Bangs, Nathan D.D., an eminent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born May 2, 1778, near Bridgeport, Conn. When he was about thirteen, the family removed to Stamford, Delaware Co., N. Y., and here, on the home farm, the boy grew up, receiving the common school education of the time, by which he profited so well that at eighteen he was capable of teaching such a school himself. In 1799 he went to Canada, and spent three years there in teaching and in surveying land. In 1800 he was converted, and in 1802 was admitted into the New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which then embraced Canada. The next six years he spent in arduous labors in Canada, going from village to village as an itinerant minister, often through virgin forests, guided only by the ''marks" of the wood-cutter or the hunter. In 1808 he was returned to the state of New York, being appointed by the bishop to Delaware Circuit. Such had been his rapid rise in influence that his brethren sent him to the General Conference of this year, and so commanding were his subsequent services that he was a delegate in every session after, except that of 1848, down to 1856, when his advanced years justified his release from such responsibilities. In 1810 he was sent to New York City, which was ever after the headquarters of his labors and influence for his denomination. Methodism here was then still in its youthful struggles; it consisted of one circuit, with five preaching-places. The city population was below one hundred thousand. The city and its suburbs now (1865) comprise a million of people, and more than twice as many Methodist preachers as the whole Conference then reported, though it swept over much of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and over Eastern New York, up the Hudson into Canada to even Montreal and Quebec! What a history for one life! In 1813 he was appointed presiding elder of the Rhinebeck District; from 1817 to 1820 he was pastor in New York; and in 1820 he was elected "Book Agent," and assumed the charge of the Methodist Book Concern, then a small business, and deeply involved in debt. Under his skillful management (from 1820 to 1828) the Concern rapidly recovered from its embarrassments, and its business was immensely extended. In 1826 the "Christian Advocate" was established, and the editorial matter from 1826 to 1828 was chiefly furnished by Dr. Bangs, though he was still discharging the arduous duties of senior book-agent. During the whole period of his agency (1820-1828) he was also editor of the Methodist Magazine. Such an amount of labor would have worn out any man not endowed with great intellectual and bodily vigor-qualities which, in Dr. Bangs, were supplemented by indomitable industry and perseverance. In 1828 he was appointed editor of the Advocate, including, also, the editorial labors of the Magazine. In 1832 the General Conference appointed him editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review, a new form of the Methodist Magazine. His office comprised also the editorial charge of the books of the general catalogue. He had no paid assistance in the labors of the two periodicals, no appropriation being made for contributions; but the variety and vigor of his own articles imparted continued freshness and power to their pages.
His services to the missionary cause were perhaps the most important of all his vast and varied labors. He was one of the founders of the Methodist Missionary Society; he framed its original Constitution; he wrote its first "Circular Address" to the church. During sixteen years prior to the organization of the secretary-ship as a special and salaried function, he labored indefatigably and gratuitously for the society as its vice-president, secretary, or treasurer. He wrote in these years all its annual reports. In 1836 he was appointed "Missionary Secretary." He now devoted his entire energies to the Missionary Society, conducting its correspondence, seeking missionaries for it, planning its mission-fields, pleading for it in the pulpits, and representing it in the Conferences until 1841, when he accepted the presidency of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. In 1842 he returned to pastoral work in New York. and remained in active service until 1852. The remainder of his life was passed in quiet literary labor, with occasional preaching as his health served. Much of the literary labor of his later years was devoted to the exposition of the doctrine of entire sanctification. In his eightieth year he preached with vigor, and his writings of that period are luminous and powerful. His last sermon was on the certain triumph of the Gospel. He died in great peace May 3, 1862.
Episcopacy (1820, 12mo); Life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, one of the best of our biographies, and an essential collection of data for the history of the church. In 1832 appeared his Authentic History of the Missions under the care of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a volume which has aided much the missionary enterprise of the denomination. In 1835 he published Letters to a Young Preacher, full of excellent counsels on ministerial habits, on books, study, preaching, etc.; and in 1836, The Original Church of Christ (12mo). In 1839 appeared the first volume of his History of the M. E. Church. In three years the remaining three volumes were issued. It was a book for the times, if not for all time. His other publications are an Essay on Emancipation (1848, 8vo); State and Responsibilities of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1850, 12mo); Letters on Sanctification (1851, 12mo); Life of Arminius (18mo); and numerous occasional sermons. His scheme of "Emancipation" is substantially that recommended in the message of the President of the United States to Congress, 1862. "Let Congress," he says, "make a proposition to the 1 several slave states that so much per head shall be allowed for every slave that shall be emancipated, leaving it to the state Legislatures respectively to adopt their own measures to effect the object." Thus did this sagacious old man anticipate by several years the best suggestion which our national leaders were able to utter on our greatest national problem before its final solution by the sword. It is elaborated with skillful and intrepid ability, and fortified by decisive proofs from facts and figures. It has been said of his concluding "array of motives to emancipation," that they "are strong enough, one would think, to rouse all but the dead to the importance of the task." See Stevens, Life and Times of Nathan Bangs, D.D. (N. Y. 1863, 12mo); Ladies' Repository, June, 1859; The Methodist, May 10,1862; Methodist Quarterly, January, 1864, p. 172.


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Transformations By The Sea
RP Logs » Archives: Logs » Transformations By The Sea
October 21, 2014: Babs and Rowan meet by the sea, so Rowan can demonstrate and explain his unique genetic manipulation.
Sandy Hook - Gotham City
The southern most point of Gotham is Sandy Hook; also called Tricorner Island. It is a triangular shaped island that is home to the Tricorner Naval Yard (which was decommissioned by the Navy in the 70s). The shipbuilding industry was massive here once and Sandy Hook was a monolith amongst the Eastern shoes of the United States in the industry for fishing, commerce, transportation and marine-based activity.
t's still a rather powerful force of economy but many accidental fires, poor building planning and overpopulation has left it's stain upon the Dockside District. It's still, however, a major port with many housing and working sections stretched out along the massive triangle shaped isle. The entire island itself is dotted with smaller islands, small naval yards, docks, wharves and fishing businesses that thrive and work alongside the port, Gotham Harbor and major facilities that call Tricorner Island home.
After the corruption was bled out of Sandy Hook it's also home to many communities and perhaps some of the largest concentration of GCPD residential houses. Even former Commissioner James Gordon has a home on Sandy Hook.
The morning breeze is blowing in from the sea. It's cold enough these days that there aren't many beach goers, even from those fortunate enough to own houses out this way. Certainly cold enough that only the dedicated are out swimming. Well, the dedicated and Rowan. At five minutes to eight he steps from the sea, his clothing as it always appears: a tight shirt of some odd material and shorts. No shoes. That changes as he clears the surf, headed up toward the boardwalk and by the time he's half way up the beach it's jeans, an underarmor shirt and sneakers. He looks about curiously, taking in his surroundings. The lack of wreckage on the beaches always kind of takes him by surprise. Eyes begin scanning for a familiar red haired form.
Babs arrives just on 8am, and can be seen traversing the boardwalk in a thick jumper, jeans and jacket to ward off the cold. Her hair isn't tied back, so it's whipped by the breeze as she moves along in her chair. Spying the now familiar form waiting for her, she comes to a stop near him, looks up and smiles. "Good morning."
"Good morning." He says with a smile as he approaches the chair. "You're here and looking rather nice." Wind wipped but rather nice. "Well… are you comfortable? Was there anything you wanted to ask before I showed you what we get started?"
Smiling at the unexpected complimented, Babs brushes her hair from her face "As comfortable as I'm going to get. And no, Rowan, I don't have any questions at the moment."
"Alright. Well… I think the easiest thing would just be for me to show you and then let you to ask questions." Rowan stretches out. First his skin turns pale. Close to marble white. Then he begins to sprout reddish scales, his legs turn digitegrade and his feet splay out and gain claws, reptilian like. His face pushes out into a muzzle and he gains fangs. He plucks a cylinder off his belt and it extends into an eight foot spear. Extending a hand, electricity crackles along his arm.
"Well… what do you think."
As Rowan undergoes his transformation, Babs watches carefully. Moving her chair around to get a better look, she inspects the change closely. "It's different. Impressive and different."
The red goes out of his scales, spiraling off in wafts of smoke as they go completely gray. Then they begin to turn blue as Rowan calls Water to him. A tail sprouted out behind him, bearing a fin for moving through the water. His form becmae sleeker and his hands and feet webbed. "I have fragmentary memories of other transformations and… fuller transformations. But I can't do them… not now anyway."
Babs frowns at that comment "What do you mean, fragmentary memories and fuller transformations? Actually hold that thought. Do you have more you want to show me? Otherwise, I have a number of questions to ask you and it's probably going to take a bit of time." Again, she brushes the hair from face.
"I can do the features in bits and pieces. The ony one I didn't manifest you've seen already, I think, the wings." Rowan lets the various inhuman looking features fade and his form returns to normal. "Ask away. I don't mind taking the time."
Shaking her head Babs says "Wings? I don't think I've seen wings have I?"
"Oh?" Rowan twists as he pales again. There's a distortion in his clothes and four feathered, brightly colored wings burst from his back. "Well… there you go."
Twisting back he smiles as he leans back on the railing and regards Babs as the wings retract and fade away as if they never were.
Turning to face Rowan as he leans against the railing, Babs tilts her head and slightly narrows her eyes in thought. "If you're comfortable there, let's start with why you can't do the fuller features."
"I don't remember how is the simplest answer." Rowan's eyes are momentarily far away. "When I came through the portal my memories came up… a bit scrambled. I don't remember a lot of things and the ones I do remember they… surface at odd times." The dragon-warrior blows out a sigh. "I get… bits and peices. Nothing much. Nothing I can hang onto. I can remember being a dragon though. In addition to being you know, what you saw."
"Sounds like more than a bit scrambled." Babs smiles softly How long have you been here, Rowan?" The wind plays with hair, teasing and pulling on it, but her attention is purely on Rowan.
"A few tidal cycles. Er… sorry. Months is the term you use for a turning of the moon yes?" Rowan smiles. "Still learning the language as it were. And yes. I what I remember is… fragmentary. I can answer a lot about specific topics but I can't remember the names of people I served with. That kind of thing. It's been…" The blue blows out a long sigh. "Frustrating."
"I can imagine it is frustrating, and possibly lonely too." Babs folds her arms, her look becomes speculative and small frown appears. It's the look of someone contemplating a challenge or a project. "Tell me of the forms you just showed me, as much as you can… what is the forms purpose, how do you call it, does it feel different for you…." she smiles self-deprecatingly "Obviously, I'm interested."
Rowan chuckles. "I don't mind talking about it. But stop me if you'd rather talk about something else." The muddy haired young man taps his chin. "Where to start. Mmmm. Well some of it is magic. When I was remade I was given the ability to manipulate elemental energies on a very basic level. The Atlanteans taught me how to fill myself with them. Attune myself to the elements. When I do so it alters my form. I can even do it without activating my draconic genetics which is… technically not magic. Calling Air makes me faster, lighter. I can grow wings if I need them, manipulate lightning…" By way of demonstration he briefly calls Air and tosses ball lightning between his hands before letting it go again.
"Calling Water makes it easier to get around under the sea. I use it when I swim a lot. Regular Blue have Hydrokinetic abilities to help them move aobut. Lacking those I needed other options."
"Your draconic genetics. By this I'm assuming you mean the secondary set of genetics. I'm afraid I don't quite understand the connection between the genetics and the magic and I suspect I won't really." Right now, Babs is analysing the information provided, assessing. She falls silent as her brain ticks over, cataloguing and analysing. Then she stops and looks at Rowan. Placing a hand to mouth in shock "Oh my, I'm sorry, I got quite lost in my thoughts. I am sorry, Rowan, that was really quite rude." Her face softens and a small smile appears "The wings are very impressive you know."
Rowan chuckles. "I'm glad you like them. I've often been asked 'why four'…" The way he shrugs, he's not sure. "I think when I was a full dragon I had six." Another shrug and smile.
"I don't really understand the connection between the two either other than to say that the one affects the other. I can do either independently. I can transform if cut off from magic and I can use magic even if not transformed but when I do both at once the combination is somehow more than the sum of the parts." He gives Babs an apologetic smile. "Sadly I was only taught the rudiments of how magic works. Not why."
"Soldiers rarely understand how the tools work. They just have to trust they do and know enough to do rudimentary repairs on the fly." Babs shrugs. "Do the transformations hurt at all?" As she speaks, a gust of wind whips her hair more strongly and plasters it across her face. Clawing it away, she sighs and then pushes it back over her head with one hand.
"A bit. They're an advanced form of genetic manipulation from a race more learned in those arts than mine, but…" Rowan shrugs and grimaces a little, reaching down without thinking to help pull Babs hair out of her face. "… you're talking about bone and muscle cracking and reshaping itself. It does hurt, if only some."
As Rowans hand comes near, Babs stills momentarily and then realising his intent, relaxes. Pausing in their conversation, she hastily pulls her hair into makeshift ponytail (sans holder) and shoves in down the back of her jumper. Not glamorous, but for now, it will keep it out of her face.
"I'm sorry it hurts, but it's fascinating. It has my mind running a million miles an hour."
"It's alright. It's part of it. I'm… rather used to it." Rowan cants his head abit and smiles curiously. Odd as it may seem, long hair is not something he's used to seeing. Fashion statments are less important than tactical concerns and long hair gives your enemy a hand hold in melee combat.
"Take your time, Babs. I am not going anywhere. I'm quite content to answer whatever questions I can."
Noting the curious smile, Babs looks at Rowan intently. "What has you curious? Maybe you should be asking questions too…"
"I… I'm not sure it's appropriate to comment on it. Your hair. It's… I'm not used to seeing it that long. No one wore it that long back home. To easy to give an enemy a hand hold. Get your throat cut." Rowan grimaces. "Sorry, that's not very pleasant conversation is it?"
"Reality often isn't pleasant." Babs says and frowns slightly "I can't tell by the comment whether your curiosity is good or bad, you aren't thinking of cutting my throat are you?"
Here Rowan coughs a bit and colors. "Er, no, rather not. I was just thinking it looks… er… it looks rather nice on you. You wear it well." He takes a deep breath. "Were there other questions or things you wanted to see. You seemed to have quite a few of them."
The edges of Babs mouth turn up in a grin. "You blush too… or is that more of the genetic manipulation" Her green eyes dance with mischief.
Sobering then, Babs looks back to Rowan "The spear and the lightning manipulation, are they similar technology?"
"Oh I blush…" Rowan murmurs. "Um… Ah, the spear…" He hands it over and shows her some sutbtle controls on it. It can be a sword too or a flashlight sized cylender. "That's just our technology." It feels like it's made of smooth coral or bone… but it's much harder.
"The lightning is part of the genetic manipulation. When I call Air to me I can manipulate it. When I call Water it's sound…" He'd show her but it's very very loud. But very effective under water.
"Also this…" Holding up a bracer on his left arm also apparently made out of bone or coral, he briefly projects a crossbow like weapon, then a shield, then shuts it down.
That little smile that turns the corners of Babs mouth up is back "I'm glad you blush" she murmurs and then concentrates on the cylinder Rowan hands to her. Turning it over in her hands, she inspects it closely but having seen nothing similar to it elsewhere, is hesitant to mess with it too much. The bracer too gets her undivided attention. "I wonder if we could synthesis that technology" she muses, envisaging batarang style tech for the Bat family. Looking into his eyes, she becomes thoughtful "It would be good to study this technology further… maybe help you recreate it, or at least help maintain it. I assume even technology like this fails over time?"
"Eventually yes. It's self repairing to a degree… biological. But yes, over time it will fail. I had a lot more of it but most of it was ruined by the dimensional crossing. I'd be happy to let you examine it though, if you have the tools you need to do so." Rowan'd be happy honestly to let her examine it in general. As he said, he's inclined to trust Babs.
"Fascinating. Biological… I don't know if I have the tools, and won't till I do a preliminary assessment… How would your… um sorry… The Queen feel about you sharing this technology?" It's still breezy, and strands of hair are slowly escaping from where Babs has stuffed in her jumper. The wisps dance around Babs faces like a red nimbus.
"I'm not sure what Arthur and Mera would thinks…" Rowan muses before shrugging. "However it's not like I'd be divulging state secrets. It's not their technology. It's not even from this world." He chuckles. "It's not even from their people on my world. So I don't think there's any harm in letting you look at it." He reaches over without thinking to bursh her hair out of her face again. It's the second time and it's clear he's not really thinking about what he's doing.
Again as Rowan reaches to brush the hair from her face, Babs tenses. The gesture is more of a wave and doesn't make contact with her, but it close… as quickly as she tenses, she relaxes again. This time though, she studies him carefully. "As long as it causes no issues for you," Babs finally says "I would like to look at it. One day, soon, I'll arrange for you to come in and we can look at it together, if you like."
They've been sitting long enough that wind has tugged all her hair free and it dances in the wind around her.
Rowan watches it dance for a long moment, smiling a little before he focuses back on Babs eyes. "Sure. I'd like that. Let me give you the communic- er… 'telephone' code for the mobile device I carry… er, except when I'm working. Surfacers don't waterproof their communications devices very well." Not may phones out there rated for two miles underwater, to be sure. Cell services sucks down there anyway.
The wind drops at that point and Babs hair settles in a red cloud around her face, like a frame "I would like your mobile number, Rowan. And no, waterproofing our electronics is not something we do well, in general." Tilting her head, she asks "I would like to know more about your memory loss, do you have time?"
Rowan's smile grows a little and he inclines his head. "I have plenty of time Babs and I do not mind answering. What is it you wish to know?" Talking about his memory loss can be somewhat painful but at least Babs simply wants to know and doesn't want to use it against him. Nor does it make him feel more alone when she asks him.
"You said earlier that you thought your memories were scrambled. Why do you say scrambled and not lost?" Shifting slightly, Babs rearranges herself in the chair. Her hands are folded neatly in her lap, and she watches Rowan closely.
"Because they seem to still be in there. Just… somewhere I can't get to them all the time." Rowan's eyes grow distant for a moment before coming back to the present. "They sometimes resurface when… triggered. I met a woman named Aspen. She's a national hero among my people back home. Here she's a scientist of some kind and grew up not knowing she was Blue. I did not know her until I got a close look at her. Then it all came flooding back." Beat. "Not that it helped. It wasn't her I was remembering, just someone who looked like her. But you get the idea, yes?"
Babs tilts her head and is thoughtful, her eyes never leaving Rowans face. "Very much. Have you had any other memories triggered, or was it just the one?"
"None so far but it's not like I've tried to really stimulate everything. I know there are things I'm supposed to be able to do with them that I just don't remember how to do…" Rowan chuckles watching those floating red strands. "Sounds, sents, sights… anything could be a trigger. Mostly sights, so far… but…"
Babs nods, mentally cataloguing the information. "And have you had anything triggered recently? As opposed to within a week or so of you getting here." Seeing Rowan chuckle, she frowns and pushing her glasses up her nose asks "What are you laughing at?"
"Sorry. The way the wind whips your hair. It's distracting. My old commander would probably rip me a new one for paying so much attention to it." It's nice to look at, though. At least Rowan thinks so. "No, nothing recently, but I've sort of settled into a routine in the last month or so. Work three or four days out of the week for the surfacer scientists, come back to my home on the harbor. Spend some time exploring the surface." And recently, meeting with Babs which has been both enjoyable and educational.
"Distracting?" raising a hand to her hair, in a semi selfconscious gesture, she frowns and then shaking her head, Babs considers the information he's provided. "And you remember being a" and she concentrates momentarily "a dragon?"
"Yes. Several times. The most recent on this world. I was one, I think, when I came through the portal. I… got into a fight, I believe. I do not remember the details of the last one though. Just… flashes of fire and sounds like thunder and the sensation of falling… a long, long way." Rowan's eyes go distant again as he remembers before he focuses back. "Was there something about it that you wished to know?"
"I'm sorry Rowan, I didn't mean to cause you pain." sighing Babs continues "Everything and nothing, really. I mean I want to know everything and nothing specific. I was wondering if there could be a way to help you remember. The simple fact that you think you can, and certainly have done, is encouraging. It's a matter of finding the right triggers." It's Babs' turn to gaze out, wind blown, into the distance as she ponders the questions she's just asked.
"I don't think I've met anyone yet as curious as you Babs." Rowan chuckles. "It's rather flattering, though I have to wonder in a world full of so many champions, so many strange and unusual people, what's one soldier from another world?" It's an honest question, the Blue's head canting slightly as he sees her go to another place.
"What? Oh, sorry." Babs shakes herself from her contemplation and returns her attention to Rowan. Taking a deep breath, she begins "Multifaceted really. I'm good at what I do, because I ask questions. By questioning, I gather data, data that allows me to make decisions. More data, theoretically, the more accurate the decision." She lets that thought sit for a bit before continuing "And I think, just like a soldier, information lets you make better stratetic and tactical decisions. I sometimes wonder if I'd paid more attention to certain things, whether I would be in this chair today." At this she shrugs "If 'what if's' were horses, we would all be riding."
"Don't take this the wrong way" and Babs rolls her eyes at that "It's a puzzle to be solved. For someone like myself, it's like a sirens call. The fact that there is someone that I may help by solving that puzzle, just makes it that much more interesting." It might be argued that the way her hair is being moved by the breeze, Babs could look a bit like a 'mad scientist'… locks streaming about her head.
"Well if you come up with any answers I shall be happy to hear them." Rowan says with a smile. "They've been in short supply since I came here. In the meantime if examining me or my equipment can aid you in any way I shall be happy to arrange whatever you'd like. It's as much a learning experience for me as it is for you and I do think myself fortunate to have met such a considerate and kind seeker of knowledge."
Babs blinks "So formal, Rowan. If you are interested, I have some ideas but need to think on them before I share them. I confess, at this point, that I think I'm questioned out." Babs does chuckle at this, not having quesions is a not-so-common occurence.
"Was that formal?" Rowan cants his head again, eyes curious. "I find that getting the manners right here is a tricky. Sorry. Unless you prefer the formality." Rowan prefers to be casual. Formality is for the brass and kings. People should be people, in his opinion.
"But if you've no more questions I have one." He says holding up one finger and pausing with a smile. "Would it be a horrible imposition to ask you to recommend some food that isn't fish. I eat a lot of it. It's what I'm used to, but you have so many ways to prepare food and such a variety. I find myself quite at a loss."
Nodding, Babs looks seriously at Rowan "Yeah, they are. Manners are difficult. I prefer informality. It's less stressful." a small shrug. And then processing the question, Babs does a double take "er what?" and raises a hand to rub the bridge of her nose"
For a while Babs is silent, every so often rubbing her forehead and then peering intently at Rowan. Sighing, Babs finally asks "What else do you eat except fish?"
"Underwater? Kelp, other marine life." There aren't a whole lot of things you can farm or ranch underwater. Coral, but coral's hard to eat. Then again, coral gives place for things that are easy to eat, so there's that. "Shark, while, squid…" Rowan's eaten most edible sea things at one time or another.
"Have you tried any surface foods, Rowan?" Babs tone is cautious "It's not just a matter of recommending something, you need to be sure your physiology can actually process it. If not, there could be some pretty serious side effects." Scientist Babs, just add water.
"Oh yes." Rowan nods. "Back on my home world I ate surfacer foods regularly. They just tended to be trail rations. Dried meats and fruits and the like. Nothing precisely intended to taste good, just keep you fighting." The fact that Blue could exist on the surface for extended periods of time was another reason they tended to form the bulk of the aid to their Homo Magi allies on earth 81.
"Our soldiers say the same here." Babs acknowledges the comment about trail rations. "I don't really know what to recommend. To me, food is a something you have because you must but if pressed, I would say a good cut of beef, cooked medium rare, served with blanched vegetables and mash potato is my favourite meal." Titling her head to the side, Babs' eyes widen "You've not had beef at all, have you except as dried rations?"
Rowan nods his head affirmative. "Yeah. Cooking food was a luxury on the front. No fires, it may give away your position. So what the surfacers called jerkey, or other similar salted and preserved preparations. Or…" The blue actually makes a face here. "Nutrient paste." Clearly not very appetizing at all.
Sighing, Babs looks Rowan and laughs. "I think I might need to congratulate you on achieving what most males of our species would love to do." Tilting her head to one side, Babs asks "Would you care to have dinner with me sometime Rowan? I can introduce you to some surfacer food."
He's not at all sure what he's achieved that he should be congratulated for. But Rowan'll ask her one of these days. "I'd like that very much Babs." The dragon-warrior says with a broad smile. "Thank you."
_201410oraclerowan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Basil Harwood was born in Woodhouse, Gloucestershire in 1859. He was a pupil of Carl Reinecke (1824 - 1910) in Leipzig. Reinecke was a prolific composer writing operas, concertos, symphonies and some splendid chamber music. Harwood mainly wrote for the organ and the church. Some of his organ music was innovative for the day. I remember struggling with a piece which was for left hand and pedals only. To my mind, he is the British equivalent of Rheinberger (1839 - 1901) who wrote 20 organ sonatas himself. Harwood was organist at Ely (1887 - 92) and at Christ Church, Oxford (1892 - 1907) and died in London in 1949.
The organ sonata used to be a popular medium but it has fallen into neglect by composers in recent times and this is partly due to some pretty inept compositions in this genre. Many organists felt that they had to compose for their instruments but often the results were poor. A brilliant organist does not guarantee a brilliant composer.
Harwood's Sonata No 1 in C sharp minor, Op 5 is a really good piece and Leeds Town Hall Organ does it proud. The opening movement allegro appassionato is very well conceived; the andante is melodious and can you work out the similarity to a hymn tune. The brief maestoso leads to the obligatory fugue which form is so predictable that it slightly spoils this otherwise excellent work.
How well I remember playing the organ music of Percy Whitlock when I was a boy. I still treasure Oxford University Press's edition of the Five Short Pieces. Whitlock had a short life (1903 - 1946) but the Four Extemporisations are a good introduction to his music which has a pastoral folk-song-like idiom at times in which shimmering heat on pleasant meadows is often evoked. The Carol is very beautiful and Simon Lindley's registration is expertly judged. The Divertimento movement sounds a little confused as if brain and fingers are not quite together. Fidelis is another pastoral piece and the famous fanfare ... famous to serious organists ... but fanfare? At times I felt I was in North Africa!
Peter Hurford was born in 1930 and studied at RCM and at Cambridge. In 1958 he became Master of Music at St Albans. He is a very fine organist and, like Harwood, has written for the king of instruments and for the church. His Suite: Laudate Dominium is in six movements and while it may not be strikingly original it is well-written and enjoyable. A few parts of the work are, in fact, rather ordinary and there are one or two blemishes in the performance. Hurford's music seems to be looking back and is therefore not a product of its time.
The pieces by Norman Cocker (1889 - 1953) are most rewarding. I did find Lindley's staccato in the Tuba Tune a little excessive. Vaughan Williams's Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes are not striking either but the recording engineer, who is excellent throughout this CD, excels himself at the magnificently controlled crescendo at the end of Hyfrodol, a glorious tune if ever there was one.


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Configure the Service connection point at the top-tier site of your hierarchy.
Configuration Manager supports limited management of devices that connect to your Exchange Server, without installing the Configuration Manager client. For more information, see Manage mobile devices with Configuration Manager and Exchange.


From the ancient times people believed in something. It was God, idols, animals, plants, sun etc. In depends on everybody what to believe. The faith is very personal concept. In this thematic essay belief systems we are going to talk about the faith in general and also describe the main world popular belief systems such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Of course, we have much more belief systems in the world, but it takes a lot of time to describe each of them. These three are the strongest, the most popular, because they have the most followers nowadays.
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Christianity is a religion based on a New Testament (the life and teaching of Jesus Christ). According to Christianity only Jesus is the Messiah, He is the God's Son and his main mission was to save the mankind. And He did it through his death on the cross.
Christianity is one of the biggest and most popular belief systems all over the world. There are more than 2,3 billion of Christians on the Earth and in every country they have at least one church. Christians are sure that Jesus was a real person. He was born in Nazareth, and his mom was Holy Virgin Mary. Jesus lived on the Earth for 33 years, he taught people to be kind and love each other, to forgive the enemies and to do unto others as you want to do to you. His own life and behavior was the greatest example of his teaching. He was a real Pastor and there were a lot of people who sincerely loved Him. Otherwise there were a lot of people who hated Him and his way of life, they wanted to kill Jesus and in one moment they did it. It was a part of God's plan for His Son – to die for all the people and in such way to bring them the salvation. At the third day Jesus rose from the dead. It was also the God's plan. The death was powerless. Christians believe in in life after death. They know that the hell and the Eden are real. Angels and Demons are also real. According to our acts and faith on the earth will determine our future after the death.
Bible – is the main book of all the Christians. In this book you can find the main facts of Jesus life, many statements from his teaching. In Old Testament described the lives of different famous people from ancient times, kings and the story of the Israeli people.
All of these branches considered the Jesus Christ as a Savior of the world, but they have some differences in the churches services, restrictions, behavior and others. Protestants, unlike the rest do not pray for the dead people, because they are sure that to receive salvation can only alive people. During the life everybody have a choice and this choice is always ours – to serve God or not.
Judaism is a monotheist belief system which belongs to Jewish people. The religion is based on Torah or in other words Pentateuch of Moses (the first five books in the Bible).
Scholars believe that the Judaism practiced already the first people Adam and Eve. So, the creation of the world and man were at the same time as appearance of Judaism. Jews – is an ethno-religious group, including those who were born Jewish and those who converted to Judaism. Nowadays a lot of Jews live in Israel, Canada and USA, the smaller part in Europe. The main symbol of Judaism is the six pointes David's Star.
1) God created the man and God loves all the people and wants to help everybody. Good always wins.
2) God is full of love and justice. He is not only the Creator to the people but also a Father.
3) The life it is the dialog between God and man.
4) The person is very valuable in God's eyes (as an immortal spiritual being).
5) All people are equal before God.
6) Jewish people have a special mission - to give people the word about God. God made a covenant with the Jewish people, and gave them commandments.
7) Jewish people must to obey all the laws from the Torah.
8) The spiritual is above the material.
9) The doctrine of the Messiah coming. The Jewish don't believe that Jesus Christ was a Messiah, they are still waiting for another person.
10) The doctrine of the resurrection at the end of days. It will be the second life on the Earth.
People, who take Islam as the main belief system, are called the Muslims. In 28 countries, Islam is the official State religion. The main prophet and the creator of Islam was Muhammad. The main book is Koran. They have also such book as Sunnah. It includes the description of the main traditions and of the Muhammad's life. The worship language of Islam is Arabic.
The main statement of Islam is - there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad - His Prophet. Islam is based on the belief in one God (Allah). All people are creations of the Creator and are equal in front of him, regardless of race, class and place of residence. Muhammad brought people the faith in the true God, revealed to them the essence of Islam, and introduced the main laws and regulations of the Muslim religion.
The Muslims have a lot of traditions. They have a special clothing style. They also believe in the life after the death. Then everybody receive or reward or the serve punishment.
the humanity and common ideas.
I think this thematic essay on belief systems can be useful for you. We tried to gather the most important information about three main belief systems in the world. Remember that our custom writing service can write essay special for you.


Bits or pieces?: Evolution, diffusion, hype cycle and early failures.
Evolution, diffusion, hype cycle and early failures.
With mapping, one of the axes is evolution (the other being value chain - I've written an introduction on Wardley Mapping which covers the basics.).
One axis describes what something is (the value chain, from the user needs to the components required to meet it through a chain of needs). The other axis (evolution) describes change.
I've posted before on how the evolution axis was determined but when exploring this subject, I didn't start with the evolution axis as I had to discover it. In the very early days (2000 - 2004), I tried all sorts of different forms of measuring change. All failed.
1) Universal. It appears to apply to all things that undergo competition whether activities, practice, data or knowledge.
2) Causation. It is caused by the interaction of demand and supply competition. Without competition then it doesn't occur. It also doesn't require the need for a crystal ball as time is abolished from the axis. Evolution is measured over ubiquity vs certainty.
3) Measurable. The evolution of any component can be measured using a combination of publication types and how widespread the component is in a field. Unfortunately, only the past can accurately be measured which means the component has to become defined on the certainty axis (i.e. a commodity) before its past can be fully described. Until that point, there is an increasing element of uncertainty with position as the component becomes more uncertain (i.e. unknown).
We have no crystal ball and cannot predict precisely when things will evolve (I had to abolish time to create the evolution curve) however we can test evolution through the measurement of the past and secondary effects (i.e. other consequences caused by evolution). We can also use weak signals to anticipate evolutionary change.
4) Usefulness. There is a long list of reasons why mapping across the evolution axis is useful.
5) Consistency. There is only one evolution path. The evolution of one activity can be directly overlaid on the evolution of another. There is no need for a vague 'time' axis where 'time' is not a measurement but a direction of travel.
6) Direction. A thing evolves in a single direction, i.e. the past is behind it, the future is ahead. It doesn't start evolving, become a product and then suddenly jump back into genesis as an unknown thing. When examining complex products, what we find is objects like a 'smart phone' are actually a grouping of many underlying components.
7) Recursive. Evolution can be equally applied at a high level (e.g. a specific business activity) or at a low level (e.g. a component of an IT system).
Before discovering the process of evolution, I did try to map with all sorts of things. These were inevitably failures. I thought I'd go through a couple and explain why.
Diffusion Curves (as per Everett Rogers) are extremely useful in many contexts. They are measurable (adoption vs time) but unfortunately the time span is inconsistent between different diffusion curves. If you overlay multiple diffusion curves on exactly the same time axis then you get multiple different curves. They also lack direction i.e. the diffusion of a particular phone A1 (from early adopters to laggards) is followed by the diffusion of a better phone A2 (from early adopters to laggards) which is followed by the diffusion of an even better phone A3 (from early adopters to laggard). ... and so on. Hence the evolution of an activity is seen as a constant set of jumps back and forth rather than a direction of travel and the future of an act can be both ahead and behind it on the map. I've compared a map based on evolution (see figure 2) with a map based upon diffusion (see figure 3).
Figure 2 - Map based upon evolution, direction.
Figure 3 - Map based upon diffusion, direction.
Hence from a mapping perspective, this makes diffusion curves useless. However, don't confuse that with diffusion curves being useless, in other contexts they are extremely useful.
Hype cycles are extremely useful in many contexts. They are not however based upon any physical measurement but instead are aggregated opinion. This means they are not testable, so we just have to accept them at face value (even when they do change the axis from visibility to expectations). The other axis is time (though it used to be maturity). Time, in this case, is more of a vague direction of travel rather than any measurement of time. It also suffers from a lack of direction in the same way diffusion curves do.
In figure 4, I've added four different hype cycles from 2002, 2005, 2010 and 2013. First thing is the axes have changed from visibility vs maturity to expectation vs time whilst the curve has remained the same. I even have a couple with expectation vs maturity. This doesn't matter. The hype cycle isn't based upon measurement of some physical property, it's based upon opinion, so this is fine.
However, we have software as a service / ASP being in the slope of enlightenment in 2005 and cloud computing being in the peak of inflated expectations in 2010. Now, this all depends upon opinion and whatever definition they wish to choose. But, as with diffusion there's no direction i.e. one thing doesn't evolve into another but rather one thing in the slope of enlightenment becomes another related thing in the peak of inflated expectations. So, when it comes to mapping rather than compute (as a product) evolving to include compute (as a rental service) then evolving to compute (as a commodity) including compute (as a utility), with the hype cycle you have the same back and forth that you have with diffusion curves.
This variation of direction (i.e. movement) is shown in figure 5.
As I found out long ago, the hype cycle in the context of mapping is not useful (as with diffusion curves). Don't confuse that with the hype cycle being useless itself. In many contexts as a source of aggregated opinion, then it is very useful.
I looked at many techniques to measure change and found all of them wanting. I spent years finding out that lots of things weren't useful for describing evolution. This is why I spent so long in the British Library cataloguing many thousands of publications. There was no effective means of describing the process of evolution until I'd done this work and found a process that seemed to work.
But then that's the point, diffusion curves measure diffusion, hype cycles provide an aggregated opinion on hype, whilst the evolution curve measures evolution (it doesn't measure either diffusion or hype). All have their purpose.
When it comes to mapping and improving situational awareness then you need to focus on what an organisation is (the value chain) and how the components of the value chain are changing (evolution). Does this mean the evolution curve is right? No, of course not. It's just the best model at this moment in time for examining evolution and as such it's an essential part of mapping.
Based upon Henry's question (below), I've added a graph to show the link between diffusion curves (Adoption vs Time) and Ubiquity.
The first graph shows adoption curves for different instances of an evolving activity A [through various instances A1 to A6], but rather than simply add adoption as the Y axis, I've added applicable market. The reason for this is adoption is to an applicable market and the market sizes for each evolving act are different.
Figure 6 - Diffusion Curves (adoption vs time).
I've then added where each evolved instance of the act A is in the evolution curve.
Now, a couple of things are worth noting.
Ubiquity is a measure of how ubiquitous something is. In order to determine it, you need to know the end point i.e. when the activity has become a well established commodity. This point of ubiquity can only be accurately estimated when the act has become certain. At this point the past history can be graphed.
I have to emphasise, that the accuracy at which you can determine where something is or where something was on the graph increases as the act becomes more certain i.e. a commodity. If the act is not a commodity then where it currently is on the ubiquity axis becomes increasingly uncertain the newer the act is.
For this reason, you cannot when something novel appears (e.g. the genesis of electricity with the Parthian Battery in 400 AD) determine how ubiquitous electricity will become some 1600 years later. No-one can. This requires a crystal ball. However by 1960s, you've a pretty good idea how ubiquitous electricity is and can graph the past.
The certainty axis is determined from publication types (see figure 8). In particular, it is a relative measure of type II and type III publication types.
Figure 8 - Publication types.
To graph the past, you need to first use the publication types (used to create the certainty axis) to determine if something has become an established commodity. You can then determine the point of ubiquity (what I call the reference point) and use this to determine how ubiquitous something was. You can then plot ubiquity against certainty in the past. An example of this covering a range of entirely different activities is provided in figure 9.
Figure 9 - Ubiquity vs Certainty.
You can then overlay the different areas where different states (custom built, product etc) dominate which gives figure 1 - the evolution curve at the beginning of the post.
To graph the future, you can't. The best you can do is to make a best guess at to where something is on the curve. Which is why with mapping I use broad categories - genesis, custom built, product etc. I get groups of people (with experience of the field) to estimate how far along it is. The accuracy of this will increase as the act becomes more certain.
To see evolution then you need to abolish time from graph (i.e. there is NO way to measure evolution over time in any form of repeatable pattern). However, whilst things will evolve over some (unspecified length of) time, you cannot accurately demonstrate where it is the evolution curve until it has become a commodity. Then you can accurately demonstrate where it was.
I cannot emphasise this more. The future is an UNCERTAINTY barrier which we cannot peek through. The more UNCERTAIN something is (i.e. genesis, custom built) the less able we are to see the end state. ONLY when something is close to being CERTAIN can we see the point of ubiquity (the reference point).
I do see people draw diffusion curves and start claiming things about them like here is a commodity, this end is an innovation. Alas, there is no repeatable graph of evolution over time.
We do NOT have a crystal ball. No-one does.
Diffusion <> Evolution. Evolution consists of many diffusion curves and there are many chasms to cross. The two are not the same, mix this up and you'll get lost.
Despite lacking any crystal ball, we can however say that something will evolve from genesis, custom built to product (+rental services) to commodity (+utility services). It will become more common and more certain. This change is driven by supply and demand competition. This is what figure 1 shows.
Oh, and just because I like a good debate. I'll leave you with this graph of progress. Whilst being efficient with energy is good, anyone who thinks we can somehow reduce energy consumption permanently whilst maintaining progress needs to think again. Whatever we do, eventually if progress continues our energy consumption will exceed today. If you want to solve the energy related issues then you need to look for less damaging forms of production. Competition (whether life or business) is a constant exercise of reducing entropy within the local system through the consumption of energy.
I thought this was fairly obvious but it seems there is still some confusion. I need to clarify.
100% Adoption of the iPhone 1 <> 100% Adoption of the iPhone 6. The markets are different.
Q. But can't we look at the smartphone market?
Well, what do you measure against?
Q. When everyone has one?
So, gold bars aren't ubiquitous because not everyone has one? Gilts aren't ubiquitous because not everyone has one? CRM systems aren't ubiquitous because not everyone has one? Coffee beans aren't ubiquitous because not everyone has one? Computer servers are not ubiquitous because not everyone has one?
Except ... Gold bars, Gilts, CRM, Coffee beans and computer servers are all ubiquitous in their markets. It's just their markets are very different.
Q. But how do you convert adoption to ubiquity?
You need to find the point of ubiquity in a market. To do this you need to look at publication types and work out when something is a commodity. Then you can find the point of ubiquity and plot back how ubiquitous something was vs how certain (i.e. well defined, well understood) something was.
You cannot simply take adoption of something in its market and call that ubiquity. You cannot jump from an Everett Roger's diffusion curve to an Evolution curve. Just because they both happen to have an S-Curve shape doesn't make them the same thing.
Q. But that's what everyone does!
Well, they are all wrong.


Formato, Marilena and Farina, Miriam and Spirito, Rita and Maggioni, Marco and Guarino, Anna and Cherchi, Gian Mario and Biglioli, Paolo and Edelstein, Celina and Scanu, Angelo M. (2004) Evidence for a proinflammatory and proteolytic environment in plaques from endarterectomy segments of human carotid arteries. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Vol. 24 (1), p. 129-135. eISSN 1524-4636. Article.
Objectives—Based on previous observations on apolipoprotein(a), apo(a), in human unstable carotid plaques, we explored whether in the inflammatory environment of human atheroma, proteolytic events affect other hepatic and topically generated proteins in relation to the issue of plaque stability.
Methods and Results—Forty unstable and 24 stable plaques from endarterectomy segments of affected human carotid arteries were extracted with buffered saline (PBS) and then 6 mol/L guanidine-hydrochloride (GdHCl) to identify loosely and tightly bound products, respectively. The extracts were studied before and after ultracentrifugation at d 1.21 g/mL. In the extracts, the concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6, -8, and -18 were significantly higher in the unstable plaques and correlated to those of MMP-2 and MMP-9. By Western blots, both apoB and apo(a) were highly fragmented and mostly present in the d 1.21 bottom that also contained fragments of apoE (10 and 22 kDa), decorin, biglycan, and versican. Fragmentation was higher in the unstable plaques. In baseline plasmas, concentrations of lipids, lipoproteins, and ILs did not differ between patients with unstable and stable plaques.
Conclusions—In unstable and to a lesser extent in stable plaques, there is a proinflammatory and proteolytic microenvironment with the generation of fragments with potential pathobiological significance that requires investigation.


text:
On the Displaced Syrians in Lebanon
Yasser al-Zayat *
A few days ago, a campaign on Facebook was launched. It was called the "National Campaign Against Syrian Presence in Lebanon". And more recently, the "Anti-Racist Campaign in Support of Syrians" succeeded in closing the earlier Facebook page and raising the voice of anti-racism in Lebanon. In the midst of this, many details on the Syrian experiences in Lebanon are lost.
The phrase "Syrian presence" harks back to the era of the Baath mandate on the "brotherly Lebanese region" (1975-2005), when "Syria" was a public enemy in this country. The relations were not perfect between the smaller sibling and the larger one. Since the separation of the Levant, some ninety years ago, the Arab Syria was the Other upon which the myth of Greater Lebanon was created: We aren't Syrians, not Arabs, not Bedouins… Syria never stopped short of shaking the Lebanese Republic, at times arming the popular Nasserist movements, or supporting the Palestinian resistance fighters who became popular after 1967. However I believe nothing stressed the relationship between the two countries as much as the arrogant militarism that ruled the country for thirty years, for it had fought everyone, humiliated everyone, and controlled the life and death of everyone. It had imprinted on the hearts of the Lebanese a dark and severe image of "Syria", the Syrian political resident, the military, the spies, the bribes, the soldier who searches through the identification documents, and points with his shoe, while making caravans of cars move across the checkpoints.
Alongside the Syrian mandate's army was an army of Syrian workers and laborers. They had found work opportunities and a migrant life that was not too bad. The army itself was a tyrant that no one dared speak of, while the army of workers was subject to constant abuse from Lebanese racists. Not only did they face low wages, long work hours, and a lack of social and health insurance, they also faced much arrogance and stereotypes, if not harassment, beatings, and even killings in the worst of times.
I came to Beirut before three years and a bit. Syria here was nothing more than a beggarly [Abu Shahata] military officer, or a blue-collar worker [Sharshuh], and the financier of the Resistance, and Bab Al Hara television series.
Then March 2011 happened. The lines between the many Syrias were starting to get drawn, and the Lebanese slowly got to know them before seeing them in the next few years. Just as the Syrians were surprised by themselves, and got to know about their cities, names, dreams, and voices. The Lebanese themselves were to be surprised by it, as the word "Syrians" came to mean far more than it used to. For the first time they saw the people of Syria in all their diversity: the Syrian opposition, the average Syrian, the Syrian painter, the Syrian who speaks foreign languages without having learned it in Lebanon! And there are many others.
With time, the Syria nicknamed "the Kingdom of Silence" became feudal states of noise, fire, and people escaping the violence. It was written in the fate of Lebanon to go into Syria's civil war just as it did with its own civil war. It left no strong united Syria, nor a weak fragmented and bloodied Syria.
The Lebanese society has been divided towards the displaced Syrians, and so has the state. The government's discourse has ranged from support and understanding on the one hand, and rabid fascism on the other, even though the other has received much talking and fuss. Lebanon officially calls the Syrians "displaced", and refuses to describe them as "refugees", to avoid the legal implications associated with the term. This was despite the fact that it is the only country that opened its borders to these "displaced Syrians". However it has not stopped controlling the movement across the border, and searching through the documents of people crossing the borders, and chasing people residing illegally within its borders.
No "refugee camp" grew for the Syrians in Lebanon as was the case for the Palestinians. It doesn't seem random or a simple time difference, especially considering the not-so-innocent scattering of Syrians in every corner. Neither is the constant words of the United Nations on solving the crisis in the refugee camps and its awaiting a "political decision" that is needed before such a thing may occur. The time approaches for the announcement of the Syrians to consider themselves the largest "sect" in Lebanon, however this new large social group has no large mosque, or a political center that deals with its issues. This adds to the spatial displacement an additional political, economic, social, and psychological displacement.
It is easy in this context to focus on the "bad treatment" that the Syrians of Lebanon face. There is much evidence of that: a nightly curfew in the south, burnings of refugee tents in the north, exploitation of workers everywhere, accusations of theft, rape, and taking over the country at every instance. The security pressure and the constant sectarian terrorizing, as well as hidden sexual exploitation. Schools and clinics turning Syrians away. And of course, we do not forget the statements of Jibran Basil. All of that in-your-face racism that is condemnable does not summarize the entire scene.
Racism in Lebanon is a messed up affair. It is not possible to limit it to the dichotomy of Lebanese-Syrian or even consider it to be one-directional. Rather, it is a complex network of relationships between authority, hatred, and misery among the residents within this society. Of course, we cannot ignore the Asians, Africans, Palestinians, and women from this network. We cannot separate the "elements" from the sects in Lebanon. The taxi driver who will reprimand you because your Syrian compatriots have "ruined the country", or will curse Hafez al-Assad regardless of your opinion of him, or will apologetically describe to you his Lebanon as a field of a conflict between "Islam" (that is between the Sunni and Shii sects). All those people and their statements do not reflect their racial opinion of Syrians, but rather their sectarian and political affiliations. What entertains in all of this Lebanese confusion is what a person can analyze of the many forms of racism: Maronite racism, Shii racism, Sunni racism, Druze racism. It can be quite an entertaining sociological game, but it remains just that, a game.
What is real is that Lebanon paid a price for the Syrian catastrophe far greater than it could pay. This is a reality that is unfortunately ignored by the narratives of "Racist Lebanon" and "Syria Welcomed the Lebanese in 2006" and "The Syrian is Not Your Enemy"… These narratives do not address the dire reality nor do hollow condemnations of tensions and hatred. The source of the violence and misery must be found and solved using solutions that are deeper than telling people to "love one another", to be "brotherly", or to be "ashamed" of hating one another. Just as it won't help to respond to anti-Syrian racist discourse by a racist discourse that parodies the Lebanese. Lebanon is a country in ruins, and cannot handle anymore. It is no doubt that it would be further pushed to exhaustion by the thousands coming each day. The most of those will not leave through Rafic Hariri International Airport. Despite that, it has offered the Syrians much, and handled much for them. If I were to exaggerate in describing it, considering its size and capabilities and circumstances, it has indeed been the most generous neighboring country to Syrians.
The Syrians in Lebanon are not only homeless and victims of a war, like the refugee clichés present them, or even some of the solidarity clichés. There is a complete Syria in Lebanon now. A society of a million people that parallels the Lebanese society, and shares with it the economy, culture, and worries.
Yes, Syrians escaped from death. And others from the shelling, the hunger, and the homelessness. There are also activists who escaped from arrest, and youth from unemployment, and the luxury-types who escaped the "problems". And among the Syrians are those who leased out fancy apartments and continued life as usual, just like a person who moves in Damascus from Mezzeh to Al-Malki. And among them are the restaurant owners and fancy brands who opened up branches in their new base, and those moved their money and cars, as well as their children's schools and their wives' preferred shopping spots. Among the Syrians are those who rose up a class, or two, or ten, because of the wealthy non-governmental organizations and the prosperous business in relief and media. And among them are those who descended, but still live and struggle within what's available. Among them are the "new workers" who are different from what lebanon was used to: middle class youth who have never experienced life abroad, nor the experience of hard jobs that the earlier generation of workers had. Among them are students, writers, directors, musicians, and bar-hoppers. And children that have no stories yet apart from exploring the streets and selling flowers on the street corners.
It is no longer possible for a Lebanese to pour a Syrian into a racist mold, or a stereotype that was bypassed in the last few years. For the narrative that says that "food that is stolen by the Syrian from the Lebanese mouths" is faced with a relative economic boom that was caused by investors, consumers, and renters, and the market that was moved by the new migrants after a tourist recession that was unprecedented. This is despite the dynamics of cultural, journalistic, theatrical, and cinematic interaction between the Syrians and Lebanese, if we didn't say it was between Syrians and Syrians. All these issues and their effects on the two societies that are squeezed into this tight country are worth studying by sociologists and economists.
The problem the Syrians have with Lebanon, and the problem the Lebanese have with Syrians is the misery that engulfs this fragmented society. And the Syrian catastrophe and the Lebanese racism are both symptoms of that disease. Whereas there is no hope in any political elite, just as there is no hope in any political revolution. The two peoples living in the heart of the Middle East will continue to wait for deliverance, or for the lucky ones, the visa!
* A blogger and a student of sociology based in Beirut.
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Keeping the wrist wraps on until my wrists feel better; they help.
On the 5+ set, I had a lot left in me (could have gotten 2-3 more easily, and still had some in the tank), but trying to stick to the rule of 10-max and shutting it down. It's in part for the discipline of the program: stimulate, don't annihilate; work light; that I don't need to kill it every session because it's a week of recovery, rather get the volume over the course of the week given I'll hit the general same areas twice a week; etc.. So far so good, but I just have to keep reinforcing the paradigm shift.
That said, overall felt very strong today. While I'm not tracking my pull-ups here, I am making progress on them too.
I feel good about the change-up on the assistance work, but it's the first session so hard to really say. But keeping it to 1 minute of rest between sets is certainly helping on bringing things up and keeping my session times from getting stupid long.
I do think I'm going to bring a "first set last" approach in on the next cycle. I think a little more volume will be good.
Music: bunch of 80's hair bands.


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This timeless silhouette gets an instant style update with faux fur trim on cuffs and hood. Back pleats for shaping. Zipper front. Fully lined.
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Q: Entity Framework Core mistaking SQL Date as a string I am using Entity Framework Core within a Xamarin PCL app to work with a remote SQL Database. One of the database fields is a nullable Date. I have generated a model for the table, and this is the property being used:
public Nullable<System.DateTime> LastUpdated { get; set; }

The date is formatted in the table as follows: 2009-04-22
For whatever reason, when the object is loaded from the table, it throws an error stating that it expected a DateTime? but received a string instead:
System.InvalidOperationException: An exception occured while reading a database value for property 'Item.LastUpdated'. The expected type was 'System.Nullable`1[System.DateTime]' but the actual value was of type 'System.String'.

My guess is that it has to do with the way the date is formatted, but I don't know for sure.
Why is this happening, and how can I fix it?
EDIT: StackTrace
    at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Internal.EntityMaterializerSource.ThrowReadValueException[TValue] (System.Exception exception, System.Object value, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IPropertyBase property) [0x0008f] in <2645c1c7345546f5b968e91de81e2b12>:0
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Internal.EntityMaterializerSource.TryReadValue[TValue] (Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.ValueBuffer valueBuffer, System.Int32 index, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IPropertyBase property) [0x00012] in <2645c1c7345546f5b968e91de81e2b12>:0
  at (wrapper dynamic-method) System.Object:lambda_method (System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Closure,Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.ValueBuffer)
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.ExpressionVisitors.Internal.UnbufferedEntityShaper`1[TEntity].Shape (Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.QueryContext queryContext, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.ValueBuffer valueBuffer) [0x0003e] in <1ce4ae811dd94fe5a5e10e630f2f4c7a>:0
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.QueryMethodProvider+<_ShapedQuery>d__3`1[T].MoveNext () [0x0005c] in <1ce4ae811dd94fe5a5e10e630f2f4c7a>:0
  at System.Linq.Enumerable.TryGetFirst[TSource] (System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[T] source, System.Boolean& found) [0x00045] in <cc41d889a5b24501ae882a5cc55746dd>:0
  at System.Linq.Enumerable.FirstOrDefault[TSource] (System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[T] source) [0x00000] in <cc41d889a5b24501ae882a5cc55746dd>:0
  at (wrapper dynamic-method) System.Object:lambda_method (System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Closure,Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.QueryContext)
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal.QueryCompiler+<>c__DisplayClass20_0`1[TResult].<CompileQueryCore>b__0 (Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.QueryContext qc) [0x00074] in <2645c1c7345546f5b968e91de81e2b12>:0
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal.QueryCompiler.Execute[TResult] (System.Linq.Expressions.Expression query) [0x00029] in <2645c1c7345546f5b968e91de81e2b12>:0
  at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Query.Internal.EntityQueryProvider.Execute[TResult] (System.Linq.Expressions.Expression expression) [0x00000] in <2645c1c7345546f5b968e91de81e2b12>:0
  at System.Linq.Queryable.FirstOrDefault[TSource] (System.Linq.IQueryable`1[T] source) [0x0002f] in <cc41d889a5b24501ae882a5cc55746dd>:0
  at BMobile.Pages.LoginPage.PerformLogin (System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e) [0x0003a] in C:\Users\rwilde\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\BMobile\BMobile\BMobile\Pages\LoginPage.cs:44

Target Site
{Void ThrowReadValueException[Nullable`1](System.Exception, System.Object, Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.IPropertyBase)}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Newham Recorder > News > Crime
Manor Park families protest against "noisy" building they say is used as community centre
By Else Kvist
Published: 10:07 AM August 14, 2013 Updated: 9:58 AM October 13, 2020
Residents of Fith Avenue, Manor Park - Credit: Archant
Residents say the noise coming from a building is so "horrendous and unbearable" that they oppose a planning application for a community centre.
Angry families took to the streets to protest at how their lives were being ruined by noise and disturbance from a building they claim is being used as a community centre without council planning approval.
Residents are protesting about various activities they claim are held at the building in Fifth Avenue, Manor Park.
They believe it regularly attracts hundreds of people who park in their street causing late-night noise as well as litter abd rubbish.
The East African Education Foundation, currently rents the building,
It says it is in the process of buying it and has submitted a planning application to use it as an education, training and drop-in centre.
The group denies holding any activities there and says it only uses the building for storage.
Resident and retired taxi driver Michael Dow said: "We sometimes have around 200 people parking in the street and residents, including a lady with two small children, have been forced to park elsewhere.
"The noise coming from the building is so horrendous and unbearable that my wife and I sit inside with the windows shut despite it being hot outside."
The foundation's secretary, Mr Mohammed, said if planning approval was granted, the centre would be for the whole community.
"We want to include as many residents as possible, and people from different faiths," he said.
He said they hoped to invite the NHS to hold health sessions and to stage events aimed at preventing antisocial behaviour or domestic violence.
"There will be faith events if people request it," he added.
A Newham Council spokesman said: "We are aware of complaints about alleged activity and if evidence was found the building was being used for other purposes without permission, we would explore further enforcement options.
"We have conducted 10 visits within the past three weeks to gather evidence on its current use.
"On each of these visits the site has been closed and secured with no evidence of activity or disturbance," he added.
He said that the group has now submitted a planning application "which will be considered fully".


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What Is the Target Market for Facebook?
StumbleUpon Vs. Facebook
A Description of Facebook
by Joe Butler
A Blog Vs. Facebook
How to Find Out If Someone Has a Privacy Block on Facebook
Do You Need Permission to Post a Picture on Facebook?
What Happens When You Unfollow on Twitter?
As cliched as it sounds, the best way to learn about Facebook is to try it yourself. The fact that you're required to create an account, even if all you want to do is check the place out for yourself, says volumes about the myriad ways the social network tries to rope users in and keep everyone visiting and interacting. The fact that it's likely your friends, family, coworkers and business peers are already part of it can make it even irresistible to join. Setting up a page for your business is free, too, with optional advertising programs that cost money.
The original concept for Facebook remains somewhat of a mystery, depending on who is telling the tale and suing whom. But Facebook as we know it today began in 2004 when Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg launched what he called "thefacebook," which was an online tool for fellow Harvard students to connect and share photos of themselves around campus at school events. The idea soon spread to other colleges, and eventually the public, and by late 2011 there were more than 500 million users, which, according to USA Today, represented 7 percent of the world's population.
Many describe Facebook as a "social network" -- although Facebook uses the term "social utility," saying it's more useful and functional than just a connection tool. Whichever definition you prefer, the site offers users a variety of ways to publicly or privately share data about their life, and to find friends, classmates and others who might interest them. You can post public thoughts on others' pages, send them private emails or chats, search for people from your past or connect with people with the same interests as you.
The preferred way businesses to connect with existing or potential customers is to create a business page which users can "like" to show their appreciation for, post questions or learn more about the business. Business page administrators, called admins, are given tools to see how much visits they receive and where they come from, and the ability to include Facebook details on their company sites or blogs so users can connect that way too.
Though individual profiles and business pages are free, businesses can spend money on targeted advertising, primarily by creating ads that can be seen on the right-hand side. Users see different ads based on their histories -- who their friends are and what groups and sites they like. If an ad catches your eye, you're supposed to click on it. People also can pay to have certain posts be ranked higher on their friends' streams.
Facebook also relies on agreements with third-party companies which deliver content on its platforms. For instance, many of the games are created by other companies, who pay Facebook to offer their product on the site, and also receive data about the users who sign up for these games. Some games, such as Zynga's Mafia Wars, encourage users to invite other friends to play these games or post their activity on their friend or their friends' walls.
Since its early days, Facebook has allowed users to control what others see about themselves. You can adjust your privacy settings under your account, and can go all the way from "everyone can see everything you do" to "only certain people can see anything." Users can block certain individual users, or allow users to see all their details only if a friend request has been accepted.
CNet: Newbie's Guide to Facebook
Facebook: About Facebook
Harvard Business Review: What Is Facebook Becoming?
FastCompany: What Is Facebook's Business?
USA Today: Three Stats That Reveal Much About Our Digital Culture
Business Insider: How Facebook Was Founded
Joe Butler has been part of the journalism and marketing side of newspapers in Washington and Idaho for more than 20 years, ranging from small weeklies and dailies to larger metro papers to still-developing online platforms. He has a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from Central Washington University.
Jupiterimages/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
How to Link Tumblr to Facebook
Twitterfeed Vs. HootSuite
The Best Social Media Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Apps for the iPad
What Happens if Someone Spammed You on Facebook?


The definition of lead enrichment describes a process that can deliver inside intelligence about a target lead or account, giving inside sales reps an enriched view of a lead. This is often handled by software that aggregates and delivers business intelligence about a wide variety of companies from a database. Other tools may be able to enrich lead data by scraping a company's website or LinkedIn page for actionable information. Some examples of data that could be provided by a lead enrichment solution may include a target company's software usage, a lead's career history, or a list of relevant key decision makers at a target account.
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