text:
Primark urges other UK retailers to join it in compensating Bangladesh victims
Clothing chain says it will help families of workers buried when Dhaka building collapsed but balks at union's safety demands
guardian.co.uk, Ben Quinn and Rebecca Smithers, Monday 29 April 2013
A shopper passes protesters at a branch of the clothing chain Primark,
which had a supplier based in the collapsed factory. Photograph: Suzanne
Plunkett/Reuters
Primark has announced that it will pay compensation to the victims of last week's collapse of a Bangladeshi factory complex, where one of the high-street retailer's suppliers was located.
The illegally constructed, eight-storey Rana Plaza collapsed in a heap while thousands of people were working inside in five garment factories that supply leading western brands including Primark, Matalan, Mango and Benetton.
About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for so far. Rescuers were using heavy machinery on Monday to cut through the debris after giving up hope of finding any more survivors.
The British-owned Primark, which said that the payment would include long-term aid for children who had lost parents and financial aid to those who were injured, also urged other clothing retailers who had suppliers based in the factory near Dhaka to come forward and offer assistance.
But the company stopped short of meeting the demands of campaigning organisations and trade unions to sign up to a building safety action plan aimed at preventing a repeat of the disaster, in which at least 382 people were killed.
Announcing the compensation package on Monday, Primark said it had joined with a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) to address the immediate needs of victims, including the provision of emergency food aid to families.
It added: "This will include the provision of long-term aid for children who have lost parents, financial aid for those injured and payments to the families of the deceased.
"Primark notes the fact that its supplier shared the building with those of other retailers," said the retailer, whose supplier, Simple Approach, had occupied the second floor of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building that collapsed.
"We are fully aware of our responsibility. We urge these other retailers to come forward and offer assistance."
A petition drawn up by the National Garment Workers' Federation, which called on Primark, Matalan and Mango to pay compensation to victims' families and to sign up to the Bangladesh fire and building safety agreement to prevent future deaths of garment workers, has so far received nearly 600,000 signatures.
Responding to calls for it to sign up to the agreement, a spokesman for Primark said that the issue of structural integrity was complex and that buildings had multiple ownership, tenants, floors and many international customers.
He added that Primark would work with fellow members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a UK-based grouping of retailers, unions and NGOs, "to agree and monitor an effective methodology to assess structural integrity, which can then be universally adopted".
"An equivalent action plan on fire safety has already been endorsed by the ETI and its members, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach," he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Italian retail multinational Benetton admitted that it had been supplied for a one-off order by one of the factories in the building. It had previously denied any links with the businesses there.
The company's U-turn came as a Bangladesh court gave police 15 days to question the owner of the building. Mohammed Sohel Rana, who was arrested on Sunday as he tried to flee to India, will be held for questioning on charges of negligence, illegal construction and forcing employees to work in the building. His father, Abdul Khaleque, was also arrested on suspicion of aiding Rana to force people to work in a dangerous building.
Benetton's announcement follows the publication by the Associated Press of pictures of clothes bearing its labels in the debris. On the day of the tragedy, the Italian firm issued a statement saying: "None of the companies involved are suppliers to Benetton Group or any of its brands."
The new statement said: "Regarding the tragic accident in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we wish to confirm that none of the companies involved is a supplier to any of our brands. Further to this, a one-time order was completed and shipped out of one of the manufacturers involved several weeks prior to the accident.
"Since then, this subcontractor has been removed from our supplier list. A programme of random audits take place on an ongoing basis throughout our global supply chain to ensure that all direct and indirect suppliers comply with our long-standing social, labour and environmental standards."
New Wave Bottoms, one of the manufacturers based at Rana Plaza, lists Benetton as a client, while labour rights activists digging through the debris also said they found documents linking Benetton to the factory.
Bonmarché, a retailer with more than 200 stores across the UK, has acknowledged that its products were made in the block, while the UK chain Matalan also said it had been supplied from the factory in the past. The Spanish chain Mango said it had planned to obtain samples from a supplier in the complex.
Bangladesh building collapse: factories supplied shops in west
Labels: Bangladesh, Corporate Social Responsible, Disaster, Disaster Management, Integrity - Ethical, Society, Truthful and Transparent, UK
Activists Urge Asean to End Deadlock on Migrant Workers' Rights
Jakarta Globe, April 29, 2013
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pose for a
group photo during the 22nd ASEAN Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan on Thursday.
The leaders are, from left, Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Singapore's Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Vietnam's
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Myanmar's
President Thein Sein, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia's President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and
Malaysia's Senate President Abu Zahar Ujang. (Reuters Photo/Bazuki Muhammad)
A human rights group is urging Asean to conclude a six-year debate on an instrument protecting migrant workers and develop a draft during a meeting this week.
"We, various civil society elements concerned with the protection of the rights of migrant workers, urge the Asean drafting team committee on migrant workers [ACMW] to complete the debate on the Instrument for the Protection for Migrant Workers and Their Families," a statement issued by the Human Rights Working Group Indonesia (HRWG-Indonesia) said.
The statement also said that the group hoped that the ACMW would complete the discussion during its two-day Asean Forum on Migrant Labor, which kicked off today in Jakarta.
The instrument, it said, was mandated by the Asean Declaration on the Protection of Migrant Workers of January 2007.
The debate on the instrument, involving representatives from the 10 member states of Asean, has been deadlocked over three points — whether the instrument should be legally binding, the definition of the family of migrant workers and whether the protection should be extended to undocumented migrant workers.
"It should be that this instrument of protection is legally binding for all Asean member states," the HRWG-Indonesia statement said, adding that the 2007 declaration also was binding.
On the two other points, the organization said that the ACMW should refer to the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which provides a definition of migrant worker families and extends protection to undocumented migrant workers.
"We deem that the debate or negotiations that have been going on for six years, both in substance and in duration, has been going on for far too long, showing that Asean states do not have the good will to protect migrant workers," the group said.
The group urged the drafting team to complete the instrument as soon as possible, and to uphold human rights standards and various International Labor Organization conventions ratified by Asean member states.
HRWG-Indonesia also called on the government to make the draft instrument available to the public as soon as possible so that concerned citizens and migrant workers can contribute.
The group also pushed for the government "to press for several points in the instruments, including a mechanism for legal assistance and rehabilitation to assist migrant workers who became victims of violence."
Posted by Cempaka at 4:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: ASEAN, Human Rights, Migrant Workers, Summit, UN Convention
China becoming global climate change leader: study
Google – AFP, Martin Parry (AFP), 28 April 2013
Solar panels in the Sino-Singapore Eco-city near Tianjin on June 11, 2012
(AFP/File, Ed Jones)
SYDNEY — China is rapidly assuming a global leadership role on climate change alongside the United States, a new study said Monday, but it warned greenhouse gas emissions worldwide continue to rise strongly.
The report by the independent Australian-based Climate Commission, "The Critical Decade: International Action on Climate Change" presents an overview of action in the last nine months.
It was released on the same day as a fresh round of UN talks were to start in Bonn on boosting action on climate change -- a two-decade-long process that has been dogged by procedural bickering and defence of national interests.
The study found that every major economy had policies in place to tackle the issue, but China was at the forefront in strengthening its response, "taking ambitious strides to add renewable energy to its mix".
A wind turbine complex on the Zhemo
Mountain in the outskirts of Dali in China's
Yunnan province on November 5, 2009
(AFP/File, Liu Jin)
"China is accelerating action," said Tim Flannery, the co-author and a key figure at the Climate Commission, which brings together internationally-renowned scientists, as well as policy and business leaders.
"China has halved its growth in electricity demand, dramatically increased its renewable energy capacity, and decelerated its emissions growth more quickly than expected.
"After years of strong growth in coal use, this has begun to level off. They are beginning to put in place seven emissions trading schemes that will cover quarter of a billion people," he said.
The report added that China, which this month agreed to work with the US to tackle global warming, wanted "to position themselves as the world's renewable energy leader".
"Whatever the reason, the results speak for themselves. China is quickly moving to the top of the leader board on climate change," said Flannery.
The report found that in 2012 alone China invested US$65.1 billion in clean energy, 20 percent more than in 2011. This was unmatched and represented 30 percent of the entire G20 nations' investment last year.
It pointed to new solar power capacity in China expanding 75 percent last year while the amount of electricity generated from wind in 2012 was 36 percent higher than 2011.
The United States, which with China produces some 37 percent of world emissions, also significantly strengthened its climate change response, pumping US$35.6 billion into renewable energy last year, second only to Beijing.
The report said the impact of the economic downturn and a progressive shift from coal to gas had kept Washington on track to meet its national goal of reducing emissions by 17 percent on 2005 levels by 2020.
"Important foundations have been set that are likely to have a lasting impact in the coming decades," it added, pointing to California, the world's ninth largest economy, beginning an emissions trading scheme in January.
More than half of US states now have policies to encourage renewable energy.
Beyond China and the US, momentum globally has grown with 98 countries committing to limit emissions.
Workers check a solar panel in a field in Hami, China's Xinjiang region,
on August 6, 2012 (AFP)
"Renewable energy is surging globally with solar capacity increasing 42 percent and wind 21 percent in just one year," said Flannery. "With so much global momentum this is clearly the beginning of the clean energy era."
But while progress was being made, the report cautioned that "it is not enough".
"Globally emissions are continuing to rise strongly, posing serious risks for our society," it said.
"This decade must set the foundations to reduce emissions rapidly to nearly zero by 2050. The earlier such action is under way the less disruptive and costly it will be."
The five-day Bonn negotiations beginning Monday are the first since United Nations talks in Qatar last December that set down a two-track process for tackling greenhouse gases.
The goal is a new climate treaty that will be concluded by 2015 and take effect by 2020.
Countries would also pledge greater commitment on tackling the carbon problem in the interim years before 2020.
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Labels: China, Energy, Sustainable Development
Syria says chemical weapons claims 'barefaced lie'
Google – AFP, 27 April 2013
Omran al-Zohbi gives a press conference in Damascus on March 19, 2013
(SANA/AFP)
MOSCOW, Russia — US and British accusations that the regime in Damascus may have used chemical weapons are a "barefaced lie," Syria's information minister told Russian television Saturday.
"First of all, I want to confirm that statements by the US Secretary of State and British government are inconsistent with reality and a barefaced lie," Omran al-Zohbi said in an interview published on the Kremlin-funded RT's website.
"I want to stress one more time that Syria would never use it -- not only because of its adherence to the international law and rules of leading war, but because of humanitarian and moral issues," Zohbi said in comments that were published in English on the website.
US President Barack Obama on Friday warned Syria that using chemical weapons would be a "game changer," after the US, Israel and Britain all cited signs that the regime attacked with the deadly agent sarin.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has called on Syria to approve a UN mission of inspectors to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the spiralling two-year conflict.
But Zohbi told RT that the Syrian government could not trust UN inspectors from Britain and the US.
"We do not trust the American and British experts from a political point of view," Zobhi said.
"We also do not trust their qualifications. Their aim is to juggle with facts."
He added that the Syrian government would accept Russian inspectors.
"We won't mind if Russians would be among the experts, quite the contrary, we only welcome this idea. We are quite sure in their high qualification and ability to clearly see into such matters," he was quoted as saying.
Along with China, Russia has blocked several UN Security Council draft resolutions threatening sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
During his visit to Russia, Zobhi on Saturday met the deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament, Ilyas Umakhanov.
Posted by Cempaka at 11:36 PM 0 comments
Labels: China, Integrity - Ethical, Russia, Syria, Truthful and Transparent, UK, UN, US
Asean Bank Pact Moves Closer
Jakarta Globe, ID/Grace Dwitiya Amianti on 6:49 pm April 27, 2013.
Indonesian banks, many of which are eager to expand abroad, lag their
Southeast Asian peers with regard to the size of their assets. (Bloomberg
Photo/Dimas Ardian)
Central banks in Southeast Asia inched closer to agreeing on rules allowing commercial banks to expand within the region in a deal that may pave the way for Indonesian lenders such as Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia to broaden their horizons.
Officials from central banks at the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Friday came closer to agreeing on requirements for Southeast Asian banks to do business in other nations in the region. To qualify for the improved market access, banks must reach the status of Qualified Asean Banks.
Requirements to be a QAB will include having headquarters in Asean and meeting certain thresholds on capital adequacy and consolidation, restrictions on large exposures, accounting and transparency.
Mulya Siregar, executive director of banking research and regulation at Bank Indonesia, said the region's central bankers agreed that a preliminary document about the agreement principles was being finalized.
"This will be complete by the end of this year," Mulya said, adding that the final decision would rest with Asean leaders. The Asean leaders are scheduled to meet at a summit in October in Brunei.
Mulya said that even though the general requirements for QAB had been laid out, the final decision of a bank expanding to other country had to be reached by mutual agreement between the bank's home country and its host country.
A home country's QAB can enter a host country within the Asean region only if the host country has its own QAB that wishes to enter the former.
"This has to be done simultaneously to ensure a reciprocal treatment," Mulya said.
Sigit Pramono, chairman of the Indonesia Banking Association (Perbanas), welcomed the advance in reciprocal talks.
Sigit said he was confident that Indonesia banks could meet the requirements to be QABs. But he warned that the country's bank still lacked the human resources to compete abroad.
"We understand the local market very well, but we still lack, for example, English proficiency," Sigit said.
State-owned banks Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia are currently applying to open full branches in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Bank Mandiri is also holding back from opening a full branch in Malaysia due to capital requirement and ATM permits that it deems too restrictive.
Bank Mandiri applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2009. Discussion with the MAS is progressing as part of Bank Indonesia's push for reciprocity.
The Indonesian central bank is assessing a $6.8 billion bid by Singapore's DBS Group Holdings to buy control of Bank Danamon Indonesia from Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings. Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution, whose term ends in May, hinted two weeks ago that DBS is likely to learn the outcome of its bid early next month. He said a decision by the authorities in Singapore on whether to allow greater market access from Indonesian banks is a key factor.
Despite having strong lending growth and high margins, Indonesian banks are behind regional peers in terms of assets.
State lender Bank Mandiri ($66 billion), Bank Rakyat Indonesia ($57 billion) and Bank Negara Indonesia ($35 billion) are at 11th, 13th and 19th place respectively in Southeast Asia, with private lender Bank Central Asia ($46 billion) holding 16th place.
Labels: ASEAN, Financial Institutes, Indonesia, Regions - Blocs, Singapore
Blow for Cameron as China welcomes Hollande
Beijing punishes PM for his meeting with Dalai Lama while French president gets full state visit treatment
The Guardian, Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, Friday 26 April 2013
The French president, François Hollande, meets his Chinese counterpart,
Xi Jinping, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Photograph:
Pool/Getty Images
David Cameron's mission to change the focus of British foreign policy by boosting trade links suffered a setback after Downing Street was forced to abandon a trip to China as Beijing punished the prime minister for meeting the Dalai Lama.
In a blow to Cameron, who had hoped to hold an annual summit with the Chinese leadership, the French president François Hollande was on Friday feted in Shanghai on a full state visit a few weeks after the prime minister was due to visit China.
Cameron is understood to have abandoned the planned trip after Beijing indicated that he was unlikely to be granted meetings with senior figures. He is now expected to visit in the autumn, two years after his first and only visit as prime minister.
Britain accepts that Beijing is exacting punishment after Cameron met the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, at St Paul's Cathedral last May. The meeting, which was similar to Gordon Brown's discussions with the Dalai Lama at Lambeth Palace in 2008, was designed to minimise offence in China by showing that Britain regards him as a spiritual leader. Downing Street has made clear to Beijing that it accepts Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China.
Government sources said that tentative plans for the prime minister to visit China this month were put on hold before his visit to India in February for the simple reason that the new Chinese leadership only took over in March. Cameron spoke to Li Keqiang, his new Chinese counterpart, after his appointment.
But the Guardian understands from diplomatic sources that a visit was firmly placed in the prime minister's diary for earlier this month. This was abandoned when it became clear that the prime minister would be denied the access usually granted to a G8 leader.
Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary who has just returned from China, told the Guardian: "David Cameron came to office claiming he would prioritise the UK's diplomatic and trade relationship with China, and yet the real difficulties in relations have now been laid bare. I was in China this week and it is clear that the new Chinese leadership are focused on the French president's visit, along with a large number of French companies looking for business.
"In the past, UK prime ministers have met with the Dalai Lama without the deterioration in relations with China that we are now seeing. For all of their initial boasts and bluster, the UK government has lacked a strategic or a joined-up approach to China since it came to office, and that's now showing."
A No 10 source said: "Of course, as any good diary planner would, we pencil in early on dates when the prime minister could potentially travel overseas without going firm on destinations. We decided several weeks ago that we wanted to visit some European capitals in the time we had earlier this month. When the prime minister and Premier Li Keqiang spoke in March they looked forward to meeting in due course."
Officials said trade with China is still rising and the two countries are on course to achieve £1bn in bilateral trade by 2015. Exports to China grew 13.4% last year.
But the decision to abandon the visit is a personal setback for Cameron, who said after coming to office that he would place trade at the heart of foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on the so-called Bric countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. A visit to India in February fell flat after private complaints that the prime minister appeared to regard the country as a trading opportunity rather than an emerging world power.
Hollande was greeted by Xi Jinping, the new Chinese president, when he arrived in Beijing with his partner Valerie Trierweiler on Thursday. They agreed to hold an annual summit – Cameron's original aspiration when he first visited China in November 2010 – after Hollande said he hoped to build a "multipolar" world. This is the classic French ambition to ensure the US cannot dominate the world in a "unipolar" world.
Cui Hongjian, director of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, a foreign ministry thinktank, told the South China Morning Post that this message was well received in Beijing. "France sometimes has different ideas from the US. China may co-operate with France."
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Labels: Aviation, China, France, UK
Recruiters from Leeds Metropolitan University at an education exhibition in
Shanghai. (File photo/CFP)
The son of a Chinese official has been sentenced to a year in prison by a British court for trying to bribe his university teachers and carrying a concealed weapon when he met with them.
26-year-old Yang Li, studying for an MSc in Innovation and Technology Management at Bath University, learned he had not been given a passing mark for his dissertation, jeopardizing his plans to enroll at the school for a further year or to exchange his student visa for one for highly skilled professionals.
Yang made an appointment with Professor Andrew Graves and Dr Stephen Shepherd to discuss what his options were, according to Britain's Daily Mail. Yang told his teachers "I am a businessman" and placed £5,000 (US$7,730) in cash on the table. "There is a fourth option: you can keep the money if you give me a pass mark and I won't bother you again," Yang is reported to have said.
The two teachers refused and told him to leave. But when Yang picked up his jacket, an air pistol fell out of his pocket.
Yang's lawyer said his client's father is a government official and business man in China and that his client is accustomed to carrying a large amount of cash on him. He offered the money as a rash gesture on the spur of the moment, he said. The lawyer also said that Yang used the imitation firearm for target practice in his garden and this was not a premeditated act of intimidation.
The judge accepted that the gun was not acquired for the purpose of the meeting but ruled that the bribery attempt was premeditated. He sentenced Yang to 12 months for attempted bribery and another six months on a firearms charge, which will run concurrently.
Labels: China, Corruption, Education, UK
Lebanon's first civil marriage registered: agency
Google – AFP, Serene Assir (AFP), 25 april 2013
Kholoud Sukkariyeh (R) and Nidal Darwish pose for a picture next to Beiurt's
landmark Pigeon Rock on January 25, 2013 (AFP, Joseph Eid)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's interior minister took the unprecedented step Thursday of registering a civil marriage contract after a years-long campaign to allow such unions in the multi-confessional country, the official news agency reported.
"Marwan Charbel has signed the civil marriage contract of Nidal Darwish and Kholoud Sukkarieh, the first Lebanese couple to celebrate a civil union" on home soil, the National News Agency said.
Lebanon has a population of some four million people with Muslims -- Sunnis and Shiites -- making up the majority but with a Christian minority of around 35 percent and a sprinkling of other religions.
Sukkarieh and Darwish's campaign to register their marriage began more than a year ago. It started in secret to sidestep political obstacles, but in recent months their story triggered a massive debate over whether civil unions should be allowed in Lebanon.
Most faiths have their own regulations governing marriage, divorce and inheritance, and mixed Christian-Muslim weddings in Lebanon are discouraged unless one of the two converts.
Kholoud Sukkariyeh (L) and Nidal Darwish
pose for a photograph during a photoshoot
at an undisclosed location (Darwish Family/
AFP/file)
Despite some clerics and politicians rejecting Darwish and Sukkarieh's union, public figures including President Michel Sleiman have been overwhelmingly supportive of the step.
"Congratulations on the registration of Kholoud and Nidal's marriage contract," Sleiman posted on Twitter on Thursday.
Speaking to private news network LBC, Darwish described the registration as "the first victory for the civil state in Lebanon, the state we all dream of".
He echoed calls for a state for all its citizens in Lebanon, rather than a nation fractured along sectarian lines.
"I am very happy today, and I never had any fear that my marriage to Nidal would not be legal," Sukkarieh told LBC.
"This is Lebanon's first historic step" towards institutionalising civil marriage, she added.
Sukkarieh is four months pregnant, the broadcaster reported.
The couple's efforts to legalise their civil union "is a good thing for us all" in Lebanon, their lawyer Talal al-Husseini said.
"We have here a situation where something could have been legal all along, but where the right to practise civil marriage was blocked," he told AFP.
Lebanese authorities have all along recognised civil marriages registered abroad, and it has become common for mixed-faith couples to marry in nearby Cyprus.
Rather than follow that route, however, Sukkarieh and Darwish decided to work with legal advisers to try to create new jurisprudence, despite no history of civil marriage in Lebanon.
Both had their sect, Shiite and Sunni Muslim, legally struck from their "sejel an-nufoos" or family register, to be wed as a secular couple under an article dating from the 1936 French mandate that makes reference to civil unions.
"They decided to stand before the Lebanese state as citizens, not as members of this or that sect," said Husseini.
"Now that they have established this precedent, there is no going back. It is a big success, and it gives the right to others to follow suit," he added.
Jerusalem Women of the Wall win ruling against arrests
"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator,Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)
".. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?
Labels: Arab States, Democracy, Human Rights, Lebanon, Religion
BBC News, 25 April 2013
The Women of the Wall say they have the right to pray out loud at the holy site
Prayer protests at Western Wall Watch
End in sight for row over Western Wall women?
Women arrested over Western Wall ban
Jerusalem's district court has upheld a ruling that Israeli security forces were wrong to arrest women who were praying at the Western Wall.
The ruling comes after five women were arrested at the wall, one Judaism's holiest sites, earlier this month.
They were part of a movement seeking to overturn a 2003 High Court ban on women performing religious rituals which Orthodox Jews say are reserved for men.
Police had appealed against an earlier ruling that the arrests were illegal.
The Western Wall - a relic of the Biblical Temple compound - currently has separate sections where men and women are allowed to pray.
For several months, a group of women, dubbed the Women of the Wall, have held prayers in the female side, wearing traditional shawls and reading aloud from the Torah.
'Liberated the wall'
This has sparked outrage and protests from Orthodox groups, who say women should not perform the rituals.
On 11 April, five of the women were arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. A lower court had dismissed the charges and the women were freed, but the police appealed against this.
But on Thursday, Judge Moshe Sobel rejected the appeal, saying that the 2003 "did not ban the Women of the Wall from praying in any particular place" and that there was no "reasonable suspicion" that the women had broken laws relating to holy sites, Haaretz news agency reports.
He said police concerns that the women's actions could create a public disturbance was not grounds for arrest, as they had shown no signs of violence or being a security threat themselves.
Anat Hoffman, who chairs the women's group, said the ruling had "liberated the Western Wall for all Jewish people".
"We did it for the great diversity of Jews in the world, all of whom deserve to pray according to their belief and custom at the Western Wall," Haaretz quoted her as saying.
There was no immediate comment from police.
Correspondents say the dispute over the wall has become a symbol of the greater tensions in Israeli society between ultra-Orthodox Jews who abide by a very strict interpretation of Jewish law, and more modern Jewry.
Lebanon's first civil marriage registered: agency - New
Some Israelis Question Benefits for Ultra-Religious
The ultra-Orthodox make up 10 percent of Israel's population
of 7.5 million, but are increasing rapidly amid a growing backlash
to the privileges and subsidies long granted to the ultra-religious.
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)
Labels: Human Rights, Israel, Religion, Woman Empowerment, Women
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On this day, 89 years ago, the New York Times carried a story in its far left hand column with the headline "Long Step To Peace Is Seen By Britain in Germany's Reply." Absent a banner headline, it recounted the text of a diplomatic note from Germany to Great Britain about ongoing negotiations to resolve several matters growing out of the Versailles Treaty ending the Great War. These included border disputes along Germany's western border, the inviolability of the Versailles Treaty and Germany's entry into the League of Nations. These negotiations ultimately ended up settled in the Locarno Peace Treaties several months later, and were the basis for the Nobel Peace Prize that Britain's Foreign Minister, Austen Chamberlain, won.
Eleven years later, Germany abrogated both the Versailles and the Locarno Treaties with its invasion of the demilitarized zone along the Rhine. The following year, Austen's half-brother Neville became Prime Minister of Great Britain, and earnestly sought to resolve tensions in Europe by acceding to Hitler's demands.
These three issues cloud out other crises that just a few weeks earlier had concentrated the minds of those in charge of U.S. foreign policy: the ongoing civil war in Syria, disputed Presidential elections in Afghanistan and a brazen invasion of Iraq by extremists seeking to establish an Islamic state across territory of Iraq and Syria. Events such as these don't leave room for truly devastating humanitarian crises that never even make it in the news, like the ongoing refugee crisis in South Sudan where 700,000 people are internally displaced and hunger is affecting millions more.
If Hillary Clinton gave the title "Hard Choices" to her memoir of her tenure as Secretary of State, John Kerry's sequel from just last week will make her watch look fairly tame.
Each of these three major events – Ukraine, border children, Gaza ground invasion – would carry banner headlines on their own. Any newspaper's difficult decision last week was which deserved prominence.
They also each have historical precedents that are cited and considered. Match the precedent with the crisis: Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990; Kosovo's secession from Serbia in 2008; the Mariel boat lift in 1980 or the Haitian migrant crisis in 1994; the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 or of Gaza in 2012 or 2009; the downing of a Korean airliner in 1983, or an Iranian passenger jet in 1988. None show the way to a clear cut path to resolving the crisis at hand. History can give a pretty clear map to what transpired, identifying the sequence of events and the conditions that lend a certain air of inevitability to any outcome. History is not as good as showing a way forward, especially when the choices in each of these cases are more than hard – they are messy and unpredictable in the outcomes they yield and the consequences they unknowingly generate.
So, what is the connection between a fairly mundane story 89 years ago and these major events? That ordinariness of those diplomatic negotiations between Germany and Great Britain resurfaced 11 years later. And they re-surfaced in a way that dominated world events for at least the subsequent 11 years as well.
Which of the three major stories of this week has the potential for such long-term consequences? Much of the answer lies in the nature of the resolution. Perhaps, the resolutions would be temporary fixes, only to re-surface in a short period, but enough to remove the crisis from the front pages. Or, perhaps the resolutions are of the muddle-through variety, allowing governments to contain the potential for escalation. Or perhaps, resolution is left untouched, as the crisis benefits specific, narrow self-interests of the parties involved? Rare indeed is the resolution that actually resolves a crisis.
Opposite the German diplomatic note story, on the far right hand side of the paper, 89 years ago, ran a larger headline: "Scopes Guilty, Fined $100." Well, that certainly resolved the debate over evolution.
This entry was posted on July 22, 2014, 5:02 pm and is filed under History ahead, International, Public Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Valve bracket is used in automatic controllers. Sizing standard are suitable for use with F03~F16, or special sizing specification, design and manufacture from client drawings. Valve Bracket with precision angle, height, and steady combine valve and controller. We mainly use stainless steel (1.4301). But we can use carbon steel that has been galvanized or coated with baked on paint. We can complete any products entrusted to Young Chance.
The valve bracket materials are ranged from #304 (1.4301), #316 (1.4401) and carbon steel (carbon steel surface can be done by galvanizing, painting, or customer requests). Sizes are made within ISO standard F03-F16. OEM and ODM customers are welcome.


Did I shock you all?
I think I scared you all with my pink hair! LOL! But really….how cute is this….??? Pink piggies!!!
On a scrappy note… My submission has been sent off to Chatterbox. The waiting begins. I think I'm going to throw up. bleh.
And I didn't respond to the last post because I'd already told you what I thought in person.
Really cute piggies! Nope, we weren't shocked; just busy.
LOVE it!!! no throwing up, you'll be fine. half the battle is entering, you've done good, so proud of you!
Don't throw up, you already did the hard part!
No matter what color your hair is you are still the same person on the inside. I love you, no matter what!
Always be yourself and show your true colors.


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HomeCyberlawVirgin Media Facing up to $5.5 Billion Data Breach Compensation Bill
Virgin Media Facing up to $5.5 Billion Data Breach Compensation Bill
April 29, 2020 Eoin Campbell Cyberlaw, Eoin Campbell Comments Off on Virgin Media Facing up to $5.5 Billion Data Breach Compensation Bill
Virgin Media Ltd, which provides television, telephone and internet services throughout the United Kingdom may have to fork out up to £4,500,000,000 (roughly $5.5 billion) after a data security breach in which personal information belonging to its customers was published online.
The data of a staggering 900,000 customers (representing some 15% of Virgin's entire customer base) was accessible from April 2019 until the 28th of February 2020.
In a statement, Virgin Media CEO Lutz Schüler acknowledged that there had been a breach and said that it occurred because "one of our marketing databases was incorrectly configured". The cause of the incorrect configuration was apparently the negligence of a Virgin employee. Mr Schüler offered his sincere apologies on behalf of his company to those customers affected.
Exposed Data
Although passwords and financial details were not included in the information that was compromised, the database concerned did contain customers' names, personal email addresses, telephone numbers and their Virgin Media contract details.
-The independent IT company that originally informed Virgin of the breach in its system, TurgenSec, found details that could link some of the customers concerned to what it described as 'explicit websites'.
-According to Turgensec, the information exposed included all of the following and more;
-Names, postal addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, and IP addresses.
-Requests to block (or indeed unblock) pornographic, gore-related and gambling websites.
-IMEI numbers associated with stolen telephones.
-Subscriptions to the different aspects of Virgin's services.
-The device type (i.e. the make and model of the computer, tablet or smartphone) owned by the user.
-The "Referrer" header taken seemingly from the user's browser, potentially including the previous website visited before accessing Virgin Media.
User form submissions from their website.
Pending Legal Action
Some reports have indicated that Virgin Media Limited could expect to face a major "Class actions lawsuit" following the data breach. This is, to a certain extent, a misnomer. Under the law of England and Wales, there is in fact no precise equivalent to an American class action.
There are, however, a number of somewhat similar procedures by which collective or representative legal actions can be brought before a British court. Some judicial commentators also believe that the advent of the GDPR has led to a significant expansion of the use of collective actions in the UK. This is somewhat unsurprising; given the sheer number of people who may be similarly impacted in the event of an online data breach involving a company with a large customer base, collective legal action is a logical option for claimants.
One British legal firm, Your Lawyers, has already suggested that Virgin media is liable for the financial and emotional distress suffered by the customers concerned, and should expect to pay damages of approximately £5,000 sterling, i.e $6,145, per claimant. Given that up to 900,000 customers could potentially have a valid claim against Virgin, the settlements could total more than $5.5 billion.
More "Class Action" lawsuits to come?
Much like other recent data breach cases against companies as big as Google, Cathay Pacific and Amazon, for a layman it may seem rather strange that a company whose activities revolve around the internet and telecommunications could be so lax when it comes to GDPR compliance. The regulation was introduced as long ago as May 2018, after an ample period of notice.
Virgin has stated that the error was due to simple employee negligence, if that is the case it could prove to have been a very costly error indeed. The scale of the potential damages, and the added probability of the proliferation of class action lawsuits, should serve as stark warning to all companies to get their houses in order when it comes to GDPR.
About Eoin Campbell	23 Articles
Eoin P. Campbell is an honours law graduate (LL.B) from Queen's University Belfast and is a qualified solicitor. Eoin has moved from practicing law to teaching. Eoin is currently lecturing in law at two universities in Lyon, France, including a master's degree course in cyberlaw. Eoin provides commentary with a legal perspective on cybersecurity and data protection.
COVID-19 Threat Resources & NSA Cybersecurity Guidance for Teleworkers


text:
كَمَآ أَخْرَجَكَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَيْتِكَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِّنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ لَكَٰرِهُونَ
[It is] just as when your Lord brought you out of your home [for the battle of Badr] in truth, while indeed, a party among the Believers were unwilling,
As your Lord caused you (O Muhammad SAW) to go out from your home with the truth, and verily, a party among the believers disliked it;
Even as thy Lord caused thee (Muhammad) to go forth from thy home with the Truth, and lo! a party of the believers were averse (to it).
Just as thy Lord ordered thee out of thy house in truth, even though a party among the Believers disliked it,
akhrajaka
brought you out
rabbuka
your Lord
baytika
bil-ḥaqi
in truth
farīqan
a party
l-mu'minīna
lakārihūna
certainly disliked
A report by Abū Ayyūb al-Anşārī runs as follows: "God's Messenger said to us when we were in Madinah: `I have been told that the great caravan led by Abū Sufyān is on its way. What would you say to going out to intercept it? It may be that God will gift it to us.' We agreed and went out with him. After we had marched for a day or two, he said to us: `What do you say to fighting the enemy? They have been told about you coming out to intercept the caravan.' We said most firmly that we were not a match for the enemy, and that we wanted the trade caravan. He then repeated the same question, asking us what we would say to fighting the enemy. We repeated the same answer. Al-Miqdād ibn `Amr, however, said: `We will not say to you, Messenger of God, what Moses was told by his people when they said, "Go with your Lord and fight while we stay behind." We, the Anşār, wished that we had said the same as al-Miqdād ibn `Amr. That would have been far more preferable to us than being in great wealth." God then revealed to His Messenger the verses starting with: "Just as your Lord brought you forth from your home for the truth, even though some of the believers were averse to it."


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24-year-old soccer player identified as homicide victim in Metro Vancouver
Edi Bogere-Nyigwo
After a "suspicious" death in Maple Ridge earlier this month was deemed to be a homicide, investigators said on Tuesday they have now identified the victim of that homicide as 24-year-old Edi Bogere-Nyigwo.
In a release, IHIT said that at 1:21 pm on January 11, Ridge Meadows RCMP officers responded to a report of a body found in a rural area near the 245 block of Lougheed Highway. "The circumstances surrounding the body and the area were deemed to be suspicious and IHIT was called in to investigate," the release said.
Homicide team called in to investigate "suspicious death" in Maple Ridge
Private instructor in Surrey charged with sexual interference: RCMP
4 separate sexual assaults in Coquitlam park have now been linked: police
Now, as the investigation continues, IHIT is asking for the public's help in determining a motive for his death, and investigators are calling on those who knew him to come forward with any information they might have.
"Bogere-Nyigwo was last seen leaving his Coquitlam home at 7 pm on December 27, 2019," said IHIT. "There are no indications, so far, to suggest this incident is linked to any gang conflict."
Still, IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Frank Jang said investigator's don't believe Bogere-Nyigwo's death was random. "We believe there are still those with important information who have yet to speak with us."
Jang added that Bogere-Nyigwo was "a talented soccer player and a member of Coquitlam's Sparta SC U-18 squad, which won the Canadian National Championship. His friends describe him as someone who avoided trouble and many are wondering why anyone would harm him."
Anyone with information about the incident or the investigation is asked to call the IHIT information line at 1-877-551- IHIT (4448) or contact them by email. Those who wish to leave an anonymous tip can do so by contacting Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or by leaving a tip online.


This series of eight collages on paper was created as a study on The Last Judgment, painted by Hans Memling between 1467 and 1471. In particular, Alex Urso addressed his attention to the figures of the damned, represented into the original painting on its right-hand panel. From a colored-monograph dedicated to this masterpiece, Urso cut out pictures of the sinners and juxtaposed them with shapes of flowers and plants extracted from an illustrated encyclopedia about the natural world. The correspondence of these elements results in creating a contrast between the harmony and the balance of nature, and the suffering bodies of the damned.


Although the government of Jordan has taken steps in recent years to curtail the import of used vehicles, the market there is still strong, particularly when it comes to vehicles imported from the United States. This has much to do with the free-trade agreement that exists between the two countries, as well as the fact that Jordan auto market supplies much of the secondhand auto market for its neighboring countries.
If you're interested in importing used vehicles into Jordan, though, you have to understand what the restrictions are. In addition, you'll also want to understand import duties and taxes assessed by Jordan on imported used vehicles. Below, we're going to review these things and more, as we share everything you need to know about importing used or salvage vehicles from the United States into Jordan.
In recent years, online used car auctions have become the preferred way to purchase used vehicles in the United States. The reason is simple. Online car auctions give average consumers as well as importer-exporters access to physical used car auctions around the country that had previously been solely open to those with dealer's licenses. Because of this, everyone can now get the kinds of deals that had previously only been available to used car dealers!
To get started, you merely need to set up an account with an online used car auction provider and make a deposit. This deposit is necessary in order to establish your bidding power, with the size of the deposit typically equaling 10% of your potential maximum bid. After you've done this, you can browse an extensive database of used car auctions, something that gives you incredible variety from the comfort of your own home. Simply put, online car auctions are the very best way to find the right used vehicle at a price that can't be matched anywhere else.
As Jordan enjoys a close political and trade relationship with the United States, you should not have much difficulty when it comes to locating a port that offers shipping to the country. The only potential difficulty you might have is choosing between a shipping method, either opting for traditional container shipping or something that's known as RORO shipping.
RORO stands for "roll-on roll-off", which describes the manner in which your used vehicle will be loaded onto and then off of the ship. Because this is much less labor intensive than container shipping, the savings can be passed onto you. These savings are further compounded by the fact that Jordan is a country that calculates an imported used car's value via CIF (the total of the vehicle's value, shipping insurance and freight charges). The only drawback is that you won't have the protection of a container. Still, the risk of damage occurring during transit is relatively minimal.
When shipping a used U.S. vehicle to Jordan, you will only have one choice for your destination: The Port of Aqaba. It is the only port in the country, and it serves as a vital cog in the economy of the region overall. The port is overseen by the Aqaba Ports Corporation, whose official website you can visit right here.
In order to clear a used vehicle through U.S. customs you will need to gather the appropriate documentation first. Most importantly, you'll want to make sure that you have the vehicle's Original Certificate of Title. In addition to this, you will also need either a certified copy of the Original Certificate of Title or two complete copies of it.
Once you have the above, you will need to present your documents and vehicle to U.S. customs at your chosen port of departure. To find out where this is precisely, simply contact the Port Director.
After U.S. Customs has taken possession of your vehicle and documents, they will do two primary things. First, they will conduct a thorough inspection of the vehicle, ensuring that nothing has been illegally secreted away inside of it. Second, they will check over your documentation and ensure that the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is a match with the vehicle provided.
If everything checks out (as it should), the vehicle will be cleared and loaded onto the ship. Should you have any additional questions about this process, please consult the official website for U.S. Customs and Border Security.
The restrictions that Jordan places upon imported used cars can be somewhat complex and confusing. For this reason, you'll want to ensure that you have a full understanding of these restrictions before seeking to import your used U.S. vehicle into Jordan.
The first and most import restriction to understand is this: any vehicle that's imported into Jordan for personal use must be no more than five years old. The vehicle's age is calculated not from the date of purchase, but instead from the model year. As you look for used U.S. vehicles to import into the country through online used car auctions, be sure to keep this in mind.
If, however, you are importing a used vehicle into the country as part of a business, there is no age restriction in place. However, in order to take advantage of this exemption, you must be in possession of an import license from the Jordanian government. To obtain such a license, you will need to contact Jordanian Customs. Their contact information is provided here.
Aside from the age restriction, there are two others that you should be aware of. Jordan expressly forbids diesel-fueled automobiles from being imported into the country. In addition, there are laws against tinted windows; a vehicle's windows must be tinted by no more than 10%. Should your used vehicle have windows with a darker tint, please be sure to take care of this before shipping. You will be subject to fines and a delay in your customs clearance if this is not rectified beforehand.
Provided that your used U.S. vehicle meets all the requirements outline above, then you should be able to clear your vehicle through Jordanian customs relatively easily. This is due in no small part to the fact that the United States and the country of Jordan currently enjoy a free-trade agreement with one another.
Should you have any additional questions about clearing your used U.S. vehicle through Jordanian customs, you can consult the country's official customs department right here. In addition to information, you'll also find that Jordan provides an online portal through which many customs forms and documents can be submitted. Be sure to take advantage of this if you're looking to save time in the customs clearance process.
When it comes to calculating import duties and taxes for used vehicles imported from the United States into Jordan, there's good news and bad news. The U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement means that there are no import duties assessed on vehicles originating from the United States. However, used U.S. vehicles are still subject to Jordan's relatively high import taxes for new and used automobiles.
As mentioned, those importing a used vehicle for personal use must ensure that the vehicle is five-years old or younger. If you're importing a used vehicle as part of a business, you will have to get in touch with Jordanian customs to inquire about depreciation percentages for five years and beyond.
* In order to be eligible for the 0% tax on U.S.-manufactured pick-up trucks, the vehicle in question must have a certificate of origin that clearly states the pick-up truck was manufactured in the United States, its rear bed must be 50% longer than the wheelbase, and it must have been shipped from a U.S. port.
Aside from the above taxes, you will also be required to pay inspection and clearance fees once your vehicle arrives in Jordan. However, these fees are relatively minimal and typically do not exceed $70.
If you'd like to take a closer look at Jordan's schedule of import taxes for used vehicles, you can consult this chart provided by Jordan Customs. For broader questions, simply visit the official website for Jordan Customs here.
The import market for new and used cars in Jordan is actually quite interesting. The majority of cars that are imported into Jordan every year are often bound for other markets. In fact, of the 171,000 vehicles imported into Jordan in 2013, only 60,000 ultimately ended up on the Jordanian auto market. Of those, the vast majority were used vehicles, 43,000 of them to be exact. Overall, the United States owns a healthy 5% market share of the new and used car markets overall.
In recent years, as elsewhere around the globe, hybrid vehicles have been enjoying increasingly robust sales. Of the 60,000 aforementioned vehicles that ended up on the Jordanian auto market in 2013, nearly 14,000 of those were hybrid vehicles. Those numbers have only continued to improve since then, meaning there's a tremendous opportunity for someone who can purchase hybrid vehicles through online car auctions in the United States, given that there are many such hybrid vehicles available stateside.
It should be noted, though, that the ban on vehicles older than five years that went into effect in 2013 has had an adverse effect on the imported used car market in the country. While those with import licenses are still able to get older vehicles into the Jordanian used car market, doing so is becoming increasingly difficult. Still, given that the free trade agreement between the United States and Jordan is still in place, the best prospect for importing older used vehicles is definitely for those exporting from the U.S.
Vehicles produced by Kia and Honda are among the most popular with Jordanians. However, the vice grip that these two automakers once had on the Jordanian car market has been loosening in recent years, opening up the possibility of other auto makers gaining a stronger position in the country. In fact, Toyota has been gobbling up much of the market share left on the table by Kia and Honda, seeing sales of its vehicles increase by nearly 15% in 2016 so far. In fact, the Toyota Land Cruiser has quickly become one of the most popular vehicles with Jordanian auto buyers, gaining an 11.5% share of the auto market there overall.
Those looking to take advantage of favorable tax breaks for U.S.-manufactured pick-up trucks would do well to investigate their options with Ford and Chevrolet. Both of these American makes are among the top-10 most popular makes in the country overall. If you're looking for options in the regular passenger vehicle sector, the Ford Mondeo has gained some favorability with Jordanians and could be an excellent choice for importing into the country.
Exporting Cars from the USA to Jordan 10/26/2015 Export cars from the U.S.


This question we got from Finland. These cows only visit the robot 2,2 times a day with 31 liters milk per day.
Could it be te stairs? Please share your thoughts!
Where are the pellet feeders located? How often are they visited? Are the same pellets fed here as at the robot?
The pictures are too small. Maybe a video would help. They look bored, though.
It is not possible to say why there are not more visits per cow and day just from this pictures. As a specialist for robotic milking I give you a couple of reasons why herds or individual cows do not visit as much as the should (2.5 milkings per cow and day).
Hi all, thank you very much for your thoughts!
How many robots arena milking the cows? Why are there standing 3 feedstations? How many concentrates are fed on the robot and on the feedstations?
Hi Joep, maybe the lighting could be one of the reasons. Looking at the pictures it looks like there is quite some shadow and a considerable difference in intensities resulting in a poor uniformity. I would take a look at the lighting.
4. Feed supplement from robot, palatable?
All the right answers!! Indeed, " average" is one of them. This does not say much about the herd behaviorr....and like you mentioned there is a whole list of other questions. Get a specialist in, who can also analyze the data.
Several reasons could add a point. several are already pointed. I would suggest to evaluate feed quality / palatability / consumption and behavior (number of meals). to understand also the entrance of the robot (why suspect on the stairs? its difficult to see on photos) and also its maintenance (vacuum).
Make feeding in the robot priority above feeding in the stations. Perhaps block the stations after x hours after last milking. If the robot is not full, you can even feed longer than actual milkingtime.
Great to read all your responses!
hi i wars thinking abut ,time in the box . for milking . haw fast .slow?
I have no clear answer - but as I see the picture it seem to staered cow traffic. May bee "Feed First" If you feed a big part of the concentrate, the cows only have one reason to go in the robot - milking. Cows think´s - why should I go to the robot - I got what I need of feed from the feeding table and the automates.
If you don´t teach the cow to go for milking 3 times a day from the start of 1. lactation, more than 70 % of the cows will never come to the robot more than 2 times pr. day.
Fore a better answer I need some information and data from the robot.
Good luck teaching the cows for 3 times milking.


text:
What is a 'soul-crushing' house?
I'm trying to figure out if I can have a really good, soul-crusher house.
The answer is no, it's just going to be a bunch of little wooden houses that have a lot of stuff in them.
And there's just no reason for that.
I've been trying to imagine the most soul-killing house that I can think of that would have a nice blend of style, a little bit of whimsy, and a little of soul, and I'm really not sure that I have a house that's going to work for me.
It just doesn't seem like I'm ready for that yet.
I think that the thing about soul-cruisers is that they're not about the kind of house you think of when you think about a soul-killer.
They're about a house you can imagine being a really nice house.
And the soul-crawler house has the feeling of, oh, this is a really really nice, lovely house, but I've got a really, really big hole in it.
So I want a house with a big hole, and then I want the soul to be in the hole.
And I don't know, it just seems like that's what I'm looking for.
I'm a pretty good painter.
I paint my own murals.
And when I'm done with painting, I like to go and hang it up in a gallery somewhere.
I just think that it's the kind and I think it's not going to hurt the soul that much.
But I don' think I'm going to make a house like this that's really nice.
I mean, it would be a great house, if I could just make it.
I don"t want to paint my house and be like, Oh, I have to paint that.
And then the house will just sort of slide.
That's not my goal.
I want it to be this really beautiful house that has a lot going for it.
The question is: what's the point?
If I'm not happy with it, then I don*t want it, so what am I going to do about it?
What's the best way to go about making that happen?
And that is the question of how do you make the most interesting house?
And so, there are these things called 'souls' that we can create, and these things that are the soul of a house.
You can think about the house as an organism.
It's not like you could paint a painting of the house and then get it to sit there and not move.
You just need something that's moving and moving.
And so I think the question is, what is the soul?
And the answer is: a lot, a lot.
A lot of it is energy.
So, what I like about this house is that it has this energy that just has been created in the house.
I really like that.
There's this sort of energy that comes out of it, that comes from the people that live in it, from the trees and the plants.
It seems like the house is just made up of a bunch or a bunch and a bunch.
And that energy is really interesting to me.
I love the way that this energy flows through the house, and the way it moves through the people and the animals and the stuff that's in the yard.
And this energy is what is really, truly the house of the soul.
I feel that the most beautiful soul-house is the house that is truly the soul, that has this natural, organic energy that is all around you.
And it's a really beautiful thing to me because it's like an organic body that is constantly moving and evolving.
It"s just like a living, breathing, moving, breathing soul.
And all of this is coming from the house because the house doesn't have to be like this, the house just has to be really natural.
It has to really be.
That makes it a really wonderful house.
There are a lot more than just a few.
You have to do something really strange and creative.
And if you do something crazy, like you have to make this whole, all the lights come on at once, then it's kind of like the energy of an alien.
It comes out and it just sort Of wants to live, it wants to evolve.
And people love it.
It gets in the way of everything.
It can be really intimidating to a lot people.
You know, if it's too much, it will start to get kind of boring, you know, you're just kind of living in the place.
But if you try and take it away, you'll just see that it"s really good.
It is, in a way, living.
It wants to grow.
And they will say, Well, what are you doing?
It"ll be too much.
You want to keep living.
But the truth is
homemade wood house langley wood house pretty wooden houses
How to make the perfect wooden house in less than a week
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How to build a wooden house


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text:
Prenolepis imparis
By Deena Hauze
Prenolepis imparis, commonly known as false honey ants, are found throughout most of the United States. Their range stretches to southern Ontario in the North and Mexico in the South. False honey ants are a native Nearctic species. (McLeod, 2014)
False honey ants live in wooded areas, soil that contains clay, sand, and occasionally under logs and rocks. Workers build nests deep underground. They build nests in shady areas near the bottoms of trees. The nests often have many dead-end tunnels. Stretching downward up to 3.6 meters, the nests of false honey ants are very deep. The nests reach so far down in order to maintain a cool environment. In Florida, the nests are deeper than those in the northern parts of their range. (McLeod, 2014; Tschinkel, 1987)
2.5 to 3.6 m
8.20 to 11.81 ft
False honey ants workers are 2.5-3.5 mm in length. Queens are about 8 mm in length. Male ants are 3-4 mm in length. They have light to dark brown colors. Queens are reddish-brown in color and males are black in color. The head and abdomen are often darker than the midsection. Their bodies are shaped like an hourglass. Reproductive ants have wings. (McLeod, 2014)
Eggs are small, white, and shaped like cylinders. Larvae look like maggots. They are small, curved, and covered in hairs. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
2.5 to 8 mm
0.10 to 0.31 in
Range wingspan
False honey ants progress from egg to larvae, to pupa, and then to adult. Like other ants, false honey ants undergo complete metamorphosis. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
Development - Life Cycle
False honey ants are a polygynous species. All queens lay eggs. One male mates with multiple females. This species is the first North American species of ant to form a mating swarm in the spring. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
In late August to September, a single brood is produced once the queen's ovaries have matured. The brood is made up of workers and reproductives. After overwintering, the reproductives will leave the colony in early spring for their mating flight. The reproductives form mating swarms. The swarms tend to gather on vegetation and on the trunks of trees. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
False honey ants breed yearly.
False honey ants breed in the spring.
False honey ants use female reproductive care. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
female parental care
Workers live for 1-2 years. Colonies can contain from 560-10,000 workers. Colonies last from 7 to 9 years. (Tschinkel, 1987)
False honey ants are specialized for foraging in cold temperatures. They forage at temperatures between 45° and 60°F. They may be found gathering food at near-freezing temperatures. During the warmer months, they will close off the entrance to the nest and become dormant. They experience estivation during the hot summer months. They will not leave the nest until the temperatures lower again. Depending on where they live, their active period changes. In the southern parts of their range, they are active between November and early April. False honey ants that live near the northern parts of their range are active throughout the year, except for the summer months. (McLeod, 2014; Williams and Lucky, 2020)
Reproductive false honey ants are able to fly. Once a food source has been found, workers will mobilize and defend it from predators. They live in colonies that contain up to 560-10,000 workers. (McLeod, 2014; Tschinkel, 1987)
aestivation
Not much information is known about the communication and perception of false honey ants. They likely use tactile, visual, and chemical channels of perception. Tactile, visual, and chemical methods of communication are possible.
False honey ants are generalist omnivores that prefer diets with a lot of proteins and fats. Workers eat flowers that drip sap, honeydew, rotting fruit, and waste from galls, earthworms, and arthropods. (McLeod, 2014; Williams and Lucky, 2020)
terrestrial non-insect arthropods
No information about predators was found.
False honey ants contribute towards soil aeration when they build their nests. They consume flowers that drip sap, honeydew, rotting fruit, and waste from galls, earthworms, and arthropods. (McLeod, 2014; Williams and Lucky, 2020)
Ecosystem Impact
soil aeration
False honey ants do not have any positive economic impacts.
False honey ants are not a pest species, but they may enter buildings. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
Prenolepis imparis are known as small honey ants, false honey ants, or native winter ants. (Williams and Lucky, 2020)
Deena Hauze (author), Animal Diversity Web Staff.
flesh of dead animals.
Found in coastal areas between 30 and 40 degrees latitude, in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Vegetation is dominated by stands of dense, spiny shrubs with tough (hard or waxy) evergreen leaves. May be maintained by periodic fire. In South America it includes the scrub ecotone between forest and paramo.
parental care is carried out by females
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.
digs and breaks up soil so air and water can get in
McLeod, R. 2014. "Species Prenolepis imparis - False Honey Ant" (On-line). Bug Guide. Accessed July 10, 2020 at https://bugguide.net/node/view/27323.
Talbot, M. 1943. Population studies of the ant, Prenolepis imparis (Say). Ecology, 24(1): 31-44. Accessed July 12, 2020 at https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/stable/1929858.
Tschinkel, W. 1987. Seasonal life history and nest architecture of a winter-active ant,Prenolepis imparis. Insectes Sociaux, 34: 143–164. Accessed July 10, 2020 at https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02224081.
Wheeler, W. 1930. The Ant Prenolepis Imparis (Say.). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 23(1): 1-26. Accessed July 12, 2020 at https://antwiki.org/wiki/images/3/38/WheelerW1930h.pdf.
Williams, J., A. Lucky. 2020. "Common name: winter ant, false honey ant" (On-line). Featured Creatures Entomology & Nematology. Accessed July 10, 2020 at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/ants/Prenolepis_imparis.htm.
Class Insecta insects
Insecta: information (1) Insecta: pictures (6359) Insecta: specimens (106) Insecta: sounds (13)
Order Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera: pictures (146)
Family Formicidae ants, fourmis
Formicidae: information (1) Formicidae: pictures (28)
Genus Prenolepis
Species Prenolepis imparis
Prenolepis imparis: information (1)
To cite this page: Hauze, D. 2020. "Prenolepis imparis" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed January 17, 2022 at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Prenolepis_imparis/


Ever had a tight muscle that doesn't seem to budge no matter how many stretches you do? It's so common at Barefoot to have new clients tell us " I stretch my ** tight muscle ** all the time and it still feels super tight" . . . so why is this happening?
Alot of tight muscles often have palpable "knots" and "triggers" in them. These are specific areas of contracted muscle within the entire muscle belly. To target these specific "hard or ropey" spots it is more effective to perform muscle releases (using a ball, pocket physio, foam roller, dry needling or trigger point massage) rather than doing a stretch. When you "muscle release" this allows for sustained pressure on a trigger point, at a specific angle held for around 90 seconds for 2-3 different spots per muscle group.
Muscle releases can still be performed if your muscle is tight due to nerve irritation, however stretching should definitely be avoided. It is difficult to know whether you have nerve irritation or not until it is tested by a qualified Physiotherapist. If you have consistently stretched a muscle correctly for >3 days and you've had no change, then you've tried doing muscle releases and there is still no change, then it is likely that there could be nerve involvement. Luckily at Barefoot this is something we test and specialise in, so if you need to get this checked click here to book an appointment.
Stretching can be effective if you have an entire muscle group that is notably tight and is not originating from nerve irritation. If this is the case, it is important to hold your stretches for a minimum of 60 seconds each using the correct technique to have the desired effect. If you do not know the correct technique, a Physiotherapist can help teach you.
So how will this help your muscles & body?
Your muscles will feel "good" when relaxed at rest.
Your recovery will be quicker after exercise!
Happy muscles & joints = happy nerves!
To stop us feeling old & creaky!
Practicing muscle releases or stretches everyday is ideal. We recommend you set aside a minimum of 10 minutes a day to work on the areas that make the biggest difference to your body. If you have a few areas to work on, you have had a big day at work or you are exercising at a high level, we would recommend 20-30 mins. If you aren't sure what areas need to be released in your body to help you perform better, a Barefoot Physiotherapist will do a head-to-toe assessment to work out where you need to focus on for your body.It is normal to feel some discomfort during these releases and it should stop as soon as you release the pressure. If it doesn't, please notify your Physiotherapist to find out why. Remember to breathe while you do your releases! Breathing in & out deeply will help relax the muscle contraction and speed up the releasing effect.
Be aware of your position while you stretch/release. Our brain always likes to take the easy option, so it will sometimes sub-consciously put us in the position where we get the least resistance. This doesn't help us achieve the flexibility we are after. Posture and technique are key to sustaining a good stretch on a muscle. Want to know more? Check out the rest of our post here.


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Woman injured in accidental shooting at Willmar Super 8
CATHERINE KRUMMEY: Major snubs and surprises in this year's Oscar nominees
It comes as no surprise to me that Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are boycotting this year's Academy Awards. The Oscar nominations have drawn a lot of ire over the last few years for a lack of both gender and racial diversity. This typically is...
Written By: Catherine Krummey | Jan 21st 2016 - 7am.
Universal Studios "Straight Outta Compton" tells the story of rap group N.W.A, whose members include MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) and Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.). The film is now playing in theaters.
It comes as no surprise to me that Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are boycotting this year's Academy Awards.
The Oscar nominations have drawn a lot of ire over the last few years for a lack of both gender and racial diversity. This typically is a larger indicator of how the film industry is clearly biased toward rewarding white men, not necessarily the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the voting body for the Oscars) in and of itself.
However, considering three of the films in my 2015 top 10-"Creed," "Beasts of No Nation" and "Straight Outta Compton"-feature strong turns both in front of and behind the camera by people of color, this is quickly turning into an Academy problem, too.
Sylvester Stallone rightfully was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his return to the big screen as Rocky Balboa in "Creed," but his was the film's sole nomination. Nothing for actor Michael B. Jordan, who (notwithstanding "Fantastic 4") has been turning heads left and right with his strong performances in this and other films. Nothing for "Creed" writer-director Ryan Coogler, who proved he was immune from the sophomore slump after first impressing audiences with 2013's "Fruitvale Station" (which stars Jordan, too).
"Straight Outta Compton" was one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of the year. Box office shouldn't (and usually doesn't) have a play on Oscar nominations, but the film currently has an 88 percent (out of 100) score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on the opinions of 195 critics. So yes, it really is that good, and the only Oscar nomination it got is for Best Original Screenplay. But I can't say the Oscar snubs were a huge surprise, as the movie has failed to get much attention from most of the major movie awards this season.
On the other hand, Idris Elba was considered an early Best Supporting Actor frontrunner for his dark turn in "Beasts of No Nation." He was even nominated for a Golden Globe. But his name was not mentioned Jan. 14 when the nominations were announced.
Best Picture shocks
In the past, awards-voting bodies including the Academy have been praised for their recognition of LGBT-related films such as "Boys Don't Cry" and "Brokeback Mountain." So it came as a huge shock when frontrunners "Carol" (featuring a lesbian love story at its core) and "The Danish Girl" (a biopic about transgender artist Lili Elbe) were left off the Best Picture list.
They weren't completely blocked out of the Oscars this year, though. "Carol" received six nominations, including Best Actress for Cate Blanchett and Best Supporting Actress for Rooney Mara. "The Danish Girl" received four nominations, including Best Actor for Eddie Redmayne and Best Supporting Actress for Alicia Vikander.
Part of this is the new Best Picture rule the Academy started using a few years ago, where there could be anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category, dependent on some ridiculous equation, so there are eight nominees this year. There should be five nominees (just like most of the other categories) or 10. Pick a number.
If we had 10 this year, "Carol" and "The Danish Girl" likely would have filled the last two spots.
'Bridge of Spies'
Because all of these people and films were snubbed, of course there are a few surprises.
The biggest is all the love for the Steven Spielberg-directed "Bridge of Spies," which stars Tom Hanks as an American lawyer who defended a Russian spy during the Cold War. Spielberg didn't get a directing nod and Hanks wasn't recognized for his acting, but the film did get a surprising six nominations, including one for Best Picture.
That Best Picture nom was stolen from "Carol" and "The Danish Girl," and if my idea to just round up to a nice even number of 10 had been the case, "Straight Outta Compton" or "Creed" would be suitable replacements for this lackluster Spielberg-Hanks film.
The Best Original Screenplay nomination "Bridge of Spies" received for Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen also could be seen as the reason why Coogler and co-writer Aaron Covington didn't get a nod for "Creed."
BEASTS OF NO NATION
Entertainment Jul 13th 2019 - 12pm
In East Grand Forks, a closer look at the cosmos
Art Jul 12th 2019 - 12am
'Frank Sampson Retrospective' opens Thursday in Grand Forks


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"Stu Sutherland and Joe Daniels will be greatly missed. I'd like to dedicate this issue to them."
As many of you who have been long-time readers of Verification Horizons know, I usually like to spend a little time in these Editor's Notes relating an anecdote about my family and tying it back to a trend or theme in our industry related to the articles in that issue. But this time around, I feel moved to write about two members of our EDA family who were taken from us too soon this year.
Stu Sutherland passed away this summer, shortly after DAC. I first met Stu over twenty years ago when we were both working on what was then Verilog-1995. Since that time, we continued to collaborate on standards, including IEEE 1364 and IEEE 1800. In addition to being a key technical contributor to these standards, I'm not sure that many people outside of that process know just how much work Stu actually did as technical editor in merging 1364 and SystemVerilog 3.0 from Accellera into IEEE 1800. The word "Herculean" might come close to describing it. His efforts continued as editor through the most recent release of IEEE 1800. Stu was one of the premier independent Verilog educators in our industry as well as a prolific author of books and technical papers. I had the honor of co-authoring a few papers with Stu over the years. To all of these accomplishments, Stu always brought an unfailing sense of decency, humility and serenity that one could not help but treasure. To be able to have called Stu a friend as well as a colleague is truly one of the highlights of my career.
Joe Daniels passed away suddenly last week. Joe and I worked together for the past several years on the Accellera Portable Stimulus Working Group, where he served as technical editor. As Vice Chair of the PSWG, I had many interactions with Joe both in group meetings and one-on-ones as we worked through the details of turning the sometimes chaotic contributions from multiple WG members into a coherent standard.
Joe was extraordinarily good at what he did and was always ready to offer valuable advice on many aspects of the standardization process—from meeting management to document organization—and was always encouraging and direct. Whenever he and I spoke, either in person, on the phone or by video chat, he would never let the conversation end without asking how I was doing or how my family was. Joe's ability to combine this personal touch with his technical depth and clarity made him unique in my estimation.
Stu and Joe will be greatly missed, and so this issue is dedicated to them.
We have four articles in this issue, but what we lack in quantity we more than make up for in quality. We start with "FPGA Verification Challenges and Opportunities" from my friend and colleague Harry Foster. As you may know, Harry has been the brains behind our biennial Wilson Research Group survey of the EDA industry to discern trends in a variety of design and verification areas. This article will trace some of the key findings for the FPGA segment of the industry over the past several years. I always love it when we get objective data that show that many of the verification techniques we've been advocating for years actually serve to reduce the number of bugs that escape into production.
Next, we continue our Portable Stimulus series by another friend and colleague of mine, Matthew Ballance, with "Building a Better Virtual Sequence with Portable Stimulus." Virtual sequences in UVM can be some of the most challenging pieces of your verification environment to create such that they are both useful and, importantly, reusable. This article will show how you can use Portable Stimulus to create scenarios for your block-level verification environment that are more robust and flexible than writing a virtual sequence. It'll also show you how to make the virtual sequence customizable and reusable as you move up to the subsystem level – both of which are very hard to do with a virtual sequence in UVM.
In "A New Approach to Low-Power Verification: Power Aware Apps," you'll learn how to take advantage of some new information-model package functions in UPF 3.0, together with some Tcl code using the information model API, to create some powerful (pardon the pun) apps to help with various aspects of verifying low-power designs. By following the examples and case studies presented, you should be able to replicate the work on your low-power design project. A version of this article was published at DVCon-Europe 2018, but we wanted to share it with you.
We complete this issue with "Simplifying Mixed-Signal Verification" from my Analog Mixed-Signal colleagues at Mentor. If you're facing a mixed-signal design for IoT, automotive, communication, industrial or any other application, you'll find this discussion of AMS methodologies to be very helpful. The article wraps up by showing how Mentor's new Symphony Mixed-Signal Platform provides the flexibility, accuracy, and performance you'll need to verify the analog portions of your design alongside your digital design. You'll also see some advanced debugging capabilities of Symphony that will really make your verification productivity sing.
With the loss of Stu and Joe, our industry has lost two of its finest, not to mention a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge. The rest of us will go on, and as I have learned in the past few months, life is too short not to appreciate the outstanding people we are blessed to work with in this industry, regardless of the companies we work for. Take a moment to hug your family members, and the next time you're talking to a colleague about work, be sure to ask how things are going outside of work. May God bless you and your families, and Godspeed, Stu and Joe.


Loeb & Loeb is proud to announce that the firm was honored at the 2019 Managing IP Americas Awards. The firm received the award in the "Trademark Contentious: West" category. The Managing IP awards recognize the law firms and in-house counsel with the best intellectual property achievements of the year.


But I'm sure their only intention was building friendships.
These are children trying to see how far they can go with this. Let's hope Britain disciplines all children who behave themselves like this as soon as possible.
On one hand these guys are like big children trying to see how far they can actually take their little Rebel-game.
On the other hand we can look at other countries and estimate that if the British government disciplines these "children", their response will be that peaceful means were violently beaten down by the kuffar and that now violence (purely out of self defence,...ofcourse!) is their final resort.
All in all this is very worrying for Europe.
"become Muslim and you will be successful"
Great line for an infomercial.
PLEASE show me one non-American muslim that has invented/discovered anything within the last 50 years? 100 years? 200 years? being a muslim is being at the bottom of a sespool. It took an infidel to discover the "black oil" on their land that has benefitted them. Had it not been for the infidel's creativity and freedom, ALL muslims would be back stuck in the 7th century as Afghanistan is.
you need a sense of humor.


My dad, David Watkins, in October 1991, overlooking a bumper cotton crop. Accept for the day he accepted Christ as his Savior, this may have been his finest day.
Every single word in the Bible has meaning. Significant meaning. The words are there at the whisper, the love, and sometimes even the anger of God.
I've always been fascinated at the significance of the numbers, and how God uses them in the bible to represent certain things. The number 40 is of particular interest to me. It signifies a period of "testing," or challenge … and, the fulfillment of a promise.
In the quietest of moments, when there are no distractions, you shake your head in wonderment. And that's all you can do … shake your head and wonder.
You savor the moments you went fishing and hunting together.
If you're an only child, particularly the only son of an only son, you realize that to some extent now, you're the head of the family, and you're scared.
You take on a welcome new responsibility for your mom.
By the grace of God, you forget the arguments, and you remember the tender moments of transparency.
You wonder what he's doing in Heaven at this very moment.
You wonder if he knows you miss him.
You picture him praising the Lord with his hands raised, happy beyond measure.
You imagine him covered in Light.
You regret not having been a better son.
You have a new understanding for the burdens he carried as the head of the family.
You have a new comprehension for his failures.
You hear a song on the radio that carries the theme of Jesus' love, and you cry.
You put up bird houses that await the migration of the purple martins, just as he did for years and you wish he could sit on the back patio with you …waiting.
You wear his clothes, just because you can.
You walk into a room where he spent his days, and you can still smell him.
You wear his dog tag from his days in the National Guard, and you never take it off.
You try to have forgiveness for those who in his final days denied him the request of Baptism because of the doctrinal beliefs in immersion, and you struggle with that almost every day.
…and you shake your head in wonderment, because that's all you can do.
You start a vegetable garden in your back yard as a tribute to him.
…and in that garden you plant cotton seeds from his last harvest and you plan to replant those seeds every year on May 1.
You wear his collection of caps.
You remember your roots with newfound pride.
You wish he could sit with you and watch the Final Four in a few weeks.
You wish you could just sit with him on the back porch and drink a cold beer.
You pursue lost dreams with vigor and determination because you realize life is short and but a vapor.
You regret the mistakes you, yourself have made as a father.
You determine to be a better man and live a life just like he did in the last month of his life, with grace, humility, forgiveness and love, and you re-realize that it's not important how you start out in life, what matters is how you finish.
You write, because that's the gift God gave you, and you do it as a tribute to him and Him.
You determine as best you can to avoid distractions and focus on what's important.
In your heart, you search the world over for another father figure.
You realize that despite the kind words and genuine goodness of those around you, nobody knows how you feel, and sometimes you are just lonely.
You hope he knows how much you loved him, even if you were a rebellious jerk so many times.
You just sit and stay quiet.
… and you shake your head in wonderment … because that's all you can do.
It's been four weeks now since dad passed away.
It was on a Thursday. The Sunday before he died was a milestone moment in my life I may never forget.
Dad lived a hard life – drank, swore, mismanaged money. In other words, he wasn't perfect. Because he set the standard so high for himself, he never saw himself of worthy of God's unrelenting grace and prodigal love.
That Sunday morning, the doctor told him flat out, he wasn't going to get better. They could pump oxygen into his lungs all day long, but they had lived their life. The lungs would no longer move the air and move the ogygen into his blood stream.
"You mean this is the way the rest of my life is going to be? he asked.
"We don't know how long," the doctor said.
I think it was at that moment Dad knew the only person who could help him was Jesus.
That day, Daddy said "yes," and he wanted to be baptized as a public profession of his newfound faith.
Dad never really went to church and as good fortune would have it, the pastor of a local church attended by some of my family members had befriended dad in the hospital paying him almost daily visits in the next to last week before he died. Daddy liked the guy and he had good heartfelt conversations with him.
So upon Daddy's request for baptism, they called the guy. There was an urgency in the call. Any breath could have been Dad's last. Not that the baptism made his salvation any more secure. He just wanted to do it, and we wanted him to have it.
So the pastor showed up, was advised of my Dad's request and the joy of our dad's salvation took a disappointing turn.
A half dozen IV's were hooked up to Daddy's arms. He could hardly move. His breath was short — and unfortunately for him there wasn't a river nearby.
The pastor believed baptism could only be conducted by full immersion, and the situation and facilities just didn't allow that.
That's the only way he could conduct a baptism, he said. That's what he believed.
Let me try to recap and sum this up in a paragraph.
A 71-year-old man who had lived like Hell up to this point in his life and whose last breath could come at any moment had just asked the God of all Creation to come into his life and he wanted to celebrate with his family with a baptism.
But the preacher said no. That was not the doctrine in which he believed.
I thought about Jesus. What would Jesus do?
On the Sabbath, Jesus told the man to pick up his mat and walk.
Did Jesus care if every square inch of Dad's skin was immersed, or if water was just poured over his head?
Weeks later, I'm still shaking my head, trying hard to forgive, and to move on.