I thought I would point out a very good offer on PHP 5 web hosting with ruby on rails from www.myqth.co.uk .
For £3.99 you get 100GB of web space and the ability to use this space to host more than one web site. As far as I can tell its the cheapest multiple domain hosting from any of the established UK suppliers and its pretty reliable too.


Justice Andrew Phang received his LLB from the University of Singapore in 1982, and both his LLM and SJD from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. In 1990, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore.
Justice Phang taught at the Law Faculty of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) from 1982 to 2000 and was appointed Professor of Law in 1999. In 2000, he was appointed Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University (SMU). He was made the Chair of the Department of Law at the SMU's Business School the following year. His extensive publications include the local edition of Cheshire, Fifoot and Furmston's Law of Contract and (together with Prof Goh Yihan) Contract Law in Singapore (Wolters Kluwer Law and Business, 2012). He is also General Editor of, as well as a contributor to, The Law of Contract in Singapore (Academy Publishing, 2012).
Justice Phang was appointed Senior Counsel in 2004. He was appointed Judicial Commissioner on 3 Jan 2005, appointed Judge on 8 Dec 2005 and appointed Judge of Appeal on 28 Feb 2006 and Vice-President of the Court of Appeal on 28 Sep 2017.
Justice Steven Chong graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the NUS in 1982. He was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1983 and entered legal practice that same year with one of Singapore's top law firms (Drew & Napier). He became its Joint Managing Partner at the end of 1997. He joined another leading Singapore law firm (Rajah & Tann) in 1998 and was appointed Senior Partner and thereafter Managing Partner. He was also appointed Senior Counsel in 1998.
Justice Chong was a leading commercial lawyer and was involved in numerous landmark cases. He was also a senior member of the Singapore arbitration community and participated in various arbitrations both as counsel as well as arbitrator.
Justice Chong was appointed to the Supreme Court Bench on 1 Oct 2009 as a Judicial Commissioner and later appointed (on 1 Jun 2010) a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Justice Chong assumed office as the Attorney-General of the Republic of Singapore on 25 Jun 2012 for a two-year term. In his capacity as Public Prosecutor, he introduced several initiatives to enhance the administration of criminal justice and strengthen the working relationship between stakeholders in the criminal justice process. He also took steps to engage the public in explaining the work and significant decisions of the Public Prosecutor by establishing the Media Relation Unit and launching the Public Prosecution Outreach Programme. In addition, under his leadership, the AGC played an instrumental role in the successful conclusion of key international treaties, including the European Union-Singapore Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. It enhanced legal representation and support for statutory boards through the enactment of the Attorney-General (Additional Functions) Act in 2014 and embarked on an exercise to make Singapore legislation more accessible.
Justice Chong was re-appointed to the Supreme Court Bench on 25 Jun 2014 and re-appointed a Member of the LSC wef the same date.
Justice Chong was appointed Judge of Appeal wef 1 Apr 2017.
Justice Lee Seiu Kin was appointed a Member of the LSC on 19 April 2006.
Justice Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from the University of Adelaide in 1976. He worked as an engineer in the Public Works Department from 1977 to 1984. He obtained a Masters of Science from the NUS in 1982 and an MBA (with Distinction) from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France in 1983.
Justice Lee went on to complete his law degree at the NUS in 1986 and an LLM at the University of Cambridge in 1987. He joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1987 and was posted to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and appointed a State Counsel. He was the Deputy Head of both the Civil Division and the International Affairs Division of the AGC (prior to his elevation to the Supreme Court in 1997).
Justice Lee was appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court from 15 Oct 1997 to 14 Oct 2002. He was concurrently the President of the Industrial Arbitration Court from 1 Sep 1999 to 14 Oct 2002. He was thereafter appointed the Second Solicitor-General at the Attorney-General's Chambers on 15 Oct 2002. He was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court on 11 Apr 2006.
Justice Lee chaired the Legal Service Personnel Management Review Panel which undertook a comprehensive review of the HR framework and practices in the Legal Service in 2006. He also chaired the Legal Service Remuneration Review in 2007.
Mr Gautam Banerjee is the Senior Managing Director and the Chairman of Blackstone Singapore. Mr Banerjee was with professional services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers ("PwC") Singapore, for over 30 years, including as its Executive Chairman for Singapore and in various leadership positions within the firm in India and the Asia Pacific region. He retired from PwC Singapore on 31 Dec 2012.
Mr Banerjee serves, apart from his executive role in Blackstone, as the Chairman of raiSE and Listings Advisory Committee of the Singapore Exchange. He is a Board Member/Director of Piramal Enterprises Limited, India; The Indian Hotels Company Limited; the Singapore Telecommunications Limited; the EDBI Pte Ltd; the GIC Private Limited; and the Defence Science and Technology Agency. He served on the Corporate Governance Council of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Companies Act Reform Steering Committee and the Economic Strategies Committee chaired by the Finance Minister of Singapore from 2009 to 2010.
Mr Banerjee was a Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore between 2007 and 2009. He was in 2014 awarded the Public Service Medal by the Singapore Government and also an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Warwick, England.
Mr Adrian Chan is the Head of the Corporate Department and a Senior Partner at Lee & Lee. He graduated from the NUS with an LLB (Hons), was called to the Singapore Bar in 1990 and has been in corporate practice at Lee & Lee since then.
Mr Chan is a Board Member of the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (the ACRA) and chairs its Panel of the Institute of Corporate Law. He is the lead independent director of Yoma Strategic Holdings, AEM Holdings and Global Investments and an independent director of Ascendas Funds Management (manager of Ascendas REIT), Best World International and Hong Fok Corporation, all of which are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (the SGX). He also serves as a Director of Astrea III, Astrea IV and Azalea Asset Management, which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Temasek Holdings. In addition, the SGX has appointed him to the Catalist Advisory Panel to review Catalist Sponsor and Registered Professional applications.
Mr Chan was the First Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Institute of Directors and currently serves as the Deputy Chairman of its Advocacy and Research Committee. He is a Council Member of the Law Society of Singapore and chairs its Corporate Practice Committee. He serves as the Honorary Secretary of the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises and sits on the Corporate Governance & Regulations Committee of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Shared Services for Charities Limited, which is a not-for-profit charitable organisation and an Institution of a Public Character, and on the Ethics Review Committee of the Singapore Polytechnic.
Mr Chan has been appointed to the Corporate Governance and Directors' Duties Working Group of the Steering Committee that was established by the Ministry of Finance to review and rewrite the Companies Act of Singapore. He has also co-authored Singapore's first "Annotated Code of Corporate Governance" for Lexis-Nexis that is published in Woon's Corporations Law.
Mr Chan currently serves on the Pro-Enterprise Panel, chaired by the Head of the Civil Service and supported by the Ministry of Trade & Industry (the MTI), which addresses feedback from the private sector on unnecessary or outdated Government rules that hinder businesses and stifle entrepreneurship with a view to eliminating red-tape.
Mr Chan was appointed to the Audit Committee Guidance Committee, established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the MAS), the ACRA and the SGX to develop practical guidance for audit committees of SGX-listed companies and raise corporate governance standards. He was also appointed by the Corporate Governance Oversight Committee (comprising the MAS, the ACRA, the SGX and the Commercial Affairs Department) to the Working Group to review and update the Guidebook for Audit Committees in view of the 2012 iteration of the Code of Corporate Governance.
Mr Chan served on the SPRING/CPIB Working Group to develop the ISO 37001 Standard on Anti-Bribery Management Systems and on the Working Group and Steering Committee that developed the Singapore Stewardship Principles for Responsible Investors.
In addition, Mr Chan has served on the Lemon Law Taskforce set up by the MTI and the Consumers Association of Singapore to make recommendations to the Government on the scope and form of lemon laws in Singapore. He has also served on the Taxpayers Feedback Panel of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
For the Singapore Institute of Legal Education, Mr Chan lectures on "Corporate Governance", is an Examiner for the Corporate and Commercial Practice paper for the Bar Admissions and Examinations and is the Principal Examiner for Company Law for the Foreign Practitioner Examinations. As part of his pro-bono work, he conducts training for the ACRA's Director Compliance Programme for errant directors.
Ms Goh Swee Chen has been the Chairperson of Shell companies in Singapore since 1 Oct 2014 and concurrently (since 2017) the Global Vice President (City Solutions, New Energies) of Shell.
Ms Goh graduated in 1982 from the Victoria University of Wellington (in New Zealand) with a Bachelor of Science in Information Science. She was awarded a Master of Business Administration in 2003 by the Booth School of Business (of the University of Chicago).
Ms Goh joined Shell in 2003 as the Chief Information Officer with scope covering Singapore, the Asia Pacific, Oceania and the Middle East. She also led various: services/operations in the Netherlands; global business improvement teams/globalisation of business processes from Singapore; and businesses covering the Asia Pacific and the Middle East/Pakistan from Beijing, China.
Ms Goh had, prior to joining Shell, worked in various portfolios at: IBM Australia and IBM USA (Austin, Texas); and Procter & Gamble (Malaysia, Japan, Singapore and Asia Pacific).
Ms Goh has been: a Trustee of the Singapore University of Technology & Design (since 11 Aug 2015); the Chairperson of the Institute for Human Resource Professionals Limited (since 9 Aug 2016); a Vice President of the Singapore National Employers Federation (since 1 Feb 2016); the President of Global Compact Network Singapore (since 1 Jan 2017); a Director of the Human Capital Leadership Institute Pte Ltd (from 1 Jul 2017); and a Director of CapitaLand Ltd (from 1 Sep 2017).
Ms Goh was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Apr 2018. She was awarded in 2018 a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Chicago.
Ms Goh's prior Board appointments include: a Director of the Civil Service College (2010 – 2012); the Deputy Chair of Al Jomaih Shell Lubricating Oil Company, Saudi Arabia (2011 – 2014); a Director of Hankook Shell Oil Company (2011 – 2013); the Chairman of Shell Tongyi (Beijing) Petroleum Chemical Co. Ltd (2011 – 2016); and a Director of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (2014 – 2017).


text:
Q: Print as a joinpoint in aspectJ and expose all joinpoints in a code One question whose answer I have not been able to figure out in whole day of searching.Can print statement in java as
system.out.println();

be treated as a joinpoint in aspectJ?
Also is there any way of exposing all the available join points in a code.
Thanks in advance for any help.

A: void * (String) did the trick.

Well still stuck with the exposing all the joinpoints in it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


MANILA, Philippines – A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck Cagayan province on Monday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
In its earthquake bulletin, the Phivolcs said the quake hit 63 kilometers (km) southwest of Calayan, Cagayan, at 9:32 a.m. at a depth of 25 km.
It was felt at Intensity III in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, and Intensity II in Sinait, Ilocos Sur.
Instrumental Intensity III was felt in Claveria, Cagayan, and Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.
Meanwhile, Instrumental Intensity I was registered in Gonzaga, Cagayan, Phivolcs said.


text:
Procyonoidea é uma superfamília da parvordem Mustelida.

Taxonomia da Superfamília Procyonoidea
Família Ailuridae
Família Mephitidae
Família Procyonidae

Carnívoros

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Have questions? Get answers from Vic Butcher Plumbing ltd or BusinessList.nz users. Visitors haven't asked any questions yet.
Vic Butcher Plumbing Ltd provide a wide range of plumbing services including everything from installations to repairs. We also provide free quotes and pensioner discounts. If you have a plumbing problem in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry, home or business call the hard working and reliable team at Vic Butcher Plumbing today!
Vic Butcher Plumbing ltd - company profile is confirmed by company owner / representative person / directory administrator.


text:
Socialistisk Arbejderpolitik (forkortet SAP) er en revolutionært trotskistisk dansk organisation og den danske sektion af Fjerde Internationale (genforenet). Organisationen hed indtil 23. november 2014 Socialistisk Arbejderparti.

SAP blev stiftet i 1980 som en videreførelse af Revolutionære Socialisters Forbund (forkortet RSF). Partiet stillede op til Folketinget, under navnet Internationalen-Socialistisk Arbejderparti og med partibogstavet I, ved 1981-, 1984-, og 1987-valgene. Det fik mindre end 0,1% af stemmerne hver gang, og faldt dermed under spærregrænsen.

I 1989 var man med til at danne Enhedslisten, og medlemmet Søren Søndergaard har således siddet i Folketinget for Enhedslisten. I 2011 blev medlemmerne Pernille Skipper og Jørgen Arbo-Bæhr valgt til Folketinget for Enhedslisten. Skipper var fra maj 2016 til februar 2021 Enhedslistens politiske ordfører.

Partiavisen Socialistisk Information (forkortet SI) udgives som nyhedsbrev hver 14. dag. Fra juni 2011 til januar 2015 udkom det også i trykt form en gang i kvartalet. Før juni 2011 udkom Socialistisk Information som et måneds-tidsskrift.

Valgresultater

Kilder og eksterne henvisninger

 SAP's hjemmeside
 Artikel om SAP – på Leksikon for det 21. århundrede

Etableret i 1980
Kommunistiske partier fra Danmark
Tidligere politiske partier i Danmark
Trotskisme


The Rotary Club of Oakville meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. This is a regular meeting when members come together to hear a speaker as well as enjoy a meal together. It is a great way to support your local community, and get to meet to new as well as interesting people.


Parents and guardians of home-schooled students with disabilities who live within Sidney Public School District boundaries are invited to attend a meeting next week to discuss special education services.
The meeting will take place on Monday, June 8 at 5:15 p.m. at the district administration office, before the monthly school board meeting.
Angie Jacobson, the school district's special education coordinator and psychologist, said the meeting is intended to ensure home-schooled students with special needs are identified and plans for providing special education services are developed.


Hey, how are going things ?
Let me write a few informations and our plans what's next. So, next week I am going to make 2 videos. If all will go how have to. What kinds of videos ?. First, video with my mister of karate-do Marek Labo. About his tattoo studio in Dubnica nad Vahom. Why tattoo? Here in Slovakia, I guess, tattoo is not popular like in U.S.A or another better country. But it is kind of art, if you think or not, but is. What is a art today ? Music, skateboarding, movie making, photographing, painting. New generation is more and more creative. So tattoo is really real art for me. If you see tattoo on a body, it looks really good, you know. I hope, I know, it will be too interesting video for are types of ages. Maybe it will inspirate you. And second video will be music video on song. My friend MC KVALIT (starting singer/raper) wanna music video to his new song about BOX. Box is really popular sport over here, in Slovakia. Hopefuly, video will be recorded this month, I guess. And summer is slowly coming and out side is better and better weather, more chalanges for videos and photos. What do you have to do ? Only stay here on our blog or facebook, and give know about us to your friends. Need more supporters like you. Have a nice weekend and for students have a nice holiday.


text:
391 Western Avenue, Albany, New York :: (518) 242-4731
Make a Donation » Board Login » Employee Portal »
Mission and Values Statements
Key Staff (* ABSAT Team Member)
Executive Director *
Director, Admissions
Director, Clinical Services *
Director, Education
Director, JRFC
AED, Finance
AED, Quality, Strategy & Compliance
Program Assessment/Effectiveness *
Trustee and Foundation Boards
Residential Services Overview
Day Education
Counseling Center at LaSalle
Juvenile Reporting & Family Center
Brain Science Awareness
ABSAT Team
DIGESTS: Change in Mind
LISTING: Trainings & Presentations
SLIDES: ACE Symposium (pdf)
VIDEOS: ACE Symposiums
Links, References, Resources
ESSAYS: LaSalle's Positive Impact on Me
NEWS: eNewsletters
VIDEOS: Life at LaSalle
NEWS: In the Media
UPDATES: Performance & Quality Improvement
TWCable Part 1: Two LaSalle staff discuss brain trauma
In part one of the series Breaking the Cycle, reporter Katie Eastman explains the Adverse Childhood Experiences study and why it's important to a local school.
ALBANY, N.Y. — Inside brick walls along Western Avenue in Albany, there's a movement — one that asks a different question.
Instead of what did you do, this movement asks: What happened to you?
"Have you ever lost a parent to death or incarceration? Have you ever been hit slapped insulted? Have you ever been sexually abused?" said David Wallace, listing off questions commonly asked.
There are 10 questions in all, and the answer is yes for so many of the 12- to 18-year-old boys who live and go to class at the La Salle School in Albany.
"There's some strong evidence that suggests if we do nothing, they will experience a life course of illness and poor performance academically, emotionally, behaviourally, interpersonally," said Wallace, the director of Clinical Services at the LaSalle School.
The 10 questions were the basis for a study called Adverse Childhood Experiences. The CDC and Kaiser Permanente interviewed more than 17,000 adults and asked, what happened to you as a child?
Their results showed a strong link between childhood trauma and chronic disease, mental illness, addiction, obesity — the list goes on. These results came out more than 15 years ago.
"I figured the minute that everybody else heard about this, it would be routine screenings, multidisciplinary treatments teams and it would be a race to the most effective clinical treatment protocols. Yeah…that did not happen," said Nadine Burke Harris during a Ted Med Talk.
Burke Harris is a California pediatrician who says doctors should give screenings with the ACEs questions. She says children are often misdiagnosed with things like ADHD, when really their brain is damaged from toxic stress after enduring traumatic events like life with an alcoholic father or the death of a mother.
"So there are real neurologic reasons why folks exposed to high doses of adversity are more likely to engage in high risk behavior and that's important to know," she said. "But it turns out that even if you don't engage in any high-risk behavior, you're still more likely to develop heart disease or cancer."
Just three points on the ACEs test leads to significantly higher rates of mental and medical disorders. Almost all of the LaSalle students have a five or higher. Almost all of them engaged in high-risk behavior.
"A big part of that is letting our staff understand not so much what did the kid did to get here, because that's not how we want our staff to view a kid," said Troy Kennedy. "We want them to ask what happened? Which is the bottom line of the ACEs study. What happened along the way?"
Kennedy trains people at LaSalle how to implement trauma-informed practices based on ACES.
When he speaks, people listen, likely because his knowledge goes beyond the books. About 30 years ago, he was a student at LaSalle.
"You know I would go in people's cars digging for change, and that just led me down a path of juvenile delinquency," he said.
That's what Kennedy did, but it wasn't until recently he asked himself the question: What happened? His ACE score was a five out of 10.
"The points were going up," Kennedy said counting on his fingers. "Had I ever seen someone domestically abused? Of course I did. Were there times we missed a meal? Well sure. Looking back at it, it didn't seem bad at the time, because we felt so loved, we thought, our mom was doing the best she could."
Kennedy's personal story gives him ammunition to help the kids he sees every day — before their brains are fully developed, so they don't have to wait until they're 42 to find out what happened to them is why they did what they did.
"Get 'em when they're 12," he said.
LaSalle School is a leader in programs and services for youth and families in crisis offering a variety of programs designed to meet their needs including specialized residential placement, day service education, and alternative to detention services. The Counseling Center at LaSalle is an OMH and OASAS licensed outpatient behavioral health clinic located at LaSalle School, and currently implementing ACE treatment practices with youth and families. LaSalle is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), and affiliated with the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA), and the national Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.
Posted in Brain Science Awareness
Academic Competition, Learning
ACEs Trauma and Response
Residential Transformation
LaSalle wins FBLA honors
Assembly, school district staffers trained at LaSalle
LaSalle Basketball: It not all about the score
CA governor appoints Dr. Nadine Burke Harris surgeon general
Ablon, Ellis to keynote 2019 ACEs Symposium
LaSalle School
391 Western Avenue, Albany, New York 12203
Education Website Design & Development by Mannix Marketing, Inc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
from GuiAwesomeness.GDialogues import *
from GuiAwesomeness.GButtons import *
from GuiAwesomeness.GPanels import *
from GuiAwesomeness.GWidgets import *

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


For the second time around, another exciting Indie Film Festival was held. And this is dubbed as the TOFarm Film Festival wherein all the movie entries have a theme of farming.
TOFarm is an acronym for The Owners of the Farms. This is a brainchild of Dr. Milagros O. How, Executive Vice President of Universal Harvester, Inc. This festival aims to uplift the farmers as well as his professional development. It is most worthy and significant since this is the only film festival that showcases the lives, journeys, aspirations, trials and tribulations – failures and successes of the farmers and other stewards of agriculture.
The festival will give them the acknowledgement, honor and the respect due them as caretakers of our resources from the Great Creator.
Because of the advent of change and the fast development of modern technology as well as the changes in attitudes, cultures, mores and lifestyles, the farmer needs to open himself up to new visions and perspectives. He is encouraged to look for innovative approaches to farming and agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry. These objectives should be incorporated in the film entries. A total of six (6) film scripts will be selected by the TOFARM Film Festival Screening Committee and will each be given grants for production.


Super easy trail as far as steep ascents go. Well worn with lots of people but worth the trip!
Trial was very well packed down. Snowshoes not necessary, but helpful on the short approach. Ice axe necessary, unless you can manage to stay on the rocks. Crampons may be useful but I didn't bother as the steepest snow I went on was about 30˚ ish. Not a cloud in the sky the entire day. Possibly the best winter weather for a 14er I've seen.
Nice trail. Your able to see the trail almost the entire way to the Summit. There were many poeple when we did it, although, we missed the rush as we started at 6am and passed all the crowds on the way down.
Three times in three different seasons.
Nice hike with my son and Duchess.
2nd climb ever. Good climb somewhat boring route. Mostly class one with very very little class to near the summit.
Very nice route to the summit!
Topped out and made it back down to the willows just before the thunder started to roll.
I took the easy "tourist" route for my first 14er.
Starting at Guenella Pass, I headed down into the willows. This was before they built the boardwalk, so I fight through the wet willows and swampy ground. But once through the hike was easy to the summit. Done this route two other times after they built the boardwalk.
Really easy except for the winds in your face. Some good snow with high winds.
I arrived the afternoon before my hike up Bierstadt so I decided to sit at Guanella pass an watch returning hikers wander their way through the willows, I noticed a pattern of direction with hikers who seemed not to be lost providing me with a good idea of the route, It worked!
My second 14er when I was out from the east coast on a family vacation.


text:
Memories and Portraits
He will do nothing plainly; but the simplest processes of our material life will all be bent into the forms of an elaborate and mysterious etiquette. Instinct, says the fool, has awakened. But it is not so. Some dogs - some, at the very least - if they be kept separate from others, remain quite natural; and these, when at length they meet with a companion of experience, and have the game explained to them, distinguish themselves by the severity of their devotion to its rules. I wish I were allowed to tell a story which would radiantly illuminate the point; but men, like dogs, have an elaborate and mysterious etiquette. It is their bond of sympathy that both are the children of convention.
The person, man or dog, who has a conscience is eternally condemned to some degree of humbug; the sense of the law in their members fatally precipitates either towards a frozen and affected bearing. And the converse is true; and in the elaborate and conscious manners of the dog, moral opinions and the love of the ideal stand confessed. To follow for ten minutes in the street some swaggering, canine cavalier, is to receive a lesson in dramatic art and the cultured conduct of the body; in every act and gesture you see him true to a refined conception; and the dullest cur, beholding him, pricks up his ear and proceeds to imitate and parody that charming ease. For to be a high-mannered and high-minded gentleman, careless, affable, and gay, is the inborn pretension of the dog. The large dog, so much lazier, so much more weighed upon with matter, so majestic in repose, so beautiful in effort, is born with the dramatic means to wholly represent the part. And it is more pathetic and perhaps more instructive to consider the small dog in his conscientious and imperfect efforts to outdo Sir Philip Sidney. For the ideal of the dog is feudal and religious; the ever-present polytheism, the whip-bearing Olympus of mankind, rules them on the one hand; on the other, their singular difference of size and strength among themselves effectually prevents the appearance of the democratic notion. Or we might more exactly compare their society to the curious spectacle presented by a school - ushers, monitors, and big and little boys - qualified by one circumstance, the introduction of the other sex. In each, we should observe a somewhat similar tension of manner, and somewhat similar points of honour. In each the larger animal keeps a contemptuous good humour; in each the smaller annoys him with wasp- like impudence, certain of practical immunity; in each we shall find a double life producing double characters, and an excursive and noisy heroism combined with a fair amount of practical timidity. I have known dogs, and I have known school heroes that, set aside the fur, could hardly have been told apart; and if we desire to understand the chivalry of old, we must turn to the school playfields or the dungheap where the dogs are trooping.
Woman, with the dog, has been long enfranchised. Incessant massacre of female innocents has changed the proportions of the sexes and perverted their relations. Thus, when we regard the manners of the dog, we see a romantic and monogamous animal, once perhaps as delicate as the cat, at war with impossible conditions. Man has much to answer for; and the part he plays is yet more damnable and parlous than Corin's in the eyes of Touchstone. But his intervention has at least created an imperial situation for the rare surviving ladies. In that society they reign without a rival: conscious queens; and in the only instance of a canine wife-beater that has ever fallen under my notice, the criminal was somewhat excused by the circumstances of his story. He is a little, very alert, well-bred, intelligent Skye, as black as a hat, with a wet bramble for a nose and two cairngorms for eyes. To the human observer, he is decidedly well-looking; but to the ladies of his race he seems abhorrent. A thorough elaborate gentleman, of the plume and sword-knot order, he was born with a nice sense of gallantry to women.
Memories and Portraits Page 48


text:
Chiang Mai 9 Sacred Temples, Thailand
Chiang Mai 9 Sacred Temples, Thailand for iOS
By i3Factory World $0.99
By i3Factory World
Using this app you will discover the secrets of Chiang-Mai!, you can bring well-being to yourself with nine sacred blessings. Not just a tour guide but also a guide to the inner well-being.Did you know that Chiang Mai has 9 sacred temples that Thai tourists come to worship from all over Thailand?Chiang Mai, sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand.Locals believe these temples to be specially propitious to people who wish a successful life. Each one of these sacred sites has a specific virtue and tradition says that the ritual is complete only by paying respect to each one of them. Thats what allows the spirits to work their magics.This App consists in a complete tour informations of the 9 temples on Song Thow, with an audio and video explanation of their history and their architectural features. By the end of the day you will perceive Chiang Mai and its temples in a complete new light.Buddhists in Thailand strongly believe that worshipping at temples is a way of making merit, and so during special annual festivals and religious holidays, lots of people pay homage to significant temples. One of Chiang-Mai popular practices is to visit nine , all 9, temples all in one day. Why the number 9, nine? In Thai, the number nine is pronounced as "gao", which is similar to the sound of the word which means to step ahead and to progress in a positive way. Most people believe the respects that they pay at nine sacred places will bring prosperity and luck to their lives. There are nine temples in Chiang Mai which are as magic for local residents and tourists due to their importance, and are in the main located in the old city area, are close to each other, and have names with good meanings. Luckily for its residents going to 9 temples within one day in Chiang Mai is definitely a possibility. If you are a tourist and not Buddhist, you will still be warmly welcomed at these temples, where you can appreciate some ancient Lanna cultural heritage, arts, and the Buddhist way of life. The following are the nine sacred temples in Chiang Mai city which most tourists like to visit.
Gain a new world perspective exploring the globe with a swipe of your finger.
Split the cost of a ride with friends.
Get a reliable ride in minutes.
Access unique homes, experiences, and places around the world.


text:
package org.apereo.cas.authentication.mfa.trigger;

import org.apereo.cas.authentication.Authentication;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.MultifactorAuthenticationProvider;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.MultifactorAuthenticationProviderResolver;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.MultifactorAuthenticationTrigger;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.MultifactorAuthenticationUtils;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.principal.Principal;
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.principal.Service;
import org.apereo.cas.configuration.CasConfigurationProperties;
import org.apereo.cas.services.RegisteredService;
import org.apereo.cas.util.CollectionUtils;
import org.apereo.cas.util.HttpUtils;
import org.apereo.cas.util.function.FunctionUtils;
import org.apereo.cas.util.serialization.JacksonObjectMapperFactory;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import lombok.Getter;
import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
import lombok.Setter;
import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
import lombok.val;
import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.core.Ordered;
import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.MediaType;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.util.Optional;

/**
 * This is {@link RestEndpointMultifactorAuthenticationTrigger}.
 *
 * @author Misagh Moayyed
 * @since 6.0.0
 */
@Getter
@Setter
@Slf4j
@RequiredArgsConstructor
public class RestEndpointMultifactorAuthenticationTrigger implements MultifactorAuthenticationTrigger {
    private static final ObjectMapper MAPPER = JacksonObjectMapperFactory.builder()
        .defaultTypingEnabled(false).build().toObjectMapper();

    private final CasConfigurationProperties casProperties;

    private final MultifactorAuthenticationProviderResolver multifactorAuthenticationProviderResolver;

    private final ApplicationContext applicationContext;

    private int order = Ordered.LOWEST_PRECEDENCE;

    @Override
    public Optional<MultifactorAuthenticationProvider> isActivated(final Authentication authentication,
                                                                   final RegisteredService registeredService,
                                                                   final HttpServletRequest httpServletRequest,
                                                                   final HttpServletResponse response,
                                                                   final Service service) {
        val restEndpoint = casProperties.getAuthn().getMfa().getTriggers().getRest();
        if (service == null || authentication == null) {
            LOGGER.trace("No service or authentication is available to determine event for principal");
            return Optional.empty();
        }
        val principal = authentication.getPrincipal();
        if (StringUtils.isBlank(restEndpoint.getUrl())) {
            LOGGER.trace("Rest endpoint to determine event is not configured for [{}]", principal.getId());
            return Optional.empty();
        }
        val providerMap = MultifactorAuthenticationUtils.getAvailableMultifactorAuthenticationProviders(applicationContext);
        if (providerMap.isEmpty()) {
            LOGGER.error("No multifactor authentication providers are available in the application context");
            return Optional.empty();
        }

        LOGGER.debug("Contacting [{}] to inquire about [{}]", restEndpoint, principal.getId());
        val results = FunctionUtils.doUnchecked(() -> callRestEndpointForMultifactor(principal, service));
        if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(results)) {
            return MultifactorAuthenticationUtils.getMultifactorAuthenticationProviderById(results, applicationContext);
        }

        return Optional.empty();
    }

    /**
     * The Rest endpoint entity passed along to the API.
     */
    public record RestEndpointEntity(String principalId, String serviceId) {
    }

    /**
     * Call rest endpoint for multifactor.
     *
     * @param principal       the principal
     * @param resolvedService the resolved service
     * @return return the rest response, typically the mfa id.
     * @throws Exception the exception
     */
    protected String callRestEndpointForMultifactor(final Principal principal,
                                                    final Service resolvedService) throws Exception {
        HttpResponse response = null;
        try {
            val rest = casProperties.getAuthn().getMfa().getTriggers().getRest();
            val entity = new RestEndpointEntity(principal.getId(), resolvedService.getId());

            val headers = CollectionUtils.<String, String>wrap("Content-Type", MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE);
            headers.putAll(rest.getHeaders());

            val exec = HttpUtils.HttpExecutionRequest.builder()
                .basicAuthPassword(rest.getBasicAuthPassword())
                .basicAuthUsername(rest.getBasicAuthUsername())
                .method(HttpMethod.valueOf(rest.getMethod().toUpperCase().trim()))
                .url(rest.getUrl())
                .headers(headers)
                .entity(MAPPER.writeValueAsString(entity))
                .build();
            response = HttpUtils.execute(exec);
            val status = HttpStatus.valueOf(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
            if (status.is2xxSuccessful()) {
                val content = response.getEntity().getContent();
                return IOUtils.toString(content, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
            }
        } finally {
            HttpUtils.close(response);
        }
        return null;
    }

}


text:
The Ferryman
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Print and eBook formats available.
Siarhey Bulyha
translated from Russian by Alex Shvartsman
THEY CALL ME the Ferryman, but I can hardly lay claim to the title. Now, my grandfather and my great-grandfather and their predecessors: those were true ferrymen. By the time it was my father's turn to transport people to the other side, the river had become shallow, and its current had slowed. The water turned dirty, thick with sludge. It became a swamp, impossible to traverse by boat.
My father dragged the boat onto the shore, where it rots to this day. He built a sturdy raft instead. For about a decade he used that raft to ferry people to the other side. By then the water had receded even more, and one day the raft got stuck on a shoal. It sunk slowly into the mire—you can still see some of the logs sticking out of the marsh duckweed. That's when my father began to carry people across on his shoulders.
My father was strong and broad-shouldered. When paid enough, he could lug two grown men at the same time. I'm no weakling myself: I can carry two people as well, for double the price; sixty coins instead of the usual thirty.
Last Wednesday, when the sun was at its zenith, I was tending the garden. Carrying people across pays well, but the land is more reliable. The land will always feed you. So, I was working the garden when I heard footsteps. I didn't raise my head, as is my custom. I don't need them—they need me. I kept gardening until the visitor approached and spoke up.
"Hey, Ferryman!"
I stuck the shovel into the dirt and turned. The man who stood by the fence was dressed well, but not extravagantly. He had that important city-folk feel about him. He carried a saber, and there was a pistol holstered at his belt. I knew right away he was someone important, some sort of earl or baron, perhaps. I spoke evenly, "What can I do for you, Your Grace?"
"Transport me to the other side." He sounded angry. "Quickly, now. I'm in a hurry."
I don't like people who rush me. I brushed dirt from my hands, wiped sweat off my brow, and only then approached the fence. I stopped near the gate without opening it and asked, "Do you know how much it'll cost, Your Grace?"
"You'll be well paid," he said, his voice growing more irritated.
I studied him carefully. He looked like a baron should: rosy cheeks, beady eyes, weak beardless chin, short hair, and a thin mustache cut off above the lip.
"What are you staring at? Haven't you seen a nobleman before?" He ground his teeth and adjusted his hat.
"Not for some time, Your Grace," I admitted.
"Well, here's your opportunity," he said, some of the anger draining from his voice. "Come, carry me across. What will it cost?"
"Thirty coins," I said.
"Coins?" He laughed. "No one uses coins anymore, you dolt. These days it's banknotes. Look." He reached into his belt and retrieved a small colorful paper with lots of writing and pictures on both sides. I recognized the number '50' written on it. The paper was thick and crisp. "You can have the whole fifty, more than what you asked for. What do you say?"
"No." I handed the paper back to him. "I don't know these banknotes. I need coins. It's what I'm accustomed to."
"Fool!" said the baron. "I tell you again, no one carries coins anymore. These notes are accepted at any bank, at any market even. Don't you go to market?"
"No," I said again. "Why would I? We grow everything we need."
"Fine," said the baron. He produced another piece of paper from his belt, which said '100' on it. "Take this one, too." He suddenly asked, "Are you married?"
"I am," I said.
"Where is your wife?"
"In our hut. She's sick. Bedridden."
"You go to her, and tell her that these two banknotes are enough for the two of you to move to the nearest village, buy the finest house there, then call for the best doctor in the city to come cure her. What sort of coins do you normally get paid in, copper?"
"Yes," I said. "Pure copper."
"This is 150 silver. You see this signature?" He pointed at some scribble on the paper. "That's from the King's treasurer himself. How dare you look down your nose at it, you buffoon! Go ask your wife, if you still don't believe me."
I took the two papers and headed for the hut, leaving the baron to wait behind the closed gate.
My wife is a very sick woman, but she's also very smart. She almost never gets up, and so she has plenty of time to think about things while I'm busy working. That's why she's so much smarter than me.
As soon as I walked in, she asked, "What's all this racket outside? Is there trouble?"
I told her everything. She shook her head and said, "What an unpleasant man. Don't argue with him, and don't delay him. Just carry him over like he wants, and may his bones crumble to dust on the other side."
"Bah," said the wife. "We won't get any poorer, and at least we'll be rid of him."
"What about these?" I handed her the colorful papers.
She turned them over, this way and that. "They'll rot here, what with all the humidity. Ah well, maybe they can be of use to our son." She folded them twice and put them under her pillow. Then she told me to hurry and get rid of the baron already, and with that I left the hut.
The baron was still waiting for me near the gate. I told him that it was a short walk to the swamp, just over the hill and behind some bushes. We set out, with me in the lead.
"What about the swamp itself? Will it take long to cross?" he asked.
"It's different each time," I said. "We could cross in five minutes time and barely get my shins wet. Or we can wade for half an hour, waist-deep in muck."
"Why is that?" he asked.
"I won't lie," I said, "I don't know."
We walked quietly for a time. When we reached the bushes, the baron asked, "Ever almost drown?"
"Twice," I said. "But I've always made it across, and so did my charges."
"Is that so?" the baron said in a mocking fashion.
I stopped then, and turned toward him. "It's not too late to turn back, if Your Grace has changed his mind. I'll give you back your paper money."
The baron's cheeks turned even redder. "Damn the money, and damn you, ferryman. You won't scare me off."
"I'm not trying to."
"Lead on, then."
I led. We were almost at the edge of the swamp by then. We walked around the bushes and reached the low wooden pier where my wife, back when she could walk, used to wash clothes. Nowadays only I use the pier. It's convenient—I step into the water and bend my back, and my passengers step off the pier and climb onto my shoulders. I positioned myself thus.
The baron wasn't paying any attention to me. He stood at the edge of the pier and stared into the swamp, toward the other side. He squinted and shielded his eyes with his hand. "It's not very far," he said. "A thousand steps, at most."
I nodded. "My father said that the other side used to be a lot closer, back when there was a river here. When the river stemmed, it flooded the low-lying banks and became a lot wider."
"What's that above the water?" asked the baron. "Looks like smoke."
"It's some sort of a fog." I thought back to how one of my previous passengers explained it. "An evaporation."
The baron stared at the swamp in silence. "They say a lot of people drowned here," he finally said.
"Who says?" I asked.
He didn't answer, but said, "Bend down."
I crouched. He climbed onto my shoulders. I grabbed his legs, shifted him to fit better around my neck, straightened up, and headed away from the shore. This baron was light and he sat still, making him easy to carry. I walked steadily deeper into the swamp.
I knew just what the baron meant when he asked about those who drowned. Those were the people who came into the swamp on their own. They were too cheap to pay the thirty coins, so they headed in, not knowing what they were doing, and the swamp gulped them down. This happens many times each year. Sometimes, as I carry a passenger across, I see a hat hanging off a branch, or a staff stuck in the bush, or a length of rope floating in the water. People perish over a little bit of money. What a waste!
I'd spit in contempt, but the swamp doesn't like that. You spit, you might find yourself tripping on what you thought was nice and even ground, and drowning. The swamp is temperamental, not to be disrespected.
"How much further?" the baron asked from above my head.
I stopped and looked around, and said that I didn't know.
"We've been in the swamp for ten minutes," he said. "I am checking my pocket watch."
"That may be," I said. "At least it isn't deep. We've been wending smoothly, keeping almost dry. Could have just as easily been neck deep in the water."
"Why aren't we?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said, and kept walking. I wondered that myself. Was this a sign? Did it mean that his paper money was real? Ah, what do I care for the money, anyway. I don't need it, and no matter how much we have, my wife will complain that it's not enough.
"If we had more money, our son wouldn't have left," she always says. Years ago, he left for the city. Said he wanted to enlist, to become an officer, to earn enough money to buy his own village and a title. Since then he hasn't returned, hasn't written. Perhaps he's serving in some army even now, far away from home.
And as I thought about my son, I sighed and came to a stop.
"Are you lost? Don't you know the way?" the baron said, anger seeping back into his voice.
I stood there, silent.
"What a nasty place," said the baron. "It seems like you're just stomping your feet, wading in the water. We aren't making very much progress at all."
Now I was getting angry. "Why don't you look back, Your Grace."
He turned, and gasped. He must've seen just how far we already came.
"What can you see?" I asked.
He didn't reply. I shifted him on my shoulders and pressed on. There was a lot of thick brush in the swamp and I couldn't see far. I knew which way to go only by checking the position of the sun. Only the baron could see the other shore, from his seat high up on my shoulders. I knew what he'd see: a marsh overgrown with vegetation and, further up, a forest.
Alder and aspen grew near the water, and spruce a little higher up. At the top of the hill was a pine grove. That's what the other shore looked like. At least that's what it looked like from the edge of the swamp—I never ventured any further than that. And I didn't know what any of my passengers hoped to find there, either.
"Tell me, Your Grace, why do you want to cross? What do you seek on the other side?" I finally asked.
He didn't reply.
I pressed on. "I heard people say that on the other side lies paradise. But my father explored there, and never found anything. As far as he went, there was only the forest, same as you see. So he came back. But others—they don't come back. For as long as I've lived here, as long as I've carried people across, no one has ever come back. Why is that?"
That's when the baron squeezed my neck hard with his knees. I almost choked. I mis-stepped and staggered. The baron let go of my neck, grabbed on tighter with his hands and said, "Careful!"
I balanced myself, but felt my feet sinking deeper and deeper into the swamp. Soon the water was knee-deep. The baron was shifting around again.
"Easy, Your Grace. Be still, or I don't know what might happen."
He shouted, "Don't you threaten me, boor. Else I'll cut you deep enough to let out your entrails."
I grinned at this. I've been threatened with worse, over the years.
"Let's not argue, Your Grace. We have a long way to go yet." I carried him onward.
It was a very difficult stretch. The water kept getting deeper. The baron shifted and drew in his legs, because the water was almost reaching them. I was now waist deep in the sludge, and breathing heavily.
"You dog," said the baron in a nasty voice. "You dragged me here on purpose. I'll tell you why no one ever returns from the other side. They are afraid of you!"
"Why would anyone fear me?"
"Because you'll drown them, that's why." The baron's voice kept rising. "Rob them first, and then drown them!"
I was amused by this. "Then why did you come here? Aren't you afraid that I'll rob you, too?"
"I have no more money," he said. "I already gave it all to you. And you won't kill me. If anything, I'll kill you if I choose to!"
"That's your business," I mocked him. "Your Grace must be used to deciding who to punish and who to pardon. Me—I'm just a serf, a commoner." I turned my head as much as I could to look up at him. "May I have your permission to proceed?"
"Proceed," he whispered.
We moved on. The thought of throwing him off, of holding his head under the sludge until the bubbles stopped and his body ceased struggling came unbidden into my mind.
I forced such thoughts away. My father told me many times that you cannot become angry while in the swamp. The swamp doesn't like that. It doesn't like those who are afraid of it, those who are nervous, those who think they might slip. We cross the swamp because we don't fear it, Father said. Others fear it, but we don't. It's a good thing, too, because if we were afraid of it, we wouldn't have such an easy, well-paying job.
I calmed myself and saw that the other side was getting much closer. It was difficult to judge distances in the fog, but it seemed that the pines atop the hill grew larger.
"See, Your Grace, it's not much longer. We'll be on dry land, on the other side, soon," I said cheerfully.
An angry reply came. "Don't you feed me lies, boor. I know your kind." He grabbed onto me even tighter.
"What about my kind?" I said as I walked. "I don't hide who I am. I'm an honest man, working in plain sight, like my father and his father and grandfather before him."
"Plain sight?" The baron was searching his belt. He must've been checking for his pistol, making sure it was easy to reach. I pretended not to notice.
"All you travelers look down at me as I carry you across. Countless people—and not one of them would give me an honest answer about what they want on the other side. You all secretly think there's paradise, but there's only the forest. My father searched for a long time, and found nothing else there. Nothing!"
It was difficult to speak. I was now up to my chest in sludge, but I would have my say.
The baron only chuckled. "So what if your father had found nothing? It only means he needed nothing, sought nothing, and so nothing was revealed to him. Those with goals and drive can find many answers on the other side."
"How about you, Your Grace? What do you seek?"
"Nothing," he said. "I sought only you. For all the good people, all the noblemen you drowned here, you dog. People came seeking a better life, and you murdered them without mercy. You—"
He screamed at me, cursed at me, and I already knew what was to come. He would reach for his pistol, push it up to the back of my head—because there isn't room to swing a saber here— and fire. I thought I could stop him, grab the pistol away from him. But I misjudged his intent.
The baron drew his knife instead, and sliced deep across my throat, from ear to ear. Blood poured from the wound. I stumbled and fell into the swamp, dragging the baron with me. I was losing a lot of blood, but I hung on to him fast, not letting go, no matter how much he struggled. I was holding him down with one hand and trying to stem the flow of blood with another. But the wound was too deep—so deep, it was a wonder my head remained attached to my shoulders.
The baron struggled fiercely. He was probably trying to scream, but there isn't much screaming to be done under the swamp's surface. Soon his body went limp as he drowned. I held him under the water for a time longer, until I was certain he was dead. Then I let go of him, grabbed at the wound with both hands and crawled to my knees, then stood upright.
I couldn't breathe, so I stood in the water and waited for the wound to close and scab. The blood trickled through my fingers and down my chest. Every so often I reached into the swamp, scooped up some dirty water, and washed the wound. And when the wound finally closed, I turned around and walked toward my home. It was a long, difficult walk, but what choice did I have? I wasn't about to remain in the swamp along with the baron's body.
When I finally reached the shore I stopped to wash off as much dirt and grime as I could. It wouldn't do to drag the mud into my hut. As to the wound, the wife had seen me return with much worse.
When I entered the hut, she glanced at me and said right away that she knew the baron wasn't a good man.
"How does the earth hold so many bad people?" she added and shook her head.
I said nothing, and thought of the patchwork of scars that covered my entire body. There used to be one on my neck, and now there would be a second. I sat down on the stool next to my wife's bed. I was feeling heartsick; the baron's words about me killing and robbing everyone grated at my soul.
It wasn't true. They attacked me first, lashing out, trying to kill me. I was only defending myself. Those who didn't strike at me reached the other side safely. Even so, I never heard from or saw them again. Why is that?
My wife took hold of my hand. "It's okay. These things happen. Look on the bright side—you earned a lot of money today."
"Paper money," I said with disdain.
"New money," she said. She reached under the pillow to make sure the papers were still there. "They may look strange to us—we old people are set in our ways—but the youngsters, they understand. I wish our son would return soon. He doesn't need to keep serving in the army, we saved up so much money already. Maybe enough for him to buy a village, and become a baron. After all these years, maybe at least one of us will make something of himself."
I didn't reply. All these years, indeed. It has been over one hundred years since our son left, maybe closer to two hundred. Countless years more since my father journeyed to the other side. Could it be that there was nothing there then, all those years ago, but now there truly is some sort of a paradise?
Perhaps I should go there myself, and find out. Without any passengers, without a load to carry, just me. I could leave a pitcher of water, a loaf of bread, and some onions by my wife's bedside, and just go . . .
But what if I don't return? What will happen with the crossing? Who will be the ferryman? No, I can't do that, can't abandon my lot, I can't allow for that to happen.
That's why I hate them all so much. My passengers have the freedom to go whenever they want, the freedom not to return, but I am stuck here for life. A very long life.
The original Russian text of "The Ferryman" (Перевозчик) was published in Russkaya Fantastika 2012. You can read it online at sparkanthology.org/perevozchik.
English version published in Spark: A Creative Anthology, Volume V, translated by Alex Shvartsman.
Enjoyed this excerpt? Read more now, or go buy the book, or make a donation!
SIARHEY BULYHA is a novelist and scriptwriter from Minsk, Belarus. He has numerous novels and short stories published in Russian. His fantasy novel Alien Crown won the Efremov Award in 2004. He is particularly known for drawing on the themes of Belorussian legends and fairy tales for his work, as is the case with this story.
About the Translator
ALEX SHVARTSMAN is a writer and game designer from Brooklyn, New York. His fiction has appeared in Spark Volume IV, Nature, Galaxy's Edge, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, and many other venues. He edits the Unidentified Funny Objects annual anthology series of humorous science fiction and fantasy. — alexshvartsman.com


"A bird in the snow"
He was born blind, and had been taught the one thing which the blind generally learn, music ; or this art he was specially gifted. His mother died when he was little more than a child, and his father, who was the first cornetist of a military band, followed her to the grave a few years later.
He had a brother in America from whom he had never heard; still, through indirect sources he knew him to be well off, married, and the father of two fine children. To the day of his death the old musician, indignant at his son's ingratitude, would not allow his name to be mentioned in his presence ; but the blind boy's affection for his brother remained unchanged. He could not forget that this elder brother had been the support of his childhood, the defence of his weakness against the other boys, and that he had always spoken to him with kindness. The recollection of Santiago's voice as he entered his room in the morning, shouting, "Hey there, Juanito ! get up, man ; don't sleep so ! " rang in the blind boy's ears with a more pleasing harmony than could ever be drawn from the keys of a piano or the strings of a violin. Was it probable that such a kind heart had grown cold? Juan could not believe it, and was always striving to justify him. At times the fault was with the mail, or it might be that his brother did not wish to write until he could send them a good deal of money ; then again, he fancied that he meant to surprise them by presenting himself some fine day, laden with gold, in the modest entresol in which they lived. But he never dared communicate any of these fancies to his father; only when the old man, wrought to an unusual pitch of exasperation, bitterly apostrophized the absent one, he found the courage to say: You must not despair, father. Santiago is good, and my heart tells me that we shall hear from him one of these days."
The father died, however, without hearing from his son, between a priest, who exhorted him, and the blind boy, who clung convulsively to his hand, as if he meant to detain him in this world by main force. When the old man's body was removed from the house, the boy seemed to have lost his reason, and in a frenzy of grief he struggled with the undertaker's men. Then he was left alone. And what loneliness was his! No father, no mother, no relatives, no friends; he was even deprived of the sun- light, which is the friend of all created things. He was two whole days in his room pacing the floor like a caged wolf, without tasting food. The chamber-maid, assisted by a compassionate neighbor, succeeded in saving him from this slow process of suicide. He was prevailed upon to eat. He spent the rest of his life praying, and working at his music.
His father, shortly before his death, had obtained for him a position as organist in one of the churches of Madrid, with a salary of seventy cents a day. This was scarcely sufficient to meet the running expenses of a house, however modest; so within a fortnight Juan sold all that had constituted the furniture of his humble home, dismissed his servant, and took a room at a boarding-house, for which he paid forty cents a day ; the remaining thirty cents covered all his other expenses. He lived thus for several months without leaving his room except to fulfill his obligations. His only walks were from the house to the church, and from the church back again. His grief weighed upon him so heavily that he never opened his lips. He spent the long hours of the day composing a grand requiem Mass for the repose of his father's soul, depending upon the charity of the parish for its execution and although it would be incorrect to say that he strained his five senses, on account of his having but four, it can at least be said that he threw all the energies of his body and soul into his work.
The ministerial crisis overtook him before his task was half finished. I do not remember who came into power, whether the Radicals, Conservatives, or Constitutionals; at any rate, there was some great change. The news reached Juan late, and to his sorrow. The new cabinet soon judged him, in his capacity as an organist, to be a dangerous citizen, and felt that from the heights of the choir, at vespers or in the solemnity of the Mass, with the swell and the roar from all the stops of the organ, he was evincing sentiments of opposition which were truly scandalous. The new ministers were ill disposed, as they declared in Congress through the lips of one of their authorized members, " to tolerate any form of imposition," so they proceeded with praiseworthy energy to place Juan on the retired list, and to find him a substitute whose musical maneuvers might offer a better guarantee, a man, in a word, who would prove more loyal to the institutions. On being officially informed of this, the blind one experienced no emotion beyond surprise. In the deep recesses of his heart he was pleased, as he was thus left more time in which to work at his Mass. The situation appeared to him in its real light only when his landlady, at the end of the month, came to him for money. He had none to give her, naturally, as his salary had been withdrawn; and he was compelled to pawn his father's watch, after which he resumed his work with perfect serenity and without a thought of the future. But the landlady came again for money at the end of an- other month, and he once more pawned a jewel of the scant paternal legacy; this was a small diamond ring. In a few months there was nothing left to pawn. So the landlady, in consideration of his helplessness, kept him two or three days beyond the time and then turned him out, with the self-congratulatory feeling of having acted generously in not claiming his trunk and clothes, from which she might have realized the few cents that he still owed her.
He looked for another lodging, but was unable to rent a piano, which was a sore trial to him; evidently he could not finish his Mass. He knew a shopkeeper who owned a piano and who permitted him to make use of it. But Juan soon noticed that his visits grew more and more inopportune, so he left off going. Shortly, too, he was turned out of his new lodgings, only this time they kept his trunk. Then came a period of misery and anguish, of that misery of which it is hard to conceive. We know that life has few joys for the homeless and the poor, but if in addition they be blind and alone, surely they have found the limit of human suffering. Juan was tossed about from lodging to lodging, lying in bed while his only shirt was being washed, wandering through the streets of Madrid with torn shoes, his trousers worn to a fringe about his feet, his hair long, and his beard unshaven. Some compassionate fellow-lodger obtained a position for him in a cafe, from which, however, he was soon turned out, for its frequenters did not relish his music. He never played popular dances or peteneras, no fandangos, not even an occasional polka. His fingers glided over the keys in dreamy ecstasies of Beethoven arid Chopin, and the audience found some difficulty in keeping time with their spoons. So out he went again through the byways of the capital. Every now and then some charitable soul, accidentally brought in contact with his misery, assisted him indirectly, for Juan shuddered at the thought of begging. He took his meals in some tavern or other in the lowest quarter of Madrid, ate just enough to keep from starving, and for two cents he was allowed to sleep in a hovel between beggars and evil-doers. Once they stole his trousers while he was asleep, and left him a pair of cotton ones in their stead. This was in November.
Poor Juan, who had always cherished the thought of his brother's return, now in the depths of his misery nursed his chimera with re- doubled faith. He had a letter written and sent to Havana. As he had no idea how his brother could be reached, the letter bore no direction. He made all manner of inquiries, but to no effect, and he spent long hours on his knees, hoping that Heaven might send Santiago to his rescue. His only happy moments were those spent in prayer, as he knelt behind a pillar in the far-off corner of some solitary church, breathing the acrid odors of dampness and melting wax, listening to the flickering sputter of the tapers and the faint murmur rising from the lips of the faithful in the nave of the temple. His innocent soul then soared above the cruelties of life and communed with God and the Holy Mother. From his early childhood devotion to the Virgin had been deeply rooted in his heart. As he had never known his mother, he instinctively turned to the mother of God for that tender and loving protection which only a woman can give a child. He had composed a number of hymns and canticles in her honor, and he never fell asleep without pressing his lips to the image of the Carmen, which he wore on his neck.
" Here, here! go straight home now, and don't let me catch you stopping at any more street corners."
" I 'm doing no harm ! "
" You are blocking the thoroughfare. Come, move on, move on, if you don't want to go to the lock-up."
It is really encouraging to see how careful our authorities are in clearing the streets of blind singers ; and I really believe, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, that if they could keep them equally free from thieves and murderers, they would do so with pleasure.
Juan went back to his hovel with a heavy heart, for he was by nature shrinking and timid, and was grieved at having disturbed the peace and given rise to the interference of the executive power. He had made twenty-seven cents. With this he bought something to eat on the following day, and paid rent for the little pile of straw on which he slept. The next night he went out again and sang a few more operatic arias; but the people again crowded around him, and once more a policeman felt himself called upon to interfere, shouting at him to move on.
But how could he? If he kept moving on, he would not make a cent. He could not expect the people to follow him. Juan moved on, however, on and on, because he was timid, and the mere thought of infringing the laws, of disturbing even momentarily the peace of his native land, was worse than death to him.
So his earnings rapidly decreased. The necessity of moving on, on the one hand, and the fact that his performances had lost the charm of novelty, which in Spain always commands its price, daily deprived him of a few coppers. With what he brought home at night he could scarcely buy enough food to keep him alive. The situation was desperate. The poor boy saw but one luminous point in the clouded horizon of his life, and that was his brother's return to Madrid. Every night as he left his hovel with his guitar swinging from his shoulder he thought, "If Santiago should be in Madrid and hear me sing, he would know me by my voice." And this hope, or rather this chimera, alone gave him the strength to endure life.
However, there came again a day in which his anguish knew no limit. On the preceding night he had earned only six coppers. It had been so cold! This was Christmas Eve. When the morning dawned upon the world, it found Madrid wrapped in a sheet of snow six inches thick. It snowed steadily all day long, which was a matter of little consequence to the majority of people, and was even a cause of much rejoicing among aesthetes generally. Those poets in particular who enjoy what is called easy circumstances spent the greater part of the day watching the flakes through the plate-glass of their study windows, meditating upon and elaborating those graceful and ingenious similes that cause the audiences at the theatre to shout, " Bravo, bravo ! " or those who read their verses to exclaim, " What a genius that young fellow is ! "
Juan's breakfast had been a crust of stale bread and a cup of watery coffee. He could not divert his hunger by contemplating the beauty of the snow, in the first place, because he was blind, and in the second, because, even had he not been blind, he would have had some difficulty in seeing it through the patched and filthy panes of his hovel. He spent the day huddled in a corner on his straw mattress, evoking scenes of his childhood and caressing the sweet dream of his brother's return. At nightfall he grew very faint, but necessity drove him into the streets to beg. His guitar was gone. He had sold it for sixty cents on a day of similar hardship.
The snow fell with the same persistence. His legs trembled as they had when he sang for the first time, but now it was from hunger rather than shame. He groped about as best he could, with great lumps of mud above his ankles. The silence told him that there was scarcely a soul on the street. The carriages rolled noiselessly along, and he once came near being run over. In one of the central thoroughfares he began to sing the first thing that came to his lips. His voice was weak and hoarse. Nobody stopped to listen. "Let us try another street," thought he ; and he went down the Avenue of San Jeronimo, walking awkwardly in the snow, with a white coating on his shoulders and water squirting from his shoes. The cold had begun to penetrate into his very bones, and hunger gave him a violent pain. For a moment with the cold and the pain came a feeling of faintness which made him think that he was about to die, and lifting his spirit to the Virgin of the Carmen, his protectress, he exclaimed in his anguish, '' Mother, have pity!'' And after pronouncing these words he felt relieved and walked, or rather dragged himself, to the Plaza de las Cortes. There he grasped a lamp-post, and under the impression of the Virgin's protection sang Gounod's " Ave Maria." Still nobody stopped to hear him. The people of Madrid were at the theatres, at the cafes, or at home, dancing their little ones on their knees in the glow of the hearth, in the warmth of their love. The snow continued to fall steadily, copiously, with the evident purpose of furnishing a topic for the local column of the morning paper, where it would be described in a thousand delicate phrases. The occasional passersby hurried along muffled up to their ears under their umbrellas. The lamp-posts had put on their white night-caps, from under which escaped thin rays of dismal light. The silence was broken only by the vague and distant rumble of carriages and by the light fall of the snow-flakes, that sounded like the faint and continuous rustle of silk. The voice of Juan alone vibrated in the tillness of the night, imploring the mother of the unprotected ; and his chant seemed a cry of anguish rather than a hymn of praise, a moan of sadness and resignation falling dreary and chill, like snow upon the heart.
And his cry for pity was in vain. In vain he repeated the sweet name of Mary, adjusting it to the modulations of every melody. Heaven and the Virgin were far away, it seemed, and could not hear him. The neighbors of the plaza were near at hand, but they did not choose to hear. Nobody came down to take him in from the cold; no window was thrown open to drop him a copper. The passers-by, pursued, as it were, by the fleet steps of pneumonia, scarcely dared stop.
Juan's voice at last died in his throat ; he could sing no more. His legs trembled under him ; his hands lost their sense of touch. He took a few steps, then sank on the sidewalk at the foot of the grating that surrounds the square. He sat with his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. He felt vaguely that it was the last moment of his life, and he again prayed, imploring the divine pity.
" Are you an officer? "
" No ; I am no officer. What is the matter with you? Get up."
" I don't believe I can, sir."
"Yes, sir; but it is n't exactly that, I haven't had anything to eat today."
"I will help you, then. Come up with you."
The man took Juan by both arms and stood him on his feet. He seemed very strong.
"Now lean on me, and let us see if we can find a cab."
"But where are you going to take me? "
"Nowhere where you wouldn't want to go. Are you afraid?"
"No; I feel in my heart that you will help me."
"Come along, then. Let 's see how soon I can get you something hot to drink."
"God will reward you for this, sir ; the Virgin will reward you. I thought I was going to die there, against that grating."
"Don't talk about dying, man. The question now is to find a cab ; if we can only move along fast enough What is the matter ? Are you stumbling ? "
"Are you blind?" asked the stranger, anxiously.
" I was born blind."
Juan felt his companion's arm tremble in his, and they walked along in silence. Suddenly the man stopped and asked in a voice husky with emotion.
"What is your name ? "
"And your father was Manuel Martinez, wasn't he, musician of the third artillery band? "
" My God, how horrible, and how happy ! I am a criminal, Juan ! I am your brother Santiago! "
" A cab ! A cab ! Is n't there a cab anywhere around? Curse my luck ! Come, Juanillo, try ; make an effort, my boy ; we are not so very far. But where in the name of sense are all the cabs? Not one has passed us. Ah, I see one coming, thank God! No; the brute is going in the other direction. Here is another. This one is mine. Hello there, driver! Five dollars if you take us flying to Number 13 Castellana."
And taking his brother in his arms as though he had been a mere child, he put him in the cab and jumped in after him. The driver whipped his horse, and off they went, gliding swiftly and noiselessly over the snow. In the mean time Santiago, with his arms still around Juan, told him something of his life. He had been in Costa Rica, not Cuba, and had accumulated a respectable fortune. He had spent many years in the country, beyond mail service and far from any point of communication with Europe. He had written several letters to his father, and had managed to get these on some steamer trading with England, but had never received any answer. In the hope of returning shortly to Spain, he had made no inquiries. He had been in Madrid for four months. He learned from the parish record that his father was dead; but all he could discover concerning Juan was vague and contradictory. Some believed that he had died, while others said that, reduced to the last stages of misery, he went through the streets singing and playing on the guitar. All his efforts to find him had been fruitless; but fortunately Providence had thrown him into his arms. Santiago laughed and cried alternately, showing himself to be the same frank, open-hearted, jovial soul that Juan had loved so in his childhood.
" How do you feel now, Juan ? Are you warm enough? Perhaps you don't care for this wine."
" Can you play on the piano ? "
"Come into the parlor, then. Let us give them a surprise."
He accordingly led him into an adjoining room and seated him at the piano. He raised the top so as to obtain the greatest possible vibration, threw open the doors, and went through all the manoeuvres peculiar to a surprise, tiptoeing, whispering, speaking in a falsetto, and so much absurd pantomime that Juan could not help laughing as he realized how little his brother had changed.
"Now, Juanillo, play something startling, and play it loud, with all your might."
The blind boy struck up a military march. A quiver ran through the silent house like that which stirs a music-box while it is being wound up. The notes poured from the piano, hurrying, jostling one another, but never losing their triumphant rhythm. Every now and then Santiago exclaimed, " Louder, Juanillo ! Louder ! "
And the blind boy struck the notes with all his spirit and might.
"I see my wife peeping in from behind the curtains. Go on, Juanillo. She is in her night-gown, he, he! I am pretending not to see her. I have no doubt she thinks I am crazy, he, he ! Go on, Juanillo."
Juan obeyed, although he thought the jest had been carried far enough. He wanted to know his sister-in-law and kiss his nephews.
"Now I can just see Manolita. Hello! Paquito is up too. Did n't I tell you we should surprise them? But I am afraid they will take cold. Stop a minute, Juanito! "
And the infernal clamor was silenced.
"Come, Adela, Manolita, and Paquito, get on your things and come in to see your uncle Juan. This is Juanillo, of whom you have heard me speak so often. I have just found him in the street almost frozen to death. Come, hurry and dress, all of you."
The whole family was soon ready, and rushed in to embrace the blind boy. The wife's voice was soft and harmonious. To Juan it sounded like the voice of the Virgin. He discovered, too, that she was weeping silently at the thought of all his sufferings. She ordered a foot-wanner to be brought in. She wrapped his legs in a cloak and put a soft cushion behind his head. The children stood around his chair, caressing him, and all listened with tears to the accounts of his past misery. Santiago struck his forehead; the children stroked his hands, saying, "You will never be hungry again, will you, uncle ? Or go out without a cloak and an umbrella? I don't want you to, neither does Manolita, nor mamma, nor papa."
" I wager you will not give him your bed, Paquito," said Santiago, trying to conceal his tears under his affected merriment.
"My bed won't fit him, papa ! But he can have the bed in the guests' chamber. It is a great bed, uncle, a big, big bed! "
"I don't believe I care to go to bed," said Juan. "Not just now at any rate, I am so comfortable here."
"That pain has gone, hasn't it, uncle?" whispered Manolita, kissing and stroking his hand.
"No, dear, no, God bless you! Nothing pains me now. I am happy, very happy! Only I feel sleepy, so sleepy that I can hardly raise my eyelids."
"Never mind us; sleep if you feel like it," said Santiago.
Yes, uncle, sleep," said at a time Manolita and Paquito throwing their arms around his neck and covering him with caresses.
And Juan fell asleep, but he wakened in another world.
The next morning, at dawn, two policemen stumbled against a corpse in the snow. The doctor of the charity hospital pronounced it a case of congealing of the blood.
" he seems to be laughing."


text:
Ptolemaios () war der erste König von Kommagene 163 v. Chr.

Ptolemaios war armenisch-iranischer Herkunft und stammte aus der Dynastie der Orontiden. Er war von etwa 170 bis 163 Epistates von Kommagene. Als das Reich der Seleukiden, unter deren Herrschaft Kommagene stand, ab 163 auseinanderfiel, entschied sich Ptolemaios zur Revolte und erklärte Kommagene zum unabhängigen Königreich. Ptolemaios machte Samosata, die Hauptstadt der Provinz Kommagene, zur Hauptstadt.

Ptolemaios war ein Verwandter des Königs Mithridates I. und so auch verwandt mit der parthischen Königsdynastie. Nach einer Inschrift auf dem Berg Nemrut war er ein Nachfahre Dareios' I. Ptolemaios starb 130 v. Chr. Der Name seiner Frau ist unbekannt. Sein Sohn und Nachfolger war Samos II. Theosebes Dikaios.

Literatur
 Richard D. Sullivan: Thy Dynasty of Commagene. In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Bd. II,8, Berlin New York 1977, S. 732–798, hier S. 742–748.

Weblinks
La Commagène

Einzelnachweise und Quellen

Orontide
König (Kommagene)
Geboren im 3. oder 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr.
Gestorben 130 v. Chr.
Mann


text:
Read The FEC Complaint Against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alleging Money Laundering!
Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib Both Hit With Allegations of Illegal...
AOC, Breaking News, Ocasio-Cortez
FEC Complaint For "Money Laundering" Filed Against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez!
Dig deeper!
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the infamous AOC, has been hit with allegations of money laundering!
And I'm not just talking about some random online rantings.
I'm talking about an FEC complaint on official court caption.
It looks like this and you can read the entire thing on Scribd:
While the whole thing is very interesting to read, here's the allegation of money laundering.
See for yourself below and view full thing on Scribd here:
Here are more details, from the NY Post:
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's campaign may have illegally paid her boyfriend through a political action committee during her congressional race, a Republican group alleges in a new complaint with the FEC.
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation alleged in the complaint that Brand New Congress PAC paid Ocasio-Cortez's boyfriend, Riley Roberts, for marketing services after the PAC was hired by her campaign.
Using the third-party PAC to pay her boyfriend may have violated campaign-finance laws, a lawyer for the Coolidge Reagan Foundation told The Post.
"It is totally legal, as a candidate, to hire family members, people you know to work for you. But they didn't do that," said Attorney Dan Backer.
"Instead of paying him directly, they paid him through an intermediary — in order to obscure the fact that they paid him. The FEC should investigate and find out if that's the case. That's the allegation," Backer added.
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation is seeking the FEC to investigate if the campaign violated finance laws that state campaign contributions "shall not be converted by any person to personal use."
But the PAC that hired Roberts told Fox News, who first reported the story, that all the payments were legally sound.
"[Roberts] is a professional digital marketing and growth consultant who specializes in social media presence and subscriber engagement," a spokeswoman for Brand New Congress PAC told Fox.
"He was hired through a two-month trial period, beginning on August 3, 2017, and worked through the end of September 2017," the spokeswoman added. "Services to the Brand New Congress PAC consisted of advertising strategies for potential growth, developing metrics, and aiding in execution of strategy to increase brand awareness for the PAC as a whole."
And from Fox News:
A Republican group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday alleging that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's campaign may have illegally funneled thousands of dollars through an allied PAC to boyfriend Riley Roberts.
Members of the Washington, D.C.-based Coolidge Reagan Foundation allege in their complaint that when the Brand New Congress PAC (BNC) -- a political arm of Brand New Congress LLC, a company that was hired by Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to run and support her campaign -- paid Roberts for marketing services, it potentially ran afoul of campaign finance law.
"It's not illegal for [Ocasio-Cortez] to pay her boyfriend, but it appears that they created some sort of scheme to avoid claiming the money [as a campaign expense]," Dan Backer, a D.C.-based attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of the foundation, told Fox News. "What exactly did he do for that money?"
It was first reported last week that the Brand New Congress PAC paid Roberts during the early days of the Ocasio-Cortez campaign. According to FEC records, the PAC made two payments to Roberts – one in August 2017 and one in September 2017 – both for $3,000.
The FEC complaint specifically cites the use of "intermediaries" to make the payments, "the vague and amorphous nature of the services Riley ostensibly provided," the relatively small amount of money raised by the campaign at that stage and "the romantic relationship between Ocasio-Cortez and Riley" in asserting the transactions might violate campaign finance law.
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation -- a 501(c)(3) -- is requesting that the FEC look into the payments for potential violations on relevant campaign finance laws that state that campaign contributions "shall not be converted by any person to personal use" and that "an authorized committee must report the name and address of each person who has received any disbursement not disclosed."
Officials with BNC claimed in a previous statement, however, that everything was on the up and up regarding payments.
"[Roberts] is a professional digital marketing and growth consultant who specializes in social media presence and subscriber engagement," said BNC's Communications Director Zeynab Day, adding that his hiring was based "on his experience managing successful advertising and social media campaigns."
"He was hired through a 2 month trial period, beginning on August 3, 2017, and worked through the end of September 2017," she added. "Services to the Brand New Congress PAC consisted of advertising strategies for potential growth, developing metrics, and aiding in execution of strategy to increase brand awareness for the PAC as a whole."
Wednesday's complaint comes after a blog post on Medium by political consultant Luke Thompson, who first flagged the payments to Roberts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CzSS8cJX7s
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NATIONAL POLL: Should Nancy Pelosi Be Removed From Office?


If you're feeling stress from too much work, or no job, too hectic a schedule, the world economic crisis or even your own, turn to buds not bottles. University research has linked flowers to happiness, creativity, compassion, and tranquility. Flowers and plants provide emotional and behavioral benefits, in addition to their aesthetic and environmental benefits.
A study at Rutgers University, published in the April 2005 issue of Evolutionary Psychology, reveals that flowers improve emotional health. It showed that people can manage their daily moods by healthy and natural means, and that flowers trigger happy emotions, a feeling of life satisfaction, and positive social behavior beyond what most believe. No matter the age group, all participants in the study show immediate happiness on receiving flowers. They felt less depressed after getting flowers, were less anxious or agitated, and showed a higher level of life satisfaction. Female participants reported these positive feelings lasted for days. Flowers led to increased intimacy with family and friends in this study.
On the giver side, in a related study at Rutgers by Dr. Haviland-Jones, both men and women who gave flowers were perceived as happy, achieving, strong, capable, and courageous people. They came across as more emotionally intelligent. Female floral givers were seen as more appreciative of beauty and nature.
If you feel happy receiving flowers, do they keep on helping in the home? A study from Harvard University Medical School by Dr. Nancy Etcoff focused on the "home ecology" of flowers– the effects of flowers in the home on personal well-being. With flowers in the home for less than a week, she found that participants felt more compassion towards others, had less worry and anxiety, and felt less depressed. Just a few days of flowers at home made people more positive, and all these effects carried over into work as well.
In the Harvard study, people wanted flowers placed so they could be seen right off in the morning. Being "down" in the morning is common with many, the more positive moods of happiness and friendliness for example being seen later in the day. Seeing flowers in the morning, often in the kitchen, can jumpstart these positive moods.
Not only do flowers promote positive attitudes that carry forward into the workplace, but also flowers promote innovation and creative ideas, according to a study at Texas A&M. The lead researcher, Dr. Roger Ulrich, said this increased productivity could mean the difference between mild and great business success. While men in the study generated more ideas in the presence of flowers and plants, women generated more creative and flexible solutions in their presence.
Another behavioral study at Harvard on the workplace focused on employee commitment and productivity, two key factors for business success. "Productivity is largely affected by the quality of human relationships including cooperative, social group moods, and interaction." Using flowers and plants to engender positive behavior of happiness, compassion, and friendliness is one means to improve productivity.
More on the positive power of flowers can be found on the website of the Society of American Florists (www.aboutflowers.com). Also on this website are specific tips by interior designer Jayme Barrett on using flowers for serenity, inspiration, wellness, gratitude, love, and optimism. For each mood she suggests an appropriate color combination, vase style, placement in the home, and flower varieties– all factors your might consider when giving or receiving flowers, or when designing your own arrangements.
Click here for Durable Greenhouse's professional grade STEM Education Seed Propagation Kit.