Sometimes I hole myself up. Withdrawing and hiding from those who might hurt me or might not "get" me comes all too easily. In fact, without even knowing it, I can immerse myself in activities, ministries, and to-do lists so that I never have to get past the surface. Because busyness can be a hiding place, too.
Chances are you, too, find that hiding is easy – especially when circumstances threaten to swallow you whole.
That's one reason I love the Bible so much. Because no other book is more honest about the fears and failings of its heroes and heroines. David knew about hiding.
In fact, when he penned this song, the soon-to-be anointed king had holed himself up in a cave. He was hiding from Saul who was pursuing him with the intent to kill. David was running for his life and sought refuge in the safest place he could find.
"Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
But this song gives us a peek into the heart of its author who was, at the time, probably fearful, exhausted, and a little emotional. Yet, David knew his refuge was more than adequate; his true refuge was in the arms (wings) of the Almighty.
I'm sure when David penned this song he called to mind the grand story of the steadfast heart of his great grandfather, Boaz, who granted a foreign widow refuge under his wings (Ruth 2:12). And like his great grandfather, David's faith in God as his refuge was well founded. Because of the security of his Refuge, David's heart was steadfast.
What does a steadfast heart look like?
Begs for God's mercy (57:1a).
Rests in God's shadow (57:1b).
Believes God is powerfully at work (57:2). Incidentally, the name 'God Most High' only appears here and in Ps. 56. Usually we see Jehovah Elyon or El Elyon, but here it appears as Elohim Elyon, which scholar John Phillips translates as the Creator Most High. The title refers to God as the "supreme ruler or final authority." We can have a steadfast heart because of the universal sovereignty of our God.
Believes God will finish his work (57:3a).
Knows justice will be established (57:3b, 6).
Interprets suffering in light of God's glory (57:4-6).
Looks to the future (dawn) with hope and gratitude (57:8).
Yearns to make God's glory and mercy known (57:9-11).
A steadfast heart is a joyful heart, resolutely trusting in God to move on their behalf despite circumstances, obstacles, or appearances.
A steadfast heart is a fixed heart, unswayed by circumstances or people. No matter what bumps against you or rattles your chain, you will not be moved or swayed off course. That's because when you tether yourself to the immovable, unchanging God, you secure yourself to the One who is himself steadfast (Ps. 61:4; 63:7; 91:4). And when suffering comes, you can face it with a steadfast heart informed by eternal eyes.
Dear Heavenly Father, I believe your Word when it says you are at work in my life. Even when it seems you aren't, I will choose to rest in you under the shadow of your wings. Please help me have a steadfast heart that is capable of trusting, resting, believing, rejoicing, and hoping in you and the salvation you have already given me. Because you've already done a great work in my life, I know you will be faithful to finish what you've started. I need a steadfast heart that waits expectantly for you with the dawn. I love you, Amen.
 John Phillips, Exploring the Psalms, 453.
Photograph: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images. Original Source here.
It's not often you get to see a the crowning of a queen.
Last week, Nina Davuluri, 24, from Syracuse, broke into tears when she was crowned the first Miss America of Indian descent. Born and raised in New York, this beauty queen is just as American as any of us, considering every American alive today enjoys their citizenship because either their family immigrated here or they chose to renounce the citizenship of their birthplace in lieu of a new homeland.
But the hub-bub surrounding Miss Davuluri reveals how the ugliness of forgetfulness can impact any American – believer or not. After all, we are all immigrants. We all have histories. We all have heritages. Online, Miss Davuluri was called Arab (she's Indian), terrorist (she's a student), and Muslim (she's Hindu).
But the racism underlying those sentiments goes much deeper than unchecked national pride.
Racism denigrates the God who created us all in his image.
National pride taken to a sinful extreme establishes it own authority. It's the same sinful extremism that led Hitler on an obsession to "purify" the human race. Blonde-hair and blue-eyes became the physical indicator of social superiority, and today the world still wears the scars of the Nazi regime, demonstrating the practical end of theoretical racism.
But when God created the human race, he created us with shades and variations. It is exactly this variation that brings him the most glory. The immensity and majesty of God cannot be reduced to singularity of shade, just as his image within us should not be. We are all equal image-bearers of our Creator.
When we set up one race or culture over another, we are guilty of denigrating the God who created us all in his image.
And when we say we only want our kingdom to look like us, we are guilty of denigrating the kingdom into which God invites us.
Racism denigrates God's kingdom in which we all entered as immigrants.
A few years ago, I watched my friend, who was born and raised in India, face an American flag, cover her heart, and pledge her allegiance to the United States of America. A few days ago, I talked to her on the phone after she recently filed paperwork to renounce her Indian citizenship. Dual citizenship is a tricky thing. While some countries allow it (including the U.S.), India does not. Neither does God.
Paul says we were once children of wrath, belonging to a kingdom of sin. But in his great mercy, the King adopted us into his royal family and made us co-heirs over his kingdom with his Son (Eph. 2:1-2). When we cling to our old nature and old ways, we are desperately trying to maintain citizenship in two separate kingdoms. God doesn't allow this, because as our corrupt hearts prove, we cannot successfully serve two masters without forsaking one.
This truth catapults the controversy surrounding the crowning of the new Miss America beyond the repugnant claims of racism and into the realm of rebellion. Racism says part of God's creation is faulty; rebellion against the throne says God's purposes in building his kingdom are faulty, and he no longer deserves to be King.
But Ps. 87 tells us God has majestic plans to beautify his kingdom. It says Zion is a place made lovely by the people who dwell there – the King and residents from all tongues and tribes.
"This one was born there." Selah (Ps. 87:4-6).
None of us deserves our spiritual citizenship. We were not "born" there; we are born of a different kingdom. But, God writes our heavenly citizenship in the Book of Life with his very hand. Even though we've been born in the kingdom of wrath, he views us as if we were "born" in Zion, the kingdom of righteousness. To accuse the validity of an individual's citizenship in heaven is to accuse the qualifications of the One who wrote their name there.
I realize our American citizenship cannot be compared to our citizenship in the Kingdom to come; they are of two different worlds. But I truly believe the hateful words used in this controversy go beyond ignorance, and even hate, although those things are certainly present in the ugliest of forms.
The controversy surrounding Miss Davuluri goes all the way to the gates of heaven, where God in his great mercy gives citizenship to all those who are risen with Christ. And while there will be individuals left out of the kingdom of God, it won't be because of skin color, family history, or earthly heritage. All those who are adopted by the King will be called his sons and daughters (2 Cor. 6:18). If we do not accept others of different descent into our social fabric, we are not reflecting the same grace shown to us by the "Most High Himself" who granted us citizenship into his kingdom as foreigners. This is the ugly side of forgetfulness.
And knowing that the way we live our lives on earth points to our heavenly citizenship, women everywhere should be affronted by the attack on this woman. A Daughter of the King is known not by the crown she wears, but the message she bears.
Do our actions reveal a heart courting dual citizenship? Or do they speak of the grace of our King who welcomed us as foreigners into his kingdom?
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Betrayal by a friend can do more damage than an entire battle.
No one knew the sting of betrayal better than David.
In Psalm 55, David finds his heart opened up and war torn by a close friend. Caught unaware, David's thoughts and conversations are consumed by what has happened.
Chances are, you can relate. When we're let down by others, it's all too easy to spend our nights analyzing words and actions, tossing and turning instead of resting in the One who knows the ripe pain of betrayal.
But unlike so many of us, David doesn't lose hours of sleep rehashing the event in his mind or getting a "second opinion" from friends. Rather, he places the situation squarely in the hands of his God.
Internally, the betrayal was tearing David up. He could see the wickedness around him and was prepared to face it. He was not, however, prepared to see a good friend classified as one of his enemies.
Who is David's betrayer in Ps. 55? Some believe David is referring to his son, Absalom, who rebelled against his father in grievous ways. But scholar John Phillips believes the pain David felt in this psalm came as the result of a double blow. David was betrayed by his own son and his good friend and advisor, Ahithophel. As a personal advisor to the throne, Ahithophel would have walked with King David in the temple courts and would have been privy to many of the throne's secrets.
In the end, Ahithophel gave counsel to Absalom and aided in the insurrection against David's throne. He was the one who counseled Absalom to steal David's wives in order to make permanent the damage to the King's throne (2 Sam 16-17).
The thought off such a calculated betrayal pains David greatly and informs the angry prayer we see in this song.
God does not expect us to suppress emotions when others sin against us. There is real injustice in the world, and it brings very real pain.
But too often, we give vent to our emotions in sinful ways. We disguise excuses to gossip as prayer requests. We manipulate the feelings of those around us to garner compassion or pity. We dwell on and nurse sins committed against us in order to assuage our own righteousness or pride.
Betrayal is not pretty – for the betrayer or for the betrayed. But when David vents about his circumstances, he takes his emotions to the One who rights all wrongs.
So upset is David by his betrayal, that he first expresses a desire to flee. But running from a situation (or holing ourselves up on our sofas) doesn't bring reconciliation.
In the end, David acts by asking God to restore order to his city. He asks God to "divide their tongues" (vs. 9).
The historical account is recorded in 2 Sam. 15 when David's friend, Hushai, came to visit him in the wilderness. David sent Hushai back to the rebellion with false counsel tasking him to serve as the "divided tongue" God used to ensure their downfall and David's victory.
God brought victory to David.
We've all had a friend we thought had our best interests at heart only to be surprised they had "war in their hearts" instead (vs. 21). These people trick us with their smooth talk and compliments, then use their words to wound.
Whether it's the friend who speaks ill of you to set themselves up as funny.
Whether it's the coworker that throws you under the bus to get the big promotion.
Whether it's the family member who practices deceit to gain an audience.
Whether it's the church friend who undercuts your acts of service in order to curry favor.
These individuals are indeed at war. They are at war with a holy God, rebelling against the hard edges of his Word that calls all people to faith and repentance, humility and service, love and sacrifice.
In the end, David acknowledges it will not go well with the betrayers – not because believers can use God as a weapon of retribution, but because God is at work in the world to make all things right.
And he will not "permit the righteous to be moved." As we've seen in this song, believers will encounter difficulty sure enough. Betrayal is all too common. But Scripture is clear that the battle of redemption has already been won. God does not permit the permanent undoing of those who trust in him (Ps. 55:22-23).
In the end, as John Phillips says, "the only thing to do us to fling ourselves into the arms of God, as David did at the close of this psalm." (Phillips 436).
God responds to a repentant heart out of his character.
Being merciful, he blots out our transgressions instead of visiting us with his wrath (Ps. 51:2).
Being gracious in his love, he washes us of our dirtiness when he didn't have to, becoming dirty himself.
Being compassionate toward his creation, he desired to see us walking how he designed us rather than continuing to stumble around on the path of our choosing.
David knew this. And to show how God responds to a repentant heart, David penned Ps. 52 after the prophet Nathan confronted him concerning his adulterous and murderous affair with the wife of his captain of the guard (2 Sam. 11-12).
We all know her name. She's famous. Bathsheba.
And we all know how one act, one failure, could crush a king.
David acknowledged his need of Divine help to battle his sin (51:3-4). David knew first-hand sin was much more than simply wrong words and actions, but who he was as a person. He was a sinner because he had sinned, but he was also a sinner because it was in his very nature to do so.
In Ps. 51, God's character as holy and loving stands against David's character as sinful and selfish.
Where God is merciful, man is filled with revenge.
Where God is gracious, man is petty.
Where God is compassionate, man is self-centered and hard.
Repentance is an act of worship.
It was by no accident that Jesus told the woman at the well that worship occurs in spirit and truth (John 4). In Ps. 51, we see God's Spirit playing a vital role is prepping us for worship. For his people who were trapped in the externals of tradition and ceremony, God desired more – a better reflection of his character.
Ultimately, God keeps his promises to his people (to give them a place to dwell with him) (Ps. 51:18-19). He restores our relationship with him. And when God responds to our sin, he does more than forgive our mess-ups or wipe our slates clean. God responds to our sin by restoring our ability to worship him.
Dear Lord, I cannot fully grasp my sin. I know I need help. My mistakes and poor choices seem irreparable. But you are bigger than my sins. You see beyond what I say, think, feel, and do. You see the person you created me to be – a worshiper clothed in righteousness. Please help me worship you. Forgive me of my rebellion & selfishness. Clean me and restore me. In your Son's holy name, Amen.
This year, I'm walking through the Psalms for my daily quiet time. Check out the full listing of my devotionals so far! And be sure to subscribe to get all the info on the upcoming launch of my eBook, Daughters of the King: Finding Your Place in the Biblical Story.
We don't have cable, but on a recent trip we enjoyed the luxury of plopping down on a family member's couch and willing the remote to flip through all our favorite TV channels.
While exploring what we've been missing since making the choice to cut out television, we landed on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing – a reality show following the manic schedule of New York real estate brokers, their flamboyant clients, and their jaw-dropping listings.
And while we were mesmerized by the luxurious homes they were pushing (radically different from my own), the show was made even juicier by the cast's cutthroat maneuvering and worldly outlooks. Prestige was the end game. And where you lived and how much your home cost said more about you than the state of your relationships and personal integrity.
But as much as I hate to say it, the Million Dollar Listing didn't start with the Bravo network.
Ps. 49 tells us about wealthy men who take mistaken pride in their homes and dwelling places long before the birth of pent houses and high-rise apartment living. And Ps. 49 tells us their greatest mistake, too: the belief that their homes and land would last forever (vs 11-12).
Why? Because all people – no matter our belongings, prestige, or power on earth – face a universal end in the grave.
Our wise hope, then, is not in what we own, but in who owns us.
As I became mesmerized by the glitz and glamour of the Million Dollar Listing (oh, the heels, alfresco cafes, and indoor pools!) i found myself in a difficult spot. My cozy seat on the couch turned into a sort of throne, and I began to size up the hearts and deeds of those on the show.
And while there is much about this show that is rightly judged as foolish, simply because wealth is not eternal does mean it is evil.
Vs. 20 says: "A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish." Vs 20 uses a play on words to illustrate the futile nature of placing too great a significance on temporal qualities and objects. The psalmist uses the word 'adam for man and its derivative damah for perish, giving the sense that just as man is made from dust he will one day return to that from which he was made.
The foolishness of man is not simply placing greater significance on things than we should, but in considering ourselves greater than we truly are.
Our lives have value not because of what we've done or how we look, but because we belong to the Christ – who eternally takes us to himself.
Dear Jesus, help me remember that my identity in Christ Jesus – who paid the ransom for my soul – is the greatest indicator of my personal worth. Too often I get caught up in other earthy indicators that have no lasting value. Help me remember those things don't last. Help me find eternal eyes through which to view myself and others. Thank you for your insanely personal touch in my life. You reached down and redeemed me. You laid hold of me and brought me back to you. Your life gives mine its value. I love you, Jesus. In your holy name, Amen.
Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72 (Downer Grove: IVP Academic, 1973), 202.
The safest place you can be is in the very presence of God.
This truth is evident throughout the Old Testament as God promised to give his children a place to dwell with him as long as they listened and obeyed him.
The Sons of Korah pick up this theme in Ps. 48, giving the reader a breathtaking view of a city made strong by its Creator.
But this city – which was intended to be a blessing to other nations looking in – confused their object of hope (48:4-7).
You can imagine their confusion when their beloved city that was promised to stand forever – did not (48:8).
So why is this psalm included in the Psalter if its words did not ring true for God's people?
This psalm speaks to the renewed nature of hope that Israel placed in God for a future restoration. In short, they hoped the words of this psalm would ring true once again.
God's hesed (lovingkindness) toward his people was the basis of their trust; they trusted him for forgiveness, grace, and mercy. When we trust in what God does, we acknowledge his lovingkindness toward us.
They "thought on his hesed" in his temple – meaning they followed his prescribed method for worship. They wanted him to know they were following him and obeying his Word – strong sentiments considering there was no temple after their immediate return from exile.
God's name is holy, and a holy God does holy things – like remember his promises. God's holiness was key to the Israelites because he promised to make them holy like him. God gave his people his Law to show them what holiness looked like and how badly they needed it.
But here, we see a glimmer of hope bursting through for a righteousness to come. When we trust in who God is, we acknowledge his is righteous. And the God who loves his people has righteous Hands. This is cause for celebration because he upholds his people in his very own holiness.
Because of God's hesed and holy righteousness, God's people can trust that one day he will return to his city.
Throughout this song, the city is referred to as Zion – an eschatological (end times) hope in the eternal city in which God will dwell with his people forever. Old Testament theology makes much of Zion, and rightly so, because upon this "place" dwells the hope of many of God's promises – safety, justice, peace, restoration, and more.
It why the Psalmist ends his song by urging God's people to count the city towers as if they already existed (Ps. 48:12-14).
These writers had forward looking eyes. Instead of rabble, they saw rising towers. Instead of burning piles they saw bulwarks. Instead of smoldering ashes they saw palaces of grandeur.
It was this hopeful eyesight that God intended for them to pass along to their children – a hope that rested not in the blessings of the city (happiness, prosperity, safety in vs. 1-3), but in the One that brought those blessings with his presence.
It's easier than you think to confuse the blessings of dwelling with God, with the gift of his very presence.
As hope-filled believers, we know that God's presence often comes hand-in-hand with difficult and painful times. But in the midst of suffering is the hope of God's sustaining presence. It is enough for today and for tomorrow.
Dear God, please give me forward-looking eyes. Help me see rising towers instead of rabble. Help me see bulwarks in place of burning piles. In order to pass forward-looking eyes to my kids – I must first have the kind of eyes that behold the surety of your promises over poor circumstances. The kind of eyes that see who you are and what you do in the midst of a bleak skyline. Help us choose to hope and praise on days when disaster screams for us to hate, rail, and wail against your name. Be our guide. Dwell with us. In Jesus Name, Amen.
 Dorothy Patterson, ed. The Woman's Study Bible, 1st ed. (Nashville; Thomas Nelson Publishers), 909.
Twelve years ago I walked down a carpeted aisle that seemed to stretch into eternity. I walked toward a man to which God had matched me. The chapel was beautiful and bright; and the day even more so.
But when my husband and I celebrated our anniversary last week, we didn't spend any length of time reminiscing over the actual wedding day, my white dress, or even the delectable chocolate groom's cake made by a friend.
Instead, we talked about the future – what it held, how we were going to attack certain problems, and where we wanted to "go" as a family.
In Psalm 45, another match has been made. Ps. 45 is the song of a national wedding telling the story of a match made between a King and a royal daughter. But this bride and groom are of more importance than a politic union; they are a match made in heaven (literally).
Listen to how this song describes the groom, and then tell me who you think it is. (Be sure to check out the extra textual goodies in the footnotes).
So, who's the groom? Depending on how you approach the text, you could come up with a couple of possibilities.
Is the groom David or one of his kingly descendants? Very possibly.
Or is the author writing about a future coming King who will sit on an eternal throne and usher in permanent peace? Yeah, this option sounds good too! Especially when he's described as eternal and divine in verse 6.
So, which is it? Is the groom a Davidic king or the Messianic King?
In their book Jesus the Messiah, several Old Testament scholars believe that the mention of David's "future heirs" make it clear that the groom isn't exclusively Messianic.
Instead, the authors believe Ps. 45 initially referred to an historical Davidic king but also provided "the foundation for a later robust messianic hope." They believe this song was used to celebrate royal marriages in general.
The Groom of Ps. 45, they believe, is an ideal man and an ideal king.
But, I can't help but wonder in what sense is a historical Davidic king called God? (Check out vs. 6b). Even the Jesus the Messiah authors must finally concede that "taken in its most robust literal sense, the words of the psalmist do in fact address the ultimate Davidic king as God" (85).
And we know the only Davidic King worthy of such a title is the Messiah. The Groom is the Messianic King.
The bride, like any other bride on the dawn of her union, is given wise counsel to help her keep her vows. Here's what the bride is urged to do on this bright and beautiful day.
She's told to prize her Groom above all else and everyone else (vs. 10). And she's told to worship the King (literally 'bow to') (vs. 11).
I love how Old Testament heavyweight Derek Kidner describes this verse. He writes: the bride's submission to her partner as both husband and king goes hand in hand with the dignity she also derives from him. His friends and subjects are now hers; she is the gainer, not the loser, by her homage.
And the results of her wedding day?
The picture of this glorious wedding procession is likened to another match made in heaven – where another groom is breathlessly awaiting his beautiful and specially chosen bride.
Ps. 45 is of monumental importance in the Psalter. Not only did it express a great, enduring hope in the coming Messiah, it expressed a hope that one day the people would be united eternally with their King as his bride.
This hope is of no small consequence to the reader, who is still wiping away the tears left behind from reading the previous psalm regarding national calamity in Ps. 44 and lifting his eyes toward eternity with this song of a national wedding in Ps. 45.
Ps. 45 is for us, each one of us who is called God's people, his church (Eph. 5:22-33).
We are the blushing bride standing at the back of the chapel, looking down what seems like an interminably long aisle toward our Groom. He's waiting for us. Breathless.
Our Groom is ready to be matched with us – a bride made glorious and beautiful by our association with him. A bride blessed beyond compare with every spiritual blessing given to her by her Groom – a royal position, regal new clothes of righteousness, and matchless beauty.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love that chose us and transforms us into your holy, lovely image. We cannot fathom the riches of our relationship with you – the blessings of gladness, wisdom, salvation, and more. Thank you for making us whole. Thank you for making us lovely. Thank you for bringing us to you through your Son. Help us to train our eyes toward eternity. Above all else, help us be a bride that prizes her Groom above all else and everyone else. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Did you miss a post in this Psalms series? Click here for the full list!
 See also Ps 2:8-12; 18:47; 110:3, 6-7.
 This verse is used in Heb. 1:8 to show the superiority of the Son to the angels.
 The Messiah is God in verse 6b. Derek Kidner says this truth is consistent with the incarnation. Specifically, he notes that "the faithfulness of Pre-Christian LXX in translating these verses unaltered is very striking." Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-71 (IVP Academic: Downers Grove, 1973), 189.
 Herbert Bateman, Darrell Bock, and Gordon Johnston, Jesus the Messiah (Kregel Academic: Grand Rapids, 2012), 87.
On April 15, 2013, I awoke to read Psalm 42.
As I soaked in the words in this iconic and gut-wrenching song, runners were warming up at the starting line of the Boston Marathon – months of mental and physical training bolstering their excitement for the race. But when they crossed the finish line later that day, they were unprepared for what befell many of them.
I sat in the safety of my living room as reports came trickling in. Pictures and headlines all pointed to the needlessness of the tragic bombings. And having just read Ps. 42, I was struck by the confusing and infuriating nature of worldly suffering.
The title of this psalm, added later, describes the difference between godly grief and worldly anguish. The NKJV renders it: "Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses." That is what differentiates a believer's encounter with suffering from the world around us.
The psalmist knows real-world suffering. He meet pain with constant tears. However, his grief is tempered with the knowledge that God is both living and just.
In the face of terrible events, the entire world pants for justice asking "Where is your God?" We know he is alive and trustworthy. More than justice, vengeance, answers or apologies, godly grief seeks the solace and promises of God's presence when disaster strikes.
In this psalm, the psalmist used to go to the temple along with the multitudes, but the pain of circumstances interrupted the free-flow of worship and praise.
Centuries later, this truth about human nature still rings true. Emotions can leave us raw. Our words come out wrong and our prayers are ragged. This is the reality of worshiping God in a fallen world.
But in the face of loss and tragedy, God doesn't expect us to paste on a smile to worship him. Ironically though, this is often our default mode of "Christianizing" our circumstances. We also tend to cover up pain by a variety of means – throwing ourselves in a new schedule, filling up our calendars with activities, over reaching our finances in retail therapy, and even taking on new church or ministry projects.
Or worse still, we allow whatever lie that is peeking through our circumstances to grow so big that we must look to deeper and darker things in which to pour the blackness of our tears – liquids, chemicals, media, or more.
The problem is this: the worldly means into which we pour our souls are untrustworthy vessels for catching our tears. Like rusty sieves, they cannot do what the presence of God can do – comfort, restore, and renew us again.
Instead of pasting on a smile, we must look to the Person of Christ, who IS 'God With Us,' instead of the things of this world. He alone is the trustworthy vessel into which we can safely pour our hurt.
Hope and help in the Living God inform godly grief. That is not to say we should ignore the powerful emotions that come with anguish, but rather, those who pour their hurt into Christ filter our emotions through the knowledge that God stands ready to help.
Paul echoes Ps. 42 when he warns us against ignorant anguish or sorrow that is not undergirded by such a vast hope (1 Thess. 4:13). It is through God's countenance that we find hope to praise him once again.
God's countenance is with us both night and day, the Psalmist says. And even when others mock and misunderstand the hope within us (vs. 9-10), we are encouraged to follow the Psalmists lead and cling to the help God's presence provides.
Ultimately, it is through God's countenance that our own countenances are changed – from fallen and disquieted to uplifted and restful.
The difference between worldly anguish and godly grief is three-fold. In the midst of distress, our soul thirsts, pours itself out, finds help & hope in the presence of God.
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to rest in your presence today. Help me to direct my grief upward to you instead of seeking solace inwardly by withdrawing or lashing out. Give me the desire to want to rise early and meet you and to hope in you above all things. You are acquainted with my loss and pain. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.
Did you miss a post in my Psalms series? Then click here!


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Q: Why is Resharper showing a red 'Cannot Resolve Symbol' error? I have Resharper 10 installed in Visual Studio 2013.  My solution contains a view .cshtml file that displays a date using Razor.  However, Resharper displays the DateTime with a red warning highlight, and prompts me to import the System.DateTime namespace - please see the linked image:

The strange thing is that when my colleagues open the solution on their machines - exactly the same code, using the same version of VS2013 with the same Resharper version - there is no Resharper error.
The namespaces section of the Web.config file in the Views folder looks like this:
<namespaces>
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
</namespaces>

If I add the System namespace, ie:
<add namespace="System" />

.. then the issue goes away.  But - this doesn't explain why the issue only appears on one machine, and not on others.
I've tried cleaning the solution, suspending & resuming Resharper, clearing the Resharper cache, deleting the .suo file for the project, etc.
This seems so simple, but I really cannot figure out why R# would warn me on one machine, but not on others, when the code and environment seem to be identical.
The solution builds and runs successfully, without any warnings.  If I disable Resharper, the error disappears.
Any suggestions? Could Resharper's warning be a result of some wider configuration issue on my machine?

A: I've had similar issues after cleaning up my PC. So in my case I uninstalled an old visual studio and some dependencies (which were clearly marked as VS 2010), but that also ended up removing stuff in my older .net libraries. So ReSharper complained - and it could always be fixed by specifically referencing specific libraries.
My recommendation

*

*Check what versions of .net your VS project is expecting

*check that you have this version in your GAC (or if not, compare to the setup of your colleagues)

*if you don't have the version, either upgrade the project to a newer .net, or re-install the older .net libraries, OR change your config-file to map the versions, allowing the new version to step in for the old ones.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Bulls 2, Clippers 0 | Ross Detwiler's 7 shutout innings not enough
Adam Jardy, The Columbus Dispatch
May 28, 2016 at 12:01 AM May 28, 2016 at 4:02 AM
Ross Detwiler opened the season as a reliever in the Cleveland Indians bullpen. On Friday night, Detwiler watched as the Clippers bullpen - with the aid of the Huntington Park lights - allowed the game's only runs in a 2-0 loss to the Durham Bulls in front of 10,003 fans. One inning after Detwiler was removed from the game for reliever Josh Martin, Clippers left fielder Joey Butler lost a two-out fly ball from Nick Franklin in the lights during the eighth, allowing both runs to score and sending the Clippers to their fourth consecutive home loss.
Ross Detwiler opened the season as a reliever in the Cleveland Indians bullpen.
On Friday night, Detwiler watched as the Clippers bullpen � with the aid of the Huntington Park lights � allowed the game�s only runs in a 2-0 loss to the Durham Bulls in front of 10,003 fans.
One inning after Detwiler was removed from the game for reliever Josh Martin, Clippers left fielder Joey Butler lost a two-out fly ball from Nick Franklin in the lights during the eighth, allowing both runs to score and sending the Clippers to their fourth consecutive home loss.
It was a tough way to lose, and it overshadowed Detwiler�s most effective outing of the season. In a season-high seven innings, he was one short of tying a season-high with 79 pitches and allowed only two Bulls to advance as far as second base while striking out six.
He would have liked to do more, but Detwiler said he understands the situation.
�I know they�re trying to protect me and everything, but that�s one of the games where you want to keep going,� he said. �Everything kind of felt in sync, felt in line, and you always want to keep going in those games. But I understand it�s a process and maybe next time I�ll be able to go longer.�
Detwiler threw 10 or fewer pitches in four innings. He briefly ran into trouble in the fourth when he allowed consecutive singles to open the inning, but he induced three straight fly balls to end the threat.
In seven relief appearances for the Indians, Detwiler posted a 5.79 ERA. The 30-year-old was designated for assignment April 29 and outrighted to the Clippers on May 1, where he has made five starts and gone 0-2 with a 3.54 ERA.
Manager Chris Tremie said the goal was for Detwiler to pitch around six innings and throw around 90 pitches.
�He really kept the ball down tonight, moved it in and out, and his breaking ball was much better than his previous outing,� Tremie said. �He looked really sharp tonight. He was progressively working up to tonight�s outing and had a very efficient outing tonight.�
The Clippers hit into five double plays, the most damaging coming in the third inning after Adam Moore lead off with a single. Guillermo Quiroz followed with a flyout to right field, but Tyler Naquin looked to give the Clippers the early lead with a rocket to deep right center.
Instead, Richie Shaffer ran the ball down and easily doubled up Moore, who had taken off on contact and never looked back, at first base.
ajardy@dispatch.com
@AdamJardy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


"Gaslighting" is a term that has nothing to do with how we used to light our street corners and our homes. Nothing of the sort. Instead, the term originates from the play by Patrick Hamilton in 1938 called "Gas Light" together with the film adaptations in 1940 and 1944 which demonstrated the systematic psychological manipulation of a victim by her husband. In the story, the husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of the environment and insisting that she is mistaken, remembering things incorrectly, or delusional when she pointed out those changes.
As Ruth Ostrow recently reported in an article titled "Sanity Stealers" in "The Australian" on Friday, 26th January, 2018 (page 14), her situation went like this. She said, …"a recent experience really distressed me. It involved someone who was in the wrong. When I caught her out, instead of apologising, she somehow convinced me that I was to blame. She relayed events differently to what I had remembered, to the point I questioned my own sanity – and she accused me of creating a drama because I was feeling so guilty about my own bad behaviour. Hugh? I was so confused and kept going over events in my mind until I became convinced that I had remembered exactly what happened, which included catching her red-handed in an act of betrayal. Why had I ever doubted the facts for one minute?" Ostrow goes on to say that she had fallen for a deflective technique called gaslighting.
So what is it exactly? It's the manipulative behaviour or technique of one person to make the other question their own reality and their intuition and then doubt themselves so that they become more dependent on the "gaslighter".
Doubting yourself in this way only serves to make you more dependent on the abuser. It's a technique used by abusers, narcissists, dictators, con-artists, bullies, and cult leaders who all seek to gain control over you.
Sound familiar? Ever doubted yourself with someone in particular? Of course, we all have doubts at times, but sometimes there is a specific person who always makes us feel like we need to second guess ourselves.
For example, in some abusive relationships, spouses may flatly deny that they have been violent or lie about what happened. In parent-child relationships, especially where there is drug abuse or mental health issues such as personality disorders, then the parent might use gaslighting to keep the child quiet about the abuse or addiction. Where a child is emotionally, sexually or physically abused, the adult might use gaslighting to ensure that the child does not say anything to outsiders. In cases where the parents have had a nasty separation or divorce, one parent can use gaslighting to portray the other parent as "hopeless", "irresponsible", "immature" and a "total idiot" to the child, in order to get the child to side with the one parent against the other. In the work situation, you could have a manager who micro-manages for control, who changes their minds and then denies it, who lies about what happened or what occurred or who tries to align people against you.
What are the Signs of Gaslighting?
You know it's a lie, but they say it so convincingly that it is kind of unsettling. If they can tell lies like this, what can you really believe about them? This keeps you unsteady and throws you off 'centre' and starts to tip your world upside down which is their goal.
They constantly criticize you or find fault.
They blame you for their behaviour.
Yes, it's all your fault. Every disagreement or argument in the end boils down to it being your fault. You're to blame. You're the one who created this situation. You find yourself constantly apologising in order to keep the peace and trying to gain some sort of harmony. For example, you point out a poor behaviour or their negative emotions and suddenly, you're the one who is "dramatizing" it all or "over-reacting" or just being "overly sensitive". You can't win, and so in the end, you shut down. This is designed to keep you mute, and for you to question your own grip on things.
They deny they ever said or did something, even if you have proof.
At some level, you know that they did something or that you heard something, but they out and out deny it. Their denials are such that as a reasonable person yourself, you start to doubt your reality. Maybe there was another interpretation to what you saw or heard. The more that this occurs, the more you question your reality and you start to accept theirs.
They know for example, that your work is important to you or your children are very important to you and they know of course, that your identify is fundamental to who you are. For work, they might state that you only have the job because the company feels sorry for you or they couldn't find anyone else to do the job. In regards to your children, you say that you should never have had them. They tell you that you are a worthy person, but it's just that you have this long list of negative traits and poor behaviours. They undermine who you are as a person.
These gaslighters do not have integrity as people, so you'll see that their words and their actions are not congruent. Ultimately, don't believe the words. Words are cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
They throw in positive praise to confuse you.
While gaslighters are intent on bringing you down and undermining you, on occasion they will say something positive about what you did. Again, because you are a reasonable person, you cut them some slack saying, "Maybe they aren't so bad after all". But they are. This see-saw effect of negativity mixed with the occasional positivity only serves to keep you off-kilter again and unbalanced.
When things are unstable and you can't count on consistency, you start to question everything. It's like walking around on egg-shells. This is exactly the goal of the gaslighter. The more unsteady that you become, the more that you rely on them to feel "stable".
Whatever they are accusing you of doing such as abusing alcohol or cheating on the relationship is a ploy to deflect attention away from them. They project onto so you find yourself so busy defending yourself that you get distracted from the gaslighter's behaviour. The truth be known that whatever they are projecting onto you is probably a very good indication that they are dong exactly that ie., drinking way too much or having an affair.
As you're aware of by now, gaslighters are master manipulators of their environment and they will find people who will stand by them no matter what and they use these people against you. Remember that they are constant liars so they will say things like, "This person knows that you're hopeless too" or "This person knows that you're not correct". Now, it may well be that these people didn't say anything of the kind, but nevertheless, this throws you and you're not sure who to believe. If you don't know who to trust anymore, then this can lead you straight back to the gaslighter.
They tell you that everyone else is a liar.
By asserting that everyone else is a liar including family, friends, workmates or even the media, it threatens your reality. What's the truth really? Because you are reasonable and genuine, you've never known anyone with the audacity to say such things, so maybe they are right. Maybe they do have a sense of the real "truth" after-all? So maybe you need to turn to them for the "correct" information – which of course, is not correct at all.
They tell you and others that you're crazy.
Finally, Dr Sarkis writes that this is a master technique because if the gaslighter can discredit you to the point of your sanity, then no-one is going to believe you in relation to the gaslighter's poor, inconsistent, and inappropriate behaviour.
What are the Personal Signs that you've been Gaslighted?
You start to question if you are too sensitive.
You often feel confused and have a hard time making simple decisions.
You find yourself constantly apologising.
You can't understand why you're so unhappy.
You often make excuses for your partner's behaviour.
You feel like you can't do anything right.
You often feel like you aren't good enough for others.
You have the sense that you used to be a more confident, relaxed and happy person.
You withhold information from friends and family so you don't have to explain things.
Of course, it goes without saying that if you're in such a relationship, then you are in danger emotionally and psychologically and you need to realise that such a relationship could impact you for some extended time (months or a few years) even if you manage to get out of it because of the significant effects on your mental health.
Step 1 is to make a stand for yourself and realise that you are your own best friend and that you owe it to yourself (if not to your children and family if you have any) that your partner is dysfunctional and unhealthy and that this is a toxic relationship. Call it for what it is. Never wait for them to "come to their senses" – it just won't happen. They will stay in denial and they will never ever admit that they are gaslighting. So, give up on any awareness or confessions on their part.
Step 2 is to get out as quickly as you can and as safely as you can. It might mean that you don't give any hint of leaving, but you just go. You cannot save them or get them to therapy (remember that there's nothing wrong with them!), but you can save yourself. You're worth saving! Get some trusted friends and family to support you and help you to leave.
Step 3 is to get therapeutic help and support. You may well need it after the battering you've taken over months or years of this toxic relationship. Therapy helps you to see things in perspective once again and it helps to have an independent opinion that you did the right thing by leaving.
Step 4 is critical in that you never look back. Don't even think about second chances for your partner. Instead, focus on recovering and re-discovering yourself and going forward in positive ways. There is a big world out there waiting for you and you owe it to yourself to realise your real potential.
This entry was posted in Articles and tagged Human behaviour, Mental Health, Narcissist. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
class Nest < ActiveRecord::Base
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Will you Answer the Call?
By Lisa Ellen Niver
Answer the Call!
In Chetan Bhagat's One Night at the Call Center, six Indian coworkers share their life stories while working together during one night at Connexions. Due to their hours, the story begins with Shyam Mehra (Sam Marcy) missing a family wedding. Over the course of the narrative, each team member reveals various secrets, dramas and personal traumas. Issues from arranged marriage to relations between genders and generations were all pertinent issues dealt with in this novel. At one point, on the verge of personal and physical disaster, the team is asked, "Are you going to answer the call?"
One team member, Vroom, answered, "I want to have a life with meaning." He must alter his life by giving up meaningless work and quit the call center. "Calling is not my calling," he pronounced. "Each of us must decide when to listen to the inner voice and when to make a change to begin the life we have always wanted," he adds. Shyam admits, "I want to be worthy of someone like her and I want to be successful too." All the characters realize they need to focus on themselves and are told: "Never be afraid of failure. If it has come your way, it means I want to give you a real shot at being successful later."
If you have always wanted to write, we hope you are ready to answer the call to join our Travel Writing Contest.
The team members from One Night at the Call Center would urge you to go for it. As John Wooden, the infamous UCLA Basketball Coach used to say, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
In The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise?, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith stated that, "Writing is now one of the few skills you must have –and we really mean "must" here for the twenty-first century." It is something we all must practice. Each of us must be ready to share our stories and realize: "We consume more written media than we ever have in history…it's time for all of us to become master copywriters." Answer the call and contribute.
The reality is that we are the first generation of people on this planet to be not only media consumers and media creators. We are all media owners as well.
In The Impact Equation, they argued that it is time to get your own channel. Create your own media. The global community is waiting.
People often ask me how to start a blog. My first suggestion is always to start immediately. Don't worry about the name or the format but make a commitment to write on a schedule either every Sunday (as I did for two years) or once a month. Whatever schedule works for you, start today. If inspired, you can join our travel-writing contest, potentially being selected to win a cash prize or a wonderful book of travel literature in our raffle. It might even enthuse you to keep going! You do not necessarily have to create your own site but everyone has stories to share and you would be surprised at how many people want to read them.
My other suggestion is to keep reading. If you haven't read Chetan Bhagat, his stories are very entertaining and bring to light the pulse and heart of young Indians. Referring to Bhagat, Time magazine stated, "Many writers are successful at expressing what's in their hearts or articulating a particular point of view. Chetan Bhagat's books do both and more." The New York Times said Bhagat is "the biggest-selling English-language novelist in India's history." And I bet even he wonders sometimes if his stories are good enough.
Give yourself permission to make a change or work to make a dream come true. I cannot wait to read your stories. Don't wait! Our contest ends February 14! All the rules and instructions are at http://www.wesaidgotravel.com/writing-contest
Conrad Miami: Never Just Stay, #StayInspired
Myanmar: Hsipaw to Monywa by Bus (video)
Nights In? Not in Hong Kong!
In the HUFFINGTON POST: Teachers Need a Village
Lisa Ellen Niver
Lisa Ellen Niver, M.A. Education, is a science teacher and is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 101 countries and six continents. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she worked on cruise ships for seven years and backpacked for three years in Asia. You can find her talking travel at KTLA TV and in her We Said Go Travel videos with over 1.3 million views on her YouTube channel. As a journalist, Niver has interviewed an Olympic swimmer and numerous bestselling authors and has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. She is the founder of We Said Go Travel which is read in 235 countries and was named #3 on Rise Global's top 1,000 Travel Blogs. She was named both a Top 10 Travel Influencer and a Top 50 Female Influencer for 2021 by Afluencer and is the Social Media Manager for the Los Angeles Press Club. She has been nominated for the inaugural Forbes 50 over 50/Know Your Value list due out in Summer 2021. She has hosted Facebook Live for USA Today 10best and has more than 150,000 followers across social media. Niver is a judge for the Gracies Awards for the Alliance of Women in Media and has also run 15 travel competitions publishing over 2,500 writers and photographers from 75 countries on We Said Go Travel. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded two Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards. From 2017 to 2021 in the Southern California Journalism Awards and National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, she has won four times for her broadcast television segments, print and digital articles. Niver won in 2021 as Book Critic and in 2019 for one of her KTLA TV segments NAEJ (National Arts and Entertainment Journalism) award. Niver won an award for her print magazine article for Hemispheres Magazine for United Airlines in the 2020 Southern California Journalism Awards and a 2017 Southern California Journalism Award for her print story for the Jewish Journal. Niver has written for National Geographic, USA Today 10best, TODAY, Teen Vogue, POPSUGAR, Ms. Magazine, Luxury Magazine, Smithsonian, Sierra Club, Saturday Evening Post, AARP, American Airways, Delta Sky, En Route (Air Canada), Hemispheres, Jewish Journal, Myanmar Times, Robb Report, Scuba Diver Life, Ski Utah, Trivago, Undomesticated, Wharton Magazine and Yahoo. She is writing a book, "Brave(ish): It's All About Perspective 50 Adventures Before 50," about her most recent travels and insights. When she's not SCUBA diving or in her art studio making ceramics, she's helping people find their next dream trip. http://lisaniver.com/one-page/


2013 pre-owned Morgan 3 Wheeler. 643 miles from new. Sport grey with Yarwood Honey interior, RAF bullseye, black exhaust and roll hoops. A beautiful double buckle bonnet strap is is included. $42,500 or best offer.


text:
Wenn die Liebe Mode macht è un film del 1932 diretto da Franz Wenzler.

Trama

Produzione
Il film fu prodotto dall'Universum Film (UFA). Venne girato a Parigi.

Distribuzione
Distribuito dall'Universum Film (UFA), uscì nelle sale cinematografiche tedesche il 21 dicembre 1932.

Note

Collegamenti esterni

  WENN DIE LIEBE MODE MACHT (1932) - Murnau Stiftung

Film commedia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Certain singers have the power to do more than just move us with their voices. As they grow and change over the years, they offer an emotional and artistic road map of how to mature with grace and style and transcend the past without rejecting it or re-evaluating it from an ironic distance.
Ms. Cook, who sang with an orchestra led by Wally Harper, her musical director and collaborator for nearly 25 of those 50 years, offered a sweeping retrospective that included a suite of songs from ''She Loves Me,'' the 1963 Broadway musical that was a high point of her theatrical career. In the 1970's, Ms. Cook, with Mr. Harper's help, began reinventing herself as a saltier, more worldly wise performer who could swing a little and be sassy and still convey a heartfelt romantic optimism.
It was all done with a minimum of artifice. Ms. Cook doesn't really ''act'' songs so much as she locates their emotional essence, infuses them with her understanding of life, and applies her formidable technique, delivering each song in long, arching phrases and gorgeously spun-out notes. The ingenue at 71 is a singer who takes the long view and accepts the fact that yearning and the life force are practically one and the same.


Subjects: Port rail shuttles, citizenship, transport security.
Andrew Geoghegan: We are joined by Transport and Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester. Darren Chester, welcome.
Darren Chester: Good morning, how you going?
Andrew Geoghegan: I understand first off that you have an announcement to make today as far as trying to ease traffic congestion in Melbourne.
Darren Chester: One of the big issues we are facing with cities like Melbourne is the congestion; often caused by the movement of heavy vehicles carrying freight around the city. So we are working with the Victorian Government on some port rail shuttles. So what that means is using our existing rail network, upgrading the intermodal hubs to get more of the freight task onto rail, and less of that container movement on our suburban streets. So it is a good announcement, about $58 million in total, a partnership between the federal and state governments.
Andrew Geoghegan: Let's move to the issue of security. Certainly as far as transport is concerned, there has been criticism in the past from national security experts that airport security around the country is not up to scratch. The Government today is reviewing and will release a review of security around the country. As far as public places are concerned, what measures can we expect?
Darren Chester: Well firstly let me say the aviation security settings are at an elevated level following the terror plot that was uncovered only a few weeks ago. I'd have to say the Australian travelling public should be reassured that there is no such thing as set and forget when it comes to our preparations around aviation security. We have a great safety record here in Australia. But in relation to the Prime Minister's announcement–which I believe will be made later on today–it is regarding settings around crowded places; how we can work with local and state government and business-holders around crowded places; which we have seen have been targeted overseas, where we have had vehicles–obviously and most recently in Barcelona–driving into crowded places and causing great amounts of injury and death. So the Prime Minister after the Nice attack last year has been working very closely with the state authorities on we can have a how to guide, almost, for working with local agencies, and how the business sector can work in partnership with governments on reducing the threat to people as they gather in large numbers at festivals, events, mass transit centres for transportation, that type of thing.
Andrew Geoghegan: Yeah, given you are the Minister for Transport. We have, of course, seen public transport targeted by terrorism around the world. How do you protect various transport hubs?
Darren Chester: Our greatest defence, inevitably, is going to be constant vigilance by us all; looking for anything unusual, reporting that to authorities, that type of thing. But there's also the engineering treatments we can bring into play. You have seen bollards put in place, some temporary ones, in some of our cities. I think in the future we will see more decorative approaches; perhaps we may have planter boxes put in places that would be more attractive, but also achieve the purpose of separating vehicles from vulnerable pedestrians. I think you are going to see more use of police and security agencies around mass gatherings. We are making sure we are keeping vehicles separated from where pedestrians may be crossing roads or accessing large thoroughfares. So it is a constant battle for us. It is a tragic reflection of our times that we need to be taking these sorts of measures. But at the same time, we need to make sure that we get to enjoy the great freedoms we have here in Australia. So we can't let these very small number of people, these terrorists interrupt our great lifestyle here in Australia.
Andrew Geoghegan: Will some of these measures though impinge on those freedoms that we have?
Darren Chester: Well I think inevitably there will be restrictions that may affect people as they go about their daily lives, but it is a balancing act I guess. We are committed to keeping Australians safe; it is the number one priority of the Federal Government. We are committed to keeping people safe as they travel through our airports or through other mass transit centres, or as they gather at these great festivals and events and sporting activities that we are so famous for. So it is a balancing act, but we need to get the balance right in terms of putting safety as the number one priority. I encourage people to also remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
Andrew Geoghegan: Darren Chester, let's turn to the issue of the dual citizenship saga. We have three members of your party now in doubt as far as their eligibility is concerned. How would you describe the situation your party is in?
Darren Chester: Well we have had a rotten few weeks, we acknowledge that, in terms of making sure we have the vetting procedures up front when people nominate to become a candidate. We need to do better at that and we will do better at that. I mean we have had the situation in the past where people simply sign their nomination form, indicating that they don't have any dual citizenship. Perhaps the fact that this will come as a bit of a shock to the Australian people that having been born in Australia–and by virtue of that you are an Australian citizen–then having citizenship imposed on you by the laws of a foreign nation and not know about it, is something that I think has come as quite a surprise to a lot of people. It certainly came as a surprise to some of my colleagues. We will get better at making sure we get the procedures right up front.
But it is important to note, we have been upfront and honest with people, in the sense that once the Members of Parliament realised they had a question to answer, they have self-referred themselves to the High Court as the Court of Disputed Returns, to make sure we get some clarity. I would encourage Bill Shorten and the Labor Party to do the same thing. If they have got members with any concerns at all, they should be referring to the High Court and be honest and upfront with the Australian people about it.
Andrew Geoghegan: But fair to say that your party–the National Party–has been careless?
Darren Chester: We can do better. We are going to have to better. For Barnaby's situation; he had no idea that he was a dual citizen by virtue of descent, by virtue of the fact that his father had been born in New Zealand and moved to Australia in, I think, 1947. So it came as quite a surprise for Barnaby, and the same situation for Fiona Nash, it came as quite a surprise for her as well.
Andrew Geoghegan: So the question remains. Why has Matt Canavan stepped aside, yet Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash remain in their positions?
Darren Chester: I think that is a very good question, and the answer, quite simply, is that Barnaby and Fiona, upon receiving the information from the New Zealanders and the UK Home Office, sought legal advice through the Solicitor General immediately. The advice they received was that they were still eligible–had a very defendable case, if you like–to take to the High Court, and that is where quite appropriately the decision will be made. Matt acted without getting that advice and made his own decision at that time to report that he should be going to the High Court to seek some clarity.
Andrew Geoghegan: So you think that was perhaps a mistake on Matt Canavan's part?
Darren Chester: Well on reflection, I am sure Matt may have taken a different approach. I think at the time, having been made aware of the situation that his mother had sought citizenship for him on his behalf without his knowledge, he took the step of standing aside from the ministry. Now given what we know now, and the events that have flowed since that day, I think the approach that Fiona and Barnaby have taken, and Nick Xenophon has taken the same approach–self-referral to the High Court to get some clarity. I would have to say Nick Xenophon's comments yesterday about Labor staffers or others beavering around behind the scenes to try and uncover things about him, I thought really reflected very poorly on the Labor Party. I think rather than indulge in the dark arts and be shifty behind the scenes, Bill Shorten and his crew need to be upfront with the Australian people. If they have got other people they have concerns about they should be reporting them to the High Court.
Andrew Geoghegan: And Darren Chester, there are another two members of the National Party, whose positions may also be in question–not in relation to citizenship, but their business interests. We have David Gillespie; he has been referred to the High Court. There is also Senator O'Sullivan, Barry O'Sullivan, who was the director of a company that he established. There's a question whether he has a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the Commonwealth. Will he be referred to the High Court?
Darren Chester: Well I have seen the statements that both Barry O'Sullivan and David Gillespie have released in relation to these issues. They have both made public statements and they believe there are no issues there at all in terms of their business interests. I think it is best if I leave that to the court proceedings.
Andrew Geoghegan: Why not refer that matter though to the High Court, just to clear it up completely?
Andrew Geoghegan: But as far as Barry O'Sullivan is concerned?
Darren Chester: I'm not sure what has happened in relation to Senator O'Sullivan's issue. It only became apparent to me on Thursday, so I'm not sure what has occurred over the last 24 or 48 hours.
Andrew Geoghegan: Darren Chester, thanks for joining us.


We've been following the development and roll out of LEED v4 (see our previous blog post, here), and have a few updates.
USGBC has just updated their Regional Priority Credit (RPC) tool for LEED v4, here. The new RPC are based on specific location (address or latitude and longitude) to allow for a more discrete location than zip code, and also to allow for projects outside the US. Regional Priority Credits are points that are awarded for going after a LEED credit that is deemed to be a Regional Priority. The classic example is the water use credits in the Southwest states. Log in and take a look at what credits would trigger for your specific project site. You'll find the RPC are similar in focus to those under LEED 2009, but the credits are not exactly the same.
Also notable, USGBC has posted calculator tools for the material and resource Building Product and Disclosure Optimization (BPDO) credits. You can download the calculator here, or access it by using the credit library to go to a specific BPDO credit and clicking the resources button just below the credit banner. You can see the intended accounting in the spreadsheet. It's worth downloading and taking a look to be ready for LEED v4 if you have any connection to the Material and Resource credits. Since electrical and mechanical systems now count along with the traditional building materials, basically all building consultants have tie in to this form.
Lastly, there is a six-year phase-out of LEED 2009 planned. The clock starts ticking on the phase-out when LEED v4 becomes mandatory, currently slated for June of 2015. If your project timeline has construction completion after June 2021 you should be using LEED v4. We've recommended using v4 for a few projects in our office that are up against this deadline.
Let us know if you have questions about LEED v4 – we'll do our best to help! Need a great mechanical engineer for your next project? We'd love to help out there, too!


There are few plays that can be described as both timely and timeless all at once, but Caryl Churchill's Top Girls is certainly one of them. The show is timely, insofar as Top Girls has its fingers on the pulse of the Thatcher era Britain that spawned it, yet timeless because of its resonances throughout generations. The Shaw Festival definitely took on a challenge when deciding to stage a show that had been described by Mark Ravenhill as "the best play of the past 20 years," but to this reviewer, it was worth the risk.
Once all the characters are prepared, the play properly begins with its most famous scene: the dinner party at the restaurant. Marlene (Fiona Byrne) has invited some of the "top girls" of various eras to come and celebrate her upcoming promotion, those being the famed 19th century English explorer Isabella Bird (Catherine McGregor), the medieval concubine turned Buddhist nun Lady Nijo (Julia Course), Flemish folk figure Dull Gret (Laurie Paton), the infamous Pope Joan (Claire Jullien), and the medieval literary character Patient Griselda (Tara Rosling). As the ladies sup, they share their tales, replete with shining starts and horrible sacrifices in the end.
The cast also squabbles over the injustices they've faced. This scene is pivotal to the play as a whole, because it presents the central question of the show: Is Marlene the historical vindication of all of the strife that these women have been exposed to, or is she just a thoroughly modern manifestation of an age-old phenomenon?
The opening scene also demonstrates one of the biggest challenges in performing Top Girls: the overlapping dialogue. These moments throughout the play create an uneasy cacophony, as voices clamour constantly to be heard. Besides creating an intense theatrical effect, this overlap of dialogue serves to show the struggle between so many competing ideas of what a woman should be and how that struggle breaks down the women fighting it.
Two aspects of Marlene's life contrast the opening scene: the Top Girls Employment Agency, and the home of her sister Joyce (Tara Rosling) and her daughter Angie (Julia Course). These disparate settings, combined with Churchill's notorious doubling, provide a strong avenue for these actors to display both the range of their skills, and the range of this play's scope. At the agency, Marlene's colleagues Win (Claire Jullien) and Nell (Catherine McGregor) are introduced, and it becomes clear that these three share a ruthless nature. Although the ladies of TGEA seem to be the perfect models for the new Thatcherite woman, it is clear that these characters need to be twice as vicious as their male counterparts if they hope to succeed in the corporate world.
Marlene's high flying life is set against her working class hometown, wherein Joyce is struggling to raise her daughter Angie, who is dismissed throughout the play as being "slow." In a sense, Top Girls takes Marlene's personal drama and has it represent the very path that Britain had embarked upon.
Angie (Julia Course) is a crucial character in this play, because she stands in for the person who can't make it in Marlene's world. Although Angie dreams of being just like her aunt while playing with her much younger friend Kit (Tess Benger), it is clear that this new dog-eat-dog society would chew her up and spit her out. The childlike innocence of the scenes between Angie and Kit are a sweet refrain from the ruthlessness of the adult world, but they also demonstrate how vulnerable these two are to being crushed by the changing world around them.
The Shaw Festival's production of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls is a wonderful rendition of a masterful play. This production is as notable for its innovation as it is for its authenticity. Yet, although the play is very well acted, and the direction is spot on, I can't help but mention the complete lack of diversity in the cast. It seems inexcusable in 2015, at a major theatre festival, to see all-white casting in a show. What makes it more egregious is that this play is actually completely open to casting, and written by a playwright who has made use of doubling to tackle racial issues exactly like these. I think Top Girls is a great play that was done very well at Shaw, but if we as audience members ignore the prejudices in casting, then we will never see theatre as an art form rise above them.
Top Girls is playing at the Court House Theatre, as part of the Shaw Festival, until Sept. 12. Tickets can be purchased online at www.shawfest.com or by phone at 1-800-511-7429.


text:
Unearthing a Transcendental Mystery
Like the old "who's buried in Grant's tomb" question, every so often the "who's buried in Thoreau's grave" question comes back to haunt us. Most recently it was brought to our attention by Walden Woods Project friend and supporter, Dr. Ira Skolnik, who saw a photograph of the Thoreau family plot which looked different from what he remembered seeing at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
When Thoreau's remains were moved from the Dunbar plot in the New Burying Ground up to Author's Ridge in Sleepy Hollow, the graves had red sandstone markers. These were replaced in 1890 with a large granite monument and, shortly thereafter, the smaller stones that are there still. At this time there was a mix-up in the placement of Henry and his sister, Sophia's, stones. There exist two undoctored images from the 1890s (though undated further) by the local photographer, Alfred Hosmer, which show, in one, Sophia on Henry's left, and in the other, Henry on Sophia's left. Later images, such as the one below by Herbert Gleason, continue to show the Henry-on-the-left version.
The most logical explanation is that when the stones were first placed and captured in an image by Hosmer, the stones had Sophia to her brother's left, after which someone noticed the error and the stones were placed in what is the correct order, but there is no record that has yet been found offering any explanation or corroboration. As there was a brief period between the placing of the large granite monument and the smaller stones, following the order of the death dates to lay the stones and so placing Sophia's stone the furthest left as the last interred would also make sense. Records of Sophia's funeral do not shed any light on the mystery.
As Thoreau said in his 1851 journal, "We are surrounded by a rich and fertile mystery." We did what he suggested – "May we not probe it, pry into it, employ ourselves about it, a little?" Not every mystery has a solution, or perhaps, not every mystery has an answer when we first ask the question. It is why researchers and historians keep probing and prying. This is part of the excitement about research. The mystery, the conundrum, and the faith that sooner or later a letter, a photograph, a map will surface that will give us the answer.
It is why the Walden Woods Project's Thoreau Institute Library continues to collect and add to our collections, having grown from eight collections when we opened in 1998 to twenty now. Each new collection adds one more dimension to the whole. And who knows? The next letter added, the next manuscript, the next historic photograph, may answer the question: Who's buried in Thoreau's grave?
During our research, we leaned that the fee for perpetual care of the Thoreau family plot was never remitted. The Walden Woods Project covered these costs in honor of Thoreau and his family.
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How is it that we are impelled to treat our old friends so ill when we obtain new ones?—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
More Reflections & Mirrors quotations


text:
Susan Ruddie
Susan Ruddie has worked for 25 years as a costume designer, costume director, milliner and textile artist. Susan's designs have toured the world with The Mark Morris Dance Group. She has designed off broadway plays, musicals, ballets and operas. Recent work includes the 25th anniversary national tour of Evita directed by Hal Prince, national tours of Fiddler in the Roof. and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat starring Patrick Cassidy; and a production of The Sound of Music which was the first Broadway musical to tour mainland China. Some of her favorites to dress have include Faith Prince, Martin Short, John Pizzarelli, Meryl Streep, Baryshnikov and Mark Morris. She ran the workroom for Grace Costumes and Eric Winterling Costumes where she supervised the construction of costumes for shows including "Little Mermaid", "Wicked", and "Phantom". Susan has dyed and painted costumes for Broadway, operas, ballets, Ringling Bros. Circus, and vegas shows. Susan's talent for working with feathers comes from years of making headdresses for the Radio City Rockettes.


Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by Lukey13, Feb 10, 2019.
It seems to be a re-occurring issue that many of the players in the server encounter, which is deciding to take the role of Police/Cop and then returning back to a regular rank once they realise that is is either: not fun or not worth. Therefore, I would like to make this thread for possible solutions to this and invite players to leave suggestions below.
I have one suggestion that may or may not work. A key role of a cop in real life is performing drug busts on known drug houses or locations. So how about allowing cops to essentially raid the bases of players that have been permanently banned. I know that usually those who get banned permanently are those who have no intent to play, however there are occasions such as the one we saw recently, where top tier players get banned. In the case mentioned, the player would get banned and all active cops at the time get access to the base to raid. A rule would have to be implemented which prohibited players joining the Police Force at that time purely just to raid.
Any more suggestions, do not hesitate to post below.


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For Historians, the Business of Studying Monuments Like UNC's Silent Sam Takes a Toll
By Emma Pettit
Gerry Broome, AP Images
In August 2017, protests over the U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's statue known as Silent Sam were rekindled. As they persisted, the strain also grew on historians who were called on to consult about the monument's significance.
Last year William Sturkey's walk to his campus felt like walking into a fight.
The assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill lived on a street named for a slave-owning family. He'd walk outside, turn right, walk down another street named for a slave-owning family, arrive on the campus, walk past a building honoring Confederate soldiers, then past a Confederate-soldier statue, then past a building named for a white supremacist before arriving at his office door.
It wasn't so much the names that bothered Sturkey. Rather, it was the threats lobbed at student protesters who took issue with those names and their legacies. It was the administration's passivity, according to Sturkey, toward the university's racial past. It was the requests made of faculty members like him to spend time and energy embroiled in the fray.
The Rise and Fall of Silent Sam
Silent Sam, a statue of a Confederate soldier, dominated the main entrance of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for more than a century, despite decades of protests. But suddenly, in August 2018, the statue was yanked down by protesters. And in January 2019 the campus's chancellor, Carol L. Folt, removed the statue's pedestal and other remnants. Here's how Silent Sam moved from dominance to disappearance.
UNC's Silent Sam Settlement Sparked a Backlash. Now a Judge Has Overturned the Deal.
UNC's Silent Sam Settlement Was Reached Quickly. The Blowback Might Last Longer.
UNC Will Give Silent Sam to a Confederate Group — Along With a $2.5-Million Trust
The requests built up. Sturkey, who studies race in the American South, sat for interviews, sat on panels, sat in meetings, and fielded more than 400 emails (he counted) just about Silent Sam, the eight-foot Confederate figure frozen in bronze.
Last year took a toll, physically and emotionally, he said. Before activists yanked down Silent Sam on Monday, at the pinnacle of an hourslong student rally, Sturkey wasn't sure he could keep it up forever.
When the significance of Confederate symbols and racist histories flares up on campuses, and news stories follow, two groups are typecast in lead roles. There are the student protesters, portrayed as upset and unflinching. And there are the administrators, shown as responsive at best or ignorant at worst.
What goes unnoticed are the historians, like Sturkey, whose campuses are living artifacts to interrogate. They don't subscribe to the caricature of an academic: someone studying a niche discipline in solitude. Instead, their opinions are sought out. They're asked to write statements, op-eds, and more statements. Because of that insistence for insight, their work bleeds into their personal lives through activism, inquiry, and the occasional death threat.
'A Festering Wound'
Five years ago, David W. Blight couldn't imagine someone citing, in casual conversation, how many Confederate monuments exist. He also couldn't imagine that a white supremacist would murder nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., in 2015. Or that two years later, a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., would turn deadly.
Those tragedies elevated cultural questions like how to define white supremacy, and what it means to memorialize the past, said Blight, an American-history professor at Yale University. Blight gets lots of phone calls from reporters who want answers, including from international journalists who can't understand why Americans can't just "get over" the Confederacy, he said.
Adam Domby agrees that right now, as a Civil War historian, "business is good," but often for bad reasons. Domby gave his first interview as an assistant professor at the College of Charleston before he even moved to its campus, days after the 2015 massacre.
If you're pissing off the white supremacists, you're probably doing it right.
Studying the Confederacy has raised his profile, Domby said, though sometimes not for the better. Members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party, a neo-Confederate group, showed up at one of his public lectures. He's not sure what they expected. Their reactions were probably tempered because he's a white man, Domby said, but they did write anti-Semitic things about him online. He doesn't fixate on it. (James Bessenger, chairman of the Secessionist Party, denies that anti-Semitic comments were made and says the group does not tolerate racist behavior.)
"If you're pissing off the white supremacists," Domby said, "you're probably doing it right."
Like Domby, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a history professor at Chapel Hill, said being a middle-aged white man shapes his experience. When Confederacy enthusiasts rallied in the shadow of Silent Sam, rebel flags in hand, Brundage didn't feel physically threatened.
That statue was like a "festering wound," impossible for anyone to ignore, Brundage said. But it offends his principles, not his personhood.
Frustration and Fear
With Confederate monuments, the Johns Hopkins University was quick to locate its "progressive voice," said N.D.B. Connolly, an associate professor. But for historical figures like Woodrow Wilson, Connolly said, the university still disregards his "seedier" underside while enjoying his public image.
The American president earned his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins and is often seen as the father of internationalism in U.S. foreign policy. Wilson also repeatedly defended the Ku Klux Klan and wrote that extending voting rights to black citizens would be a "menace to society itself." In light of that, Connolly and other faculty members passed a resolution in 2016 to rename a fellowship that bears Wilson's name. So far, it's gone nowhere.
At first, Connolly said, he wrestled with the "burden" of baking anti-racism into an institution bit by bit. Renaming a fellowship is just one ingredient. Recruiting African-American faculty members and students are others. The work calls for an extraordinary commitment, Connolly said, but it's also the only avenue toward lasting change.
Most universities were founded by white men for white men, Connolly said, so "if you just leave the institution on cruise control, if you do nothing at all, their interests are going to be served."
Manisha Sinha, an American-history professor at the University of Connecticut, is used to stirring the pot. She writes often about the Civil War and its aftermath. Normally she receives some dissenting emails. But when her most recent article, a historical comparison of President Trump and President Andrew Johnson, went live, she got a death threat.
The man knew her home address, not easy to find, Sinha said. Within hours, law enforcement had tracked him to Texas. He's been criminally charged, and Sinha obtained a harassment order against him. For days, she didn't walk down her driveway to collect the mail. She called 911 when a FedEx worker arrived. And she thought: That's it. No more writing about these topics online.
But then Sinha spoke with her mentors and her husband, a German expatriate, who told her that fascism grows roots when academics are silenced. So she'll continue writing. But Sinha said she'd think much more about what she can say to avoid becoming a target for some "lunatic."
After white supremacists swarmed Charlottesville last August, some of Justene Hill Edwards's colleagues at the University of Virginia began writing publicly about what had happened. Edwards, an assistant professor, decided to bring lessons from Charlottesville into her classes because "that's where I could harness a lot of the frustration and fear that I, myself, was feeling," she said.
The semester was emotional. For students of color, knowledge that racial violence persisted was scary and "visceral," Edwards said. Her white students wanted to empathize. Edwards connected with her students, in part, by telling them, "What happened really affected me. Not just as a scholar but as an American, as a person, as a black woman, in particular."
Edwards uses UVa's campus — the same campus where enslaved people cooked, cleaned, and cared for students and faculty members — as kindling for classroom discussion. But she doesn't dwell on the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee that's just a five-minute drive from the campus and was the focus of the 2017 protests. She tells her students a bit about the statue's history and how it's been politicized.
"But I don't want to privilege the history of Lee, for example, over the history of African-Americans during the same period," Edwards said. To direct attention to Lee's statue means to siphon it from somewhere else.
Not 'Just Random Pieces of Furniture'
Eyes weren't always watching Confederate monuments like General Lee or Silent Sam. When Nell Irvin Painter was at UNC, in the 1980s, the statue was seen as this "imported artifact" from a faraway past, no longer in vogue with Chapel Hill or the city's liberal bona fides, she said.
But Silent Sam "did work" on her, said Painter, now a professor emeritus at Princeton University. She spent summers in New England, sometimes in Portland, Me., where a monument to Union soldiers stands downtown. Seeing that bronze was "so refreshing," Painter said. She wouldn't have reacted with such fondness, she added, if it hadn't been for Silent Sam and the ubiquity of Confederate monuments across North Carolina.
Years later, Chapel Hill thought of itself as a "cosmopolitan oasis," said Gerald Horne, then a professor at UNC. In 2003, Horne watched on television as U.S. forces invaded Iraq and as Saddam Hussein's statue was pulled down in Baghdad. Horne wrote a letter to the editor sarcastically contrasting the fall of Hussein with the immovability of Silent Sam.
"Where are the voices from this campus bellowing in outrage against Iraqis 'destroying their history' by destroying statues of their erstwhile leader?" Horne wrote.
After it was published, Horne received harassing phone calls. He left UNC that year and is now a professor at the University of Houston. That episode wasn't the only reason he left, Horne said, but it contributed to his decision.
"We were always told you can't topple statues" because it's akin to toppling history, Horne said. But monuments are erected to propagandize ideas. They're not, he said, "just random pieces of furniture."
When Silent Sam was installed, in 1913, a speech delivered at its dedication laid bare what the statue symbolized. Julian Carr, a North Carolina philanthropist and white supremacist, praised Confederate soldiers for their courage in fighting to save the "very life of the Anglo-Saxon race" in the South. He then said he had once "horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds" about 100 yards from where the crowd stood.
That speech was mostly forgotten until Domby, at the time a UNC graduate student, came across it in the archives. Carr's words galvanized a new wave of student protesters and ultimately helped lead to the statue's razing.
Before Monday night, toppling Silent Sam seemed somewhat inevitable to Sturkey, but out of reach in the short term. The UNC system's Board of Governors recently decided not to take any action. He expected another year of professors like himself stepping into the breach. That prospect felt "demoralizing," he said, and "exhausting."
Sturkey attended Monday's demonstration, he said, but left about 20 minutes before Silent Sam was unseated. He watched from home, on Twitter, as gleeful protesters pulled the statue to the ground and smeared its bronze head with dirt.
It felt like a "gazillion" preordained meetings, interviews, and interactions had just evaporated, Sturkey said. It felt like relief.
Update (8/24/2018, 4:17 p.m.): This article has been updated with a response from James Bessenger, chairman of the South Carolina Secessionist Party, denying that anti-Semitic comments were made to Adam Domby and saying that his group does not tolerate racist behavior.
Emma Pettit is a staff reporter at The Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @EmmaJanePettit, or email her at emma.pettit@chronicle.com.
Read other items in this The Rise and Fall of Silent Sam package.
Teaching & LearningLeadership & GovernanceInnovation & Transformation
Emma Pettit
Emma Pettit is a senior reporter at The Chronicle who covers all things faculty. She writes mostly about professors and the strange, funny, sometimes harmful and sometimes hopeful ways they work and live. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaJanePettit, or email her at emma.pettit@chronicle.com.
Protesters Tear Down Chapel Hill's Divisive Confederate Monument
Chapel Hill's New Civil War
Why a Protester at Chapel Hill Doused a Confederate Monument in Red Ink and Blood


text:
require 'sqlite3'
require 'date'
require_relative 'student_db'

class Student
  attr_accessor :id, :first_name, :last_name, :gender, :birthday, :email, :phone, :created_at, :updated_at
  def initialize(data = {})
    @first_name = data["first_name"]
    @last_name = data["last_name"]
    @gender = data["gender"] || nil
    @birthday = data["birthday"] || nil
    @email = data["email"] || nil
    @phone = data["phone"] || nil
    @created_at = DateTime.now
    @updated_at = DateTime.now
  end

  def self.all
    all_students = $db.execute("select * from students;")
    all_students.map {|each_hash| Student.new(each_hash)}
  end

  def self.where(field, value)
    all_students = $db.execute("select * from students where #{field}", value)
    all_students.map {|each_hash| Student.new(each_hash)}
  end

  def save
    if @id
      $db.execute(
      <<-QUERY_STRING
        update students
          set first_name = '#{@first_name}',
              last_name= '#{@last_name}',
              gender = '#{@gender}',
              birthday = '#{@birthday}',
              email = '#{@email}',
              phone = '#{@phone}',
              created_at = '#{@created_at}',
              updated_at = '#{@updated_at}'
        where id = #{@id};
      QUERY_STRING
     )
    else
     $db.execute(
       <<-QUERY_STRING
        insert into students (first_name, last_name, gender, birthday, email, phone, created_at, updated_at)
       values('#{@first_name}', '#{@last_name}', '#{@gender}', '#{@birthday}', '#{@email}', '#{@phone}', '#{@created_at}', '#{@updated_at}');
      QUERY_STRING
     )
     @id = $db.last_insert_row_id
    end
  end

  def delete
    $db.execute(
    <<-QUERY_STRING
      delete from students where id = #{@id}
    QUERY_STRING
    )
  end

  def self.find(number)
    if number == 0 || number > $db.last_insert_row_id
      return nil
    else
    Student.new($db.execute(
    <<-QUERY_STRING
      select * from students where id = #{number};
    QUERY_STRING
    ).first)
    end
  end

  def self.find_by_first_name(first_name)
    Student.new($db.execute(
    <<-QUERY_STRING
      select * from students where first_name = '#{first_name}';
    QUERY_STRING
    ).first)
  end

  def self.all_by_birthday
    all_students = $db.execute("select * from students order by birthday;")
    all_students.map {|each_hash| Student.new(each_hash)}
        # p all_students
  end

end


"The world always looks brighter from behind a smile "
Black lace and pink sandals is always a yes for me.
To "springitize" your black dress, throw on a floral blazer.
"To springitize" = to create a spring look lol.
Thanks for visiting and please leave a comment and share. Love, Osy.


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Colin Kaepernick, Nike, and the Myth of Good and Bad Companies
The brand's alignment with the embattled NFL star is nothing more than smart business.
Joshua Hunt
Drew Angerer / Getty
After Phil Knight first launched the Nike brand in 1971, he claimed that he could persuade the whole world to buy his shoes if he could first get them on the feet of "five cool guys." In truth, it took only two cool guys to transform Nike into what Knight would later call a "total brand": the Oregon distance runner Steve Prefontaine, whose spectacular rise and early death rooted his legend, and his unrealized potential, firmly in the soil of Nike's origin story; and Michael Jordan, who reintroduced the brand to millions of Americans a decade after Pre's death, saving the shoe company from irrelevance at the tail end of the jogging boom.
"What Phil and Nike have done," Jordan said, "is turn me into a dream."
The dream business was immensely profitable for Nike: Just a few years after Jordan's first Nike commercial aired in 1985, the company surpassed a billion dollars in annual sales; a short while later, in 1988, Dan Wieden, of the Portland advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy, gave Nike its most enduring slogan: "Just Do It." On Monday afternoon, in anticipation of that slogan's 30th anniversary, Nike announced the former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the new face of the "Just Do It" campaign.
It's significant that an institution as powerful as Nike has thrown its weight behind Kaepernick and his crusade against racial injustice, which began when he started kneeling during the national anthem—a move that has put him at odds with the NFL, and which has almost certainly kept football teams from employing him. But Nike has often been on the wrong side of social-justice movements, and in the past used its considerable power and influence to crush any protest movement that undermined the company's bottom line.
Throughout the 1980s and '90s, underage workers toiled in Indonesian factories producing Nike shoes; at factories in China, workers claimed they were coerced into putting in excessive overtime in order to meet Nike's demanding production schedule; and in Vietnamese factories, workers faced dangerous conditions later documented by independent auditors from Ernst & Young. In the summer of 1997, when Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong died while making a pair of Nike shoes at a factory in Vietnam, the company's response was to boldly claim: "We don't make shoes." This was a shockingly disingenuous statement from a company whose founder would later call his memoir Shoe Dog.
While reporting a book about Nike, I learned that during the spring of 2000, Knight sought to crush a growing campus-protest movement against sweatshop labor by quashing lucrative equipment and apparel deals with the University of Oregon and the University of Michigan. Behind closed doors, the billionaire resorted to more personal means of retribution, including withholding donations from a nonprofit organization run by the University of Oregon president, Dave Frohnmayer. When Nike did at last make concessions to labor unions at some of the factories making its shoes, it was only because of sustained efforts from labor and human-rights organizations, such as the Worker Rights Consortium. In the wake of this defeat, after years of ignoring or denying accusations that it had relied on sweatshop labor, Nike learned how to market itself as a good corporation with noble intentions, which were stymied only by its naïveté. It was a company trapped by its own humble beginnings, unaware of the immense power it had accrued, according to a May 2001 statement issued by Nike's corporate and social responsibility manager, Harsh Saini.
"We were a bunch of shoe geeks who expanded so much without thinking of being socially responsible that we went from being a very sexy brand name to suddenly becoming the poster boy for everything bad in manufacturing," Saini said.
Why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised Colin Kaepernick
Kaepernick's "Just Do It" ad, which bears the slogan "Believe in Something. Even if it means sacrificing everything," seems, on its face, to be more politically divisive than any campaign in Nike's history—praised from the left for giving Kaepernick a platform to continue speaking out against police brutality and racial injustice, and vilified from the right by the likes of Sean Hannity, who remains determined to cast Kaepernick as unpatriotic and disrespectful. In reality, however, Nike's standing with Kaepernick has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the fact that he has transformed himself into an icon. For Nike, Kaepernick's cause is simply good business—if it were anything other than a cynical branding exercise, the company would surely not be simultaneously doing business with the NFL, which has done its best to stifle Kaepernick's protest movement.
One of capitalism's most enduring myths is the idea that there are good corporations and bad corporations. The truth is far more simple: Colin Kaepernick has a dream, and selling dreams is Nike's business.
Joshua Hunt is a writer based in Tokyo. He is the author of the forthcoming book, University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education.