I'm currently Shareware Librarian of the Sarnia Computer Users' Group and a Past President. I'm in my 14th year with SCUG and am a semi-retired computer consultant.
One of today's biggest computing irritations is competing standards! While there are standards out there for such things as e-mail, file transfer and Internet protocols, and HTML coding for web display, someone is always "pushing the envelope" (to be polite) or "ignoring them" (to be blunt). Document sharing is an example. Many think that Microsoft Word is the standard for documents but it is only one in a field of word processors. At one time, they simply pretended each other didn't exist and if you created a document using one word processor, you couldn't share it with others who were using a competitive product. Now, at least the major brands provide the ability to convert between formats but often at the expense of some of your painstaking efforts to create that Beautiful Format. Enter Adobe and the Portable Document Format (PDF). If you can create (or "export to") a PDF file with your word processor, you can produce a "stand-alone" document that anyone can see or print exactly as it was created -- fonts, pictures, whatever -- but without the program that created it! Catch? Of course there's a catch! First of all, you need the Acrobat Adobe Reader to see/print these. Yes, it's free; but it is a few megabytes in size and usually has to be downloaded and installed. But how to create the PDF in the first place? Are we still somewhat at the mercy of the Adobes, Microsofts and Corels? Read on!
MakePDF, (http://www.lexacorp.com.pg/soft/makepdf22.zip) a freeware utility for converting the postscript translations from GhostScript to a Portable Document Format file and GhostScript, (ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/AFPL/gs703/gs703w32.exe ) a free postscript interpreter which translates postscript documents.
NOTE: If the version numbers change, the above links will become outdated.
If you visit the Lexacorp site first, there is a link there to GhostScript as well as to MakePDF. Stuart also offers several other MAKEPDF tips and tricks at http://www.lexacorp.com.pg. After downloading both of these, install GhostScript by double-clicking the GS703W32.EXE file. Then simply unzip MAKEPDF21.ZIP into the folder of your choice (no installation needed). I must assume that the reader can do this using their favourite compressed file unpacker.
Then, you need to define a printer that can produce postscript output such as the HP Laserjet III PostScript+ in your selection of printers. You do not need to have this printer connected, you merely need to add/install it as if it were installed and configure it to send output to a .PRN file. Here's how.
In Windows, click Start|Settings|Printers and then double-click 'Add Printer'. Choose 'Local Printer' and click 'Next'. Now select the printer you'd like, making sure that it can produce postscript. The HP Laserjet III PostScript+ is an obvious choice but other manufacturers are available on the list you'll see. After selecting one, you'll be asked where to output your data and this is where you will choose 'FILE:' and then click 'Next'. Most likely you will not want this to be your default printer, but this option is always available later if your needs should change. Click 'Next' and then 'Finish' and you will most likely be prompted to insert your Windows installation CD in order to retrieve the necessary driver files. After the printer driver files have been copied, you will be prompted for a PRN filename (in case you wanted to print a test page). You can click 'Cancel' to skip this step. Did you know that you could also rename this printer installation to something more helpful like PostScript Creation? Right click it and rename!
Once the process is complete to this point, you will have an additional printer option whenever you wish to "print" a document from any application you are using. When choosing this new option you have just installed, you will be asked for a filename and destination folder since the output will not be a "hard copy" on paper, but a .PRN file on your computer.
We now need to create a way to easily send these PRN files created by your newly installed postscript-capable (phantom) printer driver to MAKEPDF which will use GhostScript to finally create the PDF file.
One way to provide this "connection" is to add a shortcut in your SendTo links that will appear when you right-click a file in Windows Explorer (or other file manager) and select 'Send To'. Open your \Windows\SendTo folder and right-click a blank spot. Click New|Shortcut and insert a command line similar to the following, but insert the proper path for your installation of MAKEPDF in place of the square bracketed portion.
Click 'Next' and then name it MakePDF or whatever you like. Click 'Finish' and you're done.
Now you can right-click any PRN file created by your phantom printer and then choose SendTo|MakePDF to create your PDF file.
You could also create a shortcut on your desktop in the same way and just drag and drop PRN files onto the icon.
There are a few other clever tricks the more advanced user can perform either by defining a new filetype (see end of this article) or using macros in your word processor or creating a custom printer port or having your PDF sent directly to your e-mail client but you can read about those in Stuart McLachlan's (author of MAKEPDF) Readme text file that comes with MAKEPDF. Most of us will be quite happy with a shortcut in the SendTo folder!
The first time you send a PRN file to MakePDF, you will be asked if you want to locate the GhostScript program. Click 'Yes' and browse your way to the GSWIN32.EXE file which, if you used the default location will be in the C:\GS\GS7.03\BIN folder. [Note that there are two similarly named executable files at this location. The one with the 'C' is for command- line operation.] Single-click the GSWIN32.EXE file and click 'Open' and this path will be saved in a MAKEPDF.INI file for future reference and you won't have to repeat this step.
MakePDF will now open and you will see the path and filename of your (input) PRN file and the same path but different file extension for the output PDF file. Unless you want the PDF file to be put somewhere else or have a different name, you can accept the default offering.
There are options offered, most of which I usually ignore; but here is a brief explanation of them as I understand them: Delete Input File - deletes the PRN file after it has been translated to save collecting large numbers of these intermediate files. Lower Case Output - produces a PDF filename with all lower case letters for feeding to other applications which may require that. Sticky Output Directory - use this if you want the folder you set in 'Output Filename/Directory' ALWAYS to be the destination of your PDF files. View Output File - check this if you want Acrobat Reader to open your new PDF as soon as it's created. Auto-Exit on success -- check this to save having to click the 'Quit' button No Messages -- all message boxes are suppressed. I wouldn't recommend this for the beginner.
Choose the version of PDF file you wish to create and after a few seconds, you will see a confirmation dialogue box that the process has been successful. NOTE: In case your intended recipient has an older version of Acrobat Reader, it may be best to create an older version PDF. The resulting PDF file you have now created can be double-clicked to be opened in Acrobat Reader and it will appear exactly as you created it in your original application and anyone with Acrobat Reader can do the same. And print it! But the Reader does not allow editing, just reading and printing. This can be a very good thing when you don't want your document altered by others!
again, inserting the proper path for your installation in place of the bracketed portion.
NOTE: If you have difficulty with Acrobat Reader opening PDFs with a double-click, I've found that a reinstall of Acrobat Reader usually solves this.
I'd appreciate a copy of any newsletter this article appears in. It's always nice to see what kinds of newsletters think it's worthy of space. A PDF copy would be appropriate, yes? I can pass them along to our editor too (for ideas).


text:
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Tax Reform II: Lower Rates; Eliminate Deductions
Randall G. Holcombe • Tuesday, August 15, 2017
As Congress considers tax reform, the focus on the personal income tax should be to lower rates and eliminate all deductions except for a standard deduction that applies to everyone. Lower rates enough to offset the increased revenue from eliminating deductions, and set the standard deduction at a level that raises the same amount of revenue as the pre-reform tax system. Personal income tax reform should be revenue-neutral. That avoids debates on whether taxes should be raised or lowered and focuses on making the tax system fairer and more efficient.
I propose a flat rate of 22% on all income beyond the standard deduction. Set the standard deduction at a level that satisfies the revenue-neutrality criterion.
Most deductions have some sort of reasonable justification behind them, but there are often arguments against them, and in all cases one of the arguments against them is that if the deductions didn't exist, the same amount of revenue could be raised with lower rates. Consider a few.
The home mortgage interest deduction benefits high-income earners more than low-income earners, partly because high-income earners are more likely to be homeowners and partly because they are in higher tax brackets so lower their taxes more. That would be less of a factor with a flat rate, but still, why design elements into the tax structure that disproportionately benefit high-income people, at the expense of having higher tax rates for everyone?
The deduction for charitable contributions seems, well, charitable, until you look at what constitutes charity. Symphonies and operas, public policy organizations, and educational institutions are often causes that may be worthwhile, but disproportionately benefit the rich. Not all charitable organizations are that way, of course, but how do we draw the line? Rather than trying, why not eliminate the deduction, which then would allow lower tax rates for everyone?
The deduction of state and local taxes is especially unfair. It provides a federal subsidy for state and local government spending, encouraging state and local governments to spend more because some of the cost of their spending is shifted to residents of other states. Why should the taxpayers in the state of Mississippi be required to subsidize state and local government spending for Californians? Doing away with the deduction would allow lower tax rates for everyone.
We could make a similar argument for all deductions. Just eliminate them all. One that I might consider a special case under certain circumstances is health insurance, which I will discuss in a later blog post.
Randall G. Holcombe is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, the DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University, and author of the Independent Institute book Liberty in Peril: Democracy and Power in American History.
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A week ago we had to say goodbye to our sweet dog, Diesel. She fought a hard fight against cancer, but it took over her body, she declined so quickly and suddenly there wasn't anything else we could do to ease her pain or help her live a comfortable life. We are so lucky to have an amazing mobile vet, Dr. Kate Bush. After giving Diesel a breakfast of bacon, sausage, and chocolate, Dr. Bush came to the house last Tuesday and we were able to let Diesel go in a peaceful, comfortable way. It was one of the hardest things my husband and I have done in our life as a couple, but I am truly thankful to have such wonderful people in this world that are there to help us through really difficult times. Thank you to everyone who sent us notes and thoughts throughout the last few months.
We are remembering all of the sweet, wonderful times and grieving the loss of the countless gifts she gave us each day.


Four visits in five years – Chinese President Xi Jinping has made Africa a priority of his presidency.
This time, he's visiting Senegal, Rwanda and South Africa before a stopover in Mauritius. He visited the United Arab Emirates on his way to the African continent.
African leaders are eager to greet the Chinese president as the promise of Chinese investment means access and opportunity for their people. While some critics warn that China's involvement on the continent is a modern form of colonialism, many African leaders welcome the economic partnerships.
Chen Chenchen is deputy director of the Macro Research Department in the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.
Abdullahi Boru Halakhe is a security and policy analyst focusing on Africa.
Alexander Demissie is founding director of the China Africa Advisory.
Edmund Ghareeb is a scholar specializing in Middle East affairs.
President #XiJinping hailed the great dynamism of #Africa when he arrived in Senegal on Saturday, the first stop on a four-country trip to Africa, that also takes him to Rwanda, South Africa and Mauritius.


text:
Urgent dispatch from the COVID front lines
Cross-posted from Daily Kos
This is an anguished cry from the heart of a front-line Covid warrior. As most here know, he is Medical Director of an Emergency Department at a large regional medical center in a Southern state. He wants to remain anonymous (initials AD) because corporate overlords don't like the public to hear bad news/truth. He is a beloved Kossack who helped to guide and steady us here with his calm, compassionate explanations and advice, at the beginning of the Pandemic, and all through 2020. Most of you know of whom we speak, but for new people, just bear with us. Here is his dispatch, in two parts. The first part was written at the end of his shift on Monday.
Read this like an S.O.S. from the Titanic.
DISPATCH FROM MONDAY AFTERNOON:
We simply don't have time to waste. None of us.
I'll just cut to the chase. Our 9 y/o Kid#1 has COVID.
He tested positive today.
Mom took him in to our pediatrician because he looked awful. His eyes were swollen with big dark circles and he said he had a terrible headache.
No shortness of breath but a dry cough. He said he just hurt all over.
Our pediatrician is extremely sharp. She's been our pediatrician since Kid#1 was 10 months old.
We got all the usual prescriptions for kids with COVID, and now we wait.
Our 6 y/o Kid#2 had a PCR done. but the results won't be back until tomorrow or maybe the day after.
Mom and I had a PCR done immediately here, and had the results back in 45 minutes, because I could swing it here. We are both negative, for now.
We are both vaccinated, of course, but now most of the cases we are seeing, about 95%, are all Delta, which is a whole different animal.
Delta is as contagious as chicken pox, and creates a viral load 1,000 times higher than the original strain.
That's why people are getting sicker, quicker. And now it's not just older people or those with comorbidities.
It's young people, too.
My youngest patient was 8 weeks old.
Earlier this week I sent an 8 month old to the university with acute respiratory distress. She needed a pediatric ICU bed, but there are none. The Pediatric ICU is full. My patient and a bunch of others are being held in the ER, because there is nowhere to put them.
So, obviously, we are scared. Not just for our Kid#1. For Kid#2 as well. She has asthma. Asthmatic kids don't do well with this.
So, now we wait, and pray.
We give steroids, we are trying the experimental treatment with Cetirizine (Zyrtec) and Famotidine (Pepcid AC), and now we wait.
I cannot begin to tell you how bad it is.
The worst days of the pandemic before now were a picnic in the park compared to now.
When I went off shift Monday, every single bed in the emergency department had an ICU patient in it.
Most of them were on the ventilator.
I had three codes today, and intubated a patient in the hallway. We had to put him in a room with another vent patient, because we had to be able to connect to the wall oxygen and suction.
We are now doubling up patients in rooms. There are no places to put them and no staff to care for them.
At one point today, one of my nurses had five ICU patients.
To compare, in The Before Time, nurses never had more than two ICU patients per nurse. They are too sick. More than that, and the attending ICU nurse cannot give adequate care.
We are so far past that now, we can barely remember how it was before.
We used to take pride in delivering top notch medical care. Now, it's just, "Try to keep them alive to the end of the shift".
Then the next crew will do the same.
Now we have psychiatric patients with COVID. There is only one COVID psych unit in the state. You can imagine how that is. We are holding positive patients that are suicidal for days. we try to watch them, but if they kill themselves, well, it happens. We can't take care of everyone anymore.
We are practicing third world medicine now. We have no choice. There is no more staff, supplies are constantly running low, and the patients just keep coming. And coming.
We have several deaths a day now in the ER. We are just numb. We have talked about how guilty we feel when someone dies because of how we feel. It means there's a bed available. Let that sink in. We are glad someone dies, because it means we get one of the patients who are in the hallway into a bed. And yeah, we feel guilty as hell about feeling that way.
I have to go lay down now. I can't stay awake anymore.
I'll write more tomorrow.
DISPATCH FROM TUESDAY MORNING:
Ok. It's tomorrow. I just came on duty.
It's worse than when I left.
There are 6 more patients that are admitted but are on beds in the hallway.
The huge state teaching Hospital has opened two field hospitals in the parking garage, one government and one from a faith-based organization.
They filled up immediately. Colleagues there tell me they have patients in every closet there.
At least they have medical and nursing students, as well as residents, as staff extenders at the University medical center. We're not as lucky as that, but better off than most hospitals. I have two students rotating with me, and there are two fresh nursing graduates orienting here. It helps, but I feel bad about it. We have thrown them straight into the fire. They are getting as hardened as we are, real fast. There are no innocents in medicine any more. Not down here. Like the line from Pennywise in the Stephen King novel, IT:
"We all float down here."
I had a nurse practitioner call me from one of the tiny rural hospitals not far from here. Unfortunately, she is across the state line, and state health has placed the entire state on diversion. We are not allowed to take out of state transfers now. She had a patient having an MI. Normally we would immediately accept the patient in transfer. Not anymore. When I told her I wasn't allowed to take him, she started sobbing. She had tried all the hospitals in her state, and had been refused.
People are dying because we can't care for them.
We all float down here.
Here, in our deep red southern state, Republican governor is still refusing to mandate masks. I've heard more than one of my staff say they hope he ends up [redacted].
Our vaccination rate in this state is one of the worst in the country, just above 30%. When we do go out in public, most people—the vast majority—are unmasked. Because "Muh rights!". One of the very prominent locals was a huge COVID denier, anti-masker and antivaxxer. His Facebook feed was a swamp. He's on the ventilator now. He gets appropriate care, because we are professionals and "first, do no harm". But our sympathy level is essentially zero. Yeah, I know that's horrible and we all feel guilty about feeling that... but we all get so fucking ANGRY at them. They don't have to be here, and yet there they are burning up our resources. Stupid fucking assholes. It didn't have to be this way. They put us here. Trump and Fox "News" put us here.
We are, all of us, burned out, angry, drained and morally wounded.
I have to go. I've written this a few sentences at a time, between patients. I'll write more when I can, but I really don't know what else to say.
If y'all want to post this on DKos, it's fine. People need to know.
Articles by outside authors. See the article for the author and contact information.


There is something beautifully simple and symbolic about trees and clouds. They have the power, if we let them, to release and take us away from our stressful lives, almost like meditation. Both are key ingredients in the English landscape, and both take prominence in this exhibition. For many years I have been thrilled and inspired by the landscape oil sketches of Constable and William Nicholson, two very English painters, one from the early 19th century and the other working in the first half of the 20th. Both had the most exquisite touch and economy of means - the confident, inventive strokes and paint handling of true masters. I have tried often to emulate these two artists and take that as a starting point for the paintings in this exhibition. As the paintings are done en plein air, in front of the motif and in one sitting, and because of the restricted dimensions of my pochard paint box, the paintings are modest in scale. One also has to contend with blazing sunshine, fleeting rapidly changing skies, shadows and lighting conditions, as well as pallet rattling winds which will frustrate the steadiest of hands.
Born in Manchester in 1954, Tobit grew up in Hong Kong, Canada and India. He attended the Ontario College of Art from 1974-6 and Camberwell from 1977-80. Tobit then spent a year working alongside Duncan Grant at Charleston. Tobit exhibits regularly in London and India.


As the tagline for the upcoming Simpsorama episode states, this crossover episode is very clearly a show out of ideas teaming up with a show out of episodes. And yet, I can't get enough! Here's the couch gag for the Simpsorama where Homer finds much enjoyment in the company of robots.


To provide you with a combination of income and growth by investing mostly in Latin American companies.
Some investments will be in countries that are still developing their economies.
This is the standard Key Information Document for Aberdeen Latin American Equity I Acc and is aimed at retail investors.


What Will They Find When They Go 'Up'?
"WARNING! Radar Lock! WARNING! Missile Launch!"
"The whole robot drone fleet couldn't destroy all the habitats! It would take ten thousand ships with more firepower than..."
"Just so you know... That big ship? It wasn't there when we left to come down to the planet."
Alice, Sedna and Church find themselves in trouble: "Lesser beings" are euthenased on sight up here!
Just thought that this is an appropriate point for a little crystal-balling.
I'm really expecting Jeph to deliver a twist at this point. My guess is that Jasper Pate and the Praesees have been in communication, of sorts, for some time and that everything that has happened has been in order to manoeuvre events to get him to them. Why? Possibly they think that they can use him as an agent for their own objectives on Earth. Possibly they are naive and honestly think that he is an unselfish leader who can help them help the humans to find their way to a utopia. Or, possibly, they're smiling monsters and both Pate and the Praeses are already planning how to betray each other so they end up the lone top dog.
Whatever happens, I'm pretty sure that Pate is going to demand nanotech and gene therapy treatment to become immortal and have super-powers of sorts ("I left them a tyrant; I shall return to them a god!"). I also suspect that getting what he wants will turn out to be a punishment all of its own.
Finally, I'm wondering if Alice and Sedna will be taken away for 'humane disposal' (nasty, filthy super-soldiers have no place in utopia). Gavia and Ardent have to choose whether they want to live in utopia or if they want the scary but basically nice ladies to live.
They get to space, and discover that there are no space habitats. There's no sign that there ever were any space habitats. Somebody blinked again.
yeah, whoever did the blink didn't do such a great job if they're finding spacecraft and stuff buried. I'm wrestling with the idea that an Ardentified Valkyrie probably *requires* AI to run correctly if it's sufficiently advanced.
Perhaps the bunkers were built in such a way that it and the contents inside were immune to the blink. We still don't know who or what was behind the blink and maybe when it scanned the planet to edit everything the bunkers were shielded possibly by some sophisticated EMP generator or material. As for the personnel inside they'd eventually have to forage for food and the the facilities were either abandoned and lost to history or plundered by the residents centuries ago and only a few remain unopened.
1. On takeoff, the Walker shows up, grabs the orbiter in flight and pulls it back to the ground. After the inhabitants get out, another THOOM and another new crater on the moon. The orbiter joins Gavia's nanotech in Alice Grove heaven.
2. On achieving orbit, the new craft is unable to connect with any orbital platform- both craft and orbitals repel each other. Back to Earth for another plan. Pate and Church are not in a good mood.
3. Once Ardent gets aboard the orbiter, it begins to continually evolve. By the time it reaches orbit, both orbiter and passengers have been absorbed into a new, sentient being with godlike powers. Including time travel. In this way we learn who did the Blink.
4. As soon as the orbiter gets in among the orbital platforms, it begins shooting them apart one after another. We then pull back to discover that the Earth is just part of a giant game of Asteroids being played by aliens.
Well, we know one thing at least: Ardent's powers are screwing up the world's balance something fierce.
And we still have no idea how he got these powers, but the Praeses would seem to be the number one suspects.
1. If the Walker menaced rediscovered advanced technology that often I think Pate would take precautions and while Alice failed to stop it from absorbing Gavia's nanotechnology Church might be more persuasive. Of course the thing might've burned itself out and no longer a threat.
2. Could be a possibility unless the ship is equipped with a space suit for Church, but even if he can breathe in space he may not be as powerful in zero gravity.
3. That would provide a lot of exposition, but I don't know where the story could go from there. It would be a gestalt of 6 different beings which might make it difficult to function.
4. The only problem with that scenario is the tank shooting down the space craft is always on the Earth's surface. It never rises above them.
The super-soldiers can survive in hard vacuum!
The thing is a through-space displacer!
Well we can now confirm that the immortals can survive the vacuum of space although that seemed obvious.
We can also confirm that Ardent's ability is sophisticated enough to upgrade an old space fighter and its contents into something that can apparently teleport into space. This does resolve the problem of clearing out the tunnel although it's a bit disappointing since I wanted to see where it exits.
Pate is putting a lot more trust into Ardent than he should, but I suppose he really doesn't have a choice if he wants to get into orbit. He doesn't even need Alice or Sedna to pilot it, but leaving them behind would give them the freedom to plan some counterattack. We'll have to wait until next week to see if the flyer is now in the middle of the orbital habitat, the moon, or somewhere else in space and time.
Well, given Alice's surprise vs Pate's confidence, I'm getting the feeling that really does know some stuff that she doesn't.
Meanwhile she's bored by travel, and is passing the time by watching Church.
Perhaps Ardent really doesn't have any control over what he upgrades, but the people who implanted this ability within him do. As such the Praeses may have just upgraded the vessel into something of their own design and teleported Ardent, Gavia, and Pate directly to a conference room for a chat while Alice, Church, and Sedna are in some isolation chamber where their super human strength is nullified.
I wonder if it uses the Infinite Improbability Drive.
You're thinking of Space Invaders. Asteroids has the ship in the middle shooting at floating objects all around it.
Confidence is just as often a consequence of ignorance as it is knowledge, if not more so.
"Controls look just like a flyer from home" so the space habitats have transport craft as well as the apparent teleport that got the kids down to earth.
Pate doesn't appear to be wearing a pressure suit, only the kids I think.
He's wearing one, it's just his big head is filling it up.
Yes, I was. I've heard of Asteroids, but never knew what the game was about so I thought it was another name for Space Invaders.
If we can figure out exactly how unlikely it is, we can make it happen!
(Takes a sip) This is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
What's happening to this thread?
- The gang appear in orbit only to find that there are hundreds of thousands of unlabelled space habitats in similar orbits, all similar looking. The Praesides at each habitat are friendly but have no idea how to find any specific one. Pate and the kids grow old and die while they wander among the maze of twisty little asteroids, all alike. Alice and Sedna get bored and nap for 100 years until this sorts itself out. Church leaves the vehicle and settles on one habitat where he imprisons or exiles the Praesides and rules unchallenged for millennia.
- The big godlike AI who caused The Blink, alerted by the nightwalker, has just teleported the gang to its own lair on the Moon for a pleasant chat to tell them about the new rules.
- That Pop was the end of the story. Jeph stopped advertising Alice Grove on QC because he's tired of it. The decreasing frequency of updates was a hint after all.
That Pop was the end of the story. Jeph stopped advertising Alice Grove on QC because he's tired of it. The decreasing frequency of updates was a hint after all.
Easily the worst possible scenario.
Indeed. Argh. Signature checks out, though.
There's a message on Twitter stating a new AG has been written, but will probably be delayed until Monday.
[Later] and its up - and so are they. Bemused as to how teleporting comes as such a surprise to Alice and Sedna.
It's played for laughs but it makes sense: If the ship has been upgraded to the point where it is Clarketech, then it's kind of logical that it would be so advanced as to be able to overcome any reasonably-predictable problem for the crew.
Gavia has noticed that Church has nodded off; is she plotting something? After all, everyone who could be harmed by a sudden depressurisation is in a spacesuit!
Also confirmed: Teleporting transportation is standard tech for the Spaceborne (not unsurprising as it's the 71st Century). So, that confirms that Ardent was teleported to the surface at the start of the story, either by a port-ship or by a more powerful 'reach out and grab' fixed teleporter system.
It's interesting that Ardent associates 'Praeses' with 'Habitat'. I wonder if the Biotech Faction's habitats really are huge space-going trees like I speculated once before?
Church is bored. "We teleported into space? Ho-hum. Wake me if something interesting happens."
Meanwhile it's clear that Alice and Sedna have never been to space before. Pate too, for that matter, though for some reason he looks frightened while Alice and Sedna seem merely amazed.
The reactions of everyone is quite interesting. This is probably the only time Pate has ever been surprised even though he is fully trusting Ardent's magical ability and intended to go orbit. Alice and Sedna are surprised too, but I think it's more by Ardent's ability since they have probably been to space before albeit thousands of years ago. Church appears bored so he probably lacks any sentimentality or imagination. And for Ardent and Gavia this is common place, but he seems more amazed that he upgraded an old space fighter into a teleporting bubble ship. Gavia may be reluctant to look since even though she's longed to go home the most she's powerless to stop Pate and Church from invading.
It appears that the bubble ship cannot teleport blindly. It needs to get into orbit first and Sedna's concern may or may not be justified. On the one hand Ardent magically upgraded a vehicle thousands of years beyond its original abilities, but it quite possibly has limited power which was burned up teleporting into space and they'll either have to wait for it to recharge or Church will have to get out to push.
What I find a bit strange is that this party does not carry any luggage. No spare food, water, spare clothes, nothing. Remember how well Sedna and Alice stocked up for the trip across the desert. I guess they don't need to be armed, but it's more like they expect to find the space equivalent of a burger joint sooner rather than later.
When they left for the trip across the desert, Sedna and Alice were planning things. They have less control when they're being forced to act at gunpoint (err... Church-point). So that's probably a reflection of Pate's impulsiveness/lack of planning.
And will the ship sound like Majel Barrett or Eddie the Computer?
I'm not sure how she'd manage that when Alice and Sedna couldn't scratch him. However, the ship may have a voice operated ejector seat so if Ardent wants to get rid of the uninvited guests this would be the time.
If Pate knows anything about the ancient spacecraft he probably anticipated that the journey wouldn't take more than a day and to get what he wants is willing to rough it. Moreover, Ardent upgraded is far beyond its original capabilities so who knows what it can do aside from teleport miles above Earth within seconds. For all we know it could have a replicator.
Pretty close quarters in there, even if Church wasn't on board. Even if it is a zero G environment, everyone's wedged in.
Or is Church hugging himself because he's starting to feel spacesick? There's a very good reason NASA's zero gravity training aircraft are all called "the Vomit Comet." Everyone has some weakness, and motion sickness may be his. If Jeph has this in mind, watch for Alice to be taking note.
Yeah, since nobody knows the capabilities of the ship (Including the characters,) it's hard to predict what would happen, but if I were Ardent, and the ship responded to whatever I wanted it to do, I'd look into opening a nice little airlock hole right about Mr. Church. Even if he survives the fall back down to earth, he's going to be really, really far away.
Hmm. I'm sure many of you remember the scene where James Bond wrestles a parachute from Jaws mid-air. If they manage to eject Church putting him to an Earth bound orbit it would be just like that. Dude falls, impacts, dusts off, and carries on. At least in a sequel.
OTOH, ejecting Church forward would mean that he stays on orbit (unless he has a personal means of propulsion).
There are three main problems with the 'chuck Church out an airlock' idea. Assuming they could open an airlock right where he is sitting, there is only so much air in that tiny cabin. Remember basic physics. Explosive decompression isn't space actively sucking things out of an extra terrestrial enclosure. It's sudden and dramatic equalization of atmospheric pressure between the cabin and vacuum. There can't be more than a second or two of air there before the cabin would be a vacuum, and the expelling force would stop. Secondly, explosive decompression would affect everyone. Considering again how small the area is and how close they are sitting, even if it did work, chances are that only Church would be ejected are slim. Gavia and Pate are closest, so they would likely go out as well, if not everyone. Finally... Church has already shown he is incredibly strong and has better reflexes that anyone else there. Even caught unawares it is highly doubtful he wouldn't be able to brace himself to prevent being sucked out for the second or two of explosive decompression.
Yep, Pate is way surprised even fearful, whereas Alice and Sedna seem more amazed teleportation happened. Either them thinking it impossible physics-wise, or a long-gone tech... or it's just been so long they've fully forgotten what it's like out here. After all Sedna does talk about the navigation issues.
One might wonder if they're actually in near-Earth orbit of some sort (or the ship has some sort of anti-gravity impulse drive "hovering" capacity etc). Difficult to tell when the tech can pretty much be doing anything that could be imagined or even things that can't. There's either some way they're attached or a local gravity of sorts, but seemingly nothing to breathe or maybe even no temperature control (unless they're wearing the suits just in case and don't really need them just yet). We just don't know what atmosphere if any is in the ship right now, or if the tech is high enough to not make any of the otherwise practical things have any bearing on this situation. As far as removing Church... If somehow he could be ejected what then to him. (And for Gavia, Ardent and Pate, exactly how strong and clingy and force and gravity and temperature controlled are those spacesuits, anyway. Do they supply air or not. ) What happens to get Church out, how, and so far Ardent hasn't seemed the type to just suddenly space anyone, even if he could. But if so, is it just Church that goes? Does he do his magic trick thing and get back inside? Either way, if they're near the planet's gravitational pull, one imagines not orbit but re-entry. Reminds me of John getting back planetside at the start of Halo 3. Not that Church has MJOLNIR armor to cushion or lock up, but still. Although for Sedna at least, they can be damaged. So really, what does a high-speed fall of some 100 miles or more do to even the heartiest of non-sleeping whatever they are?
It wouldn't seem so far story-wise (barring a twist or surprise or the reveal of plans we don't know of) that the time or situation is correct to try and attack or remove or neutralize either Church or Pate. Aside from the safety of Ardent and Gavia (their own concern or that of Sedna or Alice) this might not be the best time wisdom-wise to start in-fighting (they are more of a group banded together at this point than combatants). Either way, both Sedna and Alice seem to think they can't outclass Church in the physical department. It's not clear either Ardent or Gavia would have even an idea of where to begin, that they'd be fearful of an immediate case of being beaten to a pulp disease.
It seems likely at this point the habitats are perhaps the rulers and the denizens live on the things that run the whatever is out here.
Alice and Sedna are the same species and Church is one of them, confirmed by Pate. Sedna bleeds. Therefore, Alice and Church do, too. But Church has other characteristics, too, that may not be human. Are they mechanical in origin?
Church has some reason for serving Jesper. Is that reason coercive, or is he willingly Pate's creature? If the former, is it linked to whatever enhances him?
What happens if Church and Ardent come in contact? More specifically, what effect would that contact have on Pate's hold on Church, if any?
The orbital habitats must have gravity, presumably artificial, because Ardent had no adaption problems walking, and Gavia wouldn't need nanotech to float if orbit were zero G. So accordingly its unsurprising that the spacecraft also has gravity.for the occupants.
There's no need to open an airlock to get rid of Church. They're on a ship that can teleport. It shouldn't take too much fiddling with the teleport controls to allow it to simply teleport Church outside the hull.
The craft has controls that are familiar to Ardent (big surprise!), and I dare say that function is not a routinely available one. OTOH he can give it arbitrary voice commands (then why did it need controls at all?) so all bets are off.


text:
Ruck Zuck ist der Name einer der bekanntesten und beliebtesten Spielshows im deutschen Fernsehen. Vom Beginn bis 2005 wurden mehr als 2330 Folgen ausgestrahlt. Ruck Zuck ist damit nach dem Glücksrad die am zweithäufigsten gesendete Spielshow in Deutschland, welche täglich ausgestrahlt wurde. Die Erstausstrahlung von Ruck Zuck erfolgte zehn Monate vor dem Beginn des Glücksrades.

Entstehung
Hervorgegangen ist Ruck Zuck aus dem gleich aufgebauten amerikanischen Format Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak, welches insgesamt 65 Folgen umfasste und vom 6. Januar 1986 bis zum 4. April 1986 ausgestrahlt wurde. Produziert wurde die Sendung von der Reg Grundy-Produktion (was zu Tele-5- und RTL-2-Zeiten stets am Ende einer jeden Sendung extra erwähnt wurde), heute: UFA Show & Factual GmbH. Die Erstausstrahlung unter dem Namen "Ruck Zuck" in Deutschland erfolgte am 11. Januar 1988.

Das Spiel
Bei Ruck Zuck traten zwei Teams mit jeweils fünf Spielern – die Champions und die Herausforderer – an. Nachdem die Off-Stimme beide Teams am Anfang der Sendung bereits kurz vorgestellt hatte, stellten sich zu Beginn der Spielrunde nochmals alle selbst vor. Die einzelnen Mitspieler taten dies innerhalb des Teams in einem einheitlichen, oft lustigen Stil. Der Moderator erklärte anschließend die Spielregeln und machte Teams und Zuschauer mit Günther Neoral bekannt, den Jochen Bendel gerne als sehr strengen Schiedsrichter hinstellte. Nun zeigte der Moderator dem ersten Spieler jedes Teams einen Begriff, den es zu umschreiben galt (die erste Mannschaft pro Runde konnte zwischen zwei Begriffen auswählen). Nur der erste Spieler hörte den Moderator, die anderen Teammitglieder standen mit dem Rücken zum ersten Spieler und trugen Kopfhörer, über die Musik eingespielt wurde. Auf das Kommando "Ruck Zuck!" des Moderators startete die Spielrunde, die jeweils 40 Sekunden dauerte. Der erste Spieler klopfte dem nächsten auf die Schulter oder den Rücken, worauf dieser sich umdrehte, die Kopfhörer abnehmen durfte und versuchte den Begriff zu erraten, den der Teamkollege beschrieb.

Bei der Beschreibung des gesuchten Wortes galt es zu beachten, nicht den gesuchten Begriff selbst, ein sog. "wichtiges Wort" oder einen Wortteil (bei "Fußball" ist zum Beispiel "Fuß" und "Ball" nicht erlaubt), Geräusche oder Gesten zu Hilfe zu nehmen. Auch das Wiederholen eines wichtigen Wortes, wenn es in einer Beschreibung eines vorhergehenden Teammitgliedes genannt wurde, war nicht erlaubt. Widrigenfalls griff der Schiedsrichter mit einem Hupgeräusch ein und brach die Spielrunde ab. Die Spieler gewannen aber die Punkte, die bis dahin erreicht wurden.

Die Hauptrunde erstreckte sich über vier Runden. In den ersten drei Runden war jede Antwort einen Punkt, in der vierten Runde drei Punkte wert. Das Team mit den meisten Punkten erreichte das Finale.

Stand es nach dem Ende der Hauptrunde unentschieden, gab es ein Stechen. Der Moderator zeigte den ersten beiden Spielern einen Begriff. Nun musste ein Spieler entscheiden, ob er den Begriff mit dem Team spielte oder die Gegner antreten ließ. Spielte das Team den Begriff, mussten alle vier Mitspieler korrekt antworten, um das Finale zu erreichen. Bei einem Fehler erreichte die gegnerische Mannschaft das Finale.

Im Finale wurden drei Runden mit leicht verändertem Konzept gespielt: vier Mitglieder bekamen wieder Kopfhörer, das fünfte Mitglied legte zu einem Oberbegriff vier Begriffe fest, die das Team im Zeitraum von 20 Sekunden (fünf Sekunden pro Spieler) zu erraten hatte. Dabei mussten die Begriffe wortwörtlich genannt werden (war z. B. ein Begriff "Fahrräder", musste auch "Fahrräder" vom Team genannt werden, "Fahrrad" oder "Rad" reichte nicht aus). In der ersten Runde des Finales erhielt das Team pro erratenem Wort 100 DM, in der zweiten Runde 200 DM. In der dritten Runde wurde der bis dahin erspielte Geldbetrag vervierfacht – aber nur, wenn alle vier Wörter erraten wurden.

Erreichte ein Team sechsmal das Finale und schaffte es, in der dritten Runde alle Begriffe zu nennen, gewann es unabhängig von dem bis dahin erspielten Geldbetrag den Hauptgewinn von zunächst 25.000 DM, in späteren Jahren 100.000 DM.

Geschichte

1988 bis 1992
Nach dem amerikanischen Vorbild ging 1988 auf Tele 5 Ruck Zuck auf Sendung. Dabei wurde auch das vorwiegend in rosa Tönen gehaltene Studio nahezu komplett übernommen. Moderator der ersten Stunde war  Werner Schulze-Erdel, welcher später auch die erfolgreiche Unterhaltungssendung Familienduell bei RTL moderierte. Zu Beginn konnten die Kandidaten einen Höchstgewinn von 25.000 DM gewinnen. Im Jahr 1988 gewann ein Team vom Tegernsee ("die Ruckschlucks") zum ersten Mal den Höchstpreis. Zum 1. November 1989 erhöhte sich dieser auf 100.000 DM. In der Sendung vom 13. November 1989 gewannen die "Rabulisten" als erstes Team diesen höchsten Gewinn, der bis dahin je in einer Gameshow ausgesetzt war.

"Ruck Zuck" versuchte den Anschein einer Live-Sendung zu wecken, obwohl es sich um eine Aufzeichnung handelte. Dies führte im Oktober 1988 zu einer peinlichen Situation: Ausgerechnet am 3. Oktober 1988, dem Todestag von Franz Josef Strauß, kam eine Sendung zur Ausstrahlung, in der sich einer der Kandidaten als Parodist des (zum Zeitpunkt der Aufzeichnung noch nicht) Verstorbenen versuchte. Offenbar wurde dies erst im Laufe der Ausstrahlung bemerkt, denn die Sendung wurde plötzlich abgebrochen. Da der Kandidat auch in den für die folgenden Tage eingeplanten Sendungen auftrat, wurden diese abgesetzt; der Moderator der vorhergehenden Nachrichtensendung begründete dies mit "technischen Problemen".

Ruck Zuck war im Herbst 1991 bereits das 1000. Mal auf Sendung. Es folgte ein neuer Moderator namens Jochen Bendel, welcher ab der 1032. Folge die Sendung moderierte. Bis dahin kannten ihn die Zuschauer nur als Off-Stimme der Sendung. Tele 5 wurde am 31. Dezember 1992 eingestellt und in den Sportsender DSF umgewandelt und somit entfiel vorerst auch der Sendeplatz dieser Unterhaltungssendung.
Neben Jochen Bendel wurde auch Desireé Nosbusch für Ruck Zuck aktiv. In der Sendung "Kinder Ruck Zuck" moderierte sie und spielte mit Kindern gleich dem Vorbild von Ruck Zuck. Die Kinder konnten dabei Sachpreise gewinnen.

1993 bis 1995
Acht Monate später ging Ruck Zuck erneut auf Sendung. Dieses Mal beim Münchner Privatsender RTL II, der die Show ab dem 6. September 1993 ausstrahlte. Hier begann auch wieder Jochen Bendel mit den Kandidaten um das große Geld zu spielen. Optisch änderte sich dabei jedoch wenig. Neben dem gleichen Studioaufbau kam noch etwas mehr Farbe in das Set hinein. Aufgrund programmlicher Veränderungen beim Sender beendete dieser die Ausstrahlung von Ruck Zuck mit der vorerst letzten Sendung am 14. Juli 1995.

1995 bis 2000
Die Zuschauer mussten nach der Entscheidung von RTL 2 ein gutes halbes Jahr warten, bis Ruck Zuck beim ebenfalls in München ansässigen Sender tm3 wieder auf der Bildschirmfläche erschien. Anfang des Jahres 1996 übernahm der Frauensender die alten Folgen von RTL2 und strahlte diese als Wiederholung aus. Im Januar 1997 produzierte der Kanal extra zehn Spezialausgaben. Zum einen fünf Folgen mit Werner Schulze-Erdel vom ehemaligen Tele 5 und zum zweiten nochmals fünf Folgen mit Jochen Bendel. Am 20. Januar 1997 schließlich erschienen neue Folgen. Mit nahezu unveränderten Konzept und wieder Jochen Bendel als Moderator startet der Sender in eine neue Runde, allerdings mit leicht modifizierten Spielregeln. Denn der Gewinnbetrag betrug ab sofort nur noch 50.000 DM für den Hauptgewinn bzw. 2.400 DM in den ersten fünf Finalrunden. Im Jahre 1998 erreichte die Unterhaltungsshow Ruck Zuck dann die 2000. Folge. Ein Jahr später, 1999, wurden die Grafiken noch einmal leicht überarbeitet und auch das Studio leicht erneuert. Zum Jahresende des Millenniumjahres stellte auch tm3 die Ausstrahlung ein.

2004 bis 2005
Von 2004 bis 2005 strahlten das neue Tele 5 und das österreichische ATV+ wieder neue Ruck-Zuck-Folgen aus. Dabei gab es ein neues Studio, aber die Eröffnungssequenz und der Moderator Jochen Bendel blieben gleich. Bis zu eine Million Zuschauer sahen die Folgen jeweils. Moderator war im Jahr 2005 zudem Matthias Euler-Rolle.

Im Juli 2005 wurde bekannt, dass Ruck Zuck zum Relaunch des Senders Mitte September 2005 eingestellt wird.

2007
Eine Neuauflage gab es 2007 in zwei Sendungen des Gameshow-Marathons auf ProSieben, bei der Jochen Bendel einen kurzen Auftritt hatte.

2013
Im Rahmen der Jubiläumssendung "20 Jahre RTL II" gab es am 6. März eine Ruck Zuck-Revival-Sendung mit Jochen Bendel als Moderator.

2016–2018
Seit dem 17. Oktober 2016 gab es eine Neuauflage von Ruck Zuck auf RTLplus mit Oliver Geissen. Bis Ende 2017 wurden insgesamt 165 neu produzierte Folgen auf RTLplus ausgestrahlt. Seitdem gibt es hin und wieder nachts Wiederholungen.

Weblinks
 Ruck Zuck bei RTLup
 Ruck Zuck bei RTL

Einzelnachweise

Fernsehsendung (Deutschland)
Spielshow
RTL II
Fernsehsendung (Tele 5)
Fernsehsendung der 1980er Jahre
Fernsehsendung der 1990er Jahre
Fernsehsendung der 2000er Jahre
Oliver Geissen

en:Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak
es:Dame una pista
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Detroit Lions' rare dominating win was special and rekindles hope
Jamie Samuelsen
Special to the Detroit Free Press
Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the "Jamie and Stoney" show at 6 a.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen.
Were you more impressed with the Detroit Lions' performance Sunday night, or were you less impressed by the New England Patriots?
Maybe it was social media. Maybe it was sports talk radio. Maybe it was the millennials (everyone always blames the millennials).
At some point, we ceased being able to talk about a single game without putting it into larger context. It's okay to appreciate a solid win without making a global statement about where this team is going next.
The Lions won a game, 26-10, that nobody thought they could win against a Patriots team that was fresh off a lousy performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars. This doesn't put them back in the playoff race or the division race. This doesn't mean we need to start planning for the Super Bowl. I'm not even sure it makes them a favorite this week in Dallas (according to Vegas, it doesn't). Just because a team wins a game and deserves credit, doesn't mean the next glorious step is within reach. Ask the Jags, who followed up the win against New England with a 9-6 clunker of a loss to the Tennessee Titans. That's how football works, especially in the NFL.
So you'll excuse me if I don't bury the Pats in my praise of the Lions.
Seidel:GM Bob Quinn has been building O-Line — it finally worked
Mitch Albom:Lions domination of Patriots anomaly or new trend?
The Pats look banged-up and quite frankly under-talented. Tom Brady remains Tom Brady. But his cast of offensive weapons hardly scares opponents. The Lions knew they could cover the likes of Phillip Dorsett and Chris Hogan, so they doubled down on stopping the run, something that they had failed to do in the first two weeks of the season. The result was a dominant time of possession discrepancy (39:15-20:45) and 89 rushing yards for the Pats. The Lions had allowed an average of 179.5 rushing yards in the first two weeks. That was one reason why the Lions won on Sunday night, but it certainly wasn't the only one.
The Lions were better in virtually every phase of the game. The Lions had one more penalty than the Pats, but beyond that, the Lions won every facet.
That's why this game was special and deserves to be lauded without worrying what comes next. A win seemed possible only because the Lions have Matthew Stafford and are seldom totally out of a game, as they proved in San Francisco. But a dominant win? A win where the Lions won all the physical battles and imposed their will on the offensive line and defensive line? No, that didn't seem possible.
That's the most impressive thing about Sunday. If it were a fluky win where the Lions fell behind and Stafford pulled off one of his ridiculous schoolyard comebacks? Well, that would be a game we've all seen a time or two before, even against a team like the Pats.
But when was the last time the Lions went toe-to-toe with a perennial Super Bowl contender and walked off the field with a dominant win?
We always hear from Lions fans who have been following the team for fifty or sixty years and how long they've been suffering. I'll defer to them. This isn't a playoff win and only the next few weeks will tell us how significant it is. But it's a decisive win against the franchise that represents the gold standard in the NFL. I don't remember anything in recent memory that comes close.
As for head coach Matt Patricia, it eases the tension. The stories about him losing the team seemed hasty. Any new coach is going to install his system and his way of doing things. But winning makes the transition much easier. Beating the Pats should help even more.
Suddenly those two-hour practices might not seem as bad and the good cop/bad cop routine might be a tad more effective. The Lions posted video of the locker room celebration after the game when Patricia received the game ball. I won't say the entire roster of players mobbed Patricia in the middle of the room, but there was a good collection of players and they seemed happy for the coach. We'll see what happens next.
And that's the attitude Lions fans should have after Sunday night. No banners. No trophies. No guarantees. There are, for the first time since opening night, possibilities. Lose to the Pats and it's all over. Beat them and suddenly it's possible to envision the Lions putting together a little bit of a streak against the Dallas Cowboys and the banged-up Green Bay Packers. It's not probable, but it's possible. And that possibility didn't exist if the Pats had done what they were expected to do.
The Lions beat the Pats. All is not good in their world as a result. But all is better than it would have been after a loss. That's all I'm saying. And really, that's all that matters.
More:How Kerryon Johnson ended five years of rushing futility


Our story so far: Our church conversion project had created quite a stir in town.
Our day of reckoning had arrived: The rezoning hearing.
We'd been feeling out neighbors and other interested parties for weeks, trying to determine if anyone might object to rezoning the church from "park" (the tax-free designation also bestowed on churches) to residential. We paid the fee, read the notice in the paper, put on clean clothes and showed up at the planning commission meeting to observe the public hearing for our rezoning.
Besides the members of the planning commission, of course.
This was good news because it meant none of the neighbors objected.
A couple of the commissioners asked questions, mostly of curiosity ("Are you keeping the bell? Will you be ringing it on New Year's Eve?" "Do you plan to have off-street parking?"), and within seventeen minutes, they'd approved of the rezoning.
"Bushes? Plural?" I questioned silently.
Those unidentified bushes along the sidewalk that we aggressively trimmed the third day we owned the church were identified by one of the board members as flowering bushes, known to bloom extravagantly in the spring.
"Yes, yes, all but three of them, which have to be removed for our driveway," I said.
I nodded. If we could replant lilac bushes (or whatever they were), then absolutely, we would.
The village board made the planning commission's decision official: Approved.
We were now part of the village tax rolls.
Tomorrow: Our project makes news as we wrap up Chapter 14. Read it here.
Most all of the bushes surrounding the yard are "Bridal Wreath". There were more than one Lilac Bush (which I see is still at the back corner of the yard). Some of them may still be down the right side of the yard where the concrete bench is sitting. I never remember or heard that any lilac bushes were ever removed.
Ah, a name for our bushes. Thank you! And to think we might have more than one lilac? Yay! That would be wonderful.
It is not uncommon to have a public hearing and no public in attendance. I'm glad your process went through without a hitch! I lived in a church that had been renovated, but ours was a duplex. We had the top floor. The cool part is my dad attended that church right before he shipped out for WW II and the church gave him a small new testament bible. I kept it and gave it to my son as a remembrance of his grandpa.
I can see why a lot of church conversions turn into multi-family housing. They're big! So you lived in one. I wonder if you remember the soul of the place. Or if it was like any other house.


text:
Q: check that every thread of semaphore has completed I have a Semaphore that runs trough a list of Job objects.
Here is a sample of the code:
List<Job> jobList = jobQueue.GetJobsWithStatus(status);
if (jobList.Count > 0)
{
  foreach (Job job in jobList)
  {
    semaphore.WaitOne();

    // Only N threads can get here at once
    job.semaphore = semaphore;
    ThreadStart threadStart = new ThreadStart(job.Process);

    Thread workerThread = new Thread(threadStart);
    workerThread.Start();
  }

  //check that every thread has completed before continuing
}

Every job object has a status member variablea (0: new, 1: inProgress, 2: completed, 3: completedWithErrors).
I was wondering what is the best way to check that every job in the list has completed before continuing with the script.
Note: I tried before with a ThreadPool and WaitAll, but It doenst allow me to have a limited amount of threads (without secondary effects) like a semaphore does, and I also hit a limitation of the size of the ManualResetEvent array because it is a Windows Form.

A: You can normally call Thread.Join on each thread in a separate foreach loop.
By the way, you can combine the semaphore with the thread pool: have each work item wait on the semaphore before doing any work.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Gerard Abrahams van Houwelingen (died 5 February 1600), known as Lekkerbeetje ("sweet-tooth") was a Brabantine cavalry officer in the armies of the Dutch Republic and later in the Army of Flanders.

Abrahams, a native of 's-Hertogenbosch, had first served the Dutch Republic, but being among the soldiers who delivered Geertruidenberg to Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in 1589 he was declared an outlaw by the States. He went over to the Army of Flanders and served as a lieutenant of cuirassiers under Anthonie Schetz, Baron of Grobbendonk, the governor of 's-Hertogenbosch.

In the winter of 1599–1600, a lull in the campaigning season, the Dutch cuirassiers garrisoned in 's-Hertogenbosch brought in a French prisoner, a cavalry lieutenant in the service of the Republic. When the prisoner wrote to his captain, Pierre de Bréauté, asking that money be sent to ransom him, Bréauté replied that he should be ashamed at having been captured, since any one of his men should be worth two of the enemy. Abrahams, hearing of the letter's content, challenged Bréauté to meet him on Vught Heath with equal numbers to put his boast to the test.

The two officers obtained permission from their commanders, and the combat took place on 5 February 1600. Abrahams was the first casualty, being shot through the neck in the first charge.

References

1600 deaths
16th-century soldiers


text:
We typically aim for a particular career because we've been deeply impressed by the exploits of the most accomplished practitioners in the field.
We formulate our ambitions by admiring the beautiful structures of the architect tasked with designing the city's new airport, or by following the intrepid trades of the wealthiest Wall Street fund manager, by reading the analyses of the acclaimed literary novelist or sampling the piquant meals in the restaurant of a prize-winning chef.
We form our career plans on the basis of perfection.
Then, inspired by the masters, we take our own first steps and the trouble begins.
What we have managed to design or make in our first month of trading, or write in an early short story, or cook for the family, is markedly and absurdly beneath the standard that first sparked our ambitions.
We, who are so aware of excellence, end up the least able to tolerate mediocrity, which in this case, happens to be our own.
We become stuck in an uncomfortable paradox; our ambitions have been ignited by greatness, but everything we know of ourselves points to congenital ineptitude.
We have fallen into what we can term the Perfectionist Trap, defined as a powerful attraction to perfection shorn of any mature or sufficient understanding of what is actually required to attain it. It isn't primarily our fault.
Without in any way revealing this, or even perhaps being aware of it, our media edits out billions of unremarkable lives and years of failure, rejection, and frustration, even in those who do achieve, in order to serve us up a daily curated selection of peak career moments, which thereby end up seeming not like the violent exceptions they actually are, but like a normal baseline of achievement.
It starts to appear as though "everyone" is successful because all those who we happen to hear about really are successes – and we have forgotten to imagine the oceans of tears and despair that necessarily surround them.
Our perspective is imbalanced because we know our own struggles so well from the inside, and yet are exposed to apparently pain-free narratives of achievement on the outside.
We cannot forgive ourselves the horrors of our early drafts – largely because we have not seen the early drafts of those we admire.
We need a saner picture of how many difficulties lie behind everything we would wish to emulate.
We should not look, for example, at the masterpieces of art in a museum.
We should go to the studio, and there, see the anguish, wrecked early versions and watermarks on the paper, where the artist broke down and wept.
We should focus on how long it took the architect before they received their first proper commission— they were over 50—we need to dig out the early stories of the writer who now wins prizes and examine more closely how many failures the entrepreneur had to endure.
We need to recognize the legitimate and necessary role of failure—allow ourselves to do things quite imperfectly for a very long time—as a price we cannot avoid paying for an opportunity one day, perhaps in many decades, to do something that others will consider a spontaneous success.
B1 UK perfectionist early architect career perfection achievement
The Perfectionist Trap
Jane posted on 2016/09/18


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Former big firm managing partners opt for ABS
Posted by Dan Bindman
Powell: law firms tend to upsell services on hourly rate
A Bath-based legal services business run by two former managing partners of large firms has obtained an alternative business structure (ABS) licence to bring regulated legal work in-house.
The executive chairman of Omnia Legal Limited, which was founded in 2011, is Martin Powell, a former managing partner of 45-partner regional law firm Withy King. Among its directors are Robert Derry-Evans, former managing partner of City firm CMS Cameron McKenna.
The firm, which describes itself as "a legal services co-operative with a difference", has sought to differentiate itself by offering regulated and non-regulated legal services flexibly at a wide range of prices and levels of service to individuals and businesses.
The managing director of Omnia Legal is non-solicitor IT specialist Nikki Sherry, who previously led a £2m conveyancing team at Withy King.
Mr Powell, who was at Withy King for 33 years, 11 of them as managing partner, is the ABS's head of legal practice. Mr Derry-Evans, the ABS's head of finance and administration, is also a director of 360 Legal Group.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority granted the licence in April, effective from 3 May.
Mr Powell told Legal Futures that up to now he had run Omnia's regulated legal work through his consultancy to a Bristol law firm, for which he leads on commercial property. "With the ABS licence, I can do it under the full Omnia Legal banner".
Omnia was "already in talks" with a law firm "keen to potentially merge with us", and was "organically looking to recruit a property lawyer and a legal executive or paralegal".
He said the firm offered a range of fixed-price products, including bundled and unbundled "life-cycle" work, as well as full-service commercial work. "We use the web and outsourced services to provide low-cost solutions, but we also give a very high level of personal services to others that want bespoke arrangements.
"Most people don't want to do it themselves or do it online; they actually want a friendly voice at the end of the phone to help them."
He said Omnia, whose strapline is "offering you a real choice at a cost you control", was responsive to client demands as to what level of service they wanted.
"In law firms I find that most people are trying to upsell clients into hourly rate services, and even where they offer fixed prices, are they really fixed prices?
"If you just want your watch to tell you the time, you would rather pay for a Swatch watch than a Rolex. Do they want a lawyer in a pinstriped suit – in which case we can provide that – or someone with a friendly voice who can help them make, for instance, a simple will where they want to leave everything to their wife and kids and that's it – and they don't perceive it to be a service that is worth paying a lot of money for."
alternative business structure


Wonders Of Yunnan Travel offers various day tours all over China, either private ones or for joining in. Whether in or around Kunming, Beijing, Chengdu or other cities of the country - get an overview of what can be done and visited during your spare day!
Great news for upcoming new year of 2017! The Chinese Railway Bureau plans to officially open the high-speed railway connection as well as the brand new Kunming South Railway Station on 5th January. This means that transportation from and to Yunnan is getting again one step more convenient!
When paying with Chinese money, have you ever noticed the images on the banknotes? While the fronts are still covered by a Mao Tsedong portrait, the back sides are dedicated to several scenic spots or special areas all over China. Get inspired by the places in our short 'currency overview'!


Goals from Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Kingston Nkhatha and a brace from Mandla Masango saw Kaizer Chiefs beat MP Black Aces 4-0 in an MTN8 quarterfinal match at FNB Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was the perfect start for the Amakhosi who had a two goal lead within the opening five minutes of the match.
Chiefs were on fire from the word go and scored in the second minute when a quick one-two saw George Lebese play Reneilwe Letsholonyane into space on the edge of the box and he produced clinical finish into the bottom left corner, 1-0.
Three minutes later Kingston Nkhatha doubled his side's lead with an emphatic 22-yard volley that rattled the underside of the crossbar before finding the back of the net, 2-0.
The Aces defence was at sixes and sevens, and the Amakhosi should have scored their third in the 16th minute, but somehow from only a couple yards out George Maluleka missed.
Initially, Nkhatha broke behind the Aces defence, but saw his shot from an acute angle on the right strike the post before Maluleka skewed the rebound wide from close range.
Aces tried to find their way back into the game, but were unable to do so as Chiefs continued to dictate play – the home side probably should have scored a couple more goals before the break, but their finishing let them down.
The second half started a little slowly, but Chiefs made sure of the win with their third goal on the hour mark when Mandla Masango broke through on goal, rounded the keeper and poked the ball home, 3-0.
Masango bagged his second goal in the 90th minute after breaking through on goal once more and making no mistake with a deadly finish, 4-0.
Chiefs move into the semifinals of the MTN8 alongside Bidvest Wits, Bloemfontein Celtic and Orlando Pirates.
Kaizer Chiefs: Khune, Gaxa, Masilela, Mashamaite, Mathoho, Letsholonyane, Katsande, Lebese, Maluleka, Masango, Nkhatha.
Aces: Nhlapo, Kobola, Mabizela, Ngalo, Tom, Zuke, Khuboni, Timm, Jayiya, Nengomasha, Ndoro.


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Insomnia (2002)
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
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A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife…
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Watch Collin's Story Now!
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Collin Stoddard Receives Gift of Creation
By Audra Smith
CBN.com – From the time Collin Stoddard was a toddler, the piano drew him like a magnet. His parents saw his fascination and enrolled him in piano lessons at age five.
"With Collin, he especially had fun with the piano, more than most children," said his mother, Keli Stoddard. "He even liked to get underneath the piano and put his hands up under and play backwards."
"My piano teacher would teach me to read music and it was easier just to say, 'I'll just learn it by ear.' It would drive my piano teacher crazy," Collin said. So, I learned how to play many songs just by ear."
But as Collin developed a passion for music, major complications with his ears also developed—complications that left doctors predicting that he would eventually be hearing impaired. Due to a series of severe colds and ear infections, at only 6-months-old, Collin's ear drums had ruptured repeatedly.
"Those colds started when he was around 6 months of age," Keli said. "But then he would get a cold that would be so bad that he would wake up at nighttime crying and there would be blood on the pillow. Then I knew that the ear drums had ruptured."
Doctors decided to place tubes in Collin's ears to release the pressure in his ear canals. However, the tubes had a destructive effect on the ears. Their doctor said that most tubes fall out or are taken out and tympanic membrane heals up on its own; but there are a few cases where a hole fails to heal.
The tubes had caused his ear drums to deteriorate completely.
"Our doctor was kind to let us look at Collin's ears at almost every doctor's office," Keli said. "So I had personally looked through a giant otoscope and seen little tiny scar tissue that was lining the ear canal. It was discolored and it looked dead and was totally rolled back. You could see straight into Collin's inner ear. I had seen that many, many times. So I know enough to know that without an ear drum there, he shouldn't be able to hear."
"What we were seeing with Collin though, is that Collin could hear," Keli said. "His speech was developing way beyond that which would normally be expected. He was incredibly articulate as a 2 and 3-year-old and he loved music from a very, very young age."
However, despite Collin's ability to hear, serious complications with his ears still remained. His inner ears were dangerously exposed. Collin needed to undergo a skin graph surgery that would provide long term protection.
Eight-year-old Collin became terrified at the possibility of surgery; so Collin and his mother did something in addition to consulting with the doctors.
"It was comforting to Collin, I think, as a 7-8 year-old, when we were planning these surgeries to say, 'God is going to heal your ears Collin.' And those words brought me comfort as I was speaking to my own son," Keli said.
Collin had one final doctor's visit to plan the surgery.
"The next day, we go into the doctor's office. He sat me down on the table and said, 'I am going to look into your ears one more time and make sure we are good to go,' As he was looking into my ears, he got really quiet," Collin said. "He kept changing the magnification on his otoscope. My mom and dad both came with me on this visit, since it was to plan a surgery and everything. And I remember them saying, 'What's wrong? What's the problem here?'"
"And he said, 'Well, I don't understand what happened, but Collin has ear drums all of a sudden. He's got brand new ear drums and I've not ever seen ear drums this bright and pink in anything but an infant,'" Collin said.
"My whole stomach just kind of rose up into my throat," Keli said. "I couldn't talk at all. I remember kind of backing up against the wall, thinking I need to hold onto the wall because I was so surprised."
"And me, stating the obvious, as a 7-year-old laying on the table - I go, 'Oh, well, we prayed!' And he just kind of looked at me and said, 'Well, you sure did something, because Collin has brand new ear drums.'"
"And I looked in and it was beautiful," Keli said. "It was so beautiful. It was pink. It was alive. There was life where there had been death in his ears."
The doctor said that what may be unusual in Collin's case was that he hadn't healed at all; and then within one week, two office visits, he seemed to heal.
Collin went on to excel as a pianist and eventually earned a music degree from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Today, Collin travels the country singing and playing the piano as part of the Christian trio, 33 Miles.
"It has been amazing to me how the Lord took the simple idea when I was 5, of oh, we need to put Collin in piano lessons. And the world would say, 'he doesn't have ear drums.' But my parents said, 'well, that's okay, because the Lord has a plan,'" Collin said.
Collin acknowledged that 33 Miles is his career and occupation. But, he said it is more than that.
"Really, for me, it is a gift that the Lord has given me to say, 'I have prepared you for such a time as this.' It's just simply about me continuing the music that I felt like the Lord has wanted me to have, ever since being a little child," he said.


Peter Pan & Other Lot (Buena Vista, R-1989). One Sheets (2) (26.75" X 39.75" & 27" X 41") SS & DS. Animation.
Starring the voices of Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried, Bill Thompson, Heather Angel, Paul Collins, and Tommy Luske. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson. A Walt Disney Production. Included is a one sheet from Hook (TriStar, 1991). Unrestored posters that appear virtually unused. Closer inspection may reveal one or two minor flaws, such as small creases, or light edge wear. Please see full-color, enlargeable image below for more details. Rolled, Very Fine/Near Mint.


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Silchar Directory
Silchar City Guide
Top Cities of Assam
Home city guide silchar tourism
Silchar Tourism
Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar district in Assam, is one of the must-visit places in the state. The reason for this is the large number of tourist attractions that it offers to the visitors. Right from natural beauty to architectural splendor, you will find the tourist places in Silchar to offer a large variety. In this article, we have provided a list of the famous tourist attractions of Silchar. Go through it and explore each of the attractions in detail.Silchar has many tourist spots. There are temples and places of historical significance in Silchar.
Tourist Places in Silchar
Sri Sri Kancha Kanti Devi temple: It is located 17 kms away on the way to airport from Silchar in Udharband. This temple is dedicated to the Goddess, who is widely known as powerful and that she is a union of Goddess Kali and Goddess Durga. According to legend, as commanded in dream, a king of the Kachari Dynasty built a four armed gold idol of the Goddess in 1806. The old temple is however, no more existent at the site. Instead, a new temple has been built up on that site.
Khaspur: Khaspur is located around 20 kms from Silchar and has the ruins of the ancient capital of the Kachari kingdom. It was the capital of the Kachari Kings and the construction was completed in 1690 AD. This area is frequented by tourists all round the year. The main attractions of the ruins are The Lion Gate, The Sun Gate and old king temples. The ruins of the kingdom are of much historical significance. Though the original palace doesn't exist now, the sub divisions like the main entrance gate, the Suryadwar, the Devalaya etc are still there. The entrances to the ruins are carved out in elephant patterns. The rulers of this kingdom belonged to the greater Bodo-Kachari ethnic group.
Maniharan Tunnel: This is a tunnel located 5 kms from the Bhubaneswar temple in Silchar. According to legends, this tunnel was used by Lord Krishna. The holy river Tribeni flows beneath the tunnel. Maniharan temple, dedicated to Lord Krishna and a temple worshipping Lord Rama, Lakshmana and Lord Hanuman is situated on the tunnel.
Martyrs Tomb at Gandhi Bag: It is situated on the banks of a lake and includes the 11 martyrs' tomb at Gandhi Bag. These are the martyrs who laid their lives during the language movement in 1961. The language movement happened to make Bengali the official language of the Cachar district of Assam. There are 11 monumental pillars for 11 martyrs.
Bhubaneswar Temple: This temple is located on Bhuban hill. It is located in Bhuban Nagar about 37 kms away from Silchar. The presiding God and Goddess of this temple are Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati (Hara-Parvati).
Shopping in Silchar
Silchar is a trade and commerce hub in Assam. Silchar is also the gateway to the states of Manipur and Mizoram in terms of trade. Tourists coming to Silchar can shop in the busy Janiganj Bazar and Vishal Mega Mart. Some of the Shopping complex in Silchar are: Suresh Paul Shopping Complex, Goldighi Shopping Complex.
Hotels and Restaurants in Silchar
Tourists can relish authentic food in some of the finest hotels and restaurants in Silchar like Borail View, Mohini, Rosevalley, Indraprastha, JC International, Ellora, Sudakshina, and Geetanjali Hotel. Given below are the addresses of some of the good hotels in Silchar:
Borail View Hotel
Phone no: (03842) 248561
Address: Park Road, Silchar Ho, Silchar - 788001
Rose Valley Hotel
Address: Ukil Patty, Silchar HO, Silchar - 788001
Ellora Hotel
Address: Ellora Hotel, Near Cachar Club, Club Road,
Silchar Ho, Silchar - 788001
Hotel Siddharth
Phone no: (033) 260383
Address: Narshingtola,Silchar,
Hotel J C International
Address: D S A Market Complex, Near Debduth Cinema Hall,
Circuit House Road, Silchar Ho, Silchar - 788001
J K Star Hotel
Address: Near Fatak Bazar, Lakhipur Road,
Silchar Ho, Silchar – 788001
Silchar also houses some good restaurants like Mirch Masala Pure Veg Restaurant, Swarupa Restaurant, Food Ex, Jaya's Hotel & Restaurant.
Transportation in Slichar
Silchar being a developed city is connected to the rest of Assam and Northeast. The city has a well connected air, rail and road network.There is meter gauge rail network to Lumding and Agartala. The Silchar railway station is located at Tarapur.Silchar airport is located at Kumbhirgram, about 22 km from Silchar town. There are regular flights to Guwahati and other Northeastern states from Silchar. Silchar is connected to Guwahati and other Northeastern states by the national highways. Bus facilities are available from Silchar to Guwahati.
You may also like to visit
Archaeological Site Khaspur near Silchar
Borail Wildlife Sanctuary
Cachar Club
Distances from Silchar
Hotels in Silchar
Maniharan Tunnel
Silchar in one day
Things To Do in Silchar
Tour and Travel Agents in Silchar
Tourist Places Near Silchar
Important Links Assamonline.in
Read More About silcharonline.in
Assam Online Network


The incident was noticed at a suicide attack on CRPF camp in South Kashmir when one of the five personnel was hit fatally despite carrying out a static bullet-proof shield.
SRINGAR: Bullets with steel core -- It's a new addition into the ammunition of terror groups especially Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed that has triggered an alarm within the security establishment as it has the capability to pierce a static bullet proof bunker used during counter-terrorism operations, officials said.
The first such incident noticed had happened on the new year eve when terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed had carried out a suicide attack on CRPF camp at Lethpora in South Kashmir when one of the five personnel of para-military force was hit by a bullet fatally despite carrying out a static bullet-proof shield provided by the Army, officials said.
Five CRPF personnel were killed in the attack.
A thorough enquiry showed that the bullet fired by the terrorist from the assault AK rifle was of steel core which has the capability of piercing through the static bunkers used by security personnel during encounters with terrorists.
The findings showed that the bullet, which is mainly termed as Armour Piercing (AP), is built of hardened steel or tungsten carbide.
"Precautionary measures have already been taken after the findings," said a senior official engaged in counter-terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.
A detailed analysis of the previous suicide attacks was carried out during which ballistic analysis of the terror attack on district police lines of Pulwama in South Kashmir in last August showed that 'steel core' bullets had been used in that encounter by the terrorists on security personnel.
Eight security personnel had lost their lives in the terror strike.
There have been instances when these bullets, though very small in numbers, have been recovered from hideouts mainly belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group.
"Every ammunition round seized during recovery is scrutinized minutely to look for such bullets.
In the meantime, direct exposure of security personnel using static bulletproof shield was being avoided," another official said.


The new world of social media offers many an opportunity to reach out, to engage. For a local Ottawa business, social media can allow you to turn your customers into "friends" and "followers" and provide you with a chance to speak to potential leads on a more personal level.
There are some amazing success stories of little shops who dramatically increased their client base through effective word-of-mouth advertising 2.0. Indeed, at Marketing Breakthroughs have seen mid-sized Ottawa businesses become big businesses based on a clever social media online campaign.
Naturally, one of the tenants of social media is that it is indeed social. This means actually building relationships with people and not just being an anonymous presence. As in any interaction, we try to present ourselves in the best light possible – highlighting certain traits over others and "putting your best foot forward" to use a cliché.
But what happens when we trip?
Social media can be a very friendly place, until the rules are broken. Any hint of fraud can send the self-affirmed super Internet sleuths on the hunt for evidence and the bigger the trail, the bigger "the scandal".
Breaking the values of the social media jungle can quickly escalate out of control. Think of the ravenous mobs that occasionally erupt on The Simpsons – one slight trigger, and the town is rioting with fire and pitchforks, not for any particular reason, but for the fun of the riot itself.
A recent example of this would be Cooks Source magazine and the ugly 15-minutes of fame this tiny publication got after a dispute with a former writer. Once the story broke, angry bloggers began attacking their Facebook page with a vengeance. Ouch.
Of course, you are not involved in any sort of duplicity, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't constantly safeguard your online social media image. Even the Queen ran into this sort of trouble when she set up her Facebook page.
What are your competitors saying about you?
It is important to consider these questions as we expand our social media circles.


In October 1999, after several meetings with her formation group, Elizabeth Martorell attended her first gathering of promised Ignatian Associates in Milwaukee. Sitting near the fireplace in the home of a total stranger who wasn't even there, and hemmed in by people on all sides, she got a real taste of what it would mean to be an Associate. One person described his trip to Africa to engage in the plight of those suffering from AIDs. A couple recounted their experience in El Salvador to celebrate the anniversary of the deaths of six Jesuits murdered for their commitment to the poor. Halfway through, the absent hostess came running in with a quick apology for not being able to join the group as she had to pack for her trip to protest the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA the next day! And there sat Elizabeth, a desktop publishing professional in Milwaukee, married for 25 years, mother of four, thinking to herself, "This is out of my league. What kind of people are these? I've got to get out of here." However, she was not only too polite to interrupt, but too embarrassed to climb over dozens of people who were obviously deeply engaged. And yet, all of her life, Elizabeth recalls being intrigued by the Jesuits for their constant willingness to "get their hands dirty." Here she was being challenged by fellow lay men and women and Jesuits themselves to do the same. Needless to say, she remained for the meeting and for all the years since then.
Elizabeth struggled with faith issues during college and most of her adult life. She recalls forcing herself "to do the mental gymnastics necessary to accept some aspects of the Catholicism I had been raised with." She desperately wanted her children to be guided by a sense of faith although she struggled to make sense of it herself—so much so that in the mid-90s she took a vacation from trying to answer the "big questions" and even engaging the world. "I gave up NPR and all social justice involvement," she recalls. And yet she found herself drawn by an invitation from her son's Jesuit high school teacher for parents to learn more about the Ignatian Spirituality that guided Jesuits. Ultimately, it was a post card for an Ignatian Associate information night that nagged at her to continue her pursuit of a meaningful faith. She found herself challenged by the passion of the Ignatian Associates and yet quickly gave up the idea of becoming a member when she learned that couples were asked to join together. To her surprise, her husband Paco suggested they give it a try.
All these years later, after completing the Spiritual Exercises, both Elizabeth and Paco feel they have been transformed by their call to the Associates. Elizabeth lives her promise of apostolic availability in several ways. She meets weekly with local Jesuit Volunteers, providing them a support system for their efforts to serve and advocate for the poor. She writes the paper version of the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking newsletter. And she offers herself as a body when a body is needed to march for justice or protest against structural violence. She finds the promise of simplicity a great challenge in this culture that is constantly finding ways to make life more complicated. She focuses on interior simplicity (more "being" than "doing") as well as attempting a deliberate lifestyle of simplicity.
The greatest gift of the Ignatian Associates for Elizabeth has been faith sharing with other Associates and being a part of a group of Associates, Jesuits, and others exploring the New Cosmology. What started out as a conversation one day in 2006, became a conference of over 350 people in 2008. It raised thousands of dollars for an inner-city retreat center.
Elizabeth Martorell with the Director of the Center for Concern, Jim Hug,S.J., and Bishop Gumbleton.