You've seen projects that start off great. They zoom along, delivering. And then something happens. They slow to a crawl. Sometimes, they get stuck so badly you decide to stop and declare victory (or defeat) and start all over.
What can you do to make sure that doesn't happen to your project?
Tip 1: Release something every month.
Some of you are shaking your head at me. "JR, our project or program is too big. We can't possibly release something every month. You can't be serious." I am. You and your product owners can learn to build a roadmap and then a backlog where you can create value in much smaller chunks. This is not easy.
I like to start with a roadmap so everyone can see the vision of the releases. Now, decide what you want to release every month. From that vision, you can create the list of tiny features or stories you want to include in the releases. The smaller you can think about the features, the more value you will create.
Tip 2: Ask everyone to watch for and prevent technical debt.
When everyone watches for technical debt, everyone becomes aware of decisions that can create technical debt.
Sometimes, we consciously allow debt. A conscious decision might be okay. However, the longer the project and the larger the program, the more that debt will catch up to us later. This is even truer in an agile program with multiple teams.
Here are some examples of technical debt that you might not consider debt: hardening iterations, manual tests that you plan to repeat, and not automating tests for fixed defects.
You might need a hardening iteration every so often but not as often as once a quarter. That's too often. That means that teams are not achieving "done" for each feature, and for every release.
Do not assume that testers can "keep up" with developers by performing the same manual tests over and over. My experience is that developers can code much faster than a tester can test. If your testers need to repeat a test, someone needs to automate that test. That's testing technical debt.
Not everyone will agree with me that you should have automated tests for already-fixed defects. However, my experience is that too many fixed defects don't stay fixed while the product is under significant development. I'm not blaming the developers. There is too much in flux for them to remember some of their concerns and challenges. Why should they have to remember? Add an automated test, and no one has to remember anything.
Tip 3: Make all technical debt visible.
If you have debt, make it visible. Don't ignore it.
If you discover that you need to refactor or, worse, rearchitect your build system, plan for it and do it. Learn how much it's costing you to continue working the way you are. When you learn, you will be astonished. It's almost always more than you suspected.
I like to create a debt backlog, so the product owner (PO) can see what's there and decide what to take from that backlog, in addition to the features. In the same way that she can decide which defects to add from the issue tracking system and which features from the roadmap, the PO needs to be able to see the debt backlog. Help her.
Each of these tips is about making small progress. With enough progress, you gain more momentum. It adds up.
Try these three tips, and let me know what happens on your project or program.
If you liked this article about gaining momentum, let me remind you about my November workshops in Israel. If you have a large project or a program, you want to achieve momentum and maintain it. I will discuss this very problem in my workshop about agile program management, along with several others in November. See A Week with Johanna for the schedule. Don't worry if you are not "totally" agile. I have alternatives for you, too. Please do join me.
* Agile Program Management Coaching for those of you who want specific coaching for your agile programs.
* Project Portfolio Coaching for those of you who are suffering with too much to do.
Next PostNext Do You Have an Abundance or Scarcity Mindset?


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Vămile
Customs Union action plan
Aviz adoptat on 24/03/2021
Referințe:
INT/916-EESC-2020-05102-00-00-AC-TRA
In its opinion, the EESC welcomes the very concrete Action Plan for the next five years to support national customs authorities. Once implemented, with regular impact assessments, it will lead to real modernisation of customs across the EU.
Avizul CESE: Customs Union action plan
Customs single window
INT/917-EESC-2020
Athanasios IOANNIDIS (Greece)
In its opinion, the EESC points out that implementing the single window environment for customs will take trade in goods into the new digital age through simplification and automation. Trade generally in the EU will grow, the Union will become more competitive, and customs will be modernised.
Avizul CESE: Customs single window
Recovery plan for Europe and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027
COM(2020) 441 final 2020/0111 NLECOM(2020) 442 final COM(2020) 442 final COM(2020) 443 final 2018/0166 APPCOM(2020) 443 final 2018/0166 APPCOM(2020) 445 final 2018/0135 CNSCOM(2020) 446 final 2020/0109 APPCOM(2020) 446 final 2020/0109 APPCOM(2020) 456 final COM(2020) 459 final 2018/0224 COD
Petru Sorin DANDEA (Workers - GR II/Romania), Tommaso DI FAZIO (/Italy), Petr ZAHRADNÍK (/Czech Republic) (Workers - GR II / Romania)
The EESC strongly supports the Commission's proposal – Next Generation EU – as a specific tool for a quick and effective recovery.
The EESC takes a very positive view of the Commission's two main decisions:
to introduce an extraordinary financial recovery instrument as part of the multiannual financial framework
to raise common debt, which will be repaid over a long period of time, and prevent the extraordinary financial burden from falling directly on the Member States in the short run.
The EESC strongly welcomes the fact that the newly proposed instrument should be closely coordinated with the European Semester process, and furthermore welcomes the Commission's proposal to introduce additional genuine own resources based on different taxes (revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, digital taxation, large companies' revenues).
Avizul CESE: Recovery plan for Europe and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027
Establishing, as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, the instrument for financial support for customs control equipment
The Committee believes that the amount of funding allocated is insufficient considering the aims to be pursued and considers it important to provide equipment with the commensurate speed to those customs offices under greatest pressure to carry out controls, such as sea border offices.
Avizul CESE: Establishing, as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, the instrument for financial support for customs control equipment
Customs Programme
Laure BATUT (France)
The EESC believes that the amount earmarked for the customs programme may prove to be insufficient in view of the breadth of the proposal's objectives and the targets set. It recommends Member States to increase their willingness to tackle fraud together.
Avizul CESE: Customs Programme
Developing the EU customs union and its governance (Communication)
Dimitris DIMITRIADIS (Employers - GR I / Greece)
The EESC agrees with the Commission's proposal to develop the governance of the customs union, but believes that establishing it in a comprehensive way requires multilevel reform and resolute action on the technical front. It also considers that a switch to automated central clearance is needed.
European Parliament study, January 2016
European Parliament briefing - July 2014
European Parliament briefing - September 2013
European Commission - November 2014
European Commission factsheet
DG TAXUD - Evaluation
Imports of certain products originating in the United States of America (codification)
REX/471-EESC-2016
Manuel ATAÍDE FERREIRA (Portugal)
On 12 June 2014, the Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council codifying Council Regulation (EC) No 673/2005 of 25 April 2005 establishing additional customs duties on imports of certain products originating in the United States of America.
Avizul CESE: Imports of certain products originating in the United States of America (codification)
Mr Bernardo Hernández Bataller (Diversity Europe - GR III / Spain)
Mr Jan Simons (Employers - GR I/Netherlands)
Sesiune plenară:
Avizul CESE: Customs risk management
Risk management / security of the supply chain
INT/681-EESC-2013-1653
Mr Antonello Pezzini (Employers - GR I / Italy)
Avizul CESE: Risk management / security of the supply chain
State of the Customs Union
INT/677-EESC-2013-998
Mr Jan Simons (Employers - GR I / Netherlands)
Avizul CESE: State of the Customs Union

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Search for tag: "james madison program"
James Madison Program /Walter F. Murphy Lecture-…
James Madison Program /Walter F. Murphy Lecture- "Arguing Excellence: A Logocratic Approach to Measure of Virtue"
Professor Brewer will explore the contributions that a theory of argument (the Logocratic Method, a philosophical explanation of the nature of arguments and some of their principal uses) can make to…
walter f. murphy lecture
semenya
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Professor Scott Brown
Bowen 222
Robert E. Lee: A Life
Robert E. Lee is one of the most confounding figures in American history. Lee betrayed his nation in order to defend his home state and uphold the slave system he claimed to oppose. He was a traitor…
Allen C. Guelzo, James M. McPherson
Jimmy Stewart Theater Nassau 185
The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American…
The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution
Please join us for a discussion between Professor Kevin J. Weddle and Dr. Allen Guelzo on Professor Weddle's new book, The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution(link is…
kevin j. weddle
the compleat victory
alpheus t. mason lecture
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Lewis 120
Statesmanship as Human Excellence: Exemplars of…
Statesmanship as Human Excellence: Exemplars of Greatness, Courage, and Moderation
The lecture will challenge the widespread, even dominant, view of politics as nothing but a vehicle for raw power and domination. Such false realism obfuscates both the very real quest for justice…
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Climate and the Potential for Life on Other…
Climate and the Potential for Life on Other Planets
Understanding planetary habitability is key to understanding how and why life developed on Earth as well as whether life is present on planets that orbit different stars (exoplanets). Whether a…
dorian abbot
fermi paradox
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Why Study Classics?
By looking at the lives of African Americans who have found inspiration in the classics we can all learn about the enduring value of these texts. The same fire that burned in the souls of our…
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solveig gold
wheatley
douglass
Dr. Anika Prather
Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: A Discussion…
Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: A Discussion of the Princeton Class of 2025 Pre-Read
Join us for a discussion of the Princeton Pre-read selection for the Class of 2025, Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility by philosopher and Princeton Class of 2002…
gabrielle girgis
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moving up without losing your way
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Jennifer Morton, Gabrielle Girgis, Alejandro Rodriguez, Robert P. George
The Baby and the Bathwater: Toward a Recovery of…
The Baby and the Bathwater: Toward a Recovery of the American Idea
Watch the James Madison Program's recent event, "The Baby and the Bathwater: Toward a Recovery of the American Idea." The event was hosted at The Mayflower Hotel and presented in…
liberties
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Robert P. George, Ryan T. Anderson, Alexandra DeSanctis, Antonin Scalia
The Mayflower Hotel
What Does It Mean to Interpret the Constitution?
Do Supreme Court justices really just call balls and strikes, or are the Court's decisions merely politics by another name? When we read that judges are originalists or favor a living…
constitution day lecture
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donald drakeman
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constituional interpretation
Donald L. Drakeman, Keith E. Whittington, Robert P. George
Afghanistan: What Happened and What Can Be Done?
America's precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan has raised a number of important questions that this panel hopes to address. Among these are: Is this event a sign of America's loss of…
bernard haykel
michael a. reynolds
melissa m. lee
Bernard Haykel, Melissa M. Lee, Michael A. Reynolds, Robert P. George
Policing, Urban Policy, and American Ideals and…
Policing, Urban Policy, and American Ideals and Institutions
An America's Founding and Future Lecture Following the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others by law enforcement officers, the reform of policing practices and police…
urban policy
From Evelyn Behling 0 0 likes | 280 280 plays
Rev. Eugene F. Rivers, III, Founding Director, Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies in conversation with Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
James Madison Program, Politics
Education in America During and After the Pandemic
The novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the typical flow of American education at every level, from K-12 schooling to collegiate and graduate studies. When the pandemic ends, will our…
William Damon, Professor of Education, Director of the Center on Adolescence, and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Michael J. Petrilli, President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute; Cecilia Elena Rouse, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Katzman-Ernst Professor in Economics and Education, and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University; Moderated by Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program, Princeton University.
Statesmanship in Times of Crisis: Robert P.…
Statesmanship in Times of Crisis: Robert P. George in Conversation with Allen C. Guelzo
Allen C. Guelzo, Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program, Princeton University and Robert P.…
Allen C. Guelzo, Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program, Princeton University and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program, Princeton University
Audio Only: Pandemic! What Do and Don't We…
Audio Only: Pandemic! What Do and Don't We Know? Robert P. George in Conversation with Nicholas A. Christakis
From Evelyn Behling 0 0 likes | 23 23 plays
Nicholas A. Christakis, Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, Yale University, and Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
Pandemic! What Do and Don't We Know? Robert…
Pandemic! What Do and Don't We Know? Robert P. George in Conversation with Nicholas A. Christakis
Professor Christakis is a leading authority on contagions, both biological and ideological. He has been a very important voice in ensuring that consideration of COVID-19 is fact-based and rooted in…
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From Evelyn Behling 0 0 likes | 2,659 2,659 plays
The Rise and Fall of the Judeo-Christian Consensus
Catholics, Protestants, and Jews are not well known for getting along; throughout the twentieth century, however, Americans of all three faiths formed a religious consensus that rested on a shared…
falwell
judeo
James M. Patterson, Associate Professor of Politics, Ave Maria University
Lewis Library 120


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text:
about W
rechtspraakverkort.nl
willemvanboom.blog
Visit my pages on:
Academia.eu
DAI info:eu-repo/dai/nl/125272111
Willem H Van Boom (1969) is a professor of law at Nijmegen. He acquired his law degree at the University of Amsterdam (1992) and his doctorate at Tilburg University (1999). Since 2002, he has held full professorships at Tilburg, Rotterdam, Durham (UK) and Leiden. Since 2022, Van Boom is professor of law at Nijmegen Law School, Radboud University.
Van Boom's research interests cover the broad field of property, contracts, torts, insurance and consumer law. He regularly expands his horizon by working with social science scholars, legal historians and law and economics experts.
Van Boom is currently on the editorial board of the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Burgerlijk Recht (NTBR; the Dutch Journal of Civil Law). Van Boom is an independent academic; he regularly does consultancy work and sits in several boards and advisory panels.
Projects in progress:
Handboek Goederen- en Zekerhedenrecht (2022)
Derdenbetrokkenheid en procescommodificatie (2024)
Handbook of Comparative Insurance Law
Comparative Commercial Law
Past Projects include:
World Tort Law Society (WTLS) - contributions to the following projects: 'Road Traffic Accidents' (2018), 'Products Liability' (2017)
Draft 'Inleiding tot de wetenschappelijke bestudering van het privaatrecht' (versie 2016/2)
Third party financing in civil litigation (2018-2021) - following an earlier project, this new project extends into adjacent and extended doctrines and issues of third party involvement in litigation
De burgerlijke rechter en de burger – op afstand of nabij? (2015-2019) - Three papers published, with Jean-Pierre van der Rest and Helen Pluut
Research project 'Data use, online consumer needs, business strategies and regulatory response' (with Simone van der Hof, Jean-Pierre van der Rest, Iris van Ooijen, Alan Sears and Tycho de Graaf; 2016-2020)
Willem H. van Boom, Pieter Desmet, Peter Mascini (eds.), Empirical Legal Research in Action – reflections on methods and their applications (Elgar Publishers 2018; ISBN 9781785362743)
Willem H. van Boom (ed.), Litigation, Costs, Funding and Behaviour: Implications for the Law, edited by (Routledge 2017; ISBN 978-1-4724-8289-1)
Wetenschappelijk Directeur Instituut voor Privaatrecht, Universiteit Leiden; Academic Director of the Institute of Private Law, Leiden University (2019-2021)
Bestuurslid Stichting Onderzoek Collectieve Actie (OCA), Den Haag; Board member of the Foundation Collective Redress Research (2016-present)
Bestuurslid Stichting Ars Aequi, Nijmegen; Board member of the Foundation Ars Aequi (a foundation which runs a Dutch student-run legal journal) (2015-present)
Voorzitter SER Coördinatiegroep Zelfreguleringsoverleg (SER CZ); Chairman of the Coordinating Committee Self-Regulation of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (2011-present)
Onafhankelijk lid van de Commissie Consumentenaangelegenheden (CCA) van de Sociaal-Economische Raad (SER); independent member of the Consumer Affairs Committee of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (2011-present)
Raadsheer-plaatsvervanger Gerechtshof Arnhem/Leeuwarden; Deputy Justice in the Court of Appeal Arnhem/Leeuwarden (2021-present)
Raadsheer-plaatsvervanger Gerechtshof Den Haag; Deputy Justice in the Court of Appeal The Hague (2005-2021)


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A highschool student makes $15,000 a month thanks to Twitter
By Ashraf - July 15, 2012 - 4 comments Email article | Print article
I'm sure many people already know about how many celebrities make $$$ by sending out 'sponsored tweets' aka ads to their Twitter followers. Well the greenbacks aren't only for celebrities. According to The Daily Dot, Jon King, an 18 year old highschool student who will start his senior year soon, makes $500 a day thanks to sponsored tweets.
Jon King has six Twitter accounts. The combined total followers across King's six accounts comes out to be north of one million. King is also a ChaCha affiliate. Through his ChaCha affiliate account, King gets sponsored tweets which he passes on to his Twitter followers. As people click on the links in the tweets, King makes money. A lot of money.
It isn't as easy as it sounds, however. King says he spends two hours each night coming up with ten tweets for each of his Twitter accounts which he sends out the next day. Out of these ten, King uses three original tweets while the remaining are recycled tweets, stuff King found posted on the Internet, or submissions by his followers. These ten daily tweets presumably keep his followers interested which then allows King to randomly send sponsored tweets.
What I find interesting about this whole story, assuming it is true, is how easily King seems to be able to attain followers. And not just followers but followers who click on his sponsored links. After changing the name of one of his accounts, King lost 25,000 followers. His response? "It's typical. I can gain it right back." !
I don't know about everyone else but to me this whole story is a bit suspicious. If it is so easy to gain Twitter followers and it is so easy to get them to click on your links then everybody would be doing it and making bank. There must be something else behind this story. Maybe Jon King is the Shakespeare of tweets. Who knows. I just wish I could make $500 for two hours of effort. Yes, I'm jealous.
[via The Daily Dot | Image credit: Images_of_money]
TagsAshraf's Believe it or Not Ashraf's jealousy ChaCha Highschool Lots of Money Sponsored Ads Sponsored Tweets
First commercial space tourism flight to start next year, Richard Branson will be on board


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There aren't enough food, service, value or atmosphere ratings for Pizzeria & Restaurant Pod Lipou, Slovakia yet. Be one of the first to write a review!
Get quick answers from Pizzeria & Restaurant Pod Lipou staff and past visitors.


We're building our flagship product, Check, using a set of Rails backend services and a React frontend (multiple frontends actually, most of which are coded using React). We decided to use GraphQL as a data communication language, because it provides a closer mapping to our internal data model, compared to a REST API. Here's a talk that I gave at Rubyfuza 2018 in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.


text:
Theodor Denis Dinulescu (n. 14 ianuarie 1950, Giurgiu) este un jurnalist, scriitor și dramaturg român.

Este cunoscut mai ales datorită piesei de teatru O zi din viața lui Nicolae Ceaușescu, montată la Teatrul Mic în regia lui Alexandru Tocilescu în anul 2005, dar și a volumului de proză scurtă Japonezul albastru, publicat de editura Cartea Românească în anul 2000. În 2005, Denis Dinulescu se afla însă deja la a doua prezență cu un spectacol pe scena Teatrului Mic, el debutând ca dramaturg în anul 1993 cu textul Dacă dă Dumnezeu și plouă, în regia lui Dan Micu.

A făcut parte din colectivul fondator al ziarului de satiră Academia Cațavencu, iar în anul 2011 a revenit, pentru o scurtă perioadă, în funcția de redactor-șef la ziarul cu același nume. A fost de asemenea scenarist la o serie de producții de televiziune, între care Poveste de cartier , în regia lui Theodor Halacu-Nicon, a filmului de acțiune Un caz de dispariție, în regia lui Dan Păduraru, dar și a serialului Om sărac, om bogat, produs de Media Pro Pictures.

Opera

Proză
Jurnalul surorilor Grimm - Editura Ion Creangă, 1993
Grenada - Editura Cartea Românească, 1996
Japonezul albastru - Editura Cartea Românească, 2000
Cele zece neveste ale lui Oedip - Editura Semne, 2007

Teatru
O scrisoare pierdută - Antologia "Teatru" a Bibliotecii București, Editura Muzeul Literaturii Române, 2002

Referințe

Dramaturgi români
Jurnaliști români
Scriitori români

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "While the devastating ecological impacts of BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are obvious, the less visible but also long-lasting psychological, community and personal impacts could be worse, according to social scientists, psychologists and psychiatrists."
Deb Weinstein, Truthout: "Losing just one vote from the Democrats, the Senate approved Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, 63-37, Thursday afternoon. Despite Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-Nebraska) vote against her nomination, Kagan picked up five Republican backers: Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Richard Lugar, Olympia Snowe and Judd Gregg. South Carolina's Graham was the only Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to support the nominee."
Eugene Robinson: "The 14th Amendment is a mighty sword, and U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker used it Wednesday to flay and shred all the specious arguments - and I mean all of them - that are used to deny full marriage rights to gay and lesbian Americans. Bigotry has suffered a grievous blow."
Deb Weinstein, Truthout: "A rumored deal between cellphone service provider Verizon Wireless and Internet giant Google that would give preferential speeds to Google properties such as YouTube on mobile devices has net neutrality advocates on edge. Details of the agreement, as first reported by The New York Times, has thrown net neutrality advocates in a tailspin. By creating a two-tier Internet system, advocates say it not only exploits mobile users trapped in service agreements, but also works around years of wrangling over what constitutes a fair playing field on the Internet."
John Pilger, Truthout: "Tony Blair must be prosecuted, not indulged like his mentor Peter Mandelson. Both have produced self-serving memoirs for which they have been paid fortunes. Blair's will appear next month and earn him 4.6 million pounds. Now, consider Britain's Proceeds of Crime Act. Blair conspired in and executed an unprovoked war of aggression against a defenseless country, which the Nuremberg judges in 1946 described as the 'paramount war crime.'"
Erika Bolstad, Renee Schoof and Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "Many scientists say they're skeptical of a widely publicized government report Wednesday that concludes much of the oil that gushed from BP's leaking well is gone and poses little threat to the Gulf of Mexico."
Bacevich: Creating an "Iraq/Afghanistan Syndrome"
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "Campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008, Senator Barack Obama said, 'I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place.' But as Andrew Bacevich notes in his new book, 'Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War,' as President, Barack Obama has done the opposite: he has promoted and acted on behalf of the mindset that leads to war."
Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz, ProPublica: "In a pre-dawn vote Wednesday, New York State's senate passed a bill that reaches beyond the debate over the environmental safety of drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale and would effectively ban almost all gas and oil drilling in the state until next spring. The bill circumvents an environmental review by the state's regulatory agency that could be finished this year."
Joe Conason, Truthout: "No recent controversy has so plainly revealed the hollow values of the American right than the effort to prevent the construction of a community center in Lower Manhattan because it will include a mosque. Arguments in opposition range from a professed concern for the sensitivities of the Sept. 11 victims' families to a primitive battle cry against Islam - but what they all share is an arrant disregard for our country's founding principles."
Ellen Brown, Truthout: "Virg Bernero, the mayor of Lansing, Michigan, just won the Democratic nomination for governor of his state, making a state-owned Bank of Michigan a real possibility. Bernero is one of at least a dozen candidates promoting that solution to the states' economic woes. It is an innovative idea, with little precedent in the United States."
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch: "Consider the following statement offered by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference last week. He was discussing Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks as well as the person who has taken responsibility for the vast, still ongoing Afghan War document dump at that site."


A compact, versatile, integrated system for astronomical imaging & visual observation in the field or the observatory If you are anything like me, you have dreams of things to do - and of having the means with which to do them. The vagaries of life have a habit of getting in the way of realizing one's dreams, and sometimes the world is simply not ready for them. I have recently completed an astronomical visual/imaging system, the likes of which I have contemplated for literally decades. What has finally made this possible is a combination of the progress in technology, recognition of what is (and is not) realistically achievable within a (relatively) modest budget, and a lifetime's relentless application of judicious opportunism. Although it may seem simplistic and obvious – or else like too much hassle – this distillation of the process I followed and its outcomes should help. If you are contemplating such a system, you will of course still need to decide which aspects make sense in your own context, and deal with new or alternative technological choices available to you.


The birthstone for August is not the same with the other birthstones for other months. It is because the stone for the birthstone is different with the other birthstone. You have to know that the stone for the August birthstone is the Peridot stone.
This article is going to talk about the birthstone for the certain people, especially the birthstone for August. But, before we discuss about the stones, we should understand the history and facts about the general birthstones.
Birthstone believed by many people since the ancient time. It is not just regular stone. The stone has the certain effect if the users are matching with the stone.
There are different stone for difference need of the people. The ancient people were choosing the zodiac as the consideration for the birthstones. In the other words, different people with different zodiac will be using the different birthstone as their symbol.
The birthstone determined based on the zodiac of the owner. The number of the stone is twelve, the same number of the zodiac. Each birthstone has different meaning and symbol from the others because the zodiac was also different for each others.
However, the birthstones still has the meaning for the new era. Nowadays, the believer of the birthstones is getting higher in number. The different of the birthstone for the ancient time and the present time, is that the present birthstones are according to the months.
People don't choose their birthstones based on their zodiac anymore, but it will be chosen based on their born day. Because we are talking about the birthstone for August, we will try to give you the explanation about the august birthstone and the difference from the others.
The peridot stone is the green stone with the beautiful color. The shape is like the candy with the very beautiful and vivid color. You will fall in love with the sparkling green color of this stone. Usually, there is little yellow color inside of the green, but the general color of the Peridot is the green color.
The Peridot stone believed with the healing power. It means that the owner of the Peridot stone whom the born day is August will have the healing ability from the diseases. It is also believed that the Peridot stone will get rid of the nightmares that come every night and will give more power to the owner.
Birthstone for August is very different with the other gemstone because of its unique power. The power and nightmares killer will be very helpful to get the inner peace of the users. You will be very happy to have the August born day and this stone.
Those are a little explanation about the birthstone for August. You have to understand the power of your birthstone and be careful to buy the stones on the market because there are so many fake birthstones.
There is a lot of talking about the birthstone. Some people are saying that there are several gemstones that should be carried by the certain people. They call the gemstone as the birthstone. It is because the stone will only work for the people with the matching time of birth for the people.


Plan your rooms from the comfort of your home. Our new room planner makes it easy to draw your rooms to scale and then select and place furniture in them. See if that new Domain sofa you want will fit into your living room. Plan your bedroom layout. Design that perfect living space.
The Room Planner requires the Flash MX plug-in and that cookies be enabled within your browser. If you can't see the "launch" button to the right please get the latest free plug-in from Macromedia by clicking on the 'Get Flash' button.
Start from scratch or select from a number of predesigned rooms.
Enter furniture dimensions that can be found on our collection pages.
Analyze your room plans to insure that your furniture fits before you buy it.
Save your room to share with friends or a Domain design consultant.
Print your design and take it with you when you shop at Domain.
If launch button does not appear above, you need to download latest flash player.


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Q: Problem when using position sticky with transform:scale I'm trying to build a layout.
2 cols. Using flexbox.
I want that the left col will be position sticky. (in case the main content height is high and the user is scrolling down.)
However, the main div also has a fixed width. (i need it for large screens devices)
unfortunately, The transform:scale is causing me a problem. top: 0 does not seems to be 0.
Here is the code (please run in "Full page" mode):

 body{
             background-color: blue;
         }

         #fixedBody{
             margin: auto;
            width:980px;
            display: flex;
            justify-content: space-between;
            background-color: white;
            transform: scale(1.25);
            transform-origin: 50% 0 0;
         }

         aside{
             flex: 0 0 100px;
             position: sticky;
             top: 0px;
             align-self: self-start;
         }

         article{
             flex:1;
             text-align:center;
         }

    <!DOCTYPE html>

        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
        <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
        <title>Document</title>

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Anybody knows how to fix this problem?
Thanks!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Sophie Winkleman departs after attending the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022 in London, England. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in Bruton Street, Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. She married Prince Philip in 1947 and ascended the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth on 6 February 1952 after the death of her Father, King George VI. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Bei kommerzieller Verwendung sowie für verkaufsfördernde Zwecke kontaktieren Sie bitte Ihr lokales Büro.
Karwai Tang / Kontributor
kt2_7323_c487d2cc-f6df-42be-9224-0a0b40b61740


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The Chess Blunder – Why We Blunder And Fixing It
The Chess Blunder
Why Do We Blunder In Chess?
Lack Of Practice And Understanding Of The position
Playing Your Way, Not Recognizing Your Opponent's Threats
Overconfidence – The chess blunder
Even World Chess Champions Blunder
Practicing tactics is a critical way to improve at chess, on top of studying chess books, finding the right coach, playing practice games, etc. However, it is important to realize that no chess player is perfect. We all have this disease holding us back from that rating goal we've been reaching for, or from beating your arch-nemesis once and for all. The curse that is eminent in all of our chess games at some point or another is the chess blunder.
Blunders are 100% psychological. That is why computers play flawless chess. They do not have human brains, and therefore, do not have to deal with stress, pressure, hormones, etc. Humans have these experiences, and we are just going to have to deal with it. I believe we can pinpoint three reasons why we blunder in our chess games:
Only playing the position your way, and not considering your opponent's threats
Overconfidence
I believe all chess blunders are associated with at least one of those points. Let us dive into each of those three points, give an example of chess blunders which were made because of that, and some possible solutions to fix the problem.
Our first example comes from a common opening trap in the Sicilian Defense after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2.
rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/3p1n2/2p5/4P3/2P2N2/PP1PBPPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 1
After Be2, many inexperienced players with the Black pieces may realize that the e4-pawn is hanging. Why not take it? The experienced player who has practiced lots of tactics and knows the position will quickly know not to take the pawn. The Knight is undefended, and will, therefore, be lost.
rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/3p4/2p5/Q3n3/2P2N2/PP1PBPPP/RNB1K2R w KQkq - 0 1
5. Qa4+! will pick up the Knight for free. Both the King and Knight are undefended, attacked, and Black must protect his King and let the Knight go.
How do we fix this problem? Hopefully, this goes without saying, but keep practicing! The experience you gain playing chess, solving puzzles, and looking at chess books will decrease your blunder percentage. At the amateur level (under 1400 ELO), practice is the #1 key to improving and progressing.
This is a problem players of all levels have. We are taught that chess is a game of strategy and planning. Although the best players not only execute their own plans, they note their opponent's plans, and if it is a big enough deal, prevent it. Many players simply don't take that step.
4rrk1/1bpn2pp/p2bp3/1p1pNn1q/3P2N1/2P4P/PPB2PP1/R1BQR1K1 b - - 0 1
Black, the famous Grandmaster, and World Championship contender Vesselin Topalov foolishly took on e5 with the Bishop. White had just played Ne5, and Black assumed that taking was the best option. He forgot that Nh6+! by White was a strong possibility.
4rrk1/1bpn2pp/p3p2N/1p1pbn1q/3P4/2P4P/PPB2PP1/R1BQR1K1 w KQkq - 0 1
Black's King is in check, and the Queen is being attacked. Note that the Knight is also "protected" by the Bishop on c1, so Black cannot take the Knight with the Queen.
The best way to fix this problem is to always be conscious of your opponent's ideas. Even if you seem to be cruising the game, the opposing side may have some life left, and if you fail to recognize that, you may spoil a winning game.
Believing that you have sole control of the position and assuming any reasonable move you make is good is a common and deadly disease in the chess world. Many brilliant games are lost because the winning or better side played way too overconfidently, letting their position slip, and they end up losing. Here is such an example:
3r3k/p4qpp/1p6/2P1p1n1/2P2N2/6P1/PR2QP1P/7K w - - 0 1
White was doing quite fine in the position above. Black just played pawn e6 to e5. White is fine playing a move like Nd5. However, White blundered, assuming the pawn was up for grabs, with Qxe5??. The back rank is now exposed, and White's Queen is in a precarious spot. This is a good puzzle to solve if you are 1400 ELO or above. White to play and win.
3r3k/p4qpp/1p6/2P1Q1n1/2P2N2/6P1/PR3P1P/7K b - - 0 1
Black leads with Rd1+. White is forced to go Kg2. Black has a nice tactical shot with Rg1+!! White must respond by taking the Rook (all other squares are covered), and White will play Nf3+, forking the King and Queen, and winning the game.
How do we fix overconfidence? We must learn that no chess game is over until checkmate, or the opponent resigns. You can have checkmate in two moves in a tournament game, however, if you mentally collapse after the first move and can't make the second move, you will not be able to finish the game… you have to go to the doctor! On top of that advise, it's vital to remember that we must work for every win out of a good position. We don't want to work when we have a good position, though it's reality.
We shall close this article by displaying World Chess Champions making simple blunders 1400 ELO players may not make. These examples should make you feel better about your chess game!
8/pp2R2p/3BNkb1/3P1p2/7p/8/PP1rr2P/5R1K w - - 0 1
The two players playing White and Black were Mikhail Chigorin and Wilhelm Steinitz respectively. Not only were these great players, but this was also played during the 4th ever World Chess Championship match! White's Bishop on d6 needs to guard h2, because otherwise, Black will play Rxh2+ and Rg2#. White forgot this and played Bb4??. Need I say more?
5N1k/q5p1/7p/4P3/pp2Q3/8/1P4PP/2b4K b - - 0 1
Former world champion and recently retired Vladimir Kramnik was playing Black. White was a computer, Deep Fritz. White has a simple mate in one threat with Qh7#. Did Black see the threat? The move Qe3?? by Black says 1,000 words.
Lastly, current World Champion Magnus Carlsen also missed a simple mate in one. Granted, this was a blitz game, though still…
8/8/8/7R/4P3/5k2/2r5/5K2 w - - 0 1
White blunders with e5??. We teach these checkmate in one pattern to 800 rating kids.
As we learned, Grandmasters and even World Champions are not immune to the chess blunder. We will all do it at some point. The less you do it, the more chess games you will win!
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Boeve Stadium
HopeCollegeBSB
HOPECOLLEGEBASEBALL
@HOPECOLLEGEBSB
Baseball Honorable Mention in Collegiate Baseball's Division III Preseason Poll
The Hope College baseball team appears in the Collegiate Baseball's 2020 NCAA Division III Preseason Poll.
The Flying Dutchmen, led by head coach Stu Fritz, topped the list of teams also receiving votes in the poll that finished outside the top 40 who were ranked.
Photo by Brant Kym
Hope is coming off a record-breaking 2019 season where the Flying Dutchmen set a school record for victories in a single season with a 31-11 overall record.
Hope also finished runner-up in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season standings and postseason tournament.
The Flying Dutchmen are slated to return All-Region and All-MIAA outfielder Mason Opple of Hudsonville, Michigan (Hudsonville), All-MIAA center fielder Evan Maday of Grand Rapids, Michigan (East Kentwood) and All-MIAA catcher Trace Slancik of Scotts, Michigan (Vicksburg).
Opple is on the verge of breaking Hope's career RBI record.
Hope is scheduled to open the 2020 season on Saturday, February 29 with single games against Wabash College (Indiana) and Wittenberg University (Ohio) in Westfield, Indiana.


Scotland's island groups – the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland – are some of the windiest places not just in Europe, but in the world. Now plans to connect them to the GB electricity grid could spark a £2.5 billion British investment boom.
The last few months have seen some radical changes in Scotland's hydro sector. The industry needs to accept these changes, but also needs some clear answers from DECC and Ofgem, says Green Highland Renewables Chief Executive Mark Mathieson.
Yet again EDF has called into question the financial viability of the proposed Hinkley Point C power station. However most commentators fail to mention the true cost of the new nuclear power plant which will fall directly on the UK taxpayer.
You may not be able to see many of them, but in recent years hundreds of 'run of the river' hydro schemes have been powering a quiet revolution in Scotland's glens, says Mark Mathieson, Chief Executive Officer of Green Highland Renewables.
The Paris Agreement brings global consensus to the threat posed by rising CO2 emmissions; and at the same time brings opportunities for Scotland to take the lead in low carbon innovation, says Stuart Brown, CEO of the Flowave research facility.


text:
Categories: Announcements, Blog
We know it's been an incredibly tough week for so many of you after witnessing the greatest domestic assault on our democracy since the Civil War. But it was also an ugly and unmistakable reflection of the systemic racism that plagues our society and deeply harms people of color every single day.
A Notable Fall Season
We are well into a pandemic and still have some time to go. We are all tired. Despite this, sisters have found the energy to keep working for Theta Phi Alpha.
Pushing forward
A lot has happened since I first shared Theta Phi Alpha's plan to address equity within the Fraternity in June 2020.
Here's our plan
It's difficult to fully capture the hardships the world has faced in 2020 so far. Starting with the historic pandemic and its impact on higher education and the economy, to the fight for racial justice, Theta Phi Alpha continues to find ways to improve as a sisterhood to ensure that we are supporting our members, living our values, and fulfilling our mission.
Staying safe through coronavirus
The last week saw unprecedented actions to stop the spread of the coronavirus (also called COVID-19) in the United States. Every university is taking steps to keep their students safe. Theta Phi Alpha is doing the same - taking steps to keep our members and our staff safe.
A Grand New Tradition: NPC Annual Educational Conference
By: National Panhellenic Conference
This conference summary covers the National Panhellenic Conference's Annual Educational Conference which Theta Phi Alpha leadership recently attended in Memphis, Tennessee.
Our Commitment to Hazing Prevention
As sisters, we should be committed to building relationships with one another from a place of respect and care for one another. To do this, it is important to continue an open and honest dialogue on hazing.
How does the extension process work?
How do we decide which schools to apply to? Why can't we be on the big campuses? How can YOU help Theta Phi Alpha grow?
Scholarship, Philanthropy, and Education through Charitable Giving
What is the Theta Phi Alpha Foundation exactly? Read more on the National President's blog post to learn how the Foundation provides resources for scholarship, philanthropy, and education through charitable giving.
55 National Newsletter
Sign up for the National Newsletter
The Theta Phi Alpha National Newsletter is emailed once a month to share with sisters the latest Theta Phi Alpha news headlines, stories, events, and achievements.
Sign up here to subscribe


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Players to return for pre-season training tomorrow
by James Moody
@jamesiron95
The Iron players will be back in the building on Wednesday, June 26th as preparations get underway for the 2019-20 season.
Just short of a week since the fixtures for the new campaign were released, it is full steam ahead for Paul Hurst and his team as intense pre-season work gets underway.
The coaching staff returned to the club on Monday in preparation for the players returning to Glanford Park on the Wednesday. The side will then have six weeks to prepare for the big kick-off in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday, August 3rd.
United will kick off their pre-season friendlies on Friday, July 5th in Spain when they face Dundee at the end of the six-day tour. They'll then return to England and compete in games against Guiseley (July 13th), Leicester City (July 16th), West Bromwich Albion (July 20th), Alfreton Town (July 23rd) and Lincoln City (July 27th).
Manager Paul Hurst is eager to get his side in the building and get his pre-season programme underway: "We'll have a meeting with the players and then, very quickly, the hard work will commence. We'll work each day ahead of the trip to La Manga, and there will be very hard intense work for the players over the following weeks.
"I'm a big believer that the amount of days you put in on the training ground in pre-season will benefit you in the long run. Hopefully we can manage that and start building a good base of fitness that will hopefully see us through a tough and gruelling campaign.
Pre-season 2019
 iFollow: Pre-season day two
A round-up of the grass session on the second day of pre-season training at Glanford Park.
Under-23s set for North Ferriby clash in pre-season
The Iron's Under-23s will face North Ferriby in a pre-season encounter on Monday, July 29th.
 #IroninSpain: The journey
If you've followed the last three pre-season tours, all of which to Austria, you'll be acutely aware that not everyone takes the plane journey.
 iFollow: Manager on pre-season return this week
United boss Paul Hurst speaks ahead of his side's return to pre-season training later this week.
Open Day and 12th Man Photo on Saturday, July 20th
Scunthorpe United Football Club's annual Open Day has been confirmed for Saturday, July 20th, ahead of the pre-season friendly against Championship side West Bromwich Albion.
2019-20 home kit unveiled + pre-order details
Scunthorpe United is pleased to release the first full images of the brand new 2019-20 home kit.
Joint edition of "The Iron" for upcoming home friendlies
Don't miss the return of "The Iron", our official matchday magazine, for 2019-20, with a joint programme for our three home pre-season encounters.
Andrew Madley to referee Leicester City pre-season encounter
Andrew Madley will take charge of Tuesday evening's pre-season home encounter against Leicester City.


Any claim under this Part must be made by an application in accordance with Part 23.
("the respondents"), and the court will serve the application notice and any supporting witness statement and exhibits on the respondents.
(6) The claimant to controlled goods must make the required payments on issue of the application in accordance with paragraph 60(4)(a) of Schedule 12(a), unless such claimant seeks a direction from the court that the required payment be a proportion of the value of the goods, in which case they must seek such a direction immediately after issue of the application, on notice to the creditor and to the enforcement agent.
(b) any other person making a claim to the executed goods under paragraph (1) ("any other claimant to the executed goods").
(b) any other person making a claim under rule 85.4 or 85.6 to the goods subject to enforcement ("any other claimant to the goods subject to enforcement").
("the respondents"), and the court will serve the application notice and supporting witness statements and exhibits on the respondents.
(3) In a claim to controlled goods a debtor may request the court to assess the costs incurred by an enforcement agent, in which case the court will apply the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014(a) to such assessment.
(4) In a claim to executed goods a debtor may request the court to assess the costs incurred by an enforcement officer, in which case the court will apply Schedule 3 of the High Court Enforcement Officers Regulations 2004(b) to such assessment, save in relation to the costs of execution of writs of sequestration and writs relating to ecclesiastical property.


It's no secret that things aren't going well for HTC, but a new report implies that things may be worse than we expected. While we've known for a while that HTC is skipping its typical flagship smartphone launch during the first half of 2019, a new report out of India claims that the company is currently in talks with Micromax, Lava and Karbonn regarding an HTC comeback in India.
But the talks aren't exactly what you'd expect.
Rather than outsourcing the production of HTC smartphone to these brands (as HTC has done with its Desire phones the past few years), the company is considering a licensing agreement which would allow the company with the winning bid to build HTC-branded smartphone with HTC collecting royalties for each device sold.
"Since HTC used to operate in the Rs 10,000-plus segment, the brand will help the Indian smartphone makers re-enter this price segment, which is now the fastest-growing with intense competition among Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo and Vivo," said one of the executives.
Micromax, Lava and Karbonn produce good phones, but most of those devices are priced lower than Rs 10,000 (roughly $140 USD). By slapping the HTC brand of their phones, these companies would be able to charge a premium for their smartphone and better compete with the larger Chinese brands which are currently dominating the mid-range smartphone segment in India.
What's unclear is if this will be a simple licensing agreement or if HTC will be contributing R&D and software as well. While the HTC brand has been considered a premium brand over the years, it's mainly because of HTC's unique design and the attention to detail form its R&D department. It's hard to say if the HTC brand still holds enough weight to allow these Indian smartphone brands to compete directly with the Chinese brands which are dominating smartphone sales in India.
Hopefully, a brand licensing agreement like this won't spell the end of true HTC smartphones.


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Q: How to set new job each time with different interval I'm pretty new to Quartz and I've come a cross the following requirement:
I need to create a scheduler that schedules single job that each time it ends it rescheduled but with calculated interval time.
For example:
1. Start job that ends after 15minutes, then when finished reschedule it to end after 1Hour, when finished reschedule it to end after 45 minutes...and so on...
The point is that when job finishes I dynamically calculate the next interval and need to fire the event again.
How to accomplish that with Quartz?
Thanks.

A: Provided you can trigger it explicitly for the first time, something like
scheduler.addJob(jobDetail, true);
scheduler.triggerJob(jobName, groupName); //(1)

and code the job class such a way that after its main work is done, calculate the next trigger time and schedule it before job exits. Something like
scheduler.scheduleJob(jobDetail, trigger); //(2)

Note that the the job trigger in code snippet (1) removes the job after its done. That means you will have to schedule it, in (2), as if its a new job as far as scheduler is concerned.


We're well aware of humanity's sinfulness; it is all around us in society and ever present in our own hearts. Usually our sin is a result of faithlessness. We can't believe that God could provide for us, so we make a less than honest business transaction. We struggle to believe that God is satisfying, so we pursue our flesh and indulge our lusts. We must turn away from this faithlessness and trust God faithfully. But thankfully, even when we do sin, we have hope because God is merciful and gracious to sinners. Sometimes, He may even use our sinful choices to accomplish His greater purpose. We could point to Judah's sin with Tamar that led to the eventual birth of Abrahams greatest seed or Judas who betrayal of Christ led to our salvation. Of course, none of that excuses our faithless sin, but it does give us hope that even when we have sinned, we've never sinned ourselves out of God's grace and redemption. Repent and allow God to redeem you as you are.


This skill allows you to attempt to steal an item or coin from an enemy's pockets.
A failed attempt at pick pocketing will cause the NPC to say the message.
You can't pickpocket magic items. That excludes a lot.
You can't pickpocket wielded items.
You can only pick pocket enemies internally tagged as Humanoid. It's not always clear which mobs are humanoids, even if they have a humanoid body shape. Slimes in City of Mist (and other zones) are humanoid tagged and able to be stolen from, for example. Undead mobs, even if they have humanoid body types and similar living variants, such as undead frogloks and living frogloks, are unable to be stolen from.
You can only successfully steal from enemies below level 51 or 50. You may still trigger "Stop, thief! <name>" messages on mobs above level 50 but that is not an indicator that they can be stolen from, it only means you got a critical failure on your pick pocket skill check.
It doesn't always work, even if it's maxed. Pick Pocket is not some magical shortcut to riches.
Pick pocket does work on gems however it is considered bad form to steal all the gems in a group. Don't be surprised if your group objects. Don't be surprised if they accuse you of stealing, either, even in camps where the enemies are unable to be stolen from, such as the NGE camp in Sebilis; direct them to this wiki entry if they complain.
Pick pocket can be skilled up on any monster that can be stolen from, regardless of con. So, for example, you can pick pocket a level 1 goblin indefinitely (even after you take all its items) for skillups.
This page was last modified on 4 October 2018, at 13:19.


Essential read for Bay oyster history. From Jamestown to the present, Kate Livie's debut book informs, shocks, and delights.
We prefer our Orchard Points on the half-shell, freshly shucked and chilled with a squeeze of lemon. But you can dress them with mignonettes, grill them and even cook them in stuffing and stews...if you must.
A southern favorite. Use a charcoal grill for smoky flavor, if possible.
Preheat charcoal grill. Shuck oysters while sipping cold beverage. Place oysters cup side down on hot grill. Top w/shallots, sacue, and cheese. Cook for 3-5 min. until cheese is just slightly brown. Take care to not overcook.
Oysters and champagne are a great pair. Makes enough for several dozen Orchard Points.
Combine ingredients and chill for at least one hour before spooning over oysters.
Any beer (Natty Boh, anyone?), ice cold!
Informative history of how oysters played an essential role in early American history.
The Chesapeake's Mark Twain describes my childhood growing up on the banks of the Chester.
Ostreaphile details her obsession with eating oysters and visiting farms.
Eastern Shore blogger and friend, waxes poetic on all things Chesapeake.
CBF updates on their Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration efforts.


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Fuel sales fall in April on high prices
India's fuel sales fell in first half of April as a record rise in prices in short 16-day period dented demand, preliminary industry data showed. Petrol sales fell 10% while diesel demand slid 15.6%
Representative photo
India's fuel sales fell in the first half of April as a record rise in prices in a short 16-day period dented demand, preliminary industry data showed on Saturday.
Petrol sales fell almost 10 per cent in the first half of April when compared with the same period in the preceding month, while diesel demand slid 15.6 per cent.
Even cooking gas LPG, which had consistently shown growth even during the pandemic period, saw a 1.7 per cent month-on-month fall in consumption during April 1-15.
State-owned oil firms on March 22 ended a 137-day hiatus in rate revision and began passing on a USD 30 per barrel increase in cost of raw material (crude oil) during that period when five states including Uttar Pradesh went to polls.
Petrol and diesel prices rose by Rs 10 per litre between March 22 and April 6 -- the highest ever increase during a 16-day period since fuel prices were deregulated two decades back.
On March 22, cooking gas prices too were hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder to Rs 949.50 -- the highest-ever rate for the subsidised fuel.
Jet fuel prices too climbed to the highest-ever Rs 1,13,202.33 per kilolitre, resulting in a 20.5 per cent fall in sales month-on-month.
In the first two weeks of March, dealers as well as the public topped up their tanks in anticipation of an increase in prices that had been on hold in the run-up to the elections in states like Uttar Pradesh.
While daily price revisions restarted on March 22, the increases were calibrated. The price increases moderated the consumption.
Petrol sales by state-owned fuel retailers, which control roughly 90 per cent of the market, at 1.12 million tonnes during April 1-15 were nearly 12.1 per cent higher than the same period last year and 19.6 per cent higher than the period in 2019, preliminary industry data showed.
The consumption was, however, 9.7 per cent lower than the 1.24 million tonnes sales in the same period in March 2022.
Diesel, the most-used fuel in the country, saw sales jumping 7.4 per cent year-on-year to almost 3 million tonnes.
This was 4.8 per cent higher than sales in March 2019, but 15.6 per cent lower than 3.53 million tonnes consumption during March 1-15.
Petrol and diesel sales had risen 18 per cent and 23.7 per cent respectively in the first half of March when most of the hoarding on price hike expectations took place.
Diesel sales during March were the most in any month in the last two years and more than the total volume of diesel sold in April 2020 when the country was under a complete lockdown.
Industry sources said while there was panic buying by individual vehicle owners in the first half of March, petrol pump dealers topped up not just their storage tanks but also any mobile browser or tanker truck they had.
The dealers hoped to make a quick buck by buying fuel at a lower rate and selling at revised higher prices. As prices were raised, consumption fell.
Petrol and diesel prices hit the freeze button just as electioneering in five states including Uttar Pradesh picked up in early November 2021.
The record 137-day freeze ended on March 22.
Jet fuel (ATF) sales rose 9.8 per cent to 231,400 tonnes in April 1-15 but were 25.9 per cent less than pre-COVID levels of 2019. The sales were, however, 1.7 per cent less than 235,400 tonnes sales in the first half of March 2022.
ATF sales are expected to pick up with the complete opening up of air travel last week.
India went in for a complete lockdown, stopping flights, halting rail and road movements and shutting businesses, in the last week of March 2020 to contain the spread of coronavirus. The March 2020 period was near normal as COVID restrictions were just kicking in.
The government gave free LPG cylinders during 2020 to help poor fight the fallout of the stringent lockdown. This helped state oil firms register growth month after month even as other transport fuels saw severe demand contraction.
But in the first half of April, LPG consumption fell 0.7 per cent year-on-year to 1.02 million tonnes. This was 4 per cent lower than April 2020 and 20.5 per cent lower than 1.3 million tonnes demand in March 1-15, 2022.
Cooking gas sales moderated after a Rs 50 per cylinder hike in prices on March 22. LPG sales had risen by 17 per cent in the first half of March.
But compared to the first fortnight of April 2019, the sales were up 16.5 per cent, the data showed.
Also Read: Congress slams Govt over fuel price hike


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29 Nov 2019 9:27 AM +00:00 UTC
DC Bends the Knee to China by Removing 'Controversial' Batman Image
By Nico Parungo
First, it was Blizzard-Activision and the NBA, now it's DC Comics bending the knee to Chi...
First, it was Blizzard-Activision and the NBA, now it's DC Comics bending the knee to China after a "controversial image" from an upcoming Batman comic, Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child, was removed from social media after upsetting Chinese audiences. The image supposedly looked like support for the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, which upset a lot of pro-Beijing fans.
Because supporting human rights is a crime, apparently.
One angry commenter from Weibo claimed that everything about the image "supports Hong Kong," from Batman's dark clothes, his mask, and the molotov cocktail, ignoring the fact that Batman has always worn black and a mask. This, as the gen-Z generation would call it, is an SMH (shaking my head) moment.
Ironically, removing the image has angered other commenters from around the world, with one of them asking if "Batman loves money more than justice." While Batman does have plenty of money, we're pretty sure he would be doing the same thing if his parents were broke.
Since this is yet another company censoring its content to please the Chinese market, many are saddened over this development. The DC Comics Twitter is already blocked in China but, as usual, there are a lot of Chinese investors in Warner Bros, who own DC, so something like this was inevitable.
Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child from Frank Miller and Rafael Grampa will be coming to comic book stores on December 11. It will be a lengthy one-shot, costing $5.99.
Via Vanity Fair
Read:DC Announces Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child by Frank Miller and Rafael Grampa
Justice League: Joss Whedon Claims WB Lost Faith in Zack Snyder
Batgirl Co-Director Hits Back at DC Fans Criticizing Leslie Grace's Costume Reveal


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A temporally displaced tourist event, this project was presented in two spaces: a tourist attraction was set up on Edinburgh Castle, and a tourist information centre was set up at Edinburgh College of Art.
At the Art College site, a room with one of the most splendid views of Edinburgh Castle in the city had all of its windows blocked out using a construction incorporating twenty video monitors. The monitors all faced out towards the Castle. For one week, a telescope was set up on Edinburgh castle, and advertised throughout the city as a tourist attraction. Looking through the telescope, visitors could see what was on the monitors at the Art College. Due to the geography of the city, it was not possible to see the monitor screens from anywhere else.
The telescope was then removed, and during the following week, a tourist information centre was set up at the Art College site, with the monitors still blocking the view of the Castle. The space featured three interviews with people who had seen the view from the telescope, and so knew what was on the monitors. Visitors to the tourist information centre had no way of finding out for themselves what was actually on the monitors; their only access to the event was through the interviews and documentation in the tourist information room. So the event sought to force visitors to renegotiate their relationship with the Castle through removing its physical presence and only allowing them to experience it second-hand, through strategies of mediation, mythology and disappointment.


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Salc > Botswana	NEWS RELEASE: BOTSWANA REGISTRAR CHANGES TRANSGENDER MAN'S IDENTITY DOCUMENT FROM FEMALE TO MALE
NEWS RELEASE: BOTSWANA REGISTRAR CHANGES TRANSGENDER MAN'S IDENTITY DOCUMENT FROM FEMALE TO MALE
> Human Rights, Rights of LGBTI persons, Freedom of Expression and Association > Botswana, Regional
The Registrar of National Registration of Botswana has issued a transgender man a new identity document that correctly reflects his male gender identity.
Previously, the High Court of Botswana in a case of ND v Attorney General of Botswana and others, per Justice Nthomiwa Nthomiwa, handed down a judgment in which the Court ordered the Registrar to change ND's gender marker on the identity document from female to male.
The High Court acknowledged with concern the ongoing distress and discomfort experienced by the applicant when he is required to explain intimate details of his life to strangers whenever he seeks to access routine services simply because his identity document does not match his expressed gender or gender identity. The High Court observed that this amounts to an invasion of his right to privacy and "that arbitrary interference or embarrassment and the intrusion of privacy faced by the applicant may be avoided or minimised by the State by allowing him to change the gender marker on his identity document."
"I feel that a heavy burden has been lifted off my shoulders" says the applicant. "Now I can enjoy the rights and privileges that other Batswana have the chance to enjoy without the fear of discrimination and victimisation. This is justice. I am happy."
"We are delighted that justice has finally been served" says Tashwill Esterhuizen, LGBTI Programme Lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC). "This is a significant step towards protecting the dignity of transgender persons. The Botswana High Court has set an example for other courts in the region on the important role the courts can and should play in protecting and promoting human rights of all persons, including marginalised groups."
This week, the Registrar of National Registration of Botswana will also change the identity document of transgender activist, Ricki Kgositau, who has successfully brought a similar case on the legal recognition of her gender identity.
SALC has provided technical and legal support to both these cases.
PRESS RELEASE: SOUTH AFRICA'S DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS DECLARES KOUWENHOVEN AN UNDESIRABLE PERSON


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NYMC > School of Medicine (SOM) > SOM Alumni Profiles > Gregory T. Sherr
Gregory T. Sherr, M.D. '04, M.P.H. '04
Neurosurgeon at North Florida Regional Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida
Gregory T. Sherr, M.D. '04, M.P.H. '04, was never one to let the grass grow under his feet. Case in point: He started as the College's first webmaster in 1997, then became a medical student. A medical degree wasn't enough, so he entered the dual degree program and simultaneously received an M.P.H. in medical informatics. After a residency at the University of Minnesota, he went on to complete a surgical critical care fellowship there. Visit Dr. Sherr's clinical practice website.
"It's not brain surgery!" This healthy put-down not only works to bring someone down a peg, it also confers a certain confidence that anyone who practices neurosurgery is in a class by himself. And so it is that Gregory T. Sherr, M.D. '04, M.P.H. '04, is a thriving neurosurgeon based upon the arduous training that took more than a decade to pull off. That's what it entails when you change occupations and leave other talents behind to doggedly pursue an ever-evolving dream. He has finally fulfilled the promises he made to his mentors, friends and family— that no matter what it took, he would succeed in becoming a neurosurgeon. Dr. Sherr really did it "his way" by pursuing fellowship skills that usually are gained after a residency is completed. As a result, in his first year of practice he became certified to perform complex neuro-trauma surgery when he was a qualified, fellowship-trained intensivist at the St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Trading St. Cloud for the Sunshine State, Dr. Sherr is now the medical director of neurosciences for a large comprehensive stroke program at North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida, concentrating on brain aneurysms and vascular malformations.
Greg Sherr got his M.D. degree from the School of Medicine and his M.P.H. in medical informatics from the School of Public Health together in May of 2004. As a College employee and an early admissions applicant, he navigated the admission process handily. There were some who wondered, did he have an ulterior motive when he accepted the position as New York Medical College's first webmaster in 1997? With a slight shrug, he never answers the question. He brought so much experience and authority to the job from his prior job working on the Columbia University website that he was able to help elevate web services for the entire Valhalla campus. Sherr built the College website from a handful of pages to many thousands, until departments all around the university were vying to get their pages done. But as hectic as the job was (he regularly sent emails at 3 a.m.), and how routinely he exceeded expectations, it never diminished the fire in his belly for medical school.
Gravitates to neurology
"I was looking for a strong medical program at the same time I was working in information technology, programming in multiple languages," he says. "While building the home page for the Department of Neurology, I developed a strong bond with the chairman [Joseph Masdeu, M.D.], who along with Steve Marks [M.D., professor of neurology] mentored me on my path to becoming a neurological surgeon." What turned out to be the critical mass during his first year of medical school was his leadership of Student Physician Awareness Day (SPAD), and his meeting with the keynote speaker, the late Fred Epstein, M.D. '63.
"I had the great honor of befriending and working with Fred, a giant in the field of neurosurgery. It was his challenge and inspiration that helped guide me toward a career that has been both grueling and rewarding in ways I never would have expected," says Sherr of the pediatric surgeon who became famous for saving the lives of children with brain stem tumors that had been considered inoperable.
As he gathered a trusted core at the College to help and advise him, Sherr began to disengage from the protective envelope of Columbia, where he had completed his undergraduate general studies and post baccalaureate premedical programs.
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Take brown bread slices and apply butter on one side (if required). Set aside. In a non-stick frying pan, heat olive oil and sauté garlic and spring onions for two minutes. Add mushrooms and celery and stir-fry for two minutes. Add paprika powder, salt and black pepper powder and sauté for two to three minutes. Remove from heat and divide this filling into four portions. Put one portion of the filling on one side of a bread slice and spread it evenly. Sprinkle one tablespoon of grated cheese on top and cover it with a slice of buttered bread. Serve immediately. Similarly make the other remaining three sandwiches.
Place a bread slice on a clean, dry surface, spread a portion of the stuffing evenly over it.
Sandwich using another bread slice on it and press it lightly.
Repeat with the remaining bread slices and stuffing to make 3 more sandwiches.
Cut each sandwich in 2 equal pieces and serve immediately.
1. Heat a small non-stick pan, add the pinenuts or walnuts and toast them lightly on a slow flame, while stirring continuously. Keep aside.
2. When cool, combine all the ingredients together except the olives and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste.
3. Add the olives and mix well.
4. Divide the pesto into 4 equal portions and keep aside.
1. Trim the edges of the bread slices. Keep aside.
2. Place a bread slice on clean dry surface, spread a portion of the pesto evenly on it.
3. Place a cheese slice and ¼ cup of tomato slices evenly over it.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over it and sandwich with another slice of bread.
5. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 3 more sandwiches.
6. Cut each sandwich into 2 equal pieces and serve immediately.
1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the mushrooms and sauté until water has evaporated and mushrooms become dry.
2. Add the egg, green chillies, salt and pepper, mix well and sauté till the mushrooms are coated well with the egg and the mixture is cooked.
3. Remove from the flame, add the cheese and coriander, mix well and keep aside.
4. Spread the butter on 2 slices of bread.
5. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the mushroom mixture on one slice and cover with the other slice and grill using a sandwich maker or any other grilling method of your choice.
Apples and carrots make a delicious sandwich combination.
Cooking Time : : No cooking.
Preparation Time : : 5 mins.


When Bell Laboratories wrapped up work on the transistor in 1948, they let 25 employees vote on the name. And for some reason, those stodgy bastards passed up options such as the crystal triode and the iotatron. Sad face.
According to Adafruit, the transistor was originally referred to as a semiconductor triode, but Bell Labs wanted a shorter name. Offering their thoughts on the pros and cons of each name on the ballot, the ballot authors felt crystal triode was misleading (it needed to be piezo-electric for the name to ring true, apparently), and iotatron would not properly distinguish it from gas-filled devices. Of course, they had no issues with transistor as a name. And it was so.


The Flash Fiction Press has published my latest (very) short story, "31". Arguably this is my first published non-genre (i.e. literary) fiction. It would take me longer to blurb it than it would to read it, so just go read it, OK?
This story offers a somewhat more serious take on the superhero genre than my last story "Pinning Portugal"; and has more than a passing connection to the real world we actually live in.


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An Ardent Prayer
M. Fethullah Gulen
Category: Issue 81 (May - June 2011)
The Almighty Creator is He whose existence is the origin of all existence, whose might is the source of power for everything, and whose will is the only means by which all things and events occur. The very soul of our essence is nourished by divine knowledge. He is the one and only Sovereign who has created the whole universe, establishing the world and the heavens as an exhibition, putting His creation on display, fashioning a feast every single night with the stars, planets and the moon, presenting the lowlands, mountains, forests, rivers and seas with all their forms, colors and features to the view of the people of perception, like a book that is to be read, all serving to bring the heavenly beauties to the mind. It is He who opens the ways for us mortal humans to observe the Heavens through the emerald hills of the heart; it is He who expands the breasts of the believers through faith, brightening their senses with their worship; it is He who grants a transcendent value to their standing before God when they bow in prayer, crowning them with the mark of prostration on their forehead. It is He who intensifies the goodness of His servants with divine favor and grace; it is He who puts those with God-conscious spirits on a par with the angels. It is He who overlooks His servants' mischievous feelings, thoughts, and behavior with His mercy and forgiveness, both in this world and in the hereafter; it is He who forgives the transgressions of wrongdoers, exempting them countless of times from the punishment they deserve. It is He who manifests His majesty and grandeur in a manifold variety of shades and hues at every moment, sufficing for all existence and who has power over all things; it is He who shows us the ways of seeking refuge in Him, lifting the veils from our eyes slightly, reminding us of our triviality and trifling nature, our insufficiency and discrepancies. It is He who is the supreme ruler of eternity, awakening those who zigzag between the past and present in grief to endless longings and cravings that stem from their very human nature.
Given that the entire creation bears witness to all this, here I pray:
O King of Kings, whose signs of Lordship we perceive from the collars around our necks! Make us feel and understand our servitude to You fully and execute Your decree on those who make use of Your blessings a means of getting wild and straying into evil ways.
All those endless range of shades and hues of the realm of divine mercy and blessings which are present in human consciousness quiescently and which flow into the heart with heavenly joys on different wavelengths, even before getting into the Heavens-all these endless variety of shades and hues are from the divine grace and favor which are incommensurable with any quality or quantity. Were it not for divine favor and liking for us, what difference would there be between us and the flesh in the butcher shop? He not only livens up the earth with the fluffy clouds, rain falling down to the earth in drops, running rivers, and effervescent seas, but also enlivens our inner world and faculties, opening them into eternity through the inspirations, breezes, and springtides of divine grace.
It is He who has created the soil mixed with rocks and has filled the earth with infinitesimal creatures, turning all the corners of the world into heavenly gardens. It is He who introduces the human being, which He has created with flesh, blood, and bones, to the angels and other celestial beings and has them strive as if in a race toward good works. It is He who has paved the ways from the passageways-which can also spread out to the cesspools-to Paradise and from the seventh heaven to the observation of the divine "countenance" and has shown how coal can turn into diamonds.
O King of Mercy, who restores life to the rocks and soil and with His grace brings those whose spirit is also open to devilry into the realm of angels-furnish us with endowments beyond our capacity and improve us in our endowments! Either show those who are ignorant of You, with souls as black as coal, how to turn into diamond-like souls or condemn them to punishment!
If the pulses of the faithful quicken with hope now, if their hearts beat with the excitement of future bliss, and their minds are enraptured with the beauties of the otherworld, this is because of the divine breezes we feel in our conscience and due to God's making us aware of the divine presence at every stage. From Him is the light of the heavens and the earth; the openings to the treasuries of both this and the other world are not even like a keyhole to the door of His Kingdom. In comparison with the real worth and virtue in God's sight, the world that we constantly run after, filled with fancies, has not as much value as even the wing of a fly before God. Even a particle of this world-which is in fact futile in its entirety, but which gains a manifest value in accordance with Divine principles-becomes great enough to pave the way to eternal bliss.
O Mighty King who brings-through His Existence-all existence out of non-existence, who endows a drop of water with the immensity of the sea, and who grants an atom the power to be the sun! Every thing and being, from the animate to inanimate, from human to animals, from the faithful to the nonbeliever, from the conscious to the unconscious, and from the fortunate to the unfortunate, subsist under Your banner-may this divine banner always fly above us and may we continue to live in the shade of Your light which emanates from Your existence! Were it not for Your special Will and turning towards them, nothing would have come into existence, humanity would not exist, faith would be unattainable, Your existence would be imperceptible, and those fortunate souls upon whom You have bestowed an endless depth of thought with faith would not excel themselves.
You are the source for all the sparkling and fading lights. We come into the world, grow up, and die, whereas You are the Necessarily Existent One beyond any time or space. You call hundreds of thousands into being at every moment, You manifest Your existence through them, You remind us of Your will and knowledge by the divine wisdom in their creation. You draw attention to Your perpetuity by evolving and transforming everything, whispering the secrets that lie behind things and events to those who are on the way to God, and talk confidentially about the glamour of the road. Your Name is the dearest thing in our conscience-may it reside in our heart constantly! Your Essence is the one and only source of light for our spirits. Our hearts, which have been seeking for an eternity on each and every horizon-as if they are programmed for an awareness of eternity-shout out the infinitude of Your Mercy. The earth cringes in servility and submissiveness to Your command and has been on a blessed journey since the very first day it was created: The heights and mounts stand in awe of You, showing their readiness for Your commands. The rivers bow down onto the ground, rapturous with the flood of Your light, flowing with vivacity and calling out Your beautiful name, the All-Living. Gardens and orchards, and birds and chicks are in a cheerful rush everywhere so that they can observe the beauty of the manifestation of Your "face." The snow and the ice, and hail and storms accompany the composition of Your majesty and grandeur. The spring and the fall, and the night and the day make constant mention of You in their diverse languages, as they change colors, turning green, yellow, white, and black.
It is blindness not to have knowledge of You despite seeing all this, and it is ingratitude not to adore You in servitude while being blessed with Your favors in all places, at all times. It is our duty, as Your servants, to remember You all the time, and it is a need of our spirit to flee to You at every moment in every situation. What is left for us other than displaying our displeasure and taking a stand against those who deny Your mercy. It is the voice of conscience and the very requirement of being a loyal servant at Your door to not mention those people who do not mention You.
O the eternal King, even the dust of Whose doorway is kohl powder to apply in a fine line around our eyes! We are constantly on this journey since the day we achieved-or we supposed we achieved-an awareness of being on Your way, laying our head on Your doorstep. We enthuse our hearts through Your guidance and persevere to be Your guests. Your unceasing favors-which are reference to Your blessings for the future as well-give so much vitality to our hopes that we become distanced to everything and everybody, turning to You only with expectations that cannot fit even into our dreams. With the shackles of Your Messenger on our ankles and the collars from the divine will round our necks, we are zealous, determined, and bound by our oath to not let a stranger touch even one strand of hair on our head.
If we are like much-loved doves in Your private garden, then bless us with an unending breath and a tongue that never tires out in our requital for our existence and everything You have given us! We become enthusiastic only if You enthuse us and experience feelings that only You make us feel. We accept all that which is not from the Divine abode as senseless prattle and seek refuge in You from the tongue that does not mention You.
If all this is nothing but spelling out our state and situation to You, then loose any knot from our tongue, elevate our speech in the shade of Your speech, give our hearts steadfastness, and deepen and bolster our breaths with divine breaths. We cannot have anything if You do not give it to us; we can never drop a word if You do not cause us to speak. How can these poor wings of ours be capable of reaching the horizon of Your pleasure? How can this poor heart open up to the secrets of the treasury of the knowledge of You? How can this poor tongue be adequate to praise You? We are doubled up and ashamed of our withering conduct and grating talk, but at the same time we are relieved from worry due to our turning to Your immense lenience and mercy. Our sins are of the same magnitude as the revolt of those who have been sunk into the earth and our aloofness is within the borders of Your wrath; however, Your forgiveness is so immense that it will exterminate all wrongdoings and faults, and Your proximity is nearer to us than our jugular vein. Admit us not in accordance with our rebellion, but rather in accordance with Your forgiveness; treat us not with our remoteness, but with the warmth of proximity. Make us feel Your being with us, comfort our weak hearts, and foster our spirits with Your favors.
The ways ahead are difficult and steep: many evil spirits are waiting guardedly at every corner for an ostensible motive to attack, always wheeling out words of retrogression, backwardness, theocracy, and fundamentalism in their denunciatory language, holding every means and power in their hands, and a great many intrigues in their mind. O God, if we are against faith, knowledge, science, or progression in any way-as some claim-save us then from going in this wrong direction! If we are not good enough for this, take us then to Yourself and open the ways to those who are pious, refined, erudite, and progressive! If those who claim us to be as such are, however, in the wrong, then favor those among them whose spirits are open to faith and salvation with Your guidance; destroy the unity of those who obstinately persist in their deviance and who continually engage in evil! Bring their schemes to nothing and let them fall into their own traps! Leave them with unalleviated misery and sorrow! Safeguard the loyal servants of Your door and all the believers from the outrages, derision, scorn, and schemes of such evil minded, extremely wicked, and demonic people!
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Issue 81 (May - June 2011)
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Published bimonthly and distributed throughout the world, The Fountain covers themes on life, belief, knowledge, and universe.
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