The world's top-emitting companies should be made accountable for their role in global warming and pay for the loss and damage suffered in many developing countries according to a new report by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Climate Justice Programme.
Billions of people in poor communities are innocent victims in the climate change equation. They are amongst the lowest polluters in the world, yet they are already suffering from loss and damage caused by climate change. Impacts such as drought and changing rainfall patterns in the Sahel region; sea-level rise and coastal erosion in small islands; the double challenge of rising sea levels and severe cyclones in Bangladesh; and the devastating effect of super-Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippines have already gone beyond the ability of communities to adapt. It is expected that loss and damage from climate change will increase dramatically in the poorest parts of the world.
The international community has taken initial steps to address loss and damage from climate change. In November 2013 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to establish the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage to: enhance knowledge and understanding of comprehensive risk-management approaches to address loss and damage; strengthen dialogue, coordination, coherence, and synergies; and enhance action and support, including technical support and mobilising finance. These functions of the International Mechanism for Loss and Damage will clearly require funding. Unfortunately, the current level of climate finance under discussion by the international community is grossly inadequate for mitigation and adaptation efforts, without taking loss and damage into consideration. Therefore, a new source of finance is needed.
The climate change already being experienced is the result of the emissions that have been released into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. A groundbreaking report released in 2013, the Carbon Majors report, established that 63% of carbon emissions in the atmosphere have come from the coal, oil, and gas extracted and cement manufactured by only 90 entities – the «Carbon Majors», which include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, BP, Gazprom, and Shell. These entities have made massive profits from extracting and selling the fossil fuels that cause climate change without paying for any of the damage from climate change that their products are causing. These entities therefore have a moral and legal responsibility to provide redress for the loss and damage arising from the emissions their products have caused. Adding a levy to the extraction of fossil fuels can help meet these goals.


Kandi Burruss gushed over her and Todd Tucker's son Ace Wells Tucker on Instagram. She posted a video to show off his outfit for photo day at school, telling fans that his dad was the one who picked Ace's elegant clothes.
'Daddy @todd167 picked out @acewellstucker's outfit for picture day at school. ?' Kandi captioned the video that she posted on her social media account.
Daddy @todd167 picked out @acewellstucker's outfit for picture day at school. ?
Kandi Was recently accused of being a bad parent after she shared yet another preview of what she calls her 'crazy fantasy world' on her social media.
There are a lot of people who accuse Kandi of lousy parenting due to the show, but she has a ton of diehard fans who came in her defense with pretty strong arguments, we have to admit.


If anyone is looking for an incredible place that transfers one media type to another (VHS to DVD, audio cassette to digital, DVD to digital, just about anything...), it is VIDEO JUNCTION. The couple who run it have been doing top quality services for years. It is in Rochester, off University, 2 blocks E of Crittendon: 306 Taylor, Rochester, MI 48307. Telephone 248.652.0623. They have done several jobs for me expeditiously and at a great cost.


The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office is pleased to welcome ten new employees to our team. On July 30, 2018, at a ceremony held at the Sheriff's Training Bureau classroom, we officially welcomed two Administrative Office Professionals, a Dispatcher, four Custody Deputies, two Sheriff's Deputies and our first ever-Behavioral Sciences Manager, Dr. Cherylynn Lee.
Dr. Lee began volunteering at the Sheriff's Office in 2015 as a Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) teacher. She was hired in 2017 as extra help to develop our Behavioral Sciences Unit (BSU). The Unit was formed to oversee cases involving mental illness and to develop a CIT team. The goal is to build community partnerships to help adopt restorative justice principals and divert individuals from the criminal justice system into appropriate services. The BSU collaborates with other agencies to develop training programs and assist law enforcement and community members involved in these types of calls for service.
The Sheriff's Office also welcomed and provided certificates of appointment to our new dispatcher Lindsay Williams and our two Administrative Office Professionals, Monica Alonzo and Chloe Rodenberger.
At the ceremony, the Sheriff also swore in four new custody deputies, Tyler Fielding, Ignacio Rosiles Jr., Zachary Salce and Edward Woods.
We also welcomed back Sheriff's Deputy Benjamin Sandu who returned to the Sheriff's Office after working in Medford, Oregon for several years and is currently assigned to Goleta Valley patrol. We also hired retired CHP officer James Belanger who is now working extra-help as a bailiff.
We want to take this opportunity to wish all of our new colleagues a great career ahead with the Sheriff's Office.


I was freezing for two days earlier this week so I decided I needed to go back to wearing my pants and a sweater. I was about to put my sweaters away but this weather has been unpredictable.
Khakis are the the engineer's uniform...worn with a polo. That is how I styled my Khakis back in the day but today, I'm dressing them up a little with leopard heels and pearls, and layered. I also like the way blue looks with the khaki color.
I've worn this sweater three times already in the past few weeks. I just love pairing navy with everything.
$9.00 for those fabulous pumps? WOW!
This is pretty. I love navy too; there are so many great options. I like that its a dark neutral that still passes for a summer color.
I actually purchased those pumps online but had to return them. I couldn't believe my regular size fit me small :( I also mistakenly order those with patent heel + platform when I wanted another pair that has a shorter heel and no platform.
Navy is one of my favorite work colors. I love how you added some flair to the outfit with leopard shoes. Thanks for linking up! Hope to see you back this Thursday for Look What I Got.
Khakis are my goto! I love the color scheme. You look great!


Clean Plates: Is there a certain time of day that's better for working out?
Harley Pasternak: Scientifically, there's no certain time of day that's more beneficial for working out. Do it when you can commit to doing it.
C.P.: Are longer workouts more effective than shorter sessions?
H.P.: Brief, more intense and focused workouts can be as effective as longer, less intense workouts.
C.P.: Is doing the same exercise every day (spinning for example) bad for the body?
H.P.: Doing the same intense cardio every day (other than walking) can give you repetitive stress syndrome. Moreover, doing the same strength exercises every day can cause injury.
C.P.: Are there any specific moves you swear by?
H.P.: I really focus on the posterior chain with my clients. A sample workout would be dumbbell rows with dumbbell stiff-leg dead lifts, and a lying dumbbell tricep extension. I would probably do 20 repetitions of each of these moves as a nonstop circuit, and repeat the circuit approximately six times.
C.P.: Will using weights make women more muscular?
H.P.: Not at all — that's a big misconception. To make bigger muscles you first need testosterone, which is why men get bigger muscles than women. Then, you need to eat extra food. Think in terms of building a house: In order to build a bigger house, you need extra wood, bricks, etc.
And third, you need to train at high volume. This means adopting a body-building style, with lots of exercises for one body part with lots of sets and reps.
C.P.: How much does sweating matter? If we're not sweating a lot, will we see fewer results?
H.P.: Sweating is the body's effort to cool itself down. If you are sweating, you are hot. Scientifically speaking, we actually burn marginally more fat and calories in a cold environment where we may not actually sweat at all.
C.P.: Will we see more results from exercising and eating a high-protein diet vs. low or normal protein amounts?
H.P.: Part of that is true — protein aids in generating results from exercise, but you also need to balance this by consuming ample fiber and healthy fats. I call this the "holy trinity of healthy eating." I'm a big believer in getting these essential nutrients from blending, which is the foundation for my Body Reset Diet.
Using smoothies as a meal replacement helps to power your metabolism, blast fat and shed pounds all while staying satisfied. I recently worked with Jamba Juice to develop a line of Super Blends that provide optimal nutrition for anyone seeking a fast, fueling and filling smoothie. Try my Green Smoothie (recipe below) for a great fueling mini meal.
C.P.: What's the holy trinity and how does it work exactly?
H.P.: Scientifically speaking, we understand that protein, fiber, and healthy fats each increase the thermic effect of food. Eating these foods causes a boost in our metabolism, and they also stabilize blood sugar levels and make us feel fuller faster and longer.
C.P.: If you eat a high protein snack before exercising, will you burn off those calories any faster?
H.P.: No, a high protein snack before a workout will not cause you to burn calories any faster.
C.P.: How important is food in terms of fueling for a workout?
H.P.: I don't really think in those terms. I train people to strengthen, tone and tighten their bodies. I don't train them for performance. If someone was doing a three-hour marathon run, or mountain climbing for a few hours, fuel is essential. If someone is doing 30 minutes of weight training or going for a long walk, staying hydrated is important, but not really a fuel issue.
In a blender or food processor, combine the spinach, pear, grapes, yogurt, avocado and lime juice. Blend until desired consistency.


text:
De l'Allemagne est un essai littéraire et philosophique de Madame de Staël. L'ouvrage de Germaine de Staël contient une mine d'observations historiques et contemporaines, sur la littérature et les arts, les sciences et la nouvelle philosophie développés dans l'ombre du pays des Lumières, de l'autre côté du Rhin.

Genèse

L'ouvrage aurait dû être publié en 1810, alors que Germaine de Staël subissait l'exil décidé par  après la publication du roman Delphine. Malgré toutes ses précautions d'écriture, il n'échappe pas à la censure impériale : les exemplaires sont intégralement saisis chez l'imprimeur et détruits. À l'exception cependant de trois tomes, annotés par l'éditeur, Henri Nicolle, et aujourd'hui conservés à la Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Si une édition clandestine paraît en 1813 (imprimée à Londres et rééditée l'année suivante, en 3 volumes), c'est seulement après la chute de l'Empereur que l'ouvrage peut paraître officiellement en France. L'édition de 1839, en 1 volume, est préfacée par Xavier Marmier de l'Académie française. Elle est publiée chez Charpentier (qui diffuse également les œuvres de Balzac). Une deuxième préface, cette fois de la plume de Madame de Staël, raconte en détail les péripéties de l'édition détruite par la police impériale.

Contenu

Dans une première partie, Germaine de Staël consacre 20 chapitres aux données géographiques et sociologiques les plus variées : tandis que différents chapitres traitent de l'Allemagne méridionale, de l'Autriche, de Vienne, de l'Allemagne du nord, de la Saxe, de Weimar, la Prusse, Berlin (...), le troisième chapitre est consacré aux femmes allemandes, le quatrième traite de l'esprit de chevalerie sur l'amour et l'honneur, le onzième sur l'esprit de conversation, le dix-huitième sur les universités...

La deuxième partie est consacrée à la littérature et aux arts. Comme énoncé dans le premier de ses 32 chapitres, il s'agit de corriger la méconnaissance ou manque d'intérêt des Français d'alors par une présentation très complète des œuvres allemandes, littéraires, poétiques, théâtrales, picturales etc. Des chapitres indépendants sont consacrés à Wieland, Klopstock, Lessing et Winckelmann, Goethe, Schiller.

La troisième partie est consacrée à la philosophie et la morale avec l'érudition et clarté d'exposé qu'on connaît à la romancière épistolière et philosophe genevoise. Les quatre premiers de 21 chapitres sont consacrés à ses vues sur la philosophie en général, les philosophes anglais (Bacon et Locke en particulier) et français (Pascal, Descartes, Malebranche, Condillac...). Une place toute particulière est ensuite donnée à Emmanuel Kant, et à la nouvelle philosophie allemande, non sans avoir auparavant présenté l'œuvre de Leibniz. Dans le Chapitre VI, Madame de Staël témoigne de l'admiration qu'elle porte à Kant. Indépendamment de l'analyse de la Critique de la raison pure, de la Critique de la raison pratique et de la Critique du jugement, elle rappelle les premiers travaux scientifiques du jeune Kant et qu'on lui doit la prédiction de l'existence d'Uranus, avant l'observation de la planète par Herschel. Deux chapitres de la troisième partie précisent la morale, fondée sur l'intérêt personnel, sur l'intérêt national, et un chapitre est consacré à la morale scientifique. Jacobi et son roman philosophique Woldemar font l'objet de deux chapitres.

La quatrième partie comprend 12 chapitres sur la religion en Allemagne : les places respectives qu'y tiennent protestantisme et catholicisme, les théosophes, les sectes, la contemplation de la nature, l'enthousiasme, l'influence de l'enthousiasme sur les Lumières, et enfin l'ouvrage se conclut par l'influence de l'enthousiasme sur le bonheur. Une toute dernière phrase serait, selon Germaine de Staël, celle qui aurait le plus contribué à la censure par les policiers du Premier Empire :

Bibliographie

À l'occasion du bicentenaire de la publication de De l'Allemagne, la Bibliothèque nationale de France a publié une bibliographie sélective contenant 17 pages de références et liens vers les écrits de Madame de Staël et les textes s'y rapportant. On y trouvera toutes les références primaires et secondaires pouvant enrichir le contenu de cette page.

Notes et références

Livre paru en 1813
Essai français du XIXe siècle

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Add to Catalog Bookmarks (opens a new window)
ARCH 5301 - Materials and Assembly Principles
Introduces the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of architectural materials, systems, and processes. Students are introduced to the physical properties of materials relevant to their application in construction, assembly, and detail systems. Topics include: masonry, concrete, wood, steel, glass, cladding, and roofing and flooring materials and their assemblies.
Credit Hours: (3)
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I am eating a meringue cookie right now. It's crumbly on top and little chewy on the bottom. It's sticking to my teeth. They're supposed to have this bi-textural thing going on though, I'm 87% sure of that. The other 13% knows that I probably just didn't let them dry out completely. I think I like the top section more. I may have bitten off the tops of two others, but I'm not saying anything for certain.
I'm okay with little imperfections, like this batch of less-than-pâtisserie-perfect cookies. Imperfections like these are good. So are the masses of concentrated melanin that make freckles– constellations on faces that are far more interesting to look at than my own. My favorite two baking pans: Tin Man-colored, except for the black bits of caramelized sugar that no amount of scrubbing can erase are others on this list of imperfect, but lovely. An apple picked right from the tree that has a few more bruises than preferable would also be included.
But there are imperfections that are decidedly not good. The hole developing in my car's tire after an ill-timed encounter with a pointy rock. The skin on my hands, chapped from washing them thirty times today after seeing an alert about flu season. The things I'm too self-conscious to write about– words I've typed and then deleted because I know that once I print them here they become real. I notice them. I'm trying to let them bother me less. This is not to say I've adopted anything resembling –god forbid– the Chill persona. Nor is it that I've achieved a new level of self-actualization and am no longer letting the "little things" bother me. I didn't even get a cool job or anything. But I am trying to notice those not-so-good-imperfections less. It's probably healthier, though I don't know how long it'll last.
Speaking of imperfections: galettes. While one can trim the dough to be an even circle, lay out each slice of fruit into a balanced twisty spiral, and painstakingly flute every two inches around said circle, I don't recommend it. While flawless desserts are incredible to look at in an Vogue-airbrushing sort of way, I'm constantly drawn to rustic pastries. Fruit bubbles over the top and onto the sides of crust, chocolate oozes down the layers of a cake that leans slightly to the right. Some of the best food styling comes from just making the thing and placing it in a natural space.
Make the crust: Make and chill the crust according to these directions. Instead of the egg white, mix a whole egg with cream or milk.
Make the filling: Wash, halve, and pit the plums. Slices thinly and place in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup sugar, zest, juice, extract, orange flower water/Grand Marnier, ginger, and 2 tablespoons flour and combine well. Set aside.
Put it all together: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn the crust out onto a floured work surface and roll until you have about a 13-inch round (no need for perfection.) Carefully wrap the crust around the rolling pin and unroll onto the baking sheet. Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar and flour together and sprinkle it onto the center of the crust. Dump the fruit into the center, spreading it out evenly, but leaving an inch or two boarder. Fold the dough over the filling, fluting it every few inches to ensure no fruit leakage (brush the underside of the flute with cold water if they're not sticking together.) Brush the crust with egg mixture and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 30-40 minutes, checking after 25. It's done when the filling is starting to bubble and the crust is golden. If the crust starts to get too dark, tent with foil until the last 5-10 minutes.
Your pictures make me want to be there too!!


text:
Offensive Warfare
"The way we look at it, this preface gives us much greater opportunities in the upcoming depositions and trial. I believe this is the only way we can win."
Letter to legal team, June 11, 2002
Like Tkach Jr.'s "Christian duty" footnote in Transformed by Truth, Feazell's preface backfired. For one, it showed how phony the e-publishing scheme really was. They weren't about to produce Mr. Armstrong's literature unless it was introduced by Feazell's remarks. And there is no way we would have ever directed prospective members to download that filth. Though we knew it all along, the preface fully revealed just how interested they were in "helping" fulfill our spiritual needs. The whole e-publishing sham, as it turns out, was just another way for them to trash Mr. Armstrong's legacy.
But the preface's impact on our legal arguments was minor compared to the way it impacted us. I won't say it surprised us—not after witnessing Tkachism's destructive assault on the church the previous 16 years. But it did serve as a jolting reminder of what we were fighting against: people who hate everything Herbert W. Armstrong stood for. We couldn't reason with them. We couldn't deal with them—all we could do was fight.
So from that point forward, everything in the lawsuit would turn on Feazell's preface—at least, as far as we were concerned. My father wrote to our legal team on June 11, 2002,
The preface to the wcg e-publishing sham is the opportunity we have been waiting for. Ever since Judge Letts was involved, I feel like we haven't been able to thoroughly get across what really happened in our church.
This preface has opened up a tremendous opportunity to do that again. I feel like we can now go on the offensive as never before with an even bigger goal in mind (rfra, writing a book, etc). I strongly believe that our answer to the preface is going to make them feel the heat. …
Perhaps we lost the appellate court decision because the wcg made a few comments labeling us a cult. … The preface allows us to answer the cult attack. But it gives us a greater opportunity. We can now expose them for what they really are—a cult and much worse. At the same time, I believe we can help the judge and jury to understand the pcg's true motives.
They say a battle is 50 percent won when you go on the offensive. The way we look at it, this preface gives us much greater opportunities in the upcoming depositions and trial. I believe this is the only way we can win.1
Over the next two months, our attorneys probably heard the word "preface" so often, they might have thought we were a broken record. Of course, they still had to accumulate evidence to support all of our legal arguments, insofar as copyright law is concerned. But since the wcg now wanted to insert Armstrong-bashing into the case, we insisted on telling the behind-the-scenes story, whether during a deposition, before a judge or jury, or within court documents. In fact, as you can see from the letter above, the preface is what prompted the whole idea for this book. The case had now gotten much bigger than just fighting for the right to distribute Mr. Armstrong's literature. Now we had to obtain the literature—and expose them in the process.
Even though we were technically going into the damages trial as the "loser" (with respect to Mystery of the Ages), my father believed something dramatic would happen, whether in court or out, that would eventually turn the tide in our favor. "If God is with us," he said, "we will win this. If He's been with us, He still is with us—that is, if we keep the faith."
Judge Snyder was hoping for a mid-October 2002 trial, which meant discovery and depositions needed to be completed by the end of the summer. As we geared up for a busy summer, my dad instructed his entire staff at Edmond to make the court case their top priority. More than a dozen people involved themselves in gathering information and helping to prepare for the depositions of the wcg's key witnesses—Joseph Tkach, Michael Feazell, Ron Kelly, Ralph s and Bernard Schnippert, as well as a few others. My father relieved Dennis Leap and me from some of our youth camp obligations that summer so we could devote more time to researching for depositions. pcg ministers Gary Rethford and Tim Thompson were also instrumental in digging up information for our lawyers.
This was a real turning point. In 1998, the bulk of deposition preparation was left to our attorneys, although Dennis and his wife made sure they were supplied with church documents and literature. We also offered a lot of feedback during conferences we had before depositions. But for the most part, the lawyers were responsible for doing most of the research and drawing up the questions.
In 2002, the lawyers still did all that, it's just that we did too—only coming at it from the preface angle. If Tkach's fellows wanted to talk about Mr. Armstrong's heavy-handed approach to governance, then Tkach Jr. and Feazell were going to be asked about the legacy of Tkachism—how it forced people to go along or else forced them out of the church. If they wanted to bring up how Mr. Armstrong supposedly "hooked" people into his system of beliefs, then they would have to testify about all the lies Tkachism told in order to lull unsuspecting members to sleep so they wouldn't lose their tithes. If they wanted to bring up Mr. Armstrong's lack of "study" and "seminary training," then we were going to ask them about Tkach Sr.'s academic and theological credentials. It they wanted to talk about how burdensome it was in the church under Mr. Armstrong, then they were sure to hear about Tkachism's heavy legacy. And if they wanted to bring up Mr. Armstrong's "extravagant" lifestyle, then we would ask, Well what did Tkachism do with its billions?
So as we got ready for the 2002 depositions, our attorneys prepared their questions and documents and we prepared ours. Then, in a status conference before the depositions, we worked to blend the two together.
Joseph Tkach Jr.
In the Tkach Jr. deposition on Friday, August 23, 2002, Mark Helm wasted little time in setting off explosives. Fifteen minutes into the deposition, Allan Browne instructed Tkach not to answer on account of Mark's "harassing and oppressive" questioning. Thirty minutes after that, he threatened to leave unless Mark lowered his voice!
Mark began by reviewing the December 4, 1998, Advisory Council of Elders minutes—where the wcg officially explained its position on discontinued literature and how it had plans to use the material again. In the case of Mystery being discarded, the wcg minutes explain, "As a consequence, an ecclesiastical determination was made that moa and other such works be retired from circulation and not be distributed until appropriate revisions could be effectuated, compatible with the Bible."2
Now that the wcg intended to e-publish these works, Mark wondered if the preface counted as an "appropriate revision." After Tkach said "No," Mark then asked if the ecclesiastical determination had changed. Tkach indicated that they hadn't changed their decision, but that they felt comfortable enough e-publishing the literature as long as it had a preface to provide background. Since the wcg had made statements throughout the lawsuit that they would have considered licensing the works, Mark was trying to pin Tkach down to see if the terms for the hypothetical licensing meant the literature had to be prefaced by derogatory remarks about Mr. Armstrong. He also exposed the degree to which the wcg wanted to control the literature if a licensing agreement ever happened.
Later, he got Mr. Tkach to talk about Gerald Flurry. Tkach said he thought my father was mentally unbalanced, that he taught heresy, approved of lying, and was engaged in unethical conduct. Mark then asked if Tkach's personal views toward Mr. Flurry might factor into any decision considering the pcg as a possible licensee. It was brilliant. Tkach answered, "I think the key here is that in developing a license agreement, we would be in a position to police or control that by the terms we dictated in the license agreement."3 That's exactly the point. Assuming Tkach ever licensed the literature to a mentally deranged, heretical liar, he would only do so if the wcg maintained "control" and was able to "police" our actions. In that scenario, what would prevent him from then pulling the plug on the license agreement after litigation ended?
Later in his deposition, Tkach Jr. complained that we had misrepresented his "authorial intent" in saying he had a "Christian duty" to keep Mystery of the Ages out of print.4 When asked what he meant by "out of print," Tkach said he was "expressing a feeling, but not a course of action."5 Of course, with that kind of reasoning, you can back away from practically any hard-and-fast position. But the facts prove that their whole reason for filing suit in the first place was to prevent us from distributing Mystery of the Ages—to act on their Christian duty. In his book, Tkach Jr. also made this statement about another one of Mr. Armstrong's works: "… don't bother writing for a copy of The United States and Britain in Prophecy. You won't get it from us."6 Was that just a feeling or do the fruits prove that they acted on that conviction? Tkach wrote, "Today we reject what is well known as 'Armstrongism,' that is, adherence to the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong …."7 Feeling or action?
Both Sides of His Mouth
Four times during his deposition, Tkach Jr. accused Mr. Armstrong of speaking out of "both sides of his mouth"—particularly with respect to his role as an apostle. At times, Tkach explained, Mr. Armstrong seemed to think he was right up there, on par with the apostles of the first century. Yet on other occasions, he apparently made statements relegating his apostleship to something less than first-century-like. But as we have already seen in this volume, it is Joseph Tkach Jr.—not Mr. Armstrong—who spoke from both sides of his mouth.
In his 1997 book, Tkach Jr. wrote, "Over two or three decades he claimed rank on a par with the first-century apostles"8—a very definitive commentary on Mr. Armstrong's views. Two or three decades! But on March 16, 1992, in a letter the wcg turned over in discovery, Tkach Jr. wrote, "It is good to remember, however, that Mr. Armstrong's role was not synonymous with the original 12 apostles." Later, he wrote, "Mr. Armstrong never claimed his writings were equivalent to Scripture."9
We reminded Tkach Jr. about what his father said two days after Mr. Armstrong died—that he was "confident that the same policies, doctrines and everything else which [Mr. Armstrong] taught would be preserved and carried out."10 We asked if this comment contradicted what his father said about the "deathbed repentance"—that Mr. Armstrong commissioned Tkach Sr. to make the very changes in doctrine that had been made between 1986 and 1991 (a list of changes so extensive, you will recall, that he wanted a tape recorder so he could remember all of them). Tkach Jr. responded, under oath, by saying "No"—there is no contradiction.11
We asked him about this statement from his book: "It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Mr. Armstrong may have never wielded absolute power in our church, but by that same token, there weren't many who would challenge him on an issue."12 Tkach defended the statement this way: "The audience for this book was not only church members …. They were counter-cult ministries who viewed Mr. Armstrong in this way. And I'm explaining for the historical record that that was inaccurate for them to view him that way."13 So the comment was actually intended to defend the manner in which Mr. Armstrong led the church!
Earlier in the deposition, Tkach described the manner in which Mr. Armstrong would sometimes deal with subordinates. "When he would correct people at times, he would ask, Do you believe I'm an apostle? Do you believe I'm an apostle just like Peter and Paul are apostles? And the person would be generally trembling and responding in the affirmative."14 He then described an incident where Mr. Armstrong called Tkach Sr. about a Bible study given in Pasadena. According to Tkach Jr., Mr. Armstrong "was very angry and yelled at my dad for about 40 minutes."15 Yet at the same time, what he wrote in Transformed by Truth about Mr. Armstrong's governing style was supposedly a defense of the church's founder.
We reminded Tkach about the changes in government he promised in his 1997 book and got him to admit that nothing had changed in the five years since the book was released. He still retained all the absolute powers he is quick to condemn Mr. Armstrong for.
When asked about his description of the pcg in his book—that we are a "militant church of God"—he explained that we would "confront" their members and tell them if they didn't accept Malachi's Message, "they were going to burn in hell …."16 He said that "numerous people were confronted that way in restaurants and grocery stores."17
When we asked him earlier about whether or not he thought the pcg was a cult, he responded, "Unquestionably."18 He went on to explain that there are two types of cults—theological and sociological. "Theological cults would be the ones that misrepresent history and Scripture but aren't necessarily pathological in nature. And then you have sociological cults, groups that are dangerous, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Heaven's Gate."19 At least we only made it onto his list of theological cults. But "we're concerned," he went on to say, "that [the pcg] may be crossing the line into the sociological realm."20
For clarification, Mark asked, "So you have concerns that the Philadelphia Church of God may be a cult in the sense that it is dangerous, sociopathic?"
"Certainly," Tkach answered.21
Yet they wanted, all along, to license Mr. Armstrong's literature to us as a "benefit" to our work.
Talk about speaking from both sides of your mouth.
We also made sure to compare Mr. Armstrong's academic background with Tkach Sr.'s, which made the younger Tkach very uncomfortable.
Michael Feazell
Since he was primarily responsible for authoring the preface, we were quite anxious to depose Mike Feazell. At our Edmond offices, our employees combed through Feazell's book and other writings of his, as well as documents that were written about him.
We assembled at the Los Angeles offices of Munger, Tolles and Olson for his deposition on Wednesday, July 24, 2002. Early on, Mark Helm quoted from Feazell's book, where he spoke of the church's transformation.
One by one these core values shriveled and fell from the wcg tree. As they did, leaders and members became increasingly unsettled, fearful, and frustrated. "How are we different anymore?" "Where is all this leading?" "What will be changed next?" they asked.
The church these people had come into had slowly ceased to exist.22
Any time we found statements by wcg officials describing the wcg today as being completely different from what it once was, we made note of them. If the old church no longer existed, why should the new church be allowed to keep others from continuing to distribute the traditional teachings?
When Mark asked him about his comparison of life in the Worldwide under Mr. Armstrong to a rape victim, which we discussed in Chapter 1, Feazell tried to brush it aside as a "figurative expression."23 Mark pressed further. "But by using the figurative term … 'raped,' that is a feeling of the highest order, correct? It's not a casual feeling of unpleasantness, it's—it's a very serious feeling that you're trying to describe here; isn't that right?"
Feazell's lawyer tried to intervene repeatedly for his client by interrupting Mark. But Mark ignored him and insisted that Feazell answer the question. "Is rape a terrible crime?" Mark asked. Feazell's attorney asked Mark to calm down, but he refused. "No … he is trying to walk away from what's clearly stated here, and acting as though … 'spiritually and emotionally raped' … [is like] a typo in a memo."24
After Feazell wouldn't answer, Mark came at the subject from another angle: "When you said you had been spiritually and emotionally raped, were the feelings that you experienced akin to having had a terrible crime committed against you?"25 Feazell said no, repeating that he only used the term in a figurative sense.
"So when you figuratively used the term rape, it's not a terrible thing?" Mark followed.26 It was as heated as we had ever seen Mark during a deposition. It made Feazell noticeably uncomfortable.
Later, Feazell said he believed the pcg is a cult "at least in the sense of its submission to the authority of one individual and his personal interpretation of the religious views of the organization …."27 In his book, he wrote about how Mr. Armstrong's authority had brought the church to a virtual "standstill administratively."28 He said "decisions of any significance could not be made without" Mr. Armstrong's approval.29 So at the deposition, we pointed Feazell to other statements in his book that talk about the authority Tkach Sr. inherited from Mr. Armstrong: that Tkach would not have been able to transform the church "without the unfettered hierarchical authority delegated to him by Armstrong"30; that the changes would have never happened unless Tkach had "total authority." We then asked about Tkach Jr.'s supposed plans to dismantle the authoritarian approach to governance in the church—and how that was one of his first goals after becoming pastor general in 1995. But as of 2002, when we asked Feazell if the younger Tkach had the same powers that Mr. Armstrong did, he responded, "[T]hat may well be true."31
On page 107 of his book, Feazell wrote, "In the Worldwide Church of God, however, we found ourselves in the no-win situation of having to change the core values. The changes we were forced to make devastated the very sense of identity of our church and its members."32 Since the Tkaches had "total authority" to change the church's "core values," we wanted to remind Feazell that they forced their transformation on the ministers and members of the Worldwide Church of God. In response to that charge, Feazell testified, "The church no more forced … itself … on the ministers after the changes than it did before the changes."33 To which Mark brilliantly responded,
But after the changes took place, these were ministers who had joined a church [that] had different doctrines and were now being told: Either teach the new doctrines or hit the road. That is different from the ministers under Mr. Armstrong, isn't it, who joined the church knowing what the doctrines were and believing in them?34
Feazell couldn't see how that was different at all.
Ron Kelly
Since Ron Kelly is mentioned in Transformed by Truth as having heard Mr. Armstrong supposedly say "I am Elijah," we were anxious to hear what he had to say under oath. Not surprisingly, Mr. Kelly could not remember where or when he heard Mr. Armstrong say that. We then showed Mr. Kelly the letter Tkach Jr. wrote to Mr. Leap in April 1990, where Tkach insisted that the Elijah prophecies had been fulfilled by the work of the church and that Mr. Armstrong never claimed to be the exclusive fulfillment of them. We asked Mr. Kelly if he made his "I am Elijah" comment before or after Tkach wrote the letter to Mr. Leap. He said it "would have been made much later than this letter, which was April of 1990."35 But Mr. Armstrong died in 1986. And in Transformed by Truth, Tkach Jr. indicates that Kelly came to him after he heard Mr. Armstrong say "I am Elijah."36 It wouldn't make sense for Kelly to go to Tkach Jr. "much later" than April 1990 about a comment he heard Mr. Armstrong make. But that's the illogical chronology Kelly had to go with during his deposition, otherwise he would have been forced to admit that Tkach Jr. spoke from both sides of his mouth.
Ron Kelly enrolled in Ambassador College in 1956 and went into the ministry after he graduated in 1960. He became the first dean of students at Ambassador College in Big Sandy in 1964. After Big Sandy closed in 1977, Mr. Kelly transferred to Pasadena and soon after settled into the field ministry as a pastor serving in Colorado. He returned to Big Sandy briefly after the campus opened in 1981. In 1982, he moved back to headquarters in Pasadena to fill a position in the editorial department. Two years after Mr. Armstrong died, Mr. Tkach appointed him to manage the editorial department. In 1991, Mr. Kelly transferred to Church Administration, where he directed pastoral development. In 1998, he became the church's controller in the finance and planning department. That was the position he held when we deposed him August 1, 2002.
In our preparations for Mr. Kelly's deposition, several articles and messages of his stood out because of his long history in the church. One document was particularly interesting. It was a sermon transcript the church produced in 1987—a year after Mr. Armstrong died. He built the sermon, titled "Principles of Living," around lessons he learned from Mr. Armstrong. He said, "Twenty-nine years ago, I began to sit at the feet of Mr. Armstrong and listen to what he had to say."37 Later, he said, "I would especially like to bring out those points and principles that I feel Mr. Armstrong was uniquely able to instruct us in."38 In his deposition, Kelly acknowledged that he had learned from Mr. Armstrong, but that today he wouldn't use the word uniquely. "I look at things from a more mature point of view," Kelly said. "I realize Mr. Armstrong had wonderful things to teach. They weren't always unique to him."39
Mr. Kelly then highlighted several of Mr. Armstrong's teachings that he now considers burdensome. Of course, he didn't think that way before embracing Tkachism—and we reminded him of that. "Mr. Armstrong taught me how to love my wife," he said in that 1987 sermon. "I told him so, and I hope it pleased him to realize that what he taught did work."40
Here is how he once described life for his children in the wcg:
My children have been reared all their lives with a knowledge of God's festivals. Now that some are grown, many of their fondest memories are of keeping the holy days. We have saved for trips to England and Australia. By observing the holy days with God's people, we have traveled as a family throughout most of the United States and Canada. … We have grown each year in spiritual understanding and have profited from the education of travel.
No one can ever tell me keeping God's feasts is a yoke of bondage and a burden. 41
Those memories have seemingly faded from view, along with the practical, biblically based way of life Mr. Armstrong taught and recorded in huge stacks of written works.
In March of 2005, someone contacted me anonymously about a bound collection of almost all the wcg's periodical literature, including the Plain Truth, Good News, Tomorrow's World and Youth magazines, between 1934 and 2004. The collection also included a complete set of the 58-lesson Bible correspondence course, produced during the 1960s. The individual wanted $10,000 for all the magazines and another $500 for leather-bound volumes of all Mr. Armstrong's books, including Mystery of the Ages.
My father thought the collection would be a great addition to our college library. So we made a lower offer and ended up settling on $5,000 for everything. We didn't know who to make the check payable to until about a week before we arranged to pick up the materials.
As it turns out, the anonymous seller was the same man who, because of Mr. Armstrong's teachings, learned how to really love his wife.
Ralph Helge
Perhaps the most significant material we uncovered in preparing for Ralph Helge's deposition was the role he played in defending the wcg against the state of California in 1979. As head of the church's legal department, he fought right on the front lines against dissident ministers who wanted to wrest control of the church away from Mr. Armstrong. Speaking before church members inside Ambassador Auditorium on January 13, 1979, Helge asked, "Now what's really behind the scenes of this lawsuit? … I'll tell you what it is. It's a few dissidents that want to take power and change the doctrines of the church of God. They don't like the way it's being run. And they don't like the doctrines."42 That comment could just as easily describe our lawsuit with the Worldwide Church of God 18 years later, except this time the ones who wanted to take over power and change the doctrines were on the inside. And the tragedy is, Ralph Helge had joined the dissidents who wanted to take over and change the doctrines Mr. Armstrong had established.
Helge continued in his 1979 message with another comment that probably tens of thousands today would make about Tkachism: "We've got certain rules and we've got doctrines. If you like them, tremendous. And if you don't, or I don't (I'll point to myself), then I'll go to the church that teaches doctrines I do like. But I don't come in here and try to change the way Mr. Armstrong has set the doctrines"43—which is exactly what the Tkaches did. They didn't like the doctrines, changed them, and then forced everyone out who wouldn't go along.
When we reminded Helge about these statements in his 2002 deposition, he said it was different in 1979 because the dissidents attacked "from the outside."44 But even in that case, those dissidents were originally on the inside before Mr. Armstrong disfellowshiped them for attempting to liberalize church doctrine. In any event, a takeover attempt from the outside is not in any way worse than an inside job, spearheaded by a Judas-like betrayal.
Later in 1979, again while speaking at church services in Pasadena, Helge said, "You talk about contempt. You talk about utter contempt. Here a man [Herbert Armstrong] works all his life in the might and power of God to raise up churches, and here some pip-squeak dissident is going to control Mr. Armstrong and the church."45 Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nineteen years later, Helge testified under oath that Mr. Armstrong was employed by the church, that the board had control over Mr. Armstrong's work, and the authority, if necessary, to fire him.
Helge's Late Career Move
During the deposition, Helge said he had been told by the wcg he would soon retire and be replaced by Bernie Schnippert. It sounded like his final job assignment would be this lawsuit. Mark Helm asked him about the e-publishing project and how that got started. Helge said he got the idea sometime in 2001 while reading a magazine over lunch. "I just started to read it and it just clicked, hey, this is something to investigate."46
In looking at the timeline, however, the decision to e-publish appears to have been much more calculated than Helge indicated. On February 13, 2001, Mark Helm informed wcg attorneys that we intended to amend our counterclaim to allege that it would be futile for us to seek the wcg's permission to reprint Mr. Armstrong's works. We wanted to add this to our brief because the Ninth Circuit, even in ruling against us, did leave the door open slightly for us to possibly rely on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And for rfra to be added to our counterclaim, we had to show how futile it would have been to obtain a license for the works.
On February 16, 2001, Ralph Helge contacted Zondervan Publishing for its evaluation on "the licensing fee or sales price for copyrighted literature owned by the church."47 This means that just three days after we told them about the futility amendment, they started contacting publishers about the procedures and fees for licensing their literature. It was yet another made-for-litigation ploy.
It was later during the summer when they stated in court filings that they would have considered all along to license the works to us. Around this time is when the e-publishing idea "clicked" with Ralph Helge. At the deposition, Mark asked if there was anyone else at the wcg involved in the e-publishing project. "Not to my knowledge," Helge responded.48 Later, after we asked who was in charge of coordinating promotion for the sale of Mr. Armstrong's books over the Internet, Helge answered, "I'm the man."49
So here was an elderly man on the verge of retirement, who had worked in the wcg's legal department for most of his adult life, given charge of the church's new e-publishing "department," established solely in order to undermine our futility claim and to "prove" they had never intended to suppress Mr. Armstrong's works at all.
It's pathetic, I know. But at the same time, it's fascinating history because it shows how much we had acquired in fighting for the truth—even after losing at the Ninth Circuit. As much as they hated the idea, they knew that to prevail on the merits in court, they had to convince a judge that they were still using Mr. Armstrong's material. So they lied about an annotated project and won at the Ninth Circuit. And in order to defeat our counterclaim, their in-house attorney established a new branch in the church's publishing department, even on the eve of his retirement.
These are supposedly religious men—and yet willing to do or say just about anything as long as it helped them win in court.
At the same time, look at what we forced them to do by simply confronting them. At the beginning of the case, remember, Tkach Jr. arrogantly asserted that the reason they filed this suit was to "block the republication of Mystery of the Ages." Their duty as Christians was to keep this book out of print because they believed "Mr. Armstrong's doctrinal errors are better left out of circulation." Two years later, even though it was a lie, they talked about using Mr. Armstrong's material again. Two years after that, they inquired about licensing and followed that up by making Mr. Armstrong's literature available on demand through e-publishing. True, the literature had to be prefaced by Feazell's attack, which we weren't about to accept. But still, they were forced to do things they never would have dreamed of doing at the start, simply because we were willing to fight for Mr. Armstrong's legacy.
My father's faithful determination was beginning to wear them down.
Bernard Schnippert
As the wcg's director of finance and planning, Bernie Schnippert made some interesting comments about the relationship between the church's income and its distribution of literature. With Mr. Armstrong, Schnippert said, distributing free literature was designed to hook people into a well-orchestrated fundraising scheme. "If you're going to move someone to your state of mind, you begin at a place you think will interest them and you take them where you want them to go. … The progression of topics is a type of psychology."50 Later, he said, "Mr. Armstrong's books, when given, tend to create donations. … [W]e discontinued Mystery of the Ages in spite of the fact that we knew it was, to be crass, a moneymaker."51
Quite a difference from the party line in 1989—that they discontinued the book because of its expense.
Schnippert also elaborated on the wcg's new approach under Tkachism—charging subscription fees for church literature instead of distributing it freely. He said, "[W]hen you give free literature and the person is told they must tithe, in the end you've taken more money out of them in some ways less honestly than if you just charged them in the first place."52 Of course, as Schnippert well knows, no one ever forced people to voluntarily give donations to the wcg. But that's certainly the way they love to portray Mr. Armstrong's followers—mindless dupes brainwashed into giving money to—of all things—a church!
Tkachism's approach, of course—even though it triggered a precipitous decline in church membership and donations—is much more honest, in Schnippert's view. They charged people up front for new literature and retired the flawed material so as to "not use it disingenuously" to make money when they "didn't believe it."53 Yet now that they were in the midst of a legal struggle over the "flawed" stuff, they had no problem disingenuously making money off Mr. Armstrong's literature, so long as the e-publishing scheme helped them win the case. Schnippert said they could now justify profiting from Mr. Armstrong's works so long as the writings contained a "disclaimer that plainly tells everyone that we don't agree with it."54 So he not only revealed the rank hypocrisy behind their supposedly courageous move to retire moneymakers in 1989, he admitted that they would not make Mr. Armstrong's writings available without a derogatory preface attached. This was another huge admission for us.
Later, in discussing the preface, Schnippert said they worded it as carefully as possible in order "to be respectful of Mr. Armstrong and anyone who were to read it."55 So Mark went through several statements from the preface, giving Schnippert an opportunity to explain what he meant by "respectful." We asked him if he thought using phrases like "personal bias" and "advertising hook" were complimentary toward Mr. Armstrong. "Do you believe that Mr. Armstrong's views were the result of a personal bias?" Mark asked.56
wcg attorney Miles Feldman objected to the question and asked how Schnippert's personal views were relevant to the case. But they were the ones trying to inject this preface into the litigation, we maintained.
A lengthy exchange then followed with Miles threatening to call the court magistrate to settle the dispute and Mark complaining that Miles was wasting time. "This is a serious matter," Miles said, raising his voice. "And if you're going to accuse me of bad faith, I'm suggesting right now let's get the magistrate on the phone and we'll get to the bottom of this."57
After Miles cooled off, Mark turned to Schnippert:
Suppose that the wcg literature had a preface which said that the doctrines of that church under Joseph Tkach Jr. were biblically unsound, he was an uneducated dictator with crackpot ideas, that his views were of interest only as a historical curiosity. … Do you think that would be an effective marketing tool for your literature?58
Miles went ballistic.
But this was all their doing. They were the ones who introduced the preface and then insisted it be attached to every publication they supposedly offered as a "benefit" to us. They were the ones who made the preface central to the case. So we took them to task on the preface and exposed the fact that they were guilty of the very things they accused Mr. Armstrong of. And when called upon to answer for their self-righteous hypocrisy, they ran for cover like cowards, hiding behind their lawyer's objections: Inappropriate! Argumentative! Irrelevant! Invasion of privacy!
But we weren't about to let them off the hook.
One might think both sides in this battle were being driven further apart in the summer of 2002—hardened by the grueling deposition warfare that took place over the course of two months. And from what we saw on the surface, wcg officials were getting angrier and more defiant by the day.
But on the inside, they were deeply conflicted. They had the copyrights to Mr. Armstrong's literature and they burned with anger at the thought of our little church—their nemesis—obtaining rights to distribute these works, especially after we tried to "steal" them.
On the other hand, they did not want to be exposed.
The wcg's preface turned out to be a tremendous opportunity for us. Our forceful response to it, my father said at the beginning of the summer, was the only way we could win.
And he was right.
Continue Reading: Chapter 23: © Philadelphia Church of God


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The opt-mechanical design of a Spectrally-Continuous Radiometer (SCR) for surface reflectance automation observation was described. Operating in 400~2 400 nm, the SCR can automatically measure the surface reflectance of radiometric calibration site to get continuous and hyperspectral reflectance data. A calibrated white diffused panel was used as the reflectance standard, and the panel was cut into and out of the optical measurement path through a rotatable mechanical arm. An air-cleaning mechanism was designed to keep the panel clean which is very important for the long-term applicability of the SCR in the field. The static analysis was carried out for the rotating arm using the static structural module of ANSYS WORKBENCH, because the roating arm is prone to failure. The results showed that some stress concentrations located at the rotating shaft position, the deformation was larger as farther away from the rotating shaft, and the maximum deformation can caused a inclination within 0.3°. To verify the accuracy and reliability of the SCR, experiment was carried out with SCR and SVC. The results showed that the reflectance measured with two devices had the same trend, the deviation was generally within ±1%, and the maximum deviation was within ±3.5%, which demonstrated that the SCR could achieve highly accurate reflectance data in automation manners and have broad application prospects in field-based automation calibration and high-frequency calibration for satellite-based remote sensors.
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 黎永涛, 宋小锋, 陈建龙, 姚日晖, 文尚胜. 有机电致发光器件的封装热特性研究[J]. 光子学报, 2011, 40(11): 1630-1635.


The Olmar ATM autoclaves are especially designed to cover the needs of the wood industry and develop impregnation and material treatment cycles in order to improve their properties and extend their useful life.
These autoclaves are used to improve the performance of the wood, mainly through impregnation with inorganic salt compounds (mostly copper, chromium and arsenic oxides), organic stabilization substances and other natural impregnation agents. Thanks to the effect of these substances, it is possible to extend the life of wood and improve their performance; this method represents a notable improvement compared to others used in the past (surface treatments, external protection products, water repellents and even fire protection products) that, due to their lower penetration in the product, are no longer used.
The Olmar OCS control system used by Olmar ATM autoclaves allow performing predefined vacuum and pressure cycles, thanks to which it is possible for impregnation agents to reach the core of the material and fully bond with it, achieving an optimal result and offering the best features to the end customer.


A new promotional trailer for the upcoming Wii U exclusive adventure Paper Mario: Color Splash has been released.
The trailer introduces the Rescue V: a team of brightly colored mushroom characters organized to defeat bad guys and rescue good guys ala Super Sentai. These "color defenders" are along to help leading man Mario complete his umpteenth quest. The video includes just a bit of game-play showing some of the ways the Rescue V will assist Mario, as well as a humorous skit featuring the witty sidekicks.
Paper Mario: Color Splash launches on October 7th.


Once the former 'Nue Valbonne' night club, Spice Oven, is now a thriving buffet that is bound to leave diners pleasantly surprised.
When it comes to buffet restaurants flavour can sometimes be lacking, with many owners opting for quantity over quality - but Spice Oven Reading did not fit this mould.
The restaurant in Caversham, Berkshire has an extensive dessert area and plenty of Indian, Oriental, Middle Eastern and European cuisine to choose from.
They even have a pond full of fish - for aesthetic purposes of course, but it's a nice touch to the decor.
Choosing which cuisine to go for can be a challenge but I've found a way round this, try to taste a little of everything.
I admit it won't be an easy challenge but keeping portions small is part of the secret to tasting as much food from across the world as possible without leaving Reading, Berkshire.
Although it is not necessary to split your options into courses it is something I enjoy doing.
There were plenty of salad options ranging from onion mint salad to beetroot and pickled onions, tabouleh as well as cold pasta dishes.
I opted for a mixture of chickpeas, rocket and mozzarella, sweetcorn, gherkins, jalepenos and chopped tomatoes, all of which looked and tasted fresh.
To counteract my salad I chose chips, a mini pizza, satay chicken and poppadoms with mango chutney and onion mint salad.
The chips weren't great, they were rather dry and not as fluffy as chips should be in the middle but everything else on my plate was delicious.
The pizza was doughy with just the right amount of cheese, the chicken was succulent with a bit of crisp on the outside.
Although a big poppadom fan, I would say my favourite part of my self-made starter was the mango pickle chutney, it had the bite and sweetness I love which tied the whole starter together nicely.
Trying a range of dishes but not going overboard is a little difficult, as you can probably tell from my plate.
I decided to try both the plain and the egg fried rice. The egg fried was definitely the better option, it was fluffy and had the perfect consistency.
To go with it I chose the sweet and sour chicken, lamb mint curry, lamb rogan rosh, noodles, Omani samak maqli and another chicken dish, which for the life me, I can't remember the name of.
That was quite fitting, as the unmemorable chicken dish was dry and tasteless.
The lamb mint curry was also sub par, the meat was too chewy and the taste just replicated a jar of mint sauce, so it felt a bit artificial.
Meanwhile the meat in the lamb rogan was soft and almost melted in your mouth.
The noodles weren't jaw-drop worthy but they were soft and cooked well.
The Omani samak maqli, which is the Arabic for Omani fried fish was by far the best part of meal from beginning to end.
The fish was soft, juicy and rich with fresh flavours including tumeric, lemon, mustard plus more and reminded me of home cooking.
I even went back for seconds.
My second plate was a bit of an odd combination.
I went for lamb biryani, salt and pepper chicken wings, chicken peri peri tapas, chicken dim sum (momo), fried fish and an onion bhaji.
Bet you never thought you would see them all on one plate but what else is a world buffet for?
The peri peri tapas was a bit disappointing, the texture was a bit too spongy for my liking.
And while the biryani tasted okay, I have made better versions myself, even though I'm far from a chef.
The dim sum had the usual rubbery texture you expect from the dish, but that's part of the experience and is what gives it its silky delicious taste.
The white meat of the wings was a little on the dry side, as was the bhaji which was a bit flaky.
The fish pieces were cooked perfectly; moist with a tasty batter.
Anyone hell bent on embracing the idea that 'there's always room for dessert' will have plenty to choose from.
There's ice cream, mini eggs, sweets, custard, mousse, jelly fruit, Indian sweets, cake and much, much more on offer.
I wish I'd left more room for dessert because there was a seemingly endless and yummy list of options.
When I finally made my decision, I went with the healthier option of grapes and pineapple before adding profiteroles, a chocolate and walnut brownie, lemon cheesecake and garnishing it with a chocolate wafer roll and a flake.
Despite normally being a big fan of profiteroles, these weren't what I expected, the filling had a marzipan taste that I wasn't a fan of.
The mini brownie and cheesecake were a hit, the cheesecake had a strong lemon taste without being overpowering, and the base had just the right amount of crumble to it.
Spice Oven Reading can be found in Church Street, Caversham.
The buffet option costs £14.75 from Monday to Thursday, £16.75 on Friday and Saturday, £15.75 on Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays.
Children between the age of four and 10 pay half price.
*This is when you can take a picture, add a filter in Instagram, and post to your Twitter or Facebook and get all your mates going "oh, my pasta looks so bloody boring tonight"
What does TripAdvisor say? Ranked number 217 out of 500 restaurants in Reading.
Does it do takeaway? Yes, the restaurant has a takeaway menu that matches its world cuisine status.


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Recruitment representative application
The University of Manitoba welcomes students from around the world to live and learn in Winnipeg, Canada.
Living and learning in Manitoba
The University of Manitoba is the oldest university in Western Canada and one of the country's top research institutions. We have more than 29,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and more than 145,000 alumni living in 140 countries.
Innovative spaces
Historic buildings have defined our campuses for more than a century, while modern facilities enrich learning experiences and provide opportunities for research and discovery.
International community
With international students from over 120 different countries, UM is part Winnipeg's unique and diverse cultural community.
Year-round experiences
Living in Winnipeg provides opportunities to experience Canada's great outdoors with unique activities in all four seasons.
Learning through exploration
Located in the heart of Canada, the province of Manitoba is known for its pristine nature, beautiful landscape, vibrant culture and friendly people.
Pride and passion
Events like UM Bisons games are a fun and exciting way to get involved and feel the energy on campus.
High school student admission requirements
If you are coming to university directly from high school, or have completed less than one year of university studies, you must meet the general entrance requirement based on your country and curriculum of study.
Transfer student admission requirements
If you have completed one or more years of study at another university, you may be eligible to apply to an undergraduate program through the advanced entry route. Eligibility requirements vary by program and can include both academic and non-academic criteria.
Graduate studies admission requirements
If you have already completed an undergraduate degree, you may be eligible to apply to a graduate program at UM. Eligibility requirements vary by program.
English language proficiency requirements
If your primary language is not English or you completed your previous education in a different language, you may need to demonstrate your ability to meet the demands of classroom instruction, written assignments and participation in tutorials and discussions.
Undergraduate English language proficiency requirements
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Which path is right for me?
Whether or not you meet undergraduate or graduate program admission requirements, these programs can help you reach your goals.
I meet the academic and language requirements for undergraduate or graduate studies
UM offers more than 100 academic programs across multiple faculties, schools and colleges. Explore our list of programs and discover the next steps for beginning your application.
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The English Language Centre's (ELC) Intensive Academic English Program (IAEP) prepares you for university studies by providing you with the language skills necessary to succeed academically. If you are conditionally accepted to the University, you will be able to move directly into your undergraduate program without submitting a new application after completing the ELC's Level 5 program.
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The International College of Manitoba (ICM) offers programs designed to prepare you for university-level studies. Upon successful completion of ICM studies, students can transfer directly into the second year of an undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba.
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UM Extended Education offers one-year programs in business analysis, business management, human resources management and English designed to prepare you for life and work in Manitoba, Canada and North America.
Opportunities and supports
Our buildings are equipped with furnished rooms, free high-speed Internet, study spaces, lounges and laundry facilities. Be sure to apply early as residence rooms fill up quickly.
Living with a Canadian host family is a great way to practice English and learn more about Canadian culture.
The International Centre provides support services before and after you arrive in Canada.
Undergraduate funding and awards
We offer entrance scholarships, awards and bursaries to reward or assist international students at the undergraduate level.
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Financial support is available through the University and external funders to support your education and research.
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To study and stay in Canada, you will need a study permit and/or visa, issued by the Government of Canada. Learn more about your responsibility to ensure you are legally allowed to study and stay in Canada.
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Montana contains six schools that offer safety programs. Montana State University-Billings, the highest-ranking safety school in MT,	has a total student population of 3,635 and is the 3676th	highest ranked school in America.
Of the 6 safety schools in Montana, none have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, University of Great Falls comes out as the most expensive ($21,657/yr), with Flathead Valley Community College as the lowest recorded at only $8,297/yr.
Safety students from Montana schools who go on to become safety specialists, safety control managers, health safety specialists, occupational safety specialists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 51,850 people working as occupational health and safety specialists alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $64,200. Also, Environmental scientists and specialists, including health make on average $67,360	per year and there are about 83,530	of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Montana alone, there are 450 employed environmental scientists and specialists, including health earning an average yearly salary of $55,840. Occupational health and safety specialists in this state earn $56,760/yr and there are 270 employed.
Also, within the safety schools in Montana, the average student population is 1,791	and average student-to-faculty ratio is 14 to 1. Aside from safety, there are 1015 total degree (or certificate) programs in the state, with 1,803	people on average applying for a school. Undergraduate tuition costs are normally around $4,505, but can vary widely depending on the type of school.


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'Hug glove' gives Canada family bit of normalcy in pandemic
TORONTO, CANADA (AFP) – A Canadian woman has come up with an ingenious way to safely hug her mother, even during the coronavirus pandemic: the "hug glove", a plastic tarp with four sleeves hanging from a clothesline.
In the southern Ontario city of Guelph, Carolyn Ellis and her husband Andrew developed the so-called "hug glove" on the eve of Mother's Day, which this year was celebrated on May 10 in North America.
It "occurred to me that she wasn't getting the hugs, and we really needed to do something about that," Carolyn told AFP. "I want to give it for Mother's Day."
They taped plastic sleeves to a large tarp, allowing two people to hug each other without making direct contact. "It was very much a time effort, trying to figure out the size and the height of the holes," Ellis said. "We worked on it until late hours of Saturday night, and then we had everything set up for Mother's Day last Sunday."
A video they recorded of the moment they embraced was shared on social media and quickly went viral. But Ellis said she was surprised by how fast it took off. "I just wanted to hug my mom," she said. "We were quite shocked on how quickly it went viral, but thrilled that other people are benefiting from our hug. We loved it."
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Working in medical sales is similar to any sales job. It involves explaining the benefits of a range of products or services to professionals within the healthcare industry with the aim of having them purchase these goods or services. Some people working within medical sales work exclusively on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. People working in this area of medical sales will be responsible for selling new medicinal products to healthcare providers. This involves having an in-depth knowledge of the product and meeting with healthcare providers such as doctors and hospital purchasing departments to secure orders.
Another aspect of medical sales is working on behalf of the healthcare technology sector. This involves selling the technical side of healthcare equipment such as screening machines which utilize the latest technology.
Having a degree in a subject related to medicine or pharmacy is a clear advantage in this role. A background including proven experience as a successful sales person is also highly desirable. Most companies will train new recruits in an intensive training program to bring them up to speed with the specific demands of the medical sales industry.
Getting a job in the world of medical sales involves displaying the right mix of academic ability relating to the world of medicine and the natural instinct to make and close sales appointments successfully. Candidates will need to be self-motivated, energetic, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic with the ability to talk to clients, make appointments, and travel extensively. Getting a job in medical sales is perhaps not as difficult as keeping the job! In order to stay employed within this industry it is essential to meet sales targets.
The job outlook within the world of medical sales is good. The healthcare industry is predicted to expand over the coming years due to federal healthcare laws and the aging population which is also expanding in number. Starting out in medical sales is a good first step in what can be a long and productive industry career.
There is a definite opportunity for progression within the field. New entrants into the medical sales industry will often start out as a basic sales representative with a clear set of targets to meet. Candidates who show ability to exceed sales targets consistently are likely to be promoted to a supervisory or team leader capacity. This will involve overseeing the activities of a team of sales reps within a certain local area. Promotion from this stage is similar to a pyramid structure, with each promotion involving overseeing an increasingly larger team at the area, regional, and eventually national levels.
Working in medical sales involves a lot of time out on the road for sales appointments and meeting with clients. Anyone aspiring to get a position within the world of medical sales will need to be comfortable with extensive periods of travel which often involve being away from home. Medical sales is often a week job with weekends free but some appointments will need to be made for the weekend or evening if it is the only time that potential buyers are willing to meet. The job is quite pressured as a failure to meet sales targets can involve eventual dismissal.
The majority of medical sales staff will make most of their money through sales commissions and bonuses for meeting or exceeding targets. The basic salary for new sales staff is often around the $20,000 mark but this can be doubled or tripled through successful selling.


Kimberly Ramsawak's mission is to help adventurous professional women travel the world more, get paid for it, and have the global lifestyle they've always dreamed of, without sacrificing their financial security. She has been able to get paid to travel to 80 cities across 5 continents, doing work she loved and she is teaching others how to do the same. Kimberly's work has been featured on Fast Company, MindBodyGreen, SUCCESS, Monster, NY Travel Fest, and others!
In this episode, we dive into Kimberly's story of how she found this unconventional career path by following her dreams, how she got landed a high profile job in the industry with very little experience, and her advice on how to undertake a personal and business brand reinvention.


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Dorilton Capital MEI Rigging and Crating
MEI Rigging & Crating Expands into Northern Virginia & Bolsters Data Center Capabilities with Acquisition of A&A Transfer
MEI Rigging & Crating, LLC ("MEI"), a leading provider of rigging, machinery, moving, millwrighting, mechanical installation, industrial storage, crating, and export packing services, announced that it has acquired A&A Transfer ("A&A") based in Chantilly, VA from Harren Equity Partners ("Harren").
A&A Transfer is the premier industrial rigging, storage, and hauling company in the Mid-Atlantic region serving Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland. Founded in 1965, A&A has built a reputation for quality and service by continuously designing innovative, custom solutions using cutting-edge technology and equipment to meet the unique needs of each customer and individual project.
The acquisition announcement was made by Dan Cappello, CEO of MEI: "We are thrilled to welcome A&A's employees and customers to the MEI family. A&A Transfer is the industry standard for data center services, and this partnership further strengthens our position as the nation's leading provider of machinery moving services. This is an enormous accomplishment, and we could not be more excited to bring together these two excellent organizations."
The dynamic partnership expands MEI's footprint into Northern Virginia, the nation's largest data center market. MEI currently serves customers in Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.
"We are proud to combine our company's abilities and experience with MEI and are excited to work alongside the MEI team to deliver our standard of excellence on a national scale. In MEI, A&A has found a long-term partner who is committed to investing in the business to expand resources and capabilities that will ultimately create new opportunities for customers and employees," commented Maroon Ohanian, CEO of A&A Transfer.
Houlihan Lokey served as sell-side advisor and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to A&A. Jones Day served as legal counsel to MEI.


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How one text message changed a 'billion dollar' footballer for the worse ... and the better
3yTom Hamilton
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Tom HamiltonSenior Writer
• Joined ESPN in 2011
• Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
• Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018
Once tipped as football's first potential billion-dollar player, Vincent Pericard's life took an unexpected turn. University of Portsmouth
This piece has been republished to mark World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10.
One well-intentioned text message changed Vincent Pericard's life, inadvertently triggering a sequence of events that led to a series of self-destructive actions and thoughts.
In the space of four years, the footballer went from training with Zinedine Zidane and playing against Thierry Henry to sitting in his apartment looking at a bottle of pills, wondering if anyone would care if he ever woke up.
Football had eaten him up and spit him out. A dismal run of injuries married with self-doubt turned him from a man once billed as football's first potential billion-dollar player, with Edgar Davids as his mentor, to someone struggling in the lower leagues of English football with mounting debt and self-destructive tendencies.
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We talked over the course of 18 months, and now Pericard wants you to learn from his cautionary tale.
"I want my story to mean that having potential, having the talent is not a given," Pericard told ESPN. "It can be taken away just as quickly because of mental health. Players should look beyond their physical capabilities as their mental health is equally as important.
"I am the prime example of how that can go wrong if you don't look after your mental health."
Vincent Pericard was denied the chance to shine at Italian giants Juventus because of a text message. Neal Simpson/PA Images via Getty Images
Pericard made his debut for Juventus in 2002 against Arsenal; it was a much-hyped unveiling of a player who'd already had a documentary made about him called "The Man Who Will Be Worth Billions."
He was 18 years old at the time; a rangy striker with blistering pace who had caught the eye of Juventus manager Marcello Lippi, who signed him from Saint-Etienne. When he joined he couldn't speak Italian -- it was all very new. But he adjusted. He was young and impressionable back then; it was all part of living the dream.
"One of my fondest memories was of my first training session," Pericard recalled. "We played five-a-side and Zidane drilled past me like he could fly. I didn't realise what had hit me."
Davids, the legendary Dutch midfielder, exchanged numbers with him, telling him to get in contact if he needed anything. He remembers sharing jokes with Gianluigi Buffon. It was his new normal.
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He was in his second year at the Serie A giants when he made his debut for the first team, having already scorched through reserve football, finishing top scorer twice in as many seasons. That debut appearance came as a substitute against Arsenal in the Champions League in March 2002. He was up against Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. He remembers flooring Vieira early on, and getting a mouthful back, and how he kept his shirt at the end of the match. It was to be the first of many on his journey at the highest level.
Then came the text message that kick-started the self-destructive spiral.
He and two friends at Juventus decided to head out for a drink. They invited their Italian teacher to join. Pericard sent her the message. It was innocent, void of any agenda. Five minutes later, Pericard's phone rang with a call from one of Juventus' directors, demanding to know why they had invited his girlfriend out for drinks.
Soon after, all three players had been sent out on loan, with Pericard landing at Portsmouth, then in the second tier of English football.
It was another move to a new, foreign country and the transition brought anxiety. But he hit the ground running, slotted straight into the side and helped them to promotion. Despite Juventus wanting him to return, he signed a three-year deal with Portsmouth, having learnt to love life on the south coast of England and the club's ascendancy to the Premier League.
Then the injuries started.
He suffered four quadriceps tears, and tore his ACL. "When I tore it [the quad] the first time, it was a case of, 'OK, that's happened, now to recover'," Pericard said. "But then a week after, it broke down again and happened three times in a row, and that was when I started getting frustrated and started losing faith in my body. I couldn't keep up. That was when people started losing faith in me, and my family was getting worried, and it made me question what was going on. It triggered a vicious cycle."
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He joined Stoke in 2006 but struggled to adapt to their long-ball football. Fans and journalists criticised him and it got to him. He started to make poor life choices; he drank too much and womanised. Then came a spell in jail in August 2007 for perverting the course of justice -- after Pericard was caught speeding, his father-in-law originally took the blame, but then confessed he wasn't in the car, and Pericard was sent to prison for four months.
Those closest to him, such as Stoke teammate Mamady Sidibe, could see something wasn't quite right with Pericard, but put it down to poor luck with injuries.
"The problem with Vincent was I didn't know he was depressed until he retired," Sidibe told ESPN. "That's when I found out. Things were not going well for him. He had a lot of injuries and he was not playing as much as he wanted.
"I knew he wasn't happy. I never thought it was struggling with depression, though."
All the while, Pericard went through daily turmoil just to get him through the training-ground gates.
"I couldn't seem to find a way out," Pericard said. "You start feeling worthless, you start feeling like you're not useful to anyone, to my family, to my clubs, so why do I even bother today? Why do you bother going to training? So, you call in sick and stay at home. And after a while you start thinking, why do I even bother living, as I'm not bringing anything. Those thoughts crossed my mind and I realised things were serious.
"I shouldn't be having thoughts like that; I shouldn't be having suicidal thoughts.
"That's what really gave me a big kick to seek solutions. That was not me. I believe in resilience, but the fact I was thinking that meant I needed help.
"I could no longer do it by myself."
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Stoke City had appointed a sports psychologist, one of the first English clubs to do so. Pericard began to sort out his mind, but his body still let him down. Having lost form and stamina, he was released by Stoke in the summer of 2009, signed a short-term deal with Carlisle United, then went to Swindon and lived a nomadic existence until he eventually retired in February 2012.
"For a player to give up something they loved was hard," Pericard said. "But it was time to do something else. As soon as I admitted that to myself, I felt the most amazing relief.
"All the pressure and expectation went away. But that said, I had to figure out a transition. It took two years to figure it out."
We first met in person back in January 2019. Back then, before everything had to be done remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, Pericard was midway through his graduate training program at BT. He had a team; it was evident how happy he was as he bounded down the stairs at his Central London office, a few grey specks in the stubble, with this welcoming grin. He was comfortable in his own skin.
By this time, he had already tried his hand at running his own business. First he started a company called Elite Wealth Management, looking to help foreign players settle in the U.K. It had early interest from Premier League clubs, but by his own admission, it was too ambitious, and rather than letting it run away from him, he decided to park the business and headed to university.
A degree and a master's later, and Elite Wealth Management morphed into an app called WhatsUp?. It is a mobile app geared around mental health awareness, where users remain anonymous but are connected with councillors. Every day they register how they're feeling. It has 1,000 users at Portsmouth University, and the company is looking at expanding into other sectors.
"Without going into too many details, we have had several cases where it has helped students stop taking drastic action like committing suicide," Pericard said. "The app came about from my experience in football. It was a pressured environment with short-term contracts and it's impossible to share how you are feeling.
"You can't just say, 'Gaffer, I'm not OK today,' because the minute you do that, you become perceived as a liability by your teammates, manager and chairman. This has massive implications, [either] financial, or [in terms of] contract extension."
The app takes away the pressure of dialling a number and verbally talking through how you are feeling; sometimes a cry for help is easiest by typing a few words.
Vincent Pericard believes that football should be doing much more for players to open up about their mental health issues. David Ashdown/Getty Images
He is agitated about where he feels football is still falling short on mental health. He admires the work the Professional Footballers' Association is doing with its 24-hour telephone counselling service and the National Counsellor Network featuring over 100 experts, but still wants a stakeholder to grab hold of the issue and bring in processes and pathways. Pericard takes heart from players such as Danny Rose and his former Juventus teammate Buffon, who have spoken about their mental health, and said he is pleased with the various initiatives popping up around football, but is concerned there will still be others who are keeping quiet.
He encourages anyone and everyone to talk about their feelings and be honest about their mental health. "I'm trying to use my past to convey a positive message -- education, mental health and business," Pericard said. He feels that if he had had the support that is available now, his career would have finished in a more complete way, with his potential, ideally, fulfilled.
We contacted Lippi, who gave Pericard his Champions League debut back in 2002. He sent this message back: "Any player who joins Juventus has moral and technical virtues of the highest level. Then, if it doesn't work out, that can depend on many things. I remember Pericard well but I haven't followed him closely since. I hope he has resolved his issues and I send him well wishes from the bottom of my heart." Pericard laughed, a little embarrassed by Lippi's words. "That's so kind," he said.
He paused, as if to close that chapter. "That feels like another lifetime," he added. "I should embrace my football career, even though it didn't go the way I wanted it to." He then smiled and finished our Zoom interview, as he had a client to talk to.
He will graduate from the trainee program in September, and memories flash back to when he stood in awe as Zidane flew past him.
"I feel like that young guy with a lot of talent, mixing with the best players in the world, as I work with the best companies in the world," Pericard said. "I have that aspiration to reach the top and I think I'm more satisfied now."
Additional reporting by Andrew Cesare Richardson.


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