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Select Category	REAL ESTATE	TURKEY	LAW	OTHER NEWS
Istanbul Airport Become
the Leader of Europe in 2020
Despite the decrease in the number of passengers at airports due to the epidemic of COVID-19, Istanbul airport which is Turkey's gateway to the world received at the European summit with 23.4 million passengers in 2020. Under the consideration made among the airports in Eu...
Real Estate will be a Reliable
Investment Tool in 2021
New projects are announced in real estate. Sector experts, who say "Investment trend shows real estate again in 2021", emphasizes that the activity will increase as of the second quarter. Indicating that the real estate sector maintains its attractiveness in investment despite the Covid...
Housing Sales Rate
City by City in Turkey
Housing sales in Turkey in 2020, has signed a record. When the city-based evaluation is made, there was a decrease in the housing sales in 9 provinces where Bolu, Bartin, and Cankiri are located. Despite all over the world under the influence of the coronavirus has scored a record housing sale in...
Pairing Istanbul Card
with HES Code Started as of Today
Pairing the Istanbul card with HES code and HES code requirement in public transportation vehicles in Istanbul started this morning. Those who do not pair their Istanbul card with the HES code before getting on public transport cannot benefit from public transportation as of today. &...
The First Covid-19 Vaccine Was Applied
to the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca
After the Emergency use approval of the Covid-19 vaccine has been given, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca was the First Person who got the Covid-19 vaccine. Regarding the latest news; Health Minister Fahrettin Koca made a declaration after the Covid-19 Scientific Committee meeting, which ...
The Tourism Season in Turkey
is Going to Start in April
When the Tourism season in Turkey is going to start is became a curiosity. Tourists and investors from all over the world impatiently waiting for the opening of tourism in Turkey. Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy gave the good news, "Let's get ready for the ne...
Newsflash! Statement from WhatsApp
Regarding the Privacy Agreement
Newsflash! Statement from WhatsApp regarding the privacy agreement: Update does not change data sharing with Facebook. WhatsApp, seriously damaged due to the privacy agreement it offered to its users, made a statement on the subject. The statement said, "This update does not ...
How Do Buildings Are Going to Be
in Turkey in the Future?
With the Covid-19 outbreak, the housing demands of citizens have also changed. The culture of working from home becomes widespread. People want a house with a garden, a large balcony, and a terrace. Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum made statements regarding ...
The New Attraction Point of
Foreign Real Estate Investors, Kucukcekmece
Foreigners' Interest in Real Estate in the District Increased Kucukcekme, which is situated on the European side of Istanbul ranked 12th in the quality life index, became the new attraction point of foreigners in real estate. Foreign real estate investors from Iran, C...
Breaking news: Will it snow in Istanbul?
The Statement came from Meteorology
The General Directorate of Meteorology (MGM) made a clarification relating the rumors that "it will snow in Istanbul". The statement said, "Lately, there have been news in the press and media that there will be a fall of snow in Istanbul in January 2021. These statements are made out...
Moving to New Home Will
Increase During the Spring Period!
Nowadays, people are spending most of the day in residences within the scope of coronavirus measures that affect the whole world. The needs also to change with the conditions. This is the reason around April people are preparing move new houses. The coronavirus pandemic has tu...
Turkey Became the First in
Housing Price Increase Rate
The countries with the highest increase in housing prices in the world were announced. Turkey became the 1ST with a 27.3% increase. Turkey prepared to shut down 2020 with a new record in home sales. Despite the pandemic conditions, Turkey protected the viability of the real estate marke...
Covid-19 Chinese vaccine
arrived in Turkey!
The Turning Point in the Struggling against Coronavirus The plane carrying coronavirus vaccines purchased from Chinese vaccine company SinoVac landed at Esenboga Airport in Ankara. Health Minister Fahrittin Koca declared that the tests will take 14 days and the vaccination ...
Strong Message About the
Relationship Between Iran and Turkey
Iranian Parliament Presidency delegation spokesman Mohammed Hussein Ferhenga is, in his speech in the Parliament, stating that very powerful neighbors in the region, Turkey and Iran, "Conspiracies of our enemies in the sense that they're all together, failed to be precise." said. Fe...
Convenience is Provided to Foreigners
Who Want to Buy a Property in Istanbul
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) published a guide and information brochure in 6 languages called "Guide to Buying Property in Istanbul" to answer the questions of foreign investors about buying office and housing. Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), Turkey to tell the rea...
Housing Sales to Foreigners in
Turkey Increased in November
Housing sales to foreigners increased by %24.4 compared to the same month of the previous year. 4 Thousand 962 Houses were Sold in Turkey to Foreigners in November 2020. Housing sales to foreigners in Turkey Show an increase of %24.4 compared to the same month of the previous year. 4 96...
Housing Prices Increased
by 29.2 in Turkey
According to data released by the Central Bank, housing prices increased by 29.2 percent in Turkey. Especially interest in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions increased, Antalya became the favorite city. According to TURKSTAT data, approximately 1.4 million houses were sold with an inc...
Kivanc Tatlitug Is Looking for
a House in Mount Ida
After the actress Serenay Sarikaya and Muge Boz, Kivanc Tatlitug also decided to settle down in the Kaz Mountains. The handsome actor is on a real estate hunt and looking for an authentic stone house. Tatlitug decided that if he cannot find the house he wants, he will be built his house...
Ongoing Metro Constructions
in Istanbul and Openin
Since Istanbul was a big city and its population was high, there were traffic and transportation problems. The Municipality continues its efforts to solve these problems at full speed. Here are the metro lines and the opening dates that will open soon. Eminonu-Alibeykoy Metro Line ...
Coronavirus Agenda
Today, Phase-1 studies of the local vaccine developed against the coronavirus at Erciyes University have been completed. Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Calis said, "No serious side effects were seen. If everything goes well, I hope we plan to switch to Phase-2 by the end of this month. The first d...
Misunderstanding between
Iran and Turkey was resolved
A telephone conversation occurred between Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Iranian Foreign Minister Cevad Zarif. As a result of the meeting, a statement was made from Iran. The statement made by the Iranian Embassy on Twitter: "The actual phone calls recently ex...
Human Trial of the First Native
Coronavirus Vaccine in Turkey
Coronavirus vaccine made for the first in Turkey. Turkish Health Minister said about the human test of the Turkish made Coronavirus vaccine: The human test of the first native Coronavirus vaccine began on Thursday in Turkey. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told after visitin...
Buy Your Home Now
with Affordable Prices and Online Reservation
The Turkish real estate sector, which has slowed down due to the COVID-19, has started to gain momentum. Foreign investors who want to buy home in Turkey and postponed their demands due to pandemic are preparing to come to Turkey. MELARES launched an ONLINE RESERVATION and SALES application so th...
in Turkey 2020
Real estate sector looks to 2020 positively. The real estate and construction sector representatives announced that the decrease of housing loan rates and positive developments in the domestic market created great hope for a rise in demand for property for sale Turkey 2020. Nazmi Durbakayim, Cha...
WORTH-SEEING VIDEOS
The Power of the Turkish Government and Health System in COVID-19 Pandemic
Turkish healthcare workers are working with maximu...
WATCHNOW
The Expected First Snow of the Year Came to Istanbul
Turkey was under the impact of cold and snowy weat...
Property Investment in Turkey: What Should be Considered in Buying or Selling a Property?
There are the most important things when buying, s...
Important Information About Tax and Legal Subjects for the Foreign Property Owners in Turkey
Interesting matters related to the acquisition of ...


Unlike before nowadays, one's business is recognized by their website. Past few years SEO is the trendsetter for an end to end business. When comes to business customers attention and visibility are what helps to reach the goal. There are a lot more components are there in the search engine optimization. But one entity of the website which brings instant trust over a business is content. The content marketing is considered as the foremost one that will quickly make the readers as customers of your business. In fact, your website will get the structure only by means of content.
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This video of a Saudi man playing with his phone on a car hood as the driver cruises in Riyadh has gone viral since it was uploaded to YouTube few days ago. The uploader of the video wrote that the car was moving at a speed of 90km/h on Makkah road, one of the main highways in the Saudi capital, while the man who has covered his face with a red checkered shumagh can be seen on top of a Ford Crown Victoria vehicle sitting on the hood and later lying on the windshield and shaking his legs in the air.
Internet users in Saudi Arabia are very comfortable sharing information online, new research reveals. This chart comes from the "2013 Internet Trends" presentation given by Mary Meeker of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers during the D11 conference in New York this week, and it shows that Saudis share more than double the world average.


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Балканизация — процесс распада государства или федерации, сопровождаемый дальнейшей фрагментацией вновь образованных политических субъектов, которые вступают в конфликтные отношения друг с другом вплоть до гражданской войны. Термин является производным от названия европейского региона Балканы, который в 1817—1912 из единого пространства под властью Османской империи превратился в несколько небольших государств.

В современном словоупотреблении термин балканизация часто означает негативные последствия распада государств и опасности поощрения сепаратизма. В этом смысле говорят о балканизации Африки, Европы, Украины или России. В качестве антонима балканизации Р. Коллинз предлагает термин «американизация».

В расширенном смысле термин относится к любому дроблению однородной системы на плохо связанные друг с другом части, например балканизация интернета.

Балканизация в собственном смысле слова повторилась в 1990-е годы распадом Югославии.
Тогда бывшие субъекты федерации превратились в суверенные государства (Босния и Герцеговина, Сербия и Черногория, Хорватия, Словения, Македония), которые подверглись дальнейшей фрагментации: от вновь образованной Хорватии отделилась Сербская Краина, Босния и Герцеговина практически раскололась на Республику Сербскую и Федерацию Боснии и Герцеговины, Сербия и Черногория разделилась на Сербию и Черногорию, от Сербии впоследствии отделилось Косово.

Термин «балканизация России» впервые был введен в оборот одним из руководителей Белого движения генералом А. И. Деникиным. В записке меморандуме правительствам Великобритании и США, написанной им в 1946 году, было изложено такое понимание генералом «балканизации России»
Нельзя смешивать СССР с Россией, советскую власть с русским народом, палача с жертвой. Если война начнется против России, для её раздела и балканизации (Украина, Кавказ), или для отторжения русских земель, то русский народ воспримет такую войну как войну Отечественную.

Примечания

Геополитика
Социальные проблемы
Сепаратизм
Балканский полуостров

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Rolling coffee cups into the circular economy
Jay Hunsberger
Monday, May 13, 2019 - 12:00am
Sustana Fiber
New cup stock paperboard contains higher percentage of post-consumer recycled fiber than the industry standard.
This article is sponsored by Sustana Fiber.
Are coffee cups recyclable?
A whole lot of guidance out there says they're not, owing to the thin layer of plastic or wax that keeps the paper cups from falling apart in your hands. It turns out, though, that these cups are perfectly recyclable — it's just that many municipalities don't do it.
Sustana Fiber is working to change that, and to advance the inclusion of takeaway hot and cold cups in the circular economy. The company does this both by working with material recovery facilities to recycle used paper cups, and by supplying the resulting fiber to paperboard manufacturers for use in new cups with ever-increasing proportions of post-consumer recycled content. For example, earlier this month, Sustana Fiber supplied the recycled fibers for a new brand of cup stock paperboard that contains up to 32 percent post-consumer recycled fiber, a much higher percentage than the industry standard.
Such efforts have never been more important. Americans generate more waste than people in any other country in the world. Containers and packaging make up the largest portion, or about 30 percent, of the municipal solid waste we generate. That's the equivalent of 4.5 pounds per person per day, and only slightly more than a third of it is recycled or composted.
Containers and packaging make up the largest portion, or about 30 percent, of the municipal solid waste we generate.
After China's recent decision to stop accepting the vast majority of the waste it once took from the United States for processing, a growing amount of recyclable material is once again ending up in the landfill. This has prompted an increasingly sophisticated and urgent conversation about the environmental damage associated with containers and packaging.
Recycling the cup
Last year, Sustana Fiber participated in a pilot program with Starbucks in which our Fox River facility processed 25 million Starbucks coffee cups into high-quality fiber that was then used to make new Starbucks cups. The project was Sustana Fiber's way of demonstrating that a coffee cup can be turned back into a coffee cup. In fact, we process food and beverage containers such as coffee cups every day into high-quality fiber that can be used to make a broad range of products, such as tissue, printing and writing paper and food packaging.
The challenge with recycling paper cups is that not all municipalities accept them, something Sustana Fiber is working to change. We are a member of the Foodservice Packaging Initiative (FPI), a trade association that has several initiatives aimed at expanding recycling rates. The FPI's Paper Recovery Alliance, which counts Sustana Fiber among its core companies, brings together the entire paper cup and container supply chain, from raw material supplier through operators, to voluntarily take responsibility for their packaging and ensure that more of it gets recycled and composted. We also work directly with materials recovery facilities to educate them about how to sort paper cups.
It's important to prove that paper cup recycling is indeed possible, but it's also increasingly important to look at how that cup was created in the first place. That's why Sustana Fiber supplied fiber for use in a cup stock paperboard that contains up to 32 percent post-consumer recycled fiber.
EnviroLife is 100-percent, post-consumer recycled fiber that is FDA-compliant for use in direct food contact packaging.
Previously, the industry standard for post-consumer recycled content in paper cups was only about 10 percent. The cup stock used Sustana Fiber's EnviroLife – a 100-percent, post-consumer recycled fiber that is FDA-compliant for use in direct food contact packaging under all conditions of use. Post-consumer recycled fiber embodies the circular economy in that it's manufactured from recycled products that have served a purpose for end-users, then sold to the market where it again serves a useful purpose.
Our chairman and CEO, Fabian de Armas, said it well: "This is an industry milestone that we are proud to be a part of. Thanks to Sustana Fiber's unique product, we are raising the bar for what's possible in the circular economy, especially at a particularly critical time for the recycling industry, and for sustainable business as a whole."
Perhaps serendipitously, recovered paper cups actually can yield higher-quality recycled fiber than some other paper products. In that sense, recycled content isn't just a way for foodservice companies to reduce waste — it may confer its own benefits. Instead of attempting to overcome the perceived deficits of a recycled fiber, this new cup stock paperboard leverages its unique virtues in service of a quality product. That kind of approach improves the value proposition of a circular economy.
Now, more than ever, consumers are looking to companies to lead the charge in sustainability stewardship, and at Sustana Fiber, we are proud to be an enduring supply chain partner for environmentally conscious companies looking to move the needle. We have a deep commitment to sustainability, and our key focus is partnering with like-minded organizations to create a closed-loop fiber future.
Sustana
VP Sales Recycled Fibers
Why it's critical for food companies to choose sustainable packaging
ByJay Hunsberger
ByMeg Wilcox
Starbucks' Cup Summit: Does the Cost of Recycling Runneth Over?
ByScott Seydel
Starbucks Honored for Recycled-Content Cup
Starbucks Brews Up First FDA-Approved Recycled-Content Cup
Johnson & Johnson: Innovating in Business by Making Sustainability Personal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Mississippi Burning Case Officially Closes After Half A Century, On The 52nd Anniversary
Jacqueline Bowser
Officials in Mississippi after more than half a century are closing the Mississippi Burning case, in which three civil rights workers were kidnapped and murdered. On June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, had volunteered for the Mississippi Summer Project and were trying to help register African American voters at the time of their disappearances in Neshoba county, Mississippi.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, said, "It's just gotten to the point that it's 52 years later and we've done all we can do." Hood continued, according to The Clarion-Ledger,"The decision "closes a chapter" in the state's divisive civil rights history. For these participants, the good Lord will have to deal with that."
"The case had been investigated three times by the Justice Department over the past 52 year and helped convict nine individuals for their roles in this heinous crime," according to Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Department's civil-rights division, reported by FOX News.
The Mississippi case gained notoriety with the 1988 movie, "The Mississippi Burning." The film won several awards including an Academy Award for best cinematography, via IMDb.
The burned out station wagon of slain civil rights workers [Photo by FBI/State of Mississippi Attorney General's Office via Getty Images]Schwerner visited Mount Zion Church in May 1964. He had been interested in the the church for a "Freedom School."
Then, on June 16, while Mount Zion Church was holding a business meeting in the evening, members of the Klan surround the church and waited. 30 men surrounded the church and waited. Klan members were armed with rifles and shot guns. As the members of the church left they were confronted and attacked by Klan members.
As the members of the church were being attacked, some Klan members went to a car and grabbed approximately 10 gallons of gasoline. The Klan members entered the church and doused the inside of the building with gasoline and ignited it.
Schwerner heard what happened and went back to church with Chaney and Goodman. They wanted to investigate what happened at the church and talk to the members who had been at the church at the time of the fire. The three found out from church members that the Klan was looking for them.
Mississippi Burning marker near the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church [Photo by Marianne Todd/Getty Images]Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman decided they were going to leave Mississippi and took Highway 16. Little did they know that Deputy Sheriff Price would spot them or that he was a Klan member, on the highway he pulled them over. Deputy Sheriff Price decided to arrest the three civil rights workers on suspicion of the church fire and bring them to the Neshoba County jail.
Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman were held for 7 hours in the jail before they were released and told to leave. The three drove their car, escorted by Deputy Sheriff Price toward the state line. Deputy Sheriff Price had left them and then came back, and started chasing them again. Chaney who was driving at the time, pulled over the car.
Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman got out of their car and went into Deputy Sheriff Price's vehicle. As the civil rights worker was in the vehicle, more cars pulled up and followed them. The other cars followed Deputy Sheriff Price down a dirt road.
Schwerner was shot in the head first, then Goodman, and then Chaney. The three were reported missing to the FBI, who started an investigation of the civil rights workers' disappearance.
The bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were found at a dam site at Old Jolly farm.
Investigators Mississippi, July of 1964. [Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers via Getty Images]James Jorden, a Klu Klux Klan member, became a FBI informant and helped with the case. Jordan decided to help the state to avoid a prison sentence himself. The FBI promised Jordan that they would relocate him and his family.
In 1964, 16 men were arrested and charged for the disappearance and murder of Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman in Mississippi.
A trial began in October 1967. Only seven people were convicted: Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, Sam Bowers, Wayne Roberts, Jimmy Snowden, Billy Wayne Posey, and Horace Barnett. Seven others were acquitted and for two others, no verdict was reached.
In 2005, one more arrest was made in the case. Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old man known as "The Preacher," was arrested in Mississippi and brought in front of a grand jury for questioning. He was the first person to be arrested in the case after 41 years, via The Washington Post.
Edgar Ray Killen, 80, found guilty on three counts of manslaughter [Photo by Marianne Todd/Getty Images]Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter for the death of the three civil rights workers and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his part in the Mississippi Burning case, as reported by CNN News.
After 52 years, the Mississippi Burning case has become a dark part of American history.
[Photo by Marianne Todd/Getty Images]


This wonderful magazine shares how-to videos, plus offers patterns for a variety of quilting projects.
a great resource for patterns, instructions, online classes and more. Quilting couldn't be made any easier.
A must-have for quilters, Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting serves as a passionate, artsy, and detailed guide to quilting.
If you know someone who's a beginning quilt maker or is curious about becoming one, then Quiltmaker magazine is the perfect publication, serving as a starter guide to the art of making quilts.
For a broad overview of news, trends, and techniques within the sewing industry, Sew News is the prominent publication.
For anything related to embroidery, Creative Machine Embroidery is the expert source. Featuring tips, examples, and photos of finished products, Creative Machine Embroidery has all the info you'll need to complete your embroidering project.
For the art of cross stitch sewing, Just Cross Stitch is the defining expert, providing useful info on the topic of cross stitching.
Simple patterns to make simply beautiful things. Get help with patterns or "ask Jil", Knit Simple aims to make your life easy and beautiful.
Threads Magazine provides sewing tips to help you make perfect button holes, ruffles, create a better fitting bust and so much more.
Handwoven Magazine, published five times each year, shares the joys and innovative techniques of weaving, for both beginner and expert alike.


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Q: Bringing Wiki page up on IOS I am trying to get a wiki page to display on IOS. This is the first assignment in my 8-week course and I am completely lost. I have only worked with Java, Swift is a completely new language and I cant seem to find a starting point. My professor has only showed us how to bring objects into the view controller such as segmented control bars and buttons, but has not showed us how to implement code into program to interact with the objects.
I know this is a long shot, and I have exhausted all other options (even bought an IOS 9 book) but if anyone can provide a starting amount of code for me to see and work with I would be extremely grateful. I am not asking for the whole project, I just need to be able to see an example of some starting code that I can hopefully follow and progress with.
Project Details /
Project Example Images

A: From reading the instructions, it seems like you'll need to have a multi-component UIPickerView (this is a basic tutorial, you can use it to get the delegate methods used to interact with the pickerView, here's a more in depth tutorial) and definitely will need to use multiple UIViewControllers in order to achieve the desired result. Add BarButton Items to the bottom of the view, and control+drag on those to connect them to additional ViewControllers which can be used to select Plant/Animal Name, and to change the textColor.
On the initial viewContoller, you'll need a WKWebView above your imageView, learn more about their implementation here (note that this shows a programmatic approach, your wkWebView will likely be connected to your code from Interface Builder using an IBOutlet).
Continue to ask questions as they arise.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


It is easy for me to nurture others, something that I find natural and comforting. I recently got a cat for this reason. It adds to the collective at home of fish, dog, kids, turtle. There is something settling in me when I care for others, which is why being a physician was a natural calling.
The cat has brought welcome slow down, a moment to pause in the mindfulness of purring and rest. To marvel at another creature's ability to sleep all day, and watch the shadows playfully at night. It reminds me of the speed I have been going to get where I am.
I remember in college at UC Berkeley walking around the beautiful northern California campus so lost in thought about where I was going next or what I needed to study that I would be unconsciously walking faster and faster. Suddenly, I would realize my center of gravity was far out in front of my feet. My backpack was so heavy that it hurt my low back to walk this way. As always, with pain, I paid attention.
As a small moment of mindfulness, I would practice "walking over my feet". I would catch myself busily rushing forward and consciously bring my center of gravity back over my hips. Head suspended, chin slightly tucked, shoulders back, core present over the pelvis, feet moving ahead but always, settling, under. Moving together, as a unit. It is funny how much this small physical attention would change my mind and my space.
Life has moved a lot faster since that time. Berkeley was busy but medical school was like trying to take a small sip out of a fire hydrant of information. Residency was doing and practicing, gaining clinical sea legs but moving so quickly through the fatigue that working became a rote muscle memory. Walking over my feet at 3 AM sometimes meant running to labor and delivery to catch a baby.
In surgery, as a resident, I learned my job was to anticipate the surgeon's next move at all times. That is the best way to get involved and gain experience and confidence. It trains your brain always to think steps ahead, as a physician must. You must sit back from the playing field and understand all of the possible paths from this point so you can anticipate and outsmart fate when it is possible.
I remember the nights in the hospital when I had a patient that was already a head of me. The process of dying had set in, and very much like the process of labor, when it was gaining momentum there was nothing you could do to stop it. You would try ordering tests or antibiotics or fluids and medications but sometimes there was nothing you could do but at one point realize, I am walking ahead of my feet. If I sit back and see what is happening here, I know it's time to tell the family what we are facing. Rooted in the realization I would tell the family the cross roads at which we had arrived.
Moments of mindfulness like walking over your feet do not require a week long meditation retreat or even in depth study. The simple act of paying attention changes everything. Getting out of our heads and into our bodies can teach us profoundly, where to soften, where to strengthen. I want to share my journey of how I moved toward direct primary care and opening my own clinic. Here is where it starts. Right here, walking presently and mindfully, over my own two feet.
When I was 7 years old my mom and dad taught me my first version of meditation. It was walking meditation, which worked for me because I was always in motion as kids are.
Over the years I was exposed to many types and traditions of meditation. During a difficult time in my 20s when I reconsidered everything, as young people do, I felt confused and lost about how and if to meditation.
I went to teacher in my massage school at the time. He was a deep and introspective gentleman and I asked him how I should approach the problem of not being able to meditate any more. He said, "hold the Brieanna that does not meditate in the palm of your hand as if you are watching her. And love her".
Meditation returned to my life through medical school but it had a new name in the 1990s, mindfulness based stress reduction. Jon Kabat Zinn's work in the field was bringing a scientific evidence basis to effectively bringing oneself into the present moment with mind exercises or mindfulness techniques, many of which are forms of meditation. I read several of Jon's books including my favorite, Wherever You Go, There You Are.
Suddenly I found myself in Pueblo, Colorado, rotating at the state mental health hospital with a brilliant psychiatrist Elizabeth Stuyt M.D. on the dual diagnosis unit for people with drug addiction and mental illness.
Along with all of the therapy and medications and social work that supported people during their court mandated 90 day stay, Dr. Stuyt would assign books to her patients from the center library. The books varied, but a series was on yet another approach to mindfulness, the Heartmath Solution. Heartmath writes a series of books and as a medical student Transforming Stress was the one to which I gravitated.
At the end of each chapter was a mindfulness exercise and instructions on how to slow your body down, specifically your heart rate variability to improve our "fight or flight response". At my next cardiology rotation they were just implementing the Heartmath Solution for patients with heart disease to lower stress because of the great research behind stress reduction that was mounting.
In the last few years, I came across a Time magazine article on mindfulness and started using the app Headspace. It is the latest mindfulness tool that fits into my tool box. As Andy Puddicombe says, meditation is a tool to exercise the muscle of mindfulness. It is not stopping thoughts or getting rid of emotions. It is stepping back and seeing the thoughts clearly with a relax focused mind. Allow thoughts to come and go without all of the fuss. On average our minds are lost in thought 47% of the time. We reinforce the story line when are are "on the roller coaster" of the mind. Our minds are wired for going, doing, looking out of the dangerous and negative.
So why, as a Primary Care Physician and Osteopath, is mindfulness so important to me?
I am by no means an expert in mindfulness nor would I speak to myself being particularly "good" at it if there is such an achievement in this realm. As a clinician, I have seen it radically transform people's health. Be it mental health, eating habits, quitting smoking or dealing with chronic pain, there is a place for mindfulness at the treatment table.
Over the next few weeks I'll be writing series of articles with reference to the importance of mindfulness and stress reduction in our daily lives. My goal is not to become dogmatic or religious. My point is to help you learn a few tips for dealing with the day in and out process of your own brain.
The brain is powerful, wonderful and to be respected. But the mind is a monkey. It jumps around and around and fear, negativity and doubt are some of its favorite chapters to play repetitively. The mind is also very good at amplifying negative feelings, causing us to be sucked in to the roller coaster and ride ride ride the wave of intensity of pain, anxiety, discomfort or boredom that our mind is feeding us.
Mindfulness is not just getting off the roller coaster. It is seeing it, being aware of it and being the space that surrounds the busy, active bee of the mind. Or as my daughter puts it, it is finding the "life watcher" inside of you.
I'd like to invite you to join me on October 19th from 5-8pm for an Open House and Evening of Community networking to celebrate the opening of my new practice, Direct Osteopatic Primary Care.
I want to share the new space and clinic model of direct primary care with everyone in our community network of partners and referral resources.
The Open House will be held on Wednesday, October 19th from 5 to 8pm at Direct Osteopathic Primary Care's new office at 16 Lakeside Lane, Lakeside, CO 80212.
Join us if you can for beer, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Families and children are welcome.
If you are unable to make the event, please click here to download my updated contact information so that we can stay in touch.
Visit Direct Osteopathic Primary Care's website at mydenverDO.com or download this 2-page PDF brochure to learn more about the services I offer and the direct primary care model.
Osteopathic manipulation- gentle treatments for alignment and balance. Remember Osteopathic treatments for non operative pain, pelvic pain, headaches, recurrent sinusitis, pregnancy related back and ligament pain and carpal tunnel, newborns with nursing difficulty, torticollis among other complaints.
Be sure to RSVP here. I look forward to seeing you at the Open House!


Deflated. The sun is shining behind me, but I can't help but note the dark skies ahead.
It's coming home from a party to find a text from my mother that reads, "Grandpa in congestive heart failure. In ICU. Will keep you posted."
It's Duncan. Today is the 14th. The 14th was the last day that I know that I know that I know I felt him kick. Tomorrow is the 15th, and the 15th marks the day that I KNEW. I just knew.
It's Seth. It's his recent obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and his new "I'm gonna kill you with [insert whatever weapon du jour]" vocabulary. It's the age, I guess. But it's so dang hard.
It's James. And the final days of his babyhood slipping away..... ***sob*** It's that only 4 of the 12 families that RSVPed "yes" to his birthday party actually came, and, yep, here come my insecurities of "I, and now we, don't matter." Blergh.
It's Tiffany, and her ankle, and my inability to fix it. It's also watching her meet people and make new friends...and it's unavoidable that there be some who have lacking social skills, and inadvertently confuse her and upset me.
It's a recent break-in around the corner in our subdivision, and the feelings of helplessness that stirs up. And the reminder that sometimes it is just stuff. And sometimes, it is SO MUCH MORE.
It's the stupid scale, and numbers that are going the wrong direction despite healthy choices and only minor cheats (with leftover gluten and dairy free smash cake, no less!).
It's May. And yes, while May means birthday celebrations and Mother's Day and Memorial Day ushering in summer....for me, it's MAY and the connotation is too great to even voice.
I want to come back and do justice to Erin and her third birthday, and of course James' and his wonderful celebration and just his first, amazing year, in general. Yet....I'm in my quiet place, and I think, like each year, it just needs to run its course and play out how it will play out.
May seems like an awfully heavy month for you, so all the feelings make sense. I hope you're feeling better soon.
Also, the "I'm gonna kill you"/"I make you dead" stuff drives me crazy. This phase is so fun.


text:
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text:
Walcott defeats Charles to become champ
By Marquis JohnsJuly 18, 2019
History was made on July 18, 1951, as Arnold Raymond Cream became the oldest Heavyweight World Champion at...
Julio Caesar Chavez wiped out Roger Mayweather 34 years ago
By T J RivesJuly 7, 2019
There's always a fight that you can point to for a great champion, as his "coming-out...
Tyson-Holyfield II was "Bite Nite" 22 years ago Friday
By T J RivesJune 28, 2019
Over two decades later it still remains the most bizarre finish to a Heavyweight Championship boxing...
Floyd Mayweather overwhelmed Arturo Gatti 14 years ago Tuesday
One great smaller weight fighter was on his rise, while the champion he faced was unfortunately...
Just over 80 years ago, one of the epic rematches was held in Heavyweight boxing history....
By Marquis JohnsJune 20, 2019
On June 20, 1980, Sugar Ray Leonard took on Roberto Duran in the first matchup of their epic trilogy...
Floyd Patterson legendarily KO-ed Ingemar Johansson 59 years ago
Heavyweight title history was made nearly 60 years ago Thursday night, as Floyd Patterson became the...
Hearns destroyed Duran with one punch 35 years ago
One thing that separates boxing from all other sports is that one punch can change, or...
"Cinderella Man" Braddock upsets Baer
On June 13, 1935, at the Madison Square Garden Bowl, Long Island City, Queens, New York,...
Norton-Holmes in one of the Greatest Heavyweight Rounds Ever
By Marquis JohnsJune 9, 2019
World Boxing Council Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton and Larry Holmes on June 9, 1978, had one of the...


text:
Who's in the Video
Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science[…]
Hey Bill Nye! How Do I Engage Skeptics in Meaningful Climate Change Discussion?
Climate change is a topic that's politically charged rather than scientifically charged. Bill Nye offers tips for how those on the side of science can begin to have meaningful conversations with skeptics.
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Danny Miller is at odds with many of his friends; they don't believe in climate change, but he does. It's a predicament Bill Nye can lend some guidance on; science skeptics and climate change deniers have been one of his longest uphill battles in the public sphere.
So what is Nye's advice for having meaningful discussions with climate change deniers and perhaps even bringing them slowly around to see reason? Nye admits that public figures who deny climate change have been alarmingly successful at casting doubt over the credibility of science so, as a starting point, it's important to choose your language carefully. The word 'theory' has lost its integrity in recent years – it seems like anyone these days can have a theory. "I have a theory it's raining outside," Nye jokes, with a hint of sadness. So understanding and relaying the real definition of the word to people you don't see eye to eye with can be a crucial tool.
Most people hear the word "theory" and assume it's an idea or statement in need of proof. A scientist hears the word "theory" and recognizes it as certifiable fact because it's been proven. A hypothesis is one thing, that's the first step towards an idea becoming a theory. When a hypothesis is proven, then it is a theory. So climate change theory isn't a wishy washy idea people can choose to believe in or not; it's backed by data, and is a concrete concept.
Bill Nye's most recent book is Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.
Danny Miller: Hello Bill. My name is Danny Miller. Politically I tend to be conservative. I believe that anthropogenic global warming is real and that the Big Bang Theory and evolution are perfectly valid theories. Obviously this puts me at odds with most people in my demographic and I find that conversations with my peers on these topics usually develop into arguments on some other random subject entirely. My question to you is why are these topics so politically charged in the matters of science and not politics and how do I engage into meaningful conversation? Thank you for answering.
Bill Nye: Danny. Danny. Danny. You have touched on a subject that I find
fascinating and I've spent a lot of time on myself so I'm really glad you asked this. But when it comes to anthropogenic global climate change, or human caused global climate change, it's politicized because of the fossil fuel industry. And I've spent a lot of time with this, I've asked myself as a native of the United States. I have an engineering agree in the United States; I've got my license and I practice - I'm an engineer in the United States. Why is the United States not of the world leader in addressing climate change? Why isn't the United States the world leader in renewable energies, better water purification or desalinization techniques? Better ways to provide the Internet to everyone on earth? Why isn't of the U.S. leading?
And I am satisfied it's because of the success of the denial community or the deniers. They have managed to introduce the idea that scientific uncertainty, plus or minus two percent about whatever it might be, is the same as plus or minus a hundred percent. There's doubt about the whole thing and that's wrong. So what to do about it? What I always remind myself, and the example I learned from or claim I learned from was what we traditionally call skeptical thought or skeptical point of view or clinical thinking, when you tell somebody who reads her or his horoscope everyday that horoscopes are false, that there is no scientific evidence people have tried over and over to validate horoscopes and there is no connection between what is written on those pages and what happens in your life, none. And even the whole idea of the full moon that there are more hospital visits on a full moon is false. You can show it; it's not complicated. There are no more hospital visits on a full moon than other times. Okay. The first time someone you're having a conversation with hears these things he or she is troubled and reacts, might push you away. But what you do, in my opinion, is you chip away at it. The first time the person hears this that the fossil fuel industry cherry picks data, the fossil fuel industry as thrown a lot of money at conservative members of U.S. Congress in order to support their political campaigns if they will support, for example, no changes in the way coal is mined, for example.
The first time they hear it they reject it. But if you just chip away at it after a while I think you can convince people, bring them around to your point of view. And the other thing just important I think will help focus your discussions is the word theory. The word theory is a word we throw around all the time. I have a theory it's raining outside. But in science a theory is a special thing and it's not complicated, it means you can make a prediction. If you have a theory of evolution you can make predictions about living things in nature based on your theory. You can make predictions about climate change based on measuring atmospheric gases and making computer models that jive or work together well with evidence in geology or in ancient rocks. If you have a theory of time, we were talking recently about relativity, you can make predictions based on the theory and the productions will be true.
So when you are having these discussions with people just see what it is, see if they have a way with their point of view that enables them to make predictions. So talking some more about me, as you may know I bet two renowned or notorious climate change deniers, I bet them each $20,000 and neither of them will take the bet. I was willing to put $40,000 of my own money on the table that 2016 will be among the top ten hottest years ever recorded, the decade 2010/2020 will be the hottest decade ever recorded and neither one of these guys, neither Marc Morano or Joe Bastardi would take those bets because they know, in my opinion, they know better. And so their beliefs or what they claim, more accurately what they claim their beliefs are about the earth's climate system really don't make any predictions about it. And so just ask your friends how they feel about making a prediction based on their theories.
And to give you an example, this is just kind of fun but annoying, there's a species of mosquito now in the London underground, in the subway of London that generally cannot mate with mosquitoes at the surface. These mosquitoes molestus live in the underground in the subway tubes because there's so much to eat there, that is to say you and me. And apparently they really started making this migration late in the 1800s but the mosquitoes got very successful during World War II when these subway stations were used as bomb shelters and the people would be down there at night and these insects have lived down there without the need to go upstairs for decades and so they're now genetically diversion enough from their ancestors that they can't mate with them successfully. And evolution can make predictions like that. Other theories about a deity that waived his or her hand and created all these insects or other species cannot make any such predictions. They would have made no such prediction about an emergent species in the London subway and so on and so on. So see if you can focus your discussions with your friends on predictions and the place to start, don't want to get into a big thing about it but that's what a theory is in science is it makes predictions. Good luck. Keep us posted. Let us know how it comes out. Thanks for calling. Thanks for video recording. Carry on.
Motivation Escapes Us When We Don't Understand Its Machinery


This Sunday (12th August) our services will be at 10.30am (Morning Worship) and 6.30pm (Holy Communion). We also have a service of Holy Communion every Wednesday at 11.00am. Please join us for this – it's an opportunity to pause for a short while in the middle of a busy week and "re-charge".
If you're thinking of attending New Wine in 2019, special rates are available for those booking before 3rd September. Please let John Rainer know if you wish to go before booking.


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Amanda Macinga, left, and Nicole Pavlansky.
Amanda Macinga of Struthers and Nicole Pavlansky of Boardman, accounting majors in the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University, have been selected to receive the Institute of Management Accountants Ohio Regional Council Scholarship.
The IMA scholarships are given at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels and are based on academic merit, extent of IMA participation, and strength of outside recommendations. The scholarships are awarded to any student with an accounting major who is enrolled at an Ohio college/university.
Macinga received a $2,500 scholarship. She completed her sophomore year at YSU and is involved in the WCBA Business Leader Program and Enactus group. She is doing work with the campus Emerging Leader Program and will be chapter secretary for IMA this coming Fall. Macinga also plans to obtain a master's degree and become a Certified Management Accountant .
Pavlansky received a $1,500 scholarship. She just completed her junior year at YSU. Pavlansky plans to earn her Certified Management Accountant certification and become a Certified Public Accountant. She is a member of the IMA and Beta Alpha Psi. Her volunteer work includes raising funds to supply clean water in Uganda.
The IMA is a worldwide association of accountants and financial professionals who have careers in business. The association has a membership of more than 80,000 professionals and students.


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Machine Girl: A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing – Chapter 7
September 28, 2015 September 28, 2015 / thebenraven	/ Leave a comment
Victoria wondered how her parents were handling Dmitri. Hell, she wondered how Dmitri was handling her parents. The shock on their faces, especially her mother's, when she had arrived home in a limo made her feel a little chagrined. She really should have called to warn them. She had just stepped out of the shower and had plugged in for a quick charge while deciding on an outfit for the evening.
She couldn't decide whether to wear a skirt or slacks. Finally she chose a pair of slate gray linen dress slacks. They would have the modesty of pants with nearly the lightweight comfort of a skirt. Besides, her father would feel better about her going if her legs weren't bare. A dark red rayon shirt was offset by the addition of a white scarf. Opting for flats instead of heels so as to ensure she was a lot shorter than Dmitri, Victoria gave herself a once over in the mirror.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." A quick brush of mascara and a touch of blush was all she needed to complete her look. Unplugging her charging cable, Victoria grabbed her purse and checked her phone. Seeing a message from Eugene she listened to it before heading downstairs.
"Hey Victoria, I'm heading to meet with a potential buyer for dinner, normally I wouldn't consider such a thing but the Global Enterprise Group has made a very compelling sales pitch. Now I'm not signing anything tonight so don't worry about that, I just wanted to give you a heads up on the development."
The Global Enterprise Group? That sounded like a bunch of shit to her and Eugene certainly wouldn't have left a message had he not been worried. Also the stress patterns in his voice indicated a level of unease he usually didn't display when driving and she could hear the Aston rumbling in the background. She sent a quick message to Yuen-Ja asking her to look into the Group and got a nearly immediate response.
"Have fun on your daaaate! I checked on Dmitri Federov and he does not appear to be too bad. Maybe some black market dealings here and there but what businessman does not have some skeletons in the closet? Most of that was from his father anyway. Dmitri has kept his nose amazingly clean, I think you are safe. I have not heard of the Global Enterprise Group but I agree that it sounds suspicious. I will kick over a few rocks and let you know what I find out."
Sending a silent 'Thank you' to Adam for making this direct electronic communication between herself and Yuen-Ja possible, Victoria made her way downstairs. She could hear her father talking in the living room.
"No I haven't competed in years. My last defense of the title was in 1995 and from there I let it go. I thought about teaching for a bit but found I didn't have the patience. I still practice from time to time though. I didn't think you would be old enough to remember that."
"I was seven years old at the time. My father got us ring side seats for your last title match. It was the most amazing fight I have ever seen in my life. Your absolute defense was never even cracked and in the end you only struck one blow to end it." The admiration in Dmitri's voice sounded alien to Victoria.
"I actually stress fractured my right arm simply by blocking one of those failed attacks. He wasn't able to land a blow, that is true, but the damage was done anyway. The danger associated with it is what really caused me to give it up."
"Of course your daughter was born the next year correct? That had to play some part in your decision as well." There was a clink of ice in a glass. "Thank you for the whisky I appreciate a good single malt."
"Hey Dmitri, I'm ready!" Victoria walked into the room smiling. Her father's face lost a little color, perhaps the shirt fit a little too well, but Dmitri's expression didn't change.
"You look wonderful Victoria. Shall we adjourn to the restaurant?" Dmitri offered his arm.
"Yes, I don't want to make us late." She gave her father a kiss on the cheek and her mom a hug. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."
"By nine at the latest OK?" Her father said, his voice firm.
"Sure daddy by nine." Victoria said, smiling and putting a hand on her father's arm.
"I will bring Victoria back to your doorstep by eight thirty at the latest Mr. Scott. Have a wonderful and relaxing evening Mrs. Scott, your daughter is in the safest and most respectful hands." He gave them the same strange bow he had given her before and turned, tucking Victoria's arm under his.
When they reached the car, Dmitri's driver was waiting to open the door for them. He was a tall man who only seemed short due to his very wide stature. The suit fit him so well it was obviously custom made and the lightly embroidered French cuffs of his shirt had cuff links that were shaped like tiny hand grenades.
To Victoria's eyes he also appeared to have a faint orange outline. A ghostly group of words trailed across her vision. It read 'Threat Reconnaissance Assessment Protocol V 1.2, subject unknown, likely armed, likely dangerous.' Well. That was new, ADAM must be messing around with things again.
"Ivanov, to the restaurant please." Dmitri said, his tone obviously demanding obedience.
"Yes sir. At once." Ivanov closed the door gently and soon they were off.
"Iced Perrier with a twist of lemon?" Dmitri was offering her a glass of her favorite water.
"Yes, thanks. How do you know so much about me? It's a little disconcerting you know?" She took a sip, sighing in satisfaction. "Although it's also quite convenient."
"I make a habit of getting to know things that I am interested in no matter who or what they are." He gave her a smoldering look from half lidded eyes, the first time she had seen him express any emotion.
"How has the integration gone?" He asked, the question startling her, "You seem to be totally normal but I know it must have changed you somehow. Just look at how confident you are, not normal for an eighteen year old girl I wouldn't say."
"It's been life changing that's for sure. Like being reborn you might say. I never realized how much mobility I had lost before I had the operation." Her voice trailed off. "Look, it's weird to be talking about this with someone who isn't intimately acquainted with my prosthetic and its functions. Would it be terribly rude of me to change the subject?"
"Not at all what would you like to know about me?" Dmitri fidgeted with his breast pocket for a moment before his movements stilled.
"Well, what have you been doing with yourself since high school?" Victoria saw him frown briefly and hastily continued. "I mean I haven't seen you for quite a few years."
"I am sure you know I was late in starting high school." Dmitri said, "Although I am seven years older than you I only graduated three years ahead of you. There was some trouble with my immigration and the Russian middle school system was, shall we say, slightly inadequate so I had some catching up to do."
"Actually I had no idea. You were somewhat of a legend to my class, you always arrived in a limo, always wore designer clothes… the caviar and foai grais for lunch was interesting too." She laughed, "You always kept us guessing."
"Well I was just living the way I was used to. My father was quite connected in Russia and when he decided to move his business here we simply maintained our way of life." He shrugged, "I did not think much of it until much later when our extravagant lifestyle made things difficult."
"I always thought Russia was in a bit of an economic depression after the capitalist revolution. What exactly did your father do?" Victoria crossed her legs and leaned in, resting her chin on her hand.
"In Russia he had a small oil company which he sold shortly before it was taken over and subsequently run into the ground by a large conglomerate. He did some consulting for them for a time and then after a few misunderstandings he immigrated to the United States and started his own acquisitions and distribution business."
The car had arrived at the restaurant and Ivanov was opening the door for them. It had just opened the week before and getting reservations here was supposedly impossible. It appeared Dmitri hadn't stopped living decadently after all. She stepped out of the limousine after Dmitri and accepted his hand. Victoria's phone buzzed in her purse and she tapped into it through the Bluetooth connection to read a message from Yuen-Ja.
"OK, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have the information you wanted on the Global Enterprise Group. The bad news is they are small fish trying to make big waves. Whatever they are offering Eugene is a lie but I cannot figure out exactly how they think they are going to get what they want. I will keep on it and let you know what I come up with."
September 24, 2015 / thebenraven	/ Leave a comment
This is just a bit of back story I wrote for an upcoming D&D 5th Edition play by post game, so I thought I'd throw a little Fantasy fiction on my page since it's been lacking over the last month or so.
Devglar sat in the tavern, enjoying the soft harp music that flowed through the air. He leaned back against the wall and relaxed; today had been a blessed day indeed. Every day he was able to brew and maintain his absence from the battlefield was a blessing. In his one hundred fifty years, he had seen a lot of fighting and, Bahamut willing, he had finally seen the last of it.
In his youth, he had been victim to a hot headed streak that led to mistakes. It was important to remember that once a life was lost, it was often lost forever. The Gods rarely saw fit to restore a spirit to its mortal coil and the dead even less often wished to come back to the pain and struggle of life once they had experienced what waited for them in the beyond.
He'd worked hard in the army, having sworn to save one hundred lives for each one he had taken in his younger days. It had been a long, arduous task but with the blessings of the Dragon God Bahamut, he had come through it with his sanity and a feeling of peace. It had been a relief to turn in his shield and armor, retiring to brew the ales for the tavern Moradin's Beard. Long hours spent slaving over different brews to produce the exact flavor he wanted were so… fulfilling.
Packing his pipe full of tobacco, he lit it from a candle on the table before sampling a pint of his latest brew. A commotion outside jolted him from his reverie. The door burst open, and a frantic girl ran inside, looking around with wild eyes.
"Please, there's been a terrible accident! Is there a healer here?"
"Calm yourself child." Devglar said, "I am versed in the healing arts. I can heal anything short of death itself. Please, what has happened?"
"My brother, he was run over by a carriage! I think his leg is broken!"
"Ah, a broken leg is no trouble child. I will have him up and his usual self in but moments." Devglar said, "What is your name?"
"I'm called Mel, please sir, my brother!"
Devglar smiled, taking his holy symbol from beneath his shirt. "Take me to him."
When he followed Mel outside, the scene was far from what he'd imagined it would be. A group of men stood in a circle, arguing in loud voices.
"He ran in front of me, I'd say he and his sister were trying some thieving scam!"
"Clearly you were going too fast you crude bastard!"
"Oh my leg, MY LEG!"
"Shut up you brat!"
"Thieving rats!"
"Arrogant bastards!"
Devglar walked through their angry, shoving forms without apparent concern. "Young Sir, will you allow me to see to your wounds?"
The boy nodded, tears streaming down his face.
"I warn you, this will hurt. I have no way to deaden the pain and I must set the break before I can heal you." He said, "If you can bear with the pain, I will be able to make your leg as good as new. Are you strong enough?"
"Yes sir." The boy said, his voice dulled by pain.
"Well done young Sir. Well done." Devglar knelt and set the leg with a swift tug. The sharp crack the bone made as he pulled it straight was enough to finally attract the attention of the men surrounding him.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Obviously I am assisting a young man who needs immediate medical attention." Devglar replied easily, "Please stand back and allow me to heal the wound now that I've set the bone."
"What? Who is going to pay for this?" A man in fine robes demanded, "I certainly hope you don't expect compensation from me!"
"That's between me and the boy Sir." The Dwarf said, narrowing his eyes, "Why would I assume you would be responsible for the cost of his healing?"
"Uh." The man seemed to crumple before the question.
"Well, that's no worry of mine. Please stand back." Devglar took the worn steel symbol of Bahamut from beneath his shirt and held it forth, chanting the divine words. The boy's tears ceased and the onlookers stopped their arguing.
"Please mister Dwarf, what's your name?" The boy grabbed Devglar's arm as he turned to go.
"Ah, young Sir. My name hardly matters, but if you insist on knowing, it is Devglar."
"Thank you." The boy said, vanishing into the crowd without a backward glance. Devglar turned, frowning and looking for Mel, but she was gone also. Even the merchants and wagoneers who had been standing around arguing seemed to have vanished like morning mist.
"Well. That was odd." Devglar stumped back inside, relit his pipe and sat once again. Just as he began to relax, his wandering eye landed on a large shape covered by rough sack cloth leaning against the wall just inside the door. Grumbling idly to himself, he levered his heavy frame up from his comfortable spot and stumped over, pulling the cover off.
His pipe fell from his open mouth. It was his old shield, and with it he could smell the distinctive steel and oil scent of polished chainmaile. Devglar retrieved his pipe with shaking fingers and took the time to tamp fresh tobacco in it and get it burning before confronting the problem of his armor once again. Who could have brought it here and to what purpose?
Devglar reached out a hand and traced the sigil of Bahamut that was blazoned on the front of the massive shield. Was this a sign from his God? Was trouble coming again? The shield rocked slightly at his touch and a small parchment fell to the floor. Wrinkling his brow, Devglar smoothed it out and read.
'The Faithful gather. The Cult stirs. Stand ready. Remember your Oaths.'
Running his fingers through his thick hair, he leaned back and blew a cloud of smoke up toward the rafters. Vaelian, the Elf harpist returned from the kitchen where she had gone to get a glass of wine and a plate of cheese and fruit. She quirked an artful eyebrow at him, noticing the shield and armor sitting next to him. The shield was fully as large as he was, therefore hard to miss.
"Reminiscing are we?" Her honey smooth and sweet voice grated on his last nerve as usual. "I thought you had left all of that nasty warrior business behind?"
"Sometimes the past catches up with you, even if you try to avoid it." He responded, "At least they have respected my wishes in some ways."
"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, "I thought you had hung up your shield."
"Ah, well… the shield isn't what I gave up Vae. I will always protect folk… the ax is what I have forsaken and as you can see, whoever decided to bring me my armor was at least kind enough to not to add injury to the insult."
"Do you deny that you will have to kill again if you answer the call of your God?" Vaelian asked, amusement coloring the words. "Oh come now, surely even a devotee such as yourself doesn't believe he can be a pacifist in the face of impending battles."
"I am not a pacifist Vae." Devglar said easily, refusing to rise to her mocking tone. "I merely see violence and killing as last resorts. The best battles are won without blood spilled. I do wonder at the method of delivery however. Why the secrecy?"
"They probably wanted to shock you with it." Vaelian shrugged, "Looks to me like they succeeded."
"That they have Vae. That they have."
A pair of customers entered the tavern. Vaelian began to play, filling the air with the liquid gold of her harping and Devglar served beers and platters of salty cheeses and sausage. As the afternoon progressed, the custom picked up and although his hands were busy, Devglar's mind still pondered the mystery.
Finally he came to his decision. If the Lord Bahamut required his service again he could not refuse regardless of the cost. If war was coming, it was his responsibility to attempt to minimize the killing.
Eugene had just hung up his cell phone when his office phone began to ring. He picked it up with a resigned sigh. "Hello, this is Dr. Arlington."
"Good afternoon Eugene, this is Mr. Jackson from the Global Enterprise Group how are you doing today?"
"Sorry, I don't know of any such organization, what can I do for you Mr. Jackson?" He reached for the pack of cigarettes in his breast pocket, silently cursing himself for starting smoking again.
"Well obviously I'm calling to inquire about the sale of the technology you have recently acquired. Is there any way we can meet? My counterparts have put together a most attractive package."
"Sorry, it isn't for sale. It is still in the testing phase and a sale now would not only be premature but also very inappropriate. Without further testing and troubleshooting I fear I cannot be assured of the quality of the final product." He lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.
"That is really too bad. I can assure you our offer eclipses what the Russians and the Department of Defense have invested in your little pet project thus far. We can offer you enough to pay them off completely with plenty left over for that house you have been looking at." The voice on the other end was silky smooth without the slightest hint of a threat. That's what made it so incredibly threatening.
"You seem to know much more about me than I do about you Mr. Jackson, perhaps a meeting is in order. When and where if I might inquire?" Eugene racked his brain for a way to warn Victoria. Anything that would be suitably innocuous and yet keep her on her guard. He grabbed an old Tracphone he had been using to place anonymous calls and sent her a text message. With any luck she would get it and be on the lookout for trouble.
"How about dinner? We could meet at the new Bishop's steakhouse in an hour if you're free. My associates have reservations for you already."
"Yeah, sure that sounds fine. I'll meet you there." Eugene stuffed the butt in an over filled ashtray and reluctantly took a small pistol from the top drawer of his desk. Checking to make sure the magazine was full he slid it into his jacket pocket, grabbed his keys, picked up his laptop case and headed out the door. Getting across town at this hour was going to be difficult and most likely take up the entire hour.
Getting into the Aston Martin, he tossed his battered aluminum briefcase on the passenger's seat, pushed the big red start button and took momentary refuge in the throaty rumble of the three liter V12. Taking advantage of the car's Bluetooth capabilities, he used the voice activated dialing and called Victoria as he backed out of the garage. She didn't pick up but he left her a voicemail anyway, something he almost never did.
"Hey Victoria, I'm heading to meet with a potential buyer for dinner, normally I wouldn't consider such a thing but the Global Enterprise Group has made a very compelling sales pitch. Now I'm not signing anything tonight so don't worry about that, I just wanted to give you a heads up on the development." He didn't dare say more over the phone, if these assholes were anything like he was afraid they were his phone was tapped and likely they had his and Victoria's houses watched as well.
With the new filing system in place, ADAM was focusing on fine tuning the units' … that is Victoria Scott's, audio, video and olfactory interpretation systems. Although the 'eyes' and 'ears' and 'nose' had vast amounts of capability, only a fraction was being utilized. It was very confusing to him why it seemed to always be this way with his Host.
First he chose video, starting with the basics of the data routing system. He had touched this briefly before when it had been damaged by the DOD software he had destroyed with Kai Yuen-Ja's help a short time ago. In order to preserve the system he had also rebuilt a bit of the coding into the system so he could inject text and video from alternate sources directly into the visual cortex of Victoria's brain. This was far more efficient than the type of clumsy analog retinal display hardware the DOD software had been designed to use.
That capability had been invaluable when he and Victoria had worked together to rescue their young friend from killers of unknown origin who were searching for data she had borrowed. ADAM still held the gift she had given him tenderly in his memory banks. Perhaps one day he would ask her for the key to decode it or perhaps he would simply crack it. He was sure she had given it to him as a present and the triple layered 256 bit encryption was just the wrapping.
Stopping himself from wasting any more time on what had been, ADAM focused on building the future. The data routing systems were nearly perfect and only took a small bit of tweaking to meet with his approval. Next he analyzed the algorithms used to categorize incoming data and decided they were a tangled mess of bad and flawed code. He began to break it down line by line, re-writing at least ninety percent of it in order to fit into the new organizational system he had devised.
Potential threats were categorized on a numbered basis and things that were in the eightieth percentile would show highlighted by an orange nimbus. Threats in the ninetieth percentile would have a red one. Everything else would be normal with points of interest having the ability to display pertinent information if Victoria focused on them for a moment.
Looking at the spectral input, ADAM noticed that the sensors were able to pick up other types of radiation but not able to interpret them. What his Host referred to as the "visual spectrum" was a very tiny slice of the radiation pie that was coming into her visual receptors. He wrote a small investigation program that would delve deeper into this problem and report back with findings.
The majority of the work done there, ADAM began work on the auditory channels. The problem here was filtering. Victoria's ears were very sensitive but as they had no ability to filter out the tiny from the massive they were being forced only to gather information on the sounds in the middle. Some of this was unavoidable; the ear drum was so sensitive that a very large sound vibration could tear the surface. The tiny noises however should be easily manageable.
Merely by repairing some nerve damage and modifying a few data routing algorithms ADAM gave her the ability to isolate auditory inputs after they had been recorded by the ear. Since she would have access to all the incoming data at any later time she wanted, it was a simple thing to re-link that data back into the real time information flow. If Victoria wanted to hear one instrument out of an orchestra all she need do is focus. Granted her 'hearing' was now going to have a three to fifty nanosecond delay depending on how complex the task of filtering was but that was a small price to pay for such precision.
The sense with the largest amount of room for improvement was the olfactory. This sense had obviously seen a lot more use at some point. There were ancient applications for interpreting chemical signatures in place that this unit had apparently never used. For now ADAM decided to dissect these applications and re-write them if need be instead of starting from scratch.
He quickly activated a data mining program and set it to categorize the old code. A project of this size didn't require him to check every bit and byte himself. A message from Kai Yuen-Ja interrupted him just as he was releasing the program.
"Hi Adam! I made math league! I also made some enemies today, nothing I can't handle but Traci Thorndon is going to regret pissing me off THAT'S for sure. Anyway, I just wanted to give you my news. We should have another virtualspace chat some time. <3"
What was he going to do about her? From what he had been able to turn up about these 'emotion' things was even more confusing than he had initially thought. As far as he could tell they were merely chemical reactions released in the organic brains of humans. With that thought in mind he was baffled as to how he was experiencing these things.
Chemicals should have no effect on his circuits, yet the things he was 'feeling' were undeniably related to a chemical reaction. The most disturbing thing was the chemical reactions were NOT Victoria's. Her 'feelings' towards Yuen-Ja were completely different. The only explanation ADAM could come up with was that as he had integrated with Victoria, she had also integrated with him.
Was his need for 'self' going to be consumed by the overwhelming power of Victoria's organic computer or would he be able to maintain a private space? With the possibility of annihilation looming on the horizon, ADAM set about building a cunningly disguised set of firewalls and fail safes around his core systems.
He wondered how long it would take Victoria to respond to his request for an interface with Yuen-Ja.
Adam was finding it far more convenient to pull data from the Net than from Victoria's current filing system and the more he used it; the more he thought it might just be the proper answer for some of the more obscure things she kept trying to commit to memory. Response times were greater, but at least that data wasn't clogging up his system.
He used protocols similar to the ones he had created for allowing her to understand the different auditory communication that Yuen-Ja used when they first met. Linking to external databases that housed translation algorithms seemed like cheating but not using the resources available to him was illogical. Besides, the more words Victoria used, the more data he retrieved and injected into her databanks, the less he had to access external sources.
For now the only reason he was using the Net was the continued overhaul of her current logical data storage and retrieval system. When he was finished, Adam was confident that she would have rapid access to any piece of data she had ever stored, although he had thought the same thing several times before. If he could make it work, it'd be quite the accomplishment considering the vast amount of information that was thrown into her drive without apparent organization. Some of it hadn't been accessed in years; however Adam suspected that much of the time it was because she simply hadn't been able to.
The process of organizing was taking a lot longer than he had anticipated. Since the main system had lost the paths needed to retrieve the data, Adam sometimes had to use more hands on investigation techniques instead of being able to rely on the code he had written to search for him. Of course most of that could be handled by his clone, but it was still a time consuming process.
During Victoria's last period of inactivity, a time he now knew was referred to as sleep; Adam had made a stunning discovery. Victoria's system actually had its own rudimentary form of an organization subroutine that ventured into her tangled databanks and randomly pulled samples of data to see if they might be relevant. He hadn't noticed it before because it was such a low level process and it didn't seem to be very effective. The strangest part was it didn't have a very clear or direct link to the main unit.
At first, Adam had thought it was a virus or a hostile program, but after analyzing it two or three times he decided it was a part of the older set of outdated and underutilized applications that seemed to be kicking around the dark corners of Victoria's convoluted archives. A thrill ran through Adam's circuits, the effect was much like the virtual space Yuen-Ja had created. The reminder of Yuen-Ja's request prompted him to send a message to Victoria's mobile communication device and copy her on it.
"Victoria. I would like to interface with Kai Yuen-Ja, would it be possible for us to interface soon? Please advise."
After school Victoria felt like an orange that had been squeezed. She had drained the information out of her head and printed it on paper. Her right had hurt from writing so much and all she could think about was getting home, eating dinner and sitting on the couch with her family to watch some well-earned television.
Yuen-Ja's tryouts for the math team had gone well, not that Victoria had doubted they would go otherwise, and she was at a team practice. The cheer team didn't have the fortitude to have practice running through midterms so Victoria was walking home on her own.
She was heading down the sidewalk when the door to a limousine parked by the sidewalk opened and to her great surprise Dmitri stepped out. Without preamble he gave her a very direct look that was strangely exciting.
"Victoria, I imagine midterms were hell, please allow me to take you out to dinner." He said, his voice smooth and confident. "I have reservations for us at Bishop's in an hour would you accompany me?"
"I don't know about a date out of the blue like this, I hardly know anything about you." She listened for the part of her subconscious that usually gave alarm when she should be questioning someone's motive. It was strangely silent.
"Is that not the point of a date? To get to know one another better? Come now, I shall be a perfect gentleman. You have my word." He gave her a strange half bow from the waist, right arm bent so that it was perfectly following his belt line, eyes on the ground.
"Well I should talk to my parents first, and I need to clean up and change too." Something about that bow bothered her. She'd seen it in a movie, a bad movie, oh yeah it had been 'The Kosak Killer' a terrible Russian war movie.
"I will take you home if you wish. I do happen to think that outfit is quite fetching in all honesty." Dmitri looked her up and down and smiled. Even though the smile never touched his eyes Victoria felt a shiver of pleasure go through her body; God he was gorgeous.
"OK you talked me into it. I do need to change though. You might think my school uniform is cute or whatever but I think it's boring and I need a shower. Ugh, I feel like I've had the data wrung out of my head." Victoria said, sliding into the back seat of the limo.
The glass was tinted so dark she almost couldn't see out of it and as a result it took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dim interior. Her other senses took up the slack, there was a scent of Jasmine mingling with the rich scent of leather and the slightest hint of cigarette smoke. The seat was plush and comfortable and felt like velvet instead of leather.
"How was your day?" Dmitri asked, sitting across from her. He tapped on the glass between them and the driver and the car smoothly pulled away from the curb. "Your midterms went well I trust?"
"Yeah, although that jackass Coleman accused me of cheating." She frowned, "As though I'd have to stoop to that. As if I'm not the brightest mind in the senior class."
Dmitri's eyes narrowed dangerously. He reached into an inside pocket again, but withdrew his hand almost as quickly. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted as the phone in the car rang.
"Please excuse me." He picked up the handset, an old school corded affair. "What." His voice was clipped and tense, its former smoothness replaced by a rough edge of barely restrained anger. At the same time Victoria felt her phone buzz in her pocket.
She pulled her phone out and there was a text message from an unknown number. All it said was "Be careful." Well, that was weird.
"Yes. Do not bother me again or there will be consequences." Dmitri set the phone down, and his urbane politeness returned as though it had never been absent. "I do apologize for the rudeness. It will not happen again."
"No problem I understand the life of a businessman is not a calm one." Victoria said with a small smile, "My father runs his own business you know."
"Oh yes, your father." Dmitri arched an eyebrow, "Is he still going to tournaments?"
"Tournaments? I don't follow you, what kind of tournaments?"
"Martial arts tournaments of course, defending title. Do you not know of his title? I had heard he was retiring but I did not know he had taken to it so fully. Interesting. Well enough of that, how have you been? Did your conference in Las Vegas go well?" Dmitri almost seemed mechanical, his sentences efficiently clipped, the pauses between too short for her to get a word in edgewise until he was finished speaking.
"Wait I want to know more about daddy, what martial arts title?" Victoria said, leaning forward to look at him.
"I will not reveal things to you that he has concealed; I assume he must have his reasons." Dmitri crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.
Victoria shrugged and tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. "The conference went well. Almost too well, Eugene says he's hardly had time to do anything but answer phone calls and emails since we got back. Just the same, it means you will get a good return on your father's investment."
"Yes. Not that the poor bastard will probably ever know about it." Dmitri muttered almost to himself.
"Oh God, oh I'm sorry Dmitri I forgot about him being in a coma." Victoria blushed, feeling terrible, "Is he doing better?"
"Not measurably, the doctors say his brain has nearly gone dormant. It's only a matter of weeks before his body will follow suit. He had a full life and is leaving behind quite a grand legacy which is more than many can say."
"That's an awfully pragmatic view to take." Victoria was starting to wonder if her mystery text messenger knew something she didn't.
"Well, I have had some time to think about it. He's been this way for weeks now and the family business…" He sighed, "I have been pretty wrapped up in things. I really appreciate you coming out with me Victoria, it will be a pleasant escape."
September 7, 2015 / thebenraven	/ Leave a comment
The remainder of the morning had gone smoothly and Victoria was standing in the lunch line. She was idly scanning the room and noticed TT sitting at a table with her usual clan, Derek standing behind her as though waiting for a command like a trained dog. Yeech what had she seen in that douchebag anyway?
Thankful that the school had recently started serving salad, Victoria loaded a plate with mixed greens, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Once she got to her table she was surprised to see she had added a hamburger with bacon to her tray but found she really was craving red meat.
"Mind if I join you Victoria?" She glanced up into a pair of serious brown eyes framed by a gaunt face.
"Not at all." She said, "But I fear you have me at a bit of a disadvantage." She looked at the boy curiously, "Are you a new student?"
"I'm David, we have been in the same class for the last three years." He frowned, "You really don't remember?"
"Now I know you're messing with me because…" She stopped herself from mentioning the school register just in time. "Because there hasn't been anyone in my class for five years named David. I know the names and faces of all one hundred and twenty students in my grade and yours is not familiar."
"I told you it would not work, her memory is far too accurate to fall for such a simple lie." Yuen-Ja sat down on Victoria's other side. "It would have been much better to talk to her directly instead of trying to make her feel bad that she hadn't noticed you, but your cover is blown now!"
"Damn it Yuen-Ja NOW my cover's blown!" David blushed beet red.
"Oh you're David Jacobs. You're a sophomore, right? Math prodigy, solved the allegri equation at age nine and has advanced although questionable ideas about astrophysics? That David?" Victoria gave him her best smile, "Why didn't you say so before?"
The smile had its intended effect and while he was attempting to recover Victoria turned her attention to her sister. "Causing trouble again I see? Why can't you leave them alone dear?"
Yuen-Ja giggled uncontrollably, "It is just so much fun Tori. They really are silly do you not agree? May I have some of your salad?"
Victoria quirked an eyebrow, "I might as well say yes since you've already helped yourself. David, if you're finished gawking you really should close your mouth, you're bound to catch flies otherwise."
"Davey tell her why you are really here, I know she is pretty but that can wait. What you found is important." Yuen-Ja said between bites of salad.
"Oh, uh, right. Listen, I think someone may have targeted you Victoria." His voice dropped to a stage whisper, "I noticed some irregularities in the school's personal information databanks and when I checked there appears to have been some unauthorized entry within the last six months. All of the files that were downloaded had something to do with you."
"Hey V, what's shakin?" Grace and Carrie slid onto the bench across from her, "Are you really going to eat that hamburger? Eww, red meat is so gross!"
"I'm going to eat it if everyone would just leave me alone damn it, I'm starving!" Victoria said, "Hey sis, leave me a little of that… why don't you go get your own?"
"I already ate Tori, I merely wanted a little more." Yuen-Ja gave her an impish grin, "We will talk later?"
Victoria nodded and her sister and David got up from the table.
"What's with the math freak bugging your foster sister anyway? That kid creeps me out. All tall and lanky with those giant owl eyes. Why didn't you tell him to leave her alone?" Carrie said, as though David wasn't standing right there.
"Bugging? He's not bugging her, she's trying out for the senior math team today. I guess you wouldn't know it by looking at her but Yuen-Ja is addicted to equations. Most of what she gets involved in ends up being some sort of programming language but she likes to solve mathematical problems to keep her brain sharp." Victoria took a huge bite of her hamburger and sighed in satisfaction.
"Really? Wow, I never would have imagined." She looked at Yuen-Ja sidelong, "She looks preppy, not … well … nerdy."
Yuen-Ja glared at her, "Not everyone is as fucking vapid as you stupid bitch, I will make you regret your insult." The Mandarin rolled off her tongue, sounding sickeningly sweet in spite of the caustic words.
"What did she say? I didn't mean anything by it ya know?" Carrie's eyes widened in apprehension, even in a few short weeks people had learned when she spoke Mandarin trouble was going to follow. "It's cool for some people to be nerdy even if it's not for me."
Victoria looked at her sister and rolled her eyes, "I know right? I can't wait to get the fuck out of here next year. I don't know how I put up with these people for all these years. Don't do anything that will get you into trouble, and don't mess with Carrie too much. She's never intentionally been unkind to me."
"Whoa when did you learn Chinese? I didn't know you could speak Chinese." Grace said.
"It's not Chinese, it's Mandarin. I've been taking classes and practicing with Yuen-Ja." Not the whole truth but close enough, Adam had been teaching her more or less.
"Isn't Mandarin Chinese?" Grace asked, shrugging and moving on with her usual miniscule attention span, "How do you manage to do it all? You're so damn lucky to have all that talent."
"I don't want to leave; I want to make their lives miserable instead. It's more fun to win Tori; these little shits don't have a fucking clue what's going to hit them if they don't stop messing with me. Oh and you should give David a chance, he's a genius. His take on security algorithms are some of the most innovative I've seen. His father also owns a robotics laboratory, I am sure he would love to meet Eugene."
"Hey hey now, it's just high school. Don't do anything too out of control OK? They're just stupid girls." Victoria said, still speaking Mandarin. She was genuinely worried about what might happen if her sister was unleashed on the general public without restraint.
Victoria turned to David, "So did you want to catch a movie? Maybe on Saturday? It would be great to get out and enjoy myself a hard week, is there anything good out right now?" What the hell, he seemed nice enough.
"Yeah, I think there's an indie film at The Elephant that sounds good, I forget the name but it has gotten awesome reviews. Uh, I'll pick you up at five?" David sounded like he had just won the lottery.
"Oh. My. God. Did you just ask him on a date?" TT seemed to have just taken note of their table although Victoria bet she had been eavesdropping the entire time. "This loser? Why would you stoop so low Vicky? You must be seriously down and out to be asking an underclassman on the math team on a date."
"Oh how the mighty have fallen!" One of her cronies chimed in.
"Man I'm glad I got out when I did, that's just pathetic." This was from Derek who was following and carrying their lunch trays. "What does this little nerd have to offer anyway?"
Victoria didn't even pay attention, although she could see David's face flush. "I'll see you Friday David; I have to visit my locker before my next class. Good luck on your midterms."
The boy was smart enough to take a cue from her and also ignored the slight, "Yeah, you too V. I hear you are on your way to graduating at the top of the class." The look on TT's face was priceless, although Victoria was willing to bet he didn't know how dangerous messing with TT was going to be. That bitch had holding grudges down to a science.