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Faith and Works in a Science Fictional Universe
John C. Wright September 8, 2020 35 Comments
Few men have ever hated Christ as much as I have, before turning to love Him. Before I was a Catholic, I was an atheist, and not an atheist who kept his opinions to himself, but a vituperative, proselytizing, aggressive, evangelist of atheism who sought at every opportunity to spread the Bad News that God was dead and Christians were fools.
But there was one area sacrosanct from my proselytizing effort. I did not use my science fiction stories to preach nor promote my worldview. I thought then that the honor of a gentleman, not to mention the pride of workmanship every craftsman should embrace, made it unseemly to preach my worldview when I was being paid to entertain. To use stories to spread my atheist views would be to impose on my customers, who came to me for a rollicking good space opera filled with exploding planets and colliding galaxies and stunning space princesses and stalwart space heroes. To give them a syllogism when they came for a space war, or an editorial when they came for an apocalypse, would cheat them of their hard-earned science fiction-buying dollar. To give them anything of the current world and its current controversies when they wished for escape into the future would be to play my beloved patrons false.
For I was one of those readers who oft had bought a book expecting a science fiction speculation and instead was forced to endure some rant about the issues that once upon a time absorbed the shallow attention of the intelligentsia. Since most of my reading consisted of books written twenty years before my time, I discovered that the only thing more boring than reading about the controversies of the day was reading about controversies long dead and written entirely by people long ago proved wrong.
Naturally, it was with considerable pride at my own cunning that I hid my personal opinions and paid attention only to the Muse, by which I mean I followed the needs of drama and ignored the itch to preach. Unlike other writers, as a newspaperman, I had an editorial page on which to scratch that itch to preach my opinionated opinions to the world.
When the Internet first came into my life, I assumed there was some danger that left-wing readers of mine would discover my journal and hence my opinions on the current issues of the day, but I hoped that I would gain more readers than I would lose, so I was never reluctant to share more strongly held beliefs on any topic.
In October 2003, the very first of my novels, The Golden Age, received its very first review. The reviewer excoriated the work, heaping every opprobrium on it, on the grounds that in the remote far future half a million years hence (which is when the story is set) the godlike beings who are our remotest descendants, commanding a technology which enables them to reorganize mind and matter and energy to any configuration at whim, did not seem at all concerned with environmentalism or racism or gender issues.
(I should mention that both race and sex were optional to the superbeings of this era, as was whether to have a physical body at all, and that death and extinction could be reversed, so that there were no endangered species and no non-artificial species.)
However, the more vexatious vehemence of the termagant reviewing the work was reserved for the climax. The fact that the hero won the heart of his estranged wife and had a second honeymoon was anathema to this particular critic. She did not criticize the plot, character development, word choice, or any other element of the craftsmanship. She took a personal detestation to me because I wrote about romance and marriage as if romance and marriage were good things. This particular critic hated love, romance, marriage, and all good things in life.
This was when it first was driven home to me that some readers were orcs — that is, beings to whom fair is foul and foul is fair — in terms so strong and plain that they could not be denied. There were people who claimed to be science fiction fans who had absolutely no interest in science fiction at all, but merely in the news of the day and in the long-dead abortive philosophy of the Victorian crackpot Karl Marx.
Then in August of 2009, I became the target of a Two Minutes Hate organized by an editor at a rival publishing house.
She combed through back issues of my journal and found a month-old editorial in which I mocked the SyFy Channel for caving to political correctness and vowing to try to put as many sodomite and lesbian characters onto their failing channel as possible, no doubt in an effort to alienate their non-far-leftist fans. The point was not that I cared one way or the other about the sexual misadventures of other people, but that the SyFy Channel, by showing the white feather to the thugs of political correctness, had in some small but real way encouraged an informal political censorship and made it harder for science fiction writers like me to sell my wares.
I did not like people telling me what to write. I thought in my naivety that all red-blooded Americans would feel the same way, and that all science fiction readers — a genre that prides itself on nonconformity — would even moreso. In my response, my joshing was — in my typical fashion — honest and blunt, and I called the perverts perverted.
There is one thing Leftists hate more than honesty, and that is bluntness.
So at the urging of this business rival, some 40 or 50 people who were not readers of mine wrote to tell me that they were boycotting my work. I attempted to point out that one cannot boycott wares one has never purchased. I soon realized that logic and sweet reason would not influence members of a worldview whose main selling point was a false promise to free the true believer from all limitations of reality and all obedience to social conventions, including the conventional behavior of honesty, forthrightness, and sanity. They reacted with the weak and womanish fury of the guilt-ridden, hacked my Wikipedia page, my TVTropes page, and generally made a lingering nuisance of themselves. They pouted and said they would not be my friends no more.
The sheer, shrieking, screaming, dishonest foulness — combined with the putrid crudeness and puerile tantrum-tactics of these orcs — slew forever even the slightest desire I might have had to entertain them or earn my bread from them. I was 41 years old when I heard an argument that convinced me to no longer to support the pro-homosexual position. Logic forced me, very much against my inclinations, to adopt the pro-chastity position. I was not a Christian at the time, nor was I destined to become a Christian for quite some time. But I had mightily offended Christianity's main rival religion in America, which is a death cult called Secular Progressivism. And Progressivism is a jealous God. A pro-chastity atheist is not welcome there. At the time, to be honest, I thought them large in number, not merely loud in volume. I thought my stance might require some fortitude on my part, or involve me in some financial loss.
This turned out not to be the case.
It was a logical argument whose meshes I could not escape that convinced me to depart from the camp of the sexual liberators and their sexually perverse mascots, but there was something much more powerful than a logical argument which drew me out of the camp of the atheists and into the fortress of the Church. After a series of miracles, visions, visitations, religious experiences, and being hit over the head by a divine two-by-four, I converted and vowed my life to Christ.
That matter was private, and I made no effort to spread the news, but when asked a direct question by an interviewer, I responded honestly, as a man must when asked such a question. I was hardly going to deny Christ before men, lest He deny me before a more august audience.
I told one amateur reporter from one amateur school newspaper about my conversion, and in a moment every webpage that mentioned my name now was aflame with hatred and contumely because I was a humble, meek, and mild follower of Christ, and I had vowed no longer to hurt or hate my enemies, but to love them.
I confess this was a little amusing to me, since my previous atheist self had no reluctance to duel or maim and small reluctance to kill or be killed when someone offended my honor, whereas all those expressions of the deadly sin of wrath were absolutely forbidden to me now. Why these strangers whom I had never offended and who know nothing about me, but who like to play-pretend they are my enemies, would be more frightened of me now that I was a milky and meek follower of the Prince of Peace and no threat to them whatsoever is a matter for psychological or theological speculation.
The wheels of the publishing world turn slowly. Several of my books, which I had written when yet a die-hard, dyed-in-the-wool atheist, came out after news of my conversion did. More than one editor or book critic, deceived by my desire to tell a story rather than promote a worldview, were convinced that my atheist books were Christian in tone. One of them even called a book containing a scene that rather unsubtly mocked Christianity a pro-Christian apologetic!
Readers, never tell yourselves you can determine an author's personal opinions from his writing, unless he is, like C.S. Lewis or his warped antimatter image Phillip Pullman, someone who declares his partisan loyalty from the outset.
I wrote stories with nakedly religious endings of pure hope when I was an atheist because the story logic required such an ending. Likewise, I wrote stories with a nakedly atheist ending of pure despair when I was a Christian because the story logic required such an ending.
Meanwhile, the lamps of civilization are going out one by one. The more useful barometer of the life expectancy of any civilization is the degree to which the populace at large is willing to accept insolent, insulting, bare-faced falsehoods in their midst without umbrage and without objection. The more outrageously obvious the lie and the more tolerant the people are of it, the clearer it is that the unseen bonds of mutual trust on which society — any society — is based are relaxing and evaporating. The speed at which the society around me became addicted to lies was truly shocking to me, and still is.
The one limb of this rising swamp of untruth which sloshed over into my professional life was when the Science Fiction Writers of America began expelling members or firing employees for being unwilling to bow rapidly enough to the glaringly absurd pieties of the politically correct left-wing.
It was nakedly and openly political, and Christians and conservatives were told to shut up and pretend to be lunatics along with the screaming lunatics or else face the pretend wrath of the lunatics. (Their wrath, of course, is just as make-believe as everything else in their make-believe world, from global warming to Republican racism to the innocence of the Palestinians. In reality, they are cowards.)
I publicly and with great umbrage resigned from that suddenly fetid organization and shook the dust from my sandals, for it stank in my nostrils. SWFA has betrayed everything for which it once stood. These people are Philistines. May the Almighty smite them with emerods.
A time came when a small but bold publisher wrote me out of the blue asking if I had any stories, even one previously sold elsewhere, that he might republish. An anthology of my Night Lands tales — including two of the tales previously mentioned here, an atheist story I wrote while a Christian and a Christian story I wrote while an atheist — was published. And the readers and critics who reviewed the anthology loved the Christian story. (Yes, that one, the one I wrote while I was an atheist.) They wept. They had dreams about it. They praised it and overpraised it in such fulsome terms that I dare not repeat some of the compliments lest I be accused either of exaggeration or hallucination.
It was shocking to me. It was unbelievable.
And I made a sackful of money in a shockingly short time.
In rapid succession three things became clear to me:
First, I have a gift. I did not earn it, and I take no credit for it, but I can write a story that can make readers feel as if an eternal spirit has brushed them with the pinfeathers of her wings.
Second, we mortal men are chained prisoners with fetters on our feet and mind-darkening drugs in our bread and water for so long as we remain in this dungeon of the Fallen Estate of Man. We are patients in the lazaret, our bodies rotting around us, who have forgotten what solid sunlight and shining green grass or the wine of the wind feels like. It is the mission of the muses to remind us of these simple, wholesome, lovely and heavenly things: golden sun and emerald hill, blue fountain and white cloud. And it is the duty of the poet to serve the muses.
This means it would be wrong of me not to use the gift to its fullest measure.
Humans are homesick for Heaven. If I can remind even one faithful brother of his first true love, I might save him from being a Laodicean.
Third, the orcs are beyond mortal reach. Most are already below the feculent bottom of the fen of filth that forms this worldview and busily burrowing deeper, digging a grave.
If I wrote a book like Ayn Rand or Robert Heinlein and argued using merely mortal words and mortal logic, none of my words would reach this sunken soul. There is nothing there to get a grip on. All the normal human emotions, all the human organs to which I might address an appeal are long lost, rotted away.
But no one is beyond salvation. The orcs are damnable fools. It is sound theology to say so. But they are not damned fools. That is a sin to say, and Our Lord straightly forbids it. He can reach them with His pierced hands even though my human arms are too short.
Hence, if I write books deeply informed by the Christian worldview, and write on divine topics following divine teaching and perhaps a hint of divine inspiration, the muse might be able to reach the ear of an orc. An orc that mere stories about space princesses being rescued from space pirates by a space marine cannot possibly reach.
I am a philosopher. I know what philosophy can do. I also know what it cannot do. It cannot reach those who have cropped their ears. The lamp of reason has no light for those who have gleefully prodded out their eyes in adoration of the abomination of desolation, their sad idol.
Some of the Novels of John C. Wright
Now, if I use my art to uphold the faith, will I offend anyone?
The question is meaningless. The orcs do not merely hate sunlight and happiness and romance, they think the weather is out to get them. They fear policemen and love wild bears. They think Mohammedan terrorists are the good guys and Jews are not an oppressed and hated people. They think two persons of the same sex can have sex and that this requires the sacrament of marriage to sanctify and celebrate their filthy unnatural sodomy.
They think common sense is a hate crime, and therefore they avoid it at all costs. These people LIVE to be offended. They BREATHE being offended. They LOVE being offended. To avoid offending them would leave them with nothing to do.
Merely by writing a story where the hero wedded the heroine, I offended the orcs. Good stories offend them because they are good.
The only stories they like – well, to measure what they like, see what they reward. Just look at those that won nominations for the Nebula Award this year: a tale of despair about a bride imagining her comatose husband (beaten to death by Southern bigots) to be a dinosaur with no science fiction elements in it; a tale of despair concerning priests murdering a child with no science fiction elements in it; a tale of a homosexual offended by his bigoted sister with no science fiction elements in it.
The orcs don't like science fiction. They don't like the romance of progress nor the deep fears or high hopes of the future. They don't like romance at all. Their world is dull and gray, filled with jagged red stabs of hate and the dripping black of nihilism.
Will I lose sales because I am Christian? I cannot impress upon you, dear reader, how blitheringly stupid that question is. Lose sales, indeed! Sales?
Perhaps those of you who were born in the faith do not realize what is written over the wide front gates of pearl next to the baptistery, those same open doors that invite all infidels to become faithful. I passed through those doors. Do you not recall? Really? TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME. That is what I was promised when I joined your army.
It does not say, "Take up your little pink baby blanket," does it?
When I was confirmed I took the name Justin Martyr after Saint Justin Martyr, the patron of philosophers, my vocation. He was stabbed to death for refusing to recant his belief in his Lord. His crimson entrails were spilled out over the floor of the jail cell where he departed this world to his reward.
I can imagine some Protestants not understanding the cost involved in crossing that threshold. The Anglicans, after all, never faced persecution. They are always the fools and dandies of the State, for they were and are an established State religion. They were the persecutors, not the persecuted. And certain Protestant sects avoid graphic representation of saints and martyrs or ignore the saints altogether. But not the One, True, Apostolic, and Catholic Church. We cannot forget our roots. The world, and the Prince of this World, will remind us that we are strangers here if ever we get too comfortable.
The conclusion is this: The core of science fiction is stories based in solid speculation about the progress of technology and the nature of man, man's place in the universe, and so on. They are stories of high hope or deep fear, tales of magic and imagination. The Catholic Church invented and nurtured the scientific method and scientific speculation, and outside the Christian worldview, science becomes politicized, pointless, and turns into Lysenkoism, Nazi race science, or environmentalism — that is, a harlot of the party in power.
Outside Christianity, outside hope of Heaven and fear of Hell, the hopes and fears are finite and watery.
Outside Christianity, the magic is not in life. For the pagan or neopagan progressive, life is pain followed either by endless nothingness or by endless reincarnations of endless pain. No good stories take place in the worldview outside Rome. Rome invented romance, hence the name.
Catholicism invented science fiction. Just ask Jules Verne.
I could not avoid telling stories in the Christian way for Christian audiences in a Christian spirit even if I wanted to. Seeing how aggressive and yet how foolish our enemy is, it would be unwise not to want to. The sky is growing darker and the sea is rising, and only a fool does not see the storms to come. There is no refuge outside the Church and no comfort.
Let me not be accused of being courageous. I am not. The only threat the enemies of Christ have so far brought to bear, despite the fact that I am as loud and clear-voiced about my faith as it is possible to be, has been a few weak-minded dribblers trying to voice witty insults. But their wits failed them, and they can only choke with hatred and humiliate themselves in public. They were not going to buy any books of mine in any case, no matter what. I could not write a story to please them — like their award-winning dino-porn about a homosexual child-murdering priest — even if I wanted to.
And their stories lack magic. I do not mean they cannot write a ripoff of the surface features of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. I mean that their stories are limited by their dull and claustrophobic world. They live in a coffin called Progressivism.
To them, life is a machine, and morality is caused by statically random mutations in the genes controlling the meat robot they call themselves. They are bodies without souls who live chasing vain pleasures, screaming at imaginary dangers, blind to real dangers, and who return to the elements at death like the beasts they think they are. There is no difference between male and female in their world, nothing is familiar because nothing is exotic, there is no justice and no injustice, there is only a meaningless struggle, a moment of disappointing pleasure-seeking, and death. Yes, it is a coffin. That is where they live. That is the kind of tale they tell. Coffin tales.
But I am a Catholic. In my world, every sunrise is the trumpet blast of Creation, more astonishing than the bomb burst, and every nightfall is the opening of a vast roof into the infinite dance of deep Heaven, where the stars and planets reel and waltz to the music of the spheres.
When I was in China, the tour guide saw me stop to give alms to beggars. He watched in wonder and asked me why I was 'tipping' the beggars. I told him our God walks the Earth in disguise dressed as a beggar, and any man who does not give alms with both hands is stricken with a curse and flung screaming into a lake of fire.
One might think that an odd reason to give alms, or even an impure or superstitious reason, but no one can say it is a prosaic reason. To see God in a beggar's careworn and quotidian face is the very soul of romance.
Romance? Let me say something of the wild poetry that now rules my life.
I have a charm chalked on my front door to call a blessing down from wide Heaven. I carry a Rosary like a deadly weapon in my pocket and hang the medallion of Saint Justin Martyr, whose name I take as my true name, atop my computer monitor where he can stare at me.
Two angels follow me unseen as I walk, and I live in a world of exorcists and barefoot friars, muses and prophets, healers who lay on hands, mighty spiritual warriors hidden in crippled bodies, and fallen angels made of pure malicious spirit obeying their damned and darkened Sultan from his darkest throne in Hell. And I live in a world where a holy Child was born a secret king beneath a magic star, and the animals knelt and prayed. And from that dread lord, the small Child will save us.
You might think my world inane, or insane, or uncouth, or false, but by the beard of Saint Nicholas, by the Breastplate of Saint Patrick, and by the severed head of Saint Valentine, no one can say it is not romantic.
My life these days is a storybook story. If there were more romance in it, it would be enough to choke Jonah's whale. Without Catholicism, there is no romance. Outside the Church, where are the miracles?
Should I hide this? Should I hide a world larger and more glorious than mortal worlds?
It is the only type of story worth a man's time to tell or heed.
Originally Published on August 1st, 2014.
John C. Wright is is a successful science fiction and fantasy novelist, and was a Nebula Award finalist for his novel Orphans of Chaos He is the author of 12 novels, most recently The Judge of Ages (Count to a Trillion)
, part of the ongoing Count to the Eschaton Sequence. He lives in Virginia with his wife, authoress L. Jagi Lamplighter, and their four children. A former atheist, he converted to Catholicism in 2008.
www.scifiwright.com/
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ThaddeusWS August 1, 2014 at 3:59 pm
This is why PC science fiction and fantasy never works because they deny the truth that is the real world. They cut themselves off from the magic of nature and the nature of miracles. I saw my grandmother healed of fatal cancer. Thousands saw the sun stop in the sky when some shepherd children told them it would happen. Thousands perhaps millions have seen the Mother of Christ, Angels and Saints walking beside them.
But some science fiction authors would rather that didn't happen. That everything had a 'natural' scientific explanation. The spiritual world is at least as big as the physical and they would cut themselves off from it bury themselves in filth or gouge out their own eyes rather than see that part of creation the Father has made just for us.
Randall Ward December 31, 2014 at 1:54 am
Amen. I have seen God work miracles also. Even in the CC, some of the people I told about the miracles, just stared at me and didn't say a word, not believing me.
God always wants to heal, just as he heals our whole selves with his Grace.
Brian Britton August 1, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Wow. This makes me proud to be Catholic.
Dorothy August 1, 2014 at 7:30 pm
Wow! Gorgeous post. Very inspiring! Thank you.
Marie Van Gompel Alsbergas August 1, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Mr. Wright, I have never lost the magic and mystery of science fiction. Through science fiction, I was able to explore and investigate alternate cultures and compare them to the cultures which are real on this planet. A Cradle Catholic, I wandered for over a decade. I indulged in a lot of science fiction in those years, and they revealed to me, a bit at a time, the Truth, the Way, The Life, until I returned Home. Science Fiction without Science lacks Truth, THE Truth, which is traced in the whispers of quarks and bosons, and echos in the dance of the galaxies. I know, I am mixing metaphors. But, I want you to know that I GET IT!
PS: I slowed my SF reading when parenting came into my life, so this is the first piece of yours that I have read. Could you please suggest which of your novels I should read first? 😉
John C Wright August 1, 2014 at 8:15 pm
Yes, read SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolfe before reading anything of mine. He is the better author.
Marie Van Gompel Alsbergas August 1, 2014 at 10:25 pm
Thank you. 🙂
St. Benedict's Thistle August 2, 2014 at 2:33 pm
And then? Of your works? I cannot tell you how deeply and terribly I needed to read this article.
John C Wright August 3, 2014 at 4:43 am
Then, after you are done reading Gene Wolfe, read GK Chesterton.
I am no judge of my own books. My most recent is AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, so I suggest starting with that.
St. Benedict's Thistle August 3, 2014 at 8:56 am
Thank you. I am a fan of Chesterton, too. Again, your article was a balm to my troubled soul.
Dan Lawlis August 1, 2014 at 4:02 pm
"That is the kind of tale they tell. Coffin tales." J C Wright
Bam! Is that ever true! Go to your average comic book or sci-fi convention. It looks like a vacation brochure for hell.
Doug Curtis August 2, 2014 at 12:32 am
Great article, John. Can't wait to get started on your books.
chloethetortoise August 2, 2014 at 2:03 am
Oh Gosh! What a wonderful post! An inspiration. I've loved science fiction for years but this post takes my breath away. Chesterton would agree with the romance of this world we live in. When my son came back to the One, True, Catholic and Apostolic Church after many years, I told him stories of the saints. I was telling him of St Gerard Majella asking God to make him invisible and I suddenly wondered if I had gone to far, too soon. He started to splutter with laughter. My heat sank. Then he said "my goodness! Our faith is like Lord of the Rings only much, much better. I love it!". He was right! We have it all, surrounded by angels, plagued by demons, knowing that the weather is controlled by the Virtues (try praying to them if you need nice weather). What wonders we have around us. So sad that so many won't see them. May God bless you!
Montague August 2, 2014 at 12:32 pm
"The sky is growing darker and the sea is rising, and only a fool does not see the storms to come. There is no refuge outside the Church and no comfort."
AHA! Even the great John C. Wright can be caught channeling the Chesterton at times… or else, we have a coincidence.
Neither channeling nor coincidence. No, it is a straight pickpocketing from one poet to another.
I was reading BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE to my youngest boy for a bedtime story.
Lou Skojec August 3, 2014 at 4:17 pm
thank you, and I thank my son Steve for informing of you, I will certainly be buying and reading a book soon. I have been a fan of science Fiction since 20,000 League Under the Sea, then finding Arthur C Clark, Heinlein and Asimov in the early 60's . I pray you always hold true to your faith and may you be blessed with success to allow you to continue in your craft.
Peter Prellwitz August 4, 2014 at 9:58 am
Excellent article, John, and a position I support.
Like you, I have some science fiction novels published. And from the beginning I've not been shy to let the world know where I stand. All have sinned and deserve death – an eternity of complete separation from God. But God has also given – with our doing nothing, for we cannot earn salvation – by giving us Jesus as our Lord and Christ. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and paid for all sins, meaning we are reunited with God and declared innocent (justification). In this new found joy, knowing the love of God, we in turn show our love in Him by gladly obeying his commandments, living according to Christ's example, and offering up a life of joyful servitude to our God (sanctification). Our acts do not save us, but rather allow us to praise and thank our God, even while he provides more and more blessings.
How can this NOT show in my writing? No, I do not have my characters stand on freshly rinsed soap boxes and pontificate on the joys of being a Christian. And no, not all my characters are Christians, living in peace and worshipping at every opportunity. Rather, those characters who live the faith that lives in them are simply motivated by that faith, and their actions reflect that, even in a cruel, brutal, and cursed universe.
Science fiction can be a platform – ideally, hovering just above the ground, glowing in indescribable colors and providing universal translation – for stating a Cause Worth Dying For. But the truth is that soap boxes should be used to hold soap and, when empty, turned into some nifty craft project that is cute and adorable and nobody wants to receive as a gift.
Faith in science fiction provides motivation. It provides variety. It provides reality in an unreal world(s). For contrary to the shouts of indignation striking harder and harder against the non-hyper-liberal bastion of their conformity, religion will always remain while time exists. And God will always remain, even as He always have.
This viewpoint, this confession, gives me advantage as a writer. I know the sinful nature; it is in all of us, even Christians. (Perhaps especially, since Satan will work harder to destroy a Christian than he will a soul that is already his.) This is a battle I am well aware of. "The good that I would do, I do not. But the evil I would not do; that I do." And being aware of the saving work of a God who gives us undeserved, unearned salvation through His Son, lends a truly universal and eternal perspective that is not limited to what science says is "truth" this week. Indeed, science itself – the orderly nature of the universe, as well as our ability to reason, postulate, and conclude those things we cannot directly experience – it itself another gift from God; a God who established Himself "In the beginning" as a God of order.
There are many more advantages to being a Christian author in a Strange Land, but these few are sufficient to demonstrate my point: I am (sadly) a rare thing in science fiction literature. My Christian viewpoint allows me to provide that viewpoint to select characters, even while many other characters – protagonists and antagonists, as well a peripheral characters – are not Christian. I do not write Christian science fiction. I write science fiction that can/may have Christian characters.
Excellent article, John! And very much appreciated.
AugustineThomas August 4, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Great article! I LOVE when people prove that we can have great diversity in the faith and that it's a total myth that you must be boring if you go to church.
I'm so grateful you converted to the True Faith! God bless you!
"If Vulcans had a church, they'd be Catholics."
John C. Wright is my new hero!
The Gimlet Eye August 4, 2014 at 6:10 pm
See above ^ : )
Very interesting article! I have only skimmed it so far- will read it in full- but I did see one little error in passing. As an American Anglican, I would point you to the ongoing persecution of those formerly Episcopal dioceses that have left the the National Episcopal Church ( TEC ) because of the apostasy of the Presiding Bishop and her cabal. No, we are not being burned at the stake, but they are trying to take the churches we have worshipped in for several centuries here in South Carolina.The trial about this conflict just wrapped up last week, and we await the decision of the secular court. ……….Oh, and I thank AugustineThomas for making me aware of this posting.
PS. I am intrigued enough to get at least one of your books. : )
Craig Roberts August 4, 2014 at 10:42 pm
Instant add to favorites. Can't wait for more.
La McCoy August 8, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Nice art work!
Keith August 15, 2014 at 12:21 am
Here is as clear a diagnosis of our culture as any I've read: "Meanwhile, the lamps of civilization are going out one by one. The more useful barometer of the life expectancy of any civilization is the degree to which the populace at large is willing to accept insolent, insulting, bare-faced falsehoods in their midst without umbrage and without objection. The more outrageously obvious the lie and the more tolerant the people are of it, the clearer it is that the unseen bonds of mutual trust on which society — any society — is based are relaxing and evaporating. The speed at which the society around me became addicted to lies was truly shocking to me, and still is."
I think the man is a Catholic, a writter, and a thinker. One of the most entertaining articles I have read in the past five years and an article with many origional (to me) thoughts.
I love the way John W speaks out plainly and with no fear. We must do the same.
I will have to get of of his books and read it.
Randall Ward December 31, 2014 at 11:48 pm
John should have named himself Paul, because he is like Paul. Paul had great zeal for the Jewish religion, but when Jesus "called" Saul, Paul had the same level of zeal for Jesus and his Church.
Don January 2, 2015 at 10:42 pm
Really enjoyed this piece. Having recently gone on a Chesterton binge myself, it gladdens me to discover modern writers for whom both truth and the high romance of life are still burning bright. I've already begun reading, and your work is definitely impressive, if a bit intimidating for me as a writer — not Gene Wolfe intimidating, but a high bar nonetheless. Great stuff!
fniper August 1, 2016 at 8:14 am
Why the retread? Two years is a long time, why not something new from Mr. Wright? Or has the fire grown cold? Why republish this?
Fr. RP August 1, 2016 at 2:47 pm
Today is the 2nd Anniversary of 1P5 and so Steve has re-posted the articles that the Blog debuted with in honor of the anniversary, and also to help remember the original full intent of the blog.
fniper August 1, 2016 at 4:15 pm
Hi Fr. RP – Thank you for the heads up. Two years is definitely a good point at which to reflect on the journey, and take stock of where this website is headed. One thing is for certain – we live in both interesting and consequential times, and this website can help us avoid losing our way. I hope all is well with you, and you have time to smell the roses as you navigate amongst the thorns.
Diego Serrano August 2, 2016 at 4:37 pm
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THIS!!!
Two thirds down I couldn't top thinking about Chersterton.
I am so inspired!
Precentor August 10, 2016 at 5:09 am
Any audiobooks available?
Jim Carroll September 17, 2016 at 12:26 pm
In echoing many of the comments below, let me just say, Triple Wow! I am going to be posting a link to this in the Protestant End Times forum where I am the token Catholic. I have been away from the SF world for quite some time, after unemployment forced me to let my subscription to Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine lapse. Apparently, I haven't missed much. I had no idea that the Nebulas had taken such a downward spiral. Are the Hugos next? Or have they already jumped joyfully into the pit?
Thank you, sir. And if I may fight alongside you, may I say, "Morituri te salutamus."
Jim Carroll September 18, 2016 at 2:52 pm
FYI — I am going to be taking a quote from your essay (the part about taking up your little pink baby blanket) as my new tagline on Catholic Answers Forum.
Moon Day Review — The Rear View Mirror | Σ Frame June 24, 2021 at 9:08 am
[…] Peter 5 (John C. Wright): Faith and Works in a Science Fictional Universe (2020 September […]


It is likely the happiest day in your life, the day the baby comes home. Their new nursery has been planned for and shopped for by everyone that knows just what you'll need. Sure, it looks nice right out of the box. But will it stay that way. Planning for baby is quite a bit different then having baby at home. The crib looked nice over there at first, but at 2 am it might not.
Be ready to adjust to the practical realities that your baby will bring home with them. Your sanity will depend on many things over these first several months, if not 18-20 years, so be ready to be flexible. Remember also that the diaper pail may look nice in one spot but when you're changing, right next to you is where it will need to be.
Some say that plastic has been a godsend for the human race. Maybe it has and maybe it hasn't. Either way you look at it, it sure has found a way into children's toys. As you go about decorating your small ones bedroom be sure to think about where all this plastic is going to go when you're not tripping over it. Shelving is one option but the toys can very easily be pulled off in an uncontrolled way.
They also lead to climbing for that one special toy. Closets are an option for toys but that is generally a losing battle and might as well lead to just taking the door hinges off so the toys can spill out more easily. The one tried-and-true idea when it comes to toys is the big old durable toy box. Make it big, make it durable and make it so the top can be left off or on. Off is good so you can practice your three point shot from across the room when you're picking up that transformer toy.
If you have managed to get some sort of place for study and organization into the child's room by this point you are ahead of the game. You will be quickly losing any decorating influence where the young teen is concerned and regulated to suggestion. If your teen is like most, you are the enemy and only the opposite of what you say will do. Still, if you can find a few structural elements in the room you are doing well.
A place for the computer, a place for the entertainment items and a place other then the floor for clothes are good places to start. The off chance that your child is organized can mean taking advantage of the situation with shelving, a desk set-up and extra drawers for clothing. Generally, put it in the room and let them at it is the way to go.


I have recently found a way I can share my workout plan with you guys! Fitness is a necessary struggle for me. My metabolism is by no means successful without fitness; however, it takes a lot of effort on my part to get started. It is my intention that the Fitness section of my blog is not the main post (although I am still fiddling around with the coding back here to make this happen more effectively), but rather a space for you, my readers, to try and stay fit with me! This week, I intend to get back more consistently on the treadmill as well as work my way through a 12-week program I found on Pinterest. I also include my love for Yoga and making time for my practice within my routine. Feel free to follow along and comment on your journey!
The Yoga section is where you can watch over 40 different yoga videos and take classes at home. It is broken down into 5 sections: 10 Minute, 15 minute, 20 minute, 30 minute & 40 minute Sequences, and includes a variety of different yoga instructions.
I choose to go into the sauna for 15 minutes three times per week as there are a variety of health benefits associated with this practice.
I am currently registered with the City of Toronto's public programs for a Hatha Yoga class on Thursdays that starts in April and ends in June.


text:
Q: Simplified anarchy "if statement" Is there a way to code this function/executable..
if($img1 > "")
{
$show = $img1;
}
elseif($img2 > "")
{
$show = $img2;
}
elseif($img3 > "")
{
$show = $img3;
}
else
{
$show = 'default.jpg';
}
echo $show;

..in a more simple way? Thx.

A: Any time you end up using variables named 1,2,3,etc it means you should be using an array.
If you had it like this, for example:
$img = [
1=> '',
2=> '',
3=> 'image.jpg'
];

You could then process this like so:
// Remove empty values
$img = array_filter($img);
// Echo the first value found (image.jpg)
echo current($img);

Or to add your default:
echo (count($img)) ? current($img) : 'default.jpg';

This uses a ternary operator to echo 'default.jpg' if count($img) is 0.

A: Did not test, but something like this:
<?php

$img1 = 'hello';
$img2 = 'world';

$array = [1,2,3];
for($i=1; $i<count($array); $i++){
    $v = ${"img{$i}"};
    if( !empty($v) ){
        $show = $v;
        break;
    }
}
echo $show;

No idea what you're trying to accomplish or why the code looks like that, seems poorly constructed from the get-go.

A: If you know the id number of the image, you could do something like this:
<?php
$images = array(
'myimg.jpg',
'my_awesome_img.jpg',
'awesome_awesome.jpg'
);

$show = $images[$x];
?>

A: You can just do
if(!empty($img1)) {
  echo $img1;
} elseif(!empty($img2)) {
  echo $img2;
} elseif(!empty($img3)) {
  echo $img3;
} else {
  echo 'default.jpg';
}

given that you only ever want to display one of these.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


He said he didn't have a set vision, but wanted everyone to function freely and well in the gifts that God had given them, because then the church would be what it was intended to be.
It seems to me he has something precious there, a heart to see people released, trusting them and helping them to receive equipping to be all God has made them to be.
Funnily enough, that man and his encouragement have been a great part of the equipping and releasing of what we do now.
Who might you encourage by sharing your heart with them?
Who needs you to notice some ability in them, to draw it out and give them a push in the right direction?
Will you be brave and do it?
Amen. Good word. As leaders, our job is to empower others to fulfill what the Lord has for them in His body. What is set is our relationships. We will never give up on each other or turn our love off.


text:
Q: System.Web.HttpCompileException (0x80004005) My .net 4 intranet application works fine almost all the time. Sometimes, without making any change, it starts giving 500 exceptions with the following message:
System.Web.HttpCompileException (0x80004005): External component has thrown an exception.
at System.Web.Compilation.AssemblyBuilder.Compile()
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildProvidersCompiler.PerformBuild()
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CompileWebFile(VirtualPath virtualPath)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultInternal(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResultWithNoAssert(HttpContext context, VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean throwIfNotFound, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetVPathBuildResult(HttpContext context, VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean noBuild, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean allowBuildInPrecompile, Boolean ensureIsUpToDate)
at System.Web.UI.TemplateControl.LoadControl(VirtualPath virtualPath)

The only solution is the stop the inet service, delete C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net..\Temporary files and then everything starts working again.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

A: Try to clean temp asp.net files in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files

A: The solution is to clean the Asp.Net Temporary files or recycle the IIS pool.
Read more on Microsoft support

A: I had the same issue in a .NET 4.8 ASP.NET application running in Azure WebApps. Source of it was an OutOfMemory exception during compilation performed by either csc.exe or VBCSCompiler.exe:

Application: csc.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.OutOfMemoryException at...

Application: VBCSCompiler.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.OutOfMemoryException at...

I found these exceptions in Event Log. In case of Azure WebApps it can be accessed from debug console in Kudu under LogFiles folder or directly from this url:
https://[yourAzureWebAppName].scm.azurewebsites.net/api/vfs/LogFiles/eventlog.xml

When looking at memory usage graphs of WebApps in Azure portal there were indeed short spikes to 90+% of RAM usage. They were caused by either multiple deployments at the same time or Azure moving my apps to new VM. Both of these events caused the need for multiple applications recompilation.
Interestingly I also have same application sets running on many Azure VMs and I never had the issue there.


text:
Border-surveillance subcontractor suspended after cyberattack revealed sensitive monitoring details
The San Ysidro border checkpoint in San Diego, shown in 2017, is one of dozens monitored along the border by Perceptics surveillance equipment. (David Maung/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The longtime maker of license-plate scanners and other surveillance equipment used along the U.S. border was suspended Tuesday from federal contracting by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who cited "evidence of conduct indicating a lack of business honesty or integrity," federal records show.
The rare punishment temporarily prevents the longtime contractor, Perceptics, from doing business with the federal government and could land the company on a years-long government blacklist.
Perceptics was attacked by an unknown hacker and had much of its internal data — including images of travelers' faces and license plates, surveillance-equipment schematics and sensitive contracting documents — made available for download on the open Web.
When it announced the "malicious cyberattack" last month, CBP declined to name which subcontractor had been hacked. The federal documents Tuesday identified the company being suspended as Perceptics and identified CBP as the "excluding agency."
The official notice of Perceptics's suspension. (General Services Administration records)
CBP did not say why it had suspended Perceptics's contract. When it initially announced the hack, CBP said an unnamed subcontractor had transferred copies of license-plate and traveler images onto its private network in violation of agency rules.
Such suspensions are highly unusual and generally come only after an accusation of major wrongdoing, such as an indictment against executives or a crime against the government, said Angela Styles, a government-contracts lawyer at the Washington firm Akin Gump.
Suspensions or debarments, a more severe penalty, are often imposed on companies that commit fraud, embezzlement, obstruction of justice, bribery or other crimes "of so serious or compelling a nature" that they correlate "with a lack of present responsibility," CBP documents state.
Perceptics said in a statement late Tuesday that it has an "an unblemished record" and remains "committed to working collaboratively with CBP to address any and all concerns."
"Perceptics and its management categorically denies any illegal or unethical behavior, and we stand ready to meet to discuss this with the government in any setting, and to demonstrate our support of the CBP mission," the statement said.
CBP did not respond to requests for comment.
The suspension is a crushing blow to one of the central cogs of the U.S. border-surveillance machine and comes at a time of growing questions over CBP conduct, security and oversight. Lawmakers and civil rights advocates said the breach illustrates the danger of the federal government's reliance on private companies to collect and stockpile sensitive data on people's locations and identities.
[Hacked documents reveal sensitive details of expanding border surveillance]
Perceptics has worked with CBP for nearly 30 years, designing and building the automated license-plate readers that officials use to scan every car, bus, truck and motorcycle crossing the American border. The Tennessee-based company said in 2015 that it was the sole provider of license-plate scanners for passenger vehicle inspections "at all land border ports of entry in the United States, Canada and at the most critical lanes in Mexico."
It is unclear how the suspension will affect security or surveillance systems at U.S. border checkpoints. CBP said none of its systems were compromised in the cyberattack.
Perceptics will face upcoming administrative proceedings to determine whether the company should be debarred, meaning prohibited for an extended period from working for the federal government. The proceedings are not public, and a suspension and debarment official for CBP will make the final decision as to Perceptics's future contracting.
Styles said the company will have a chance to defend itself and could emerge from the proceedings with the ability to return to federal contracting. But in the meantime, the company will not be able to do any business with the federal government — a devastating hit for the longtime contractor, which widely promotes its scanner systems for use at border crossings, highway safety checkpoints and toll-road gates.
A review of the hacked documents indicated that Perceptics also has done work for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. military.
A debarment could last several years and would prevent the company from entering into any new prime contracts or subcontracts. Debarred companies are often shunned by other firms discouraged by the loss of contracting work, Styles said.
CBP is involved in suspension proceedings with just one other company besides Perceptics, federal documents show. The agency has marked only seven companies as ineligible for new contracts in the past five years.
Perceptics has worked with a number of other national clients, including Canadian border officials, who told CBC News last month that they would continue using Perceptics equipment but were pressing for a "full forensic investigation." The Canada Border Service Agency did not respond to requests for comment.
Perceptics had welcomed CBP officials for an office tour as recently as April, the breached documents show.
[U.S. Customs and Border Protection says photos of travelers were taken in a data breach]
The hack exposed detailed records about sensitive CBP contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars and included precise details on the surveillance hardware used at massive ports of entry between the United States and Mexico, including San Diego's San Ysidro checkpoint, one of the busiest border crossings in the world.
The documents were posted to a secretive region of the Internet known as the "dark Web," where they were downloaded and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents have also been reposted onto the broader Web by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a "transparency collective" that posts leaked or hacked material.
A dark-Web directory of the files credits the attack to Team Snatch, a cybercriminal group that says it specializes in corporate hacks and extortion. A hacker with the team, using the pseudonym "Boris Bullet-Dodger," told The Post over encrypted email that the team had gained access to Perceptics's computer systems for four months and had demanded a ransom payment but that Perceptics "broke their side of the bargain."
The hacker wrote, "I never meant to complicate border authorities or government" and blamed the hack on Perceptics executives, who the hacker said had "gone rogue."
"I hope now all clients [of] Perceptics will be carefully selecting a supplier," the hacker wrote. Those comments could not be independently verified.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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I have a fully functional PES G4 SC kit that I just pulled out of a running C5 S6. This kit is designed for the 4.2's that came with timing belts as opposed to chains. According to the person who owned the S6, the S/C saw about 40K miles since it was professionally installed back in the 2011 time frame. This is the version of the kit that came with a water-air intercooler and the 3" pulley to produce around 7 psi of boost. I also have and will include the ECU from the car it was installed in (immobilizer removed) that has the original tune from PES. I'm also including the custom injectors, pulley, tensioner and fan belt that came with the kit (the pulley/tensioner are different than stock size, and obviously the belt is much longer. I will also provide the buyer with a set of detailed pictures I took of the kit installed to assist with installation. I'm planning on posting up on several other sites as well. I've seen these kits go for around $5K used so I'm pretty sure it will fetch somewhere in that range given the rarity of these. Please PM me with questions and offers. Comes with everything you see pictured. I will include shipping for reasonable offers.
Bump - Still FS. Willing to accept reasonable offers.
this is very rare,it should fit d2 s8? how easy would be to diy this?
Hi, I am pretty certain blower will mount up seamlessly on the D2 block. I know this because the D2 intake manifolds are interchangeable with the C5's. The only thing I am not sure of is whether you can take the C5 ECU with the supercharger tune and swap it out with your existing D2 ECU and have it work seamlessly with no CEL. May require a custom tune on your D2 ECU but very well might not. I am pretty sure even the ECU's are the same between the C5's and the D2's. I'd estimate this is about a 8-12 hour DIY job. Removing the old manifold and mounting up the supercharger is the most time consuming. There is also a minor amount of wiring work that needs to be done for the intercooler fan relay and relocation of the 2 EGR/vacuum solenoid valves that are mounted at the front of the stock intake manifold. Beyond that, you have to mount the intercooler in front of the AC condenser, mount the intercooler pump to the driver side frame rail and route the coolant hoses up around the engine to connect to the blower. Not too bad of a job for an experienced DIY'er.
Speaking of T28's..if I had a PES T28, PES manifold, PES TIP, as well as NDBW 93 AND race software..
anyone tried changing their timing belt to be chain driven instead of belt driven? is this posible?
How much HP should a 2.8 have with a PES supercharger? Who here has a PES SC on their 2.8??
A4 Supercharger...Anybody out there have a PES tuning supercharger...Worth the money???


text:
Forenzika (forenzička nauka) je primena širokog spektra nauka s ciljem pružanja odgovora na pitanja od interesa za pravni sistem. To može biti u vezi sa kriminalom ili parničnim postupkom. Reč forenzički potiče od , sa značenjem "pred forumom". U rimsko doba, krivična prijava je značila javno predstavljanje slučaja u forumu. Lice optuženo za krivično delo i tužilac bi dali govore na osnovu njihovih strana priče. Osoba sa boljim argumentima i prezentacijom bi prevladala. U današnje vreme se termin forenzika prvenstveno odnosi na forenzičku nauku.

Forenzički naučnici prikupljaju, čuvaju i analiziraju naučne dokaze tokom istrage. Dok neki forenzičari putuju na mesto zločina kako bi sami prikupili dokaze, drugi zauzimaju laboratorijsku ulogu, vršeći analizu predmeta koje su im donetin na uvid. Osim svoje laboratorijske uloge, forenzičari svedoče kao veštaci u krivičnim i u građanskim sporovima i mogu raditi ili za tužilaštvo ili za odbranu. Iako bilo koja oblast tehnički može biti forenzička, određene sekcije su se vremenom razvile kako bi obuhvatile većinu slučajeva povezanih sa forenzikom.

Istorija

Najstariji trag o aplikaciji nauke za otkriće laži u istoriji je iz vremena Arhimeda (212. god. pne.) i stare Grčke koji je tada ustanovio specifičnu težinu navodne zlatne krune i dokazao da ta koju je ispitao nije bila od zlata. Arapski događaj priča nam o kupcu, koji je trebalo da istraži ubistvo koje je bilo počinjeno srpom. On je sakupio sve srpove u selu i samo na jednom su se skupljale muve, što je iskorišćeno kao dokaz za ovo ubistvo. Kineski priručnik za ispitivanje napisao je 1248. Song Si. Među pionire forenzičara u Evropi spada francuski dvorski lekar hirurg Ambroaz Pare (-{Ambroise Pare}- 1510—1590), a krajem 18. veka je izašlo nekoliko članaka o forenzičkoj i policijskoj medicini. U daljem razvoju ove nauke ima veliki uticaj otkriće mikroskopa i identifikacija lica sa mesta čina pomoću analize DNK.

Poreklo forenzike i ranih metoda

Drevnom svetu su nedostajale standardizovane forenzičke prakse, što je pomagalo zločincima u izbegavanju kazne. Krivične istrage i suđenja su se u velikoj meri oslanjala na prinudnim priznanjima i svedočenjima. Međutim, drevni izvori sadrže nekoliko izveštaja o tehnikama koje predskazuju koncepte u forenzičkoj nauci koji su razvijeni vekovima kasnije.

Prvi zapisani prikaz upotrebe medicine i entomologije za rešavanje krivičnih slučajeva pripisuje se knjizi Si Juan Lu (prevedeno kao Ispiranje prestupa), koju je u Kini napisao Sung Ci (宋慈, 1186–1249) 1248. godine, koji je bio direktor pravde, zatvora i nadzora, za vreme dinastije Sung.

Sung Ci je formulisao propis o autopsijskom izveštaju suda, u kome obrazlaže kako treba zaštititi dokaze u postupku ispitivanja, i navodi razloge zbog kojih radnici moraju nepristrasno da pokažu ispitivanje javnosti. On je opisao metode za pravljenje antiseptika i za otkrivanje skrivenih povreda na mrtvim telima i kostima (koristeći sunčevu svetlost pod pokrovom od crvenog ulja i sirćeta); naveo je kako se može izračunati vreme smrti (uzimajući u obzir vremenske prilike i insektea); kako treba prati mrtvo telo radi određivanja različitih razloga smrti. U to vreme knjiga je pružala metode za razlikovanje samoubistva od onog što je učinjeno da izgleda kao samoubistvo.

Poznate su metode ranog perioda sa više lokacija širom sveta koje su uključivale upotrebu pljuvačke i ispitivanja usta i jezika kako bi se utvrdila nevinost ili krivica, što je prekurzor poligrafskog testa. U drevnoj Indiji, u nekim slučajevima je od osumnjičenih traženo da napune usta sušenim pirinčem i da ba zatim ispljunu. Slično tome, u drevnoj Kini, optuženima za zločin je stavljan pirinčani prah u usta.

Podoblasti

Reference

Literatura

 Bartos, Leah, "No Forensic Background? No Problem", ProPublica, April 17, 2012.
 Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.
 Crime Science: Methods of Forensic Detection by Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer. University Press of Kentucky.
 Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers by Michael Baden, M.D, former New York City Medical Examiner, and Marion Roach. Simon & Schuster.
 Forensic Magazine - Forensicmag.com.
 Forensic Materials Engineering: Case Studies by Peter Rhys Lewis, Colin Gagg, Ken Reynolds. CRC Press, 2004.
 Forensic Science Communications, an open access journal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
 Forensic sciences international - An international journal dedicated to the applications of medicine and science in the administration of justice - ISSN: 0379-0738 - Elsevier
 Guide to Information Sources in the Forensic Sciences  by Cynthia Holt. Libraries Unlimited.
 International Journal of Digital Crime and Forensics (IJDCF)

 Quinche, Nicolas, Crime, Science et Identité. Anthologie des textes fondateurs de la criminalistique européenne (1860–1930). Genève: Slatkine, 2006, 368p.
 Quinche, Nicolas, « Les victimes, les mobiles et le modus operandi du criminaliste suisse R.-A. Reiss. Enquête sur les stratégies discursives d'un expert du crime (1906-1922)" in Revue Suisse d'Histoire, 58, no 4, décembre 2008, pp. 426–444.
 Quinche, Nicolas, « L'ascension du criminaliste Rodolphe Archibald Reiss », in Le théâtre du crime : Rodolphe A. Reiss (1875–1929). Lausanne : Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, 2009, pp. 231–250.
 Quinche, Nicolas, « Sur les traces du crime : la naissance de la police scientifique et technique en Europe », in Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique et scientifique, vol. LXII, no 2, juin 2009, pp. 8–10.
 Quinche, Nicolas, and Margot, Pierre, « Coulier, Paul-Jean (1824-1890) : A precursor in the history of fingermark detection and their potential use for identifying their source (1863) », in Journal of forensic identification (Californie), 60 (2), March–April 2010, pp. 129–134.
 Quinche, Nicolas, "Sur les traces du crime : de la naissance du regard indicial à l'institutionnalisation de la police scientifique et technique en Suisse et en France. L'essor de l'Institut de police scientifique de l'Université de Lausanne". Genève : Slatkine, 2011, 686p., (Coll. Travaux des Universités suisses), (Thèse de doctorat de l'Université de Lausanne).
 Science Against Crime by Stuart Kind and Michael Overman. Doubleday.

 Structure Magazine no. 40, "RepliSet: High Resolution Impressions of the Teeth of Human Ancestors" by Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg, Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology, The Ohio State University and John C. Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Biomaterials and Biomechanics School of Dentistry, Oregon Health and Science University.
 The Internet Journal of Biological Anthropology.
 Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science by Allan Jamieson and Andre Moenssens (eds). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
 Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science  The online version of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science by Allan Jamieson and Andre Moenssens (eds)
 "The Real CSI'', PBS, Frontline documentary, April 17, 2012.

Spoljašnje veze

 Forenzička antropometrija

Форензика
Криминалистика

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Coordinates with no decimals when opening GeoJSON in QGIS When I open the following GeoJSON file in QGIS 2.18 (drag and drop), all point coordinates lost their decimals going, for example, from (-9.350659,44.32844) to (9,44).
The same file is correctly shown by online GeoJSON validators.
<code>
{
    "type": "FeatureCollection",
    "features": [
        {
            "type": "Feature",
            "geometry": {
                "type": "Point",
                "coordinates": [
                    -9.350659,
                    41.32844
                ]
            },
            "properties": {
                "name": "",
                "description": ""
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "Feature",
            "geometry": {
                "type": "Point",
                "coordinates": [
                    -9.31515,
                    41.324892
                ]
            },
            "properties": {
                "name": "",
                "description": ""
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "Feature",
            "geometry": {
                "type": "Point",
                "coordinates": [
                    -9.345253,
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A: I came across the same issue this morning.
I am working with QGIS2.8.6 compiled against GDAL1.11.3 on Ubuntu16.04.
I fixed the issue by changing my locale parameters to C.UTF-8 (my locale parameters were previously fr_FR.utf8).
To do so I edited my /etc/default/locale file.
It's all explained here: https://www.thomas-krenn.com/en/wiki/Configure_Locales_in_Ubuntu.
Pin: wouldn't it be nice if you could describe how you fixed your issue in an other answer? I wasn't sure how to update my gdal version for QGIS. Some hint would have been nice. Luckily I wanted to changed my langage parameters to american english for several reasons, but others might want to keep their langage parameters and wouldn't be able to use my fix.


Renault e.dams returns to action this weekend with round 4 of the 2016/17 FIA Formula E championship, which takes place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico.
Five weeks has passed since the Buenos Aires ePrix in which Buemi scored his third successive victory from three races. The two drivers return to the Mexican track with high hopes as they delivered a double podium for the team by finishing second and third there last year. This time they hope to finish on the top spot. After three successes in Hong Kong, Marrakesh and Buenos Aires, Renault e.dams tackles this ePrix with 111 points in the Teams' standings thanks to Buemi and Prost, who respectively have 75 and 36 points in the Drivers' standings.
Formula E will make its second visit to the heart of the Mexican capital on a circuit which is slightly different from the others as it is a permanent track and the one used by Formula 1.


Edward Reichenbach. Waldron Collection, MAGNT PIC058/085.
The Northern Territory has always been an impossible land to master. From its monsoonal Top End to its arid Centre, it promises bountiful resources, but almost every attempt to exploit them has failed. It is too immense, too remote, its resources too inaccessible.
But cracks soon appeared. World War One diverted the Commonwealth's funds, and the Territory's climate and isolation, as always, proved difficult to surmount. The government's own policies led to trouble in race and labour relations and threatened the investment they had made. Four governments and eight different ministers would take responsibility for the Territory over the next ten years. Ruling from Melbourne, the Commonwealth never understood the unique conditions at play.
Territorians grew restless with the new order, which had left them with no say in their own affairs. Conflict was inevitable, and the first decade of Commonwealth rule would prove to be the Territory's most unruly to date.


This limited warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that may vary from state to state or according to other conditions.
The manufacturer, Takagi Industrial Co. USA, Inc., will apply the warranty to the original retail buyer only, against failure in normal use and within the applicable periods specified below, following the terms of this warranty. The Takagi Industrial Co. USA, Inc. replacement will be warranted for only the unexpired portion of the original warranty to the original purchaser of the products.
If any parts except the heat exchanger fail within twelve (12) month after original installation following instructions provided in the installation manual and with normal residential operation, Takagi Industrial Co. USA, Inc. will furnish replacement parts. Labor is not covered under warranty.
If the heat exchanger fails within five (5) years after the original installation following instructions provided in the installation manual and with normal residential operation, Takagi Industrial Co. USA, Inc. will furnish a replacement heat exchanger, excluding field labor. However, If the water heater is installed in other than a single family dwelling with/without other applications and/or attached parts, and in a single-family dwelling with other applications and/or attached parts, the heat exchanger warranty is limited to one (1 ) year from date of original installation and operation.
Failure due to defects or malfunctions resulting from failure to properly install, operate or maintain the unit in accordance with the supplied instruction manual.
Failure due to damage from abuse, accident, fire, flood and any other act of God.
Failure due to damage resulting from unauthorized alterations, attachments or repairs.
Failure due to operation in a corrosive or contaminated atmosphere, or if the water heater is not supplied with potable water or gas supply within ranges specified in the installation manual.
Failure due to damage from firing rates greater than those on the rating plate.
Failure due to damage from not being installed in accordance with applicable local codes, ordinances and good trade practices.
Failure due to operation outside the factory calibrated temperature limits.
Failure due to conversion or attempt to operate with a type of gas not specified for the water heater.


50L-350L Road Crack Sealing Machine. Introduction and Applications • Mainly used for asphalt pavement, cement pavement surface cracks repair and treatment.In the highway, municipal highway, garden roads, county roads and other aspects,the machine can irrigate asphalt, pour glue, etc..
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Ranger´s Apprentice 6: The Siege of Macindaw - 9780142415245 od Nakladatelství SLOVART s. r. o.
The international bestselling series with over 5 million copies sold in the U.S. alone! The kingdom is in danger. Renegade knight Sir Keren has succeeded in overtaking Castle Macindaw and is now conspiring with the Scotti. The fate of Araluen rests in the hands of two young adventurers: the Ranger Will and his warrior friend, Horace. Yet for Will, the stakes are even higher. For inside the castle, someone he loves is being held hostage. And now the time has come for this onetime apprentice to grow up. Perfect for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, T.H. White's The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini's Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series.


Dear viewer, give them a moment to load, if you can. I'm told they're worth the 10-second wait!
GIFS: Paintings and drawings that move. I begin with handmade techniques like watercolors, inks, and markers, and transform them into animated illustrations.


Listen Carefully. Opportunity is knocking and it won't last long. Today is the day that you can own a 2 Bedroom 2.5 Bathroom Townhome with several improvements, including new $8000 hurricane windows. The Open Kitchen has been renovated and leads out to the dining area and living room. A new 55'' screen TV is mounted to the wall & will convey. The Wyngard antenna provides cable free TV. Wild life lovers can spy on the Eagles Nest from the Honeysuckle covered pergola on the back patio. Upstairs showcases 2 Master Suites with two full bathrooms, walk-in closets and genuine hard wood floors. An Extra Large Screened in Lanai painted in a whimsical shade of green contains a laundry area with a washer & dryer. There are 2 designated parking spaces & the community pool is a few steps awayRecent improvements were made to the tile roof. The low HOA fees cover lawn care, common areas & pool. Located Near Shopping, Daytona Speedway, The Port Orange Community Center, I 95/ I 4 & Several Schools including Embry Riddle University, Daytona State College, Bethune Cookman and Palmer Chiropractic. Square footage received from tax rolls. All information recorded in the MLS intended to be accurate but cannot be guaranteed.
Based on information from the DABMLS from 2019-04-10 08:45:54. DABMLS and their affiliates provide the MLS and all content therein "AS IS" and without any warranty, express or implied. Data maintained by the DABMLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.


text:
Home Uncategorized Defenseman is jacques his 11th NHL season
Defenseman is jacques his 11th NHL season
Dave Goucher: No, you're not in Kansas anymore right?
Half season tickets add flexibility to your time in SMASHVILLE.
It is the first time since 2000 that Colorado has tallied a power-play goal in each of its first four games of a playoff year.
Referee Dave Newell rushed to linesman Claude Bechard and Leon Stickle.
I think it was the right thing to do because I would make your own jersey to know.
Defenseman left Thursday's game in the third period after blocking a shot and is questionable for the outing.
PROSPECTS ON THE RADAR :.
The Avalanche's 27 points in the month were the most by any team in the NHL and also set a new franchise mark.
Simpson was a perfect fit to play with Anderson and Messier, Gretzky said.
And we will.
He also was able to live something approaching a normal life in Miami, with far less daily scrutiny and no Pavel-mania.
National Anthem for the Pittsburgh Penguins, please contact us at Be sure to include: Please note: We receive a large number of anthem requests each season, so we are very selective, and opportunities are limited.
Carolina Hurricanes; 7.
The Half Season Plan A includes 22 pre-selected games, while the Half Season Plan B features 21 pre-selected games.
Reason for optimism: Johnsson could make a positive contribution to New Jersey's top six and help improve either center ' minus-112 SAT or 's minus-62 SAT.
GL: Tell me about becoming head coach of the Toronto Marlies in the AHL?
Their hockey sense is through the roof, and their skill is with the best of them.
Here is his ninth entry of 'Powering Forward.' View More Right wing Jack Adams was drafted by the Red Wings in the sixth round, 162nd overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
РУССКИЙ Добро пожаловать на , официальный сайт Национальной хоккейной лиги scored 41 seconds into overtime after Colorado tied it 4 on 's goal with 3 left in the third period.
We can also take the long view: In 2013, he turned 42 and led the Devils in scoring; two seasons later, at 44, he led the Panthers in scoring and was a main factor in their first-place Atlantic Division finish.
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text:
Home SCIENCE NEWS Technology and Engineering
RedHill Biopharma announces last patient out for phase 2/3 COVID-19 study of oral Opaganib
in Technology and Engineering
Top-line results expected in the coming weeks
Credit: RedHill Biopharma
TEL AVIV, Israel and RALEIGH, NC, July 19, 2021, RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDHL) ("RedHill" or the "Company"), a specialty pharma company that is a leader in the development of novel oral therapies for COVID-19, today announced that all treatment and follow-up has now been completed in the 475-patient global Phase 2/3 study with opaganib (ABC294640) in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia (NCT04467840). Top-line results are expected in the coming weeks.
Opaganib is a novel, host-targeted, dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory investigational pill in advanced clinical development for the treatment of severe COVID-19. Opaganib recently demonstrated potent in vitro inhibition of the Beta (South African) and Gamma (Brazilian) variants and based on its unique host-targeted mechanism and the preliminary results from this study, we believe opaganib is likely to also maintain its activity against emerging variants, including Delta and Delta Plus. Positive U.S. Phase 2 efficacy data has also previously been announced.
"Emerging data is showing that variants are capable of evading vaccines' effects. Not only does this threaten efforts to control the pandemic, but it also brings into sharp focus the urgent need for effective oral COVID-19 therapies capable of working despite the emergence of variants. This makes the completion of this study even more significant, given its potential to be a game-changer in the treatment of COVID-19," said Mark L. Levitt, MD, Ph.D., Medical Director at RedHill. "We can now concentrate on getting all the data collected, cleaned and collated in the database ready for analysis and subsequent reporting. This means we are weeks away from knowing if we are a big step closer to having a paradigm-shifting oral therapy for hospitalized COVID-19 patients."
The primary endpoint of the global Phase 2/3 study, approved in 10 countries, is the proportion of patients breathing room air without oxygen support by Day 14. The study has also captured additional important outcome measures, such as the time to hospital discharge, improvement according to the World Health Organization Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement and incidence of intubation and mortality.
Evaluations of blinded blended intubation and mortality rates from the Phase 2/3 study have been encouraging compared to reported rates of mortality from large platform studies such as RECOVERY, and other studies in similar patient populations . Furthermore, four independent DSMB recommendations to continue the study have been received following three unblinded safety reviews and an unblinded futility analysis. Additionally, encouraging use of opaganib under compassionate use exemption has been experienced in Israel and Switzerland.
The Company maintains ongoing discussions with the FDA, EMA and other regulators, on potential pathways to approval, with next steps to be guided by study results. Discussions are also ongoing with potential partners who are interested in the rights to opaganib in various countries.
About Opaganib (ABC294640 )
Opaganib, a new chemical entity, is a proprietary, first-in-class, orally-administered, sphingosine kinase-2 (SK2) selective inhibitor, with dual anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity, that is host-targeted and is therefore expected to be effective against emerging viral variants. Opaganib has also shown anticancer activity and has the potential to target multiple oncology, viral, inflammatory, and gastrointestinal indications.
Opaganib is being evaluated as a treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia in a global Phase 2/3 study that has now completed patient treatment and follow-up. Opaganib has also demonstrated positive safety and efficacy signals in preliminary top-line data from a 40-patient U.S. Phase 2 study.
Opaganib has also received Orphan Drug designation from the U.S. FDA for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma and is being evaluated in a Phase 2a study in advanced cholangiocarcinoma and in a Phase 2 study in prostate cancer.
Opaganib demonstrated potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, completely inhibiting viral replication in an in vitro model of human lung bronchial tissue. Additionally, preclinical in vivo studies have demonstrated opaganib's potential to ameliorate inflammatory lung disorders, such as pneumonia, and have shown decreased fatality rates from influenza virus infection and amelioration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung injury by reducing the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids .
The ongoing studies with opaganib are registered on http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov, a web-based service by the U.S. National Institute of Health, which provides public access to information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies.
About RedHill Biopharma
RedHill Biopharma Ltd. (Nasdaq: RDHL) is a specialty biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on gastrointestinal and infectious diseases. RedHill promotes the gastrointestinal drugs, Movantik® for opioid-induced constipation in adults , Talicia® for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in adults , and Aemcolo® for the treatment of travelers' diarrhea in adults . RedHill's key clinical late-stage development programs include: (i) RHB-204, with an ongoing Phase 3 study for pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) disease; (ii) opaganib (ABC294640), a first-in-class SK2 selective inhibitor targeting multiple indications with positive Phase 2 COVID-19 data and an ongoing Phase 2/3 program for COVID-19 and Phase 2 studies for prostate cancer and cholangiocarcinoma ongoing; (iii) RHB-107 (upamostat), a serine protease inhibitor in a U.S. Phase 2/3 study as treatment for symptomatic COVID-19, and targeting multiple other cancer and inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases; (iv) RHB-104, with positive results from a first Phase 3 study for Crohn's disease; (v) RHB-102 (Bekinda®), with positive results from a Phase 3 study for acute gastroenteritis and gastritis and positive results from a Phase 2 study for IBS-D; and (vi) RHB-106, an encapsulated bowel preparation. More information about the Company is available at http://www.redhillbio.com / https://twitter.com/RedHillBio.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control and cannot be predicted or quantified, and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include the delay in top-line data from the Phase 2/3 COVID-19 study for opaganib, that the Phase 2/3 COVID-19 study for opaganib may not be successful and, even if successful, such study and results may not be sufficient for regulatory applications, including emergency use or marketing applications, and that additional COVID-19 studies for opaganib are likely to be required by regulatory authorities to support such potential applications and the use or marketing of opaganib for COVID-19 patients, that opaganib will not be effective against emerging viral variants, as well as risks and uncertainties associated with (i) the initiation, timing, progress and results of the Company's research, manufacturing, preclinical studies, clinical trials, and other therapeutic candidate development efforts, and the timing of the commercial launch of its commercial products and ones it may acquire or develop in the future; (ii) the Company's ability to advance its therapeutic candidates into clinical trials or to successfully complete its preclinical studies or clinical trials (iii) the extent and number and type of additional studies that the Company may be required to conduct and the Company's receipt of regulatory approvals for its therapeutic candidates, and the timing of other regulatory filings, approvals and feedback; (iv) the manufacturing, clinical development, commercialization, and market acceptance of the Company's therapeutic candidates and Talicia®; (v) the Company's ability to successfully commercialize and promote Movantik®, Talicia® and Aemcolo®; (vi) the Company's ability to establish and maintain corporate collaborations; (vii) the Company's ability to acquire products approved for marketing in the U.S. that achieve commercial success and build and sustain its own marketing and commercialization capabilities; (viii) the interpretation of the properties and characteristics of the Company's therapeutic candidates and the results obtained with its therapeutic candidates in research, preclinical studies or clinical trials; (ix) the implementation of the Company's business model, strategic plans for its business and therapeutic candidates; (x) the scope of protection the Company is able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering its therapeutic candidates and commercial products and its ability to operate its business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; (xi) parties from whom the Company licenses its intellectual property defaulting in their obligations to the Company; (xii) estimates of the Company's expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; (xiii) the effect of patients suffering adverse events using investigative drugs under the Company's Expanded Access Program; and (xiv) competition from other companies and technologies within the Company's industry. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 18, 2021. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any written or oral forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.
Adi Frish
Chief Corporate & Business Development Officer
RedHill Biopharma
U.S.: Bryan Gibbs, Finn Partners
UK: Amber Fennell, Consilium
Bryan Gibbs
https://www.redhillbio.com/RedHill/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=178&FID=4457&PID=0&IID=20352
Tags: BiologyBiotechnologyCell BiologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthMolecular BiologyPublic Health


text: Q: Web Interface to Control Functions in OS I'm sure this is a very basic question for most of you but I am curious. I am working on a small assignment and essentially what I want to do is to build a web interface that allows me to control certain functions or configurations in a linux OS. For example, I want a user to be able to login to the web interface and using the web interface, change the configuration for the linux systems hostname. I don't need the actual code etc. to do this, I just want to know where to start. Is it possible for me to get the web interface to call scripts to perform these task? What sort of language is required (besides HTML and CSS)? Whats the best way to go about doing this? Any help is welcome! :)


The Days of Johann, an agility dog!: I did it - AGAIN!!!
I did it - AGAIN!!!
Well, I did it again. I strained a muscle.
How? Those birds, they taunt me soooo, I just have to herd 'em.
And that's what I was doing when I strained my muscle, running full out like a crazy pup, herding them dang birds.
The good news is that Mum's been massaging me lots, I got some of that great Traumeel that works so well in relaxing me. I've rested up a day and already am feeling loads better. Maybe I won't need drug rehab after all, since I only had to take a couple of pills, BOL!!
Mum's a bit concerned that I keep doing this, even though we work hard to warm me up, cool me down, stretch me out after a good workout, work on my exercise ball, keep the exercise up daily, and more. So now she's thinking about adding some good foods to my diet that help with my muscle problems.
So she ordered me (and Gracie, will get some too) an entire case of duck necks and 2 lbs. of chicken liver from a local raw dog meat supplier. She's gonna pick 'em up tomorrow or Thursday. The reason she got duck necks instead of turkey or chicken is because they were having a big special - she got 25 lbs. of duck necks for $20.
We'll be keeping them frozen for Gracie, the gobbler. And I'll get the thawed ones. Chicken, turkey and duck necks provide a more quickly absorbing natural source of calcium, chondroitin, collagen and glucosamine, which are believed to help develop healthy joints and connective tissue. And they are gonna be great for my teeth, and oh so yummy!!!
So watch for a pic soon :) For now, it's Better Sleep Month, so I'm off to catch some zzzzzz's!
Johann, you scoundrel, I'm thinking you do this deliberately to get those special turducken necks!
Glad to hear that you are on the mend Johann. The birds around my way are the same, taunting dogs, cats(am I allowed to use that word?) and any animal higher than them on the food chain.
We're sorry you hurt yourself! Glad you seem to be healing. You and Gracie can enjoy your duck necks -- Freckles thinks she will stick to her dandelions!
oh dear Johann, hope the duck necks help!
" Johann, tens de ir a bruxa !! "
Johann, buddy,... you gotta calm down. Hope you feel better. herding birds is fun though, isn't it? we live near hospitals, helicopters are fun to herd too.
Johann, sorry to hear that you hurt yourself again! Poor guy! It's crazy considering all you do to keep fit. Hopefully the new additions to your diet will help! We'll be thinking about you!
Johann, I'm sorry to hear you have hurt yourself. I hope it heals up quickly.
One thing I'm wondering. How do you let your human know that you've injured a muscle and not a joint? I always check Penny but sometimes I feel that she might have a joint or muscle pain but I'm not sure how to tell the difference.
Hey everybody! Thank you so much for all your well wishes. I'm doing super good!
Almost back to normal again. And I even got a vid a day or so ago, of me leg weaving with Mum, posting about it soon.
How does she tell what's wrong with me? Well, long story as short as I can - after all the injuries, she's learned through poking me on every inch of my body, moving every moving part, and watching my facial reactions, pretty much where the problem lies.
This time it was my inside thigh and lower stomach muscle area that I kind of 'flinched' at, during the poking and leg stretching check up - a sure sign it was a tiny stress on my iliopsoas again.
Seems like it's a place we really have to pay attention close to in the future, work on more, strengthen, stretch, warm up, cool down, and the like, since the more severe pull last year.
Sometimes when I strain something, at first my entire body will be tense, and it's really difficult to narrow it down. Kind of like when a human pulls something, they get tense all over. So it may take a day or so of me loosening up to really narrow down the immediate sore spot. Make sense?


text:
Norman Vaughan (* 19. Dezember 1905 in Salem, Massachusetts; † 23. Dezember 2005 in Anchorage, Alaska) war ein US-amerikanischer Polarforscher und Schlittenhundeführer.

Leben
Vaughan war der Sohn eines wohlhabenden Gerbers und Schusters. In seiner Jugend begeisterte er sich für die Berichte der ersten Polarexpeditionen und brach im Jahre 1928 sein Studium in Harvard ab, als er hörte, dass Richard Evelyn Byrd eine Antarktisexpedition plante. Byrd nahm ihn in sein Team auf. Zur Würdigung von Vaughans Leistungen während der von 1928 bis 1930 dauernden Byrd Antarctic Expedition wurde ein antarktischer Berg, der Mount Vaughan, nach ihm benannt.

Mit den auf der Expedition gewonnenen Kenntnissen nahm er 1932 an einem Schlittenhunderennen im Rahmen der Winterolympiade in Lake Placid (New York) teil.

Während des Zweiten Weltkriegs war Vaughan Schlittenhundeführer Colonel in der US Army und war an Rettungsaktionen in Grönland beteiligt.

Im Alter von 68 Jahren zog Vaughan nach Alaska, um nach der Scheidung von Carolyn Muegge und seinem Bankrott ein neues Leben zu beginnen. Er nahm in der Folge 13 Mal am Iditarod teil, dem längsten Schlittenhunderennen der Welt, und sorgte für Aufruhr bei der Präsidentenvereidigung 1976, zu der er als Repräsentant Alaskas mit Schlittenhunden erschien. 1980 und 1984 nahmen er und die alaskischen Gesandten auch offiziell an der Parade teil.

1994 nahm er mit 88 Jahren an einer Expedition teil, die den nach ihm benannten Mount Vaughan bestieg. Drei Jahre darauf organisierte er das Norman Vaughan Serum Run, um an die Lieferung von Diphtherieserum von Nenana nach Nome im Jahr 1925 zu erinnern (siehe Diphtherieepidemie in Nome).

Seine Pläne, hundertjährig im Dezember 2005 auf den Mount Vaughan zurückzukehren, scheiterten im August des Jahres an fehlendem Kapital, so dass er sie auf 2006 verschob.

Da Vaughan seiner Mutter versprochen hatte, niemals Alkohol zu trinken, bis er 100 wäre, trank er sein erstes Glas Champagner aus Anlass seines 100. Geburtstages im Jahr 2005 während der Vorbereitungen zu dieser Expedition. Wenige Tage später verstarb Vaughan am Morgen des 23. Dezember 2005 im Alaska Medical Center.

Werk

Weblinks
 Offizielle Homepage von Norman Vaughan

Musher
Polarforscher (Antarktis)
Hundertjähriger
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1905
Gestorben 2005
Mann