M&A grab current headlines (Freedom buying JG Wentworth's mortgage biz being the latest) but it's hard to put the past behind us, as an industry, when the past continues to grab them as well. "GE to pay $1.5 billion U.S. fine over crisis-era subprime mortgages." The U.S. Department of Justice stated that GE concealed the poor quality of the loans and WMC's lax fraud controls when packaging the loans into residential mortgage-backed securities sold to investors. As is customary, GE did not admit any wrongdoing, and it is unknown if anyone at GE ever yelled, "We didn't do anything wrong, but here's a billion and a half to leave us alone." WMC originated $65 billion in residential loans from 2004-2007. "They won't catch us" doesn't really fly. Big or small, one can't be too careful out there, as missteps may haunt you for decades. For example, here's a loan officer who ran afoul for transferring loan files between employers and must give up one of his licenses for failing to disclose it.
Are you uncertain of the reach and impact of your marketing efforts? Would you like to ? The marketing specialists at Seroka Brand Development use a combination of online tools and resources to track campaign effectiveness to ensure they are meeting your goals throughout your campaign. Included among the data they track are coverage obtained in key media outlets, social media engagement, SEO performance, average visitor time spent on webpages, web pages visited and much more. Want to learn more? Reach out to Seroka and get ready to #TurnUpYourBrand!
How robust is your post-closing process? Are your trailing documents being tracked effectively? Are you delivering files and documents in a timely manner? Is your mailroom process efficient? Are you able to proactively identify exceptions? If you're in need of a stronger post-closing process, one that mitigates risks and keeps your costs in check, consider Sourcepoint. Formerly ISGN Solutions, Sourcepoint's post-closing support services inject efficiency and accuracy into the collection, review and delivery of loan files and trailing documents. Its uniquely poised to assist lenders in meeting their objectives, such as scalability and clearing backlogs, improving physical document handling and storage, trailing documents tracking and management, mitigating risks on compliance issues and CFPB Audit/Recording Fee reconciliation. Learn more about Sourcepoint's portfolio of hybrid and automated post-closing services here.
Choose the right mortgage lending platform: Blend has compiled a guide of customer advice and industry insights for in-house teams who are still looking at, evaluating, and testing digital lending platforms. We hope it shines some light on what we know can be an incredibly intimidating process. Download the white paper.
Customers of TCF Bank®'s Relationship Lending Unit (RLU) respond with excitement to new compensation announcement. On April 5, TCF announced a change to the broker compensation on our Stand-Alone HELOC to 1% of the line amount subject to a $750 minimum and $1,500 maximum. "Our customers are reaching out with excitement that they are able to offer a complimentary product to meet increased customer demand, and we are pleased to be their partner of choice," said Mark Zierott, SVP, National Sales Director at TCF. TCF RLU has been a trusted partner of brokers since 2006 and has deep experience originating HELOCs in the major US markets. Please contact your existing business development manager for more details. If you are currently not an approved partner please email us here. You can also visit tcfbank.com/brokerloans for more details.
Stop Losing Money in 2019! With the mortgage industry becoming increasingly difficult to survive let alone thrive, companies are in search of new marketing strategies to compete in this new era of credit. The Decision Science team at BBM has created an advanced suite of propensity data models that help professional origination marketers identify homeowners who are actively in the market for FHA, VA, Jumbo and Non-Agency loan options. Our average loan amount for active FHA/VA and Non-Agency applications exceed $350K and gross top line revenue of nearly $15,000. If you're marketing is not reaching these levels of performance than let BBM show you how a targeted marketing strategy focused on propensity modeling and targeted revenue opportunity can change the trajectory of your company. For more information about BBM Marketing Services and about becoming an approved origination partner; please contact Bill Senteno and visit www.bbm.company.
Looking for a game-changing product to help you elevate your business and stand out from the crowd? Freedom Mortgage Wholesale recently introduced a new 95% LTV/CLTV Cash-Out No MI solution, called Freedom Flex. This innovative program follows conventional product selection/loan processing requirements with FHA credit guidelines. Freedom Flex features a fixed rate 95% LTV/CLTV Cash-Out with a credit score of 640 or above for 1-4-unit owner-occupied primary residences only. Other winning features include a 50% DTI, no mortgage insurance requirements and no reserves for 1-2 units. Not available in Texas or New York. To learn more, contact Freedom Mortgage and you will be connected with the Regional Vice President serving your territory.
Mountain West Financial Wholesale is now offering the MH Advantage Program. This program allows for a number of flexibilities over standard manufactured housing, including higher LTV ratios, standard mortgage insurance, and reduced loan-level price adjustments.
Is your borrower a teacher or staff member serving in one of California's public school? CalHFA and Land Home Financial Services has a loan program that says "Thank You" with a school Teacher and Employee Assistance Program (School Program). Contact Mark Sheridan.
United Wholesale Mortgage rolled a new program, Custom Rate Lock. UWM's Custom Rate Lock lets you pick the exact number of days, between 8 and 90 and lock for the time you need. The shorter the lock, the cheaper the price.
The Lender has a new Non-Prime Program for Primary, Second homes and Investment property. Contact Glenn Danford at GDanford@thelender.com for complete program details.
Don't forget that Ethos Lending is transitioning to One American Bank and its third-party origination channel will be operating under One American Mortgage. "All of our current systems and technology will continue to operate as is and just be transitioned to One American Mortgage." TPO clients now login to www.oneamericanmortgage.com. "You will be able to access your current loans with Ethos and all new loans with One American Mortgage in the current Ethos Lending Broker Portal. The website will just be re-branded to One American Mortgage." Clients were alerted that all current float loans were to be resubmitted to One American Mortgage. All locked loans as of Monday, April 1, 2019 will fund with Ethos Lending.
Will Quicken Loans just rebrand to Rocket Mortgage already? They put Rocket on Cavs Arena this week, and spent billions building Rocket's brand, so now it's time. Here are some fun variations from Julian Hebron for the new Rocket logo, and some branding tips LOs can learn from the big ballers.
Last week was spent ruminating on how payrolls rebounded in March, increasing by 196,000, after a weak print in February which saw an upward revision to +33,000, the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 3.81%, and average hourly earnings increasing 4 cents. The labor force participation rate dipped to from 63.2 to 63.0 percent but has been hovering around the 63 percent mark for quite some time. Nothing there to change the Fed's mind. New orders for durable goods decreased in February (Impacting things is Boeing announcing there were no 737 Max orders during the month of March.) Elsewhere, manufacturing picked up and construction spending increased as spending on public projects increased 3.6 percent. Overall, the economy remains in good shape in the face of deteriorating global conditions and trade uncertainties.
U.S. Treasuries ended last week on a lower note, including the 10-year rising to 2.56%, as the selloff started during London hours following some better than expected China data with EGBs initially lowering bonds before the Treasury selloff stateside as import/export prices showed no real inflationary pressure and the preliminary April reading for University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment was down from March. China's March Balance of Trade showed a rebound in exports (14.2% YOY; prior -20.8%) and China's loan creation in March was well ahead of expectations. The combination boosted risk sentiment in global markets, helping European equities end the week with gains while weakness in German bunds lifted the country's 10-yr yield back into positive territory (+7 bps to 6 bps). Eurozone February Industrial Production decreased month-over-month and year-over-year.
This Easter-week's calendar includes an early close Thursday and markets closed Friday for Good Friday. Today's calendar starts with the NY Manufacturing Index for April. The Treasury will auction $42 billion 3-year and $36 billion 6-month bills at 11:30am ET and release February TIC data at 4PM ET. Today also sees two Fed presidents with Chicago's Evans and Boston's Rosengren taking the stage. The first round of trade talks between representatives from the U.S. and Japan will begin today. Q1 equity earnings will also pick up with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs scheduled to report. Tomorrow's releases include March Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization; and April NAHB Housing Market Index before Wednesday brings February Wholesale Inventories; and April Fed Beige Book. Thursday is loaded with March Retail Sales, Jobless Claim, the Philadelphia Fed Survey, February Business Inventories, and March Leading Indicators. We begin today with Agency MBS prices little changed versus Friday and the is 10-year yielding 2.56%.


text:
require 'spec_helper'
describe Fordism::Manager do
  subject { manager  }
  let(:process)  { Fordism::Process.new('Sprocket Assembly')                  }
  let(:manager)  { Fordism::Manager.new('George Jetson', process)             }
  let(:station1) { Fordism::Station.new('mine')     { p "hi-ho"              }}
  let(:station2) { Fordism::Station.new('smelt')    { p "hot!hot!hot!"       }}
  let(:station3) { Fordism::Station.new('shape')    { p "pourrrring"         }}
  let(:station4) { Fordism::Station.new('cool')     { p "borrrrring"         }}
  let(:station5) { Fordism::Station.new('polish')   { p "shiny things"       }}
  let(:station6) { Fordism::Station.new('paint')    { p "take a deep breath" }}
  let(:station7) { Fordism::Station.new('package')  { p "done!"              }}

  it "should be able to add stations" do
    manager.add_station(station1)
    manager.has_station?(station1).should be_true
    manager.has_station?(:mine).should be_true
  end

  context "from a blank slate" do
    it "should be able to add conveyors" do
      manager.add_conveyor(from: station1, to: station2)
      manager.has_conveyor?(from: station1, to: station2).should be_true
    end
  end

  context "with existing process" do
    before do
      manager.add_station(station1)
      manager.add_station(station2)
    end

    it "should be able to add conveyors" do
      manager.add_conveyor(to: station1, from: station2)
      manager.has_conveyor?(to: station1, from: station2).should be_true
    end
  end
end
=begin
  context "without a conveyor" do
    it "should not be able to find a conveyor" do
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station2).should be_nil
    end

    it "should have no transitions" do
      subject.transitions_to(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station2).should == []
      subject.transitions_from(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_from(:station2).should == []
    end
  end

  context "with a conveyor" do
    before do
      subject.add_conveyor(:station1, :station2) { "effect"}
    end

    it "should be able to find that conveyor" do
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station2).should_not be_nil
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition to another" do
      subject.transitions_to(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station2).should == [:station1]
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition from another" do
      subject.transitions_from(:station1).should == [:station2]
      subject.transitions_from(:station2).should == []
    end
  end

  context "with multiple conveyors from the same station" do
    before do
      subject.add_conveyor(:station1, :station2) { "effect"}
      subject.add_conveyor(:station1, :station3) { "effect2"}
    end

    it "should be able to find those conveyors" do
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station2).should_not be_nil
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station3).should_not be_nil
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition to another" do
      subject.transitions_to(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station2).should == [:station1]
      subject.transitions_to(:station3).should == [:station1]
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition from another" do
      subject.transitions_from(:station1).should =~ [:station3, :station2]
      subject.transitions_from(:station2).should == []
      subject.transitions_from(:station3).should == []
    end
  end

  context "with multiple conveyors to the same station" do
    before do
      subject.add_conveyor(:station1, :station2) { "effect"}
      subject.add_conveyor(:station3, :station2) { "effect2"}
    end

    it "should be able to find those conveyors" do
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station2).should_not be_nil
      subject.find_conveyor(:station3, :station2).should_not be_nil
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition to another" do
      subject.transitions_to(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station2).should =~ [:station1, :station3]
      subject.transitions_to(:station3).should == []
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition from another" do
      subject.transitions_from(:station1).should =~ [:station2]
      subject.transitions_from(:station2).should == []
      subject.transitions_from(:station3).should == [:station2]
    end
  end

  context "with a junction station" do
    before do
      subject.add_conveyor(:station1, :station3) { "effect"}
      subject.add_conveyor(:station2, :station3) { "effect2"}
      subject.add_conveyor(:station3, :station4) { "effect3"}
      subject.add_conveyor(:station3, :station5) { "effect4"}
    end

    it "should be able to find those conveyors" do
      subject.find_conveyor(:station1, :station3).should_not be_nil
      subject.find_conveyor(:station2, :station3).should_not be_nil
      subject.find_conveyor(:station3, :station4).should_not be_nil
      subject.find_conveyor(:station3, :station5).should_not be_nil
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition to another" do
      subject.transitions_to(:station1).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station2).should == []
      subject.transitions_to(:station3).should =~ [:station1, :station2]
      subject.transitions_to(:station4).should == [:station3]
      subject.transitions_to(:station5).should == [:station3]
    end

    it "should be able to find stations that transition from another" do
      subject.transitions_from(:station1).should == [:station3]
      subject.transitions_from(:station2).should == [:station3]
      subject.transitions_from(:station3).should =~ [:station4, :station5]
      subject.transitions_from(:station4).should == []
      subject.transitions_from(:station5).should == []
    end
  end
end
=end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
As Part of an Agreement between the Israeli and the Hellenic Ministries of Defense, Elbit Systems was Selected for the Flight Training Program of the Hellenic Air Force
HAIFA, Israel, Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT) (TASE: ESLT) ("Elbit Systems" or "the Company") announced today that following a competitive process, and as part of an agreement between the Israeli Ministry of Defense ("IMOD") and the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense, the Company was selected to establish and operate the International Flight Training Center of the Hellenic Air Force ("Flight Training Center").
The Hellenic Government approved the establishment and operation of the Flight Training Center by the IMOD and Elbit Systems for an amount of approximately $1.68 billion (approximately €1.375 billion) for a period of approximately 20 years.
The anticipated contract award is contingent on completion of commercial negotiations with the Hellenic Ministry of National Defense.
The program calls for Elbit Systems to deliver training aircraft fleets equipped with the Company's unique avionics and embedded training solutions, supply the Company's flight simulators and training aids and provide through-life logistical support.
Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, said: "We are honored to have been selected to provide such an important capability to the Hellenic Air Force, which we believe will contribute to the further strengthening of the bi-lateral relationship between Israel and Greece. This selection attests to the leading position we hold in the area of training, providing tested know-how and proven technologies that improve readiness while reducing costs."
About Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems Ltd. is an international high technology company engaged in a wide range of defense, homeland security and commercial programs throughout the world. The Company, which includes Elbit Systems and its subsidiaries, operates in the areas of aerospace, land and naval systems, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance ("C4ISR"), unmanned aircraft systems, advanced electro-optics, electro-optic space systems, EW suites, signal intelligence systems, data links and communications systems, radios, cyber-based systems and munitions. The Company also focuses on the upgrading of existing platforms, developing new technologies for defense, homeland security and commercial applications and providing a range of support services, including training and simulation systems.
For additional information, visit: https://elbitsystems.com/, follow us on Twitter or visit our official Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn Channels.
Joseph Gaspar, Executive VP & CFO
j.gaspar@elbitsystems.com
Rami Myerson, Director, Investor Relations
rami.myerson@elbitsystems.com
David Vaaknin, VP, Head of Corporate Communications
david.vaaknin@elbitsystems.com
IR Contact:
Ehud Helft
Kenny Green
GK Investor Relations
elbitsystems@gkir.com
This press release may contain forward–looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and the Israeli Securities Law, 1968) regarding Elbit Systems Ltd. and/or its subsidiaries (collectively the Company), to the extent such statements do not relate to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions about future events. Forward–looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Company, which are difficult to predict, including projections of the Company's future financial results, its anticipated growth strategies and anticipated trends in its business. Therefore, actual future results, performance and trends may differ materially from these forward–looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: scope and length of customer contracts; governmental regulations and approvals; changes in governmental budgeting priorities; general market, political and economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates or sells, including Israel and the United States among others; changes in global health and macro-economic conditions; differences in anticipated and actual program performance, including the ability to perform under long-term fixed-price contracts; changes in the competitive environment; and the outcome of legal and/or regulatory proceedings. The factors listed above are not all-inclusive, and further information is contained in Elbit Systems Ltd.'s latest annual report on Form 20-F, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward–looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements.
Elbit Systems Ltd., its logo, brand, product, service and process names appearing in this Press Release are the trademarks or service marks of Elbit Systems Ltd. or its affiliated companies. All other brand, product, service and process names appearing are the trademarks of their respective holders. Reference to or use of a product, service or process other than those of Elbit Systems Ltd. does not imply recommendation, approval, affiliation or sponsorship of that product, service or process by Elbit Systems Ltd. Nothing contained herein shall be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel or otherwise any license or right under any patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property right of Elbit Systems Ltd. or any third party, except as expressly granted herein.
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/as-part-of-an-agreement-between-the-israeli-and-the-hellenic-ministries-of-defense-elbit-systems-was-selected-for-the-flight-training-program-of-the-hellenic-air-force-301200832.html
SOURCE Elbit Systems Ltd.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Viewing the bat emergence can be one of the most amazing experiences in nature. Please be "bat friendly" & enjoy watching the bats without causing harm to the bats or yourself.
Please sit or stand several feet away from the bridge during the emergence to give the bats plenty of room to fly. Please do not stand under the bridge during the emergence.
Bats prefer the dark, especially when first emerging from their bridge crevices. Do not use flashlights or camera flashes during the emergence.
Loud voices can alter the bats' emergence behavior. Please be considerate by keeping the noise levels down. Please supervise your children & pets while visiting the bridge.
Please do not throw objects at flying or roosting bats. We share this bridge peacefully with the bats.
Do not touch or pick up a grounded bat for any reason. If the bat is on the ground, it may be a young bat still learning to fly, or it may be ill. Grounded bats will bite in self-defense.
The bat emergence time from the bridge is not completely predictable. The bats usually emerge after dusk each night. The emergence times vary, known only to the bats themselves. Sometimes the bats surprise viewers & emerge before sunset or well after dark. Try to arrive about 15 - 30 minutes before the official sunset time for that evening. Have a seat & enjoy the evening while waiting for the bats to emerge. On rainy or cold nights, the bats might delay their emergence & will stay home in the crevices if the temperature is below 50 degrees at sunset. The thickness of the emerging cloud of bats varies between several hundred per minute to several thousand. If the emergence is small one night, come back again & again. The highest bat population at Waugh Drive is usually in August & September. Some of the best emergences have been observed in the summer & fall months.
Bat Chats� are held on the first (1st) and third (3rd) FRIDAY nights each month, year-round. To hear the �Bat Chat� about bats in general and the Waugh Bridge Bat Colony, please arrive 30 minutes before sunset and meet at the Viewing Platform, corner of Waugh Dr and Allen Parkway. Houston Area Bat Team volunteers will be available at the bridge to answer questions and assist with viewing. The Houston Area Bat Team volunteers participate from the Houston Parks & Recreation Department, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, several Texas Master Naturalist chapters, the Houston Zoo, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, and the Bayou Preservation Association.
Prior to emerging from the bridge, the bats chatter social calls to each other among the crevices. Please don't stand beneath the bridge during this time because the bats tend to void wastes in preparation for flight. Eventually the bats begin dropping from the crevices, often forming a whirling vortex beneath the bridge. Researchers believe this vortex allows the bats to gain altitude & speed. Then the bats exit the bridge on the east side, often flying along the bayou toward Downtown.
Wildlife predators often lurk along the eastern banks of Buffalo Bayou, waiting for the bats to emerge each evening. Visitors have observed red-tailed hawks, cooper�s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and peregrine falcons swooping into the cloud of bats as they exit the bridge. Night herons often wait on the bayou banks beneath the bridge to catch bats as well. It is all part of the predator-prey cycle of life. Once the light has grown too dim for birds to see well, the birds go to roost and the bats are able to fly freely through the night, hunting for insects.
May through August is �baby bat season� at the bridge. Each female Mexican free-tailed bat gives birth to one pup, usually in May or early June. The first of the little pups begin flying in early July. As the young bats take their first flights around the bridge, they�ve been described as looking like large butterflies due to their rapid wing beats.
The Waugh Drive bats prefer to emerge from the eastern side of the bridge. The Waugh Bat Team volunteers recommend the following spots for optional bat viewing.
1) The Waugh Bridge Bat Colony Observation Deck, corner of Waugh Drive & Allen Parkway, directly across from the American General building. Start here to watch the bats swirling beneath the bridge prior to their emergence.
2) The gently sloping, grassy northeast bayou bank, corner of Memorial Drive & Waugh Drive in Buffalo Bayou Park.
3) The Waugh Drive Bridge sidewalk, standing against the railing on the east side of the bridge, facing the Downtown Houston skyline. Please use caution & be ever mindful of the traffic, pedestrians, and bikers utilizing the bridge as well.
4) The Gus M. Wortham Memorial Fountain along Allen Parkway, east of Waugh Drive. The fountain is lovingly known by Houstonians as the "Dandelion Fountain" due to its shape & design. If you stand along the sidewalk near the bayou tree line, the bats often fly directly overhead.
Parking is always available at Spotts Park or designated parking areas along Allen Parkway.
More than 1,100 bat species have been discovered worldwide. The United States is home to 47 bat species. Texas is home to 33 species of bats.
The largest bat in Texas is the Western Mastiff bat, with a wingspan of 20.9 to 22.4 inches. The smallest Texas bat is the Western Pipistrelle, with a wingspan of 7.5 to 8.5 inches. Both of those bats reside primarily in western Texas.
Greater Houston is home to 11 bat species, all insect-eaters. Those species are: Mexican free-tailed bat, big brown bat, evening bat, Eastern red bat, Northern yellow bat, tri-colored bat (previously known as Eastern pipistrelle), hoary bat, Seminole bat, Southeastern myotis, silver-haired bat, and Rafinesque�s big-eared bat (state threatened species).
�Bats are NOT blind! They have average vision, excellent hearing, and the added ability to use echolocation like an extra sense. Bats in Houston eat insects. They find their insect prey using "echolocation," which is the use of ultra-high frequency sounds for navigation. Bats & dolphins are mammals known to use sound to see! The bat sends out a pulse of sound from its mouth. The sound bounces off an object, such as a moth, and then echoes back to the bat's ears. The bat continues to send out the sound pulses until it catches the insect. Bats use echolocation to catch prey in total darkness. Because they can sense objects in front of them so well, they don't become tangled in people's hair or land of people with specifically-colored shirts, contrary to popular myth.
The Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) is a medium sized bat with a wingspan of 11 to 13 inches. Its life span is approximately 13 years. Mexican free-tailed bats live in large caves, bridges, buildings, tunnels, and bat houses all across Texas.
Baby Mexican free-tailed bats are known as "pups". A female bat gives birth to one pup each spring & temporarily leaves it behind when she emerges to hunt. Each mother is able to find her pup among the thousands in the colony each day by remembering the approximate location where she left her pup, and by recognizing her pup's unique voice & scent.
Mexican free-tailed bats love bugs! Bats are important for pest control since they eat insects & agricultural pests. Favorites on the bat menu are moths, ants & beetles. A Mexican free-tailed bat can eat up to two-thirds of their body weight in insects. The estimated 100 million Mexican free-tailed bats living in the Texas Hill Country could eat up to 1,000 tons of insects each night. Here in Houston, the estimated 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats at Waugh Drive bridge could consume almost 2 ½ tons of insects each night.
The Mexican free-tailed bat is a gentle creature that will not harm visitors if left alone. However, visitors are warned against touching a bat as it may bite in self-defense. Bats, as with all mammals, can catch the rabies virus. Bat Conservation International research states that less than ½ of 1 percent of a bat population may contract the virus. The ill bat dies quietly, unlike myths & stories about dogs & other mammals. However, for these reasons, please do not touch a grounded bat.


text:
Michael Ogden, R.N.
Lieut.-Commander Michael Ogden, R.N. was credited with a serialised feature in Ranger about the sinking of the Scharnhorst. The famous battle took place in December 1943 and was originally written up by Ogden for his 1962 book The Battle of North Cape (London, William Kimber, 1962). This was abridged as Destroy the Scharnhorst for Fleetway's Colourbacks paperback series in 1963.
Ogden was born on 5 April 1923 in Mombasa, Kenya, his full name being John Michael Hubert Ogden. He was the son of John Ogden, a shipping exporter, and his wife Louise (nee Clark). Ogden was educated privately and at schools in England, earning his school certificate from the Polytechnic, London, in 1939. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941 and, at the end of the war, joined the ROyal Navy as an officer and pilot.
He retired in 1958, after 3,500 hours of flying time in British forces. He was the first air detail over Inchon beachhead in 1950 and flew support missions for U.S. Marines in the Korean War.
In 1958 he began freelance writing and contributed stories to Chamber's Journal, Fighting Forces, the Sheffield Weekly Telegraph and other magazines. He was a lecturer in creative writing at South Dorset Technical College in 1960-63.
In the late 1960s, he became chief flying instructor of the Singapore Air Defence Command and was a freelance military aviation training advisor.
He was married in 1946 to Peggy L. Allsopp and had two children; he married secondly to Ivy Doreen Naish and had a son. He lived at various times in Southsea and Walton-on-Thames. He died in 1994, aged 71.
No Calm in the Morning. London, William Kimber & Co., 1960.
The Battle of the North Cape. London, William Kimber & Co., 1962; abridged as Destroy the Scharnhorst, London, Fleetway Colourbacks, 1963.
Labels: Author
Alias Colonel Blood part 19
Roy Cross and his Airfix Dogfight Doubles
Comic Cuts - 22 February 2013
Chuck Palahniuk cover gallery
Alias Colonel Blood part 9
Edward de Roo
Eaglewall's Table Top Navy : A Review
Revisiting The House of Hammer
Bleep and Booster
Thurlow Craig


The BBQ foil method works for cod as well! Don't recommend cooking cod directly on the grill as it will flake apart and fall though!
Place fillets skin side up on grill. As mackerel has omega 3 oils in it, the grill will flare up. This is normal. The fish will stick to the grill initially as well!
After 5-8 mins the mackerel will no longer be stuck, simply flip the fillets over and cook another few minutes with the skin side down. ENJOY!
Lay 5-6 fillets skin side down on a piece of aluminum foil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add a piece of butter to the foil package.
Fold foil to create a closed package.
Place package on grill and cook approx 10 mins or until done!
OPTIONAL: You can add sliced onion to the package, or add bbq sauce before cooking for different flavors. I like to make more than 1 package and try a couple of different options!
Place all purpose flour in a bowl, add salt and pepper and mix together.
Heat frying pan with vegetable oil.
Coat fillets in the flour mixture.
Place in pan and cook until done, flipping halfway.


text:
Delos is the Sacred Island of the Ancient Greek, which according to mythology, was revealed among the waves of the Aegean to Leto, who was being chased by the jealous Hero; it was the refuge where she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis.
On Delos are found the admirably well-preserved ruins of one of the largest, most significant, and best- organized ancient Greek settlements. The island was first settled, probably by the Kares, about the 3rd millennium B.C. In the beginning of the 8th cent. B.C. it developed into a center of worship and was the capital city of an amphictyony of Aegean island.
At the end of the 6th cent B.C., the tendency of the Athenians was to take over the island: IN 540 B.C. Peisistratos ordered the first purification of the sanctuary. As a result of the second purification (426 B.C.) the entire contents of all the islands graves were remove to neighboring Rhenia. Afterwards in order to prevent desecration of the sanctuary, both births and deaths were forbidden on the island of Appolo.
The Athenians consecrated the first "Delia" dedicated to Leto, Artemis, and Apollo. In 315 B.C., when Macedonians arrived on the island, Delos achieved its independence and developed commercially.
During the Roman period, the island thrived, until, until 88 B.C.; the population included Egyptians, Syrians and Italians. Then, after two dreadful attacks during the Mithridatic War, Delos went into decline and was finally abandoned in the 6th cent A.D.
In the 1873 the French Archaeological School of Athens started excavations and restoration enabling the wealth of the islands history to be revealed to everyone who is interested. The Archaeological Museum of Delos house one of Greece's most significant collections, including rare exhibits of ancient sculpture ceramic vessels, epigraphs and wonderful mosaics etc.
The sites of Delos and Rhenia are under the protection of the Ministry of Culture; thus, both the mooring of private boats there and staying overnight without official permission are strictly forbidden.
Beach, Platis Gialos 846 00
© 2022 Kosmoplaz Mykonos Beach Hotel.
Powered By Webee.gr


The Liechtenstein Law on Persons and Companies, (PGR) dates from 1926 and was amended since than several times. The actual last big amendment in 2009 has brought a revision of the foundation law.
The PGR makes provisions among others for the classic company forms of the stock corporation and limited liability company as well as of the foundation and the establishment.
Moreover, the Principality of Liechtenstein is the only continental European country to have included the common law trust in its legal system. The legal basis of the trust is codified in the PGR as well.
Compared to other states the PGR distinguish by a small number of statutory provisions and therefore leaves considerable scope for individual solutions.
We offer our clients the formation and administration of all kind of Liechtenstein legal entities as well as of foreign companies from different jurisdictions.


Back Buddy…. is the only truly effective way to cleanse every part of your back yourself. You can wash, exfoliate, scrub, and massage your back without having to use your hands.
Back Buddy…. can easily be adjusted to your size and shape. Simply position your back against the Back Buddy, move forward and back, up and down for a sensational clean.


text:
Home » Malik Yoba
Exclusive Interview: FRINGE star Seth Gabel talks ALLEGIANCE, his work on FRINGE and ARROW
In the film ALLEGIANCE, which opened theatrically last week in New York and this weekend in Los Angeles and Austin and is available on VOD, Seth Gabel stars as National Guard Lieutenant Danny Sefton. It's 2003 and National Guard companies, much to their surprise (and often dismay), are being shipped to active combat in Iraq. Sefton has gotten himself reassigned so that he won't have to ship out with the company, but when one of his men goes AWOL, he finds himself grappling with a huge moral crisis, to say nothing of physical danger. Florida-born Gabel spent several seasons on […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Original Sin" – Season Finale
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Valerie Cruz, John Pyper-Ferguson, Kathleen Munroe, Liane Balaban Writers: Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe & Zak Penn & Michael Karnow, story by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Nick Copus Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: September 26, 2011 HEROES left this until the very end of the series while TRUE BLOOD started here. ALPHAS has left it until the end of Season 1, but with Season 2 already set, "Original Sin" sets the […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "A Short Time in Paradise"
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Daniel Kash, Garret Dillahunt Writer: Michael Chamoy, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: John Showalter Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: August 29, 2011 Given the premise of ALPHAS, it's a natural fit that the show would explore someone using an Alpha ability to start a cult. ALPHAS being ALPHAS, the cult leader is no false prophet but rather a man of sincere belief, and "A Short Time in Paradise" raises some intriguing issues, albeit it tends to come down strongly […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Catch and Release"
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Valerie Cruz, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Summer Glau, Jane Moffat Writer: Michael Karnow, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Kevin Hooks Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: August 22, 2011 Nothing is very straightforward for the ALPHAS gang for long. "Catch and Release" presents everybody with a set of moral dilemmas, with the various characters landing in different places along the spectrum. As a bonus, Summer Glau guest stars as an Alpha (though the writing/casting veers away from the obvious kick-ass possibilities). Skylar […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Bill and Gary's Excellent Adventure"
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Alaina Huffman, Peter Wingfield, Melissa Hood Writer: Adam Levy, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Leslie Bibman Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: August 15, 2011 It's good for most shows to break from their internal formulas once in awhile, and on ALPHAS, an episode that involves solving an ordinary – that is, non-Alpha – crime is an agreeable change. On the upside, it's fun and it lets us take a longer look at how the characters deal with issues besides what it […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Rosetta"
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Valerie Cruz, Lianne Balaban Writer: Zak Penn, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Karen Gaviola Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: August 1, 2011 Credit ALPHAS with using science fiction to good and controversial allegorical purpose, although this episode has a pivotal plot twist we can see coming. It's hard to blame writer Zak Penn for this – there's a moment where we realize that the story can go down one of two paths, and he naturally picks the more interesting […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Anger Management"
Stars: David Strathairn, Ryan Cartwright, Warren Christie, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Laura Mennell, Malik Yoba, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Devon Graye, Callum Keith Rennie Writers: Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Nick Copus Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM Airdate: July 25, 2011 While not as morally gray as last week's episode – maybe because this week's antagonist has caused much more harm with much less cause – "Anger Management" has a lot of strong scenes. Director Nick Copus seems to have picked up on some thematic similarities with 28 DAYS LATER/28 […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season 1 – "Cause and Effect"
Stars: David Strathairn, Malik Yoba, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan Cartwright, Laura Mennell, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Valerie Cruz, Will McCormack Writer: Julie Siege, series created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Constantine Makris Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM (note: pilot episode is 90 minutes) Airdate: July 18, 2011 ALPHAS is only on its second episode, "Cause and Effect," but it shows nerves of steel in presenting us – and its characters – with the kind of moral gray zone that was last seen with regularity in these parts on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. A heavily chained Alpha, Marcus Ayers (Will McCormack), […]Read On »
Exclusive Interview: Malik Yoba is one of ALPHAS males
In Syfy's new series ALPHAS, airing Mondays at 10 PM, five very different people with unique mental abilities have been brought together to work for the government. The only one of the group who has previous government experience is Malik Yoba's character Bill Harken, a former FBI agent who can summon super-strength at the cost of being depleted afterward. New York-born Yoba has played law enforcement types before – he starred as NYPD Detective J.C. Williams on four seasons of NEW YORK UNDERCOVER and more recently as Jeff Goldblum's deceased partner on RAINES. While Yoba has also portrayed an astronaut […]Read On »
TV Review: ALPHAS – Season One Premiere – "Pilot"
Stars: David Strathairn, Malik Yoba, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan Cartwright, Laura Mennell Writers: Zak Penn & Michael Karnow Director: Jack Bender Network: Syfy, Mondays @ 10 PM (note: pilot episode is 90 minutes) Airdate: July 11, 2011 Shows about people with special abilities come in all flavors. ALPHAS is much lower-key than HEROES or even SANCTUARY, while still having a solid grounding in science-fiction. Moreover, the characters created by Zak Penn & Michael Karnow are engaging on their own and in their interactions. David Straithairn as neurologist/psychiatrist/team leader Lee Rosen is so unassumingly erudite and supportive that you pretty […]Read On »


The Michael Jackson Broadway musical "Don't Stop til You Get Enough" has been postponed from its Fall 2019 opening to Summer 2020.
Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage is writing the script and Christopher Wheeldon is directing/choreographing.
Producers are obviously doing what Motown and CBS did two nights ago when the omitted Michael from their TV special. They're trying to distance themselves from the upcoming HBO documentary that accuses Jackson of child molestation.
The planned Chicago tryout for this summer has been canceled, a press release says, because of an Equity strike. Anyway, that's what they say. But the reality is the HBO doc "Leaving Neverland" is now an issue.
But the show is called "The Life of Michael Jackson" and I really don't think they can ever do it. I'm sorry. But Michael is "hot" right now in a bad way. Telling his real life story would have to include trials and payoffs and hyperbaric chambers and so on. Otherwise, they're going to have a lot of PR trouble, too much for even the most clever flack.


Federal Boulevard is pretty much Denver's own version of It's a Small World... here's our guide to where to eat when you take a tour.
Denver isn't necessarily known for its diversity when it comes to food, but anyone with a willingness to venture out of what's familiar around here knows there are pockets featuring some legit ethnic culinary and cultural hotspots. None arguably more diverse, or authentic, than our very own version of It's a Small World - South Federal Boulevard.
Starting around 38th Ave. and moving south, we've mapped out what we believe to be one of the best eating crawls in town - featuring some of the stuff you're used to, and more importantly, a lot of the stuff you're not. Get after it, and let us know what we missed.
Hands down, the best dim sum in town. We get it - it's not like Denver is known for its burgeoning dim sum scene, but trust us, Star Kitchen is as delicious as it is authentic. A massive room that's always full, and always on point. Grab some shumai off the cart, or get crazy with their menu items. Just get there early if you're going on the weekend during the day. There's always a wait, but they're open until midnight every day of the week.
Just because we live in the middle of the country, doesn't mean we can't get good shellfish, and that's all The Crawling Crab wants to give you. This place looks gimmicky when you walk in, but once you start cracking shells and sucking crawfish heads, you'll fall in love. There's a nice smattering of king, snow, dungeness and blue crab, full-bodied shrimp, and when in season, bomb crawfish. It's all dumped on your table Louisiana style with sausage and potatoes to boot. Get your hands dirty, and probably get some cajun fries, too.
This is one of the best hole in the walls in Denver. Service will be on the slower side, and your server will likely be a little grumpy, but it's all worth it for the great potstickers, bao buns, or any of the noodle bowls. The Beef Noodle Soup is basically a nap in a bowl, if that's what you're looking for.
Pho95 consistently goes head to head with another place featured on our list (Pho Duy), as Denver's best Pho. You won't go wrong with either, but Pho95 will give you a much wider variety of menu options if you're looking to mix things up a bit. Plus you can take the Pho King challenge (2 lbs. of noodles, 2 lbs. of meat, 200 oz. of broth, and a full side plate of veggies). And when you lose, you'll get a pink t-shirt that says "I am a Pho King Loser." It's worth it just for that.
Just East of Federal, The Universal has quickly become an Infatuation favorite for brunch. It's great for groups, but even better for eating solo. Snuggle up to the bar and try out their grits of the day, and then try everything else, too. This is a place you want in your regular rotation.
On the surface, it may feel like your usual after-work-bar-stop, but take a quick look at the menu and you'll see there's some special sh*t going on here. Thought was put into the food, and the execution is commendable. In fact, we're comfortable saying Federal Bar and Grill fits into the "better than most bar food but not quite as good as Fruition" category. Plus, free popcorn.
Here's another location sitting just East of Federal that you've probably driven by 100 times without notice. Next time you'll want to stop. For less than $2, you get a good sized and damn delicious breakfast burrito, filled with cheese, potatoes, eggs, green chili, and a protein that rotates daily. Regardless of the featured meat of the day, we haven't had a bad one yet, and we've had A LOT. Heading up to ski? Buy 6 of these and put them in your pack - they taste just as good cold after a few turns.
There's a reason the Travel Channel and Food Network come here, and it's not just because they have a donkey-sized breakfast burrito challenge. They come, and so do we, for fat burrito and enchilada plates, great tacos, and one of the best burgers in town. It's a known, but absolutely worth knowing, stop along Federal.
Denver has a ton of chains, and this is in fact a chain. But chain isn't a bad word in this case. Yes, Santiago's has built an empire across the Front Range, but not because they started with funding from a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. They've expanded because they make really good food, namely authentic and simple Mexican eats that you can get via drive-through. You can't be mad at that.
Another great Mexican spot that's easy to miss unless you're looking for it. In fact, you might think it's a hot dog stand based on the signage out front. Don't be fooled. They feature a ton of great plates, and have some of the best veggie green chili in town. Hey, even we eat stuff without meat once in awhile.
$$$$ 945 S. Federal Blvd.
Simple, straightforward, delicious. This is some of the best Pho in town, and worth the trek for lunch if you're working anywhere within a thirty minute drive. Nothing hits the spot more on a cold day. Or a hot day.
Another Vietnamese spot that's always packed and is always really good. If you're vegetarian, head here for what we think is the best vegetarian pho in the city.
Some restaurants come with prerequisites. To enjoy Mariscos El Licenciado you must love seafood and have a decent grasp of the Spanish language. Have both? Good, get the coconut stuffed with shrimp.
Located within a stone's throw of Mile High, this dive serves really good street tacos and buckets of beer.
Quite possibly the best bahn mi options and variety in the city. Pay no mind to the angry sandwich makers, it's part of the restaurant's charm. And when you make a sandwich this good for less than $5, you're allowed to be as angry as you want.
Our favorite places to eat and drink around Denver's classic street.
When the snow's dumping, here's where to stop on your drive from Denver out to the mountains.


text:
Objektinformationen

	<button ng-click="map.editObjects()">Objekte bearbeiten</button>
	<button ng-click="map.deleteObjects()">Objekte löschen</button>
	<button ng-click="sideContent.close()">Schließen</button>

Ändern Sie die Darstellung der Geometrie

        <input type="checkbox" name="dashed" id="dashed" title="Gestrichelte Linie">Gestrichelte Linie

Ändern Sie die Farbe der Geomerie.

		<input type='text' id='colorPicker' title="Farbauswahl"/>

Kommentar zu diesem Objekt

		<textarea rows="10" cols="50" ng-model="map.objects.comment" type="text" placeholder="Kommentar hinzufügen"></textarea>

	<input type="checkbox" name="labelGeometry" id="labelGeometry" title="Beschriftung">Geometrie beschriften

	<button style="margin-top: 10px" ng-click="map.saveGeomSettings()">Eigenschaften speichern</button>


text:
Adelöv är en ort i Tranås kommun i Jönköpings län, kyrkby i Adelövs socken, som ligger väster om Tranås. Orten ligger mellan Gränna och Tranås utmed väg 133. Omkring 450 personer bor permanent i Adelöv.

Historia
Den tidigaste användningen av namnet Adelöv är från år 1261 då "Athelef" skrevs i ett donationsbrev. Det var från början namnet på en gård som låg på platsen. Namnet är en sammansättning av två medeltidssvenska ord. "Lef" betyder "arv" och "Athe" var namnet på den som lämnade arvet.

För länge sedan fanns en krog i Adelöv, som numera finns bevarad på Skansen i Stockholm.

Samhället
I byn ligger Adelövs kyrka. Från år 2007 finns i byn lågstadieskolan Adelövs Friskola, åk F-6.

Idrott och evenemang
Från 1734 hålls det första torsdagen i september varje år en marknad som besöks av uppemot 50 000 personer.

Ortens idrottsklubb Adelövs IK skapades 1933 och spelar fotboll i Division 6 Jönköping Norra. En av föreningens grundare var Lennart Hyland.

Referenser

Noter

Orter i Tranås kommun

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Why is USB cable maximum length is shorter than in RS232? Why do we need to buffer USB signal if the cable is longer than 5m?
Is that because a signal voltage drop?
Is that because it drives currents?

A: It's not really possible to "buffer" USB, at least not in the usual sense of the word. Typically, buffering means electrical amplification and perhaps signal regeneration.
With USB, the host drives the entirety of the bus. A host sends out a request, and the device has to issue a response to the host. The beginning of the response has to arrive at the host a certain time after the request has finished transmitting. With too long of a cable, the propagation delay is too long for the response to reach the host in time.
So there are workarounds, and none of them involve simple "buffering" since the buffering adds additional delays, and we need to somehow make the host more tolerant of a longer delay.
There are two classes of workarounds:

*

*Workarounds that insert physical or virtual hubs. If a host enumerates a hub on the bus, the hub itself adds an extra delay, and there's another potentially full-length cable between the hub and the host. Any requests for devices that attach downstream from the hub are scheduled with additional delays.

*

*You can insert a single-port hub every 4m of the cable, with up to 7 hubs in series. The limitation is 7 levels of hubs from the host to the ultimate device, so if there are any hubs upstream of your contraption, you need to reduce the number of hubs accordingly. Many USB hosts include a single-level of internal hub, so a realistic limit would be 28m of cable, with 6 hubs in series. All hubs but the first one will have to pretend to be self-powered.

*You can add virtual hubs, with a beefier transceiver with preemphasis, right at the plug that goes into the host, then transmit USB traffic over a longer cable. As long as the signals received by the device at the end of such an extended cable are within spec, and as long as your receiver can recover the data sent by the standard device over a long cable, you'll be OK. The virtual hubs are added so that the host allows the long delay - but of course there are no physical hubs, just an impersonation of them.

*Workarounds that emulate a device that appears "slow" at a higher level of protocol. That's how some Cat-5 USB "extenders" work. There are five partners here: the real host (rHost), an emulated device seen by it (eDev), a long cable, an emulated host (eHost), and the devices that see it at the far end of the cable (rDev).
Initially, the eDev pretends not to be there. At some time the eHost sees that an rDev was plugged in. It enumerates it, and forwards the data to the eDev. The eDev then emulates a plug-in event, and the rHost enumerates it. The rHost believes that it sees rDev, but it's only eDev being there, pretending. Similarly, the rDev thinks that is sees an rHost, but it's only an eHost being there, pretending.
Eventually, the rHost wants to issue some transfers to the rDev it believes is there, to make some use of it. For IN transfers, the eDev pretends to have no data (replies with a NAK). The transfer request is forwarded to the eHost, which re-executes it with rDev. The results of this are forwarded back to eDev, which uses the results the next time the host attempts the transfer.
For OUT transfers, the eDev has to guess as to what the behavior of rDev would be. There are various heuristics and behaviors that can be attempted here. One way is for eDev to always receive the data and reply with an ACK. The transfer is forwarded to eHost, which then replays the transfer to rDev. Ideally, rDev will eventually consume the data and ACK it. If this doesn't succeed, or if the rDev replies with a STALL, the best the eDev can do is act this way on the next transfer from the host. Alternatively, the eDev can always NAK the transfer, with the usually correct assumption that the host will simply re-try the identical transfer later. Even though the original transfer was NAK-ed, it is forwarded to eHost, which then executes the transfer with rDev. Whatever rDev's reply is, becomes the reply of the eDev as soon as it learns of it.
Realistic implementations will start with conservative heuristics that involve full roundtrip to rDev for all transfers that can be postponed by a NAK. As the transfers proceed, rDev's expected behavior can be learned, and eDev can become less conservative. The "extender" can use the knowledge of standard USB classes, and some vendor-specific class/device knowledge/blacklists/whitelists to offer better performance as well.

A: Most data-transmission-over-cable schemes have a decent internationally recognised standard describing how to implement them, including a specification for the "characteristic impedance" of the cable (think of this as resistance, but applies to AC), termination impedance (the 'resistance' at the end of the connection that's needed to avoid reflections of your signal bouncing back up the cable back toward the sender), often a specified 'slew rate' (the time it takes for the signal(s) to transition from a 0-state to a 1-state or vice-versa), and hence the maximum number of transitions between 0/1 per second (i.e. the kbps / Mbps / Gbps), and hence how long the cable can be before signal integrity degrades & stuff stops working right.
Compared to USB, RS232 has bugger all specification on cable type, characteristic impedance, slew rate, cable length, connector type.  Sure, 25-pin & 9-pin 'D' connectors were common, but in reality RS232 was designed into all sorts of connenctors & cables & products with no real specification to say otherwise.  In practise, with RS232 you can usually go longer distances by dropping to a lower bits-per-second (aka 'baud') rate.  The maximum distance you can achieve will also be determined in significant part on the impedance of your cable, whether or not it's shielded, termination at the end, and so on.
and in comparing RS232 to USB, you're comparing a 'standard' from the 1960s that pretty much topped out at 115k2 (with rare exceptions), with one from the 1990s & 2000s that started at 1.5Mbps, an order of magnitude faster, then 12Mbps (nearly 100x faster), then 480Mbps (nearly 5000x faster), but which meant that cable parameters and cable length played an important part in making it work reliably.  It was designed as a desktop peripheral connection standard, so 5m was deemed acceptable, and then all the parameters of the cables & connectors & speeds was laid down from that point.  If there was a way to make USB go slower, you could probably make it run on longer cables (without a repeater).

A: Speed of transmission matters because USB is half-duplex: in order to transmit a response, the bus must be turned around and data transmitted in the other direction. So the host sends out data and waits for an acknowledgement or a response. All transfers are controlled by the host. The device then has a certain (fairly short) time in which to respond. This time is roughly the time taken for two signal trips along a 5m cable.
(I can't find references right this second, but the relevant spec documents are public)
Edit: thanks to psmears for finding this section

Cables and Long-Haul Solutions

*

*Why are there cable length limits, and what are they?

  A:   The cable length was limited by a cable delay spec of 26ns to
  allow for reflections to settle at the transmitter before the next bit
  was sent. Since USB uses source termination and voltage-mode drivers,
  this has to be the case, otherwise reflections can pile up and blow
  the driver. This does not mean the line voltage has fully settled by
  the end of the bit; with worst-case undertermination. However, there's
  been enough damping by the end of the bit that the reflection
  amplitude has been reduced to manageable levels. The low speed cable
  length was limited to 18ns to keep transmission line effects from
  impacting low speed signals.

*I want to build a cable longer than 5 meters, why won't this work?

  A:   Even if you violated the spec, it literally wouldn't get you very
  far. Assuming worst-case delay times, a full speed device at the
  bottom of 5 hubs and cables has a timeout margin of 280ps. Reducing
  this margin to 0ps would only give you an extra 5cm, which is hardly
  worth the trouble.

So my answer is only half-right: the round trip limit is for a worst-case chain of hubs and cables, for a total depth of 25m.
Dan Neely is also right that USB was always supposed to be the lowest-cost solution for "slow" peripherals like keyboards, mice, printers etc. If you wanted full duplex for more speed and more distance, 100baseT ethernet is the natural choice.

A: See this page, https://superuser.com/questions/64744/maximum-length-of-a-usb-cable.

Q1: How long of a cable can I use to connect my device?
  A1: In practice, the USB specification limits the length of a cable between full speed devices to 5 meters (a little under 16 feet 5 inches). For a low speed device the limit is 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches).
Q2: Why can't I use a cable longer than 3 or 5m?
  A2: USB's electrical design doesn't allow it. When USB was designed, a decision was made to handle the propagation of electromagnetic fields on USB data lines in a way that limited the maximum length of a USB cable to something in the range of 4m. This method has a number of advantages and, since USB is intended for a desktop environment, the range limitations were deemed acceptable. If you're familiar with transmission line theory and want more detail on this topic, take a look at the USB signals section of the developers FAQ.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Katie Beth's school year has come to an end. This school year has seen some huge changes, maybe too many. We transferred Katie Beth back to Holy Family School. There were many familiar faces and friends plus many new ones. The school is going through the throws of many changes for the good including expanding grades, advance classes, and much more.
But, we have been looking for houses in Rome, Georgia so Katie Beth can go to Darlington School were Hope is the principal of the K-8. In Decemeber, we found a house that would work for us. After the huge move, we started Katie Beth in Darlington School. The pressures of the move have taken their toll on all of us, but especially Katie Beth. She has done well with her grades and she has started to build new friendships.


text:
Zeta Explained
Zeta (uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ζῆτα, Greek, Modern (1453-);: ζήτα|label=[[Demotic Greek]], classical in Greek, Ancient (to 1453); pronounced as /d͡zɛ̌:ta/ or in Greek, Ancient (to 1453); pronounced as /zdɛ̌:ta/ zē̂ta; in Greek, Modern (1453-); pronounced as /ˈzita/ zíta) is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter zayin . Letters that arose from zeta include the Roman Z and Cyrillic З.
Unlike the other Greek letters, this letter did not take its name from the Phoenician letter from which it was derived; it was given a new name on the pattern of beta, eta and theta.
The word zeta is the ancestor of zed, the name of the Latin letter Z in Commonwealth English. Swedish and many Romanic languages (such as Italian and Spanish), do not distinguish between the Greek and Roman forms of the letter; "zeta" is used to refer to the Roman letter Z as well as the Greek letter.
The letter ζ represents the voiced alveolar fricative pronounced as /z/ in Modern Greek.
The sound represented by zeta in Greek before 400 BCE is disputed. See Ancient Greek phonology and Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching.
Most handbooks agree on attributing to it the pronunciation (like Mazda), but some scholars believe that it was an affricate pronounced as /dz]]// (like adze). The modern pronunciation was, in all likelihood, established in the Hellenistic age and may have already been a common practice in Classical Attic; for example, it could count as one or two consonants metrically in Attic drama.
Arguments for
PIE *zd becomes ζ in Greek (e.g. *sísdō > Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἵζω). Contra: these words are rare and it is therefore more probable that *zd was absorbed by *dz (< *dj, *gj, *j); further, a change from the cluster /zd/ to the affricate /dz/ is typologically more likely than the other way around (which would violate the sonority hierarchy).
Without there would be an empty space between and in the Greek sound system (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πρέσβυς, σβέννυμι, φάσγανον), and a voiced affricate would not have a voiceless correspondent. Contra: a) words with and are rare, and exceptions in phonological and (even more so) phonotactic patterns are in no way uncommon; b) there was in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὅσδε, εἰσδέχται etc.; and c) there was in fact a voiceless correspondent in Archaic Greek (> Attic, Boeotian Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ττ, Ionic, Doric Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σσ).
Persian names with zd and z are transcribed with ζ and σ respectively in Classical Greek (e.g. Artavazda = Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀρτάβαζος/Ἀρτάοζος ~ Zara(n)ka- = Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σαράγγαι. Similarly, the Philistine city Ashdod was transcribed as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἄζωτος.
Some inscriptions have -ζ- written for a combination -ς + δ- resulting from separate words, e.g. θεοζοτος for θεος δοτος "god-given".
Some Attic inscriptions have -σζ- for -σδ- or -ζ-, which is thought to parallel -σστ- for -στ- and therefore to imply a pronunciation.
ν disappears before ζ like before σ(σ), στ: e.g. *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πλάνζω > Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πλᾰ́ζω, *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σύνζυγος > Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σύζυγος, *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: συνστέλλω > Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σῠστέλλω. Contra: ν may have disappeared before /dz/ if one accepts that it had the allophone in that position like /ts/ had the allophone : cf. Cretan Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἴαττα ~ Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀποδίδονσα (Hinge).
Verbs beginning with ζ have Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐ- in the perfect reduplication like the verbs beginning with στ (e.g. Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔζηκα = Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔσταλται). Contra: a) The most prominent example of a verb beginning with στ has in fact Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἑ- < *se- in the perfect reduplication (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἕστηκα); b) the words with /ts/ > σ(σ) also have Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐ-: Homer Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔσσυμαι, -ται, Ion. Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐσσημένῳ.
Alcman, Sappho, Alcaeus and Theocritus have σδ for Attic-Ionic ζ. Contra: The tradition would not have invented this special digraph for these poets if was the normal pronunciation in all Greek. Furthermore, this convention is not found in contemporary inscriptions, and the orthography of the manuscripts and papyri is Alexandrine rather than historical. Thus, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σδ indicates only a different pronunciation from Hellenistic Greek, i.e. either or .
The grammarians Dionysius Thrax and Dionysius of Halicarnassus class ζ with the "double" (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: διπλᾶ) letters ψ, ξ and analyse it as σ + δ. Contra: The Roman grammarian Verrius Flaccus believed in the opposite sequence, δ + σ (in Velius Longus, De orthogr. 51), and Aristotle says that it was a matter of dispute (Metaph. 993a) (though Aristotle might as well be referring to a pronunciation). It is even possible that the letter sometimes and for some speakers varied in pronunciation depending upon word position, i.e., like the letter X in English, which is (usually) pronounced [z] initially but [gz] or [ks] elsewhere (cf. Xerxes).
Some Attic transcriptions of Asia Minor toponyms (βυζζαντειον, αζζειον, etc.) show a -ζζ- for ζ; assuming that Attic value was, it may be an attempt to transcribe a dialectal pronunciation; the reverse cannot be ruled completely, but a -σδ- transcription would have been more likely in this case. This suggests that different dialects had different pronunciations. (For a similar example in the Slavic languages, cf. Serbo-Croatian (iz)među, Russian между, Polish między, and Czech mezi, "between".)
Arguments for [dz]
The Greek inscriptions almost never write ζ in words like Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὅσδε, τούσδε or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εἰσδέχται, so there must have been a difference between this sound and the sound of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἵζω, Ἀθήναζε. Contra: a few inscriptions do seem to suggest that ζ was pronounced like σδ; furthermore, all words with written σδ are morphologically transparent, and written σδ may simply be echoing the morphology. (Note, for example, that we write "ads" where the morphology is transparent, and "adze" where it is not, even though the pronunciation is the same.)
It seems improbable that Greek would invent a special symbol for the bisegmental combination, which could be represented by σδ without any problems., on the other hand, would have the same sequence of plosive and sibilant as the double letters of the Ionic alphabet ψ and ξ, thereby avoiding a written plosive at the end of a syllable. Contra: the use of a special symbol for is no more or no less improbable than the use of ψ for and ξ for, or, for that matter, the later invention ϛ (stigma) for, which happens to be the voiceless counterpart of . Furthermore, it is not clear that ζ was pronounced when it was originally invented. Mycenean Greek had a special symbol to denote some sort of affricate or palatal consonant; ζ may have been invented for this sound, which later developed into . (For a parallel development, note that original palatal Proto-Slavic developed into in Old Church Slavonic, with similar developments having led to combinations such as зд and жд being quite common in Russian. Also, the Cyrillic letter Shcha has a not dissimilar variation between /ɕ(ː)/ in Russian, /ʃt͡ʃ/ in Ukrainian, and /ʃt/ in Bulgarian.)
Boeotian, Elean, Laconian and Cretan δδ are more easily explained as a direct development from *dz than through an intermediary *zd. Contra: a) the sound development dz > dd is improbable (Mendez Dosuna); b) ν has disappeared before ζ > δδ in Laconian Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πλαδδιῆν (Aristoph., Lys. 171, 990) and Boeotian Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σαλπίδδω (Sch. Lond. in Dion. Thrax 493), which suggests that these dialects have had a phase of metathesis (Teodorsson).
Greek in South Italy has preserved until modern times. Contra: a) this may be a later development from or under the influence of Italian; b) even if it is derived from an ancient, it may be a dialectal pronunciation.
Vulgar Latin inscriptions use the Greek letter Z for indigenous affricates (e.g. zeta = diaeta), and the Greek ζ is continued by a Romance affricate in the ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ίζω > Italian. -eggiare, French -oyer. Italian, similarly, has consistently used Z for and (Lat. prandium > It. pranzo, "lunch"). Contra: whether the pronunciation of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ζ was, or, di would probably still have been the closest native Latin sound; furthermore, the inscriptions are centuries later than the time for which is assumed.
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σδ is attested only in the lyric poetry of the Greek isle of Lesbos and the city-state of Sparta during the Archaic Age and in Bucolic poetry from the Hellenistic Age. Most scholars would take this as an indication that the -pronunciation existed in the dialects of these authors.
The transcriptions from Persian by Xenophon and testimony by grammarians support the pronunciation in Classical Attic.
is attested from c. 350 BC in Attic inscriptions, and was the probable value in Koine.
or may have existed in some other dialects in parallel.
Zeta has the numerical value 7 rather than 6 because the letter digamma (also called 'stigma' as a Greek numeral) was originally in the sixth position in the alphabet.
The uppercase zeta is not used, because it is normally identical to Latin Z. The lower case letter can be used to represent:
The Riemann zeta function in mathematics
The damping ratio of an oscillating system in engineering and physics
The effective nuclear charge on an electron in quantum chemistry
The electrokinetic potential in colloidal systems
The lag angle in helicopter blade dynamics
Relative vorticity in the atmosphere and ocean
A number whose discrete values (eigenvalues) are the positive roots of transcendental equations, used in the series solutions for transient one-dimensional conduction equations
The heat flux across or through a plane (industrial materials technology)
The Weierstrass zeta-function
In physical chemistry equilibrium computations (using lower case Zeta (ʒ)), the extent of reaction
The name Zeta was a name used in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season as the record-breaking Tropical Storm Zeta.
Greek Zeta / Coptic Zata
Mathematical Zeta
These characters are used only as mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using the normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.
Z, z - Latin
З, з - Ze (Cyrillic)
Allen, William Sidney. Vox Graeca: A guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 56–59.
Hinge, George. "Die Aussprache des griechischen Zeta", in Die Sprache Alkmans: Textgeschichte und Sprachgeschichte. PhD dissertation. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2001, pp. 212–234 = http://alkman.georgehinge.com/zeta.html
Méndez Dosuna, Julián. "On for in Greek dialectal inscriptions", Die Sprache 35 (1993): 82–114.
Rohlfs, Gerhard. "Die Aussprache des z (ζ) im Altgriechischen", Das Altertum 8 (1962): 3–8.
Teodorsson, Sven-Tage. "On the pronunciation of ancient greek zeta", Lingua 47, no. 4 (April 1979): 323–32.
Teodorsson, Sven-Tage. "The pronunciation of zeta in different Greek dialects", in Dialectologia Graeca: Actas del II Coloquio internacional de dialectología griega, eds. E. Crespo et al. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1993, pp. 305–321.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Zeta".


text:
HomeAboutDirectors & OfficeNational Meeting of Diocesan Directors 2008
National Meeting of Diocesan Directors 2008
NATIONAL MEETING - DIRECTORS OF CLERGY LIFE AND MINISTRY
MacKillop Place, North Sydney, 12th-16th May 2008
Conference theme: "Risk and Hope: Changing Faces of the Australian Church"
Download the original 8pp document here: Report National Directors Meeting 2008 (pdf) [54.57 Kb]
Bishops Don Sproxton (Perth) and Brian Heenan (Rockhampton), Directors: John Allen (Sale), John Armstrong (Canberra-G), Martin Ashe (Melbourne), Peter Bianchini (Perth), Kerry Crowley (Cairns), John Daly (Rockhampton), Patrick de Silva (Broome), Ian Dempsey (Adelaide), Paul Finucane (Wilcannia-F), John Kelleher (Darwin), Olix Kenez (Ukranian), Terry Lyons (Townsville), Paul McDonald (Lismore), John McGrath (Wagga), Brian Moloney (Broken Bay), Michael Morrissey (Geraldton), Adrian Noonan (Port Pirie), Ross O'Brien (Armidale), Chris Reay (Sandhurst), Chris Roberts (rep. Wollongong), Dave O'Connor (Brisbane), David O'Hearn (Maitland-Newcastle),Patrick O'Regan (Bathurst), Vince Redden (Sydney), Barry Ryan (Ballarat), Frank Devoy (Director, Office for Clergy Life and Ministry) and Paul Simmons (Coordinator, Permanent Diaconate). Chris De Souza (Parramatta) was present during some sessions.
Council Members: Paul Cashen msc (Adelaide), Kevin Croker (Canberra); for some of the time, Carmel Crawford (Melbourne), Michael Hogan (Kingscliff), Anthony Aspinall (Narre Warren).
APOLOGIES:
John Girdauskas (Hobart - visit of Cross and Icon for WYD); Martin Langran (Military - deployed to the Sinai); Jeff Scully (Toowoomba, commitment to a mission). There was no priest present from Bunbury Diocese. From the Council: Sr Susan Richardson (Melbourne).
The National gathering was organised this year by the Directors of the Victorian Province led by Fr Martin Ashe.
MONDAY EVENING, OPENING LITURGY 12th May
The opening liturgy was celebrated at 8 p.m. It had a Pentecost theme, being the day after Pentecost Sunday. Each Director and Council member brought a red stole or garment to place in the centre of the room for the duration of the Conference.
Following the Opening Ceremony, Peter Bianchini introduced each member of the new Council who were present at the national gathering for the first time.
TUESDAY 13th May. Morning Prayer at 9.00am
Session 1: Professor Des Cahill: "Changing Australian Church and the Cross Cultural Dimension". (Lecturer in Multicultural Studies at RMIT Melbourne).
Dr Cahill spoke in general terms of the significant changes in the world since the terrorist attack in the United States in 2001. This change meant government concern for, and involvement in, effective acculturation processes in Australia. He spoke of the Parliament of World Religions being hosted in Australia in December this year, and its concern for religious moderation and good relations among ethnic religions.
He spoke of the multi-skilled and multi-tasked nature of priesthood, explaining that overseas priests arriving in Australia needed to be multi-skilled and multi-tasked also in their new culture. He explained that all migration is a risk and all who emigrate to another country are at risk; many return because things don't work out for them.
He spoke four basic attributes that are needed in the personality of the priests coming to Australia:
1. Personal autonomy - having a sense of being personally autonomous, taking control of his life, making decisions, and carrying them out on his own;
2. Emotional resilience - referring to the ability to bounce back emotionally when things don't work out, and then move on;
3. Flexibility and openness - being open to new experiences and flexible in adapting to them;
4. Perceptual acuity - having a natural ability to deal with organisational and legal requirements in the normal conduct of life, for example, arranging one's banking, dealing with the Post Office, with health authorities, social security departments, and the like.
He explained also that learning English as a second language requires a certain aptitude in each individual; it is not simple. He also addressed the issue of mentoring the new overseas priest, explaining that it often doesn't work out and that we need to give a lot of attention to this issue. In speaking of the document "Graced by Migration" (from the Bishop's Office for Migrants and Refugees, which he had a hand in producing), he pointed out that the migrant is an asset not a problem. And as long as we looked at the migrant as a problem we would make their adjustment in Australia difficult. We need to ask what are their assets, how can we draw on their cultural knowledge, and how can we link the parish to which they have been assigned in Australia with their home parish.
Dr Cahill spoke of the changing shape of Australia, drawing on statistics from the census; he provided the gathering two hand outs on the changing face of Australia. Points included:
1. Greater diversification: shift in migration from UK and southern Europe to Asia; Language change from Italian to Chinese; Migration into rural settlements in Victoria and SA; Growth in the catholic population in India.
2. Religious profile: Catholics are experiencing major slippage, including a loss of about 10% to other faiths; Buddhism is largest growth; young people attracted to spirituality and reincarnation; also, marked growth in new-age spiritualities;
3. Different models of parish or pastoral care in practice;
4. The baggage the overseas priest brings with him: expectations of abundant prosperity; ignorance of Australian History - church and society; cultural superiority.
He then asked the directors to reflect and suggest what might be the various outlooks, attitudes, presumptions found in overseas priests as they look towards coming to Australia. Some of these included:
• Suspicion of racism among Australians
• Issues centring on leaving family
• Fear of decadent Western world
• Piety - issue of popular religion
• Higher status of priest
• Etiquette differences and behavioural attitudes
• Hierarchy of church and social status - understanding of authority
• History of hurt - inter-faith issues
• Inter-ethnic prejudices
• Money-stipend: motivation
• Small country communities - isolation
Dr Cahill spoke about the complexity of different languages, factors relating to the structure of discourse; linguistic queues and tonal language; the eastern mindset and its accepting of silence; smiling and what it means across cultures; the issue of eye contact and what it means across cultures; interpreting gestures; matters relating to territory and personal space, and so forth.
Session 2: Fr Noel Connolly: "Giftedness and challenge in an increasingly multicultural Church".
(Fr Noel Connolly is the Regional Director of the Columbans in Australasia).
In an effort to help the clergy handle the complexities of an increasingly multicultural church, he presented some foundational information about the nature of culture, providing a handout of his presentation.
He spoke of culture as a powerful but underrated influence in our lives and stories, and then went on to provide a possible definition of culture:
"culture is the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration; basic assumptions that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems." (Schein)
Fr Noel then spoke of culture being comprised of the things we take for granted - i.e., accepting the unspoken realities in the world about us allow us to feel at home within the culture. Every society, he said, puts an order on its environment based on its needs and values, and then proceeds to take many things for granted. He spoke of the formation of culture and of the exercise of common sense. He presented a parable, "How a Village learned to cope with lions".
Fr Noel's handout included information about the power of the culture, culture shock (another parable - "Fred crosses the mountain and returns"), and a description of culture shock.
The symptoms of culture shock include feelings of loneliness, anger, frustration or irritability, and the loss of sense of humour; withdrawal, spending excessive amounts of time alone or with fellow nationals and not with locals; preoccupation with health and hypersensitivity; loss of identity, lack of confidence, feelings of insecurity and adequacy; feelings of being lost, overlooked, cheated or abused; negative feelings about the host culture and people - "they are bad because they make us feel bad ..."; compulsive eating and drinking, and excessive sleeping; boredom, tiredness and an inability to concentrate or work effectively.
The handout spoke of culture shock as an opportunity for growth, providing opportunities for us to see these people as a resource for the church and the world, and a real positive challenge for all. They are an asset - the starting point, not a problem. Today's biggest challenge, he said, is facing otherness and difference in a Christian context.
He spoke of communicating across cultures; of the experience of the medical world; genuine communication and what it means, and becoming human together. He then explained St Paul's way of being human and St Paul's solution, which included the conviction that Christ loves us and loves all without exception; the understanding that Christian communities must be built across all boundaries, and the realisation that we can only become human together.
Session 3: The AFTERNOON session involved a general discussion on the two morning presentations. After an initial reflection by Noel Connolly on the Vatican Council and the ongoing nature of Revelation, we were asked to consider how God was calling us through our own experience, inviting us to listen to each other in a new way, and inviting us to experience a shift in our understanding.
There are many strategic challenges facing the church and society today; changes inviting us to appreciate the mutual benefits across a multicultural church and nation. There was discussion about the wisdom of seminarians from other lands being trained in Australia. While not wishing to be absolute, nonetheless some questions were raised: do they choose themselves; are the problems they face simply those of growing up and, if so, is it wise that they train here in another culture during such growth; are we capable of understanding what they mean by 'yes' and 'no'? If we bring in seminarians at all, we need ensure they are older-mature--rather than younger. These are important issues which should cause us to hesitate about training younger men from other lands.
The magnitude of the issue was explained, namely, that from the end of 2004, 410 visas were granted: approx. 207 for priests, 173 for religious sisters and brothers.
Frank Devoy explained the two-step program of acculturation for priests coming from overseas. The first stage related to nuts-and-bolts issues, addressed in a document prepared by his Office and approved by the Australian bishops in November 2005, entitled "Some Issues to Consider when Welcoming Priests from Overseas" (issues relating to initial investigations in home diocese, medical and hospital cover, obtaining a car licence, preparation of food and adjusting to it; washing of clothes, dietary habits, language assessment/accent training, establishing bank accounts, relationship with diocesan authorities, boundary issues, cultural differences, etc).
The second stage, approved by the Australian bishops at their meeting in May 2008 (entitled "Welcoming, Enabling, and Integrating Overseas Priests: A Proposal for the Australian Church"), calls for a four to five day live in program (repeated as often as is necessary), staged at the provincial level, by a properly accredited team in each province, under the guidance - if required - of a national Acculturation Resource Team of approximately 5 people (yet to be approved by the Bishops Commission on Church Ministry). This program is designed to cover 10 topics of critical concern, each listed in the approved proposal.
The first stage is being attempted in each diocese at the moment and may need some sensitive adjustments to the process of welcoming, enabling, and integrating these men into their new diocese, their new deanery, and their new parish. The second stage has been in place in the Victorian province for a year or so, proving to be very effective.
Other issues were raised such as: 1) how to maintain Australian values and culture in a multicultural setting, realising that the dominant Australian culture will necessarily change with the onset of a greater migration - a gift not a problem; 2) the value of an Australian Catholic history to assist migrants in understanding what they are encountering; 3) the government, wishing to deal positively with the changing face of Australia, moved from documenting concerns to the development of an induction process; 4) dealing with married (Melkite) priests who are assistant priests in parishes of the West.
What is particularly clear is that good mentoring is absolutely necessary. In the initial years overseas priests certainly need strong support. It seems clear that a greater effort needs to be made in understanding how best to prepare mentors, choosing them carefully, and monitoring their effectiveness.
WEDNESDAY 14th May. Morning Prayer at 9.00 am.
Session 4: Fr Tony Kelly CSsR: "Facing the future with hope." (See his book: "Eschatology and Hope," Orbis Books, New York, 2006). A somewhat limited summary follows:
The parable of hope is found in the great symphony of Christ death and resurrection. Hope involves going beyond our present projection. In the horizon of hope, death is not so bad as it is the door. Christian life is not replaying the highlights of a game that is won, rather Christian life is the play itself. Hope begins by living within the limits of our individual lives, realising that each moment can be filled with the presence of God - the sacrament of the present moment. Enjoying what we can do in the present moment is part of hope.
There are so many pressures in our world pushing us into other unfulfilled moments. In a consumer world our language finds it difficult to speak of hope - a world in which there is deep cultural depression, a strange sense of isolation in a country where we all seem to be competitors. There we can experience the total isolation of failure - the exaggeration of evil, as it were. Hope is born of the understanding that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Hope is finding a way of expressing that God is love - one knows God's hope for us by participating in the life of God.
Drawing on the "God is love" from 1John, Fr Tony explained that there are seven key terms, and if anyone is lacking, a complete experience of "God as love" is not present:
? Father: the origin of all there is in love
? Son: is the self-giving of God in human form that we can relate to
? Cross: at the heart of all we fear, love is found
? Resurrection: God's love is not defeated -- the Risen Christ is the heart of our acceptance of God's transforming love
? Holy Spirit: God's love continues to be communicate to us in the everyday
? Church: love actualised, enacted and celebrated in history: sacrament of salvation
? Eschatology: the love yet to come continues the experience of what we have received: hence our hope isn't fatuous or hollow.
We learn from Saint Paul (Romans 5:1-5) that Christian hope is justified in faith - we boast in our hope of life in Christ. We boast even in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope that we have will not let us down, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which he has given us.
There seems to be no word for hope other than perhaps 'patient endurance'; but, above all, most accurate metaphor for hope is "God is love". Our culture seems often negative in its language, in many ways 'killing' any expression of hope. In the ordinary passage of life there seems to be a failure in imagination, a faculty given to induce hope. The language of the psalms provides a full repertoire of human emotions from everyday life; words and emotions are there that should, in a parallel way, assist us placing hope in God - God's love is abundant in the face of life's realities.
Australian poetry can stretch our imagination and teach us the language of hope: e.g. Les Murray, "Absolutely nothing", the reflection on a man weeping in Martin Place. The appearance of Jesus after the resurrection made the writing of the Gospels possible - his appearance gave them the hope and the imagination required to write his message. This provides us the imagination, the hope, the opportunity to follow him as the disciples did. ... "God is not the God of the dead but of the living".
Christ, like no one living memory, was able to speak to a God free of cultural strictures, thus bringing hope to the poor, the needy, the outsiders. The kingdom of God was open to everyone, literally - even enemies. In the face of total rejection, the Christ of hope was able to say "today you will be with me in paradise".
Session 5: This session was devoted to "The Way of Jesus: a Meditation," written and read by Tony Kelly. A copy is attached.
The AFTERNOON was free for Directors to visit the City and enjoy an evening meal.
THURSDAY 15th May. Morning Prayer at 9.00am
Session 6: The first part of the MORNING was set aside for group discussion, across provinces, sharing initiatives and challenges. Each of the six groups was asked to identify two valuable points of interest or challenges:
1. Proposed Synod in Cairns over a five year period.
2. Concern about stress in clergy life.
3. The value of Regional meetings in different centres of the Region - insight in to local scene.
4. Importance of social gatherings for priests - the Friday luncheon get-together, anniversaries.
5. The importance of good conference speakers and retreat directors.
6. Retired priests' foundation set up in Sydney.
7. Shared resources by Broken Bay and Wilcannia-Forbes dioceses.
8. Supervision for clergy in remote areas (John Armstrong).
9. Mini-sabbaticals for 25th, 40th, 50th and purchase of property for this purpose (Cenicle Brisbane)
10. Initiatives for the wellbeing of priests in retirement; get-togethers 3 times a year.
11. Clergy care, health; the Maitland-Newcastle clergy care unit.
12. The importance of sabbaticals and problems getting a supply.
Session 7: Frank Devoy presented the Director's Report with these points:
1. Congratulated and thanked to the Victorian province for their excellent organisation, especially Martin Ashe and Megan Mitcham.
2. Thanked the Council, and Bishops Don and Brian for their continued warm support.
3. Thanked each Diocesan Director for the fine work being done around Australia and spoke of importance of Directors working at home as a team; the role is not an end in itself.
4. Eastern Churches: possible appointments of DCLMs for Melkite, Maronite, Chaldeans, with implication for NSW province numbers-wise.
5. ACBC approval of Acculturation proposal for O/seas priests; details to come from +Michael Malone.
6. The National Assembly of Diocesan Priests in NZ - possible model for provinces here; continued link with NZ supported on both sides of the Tasman.
7. Spiritual Directors - developing a list.
8. Explained the cost structures at MacKillop and their profession approach; each Director continues to be subsidised by Frank's Office $200 per head.
9. Bishops Commission for Church Ministry approved the updating of website.
10. Importance of thinking and imagining 'mission in parochial districts' rather than tight isolated parish structures, as parish boundaries blur with amalgamations and clustering.
Strong call from young priests overseas to be trained in leadership, administrative and interpersonal skills; necessary here too as PPs are younger and without apprenticeship.
11. Director (Frank) completes 3 years in the job this year (with a further year in 2009); will be reviewed later this year.
Session 8: The gathering met in Regional groups to discuss the dates for National Meeting for 2009 and dates and places for Regional Meetings in 2009. The following dates and places were decided:
Regional Meetings 2009: 19-22 January 2009, NSW, at Kensington Sydney; 26-29 January, Queensland in Brisbane; 9-11 February, Victoria & Tasmania in Melbourne; 2-6 February, SANTWA in Port Pirie.
National Meeting 2009: 13-17 July 2009 at Mary MacKillop Place.
Session 9: The CLOSING session took pace at 4pm with each Director nominating a topic of interest for future consideration or an expression of appreciation for this meeting:
o How to live in a healthy way in the new situation we face.
o Shift from sense of localised parish priest to sense of mission in parochial district.
o Re-imagining the priesthood and ministry today.
o What essentially comprises the church today?
o Formation for future clergy.
o Professional development of clergy.
o What is the new evangelisation?
o The Parish: a new mission field.
o What energises clergy: what keeps blokes going?
o The creation of enthusiasm in priests, boosting their confidence.
o What is our relationship with the 90% unchurched; does it undermine our confidence?
o History of regional Catholicism; how did we come to where we are.
o The level of cohesion among us: support, openness.
o Communication between retired and active priests - mission beyond the parish.
o Re-imagining the priesthood: honesty, openness, and determination.
o Where we're at is where we're at and that's all we have to work with.
o Like debutants: it's so much easier when the right tune is playing - so ....?
o Listening to what's happening; the riches of different cultures, and in the presbyterate too.
o Importance of mutual positive support; importance of events like this meeting.
o The blessing of group session like this morning's - inter-province discussion.
o The Diocese: such a mix and messiness; transition of priests to many different cultures.
o Enabling a person to take a step forward by entering into what one fears the most.
o What we can learn from other priests, their experiences and their groups.
o Now is the more normal time: (period of 1950-60s an aberration) get on with the job.
o The value of Tony Kelly's meditation on Christ.
o Inside the Church/outside the Church: the truth out there.
o Facing the future with hope: hope makes the intractable possible.
o Being with this gathering is enjoyable; it is real and supportive - it's what matters here.
o Facing the complex and difficult issues with hope.
o Refocussing, re-imagining.
o Overseas priests, a gift; a two-way street.
o Being a catalyst of acculturation; the ease of being with each other.
o The diversity and unity; looking after retired priests.
o This group: so gifted, so supportive: we'll find a way out of the problems.
o Taking the spirit of the conference home: Noel Connolly's understanding of culture.
o If he's alive, we can never rest in peace again (T Kelly): get on with it.
o Shared experience of brother priests ... a blessing.
o The cross-fertilisation among the regions; the nature of culture per se.
This session was followed by Mass celebrated by Bishop Sproxton. The Formal Dinner took place at 6.30pm during which Fr Paul McDonald expressed congratulations to Patrick O'Regan, Brian Moloney, and Olex Kenez, and Chris de Souza (in his absence), who were celebrating their 25th anniversary of priesthood.
Frank Devoy,
Director, Office for Clergy Life and Ministry
Regional Meetings 2009:
19-22 January 2009, NSW, at Kensington Sydney;
26-29 January, Queensland, in Brisbane;
9-11 February, Victoria & Tasmania, in Melbourne;
2-6 February, SANTWA in Port Pirie Diocese.
National Meeting 2009:
13-17 July 2009, Mary MacKillop Place.
Modified: 20 September 2011
Posted in: Office