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Yea, Lord, Help Thou My Unbelief
There are three parts to this post about the people who surrounded Jesus Christ at the time of His Birth. Believers and Unbelievers. Doubters. Angry Mobs. The faithful in the face of persecution and hardship.
Part One. Unbelievers. Matthew 1 and Luke 1, describe the climate into which Jesus was born. He, of course, was born into Judaism. Vast reformations had already taken place in that the Jews no longer believed the Doctrine of Christ-that is that the Son of God would be born into mortality to a woman-incarnate.
There was (and is) a messianic expectation among the Jews but it varied from group to group. Some considered the Messiah to be a purely natural in-history political leader (albeit more powerful than the Romans), some considered the Messiah to be super-natural/super-angelic, some considered him to be an after-history universal King/Son of God, etc.--and some did not expect one at all. (Wikipedia)
The popular belief of Jewish Leaders was of a political King who would deliver them from bondage from Rome. "The Messiah will be a great political leader descended by a pure male line from King David (Jeremiah 23,5). The mashiach (Messiah) is often referred to as "mashiach ben David" (The Mashiach, son of David). He will be well-versed in Jewish law, and observant of its commandments (Isaiah 11,2-5). He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to follow his example. He will be a great military figure who will win battles for Israel, freeing the Jews of foreign domination and establishing a Torah-based kingdom in Israel. He will be a great judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33,15). But above all, he will be a fully normal human being, not a god, demi-god, or other supernatural being."
"First-century Jews believed that "before the time of the Messiah there will be war and great suffering (Ezekiel 38,16). Then the Messiah will bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people by bringing all Jews outside Israel back to Israel, and restoring Jerusalem (Isaiah 11,11-12; Jeremiah 23,8; 30,3; Hosea 3,4-5). He will establish a Torah government in Israel that will be the center of all world government, both for Jews and Gentiles (Isaiah 2,2-4; 11,10; 42,1). He will rebuild the Temple and re-establish its worship (Jeremiah 33,18). He will restore the religious court system of Israel, if it had not already been reestablished before him, and establish the Torah as the law of the land (Jeremiah 33,15)." In this view of the Messiah (the Anointed One), Jesus Christ did not fulfill the criteria.
Jews still pray that the Messiah will come. "Belief in the eventual coming of the Messiah is a basic and fundamental part of traditional Judaism today. It is part of Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith, the minimum requirements of Jewish belief, commonly recited daily. In the Shemoneh Esrei prayer (perhaps the most important prayer recited in the Synagogue--recited three times daily,) we pray for all of the elements of the coming of the mashiach: 1) ingathering of the exiles, 2) restoration of the Torah-based system of justice, 3) an end to the apostates and heretics, reward for the righteous, rebuilding of Jerusalem, restoration of the kingdom of the descendants of King David, and restoration of Temple service." found at Mashiach: The Messiah
Although this idea of militant Messiah was widespread at the time of Christ's birth, there were sects of Jews who still believed in a Messiah Incarnate. The people--Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, John the Baptist, for example-- surrounding Jesus obviously believed.
Part 2. Unbelievers and Doubters. It has been written that "the Jews were looking for a redeemer quite different from the Christ. It was a temporal salvation that they desired. It was an earthly kingdom for which they longed. It was not faith, repentance, and baptism for which they sought, but national vindication, the destruction of gentile oppressors, and the establishment of a kingdom of peace and justice." (Joseph McConkie, "Messianic Expectations among the Jews," A Symposium on the New Testament, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980, p. 128.)
"Confusion about how the word messiah applied to Jesus stems from the fact that the term is derived from Mashiyach, a Hebrew word meaning "anointed." Those consecrated to God in ancient Israel—high priests (see Lev. 4:3), kings (see 1 Sam. 2:4), and prophets (see 1 Kgs. 19:16)—were anointed by having olive oil poured over them. They were thus considered 'messiahs.'"
"The mission of these anointed servants was clear, but during the six centuries preceding the birth of Jesus, there was a general confusion about the mission of a Savior Messiah. Other specially anointed servants had been mortal men anointed to serve God. Many assumed the Savior Messiah would be the same. In fact, at times, different groups of Jews expected many different Messiahs: a Messiah ben Joseph, a descendant of Ephraim; a Messiah ben Levi, a descendant of Aaron; and a Messiah ben David, a descendant of Judah. Thus, when Christ was born, the Jews weren't necessarily expecting a single Messiah with the specific mission of spiritual redemption." 2 Ensign, April 1991 Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Irvine (California) LDS Institute Director.
"Messianism "denotes a movement, or a system of beliefs and ideas, centered on the expectation of the advent of a messiah. Orthodox views held that the Messiah will be descended from his father through the line of King David, and will gather the Jews back into the Land of Israel, usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple, and so on." 1 R. J. Zwi Werblowsky (1987), Messianism: Jewish Messianism, Encyclopedia of Religion
Jesus's failure to establish an independent Israel and his death at the hands of the Romans caused many Jews to reject Him as the Messiah. But reasons for rejection went much deeper than that.
Also, the Jews didn't believe in a Jesus incarnate. To them, this was blasphemy and idolatry. This was the reason the Jewish leaders gave to justify His crucifixion. Man couldn't be God. A belief in the divinity of Jesus is incompatible with Judaism: "The point is this: that the whole Christology of the Church - the whole complex of doctrines about the Son of God who died on the Cross to save humanity from sin and death - is incompatible with Judaism, and indeed in discontinuity with the Hebraism that preceded it." 3 Rayner, John D. A Jewish Understanding of the World, Berghahn Books, 1998, p. 187. ISBN 1-57181-974-6
"Crucial teachings that could have cleared up this confusion appear to have been lost to the Jews of Christ's time. Even today—among Christians themselves—there are differences of opinion as to Christ's true parentage and mission. Although these teachings are discussed somewhat in the New Testament, only through reading the Book of Mormon and Latter-day scripture can we fully comprehend the nature and mission of the Messiah."
"The Book of Mormon clarifies Jesus' Messiahship in several ways. It gives inspired commentary, restores important Messianic scriptures, and provides a context for other Old Testament Messianic prophecies." An example is Lehi: "It may have been that Lehi, like his contemporaries, understood the mission of the Savior Messiah only in the context of traditional Jewish teachings. But after reading an unknown book shown to him by an angel, he learned the true nature of the Savior Messiah and his mission, since the book 'manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah.' (1 Ne. 1:19.)...Perhaps the Jews sought Lehi's life for the same reason as the Savior's when he taught them "plainly of the coming of a Messiah" ibid2
Finally, the Law of Moses itself became a stumbling block to acceptance of Jesus Christ as Messiah. "Among the Jews of Jesus' day, esteem for the Law was so great that some even refused to accept anything but the five books of Moses as scripture.... Thus, the Law of Moses was no longer perceived in Jesus' day as an expression of God's will; rather, for Jews, the Law of Moses had gradually become identified as the divine will itself—perfect, absolute, forever unchanging and unchangeable. The Law was thought of as the will of God exactly, precisely expressed; therefore, any deviation at all from the letter of the Law of Moses was also deviation from God. There was no room for flexibility or "extenuating circumstances." 5 The Law After Christ, Stephen E. Robinson
Jesus himself was an observant Jew: he loved and honored the law of Moses and sought to keep the statutes and ordinances associated with it. He taught that he was "not come to destroy, but to fulfill" the law. (Matt. 5:17.) Joseph Smith said that "Christ Himself fulfilled all righteousness in becoming obedient to the law which he had given to Moses on the mount, and thereby magnified it and made it honorable, instead of destroying it." (History of the Church, 5:261.) "Then certain of them came to him, saying, Good Master, we have Moses and the prophets, and whosoever shall live by them, shall he not have life . "And Jesus answered, saying, Ye know not Moses, neither the prophets; for if ye had known them, ye would have believed on me; for to this intent they were written. For I am sent that ye might have life. Therefore I will liken it unto salt which is good; But if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; men cast it out." (JST, Luke 14:35–38.)
Jesus taught that the Jews had rejected the law and the prophets. JST Luke 16:20 And why teach ye the law, and deny that which is written; and condemn him whom the Father hath sent to fulfill the law, that ye might all be redeemed? 21 O fools! for you have said in your hearts, There is no God. And you pervert the right way; and the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence of you; and you persecute the meek; and in your violence you seek to destroy the kingdom; and ye take the children of the kingdom by force. Woe unto you, ye adulterers!
The Jews of the New Testament time denied their salvation when they denied both established and continuing scripture: "Woe unto you, lawyers! For ye have taken away the key of knowledge, the fulness of the scriptures; ye enter not in yourselves into the kingdom; and those who were entering in, ye hindered." (JST, Luke 11:53.)
E. R. Goodenough, a scholar in the history of religion, spoke of...Judaism and identified what he called the "horizontal" and "vertical" paths to holiness. The Pharisees had trod a horizontal path, but others had looked to a vertical path: "Man walked through this life along the road God had put before him, a road which was itself the light and law of God, and God above rewarded him for doing so. Man was concerned with proper observances to show respect to God, and with proper attitudes and acts toward his fellow men. … This seems … [to be the essence of] rabbinic or Talmudic or Pharisaic Judaism (horizontal)…Goodenough proposed that Judaism experienced a "tension between the two basic types of religious experience everywhere, the religion of the vertical path by which man climbs to God and even to a share in divine nature, as over against the legal religion where man walks a horizontal path through this world according to God's instructions." (Jewish Symbols, 1:19–20.) In the end, rabbinic or Pharisaic Judaism won out, and the vertical path to God within Judaism was suppressed and forgotten."
(6 Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, New York: Pantheon Books, 1953, 1:18–19.)
Part 3. Believers and a doubter. Jesus's birth was heralded by angelic testimony to the shepherds; and the wise men, Simeon and Anna, Elizabeth and Zacharias, and Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men. knew who he was from his infancy. So why did Elisabeth and Zacharias, Mary and Joseph, Simeon, and Anna and John the Baptist (and ultimately, thousands of converts) believe? why do we believe?
Elisabeth and Zacharias. They're descended from Aaron, the priestly caste. "When Zacharias goes into the temple to offer incense, he is entering the Sanctuary. According to the Mishnah, which is a compilation of Jewish laws dating from the era before A.D. 200, a priest is allowed only once during his lifetime to light the incense. This lighting takes place twice a day at the temple, once in the morning and once about three o'clock in the afternoon in connection with the offering of the morning and evening sacrifices and the times of prayer (1 Chronicles 16:40; Acts 3:1). Because of the large number of priests, a person is selected by the casting of lots. Hence, This occasion is the most important in Zacharias's long years of service at the temple." (7 Based on The Testimony of Luke by S. Kent Brown, an e-volume in the BYU New Testament Commentary Series)
An angel appears to Zacharias. He is told three things. 1) "Thy prayer is heard". Many say that he was praying for a child, but because of the ages of Elisabeth and Zacharias, they probably weren't currently praying for a child. (Maybe it's referring to an old prayer to have a child?) "Rather, the prayer is one for the redemption of Israel that Zacharias offers in his priestly role as a matter of private but set worship. Hence, the angel is promising the fulfillment of his prayer for Israel's redemption". 2) The promise that Elisabeth is going to have a son. We know what happened to Zacharias because of his disbelief of this particular promise! 3) He learns that this child "shall be great in the sight of the Lord." Further, "many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God." And, amazingly, "he shall go before [the promised Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:15–17).
We don't know how Zacharias may have transmitted what the angel's message was to Elisabeth since he was struck dumb, and later deaf but we know that he did. Elisabeth is aware that the name of her newborn son would be John (see Luke 1:59-60). About Elisabeth we read Luke 1: 24 "And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, 25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men." She is filled with faith despite her long reproach (of not having a child). She sees His hand in her life.
What we do know is that the promises of God are fulfilled in the life of Elisabeth and Zacharias. And thus, he knows that his son, John, will prepare the way of Jesus Christ.
"That efforts to intensify spirituality have been ongoing becomes evident when the youthful Mary arrives at the home of her older cousin Elisabeth. The eye of God, of course, has been watching over both women for some time. More than this, Elisabeth's endeavors to make herself worthy of the coming miraculous birth, coupled with Zacharias's activities, have turned their home into a spiritual powerhouse. At the moment Mary, now carrying the Son of God, "entered into the house of Zacharias, and . . . Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, [Elisabeth's] babe leaped in her womb," filling Elisabeth "with the Holy Ghost" (Luke 1:40–41). It was like a spiritual thunderclap in that home. In that instant, Elisabeth "spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou [Mary] among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." No human has told Elisabeth that her youthful cousin is pregnant. But she knows. She thereby becomes the first witness of the Virgin Birth. To Mary she says prophetically, "There shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord" (Luke 1:42, 45)." (8 ibid 7) Angel, Obedience, Faithfulness, Holy Ghost.
John the Baptist. "Isaiah spoke of John's mission hundreds of years before the time, as also did Malachi. John's activities were made known to Lehi and Nephi by vision centuries before his birth, and they spoke of it and said that he would prepare the way before and even baptize the Messiah. Jesus eulogized John, calling him "a burning and a shining light," and said that among those born of woman, there was not a greater prophet." (Robert J. Matthews, Ensign, Sept. 1972) He was born to Elisabeth and Zacharias who undoubtedly told and retold the story and the prophecies surrounding his birth.
John 1:19 ¶ "And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." John knew who exactly he was and that Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah. Obedience, Holy Ghost
Mary and Joseph. "Because the angel says "Fear not" to Mary, an expression also spoken to Zacharias and the shepherds (Luke 1:13, 30; 2:10), thus tying these experiences together, it is apparent that she does not expect to see a stranger where she sees him...she hears the surprising words adorned with respect, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:28). It is important to establish that God does not choose Mary at random, letting his choice fall on her in some incidental gracious act. No. She is known to the heavenly world centuries before this moment as Nephi's vision of her attests (1 Nephi 11:13–23)." (4 Based on The Testimony of Luke by S. Kent Brown, an e-volume in the BYU New Testament Commentary Series.)
Mary's reception of the angel's visit tells us who she was. She is so young and yet she has a great presence of mind. First she asks, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34). Then her final words to the angel, are "be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38) are highly indicative and expressive of her character.
Mary visits Elisabeth, most likely in response to the angel's words telling her that Elisabeth is pregnant. Elisabeth testifies to Mary of the identity of the child in her womb. "The trip back to Nazareth must have been emotionally taxing for Mary. After all, we have no indication that she shares the news about the angel with her family before she visits Elisabeth. On the basis of Matthew's note, "she was found with child" (Matthew 1:18), it appears that only when she becomes visibly pregnant does she confide in Joseph. His reaction? Obviously, he does not believe her story about the angel which she must have told him to explain her condition. His parents' reaction? We do not know. Nor do we learn the response of Mary's parents. Joseph's family, naturally, has every right to demand that the betrothal be undone. This is the direction Joseph goes. Fortunately, as an honorable person, he is "not willing to make her a publick example" (Matthew 1:19). He steers Mary away from severe punishment. Then God reaches out to this good young man through His angel.." (Ibid 2) Matthew 1: 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
We don't know what their life looked like from that point but Mary and Joseph wed and are on their way to Bethlehem. She is his espoused wife. They know who they are and who Jesus is. Angels and obedience.
The Shepherds. Luke 2: 8 "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth bpeace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.16 And they came with ahaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child." Angels and obedience.
Simeon: Luke 2:25 "And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Holy Ghost, Obedience
Anna. Luke 2:36 "And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem."
"Anna faithfully stood in holy places. She had lived a long life of service to God, and as she searched for the face of the promised Messiah, she beheld the infant Jesus in the temple. Faith carried Anna through her hardships in life, just as it can carry us and inspire us to seek the Lord....Luke calls Anna a "prophetess," a title reserved for only a few women in the scriptures. A prophetess is a woman who possesses the spiritual gift of prophecy and bears testimony of Jesus Christ. Anna exemplifies this title because after seeing the baby Jesus in the temple, she "spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38). She could not keep the joy of her discovery or her knowledge of Jesus Christ to herself; she prophesied of Him to anyone who would listen. (6 Heather Farrell, Ensign Feb 2019). Faithfulness, Service, Holy Ghost.
You and Me. Compiling the methods through which the people surrounding Jesus, especially at the time of His birth we see:
Angels. Seminal events always seem to include angels. The birth of the Savior, comforting Jesus in Gethsemane, the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Priesthood, the Book of Mormon to name a few. Personally, my only angels are the people in my life!
Holy Ghost. The testimony of Jesus Christ, by the Holy Ghost was key to these people. It's foundational for each of us, as well.
Obedience. In every case here, these people were obedient and faithful to God. To liken them to us, obedience seems to be key to knowing that Jesus is the Messiah, Savior of our souls. They were willing to go through affliction and continue faithful. Are we?
They helped each other. Think of Zacharias and Elisabeth. Elisabeth and Mary. Mary and Joseph. The shepherds certainly were in the habit of backing each other up in the fields. The scriptures indicate that they ALL worshipped God when they went to visit the Newborn King.
May we all be faithful in our journeys to live in Christ!


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W&C advises Arrangers on ICG´s €975m financing
White & Case LLP has advised the Arrangers on Intermediate Capital Group´s financing of the combination of Konecta and Comdata, with a €975 million credit facility
From left to right, starting from the top: Fernando Navarro, Alfonso García Freire, Rafael Mínguez and Guillermo Manzanares
The financing consisted of a €975 million credit facility, comprised of a Term Loan B facility, a Term Loan A facility and a Revolving Credit Facility.
As already announced by Legal Dealmaker on April 7, the combination of Konecta and Comdata will create one of the largest providers of customer experience business process outsourcing solutions globally, and the newly formed group will be headquartered in Spain, a deal with the advice of Allen & Overy (ICG) and Uría Menéndez (Konecta).
Konecta, the Spanish multinational technology company providing Costumer Experience solutions, reached an agreement with the Italian firm Comdata to create the sixth-largest group in the sector globally. With this union, the new firm will reach almost €2 billion in turnover and €300 million in Ebitda. The alliance of the companies creates a world-leading operator with a broad global presence and 'best shoring' capacity to provide services in more than 30 languages, to global, regional and local clients.
The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was led by partners Raphaël Richard, Neeloferr Roy and Roman Picherack (all Paris) and included partner Fernando Navarro (Madrid) and associates Charles Connesson, Matthieu Tugler (both Paris), Alfonso García Freire, Rafael Mínguez and Guillermo Manzanares (all Madrid).
White & Case
W&C, Latham advise on the financing for Lyntia Networks acquisition
W&C steers Eurazeo´s £355m investment in BMS
W&C promotes local partner and counsel in Madrid

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Voyager Customers May Not Get All Their Crypto Back, Company Admits
Por Connor Sephton
The amount that affected customers receive back hinges upon Voyager Digital's success in recouping more than $650 million from Three Arrows Capital, which defaulted on loans.
Voyager Digital has admitted that its customers may not receive all of their cryptocurrency deposits back.
In a new update, the company warned "exact numbers will depend on what happens in the restructuring process."
Last week, Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "to create an efficient path to resume account access and return value to customers."
While it has $1.3 billion in cryptoassets on the books, the firm claims it's owed more than $650 million by Three Arrows Capital, which defaulted on loans.
Voyager's now warned that its ability to make customers whole will hinge upon its success in recovering assets from 3AC.
Executives also say they're working on restoring access to USD deposits, and the announcement suggests those who had cash tied up in Voyager will end up receiving their money back in full.
The firm did offer a clarification on the issue of whether these funds are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Customers would only benefit from FDIC if the bank where their funds are held went under — meaning there's no insurance if Voyager fails.
All of this has instilled little comfort in Voyager's customers — especially a plan to compensate them with the platform's tokens, as well as shares in a newly reorganized company. One wrote:
"What I want is my crypto! I don't want something you believe is best for the customers! We trusted you and you failed us. Why do we have to suffer any longer? Doesn't do much to instill trust in crypto."
Another warned that Voyager is providing little incentive when it comes to customer retention, adding:
"Loyalty has been destroyed. Once you turn back on, almost everyone will pull all their assets like a 'bank run' and you will not be a viable exchange any more. Trust gone!"
Others cautioned that Voyager's plan could be susceptible to change because it'll need to be approved by a court, as well as creditors and account holders:
"Chapter 11 bankruptcy is often unsuccessful … The plan you see today could change a lot in the coming months (better or worse.)"
Trading, deposits, withdrawals and loyalty rewards remain suspended on Voyager — following in the footsteps of Celsius Network, which pulled the plug four weeks ago.
Por Leo Jakobson


One of the things I like about London is the museums and art galleries, and cafes, and the exhibitions it hosts, and especially the Festival of Mind, Body and Spirit. So many stands, and so many wise and wonderful people, and not a wrinkle in sight (on many of the exhibitors). I have a confession: I avoid those who have 'answers' and yet have no wrinkles and scars. It's just me, perhaps, but I wonder what they have in common with me. I mean, their life is so blessed and worry-free?
When I'm staying in London there are a number of churches (and I'm not anti-church, as they are great institutions) that are nearby. But, I find it difficult to join in with many of them, as they all seem to have problem-free lives, and that bears little resemblance to my life at the moment.
Ah, when I was younger, I used to love reading those Superman comics (and I even had a deal with the local shop: if I bought three comics, read them and returned them in mint condition, then I could have a fourth one, free of charge!). Supeman, then was 'immune' to any kind of injury and you always knew he would triumph. And, even at that young age I realised that he had little in common with me.
Here is my confession, yes, another confession in just the space of a moment or two: I am not immune to the 'storms' of life. In my relatively short life I have been a single-parent family and am immensely proud of my two sons, have been a cancer patient and subsequent survivor by the grace of God (working through the wonderful NHS in the UK), a thyroid patient, had a year-long dreadful reaction to precscribed medicine and got through it, fell down and cracked two ribs a couple of years ago and healed, and now I'm facing a 'storm' over the administration of my late-Dad's house, when it could have gone so well but for 'forces' beyond my control. It is tough going, and there are no easy answers.
It's for that reason that I like stands at the Festival of Mind, Body and Spirit with 'real' people on them, people with wrinkles or scars, or a 'tough' life-story to tell. I love genuine people. People, who like me, have and are facing life-storms. I like churches where I know the people admit their flaws and still have hope. Authentic people. Wonderful. And I like that story, where the Source of All, who was perfect, took on the shell of humanity and even though perfect died a messy death (and overcame it, demonstrably). Life, seemingly snuffed out, comes back more 'alive' than before. Love wins.
It has been said our response to challenges and negativty can go one of two ways: make us better or bitter. In my current stortm – and I cannot tell you how excruciatingly emotional and draining it is – I am choosing to use the painful experience to be better. This 'storm' is temporary. It won't last. It will not bring me down to respond negatvily. I choose to learn from it. And, it is teaching me that I am surrounded by a myriad of supportive family and friends, and that is an amazing comfort.
Perception is important. I might look at the 'externals' only, and I see painful events. But, I know I need to read what I have written here previously, and look deeper. For then, whether I can see it or not, or experience it or not, I know that things are not what they seem, and good is coming out of this. Love prevails.
'Storm Caroline will last approximately 48 hours and move eastward'. Radio broadcast.
If you're going through a 'storm' now, I wish I could wave a magic wand and rectify things. But, I am with you dear bother/sister for this journey albeit rough right now, and though we might weep now, we will laugh together tomorrow and through eternity. And, we have the Companion with us. Something now, somehow, is being wrought out of the present 'storm'.
Meanwhile, there are no easy answers. Perhaps, there aren't meant to be any easy answers, but that we are changed for the better (whether we know it or not) in the process, and there will be a time (perhaps in the next realm) where it will all make sense. Love prevails.
This is one of several poems inspired by my pilgrimage to those wonderfully 'thin places' of the Isle Of Iona (also known as the Isle Of Druids) and the Isle Of Skye – rugged and awesome islands off the west coast of Scotland.
This poem is based on thoughts, feelings and an encounter at the Machair. The Machair is a Scottish/Gaelic word for 'fertile beach', and is pronounced 'makkah'. It is a delightful, part sand-part grassy coastal area on the Isle of Iona with a unique eco-system, and is a windswept and wild, liminal place, a place of myth and magic, indeed. Things happen here. Visit, and you will not be unchanged.
The weather changes and the blue sea turns white.
to where I am standing, and the wind blows a gale.
The tide recedes as a mighty storm approaches.
speaking words of peace, and love, and hope.
and a cacophony of sound fills the air.
For a moment I hear murmurs in the wind.
Could it be the sound of martyrs and monks of yesteryear?
Could it be angel-sound, or the gleeful chattering of the fae?
Perhaps it's the words of Druids of a bygone age?
and yet the rocks are unmoved, unchanged.
Gulls squawk in the distance, but have moved inland.
The wind blows a mournful sigh.
A howling that increases and decreases in volume and pitch.
I am alone with the Alone. I listen.
words of peace, and love, and hope?
Doesn't Wisdom cry out to all who listen to her?
I listen but shrill sounds fill my mind.
I yearn for that age of myth and magic.
something calls to me to stop and look.
ah yes, the tide is turning'.


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text:
City recoups funds in alleged public corruption case
Dominic Fracassa Nov. 5, 2019 Updated: Nov. 5, 2019 6:22 p.m.
City attorney Dennis Herrera talks during an editorial board meeting at the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019 in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
San Francisco officials have settled a lawsuit that will net the city more than $850,000, ending an alleged public corruption case in which a former health department worker was accused of steering a lucrative contract to her former husband's cybersecurity company.
The Board of Supervisors approved settlement agreements Tuesday with Fidelis Cybersecurity and Maarek Zalatimo, a former sales director for the firm.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued them last year, along with Zalatimo's former wife, Heather Zalatimo — who used to work at the Department of Public Health. Herrera also sued her supervisor, Jeff Jorgenson, the former IT chief operating officer for the department.
Both Heather Zalatimo and Jorgenson lost their jobs and are barred from working for the city again.
Herrera's lawsuit claimed that Jorgenson and the Zalatimos conspired to ensure that Fidelis was awarded a $1.2 million health department contract in 2016 for cybersecurity software.
Heather Zalatimo allegedly worked for months within the department to steer the contract toward her former husband's company, where he was set to receive a commission from the sale on top of his base salary. Jorgenson signed off on the purchase knowing about the couple's relationship, Herrera claimed.
San Francisco Insider
By Dominic Fracassa
Laguna Honda Hospital scandal details shared
Public defender scrubs ethics commissioner endorsement
By Trisha Thadani
Yet another SF home for mentally ill set to close
The Zalatimos filed for divorce in 2016 in Contra Costa Superior Court. Both Heather Zalatimo and Jorgenson cooperated with the city attorney's office in connection with their settlements.
Under the settlements, Fidelis must pay back the city just over $795,000 and Maarek Zalatimo must return more than $55,000, roughly the sum he received as a commission for his role in the deal. Heather Zalatimo has to pay $5,000.
None of the defendants in the case had to admit wrongdoing as a part of their respective settlement agreements.
"We're pleased this proposed settlement recoups the vast majority of taxpayer funds without the need for further litigation," said John Coté, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. "This outcome also ensures that none of the individuals involved profited from ill-gotten gains."
— Dominic Fracassa
Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com
Dominic Fracassa
Follow Dominic on:
https://www.facebook.com/SFChronicle/DominicFracassa
Dominic Fracassa covers San Francisco City Hall for The Chronicle. He previously worked as a reporter and editor for the Daily Journal, a legal affairs newspaper. He started in news in his home state of Michigan, where he worked as a news director of 103.9 WLEN.
Longtime local political aide to run for SF Richmond District's supervisor seat
SF mayor poised to meet 1,000-shelter-bed goal with deal for Navigation Center
Planning Commission president to step down to run for San Francisco supervisor


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3 Ways to Calm Down Before You Blow Your Cool!
The Northern Hemisphere may be "heating up" right now, but hot-heads can be found at any latitude, in any season.
Sometimes it's excess mind chatter that gets us spinning into negative thought. We can turn things over and over in our minds, thinking of all the reasons why we are right, or why we've been wronged. We practice argument scenes in our head, telling off the one who done us wrong.
I know this sounds corny, but I'm telling you – it works! There's something about soothing yourself in this way that calms down the nervous system (and that chattering mind) very very quickly.
My grandmother used to tell me this when I complained about pointless things. What she meant was to put my complaint somewhere where it had the greatest possibility of (literally) melting away.
Now I'm not saying that anger, frustration or other painful feelings aren't justified. What I AM suggesting though is that, rather than keep them bottled up or dump them on a loved one who deserves better, get the intensity out of you first.
Whether that's scribbling mean words in a journal, bashing pillows around, or literally carving your anger in ice, try this first before you jump to confrontation or blurt out things you might regret later.
Finding the humor in a frustrating situation can diffuse a lot of negative, pent-up emotions. Now I realize that laughter can not work in the face of tragedy. Tragedy and trauma require professional support. But when life's annoying frustrations start to get to you, finding the funny can go a long way to freeing you from a marriage to misery.
How do you "cool down" when you'd rather erupt? If you've got a great tip, by all means share it with us in the comments below!


text:
India's new transgender rights Bill
One step forward and two steps back in a struggle for recognition
Sanhita Ambast, Danish Sheikh
PHOTO: USAID on Wikimedia
Government and governance, Law, Social policy, Arts, culture & society | Asia, South Asia
India's proposed transgender rights legislation, if it proceeds without critical amendments, could do more harm than good to transgender people, write Danish Sheikh and Sanhita Ambast.
In April 2014, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment on transgender rights in the case of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (the NALSA case). Most significantly, the Court declared legal gender recognition for transgender individuals as a constitutional right. The Supreme Court left the task of translating this commendable principle into practice, through the adoption of implementing legislation, to the government. If its latest efforts are any indication, the government has failed to fulfil this responsibility.
In August this year, the Indian Cabinet approved the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 and introduced it in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament). Transgender rights activists across the country have criticised the Bill, as currently formulated, for failing to comply with the spirit of the NALSA judgment and introducing provisions that could further marginalise transgender persons.
One specific area of criticism is the Bill's problematic definition of transgender persons, as well as the process for legal gender recognition it would put in place if enacted. While Section 4 of the Bill in its current draft states that "A transgender person shall have a right to be recognised as such", Section 2 (i), in turn, defines a transgender person as "a person who is—(A) neither wholly female nor wholly male; or (B) a combination of female or male; or (C) neither female nor male; and, whose sense of gender does not match with the gender assigned to the person at the time of birth, and includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations and gender-queers."
The most problematic aspect of this formulation is that it does not allow transgender persons to specifically identify as male or female. The Supreme Court in the NALSA judgment was careful to provide this choice, noting that persons whose sense of gender did not match with the gender assigned at birth could identify themselves as male, female or third gender/ transgender. This principle was also captured in a former version of the Bill circulated in 2015, which explicitly stated that: "A transgender person should have the option to choose either 'man', 'woman' or 'transgender' as well as have the right to choose any of the options independent of surgery/ hormones." However, this language has unfortunately been removed in the present version of the Bill.
More on this: Hate, homophobia and the global push for LGBT rights | Meredith Weiss
Additionally, using language like "wholly male" or "wholly female" to define a transgender person inaccurately conflates gender identity with biological sex. While the second half of the definition set out above speaks to transgender identity, appropriately reformulated, the reference to sex characteristics featured in the first part of that definition would refer to intersex, not transgender individuals. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for example, refers to intersex people as individuals who are born with sex characteristics that do not fit the typical definition of male or female, including sexual anatomy, reproductive organs and/or chromosome patterns.
Chapter III of the Bill puts in place a process for legal gender recognition: individuals must make an application to the District Magistrate, who will then forward the application to a District Screening Committee set up under the Bill "for the purpose of recognition of transgender persons". The Screening Committee comprises a medical officer, a social welfare officer, a psychologist or psychiatrist, a representative of the transgender community, and a government representative. The Screening Committee will make a recommendation to the Magistrate about the application, on the basis of which the Magistrate will issue a certificate of identity.
However, the current draft of the Bill does not clarify on what grounds the Screening Committee should issue its recommendation or those on which the Magistrate's decision is to be made. Nor does the Bill give a timeframe within which the Magistrate must render his or her decision. Furthermore, nowhere does the Bill specify how the applicant can challenge this decision.
Moreover, by granting discretion to the Magistrate and Screening Committee, this process undermines the right of transgender persons to their self-identified gender and is therefore inconsistent with the NALSA decision and international human rights law. Indeed, in the NALSA case, the Supreme Court referred to the Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. Of these, principle 3(b) requires states to "Take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to fully respect and legally recognise each person's self-defined gender identity". The complex, two-tiered bureaucratic process described above – which the Bill as currently formulated proposes – goes against the principle of self-identification that the Supreme Court recognised as paramount.
Furthermore, bureaucratic hurdles, like those prescribed by the Bill, will only add to the existing challenges transgender persons already face. For instance, in interviews with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), transgender persons have described the obstacles they are already facing, on a daily basis, in obtaining documents that reflect their self-identified gender. One person told the ICJ she had to wait for seven years for a document to reach her. Others were asked for medical certificates before their new gender identity was recorded. In some parts of India, authorities asked transgender persons to produce additional documents – like residence certificates – which are difficult to obtain for a variety of reasons, before their name or gender could be changed. Similarly, when people applied for passports in some regions, their application often stalled at the police verification stage, because police stated that they did not 'look like the person who applied'. Many transgender persons also felt that authorities made them the target of judgmental comments or asked them intrusive and intimidating questions or made them otherwise feel uncomfortable during the gender identity recognition process. All of this is happening in India today, even before the procedure envisaged by the Bill is introduced.
Since the NALSA judgment in 2014, India has taken several steps toward protecting the rights of transgender persons. While legislation guaranteeing these rights is essential, in its current form, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 undermines the NALSA decision and international human rights law, and risks doing more harm than good.
Gautam D	says:
Whether ICJ is planning to writting to the parliamentary standing committee about these shortcomings in the proposed bill?
Sanhita Ambast
Sanhita Ambast is the International Legal Advisor (South Asia) at the International Commission of Jurists.
How India's law fails LGBT people Sanhita Ambast
Danish Sheikh
Danish Sheikh is a legal consultant with the International Commission of Jurists.
How India's law fails LGBT people Danish Sheikh
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Ambast, Sanhita and Danish Sheikh. 2016. "India'S New Transgender Rights Bill - Policy Forum". Policy Forum. http://www.policyforum.net/indias-new-transgender-rights-bill/.


McLEAN - Bertha Mae Walker Simpson, 86, died Monday, Sept. 20, 2010.
Services will be at 1 p.m. today in Robertson Funeral Directors Route 66 Chapel in McLean with the Rev. Dave Stout, pastor of First Baptist Church in Howardwick, officiating. Burial will be in Doxey Cemetery in Sayre, Okla., by Robertson Funeral Directors of McLean.
Mrs. Simpson was born Aug. 17, 1924, in Sophia, Ark., to Monroe Griffen and Nancy Ann Finley Walker. She had been a resident of Mobeetie prior to moving to McLean 52 years ago. She had worked for several years as a nurse's aide at McLean Hospital prior to her retirement. She was a Baptist.
She was preceded in death by her parents, all of her siblings, and a daughter, Arlene Ann Hauck, in 2002.
Survivors include three daughters, Nancy Adams of Perryton, Barbara Godkin of Conroe and Wanda Lowery and husband Rodney of Brandon, Miss.; a son, Troy Wayne White and wife Carolyn of Fritch; 10 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and several great-great-grandchildren.
The family suggests that memorials be to the Arthritis Foundation, P.O. Box 96280, Washington, D.C. 20077-7491.


And photographs that capture our celebrations and milestones are irreplaceable.
The photographs we keep of our loved ones are like heirlooms.
You may carefully place them in an album or mail them to far away relatives.
You might pass them down to a loved one after they've hung in your home for a lifetime.
I want to help you remember those moments that your family will look back on for years to come.


Bielefelder Kunstverein presented the first international solo exhibition in Germany of Katarina Zdjelar. It was the premiere for the work Stimme. An accompanying publication offered the work by Zdjelar enduring visibility.


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Be confident when travelling to tournaments and games that your cards are safe in your bag and add some style to your storage.
Features: Includes the Coloured divider.


Rebecca Judd's pregnancy health tips.
Rebecca Judd finally reveals her secrets of how she keeps fit during pregnancy with twins.
TV presenter and model Rebecca Judd is due to give birth any day now to a set of identical twin boys, taking her young family from four to six. She's currently 29 weeks along, and expects her babies to arrive somewhere between now and the 34 week mark.
As a mum already to two-year-old Billie and five-year-old Oscar, Judd has had her fair share of experience when it comes to pregnancy. Now on maternity leave, the 33-year-old has shared three simple tips for staying fit and healthy during pregnancy on her popular blog, Rebecca Judd Loves.
Her advice is refreshingly straightforward and accessible. She doesn't aim to shame women for their behaviour during pregnancy, and she doesn't claim to be a health expert. She just shares some basic rules she trusts.
1. Exercise classes tailored for pregnancy.
Bec JuddImage via Instagram: @becjudd.
She has a killer eye for interiors.Image via Instagram: @becjudd.
Her tip? Metamucil. Apparently while she's pregnant, she's a complete Metamucil addict.
In addition to making sure she's getting plenty of fibre, Judd makes sure to increase her water, fresh fruit and muesli intake.
For Rebecca Judd, one cardinal pregnancy rule is: never take medications, vitamins or supplements without speaking to your doctor first.
She says you should always check with a health care professional before taking anything.


text:
W31 peut faire référence à :
 Contact avec des appareils, autres et sans précision, d'après la classification internationale des maladies ;
 W31, une ogive thermonucléaire américaine ;
 W31, la trente-et-unième semaine du calendrier.

Voir aussi
 Sigles d'une lettre suivie de deux chiffres

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The family and friends of the late Solomon Uyarasuk must wait at least until the early months of 2014 for a coroner's inquest into the young man's jail-cell death on Sept. 23, 2012, Nunavut justice minister Dan Shewchuk told the legislative assembly Sept. 12.
Uyarasuk, 26, a popular musician, artist and member of the Artcirq performance group, died Sept. 23, 2012 while held in custody at the Igloolik RCMP detachment.
Although it's commonly believed he died by suicide, neither the RCMP nor the Nunavut coroner's office have stated the official cause of Uyarasuk's death, leading to widespread suspicion and frustration in the community.
Amittuq MLA Louis Tapardjuk of Igloolik has asked numerous questions about the matter in the legislative assembly, demanding to know when an inquest will be held.
"Mr. Speaker, to my understanding, regarding this incident, the investigation is complete and has been turned over to the coroner's office. My information from the coroner's office into this is that there will be an inquest held in 2014," Shewchuk said.
Tapardjuk, in a sitting of the legislative assembly this past fall, said Nunavut should create an independent policing council to create a better working relationship between RCMP and communities.
Tapardjuk also asked Shewchuk if the justice department will review the Coroner's Act to bring in amendments setting clear timelines for holding inquests.
"It is very difficult times and frustrating times on the community and on the families who are dealing with these tragic situations," Shewchuk said.
"Some of these processes are very lengthy from investigation to the RCMP to the review at the coroner's office, but I do understand the frustration and the point that Mr. Tapardjuk," Shewchuk said.
Shewchuk added that he will have "discussions" with the coroners office to talk about the issue and he committed to the tabling in the assembly of reports from the coroner's office.
Meanwhile, Marie-Hélène Cousineau of Arnait Video Productions is now preparing a documentary on Uyarasuk's death with co-director Susan Avingaq of Igloolik.
That documentary, to be entitled "The Death of Solomon Uyarasuk," will likely show nationally on Superchannel about a year from now.
"It [Uyarasuk's death] really moved a lot of people in the community. He was a very active young person, he was a singer, a musician, a member of Artcirq, an artist, a filmmaker also and a musician," Cousineau said in a recent interview with Nunatsiaq News.
The young man's family is not represented by a lawyer. And they still know next to nothing about the circumstances surrounding his death.
They haven't been allowed to see an autopsy report and they have received no information from the Ottawa Police Service, who sent members to Igloolik to investigate the incident, Cousineau said.
That information vacuum prompted Tapardjuk this past February to first ask for an inquest into Uyarasuk's death.
At the same time, other things have fed the family's suspicions.
For example, the two RCMP members on duty at the time of Uyarasuk's death left the community the following day.
And before the body was flown out for the autopsy, police asked the family for fresh clothes.
But they never saw the old clothes Uyarasuk wore when he died and they were never allowed to see his body.
"That's the kind of thing that sets off rumours. An older sister who is an elder expected to see him as he was lying dead but she was not allowed to do that. They never saw him before he left town," Cousineau said.
"It's been almost a year and they don't have an answer. Nobody is talking to them. So it's very frustrating and very sad for all of them," she said.
For that reason, family members have been willing to co-operate with the making of Arnait Video's documentary because they're tired of the secrecy.
And she also hopes the people of Igloolik and Nunavut will get a chance to see Arnait's documentary, perhaps on a website, before it airs nationally.


Web design agency or Freelancer?
It's a question you may have asked yourself when debating whether to push on with the new web design your company are badly crying out for. After all, choosing the right personnel for your digital services is vital, this is your online future we're talking about!
Everyone has their own preferences of who they would rather work with it, whether it be an award winning company such as ourselves or a talented Freelancer.
When it comes down to the bare bones of it all, its really down to what you're looking for specifically, what your desired end result is and whether it fits within a budget you have from the initial outset.
In this instance a Freelancer prefers to build their own career and give themselves them more variety, freedom and in the case of many web designers, it allows them to focus specifically on their own chosen area of expertise. However, this doesn't mean that all bases are covered.
While a Freelancer has the ability to pick and choose projects, a web design agency such as Universal Web Design are a team of professionals who have a wide knowledge base of clients and their industries on a daily basis.
We can generally support a wider variety of design, tech and marketing requirements than a freelancer. It's also a good idea to keep all your web design/marketing requirements all under one roof, it certainly makes it easier when it comes to invoicing and discussing the project as a whole with just the one firm in charge instead of outsourcing to Timbuktu.
More often than not you'll know from looking at your project spec if it requires the resource of an agency behind it in terms of size, goals and objectives.
Here at Universal Web Design you'll be working with the trusted experts within the form of our in-house web design department, the marketing team are then able to promote your new online platform with a variety of strategies up their sleeve through services such as SEO, Social Media, Blogs and Email Marketing.
Within these fields a client requires a lot of trust and we provide this in abundance – take a look at our testimonials for that all important clarification!
In conclusion, many businesses are in need of a new company websites and costs can hold a lot of sway. Working with the team at Universal Web Design can possess a more cost-effective option with a professional, experienced outlook on each requirement you have.
As indicated at the beginning of today's blog, there is a debate in terms of who is the more viable option between a Web Design agency and a Freelancer. However, when you weigh up the pros and cons of each, you'll find that an agency like us has your best interests at heart providing all you need with the added reliability you desire.
In the end if you're looking for a new website design and want to pay next to nothing for the pleasure, then a Freelancer may be able to provide this sat within the confines of their bedroom while eating a Pot Noodle. Our prices are competitive but you're guaranteed of a first class service from each member of the UWD team – you're always welcome to pop in and see us!
In essence, whether you're a large or small organisation, your website should be the hub of all your dealings online. Step into the future, this is the future of your business!
If you are looking for a website for your business, or would like to talk further about your requirements within a web design and build, why not get in touch? We can help you choose the best processes for your business and how the right services can help your company grow.
Call 01206 588 000 or email sales@universalwebdesign.co.uk – its time to talk with the professionals!


text:
Q: Find last character in multi-dimensional associative array and delete it I have an associative array in a foreach like this:
foreach ($mArray as $aValue) {
 foreach ($aValue as $key => $value) {

echo $html->find($key,$value)

}
}

It gives me this output:
bobby
johnny

Now I would like to get the last character which is y so I did:
echo substr($TheString, -1);

But this gives me: yy because its a multi-dimensional array so it gives me the last characters in each array. What can I do to get the last character on the page y (..and delete it)?

A: $last_char = '';
foreach ($mArray as $aValue) {
        foreach ($aValue as $key => $value) {

            if(substr($html->find($key,$value), -1) == 'y'){

                $last_char = $html->find($key,$value);
            }

        }
    }

  echo $last_char;

A: Try This :
echo substr($TheString, -1, 1);

OR replace a string Removing y
$s="abcdey";
$m=substr($s,0,-1);
echo substr_replace($s,$m,0)

Try This :
        $array = array(
        "foo" => "jonny",
        "bar" => "monny",
        );
                     $i=0;
         $con=count($array);
         foreach($array as  $key => $value)
        {
         $i++;
         if($i==$con)
         {
         $s=$value;
         $m=substr($value,0,-1);
         $value=substr_replace($s,$m,0);
         echo "Removed Y from array of last item =".$m."
";
         }
         echo $value."
";
         }

A: This seems to work for me
echo substr_replace($TheString,"",-3);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Vedlejší kvantové číslo (označováno písmenem l) je závislé na hlavním kvantovém čísle (n) a jeho maximální hodnotu lze vypočítat jako l=n-1. Charakterizuje orbitální moment hybnosti elektronu a tvar (prostorovou náročnost) orbitalu. Místo čísla se často orbitaly označují písmenem:

0 – orbital typu s
1 – orbital typu p
2 – orbital typu d
3 – orbital typu f
4 – orbital typu g
5 – orbital typu h

Kvantová fyzika
Kvantová chemie


Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Forevermark, the diamond brand from The De Beers Group of Companies, has launched the 'The Better Half Within' Campaign, a reflection of the poised, powerful, and self-determined personality of the woman of today.
The campaign includes a film and will utilize national media channels such as TV mainlines, set of print and outdoor ads, digital display, social media, radio channels, and in-store. The campaign will debut on TV with 30 and 50 second commercials, to be screened on 15 September, 2018. The TVC will be shared on social & digital with shorter edits.
Through extensive research commissioned through Kantar IMRB it was found that Indian women are slowly evolving the meaning of femininity by combining strength with an essential grace. They currently enjoy increasing levels of economic power and whilst celebrating the achievements of their family, while being focussed on their personal growth as an individual.
The films beautifully portray women going after their passions and dreams. The first film focusses on a mother who creates her own recipes for her blog and through the help of her daughter becomes an internet sensation. The second film is based on a doctor who despite having had a long day celebrating her daughter's birthday finds the motivation to head out for an emergency surgery. The campaign film has been developed and conceptualized by J. Walter Thompson India (JWT, India) and the media agency for the campaign is Mindshare. It has been produced and directed by Native.


text:
Photo credit: RAYSON TAN VIA UNSPLASH, NPARKS
Selected camping sites and barbecue pits in Singapore's parks to reopen from Wednesday
Applications have resumed, with half of all camping sites and barbecue pits in Singapore falling under this list.
Phoon Jia Hui
Jack of all trades, master of drinking boba milk tea.
Published: 19 January 2021, 10:49 AM
Half of all camping sites and barbecue pits in Singapore will reopen for use from Wednesday (Jan 20), the National Parks Board (NParks) said.
This is in line with the Multi-Ministry Task Force's latest advisory on the COVID-19 situation.
The parks where one can apply for a camping permit for are East Coast Park, Pasir Ris Park and West Coast Park. The barbecue pits at seven parks, such as Changi Beach Park and West Coast Park, will also be available for permit application.
Applications, which resumed on Jan 13, can be made on NParks' website. The latest COVID-19 advisories for gardens, parks and nature reserves can also be found on the website.
To ensure safe distancing, no intermingling among different groups is allowed.
Camping tents must be pitched at least five metres apart. The number of campers must also be kept at six per camping permit, the permitted group size before COVID-19.
For barbecue pit permits, they are valid from noon to 10.30pm daily with a maximum of eight people allowed at each pit. The measures are aligned with safe management measures for F&B outlets.
In addition, participants will need to check in with the SafeEntry QR code using either the TraceTogether app, or bringing their TraceTogether token along.
Should you intend to visit any of these parks, you may check for the latest updates on crowd levels at the Safe Distance @ Parks portal too.
YOUth should know: 5 things about the upcoming GST hike on Jan 1
How do youths feel about Singapore's criminal justice system?
Singaporean households to receive $300 worth of CDC vouchers on Jan 3
52 Go-Ahead Singapore buses to have roof-mounted solar panels by April 2023
Copyright © 2023 National Youth Council, Singapore. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. Last updated January 19, 2021


text:
Tag Archives: Fossil fuel divestment
Climate Change, Fossil fuel divestment, Global warming, Take Action
Stanford Students Demand Divestment From Fossil Fuel Industry During Lengthy Sit-In
November 21, 2015 Roger Straw
Repost from KCBS740 / 5KPIX
[Editor: Interesting news video, but I apologize for the commercial ad. Perhaps best to go to Fossil Free Stanford's Latest Blog Updates or their Live Images and Tweets. Go Stanford students!! – RS]
STANFORD (CBS SF) — Stanford University students and supporters were holding a rally Friday culminating a five-day sit-in calling for the college's divestment from the fossil fuel industry.
More than 100 students have been camping out at the main quad since Monday afternoon outside University President John Hennessy's office demanding administrators divest from the top 100 oil and gas companies .
The action was organized through Fossil Free Stanford, a student organization that has been working on the effort for nearly three years, organizer Michael Peñuelas said.
The group was inviting the administrators to address any concerns at the 11 a.m. rally, when students will be prepared to accept any charges the university may file against them, according to Peñuelas.
On Thursday night, the university sent the group a notice stating that administrators are considering suspension of their request for divestment from oil and gas companies due to the action, which was a disappoint for Peñuelas.
The notice also stated that if students didn't leave the quad with their belongings by 5 p.m. Friday the university would review them under its Fundamental Standard, which outlines conduct expected from students, Peñuelas said.
The students have also violated the college's use of the main quad policy and trespassed in violation of state law since they are blocking an administration building, according to university officials.
The sit-in is surrounding a building housing the university's president and provost offices, where no staff have shown up since Monday, Peñuelas said.
The students plan to leave the quad at the end of the rally to participate in a Transgender Day of Remembrance scheduled in the afternoon, Peñuelas said.
The university has a Thanksgiving recess scheduled next week.
The group held a meeting with Hennessy on the issue last week and attempted to schedule another one with him for Friday, according to organizer Michael Peñuelas.
Throughout this week, professors have held classes at the quad in support of the group's cause and teach-ins on environmental issues, Peñuelas said.
About 30 alumni rallied with the students on Thursday calling for divestment and said they will not make contributions to the university unless they follow through with the divestment, Peñuelas said.
Seniors have also pledged to not donate to the senior gift, a fundraiser that helps contribute to The Stanford Fund to assist in university scholarships, academic programs and student organizations , according to Peñuelas.
Last year, the university divested from the coal industry after a petition brought forward by Fossil Free Stanford and recommendations from the Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing.
Climate changeFossil Free StanfordFossil fuel divestmentGlobal warmingKeep it in the groundStanford Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and LicensingStanford UniversityStanford University President John HennessyTake Action
Climate Change, ExxonMobil, Fossil fuel divestment, Keystone XL, Solar energy
Exxon, Keystone, and the Turn Against Fossil Fuels
November 7, 2015 Roger Straw
Repost from The New Yorker
[Editor: Significant quote: "No one's argued with the math, and that math indicates that the business plans of the fossil-fuel giants are no longer sane. Word is spreading: portfolios and endowments worth a total of $2.6 trillion in assets have begun to divest from fossil fuels. The smart money is heading elsewhere." – RS]
By Bill McKibben, November 6, 2015
Protesters, in 2014, urging President Obama to reject the Keystone pipeline, which he did this week. Credit Photograph by Laura Kleinhenz / Redux
The fossil-fuel industry—which, for two centuries, underwrote our civilization and then became its greatest threat—has started to take serious hits. At noon today, President Obama rejected the Keystone Pipeline, becoming the first world leader to turn down a major project on climate grounds. Eighteen hours earlier, New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that he'd issued subpoenas to Exxon, the richest and most profitable energy company in history, after substantial evidence emerged that it had deceived the world about climate change.
These moves don't come out of the blue. They result from three things.
The first is a global movement that has multiplied many times in the past six years. Battling Keystone seemed utterly quixotic at first—when activists first launched a civil-disobedience campaign against the project, in the summer of 2011, more than ninety per cent of "energy insiders" in D.C. told a National Journal survey that they believed that President Obama would grant Transcanada a permit for the construction. But the conventional wisdom was upended by a relentless campaign carried on by hundreds of groups and millions of individual people (including 350.org, the international climate-advocacy group I founded). It seemed that the President didn't give a speech in those years without at least a small group waiting outside the hall to greet him with banners demanding that he reject the pipeline. And the Keystone rallying cry quickly spread to protests against other fossil-fuel projects. One industry executive summed it up nicely this spring, when he told a conference of his peers that they had to figure out how to stop the "Keystone-ization" of all their plans.
The second, related, cause is the relentless spread of a new logic about the planet—that we have five times as much carbon in our reserves as we can safely burn. While President Obama said today that Keystone was not "the express lane to climate disaster," he also said that "we're going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them." This reflects an idea I wrote about in Rolling Stone three years ago; back then, it was new and a little bit fringe. But, this fall, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, speaking to members of the insurance industry at Lloyds of London, used precisely the same language to tell them that they faced a "huge risk" from "unburnable carbon" that would become "stranded assets." No one's argued with the math, and that math indicates that the business plans of the fossil-fuel giants are no longer sane. Word is spreading: portfolios and endowments worth a total of $2.6 trillion in assets have begun to divest from fossil fuels. The smart money is heading elsewhere.
Which brings us to the third cause. There is, now, an elsewhere to head. In the past six years, the price of a solar panel has fallen by eighty per cent. For years, the fossil-fuel industry has labored to sell the idea that a transition to renewable energy would necessarily be painfully slow—that it would take decades before anything fundamental started to shift. Inevitability was their shield, but no longer. If we wanted to transform our energy supply, we clearly could, though it would require an enormous global effort.
The fossil-fuel industry will, of course, do everything it can to slow that effort down; even if the tide has begun to turn, that industry remains an enormously powerful force, armed with the almost infinite cash that has accumulated in its centuries of growth. The Koch brothers will spend nine hundred million dollars on the next election; the coal-fired utilities are scurrying to make it hard to put solar panels on roofs; a new Republican President would likely resurrect Keystone. Even now, Congress contemplates lifting the oil-export ban, which would result in another spasm of new drilling. We'll need a much larger citizen's movement yet, if we're going to catch up with the physics of the climate.
We won't close that gap between politics and physics at the global climate talks next month in Paris. The proposed agreement for the talks reflects some of the political shift that's happened in years since the failed negotiations at Copenhagen, but it doesn't fully register the latest developments—almost no nation is stretching. So Paris will be a way station in this fight, not a terminus.
In many ways, the developments of the past two days are more important than any pledges and promises for the future, because they show the ways in which political and economic power has already started to shift. If we can accelerate that shift, we have a chance. It's impossible, in the hottest year that humans have ever measured, to feel optimistic. But it's also impossible to miss the real shift in this battle.
Bill McKibben, a former New Yorker staff writer, is the founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org and the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in environmental studies at Middlebury College.
350.orgBank of EnglandCivil disobedienceClimate changeExxonFossil fuel divestmentKeystone XLLloyds of LondonNew York Attorney General Eric SchneidermanParisPresident Barack ObamaSolar energy
Climate Change, Episcopal Church, Fossil fuel divestment, Pope Francis, Religious communities, Renewable energy, United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada Sells Fossil Fuel Holdings, Commits $6 Million to Alternative Energy to Save Creation
Repost from The Christian Post
By Vincent Funaro , August 16, 2015|8:05 am
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada plans to invest nearly $6 million into alternative energy sources that it acquired from selling all of its assets in fossil fuels. The denomination views the move as a bold step toward stewarding the gift of creation.
"Care for creation and concern for the way that climate is impacting the most marginalized populations made this move an act of justice, of faith, and of solidarity with First Nations and other impacted communities," said Christine Boyle, General Council commissioner of the United Church and a veteran climate advocate, according to the National Advocate.
The church will sell off around $5.9 million in holdings from 200 of the world's largest fossil fuel companies.
The United Church of Canada joins both Pope Francis and the Episcopal Church in their quest to help the environment.
Leaders of the Episcopal Church voted to sell off the denomination's holdings in fossil fuel, which amount to $380 million, in a move to combat climate change last month.
"The vote says that this is a moral issue and that we really have to think about where we are putting our money," said Betsy Blake Bennett, archdeacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska.
"At a point where we are losing species and where human life itself is threatened by climate change, the Church, by acting on it, is saying that this is a moral issue and something that everyone needs to look at seriously," added Bennett.
The Episcopal Church's position echoes that of Francis who released an encyclical dealing with climate change back June. It dealt with how climate change is affecting God's creation and was supported by over 300 Evangelical leaders.
The 184-page "Laudato Si," translated in English as "Praise Be to You," included the pope's response to these challenges from a spiritual perspective.
"The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; He never forsakes His loving plan or repents of having created us," Francis wrote.
"Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world's poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded."
Climate changeEpiscopal ChurchFirst NationsFossil fuel divestmentNational AdvocatePope FrancisReligious communitiesRenewable energyUnited Church of Canada
Canada, Climate Change, First Nation treaty rights, Fossil fuel divestment, Fossil fuels, Public Health, Tar sands crude
Scientists call for end to tar sands mining
June 10, 2015 Roger Straw
Repost from The Guardian
[Editor: This story is also covered (with great photos) in the National Observer, "Over 100 scientists call for oil sands moratorium." – RS]
North American scientists call for end to tar sands mining
More than 100 US and Canadian scientists publish letter saying tar sands crude should be relegated to fuel of last resort, because it causes so much pollution
By Suzanne Goldenberg, 10 June 2015 13.14 EDT
The Syncrude tar sand site near to Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta, Canada | Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
More than 100 leading US and Canadian scientists called for a halt on future mining of the tar sands, saying extraction of the carbon-heavy fuel was incompatible with fighting climate change.
In a letter published on Wednesday, the researchers said tar sands crude should be relegated to a fuel of last resort, because it causes so much more carbon pollution than conventional oil.
The letter, released two days after G7 countries committed to get off fossil fuels by the end of the century, added to growing international pressure on the Canadian government, which has championed the tar sands and is failing to meet its earlier climate goals.
"If Canada wants to participate constructively in the global effort to stop climate change, we should first stop expanding the oil sands. More growth simply shows Canada has gone rogue," Thomas Homer-Dixon, professor of governance innovation at the University of Waterloo, said in a statement.
The researchers included a Nobel prize winner, five holders of Canada's highest national honour, and 34 researchers honoured by Canadian and US scientific societies.
The researchers said it was the first time that scientists had come out as professionals in opposition to the tar sands. The letter offered 10 reasons for the moratorium call, ranging from extraction's impact on local First Nations communities to destruction of boreal forests and climate change, and argued that foregoing tar sands production would not hurt the economy.
They said they hoped to present those findings to Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, who has lobbied hard in Washington and European capitals for the tar sands.
"We offer a unified voice calling for a moratorium on new oil sands projects," the scientists said in the letter.
"No new oil sands or related infrastructure projects should proceed unless consistent with an implemented plan to rapidly reduce carbon pollution, safeguard biodiversity, protect human health, and respect treaty rights."
They said the decisions made by Canada and the US would set an important example for the international community, when it comes to fighting climate change. "The choices we make about the oil sands will reverberate globally, as other countries decide whether or how to develop their own large unconventional oil deposits," the scientists said.
Since 2000, Canada has doubled tar sands production, and Harper has lobbied Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would open up new routes to market for Alberta oil.
The crash of oil prices will likely put some future projects on hold, but are unlikely to affect current production, analysts said.
The organisers of the letter said all future projects should be shelved unless Canada put in place safeguards to protect local people and environment and prevent climate change.
"The oil sands should be one of the first fuels we decide not to develop because of its carbon intensity," said Thomas Sisk, professor of environmental science at Northern Arizona University, and one of the organisers of the letter.
"It is among the highest emitting fuels in terms of greenhouse gas emissions … If we are trying to address the climate crisis this high carbon intensive fuel should be among the first we forego as we move to an economy based around cleaner fuels."
Researchers including Sisk first outlined reasons for opposition to the tar sands in Nature last year.
Wednesday's intervention deepens an emerging political and economic distinction around coal and tar sands among climate campaigners.
As a fossil fuel divestment movement moves from college campuses to financial institutions, a number of prominent supporters, such as Rockefeller Brothers Fund, moved swiftly to ditch coal and tar sands holdings, but plan more gradual moves away from oil and gas.
Scientists agree that two-thirds of known fossil fuel reserves will need to stay in the ground to avoid warming above 2C, the internationally agreed threshold on catastrophic climate change.
The Guardian supports the fossil fuel divestment campaign, and has called on two of the world's largest health charities, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, to rid its holdings of coal, oil, and gas.
Alberta CanadaBill and Melinda Gates FoundationbiodiversityBoreal forestsCanadaCarbon pollutionClimate changeCoalFirst Nation treaty rightsFirst NationsFossil fuel divestmentFossil FuelsKeystone XLPublic HealthRockefeller Brothers FundStephen HarperTar sands crudeWellcome Trust