text:
Jan 19, 2021 RepostElectric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Sales
Battery and plug-in hybrid electric cars together accounted for more than one in 10 registrations last year – up from around one in 30 in 2019, amid a turbulent year for the new car market. Overall, the new car market fell by almost a third (29.4%) in 2020, with annual registrations dropping to 1,631,064 units
Jan 18, 2021 RepostElectric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales
Renault has presented its electric car sales statistics for 2020. According to the figures, the French automaker was able to sell 115,888 electric vehicles in Europe, around twice as many as in 2019. The company's most successful electric model by far was, once again, the Renault Zoe. In relative terms, Renault's electric car sales increased
Tax most polluting cars to speed up transition to electric vehicles, experts say
Dec 24, 2020 RepostElectric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Sales
Covid has caused a slump in new car sales that could slow the switch to electric vehicles, pushing up emissions The Government should slap a 50 per cent tax on the most polluting cars from next year to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles over the next decade, experts have said. New analysis from the
Renault Zoe Is Europe's Best-Selling EV With More Than 84,000 Units Delivered Year-to-Date
Dec 23, 2020 RepostElectric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales, ZOE
The Renault Zoe has managed to beat every other electric model in the market so far and is the best-selling EV in Europe year-to-date. According to the numbers posted by the French automaker, the zero-emission supermini accounted for over 84,000 units from January to November 2020, almost twice as many compared to the same period
Dec 21, 2020 RepostElectric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Sales
Global electric-vehicle sales will grow 50% or more next year, while sales of internal combustion engine vehicles are expected to grow 2% to 5%. That's the view of analysts at Morgan Stanley, who in a note to clients on Friday also predicted that global EV penetration would top 4%, rising to 31% by 2030. The
Even The World's Oil Giants Are Getting Ahead Of The Electric Vehicle Curve
In a virtual press conference recently, Dan Yergin, energy guru and vice-chair of IHS Markit recounted the stunned surprise that a Middle Eastern oil executive had recently shared with him upon traveling to California and seeing the plethora of Teslas on the road. It was a foretelling sign, he said, one that spoke volumes not
Electric car sales soar and diesels plummet in boost for Boris Johnson's green roads plan
Sales of electric vehicles have more than doubled in the last year while diesel purchases have plummeted by over half. Analysis of official industry figures show 86,291 pure electric cars have been registered so far this year, up from 37,850 during 2019. Diesel sales dropped 58 per cent from 583,488 in 2019 to 246,389 this
The Moment Of The Electric Vehicle Has Arrived
As more governments commit to shortening the deadlines on banning the sale of internal combustion vehicles, and with more and more manufacturers launching all-electric models across all price ranges, the market seems finally to be starting to change: interest in this type of vehicle in the UK has shot up by 500%, while sales across
Scottish firm drives away with UK's first Renault Zoe electric van
A SCOTTISH family firm is leading the way on low-emission vehicles after taking delivery of the UK's first Renault Zoe electric van. Staff at Stirling-based duct cleaning specialists Perfect Service Solutions will use the van to travel around Scotland and Northern England meeting clients and carrying out site visits. The new Renault Zoe, launched in
Hove teenager on mission to get young people driving electric vehicles
Dec 4, 2020 RepostElectric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales, ZOE
A TEENAGER is on a mission to get as many other young drivers using electric vehicles as possible. Harrison Hughes from Hove is so passionate about electric cars that he saved up to buy a second-hand one before he had even passed his driving test. The 17-year-old said: "For years I've been fascinated that you


Travelling to Japan? Or are you buying a new bed in Japan?
We give you all the different japanese bed sizes in this page, with measurements in both cm and inches. You're welcome!
Japanese Bed Size refers to mattress size (width and length). See illustration above. Measurements in CM. For measurements in Inches, see bottom of page.
Japanese Bed Size refers to mattress size (width and length). See illustration above. Measurements in CM. For measurements in Inches, see above.
Tips, tricks or questions about Japanese bed sizing? Please post it below. Thanks!


text:
If I were president... From climate change to hunger, celebs state their priorities
Jan 13 (Reuters) - As Democrat Joe Biden prepares for his inauguration as the next U.S. president on Jan. 20, Reuters asked celebrities what would be the first thing they would do if they were elected a world leader.
Their responses ranged from a focus on climate change to healthcare and social justice.
Following is a selection of their responses, which have been edited for length and clarity:
American actor George Clooney: "Get as many rapid (coronavirus) tests as we can possibly get that are incredibly accurate so that tomorrow, within the next six weeks, you could jam something up your nose like a pregnancy test. If it turns green, you can go to school or go to a concert or go - whatever, go to the grocery store. And if it turns red, you go home...
"Then you have to deal with all of the things that we dealt with in the middle of all this, which is racial equality... If COVID wasn't the main story that would have been our main story of the year, of course. And I think we could look at gun violence as well."
Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma: "I would take every step that's necessary to make sure that all of the people in my country are safe."
American actor Jamie Foxx: "After party but with masks on! Big celebration of just life and humanity but what we really, really need to do is get this pandemic under control and really respect it. And what I would tell people, I say, 'You know we talk about God, you know we talk about Jesus, but I think that Mother Nature is trying to tell us something, that you're not bigger than the universe and you have to respect what's going on and what's happening'."
American actor Kevin Bacon: "The first thing that I would do as president is listen to science, and that is a pretty good place to start."
American singer Josh Groban: "It would be kind of a neck and neck of social justice and saving the planet from itself. I think that those are the two most, most pressing issues of my time."
American actor Leslie Odom Jr: "I'd probably try to find a way to get everybody some healthcare."
American television personality Ryan Seacrest: "I would say Valentine's Day should be a holiday."
American musician Will.I.Am: "Zoning, that's the thing I would look at... I think this is a recipe for disaster to have this type of zoning in urban communities where there's liquor stores next to check cashing, next to bad food, next to motels, next to schools that are next to strip clubs. This is a very bad cocktail."
American singer LeAnn Rimes: "I would tackle hunger and end poverty in this country because it's very sad, it's sad to see. I know a lot of people are struggling right now."
English-American filmmaker and actor Alex Winter: "Climate change, first and foremost, which would be part and parcel of dealing with a better pandemic response and Medicare (U.S. government health insurance) for all."
American actor Tessa Thompson: "Making sure that people have access to healthcare. I think making sure that we are not detaining people, separating children from their families."
British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo: "Really put climate change at the top of the agenda. I think that the pandemic is a precursor to some of what is ahead for us if we don't really look after this planet."
American actor Judy Greer: "Before the pandemic, before all this (when) the world was falling apart, I would say I always wanted everyone to have to be a waiter for a month." (Reporting by Reuters Television, Writing by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Biden ahead of inauguration says 'It's a new day in America'
Criminal cases to proceed in open court during MCO - Chief Justice
Suspect buys gold items worth RM49,600 in Kota Bharu using illicit gains
Man rents lorry with i-Sinar money to smuggle ketum
Selangor to include need of foreign workers in purchasing Covid-19 vaccines - MB
RPT-'See you soon': How America's transfer of power is playing out on TV
GERMAN FEDERAL GOVT AND STATES AGREE TAX BREAKS WORTH 11 BLN EUROS - HANDELSBLATT NEWSPAPER CITING FINANCE MINISTRY DOCUMENT
FOREX-Dollar rises as growth worries weigh on euro
OUTGOING PRESIDENT TRUMP LIFTS TARIFFS ON ALUMINUM IMPORTS FROM UNITED ARAB EMIRATES EFFECTIVE FEB. 3 -STATEMENT

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Other blood clotting tests, such as partial thromboplastin time (PTT) and activated clotting time (aPTT), might be used if you take another type of blood-thinning medicine called heparin. These tests measure other clotting factors, or they may be used to see if you are getting the right dose of heparin. Partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time are often done at the same time to check for bleeding problems or the chance for too much bleeding in surgery.
Blood-thinning medicine, such as warfarin.
An abnormal prothrombin time is often caused by liver disease or injury or by treatment with blood thinners.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a home test for prothrombin time (PT). If you need a PT test frequently and for a long time, you may want to ask your doctor if this home test is an option for you.
Find a cause for abnormal bleeding or bruising.
Check the effects of warfarin (Coumadin). You will have the test regularly to make sure you are taking the right dose.
Check for low levels of blood clotting factors. The lack of some clotting factors can cause bleeding disorders such as hemophilia, which is passed in families (inherited).
Check for a low level of vitamin K. Vitamin K is needed to make prothrombin and other clotting factors.
Check how well the liver is working. Prothrombin levels are checked along with other liver tests, such as aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase.
Check to see if the body is using up its clotting factors so quickly that the blood can't clot and bleeding does not stop. This may mean the person has disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).
Many medicines can change the results of this test. Be sure to tell your doctor about all the nonprescription and prescription medicines you take, as well as any supplements or herbal remedies you use.
In some cases, the health professional will take a sample of blood from your fingertip instead of your vein. For a finger stick blood test, the health professional will clean your hand, use a lancet to puncture the skin, and place a small tube on the puncture site in order to collect your blood.
The blood sample usually is taken from a vein in your arm. An elastic band is wrapped around your upper arm. It may feel tight. You may feel nothing at all from the needle, or you may feel a quick sting or pinch.
Prothrombin time (PT) is a blood test that measures how long it takes blood to clot.
A method of standardizing prothrombin time results, called the international normalized ratio (INR) system, has been developed so the results among labs using different test methods can be understood in the same way. Using the INR system, treatment with warfarin (Coumadin) will be the same. In some labs, only the INR is reported and the PT is not reported.
The warfarin (Coumadin) dose is changed so that the prothrombin time is longer than normal (by about 1.5 to 2.5 times the normal value or INR values 2 to 3). Prothrombin times are also kept at longer times for people with artificial heart valves, because these valves have a high chance of causing clots to form.
A longer-than-normal PT can mean a lack of or low level of one or more blood clotting factors (factors I, II, V, VII, or X). It can also mean a lack of vitamin K; liver disease, such as cirrhosis; or that a liver injury has occurred. A longer-than-normal PT can also mean that you have disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a life-threatening condition in which your body uses up its clotting factors so quickly that the blood cannot clot and bleeding does not stop.
A longer-than-normal PT can be caused by treatment with blood-thinning medicines, such as warfarin (Coumadin) or, in rare cases, heparin.
Taking medicines that can affect the action of warfarin and vitamin K. These include antibiotics, cimetidine (Tagamet), barbiturates, birth control pills, hormone therapy (HT), and vitamin K supplements.
Having severe diarrhea or vomiting that causes fluid loss and dehydration. This may make the PT time longer. If diarrhea is caused by poor absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from the intestinal tract (malabsorption syndrome), the PT may be longer because of a lack of vitamin K.
Eating foods that have a lot of vitamin K. These include many green vegetables such as kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.
A PT is done at the same time of day each time so test results can check whether the right dose of warfarin is being used to prevent blood clots.
Another blood clotting test, called partial thromboplastin time (PTT), measures other clotting factors. Partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time are often done at the same time to check for bleeding problems. To learn more, see the topic Partial Thromboplastin Time.
Prothrombin levels are checked along with other liver tests, such as aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase to check how the liver is working.


Due to our mind's corruption (inner filth: greed, selfishness, desires….), the Pujaarees (the priest group) and other religious con artists are able to dupe us. So long we are willing participants (due to the corruption of our own Bikaars…), they will continue doing what they are best at. The great ones tell us to remember one thing: if we want something as sublime as God and want it cheaply in the form of a "ready-made" package (businesslike deal), we put ourselves in a position to be cheated by the religious con artists!
Also, there is a saying to the effect that where there are greedy people, a cheat (ਠਗ – Thag, trickster, swindler…) will never starve there!!
The author remembers this story from his childhood. He heard it directly from his father. It may sound like a joke, but it's a true story. In his village in India, there lived a Paathee (also spelt Pathi – a professional reader of the SGGS). One day a man from the neighboring village visited him and said, "Someone has died in our family. We would like to hire you to do a Sahaj Paath in his memory (also called Sadhaaran Paath)".
"How long it would take you to complete the Sahaj Paath?", inquired the potential client.
"What is the Keelee-Tang-Paath", inquired the customer.
"You see, in my spare time, I do Paath (also spelt Path) at my home. When done, I tie a knot in a towel and hang it on a Keelee. In nutshell, it's a Keetaa Kraaiaa Paath (ਕੀਤਾ ਕਰਾਇਆ ਪਾਠ, ready-made)", explained the Paathee (for those who are not familiar with this Punjabi word "Keelee", it's a peg driven into the wall for hanging clothes, etc).
If this sort of fraud ("Koorh-Kriya", false practices, corruption, falsehood, Pakhand…) in the name of Gurbani existed in the older days, just imagine what might be going on in this Internet, digital and wireless information age!!
Although many of us read the Gurbani (Akhand paaths, Sahaj-Paaths, Nitnem, etc.), but we rarely allow the Gurbani to read us (go through us…). Until and unless we allow the Gurbani to read us, our reading or hearing it is of no avail. This is the edict of the Gurbani. It's not that the Gurbani is only telling Brahmins, Kaazi, Mullah, or Pundits not to practice such fraud, it is also urging Sikhs as well! If a Sikh practices falsehood/corruption than why wouldn't a Brahmin be helped along with his falsehood/corruption, or a Muslim or a Christian or a Yogi with his?
ਪੜਣਾ ਗੁੜਣਾ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਕੀ ਕਾਰ ਹੈ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਤ੍ਰਿਸਨਾ ਵਿਕਾਰੁ ॥ ਹਉਮੈ ਵਿਚਿ ਸਭਿ ਪੜਿ ਥਕੇ ਦੂਜੈ ਭਾਇ ਖੁਆਰੁ ॥: Reading and studying (have become) just worldly pursuits, (but still) greed and corruption remain present within. Reading in egotism, all have grown weary; through the love of duality (Maya), they are ruined. (sggs 650).
The Gurbani says that any reading (of the Gurbani) has to be thoroughly understood of its true meaning, and then it must be lived.
ਕਿਆ ਪੜੀਐ ਕਿਆ ਗੁਨੀਐ ॥ ਕਿਆ ਬੇਦ ਪੁਰਾਨਾਂ ਸੁਨੀਐ ॥ ਪੜੇ ਸੁਨੇ ਕਿਆ ਹੋਈ ॥ ਜਉ ਸਹਜ ਨ ਮਿਲਿਓ ਸੋਈ ॥੧॥: What use is it to read, and what use is it to study (Vichaar, reflecting)? What use is it to listen to the Vedas and Puraans? What use is reading and listening, if Sahaj (Natural state of Being, Poise, Giaan Avasthaa or Divine Knowledge…) is not gained therewith (i.e., Sahaj will come only with practice or implementation of what has been heard, listened and reflected upon) ||1|| (sggs 655).


It would make sense to assume, as Foursquare data indicated for Prime Day 2017, that Amazon's e-commerce extravaganza results in a decline in foot traffic for brick-and-mortar retailers, especially small ones that lack the resources to offer huge discounts and still come out of the day with a profit.
The data science team over at Womply has intel that says otherwise. Polling more than 54,000 small, independent, brick-and-mortar retailers, Womply found that the revenue for those stores actually jumped 4% nationwide on Prime Day this year.
Shops in Rhode Island saw the biggest spike in revenue, averaging 43% more than a typical business day. Maine and Washington followed with 23% and 20%, respectively, while Delaware and Minnesota saw the biggest dips of 10 and 6%, leading the 13 states that registered drops in revenue.
The percentage increase or decrease was calculated based on averages of the revenue the surveyed shops took in during 2017. Outliers were excluded.


text:
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Constable shoots woman in Walmart parking lot in southwest Jefferson
A Jefferson County constable shot a woman suspected of shoplifting in a Walmart parking Wednesday afternoon, Louisville Metro Police said.
Store security at the Walmart in the 7100 block of Raggard Road in southwest Jefferson County alerted Constable David Whitlock of a possible shoplifter at about 3:30 p.m., police said.
Whitlock, who does work off-duty at the store, wasn't working but was in the store shopping, said Dwight Mitchell, a police spokesman.
Whitlock told police he approached a female suspect in her car in the parking lot. He said the woman ran over his foot, prompting him to fire his gun, Mitchell said.
The woman, whose name has not been released, was shot in the arm and hand, Mitchell said. It was not clear how many shots Whitlock fired.
Whitlock was taken to Jewish Hospital Medical Center Southwest for treatment. The woman went by a private car to Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, but it's unclear if she drove herself or someone else took her, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that as of Wednesday evening, no charges have been filed against the woman.
Investigators with the Louisville police department's Public Integrity Unit are looking into the incident to determine what happened, Mitchell said.
Whitlock has been criticized in the past for using his arrest powers without adequate training.
He has been carrying a gun and issuing tickets in his district in the southwestern part of the county since being sworn in as constable in January 2007. He was re-elected in 2010.
Constables are elected under the state Constitution, which gives them some arrest powers, such as enforcing traffic laws and serving warrants. Their powers are limited in some cases, such as domestic violence or monitoring sex offenders.
Whitlock has drawn criticism for carrying a gun and having several deputies sworn in to help him carry out his duties. Those deputies eventually had their powers revoked by the circuit judge who had sworn them in after then-mayor Jerry Abramson said he disapproved of the deputies.he other two constables in Jefferson County have made few, if any, arrests over the years.
In a 2007 story by The Courier-Journal, Whitlock said he was trying to beef up security for the residents of his district because there were so many demands on the metro police department.
In 2002 Whitlock entered an Alford plea in a theft case against him. With an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence while admitting there is enough evidence to convict him
In 2000, Whitlock had been found in possession of stolen computer equipment. He completed a diversion program and his record was expunged, which allowed him to run for office.
Whitlock said at the time that he had participated in police explorer training programs as a teenager, learning about police work. He pledged to get additional police training in his new role as constable.
He was not available for comment Wednesday and it was unclear if he has received any additional training.
At the time he was first elected, some members of the community, including metro council members and an official with the sheriff's department, expressed concern about his lack of training.
Lt. Col. Carl Yates called his lack of training is "negative reflection" on all law enforcement.


text:
Hieronder staat een lijst van stadions:

Voetbalstadions
De lijst is alfabetisch gerangschikt per land, en dan volgens de naam van het stadion.

Argentinië

Armenië

Aruba

Australië

Azerbeidzjan

België

Bolivia

Brazilië

Chili

China

Colombia

Curaçao

Duitsland

Ecuador

Engeland

Estland

Frankrijk

Georgië

Griekenland

Ierland

IJsland

Indonesië

Italië

Japan

Kazachstan

Luxemburg

Madagaskar

Marokko

Montenegro

Nederland

Noorwegen

Oostenrijk

Peru

Polen

Portugal

Rusland

Schotland

Spanje

Tsjechië

Turkije

Venezuela
 Estadio José Pachencho Romero (Maracaibo)

Verenigd Koninkrijk

Huidige stadions

Toekomstige stadions

Verenigde Staten

Zuid-Afrika

Zuid-Korea

Zwitserland

Niet-voetbalstadions

Australië
 Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne), Cricket, Australisch voetbal

Ierland
 Croke Park (Dublin): voor typisch Ierse (Gaelic) sporten

Italië

Oudheid

Nederland

Turkije
 Istanbul Park (Istanboel): voor verscheidene autosporten

Verenigd Koninkrijk

Zie ook
 Olympisch stadion

Externe links
 Foto's van vele stadions
 Worldstadiums.com - Site met alle stadions ter wereld

!Lijst
Stadions

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Statement of Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. on the enactment of SK reform Act of 2016
I welcome the enactment of the SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) Reform Act of 2016.
As co-author and principal sponsor of the measure in the Senate it is gratifying to see the culmination of years of sustained efforts to provide a new framework for a more responsive youth institution.
With important features such as fiscal autonomy and mandatory training programs, I am confident this new law will truly empower youth leaders not only in addressing issues unique to their sector but also for meaningful contribution to local governance and nation-building.
This law, or Republic Act 10742, also marks an important historical milestone, being the first law with anti-political dynasty provision.
I am confident that with the reforms institutionalized under this law, we will see a new breed of youth leaders who would truly represent our hope for a brighter future for our country.
Sen. Marcos nagalak sa pagpasa ng bill para sa mas mataas na tax exemption ng OFW balikbayan box
Let's end SSS veto impasse, work together to look for win-win solution


Searching high and low for that one someone.
Hi. I'm light in the existential sense - If you've read Kundera, you'll know what I mean; I don't take myself too seriously and like a laugh. Not possessive or jealous. Insist on open lines of communication and nothing is taboo...they're just words..


Most pools and spas are fitted with water circulating pumps and cleaning equipment powered by electric motors. Faults can occur in these motors or in the motor's electrical wiring. This can expose bathers to the risk of electric shock. Signs of electric shock include a tingling sensation, muscle spasms or feeling 'stuck' or unable to move (paralysis), potentially leading to drowning. An electric shock may also affect the heart and cause death (electrocution).
To avoid the risk of electric shock, all metal items within arm's reach of a bather (1.25 metres from the pool edge) must be electrically bonded to the main earthing system of the premises. Metal items include fencing, light fittings, hand-rails, ladders, diving board structures and gates. The steel reinforcing of concrete pools and spas must also be electrically bonded to the earthing system.
Electrical bonding must be carried out by a licensed electrical contractor. It is important you consult a licensed electrical contractor when the construction of a pool or spa is being considered. The electrical contractor will ideally be involved at the planning and design stage – insist that your pool or spa supplier makes this happen.
any other associated electrical requirements, such as outdoor lighting.
Note: Electrical bonding associated with a pool or spa must comply with Clause 5.6.2.6 of Australian Standard AS/NZS 3000:2018 (known as the 'Wiring Rules'). The electrical contractor will be responsible to ensure this compliance.
1. A pool or spa is included from the beginning for a new home or residential units.
In this case, an electrical contractor will be involved at the start of the electrical installation, which will include the bonding requirements for the pool and/or spa.
2. A pool or spa is planned to be installed at a future time for new premises.
In this case, plan early in the electrical installation to allow the bonding required when the pool or spa project proceeds. An electrical contractor must be hired to complete the bonding work as part of the pool/spa construction. The electrical contractor should be included from the beginning to make sure the construction work does not compromise the essential bonding installation. Calling in the electrical contractor at the end will risk the pool/ spa installation not complying with the Wiring Rules resulting in costly retrospective alterations.
3. The property owners decide to install a pool or spa at an existing premises where no particular provision was made to accommodate this.
It is important to involve an electrical contractor from the beginning of the work to plan and complete the bonding required. The electrical contractor will need to examine the home's electrical installation, main switchboard and, where applicable, the steel reinforcing arrangement in the concrete slab floor and determine how best to provide the bonding.
Remember: electricity and water do not mix! Use a licensed electrical contractor to ensure your pool is safe.


text:
Main Street Defends Its Way of Life
Posted By Salena Zito June 3, 2013
FLATWOODS, Pa. Most people expect their tomorrows to be about the same as their
yesterdays in this town, and in every other Fayette County village, borough and
municipality.
And they like it that way.
Despite the county's higher-than-statewide-average poverty level, folks like being "stuck in place" in this picturesque region where the majestic Laurel Mountains give way to lakes, rivers and small coal-patch towns where ethnic-food church festivals fill the calendar year-round.
That geography boosts local tourism with plentiful biking, hiking, camping and
fishing spots; it also boosts local jobs, thanks to the ripple effects of Marcellus shale exploration that is chipping away at the poverty.
Only two "cities" are here – Uniontown and Connellsville. The latter's school
district is provoking folks, most of whom usually don't participate in public
rallies or community activism, to step out of their comfort zones and straight onto the front lines of fighting to preserve their way of life.
That is all thanks to an anonymous complaint by an unnamed middle-school child and parent who are coordinating with a Wisconsin-based atheist group to rid the district of a Ten Commandments monument on Connellsville's school property.
Something remarkable happened in the county, as folks from different backgrounds and beliefs responded with a groundswell of support for the district. Even many who are not particularly religious have joined in.
"I have not heard from one person who has said they support any action to remove the Commandments from the school grounds," said Vince Zapotosky, a Fayette County commissioner and Democrat who wants to keep the monument donated by Connellsville's Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1957.
He has heard from plenty who adamantly agree with him: "The community has rallied around the town of Connellsville. There have been monthly meetings and even a Ten Commandments-sign fundraising effort called 'Thou Shall Not Move,' organized by Pastor Ewing Marietta, a minister from the Liberty Baptist Church."
The complaint to the district was filed last August; by September, the district
solicitor concluded that the law prohibits such a monument on school property. A
court case is pending.
"First, (the monument) was covered with plastic and duct tape, but that was torn
off," said Zapotosky. That was repeated over and over, he said.
It's not the first time that the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, Wis., has stuck a sharp elbow into Main Street towns in the region: Valley High School in New Kensington faces a similar challenge to remove its Ten Commandments monument; Steubenville, Ohio, was forced to scrub the iconic image of Franciscan University from a new city logo that included all of the city's well-known sites, including Fort Steuben and the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
The atheist group boasts of scores of legal victories on its website, most of those
in small cities and rural towns in the Midwest and South.
Zapotosky said he has signed a resolution to keep the monument at the school, and he insists no one is trying to convert anyone: "It is something, if only symbolic, to hold and cherish as part of our values that go back to the founding of our nation."
Indeed, Fayette County is the very spot where the seeds of democracy were sown –
more a part of our country's founding than most Americans realize. It is where a
young George Washington surrendered at "the great meadow" on July 4, 1754, marking the start of the French and Indian War, which led ultimately to our revolt against the British crown.
You cannot drive anywhere in Fayette County without finding Ten Commandments signs staked in front of homes and businesses, on corner lots and abandoned industrial sites, in mobile home parks and along the Great Allegheny Passage trail – an ironic twist that makes the Ten Commandments more visible than ever and has drawn together people whose normal instinct is to keep to themselves and get on with life.
Yet this battle between Main Street and the atheist group shows no sign of going away.
Just last week, the group placed a "Nothing Fails Like Prayer" banner in
Wilkes-Barre – another example of a cultural war that is impacting the nation's
landscape.
@SalenaZitoTrib
D.L. CLARK BUILDING 503 Martindale st. 3rd Floor | Pittsburgh, Pa. 15212


We're on our way to Nashville for Leanne's birthday where her sister will be flying in from Canada to celebrate! We really didn't want to leave Spring Hill Campground for Memphis, but the thought of getting to Nashville and seeing family for the first time since January has us very excited.
We got to Memphis on a perfectly sunny day with enough time to get 5 weeks of laundry finished, go for a Costco run, and pickup bags upon bags of dog food.
This is our first time staying at a KOA and we were beyond thrilled with the internet connectivity. We were able to brush up on our Netflix, download oodles of podcasts, and pick out new playlists. It's amazing how different life is with strong internet connection. While the connectivity has been nice, we're looking forward to going back to the woods where it's much quieter and with less people!


Following up on my last post, MLA let me know of more Stengers' books coming out in English translation. I have been really excited by what I see as Stengers new popularity in the Anglophone world. Along with Latour, she is a brilliant and eclectic philosopher who has too long been regulated to exclusively the STS world, and seems to only recently discovered as a thinker in her own right.
Volume two of Cosmopolitics is coming out. This is great to see this series fully translated, even if Stengers is moving a bit beyond it in her more recent work.
Also, her book Thinking with Whitehead will be out shortly. I haven't read it, and am very excited to do so.
In this discussion, I told MLA that I wanted her co-authored book on capitalism and sorcery. Then, I looked and it is already in translation! It is also very expensive (so if anyone wants someone to review it for them for a copy of the book, let me know!). Nevertheless, her book on Capitalist Sorcery is already out!


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text:
ABRAHAM.
By: Charles J. Mendelsohn, Kaufmann Kohler, Richard Gottheil, Crawford Howell Toy
Birth and Wanderings.
—Biblical Data:
Birth of Ishmael.
Birth and Sacrifice of Isaac.
Prototype of the Jewish Race.
—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:
Propagator of the Knowledge of God.
Opposes Idolatry.
His Birth.
Breaks Idols.
As a Philanthropist.
Prophetic Vision.
Supreme Test of Faith.
Abraham's Death.
True Type of Humanity.
—In Mohammedan Legend:
"Great, Greater, Greatest."
Prominence Given to Abraham.
Mohammedan Midrash on Abraham.
Etymology.
—Critical View:
National Significance.
Character.
Relation to History.
Birth and Wanderings. —Biblical Data:
According to the Bible, Abraham (or Abram) was the father of the Hebrews. The Biblical account of the life of Abram is found in Gen. xi. 26 to xxv. 10. According to this narrative, he was the son of Terah and was born at Ur of the Chaldees. Terah, with Abram, Sarai (Abram's wife), and Lot (Abram's nephew), left Ur to go to the land of Canaan; but they tarried at Haran, where Terah died (Gen. xi. 26-32). There the Lord appeared to Abram in the first of a series of visions, and bade him leave the country with his family, promising to make of him a great nation (ib. xii. 1-3), a promise that was renewed on several occasions. Accordingly, Abram with Sarai and Lot started for Canaan; and at the site of Sichem (or Shechem) the Lord promised the land as an inheritance to the patriarch's seed. After so-journing for a while between Beth-el and Hai (or Ai), Abram, on account of a famine, went to Egypt. Here, to guard against Pharaoh's jealousy, he passed Sarai off as his sister. Pharaoh took her into the royal household, but, discovering the deception, released her and sent Abram and his family away (ib. xii. 9-20). Abram returned northward to his former place of sojourn between Beth-el and Hai. There his shepherds quarreled with those of Lot, and the uncle and nephew separated, Lot going east to Sodom, while Abram remained in Canaan (ib. xiii. 1-12). Again the Lord appeared to the patriarch, and promised him an abundant progeny which should inherit the land of Canaan (ib. xiii. 14-17).
Abram now removed to Mamre (ib. xiii. 18) inHebron, whence he made a successful expedition against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his confederate kings, from whom he rescued Lot, whom Chedorlaomer had captured in the course of an attack upon Sodom and Gomorrah. On his return from this expedition, Abram was blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem, and refused to retain the recaptured booty offered him by the king of Sodom (ib. xiv.).
Once more the Lord appeared to Abram with a promise of abundant offspring, at the same time foretelling their captivity for four hundred years in a strange land and their subsequent inheritance of the land between "the river of Egypt" and the Euphrates. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (ib. xv. 6). Sarai had hitherto been barren. She now gave Abram her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian, as wife; and the latter bore a son, Ishmael, Abram being at the time eighty-six years old (ib. xvi.). Again the Lord appeared to the patriarch with the promise of a numerous posterity. At the same time, in token of the promise, Abram's name was changed to Abraham ("Father of Many Nations"), and that of Sarai to Sarah ("Princess"). The Lord also instituted the "covenant of circumcision," and promised that Sarah should bear a son, Isaac, with whom he would establish it. Abraham thereupon circumcised himself and Ishmael (ib. xvii. 1-21). Soon after, three angels in human guise were hospitably entertained by Abraham in Mamre, where the Lord again foretold Isaac's birth, and when Sarah doubted the promise, the Lord himself appeared and renewed it (ib. xviii. 1-15).
In recognition of Abraham's piety the Lord now acquainted him with His intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their wickedness; but, after several appeals from Abraham, He promised that Sodom should be spared if ten righteous men could be found therein (ib. xviii. 17-32). The cities were destroyed; but Lot and his family, who had been warned, fled from Sodom before its destruction. Abraham now journeyed to Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur, and for the second time passed Sarah off as his sister. Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her into his house; but, on being rebuked by God, released her precisely as Pharaoh had done (ib. xx.).
Traditional House of Abraham.
(From a photograph reproduced by permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund.)Birth and Sacrifice of Isaac.
At the appointed time Isaac was born, Abraham being a hundred years old. Soon after, Ishmael, Hagar's son, was seen "mocking" by Sarah, and at her solicitation he and his mother were banished. Hagar was comforted in the wilderness by an angel of God (ib. xxi. 1-12). Abraham was now a powerful man; and at the solicitation of Abimelech, king of Gerar, he made a covenant with that monarch at Beer-sheba in the land of the Philistines. At Beer-sheba Abraham sojourned many days (ib. xxi. 22-34).
The greatest trial of the patriarch's life came when God bade him offer up his only son as a burnt offering. Without a moment's hesitation Abraham took Isaac and proceeded to the land of Moriah, where he was just about to sacrifice him, when an angel of the Lord restrained him, once more delivering the prophecy that the patriarch's seed should be "as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore," and that in them all the nations of the earth should be blessed. Instead of Isaac a ram caught in a thicket was sacrificed (ib. xxii. 1-18). Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, and was sojourning there when Sarah died at Kirjatharba (also called Hebron and Mamre), at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven (ib. xxiii. 1, 2). Abraham went to Mamre and bought the cave of Machpelah as a burial-place; and there he buried Sarah (ib. xxiii. 3-20).
Isaac was now thirty-six years old, and Abraham sent Eliezer, his servant, to bring a wife for himfrom among Abraham's own people. Eliezer journeyed to Nahor, and returned with Rebekah, Abraham's grandniece, whom Isaac married (ib. xxiv.). Abraham now married again, taking as his wife Keturah, by whom he had several children. Before his death he "gave all that he had" to Isaac, and sent the sons of his concubines away after bestowing some gifts upon them (ib. xxv. 1-6). Abraham died at the age of one hundred and seventy-five years; and Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside Sarah in the cave of Machpelah (ib. xxv. 7-9).
Abraham and Isaac.
(From the Sarajevo Haggadah.)C. J. M.Prototype of the Jewish Race. —In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:
In the Old Testament Abraham presents the type of a simple Bedouin sheik who wanders from place to place in search of pasture for his herds, a kindhearted, righteous, and God-fearing man whom God chose on account of his faithful and righteous character to be the father of a nation peculiarly favored by Him in the possession of the coveted land of Canaan. Once he is spoken of as a "prophet" (Gen. xx. 7). Incidentally we learn that his father, Terah, was an idolater, like the rest of the Chaldeans (Josh. xxiv. 2); but how Abraham became a worshiper of the Lord, or why God singled him out and led him forth to Canaan, is left to surmise. No sooner, however, did the Jewish people come into closer contact with nations of higher culture, especially with the Greeks in Alexandria, than the figure of Abraham became the prototype of a nation sent forth to proclaim the monotheistic faith to the world while wandering from land to land. Accordingly, the divine promise (Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18) is understood to mean: " . . . in thee [instead of "with thee"] shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (see LXX. ad loc.).
In the third and second centuries B.C., Alexandrine Jews, writing under the name of Hecatæus and Berosus, and Samaritans, like Eupolemus, composed works on Jewish history, from which Josephus ("Ant." i. 7, § 8) gives the following: Abraham, endowed with great sagacity, with a higher knowledge of God and greater virtues than all the rest, was determined to change the erroneous opinions of men. He was the first who had the courage to proclaim God as the sole Creator of the universe, to whose will all the heavenly bodies are subject, for they by their motions show their dependence on Him. His opposition to astrology provoked the wrath of the Chaldeans, and he had to leave their country and go to Canaan. Afterward, when he came to Egypt, he entered into disputes with all the priests and the wise men, and won their admiration and, in many cases, their assent to his higher views. He imparted to them the knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy, which sciences came to Egypt from Chaldea only in the days of Abraham. Abraham's revolt from Chaldean astrology is spoken of in Philo ("On Abraham," xvii.), in connection with Gen. xv. 5 (compare Gen. R. xliv.).
Concerning his religious awakening in his father's house, the Book of Jubilees, written probably in the time of John Hyrcanus, relates (xi.) that, in order not to participate in the idolatry practised in connection with astrology by the whole house of Nahor, Abraham, when he was fourteen years of age, left his father, and prayed to God to save him from the errors of men. Abraham became an inventor of better modes of agriculture, showing the people how to save the seeds in the field from the ravens that devoured them. He then tried to persuade his father to renounce idol-worship, but Terah was afraid of the people and told him to keep silent. Finally, when Abraham met with the opposition of his brothers also, he arose one night and set fire to the house in which the idols were kept. In an attempt to save these, his brother Haran was burned to death.
When, in the night of the new moon of Tishri (the New-year), Abraham was watching the stars to forecast the year's fertility, the revelation came to him that, in view of God's omnipotent will, all astrological predictions were valueless, and, after fervent prayer, he received word from God to leave the Chaldeans and set out on his mission to bless the nations by teaching them the higher truths. An angel of God taught him Hebrew, the language of revelation, by which he was enabled to decipher all the secrets of the ancient books (see Gen. R. xlii). Leaving his brother Nahor with his father, Abraham went to the Holy Land and observed there all the festivals and new moons (afterward prescribed to the Israelites, but already written on the heavenly tablets revealed to Enoch), besides many other customs observed by the priesthood of the second century B.C.
(From a tombstone in the graveyard of the Amsterdam Portuguese Congregation.)
According to one opinion, Abraham attained the true knowledge of God when he was three years old; according to others, at ten; and again a more sober opinion claims that he was forty-eight years old (Gen. R. xxx).
In his warfare against the hosts of Amraphel andother kings, Abraham cast dust upon them, and it turned into swords and lances, and the stubble turned into bows and arrows (according to Isa. xli. 2). Og, the giant king of Bashan, was the one "that escaped" (ha-paliṭ), and brought him the news of the capture of Lot. Og was of the remnant of the giants that lived before the Flood (Deut. iii. 11). He cast a lustful eye upon Sarah, and hoped to see Abraham killed in the war in order that he might take her to wife.
Far more explicit is the story of Abraham's life in his Chaldean home as told by the Palestinian rabbis of the second century, and afterward further developed under the influence of Babylonian folk-lore. He was born in Kuta, another name for Ur of the Chaldees (B. B. 91a). On the night when he was born, Terah's friends, among whom were councilors and soothsayers of Nimrod, were feasting in his house, and on leaving late at night they observed a star which swallowed up four other stars from the four sides of the heavens. They forthwith hastened to Nimrod and said: "Of a certainty a lad has been born who is destined to conquer this world and the next; now, then, give to his parents as large a sum of money as they wish for the child, and then kill him." But Terah, who was present, said: "Your advice reminds me of the mule to whom a man said, 'I will give thee a house full of barley if thou wilt allow me to cut off thy head,' whereupon the mule replied: 'Fool that thou art, of what use will the barley be to me if thou cuttest off my head?' Thus I say to you: if you slay the son, who will inherit the money you give to the parents?" Then the rest of the councilors said: "From thy words we perceive that a son has been born to thee." "Yes," said Terah, "a son has been born to me, but he is dead." Terah then went home and hid his son in a cave for three years. When, on coming out of the cave, Abraham saw the sun rising in all his glory in the east, he said to himself: "Surely this is the Lord of the universe, and Him I will worship." But the evening came, and lo! the sun set and night befell him, and seeing the moon with her silver radiance, he said, "This, then, is the Lord of the world, and all the stars are His servants; to Him I will kneel." The following morning, when moon and stars had disappeared and the sun had risen anew, Abraham said: "Now I know that neither the one nor the other is the Lord of the world, but He who controls both as His servants is the Creator and Ruler of the whole world." Forthwith Abraham asked his father: "Who created heaven and earth?" Terah, pointing to one of his idols, replied: "This great image is our god." "Then let me bring a sacrifice to him!" said Abraham, and he ordered a cake of fine flour to be baked, and offered it to the idol, and when the idol did not eat it, he ordered a still finer meal-offering to be prepared, and offered it to the idol. But the idol did neither eat nor answer when addressed by him, and so Abraham grew angry and, kindling a fire, burned them all. When Terah, on coming home, found his idols burnt, he went to Abraham and said: "Who has burned my gods?" Abraham replied: "The large one quarreled with the little ones and burned them in his anger." "Fool that thou art, how canst thou say that he who can not see nor hear nor walk should have done this?" Then Abraham said: "How then canst thou forsake the living God and serve gods that neither see nor hear?"
According to Gen. R. xxxviii. and Tanna debe Eliyahu, ii. 25 (probably a portion of Pirḳe R. El.), Terah was a manufacturer of idols and had them for sale. One day when Terah was absent and Abraham was left to take charge of the shop, an old, yet vigorous, man came in to buy an idol. Abraham handed him the one on top, and he gave him the price asked. "How old art thou?" Abraham asked. "Seventy years," was the answer. "Thou fool," continued Abraham, "how canst thou adore a god so much younger than thou? Thou wert born seventy years ago and this god was made yesterday." The buyer threw away his idol and received his money back. The other sons of Terah complained to their father that Abraham did not know how to sell the idols, and so Abraham was told to attend to the idols as priest. One day a woman brought a meal-offering for the idols, and, as they would not eat, he exclaimed: "A mouth have they but speak not, eyes but see not, ears but hear not, hands but handle not. May their makers be like them, and all who trust in them" (Ps. cxv. 5-8, Heb.), and he broke them to pieces and burned them. Abraham was brought before Nimrod, who said: "Knowest thou not that I am god and ruler of the world? Why hast thou destroyed my images?" Then Abraham said: "If thou art god and ruler of the world, why dost thou not cause the sun to rise in the west and set in the east? If thou art god and ruler of the world, tell me all that I have now at heart, and what I shall do in the future." Nimrod was dumfounded, and Abraham continued: "Thou art the son of Cush, a mortal like him. Thou couldst not save thy father from death, nor wilt thou thyself escape it." According to Gen. R. xxxviii, Nimrod said: "Worship the fire!" "Why not water that quenches the fire?" asked Abraham. "Very well, worship the water!" "Why not the clouds which swallow the water?" "So be it; worship the clouds!" Then Abraham said: "Rather let me adore the wind which blows the clouds about!" "So be it; pray to the wind!" "But," said Abraham, "man can stand up against the wind or shield himself behind the walls of his house." "Then adore me!" said Nimrod. Thereupon Nimrod (Amraphel; see Pesiḳ. R. § 33, 'Er. 53a) ordered Abraham to be cast into a furnace. He had a pile of wood five yards in circumference set on fire, and Abraham was cast into it. But God Himself went down from heaven to rescue him. Wherefore the Lord appeared to him later, saying: "I am the Lord who brought thee out of the fire of the Chaldeans" (Ur Kasdim, Gen. xv. 7). The legend betrays Persian influence (compare the Zoroaster legend in Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," pp. 307-313). Regarding the cave in which Abraham dwelt, see ib. p. 113; compare also B. B. 10a. The dialogue with Nimrod, pointing from fire, water, the cloud, wind, and man to God, has its parallel in Hindu legend (see Benfey, "Pantschatantra," i. 376).
Abraham is thereupon commissioned by God to propagate His truth throughout the world, and he wins many souls for Him: while he wins the men, Sarah, his wife, converts the women. In this manner "they made souls in Haran" (Gen. xii. 5, Heb.). He awakens the heathen from slumber and brings them under the wings of God. He is the father of the proselytes (Gen. R. xliii; Mek., Mishpaṭim, § 18).
Henceforth he was to become "like a stream of blessing to purify and regenerate the pagan world." Of the manner in which he converted the heathen it is related that he had a palatial mansion built near the oaktree of Mamre or at Beer-sheba on the crossing of the roads, wherein all kinds of victuals and wine were spread on the table for the passersby, who came through the doors kept open on all sides; and when they, after having partaken of the meal, were about to offer their thanks to him beforegoing on their way, he pointed to God above, whose steward he was and to whom alone they owed thanks. Thus, by his love for man, he taught people how to worship God. Abraham's Oak, in connection with which the Midrash (to Gen. xxi. 33) relates these things, is mentioned also by Jerome (quoted in Uhlman's "Liebesthätigkeit," p. 321). This philanthropic virtue of Abraham is specifically dwelt upon in the Testament of Abraham.
His prophetic vision (Gen. xv.) furnished especially grateful material to apocalyptic writers, who beheld foreshadowed in the four different animals used for the covenant sacrifice the "four kingdoms" of the Book of Daniel (see also the Midrashim and Targums and Pirḳe R. El. xxviii; compare Apocalypse of Abraham, ix.).
Regarding Abraham's relation to Melchizedek, who taught him new lessons in philanthropy, see Melchizedek. Whereas the Bible speaks of only one trial that Abraham had to undergo to give proof of his faith in and fear of God (the offering of his son Isaac, Gen. xxii.), the rabbis (Ab. v. 4; Ab. R. N. xxxiii. [B. xxxvi.]; and Pirḳe R. El. xxvi. et seq.; compare also Book of Jubilees, xvii. 17, and xix. 5) mention ten trials of his faith, the offering of his son forming the culmination. Yet this was sufficient reason for Satan, or Masṭemah, as the Book of Jubilees calls him, to put all possible obstacles in his way.
When Abraham finally held the knife over his beloved son, Isaac seemed doomed, and the angels of heaven shed tears which fell upon Isaac's eyes, causing him blindness in later life. But their prayer was heard. The Lord sent Michael the archangel to tell Abraham not to sacrifice his son, and the dew of life was poured on Isaac to revive him. The ram to be offered in his place had stood there ready, prepared from the beginning of creation (Ab. v. 6). Abraham had given proof that he served God not only from fear, but also out of love, and the promise was given that, whenever the 'Aḳedah chapter was read on the New-year's day, on which occasion the ram's horn is always blown, the descendants of Abraham should be redeemed from the power of Satan, of sin, and of oppression, owing to the merit of him whose ashes lay before God as though he had been sacrificed and consumed (Pesiḳ. R. § 40 and elsewhere).
According to the Book of Jubilees (xx.-xxii.), Abraham appointed Jacob, in the presence of Rebekah, heir of his divine blessings. Jacob remained with him to the very last, receiving his instructions and his blessings. But while the same source informs us that he ordered all his children and grand-children to avoid magic, idolatry, and all kinds of impurity, and to walk in the path of righteousness, Jeremiah bar Abba (in Sanh. 91a) tells us that he bequeathed the knowledge of magic to the sons of his wife, Keturah.
About his death rabbinical tradition has preserved only one statement—that the Angel of Death had no power over him (B. B. 17a). There is nevertheless a beautiful description of his glorious end in the Testament of Abraham (see Abraham, Testament of). The same work gives a touching picture of his love for man, while Ab. R. N. (xxxiii.) offers illustrations of his spirit of righteousness and equity. Abba Arika (Rab) even professed to know how the men of Abraham's time expressed their grief at his bier: "Alas for the ship that hath lost its captain! Alas for humanity that hath lost its leader!" (B. B. 91a, b.)
Besides the discovery of astronomy, we find ascribed to Abraham the invention of the alphabet, the knowledge of magic, and of all secret lore ('Ab. Zarah, 14b; Eusebius, "Præp. Ev."; D'Herbelot, "Bibliothèque Orientale," s.v. "Abraham"; "Sefer Yeẓirah," toward the end). All this is based on Gen. R. to Gen. xv. 5: "God lifted him above the vault of heaven to cause him to see all the mysteries of life." It is related (Tosef., Ḳid., at end) that he wore a pearl or precious stone of magic power on his neck, wherewith he healed the sick; and that all the secrets of the Law were disclosed to him, while he observed even the most minute provisions of the rabbis (Mishnah Ḳid., at end; Gen. R. lxiv.). Even in physical size he towered above the rest of men, according to Gen. R. xlix. and Soferim, xxi. 9.
There is a deep undercurrent of his true humanity in all the legends about Abraham. "Until Abraham's time the Lord was known only as the God of heaven. When He appeared to Abraham, He became the God of the earth as well as of heaven, for He brought Him nigh to man" (Midr. R. to Gen. xxiv. 3). Abraham, called "the One" (Isa. li. 2, Heb., and Ezek. xxxiii.), rendered the whole human family one (Gen. R. xxxix) Whosoever has a benign eye, a simple heart, and a humble spirit, or who is humble and pious, is a disciple of Abraham (Ab. v. 29, and Ber. 6b), and he who lacks kindness of heart is no true son of Abraham (Beẓah, 32a). But it is particularly Abraham, the man of faith, the "friend of God" (Isa. xli. 8), upon whom are founded alike the Synagogue (see Pes. 117b; Mek., Beshallaḥ, § 3; I Macc. ii. 52; Philo, "Who is the Heir?" xviii.-xix.), the Church (see Rom. iv. 1; Gal. iii. 6; James, ii. 23), and the Mosque (Koran, sura iii. 58-60). "Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but a believer in one God [a Moslem], a hater of idolatry, a man of perfect faith" (ib. suras ii. 118, iv. 124, vi. 162, xvi. 121). When God said, "Let there be light!" He had Abraham in view (Gen. R. ii.).
Many Arabic legends concerning Abraham based on the Koran found their way back to Jewish works (see Jellinek, "B. H." i. 25, and introduction, xv.)
Weil, Bibl. Legenden der Muselmänner, p. 68;
Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde, pp. 91-93;
B. Beer, Leben Abrahams, nach Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage, especially pp. 95-210, Leipsic, 1859 this book contains a very full account, with valuable references, of the rabbinic traditions concerning Abraham);
Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, s.v.
K.—In Mohammedan Legend:
Of all the Biblical personages mentioned in the Koran, Abraham is undoubtedly the most important. As is the case with all the Biblical material contained in the Koran, its source must be looked for not in any written documents, but in the stories, more or less tinged by midrashic additions, which Mohammed heard from his Jewish or Christian teachers and friends. Care must also be taken to distinguish the various periods in the preaching of the Arabian prophet; for in these matters Mohammed lived from hand to mouth, and his views as to the importance of Biblical personages varied with changing circumstances and changing needs. In his early preachings Mohammed shows very little knowledge of the patriarch. The only mention of him during the early Meccan period is found in sura lxxxvii. 19 (compare sura liii. 37), where Mohammed makes a passing reference to the "Suḥuf Ibrahim" (the Rolls of Abraham); these can not have reference, as Sprenger thinks ("Leben u. Lehre Mohammeds," ii. 348, 363 et seq.), to any real apocryphal books, but merely to a reminiscenceof what Mohammed had heard about the mention of Abraham in the sacred books of the Jews and Christians (Kuenen, "National and Universal Religions," p. 297, note 1, and pp. 317-323, New York, 1882). Similarly in sura liii. 37—a passage certainly not older than the end of the first Meccan period (Nöldeke, "Gesch. des Korans," p. 79)—he speaks of Abraham as of one that had fulfilled his word, giving as his reference the same Rolls of Abraham (Hirschfeld, "Beiträge zur Erklärung des Korans," p. 12; compare Gen. xxii. 16). To this later Meccan period may also belong what Mohammed has to say of Abraham as one who was oppressed for preaching the true religion and for championing his God. This part of Abraham's career appealed very strongly to Mohammed; for he saw in it a certain prototype of his own early and severe struggles with the patricians of his native city. As Mohammed is the last of the prophets, so Abraham is among the first. Abraham is evidently—though this is not directly stated—one of the seven bearers of Maṭani, the messages repeated from out of the heavenly book (sura xv. 87; compare xxxix. 24). The other six are the prophets of Ad, Thamud, and Midian, and Noah, Lot, and Moses. Abraham is a righteous man ( ) and prophet (sura xix. 42).
In the later suras Mohammed seems to have learned more about Abraham. In sura vi. 75 he relates how the prophet came to worship God by watching physical phenomena: "Thus did we show Abraham the kingdom of heaven and of the earth, that he should be of those who are sure. And when the night overshadowed him he saw a star and said, 'This is my Lord'; but when it set he said, 'I love not those that set.' And when he saw the moon beginning to rise he said, 'This is my Lord'; but when it set he said, 'If my Lord guides me not I shall surely be of the people who err.' And when he saw the sun beginning to rise he said, 'This is my Lord, this is the greatest of all'; but when it set he said, 'O my people, verily, I am clear of what ye associate with God; verily, I have turned my face to Him who created the heaven and the earth.'"
The name of Abraham's father is said to have been Azar, though some of the later Arab writers give the name correctly as Teraḥ. Others claim that Azar was his real name, while Teraḥ was his surname (Nawawi, "Biographical Dict. of Illustrious Men," p. 128; but see Jawaliḳi, "Al-Mu'arrab," ed. Sachau, p. 21; "Z. D. M. G." xxxiii. 214). Still a third class of authorities say that Azar means either "the old man" or "the perverse one." Modern scholars have suggested that the word is a mistake for (B. B. 15a; see Pautz, "Mohammed's Lehre von der Offenbarung," p. 242). This Azar was a great worshiper of idols, and Abraham had hard work in dissuading him from worshiping them. The story is told in sura xxi. 53 et seq.: "And we gave Abraham a right direction before; for about him we knew. When he said to his father and to his people, 'What are these images to which ye pay devotion?' said they, 'We found our fathers serving them.' Said he, 'Both ye and your fathers have been in obvious error.' They said, 'Dost thou come to us with the truth, or art thou of those that sport?' He said, 'Nay, but your Lord is Lord of the heavens and of the earth, which He created; and I am of those who testify to this, and, by God, I will plot against your idols after ye have turned and shown me your backs.' So he brake them all in pieces, except a large one that haply they might refer it to [lay the blame upon] him. Said they, 'Who has done this with our gods? Verily, he is of the wrong-doers.' They said, 'We heard a youth speak of them, who is called Abraham.' Said they, 'Then bring him before the eyes of men; haply they will bear witness.' Said they, 'Was it thou who did this to our gods, O Abraham?' Said he, 'Nay, it was this largest of them; but ask them if they can speak. . . .' Said they, 'Burn him and help your gods if ye are going to do so.' We said, 'O fire! be thou cool and a safety for Abraham.'" In suras xxvii. and xxxix. Mohammed returns to this story, and adds the account of the messengers that came to Abraham, of the promise of a son named Isaac, and of the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. "We turned these cities upside down and rained on them stones of baked clay" (compare sura li. 34). The destruction of the two cities served Mohammed as a warning, taken from history, which he desired to impress upon his opponents in Mecca.
The 'Aḳedah, or sacrifice of Isaac, is mentioned in several places in the Koran. The following account is found in sura xxxvii. 100 et seq.: "And when he reached the age to work with him he said: 'O my boy ! verily I have seen in a dream that I should sacrifice thee; look, then, that thou seest right.' Said he, 'O my sire! do what thou art bidden; thou wilt find me, if it please God, one of the patient.' And when they were resigned and Abraham had thrown him down upon his forehead, we called to him, 'O Abraham! thou hast verified the vision; verily, thus do we reward those who do good. This is surely an obvious trial.' And we rewarded him with a mighty victim."
Mohammed, however, went further than this, and, in order to strengthen his position against his Jewish opponents in Medina, made out of Abraham the most prominent figure in premohammedan religious history. He alleges that Abraham was the real founder of the religion that he himself was preaching; that Islam was merely a restatement of the old religion of Abraham and not a new faith now preached for the first time. Abraham is the "friend of God" (sura iv. 124), an appellation that the followers of Islam now usually apply to him, and on account of which to-day the city of Hebron is called Al-Halil (compare Isa. xli. 8; Ab. R. N. 61a). He is also said to have been an imam, or religious leader (compare suras ii. 118, xvi. 121), and perhaps also a "ḥanif"; "he was not one of the idolaters. . . . [God] chose him, and He guided him unto the right way. . . . Then we inspired thee, Follow the faith of Abraham, a ḥanif, for he was not of the idolaters." The exact meaning of "ḥanif" is uncertain; but it seems in general to designate a man who searched after the truth and despised idolatry (Kuenen, l.c. note 2, pp. 323-326; Wellhausen, "Skizzen," iii. 207).
Characteristic is the following saying: "Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian, but he was a ḥanif resigned, and not of the idolaters. Verily, the people most worthy of Abraham are those that follow him and his prophets, and those that believe" (sura iii. 60). With the same theological intent Mohammed makes various references to the Millat Ibrahim ("Religion of Abraham") as the one he desires his people to follow (suras xvi. 124, ii. 124, xxii. 77).
During the latest period of Mohammed's activity in Medina he became still bolder, and, in developing his theory in regard to Abraham, left entirely the beaten track of Jewish and Christian Midrash. It had become necessary for him to break entirely with the Jews, who refused to acknowledge him as prophet. The ḳiblah, or direction of prayer, was still toward Jerusalem. As the Jews had refused to follow Mohammed it was necessary to dissociatehis religion from theirs, and to turn the faces and thoughts of his followers from Jerusalem to Mecca. In order that the change might be effected with as little friction as possible, Mohammed connected Mecca and its holy house, the Kaaba, with the history of Abraham, the real founder of his Islam. It is here that Ishmael comes for the first time prominently forward. In one of the latest suras (ii. 118 et seq.) a passage reads: "And when we made the house a place of resort unto men, and a sanctuary, and (said) take the station of Abraham for a place of prayer; and covenanted with Abraham and Ishmael, saying, 'Do ye two cleanse my house for those who make the circuit, for those who pay devotions there, for those who bow down, and for those, too, who adore. . . .' And when Abraham raised up the foundations of the house with Ishmael, 'Lord, receive it from us. Verily, Thou art hearing and Thou dost know. Lord, and make us, too, resigned unto Thee and of our seed also a nation resigned unto Thee, and show us our rites, and turn toward us; verily, Thou art easy to be turned and merciful. Lord, and send them an apostle from amongst themselves, to read to them Thy signs and teach them the Book and wisdom, and to purify them; verily, Thou art the mighty and the wise'" (compare suras iii. 90-93, xxii. 27-31).
There is no local tradition connecting Abraham with Mecca; and we are forced to put this down as a pure invention on the part of the prophet, based on political as well as on theological reasons. According to Shahrastani (Arabic text, p. 430), this Kaaba was the reproduction of the one in heaven. The "Makam Ibrahim," or Station of Abraham, is still pointed out within the sacred enclosure at Mecca; and the footsteps of the patriarch are believed by the worshipers still to be there (Snouck Hurgronje, "Het Mekkaansche Feest," p. 40; Mekka, i. 11).
The stories in regard to Abraham, told in a few words in the Koran, naturally form the basis for further midrashic expansion among the Arabs. The likeness of the history of Abraham to certain features in the life of their own prophet made him a favorite subject in the hands of commentators and historians. Mohammedan writers had two sources from which they drew their knowledge of the Bible and of its midrashic interpretation: verbal information from the akhbar ("rabbis"), and a study of the text of the Bible itself, and occasionally of comments upon it. The former source was undoubtedly the more prolific of the two. The material is to be found in the standard commentators on the Koran—Zamakhshari, Baidawi, Tabari; but more have been incorporated in the works of Arabic historians, who commenced their histories with the earliest accounts of man, and were thus bound to have a more or less close acquaintance with the Taurat (Torah) and the Midrash upon it. Some of the historians are quite exact, as Ibn Ḳutaibah, and the first philosopher of history, Ibn Khaldun; others, however, are less critical, as Tabari, Masudi, Ḥamza, Biruni, Maḳrizi, Ibn al-Athir, Abu al-Fida (compare Goldziher, "Über Mohammedanische Polemik gegen die Ahl al-Kitab," in "Z.D.M.G." xxxii. 357). They have much to say about the trials that Abraham underwent in fighting idolatry. They dilate upon the great furnace that Nimrod had built in Kutha for this purpose, and how the furnace was changed into a garden. A Kurd named Hayun, Haizar, or Haizan, is said to have advised Nimrod to have Abraham burnt. Abraham's father is said to have been a carver of images; and Abraham, in selling his father's wares, attempted to convert the people by crying out, "Who wishes to buy that which neither hurts nor betters?" Large midrashic additions are made in order to bring Nimrod into connection with Abraham. It is said that the stargazers warned him that a boy would be born that would in the future break all the idols; that Nimrod gave orders to put to death all children born; but that when Abraham was born his mother hid him in a cave in which, during a few days, he grew to man's estate, and thus foiled the purpose of the king.
The incongruity of Mohammed's connecting Abraham with the building of the Kaaba was evidently clearly felt, and it is therefore added that his going to Mecca was due to the rupture between Sarah and Hagar. God told Abraham to take the bondmaid and her child, Ishmael, into Arabia; and it was at the Zemzem well within the sacred enclosure that the water rose up which slaked the thirst of the boy. On two occasions Abraham is said to have paid a visit to Ishmael's house in his absence; and, by the answers which each wife gave to her father-in-law, Abraham advises his son, in the one case, to send his first wife away, and in the other to keep his second wife. In the building of the Kaaba, Abraham was assisted by the Shekinah ( ); others say by a cloud or by the angel Gabriel. Abraham acted as muezzin, delivered all the necessary prayers, and made the various circuits demanded by the later ritual. It was he also who first threw stones at Iblis (the devil) in the valley of Mina, a procedure which still forms part of the ceremonies connected with the ḥajj. It is natural that in these later accretions Ishmael should take the place of Isaac. Some authors even state that it was Ishmael who was to have been offered up; and that he therefore bears the name Al-Dhabiḥ ("Slaughtered One"). The place of the 'Aḳedah is also transferred to Mina, near Mecca. The ram offered up in lieu of the son is said to have been the same as the one offered by Abel. The slaughtering of Isaac is dwelt upon at length, as well as the firmness of Abraham in resisting the enticement of Iblis, who placed himself directly in his path. This is said to have been one of the trials (sura ii. 118) which Abraham underwent. Arabic commentators, however, speak of three trials only, and not of ten, as does the Jewish Haggadah.
Many of the religious observances that are now found in Islam are referred to Abraham; parallels to which, as far as the institution of certain prayers is concerned, can be found in rabbinical literature.
Abraham is often called by Arabic authors the "father of hospitality"; and long accounts are given of the visit of the angels. He is also said to have been the first whose hair grew white. Of his death an Arabic Midrash has the following: When God wished to take the soul of Abraham He sent the Angel of Death to him in the form of a decrepit old man. Abraham was at table with some guests, when he saw an old man walking in the heat of the sun. He sent an ass to carry the man to his tent. The old man, however, had hardly sufficient strength to put the food set before him to his mouth; and even then he had the greatest difficulty in swallowing it. Now, a long time before this, Abraham had asked God not to take away his soul until he (Abraham) should make the request. When he saw the actions of this old man he asked him what ailed him. "It is the result of old age, O Abraham!" he answered. "How old are you, then?" asked Abraham. The old man gave his age as two years more than that of Abraham, upon which the patriarch exclaimed, "In two years' time I shall be like him! O God! takeme to Thyself." The old man, who was no other than the Angel of Death, then took away Abraham's soul.
Rabbinical midrashic parallels can easily be found to most of the legends referred to above: a large number are given in Grünbaum ("Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde"). It is of interest to observe that these Mohammedan additions have also, in some cases, found their way into Jewish literature. They are met with in works that have been written under Arabic influence in one form or another. Abraham's visit to Ishmael is found in the Pirḳe R. El. xxx. and in the "Sefer ha-Yashar." In the "Shebeṭ Musar" of Elijah ha-Kohen there is an appendix entitled "Tale of That Which Happened to Our Father Abraham in Connection with Nimrod." Elijah lived in Smyrna at the beginning of the eighteenth century, which fact will explain the Arabic influence.
Koran, suras ii. iii. iv.vi. xi. xxix. xxxvii. li. lx. (the citations above are from Palmer's translation in the Sacred Books of the East, vols. vi. ix.), and the commentators mentioned in the article;
Tabari, Annales, i. 254 et seq.;
Ibn al-Athir, Chronicon, ed. Tornberg, i. 67 et seq.;
Ibn Ḳutaibah, Handbuch der Geschichte, ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 16 et seq.;
Masudi, Les Prairies d'Or, ed. Barbier de Meynard, ix. 105, index;
Pseudo-Masudi, Abrégé des Merveilles, tr. by Carra de Vaux, pp. 131, 322;
Wüstenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, Arabic text, i. 21 et seq., German tr. iv. 7 et seq.;
Al-Yaḳubi, Historiœ, ed. Houtsma, i. 21 et seq.;
Yaḳut's Geographisches Wörterbuch, ed. Wüstenfeld, vi. 266, index.
For special histories of the prophets see Brockelmann, Gesch. der Arabischen Lit. i. 350. The traditions in the Koran and later works are collected in Al-Nawawi, Biographical Dict. of Illustrious Men, ed. Wüstenfeld, pp. 125 et seq.;
and Abu al-Fida, Historia Anteislamica, ed. Fleischer, pp. 125 et seq.
Abraham's position in the history of religion from the Mohammedan standpoint is considered by Al-Shahrastani, Kitab al-Milal wal-Naḥal, ed. Cureton, pp. 244, 247, 261 (German transl. by Haarbrücker, index, s.v.). Modern works on the subject: Geiger, Was Hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume Aufgenommen? pp. 121 et seq.;
Hirschfeld, Beiträge zur Erklärung des Korans, pp. 43, 59;
Grimme, Mohammed, i. 60 et seq., ii. 76, 82 et seq.;
Pautz, Mohammed's Lehre von der Offenbarung, pp. 173, 228;
Smith, The Bible and Islam, pp. 68 et seq.;
Bate, Studies in Islam, pp. 60 et seq.
For the later legends see Weil, Biblische Legenden der Muselmänner, pp. 68 et seq.;
Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde, pp. 89 et seq.;
Bacher, Bibel und Biblische Geschichte in der Mohammedanischen Literatur, in Kobak's Jeschurun, viii. 1-29;
G. A. Kohut, Haggadic Elements in Arabic Legends, in Independent, New York, 1898, Jan. 8 et seq.;
Lidzbarski, De Profeticis, quœ dicuntur, Legendis Arabicis, Leipsic, 1893.
G.Etymology. —Critical View:
The original and proper form of this name seems to be either "Abram" or "Abiram" (I Kings, xvi. 34; Deut. xi. 6), with the meaning, "my Father [or my God] is exalted." The form "Abraham" yields no sense in Hebrew, and is probably only a graphic variation of "Abram," the h being simply a letter, indicating a preceding vowel, a; but popular tradition explains it "father of a multitude" (ab hamon), given as a new name on the occasion of a turning-point in the patriarch's career (Gen. xvii. 5). The name is personal, not tribal; it appears as a personal name in Babylonia in the time of Apil-Sin (about 2320 B.C.; Meissner, "Beiträge zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht," No. 111), and is not employed in the Old Testament in an ethnical sense (for example, it is not so employed in Micah, vii. 20, nor in Isa. xli. 8).
In the earlier so-called Jahvistic narrative, Abraham embodies particularly the conception of Israel's title to the land of Canaan. He comes from the East to Canaan, receives the promise of the land, separates from Lot (Moab and Ammon), from Ishmael (Arabian tribes), and from the sons of Keturah (other Arabian tribes), thus eliminating any possible future contention as to the title to the country. A continuous process of selection and exclusion is here exemplified, the result of which is to identify Abraham with Canaan; such was the popular conception of him as late as the time of Ezekiel (Ezek. xxxiii. 24). In the narrative which the critics regard as postexilian, or the Priestly Code, Abraham further represents the formal covenant of God (El Shaddai) with the nation, sealed by the rite of circumcision (Covenant). He stands, in a word, for the premosaic religious constitution of the people.
Abraham's singularly majestic and attractive personality, as it appears in Genesis, is in this view the outcome of generations of thought. Each age contributed to the portrait of what it held to be purest and noblest and worthiest of the first forefather. The result is a figure, solitary, calm, strong, resting unswervingly on God, and moving unscathed among men. Later he was thought of as "the friend of God" (Isa. xli. 8). Paul calls him the father of all who believe (Rom. iv.). Mohammed takes him as the representative of the absolute primitive religion, from which Judaism and Christianity have diverged, and to which Islam has returned. The character shows, however, a commingling of high and low. There are generosity (Gen. xiii.), bravery (Gen. xiv.), a fine sense of justice (Gen. xviii.). But tradition, in order to bring out God's special care of the hero, twice makes him guilty of falsehood (Gen. xii., xx.); this last fact throws light on the ethical ideas of the eighth century.
Is there any historical kernel embedded in the narrative? Obviously it contains much legendary matter. The stories of Lot, Hagar, and Keturah are ethnological myths; the theophanies and the story of the destruction of the cities are legends; circumcision was not adopted by the Israelites in the way here represented; and the story of the attempted sacrifice of Isaac is a product of the regal period. Abraham's kinsfolk (Gen. xxii. 20-24) are personifications of tribes, and his predecessors and successors, from Noah to Jacob, are mythical or legendary. What is to be said of the much debated fourteenth chapter? First, it must be divided into two parts: the history of the Elamite invasion, and Abraham's connection with it. The first part may be historical, but it no more follows that the second part is historical than the reality of the miraculous rôle assigned to Moses follows from the reality of the Exodus. On the contrary, the mention of Salem and of tithes points to a postexilian origin for the paragraph. The invasion may be historical— (Chedorlaomer) and (Arioch) are Elamite, and a march from Babylonia to Canaan is conceivable—but no mention of it has been found in inscriptions, and it is not easy to reconcile it with known facts. If (Amraphel) be Hammurabi, Abraham's date is about 2300 B.C.
The biography of Abraham in Genesis is probably to be regarded as legendary; it has grown up around sacred places, ideas, and institutions. Yet there can be little doubt that the name involves some historical fact, and that this fact has to do with tribal migration: the name, though personal, not tribal, may represent a migration. By reason of the paucity of information the whole question is obscure, and any conclusions must be largely conjectural.
The text represents Abraham as coming to Canaan from the Tigris-Euphrates valley. A migration of Hebrew ancestors from that region is not necessary for the explanation of what we know of Hebrew history. But weight must be attached to the wellformed and persistent tradition, and a migration ofthis sort, as the Tell-el-Amarna inscriptions indicate, must be regarded as possible. If a motive for the movement be sought, it may be found in the wars which were constantly going on between the thickly settled and feebly organized inhabitants of the valley between the rivers. Distinct indications of an Abrahamic migration from Babylonia are found by some scholars in the similarity between Babylonian and Hebrew institutions (as the Sabbath) and myths (Creation, Flood, etc.); by others this similarity is referred to Canaanite intermediation, or to later borrowing from Assyria or Babylonia.
The supposed relation of the names "Sin" (the wilderness) and "Sinai" (the mountain, and a Canaanite tribe) to the Babylonian moon-god, Sin, is doubtful. The migrating tribes would speak Babylonian or Aramaic, but would speedily become absorbed in their new surroundings and adopt the language of the region. If such a body settled in northern Arabia, this might account for the connection of Abraham with Hagar and Keturah. The Hebrew tribes proper, coming to dwell in that region, may have found his name as that of a local hero, and may gradually have adopted it. But of the condition of things in Canaan from 2300 to 2000 B.C. nothing is known, and between Abraham and Moses there is almost an absolute blank in the history.
Tomkins, Studies on the Time of Abraham, 2d ed., 1897;
W. J. Deane, Abraham: His Life and Times, New York ("Men of the Bible Series");
Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, i. passim;
Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, passim;
Hommel, Ancient Hebr. Tradition, v.


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Many of the thousand of Vietnamese who fled form their homes at the end of the war there, have been in the United States for more than four months now.
GVS refugee tents and refugees (2 shots).
CU children playing in camp.
GVS children playing with ball and small child flying kite and children on swings (4 shots).
SV Nyen-van-ly teaching children karate.
SVS Nguyen-van-luc exhibiting paintings for sale (4 shots).
SCU Nguyen-van-luc speaking to reporters. SPEECH IN: "I take my family.....and my ship left Vietnam."SPEECH OUT.
GV and CU children playing.
Background: Many of the thousand of Vietnamese who fled form their homes at the end of the war there, have been in the United States for more than four months now.
American military bases have become home for a large number of them, but those at Camp Pendleton, California, are about to move on again. As the authorities find an increasing number of homes for the adult refugees and families for the children, the number of military camps catering for the refugees is reduced, Some of the Camp Pendleton refugees will go to Fort Chaffey in Arkansas, others will go to sponsorship organisations in the United States or Canada.
The Vietnamese at Camp Pendleton have already picked up American habits. They wear American clothes and play American games like volley ball and kite flying, but several of the adults are intent only on earning money to return to Vietnam and get the rest of their families out.
The film has a commentary by TVN reporter Bill Reed. There is also a short interview with Vietnamese artist Nguyen-van-luc. A full transcript of both appears overleaf.


text:
Poet will read at the Town Hall and launch Poems for Patience, all as part of the Cúirt festival
BY KEVIN HIGGINS Galway Advertiser, Thu, Apr 11, 2019
Ailbhe Darcy.
AILBHE DARCY grew up in Dublin, graduated with a PhD from the University of Notre Dame, and now teaches creative writing at Cardiff University. I first became aware of her almost 20 years ago when she submitted a poem, 'Gavrilo Princip', to The Burning Bush, of which I was a co-editor.
The poem juxtaposed the fact Darcy herself was doing the Leaving Cert at that time, with the reality that, when he was around or about the same age, Princip was busy with the altogether riskier - and even more stressful - enterprise of killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an event which set the balls rolling quickly towards WWI.
There was a note of half-suppressed admiration for Princip in that early poem of Darcy's. I was hugely impressed at this teenage poet's ability to reach out of her own immediate experience and draw such a parallel. Remember, these were the days when history was meant to be over and politics had been emptied of content. It was fashionable then for your common-or-garden literary upstart to hug the occasional tree and feel disproportionately sad about the death of Princess Diana, but to know nothing about politics, history, or economics; indeed the less you knew the easier life was likely to be. In this barren context Darcy's quietly knowledgeable, and mildly subversive, poem stood out hugely.
In her second full collection of poems, Insistence, published by UK based Bloodaxe last year and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize, it is clear that, though Darcy's poetic voice has matured greatly in the intervening two decades, she still has at least one eye on the apocalypse, which is far more obviously at hand than was the case back in the very early years of this century.
In her outstanding and formally audacious 20 page long poem 'Alphabet', the hope brought by her becoming a mother does battle with dark thoughts about the state of planet Earth: "We are not doomed yet//juggle the numbers//some of us are doomed/but not the 3 of us//or not the three of us/just yet//or maybe 1 of us,/the smallest,//the 1 of us/still learning/numbers,//who doesn't know/what 2 of us/are keeping to ourselves."
In this minor masterpiece of a poem, in which she makes repeated mantra-like use of the word "insists", Darcy brilliantly melts the fake wall between the personal and the political, and there are moments of great tenderness infused with undeniable political implications: "kin insists, kin insists;/your pink cheek tucked up/with mine, not thinking/of solitude or extinction/of the whale in your book".
Ailbhe Darcy is a necessary voice for this wild and crazy age, and she is probably the best Irish poet of her immediate generation.
Ailbhe Darcy will launch Poems for Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature tomorrow at 11am at University Hospital Galway, and will read, alongside Mark Granier and Jessica Traynor, at the Town Hall Theatre, on Saturday at 11am. See www.cuirt.ie
European people Darcy Ailbe of Emly princess Dublin Cardiff University poet University of Notre Dame Franz Ferdinand Bush Diana co-editor Ailbhe Darcy Ailbhe Smyth Ailbhe of Ceann Mhara teenage poet Gavrilo Princip
Two novelists in conversation
A evening of poetry and prose
4th Spring Garden, Food and Craft Fair at Claregalway Castle - Here is all you need to know!
Hollaback: Nothing but Noughties @ DNA Live
Feel the beat of the Street with Macnas Young Ensemble this St Patrick's Day
ROPES to get Cúirt launch next month
Create a comic book with Red Bird and Barry Keegan
Charlie Adley's 'Craft of Writing' course
TINY TRADERS VILLAGE TO RE LAUNCH IN NUN'S ISLAND


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text:
In vertebrates Cdk1 must initiate mitosis; nevertheless, any functionality of the
In vertebrates Cdk1 must initiate mitosis; nevertheless, any functionality of the kinase during S stage continues to be unclear. of Cdk1 causes fast activation of endoreplication, based on proteolysis from the licensing inhibitor Geminin. This research demonstrates essential features of Cdk1 in the control of S stage, and exemplifies a chemical substance genetics method of focus on cyclin-dependent kinases in vertebrate cells. Intro Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) and their regulatory cyclin subunits play an essential part in cell routine control (Hunt and Murray, 1993). In budding and fission candida, an individual Cdk, destined to different models of cyclins, initiates DNA synthesis and centrosome duplication, suppresses re-replication of currently duplicated DNA, and causes admittance into mitosis once replication can be full (Nasmyth, 1993; Stern and Nurse, 1996). Higher eukaryotes possess evolved several specific Cdks, each which can be active inside a different stage from the cell routine (Malumbres, 2005). Cdk1 as well as cyclin A and B forms the maturation- advertising element, and is necessary for admittance into mitosis. Cdk2 destined to cyclin E and A was regarded as needed for initiation and conclusion of DNA replication, as well as the control of centrosome duplication, until many groups discovered that mice missing Cdk2 develop normally (Berthet et al., 2003; Ortega et al., 2003). This increases the question which Cdk settings the initiation and conclusion of S stage in the lack of Cdk2. Although Cdk1 can be an obvious candidate because of this redundant S stage Cdk, as Aleem et al. (2005) suggested, an important function for vertebrate Cdk1 during G1 and S stage is not 1300031-49-5 directly demonstrated. Actually, Cdk4 in addition has been implicated lately like a support kinase for Cdk2 in G1 stage (Berthet et al., 2006). Therefore, we have no idea to what degree different Cdks overlap in the initiation of S stage in vertebrate cells. As well as the initiation of replication, the inhibition of endoreplication can be Rabbit Polyclonal to GCHFR another important S stage function of candida Cdk1, which means that each replication source fires only one time per cell routine by inhibiting the untimely set up of pre-replication complexes 1300031-49-5 (pre-RCs) (Diffley, 2004). In the leave from mitosis, Cdk1 activity can be shut down from the anaphase advertising complex, also called cyclosome (APC/C), which sets off cyclin devastation (Zachariae et al., 1998). This inactivation of Cdk1 by cyclin proteolysis appears enough for the re-licensing of roots within the next G1 stage (Noton and Diffley, 2000). This notion is normally supported with the observation that artificial inactivation and reactivation of fungus Cdk1 are enough to reset the cell routine and induce endoreplication (Hayles et al., 1994). Many research also implicate Cdk1 in the inhibition of endoreplication in flies and individual cells (Hayashi, 1996; Itzhaki et al., 1997; Coverley et al., 1998). Nevertheless, higher eukaryotes, however, not fungus, contain yet another licensing inhibitor, Geminin, which binds to and inactivates the pre-RC set up aspect Cdt1 (McGarry and Kirschner, 1998; Wohlschlegel et al., 2000; Tada et al., 2001). Furthermore Cdk-dependent and -unbiased proteolysis pathways control the stability from the licensing aspect, Cdt1 during S stage (Arias and Walter, 2007). It continues to be elusive how Geminin, Cdk1 activity, and proteolysis of Cdt1 are 1300031-49-5 coordinated to suppress endoreplication in individual cells. The next two questions occur about the contribution of Cdk1 towards the control of S stage: Is normally Cdk1 mixed up in initiation of DNA replication and centrosome duplication? Is normally Cdk1 inhibition enough to induce endoreplication in vertebrate cells, regardless of the existence of Geminin? These queries never have been sufficiently attended to, owing to the issue to specifically, quickly, and successfully inactivate Cdk1. Actually, a conditional deletion from the Cdk1 promotor within a individual cell line continues to be achieved, however the degrees of the kinase drop just very gradually and incompletely (Itzhaki et al., 1997). A mouse cell range (Feet210) that posesses temperature-sensitive mutation in addition has been isolated, but this cell range appears to preserve about 25% kinase activity in the restrictive temp (Th'ng et al., 1990). A number of chemical substance inhibitors of Cdk1, such as for example Roscovitine and Olomoucine, have already been utilized to explore Cdk1 function (Fischer et al., 2003; Vassilev et al., 2006). Nevertheless, these inhibitors will probably affect additional kinases within and perhaps beyond the Cdk family members. To improve the specificity of chemical substance inhibition, Shokat and coworkers lately developed a chemical substance genetics method of sensitize kinases to cumbersome ATP analogs by mutating a conserved cumbersome residue in the energetic site (Bishop et al., 2001; 1300031-49-5 Shokat and Velleca, 2002). This plan has been effectively put on Cdk1 and additional kinases in candida (Bishop et al., 2000), and an identical approach continues to be.
Tags 1300031-49-5, Rabbit Polyclonal to GCHFR
← Background We've previously demonstrated that PDGF receptor activation indirectly inhibits N-methyl-D-aspartate → Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Symptoms (HGPS) is definitely a uncommon premature ageing disorder