated that breakthrough infections were exceedingly rare earlier in the pandemic, before the rise of the Delta variant. But according to the New York Times, "recent outbreaks suggest that numbers may be higher" and that it's unclear how common breakthrough infections are, especially considering that most estimates rely on data that predates the rise of the Delta variant.
It's likely that breakthrough infections are becoming more common than they were earlier in the pandemic, but those that lead to serious complications are very, very rare.
Breakthrough Infections vs. Breakthrough Disease
It's worth noting that there's a huge difference between "breakthrough infections" and "breakthrough disease."
"The first important thing to know is that infection is objective — are you infected or not?" says Sarah Fortune, MD, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "Meanwhile, disease is subjective — do you feel sick? And disease can be anywhere from not feeling well to intubation. The complexity of that is we don't look for infection in the absence of disease."
In other words, if you don't have any symptoms, you likely won't get tested for COVID-19.
Getting the COVID-19 vaccine remains very important for preventing severe disease. Vaccines not only protect against getting infected with COVID-19, but also serious outcomes from it like severe symptoms, hospitalization, or death, according to the CDC.
According to the Kaiser data, the numbers for hospitalization and death rates among those who are fully vaccinated are very reassuring. "Hospitalization rates among those fully vaccinated ranged from effectively zero (0.00 percent) in California, Delaware, D.C., Indiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia to 0.06 percent in Arkansas. Death rates were even lower at 0.00 percent for all but two states, Arkansas and Michigan, where they were 0.01 percent."
According to a study released by the CDC in August, unvaccinated people are about 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated. The study, which is based on data collected from Los Angeles County between May 1 and July 2, also found that unvaccinated people have five times the number of COVID-19 infections than those who are fully vaccinated.
That said, there is an increasing percentage of vaccinated people among those hospitalized with COVID-19 — especially as Delta continues to spread. The vaccinated can also develop long-COVID, a mysterious continuation of symptoms experts are still learning about.
In a July 2021 New England Journal of Medicine study, researchers tested 1,497 fully vaccinated health care workers from December 19, 2020 to April 28, 2021 in Israel and detected 39 breakthrough cases. (The study was conducted before the country's surge of cases caused by the Delta variant.)
Of the breakthrough infections, 31 percent had symptoms lasting more than 14 days and 19 percent had symptoms lasting more than six weeks (long COVID), which included prolonged loss of smell, persistent cough, fatigue, weakness, difficulty breathing, and/or muscle pain. Nine people took more than 10 days off work, and one person hadn't returned to work after six weeks. That said, none of the people with breakthrough infections required hospitalization. Only one of the 39 individuals with breakthrough infections was immunocompromised.
Why Are Breakthrough Infections Occurring?
Even though it's very important to get vaccinated to protect yourself from COVID-19 — a particularly severe illness — no vaccine is perfect, which we've known from the beginning.
The Delta variant may be more likely to cause infections among the vaccinated because of how this particular strain takes hold in the body, explained journalist Apoorva Mandavilli in a New York Times article. COVID-19 vaccines are injected into the muscle of your arm, where they rev your immune system to produce antibodies in your blood.
Some of these antibodies wind up in your nose, but "because the Delta variant seems to flourish in the nose," and the amount of virus transmitted is much higher, according to the Times, there may not be enough antibodies to sufficiently fight it off, which could "explain why more people than scientists expected are experiencing breakthrough infections and cold-like symptoms."
However, the vaccine does equip your immune system to fight off the virus before it can infect the lungs or damage other organs, which explains why the vaccine is still critically important and lifesaving.
Emerging research shows the Delta variant may slightly affect vaccine efficacy. For those who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, efficacy was 93.7 percent with the alpha variant and 88 percent with the Delta variant, per a July 2021 study in The New England Journal of Medicine. For those who only received one dose of the vaccine, efficacy was 48.7 percent for the alpha variant and 30.7 percent for the Delta variant — another reason it's important to get your second shot.
"Only modest differences in vaccine effectiveness were noted with the delta variant as compared with the alpha variant after the receipt of two vaccine doses," write the researchers. "Absolute differences in vaccine effectiveness were more marked after the receipt of the first dose."
Breakthrough Infections in Immunocompromised People
Not surprisingly, breakthrough infections appear to be more common among those who are immunocompromised. According to data presented at a CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting in July, immunocompromised patients represent 44 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 breakthrough cases — even though they only make up 2.7 percent of the population. This includes people with cancer, HIV, and organ transplants, as well as those who take immunosuppressant medication for inflammatory conditions.
Although this sounds scary, keep in mind that hospitalization from breakthrough infection is very rare to begin with. Even among people who are immunocompromised, vaccines still work to prevent severe disease.
It's important to get vaccinated even if you are immunocompromised, because some protection is better than none.
"You can imagine with vaccination that the immune response is creating a screen and it's blocking the virus from being able to set up shop," says Dr. Fortune. "The more robust your immune response, the denser that screen. For somebody who's on an immunosuppressive drug regimen, they may still have a little response — they might have a screen, but that screen might have bigger holes. It's providing a layer of protection, but it's not providing protection to the same degree as someone who's not on immunocompromising medications."
According to the research published by the CDC in July, vaccine breakthrough cases will occur more frequently in group settings (such as long-term care facilities) and in groups at risk of primary vaccine failure, including the immunocompromised.
Just how much less effective is the COVID-19 vaccine in people who are immunocompromised than in those who are not? Additional research published by the CDC highlights key data points from research about vaccine efficacy in the immunocompromised:
75 percent vaccine efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 seven to 27 days after second dose of Pfizer vaccine among immunosuppressed people versus 94 percent overall, per a May 2021 study in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
80 percent vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 infection seven or more days after second dose of mRNA vaccine among people with inflammatory bowel disease on immunosuppressive medication, per a May 2021 study in Gastroenterology.
59 percent vaccine efficacy against COVID-19 hospitalization among immunocompromised patients 14 days or more after second dose of mRNA vaccine versus 91 percent without immune compromise, per a July 2021 pre-print study (meaning it hasn't been peer-reviewed yet) on MedRxiv.
Of course, the meaning of "immunocompromised" can vary dramatically from person to person. A lot will depend on the specific condition you have and what immunosuppressive medications you're taking — some, like TNF inhibitors, seem to have little impact on vaccine efficacy. And for instance, one study found that biologics don't interfere with the COVID-19 vaccine in inflammatory bowel disease patients.
"It's important to know that in people who are immunocompetent, it's very clear that vaccines protect against severe infection, hospitalizations, and death, even with the newer variants that are circulating," says David Aronoff, MD, Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. "But we have less confidence in the degree of that protection in people whose immune systems are depressed or not working at a normal level."
How Can Immunocompromised People Reduce Their Risk of Breakthrough Infections?
Even though you're hearing about a lot about breakthrough infections right now, keep in mind that vaccines, masks, and other mitigation efforts can make a big difference in your risk.
Vaccinations and Additional Doses
If you're immunocompromised and fully vaccinated because you received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, you should get a third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to further bolster your body's response. (There is not yet an additional dose available for people who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.)
Per the American College of Rheumatology's COVID-19 vaccine guidance, it's crucial for people on immunosuppressive or immunomodulating medication to receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Because this group of individuals did not garner full protection from the initial vaccine, the additional dose could help immunocompromised patients mount a more robust response.
In fact, an August 2021 study found immunocompromised people who did not garner a response from the first series of mRNA could develop antibodies after a third COVID-19 vaccine dose. According to the study, which assessed organ transplant patients who received the Moderna vaccine, 33 to 50 percent of patients developed an antibody response after receiving an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
For people with inflammatory or autoimmune conditions, getting the third dose applies to anyone on immunosuppressive or immunomodulating medication. The only exception is people taking only hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), as this medication does not suppress the immune system and, therefore, does not affect patients' response to the first two vaccine doses.
In preparing to get your third COVID-19 vaccine dose, talk to your health care provider about any necessary adjustments to your medications.
The ACR recommends that patients temporarily stop taking many immunosuppressant or immunomodulating medications for one to two weeks after receiving the third dose to help improve the immune system response, if disease activity allows. This includes medications such as methotrexate and JAK inhibitors but does not necessarily apply to most biologic drugs.
For other medications, experts recommend timing when you get the vaccine around your medication dose. For example, with the medication rituximab, you should try to get the third dose close to your next infusion, which is when your immune system will likely have the best response.
Read more here about the ACR's COVID-19 vaccine guidance, including medication adjustments.
Knowing which medications to adjust and for how long can be complicated and confusing. It's important to discuss your personal situation with your doctor to decide what's right for you. Don't stop taking medications on your own.
Another important option to help reduce complications from breakthrough infections particularly for immunocompromised people is monoclonal antibodies. This therapy essentially revs your immune system with antibodies that can make it easier to fight off COVID-19. Getting treatment like monoclonal antibodies immediately could have a significant impact on the disease course.
Initially, this therapy was only approved for people who were infected with COVID but not yet hospitalized. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently authorized the use of REGEN-COV, a monoclonal antibody treatment, to prevent COVID-19 in adults and children (age 12 and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds) who have been exposed to coronavirus and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.
This treatment is not a substitute for getting vaccinated, but it can be an important tool for people who are immunocompromised to reduce their risk of COVID complications. Read more here about monoclonal antibody treatment. .
Masks and Other Mitigation Efforts
You've likely stayed vigilant about your COVID-19 mitigation efforts if you're immunocompromised, even after the CDC relaxed its recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals earlier this year. Recommendations have since shifted back and the CDC now recommends that everyone, including fully vaccinated people, wear masks in public indoor spaces to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Wearing a mask in public indoor settings as well as in crowded outdoor settings is a smart idea particularly if you're immunocompromised.
"The more people wear masks in public spaces, the less people who are wearing masks become or feel stigmatized," says Dr. Aronoff. "For the most vulnerable members of our community, it is certainly easier for them to engage in mask wearing if they know that doesn't mark them as different in some way, shape, or form from other people in their community." (Here's how to deal with feeling victimized for wearing a mask.)
But masks are just one part of the equation. The more mitigation efforts society takes as a whole, the more protected immunocompromised people will be.
For those who are immunocompromised, it is more crucial now than ever that their family members, coworkers, friends, and community members get vaccinated if they're eligible. Here's how to talk to loved ones about getting the vaccine.
And of course, other mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 remain the same:
Maintain a social distance of six feet or more from people outside of your household whenever possible.
Wear face coverings when out in public and when you can't be socially distant.
Wash or sanitize your hands frequently and disinfect commonly touched surfaces.
Avoid large groups or situations when it will be hard to be socially distant.
When spending time with others, being outdoors is safer than indoors.
"People who are immunocompromised need to understand that they need to take all the precautions and really need to be careful," says Dr. Fortune. "It's a time to be very vigilant."
"The best way we will protect the most vulnerable among us is to do as many things as we can to make it very difficult for this virus to spread," says Dr. Aronoff. "Right now, vaccines are the best ways to do this, but masks and distance and paying close attention to public health guidance are key elements of what should hopefully be a successful strategy."
Bergwerk M, et al. Covid-19 Breakthrough Infections in Vaccinated Health Care Workers. July 28, 2021. The New England Journal of Medicine. doi: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2109072.
Bernal JL, et al. Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant. The New England Journal of Medicine. July 21, 2021. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2108891.
Chodick G, et al. The Effectiveness of the Two-Dose BNT162b2 Vaccine: Analysis of Real-World Data. Clinical Infectious Diseases. May 17, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab438.
COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections Reported to CDC — United States, January 1–April 30, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 25, 2021. doi: http://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7021e3.
COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Case Investigation and Reporting. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 23, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html.
COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Guidance Summary for Patients with Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Disease. American College of Rheumatology. August 19, 2021. https://www.rheumatology.org/Portals/0/Files/COVID-19-Vaccine-Clinical-Guidance-Rheumatic-Diseases-Summary.pdf.
FDA authorizes REGEN-COV monoclonal antibody therapy for post-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) for COVID-19. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. August 10, 20201. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-authorizes-regen-cov-monoclonal-antibody-therapy-post-exposure-prophylaxis-prevention-covid-19.
Griffin JB, et al. SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Hospitalizations Among Persons Aged ≥16 Years, by Vaccination Status — Los Angeles County, California, May 1–July 25, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 24, 2021. doi: http://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7034e5.
Hall et al. Randomized Trial of a Third Dose of mRNA-1273 Vaccine in Transplant Recipients. New England Journal of Medicine. August 11, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2111462.
Interview with says David Aronoff, MD, Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee
Interview with Sarah Fortune, MD, Chair of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Kates J. COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases: Data from the States. Kaiser Family Foundation. July 30, 2021. https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-cases-data-from-the-states.
Khan N, et al. Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in a Veterans Affairs Cohort of Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease With Diverse Exposure to Immunosuppressive Medications. Gastroenterology. May 25, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2021.05.044.
Mandavilli A. What to Know About Breakthrough Infections and the Delta Variant. The New York Times. August 26, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/article/covid-breakthrough-delta-variant.html.
Mandavilli A. Behind the Masks, a Mystery: How Often Do the Vaccinated Spread the Virus? The New York Times. July 29, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/29/health/cdc-masks-vaccinated-transmission.html.
Read: Internal CDC document on breakthrough infections. The Washington Post. July 30, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/cdc-breakthrough-infections/94390e3a-5e45-44a5-ac40-2744e4e25f2e/?_=1.
Science Brief: COVID-19 Vaccines and Vaccination. COVID-19. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 27, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/fully-vaccinated-people.html.
Tenforde MW, et al. Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccines for Preventing Covid-19 Hospitalizations in the United States. medRxiv. July 8, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.08.21259776.


In Physics, Spherical Harmonics are special functions that are used to define the surface of a sphere. Spherical harmonics are important in many theoretical and practical applications. They are most commonly used for solving partial differential equations. They may be used to represent functions defined on the surface of a sphere. They used to represent functions defined on the surface of a sphere similar to how circular functions are used to represent functions on a circle. Spherical harmonics take their simplest form in Cartesian coordinates which obey Laplace's equation.
Spherical harmonics were first investigated in connection with the Newtonian potential of Newton's law of universal gravitation in three dimensions. It was by examining Laplace's equation in spherical coordinates, Thomson and Tait recovered Laplace's spherical harmonics. An alternative definition is that spherical harmonics may be viewed as the angular portion of a set of solutions to Laplace's equation in three dimensions.
Here at MathsOne, one of the Best Maths Tuition Centres in Trivandrum we educate our students in the basics of Mathematics that we often overlook.


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Q: ng-image-appear- not working I go through a link below..
AngularJS Module to make images appear with transition as they load.
codepen link
I use it in my application but not getting tranisition and animation effects
HTML:

Angular:
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A: You need to add the references to your project,
https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.2.25/angular.min.js
https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/angular.image-appear/1.11.3/ng-image-appear.min.js

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text:
Alberique Project
A building that maintained it's character from almost a century ago
The building is located in the heart of Extramurs the name given to one of the districts of Valencia. Its name refers to the fact that it was built as an extension of Ciutat Vella (the old city center) just outside the city walls of Valencia. The majority of buildings were built between 1900 and 1960. Today it is one of the busiest neighborhoods in the area. Both the interior and exterior of the building have wrought iron details. The staircase bannister is very attractive; and the ceramic tiles in the hallway as well as, the stucco details on the ceilings are characteristic of the architecture of that time. The character of the neighborhood is a combination of traditional shops and bars and new avant-garde spaces. Its main feature is that there are always people in the streets.
A complete renovation is planned, with eight quality apartments fully equipped and furnished. Also, the building facade and common areas will be refurbished
Calle Alberique 10
Ground floor + 3 floors
For total renovation
Rehabilitation works in progress
info@nextpointsocimi.com
Via Laietana 57, Barcelona,
08003, piso 3-2, Spain
Berkovich 4 st Museum Tower,
7th Floor Tel Aviv