The countdown to the BNP Paribas Open is on, and the Coachella Valley will get its first dose of professional tennis Thursday with the annual pre-qualifying singles tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The event follows last Friday's BNP Paribas Open Garden Party, held at The Gardens of El Paseo in Palm Desert, and precedes the Oracle Challenger Series, which is scheduled to begin Monday, Feb. 25 and conclude Sunday, March 3.
This week's pre-qualifying event includes a host of young amateur players either trying to get a taste of a professional event or hoping to start a career as a professional on the World Tour. Men's and women's winners will automatically advance to the qualifying draw of the BNP Paribas Open, from March 4-6.
Winners of the Challenger Series will be entered into the Indian Wells main draw.
The tournament's Garden Party, now in its second year, was a free public event that included music, food and beverages and hosted more than a hundred.
Philippe Dore, the tournament's media and marketing director, said that the event was created to engage with the local residents and generate excitement from the surrounding community for the events to come over the following two months.
More: What big names are expected to return for 2019 BNP Paribas Open?
The pre-qualifier, which runs Feb. 7-10, marks the first official tennis event of the season in the Coachella Valley. Sixty-four men and 64 women are expected to compete in the event. The first through semifinal round matches will be best-of-three sets with a 10-point match tiebreak played in lieu of a third set. Final matches will be best of three sets. The event is free and open to the public.
Both the men's and women's champions from the 2018 event — Evan Song on the men's side, and Ashley Kratzer on the women's — are returning as the No. 1 seeds to attempt to defend their titles.
The player list for next month's Challenger Series was announced Wednesday. It includes professionals from around the world, with 25 top 100 players participating, including 2011 U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur and 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani.
Several American players are also scheduled to participate. Among them is Sachia Vickery, who won a pair of main draw matches last year at Indian Wells, before losing to eventual champion Naomi Osaka. Madison Brengle, Donald Young, Jennifer Brady, Reilly Opelka, Michael Mmoh, Jared Donaldson and Nicole Gibbs are some of the other Americans expected.
Between pre-qualifying, the Challenger Series and qualifying for the main draw, there's a trio of free events for desert tennis fans leading up to what organizers are expecting to be another exciting BNP Paribas Open.
"Lots of things going on again in the tennis world," Haas said, "with a lot of tremendous stories.


May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and Habersham Medical Center is dedicated to educating the community to detect stroke signs and symptoms and to reduce your risk.
Certified as a Primary Stroke Center, Habersham Medical Center has won numerous awards for excellence in stroke care such as the Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Care Award. Habersham Medical Center also hosts a free stroke support group for stroke patients and their caregivers. For more information, visit www.habershammedical.com or call 706-754-2161.


I ended up water cooling most of my cards until I disassembled my loop and retired it for a bit. Since then I just clocked things a bit with the stock coolers with no real thoughts or concerns for aftermarket cooling. The last GPU cooler I tested here was sort of a failure and I had no real desire to use it on my own machine. So back to stock air cooling I went.Today ZEROtherm has quite the task on their hands, they get to allow a slightly disgruntled reviewer sample one of their GPU cooling solutions. This in no way means I won�t give them a fair shake, but they are up against a guy who isn�t bothered to run components a little warm on stock cooling. ZEROtherm has sent me the CoolMaxx 2000 GPU cooler to test. Let�s see if they can convert a stock cooler user to want to keep their cooler on one of my dedicated folding cards.


text:
A school bus with young children being kidnapped. Commissario Betti will solve the case. High action is promised, including hostage, bank robberies, car chases, prison scenes and mafia bosses!
Charley Varrick (1973)
Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends. Instead of obtaining a small amount of money they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.
Riders (2002)
An entrepreneurial criminal, Slim (Dorff) is as smart as they come. Cocky and confident, he assembles a team of risk-taking rush-seekers to pull off a series of five bank heists, each time using a different extreme sport to make the getaway. Following an unexpected windfall on only their second job, the gang nets $20 million in untraceable bonds. Having scored enough money to retire on, Slim and his crew decide to call the robbery game quits. But both the mob and the police have other plans in mind for Slim: they want him to keep working, for them.
Heaven's Burning (1997)
In Sydney, the newly married Midori is honeymooning with her husband, Yukio. She does not love him and fakes her own kidnapping to escape the marriage. Her lover is supposed to meet her, but fails to appear. She goes to a bank to get some cash, only to become a hostage in an unfolding robbery, until the getaway driver, Colin, saves her from his fellow robbers. They hit the road together, with the cops, her husband and the robbers in pursuit.
Um Tiro no Escuro (2005)
Police Story 4: First Strike (1997)
Jackie Chan reprises his role as Chan Ka-Kui (also known in some versions as Jackie) yet again as a Hong Kong cop who works with Interpol to track down and arrest an illegal weapons dealer. Later Jackie realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon find himself a pawn of an organisation posing as Russian intelligence.
The Presidio (1988)
Jay Austin is now a civilian police detective. Colonel Caldwell was his commanding officer years before when he left the military police over a disagreement over the handling of a drunk driver. Now a series of murders that cross jurisdictions force them to work together again. That Austin is now dating Caldwell's daughter is not helping the relationship at all.
Transit (2012)
A family on a road trip is stalked by criminals who stashed stolen money in their car.
Detour (1998)
When Danny and his gang attempt to rob the warehouse of a mob boss, they find themselves on the run. Danny goes back to his hometown to find his mother has recently died leaving him the farm on the condition that he must open the dairy and run it for two years. However the gang is double crossed by Mo and the mob begin to hunt them down, meanwhile Danny and his gang consider robbing the mill in his town.
Thiruda Thiruda (1993)
Portly CBI Inspector Laxminarayan is assigned to track down 1000 Crore Rupees worth of stolen currency from the Government Security Press in Nasik. His assignment will lead him to Ashok Tejani, and then to two burglars in Tamil Nadu, Shankar and Anand, who are on the run from the Police along with a suicidal village belle, Kajri. Laxminarayan's efforts will be frustrated even more after Ashok is killed and his gun-toting Goa-based girlfriend, Chandralekha, is absconding; and the entry of an international drug dealer, simply known as Vikram, who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the loot.
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
A Texas Ranger and a ruthless narcotics kingpin - they were childhood friends, now they are adversaries.
Absolution (2015)
When a contract killer (Steven Seagal) encounters a girl on the run from a dangerous mob boss (Vinnie Jones) with powerful political ties, running a human trafficking operation, he is torn between protecting the girl, and remaining loyal to the government agency that hired him.
Last Man Standing (1996)
John Smith is a mysterious stranger who is drawn into a vicious war between two Prohibition-era gangs. In a dangerous game, he switches allegiances from one to another, offering his services to the highest bidder. As the death toll mounts, Smith takes the law into his own hands in a deadly race to stay alive.
Dark Blue (2002)
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.
Survivor (2015)
A Foreign Service Officer in London tries to prevent a terrorist attack set to hit New York, but is forced to go on the run when she is framed for crimes she did not commit.
The Business (2005)
During the '80s, a young man named Frankie dreams of escaping London's South East region, and his mother's thug of a boyfriend gives him just the opportunity. After beating up the abusive beau, Frankie runs off to Spain, where he lands a job delivering a package to the dapper Playboy Charlie, a gangster who takes him under his wing. Working as Charlie's driver, Frankie is immersed in a world of fast cars and pretty women -- but all the excess could be his undoing.
Never Die Alone (2004)
A drug kingpin's return home touches off a turf war.
Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
A down-on-his-luck ex-GI finds himself framed for an armored car robbery. When he's finally released for lack of evidence--after having been beaten up and tortured by the police--he sets out to discover who set him up, and why. The trail leads him into Mexico and a web of hired killers and corrupt cops.
The young businessman Thomas Crown is bored and decides to plan a robbery and assigns a professional agent with the right information to the job. However Crown is soon betrayed yet cannot blow his cover because he's in love.
Random Encounter (1998)
In Doug Jackson's Random Encounter, Elizabeth Berkley plays Alicia Brayman, a public relations executive on the rise. At a celebratory party, Alicia meets a handsome man named Kyle (Joel Wyner) who takes her home for sex. Madeleine (Mary Bradley), a crazed brunette with a knife, interrupts them. Alicia fatally bludgeons Madeline with a statue before she can stab Kyle. Kyle tells Alicia that he'll help her cover up the crime, but she is recognized during the getaway. As the heat is turned up and details start pouring out, Alicia learns that Kyle is a dangerous ex-con wanted for parole violations who set Madeleine up for murder and now has Alicia trapped in a web of deceit from which there seems to be no escape.
Robbery (1967)
A dramatization of the Great Train Robbery. While not a 'how to', it is very detail dependent, showing the care and planning that took place to pull it off.
Deadfall (2012)
A thriller that follows two siblings who decide to fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, and their unlikely reunion during another family's Thanksgiving celebration.
Cry in the Woods (2004)
An unfortunate bank robber takes an escaped mental patient, wanted for murder, as hostage.
The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959)
Career criminals (David Clarke, Graham Denton) and a local youth (Steve McQueen) carefully plan and rehearse the robbery of a Missouri bank.
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974)
Lyons, France. Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives alone with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visits and informs him that Bernard killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realizes that he knew far less about his son than he thought .
Les Vampires (1916)
Les Vampires is a 1915–16 French silent crime serial film written and directed by Louis Feuillade. Set in Paris, it stars Édouard Mathé, Musidora and Marcel Lévesque. The main characters are a journalist and his friend who become involved in trying to uncover and stop a bizarre underground Apache gang, known as The Vampires
Escape by Night (1953)
An Italian racketeer on the run in London holes up in a disused theatre with a hard-drinking journalist out to get the full story.
The Ambulance (2005)
"The Ambulance" is a psychological thriller based on 3 rules: 1. The entire film must take place in only ONE LOCATION; an ambulance 2. The story must be in REAL TIME; a 80 minute ride 3. There must be only 4 CHARACTERS on the ride
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order. There's Max, a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. And Furiosa, a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.
The Last Duane (2016)
Buck Duane inherited his legendary father's skill with a gun as well as his knack for finding trouble. Attacked by a jealous rival over a girl, Buck defends himself and is forced to live as an outlaw, constantly on the run from the black and white justice of the Texas Rangers. But when he seeks redemption by rescuing an enslaved Indian girl from a vicious criminal and his gang of outlaws, he's pushed into further violence, and the understanding that he may be no better than the worst of them. As penance for his crimes and the deaths he's caused, Buck agrees to give himself over to service in the Texas Rangers, working in constant peril as a sanctioned vigilante. He lives as an outlaw in order to root them out, dealing justice and vengeance for his dead friends and all the weak and helpless folk of Texas.
Made Men (1999)
A man and a woman are on the run from gangsters whom he has stolen $12.5 million. When the gangsters show up, he takes them supposedly to where the money is hidden but instead leads them into a trap at a backwoods crystal-meth factory. The gangsters and the drug dealers start a shoot-out for unknown reasons and both go gunning for Belushi. Meanwhile an unscrupulous cop is secretly having an affair with the girl friend and planning to make off with the money.
The Getaway (1994)
Doc McCoy is put in prison because his partners chickened out and flew off without him after exchanging a prisoner with a lot of money. Doc knows Jack Benyon, a rich "business"-man, is up to something big, so he tells his wife (Carol McCoy) to tell him that he's for sale if Benyon can get him out of prison. Benyon pulls some strings and Doc McCoy is released again. Unfortunately he has to cooperate with the same person that got him to prison.
Colt 38 Special Squad (1976)
When his wife is kidnapped by a local crime lord (Ivan Rassimov), a determined police captain (Marcel Bozzuffi) forms his own squad of rogue cops, each of whom wields a .38 Colt revolver. The mission, of course, is to rescue the captain's wife -- but the conflict soon explodes into a citywide spree of violent crime. Italian giallo master Massimo Dallamano directs this rousing action-drama, the last film he ever made
The Hooker with a Heart of Gold (2011)
An out of work surgeon creates a powerful prosthetic heart (made of solid gold) which he transplants into the body of a beautiful prostitute he accidentally runs over with his car. The two then find themselves on the run from her former pimp, and a team of gangsters the doctor owes money to.
Johan Falk: Ur askan i elden (2015)
Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939)
Capt. (ret.) Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is on the precipice of matrimony to his beloved Phyllis--but a bank robbery and a daring escape is going to get in their way before they reach the altar in this brisk-paced finale to the Paramount Drummond series.
Against The Law (1997)
A trigger-happy outlaw goes on the run and a burned out, disillusioned cop gives chase. They end up head-to-head in a Los Angeles shoot out.
The Mechanik (2005)
A Russian ex-hit man is called back to Russia for one last job. This time against his former employees, the Russian mob.
Chain Reaction (1996)
Enough (2002)
Working-class waitress Slim finds her life transformed when she marries wealthy contractor Mitch. She settles into an idyllic suburban life and seems to have everything she wants. Her dream is shattered when she discovers her husband is anything but perfect. His abusive behavior forces her to go on the run, eluding an increasingly obsessive Mitch and his lethal henchman.
Fair Game (1995)
Max Kirkpatrick is a cop who protects Kate McQuean, a civil law attorney, from a renegade KGB team out to terminate her
As youths, Andy McGee (David Keith) and his future wife, Vicky (Heather Locklear), participated in secret experiments, allowing themselves to be subjected to mysterious medical tests. Years later, the couple's daughter, Charlie (Drew Barrymore), begins to exhibit the ability of setting fires solely with her mind. This volatile talent makes the youngster extremely dangerous and soon she becomes a target for the enigmatic agency known as "The Shop."
The IRA Informant (1997)
A former Irish Republican Army fighter, Gingy McAnally (Anthony Brophy), is reluctant about being called back into service after serving time in prison. He executes the grisly task but ends up captured by a sympathetic British police lieutenant named Ferris (Cary Elwes). The intimidating Chief Inspector of the Belfast Police (Timothy Dalton) convinces Gingy that his best hope is to become an informant and turn in other IRA operatives. As Gingy's marriage unravels under the stress, he is forced to come to terms with the fact that in this war both sides lose. Three men, three political circles, each fighting for their lives, each with their own agenda in the battle for Northern Ireland.
Hummingbird (2013)
Homeless and on the run from a military court martial, a damaged ex-special forces soldier navigating London's criminal underworld seizes an opportunity to assume another man's identity, transforming into an avenging angel in the process.
Run (1991)
While conveying a Porsche from L.A. to Atlantic City, student Charlie has to make a stop due to engine trouble. Mistaken as rich, he's invited to a big poker game -- and wins big time. However Denny Halloran, son of a mighty mobster, is a bad loser and starts a fight. But he's also a bad fighter: he falls on his head and is dead. Now Charlie's in trouble; after he flees Halloran's father puts a reward on his head. Even the police won't help him against the mighty man... so Charlie has to run for his life.
Based on a shocking true story, Killer Elite pits two of the world's most elite operatives—Danny, an ex-special ops agent and Hunter, his longtime mentor—against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse—where the predators become the prey.
A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race's mission of taking over the Earth, "Wanda" (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.
Trouble Bound (1993)
Upon getting out of prison, a man who took the rap for some thief buddies gets together with them again, and tells them he's not interested in doing things with them any more. They stick a dead body in his trunk, unbeknownst to him, and he roars off to find his future. Unfortunately, they forgot to get the key they need off the body, so they're chasing him. Meanwhile, a mafia kingpin's daughter is trying to kill the hitman that killed her father, but her grandmother is trying to make peace with the family that hired the hitman, so she and her thugs are trying to stop the daughter. The guy and the daughter get together and experience mayhem on the run from two directions.
The Million Game (1970)
A candidate in a game show is hunted by three men. He will get a Million DMark, if he survives for a week; the hunters will get the money, if they can kill the candidate. The audience of the show is watching the transmissions of twenty camera teams filming the hunt. The showmaster appeals to the TV-viewers to help either the candidate or the hunters, whomever they want.
Drive Hard (2014)
A former race car driver is abducted by a mysterious thief and forced to be the wheel-man for a crime that puts them both in the sights of the cops and the mob.
Set It Off (1996)
Four Black women, all of whom have suffered for lack of money and at the hands of the majority, undertake to rob banks. While initially successful, a policeman who was involved in shooting one of the women's brothers is on their trail. As the women add to the loot, their tastes and interests begin to change and their suspicions of each other increase on the way to a climactic robbery.
Bandits (2001)
Two bank robbers fall in love with the girl they've kidnapped.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
> LAKE ELIZABETH
The Fiery Dragon of Elizabeth Lake.
Plus: Sea Creatures in Los Angeles are Killing Fish.
News reports, August-September 1886.
A Holy Terror.
A Modest Story From Ventura.
The Hideous "Thing" with Dinner-Plate Scales, Headlight Eyes and a Harpoon Tail Now Paralyzing the Natives.
Los Angeles Times | Sunday, August 1, 1886.
The Ventura Free Press, a fortnight ago, had an able sensation. A terrific monster — beside which all the chimeras, gorgons, minotaurs and other bugaboos of antiquity were harmless insects — had been found to inhabit the depths of Elizabeth Lake. It was a good story, but of course the Free Press couldn't swallow it; but now comes evidence which knocks out the skeptics in the first round. Let the Free Press tell it:
Last Saturday evening the Free Press published a strange story told by a prospector from the vicinity of Elizabeth lake, and, of course, this paper gave no credence to the tale. We rather made a game of it, in fact, thinking the narrator had been a little the worse for bug-juice, perhaps, and so had let his too freely stimulated imagination run riot. Now there comes to us in confirmation of the prospector's yarn, a tale so weird and strange, and, withal, so well vouched, that we must accord it a degree of credence seemingly impossible.
The old stage road from Los Angeles to Bakersfield runs through the San Francisquito cañon and up by Elizabeth Lake, and to this day emigrants, coming from Nevada and San Joaquin country to the coast in wagons, follow this beaten track to the Mojave desert.
A newly arrived emigrant [sic], a very respectable looking man indeed, given the name of Peter B. Simpson, is authority for a story rivaling the fables of the Niebelungen Lied. He says that these strange things are facts. We give the statement for what it is worth:
He had removed his family — a wife and three interesting children — from the Esmeralda mining country in Nevada and, having an excellent wagon and a good team among his personal effects, besides some dozen head of cattle, concluded, time being no object, to come overland to Santa Barbara county. Of course he came by Bakersfield and Elizabeth lake. On the evening of the 15th day of July — the moon being then near its full — the little party encamped at the upper end of the lake, about a half a mile west of the village. Mr. Simpson says that he noticed the peculiarly penetrating odor arising from the water. It seemed to float above the lake, and to fill the little valley with vague, undefinable forms of mist. His cattle were allowed to graze at large upon the grass-covered plain. About midnight, when all were soundly sleeping beneath the covered wagon, Mr. Simpson says he was awakened by a terrible commotion which seemed to come from out in the lake. There was an awful roaring, he said, like the muttering of distant thunder, accompanied by a peculiarly loud, indescribable hissing noise. Of course Mr. Simpson arose at once and seized his Winchester, but he could see nothing. Far out in the lake was what seemed to be a black cloud, and below it the water was seething and boiling.
Seeing nothing to alarm him, Mr. Simpson again sought his blankets, but no sooner had he settled to sleep than there was a great rushing through the air as of mighty wings, and the wagon was lifted bodily from the ground, carried about twenty yards out into the plain and dropped, making the wheels a total wreck. There was an immediate stampede of stock, and the terrified family arose at once from their recumbent positions, but they only saw their stock scattering over the plain and a dark form whizzing through the air in the distance. The noise of rushing wings continued, growing fainter. Then all was still.
For a moment Mr. Simpson thought that he had encamped in the path of a cyclone. Thoroughly bewildered, with a rifle in his hand, he stood listening intently to the great silence which hung upon the desert, when from out that stillness there arose afar off the sound of a great conflict. Peter R. Simpson is a brave man, for across the desert he followed that sound. It seemed as though fifty battering rams were rattling together against the mailed sides of some moated fortress.
Arriving at the summit of a low knoll, Mr. Simpson passed and gazed down into the little valley below him — and all over the scene there fell a flood of warm southern moonlight.
The monster had come upon a drove of antelope sleeping in the gulch, and had at once attacked them. About ten feet from where Mr. Simpson stood a fine buck lay bleeding, bitten clean through at one stroke of the "thing's" horrid jaws. Around another buck the monster's wings seemed folded, while its long tail, barbed at the end, played around the pair incessantly, evidently seeking to transfix the antelope. Two other antelope were vigorously trying the effect of their short horns upon the scaly sides of the monster. Mr. Simpon's description of this "thing" is very succinct: "It was about thirty feet long over all, I should judge," he said, "and of a warm reddish color, with a long snout and jagged yellow teeth. It had enormous wings, rigged like those of a bat evidently, long hind legs and a long tail, with a seemingly hard, barbed point. From its head and neck fell a shaggy mane, and its huge eyes gleamed like two horrid fires."
For ten minutes Mr. Simpson stood as one fascinated by this strange conflict, and then, being a keen sportsman, he lifted his gun and took a shot at the monster. He heard the bullet strike, and rebound. Then, disturbed by the shot, the two antelopes took to flight, the beast in the grasp of the monster was transfixed a moment later, and the "thing" arose into the air, carrying its prey in its mouth, and made for the lake where it sank with a splash that must have been audible for miles.
There was no further disturbance that night. In the morning Mr. Simpson returned to the scene of the strange conflict and secured the carcass of the dead antelope. He also picked up some scales which his bullet or the horns of the antelope might have knocked from the sides of the monster. These scales are round, semi-transparent, about the size of dinner plates, and of a reddish glazed appearance, somewhat similar to ground glass. Mr. Simpson still has them in his possession.
Returning to camp, he collected his stock, dispatched one of his boys to the lake village, procured another wagon, and continued on his journey to Carpenteria [sic], where he intends to reside permanently.
At the village he heard for the first time of the appearance to others beside himself of the Elizabeth lake monster.
"News" story courtesy of Tricia Lemon Putnam.
Water Dragons in Los Angeles.
They Are Killing All Large Fish in the Reservoirs.
Los Angeles Herald | As published in the Daily Alta California, September 10, 1886.
A few weeks ago a water dragon was seen by several parties in Elizabeth Lake, and from this fact some fabulous stories were started, but they were too utterly wild to be published in the Herald. That there was a monster in Elizabeth Lake is well attested. Such amphibious creatures from time to time appear, but they are very scarce. A few years ago one of them appeared in the rivers of Southern Indiana. Nothing has recently been seen of the monster of Elizabeth Lake, but for the past three days a creature has taken up its abode in Reservoir No. 5, in East Los Angeles, and has scared the courage oat of the fishermen at that place and destroyed all the large fish.
Yesterday morning, while a gentleman was fishing at the dam near the discharge gate, a monster appeared on the scene beneath the surface of the water and the fish fled in wild affright, and there was no more fish to be caught on that day. There was a monstrous commotion and splashing in the water, which seethed and boiled and rolled in a chop sea violently. In a short time a copious amount of blood arose to the surface and covered a large area with a bright vermilion. There was evidently a submarine battle and some creature got hurt, but the animals did not come to the surface. The man in charge of the reservoir has observed frequent and violent commotions in the water, but cannot describe the monsters.
If there are monsters there, it is evident that they are saurians that are sometimes called water dragons. The story of the flying saurian of Elizabeth Lake is believed by nobody. The flying saurian, if it ever existed, has been extinct for a millennium of years. If there are saurians in the city, they must have come from far and have been a long time on the road, as they travel rather slowly. The last seen, near Vincennes, Ind., was about five feet long, with a shockingly ugly head, a stump of a tail, and a body about the size of a child twelve years old. It was a very heavy animal and made a hissing sound when discovered.
The matter will be investigated and life made a burden to the unexpected visitors unless they travel to other fields of food.
Story courtesy of Stan Walker.
Fiery Dragon of Elizabeth Lake 1886
Winged Monster of Elizabeth Lake
Texas Canyon Meteor 8/7/1901
Lebec UFO 9/5/1949
Strange Safe 1974
Spooky Happenings at Ruiz Cemetery


There is a huge range of attractions in the area that can help make your visit to this part of Scotland a special experience. Why not plan a few days here and really explore this wonderful location full of natural and cultural history.
Below is just a taste of what's on offer.
Samye Ling is a monastery and international centre of Buddhist training, known for the authenticity of its teachings and tradition.
Founded in 1967 Samye Ling was the first Tibetan Buddhist Centre to be established in the West and was named after Samye, the very first monastery to be established in Tibet. Samye Ling is open all year round for visiting and other activities.
Gilnockie Tower or Hollows Tower is one of the finest examples of a 16th century Scots tower house or pele tower.
Please mention Wild Eskdale if you visit this attraction.
The Buccleuch Centre is a modern and fully accessible venue. Our auditorium has tiered seating with one or more rows of seats on the flat, wheelchair users are always welcome to any of our shows.
We are fully licenced and have a well stocked bar with a wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
These tours are all about fun and seeing the incredible places our region has to offer, as well as learning all about it's fascinating history.
Steeped in history, the Scottish Borderlands surrounding Langholm serve up a multitude of sweet natural trails guaranteed to make any mud-loving adventurer grin from ear to ear – so make sure you join the MTAF Party.
Your base for the weekend is the MTAF Basecamp, found at Langholm Rugby Club with everything from Guest Speakers, Climbing Wall, Live Music, Beer, Camping, Demos, Food, Assault Course and much, much more taking place!
An event packed full of history and a spectacle to behold.
This event always takes place on the last Friday in July. It starts at 5am as the flute band parades the town and ends at 9.30 pm as the cornet hands back the flag in front of the town hall.
Only 14 miles from Langholm, Gretna Green offers fantastic outlet shopping and a great day out.
The Langholm Walks offer unrivalled walking in the peaceful hills of Eskdale in South West Scotland.
The Walled Garden at Arkleton is the dreamiest of secret gardens.
Tucked away in the Ewes valley surrounded by beautiful old woodland it is being restored and rejuvenated. The aim is to surpass its original functional purpose and to elevate it to a sensation filled haven of peace and beauty.


text:
Kanonendenkmal steht für Kriegerdenkmale
 Siegessäule (Altona)
 Reventlou-Beseler-Denkmal, Schleswig
 Kanonendenkmal (Görlitz)
 Wettin-Obelisk (Dresden)#Kanonen-Denkmal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Boards Navy 95. For Stevens from Gay. British War Mission here has received cable from England advising that England will ship coal from South Africa to South America for the present to full extent of available tonnage. England favors U.S. plan to use between U.S. and Brazil and Argentine only enough boats to hands<le> required importations namely 1,600,000 long tons from these countries to U.S. England agrees to plan that U.S. be responsible for whole supply coal and other goods to Brazil and for supplying 420,000 long tons coal and other essentials to Argentine all on shipping under U.S. control. The balance of South America requirements namely Argentine and Uruguay except what is covered by Uruguayan ex-German ship trade direct to U.S. will be supplied by United Kingdom and South Africa. The French say 4 vessels of those covered by Franco-Brazilian agreement satisfactory sailing from Brazil to U.S. and thence to France presumably to load coal to Brazil.
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B. The hand-written date is confirmed by the time/date stamp at the close of the cable.


night head was w'ell engaged ; os two-thirds dilated.
Hippocrates, speaks of it as a medicine of important virtues.
well up. — Ga::i'//r Gyneco/o^ic, 'Hoxtmbtt I, 1888.
science which, in my judgment, would be ample recompense.


text:
import os, types
from twisted.python import runtime
from twisted.internet import reactor
from buildbot.process.buildstep import BuildStep
from buildbot.process.buildstep import SUCCESS, FAILURE
from twisted.internet.protocol import ProcessProtocol

class MasterShellCommand(BuildStep):
    """
    Run a shell command locally - on the buildmaster.  The shell command
    COMMAND is specified just as for a RemoteShellCommand.  Note that extra
    logfiles are not supported.
    """
    name='MasterShellCommand'
    description='Running'
    descriptionDone='Ran'
    renderables = [ 'command' ]
    haltOnFailure = True
    flunkOnFailure = True

    def __init__(self, command,
                 description=None, descriptionDone=None,
                 env=None, path=None, usePTY=0,
                 **kwargs):
        BuildStep.__init__(self, **kwargs)
        self.addFactoryArguments(description=description,
                                 descriptionDone=descriptionDone,
                                 env=env, path=path, usePTY=usePTY,
                                 command=command)

        self.command=command
        if description:
            self.description = description
        if isinstance(self.description, str):
            self.description = [self.description]
        if descriptionDone:
            self.descriptionDone = descriptionDone
        if isinstance(self.descriptionDone, str):
            self.descriptionDone = [self.descriptionDone]
        self.env=env
        self.path=path
        self.usePTY=usePTY

    class LocalPP(ProcessProtocol):
        def __init__(self, step):
            self.step = step

        def outReceived(self, data):
            self.step.stdio_log.addStdout(data)

        def errReceived(self, data):
            self.step.stdio_log.addStderr(data)

        def processEnded(self, status_object):
            self.step.stdio_log.addHeader("exit status %d\n" % status_object.value.exitCode)
            self.step.processEnded(status_object)

    def start(self):
        # render properties
        command = self.command
        # set up argv
        if type(command) in types.StringTypes:
            if runtime.platformType  == 'win32':
                argv = os.environ['COMSPEC'].split() # allow %COMSPEC% to have args
                if '/c' not in argv: argv += ['/c']
                argv += [command]
            else:
                # for posix, use /bin/sh. for other non-posix, well, doesn't
                # hurt to try
                argv = ['/bin/sh', '-c', command]
        else:
            if runtime.platformType  == 'win32':
                argv = os.environ['COMSPEC'].split() # allow %COMSPEC% to have args
                if '/c' not in argv: argv += ['/c']
                argv += list(command)
            else:
                argv = command

        self.stdio_log = stdio_log = self.addLog("stdio")

        if type(command) in types.StringTypes:
            stdio_log.addHeader(command.strip() + "\n\n")
        else:
            stdio_log.addHeader(" ".join(command) + "\n\n")
        stdio_log.addHeader("** RUNNING ON BUILDMASTER **\n")
        stdio_log.addHeader(" in dir %s\n" % os.getcwd())
        stdio_log.addHeader(" argv: %s\n" % (argv,))
        self.step_status.setText(list(self.description))

        if self.env is None:
            env = os.environ
        else:
            assert isinstance(self.env, dict)
            env = self.env
        # TODO add a timeout?
        reactor.spawnProcess(self.LocalPP(self), argv[0], argv,
                path=self.path, usePTY=self.usePTY, env=env )
        # (the LocalPP object will call processEnded for us)

    def processEnded(self, status_object):
        if status_object.value.exitCode != 0:
            self.step_status.setText(["failed (%d)" % status_object.value.exitCode])
            self.finished(FAILURE)
        else:
            self.step_status.setText(list(self.descriptionDone))
            self.finished(SUCCESS)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamHillicon Valley: House Dems subpoena full Mueller report | DOJ pushes back at 'premature' subpoena | Dems reject offer to view report with fewer redactions | Trump camp runs Facebook ads about Mueller report | Uber gets B for self-driving cars DOJ: Dem subpoena for Mueller report is 'premature and unnecessary' Dems reject Barr's offer to view Mueller report with fewer redactions MORE (R-S.C.) said Monday he feels betrayed by Saudi Arabia over its handling of the death of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
"The relationship is important, but our values are more important," Graham told CNN'S Manu Raju. "I've been the leading supporter along with [the late Sen.] John McCain John Sidney McCainTrump gives nod to vulnerable GOP Sen. McSally with bill signing Democrats need a 'celebrity' candidate — and it's not Biden or Sanders Juan Williams: The high price of working for Trump MORE of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. I feel completely betrayed."
The Saudis last week said that Khashoggi, a U.S.-based opinion contributor for The Washington Post, had died in their consulate in Istanbul after a fight with security officials gone awry. But that account came two weeks after Khashoggi had first disappeared after entering the consulate and after conflicting accounts from the Saudi government. The kingdom had previously said that Khashoggi left the consulate that day.
The Turkish government has alleged that Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives, citing secret audio recordings. Saudi Arabia has denied Turkey's narrative.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Trump Donald John TrumpImpeachment? Not so fast without missing element of criminal intent Feds say marijuana ties could prevent immigrants from getting US citizenship Trump approval drops to 2019 low after Mueller report's release: poll MORE, prior to the Saudi investigation's announcement, that he had no knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts.
After Friday's account, which admitted that Khashoggi had been killed at the consulate, Trump first said the Saudi explanation seemed "credible." But on Saturday, Trump said the Saudis had not been entirely forthcoming but said he did not believe the crown prince had a role in the killing.
Graham pushed back against Saudi Arabia's explanation Monday, saying, "The first answer was a lie. The second storyline is just manufactured."
Graham told Raju that he believes "the answer is unequivocally yes" that the crown prince was involved in the death.
"If the prince truly loved his country he would not have put his country in this position," Graham said. "If he truly respected the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia he would have never thought of this."


text:
Paolo Uccello, rođen kao Paolo di Dono, (Pratovecchio kraj Arezza, 1397. — Firenca, 1475.), jedan je od najznačajnijih talijanskih ranorenesansnih slikara; pionir vizualne perspektive, koju je koristio kako bi dobio trodimenzionalno organiziran prostor. Radio je u kasnogotičkoj tradiciji i naglašavao je čiste boje (svijetle crvene, žute i zelene plohe stavlja uz crne konture ostvarujući oštre kontraste), za razliku od klasičnog realizma koji su slijedili ostali slikari tog razdoblja.

Život i djelo

Izvori o životu Paola Uccella su relativno oskudni. Giorgio Vasari je o njemu napisao biografiju 75 godina poslije njegove smrti. Od 1407. sa samo deset godina je šegrtovao kod čuvenog firentinskog kipara Lorenza Ghibertija, gdje je započeo doživotno prijateljstvo s Donatelom. Ghiberti, Gentile da Fabriano i Pisanello su utjecali na njegov kasnogotički, narativni stil i strukturnu kompoziciju. Kasnije na njega utječe i Masaccio, posebice u slikanju ljudskoga lika. Nadimak Uccello ("ptičar") je uzeo jer je uživao u slikanju biljaka i životinja, poglavito ptica.

Primljen je u slikarski ceh 1415. godine, a od 1424. samostalno je zarađivao kao slikar. Te godine je naslikao "Stvaranje i izgon" u crkvi Santa Maria Novella u Firenci, kojom je dokazao svoju zrelost kao umjetnik. U to vrijeme učio je geometriju od Manetija, što ga je dovelo do rješenja problema perspektive i volumena.

U Veneciju je otputovao 1425. kako bi radio na mozaicima fasade crkve Svetog Marka. Postoje neki zapisi da je posjetio Rim prije povratka u Firencu 1431. Radio je i na freskama u Pratu i Bologni.

Uccello se vratio u Firencu gdje je veći dio svog života radio za različite crkve i pokrovitelje. Nadgrobni spomenik sir Johnu Hawkwoodu, monokromatsku fresku koja u svojoj plastičnoj monumentalnosti djeluje kao brončani kip, naslikao je 1436., pokazujući svoje zanimanje za perspektivu. Tijekom 1443. slikao je figure na satu i vitraje firentinske katedrale. Tijekom 1444. i 1445. radio je i u Padovi (likovi tzv. giganata u palači Vitaliani, uništeni), te je ponovno u Firenci od 1447. do 1454., kad je naslikao Prizore monaškog života za crkvu San Miniato al Monte.

Oko 1450. do 1456. slikao je svoje čuvene slike: Sv. Juraj ubija zmaja (danas u Londonu i Parizu) i Bitka kod San Romana za palaču Medici (tri prizora danas razdvojeni u Firenci, Parizu i Londonu). Bitka kod San Romana u tri prizora prikazuje pobjedu firentinske vojske nad sijenskom vojskom u bitci koja se odigrala 1432. godine. Na ovoj slici je posebnim perspektivnim oblikovanjem ostvario dubinu prizora živog bojnog polja.

U Urbinu je boravio od 1465. do 1469. i radio je za Kongregaciju Svetog Sakramenta ("Legenda o hostiji", 1467. – 69). Posljednje djelo mu je bilo Noćni lov (dva prizora, danas u muzeju Ashmolean u Oxfordu) iz oko 1470. Umro je 1475. u 78 godini života.

Preciznim analitičkim pristupom i znanstvenim metodama pokušao je slikati trodimenzionalne oblike i prostor. Perspektiva na njegovim slikama utjecala je na čuvene slikare kao što su Piero della Francesca, Albrecht Dürer i Leonardo da Vinci.

Izvori

Vanjske poveznice
 Paolo Uccello u Vasarijevim "Životima"
 Web Gallery of Art: Paolo Uccello
 Paolo Uccello

Talijanski renesansni slikari


A consumer's guide of Wisconsin Nursing Home and Long Term Care information resources, help, links, brochures, and articles.
from the web page: "...You have the right to make decisions about your health care. This includes the right to accept or refuse medical or surgical treatment. You also have the right to plan and direct the types of health care you may receive in the event you become unable to express your wishes. You can do this by making an 'advance directive'...."
from the web page: "Northeastern Regional Office... Northern Regional Office ... Southeastern Regional Office... Southern Regional Office... Western Regional Office"
from the web page: The Consumer Information Report is produced annually by the Division of Quality Assurance for each Wisconsin nursing home and facility serving persons with developmental disabilities (FDD - also known as ICF/MR). The report provides information to aid residents or prospective residents in assessing the quality of care provided by a facility...."
from the web page: "An Ombudsman (Om-budz-man) is an advocate for long term care consumers who are aged 60 and over who reside in nursing homes, group homes or are participating in the Community Options Program..."
from the web page: "As a resident in this facility, you have rights guaranteed to you by state and federal laws. This facility is required to protect and promote your rights. Your rights strongly emphasize individual dignity and self-determination, promoting your independence and enhancing your quality of life...."
from the brochure: "Trying to understand everything that goes on in a nursing home can be very frustrating and complicated. This handbook is designed to "de-mystify" the nursing home and its sometimes overwhelming processes...."
from the web page: "This AARP telephone survey of age 18 to 64 Wisconsin residents explores their medical experiences and opinions about health care reform. In general, Wisconsinites feel that they're in good health, but that the health care system isn't..."
from the web page: "Publications available from the Theobald Legislative Library..."
from the web site: "With a boom generation on the brink of retirement, Wisconsin's public nursing homes are facing increasing financial pressures and insufficient state and federal Medicaid reimbursements..."
source: Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.
from the web page: "Wisconsin is an early innovator in designing and implementing managed long-term care services and supports for Medicaid beneficiaries. The state's Family Care program,..."
Look up basic information and find Long Term Care facilities in Wisconsin.


Download list – Download multiple files at once View, edit and download your entire list of software and drivers here. Product sold by third party: Let HP identify any out-of-date or missing drivers and software How does HP use product data collected with this service? I would like to know what issue is encountered now. Product has been exchanged: Sign in to vote. Are you sure you don't have a problem with USB drives not being recognized?
Back to home page. Right click on the installation file setup.
HP encountered an error while hp pd1600s to scan your product. See your browser's documentation for specific instructions. Please post the Microsoft link for the driver if you still have access to it. This product cannot be identified by Serial Number alone.
The item may be hp pd1600s factory second or a new, unused item with defects. Choose a different product. Is my Windows version bit or bit? Click Apply, click OK.
See hp pd1600s browser's documentation for specific instructions. McLean, Virginia, United States. Includes 4 business days handling time after receipt of cleared payment.
After looking hp pd1600s the HP website, the question is: Oct 16, This product detection tool installs software on your Microsoft Windows device that allows HP to detect and gather data about your HP and Compaq products to provide quick access hp pd1600s support information and solutions.
Europe, Middle East, Africa. Start of add to list layer.
This product was sold hp pd1600s a third party. New other see details. Monday, November 30, 7: Not an IT pro? Choose Windows Vista Service Pack 2 from the drop down list.


Gaia –Events is a new woman's initiative for parties, club-nights and other events.
The idea to put parties in a theatrical, fairytale or mythology style has been here for years and is reality now. As Gaia means "earth", we are looking forward to keep the parties groovy and exotic, having music and woman influences from all kind of different continents involving different kind of performers such as theater artists, dancers, musicians or other artistic input.
We strongly focus to create a warm and friendly atmosphere and to treat all our visitors on an equal and friendly way.
The parties will continue in different kind of locations and will only take place sporadically.
That way we are able to create special nights where we can organize and prepare the party with all enthusiasm and passion we have to keep it special!
A big thank you to all the women who take their time and effort to visit our parties and enjoying some nice moments with us!
next Gaia Party will be Medusa!
As the Mother Goddess and the Goddess of the Earth she brought forth the starry sky (ouranos), her equal, to cover her, the hills and the fruitless deep of the Sea. The earth is a living entity who adapts the environment to promote life.


text:
Q: React рендер при фокусе на инпуте Можно ли в реакте рендерить только когда в инпуте есть фокус? и чтобы при исчезновении фокуса исчезал рендер? если можно то как?

A: Сделайте обработчик, который будет менять state родительского компонента.
Через props спустите его к вашему компоненту и в зависимости от true или false значения в пропсах осуществляйте рендер компонента или рендер пустой строки.
Опционально можно сделать через inline-стили и переключать visibility элемента.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Nasobelba transitoria är en kvalsterart som först beskrevs av Balogh och Sandór Mahunka 1974.  Nasobelba transitoria ingår i släktet Nasobelba och familjen Suctobelbidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Spindeldjur
transitoria


Read about our current Elders and Deacons below.
At West Hills since 2007 this time. Previously 1983-86.
I have been married to Ron for 40 years. We have two daughters; Allison Lee and Andrea Gatzke, and four grandchildren. Allison and Gudmund Lee (Henrik, Ivy, and Silje) live in West Linn, OR and Andrea and Cris Livecchi-Gatzke (Simon) live in Kingston, NY.
I have been a deacon for Covenant Groups and served on that team for a number of years. I have led and co-led Connection and Covenant Groups. I taught VBS last summer and have sung in the choir. I have participated in many Women's Ministry activities including retreats.
I like the emphasis on building relationships with each other as well as Christ. We are truly "on a journey with the living Christ" and these relationships are proof of that.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 23. SONG: How Great Thou Art. BOOK: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - a story of courage in most difficult times. MOVIE: There are too many to pick one. SNACK: Popcorn.
Hobbies: Walking, cross stitch, reading, time with family. PASSIONS: Justice and sharing Christ's love with those less fortunate.
Candy and I have been married 47 years. We have one son, Miles, who lives and works in Omaha for Regent 6. I am a retired science teacher from Westside Community Schools but I still substitute in science at the high school a little.
Usher for worship services, involved in men's ministry, I have belonged to a covenant group since 1997, have participated in Wednesday night activities, Servant Sunday leader since it's conception around 2000, mission leader to Crow Agency Indian Reservation twice, and currently help teachers at the Omaha Street School.
Relationship building from covenant group or other West Hills activities.
SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:4-8. SONG: Good, Good Father by Chris Tomlin, Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath. BOOK: Bible The Shack. MOVIE: Sound of Music. SNACK: Ice Cream.
HOBBIES: Walking at recreational lakes around Omaha, hiking in Colorado, Bird counting for Cornel Labs and Blue Birds Across Nebraska, Golf, and Bicycling. PASSIONS: Encouraging students at the Omaha Street School, traveling abroad with my wife.
My family includes Louie and me. Though we have a huge extended family that we claim as our own.
I am currently the elder of nominating. I have served as deacon, caregiving ambassador, transportation team, involved in our Skinner elementary neighborhood, and have participated in many of the mission trips.
My favorite part of West Hills is the wonderful people I have met over the years. We are community!
Hobbies . . . being outside in the sunshine, running, hiking, bicycling, walking, coffee shops and socializing. My passions - hanging out with my hubby Lou, volunteering with the homeless and poor, spending time with my kids (nieces and nephews). Taking various Bible studies so I can keep learning and spending time with people.
Peggy & I have been married since 1971. We have been blessed with two adult children, Drew & Alicia, their spouses Rachel & Jon. Our greatest joy is four beautiful grandchildren, Morgan, Mason, Barrett & Briggs.
I have served as an Elder several times, taught Sunday School, served as a Youth volunteer on Sunday nights and on Youth Mission trips, been a Mission team member, led Men's Ministry, attend Tuesday Bible Study, served on several Search committees and Personnel committee. One of my greatest joys was serving as carpenter assistant to Chuck Burgess with Norlin Parker.
WHC is where I started a relationship with Jesus Christ. I continue to grow in my faith in these pews and hallways. WHC is home to me and a sanctuary. My spiritual growth has been blessed and nurtured in this church.
SCRIPTURE: Philippians 4:13 LIFE PASSAGE: Philippians 3:7-14 SONG: On Eagle Wings & Wind Beneath My Wings. BOOK: love the Bible then a Tom Clancy novel. DESSERT: Raspberries with heavy cream.
Nebraska Football with my wife followed by other NU athletics. Working with Youth. Time with family and friends. Searching for out of the way restaurants. Silent retreats. A sense of humor no matter how sad it is.
Two daughters: Jessica O'Donovan Scheopner married to Jason Scheopner of Omaha. They have five children; William, Julian, Jonathan (Jay), Catie and Ellie. Ellie O'Donovan, married to Jeff Shaw of Durham, N.C.
I like the people of West Hills, particularly how we care for each other, pray for each other, and try to be present in each others' lives.
SCRIPTURE: My scripture changes every day. SONG: Anything from the 60's except the BEE GEESs, but since you asked, my favorite Hymn is 'Eternal Father, Strong' and here is my favorite verse, the Marine Corps verse: Eternal Father, Grant, we pray, To all Marines, both night and day, The courage, honor, strength and skill Their land to serve, Thy law fulfill; Be Thou the Shield forever more For every peril to the Corps. I have paperback copy of 'Centennial' that I have carried with me since I was a young Lieutenant, it has been my reading on deployments to Europe, the middle ease, far ease and Africa. I can pick it up and start at any chapter because of the way it is structured. I could watch 'Zulu' every day.
What am I passionate about? Beyond my God I am passionate about my wife, my family, my country, my Corps.
I have been married to my husband, David, for 24 years. We have one son, Michael. He is 20 years old and will be attending Metropolitan College in September. We have a Morkie named Lexie. I worked at First Data for 32 years and left the company in 2013. I am enjoying my first year of retirement and it has allowed me to live my passion of mission work and volunteering.
West Hills has been our church home since 1998.
My family includes my husband Mark to whom I have been married for 26 years. We have 4 children: Trent 20, Reid 18, Spencer 18 (yes twins), and Rylee 16.
I have been involved in a number of ministry areas at West Hills over the last 20 years. Having worked as a teacher, counselor and administrator for the Omaha Public Schools, I have found many opportunities to work with children and youth at West Hills: Nursery, Children's Sunday School, Youth Sunday School, Youth Camp and Vacation Bible School.
I love that West Hills is on a Journey with the Living Christ. I am pleased about the Bible focus for the church. I have been part of the Women's Bible Study for a number o years and have helped lead the study on several occasions. It is very important to me that I am reading God's Word regularly. Bible Study is a great opportunity to join with other women who want the same thing. I also love the opportunities for Mission involvement at West Hills. One of my favorite Bible verses is: "Jesus said, Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." John 20:21. Each time I leave West Hills, I see this verse above the doorway on my way out of the building. It is a wonderful reminder that we are sent into mission each and every day. Opportunities for mission are everywhere in our daily lives.
I love the verse: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6. To me this highlights how important the south and children of our church are. Walking beside our youth on their faith journey is an absolute privilege for me.
One of my other favorite things in my love of animals. I am an avid wild bird watcher. We invite birds to our back yard with feeders and bird baths. There is nothing I like more than sitting on our patio and watching them fly in and eat. I also have a wonderful dog who loves going for walks. Most days we head out around our neighborhood or in on of the nearby parks.
My husband Stephen and I have been married for 38 years. Our only daughter, Sarah, is married to Tim Weller. We have been blessed with 2 grandchildren - Luke and Hannah.
Caregiving, hospitality, connection groups, Bible study.
Worship that is Biblically solid and inspirational: the innumerable opportunities to grow and serve as a Christian; and it is a welcoming church family.
HOBBIES: Reading and traveling - I love to plan trips. PASSIONS: Spending time with my family and friends.
My husband, John, and I were married in June of 1975. We met at my former church when I returned to Omaha to teach after having taught in John's home town for four years. We are the parents of a daughter, Martha (Steve) and two sons, Andrew (Lacey) and Braden. We are grandparents of four darling granddaughters aged 4 months to 6 years old.
Each week I really look forward to Sunday morning worship. I love being surrounded by and led in joy-filled, Christ-centered worship. The music is uplifting and well done. The preaching is biblical, meaningful and inspirational. I am thankful for the passion of this congregation for mission.
I enjoy casual gardening and listening to classical music. I like to read, primarily non-fiction. I would love to organize family photos and stories of 5 generations of family in a format that can be enjoyed for years to come.
1987 (less a 10 year absence while living in Chicago).
I have the privilege of being the husband of Sheryl and father to Patrick, Tessa, and Rachel. I'm also the best friend of Lucy, my favorite cocker spaniel.
Children's ministry teaching Sunday School, Servant Sunday outreach to Westgate.
The warmness within the church in how it practices its' faith and its' willingness to reach outside the church to demonstrate its' faith.
Golfing, basketball, running, and just generally enjoying the outdoors. Passions:'Anima Sona in Corpore Sano', generally interpreted as maintaining a healthy mind in a healthy body.
My husband, Johnny, and I have a 1-year-old son named Beckett.
In college I was a youth intern for two summers, then later volunteered with the youth for several years. I was on the Mission Team for three years and have helped with some of the Children's Ministry activities throughout the years, including volunteering for several years with VBS.
I love dogs. I love to read. I do yoga and I like crocheting Beckett little hats.
My husband (Paul) and I have been married for 47 years and have three grown children. Kelley (husband John) has two boys, Thomas (18) and Christian (6). Our son J.P. (wife Debbie) has one daughter, Lela (14). Kathy is our youngest daughter (husband Brian) and has one son, Nick (24).
I have taught Sunday school and was Supt. of SS (years ago). I have served as an Elder, but my heart is as a Deacon. I am currently serving as a Deacon and coordinator of the silent retreat. I also enjoy helping out in the nursery, library and the funeral committee. I also enjoy Thursday morning Bible study and bell choir. I also enjoy helping out at Westgate School.
When we first visited West Hills in 1980, we just knew this was the place for us. We were welcomed warmly and were excited to learn more about joining. We were disappointed to find out we could not attend the Experiment (membership class) for several months. The Experiment was a great experience and was a good taste of relational community that we have enjoyed since then.
My wife Anne and I have 2 sons - Alan and Scott.
I am involved in Stephens Ministry, I am a Deacon, I attend Men's Bible Study, and I am a greeter.
The congregation we have are faithful. I enjoy being in worship.
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5:1-12. SONG: Here I am Lord. BOOK: No favorite. MOVIE: No favorite. SNACK: Coffee and sugar cookies.
HOBBIES: I collect old toys and I am an Antique Dealer. PASSIONS: Church on Sunday, Being Husband and Father, Memorial Stadium on Saturdays, Creighton Basketball.
I have been going to West Hills (when I was late for my home church, Central Presbyterian at 55th and Leavenworth) since we moved into West Gate in 1970. I started going to west Hills full time in the late 90's and don't know the year I had them transfer my membership from Central Presbyterian to West Hills.
I make casseroles for Foster Care group, have taught the Thursday AM Bible Study, and now facilitate the study since we are using the Serendipity format; I started a Bible Study at West Gate Assisted living, am a volunteer for Westgate School, and serve 9this year) as a Deacon with Stephan Ministry, and have also facilitated a connection group.
I have always been extremely impressed with the friendliness of the members at West Hills. You need to be in another church for some time before you can truly recognize the difference between West Hills and other churches.
SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 29:11 SONG: I Can Only Imagine BOOK: The Bible MOVIE: To Kill a Mockingbird SNACK: anything chocolate!


text:
Media as Scene
It seems to me we have a very simple way of speaking about "media" in a way consistent with GA: the "media" is whatever enables the constitution of a scene. A sign directs participants on a scene's attention in a particular way and thereby constitutes the scene; but, reciprocally, relying on the elements of the scene makes the sign possible. I think of the originary scene as having a circular structure, because that would maximize the power of the sign: everyone on the scene would see both the object and the others, so they could see each other seeing the object. In that case, the circular configuration would be the medium, or the condition under which the sign could be effectively issued. At the same time, the bodies of all the participants are media—or are the bodies part of the sign? After, what functions as a sign here is not obvious: if we assume a pointing gesture, the sign, most minimally, is the extended fingertip—but, of course, the fingertip functioning as a sign might depend upon how the hand is held, and the gesture as a whole would depend upon posture. So, where does sign end and media begin? Sign shades off into its medium, and the medium is concentrated in a particular sign. What is important is not to draw a line separating the two, but to bring into focus whatever is necessary for a particular inquiry.
Writing is a medium—it generates scenes around a text; film is a medium—it generates scenes around a screen; radio is a medium—it generates scenes around broadcast sound; and so on. Are pen, typewriter, microphone, projector, DVD, large darkened room, also part of these media? Yes, but the various elements, settings or implements of the media are more or less contingently associated with or necessary for that medium. When is it the "same," and when is it no longer the "same," medium? Again, it's best to avoid the trap of using concepts to establish classifications, but we could say the following: the originary media, upon which the subsequent ones are modeled, is the singular irreplaceable scene upon which participants shape the scene reciprocally. So, let's say, a speech scene. This can be contested—is, for example, sending signals into space meant to be picked up and understood by some alien form of intelligence out there a medium modeled on a speech scene (which, for GA, is ultimately modeled on another scene, but on most occasions there's no need to insist on this)? I think so—when speaking about other media, no matter how technologically advanced and no matter how much temporal and spatial distance they put between the users, we always, I think, use terms from a speech scene ("conversation," "dialogue," "discuss," etc.—even "transmit" presupposes the same kind of reciprocity and replicability).
Seeming exceptions, but I think really complements, are terms used to refer to media that generate a series of scenes: terms such as "broadcast" or Derrida's favorite, "disseminate." Writing, to take the most obvious example (but why do we still say that the "author says…"?) generates innumerable scenes. The scenes of reading, commentary, and discussion generated by a text all, at least, share that text as a center—so, if I read a poem by Juvenal, do I have a scenic relation to an ancient Roman who read it? We're not looking for yes/no answers here: if we take that as a genuine question, we would try an answer it by expanding our conception of "media" to include the process of preservation, canonization, translation and publication (all media, or part of the medium of "writing") that made it possible for me to read a text that is at least in some sense the "same" as that read by an ancient Roman. The discipline of hermeneutics understood the transmission of texts to be an ongoing dialogue between readers and the text, and readers amongst themselves—hermeneuticists wouldn't have a problem saying that "my" Juvenal and some 1stcentury Roman's Juvenal were the "same." Post-structuralists would dispute this by drawing attention to all the historical differences, registered in all the cultural, philological and critical discourses that "produce" the text for me. But, if the name "Juvenal" is not just a complete mystification, there must be some continuity, some "sameness." Knowing all the cultural forms that mediate the text for me in ways unimaginable for that 1stcentury Roman might itself be a kind of "dialogue" with him.
That the model for any medium is the speech scene, with bodies and voices all put to work in the signifying act, is an insight David Olson makes regarding writing, and which I have extended to all media. Olson, as I have discussed many times, sees writing as supplementing everything in the speech scene that can't be directly represented in writing. "Good" writing induces in us forgetfulness that we are not sharing a scene with the writer, and whomever or whatever he is writing about. A "good" movie or TV show, by the same logic, "draws us in" and makes us feel like we are observers present on a scene. I think reading most movie and TV criticism would bear this observation out—"bad" movies are those in which we can't believe the events are actually happening, in which a sequence of events doesn't play out the way we would expect it to in the real world, in which characters aren't "relatable" or sympathetic, i.e., we wouldn't want to imagine ourselves on a scene with them. The same with radio—we have to feel we are, and are happy to be, in the same room with the host. The other possibility always exists, and is sometimes exploited—that of foregrounding precisely what is unique in the medium you are using, that which makes it different from the speech scene and all other media. This involves abstraction and the generation of thought experiments, like, what, exactly, makes film, film? What's interesting in this case is not, say, using the scenic medium to supplement what would be expressed differently in a novel (preserving the "same" content), but to show precisely what couldn't be expressed in or mediated by a novel. This has been the position of the avant-garde which has never, needless to say, occupied the center of culture, but is always retrieved by those with a low threshold of tolerance for clichés, and this is fortunate because some kind of direct attention to the mediumistic conditions of any sign is necessary for their intelligent "consumption." The implication of my argument here is that even experiencing the most avant-garde works is modeled on the speech scene, but with the possibility of recognizing all the ways we contribute to constituting that scene.
These concepts—sign/scene, speech scene/other media, unique scenes/iterable scenes—provide us with a powerful way of examining all media phenomena, and one that allows us to never lose sight of the central question: how does this sign, on this scene, defer more or less imminent mimetic violence? The complementary concept pairs allow us to oscillate between them, using what we identify in some case to be the "sign" to direct our attention to media conditions of that sign, or encompassing more and more of what we see as surrounding that sign (e.g., ownership of a particular station as part of the "medium," or the scenic condition of those words coming out of that actor's mouth), which in turn helps us refine our analysis of that sign. Academics like to use such concepts to systematize, but their real purpose is to open up discussions and move them in new directions, often in directions those "behind the scene" would prefer it didn't. This is the kind of knowledge that goes, at least tacitly, into "meme-ing," for example.
We could think of the media as the fractal conditions of whatever signs and discourses we produce. Any action you propose, or any imperative you obey, presents itself as a whole: so, for example, maybe you are determined to "challenge the liberal assumptions" of a prominent blogger who nominally rejects liberalism. Now, "challenge the liberal assumptions of" is one of those phrases that comes very easily and dissipates just as easily. What counts as a "challenge"? What counts as an unavowed "liberal assumption"? How could we tell that the assumptions have really been challenged—what are the "metrics" here? As soon as you start to break down "challenge the liberal assumptions of" into a set of practices, you start constructing scenes and models of the way others will respond to your "challenge" by stripping away some of the credibility of the putative anti-liberal—or, maybe, you envisage them questioning him in a new, friendly but forceful way. You would want the liberal assumptions, once they are exposed, to be replaced by genuinely non-liberal ones—not slightly less obviously liberal ones. You'd want to provide certain "scaffolds" that would enable your target to know where the line between liberal and post-liberal is to be drawn here. In other words, your discourse aims at peopling a landscape, as if you were modeling lots of little "challenges to liberal assumptions" to be extracted from your discourse. This is what I mean by "fractal": explicating a practice asserted in strictly declarative terms that represent a reality without any firm referents by including the components of that practice as, simultaneously, its model.
When you think this way you're thinking in terms of the media conditions of your utterances. "Challenging the liberal assumptions of" gets converted into a scene, or a series of possible scenes: someone saying this, someone writing that, someone broadcasting something else, a flurry of tweets following up in some way, etc. The purpose is to transform the "target" into a different kind of sign across various media. "Thinking" about media is equivalent to producing discourse that travels through various media. There's something in your writing that will sound just right read aloud; a few things that are tweet-worthy; something that's an implicit response in an ongoing dialogue with some other position; something that satirizes a TV personality in a way that can only be done in writing, and so on. The reason why phrases like "challenge the assumptions of" need to be fractalized is that they are completely logocentric: they "work," i.e., go unnoticed, insofar as they generate the illusion of us all being on the same scene where we consent to "see" that "challenge" in front of us as vividly as we could see one boxer knocking out another (and, of course, people refer all the time—mostly somewhat ironically, though, I think—about people being "destroyed" by this or that tweet or meme). That logocentrism, that we see in concepts that construct phony simulations of battles between familiar opponents, is what is to be targeted most persistently. It's not so much that specific "beliefs," "principles" and "convictions" need to be dissolved as that the very concepts of "belief," "principles" and "convictions," among many others need to be dissolved into scenes that make them meaningful. What are you doing when you "believe"? If you "have" principles, where are they? These are just ways of saying, "you know that thing I just said—I'm not just BSing it"—which is the surest proof that that is exactly what they are doing. Better than believing and having principles is surrounding a discourse by leveraging media so as to interfere with its "wave structure." The imperative is to embed the declarative in a scene, which in turn elicits its originary structure.
Language Paradoxed
The discourse of the center bypasses concepts such as "desire," "resentment" and "mimesis." Using these concepts, as I mentioned last post, exempt you from the very things you are describing: insofar as your own desires, resentments and modeling are infecting those you are examining, the real topic of your discussion is your own practices; in which case, why not make it directly so? But, then, you couldn't present your own self-centering without presenting others, so the problem becomes how to do it all at once. The solution lies in beginning with an account of what you're hearing from the center. The center doesn't call to say everything's OK: intuitions of the center indicate something out of order, and at least a preliminary re-ordering (a mark of a better society would be that its members spend ever more time anticipating potential disorders than addressing immediate ones). But "something out of order" means someone positioned where they "shouldn't" be; to be even more direct, someone positioned where you should be. That's the elemental core of resentment: the other is in your place, and the center allows him to be there. You can detect the "texture" of resentment in any "sample" of language, including, of course, this one—in this case, perhaps, toward all those maintaining centeredness through distancing declarative language, and toward the center for not sufficiently amply revealing itself.
You can pursue this resentment head on, and there's no doubt a cognitive yield in doing so: how did he get into that place, how has he secured it, with the help of which henchmen dispatched by the center, with what other displacing effects, how to extract him from there and replace him with the spot's true inhabitant, etc. This is pretty much the structure of all analysis—this is what it looks and feels like to examine something "critically." We get to a kind of basic "humanness" here, because everyone can be taught to notice such logics in others but very few wish to examine the circumference one has constructed around oneself as center in similarly meticulous ways (of course I'm resentful, don't you see what they're doing…!); even more importantly, it's not like we can invent another way of thinking. In figures like Jesus or Dostoevsky's Alyosha we can see what another way of thinking would be, in which every thought of the other would be infused from the start by infinite love, mercy, and compassion. But that could only be the result of a long process of ascesis, itself involving some tremendous wrestling with outsized resentments—plus, one could only attain such a condition at the cost of not really being able to do anything, and how merciful and loving (I ask resentfully) is that?
Maturity means being able to notice more and more distinctions—and all distinctions are on some level invidious—while attending more and more to the formalizing of those distinctions, rather than to seeking out their justifications. The most egalitarian world possible would instantly turn into the most inegalitarian one: imagine we could all be placed in a state of nature, with equal physical and intellectual capabilities. As soon as we got started doing something, status distinctions would emerge—someone notices something first, someone gets a little more of something, someone, maybe for random reasons, is a bit more attractive than others, etc. Even if the differences were minute and rapidly changing they would loom large. So, everyone would be immediately, and constantly, faced with the choice: you can think, how do I get as much as that person (or reduce him to as little as me); how do I make myself as attractive as that person (or reduce his attractiveness), and so on; or, how can these status distinctions be formalized, so that what it means to have access to things, to identify new centers, to be the center of others' attention can be made explicit and therefore a source of order. You might still want more things, to have more power, to be more attractive, and you might use others as models to acquire these things, but you would do so in such a way as to strengthen the meaning the center has conferred upon such practices.
Every utterance points a way to resentment and a way to transcendence, or what I would prefer to call "presencing" and "centering." If there is one point of unanimity in the modern world, it is that there is no center. All secular people will insist on this once the question is raised, while the religious will insist all the more forcefully on their center to the extent that they must also insist others can only acknowledge it on their terms. In a way, this is also a concession of the general centerlessness. But our language always tells us otherwise—at the very least, when you say something, you are presenting yourself, or what you say, as a center. And not only as a center in itself, but as a center pointing to another center, as will become clear if you ask someone, why did you say that? You were assuming that those who might be listening to you were paying attention to something else (what, exactly, did you imagine they might be paying attention to?), and you want their attention wrenched away from that to this other thing. What did it say about them that they were focused on something else, and what would it say about them to redirect their attention as you propose? The resentment is in the demand for the attention shift (and that demand's implication that others were lesser for "refusing" to look at your thing); the centering will be in the new nomos, or division of participatory roles, implicit in getting engrossed in this new thing.
So, gradations, or centered ordinality, are implicit in every utterance, at least insofar as you were less for paying attention to that and will be more for paying attention to this. And whoever follows up on one utterance will construct another order. Listening to the center entails generating finer distinctions along with a center ordering them. In a sense this would be the most originary, and therefore egalitarian way of inhabiting language—far more so than using language to point out that others have something you don't and demanding some remedy for it. Here, we are all perfectly equal, which is to say the same, for the center, which is more important than where any of us "should" be. It's very important to keep in mind how impossible this all sounds within a liberal order. I think I'm referring to an extremely mature social order and populace—but not at all utopian—in which people get better and better at doing the things they are asked to do, by whoever is asking them to do it, into ways of sharpening a distinctive practice that will serve as a model for others. But to someone bred and indoctrinated within liberalism it will sound like you're condemning them to a robotic and/or militarized existence (your language will be full of impossible imperatives for them)—simply because you're not reserving for them (or promising them) some space outside of sociality where they can imagine themselves as self-starters, or an originating center.
Enacting and speaking in centered ordinality is the only way back to the center. This involves both openness of speech, parrhesia, the explicit articulation of the distinctions evident, first of all, in the other's discourse; and centering, making explicit the new nomos also implicit in the other's discourse. The point is not to say, "here's what everything will look like when we're done." The point is to elicit from others the kind of center that might make their demands meaningful. In a way it's good that argumentation has become completely useless, now that the different camps occupy incompatible worlds of "facts." Argumentation was always pointless anyway—nobody changes their mind because they're provided with a better set of pros and cons than they were working with previously—and if they do, they'll change it right back as soon as they come across another set of pros and cons. This has to be the least effective means of political engagement. To do it right, you would first of all have to determine which subsets of the population, which 5% or so, is worth engaging with; and you would then have to assume, insofar as they are really worth engaging with, they're not looking for a list of facts but a "scene" within some paradigm they are working with that can be tested for anomalies. If you help some audience exhaust one paradigm by exposing its anomalies, and lend them a hand in transitioning to a new one, you might have actually done something.
But social and political paradigms are not equivalent to scientific ones. There's no closed experimental space. There's only language. We just keep going from the resentful demands implicit in the other's discourse to the centered commands that would render them meaningful—or not. You could say there's a resentful demand implicit in this blog post: think and speak completely differently about politics, damn it! What makes that any different than "I wish the left would stop being so hypocritical about the border crisis!"? The only thing that would make it different is if it creates, intensifies, or helps to resolve some paradigm crisis. The presence of anomalies indicates obedience to some super-sovereign; the super-sovereign supplements some resentment, positing an imaginary agency and a space within which that agency will satisfy your resentment. A really democratic culture, equal rights, a government that listens to the people, a citizenry that holds its leaders accountable, a return to republican virtue, rising above special interests to embrace the common good, restoring the Constitution—you can make your own list of clichés. These are all super-sovereign supplementations, and we could trace their long history through the disciplines, going back to ancient philosophy.
If we learn to listen very carefully to these super-sovereign supplementations, we can generate anomalies by subtracting them from the discourse. What would people say if they didn't have recourse to them? That's at least an invitation to a thought experiment; if the invitation proves less than enticing, it's easy enough to render all of these concepts incoherent. The paradoxes that inhere in all of them are descendants of the first philosophical paradox that we meet right at the beginning in the Platonic dialogues: is what the gods command good because the gods command it, or do the gods command it because it is good? The disciplines of Western culture have never gotten past this (this was one of the most valuable insights of Derridean deconstruction). In self-government, what's the relation between the self doing the governing and the self being governed? Similarly intractable questions can be asked about all of them. You'll know you're getting somewhere when the other sputters (I say somewhat resentfully) "alright, so what's your solution?" What's your rush? Isn't it helpful to keep working through the supplementations? Ultimately, we'd work our way towards sheer power analysis, which is extremely disconcerting for a liberal, but, then, what is power? Once we start to see it everywhere, we can start stripping it of all those same supplementations meant to make power "accountable" to some imaginary super-sovereign. So, you really mean brute force, don't you?! The more we find power everywhere, the more it must be just about the exact opposite of that. Why do you listen to, or follow someone, as you surely do sometimes—we can see in your own language the kind of reliance you have on others, the trust and faith you have in them—after all, every single word you say can be sourced to some claim circulating about, or to some tradition. You confer power on them, and assume power yourself within the same space. And you do it without demanding elections or suing to have your rights recognized. What's going on, then? The answer will lie in the distinctions, the gradations, their suggested operationalization—the centered ordinality we can locate in every utterance
Mistakenness Revisited
The ritual order provided models, along with comprehensive initiatory practices to enable members of the community to adopt and inhabit those models. The demise of the ritual order means the end of any harmonious or pre-arranged fit between models and aspirants of social membership. There are plenty of models, but no way to know which we are fit for, or, for that matter, which are "fit." Our first approach to models, then, is to get them wrong. All of modern culture is a result of the misfit of models and aspirants, which is to say our fundamental mistakenness. This mistakenness is generative of the disciplines: social scientific and humanistic knowledge is essentially knowledge of all the human dispositions and social relations that interfere with our adaptation to models. All the making explicit, in secular and purely "human" terms, of what we are capable of, how we depend upon each other, how what we are capable of undermines our dependencies and vice versa—all the nominalizations and reifications of "attributes" and "characteristics"—is so many attempts to construct as necessary "steps" from one practice to another what was once acquired through a seamless network of ritual, kinship and myth.
The implication is that the secular disciplines (the metalanguages of literacy) begin with trying to figure out how we have gone wrong, while the only way of distinguishing right from wrong is imagining some non-alienated condition modeled on the ritual and mythical order. Let's imagine a social order in which everything, every figure and every practice is named, and all the names are taken to be given by the center. The procedures for generating new names (for babies, captured slaves, etc.) are also named. Such a community, in principle, can continue indefinitely—many no doubt did so for millennia—and we can all feel, intuitively, how wrong it would be to interfere with it, however it offended our modern sensibilities. But what is of interest to us is what happens when anomalies creep into such a system, in particular due to its successes. My reflections here are in part inspired by Fustel de Coulanges The Ancient City, which traces the consequences of such anomalies, in the form of groups that couldn't be "incorporated" into the sacred hearth of the family home, and, later, of the city—for example, the plebeians, or even younger sons without any inheritance. It is the attempts to find names for such anomalous figures that generated the "secular" in the first place: their names can only be some version of "that which cannot be fit into the system," so they can then only be understood in (resentful) opposition to some figure recognized by the system, and this in turn ends up defining that named figure by its opposition to the "other." What this leaves us with is a social order describable solely in terms of conflicts (patricians vs. plebeians, etc.), and the only way to imagine reconciling those conflicts is through one of those cant political terms that are still with us today: "justice," the "common good," the "public interest," etc.
But these purely conflictual terms, which we can only systematize through some notion of "balancing," generate all the abstractions that also enable us to diagnose this essentially shattered system. (Whether they enable us to "repair" it as well is a different question.) All secular social scientific terms are essentially versions of "that which has been expelled from the center and takes on its meaning through antagonism to other expelled non-members." Of course, "expel" is itself such a term. And GA is itself a beneficiary of this devastating process of abstraction, as "mimesis," "desire," "resentment," "sign" and so on are all names of what is nameless within any sacred order. GA's ambition is to do what can only be done through the secular disciplines—point the way to a renewed practice of naming. In part, this involves getting more minimal, and in that sense more abstract and "secular" (de-mythicized) than the other social sciences; in larger part, it involves collecting and "collating" a vocabulary that can take us so far beyond the concealment of the sacred in the secular disciplines as to show us that even the concept of the "sacred" itself is a later accretion, already reactive and "abstract." And here I think the concept of the "center" is critical, and unique to GA, as the center constitutes any name (like "God") we might give to the center. If we want to get a little Heideggerean here, we can say that the center is "thisness," what we can point to because it is "capable" of being pointed to, as shown by our pointing to it, etc. "This" is even one of Anna Wierzbicka's Natural Semantic Primes. Restoring our relation to the center as the source of names, recovering "thisness," is the neoabsolutist project in a nutshell.
Describing ourselves and each other to each other and ourselves is the only way forward here. On the one hand, I have been suggesting that virtually our entire secular vocabulary needs to be junked; but, on the other hand, the only way of doing that is by using all those vocabularies mistakenly to show that whatever sense they have is due to their references to some center, whether acknowledged or disavowed. Everyone wants things, knows things, thinks things, does things, sees things, has things happen to him: Wierzbicka's primes need to be part of GA because we can see a kind of minimal, "secular," abstraction constitutive of language here. All the secular vocabularies are more complex articulations of the primes: people knowing what they think, thinking that they want, someone seeing that what another thinks he is doing can be something happening to that person, and so on. And whatever you say about someone else is what you think you see or hear.
The mark of the secularity of words like "desire," "imitation" and "resentment" is that in using them you feel you are exempt from them—to refer to someone else's desire or resentment is to be free of it, to point out how another is mimicking someone else is proof that you are not doing so—if your noticing was implicated in what it noticed, how would noticing even be possible? An openly desiring, resentful, imitative discourse would be, by definition, "illegitimate." Naming these dispositions in others generates the appearance of having transcended them. To put it even more strongly, discourses on these "topics" are attempts to establish a cordon sanitaire around the "contagion" they carry. Originary grammar, in renouncing (or at least bracketing) sanitized terms like "theory, "determinations,"" and "norms" with the more elemental speech forms (ostensive, imperative, interrogative, declarative), is an attempt to remove that cordon sanitaire. This is necessary because that cordon sanitaire, or social immune system, will leave us endlessly proposing new ways of "balancing" the various social elements that can only be named in opposition to each other, as is the case for all discussions of "class," "race," "ethnicity," "nationality," "gender" and "sexuality." The compulsion to self-immunize has us looking for something slightly more nameless so as to put it into opposition to something slightly less nameless. But the only way we can explicitly "own" our desires, resentments and imitations is to make them explicitly desires, resentments and modelings of the center.
In this way, you claim to be exempt from the disposition you describe, but the claim is made explicit and the path out of desire, resentment, and contagious imitation made part of your "explanation." And, of course, you could be wrong—the desires, resentments and mimicry you renounce might be all too evident in what you say and do. In that case, you have provided the terms on which others could point that out—in that way, we would be engaged in shared inquiry into the desire for and resentments of the center. In fact, the person claiming some relation to the center is most vulnerable to suspicions of being "hypocritical," of being guilty of the very undisciplined resentfulness of which he "accuses" others. And these suspicions would themselves be resentment of your perceived usurpation of the center. Much of liberalism's self-immunization process is aimed at pre-empting precisely such discussions over relative proximity to the center. And liberalism detects a genuine danger here. The way to respect that intuition is to never explicitly claim the "mantle" of the center, which would anyway put the declarative cart before the imperative horse, while unapologetically shaping the actual, imminent or potential crisis into a deferral and reframing of some violent centralization. The more you act for the center, the less you must claim to do so—must claim, in fact, to be doing the only thing that could be done because no one else seemed to be doing it. The "proof" here will be whether you thereby give others things to do that wouldn't be done otherwise.
There is always a kind of linguistic test for implicit derivations of one's performance from central imperatives. The greater your indebtedness to the imperatives of the center, the greater the disproportion between the center's presence in your language and your own centeredness there. You will be talking about how others, your subordinates as well as your superiors, need to be attended to and followed; you will narrow down your centering of any other participant to their precise role within the system, and, to the extent possible, within the operation in question—someone may be corrupt, cowardly, or treasonous, and none of this should be concealed (because concealing it will force you to violently centralize others who do notice it), but it should all be referred to the inherited means for addressing these vices and crimes. In other words, not "get that guy!," but "let's treat Y the way X was treated," even if you have to construct the way X was treated in a more coherent and sustainable way than was actually the case, and have to stretch the "similarity" between the case of X and the case of Y. Everyone's resentments towards the coward, corrupter or traitor will be acknowledged, and, indeed, the precise details of the violation will be presented more openly and coherently than in "rushes to judgement," but in such a way that the more important result is that we have further fortified ourselves against future instances of the same.
You can always tell, and can get better at telling, when someone is speaking in this way, or coming closer to speaking in this way. It's how you can tell who you can trust but, even more importantly, this is the path towards a renewed naming-from-the-center. I've been using the concept of "centered ordinality" for a while now, but haven't drawn that much attention to it. What the concept refers to is the way, once we identify a center, we all fall into rank behind whoever first identified it. As is often the case, the best examples here are drawn from emergency situations—if, in such a situation, one person sees the "way out" and points it out to others, they will all follow him and the one a little ahead of each of them in figuring the precise way "out." Of course, in fluid situations the order can change often, but if everyone simply rushes to the way out, the order collapses and the way is no longer out. The more centered ordinality, the less rivalry and therefore the less chaos. What marks centered ordinality is that the naming it involves increases in proportion with the ordering itself—you can't get a more precise set of "names" than "first, I do this, then, you do that, then he does something else"—even the shift from first, to second, to third person pronouns marks the shift from ostensive, to imperative, to declarative. To the extent that any situation is ordered, everyone is "this one doing this thing right now." Secular discourse tells you you're this one in opposition to all these other ones to be balanced by my unnaming of all of you on the Big Scene. The discourse of the center tells you who you are here and now by asking you to ask yourself who you are such that you can be who you are here and now. And that is the form taken by one's ascension to their name.