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News | 25 July 2018
Bath Ales tour gets parliamentary approval
Following the opening of Bath Ales' Hare Brewery in May, the team has been bedding in the new tour for visitors to the Warmley site, welcoming colleagues from across the business as well as local MP Chris Skidmore to give it the once over. And the verdict? A great big thumbs-up all round.
The new multi-million-pound brewhouse, which also features bottling and cask racking facilities, is one of the most technologically advanced brewing set-ups in the UK, with a capacity of over 50,000 brewers' barrels ensuring locals pubs won't ever run dry of Gem, Wild Hare, Barnsey or any other Bath Ales favourites.
Escorting Chris Skidmore around the new site, Operations Manager Mick Stawniczy said, "While we have got what is probably the most state of the art equipment in the country here in the brewhouse, we also think it's a beautiful thing to look at, so we were thrilled when Chris asked to be shown around to give it his seal of approval."
After a guided tour of the brewhouse and the bottling plant, Mr Skidmore was treated to a glass of Bath Ales' Sulis lager, specially brewed to coincide with the opening of the Brewery, at the Brewery Tap in Hare House.
Commenting on the experience, Mr Skidmore said, "I am very proud to have such a fantastic ale produced locally in my constituency. Even if it is called Bath Ales it certainly puts Kingswood on the map and it great to see the company going from strength to strength. The new brewery has to be seen to be believed- not only will it benefit our local economy producing more than ever before, the visitor area is superb. I was really grateful for the opportunity to look around and see the investment that St Austell have made in Bath Ales- it is the perfect combination and I hope Bath Ales can also invest in local pubs as they have done so well in the past."
But Chris Skidmore isn't the only visitor to have been given special access all areas tours of the new site, as teams from across the St Austell Brewery and Bath Ales business have all been given the chance to come and have a look at the fruits of the company's latest investment.
As Jon Kelley from St Austell's Training and Development Centre put it, "With the exciting launch of the new Hare Brewery, we've been making sure that everyone across the company has the opportunity to familiarise themselves with our fantastic range of beers. All of the pub teams across our managed estate have sampled and explored the characteristics of both the Bath Ales and St Austell Brewery range, comparing beer categories looking at the similarities and differences between our products, while focusing on our fantastic new products Sulis lager and Lansdown IPA. Our Head Office teams have also joined us on some sampling sessions, to try out our new offerings."
Senior Brewer Darren James was more than happy to show the teams around his new 'toy', talking them through all of the different stages of the brewing process before allowing them all to have a taste of the end product fresh from the fermentation vessels.
Buckley Cypher, Manager at the Wellington in Gloucester Road, Horfield, was one of the first to be taken on the tour, saying, "It's such an amazing experience to see how everything is produced from grain to glass. The equipment here is just amazing and seeing the processes at work on the tour adds a whole new dimension when you taste the final product in the bar. It's an amazing insight and even though we're right at the other end of the process out in the pubs, coming here has made us all feel part of a much bigger team."
Bath Ales tours are now open to the public on Thursdays at 6pm and on Saturdays at 2pm and can be booked in advance by calling 0117 947 4797.


I regularly give talks on social media and the importance of LinkedIn for professionals and entrepreneurs. A couple of months ago I decided to take some of my own medicine.
I've had the same LinkedIn bio for the last three years. I decided it was time to audit my profile. This task seemed routine until I took a birds-eye view of what I'd just done.
A new bio showed my growth.
Maybe if people think I'm an entrepreneur, then they will be fearful of me leaving or stealing their good ideas to go off and do another startup again.
Maybe if I sound or act like I'm too much of an expert, then people will ask me to do public speaking about my passion. Three years ago, public speaking was the scariest thing in the world to me. Not anymore.
Just know this is normal to feel this way and get over it.
My original bio was all about fancy job titles, my status in society as some sort of tech guru and money.
Three years further down my path, multiple near-death experiences including a cancer scare, made me all see the truth: what matters is how you lived and who you've become.
The three-year-old bio was about me and how good I was. The new bio is not about me at all. The new bio is about how I can serve other people and other companies. The new bio is about putting out positivity and life-changing concepts into the world.
A bio should tell someone more than just what you DO, it should say who you ARE and what you STAND FOR.
The old bio said I was a jack of all trades, master of none. I said in the old bio I was a banker, tech expert, intrapreneur, entrepreneur, blogger, business expert, coach and god knows what else. It was just too messy. Three years beyond oldie, the new bio is crystal clear: I'm a blogger and I work with tech companies.
Two things — short and sweet.
Reading through the old bio, it didn't sound like my voice. There was no "mate, pal, buddy, cowboy" — none of that. Those words are who I am. That's how I talk.
The ridiculous corporate language I used in the original bio to try and sound impressive was having the opposite effect. It didn't sound like me and so that's why it had to go.
Having your online voice match your real-world voice makes a difference.
Drop the mask. Stop trying to sound smart. Be yourself — at all costs. Let other's see you as you really are.
My new bio features my two-line vision for the world — and me in that world. It takes center stage and I don't shy away from it. I used to have my vision hidden from my professional career out of fear that people may laugh at it. It's grandiose, inspiring, in your face, bold — and vulnerable — which made it hare to embrace.
Now I don't care. I share this two-line vision everywhere I go. I wear it as a badge of honor. Your purpose in life and in your career is not something to hide. Who cares what people think? It's your vision so you should own it. It's how you attract the right people in your life.
Writing your bio for any social media channel or website is a powerful exercise.
It doesn't just reveal you to others, it reveals you to you.
I recommend doing it often as an exercise in revealing how much you've grown over time. Writing a bio gives you clarity and helps define who you are right now and who you hope to become.
My priorities have changed and they are now clear to me, thanks to my new bio.


FACT CHECK: Was Jayne Mansfield Decapitated?
Gruesome Hollywood legend holds that the automobile crash that killed Jayne Mansfield also decapitated her.
The car crash that killed Jayne Mansfield also decapitated her.
In the early morning hours of 29 June 1967, on a narrow country road near a Louisiana swamp, a grey 1966 Buick Electra glided through the dark on its way to New Orleans. The road ahead was obscured by a white haze laid down by a distant mosquito fogger which prevented the car's driver from discerning the presence of a slow-moving tractor-trailer ahead of him. At approximately 2:15 a.m., the Electra slammed into that truck, then slid under it. All three adults sitting in the car's front seat were killed instantly, but surprisingly, the three children riding in the back seat were cushioned from serious harm. Dead at the scene were the driver, Ronnie Harrison; actress Jayne Mansfield; Mansfield's boyfriend Sam Brody; and Mansfield's small dog. Three of Mansfield's five children (Mariska, 3; Zoltan, 6; and Miklos Jr., 8; all fathered by her second husband, Mickey Hargitay), survived the accident.
Although Mansfield's actual mode of death was gruesome, she was not beheaded. According to the police report on the accident, "the upper portion of this white female's head was severed." Her death certificate notes a "crushed skull with avulsion (forcible separation or detachment) of cranium and brain." One thinks of a beheading as the neck's being sliced through, causing the head to be separated from the body, but that is clearly not what happened here. Scalping is perhaps a closer description of Mansfield's fate, but even that word does not accurately reflect the cranial trauma she suffered, because scalping victims at least retain an intact skull. The Angel of Death did not afford Mansfield this luxury: Her skull was cracked or sliced open, and a sizeable piece of it was carried away.
As gruesome as this mode of death was, it at least had the benefit of being quick. Mansfield probably never felt what happened to her, and because of the sharply reduced visibility conditions on the road that night, she likely had only an instant of "We're going to crash!" shock to cope with before the impact.
Kenneth Anger's 1975 Hollywood Babylon contains a controversial photo of the wrecked Electra which shows Mansfield's dead dog lying beside the car as well as another item that has aroused considerable dicussion, something that appears to be a clutch of human hair. Debate continues as to whether what was captured in that photo was the top part of Mansfield's head, a wig she was wearing (or carrying) at the time of the crash, or something else entirely.
Some have chosen to attribute Mansfield's early demise (she was only 34) to a curse somehow connected to the International Church of Satan, an institution founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey. Little is known about the rumored curse, but LaVey is on record as saying it was worked upon her by a consort. Another version has LaVey laying it onto Mansfield's boyfriend Sam Brody, supposedly because Brody was disruptive during Church services and was making Mansfield's life a hell on earth. That the alleged curse also ended up taking the life of one it was meant to help is deeply ironic.
The San Francisco Examiner. 7 November 1997 (p. A21).
St. Petersburg Times. 23 July 1988 (p. D1).
Sullivan, Steve. Va Va Voom!
Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1995. ISBN 1-881649-60-1.


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Q: Enable 'Basic' on visual studio hosted IIS authentication I've created a 'WCF Service Application' in Visual Studio 2013 on Windows 8 and then set the .svc file as the default page.  When I hit F5 to debug, WCF Test Client tells me that The authentication schemes configured on the host ('Anonymous') do not allow those configured on the binding 'BasicHttpBinding' ('Basic')
I've gone into the control panel and for IIS enabled Basic on the authentication types, but that doesn't seem to be what's required.
Any pointers as to how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!

A: Running with VS apparently uses IIS express.  To enable Basic authentication, just edit the file %USERPROFILE%\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config and set the basicAuthentication enabled to true.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


You are about to leave your office for the day. As you rise from your table, you glance at your badge lying in front of you. It reads 'CBI Agent 303 – CIO'. You slide your badge in your pocket, as you are about to leave. The phone rings. The official voice on the other end states seriously, "Mr. Sanjay Singhania is dead. Report on scene immediately!" You're shocked at the news. Sanjay Singhania, the respected billionaire is killed. And you have 60mins to find the killer. Will you prove your skills? Can you find his murderer?


I went into this one kind of blind, I pre-ordered based on watching a fellow booktuber's highly anticipated book-list and this was on there. I ordered and when it came out I dived right in. I figured this would be perfect for the season and I was right. This was a young adult to mature YA read about a young woman learning to cope with a recent tragedy in her life. She's trying to reconnect to her friends after such a huge change and she doesn't want them to treat her differently, so despite her fear she goes on a dare with them to the local cemetery and from there a whole new world opens up for her.
This unfolded slowly at first then once the world got established it just flew by, I found myself trying to find ways to sneak and read it when I was supposed to be paying attention to other things. I really enjoyed the voice of the character as she shared this journey she was on. This was very well written. I enjoyed the exploration of grief they were both feeling while learning to move on at this crucial time in their lives.
While the novel explores the mystery of how she's able to summon, they also go on a journey to learn to move beyond their grief while trying to explore their attraction to each other. One of my favorite moments between them is the horseback riding scene where they just got to be a couple learning about each other without the world or their pasts intruding. As the novel progressed and the mystery unfolded we learn more about what it means to be a summoner, how the 'gift' is bestowed and watch as Allie struggles to accept what it now means. I loved her girlfriends in this tale, they were so supportive and at times pushed her to accept things about her new circumstances that she was hesitant to accept or to even see I enjoyed how it was a paranormal tale and yet you felt like it could almost take place in this town as well.
I did enjoy the story especially because of the minor twists and smaller mysteries that were being dealt with. I loved the development of the characters and how the situations came about. There is a love story within, and yet it never takes over the main focus of the story, it's a part of how she grows as a character and how she confronts changes. I especially loved that it as slow build up to mystery and the love story.. Another bonus of the novel was the presence as well as the great relationships the characters had with their parents. From Allie with her Dad to Cody with his parents, the family units within the novel worked well together. Cody even had extended family he was close to that Allie got to meet and hang out with. I enjoyed that the adults were adults who were present while still maintaining enough distance that their teens could explore without being watched all the time.
I did however have a bone to pick with the author, now I have mentioned before that the healthcare field is my wheelhouse, this is my career, while I may not work in the field of prosthetic/robotics, I do have patients who have them and I can tell you they are built way better than the author made it appear in this novel. Even on the cheapest end of the spectrum the prosthetic for hands are built in such a way that they won't just fall off because someone hit you, they are generally built with some suction capabilities to help it remain on. I wasn't a fan of that part as it isn't an accurate depiction, considering there are prosthesis that appear almost life like that is now available.
Other than that one con I really enjoyed this novel and the fact that it's a stand alone made me love it more. I recommend if you want an interesting new take on ghosts.


The Inspector returned to Cheshire early on Monday and took a walk around Goostrey (his second) looking at the areas which had been discussed. He, with a representative from each party, then had a tour of Jodrell Bank Observatory, hearing how it had developed from Sir Bernard Lovell's first dreams, before going up the Lovell Telescope and setting foot on the dish.
Day 5 (Tuesday) started with Goostrey resident, Roger Dyke, who had been on holiday last week so unable to speak at the beginning with other residents. He spoke in two capacities, first as Leader of the Goostrey Footpath Group. Footpath 12, he explained, runs alongside the proposed development site. It has a number of unique features in that at least part of it is fully accessible and it is the only rural footpath which links the two halves of the village. He pointed out that it is used by many Goostrey folk, in particular dog owners, but it is also well known to the Ramblers' Association and appears in a number of walking books. The proposed development would block the view of the Lovell Telescope and housing would completely destroy the open rural feel.
He then spoke wearing the hat of a retired electronic engineer and licensed radio amateur. Having commended to the inquiry Professor Garrington's rebuttal to Dr Trotta's evidence he became the first witness to use visual aids and props. He held the inquiry's attention as he explained how houses will leak radio waves as holes are cut into the foil backed plasterboard to insert the wiring for the ring main. When appliances and gadgets are plugged into this the wiring conducts the radio interference out of the house and radiates it to the telescope. Gladmans, having stressed the great age of the average Goostrey resident, had earlier implied that the new development would attract younger residents. Roger took this argument and shot it back at them saying that younger people typically have more gadgets so would create more interference. His demonstration concluded with a dismantled LED bulb. These are great for saving greenhouse gasses, which is why they will be used in any new development, but most are made in the far east under price pressure and emit illegal levels of radio interference.
The second part of the morning was devoted to agreeing conditions which would apply to any development on the site, if permission is granted. All very necessary but somewhat pedestrian. S106 payments were also covered, everything going through on the nod with the exception of CEC's request for money for Goostrey Community School and Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School. CEC's case was that both these schools are full so they need money to cater for the children who would come from the proposed development. Gladman's expert responded with the fact that they are only full because people travel from out of the catchment area and, indeed, out of the county to attend these schools. CEC batted back that this was parent choice etc. If the appeal fails we will not have to be concerned with such niceties.
This entry was posted in Appeals, Shearbrook/Gladman. Bookmark the permalink.


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Airbus Prosky, an Airbus subsidiary has unveiled a new airport surface management system (SMAN) that will provide airports with eco-efficient ground operations.
This paper presents a data analysis of the Surface Management System (SMS) performance of departure events, including push-back and runway departure events.
gt; Surface management system > Synthetic vision system for credit > Predictive wind shear > NextGen airspace capability Empowering human interface.
Information from the IntelliDAR surface management system will be used to automatically control portions of the threshold runway lights.
NASA has previously developed a modular architecture for testing airport control concepts and algorithms within the Surface Management System (SMS).


Liquidation preference Liquidation preference defines how monies received on liquidation are going to be split between different classes of shares. [Just like different categories of creditors will have different rights in terms of liquidation.]The term sheet will specify what 'preference' the investor will get over 'common stock' owned by the entrepreneur/founders/existing share holders. E.g. the term sheet may suggest that, in the case of a liquidation, the investor will get 2x their investment before the balance, if any, is split between common share holders.
A liquidation preference may also allow the investor to instead convert their holding into the proportionate % of common shares and sell, if it is higher than the money they would get on selling at the price they would get if sold at the preference value.
In some cases, if the term clarifies, the existing investor may be allowed to convert to common stock and hold their holding. They would do this if they believe that the new buyers of the company will increase the value of their holdings. Liquidation is not necessarily only if the company fails. It could be merger or a strategic sale or whatever. In these situation, what level of preference multiple is offered will decide what is left for the entrepreneur [and other common share holders] in case of liquidation.In case where the investor is allowed the option of converting to common shares AND holding on to their shares, it may casue issues with the acquirer if they do not see value in the investor holding on or if there is a strategic interest clash.
As with every other term, the negotiating power of an entrepreneur with a proven track record [professional career record or previous successful entrepreneurship experiences] wil be higher than the negotiating power of a relatively newer entrepreneur. In bad times, the prefernce multiples asked could be ridiculous.
Drag Along This term requires the minority share holders to sell their equity to an acquirer if a majority of the shareholders agree to a sale.To illustrate with an example, if an entrepreneur owns 40% of the company with 2 VC firms holding the balance 60%, if they decide to sell their stake, this clause will force the entrepreneur to also offload his/her shares, even if he/she did not want to exit. Implications are obvious. If the company does not do well and if the investors decide to bail out with whatever value they can realize, the entrepreneur would be forced to sell his/her stake even if they believe that there is merit in continuing with the venture.Sometimes an investor may want to exit because the venture [or the domain] does not fit into their strategic thinking any more. In this case, if the investor wants to exit, even if the going is good, the entrepreneur may have to sell his/her stake.
Preference shares Preference shares are shares that enjoy more previliges than common shares. These could be in availining dividends before common share or preference share holders may also have greater rights to the company's asssets and proceeds in the event of liquidation. Here too, the implications on the entrepreneur are based on multiple factors including the multiple of liquiditation preference, if it is included, etc.In most cases, simple preference shares which give an investor rights over assets in case of liquidation and dividends before common share holders are not considered unfair by entrepreneurs as it represents only a fair demand that the investor is seeking to protect his/her capital and the entrepreneurs acceptance indicates a high level of confidence in the venture to allow an investor to protect his/her capital.
Indeminity Well, this is a pretty straight forward one in which the investor who sits on your board seeks an insurance cover to as an indeminity cover should there be a legal case and the investor needs to protect himself/herself. Depends on how much protection is sought and how much the insurance premium is, and how that amout is in relation to the amount that is raised.I.e. the investor and entrepreneur need to evaluate if and if yes, how much, indemnity insurance makes sense. Especially if it is going to cost a lot and if the amount of capital raised is little.
Anti- Dilution Anti dilution protects the investor's capital in case the entreprenur decides to, for reasons of market conditions or strategic relevance or whatever, to accept capital from a new investor at a valuation that is lower than that at which the investor had invested.In a situation where a subsequent round is raised at a lower valuation, anti dilution right allows the company to revalue the original valuation and thus issue additional shares to the investor. This, in my view, is a fair clause and entrepreneurs should be condifent enough and acccept it. Fighting this clause would necessarily mean lack of confidence in estimating a higher value for the equity in subsequent rounds.
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Summary of Decrees of Provincial Chapters, St. Paul of the Cross Province, 1920
Home / Explore Our History / U.S. Passionist History / Summary of Decrees of Provincial Chapters, St. Paul of the Cross Province, 1920
In the Twentieth Provincial Chapter it was observed that many of the proposals concerning the observance, the spirit of poverty, the ministry, the preservation of fervor among students, and other vital matters, were embraced in the enactments of former Provincial Chapters. Therefore a new summary of all the Provincial Chapter Decrees to date was ordered, and attention called to the Regulation prescribing the public reading of this summary at least four times a year. —XX. Chapter i session.
The Religious will strive to cherish and maintain the spirit of solitude; therefore let them gladly stay at home, and never go out or stay out except under the shield of obedience. —I. iv.
It is the Rector's duty to see that no one receive idle visits, or lose time in the parlor. No visit is to be paid without previous permission from the Superior, who must not tolerate useless ones. If a Religious, being out, thinks it necessary to make a call, he shall acquaint the Superior of the fact on his return. —II. ix., VI. vii.
Let no one dine outside of the Retreat without grave cause, to be approved of by the Superior, who must be the first to give good example in this matter. —II. ix.
All letters, except those to Higher Superiors, according to our Holy Rules, must pass through the hands of the Superior, who is always free and often bound to read them and cut short any useless correspondence. —VIII. xi.
All games properly so called, and much more, plays and theatrical performances are forbidden by Rule. This holds good abroad as well as at home. —VII. xi.
No private Religious can be allowed to keep money constantly in his possession. All presents received are to be brought at once to the Superior. Money given for a specified purpose is to be used for that purpose only. —VII. xi.
Let the secular dress of our Religious be conformable to holy poverty and clerical in pattern. Lighter underclothing, if required when going out, may be used with the Rector's permission. No article of silk is allowed. Gloves, if used, must be of a dark color and plain material. Silver buttons, chains, etc., are forbidden. Only watches made of silver or some less valuable material can be allowed. —II. viii.
Only Father Provincial can allow a Religious to have his likeness taken. —I. ii.
Superiors of missions have no authority to grant permissions for the purchase of articles of clothing, except in so far as such articles may become strictly necessary during time of mission. —XV. vii.
When a Religious is transferred from one Retreat to another, he should be provided with everything needed in the way of clothing, etc., by the Rector of the Retreat which he is leaving, and should the Rector of the Retreat to which the Religious is transferred, find that this has not been done, and that in consequence he is obliged to purchase clothing, etc., for the Religious, he can send the bills for the same to the former Rector, provided he does so within one month after the transfer. —X. v. vii.
In the burial of our religious, nothing shall be used that shall in any way offend against the poverty and austerity enjoined by our Holy Rule. —XV. vii.
Superiors must guard against abuses in the matter of smoking. Smoking in our daily recreations is condemned; and the Religious are cautioned against keeping on hand a supply of cigars in violation of their vow of Poverty. —XV, vii.
No refreshments can be taken out of meal time, without express permission of the Superior. If anything besides what is passed at the common table is needed regularly, the Provincial's written permission must be obtained therefore. —XI. viii.
The practice of total abstinence is strongly recommended to honor the Sacred Thirst of Our Lord. Spirituous liquors are prohibited to the Junior Fathers, either during time of missions or at any other time. —XVIII. viii., XI. viii.
In order that our young priests may have time to prepare for the missions, they shall not be employed in the works of the ministry except within the limits prescribed by Father Provincial. Their writings must be submitted for revision to the examiners whom Father Provincial shall appoint. —XIV. vii.
Pay lectures are prohibited during missions and at any other time without the express permission of Father Provincial, who may grant it only in a very exceptional case. —VII. xi.
In accordance with Father General's declaration, none of our Brethren shall engage to write for periodicals without the sanction of Father Privincial and his Consultors. No book, pamphlet, or other composition can be published without the Provincial's approbation. —II. viii.
Local Superiors must make a record of special benefactors, "Benefactores Insignes," of their respective Retreats. Whether in the shape of an album or an open tablet, this must be continued and preserved by their successors in office as a means of ready reference and of kind remembrance. In this record besides their name and residence, also the nature and amount of their benefactions, and any other item of importance must be entered and specified. And in order that this provision be retroactive, the said Superiors are directed to include as far as practicable in this register the names of past benefactors, whether living or deceased. —XIII. viii.
The same suffrages shall hereafter he offered for Passionist Nuns as are offered for our Brethren of a different Province; and record must be made of the same in the book of suffrages for Deceased Religious. —XIV. vi., XV. v.
The annual retreat in one house of the Province, such house to be designated by Father Provincial, shall be held a fortnight in advance; and to this house, let those Fathers, who would be engaged in local or parish work, be sent to make the exercises with the community of the house so chosen, to the end that, returning to their own monasteries they may be free for active work while the rest of the religious are on retreat. —XVI. vi.
Since the opinion is current among some that the Director of students is independent of the Rector in his relations to the students, the Chapter declares that the Rector should be recognized as the one possessing full authority in the community, and should be consulted especially in what appertains to extraordinary outlays and places of recreation for the students. —XVI. vi.
As a relief for the divers inconveniences resulting from over lengthy discourses on our missions, and especially that the time alloted for the evening confessions be not encroached upon, let not the evening instruction extend over twenty minutes, the evening announcements and sermon over fifty minutes, the early morning Mass and "Motive" over forty-five minutes, and the morning announcements and instruction over forty-five minutes. —XVI. vii.
The obligation we have toward that large class of the faithful, who must be taught through simple and tangible methods devotion to the Passion of Our Lord, can he most satisfactorily fulfilled by teaching and urging them on our missions to make the Stations of the Cross. —XVI. vii.
It having been reported that some of our missionaries dwelt upon topics during the mission only remotely connected with the eternal truths or the subjects customary with us, Father Provincial shall use peremptory measures against those who attempt to introduce such frivolous and extravagant discourses. —XVI. vii.
When engaged on mission work, our Fathers may make use of the Apostolic Indult favore operariorum concerning the abstinence. —XVI. vii.
Since the Office of the Blessed Virgin recited on our missions is a commutation of the ordinary Office, the missionaries should consider themselves obliged to recite it, and should not for trivial reasons seek further commutation from it. —XVI. vii.
In order to avoid misunderstandings and criticism and to uphold the full authority and liberty given the Provincial by the Holy Rule, it is declared that no official position or mere seniority gives a religious the right to be appointed superior of a mission. —XVII. vi.
For the promotion of a student to a higher class at the close of a scholastic year, the average of his class work during the year, the quarterly written and oral examinations and the annual oral examinations shall be taken into account by the Lector and examiners, and the final decision shall be left to Father Provincial and his Consultors. —XVIII. iv.
In order to give our students more time for study, they shall have study and class in the morning on second class feasts, excepting the feasts of the Circumcision, St. Stephen, and St. John the Evangelist; and in the afternoon on feasts of Rule. —XVIII ii.
The students may have a half day walk once a week. Directors of students should insist that the young men placed under their charge make systematic and conscientious use of whatever facilities for physical exercise may be afforded them, as regular physical exercise is very necessary for the preservation of health and vigor. —XVIII. v.
Those missionaries, who wish to retire after leaving the confessional in the evening may do so. And when there are several Fathers on a mission and not many confessions to be heard on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the Superior of the Mission should arrange that only one Father need arise at 4:3o and the others be allowed a longer rest. —XVIII. vii.
The civil act of renunciation customary in this Province should be made when Religious reach the age of twenty-one. Father Provincial should inquire on each visitation whether this order is carried out. The Rector should try to hold the Local Chapter for a final profession at a time when all or most of the Fathers are at home. —XVIII. xiii.
The half hour taken from the midnight Office by decree of the General Chapter shall be added to the time of rest before Matins; and the time of siesta shall be limited to one hour throughout the year. —XVIII. xvi.
In order to provide for the financial needs of the Province, Father Provincial with the consent of his Consultors is authorized to tax each Retreat annually pro rata. —XVIII. xvii.
It is recommended that henceforth our Provincial Chapters be held a month earlier than had been customary that the reports of the Rectors be made up at the end of the month preceding the opening of the Chapter, and that permission be secured for the Master of Novices to have an active voice in case the Chapter be held in some other than the Novitiate house. —XVIII. xviii.
The work of Laymen's Retreats is sanctioned, and wherever these retreats are undertaken Father Provincial is urged to appoint a Father who shall look after the proper management and execution of a work that is a most fruitful exercise of apostolic zeal. —XVIII. xx.
Branches of the Benefactors' Society shall be established in all our Retreats, each branch participating in the daily Mass offered at West Hoboken. The Society shall be under the supervision of Father Provincial and subject to his regulations. —XIX. vi.
The canonical Rector of the Preparatory School shall be exofficio Director of the students. —XIX. iii.
Students not in major orders and the lay Brothers shall wear secular collars and ties when they go out in citizen dress. This legislation is not obligatory on the Brothers who made perpetual vows prior to 1917. —XIX. v.
Father Rector may authorize the Lector of students to correct the reading in refectory and choir. —XIX. vi.
The hour of Sext shall be chanted with None and Vespers during Lent. —XIX. vii.
The Rectors are reminded that in the proper custody of the Archives is implied the serious obligation of assuring themselves with the aid of legal experts that deeds and other legal documents contained therein are properly drawn up and recorded, so that the properties of the Retreat are in no way endangered. They are moreover to see that every provision required by the Charters of our Retreats are complied with in accordance with legal statutes. —XIX. ix.
While visiting Religious are not supposed to be present at Local Chapters on Fridays, they are however expected to prostrate after dinner along with the Religious of the house, and to say Culpa with them to the Rector. —XX. ii.
The Rules and Regulations shall be read at the noon meal on Wednesdays and Fridays. —XX. iii.
In the Alumnate the day hours of the Divine Office shall be recited by the boys; and the Professed shall be present with them at this exercise and at meals. High Mass shall be celebrated and an Instruction on the Passion given each Sunday morning. —XX. iv.
In order to lend solemnity to the occasion and the more securely to safeguard the secrecy required, it is directed that in all the Chapters held to discuss the fitness of the students for perpetual vows and for ordination an oath of secrecy shall be taken by all in such Chapters. —XX. vi.
Rectors are reminded that it belongs to Father Provincial and his Consultors to accept indefinitely an engagement for the office of chaplain, confessor, ordinary or extraordinary, of any convent or institution. —XX. vii.
In order to avoid misunderstanding, when any of our priests have to duplicate on Sundays, he will be free to apply one of the Masses in conformity with the privilege granted by our Holy Rules, but in this case he shall not be allowed to take another Mass during the week. The Superior however cannot oblige him to choose that particular Mass, but he can determine the intention of such Mass. —II. ix.
The Venerable Chapter reminds all the Religious of the prohibition to carry books from one Retreat to another. In case however of real necessity, it is requisite to have a written permission from Father Provincial. —V. ii.
The Venerable Chapter decrees that each Rector make a duplicate of the triennial Capitular Report, excepting the item "de Missarum celebratione," and this duplicate be left on file in his Retreat, and the original copy be kept on file by Father Provincial. —XIV. vii.
To preserve the spirit of solitude, and keep our Religious from all unnecessary intercourse with the world, the Venerable Chapter decides that our Brethren shall not be permitted to join Catholic Fraternal Organizations. —XV. viii.
The Venerable Chapter reminds the lay Brothers that their state in the Congregation obliges them to discharge with careful solicitude the manual offices imposed on them by holy obedience, and therefore they should not occupy this time in study or recreation, which is incompatible with their state. Hence, they have no right outside of the time already specified to employ themselves in reading in their cells. They should diligently employ their free time on Sundays and Holidays in spiritual reading. —XVII. xiv.
Finally all the Brethren are reminded of the admonition of the saintly Bernard Mary of Jesus, the first Superior General to visit our Province:
Whilst recognizing the fact that it is very difficult to reconcile the spirit of our Rule with local circumstances, he however warned the Religious against the delusion that the spirit of our Rules must be sacrificed to these circumstances. To labor for our neighbor is doubtless a necessary duty but this must be regulated and restricted conformably to the spirit which our Holy Founder has bequeathed to us, viz., a spirit of solitude, of prayer, of poverty and mortification.
If the Religious, both Superiors and subjects, are careful to preserve this spirit, it may be expected that the Religious of this Province will sanctify themselves and sanctify their neighbor. Should they fail to do this, God's blessing will be wanting, and the most disastrous consequences may be expected. He therefore earnestly recommended to all the maintenance of this spirit for their own welfare in particular, for the well being of the Province and of the entire Congregation.-XII. x.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: What are bounds for the number of monotone functions $M:P\rightarrow T$ where $P$ is a finite poset and $T$ is a finite totally ordered set? For the case where $P=\{0,1\}^n$ and $T=\{0,1\}$ the number of such functions is called the $n$-th Dedekind number and I discovered that there is large literature on determining bounds for these numbers (I'm not an expert in the field. I work in theoretical economics and stumbled on this question when studying a question in choice theory). So I was wondering about what is known about the generalization posed in my question. In particular, I'm interested in the case where $P=\{1,\ldots,m\}^n$ and $T=\{0,\ldots,m\}$ and bounds as a function of $n$ and $m$.

A: Let $\Omega_P(m)$ denote the number of monotone functions $P\to
\{1,\dots,m\}$. Then $\Omega_P(m)$ is a polynomial in $m$ known as the
order polynomial of $P$. For some basic properties see Section 3.15
of my book Enumerative Combinatorics, vol. 1, second ed. Many of the
techniques used to bound the case $P=\{0,1\}^n$ and $T=\{0,1\}$ should
be applicable to $P=\{1,\dots,m\}^n$ and $T=\{0,\dots,m\}$, though I
am not aware of anyone who had tried to do this. The case $n=2$ is
quite interesting (part of the theory of plane partitions) and can be
done explicitly. An even more general result is Theorem 7.21.7 of
Enumerative Combinatorics, vol. 2.

A: For any $n$, there are upper and lower bounds of the form $\exp (c m^n)$. The constant may depend on $n$ and whether you are looking at an upper vs. lower bound.
Let $[m]$ be any chain on $m$ vertices, say $\{1,...,m\}$. Maps $[m]^n \to [m+1]$ are determined by the chain of $m$ order ideals of $[m]^n$ that are the preimages of $[1],...[m]$. So, they are equivalent to order ideals of $[m]^{n+1}$.
Lower bound: Consider the subset of $[m]^{n+1}$ of all points with coordinate sum less than $a=\lfloor m(n+1)/2 \rfloor$. We can add an arbitrary subset of the $c m^n$ points with coordinate sum $a+1$ to produce distinct order ideals of $[m]^{n+1}$.
Upper bound: For any poset $P$, there is an injection from order ideals of $[m] \times P$ to pairs $(I,S)$ where $I$ is an order ideal of $[\lceil m/2 \rceil]\times P$ and $S \subset P$. To obtain $I$, look at the intersection with $\{2,4,...,2 \lceil m/2 \rceil \} \times P$. Let $p \in S$ when the number of elements of the ideal of the form $(x,p)$ is odd. $(I,S)$ determines each level set $\{x\} \times P$: $I$ determines the even levels, and given that, $S$ lets us reconstruct the odd levels.
Applying this $n+1$ times, to each coordinate in turn, implies that the number of order ideals of $[m]^{n+1}$ is at most $2^{m^n} \times 2^{\lceil m/2 \rceil m^{n-1}} \times ... \times 2^{\lceil m/2 \rceil^{n-1} m} = \exp(c m^n)$ times the number of order ideals of $[\lceil m/2 \rceil]^{n+1}$. Repeating this, we get an upper bound of $\exp cm^n$ with a different constant.
By the way, these bounds together with a covering of the allowed points in the positive orthant by boxes imply that the number of order ideals of $\mathbb{N}^d$ with $n$ elements is bounded above and below by functions of the form $\exp c n^{(d-1)/d}$. Much more specific asymptotics are known for $d\le 3$.


What's up everybody! This is Chipz from the Youtube channel Chipz-N-Stix. Let me give you a quick run-down of who I am and what I like. First and foremost this site is all about video games, comics, and anything #nerd related. The main focus is anything and everything video game related, but from time to time I'll touch on anything I feel is exciting especially if it's something you guys would like to read about. The name Chipz comes from me having to get people to pronounce my name right. My name is Lais, and I had to tell people (actually I have to keep doing it) to pronounce my name like the chips. Got it? Good. This came from working with kids who couldn't pronounce my name, and after awhile didn't really care about doing it so they kept calling me Chips.
Of course I changed the "S" to a "Z"…anyway! Now that you understand that, you may wonder "what's with the "stix"?" Well friends- that's just slang for controller. When you think about it, what do you use to move around? The sticks that are on the controller. There ya have it, nothing too special. So, with all of that being said, I hope you like what I post and tune into the channel when new content is up. Feel free to comment on whatever's up because community inclusion is important. I like to connect with people in some way to know I'm keeping you entertained or even doing a good job. See ya later!


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Research strand 1: Identities and Democracy. Frameworks of identity constructions in Europe.
Research strand 2: New European young researchers' identities.
Research strand 3: Identities in urban contexts: the European multilingual city
Postdoctoral Studies at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Matej Bel University
University of Luxembourg
University of Leuven
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Postdoctoral Studies at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
About the Jean Monnet Chair Programme (JMCP) for Postdoctoral Studies at Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski
The Jean Monnet Chair Programme (JMCP) for Postdoctoral Studies is the international postdoctoral programme in the Social Sciences and Humanities as part of the Jean Monnet Network on European Identity, Culture, Exchanges and Multilingualism at Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski. It offers 5-6 postdoctoral positions to suitably qualified researchers from anywhere in the world who work in or across the relevant disciplines of the JMCP (Economics, History, Law and Social and Political Sciences and their subfields).The working language of the Programme is English.
The aim of the JMCP is to provide Fellows with the experience of membership of a vibrant academic community of the Jean Monnet Network partners, to which they can make a central contribution. It is unique for Sofia University in offering a structured Programme of specialized studies covering all aspects of an academic career, including support for academic writing in English, the opportunity to teach and conduct seminars in the University international BA and MA programmes, to develop a strategy for a successful approach to the academic labour market and an opportunity for publications in international journals and Network working papers.
The Programme also organizes each year a series of Lectures bringing to the JMCP community prestigious scholars from around the world and across disciplines. The postdoctoral scholars are assessed every six months with recommendations concerning their overall performance and proposal for continuation of the affiliation to the JMCP.
The Programme is located at the University of Sofia and is open to scholars from anywhere in the world (not just nationals of an EU Member State) who have received a doctorate in economics, law, history, social and political sciences, the humanities, or a related field, within the past 5 years. The main topics for the next two academic years are of postdoctoral specialized studies are: European identity, Identities and Democracy, Doctorate studies in Europe (international study of processes and outcomes in the EU and beyond), Identities in urban contexts: the European multilingual city and EU and its Eastern neighbourhood: the contradictions of Europeanisation and a European identity.
The JMCP Director is Prof. Maria Stoicheva, Jean Monnet Chair.
Email: stojchevap@phls.uni-sofia.bg
This project is implemented with the financial support of European Commission - Erasmus+ Programme. The contents of these materials do not necessarily represent the opinion of the European Commission and the European Commission does not assume any liability for them.


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The Billion Dollar Bikini
by Jeffrey Peter Bates
Written by Jeffrey Peter Bates Tue Oct 11, 2016 Actors, Crime, Fiction, Film, Short Story, Starlets 1
The Hollywood gumshoe McNulty is on the case again, this time asked to search for his wet dream. 2,296 words. Part Two. Illustration by John Donald Carlucci.
She was as iconic a sex symbol as any film goddess who had ever scorched the silver screen. Even now, some forty years after her mysterious and tragic suicide, Misty Marlowe with her statuesque allure and curvaceous figure was seared indelibly into the male, and a fair number of female, memories as well.
That she should perish in the cold embrace of the Pacific was somehow as sadly fitting as it was ironic. Everyone knew the genesis of Misty's stardom had been her gasp-inducing debut in the low-budget B movie Neptune's Nymph. Cast as an uninhibited seductress, Misty emerged from the sea in a glorious slow-motion shot glistening in a barely-there bikini. One critic was so taken with her ample bosom that he was compelled to observe rather cheekily how "newcomer Misty Marlowe is perfectly cast as the titular leading lady."
That single bikini image had become an instant poster sensation and fifty-five years later was still producing more erections than an ADD kid with a box of Legos. For the last few weeks, Misty's iconic swimwear was making worldwide headlines once again, accompanied by a photo of Misty in her scanty nymph costume: "MOVIE BABE'S BIKINI STOLEN FROM AUCTION HOUSE!" "COPS CONDUCT TOP TO BOTTOM SEARCH FOR STAR'S STOLEN BIKINI!" "HUNT FOR SEX SYMBOL'S BIKINI PETER'S OUT!" "LAPD ADMITS NO PROGRESS IN BIKINI THEFT!"
"Tits," McNulty mused as he eyed the famous photo on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. "The mother's milk of Hollywood."
"Good line," said the writer, tapping it into his iPad mini. "I'll definitely use that. I'm the Boswell to your Johnson.
"Stop saying that," McNulty demanded. "It sounds like you're writing about my dick."
The two men were seated in the dark-paneled Public Kitchen & Bar inside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Like Musso & Frank's, it had that old Hollywood ambience that was irresistible to McNulty reminding him of a time when glamour, elegance and style were more than just buzzwords in a travel brochure. As he sipped his Glenlivet neat, McNulty thought maybe he was the millennial reincarnation of those long ago fictional gumshoes who cracked wise, rescued femme fatales, sifted through the debris of human failings and rained down two-fisted justice on those who deserved it.
"I'm surprised the auction house hasn't called you in on this," the writer said, tapping the newspaper headline above the bikini photo:
"They have," McNulty said, draining his glass. "I'm heading over there now."
"No offense, Mr. McNulty, but we would have preferred to leave this matter to the police," said Julian Hayvenhurst handing McNulty a bone-china cup of tea. "However, the insurance company insisted we call you in." He was an elegantly-attired man, tall, a bit effeminate, and exuding the same posh bearing of the "la-de-dah" clientele of his upscale art and antiques auction house, Stardust Treasures.
"No offense taken," McNulty smiled. Calling in an outside investigator was a typical insurance company stall to delay paying a fat six-figure claim. As McNulty once observed, talking your wife into a three-way with her best friend was a hell of a lot easier than prying a check out of an insurance company. "How much was the, uh, item insured for?"
"It was appraised at $750,000. But we were confident we could get twice that at auction."
"Pretty big bucks for a couple of strips of cloth," McNulty remarked.
"It's not the garment," Hayvenhurst sniffed. "It's the person who wore it. She was responsible for a billion dollars worth of box office."
No argument there, McNulty knew. Dealing in Hollywood memorabilia had blossomed into a thriving business. So lucrative, in fact, that one Hollywood auction house recently had raked in hefty commissions on the $5.5 million sale of Marilyn Monroe's billowing subway dress from The Seven Year Itch, and the $800,000 sale of the Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard Of Oz. Used to be only greedy relatives who picked the dead clean, McNulty thought ruefully. But this was Hollywood and nowadays even the vultures had agents.
It was close to midnight when McNulty finished up his interview with Hayvenhurst, who related the bikini went missing from a secure vault the day after a hosted champagne reception for a select number of wealthy collectors.
"I'll need to talk to everyone who had access to the vault," McNulty said.
"Must you?" Hayvenhurst sighed heavily. "The police have already done that."
"The cops have their methods, I have mine."
A soft Santa Ana breeze warmed the L.A. night as McNulty steered his 1965 El Dorado convertible onto Sunset and, on an impulse, headed west for the beach. Traffic was practically non-existent at this hour, and he made it to Pacific Coast Highway in a fast twenty minutes. Turning right, he headed north toward the Malibu pier. On the way, he passed the Paulist Productions building, a onetime nightclub owned by Thelma Todd, a popular 1930s platinum-blond actress whose mysterious death was unbelievably ruled a suicide, even though her cracked ribs, broken nose and bruised throat indicated that she had been the victim of a brutal homicide. One rumor was that she'd been done in by Lucky Luciano himself. Maybe one day he'd look into it, McNulty promised himself.
Pulling into an empty parking lot next to the Malibu pier, McNulty killed the engine and let the warm breezes wash over him. He got out of his Caddy and ambled toward the wooden structure jutting out over the Pacific. mcNulty knew it was here, on a night much like this, where Misty Marlowe had strolled to the far end of the pier, stripped off her monogrammed silk robe with the neatly-written suicide note tucked into a pocket, and slipped naked into the pages of Hollywood legends. Despite a massive week-long search, Misty's body was never found, leaving only a handful of movies and one iconic image as her legacy.
As any reader of detective fiction knows, a good P.I. requires a keen eye for observation. But to be a great P.I. requires something more: a vivid imagination that allows him to translate his observations into a mental picture of what might have been. And McNulty was a great P.I..
Walking slowly down the pier, his footsteps thudding on the thick planks, McNulty closed his eyes. Within seconds, a gauzy vision from forty years earlier appeared in his mind's eye. It was as if thin layers of time were peeling away, and he saw her. Her robe was falling away, swirling around her feet, and she was climbing gracefully atop the wooden railing and staring down at the swirling wet blackness.
And, suddenly, McNulty felt compelled to call out to her:
"No, wait!" he shouted, a desperate futile plea. He saw her looking back at him, a sad smile on her lips. He instinctively reached out to stop her, but the ghostly apparition was stepping off the railing and disappearing into the watery depths of oblivion.
"You okay?" asked a raspy male voice, immediately snapping McNulty back to the present. "You look like you seen a ghost. I see 'em all the time. A few slugs o this," the man cackled, holding up a pint bottle of cheap whiskey wrapped in a crumpled paper bag, "an' the whole damn pier will be swarmin' with them soulless brain-dead zombies."
He offered the bottle to McNulty. "No thanks," McNulty replied. "The last thing I need to see is more Trump supporters."
It was early when McNulty plowed his way through the Original Pantry Café's breakfast crowd to a back booth where Lt. Tony Ventura, the head of the LAPD's Art Theft Detail, regularly forked down his morning ration of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.
"You won't find Misty's bikini under those eggs," McNulty said, sliding in opposite Ventura. "Try looking under the hotcakes."
"Well, if isn't my old pal McKnucklehead," Lt. Ventura said sarcastically. "I heard Hayvenhurst called you in. Don't tell me you've found the missing bikini already."
"Lemme finish my morning jolt first," McNulty grinned as a bow-tied waiter filled a white mug from a pot of black steaming java.
McNulty and Lt. Ventura were old acquaintances and had graduated from the police academy together. While Lt. Ventura quickly adapted to the "yes sir, no sir" culture of the department, McNulty's brash insubordinate personality was as welcome as Edward Scissorhands at a prostate exam.
"I'm thinking it's an inside job," McNulty said. "You looking at anyone in particular?"
"C'mon, McNulty, you know I can't discuss an ongoing investigation."
"That's what I'm talking about. The bikini was stolen two months ago and your investigation just keeps going on… and on… and on…"
"Look, asshole," Lt. Ventura growled, "my squad's got over a hundred open cases. How many are you working?"
"Gosh, Tony, you know I can't discuss my confidential investigations," McNulty said, a wise-ass smile on his face.
Lt. Ventura's anger drained and he smiled back.
"If it were me," McNulty continued, "I'd say it was a toss-up between three people: Hayvenhurst, his assistant Tina, and the security guard what's-his-name…"
"Bobby Roscoe. He's at the top of my list."
It made sense. According to the police report, Misty Marlowe's bikini had been stolen from the showroom's locked vault on the same day when, coincidentally, the security system was taken offline for routine maintenance. It was unlikely that an outsider could have gained access to the vault, let alone know the combination, without help from an insider.
"Trouble is, they all have alibis," Lt. Ventura confided. "And I don't have the manpower to run 'em all down."
"How about I lighten your load on this one," McNulty offered. "Let me check out the alibis and see if they hold up."
"Could work," Lt. Ventura conceded, also knowing that, unlike the Art Squad, McNulty didn't need search warrants to dig up evidence. "I got your word you'll bring whatever you find to me first?"
"Pinky swear," McNulty agreed, holding up his right little finger. He slid out of the booth and pulled a roll of twenties from his pocket. "Breakfast's on me," he said, slapping a Jackson on the table.
Before Lt. Ventura could object, McNulty was halfway out the door.
McNulty counted three shots — BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! — all fired rapidly from the shadows as he was about to unlock his parked El Dorado. Luckily, he had leaned over the windshield to pluck a flyer from the wiper when the first bullet shattered the driver's side window. The second and third shots punched two holes in the driver's side door. McNulty reflexively hit the ground and pulled his Sig Sauer automatic. There was a sudden screech of tires and a dark BMW 7-series sedan roared out of the darkness and sped off. McNulty fired two rounds, one slamming into the trunk lid, the other blasting out the rear window.
A moment later, the back door of a small Echo Park bar burst open and the voice of the bartender called out: "Hey, gumshoe, you okay?"
"Still vertical!" McNulty answered, holstering his weapon and sweeping glass shards from the front seat. "But you're not gonna like my Yelp review!"
He had come to follow up on Bobby Roscoe's alibi. On the day of the theft, the security guard claimed he'd left work early and had been drinking and playing pool at the bar until closing time. The bartender confirmed that Roscoe was a regular but couldn't swear he was there when he said he was. That put the security guard at the top of McNulty's suspect list.
"You get a look at the shooter?" Lt. Ventura asked when McNulty told him about the ambush.
"Too dark," McNulty admitted. "And Roscoe's in the wind. Nobody's seen or heard from him since the theft."
"What about Hayvenhurst's assistant?"
"Alibi holds up. She had her wisdom teeth pulled that day and stayed at her cousin's place afterward."
"Looks like Roscoe's our guy."
"For now," McNulty conceded. "But I still want to check out Hayvenhurst's alibi."
"Okay, but tread softly," Ventura cautioned. "The bikini's owner, the Grandstones, are Hollywood royalty."
After swapping his Caddy for a Japanese loaner, McNulty made the steep climb up Loma Vista Drive into the heart of Trousdale Estates. Built in the 1960s, Trousdale was a pastiche of architectural styles that the local realtors called mid-century moderne. But in McNulty's view, they were like something out of The Jetsons with a flying car in each garage. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he spotted a car rolling up fast on his tail. The light bar on the roof and the blue and white striping were dead giveaways: a private security patrol car. As McNulty pulled into the courtyard of the Grandstone mansion, the patrol car followed.
"You have business with the Grandstones?" the uniformed guard asked, his demeanor standard tough guy. He was tall, muscular, with a chiseled jawline and a crewcut. The name tag on his blue shirt read: REXFORD.
"Yeah, I sell tampons door-to-door," McNulty said glibly. "You look like you could use one." The P.I. saw Rexford bristle and the guard's hand go slowly to his holstered .357 Magnum. It was clearly a move meant to intimidate. But McNulty quickly swept aside his sport coat, giving the guard a good look at the P.I.'s own holstered automatic.
"Mine has more bullets," McNulty said evenly, staring hard into Rexford's eyes.
The guard stared back, his face relaxing into a tight smile. "Mine makes a bigger hole."
Just then a woman's voice called out. "It's all right, Rexford. Mr. McNulty is expected."
The pissing contest ended as quickly as it began. "Have a nice day," Rexford sneered as he sauntered back to his patrol car.
"Don't let those menstrual cramps ruin yours," McNulty said with a mocking grin.
Jeffrey Peter Bates is a longtime member of the WGA and the Academy for Television Arts and Sciences. He is currently the Creative Director at Onyx Productions Direct Inc where he writes and directs commercials and infomercials. He sold a screenplay, had several scripts optioned, has written his first novel The President's Widow now out to publishers and is at work on a sequel.
About Jeffrey Peter Bates
Jeffrey Peter Bates is a longtime member of the WGA and the Academy for Television Arts and Sciences. He is currently the Creative Director at Onyx Productions Direct Inc where he writes and directs commercials and infomercials. He sold a screenplay, had several scripts optioned, has written his first novel The President's Widow now out to publishers and is at work on a sequel.	View all posts by Jeffrey Peter Bates →
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Part Three	The Billion Dollar Bikini
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One comment on "The Billion Dollar Bikini
Laura Rothschild ... 'The Billion Dollar Bikini' says:
Tue Oct 11, 2016 at 2:49pm PST
And now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the rest! Great story Jeff!


Mediation is an informal and confidential way for people to resolve disputes with the help of a neutral mediator who is trained to help people discuss their differences. It is often an alternative to the adversarial approach of a courtroom since it is a process, which allows parties to resolve their disputes outside of the traditional court process. Unlike hearings or trials, in mediation parties work together to identify solutions to problems.
The mediator, a trained neutral person, does not say who is right or wrong, and unless requested does not provide recommendations for resolving your dispute. Mediation can be quickly arranged, and frequently saves time and money compared to the traditional court process. Because mediation promotes cooperation, the emotional costs of resolving your dispute also may be reduced.
Mediation is often the first resort rather than the last resort. In mediation parties have the ability to craft their own agreements, make their own decisions, and maintain control over the process.
When all parties have a role in the decision-making, they take ownership of it and invest in the success of the decision. In Mediation, parties can develop creative solutions, which are geared to their specific needs.
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50th Anniversary of the Battle of Nui Le 2021 50c Uncirculated Coin
Nui Le was the last major enemy engagement by Australian troops in Vietnam. The five killed in action were the last Australian soldiers to die in combat in Vietnam.
Coin's reverse features a dynamic scene which includes Australian soldiers embarking on an Iroquios helicopter, exploding napalm and a US F4 Phantom.
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Forsyth County Public Library hosts a great way to get started with coding
Catey Iacono, a student enrolled in the 8-week basic Scratch workshop hosted by the Forsyth County Public Library is shown editing her Dodging the Shark game she had for homework. The fish has to dodge the shark to get over to the sea anemone.
Credit: contributed
By Kathryn Kickliter, For the AJC
Q: My grandson is taking an online computer class called Scratch offered through the Forsyth County Public Library and taught by Robotics for All. Would you tell me what Scratch is about and about the company that is teaching this?
A: Your grandson participated in the 8-week workshop on a coding program called Scratch with other classmates where they were introduced to the basics of the visual block-based programming language.
Developed by MIT, Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century, according to their website.
A ninth-grader at the time, Maximilian Goetz read to students in underserved communities. He saw the impact of teaching reading and recognized the lack of educational opportunities offered. A fan of helping others and his background in robotics led him to pitch an idea to the school's principal.
The in-person robotics class became the stepping stone to providing a gateway of instruction to his peers that morphed into creating Robotics for All, now offered virtually due to the pandemic, according to Goetz founder and CEO.
Engineering classmates and part of the same after-school robotics team, Goetz and Garrett Tieng saw the capacity that teaching robotics had beyond science combining STEM subjects together.
"We realized that the education in robotics in itself is an important way to combine STEM subjects together, and it was a piece that was missing in a lot of schools due to funding," said Vice President Garrett Tieng.
RFA starts the students in Scratch with basic move functions and moves up to advanced programming concepts such as variables, according to their site.
The classes are designed in such a way that is engaging and fun, hoping the students realize the potential it has, Tieng noted.
Sanjay Ravigopal, 17, began looking for opportunities to do STEM online and found RFA. The high schooler started as a volunteer helping with the logistics of the organization and now teaches Scratch.
"The first thing you do is you make your character move on the screen," he said. "So I think students really love it because right off the bat they can see how coding is used to make a game because that is the first concept they learn. They also see how they are able to abstractly think when they play a game and logic their way into how certain games work."
Robotics for All runs on two models: one is through schools and the other is open to anyone. Fee waivers are available if needed.
"We believe in providing everyone with equal access to programs like what we offer, and if we put a price tag on it, it defeats the purpose of our mission. Other organizations may offer similar services, but they all cost money, which prevents underserved families and those from socio-economically disadvantaged families to be able to attend. Our goal is to reverse that," said the CEO.
Robotics for All is volunteered based and offers classes for free if needed.
"We've been very pleased and impressed with the classes offered by Robotics for All. The instructors are incredibly knowledgeable and patient, and the Robotics for All administrators have been wonderful to work with," said programming manager Tracy Walker for FCPL in an email. "We're grateful we can offer these important classes to our patrons."
Enrollment for spring courses direct through their (RFA) website is open until March 5. Their next session starts on March 15.
For more information, volunteer opportunities or to enroll, visit www.roboticsforall.net
New to Atlanta or simply have a question about this place we call home? Email your request to atlactualfact@gmail.com
Kathryn Kickliter
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As a human on a journey of self-development, spiritual enlightenment, a permaculturalist and student Naturopath, I have come to understand, through personal experience, growth of a human being and or change, in order to overcome bad habits, unhealthy lifestyle choices, disease and toxic relationships requires more then admittance of the desire to resolve, more then the recognition of outside influences and still more then the presentation of change itself. In order to truly embrace transformation, one must acquire self awareness. This requires reflection and absolute honesty which when a being is caught up in a stagnate behaviour or environment may prove to be mere impossible. If we truly understood ourselves and came from a place of love, like a mother to a child, we would love, support and nurture ourselves, as understanding of our weaknesses and strengths grew evident, in order to be the best version of ourselves and live a whole and truly fulfilled life.
The problem herein lies, where does one start and how do they facilitate change? Quite often one might be exposed to media or text which may inspire ideas for a person, but without the skills of self acknowledgment and awareness, implementation of change may not be as easily achievable as the desire to the change.
Enter Russell Sturgess, who, through experience of self and others, education, life and mentoring has developed a program suitably named THE ENHANCES AWARENESS PROGRAM (EAP). EAP is a mentoring program available to the public, which educates in the skills of self awareness, ultimately empowering ones self so they may know and experience the greatest version of their being.
I am so pleased to interview such an inspirational man and share his story of how EAP came to be with you. Enjoy the read and possibly EAP is what you have been searching for or missing. Embrace change, embrace your life and like me do the EAP and then share your great fortune of bliss with another. Thanks Russell!
I help people to adopt sustainable values, which makes it possible for them to have greater inner stillness, clarity of purpose, joy filled relationships and improved wellness. These outcomes are a natural result of being more mindful. To be more mindful, you first have to be aware. It's through enhancing people's awareness that those outcomes are possible, and that is what I do.
A Course in Miracles teaches a very important principle – teach what you want to learn. I wanted to learn how to live life in stillness. That is why I do what I do. Of course to live in stillness you have to be aware of yourself, your community and the planet. Evidence of stillness is compassion for self, for others and for the planet.
The Buddha taught the concept of the three poisons as the cause for disease. They were ignorance, avoidance and attachment (Jesus taught the same three blocks to being aware in his parable of the sower). These are all aspects of not being aware (not listening). So health must be the opposite – being aware. So to me, the more aware we are the more mindful we can be, and the more mindful we are, the more health we enjoy.
Name one change you would like to be and see in the world?
If you could pass on just one valuable lesson to others, what would that be?
When we are not aware, our story (the wounded child) is the puppeteer and irrespective of our age, we will always be its puppet.
Russell Sturgess was trained in Osteopathic massage at the of 15. On leaving high school he went on to study Osteopathy and Natural Therapies at the South Pacific College in Sydney in the mid seventies. Following college, Russell returned to his home town in rural Queensland where he commenced his own Natural Therapies practice. By the early nineties Russell had five and a half thousand clients on record and was personally treating 125 clients a week. His centre also included a naturopath, acupuncturist, dietician and chiropractor.
While at college Russell was employed in the personal practice of the college's Dean of Osteopathy, Alan Griffiths. Alan was strongly aligned with the spiritual healing philosophy of the Father of Osteopathy, Andrew Taylor Still. Alan actively encouraged Russell to be similarly aligned in his Osteopathic approach, which would later became intrinsic to all aspects of Russell's work. Russell developed and taught a framework of healing called Fascial Kinetics™ based on the healing approach of Geelong Osteopath, Tom Bowen. Fundamental to Fascial Kinetics are units on spiritual healing philosophy. Russell taught Fascial Kinetics all throughout the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Besides his national US lecture circuit, Russell also presented at conferences and conventions of both state and national bodies of the American Massage Therapy Association, from 1991 to 1996. By the mid nineties Russell had developed his healing philosophy program called BeAttitudinal Healing which was the fore-runner to EAP. This lead him to present at conferences for Nursing, Catholic Education, Massage Therapy, Bowen Therapy and Scouting. He has also presented sessions for corporate conferences including the Mckenzie Group and Silver Chef.
In the 2006, Russell began working on an expanded approach to his healing philosophy and developed the Enhances Awareness Program (EAP). EAP™ helps people align their values with sustainable desires and wants, resulting in new behaviours, beliefs and attitudes. Over the past two years Russell has expanded the focus of EAP to include Health Professionals. EAP successfully circumvents health professionals from having to suffer burnout and even depression.
Russell first learnt awareness and mindfulness approaches to healing in the late eighties when he regularly travelled to the USA to attend trainings with Dr Jerry Jampolsky, Dr Susan Trout, Stephen Levine and then later with Paul Ferrini. Now 25 years later, Russell well qualifies as one of Australia's leading teachers of healing and awareness.
Russell took a sabbatical in 2006, living in Southern Italy where he researched and scribed the first draft of his book, Metanoia. Two years later he self-published his groundbreaking book that has lead to him presenting at conferences around the world.
Metanoia, is a real-life Da Vinci Code, in which Russell reveals religious mysteries from medieval Europe that have remained 'hidden in plain sight' for almost 600 years. His book and engaging talks take his audience into Milan, Italy during the Visconti rule between the 14th and 15th centuries.
Besides the intrigue and mystery of the heretics that inspired the Albigensian Crusade and Inquisition, Russell reveals the secrets that these heretics encoded into a set of picture cards that were later called the Marseille Tarot. It was from his research that Russell was inspired to create the principles and process that he later called the Enhances Awareness Program.
After publishing his book Metanoia, Russell was invited to present at conferences throughout Australia, as well as France (2011), England (2014) and the USA (2015). To this day Russell does regular lecture circuits throughout Australia and New Zealand.
This is a very personal 'warts and all' examination of how Russell went from divorce, depression, bankruptcy and obesity, to being in a conscious relationship, purposeful and fulfilled in his work, financially stable and 40kg lighter, all a consequence of his Enhances Awareness Program.
Russell transparently shows how his narrative, which emerged from his childhood, became the catalyst for his suffering. By understanding and reframing his 'story', he was able to find a place of forgiveness and gratitude. This enabled him to see the gifts that arose from his story, and how it was possible to use those gifts to fulfil his 'calling'.
This book is a quick read, but it will have you hold a magnifying glass to your own life and consider how you might create a life that is free of suffering. This little book of alchemy shows how it is possible to convert the dross of life into gold.
Contact info@eapmentor.com to purchase books.
EAP Mentor will make a significant contribution to facilitating global inner stillness (peace) and healing, one person at a time. We believe that a global change can be achieved by guiding a critical mass to be enhanced in their awareness. This program will be delivered by 'ordinary' people who possess a clear understanding of the dynamic healing nature of awareness and who share the vision of EAP Mentor.
How did the Enhances Awareness Program come to be?
There are 5 principles at EAP are the fundamental truths that serve as the foundation and reasoning for the Enhances Awareness Program.
After 35 years of being in the health industry, Russell witnessed many cases of chronic diseases emerging within two years of a significant emotional trigger. Major emotional triggers often suggest a significant deterioration of relationships. This whole notion can be seen in the etymology of the words health and disease.
The word health originated from the Old English haelp, meaning 'wholeness' . The word disease comes from the Latin root in which the first syllable 'dis' means 'not'. The second syllable 'ease' shares the same latin root (adjacens) as the word 'comfort', and from this word arose the word 'adjacent' meaning 'nearby or next to'. So on reflection, the origins of the words, health and disease, both arise from a sense of being near to someone or something, therefore implying a 'quality of relationship'. Simply put, health is about connection through relationship, and disease is about separation from relationship.
The second EAP principle implies that there must be something that is blocking one's view. If you cannot see something, how can you change it? Inversely this would mean that when you become aware of (or can see) something, you then have the capacity to change it.
Not listening and your conditioned thinking are the cause of much of your dis-ease. Blocks to listening (ignorance, avoidance and attachment), and the associated programmed behaviours were referred to in Buddhist philosophy as the Three Poisons. This was because of their ability to make you sick. If 'not-listening' causes disease, then listening must result in healing. This is the third principle of the EAP program.
This fourth principle is the foundation to EAP and what effectively sets it apart from other personal growth programs. This means that all effort is directed towards awareness and observation and not to adopting new behaviours. To authentically observe something means having the ability to see something as it is and not how we perceive it to be. It is our perceptions or filters that inform how we relate to something. When you stop projecting your beliefs, attitudes or meanings onto a moment, it has the ability to transform.
The fifth and final principle alludes to the idea that one well placed and weighted 'stone' in your pond of consciousness will have the most balanced impact, in terms of both the reach and force. This principle suggests that to effect all of your consciousness, you don't have to attend to every corner of it by throwing lots of 'stones'. You just need one well placed and weighted stone which reaches across the whole pool. And obviously the more to the centre of the pool the more balanced the effect.
Why Is Enhancing Awareness So Important?
There is a lot of research praising the virtues of meditation and mindfulness. As many of you will know, being able to maintain that state of consciousness on a day-to-day basis is challenging. People still find themselves struggling with relationship issues, job satisfaction, maintaining wellbeing and how to feel fully engaged in life. The real issue is sustainability. This is where awareness comes into play. Let's use an example.
Practicing mindfulness to achieve a better quality of life is like going on a diet to lose weight. You know what you have to do to lose weight, you become very mindful of what you put in your mouth, you may even be mindful of the amount of physical exercise you need to do. But, how many people actually succeed in not only losing the weight, but also have it be a life-long sustainable result? Typically it becomes too exhausting and too difficult to maintain the discipline needed to 'stay slim', and consequently, the weight goes back on.
It's not until you are aware of why you eat and exercise the way you do that you will have any chance of sustainable change. Once you have the awareness of why, along with a tool to resolve the why, only then will you be able to naturally maintain mindfulness as it relates to your diet and exercise. And so it is with mindfulness. It's the ignorance we hold around our personal 'why' that makes being sustainably mindful so challenging. That's why enhancing your awareness is so important.
Who Should Do the Enhances Awareness Program?
We consistently receive testimonials from people who rave about how the quality of their life has improved having completed EAP. You can read the testimonials page on www.eapmentor.com/testimonials.


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Elizabeth Alexander on How Great Artists Orient Themselves to Light of the World
Amanda Palmer on Art, Love, Loneliness, Motherhood, Vulnerability, Trust, and Our Lifelong Quest to Feel Real
Love and Art: The Secret to a Romantic Relationship That's Also a Creative Collaboration
Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich on Art vs. Design and the Joy of Losing Yourself in Purposeful Work
"Art pushes the limit of human experience and language for its own sake, while Design might do this but only to humanize and integrate people's lives in the context of an economy."
In a recent episode of the inimitable Design Matters — which has previously given us exhilarating conversations with Paula Scher on creativity, Massimo Vignelli on intellectual elegance, Sophie Blackall on storytelling, and Chris Ware on the architecture of being human — Debbie Millman sits down with designer and typography maestro Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. His innumerable accomplishments and accolades aside, I — a hopeless lover of beautiful and quirky alphabet books — was instantly smitten with the lovely specimen he created for his daughter's first Christmas in 2000, inspired by the challenges of instilling an equal love of language in a bilingual child. Titled Bembo's Zoo: An Animal ABC Book (public library), it features 26 different animals, one for each letter of the alphabet, constructed entirely out of the typeface Bembo. The story of the book's genesis is as creatively invigorating as it is heart-warming:
In his most recent book, Men of Letters and People of Substance (public library) — a gallery of famous portraits created entirely out of letters and objects, with an introduction by none other than Francine Prose — de Vicq de Cumptich writes:
Design is not Art, since Art exists as an answer to a question posed by an individual artist, while Design exists as an answer to a question posed by the marketplace. Design must have an audience to come into being, while Art seeks an audience, sometimes, luckily, finding it, sometimes not. Art pushes the limit of human experience and language for its own sake, while Design might do this but only to humanize and integrate people's lives in the context of an economy. Design needs an economic system, while Art does not. Art may become a product, but it's not the reason why it was created, but how our society transforms it into a commodity.
In fact, this distinction between art and design seems to be a central concern: Echoing Chuck Close's conception of artists as problem-finders rather than problem-solvers, de Vicq de Cumptich offers a succinct yet poetic definition of the difference between the two:
I like design because [in] design you have a problem and you have a solution … and you have a problem that existed outside of yourself. Art is different: [In art], you have to pose the problem.
Diving deeper into the distinction, de Vicq de Cumptich uses motive — creative impulse vs. commercial gain — as the differentiator, a proposition similar to H. P. Lovecraft's contrast between "amateurs" and professional journalists:
Adding to history's great fatherly advice, de Vicq de Cumptich articulates the existential urgency — and joy — of finding your purpose and doing what you love:
One of the things about work that is great is the idea of losing yourself into the work. … You have joy … to play with type, to play with image, to find similarities, to find patterns, to create ideas, to transform… So you lose yourself into the work. And that's one of the things that I tell to my daughter: Try to find something that you're so passionate [about] that you lose yourself in it.
De Vicq de Cumptich makes an interesting point about the role of typography as design's lone singular agent:
The only thing that is specific about graphic design is typography. Everything else you borrow from the other arts — you borrow the image from photography, from painting — but the only thing that is specific material for graphic design is typography. So you have to know type, and you have to learn the history of type, and you have to be willing to play with type.
De Vicq de Cumptich is also the author of Love Quotes (public library), published more than fifteen years ago — a simple, elegant selection of history's most profound words on love, rendered in exquisite typography alongside expressive photographs by Pedro Lobo.
In a meditation on the creative process, de Vicq de Cumptich ponders where ideas come from and champions the value of managing time purposefully:
Time is also essential. You have to manage your time. Your ideas have to be when you are taking a shower, not when you are in front of a computer.
De Vicq de Cumptich stresses the role of humor in making the audience feel intelligent, a core responsibility of great design also championed by Massimo Vignelli:
Listen to the interview in its entirety and be sure to subscribe to the free Design Matters iTunes podcast for a steady stream of stimulating conversations at the intersection of design, culture, and creativity.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/02/25/roberto-de-vicq-de-cumptich-design-matters-debbie-millman/
artbooksDebbie MillmandesignDesign MattersinterviewsSoundCloud