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Meta Religion / World Religions / Ancient Religions / Mesopotamia / Summerian Mesopotamia /
Nergal And Ereshkigal
RE-ENCHANTING THE MESOPOTAMIAN UNDERWORLD
Note: Preliminary version. Complete article will be presented in the files of the series "Journeying the Mesopotamian Underworld"
by Lishtar
The myth of the Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal can be briefly summarized as a passionate love story that takes place in the Mesopotamian Underworld, where the main characters are Ereshkigal, the inflexible goddess of the Land of No Return, and Nergal, the stubborn god of War and Pestilences. However, there is much more to this myth than a simple love story, starting with the fact that it is unique in world myth and religion a myth that is love story with a happy ending in the realm of the Dead. Recently, Professor Rivkah Harris analyzed Nergal and Ereshkigal in the light of the standards for the expected behavior of men and women towards gender and sexuality in Ancient Mesopotamia (refer to her essay in the section of Essays of Gateways). In what follows, our analysis of the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal will focus on the following aspects which have not as yet been covered in depth by the literature:
a) on the mighty figures of Ereshkigal and Nergal and the fascinating account of their love story, which is indeed a tale of the awakening of two lonely deities to each other. Until Ereshkigal and Nergal meet and fall for each other, both are powerful deities, very much alone, self-contained and all-in-one-selves. We can say that he is the outsider god and she the outcast goddess of the Mesopotamian pantheon, solitary and the sole rulers of their realms, i.e. Ereshkigal rules the Underworld, the Land of the Dead and of Ancestral Memory, whereas Nergal is the God of War and Pestilences. But as the myth unfolds, both will open up to each other, bond and become the mighty rulers of the Mesopotamian Underworld. Many Assyriologists have seen this myth as Ereshkigal´s surrender to Nergal, relinquishing her sole authority over the realm of the dead to him, a male god. I will propose a new interpretation to this passage. I see Ereshkigal´s surrender in this case to Nergal not as an act of passivity. Instead, she gives up separateness in order to be fulfilled by the beloved´s essence without losing sight of her own uniqueness. Remember that the proud and rude god of the first section of the myth descends to the Depths divested of his powers to bow to the designs of the Underworld and the goddess, very unwillingly at first. As the myth unfolds, he changes as much as she does. So the union of Ereshkigal and Nergal humanizes both goddess and god, a fact that has been overlooked in the literature.
b) It is implicit in the marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal the redemption of the Mesopotamian Underworld in the sense that the Land of the Dead, Justice and Ancestral Memory is transformed in a place where passion and connectedness can be found.
These points are frequently overlooked and are of paramount importance to heal Underworld experience in Ancient Mesopotamia as well. The idea implied in the myth that the Underworld can also be a place for love and passion side by side to justice and balance constitutes a living legacy still valid for our times. Based on the above, we would like to add that the re-enchantment of Ereshkigal and Nergal and the Underworld is a much needed step to retrieve the image of wholeness of all realms that also are mirrored in our souls. Because by the Duranki, the Bond between Heaven and Earth, all that is above is the same to all that is below, a truth our Mesopotamian soul ancestors knew and tried to live to the fullest.
2. FACTUAL DATA ON THE MYTH
Two different versions of the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal are extant. The earlier one, found at Tell El-Amarna in Egypt and dating from the fifteenth or fourteenth century BCE is a very abbreviated and probably incomplete story of some 90 lines. The much later seventh-century BCE Late Assyrian version from Sultantepe is much longer, perhaps consisting of some 750 lines. A later Neo-Babylonian fragment from Uruk restores some of the passages missing in this account. Both versions have many lacunae and present, therefore, numerous problems; at many important junctures in the text, the breaks leave one guessing. Nevertheless, the basic outline of the story and its themes and motifs are fairly clear.
3. STORYLINE
Basically, the storyline goes as follows. The celestial gods decide to hold a banquet. According to cosmic regulations, the gods of heaven cannot descend to the Underworld, nor can chthonic deities ascend to the heavens. So a messenger is sent to Ereshkigal, Mistress of the Great Land, asking the mighty goddess to choose and send a messenger to receive her "food portion" from the table of the heavenly deities.
Here we have a first major healing for the image of the Underworld and Ereshkigal. The Great Goddess of the Land of No Return is not ignored by Anu, the Skyfather. Indeed, it is explicitly stated in the text that Ereshkigal´s presence at least by proxy matters to the father of the gods, who accords his daughter due respect for her cosmic position in the Depths Below. Ereshkigal chooses Namtar, her faithful minister to represent her. Namtar in Sumerian means fate, so whoever contradicts Namtar´s designs, contradict his or her destiny. Thus, Namtar ascends "the long stairway to heaven", and the celestial gods gods respectfully stand for greetings and to kneel in front of Namtar according to the Uruk version, as befits the messenger of the Great Goddess. Thus, all stand [or kneel] except for Nergal, god of war and diseases. Nergal must then make amends for his insult.
In the earlier account, Nergal is apparently summoned to be punished by execution. But the cunning god Ea [Enki in Sumerian, the god of the Sweet Underground Waters, Magick and Crafts, comes to Nergal´s rescue by giving him seven demons, personification of plagues, to accompany him for his defense. With their help, Nergal is able to reach Ereshkigal and he overpowers her and becomes her husband. In the later version, far more elaborate and in some crucial passages very different, Nergal makes two visits to the Netherworld. It is unclear whether on thefirst visit he is to receive a pardon from the goddess or whether he attempts to defy her. Here too the cunning god Ea/Enki comes to Nergal´s aid. For the first occasion, Ea has him make a throne of chair of many different woods perhaps as a compensatory gift.
Two points should be made here. The first is related to the special wood Nergal´s throne should be made of, which certainly relates to the trees of the Underworld deities which can be also classified as the Lords of the Eternal Return, once They are the Dying and Resurrected gods, such as Damu, Dumuzi, Ninghizida. Furthermore, it should be added that celestial deities such as Nanna/Sin, the moon god, and Utu/Shamash also travel to the Underworld, to return daily to the Heights Above. Secondly and not least important, Stephanie Dalley in Myths from Mesopotamia explains the significance of the throne as an attempt to "ensure that Nergal can escape from the underworld and elude death", connecting it to the ghost´s chair in lexical texts. I agree with Dalley´s views.
So Ea instructs Nergal not to accept the hospitality he will be offered as a guest - not to sit on a chair, not to eat bread or meat, not to drink beer, and not to wash his feet - and also tells him "not to do with her that which men and women do".
Ea´s instructions to Nergal can be summarized by the following: "don´t experience what you are offered, refuse whatever is given to you and most of all, do not open yourself up to Ereshkigal in the most intimate way". It is also a recurrent pattern in Mesopotamian myth and religion that if one wants to return from the Underworld, one should not accept food and drink from the Depths Below. See my discussion and Adapa´s (Twin Rivers Rising) brilliant treatise on Mesopotamian Religion in the Religion and Magick section here in Gateways). Damu, the Divine Child of Mesopotamia, only eats a lavish banquet on his honor upon being released from the Underworld as well. It is clear therefore that to accept the hospitality of the Underworld is to accept the Underworld´s designs and stay there for good, unless otherwise stated by Ereshkigal and chthonic deities. However, no other deity in the Mesopotamian pantheon has ever descended with a throne, a symbol of rulership, as both a gift and a challenge perhaps to the Underworld´s Great Queen. No other deity is advised against lovemaking to Ereshkigal. Thus, Nergal´s descent is unique in all aspects.
On the first visit, of which many lines are missing, Nergal apparently heeds Ea´s advice. But after a break in the text, the goddess is found stripping for her bath. This time
He gave in to his heart´s desire to do what men and women do,
The two embraced each other
And went passionately to bed
Perhaps it is time now to explore in more detail the mighty figures of Ereshkigal and Nergal, and establish some interesting points to deepen our understanding of their love story embedded in this great myth.
3.1 UNDERSTANDING ERESHKIGAL AND NERGAL BETTER
By birth Nergal is the second born of Enlil and Ninlil, conceived as ransom price for Enlil to conquer his way back to the Heights Above by Ninlil´s trust and courage in the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil, or the Begetting of the Moon God Nanna. Nergal is therefore the child of the leading couple in the Mesopotamian pantheon, a prince in his own right. Thus another justification for his epithet of Enlil of the Underworld. But Nergal´s conception is also a tale of a trial where both Enlil and Ninlil have to go beyond appearances to apprehend the essence of each other and grow as partners on the make. Stubbornness and impulsiveness are two strong traits of Nergal. However, He can also be said mystically to be the Lord who test our limits through life´s hardest trials.
How many times war and diseases are self-inflicted or caused by our own thoughtlessness? So although our soul ancestors did not know of psychosomatic diseases, they knew for sure a) that many problems in the physical world are caused by the deviation of righteous living (not pleasing to the gods´ designs) and b) that diseases were caused by demons and humans, not being able to divine gods ´ designs for them, had to be punished for this fault. This is why Nergal can be considered a somber aspect of Shamash, the Judge of the Day, whereas Nergal may well represent the Judge and the Healing possible if one survives the Dark Night of the Soul. We must not forget how important was law, order and balance for the ancient Mesopotamians, so in the presence of ultimate desolation, represented by the power of war and pestilences, we can never be fully at ease, but feel a lurking fear in Nergal´s presence. Diseases in Mesopotamia were thought to be caused by angering the gods, and in this aspect, Jungian psychology shows that our soul ancestors were not totally wrong. If the gods can be also seen as energy patterns that ensoul life, angering the gods would mean to open oneself up to self-inflicted diseases such as depression, a well-known gateway to immuno-related conditions which debilitate our own capability to be in balance with ourselves and in relation with the world around us.
Thus, Nergal can be better described as the young god full of raw, primal energy that explodes sometimes as destructive rage, or unbalanced energy. He is also the god who dispenses hard justice to humankind, self-contained, yet needy, but too proud to admit the depths of his desire. Nergal is a loner who does not know well the designs of his heart and soul, perhaps because he has not listened to the wants of his body either. Very much like the image of a Dark Eros, harsh, arid, barefoot and homeless, searching beneath the stars but not finding the truth that for him is to be found with Ereshkigal, his countersexual image, in the depths below. Nergal is the mighty Hunter and Prowler of the Night´s Mysteries, a figure of allure who is also virginal in the sense of untouched. We don´t know of other consorts Nergal might have had, but we do know that once he met the Great Queen of the Underworld, he will not let her go. Thus, Nergal equals Ereshkigal, who is one-in-herself and a mighty goddess as well.
Ereshkigal, on the other hand, is one of the oldest goddesses of Mesopotamia, and according to the Creation myth, Eridu model, She is the daughter of Anu, the Skyfather, and Nammu, the Primeval Mother and Waters of the Sea. She was engendered out of the tears that Anu, the Skyfather, shed for Ki, the Earth Mother, his sister-beloved, when He was forever separated from Her by the impulsive growth of the first couple´s firstborn, Enlil, Lord Air/Wind. Anu´s tears for Ki met the salt waters of Nammu the Sea, and from the mingling of their bodies a Boy and a Girl, Divine Twins were born. Enki and Ereshkigal.
So Ereshkigal is the twin Sister of Enki, the lord of Magic, Crafts and the Watery Deep. Thus She represents the Knowing Within, manifested without as Wise Judgement. Ereshkigal´s name means "Lady of the Great Earth", and suggests She may have been the Underworld aspect of Ninhursag-Ki, the Great Mother and Living Earth, the first daughter of Nammu the Sea. From myths, we also learn that She was abducted by Kur and "took the Underworld for Her domain". Thus, although apparently abducted to the Depths Within and Land´s End, She became the ruler of the Inner realms when She got there.
Historically, the earliest dedication inscription to Ereshkigal, by Lu-Utu, ensi of Luma under the Third Dynasty of Ur, uses the feminine equivalent of the same phrase of Her: "mistress of the land of the setting sun" . So far as is known, Ereshkigal had no special place in the pantheon of Umma at this time, so this may be taken as evidence that Ereshkigal was on the rise at the end of the 3rd millennium. Thus in the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, first known from early second-millennium copies, Ereshkigal rules the Underworld, assisted by other divine powers but without equal. Nothing is heard of Ninazu, Lord Healer and Lord of the Good Tree, or Nergal himself, though Ereshkigal´s husband is named as Gugalanna. The Akkadian Descent of Ishtar preserves the same status of Ereshkigal as the Sumerian. Indeed, from myth we learn that Nergal is much younger than Ereshkigal, as He is secondborn of Enlil and Ninlil, Lord and Lady Air/Wind, conceived himself in the Underworld, as told in the myth of Enlil and Ninlil, or the Birth of the Moon God.
I see Ereshkigal also as the Mistress of Essence, who teaches us to go beyond Appearances, to the Reality of Justice and Ultimate Truth. And although from earlier sources we know Ereshkigal was married to Gugallana, we don´t know of other consorts of Hers, or how the relationship was. We know though that Ereshkigal is mourning deeply for the death of her consort in the Descent of Inanna. Thus, it is quite likely that as Nergal ascends to power in Babylon and Assyria in the religious pantheon because of his connection with war, He becomes the most suitable consort to Ereshkigal, the Great Goddess of the Underworld, for in essence Nergal is the Enlil and the Shamash of the Great Depths, prince and judge as one.
3.2 THE AWAKENING
Although Ereshkigal´s first husband is called Gugallana in the myth of the Descent of Inanna, we do not know much about him. What we do know is that Ereshkigal rules alone the realm of the Dead. Until Nergal comes into the picture, Ereshkigal is always depicted in as a figure of power, a mighty goddess, but never as a love or affection-inspiring deity. Neither do we know about Nergal´s former lovers. Therefore, both Nergal and Ereshkigal constitute the sacred image of the Divine Stranger who is known like no Other to each other, a recurrent motif in world mythology. S/He appears in many guises, usually in disguise and brings the gift of sexual desire and connection only for those who are capable to see who S/He really is and are generous in Spirit. Above all, the Wondrous Stranger brings the sacred dimension of lovemaking, and this is implied in the myth by the rank of the characters involved, how they relate to each other and connect to become true partners as the story unfolds.
How can we substantiate the above mentioned premise? Because Ereshkigal receives Nergal, who had offended her in the banquet of the great gods, and treats him as a guest in her realm: she offers him hospitality and ultimately, shows herself to him, and then he cannot deny her. Nergal, on the other hand, descends prepared to stay the minimum space of time possible, willing to deny all the Underworld had to offer. But upon meeting Ereshkigal, he forgets all his preliminary intentions and opens up himself to the Great Goddess: he accepts the Underworld and welcomes Ereshkigal into his arms, spending six days as her lover and being equally loved.
Coming into the body, ours first and then accepting the intimacy of the beloved´s touch, is a pre-condition to be in connection with ourselves and the worlds around us. Unless we pay attention to the warning signs of need in our bodies, we risk severe illness. This is why there is an intrinsic relationship between body, mind, heart and spirit, so the first step for Ereshkigal and Nergal to abandon loneliness and all-one-ness is that they must be aware of their own needs, acknowledge who they are and then reach out for the Wondrous Stranger who will be known as No Other in their lives. These needs are present in the text as physical needs, food, drink, hospitality and lovemaking, with the added dimension of the throne Nergal carved as a gift to ransom his way back to the heights. The meaning of the thone carved out of sacred wood is also sovereignty and rulership that Nergal was going to leave behind in the depths to return to the Heights. However, Nergal forgets all his first intentions. Instead, he decides to accept all the Underworld has to offer, divesting himself of all his powers to be taken by the Goddess as the Beloved and made whole.
This is one of the deepest mysteries embedded in this great myth. Nergal and Ereshkigal need to come fully into themselves first and then to awaken to each other´s presence so that love can blossom in all levels. The impossibility to grasp the immensity of the implications of Nergal´s surrender to Ereshkigal are immense, as well as Ereshkigal´s acceptance of Nergal goes beyond words. Our soul ancestors knew of these truths, as we unconsciously grasp them. The moment Ereshkigal and Nergal become a presence to each other, they accept their own needs for the Beloved, and as such they honor and heal the soul-hurts of past loneliness and lack of connection both had endured to re-enchant the Underworld for the first time to the fullest in world religion by bringing love and fulfillment to it. The passionate dimension of their lovemaking sacralizes the Underworld, a major healing to the realm of the Dead and Ultimate Justice yet to be accomplished in the fundamentalist religions of our days, which see the Underworld as the realm of hellfires and suffering. It does not need to be always so if one is willing to make amends and bow to the designs of Ereshkigal and Nergal and connect to the Land of Memories of our own and heal them. I would add that coming into the body is just fully achieved when the Spirit ensouls matter. When Ereshkigal and Nergal fall for each other, it is the Spirit of Love that fills them up, and as such, they become an enduring Presence to last in Wholeness for time immemorial.
"The two embraced each other and went passionately to bed". The wording of these two lines is significant: the use of each other implies a mutual and egalitarian sexual relationship between the two gods. The term passionately comes from the verb to surge, to become spirited, excited, to rage and is frequently used to describe water, horses, lions, storms and warfare. It denotes the intensity and high pitch of the gods´ encounter. The details of their sexual intimacy are few; more is conveyed indirectly than explicitly. For six days the two lay in bed. Each time Ereshkigal is named, she is referred to as queen; significantly, no epithet precedes Nergal´s name, but he is referred to by his other name, Erra. Thus, it is Ereshkigal who is always in charge as the mighty goddess and Nergal who surrenders to her, but it must be understood that there is in fact no surrender in sacred lovemaking, but a blending of selves, or the victory of mind, heart, body and soul in connection.
3.3 ERESHKIGAL´S RESPONSE
However, because this is not a simple love story, after six days of lovemaking, Nergal is eager to return to the Heights Above. He leaves Ereshkigal asleep and wins his way back to the Heights, no where to be seen while he ascends. Why six days, one may ask? Seven are the seven planets of antiquity (whose common names are the Moon, the Sun, the Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter), seven are the levels of inner and outer initiation in this context. Six days means that the initiatory cycle Nergal started to experience in the Underworld is not as yet completed. So Nergal leaves, as a thief disappearing into the night, leaving Ereshkigal alone again in the realm of the depths.
Why was Nergal´s ascent so easy and free from any problems, one may ask? One of the answers may well be that by bowing to the Underworld designs and mating with the Underworld´s Mistress, he has conquered the right to cross the Inner realms, although we must convey he left the Underworld as a fugitive and not as the consort of the Great Goddess of the Land of No Return as yet.
When Ereshkigal is told by Namtar, her faithful vizier, that Nergal has vanished, her rage is expressed in loud and painful ways, but from the standpoint of strength. She says explicitly that he is the love of her delight and that she has not had enough of him! According to Stephanie Dalley,:
" Ereshkigal cried out aloud, grievously,
Fell from the throne to the ground,
Then straightened up from the ground.
Her tears flowed down her cheeks:
"Erra, the lover of my delight -
I did not have enough delight with him before he left!
Erra, the lover of my delight -
I did not have enough delight with him before he left'.
A major healing occurs here, because Ereshkigal states clearly the reason for her distress and is not passive in accepting Nergal´s desertion. Namtar proposes to go up to the Heights and bring Nergal back to his mistress and then another impressive passage takes place. For Ereshkigal is not willing to accept her past state of loneliness and separation, and wants Nergal back, and places full responsibility unto the great gods for the final decision.
Fundamentally, Ereshkigal defines that she wants the lover of her delight back and takes action to clarify issues. Strategy is in the goddess´ words, because she carefully tells exactly what Nergal has to do and say to the gods. Her request to the gods is in fact a speech full of subtleties. She first complains about her lonely childhood, about not having known of children´s play and fun as a young goddess, the responsibilities she had taken upon her shoulders as the Great Goddess of the Underworld since an early age. Thus, she states her case from a position of power. The word power in relation to women in patriarchy has connotations of manipulation and cunning. This is not the the case here. Ereshkigal is vocal about what she endured for power, the loneliness of being the Great Judge and is even clearer what and who she desires. Finally, Ereshkigal states clearly her threat, i.e. that she will not hesitate to use all her powers to make herself heard by the gods. Thus, Ereshkigal´s rage is justified, not a passive acceptance of fate as overemphasized by post-Mesopotamian masochist maddonas of sorrow or helpless damsels in distress who need to be rescued, once they are so disempowered to do it themselves. Ereshkigal is distressed, but never helpless and her rage is also under control.
Why can we affirm with all certainty that Ereshkigal´s justified anger is under control? Because Namtar fails to bring Nergal back with him to the Underworld when he ascends for the first time with this task, and Ereshkigal does not go mad with rage. Instead, Ereshkigal analyses her vizier´s account, understands what may have taken place and immediately instructs Namtar to go back and look for the god who shows signs of being uncomfortable with the vizier´s presence.
3.4 NERGAL´S RETURN TO THE UNDERWORLD
Namtar fails to recognize Nergal, who is disguised by a spell cast by Enki. He returns and tells his Mistress, "My lady, there was only one god who sat bareheaded blinking and cringing". Nergal is bareheaded, meaning that he is probably divested of his horned crown, one of the symbols of his high status as a god. Secondly, he blinks and cringes in front of Namtar, a most unsuitable behavior for a young and proud god. It is not Ereshkigal whose behavior is to be condemned, but Nergal for not being courteous, for having deserted his beloved without a word, for being in fact such an emotional coward.
Because this is another great Mesopotamian myth, it is not Namtar that brings Nergal back to the Underworld, but the god himself descends out of his free will. Nergal then :
And went up to her and laughed.
He seized her by her hairdo,
And pulled her from the throne.
He seized her by her tresses
[ ].
And went passionately to bed.
They lay there, queen Ereshkigal and Erra, for a first day and a second day.
They lay there, queen Ereshkigal and Erra, for a third day.
They lay there, queen Ereshkigal and Erra, for a fourth day.
They lay there, queen Ereshkigal and Erra, for a fifth day.
They lay there, queen Ereshkigal and Erra, for a sixth day.
When the seventh day arrived,
Anu made his voice heard and spoke,
Addressed his words to Kakka, his vizier,
"Kakka, I shall send you to Kurnugi,
To the home of Ereshkigal who dwells within Erkalla,
To say, "That god, whom I sent you,
Forever [ ]
Those above [ ]
Those below [ ]
(about 20 - 25 lines missing at end) (extracted from Before the Muses, by Foster, Yale)
Nergal enters laughing and from a position of a god (or man) who knows what he has to do and does it gladly. Laughter has a sexual connotation, it is an expression of joy and delight. Gone is the emotional coward god now. The god and man recognize the desires of his mind, body, heart and soul and follow them in perfect love and perfect trust that he will not be denied.
Ereshkigal´s and Nergal´s encounter is phrased exactly as it was on the first occasion, with the exception that now the initiatory cycle of seven days is fulfilled. When the seventh day comes, Anu speaks to his vizier giving him a message to be relayed, presumably to both Ereshkigal and Nergal. Though very little is preserved of what follows, we are cued into the heart of its contents in the word forever. Nergal is to remain forever in the Land of No Return to rule over it with Ereshkigal beside him.
4. RE-ENCHANTING THE MESOPOTAMIAN UNDERWORLD
No Sumerian version of this myth exists, so we have to turn to modern analysis of this myth, which can be classed in the following categories:
a) the transition of sole rule in the Underworld from a solitary deity to a pair (as suggested by Dalley);
b) a trend "towards total marginalization and privatization of goddesses" after Sumerian times, according to Frymer-Kensky´s "In the Wake of Goddeses". Ereshkigal is demoted to the position of spouse of Nergal, who then becomes the ruler of the Underworld. Frymer-Kensky also believes that the Akkadian myth was written to account for this takeover; and
c) some Assyriologists also think wrongly, I must add, that in this myth Nergal is sexually aggressive and therefore subdues Ereshkigal to surrender control of the Underworld by overpowering her with Sex. We do not know of how sexually aggressive either Ereshkigal or Nergal were before they meet, so both god and goddess are fairly matched. Both ignited quite the same passionate response in each other. Ereshkigal does spare Nergal´s life when they first meet and he shows tenderness towards Ereshkigal, especially in the Amarna version, when he wipes away the goddess´ tears.
Therefore, in this article, we propose a different approach, which is the re-enchantment of the experience of the Mesopotamian Underworld, as well as the healing of the mighty figures of Ereshkigal and Nergal. We propose the soul-retrieval of the Realm of the Dead and Land of Ultimate Justice, and we affirm that only a civilization that had acquired substantial religious and metaphysical refinement could free the Underworld, the Land of Ancestral Memory, Justice and the Dead from the chains of guilt, damnation and hellfires, through the sacred love story of two of the most complex deities of the pantheon, the Goddess of the Dead and the God of War and Pestilences. Because we can also understand this myth, if we have eyes to see, as both gods participating in the afterlife as soul-mates, equal in power and divinity, not subservient to each other.
It must be stressed that Ereshkigal in all versions of this myth starts from a position of power, and even when she finally takes Nergal as her consort, she never loses her status as the Great Goddess and Judge of the Underworld. It is frequently overlooked that the true sovereign is Ereshkigal, and that it is through marriage to Her that Nergal ascends to the position of Judge of the Dead. The lesson embedded in this part of the myth is that sovereignty in a partnership is not about dominance of one partner over the other, but about finding mutuality and respect for the sovereignty of the other.
Meeting the masculine and the feminine, human and divine within and without, on an equal footing is essential for relationships of integrity. Thus the enduring appeal of this mighty myth which we can perceive, but many cannot spell it out or live by the immensity of its truth. It is remarkable that the Mesopotamians achieved the healing of the Divine Masculine and Feminine in full partnership in their realm of the Everlasting Memory, Ultimate Truth and All-Seeing Justice.The subtlety and depth of this inner teaching contained in the Marriage of Nergal and Ereshkigal is yet to be accomplished in our times, but the Mesopotamians knew of these facts better than us and this is one of their greatest legacies to us. Who saves whom from loneliness and alienation, is impossible to say, because this is a myth of partnership and sovereignty. Nergal and Ereshkigal knew in their souls what Gerhardt Dorn, the 17th Century Swiss alchemist put in a brilliant way:
"Blind Soul, arm yourself with the Torch of the Mysteries, and in the Night of Earth, you shall find your Divine Double. Follow this Divine Guide, for S/He has the keys to your lives, past and to come"...
At the end of the myth, therefore, Ereshkigal and Nergal are not longer alone, alienated either from their deep essences or from each other. The consummation of Divine Love can take place in the Inner Realms of the Depths, and once again, all worlds are made whole.
September 7th 2000
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J-Pop Superstar Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Returns in Brand New Collab with Ninjala!
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And a "Ninja Re Bang Bang" IPPON Decoration as a Battle Reward
Ninjala recently celebrated a new milestone of 6 million downloads and outlined a roadmap of upcoming content leading up to the game's one-year anniversary. Season 4 features a new Featured Battle, Loot Battle Matsuri, and an upcoming collaboration with free-to-play hack-and-slash action game LET IT DIE.
Review codes for Story Mode Chapter 1 and 2 are available upon request. Please email gungho@triplepointpr.com for codes.
Press assets for the game can be found here.
To learn more about Ninjala, visit the official website, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.
GungHo Online Entertainment America, Inc. (GOEA) is a multiplatform publisher dedicated to delivering the best titles, content, and support for the online gaming community. Established in 2012 and led by former Square Enix U.S.A. and XSEED Games executive Jun Iwasaki, GOEA is the US division of GungHo Online Entertainment (GOE), an established Japanese publisher. GOEA's content partners include leading developers Grasshopper Manufacture, SUPERTRICK GAMES, Game Arts, Acquire, and Gravity, all of which are subsidiaries of GOE. GOEA publishes and distributes network-oriented games for console, handheld, mobile, tablet, and MMO-style games for PC. GOEA is located in El Segundo, CA. For more information, visit www.gunghoonline.com.
Trademarks are property of their respective owners. Nintendo Switch is a trademark of Nintendo.
Natsuki Nishikawa
natsuki@gunghoonline.com
Ambassador Highlight: Ochi
Welcome, Ochi!
GRANDIA 25th Anniversary Celebration!
Calling all adventurers, near and far, to gather 'round the Burnflame and celebrate 25 years of GRANDIA!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


They met in a nightclub in Fiji when Christine travelled to Fiji for work and it was love at first sight. Though Oni moved to Australia to be with Christine, on their wedding day they wanted to return to the island they both now call 'home'.
We catch up with Bride Christine on what went in to planning her Fiji wedding day in paradise.
We met at Whitehouse Nightclub in Nadi – I was there for a work trip and Oni was out with friends. We met on the dancefloor and that was it. We dated long distance for 2 years and then Oni moved to Australia.
We chose Fiji because it is our home. Literally for Oni and its home in my heart. We wouldn't have got married anywhere else and it enabled his family to attend. Outrigger has always been one of my favourite resorts and we spent time there when we started dating, it just has the most amazing atmosphere.
To research and organise our wedding, a lot of hours were spent internet browsing! Bula Bride was one of my go to resources, browsing on apps like Instagram and Pinterest also gave us ideas. I did the majority of the bookings and organising myself with the help of Oni, bridesmaids and my parents.
For the main components I organised this myself as I am a travel agent. I also organised the majority of the Australian guests travel. I enlisted the assistance of a wedding planner and stylist, Charnele from The Wedding Shop Fiji who guided me on styling ideas and setup options and assisted me to make decisions throughout the planning process.
The morning was very relaxed, I enjoyed breakfast with my niece who was my flower girl. I met with my mother in law so she could set up the traditional Fijian mats in the chapel and then from there we headed back to the room to start getting ready. We had a really relaxed, some beautiful tunes in the background to get us in the dancing mood and really just had fun. I wasn't worried about the rain which had been coming down all morning, apparently its good luck, but amazingly it stopped right before the ceremony.
Myself, Bridesmaid, Flower Girl, Mother & Grandmother of the bride were all styled for both hair and makeup by Totoka Hair & Make Up. They were my first and only choice as I was super impressed by their work. I specifically requested Lodo because he looked like a lot of fun and I was nothing short of amazed. His work is flawless and I love him so much. The other beautiful ladies were amazing too – Ludy & Arieta, their work was gorgeous and I especially thank Ludy for doing my grandmothers special "old school" hairstyle request of roller set curls!
I purchased my mother and father in law both beautiful watches from a local Jeweller in Sydney. I also had personalised embroidery done on a handkerchief for my father with a sentimental note from me.
We had a very simple ceremony with a blessing from the celebrant. We wrote our own vows which were personal to us. We had traditional Fijian mats laid by Oni's mother and aunt for our ceremony.
Our photographer was Konrad Thorpe – K-Thorpe Photography. I absolutely love Konrad's style of photography. Laid back, natural and taking in the surrounding area. We wanted the backdrop to highlight us as well as Fiji and we felt he captured that very well. His portfolio of beautiful inter-racial couples was stunning and we felt he was the right fit for us.
Our Videographer was Zoom Fiji – their videography skills are by far the most superior I've seen in the market, their content and editing skills are top notch. From the get go they were super professional and friendly and on the day they didn't disappoint. Bruce was amazing to work with and he made the whole crowd feel comfortable – we loved his local lingo and it made everyone feel at ease.
They captured our day with the exact feeling we wanted. They are memories we will cherish forever.
The Outrigger made our wedding cake – we had a chocolate mud cake with vanilla butter cream icing. Simple and delicious, our style! It was decorated with some beautiful greenery and white flowers as well as our "Mr & Mrs Rokotuinasau" cake topper. Our nieces and nephews enjoyed the bottom tier the following day for afternoon tea.
We organised a live band through Kulture Entertainment – they did not disappoint – they were fantastic playing a wide range of music and getting people up on the dance floor all night. We also utilised their MC service and organised our guest special entertainment through them with a 15 minute fire show. Everyone had the best time. After farewelling the majority of guests, a few of us kicked on to the Vakavanua lounge at Outrigger where we had a few more drinks and danced the night away.
ADVICE FOR BRIDES PLANNING A FIJI WEDDING: Have fun and have patience. Fiji time is a real thing and sometimes you need to be persistent with some suppliers. At the end of the day, you're getting married in the most beautiful place on the earth and no matter what happens before or on the day, the most important thing is that you're marrying the love of your life. Seek the advice of brides that have done it before you, there are always little things you can learn from their experience. Be organised and stay on top of the legal side of things (Outrigger made this too easy for us). Be prepared to arrive in Fiji at least 3 days before the wedding, it makes the world of difference and allows you to settle in and do those last minute things you may have forgotten. Don't sweat the small stuff, the day is over before you know it so take it in and enjoy being with your family and friends. Happy planning!
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY: Marrying the love of my life is the main one but my second most favourite part of the day was the last song to be played – my friend started a conga line and I wondered if it would take off? Within 30 seconds almost everyone was up dancing in the conga line, Aussie guests, Fijian guests, old and young, the Outrigger event staff even joined in. It was the most beautiful celebration of all the different people, cultures, ages and the most amazing thing to witness. Everyone was just having the most fun, everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves. It was pure happiness and I stood there in the middle of it, capturing the moment and I watch the video almost every day. It was so special.


Writer Beware shines a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of scams, schemes, and pitfalls that prey on authors.
Writer Beware® looks at Amazon's Kindle Scout.
I've talked a little bit about Scout before, but it's worth revisiting in the post-NaNo season (particularly since it looks specifically tailored to pick up desperate post-NaNo submissions). Basically, Scout seems to combine everything that's hard about self-publishing with everything that's crap about traditional publishing, without offering any of the benefits1 of either. I think the reality is that if you have the sort of organised platform that would be required to get your book crowsourced to the top of the Scout reading pile, you're probably okay to just. Yanno. Straight-up self-pub it. Not to mention that, if a book is good enough to get through Scout's second-phase editor read-through, it's probably good enough to get through an editor read-through at a tradpub house, too.
I mean… IDK. I'm not the boss of your manuscript, so do whatever you want with it I guess. But… yeah. I'm not sold on the benefits of Scout, let me put it that way.


text:
Q: How do I print a receipt on android using Python? I have written a simple cash register app (for android) using Kivy for my friend who's opening up a shop. I was wondering if anyone knows how to print an actual receipt using Python?
I know how to create the receipt and I can find out how to make it into a pdf or a textfile but I can't seem to find a way to send it to a printer once a button is pressed.
Is it something that can be done easily?
I've done a google search but I couldn't find anything helpful.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
Politician warns Welsh will flock to leave unless alliance shifts
A leading Welsh politician has warned that the University of Wales needs to change radically if it is to retain some of its biggest member institutions.
Janet Ryder, education spokeswoman for Plaid Cymru, told The Times Higher this week that there was a "significant risk" that Swansea, Bangor and Aberystwyth universities would follow Cardiff in leaving the federal institution unless it was prepared to modernise.
She warned: "If that happens, it will lose the value of its brand, which is what is keeping other institutions in. Welsh higher education needs to retain the federal university. But there will need to be some changes for that to happen."
In July last year, Cardiff University decided to leave the 112-year-old federal university and go it alone using its own degree-awarding powers.
The move was described by some higher education leaders as a "fatal blow"
to the University of Wales as a degree-awarding institution as it was feared other Welsh institutions would follow suit.
But the University of Wales's senior vice-chancellor, Tony Chapman, claims that most Welsh institutions are likely to stay in the federal fold - despite moves this year to allow them greater independence.
In June, an internal review of the university, chaired by pro chancellor Dafydd Wigley, concluded that the university should abandon its federal structure to become a "confederation of institutions" accredited to award its degrees.
The ten member institutions will in time take on responsibility for their own academic standards and quality assurance, and those with degree-awarding powers will be free to use them as well as awarding University of Wales degrees.
But Professor Chapman said this week that institutions were unlikely to seek full independence because they valued the University of Wales brand, especially for its currency overseas.


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« openDemocracy on neoliberalism | Main | 20 public-spirited lawyers could change the world »
the myopia of neoliberals (and their critics)
I recently read Angus Bergin's The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Markets Since the Depression. It's the most complete historical take on the development of neoliberal thought, from the 1920s through to the 1970s, that I know of. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in this intellectual history. Aspects of the book irritated me a little, namely the constant stress placed upon the heterogeneity of neoliberal thought and thinkers; if you look at anything closely enough it turns out to be heterogeneous (a simple philosophical premise that hasn't prevented generations of STS scholars examining things into heterogeneous smithereens). This also gives the book a somewhat nerdish feel, which coupled with the fact that the author appears to fall slightly in love with Milton Friedman, makes its necessarily apolitical narrative a little hard to stomach at times. But as a piece of scholarship, yes, read it. I think Philip Mirowski is too harsh here.
But what I really marvelled at, by the time I'd finished, was something that was absent from the book: finance. Given the exhaustiveness of the archival research contained in the book, one can assume that this is a representative absence, and not simply an oversight by the author. We are all familiar with the institutions that animate neoliberals, from Von Mises and Viner onwards: markets, entrepreneurs, anti-trust (sometimes), the state (parts of it), individual choice, and so on. The book doesn't extend up to the 'efficient markets hypothesis', which is a distinctly Chicagoan neoliberal idea which pertains to finance, but is ultimately an argument about markets, not about financial instruments themselves. Friedman's arguments about money, meanwhile, were made to challenge Keynes in the realm of macro-economics, and again did not confront what money actually is, other than that it should hold its value.
Given that the 'actually existing' neoliberal era can now be viewed principally as an era of financialisation (for the best evidence on this, see Greta Krippner's Capitalizing on Crisis), which succeeded in converting the sovereign state into a massive underwriter of private risk-taking, for private profit, the absence of any direct confrontation with finance by neoliberal thinkers is interesting. But then perhaps it's not surprising. Perhaps their continued insistence on analysing capitalism in terms of voluntaristic, individual decision-making (be that of an Austrian, disruptive ilk, or a neo-classical, rationalist one) meant that they were entirely blind to the capitalist capacity of actors to dominate each other using contract and credit. In this, they were simply unable to understand capitalism properly, because they refused to accept that capitalism thrives on relationships of constraint as much as on acts of self-expression and choice.
For the same reason, neoliberals have nothing to say about work or management, other than that trade unions are a block on efficiency and wealth creation. The fact that neoliberals and business schools are so obsessed with 'leadership' is a weird myopia, which assumes that the only significant things that go on in a business occur at the top. This same nonsense is reflected in the way in which corporate governance debates, dominated by agency theory, make scarcely any reference to what goes on outside of the boardroom (that's the same 'outside of the boardroom' where people agree to fix prices, manipulate Libor, etc).
If neoliberals did ever look at work, its likely that they would be unable to properly see it. The distinguishing characteristic of an employment relationship, as a Martian who landed on earth tomorrow would be able to see, is that it represents a check on individual freedom. A job where you can do anything you please is not really a job, unless you're lucky enough to be living in imagineering-Google-job-on-a-bouncy-castle cloud cuckoo land. Ronald Coase's theory of the firm may be clever, but tells us nothing about this aspect of an organisation, given it has to reduce even contracts and domination to a premise that everyone rationally chose this in the first place, in order to remain consistent with rational choice economics.
Work, like credit, is a form of bond. For that matter, so are a lot of consumer goods today: mobile phone contracts, electricity, software with lots of unread T&Cs. Even goods or services which are in principle entirely alienable tend to be used by capitalists today to form some longer term, asymetric relationship (why the hell do I need to supply my date of birth and telephone number when I buy an airline ticket or a pair of headphones in an apple store?). Capitalism today involves the creation of social bonds, arguably far more than it involves exploiting spot markets, which are typically used only as opportunities to walk away from low-level fraud. Fungible money is replaced by traceable, networked, digital money, as Visa's privatisation of exchange at last summer's Olympics demonstrated. The anonymity of the mass market, that entranced the dandies and sociological flaneurs such as Georg Simmel in the late 19th century, is replaced by enforced identification, as a pre-condition of exchange.
That the neoliberals did not anticipate any of this is not in itself an intelletual inditement of them. The fact is that their understanding of the market (and of capitalism) was mainly forged in contradistinction to their vision of state socialism. Often, Friedman and others let their Cold War nationalist enthusiasms cloud their view of economic reality, creating silly oppositions between tyranny and freedom that Margaret Thatcher then parroted like the simplistic Daily Mail columnist that we all wish she had actually been.
It should be added that the Left did not do all that much better in understanding the capitalism that was emerging in the 1980s, assuming that the neoliberals were telling the truth when they declared it was about the 'individual' and the 'market', whereas in fact it was about the use of lawyers, money and digital surveillance to ensnare people in various traps that are no less restrictive than a trade union closed shop. As I argued in this New Statesman essay (part of this ippr publication) if you return to Marxism Today's famous 1988 'new times' edition, you do not see the words 'finance' or 'credit' once. But that was where power was drifting, and how political control was becoming exerted, including over the state itself.
So hindsight is a wonderful thing. But what my analysis does suggest are two things. Firstly, one wonders what rational choice social science (including neo-classical economics) can really offer any longer. Do they now have to build into their always esoteric psychological presuppositions the even crazier assumption that consumers read all the terms and conditions when they pay for something via digital media? Do they assume that the 18-year-old prospective student, considering whether to invest in their 'human capital', is also rationally calculating the bond that this will impose on them and as-yet-unthought-of family for the next third of their life? Without any theory of bond, of the relational and, ultimately, of domination (and not simply a theory that collapses back into rational choice, qua Coase), rational choice modelling is basically glorified sudoku. And lets not pretend that cognitive heuristics is sufficient to make much difference.
Secondly, the critique of capitalism needs to place far less emphasis on individual alienation and annomie, and more on the forms of sociality that are constructed and enforced. This is what I hint at in these two pieces: techniques of the social, preventing individuals from walking away, being anonymous, carrying out cash-based exchange, are now key tools in the armoury of capital. And in reconstructing the pre-history of neoliberal thought, as Bergin admirably does, we also need to notice how wrong they were about the world they thought they were designing, and not simply how influential they were.
August 23, 2013 in capitalism, conservatism, economics | Permalink


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[January 17, 2017 7:58 pm ET] The Crash of TK6491: What We Know
[April 15, 2017 9:44 pm ET] The JetBlue Foundation Celebrates 2017 Grant Recipients with JFK Airport…
[May 30, 2019 12:34 pm ET] When the Military Comes to Town: Local Air Show Kicks…
Inside Lima's airport terminal (Photo: VasenkaPhotography – https://www.flickr.com/photos/vasenka/8722356428/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26698429)
[ Airports ]October 23, 2018 9:08 pm ET
Lima Airport to Begin Expansion After Years of Delays
After years-long delays and complications, Lima airport, the biggest in Peru and an important regional hub in South America is finally finishing the last touches to begin its much-needed expansion.
The new plan, which has been no short of disputes between the airport operator Lima Airport Partners (LAP), the ministry of transport and local authorities; involves the construction of a second runway and a new passenger terminal that once completed, will size nine million square miles and be able to host 30 million passengers. This barely represents a 25 percent increase in capacity over the number of passengers passing through the airport in 2017, which is clearly way above what it is prepared to handle .
Delays in expansion were mainly related to the ministry of transport failing to meet deadlines in the expropriation of required land as well as adequately satiating land to be used for the construction of the airport's second runway along with a new terminal and tower,
Nevertheless, things are finally going forward. Earlier this week the Peruvian government officially handed over the land in question to LAP in a ceremony officiated at Lima's airport terminal by the Peruvian president, Martin Vizcarra, Lima Airport Partner's CEO Juan Jose Salmon, along with other government executives. Vizcarra celebrated this historical event saying that "it has taken 17 years for the government to hand over this land to the airport operator and four presidents have been in charge throughout this time".
In his speech, the president made emphasis on the state's accountability in the delays in handling their responsibility, stating that the number of yearly passengers passing through the airport has almost quintupled in the meantime, from where they were first required to hand over land in 2002.
On the other hand, LAPs CEO Juan Jose Salmon said "We are ready to take this project forward and face any challenges". On a more positive not than in previous occasions, he reiterated his trust in the government alleging that "they will help us overcome any challenges that come on the way".
Last month, LAP announced the consortium which will be in charge of the planning and execution of the new runway and terminal construction, made up by Italian constructor Salini Impregilo along with Spanish firm FCC and AECOM. The project constitutes an investment of over $1.5 billion.
At the same time, the airport operator, which is partially owned by global airports operator Fraport has already submitted and gained approval of the modifications in the project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the national service for environmental certification for sustainable investments (SENACE).
Looking to remedy observations made by authorities, LAP agreed to implement a sound monitoring system to keep track of aircraft noise on nearby local communities, while at the same time develop a plan involving compensation for environmental damage to the community of Humedal in the nearby district of Ventanilla.
Julissa Salavarria, LAP's airport systems manager, commended the airport's commitment towards the area's sustainability mentioning, "the airport has included a variety of social and environmental programs that would benefit nearby communities. We are not only committed with our growth, but also with our neighbours in Callao," the constituency in which the airport is located.
With processes moving on, Lima is finally set to have an airport that does justice to the traffic it moves and that will enable the infrastructure needed for Peru's fast-paced growth in air travel.
Jose Antonio Payet
As a geography nerd, Jose has always been fascinated by the complexities of the airline industry and its ability to bring the world closer together. Born and raised in Peru, now studying in the UK. he has travelled around America, Europe and South East Asia. His favorite aircraft is the Boeing 767-300, which he has flown many times during his childhood; although now the A350 is slowly growing up on him.
Latest posts by Jose Antonio Payet (see all)
Allegiant Announces Another Round of Network Expansion, Adds 44 New Routes - January 14, 2020
Trip Report: A Short Domestic Hop with Peru's SKY Airline - January 11, 2020
Delta Finalizes LATAM Stake Acquisition - January 1, 2020
airportsFeaturedLatin American aviationLimaPeruSouth America


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 The software is available in no less than 86 languages. The list of languages in which the software is available is Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Bulgarian, Croatian, Chinese, Dutch, Danish, French, Irish, Italian, German, Greek, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Latin, and others.
 The software comes with a file manager along with the standard archiver tools. The file manager has a toolbar with options to create an archive, extract an archive, test and archive to detect errors, etc.
 7 ZIP creates archives in 7z format by default. However, it can read and write in other formats too. These include ZIP, Gzip, bzip2, CHM, LZMA, RAR, JAR. SWF, etc.
 The program can be used form a command line interface as the command p7Zip or through a graphical user interface that also features shell integration.
How to download 7Zip v7.6?


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'Your information could be crucial' - Appeal after man found in street outside Hitchin nightspot with facial and spinal fractures
A man in his 50s remains in hospital after being found in the street outside a Hitchin nightspot with serious facial and spinal injuries on Saturday  and police have today appealed for witnesses.
A man in his 50s remains in hospital after being found in the street outside a Hitchin nightspot with serious facial and spinal injuries on Saturday - and police have today appealed for witnesses.
The man was found outside The Venue in Bancroft at about 2.30am in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Officers believe he was assaulted, and he remains in hospital with serious injuries including facial and spinal fractures, swelling and bruising.
PC Geoff Scarborough, from the Hitchin Local Crime Unit, said today: "We are carrying out extensive enquiries and are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the victim being assaulted to please come forward and speak to us.
"You may have evidence that could prove crucial to the investigation."
Anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area around the time stated, or has any further information that could assist the investigation, should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number G1/17/413.
Alternatively call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or use their anonymous online form at crimestoppers-uk.org.


She'll light up with this dazzling diamond pendant around her neck. Crafted in cool 10K white gold, this shimmering design features a sparkling flower-shaped diamond composite wrapped in a swirl frame of diamonds. Above, baguette-cut diamonds add more shimmer to the style. Radiant with 1/2 ct. t.w. of diamonds and a bright polished shine, this pendant suspends along an 18.0-inch rope chain that secures with a spring-ring clasp.


DSC Powershell composite resource, partial configuration or roles. What is the best approach that can be maintained? - New and Fresh Private + Public Proxies Lists Everyday!
DSC Powershell composite resource, partial configuration or roles. What is the best approach that can be maintained?
I have a little trouble trying to decipher what is the best approach when creating PSC-based PowerShell configurations.
It seems that partial configurations allow multiple people / teams to create configurations for their own strategies / configurations. It makes sense, but I've seen people take this approach to basically create and create modules to structure their code so that it's not as monolithic. This is a valid approach?
With respect to composite resources and roles, it seems that you might be using these two methods of implementation together. You can create a composite resource to define a Web server, and then assign a role to a node to apply the Web server resource. Would this be the right approach?
Is there a common type of scaffolding to build something like this?
I've looked at the https://github.com/Microsoft/DscScaffolding and https://github.com/gaelcolas/DscInfraSample, but as far as I know, the DSCScaffolding repository does not use any roles and the DscInfraSample directory looks like it uses roles, but I could not really have it built, so I could not really see what it was doing.
My main question is: what is the best way to approach Powershell DSC and how do you best organize your configurations for the real world so that it is maintainable?


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Home » New Fiat Fullback Pickup Truck Revealed
New Fiat Fullback pickup truck revealed
We are pleased to welcome a new member of the pick-up truck family, as Fiat have revealed its first pickup called "Fullback" at the Dubai Motor Show.
The new Fiat Fullback pickup is expected to arrive in the UK market in autumn 2016 and go against pickup class leaders the Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi L200 and Toyota Hilux.
At this stage, not much detail was revealed however the Fullback has been confirmed in only one double cab body style with a carrying payload capacity of up to 1045 kg – which is just 5kg less than the class-leading L200 which its based on!
In terms of size and dimensions, the Fullback measures up to 1780mm in height, 1815mm in width and 5285mm in length...
Engine wise, its expected to be powered by a 2.4 litre aluminium turbo diesel engine with a power output of either 150hp or 180hp. There will be two transmissions available for users to choose between; a new six-speed manual gearbox or a five-speed automatic transmission with sports mode. The all-wheel drive and sports mode will also be included as standard.
As the pickup market is growing; the Fullback is Fiat's first contender in the medium pickup truck segment in the European region, which totalled the 675,000 units in 2014 representing 23% of total sales in the LCV segment.
More details including pricing, specification and equipment lists will be announced closer to the launch next year! However we would expect the pricing to start from around £24K in order to help it compete with rival vehicles.
If you are in the market and looking for a pickup truck then why not take a look some of our best deals here –


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Georgia governor signs into law sweeping voting bill that curtails the use of drop boxes and imposes new ID requirements for mail voting. - The Washington Post. This is war, see a Republican on a ballot, defeat that Republican.
"Georgia governor signs into law sweeping voting bill that curtails the use of drop boxes and imposes new ID requirements for mail voting
Amy B Wang
Protesters outside the Georgia Capitol on March 4. (Dustin Chambers/Reuters)
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed into law a sweeping voting measure that proponents said is necessary to shore up confidence in the state's elections but that critics countered will lead to longer lines, partisan control of elections and more difficult procedures for voters trying to cast their ballots by mail.
The measure is one of the first major voting bills to pass as dozens of state legislatures consider restrictions on how ballots are cast and counted in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when President Donald Trump attacked without evidence the integrity of election results in six states he lost, including Georgia.
The new law imposes new identification requirements for those casting ballots by mail; curtails the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots; allows electors to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters and requires counties to hold hearings on such challenges within 10 days; makes it a crime for third-party groups to hand out food and water to voters standing in line; blocks the use of mobile voting vans, as Fulton County did last year after purchasing two vehicles at a cost of more than $700,000; and prevents local governments from directly accepting grants from the private sector.
The 95-page law also strips authority from the secretary of state, making him a nonvoting member of the State Election Board, and allows lawmakers to initiate takeovers of local election boards — measures that critics said could allow partisan appointees to slow down or block election certification or target heavily Democratic jurisdictions, many of which are in the Atlanta area and are home to the state's highest concentrations of Black and Brown voters.
The measure, backed by Republicans, sailed out of the state House and Senate on party-line votes in a single afternoon.
Kemp signed it shortly afterward, saying at a news conference that with the new law, "Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair."
"Contrary to the hyper-partisan rhetoric you may have heard inside and outside this gold dome, the facts are that this new law will expand voting access in the Peach State," the governor added, noting that every county in Georgia will now have expanded early voting on the weekends.
But Democrats and voting-rights advocates condemned the bill as a flagrant effort to make it harder for some voters to cast their ballots — particularly those in larger, minority-heavy counties that have a long history of insufficient polling locations and long lines.
"It is like the Christmas tree of goodies in terms of voter suppression," Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat, said on the Senate floor Thursday.
"'We want to provide opportunities for people to vote,' " she said, echoing Republican descriptions of the measure. "This bill is absolutely about opportunities — but it ain't about the opportunity to vote. It's about the opportunity to keep control and keep power at any cost."
Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon (D) was arrested on March 25 after trying to watch Gov. Brian Kemp (R) sign a new voting bill into law. (Tamara Stevens via Storyful)
Later Thursday, Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon was arrested by state troopers as she knocked on the governor's door to observe the bill signing, cutting short Kemp's news conference — a moment captured by other others at the capitol in videos posted on social media.
In 43 states across the country, GOP lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting with such constraints as stricter ID requirements, limited hours or narrower eligibility to vote absentee, according to data compiled as of Feb. 19 by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. Even more proposals have been introduced since then.
In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed a voting law earlier this month that reduces early and Election Day voting hours and moves up the deadline for mail ballots to arrive at local election offices.
President Biden on Thursday blasted efforts by Republican-led state legislatures across the country to restrict voting rights, saying he was worried about "how un-American this whole initiative is."
"This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle," Biden said, emphasizing he would do "everything in my power" to pass legislation to protect voting rights.
How GOP-backed measures could create hurdles for tens of millions of voters
During the Senate debate in Georgia on Thursday, State Sen. Gloria Butler, a Black Democrat who represents suburban Atlanta, called the measure "an unabashed assault on voting rights unlike anything we've seen since the Jim Crow era."
"Make no mistake, this is democracy in reverse," she said. "Some politicians did not approve of the choice made by voters in our hard-fought election."
Republicans noted that the final bill did not include a prior proposal to limit mail voting only to those with a reason such as age, illness or travel. The new law also increases required early-voting hours across Georgia after an uproar about a proposal to bar Sunday voting, a ban that would have hindered "souls to the polls," the long-standing effort to encourage Black voters to vote after Sunday church services.
"Our goal is to ensure election integrity and to restore confidence in the election process," said Sen. Max Burns (R), calling the measure a "well thought-out bill."
Another Republican, Sen. John Albers, maintained that the measure "expands voting access in Georgia." He accused critics of "sensationalizing and misrepresenting the truth."
In signing the bill, Kemp sought to align himself with Trump, saying he "joined many others, including President Trump, in urging the Secretary of State's office to quickly and fully investigate any and all fraud irregularities" in the 2020 election.
In fact, Georgia election officials did not find any significant fraud in the November vote, despite Trump's repeated false claims of problems with the election and his attempts to get Kemp and other officials to halt the certification of Biden's win.
On Thursday, multiple Democrats stood to speak against the bill in both House and Senate, many expressing astonishment at the Republican argument that the measure would improve the voter experience. They took particular aim at how the bill will undermine local control of election administration, and said it was hard to view the restriction on providing food and water to voters in line as anything other than an effort to making it unpleasant to vote."
Georgia governor signs into law sweeping voting bill that curtails the use of drop boxes and imposes new ID requirements for mail voting - The Washington Post


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England lose Craig Overton, Tom Curran in frame to take his place for Boxing Day Test
ENGLAND right-arm seam bowler Craig Overton won't play in the Melbourne Cricket Ground test against Australia because of a fractured rib.
December 24, 2017 - 4:04PM
Craig Overton has been ruled out of the fourth Ashes Test.
Overton, who made his test debut in Adelaide earlier this month, was diagnosed with a cracked rib during the third test in Perth which Australia won to regain the Ashes.
After being struck in the ribs when batting in Adelaide, Overton exacerbated the damage when he tumbled attempting to take a catch off his own bowling in Perth.
The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Sunday that Overton won't play in Melbourne beginning Tuesday.
Uncapped paceman Tom Curran is reported to be set to make his debut to replace Overton.
English bowler Tom Curran is in the frame to take Craig Overton's place for the fourth Ashes Test.
Curran, an uncapped right-arm bowler, was only added to England's Ashes squad when Steve Finn was ruled out at the start of the tour due to injury.
The 22-year-old Curran, who was born in South Africa, played a one-day international and three Twenty20 matches for England earlier this year.
Originally published as England lose Craig Overton, Tom Curran in frame to take his place for Boxing Day Test