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Pamukkale in Turkey is one of the most mysterious and healthiest places in the world
Stewart Dunlop/ published 7 years ago
Deep in the earth beneath the anticent city of Hierapolis lies a vast source of water that is heated by volcanic lava
Thousands of years ago, the Romans built the city of Hierapolis so their citizens can enjoy the health benefits of a hot mineral water. Flash forward to 2015, and the city of Pamukkale in Turkey is still one of the healthiest and most mysterious places in the world. Deep in the earth beneath the city lies a vast source of water that is heated by volcanic lava. As a result, the water dissolves pure white calcium, and then becomes saturated with the calcium before appearing on the surface of the earth where it bursts and runs down a steep hillside. As the calcium cools in the open air, the material precipitates from the water and adheres the soil. And the end result is a form of calcium cascades frozen in stone.
The Legend of Pamukkale
As every mysterious place in the world, Pamukkale has a strong legend that makes the place even more appealing. People believe that back in the days, there was a Turkish young girl that no one wanted to marry because she was ugly. Depressed, the girl tried to commit suicide throwing herself off the travertine. She fell into a natural pool and survived the fall. The water in the pool turned her into a beautiful girl who caught the attention of the Turkish lord Denizli while he was passing by the place. He fell in love with the girl and decided to marry her. That is why people nowadays believe that in addition to the health benefits, the rocks in Pamukkale can make you more beautiful.
IMG-R:http://travelingsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Pamukkale-Turkey-1024x768.jpg;
Understanding the mystery of Pamukkale
In order to explain the mystery of Pamukkale, we must explain the geology of the spot. The terraces of the place are made out of travertine, a sedimentary rock that is deposited by water.
There are 17 hot springs in Pamukkale with temperature ranging from 35 degrees to 100 degrees. The water, once emerging from the spring, is then transported 320m to the head of thee terraces where it deposits calcium carbonate. Once the water reaches the surface, carbon dioxide is de-gassed and the result is deposition of calcium carbonate. The deposition continues until the carbon dioxide in the water and in the air is balanced. Calcium carbonate is deposited as a soft jelly, but in the travertine the carbonate hardens.
IMG-L:http://www.lighttours.com/turlar/800/363fc737-491d-48bb-918e-20ef23308dd1.jpg;
Pamukkale is considered a natural health spa thanks to the many benefits it provide for its visitors. According to many, the water provides cure against asthma and rheumatism.
Additionally, the water brings benefits to the skin, eyes, helps recover from high blood pressure, kidney stones, stroke, physical exhaustion, circulatory issues, digestive maladies, chronic disorders and nutritional disorders.
Best time to visit Pamukkale is the spring, as the weather and the climate is at a normal level. In the summer, the temperature can go up to 40+ degrees and humidity is another issue.
Tourist destination
Up until the 1980s, Pamukkale was a local destination in Turkey, and not many people outside of the country knew the benefits of the water. But then the local authorities decided to market and develop Pamukkale as a spa center. Motels were razed and the land became clear, the road up the slope was converted into pools, and visitors were allowed in them to walk, play, splash and even soak.
But most importantly, the pools are designed for swimmers who like to experience the health and beauty benefits of the hot water.
In 1988, Pamukkale was made a World Heritage Site. To protect the site, access to terraces is limited and visitors must follow the main pathway. Small pools are the only ones allowed for swimming and bathing in order to protect the thermal waters.
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Scott Suttell Blog
Think regionally? In NE Ohio, that hasn't been easy
Shane Wynn for AkronStock
A view of the downtown Akron skyline.
"One of the interesting things about the Northeast Ohio constellation of cities is that there's a very weak sense of regional identity."
So writes Aaron Renn, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, in this piece on his Urbanophile blog, which follows a recent visit to Akron for research on a forthcoming paper.
He notes that "in almost any other context, Cleveland and Akron would be considered some type of twin city ecosystem," similar to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas, and Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. Yet Cleveland and Akron "do not seem to share a strong sense of regional identity, but rather view themselves as independent cities and regions," Renn writes.
That's not necessarily so bad. From the piece:
I have always advocated that a greater sense of a shared identity and destiny is important for regions and states. However, this also has to take account of reality. These cities think of themselves as distinct places. There's nothing wrong with that. So the challenge is to develop a regionalism concept that works with instead of against this grain. Historically there doesn't appear to have been much of anything related to this in Northeast Ohio, so the communities there are having to figure it out today. So it's to be expected that they will need to evolve and iterate on it vs. other places with more historic regional form.
One key takeaway, Renn concludes, is that "the cultural givens of a particular place or region need to be understood and used as inputs into policy."
It's a good piece that will whet your appetite for the broader paper Renn will release later this year.
The New York Timesreports that a Democratic group led by former Attorney General Eric Holder and backed by former President Barack Obama "intends to pour millions of dollars into an eclectic array of elections in a dozen states," including Ohio, in an effort "to block Republicans from single-handedly drawing congressional maps after 2020."
The National Democratic Redistricting Committee "has settled on a strategy to contest a combination of governorships, legislative seats and more obscure state offices to chip away at Republicans' sweeping control of the redistricting process," The Times reprots.
Holder tells the newspaper that the group aims to deny Republicans "trifectas" in state governments — places where a single party controls the governorship and an entire legislature, as Republicans do in Ohio, Florida and other critical battlegrounds.
Because of "the broad authority Republicans hold in many states, and the favorable maps many Republican lawmakers have drawn for themselves," The Times notes, Holder said his group would spend money wherever Republicans appear to be vulnerable. In Ohio, that will mean pursuing not only the governorship but also the offices of state auditor and secretary of state, both of which play a role in shaping congressional maps.
If you take part in an Oscars pool, you know it's critical to nail the obscure categories if you want to win.
Among those categories is documentary shorts. The category this year has a Cleveland tie, as one of the nominees, "Knife Skills," chronicles the opening of opening of Edwins, a Cleveland restaurant where much of the staff comprises people who have served time in prison.
IndieWire provides some critical insight in the category in this piece reviewing all five nominated shorts.
It says the standouts in the category have "similar titles but vastly different stories." IndieWire gives those films, "Traffic Stop" and "Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405," grades of "A-."
"Knife Skills" gets a "B-" from IndieWire.
The film follows Edwins founder Brandon Chrostowski, whose past trouble with the law gives him a personal connection to his mission. Driven to the point of obsession, Chrostowski expects the best from his employees and isn't afraid to let one go at the slightest sign of trouble. An oddly edited scene shows an emotional Chrostowski speaking to his infant son, but it feels out of place. Lennon could have better spent his time focusing on the trainees, whose brief storylines feel short-lived. Framing the film with a time-crunched restaurant opening is also misleading; the day comes and goes without a hitch and the film loses steam afterwards.
The review concludes by saying that "Knife Skills" sheds light "on a fascinating story; unfortunately, the film just doesn't match its subject's ingenuity."
You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business, politics, the arts and Northeast Ohio.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Free online course about conflict resolution, mediation, peer support, as well as strategies for improving the school and classroom climate, from 5 October to 9 November.
The course will be moderated by Helen Cowie and Pat Colliety from the University of Surrey (United Kingdom). It is free of charge and will take place online using the resources of the teachers' course from the EU-funded project VISTOP project (http://vistop.org/).
Participants are expected to read the course materials throughout each week in their own time. The group of students will meet "face-to-face" each week for synchronous meetings at the virtual Anti-Violence-Campus in the virtual world of Second Life to engage in the topic for that week.
Expected time involvement: 30 hours in total.
There is also an option for participants to register with the University of Surrey and gain academic credit for this course.
To register for the course please contact Helen Cowie (H.Cowie@surrey.ac.uk) or Pat Colliety (P.Colliety@surrey.ac.uk).
This course is part of the AVC@SL project - the virtual Anti-Violence-Campus in Second Life. You can find further information on the AVC@SL project as well as further events at the virtual Anti-Violence-Campus at http://www.antiviolencecampus.org.


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US Behind Recent Major Cyberattack on Iran: Jalali
Iran - Live News - Middle East - News - Top
Head of Iran's Passive Defense Organization Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali blamed the US for having a hand in the recent cyberattack on the infrastructures of Iran's e-government.
According to Jalali, the recent cyberattack on the country's infrastructure has been a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), in which the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network is disrupted by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.
"The attack was carried out by the US to assess the feasibility of future ones," he said, "But it was deterred."
"Designating the exact source and time of the attack is a time-consuming procedure but Iran's Telecommunication Infrastructure company is working on the issue," he added.
"Americans cannot give a military response to Iran's measures including the downing of Global Hawk and IRGC's strikes on US airbase in Iraq, Ain al-Asad, so they are continuing sanctions on us and carrying out cyberattacks to retaliate," the Iranian official said.
On February 9, deputy ICT minister Hamid Fattah said that Iran had repelled a cyberattack targeting its communication infrastructure, causing widespread disruptions in internet connections throughout the country.
"Hired hackers launched a cyberattack against Iran's infrastructures – the biggest attack in the country's history," he wrote on his Twitter account.
He added that the DDoS attack disrupted internet services in Iran for an hour, but it was soon repelled by Iran's Digital Fortress.
ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi also said Wednesday that the major cyberattack against the infrastructures of Iran's e-government has been successfully repelled.
"The attack was really massive," he said, adding "I can't disclose any details right now, but all aspects of the attack have been already discussed and there will be certainly a report on it later."
Source: Mehr News Agency
Iran US
Trump Confidante Seen at White House With Notes Appearing to Call for 'Martial Law'


Maryland Department of the Environment inspection reports for Department of Solid Waste Management facilities.
Click on a date in the list below to see a copy of the associated report. For reports more than 2 years old, please contact our office at 301-600-1848 or send an email.


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urugaga.org
Gen. Maj BYIRINGIRO Victor
Darius Murinzi
Gisage Michel
Richard Udahemuka
TREASON: THE HEAVIEST CHAIN OF AFRICA'S SLAVERY.
Posted By: Urugaga
In simple term, treason is the action of betraying the trust or confidence of someone to whom we owe allegiance or loyalty. We betray our people, when we act against their supreme interest and in most cases their lives. The most common cause for treason are selfishness and greed, but extreme hunger for power and other criminal behaviors tend to lead to treason.
One of the saddest and longest enduring treason legacies comes down to us, from the Old African chiefs who sent their armies around villages to pick up strong young men and women to sell them into slavery to the white slave merchants. The current version of these types of acts of extreme treason is the work of people like Kagame and Museveni, who have to this day killed over ten million people in the African great lakes regions, while carrying out a post colonial agenda that only benefits the west to the detriment of Africa.
Museveni and Kagame have fooled most of the Tutsis and other Nilotics in the region, that it is in their interest to wage war to conquer territories and assert military, political, and economic domination over the Bantu people in the region, starting with the Hutus of Rwanda and Burundi. This seems to be going according to plan, simply because the United States of America, Great Britain and some of other Western Nations are behind this insane murderous endeavor. Needless to say, that none of Museveni and Kagame's treasonous acts would get anywhere without a host of other shady characters coming into the mix, to assist the duo from Hell achieve its goals.
One such characters is a man named Faustin Twagiramungu, who was part of the Hutu smoke screen that Kagame's RPF set in the front of the so called International community, to disguise the fact that his Tutsi rebels were simply coming to take over the country with no intentions of sharing power or introducing any kind of democratic reforms as they claimed.
A vocal opponent to the regime of President Habyarimana, with an ego the size of Jupiter,Mr.Twagiramungu is believed to have told the Americans, prior to the assassination of the late President, that if something were to happen to the President, the whole country would line up behind him except for, maybe, the two northern districts of Gisenyi and Ruhengeri.
Unfortunately, somebody somewhere believed Mr.Twagiramungu, because shortly after that confident lie, and just before the President was assassinated, a US State Department Official by the name of Prudence Bushnell came to Kigali to tell President Habyarimana that unless he does what he was being asked to do, he will be killed and the people will rejoice as they drag his body through the streets of Kigali, apparently the lady sounded so sure that some in Habyarimana' s inner circles understood that his reign had come to an end.
We all know how this story ended. President Habyarimana got blown out of the skies, the country descended into an infernal carnage, and Mr.Twagiramungu became Prime Minister out of the ashes, as Kagame's RPF took over the country and started its reign of terror that is still going on to this day.
Just a year into his tenure as Prime Minister, Mr. Faustin Twagiramungu fell out with Kagame for reasons only known to the two men, but we know for sure that if Mr.Twagiramungu's ego is the size of Jupiter, Kagame's is ten times the size of the sun, so as the saying goes in Rwanda, "you cannot cook two heads in on pot", which means you cannot have two egomaniacs sharing a bedroom.
You would think that after all of this Mr.Faustin Twagiramungu would have learned a lesson in humility and sincerity in his old age, but you would be wrong. Just a few days ago, the man got kicked out of the Coalition of Parties for Change(CPC) of which he was President, for..You guessed it.."TREASONOUS ACTS AND DICTATORIAL BEHAVIOR." This coalition is made of FCLR-Ubumwe which is an alliance between FDLR and PS-Imberakuri, the Rwandese Democratic Union(RDU) and Faustin Twagiramungu's own Rwandan Dream Initiative(RDI).
It appears that in his quest for supremacy over the entire Rwandese opposition, Mr. Faustin Twagiramungu attempted to take over the FDLR by selling out its leaders to their enemies, and creating his own army called Force National du Salut/National Salvation Force(FNS-Intimirwa) out of the leaderless FDLR. Intimirwa means "little cows that can't be stopped." If you were not scared enough, I believe these cows will do the trick.
It is unbelievable, that a man who had been given a second chance by the Hutu refugee population, which had been suspicious of him, due to his past treasonous path, has just ended up in the same old pattern of lies and deceit. Those who wonder why the Rwandese opposition remains fragmented and incoherent should heed the fact that, this man has a cult like following of a handful of loud mouths, which would lie and say just about anything if Mr.Twagiramungu asks them to.
They are the best asset Kagame has outside the country because their behavior and shameless blind ambition allows them to bring everything to a standstill while Kagame does his thing unhindered. It is about time that those who are working towards our country's liberation, make an extra effort to bring light to this clique that helps Kagame, intentionally, or for some of the young followers, unintentionally; because unless we harmonize the vision for the future and the ideals for which we are fighting for, we will keep rolling the stone up the hill, to see it roll back down, just like Sisyphus the Greek.
Darius Sunray Murinzi
Be the first to comment on "TREASON: THE HEAVIEST CHAIN OF AFRICA'S SLAVERY."
PRESS RELEASE N ° 004/2020April 27, 2020
The Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) condemn the incursions of the Rwandan Defense Forces in NORTH and SOUTH KIVU which endanger the Rwandan refugees and the Congolese populations in this region of the DRC.April 16, 2020
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE FDLR TO THE LIBERATORS AND FRIENDS OF THE FDLR ON THE OCCASION OF THE 26TH MEMORIAL DAY OF THE RWANDAN DRAMA ARISING ON APRIL 06, 1994.April 7, 2020
FDLR PRESS RELEASE N ° 2017-005.August 1, 2017
FDLR PRESS RELEASE N° 2016-007: MASSACRE OF RWANDAN HUTU REFUGEES IN KABALO DISTRICT (DRC)December 13, 2016
DEMOCRATIC LIBERATION FORCES OF RWANDA : FDLR PRESS RELEASE N° 2016-005August 29, 2016
PAUL KAGAME CONTINUES TO ENTERTAIN LIES AS THE BASIS OF HIS DEVASTATING POLICY.March 6, 2016
The Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) deplore and condemn the massacre of Congolese civilians that occurred in Miriki (Lubero, North Kivu, DRC) on the night of 6 to 7 January, 2016.January 9, 2016
The FDLR strongly condemn barbaric attacks on Rwandan refugees and civilian Congolese population in Eastern DRC by Mai Mai Tcheka militia with the support of the Rwanda Defense Forces.November 29, 2015
UNFAIR TRIAL AGAINST LEADERS OF FDLROctober 2, 2015
Archives Select Month December 2040 (1) December 2020 (1) October 2020 (2) September 2020 (1) August 2020 (1) July 2020 (1) June 2020 (2) May 2020 (2) April 2020 (7) February 2020 (1) December 2019 (1) September 2019 (1) March 2019 (1) October 2018 (2) July 2018 (1) May 2018 (1) April 2018 (1) March 2018 (1) January 2018 (1) December 2017 (2) October 2017 (2) August 2017 (2) July 2017 (2) June 2017 (2) May 2017 (1) April 2017 (3) March 2017 (1) February 2017 (1) January 2017 (1) December 2016 (4) November 2016 (2) October 2016 (2) September 2016 (3) August 2016 (1) June 2016 (8) April 2016 (2) March 2016 (4) February 2016 (6) January 2016 (4) December 2015 (2) November 2015 (7) October 2015 (12) September 2015 (8) August 2015 (8) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (6) May 2015 (5) April 2015 (5) February 2015 (1) January 2015 (3) November 2014 (3) October 2014 (6) September 2014 (3) July 2014 (1) June 2014 (1) May 2014 (2) January 2014 (2)
The fairy tale about a brave Canadian general in Rwanda
SAMANTHA POWER, LOUISE MUSHIKIWABO AND COLETTE BRAECKMAN BRING THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE, IN ORDER TO PERPETUATE A LIE.
RESISTANCE BY VEGETABLE: MARTIN KOBLER'S WAR AGAINST CHILDREN
KISANGANI: ONCE AGAIN THE UN IS USING STARVATION AS A MEANS TO FORCE HUTU REFUGEES BACK INTO KAGAME'S MURDEROUS HANDS.
MORE THAN 10 MILLION AFRICANS DIED IN THE LAST 24 YEARS WHILE THE UN PLAYED THE FIDDLE, SADC SHOULD NOT BE PART OF THIS CRIMINAL INSANITIY.
WE CAN NOT TRUST OUR LIVES WITH THE UN, BECAUSE OUR HISTORY WITH THIS WORLD BODY TELLS US IT IS A SUICIDAL MOVE.
DRC-FDLR: REACTION TO THE UNITED SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON THE DR CONGO OF NOVEMBER, 5th 2014.
GREAT LAKES REGION: THE NEW PAX AMERICANA FOR THE GREAT LAKES, THE FEINGOLD EDITION!
THE LAND OF THOUSAND LIES: THE BBC DID WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE A LONG TIME AGO. THE QUESTION IS: WHAT TOOK SO LONG?
RWANDA: HE WHO HELD LUCIFER'S HAND AND PROCLAIMED HIM A SAINT
OUR RIGHT TO LIFE IS NO-NEGOTIABLE; HUTU LIVES MUST NOT BE EXPANDABLE.
"THOU SHALL KILL": THUNDERED THE UNSETTLING AND MENACING VOICE FROM THE PULPIT.
© 2021 Urugaga |All Rights Reserved


The yearly calendar is often combined with a daily or weekly calendar.
With this combination, the yearly calendar gives you an overview, helps you with your long-term planning and can also be used as a documentation of your experiences, activities and achievements. The daily or weekly calendar can be used as a detailed planner for your activities, providing an overview of your short-term plans and tasks.
Some appointments can be entered twice, once in your yearly calendar and once in your daily or weekly calendar, for example. This helps to keep you in the best order.
The yearly calendar provides you with an overview of the most important tasks and appointments of the year. However, as sometimes this space is too small to add lengthly notes and information in an organized way, some customers prefer to have a notebook or data register in addition to their yearly calendar.
Notes can be numbered or supplied with a date at the top of the page. This allows you to make references to your notes in your yearly calendar itself.
The yearly calendar contains overview pages where you can enter your projects or important notes.
These pages also provide as space for you to document the highlights of your year.
Symbols for a full moon and new moon are listed in the yearly calendar.
In the picture above you can also see the calendar week number. This is usually shown on every Monday of each week. If on this day there is a full or new moon, then the calendar week number will be displayed on Tuesday.
School vacations and holidays in the yearly calendar are printed for the current year.
Information about where to find updated school holiday and vacation notices for the year are also listed in the yearly calendar.
The most important holidays are listed in the yearly calendar. The name of the holiday is printed.
International holidays are listed with an abbreviation for each country. If a country is in parenthesis, this means that the holiday is not celebrated in the entire country, but rather only in some regions.
The end of the year is generally the time when people start looking for a new calendar for the coming year. This is why we start every yearly calendar with the month of December.
In addition, three months of the following year are printed at the end of the yearly calendar so that you can already begin with your planning.
For all the months after that, a table is provided so that you can write in important dates to be later transferred to your new yearly calendar.
A yearly calendar can be used for different purposes. If you perhaps use your calendar for statistics or as a checking/controlling instrument, the last three columns on the right-hand side of the page are designed for these purposes. These columns also lend themselves well to a variety of other uses.
Please note that we also have special fold-out yearly calendars available.
Our personal organizers Organizer Expert, Slimline Professional, Slimline Expert and the ONE each have a pocket perfect for the yearly calendar fold-out.


Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Sukkur has been announced now Sukkur Board Matric Result 2019. This page formally introduced to achieve an accurate result on the Internet and downloaded format PDF, Gazette. All those students who join this board in SSC exams they are excited for announcement but Board delay for 2019 result. so we are only give advice for officially keep visiting for any latest update. Examinations are held this year, Class 10th in the month of April and will announced the result June 28, 2019. The last time in 2012, the staff released in June of last week, this year they may be the same date.
BISE Sukkur board said the person Hassan Khokhar in charge "Board announce 28 June, We also hope that result will be available in the last week of June or the first week of July, but this is not confirmed." The other side, most of the students are waiting.
This month some KPK boards are announced their results but some of this and other province in pending witch All Punjab Bise boards also.
Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Sukkur came into being after Sindh Goverment approval in 1980.Latter to operate efficiently Council has got its own building for an amount of Rs.10.000 million, a piece of 14 acres of land by the local administration. Council Complex constructed in two phases. since it they are work regularly and every year a larg number of students are compete their secondary school examinations and mostly satisfied. Sukkur Board supervision these cities Sukkur, District Ghotki, District Khairpur, District Naushahro Feroze, and Taluka Daulatpur of Nawabshah District.People had been seen a large number of pairing a year as well as for beginners second time in the supplementary in addition to a higher exams. Determine the course of education with regard to progress in addition to helping to achieve the desired goals. Thus, the target is connected with the Board will be to provide education ignited addition to the products towards the state exam. they are launch the website of the Board to achieve the above objectives which will be obviously helpful for every one concerned.
Sukkur Board exams 2019 result top position holders list also available on this page so stay touch.
Write to us roll number in the comments section below, and get the result in a short time.
Board may enter a short message service as a result of students witch they get their results after SMS to a specific number but news not confirmed. We are also in progress for provide Bise Sukkur Board Matric Result 2019 after officially announced here at so stay connected for much more information.
i want to know route the direction..


The Shakespearian assertion that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark," doesn't hold weight these days according to the United Nation's annual World Happiness Report. Denmark, and the handful of other Scandinavian countries, are consistent leaders on the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network's (SDSN) list, which has been ranking happy (and not so happy) countries since 2012.
The SDSN's mission is to boost sustainable development throughout the world. As part of this objective, researchers gather data on 157 countries including healthy life expectancy, social support, the freedom of their citizens to make life choices, generosity, and their perceptions of safety and security. High ratings in these categories reflect the general happiness of each nation's people.
Closer to home, Geneseo researchers and faculty members Jim Allen, associate professor of psychology, and Steve Derné, professor of sociology, have recently published books on happiness and well-being. And while "happiness" and "well-being" are not synonyms — especially when kicked around by scholars of different disciplines — they do have things in common, including influencing our long-term health, relationships and interactions, and even on our social and cultural values.
Jim Allen's book, "The Psychology of Happiness in the Modern World: A Social Psychological Approach" (Springer, 2017), was born from reading and analyzing thousands of articles for his 200-level course Psychology of Happiness, which he's taught now for about a decade. Though technically a textbook that's intended for classroom use, Allen's conversational style makes the research in the book accessible to broader audiences.
For Allen and other psychologists who study the subject, happiness is not a fleeting emotion that an individual feels. Instead, it's a conscious assessment one makes of general long-term well-being.
emotional feeling at the present moment," Allen explains.
Allen also examines factors that can affect well-being, including culture.
Social scientists describe corporate capitalism as a market system that's dominated by huge companies that have great sway on things like the nation's wage labor and economic growth, all while maximizing their profits.
"Unfortunately, we know (and studies confirm) that many of us use materialistic kinds of pursuits as Band-Aids for emotional wounds," he says.
Although Allen presents a lot of data in his book about what may or may not make us happy, he cautions readers against thinking it's a self-help book. "I don't want people to think that I am telling them that they should or ought to do, because much of what makes us happy intersects with an individual's moral values," Allen says.
Individual practices like striving to be optimistic, having gratitude, being more social or kind, and developing grit can help improve someone's happiness, but for Allen, it's more meaningful to think about and teach happiness in a way that goes beyond the individual. What about the society and communities in which people live?
For the book, Allen synthesized scores of research findings of not only psychologists, but also the work of economists and sociologists that examines factors such as consumer culture, unemployment, income inequality, economic growth, and social welfare policies. The findings helped him to understand better how such factors influence and help sustain happiness.
The top-ranked countries in the World Happiness Report share similar characteristics that include a reasonable standard of living, a functioning democracy, a lack of corruption, a clean environment, and a government that their citizens can trust, Allen points out.
Countries that prioritize living standards through policies that provide social safety nets like a livable wage, affordable and accessible healthcare, while minimizing income disparities, have higher levels of happiness.
"Decommodification is when people feel that their worth and security is not linked to market forces — so no matter what happens, they are still going to be regarded as a valuable person and have access to decent housing, medical care, and food. It's not an opulent way of life, but a way of life that people aren't going to look down on. That basic safety net goes so far in enhancing happiness and maintaining happiness.
"I'd like to shout from the rooftops that this individualist stuff is good, but there is more to the story than that. Maybe the title of my book should have been 'Happiness: There's More to the Story,'" he says with a laugh.
and experience well-being was far more appealing.
For "Sociology of Well-Being: Lessons from India" (Sage, 2017), Derné and his research assistants conducted a total of 203 interviews in 2007 and 2011 with adults of all ages from Dehradun, India, a capital city in the Himalayan foothills.
Derné describes well-being as a sense or feeling of enduring life satisfaction that is transient. It can wax and wane depending on what a person is doing or as they shift focus from one thing to another.
Derné has lived and worked in India on and off over the past 35 years and he enlisted native Hindi speakers Narendra Sethi and Meenu Sharma to help with the interviews and translations. Sethi, a journalist that assisted Derné in previous projects, was of great help in securing the first series of interviews.
Derné returned to Geneseo and was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship to continue his work on well-being. "I didn't start the fellowship for 18 months. So I had time to let the data roll around in my head," he said.
During the first round of interviews in India, Derné and Sethi had difficulty getting interviews with women. About half of the women they asked refused, whereas not a single man had turned them down. This is partly due to cultural norms such as the segregation of sexes, and mores of honor and respectability, but also because women have less free time than men, Derné says. This is especially true for women who work outside of the home, who then come home to work their "second-shift" of meal preparation, housework and other duties.
Sharma was able to talk to people who had dodged Derné and Sethi's earlier attempt. She interviewed 85 women, including Muslims and lower-middle-class women. Sharma's interviews were pivotal in helping to expose patterns in their research.
Derné argues that well-being is internal and it develops through relationships and during interactions with others — including while being questioned for the study.
Derné's book suggests that "it is not a person's external circumstances that produce well-being, but how people think about those circumstances." How a person views or interprets their income and health, for example, is more important than the how well they're actually doing. "An infirm person … who focuses on his or her limitations has less well-being than the infirm person … who focuses on what he or she can still do," Derné writes.
Derné says that more attention should be paid to studying interactions as a unit of analysis since it seems that it's positive interactions and socializing that produce well-being.
Looking at the findings of other scholars and of the interviews his students have done, Derné says that there are little differences in how people talk and feel about well-being regardless of where they're from. "It's all the same; some people see it easier than others, but it's there," he says.


text:
Q: What kind of argument is preferred to put in AlertDialog.Builder.setView() I'm displaying a date picker using DialogFragment's onCreateDialog and i created a xml file for the date picker.
Should I:

*

*setView directly with the R.layout.xml_name
public Dialog onCreateDialog(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        return new AlertDialog.Builder(getActivity())
                .setView(R.layout.dialog_date)
                .setTitle(R.string.date_picker_title)
                .setPositiveButton(android.R.string.ok,null)
                .create();
}

*setView with a View object as argument, using LayoutInflater.inflate()
public Dialog onCreateDialog(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View v = LayoutInflater.from(getActivity())
                .inflate(R.layout.dialog_date,null);

        return new AlertDialog.Builder(getActivity())
                .setView(v)
                .setTitle(R.string.date_picker_title)
                .setPositiveButton(android.R.string.ok,null)
                .create();
    }

Both display the same result, i saw option 2 in a book
is that just a different preference of using? which one is better practice?

A: Both the things you mentioned do the exact same thing.
Internally, when you use setView(int resourceId)(your case 1), the Layout that you passed to the setView is Inflated internally and sent to setView(View view) function.
So, by using case 2, you're increasing your own work.
But, why use case 2 then? So, there are two kinds of context that you can pass to the
LayoutInflater.from(context)

Now, what does that mean?

*

*If you pass the Activity context to the LayoutInflater, which will mean you'll be using the same theme applied to your activity in your AlertDialog.

*But, if you use getContext(), as the documentation states:

Note: To ensure consistent styling, the custom view should be inflated
  or constructed using the alert dialog's themed context obtained via
  getContext().

So, if you want consistency across all your dialog's, and if you've applied theme to your AlertDialog, it'll be applied to the dialog that you're inflating manually.
You can see more about AlertDialog.Builder on the link.

A: Both are good in different situations -
Situation 1- if you want simply to display a message then option 1 is good because there is no extra effort is needed to inflate layout.

Situation 2-  if you want to perform some operation with the dialog then option 2 is best.
For Ex.- Suppose you are using a button to close the dialog in your layout dialog_date.xml file than to perform an operation using that button you have to inflate dialog_date.xml to find the id of a button.
like this-
View v = LayoutInflater.from(getActivity())
                        .inflate(R.layout.dialog_date,null);

then
Button btnCloseDialog= v.findViewById(R.id.buttonId);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The day before yesterday was my daughter's eleventh birthday. Though she enjoyed receiving a new Wii game, a Target gift card, a gym bag and some cash, I'm pretty sure her favorite present was this handmade card from her little brother.
Because people throw around that heart and soul stuff all the time, but when you say blood you really mean it.
1. You know you are a true chocoholic when you realize there isn't a chocolate nut cluster in the world that stands a chance against you.
2. Or, a peanut butter blossom.
3. If your son has never had an instance where he has scratched his crotch in public, you can be sure he will do it for the first time in the middle of his school Christmas play.
4. When he's standing directly in front of the principal.
5. And, you can be sure he'll do it for a second time when he's performing during the children's Christmas Eve Mass.
6. While standing in front of an entire congregation.
8. You may underestimate how bad of a charades player your sister says she is, until she acts out West Side Story by simply belting out, "Maria..."
9. If your daughter gets a camera for Christmas, it's possible that she will think she is the next Annie Lebovitz and you will have to pose for pictures for days on end.
10. And, during those days on end when you've been living off of beer, wine, egg nog, rum, Bailey's and apple pie, you probably won't look very pretty in those photographs.
11. When you are 38 years old and your parents still spoil you, you'll feel like a kid again.
12. If you are participating in a White Elephant gift exchange, you won't feel so bad about contributing something tacky when you receive a clock from 1982. With dust on it.
13. If you have to make three different trips to the carry out in the middle of your family gathering, you will realize that you are related to a forgetful bunch.
14. Either that, or they drink a lot.
For as long as I can remember, my husband, our two kids and I have gathered around our dining room table for a traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. First, we attend church, then come home and I put a ham in the oven.
The only problem with this arrangement, is that the children's Mass, in which my kids often participate, is at 6:00 PM...which means we don't get home until after 7:00. I don't like to leave the oven on when we're not home, so Christmas Eve dinner is always a very late one.
This year I tried something new. I pulled out my gigantic, electric roaster and threw the ham inside before we left for church. That way we came home to a fully cooked ham.
Actually, it was a little too fully cooked.
And as we sat around the table aglow with candlelight and set with my mother's Christmas china, my daughter didn't let it go unnoticed when she said, "You know, I like dry meat. It's easier to cut."
Not too long ago, I almost saw a pedestrian get killed. Cross-traffic was stopped at a light, or so this woman thought, and she stepped off the curb and into the crosswalk. A car ran the red light and missed her by inches.
The scene often runs through my mind in slow motion. I picture her hair getting blown by the passing car that almost ran her down. Yet, in my memory, her hair isn't tossed by a whoosh of air. It is a gentle breeze because the picture runs so slow.
I feel much the same way about the time my son stopped breathing after one of his surgeries. I remember the frenzy and the near-constant push of medication. I remember my son screaming and then suddenly hearing nothing but the nurse yelling at him. But, all of that craziness also drags on in my mind. It's as if remembering it at the pace at which it happened is too much for me to endure.
When I go back to the moment when my aunt told me that my cousin had died, I see her mouth move sluggishly as she said, "He's gone". When I recall standing next to my niece in the ICU when she took her last breaths, the blips on her monitor barely move in my mind.
I think painful memories work that way. They travel through us at a rate so as not to shock our hearts into stopping.
But, I want the good memories to slow down. I need pictures of happiness and light to linger in my head. Those images are far too fleeting.
My New Year's resolution is to stop walking around in a perpetual state of anxiety and make my brain happy. To nurse my soul and to stop letting bad thoughts plod along slowly. I want to make the good feelings last longer than the rotten ones.
All of the negative, slow motion moments in my life are wearing me down and it's high time I sent them packing.
Then, I'm going to invite bliss and ask it to kick up its heels and stay a while.
Next week, my daughter will mark her 11th birthday. We were discussing this momentous occasion when she suddenly said, "I remember being so scared about turning 10 last year!"
"Because I knew I'd be in double digits for the rest of my life!"
So, you know how you have a lot to do when there's less than two weeks before Christmas? And then your kid gets a cold so bad that he throws up when he coughs because he's so full of mucus? And then your dog gets a massive bladder infection and ear infection? Oh, and you have to fly to a black-tie, corporate party in Atlanta because your husband's company just KNOWS you hate to fly? Yeah, me too.
I don't know about you, but I was able to hold it together with all that stress...especially because I got some Xanax to help me get through the flight. The flight which had me so crippled with fear that I could barely function.
On the way to Atlanta on Saturday, the medicine helped a lot, until we hit turbulence. When my husband saw me holding on tightly to my tray table, he ordered me a vodka and cranberry. That drink was, without a doubt, the best drink I have ever had...until he ordered me a second one. One-and-a-half Xanax and two drinks. What plane?
When we arrived, we heard from the dog sitter that the dog was doing okay, my mom told me that my son was hanging in there, and I had lived through the flight. Things were going great!
Until after the party when my right wrist started itching. I silently thanked my mother for passing me the genes for spider veins and sensitive skin and I chalked it up to a cheap bracelet I had been wearing.
But, by yesterday morning I knew it wasn't just sensitive skin. I had hives. If you have never had the pleasure of having hives, let me describe it for you. It's like being covered with mosquito bites...everywhere. A thousand of them. On your scalp, your eyes, inside your ears, your shoulders, your elbows, your forearms, your hands, your stomach, your crotch, your thighs, your knees, your shins, your ankles and, my personal favorite, the soles of your feet. I was scratching so much that my husband said I looked like a dog...with fleas...and bedbugs.
The concierge brought me some Benadryl, but by the time we got to the airport yesterday I was feeling miserable. While everyone else was printing their boarding passes, I was all, "Hey Delta dude, is there a medical clinic up in here?"
There was. It was upstairs next to the USO, where there were military personnel all over the place. Then I was all, "Hey folks, thanks for risking your lives and protecting my family, but can you get out of my way because I have HIVES!" They were happy to oblige, likely because they thought I was crazy as I kept taking off my shoes to scratch the bottom of my feet. Also, I may have slightly resembled a leper.
The doctor immediately gave me a shot of steroids, a pack of Prednisone and then asked me if I realized that my blood pressure was 160/104. Really? Maybe that's because I'm agitated and want to tear my own skin open and I would rather take off all my clothes and wriggle around on a bed of nails or rub up on the scratchy side of a velcro rug than be here talking to you.
The doctor assumed that the hives were from the Xanax, so I had to white-knuckle it all the way home. And when we flew through clouds for a good five minutes and I couldn't see anything out the window and we were flying through "rough air", I'm sure that I no longer looked like a dog.
Because this chick? Was sweating like a pig.
I'm not sure why, but lately I have been reminiscing a lot. Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's the holidays. Or, maybe it's because I'm getting on a plane tomorrow and am fairly certain of my impending death.
No matter the reason, I have mostly been thinking about my old friend, Barbie. Barbie, Mel and I were inseparable. Here is a picture of the three of us as kids...before things turned ugly.
I think we were such good friends because we could all relate to each other. We were such misfits! I had not yet grown a neck, Barbie could never stay out of her mom's makeup bag and loved to wear "Nair shorts", and Mel...well, we could rarely get her out of the trees thanks to her freakishly long arms.
Eventually, I grew a neck and when Mel hit puberty, the rest of her body caught up with her ever-growing arms. We changed. Barbie didn't. Some people just never grow up.
The Nair shorts became shorter and shorter, and sometimes she didn't wear shorts at all. Instead of just wearing red lipstick, she started wearing blue eyeshadow too. And, in high school, when she had her first sip of warm beer, we lost her for good.
Barbie turned to Coors Light more often than not, though she did end up getting married. But, she had so many kids that she ended up losing her mind and once gave away all of her family's food to a strange woman in Ohio.
I heard through the grapevine that during the last couple of years she has completely flipped out and tells everyone that she is, in fact, a weasel. The whole story is just so sad.
Today is Barbie's birthday. Wherever you are, Barbie, and whether or not you really are crazy, and whether or not you think you're a human or a carnivorous mammal that looks like a rodent...I miss you. I am wishing you a happy birthday.
Oh, and by the way, Barb, you have been blunked.
The other night, around sunset, my son asked if he could turn on the Christmas tree lights. Before I had a chance to answer, my daughter turned to him and said, "Can I turn on the lights tonight? You always do it."
My son replied, "Sure." Then his face turned red, his eyes filled with tears and he said, "As long as you smile really big like I do when I turn them on."
Here are some pictures of the Christmas decorations in our living room.
As it turns out, I've had a couple of elves helping me add decorations.
out of the dog's mouth and put it up on the mantle.
It looks like Santa is on the naughty list this year.
He claims he was trying to draw a man with big ears. But, it looks to me like he drew something else entirely. I mean, we all see it...right? It's pretty clear to me that this is a unicorn.
2. Seeing dog hair on my floor.
3. My son's aim in the bathroom.
4. The fact that the laundry never stops.
5. Holiday shopping on December 1st and seeing the store has been ransacked and stock is depleted.
10. Thinking it was Wednesday and it was only Tuesday.
11. Realizing that even though I'm halfway through, this is going to be a very long week.


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Don Melton, former Engineering Director of Internet Technologies at Apple, talks to Guy and Rene about assembler on the Apple II, open-sourcing Mozilla, building Nautilus, creating WebKit and the Safari browser, teaching bears to dance, and cleaning cusses from code bases.


Balance Transfers (BT) have long been hailed as the ultimate answer to the problem of credit card debt, but they may not work for everybody. As with any banking product, BTs are also subject to their own terms, conditions and repercussions.
Are you trying to ease your credit card debt woes? You might want to consider something other than a balance transfer if you are anything like one of these four people.
If your empty card or new credit card has too low a credit limit watch out: You may not be able to benefit from a balance transfer!
The idea of a balance transfer is to transfer all your credit card balances onto one card or just from one card to another. The requirement however, is that the card 'receiving' the balance will need to be able to accommodate the amount in it's available credit limit.
For example, if you have a balance of RM3,500 on credit card A and want to transfer it credit card B: credit card B needs to have an available credit limit of RM3,500 and above. Even having exactly RM3,500 is cutting it too close and you risk getting your application rejected. This is because fees may be incurred on transferred balances (selected banks).
If your credit card limits are low, make sure the balance you are transferring is low enough to fit too.
Sandra took a new credit card F to transfer a balance from credit card E. After transferring the amount, her credit card E was empty. What did Sandra do? She started swiping again!
Before she knew it; she had filled up credit card E before paying off the new credit card F. She now has two full credit cards and is applying for a third balance transfer!
Credit card balance transfers are great to help you pay down debts faster. But what it does as well is give shopaholics and 'debt-addicts' a new/empty card to refill.
Also, some shopaholics who have available credit on their new cards after transferring their balance, may be tempted to spend with that as well! If you applied for a balance transfer credit card, only the transferred amount is subject to the low BT interest rate offer. Any new spending will incur the full interest rate so it is best to not use that card until you've paid everything off.
Unless you are serious about cutting up your extra cards and really getting down to clearing your debt; a balance transfer won't help you!
Do you already have five credit cards and a personal loan to your name? Take note, if your monthly commitment is too high; your application for the new card you need for the balance transfer won't be approved.
Balance transfers require an empty credit card with the bank offering the preferential rate and tenure of your choice. If you do not have a card from that bank, you will have to apply for one. Similarly, if you have no empty credit cards (all maxed out!) you will have to apply for a new card.
But your application may not be approved if you have too many financial commitments. Typically, the maximum commitment banks will allow is 60% of your gross salary. Although this is the maximum threshold, the percentage will vary for different banks with some opting to be more conservative.
Also, if you earn less than RM3,000 a month; the Bank Negara cap on credit cards will prevent you from getting another card if you've used up your two card/2x-your-salary-credit-limit quota.
Robert misses his payment deadlines regularly and usually pays as little as he is allowed (the minimum payment). Whilst he initially thought this payment behaviour was "no big deal"; he soon found he had incurred so many late charges on his transferred balance that it was almost the same as paying the full credit card interest rate!
BTs work best when you follow the repayment schedule diligently: paying the amount you should, when you should. This is because many BTs have set monthly amounts that need to be paid or else, the remaining unpaid amount will attract higher interest rates.
Some BTs also require that the whole amount be paid off in the agreed number of months (6 months, 12 months, etc) or you will incur the full, regular credit card interest rate.
If you're not disciplined about repayment; a BT won't help you avoid those pesky fees!
But Does That Mean BTs are Bad?
Of course, not! balance transfers are still an excellent way to deal with credit card debt provided you fall within the application requirements and you use it right. It's the same with any banking product, really. A BT can seriously help you pay down debt faster than when you have to pay huge interest rates along with it but the key is in using it right.
Low interest and flexible repayments with a Balance Transfer program with minimal management fees. Ideal if you want to clear your debts fast!
Enjoy flexible repayments with UOB. With a minimum payment of 5% of the outstanding amount each month you call the shots as you pay off your debts.


text:
package io.aeron.logbuffer;

import org.agrona.DirectBuffer;
import org.agrona.concurrent.UnsafeBuffer;

import static io.aeron.logbuffer.FrameDescriptor.FRAME_ALIGNMENT;
import static io.aeron.protocol.DataHeaderFlyweight.HEADER_LENGTH;
import static org.agrona.BitUtil.CACHE_LINE_LENGTH;
import static org.agrona.BitUtil.SIZE_OF_INT;
import static org.agrona.BitUtil.SIZE_OF_LONG;

/**
 * Layout description for log buffers which contains partitions of terms with associated term meta data,
 * plus ending with overall log meta data.
 *
 *

 *  +----------------------------+
 *  |           Term 0           |
 *  +----------------------------+
 *  |           Term 1           |
 *  +----------------------------+
 *  |           Term 2           |
 *  +----------------------------+
 *  |        Log Meta Data       |
 *  +----------------------------+
 *

 */
public class LogBufferDescriptor
{
    /**
     * The number of partitions the log is divided into.
     */
    public static final int PARTITION_COUNT = 3;

    /**
     * Section index for which buffer contains the log meta data.
     */
    public static final int LOG_META_DATA_SECTION_INDEX = PARTITION_COUNT;

    /**
     * Minimum buffer length for a log term
     */
    public static final int TERM_MIN_LENGTH = 64 * 1024;

    // *******************************
    // *** Log Meta Data Constants ***
    // *******************************

    /**
     * Offset within the meta data where the tail values are stored.
     */
    public static final int TERM_TAIL_COUNTERS_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data where the active partition index is stored.
     */
    public static final int LOG_ACTIVE_PARTITION_INDEX_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data where the time of last SM is stored.
     */
    public static final int LOG_TIME_OF_LAST_SM_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data where the active term id is stored.
     */
    public static final int LOG_INITIAL_TERM_ID_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data which the length field for the frame header is stored.
     */
    public static final int LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_LENGTH_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data which the MTU length is stored;
     */
    public static final int LOG_MTU_LENGTH_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset within the log meta data which the
     */
    public static final int LOG_CORRELATION_ID_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Offset at which the default frame headers begin.
     */
    public static final int LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_OFFSET;

    /**
     * Maximum length of a frame header.
     */
    public static final int LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_MAX_LENGTH = CACHE_LINE_LENGTH * 2;

    static
    {
        int offset = 0;
        TERM_TAIL_COUNTERS_OFFSET = offset;

        offset += (SIZE_OF_LONG * PARTITION_COUNT);
        LOG_ACTIVE_PARTITION_INDEX_OFFSET = offset;

        offset = (CACHE_LINE_LENGTH * 2);
        LOG_TIME_OF_LAST_SM_OFFSET = offset;

        offset += (CACHE_LINE_LENGTH * 2);
        LOG_CORRELATION_ID_OFFSET = offset;
        LOG_INITIAL_TERM_ID_OFFSET = LOG_CORRELATION_ID_OFFSET + SIZE_OF_LONG;
        LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_LENGTH_OFFSET = LOG_INITIAL_TERM_ID_OFFSET + SIZE_OF_INT;
        LOG_MTU_LENGTH_OFFSET = LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_LENGTH_OFFSET + SIZE_OF_INT;

        offset += CACHE_LINE_LENGTH;
        LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_OFFSET = offset;

        LOG_META_DATA_LENGTH = offset + LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_MAX_LENGTH;
    }

    /**
     * Total length of the log meta data buffer in bytes.
     *
     *

     *   0                   1                   2                   3
     *   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
     *  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     *  |                       Tail Counter 0                          |
     *  |                                                               |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                       Tail Counter 1                          |
     *  |                                                               |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                       Tail Counter 2                          |
     *  |                                                               |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                   Active Partition Index                      |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                      Cache Line Padding                      ...
     * ...                                                              |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                 Time of Last Status Message                   |
     *  |                                                               |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                      Cache Line Padding                      ...
     * ...                                                              |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                 Registration / Correlation ID                 |
     *  |                                                               |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                        Initial Term Id                        |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                  Default Frame Header Length                  |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                          MTU Length                           |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                      Cache Line Padding                      ...
     * ...                                                              |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *  |                    Default Frame Header                      ...
     * ...                                                              |
     *  +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     *

     */
    public static final int LOG_META_DATA_LENGTH;

    /**
     * Check that term length is valid and alignment is valid.
     *
     * @param termLength to be checked.
     * @throws IllegalStateException if the length is not as expected.
     */
    public static void checkTermLength(final int termLength)
    {
        if (termLength < TERM_MIN_LENGTH)
        {
            final String s = String.format(
                "Term length less than min length of %d, length=%d",
                TERM_MIN_LENGTH, termLength);
            throw new IllegalStateException(s);
        }

        if ((termLength & (FRAME_ALIGNMENT - 1)) != 0)
        {
            final String s = String.format(
                "Term length not a multiple of %d, length=%d",
                FRAME_ALIGNMENT, termLength);
            throw new IllegalStateException(s);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Get the value of the initial Term id used for this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @return the value of the initial Term id used for this log.
     */
    public static int initialTermId(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getInt(LOG_INITIAL_TERM_ID_OFFSET);
    }

    /**
     * Set the initial term at which this log begins. Initial should be randomised so that stream does not get
     * reused accidentally.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @param initialTermId     value to be set.
     */
    public static void initialTermId(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final int initialTermId)
    {
        logMetaDataBuffer.putInt(LOG_INITIAL_TERM_ID_OFFSET, initialTermId);
    }

    /**
     * Get the value of the MTU length used for this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @return the value of the MTU length used for this log.
     */
    public static int mtuLength(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getInt(LOG_MTU_LENGTH_OFFSET);
    }

    /**
     * Set the MTU length used for this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @param mtuLength         value to be set.
     */
    public static void mtuLength(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final int mtuLength)
    {
        logMetaDataBuffer.putInt(LOG_MTU_LENGTH_OFFSET, mtuLength);
    }

    /**
     * Get the value of the correlation ID for this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @return the value of the correlation ID used for this log.
     */
    public static long correlationId(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getLong(LOG_CORRELATION_ID_OFFSET);
    }

    /**
     * Set the correlation ID used for this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @param id                value to be set.
     */
    public static void correlationId(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final long id)
    {
        logMetaDataBuffer.putLong(LOG_CORRELATION_ID_OFFSET, id);
    }

    /**
     * Get the value of the time of last SM in {@link System#currentTimeMillis()}.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @return the value of time of last SM
     */
    public static long timeOfLastStatusMessage(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getLongVolatile(LOG_TIME_OF_LAST_SM_OFFSET);
    }

    /**
     * Set the value of the time of last SM used by the producer of this log.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @param timeInMillis      value of the time of last SM in {@link System#currentTimeMillis()}
     */
    public static void timeOfLastStatusMessage(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final long timeInMillis)
    {
        logMetaDataBuffer.putLongOrdered(LOG_TIME_OF_LAST_SM_OFFSET, timeInMillis);
    }

    /**
     * Get the value of the active partition index used by the producer of this log. Consumers may have a different active
     * index if they are running behind. The read is done with volatile semantics.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the meta data.
     * @return the value of the active partition index used by the producer of this log.
     */
    public static int activePartitionIndex(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getIntVolatile(LOG_ACTIVE_PARTITION_INDEX_OFFSET);
    }

    /**
     * Set the value of the current active partition index for the producer using memory ordered semantics.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer    containing the meta data.
     * @param activePartitionIndex value of the active partition index used by the producer of this log.
     */
    public static void activePartitionIndex(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final int activePartitionIndex)
    {
        logMetaDataBuffer.putIntOrdered(LOG_ACTIVE_PARTITION_INDEX_OFFSET, activePartitionIndex);
    }

    /**
     * Rotate to the next partition in sequence for the term id.
     *
     * @param currentIndex partition index
     * @return the next partition index
     */
    public static int nextPartitionIndex(final int currentIndex)
    {
        return (currentIndex + 1) % PARTITION_COUNT;
    }

    /**
     * Determine the partition index to be used given the initial term and active term ids.
     *
     * @param initialTermId at which the log buffer usage began
     * @param activeTermId  that is in current usage
     * @return the index of which buffer should be used
     */
    public static int indexByTerm(final int initialTermId, final int activeTermId)
    {
        return (activeTermId - initialTermId) % PARTITION_COUNT;
    }

    /**
     * Determine the partition index based on number of terms that have passed.
     *
     * @param termCount for the number of terms that have passed.
     * @return the partition index for the term count.
     */
    public static int indexByTermCount(final long termCount)
    {
        return (int)(termCount % PARTITION_COUNT);
    }

    /**
     * Determine the partition index given a stream position.
     *
     * @param position            in the stream in bytes.
     * @param positionBitsToShift number of times to right shift the position for term count
     * @return the partition index for the position
     */
    public static int indexByPosition(final long position, final int positionBitsToShift)
    {
        return (int)((position >>> positionBitsToShift) % PARTITION_COUNT);
    }

    /**
     * Compute the current position in absolute number of bytes.
     *
     * @param activeTermId        active term id.
     * @param termOffset          in the term.
     * @param positionBitsToShift number of times to left shift the term count
     * @param initialTermId       the initial term id that this stream started on
     * @return the absolute position in bytes
     */
    public static long computePosition(
        final int activeTermId, final int termOffset, final int positionBitsToShift, final int initialTermId)
    {
        final long termCount = activeTermId - initialTermId; // copes with negative activeTermId on rollover

        return (termCount << positionBitsToShift) + termOffset;
    }

    /**
     * Compute the current position in absolute number of bytes for the beginning of a term.
     *
     * @param activeTermId        active term id.
     * @param positionBitsToShift number of times to left shift the term count
     * @param initialTermId       the initial term id that this stream started on
     * @return the absolute position in bytes
     */
    public static long computeTermBeginPosition(
        final int activeTermId, final int positionBitsToShift, final int initialTermId)
    {
        final long termCount = activeTermId - initialTermId; // copes with negative activeTermId on rollover

        return termCount << positionBitsToShift;
    }

    /**
     * Compute the term id from a position.
     *
     * @param position            to calculate from
     * @param positionBitsToShift number of times to right shift the position
     * @param initialTermId       the initial term id that this stream started on
     * @return the term id according to the position
     */
    public static int computeTermIdFromPosition(final long position, final int positionBitsToShift, final int initialTermId)
    {
        return ((int)(position >>> positionBitsToShift) + initialTermId);
    }

    /**
     * Compute the term offset from a given position.
     *
     * @param position            to calculate from
     * @param positionBitsToShift number of times to right shift the position
     * @return the offset within the term that represents the position
     */
    public static int computeTermOffsetFromPosition(final long position, final int positionBitsToShift)
    {
        final long mask = (1L << positionBitsToShift) - 1L;

        return (int)(position & mask);
    }

    /**
     * Compute the total length of a log file given the term length.
     *
     * @param termLength on which to base the calculation.
     * @return the total length of the log file.
     */
    public static long computeLogLength(final int termLength)
    {
        return (termLength * PARTITION_COUNT) + LOG_META_DATA_LENGTH;
    }

    /**
     * Compute the term length based on the total length of the log.
     *
     * @param logLength the total length of the log.
     * @return length of an individual term buffer in the log.
     */
    public static int computeTermLength(final long logLength)
    {
        return (int)((logLength - LOG_META_DATA_LENGTH) / PARTITION_COUNT);
    }

    /**
     * Store the default frame header to the log meta data buffer.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer into which the default headers should be stored.
     * @param defaultHeader     to be stored.
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the default header is larger than {@link #LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_MAX_LENGTH}
     */
    public static void storeDefaultFrameHeader(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final DirectBuffer defaultHeader)
    {
        if (defaultHeader.capacity() != HEADER_LENGTH)
        {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format(
                "Default header of %d not equal to %d", defaultHeader.capacity(), HEADER_LENGTH));
        }

        logMetaDataBuffer.putInt(LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_LENGTH_OFFSET, HEADER_LENGTH);
        logMetaDataBuffer.putBytes(LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_OFFSET, defaultHeader, 0, HEADER_LENGTH);
    }

    /**
     * Get a wrapper around the default frame header from the log meta data.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the raw bytes for the default frame header.
     * @return a buffer wrapping the raw bytes.
     */
    public static UnsafeBuffer defaultFrameHeader(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        return new UnsafeBuffer(logMetaDataBuffer, LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_OFFSET, HEADER_LENGTH);
    }

    /**
     * Apply the default header for a message in a term.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the default headers.
     * @param termBuffer        to which the default header should be applied.
     * @param termOffset        at which the default should be applied.
     */
    public static void applyDefaultHeader(
        final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final UnsafeBuffer termBuffer, final int termOffset)
    {
        termBuffer.putBytes(termOffset, logMetaDataBuffer, LOG_DEFAULT_FRAME_HEADER_OFFSET, HEADER_LENGTH);
    }

    /**
     * Rotate the log and update the default headers for the new term.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer    for the meta data.
     * @param activePartitionIndex current active index.
     * @param termId               to be used in the default headers.
     */
    public static void rotateLog(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final int activePartitionIndex, final int termId)
    {
        final int nextIndex = nextPartitionIndex(activePartitionIndex);
        initialiseTailWithTermId(logMetaDataBuffer, nextIndex, termId);
        activePartitionIndex(logMetaDataBuffer, nextIndex);
    }

    /**
     * Set the initial value for the termId in the upper bits of the tail counter.
     *
     * @param logMetaData    contain the tail counter.
     * @param partitionIndex to be initialised.
     * @param termId         to be set.
     */
    public static void initialiseTailWithTermId(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaData, final int partitionIndex, final int termId)
    {
        logMetaData.putLong(TERM_TAIL_COUNTERS_OFFSET + (partitionIndex * SIZE_OF_LONG), ((long)termId) << 32);
    }

    /**
     * Get the termId from a packed raw tail value.
     *
     * @param rawTail containing the termId
     * @return the termId from a packed raw tail value.
     */
    public static int termId(final long rawTail)
    {
        return (int)(rawTail >>> 32);
    }

    /**
     * Read the termOffset from a packed raw tail value.
     *
     * @param rawTail    containing the termOffset.
     * @param termLength that the offset cannot exceed.
     * @return the termOffset value.
     */
    public static int termOffset(final long rawTail, final long termLength)
    {
        final long tail = rawTail & 0xFFFF_FFFFL;

        return (int)Math.min(tail, termLength);
    }

    /**
     * Get the raw value of the tail for the given partition.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the tail counters.
     * @param partitionIndex    for the tail counter.
     * @return the raw value of the tail for the current active partition.
     */
    public static long rawTailVolatile(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer, final int partitionIndex)
    {
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getLongVolatile(TERM_TAIL_COUNTERS_OFFSET + (SIZE_OF_LONG * partitionIndex));
    }

    /**
     * Get the raw value of the tail for the current active partition.
     *
     * @param logMetaDataBuffer containing the tail counters.
     * @return the raw value of the tail for the current active partition.
     */
    public static long rawTailVolatile(final UnsafeBuffer logMetaDataBuffer)
    {
        final int partitionIndex = activePartitionIndex(logMetaDataBuffer);
        return logMetaDataBuffer.getLongVolatile(TERM_TAIL_COUNTERS_OFFSET + (SIZE_OF_LONG * partitionIndex));
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
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The Zodiac in Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper Tweet This Topic
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The Zodiac in Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper
Re: The Zodiac in Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper
Leonardo on Astrology
In his Notebooks, Leonardo does not discuss astrology except for two disparaging comments referenced from the index. In a section collected under the title Prophecies, he says
"all the astrologers will be castrated, that is the cockerels."
This brief comment illustrates his disdain for the Nostradamus style of thinking, of speculation ungrounded in observation. A cockerel (rooster) makes noise without meaning.
This theme is expanded in a longer commentary on painting, available in full at http://people.virginia.edu/~jdk3t/LeonardosParagone.htm:
"As soon as the poet ceases to represent in words what exists in nature, he in fact ceases to resemble the painter; for if the poet, leaving such representation, proceeds to describe the flowery and flattering speech of the figure, which he wishes to make the speaker, he then is an orator and no longer a poet nor a painter. And if he speaks of the heavens he becomes an astrologer, and philosopher; and a theologian, if he discourses of nature or God. But, if he restricts himself to the description of objects, he would enter the lists against the painter, if with words he could satisfy the eye as the painter does."
Leonardo was one of the first and greatest modernists, focussing precisely on what can be seen and describing it exactly. His anatomical drawings are celebrated for this exactitude of description. This contempt for astrology, philosophy and theology as failing to represent nature proved a prescient inspiration for modern enlightened empirical thinking.
So, applied to The Last Supper, these comments indicate that the embedding of the stars of the ecliptic is entirely empirical in intent, that the story of Christ reflects the natural story of the cycle of the year. His secret contempt for the superstition of the church emerges in the placement of the head of Judas in front of the heart of Peter, suggesting that Judas, the grasping thief who denied Christ, was the real inspiration for peter, first legendary pope of the Roman church, the sword-wielding fool who denied Christ but sought to exploit the messiah as the basis of institutional propaganda.
Last edited by Robert Tulip on Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
The following user would like to thank Robert Tulip for this post:
DWill, johnson1010
DWill
Location: Luray, Virginia
Robert, you're to be commended for bringing a case against your own theory. I mean that. I simply don't see how there is much room, after what you've said, to still think that LD had any intention of coding the stars of the ecliptic into his painting.
tat tvam asi
Reading Addict
Hey guys. This one's new to me too. But one main point here is that regardless of whether or not LD practiced or enjoyed astrology is completely beside the point.
The deeper question is whether LD - as a learned man - knew and understood the history of Judaism and Christianity, the history that reveals that the 12 tribes were modeled around the 12 hours of night and day and the 12 signs of the ecliptic path of the sun - as above so below. The second function of myth is the cosmological function and many ancient societies modeled their social structuring based on mimicking the heavens above down below on the earth. And the 12 disciples are numbered as such in order to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, firmly keeping with this ancient tradition of as above so below.
If LD was learned at all in these matters - if so much as knew of Josephus and Philo's writings on this specific issue - then his including the 12 signs of the zodiac as the 12 disciples is simply a display of his knowledge about the underlying foundations of church dogma which are based in astrological symbolism pertaining to the zodiac, or simply "Mazzaroth" as described in the book of Job. The zodiac given in reverse order of the annual signs simply renders the precession of the equinoxes, so LD could have meant to display his knowledge about how the Christian mythos displays precession allegory all over the place as well. And he could have hated astrology and yet painted like this in order to take a shot at two things he disliked - the church and it's astrological symbolism which is ingrained into it's mythos. We should probably try to consider every angle when contemplating this possibility.
YEC theory put to rest!!!
https://www.ex-christian.net/
Last edited by tat tvam asi on Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
DWill wrote:
No way, it is absolutely not a case against my theory. You DWill earlier expressed an understandable but invalid conflation between the zodiac and astrology. Leonardo's use of the zodiac here involves no astrology. It is just astronomy, just stars, just observation of the path of the sun against the galaxy, 100% empirical description. And that is all that I am claiming is in The Last Supper. No astrological symbolism or themes whatsoever. Leonardo was a pure empiricist, and he encoded the observation of the empirical star path of the sun in his painting in the exact same order from one to twelve that we still see in the night sky.
In my opening post I quoted an astrologer who had previously argued for correlation between the apostles and the signs. I included that just to acknowledge that this general theme of seeing the zodiac signs from right to left had been noticed before. But when you read the quote, that astrologer barely mentions stars, and is just speculating like a rooster, in Leonardo's rather memorable phrase. By contrast my claims here are 100% empirical with no speculative content as far as astrology is concerned. That is not to invalidate all such speculation, but rather to say that is not my concern in this argument.
There is however a clear religious symbolism, a critique of the church, in the congruence with the old belief that Jesus and the apostles are allegories for the sun and the signs. It is as though Leonardo is saying that the superstition of Christianity is redundant, but what is real is the annual passage of the sun through the zodiac. It is a natural approach that matches completely with his acute observation in other fields such as anatomy, and with his methods of concealing allegories, of which more anon. Putting the head of Judas in front of the heart of Peter certainly looks like a critique of the church.
Now we have the strange situation that some people say 'yes it is obvious why did I not see it before', and others say they can't see it after trying. Maybe the inability to see it is a mental blockage or a lack of familiarity with the constellations, but the correlations are very obvious, as I have explained here in several different ways.
One more post ought to do it.
Location: Cheshire, England
The orbits of the planets are superbly mathematical. I find that a bit eerie in itself.
I know that Venus traces a pentagram? And Jupiter or Mercury, one of the two, traces a completely geometric shape coming into line every 28 years.
It is astronomy.....but it traces such accurate geometric shapes that it feels like astrology, if you know what I mean.
Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.
He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....
Rafael Sabatini
The following user would like to thank Penelope for this post:
Tenured Professor
Thanked: 1149 times in 843 posts
Penelope,
Can you elaborate on the geometric orbits?
Orbits are eliptical.
Take a look at this thread where we have been having fun with orbits. (yes. i said fun. *push up horn-rimmed glasses*)
planetary-orbit-simulator-well-there-goes-productivity-t8576.html
of particular interest might be this link
http://www.wimp.com/earthyear/
which is a nice illustration of what our orbit actually looks like. All orbiting objects necessarily share similar orbits as their mass pulls against the sun, as well as all the other objects it pulls the center of the orbit slightly out of center, creating an elipse.
Objects on different trajectories are either ejected from the solar system, or collide with one of the stable orbits.
Sorry Robert, slightly off-topic here.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro
Have you tried that? Looking for answers?
Or have you been content to be terrified of a thing you know nothing about?
Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?
Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?
Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
Confidence being an expectation built on past experience, evidence and extrapolation to the future. Faith being an expectation held in defiance of past experience and evidence.
The following user would like to thank johnson1010 for this post:
pets endangered by possible book avalanche
Robert Tulip wrote:
Leonardo's use of the zodiac here involves no astrology. It is just astronomy, just stars, just observation of the path of the sun against the galaxy, 100% empirical description.
I get the difference between the zodiac and astrology. But is there any evidence at all that Leonardo was encoding zodiac symbolism into his paintings?
-Geo
johnson wrote:
As Venus orbits the Sun, it would follow an elliptical orbit, but only from the point of view of the Sun. Because Earth also orbits the Sun, the two motions are combined, giving a different shape.
The orbits of Venus and Earth are almost a perfect 13:8 resonance, meaning that Venus does 13 orbits for every 8 of Earth. 13:8 is a succession in the Fibonacci Sequence, and the previous one is 8:5. Because of the time it takes for Earth to complete this orbit (8 years), Venus has moved in a sufficient manner to trace a pentagram with curved sides.
From the point of view from Earth, every planet has an irregular orbit, because we are coupling the motion of Earth to the motion of the other planet. Venus, due to its distance, has the most pronounced irregularity, and due to the very close resonance orbit, it traces an almost perfect geometrical shape. It's pure coincidence.
See http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en… for an image of the way the shape comes about.
geo, johnson1010
lady of shallot
Genuinely Genius
"So, applied to The Last Supper, these comments indicate that the embedding of the stars of the ecliptic is entirely empirical in intent, that the story of Christ reflects the natural story of the cycle of the year."
Dwill, I read Robert's sentence above to SUPPORT his theory of the embedded stars in the painting. He is only negating Leonardo's interest in Astrology, not astronomy
Thanks, Penelope.
johnson, that reply was so bloody beautiful....it belongs on the poetry thread.
johnson1010 wrote:
The geometry of the relation between Earth and Venus is actually entirely on topic and I had already raised it myself, but naughty Penelope neglected to quote.
The Venus Pentagram is used by Dan Brown as the key to his Da Vinci Code. I first raised it back in 2007 (on my grandmother's 99th birthday) at the bad astronomy forum where I said
The Earth Venus conjunction features interestingly in The Da Vinci Code. Because 13 Venus years are almost precisely equal to 8 Earth years, there are 13/5 = 2.6 Venus years for each 8/5 = 1.6 earth years. The common "0.6" in the two cycles means that when Venus has orbited 2.6 times, the Earth has orbited 1.6 times, so they line up exactly again with the sun. The five inferior or superior conjunctions are therefore at 1.6, 3.2, 4.8, 6.4 and 8 earth years = 2.6, 5.2, 7.8, 10.4 and 13 Venus years. For example, the inferior conjunction of Earth and Venus on 18 August 2007 was the fifth such event since the same date in 1999. These five points form a perfect pentagram in space, the divine shape of Pythagorean lore and the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo, as discussed by Dan Brown. There is reportedly a 0.0789 day slippage of this pentagram every 584 days.
The inferior conjunction of Venus occurs every 583.93 days as Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun. Most recent was 18 August 2007. The period for every fifth event is eight years minus 2.4 days, so it will happen on 16 August 2015. This regular period, due to the 13/8 relation between the orbits of Venus and Earth, also applies to the superior conjunction (Venus behind Sun), the dates of change to forward and retrograde motion, and the dates when Venus is at maximum apparent angle of 45-47 degrees each side of the sun. Venus was recently at maximum angle on 9 June 2007 and went retrograde on 30 July. In eight years, it will reach these positions on 7 June 2015 and 27 July 2015 respectively, 2.4 days before the corresponding days this year.
For the ancients, the date when Venus as evening or morning star changed direction could have been a main temporal marker, observed 2.4 days earlier against the zodiac stars every eight years. I would be interested in any information on this - did the ancients monitor the apparent 2.4 day precession of the position of Venus each eight years? This movement is certainly much easier to observe than the precession of the zodiac recorded by Hipparchus in the second century BCE.
The ten points of the apparent change of direction of Venus (five each for the evening and morning stars) form two pentagons, each evenly spaced around the zodiac. These pentagons precess with an orbital period of about 1217.5 years, as do the inferior and superior conjunctions. The Pythagorean School of ancient Greece used the pentagon as its symbol, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pythagoreans. They had a strong interest in the mathematics of celestial observation, and had cultural affinity to the themes of beauty and love symbolized by Venus/Aphrodite. For these reasons, I imagine it is likely the Pythagoreans monitored this nearly exact eight year cycle. Would their secrecy mean we will never know?
Fifty years of Venus Dates
Inferior Conjunction; 10/11/1970; 18/6/1972; 24/1/1974; 28/8/1975; 6/4/1977; 8/11/1978; 15/6/1980; 21/1/1982; 25/8/1983; 4/4/1985;
5/11/1986; 13/6/1988; 19/1/1990; 23/8/1991; 2/4/1993; 3/11/1994;
11/6/1996; 17/1/1998; 20/8/1999; 30/3/2001; 31/10/2002; 8/6/2004;
14/1/2006; 18/8/2007; 28/3/2009; 29/10/2010; 6/6/2012; 12/1/2014;
16/8/2015; 25/3/2017; 27/10/2018;
Average Days between aspects: 583.93
Year x 8/5: 584.4 days
Days lost per eight year cycle: 2.4
Years lost per 8 yr cycle: 0.0065708
Cycles per precessional rotation: 152.19
Years per Precessional rotation: 1,217.5
Years per pentagon point precession: 243.5
Dates of Venus Earth Conjunctions over 50 years.jpg [ 220.5 KiB | Viewed 3882 times ]
Last edited by Robert Tulip on Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Robert wrote:
I didn't neglect, I didn't know.
johnson's query was directed at me, and I did not give him duff information.
The point is that the pentagram is true. I hand the stage over to you Robert.
Far be it from me....etc...etc..
Forgive my gentle laughter at you Penelope. I simply assumed you were reading the thread. Or maybe what I write looks at first glance like such a dense and impenetrable thicket that even Prince Charming would struggle to hack through to find Sleeping Beauty, and I will remain invisible for another hundred years. I do try to write simply, but this material involves deep challenges to philosophical assumptions. The common derision of The Da Vinci Code is a case in point. I thought it was a superb book, following Leonardo's genius in embedding high secrets in a potboiler, rather like the New Testament in that regard in fact.
One of the books that inspired Dan Brown was The Templar Revelation - Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ by Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince. I just dug out my copy, and its opening chapter on Leonardo begins with a study of secret messages in The Last Supper. The great irony is that they focus almost entirely on whether the beloved disciple is Mary Magdalene rather than John, and completely miss the real cosmic coding that I am explaining now.
Here is how they open their book on the Templar legacy, edited to highlight their comments that are accidentally supportive of my observation of the zodiac in the Last Supper:
The Secret Code of Leonardo da Vinci
It is one of the most famous and enduring works of art in all the world. Leonardo da Vinci's fresco The Last Supper is the one surviving piece of the original church of Santa Maria delle Grazie near Milan...
Leonardo's [painting of the last supper] has for some reason captured the imagination more than most ... Some images may be so familiar that they are never truly examined, and although they lie openly before the viewer's gaze and invite closer scrutiny, at their most profound and meaningful level they actually remain totally closed books. So it is with Leonardo's Last Supper... Generations of academics had simply not observed what leapt to our startled notice... such explosive information had lain patiently waiting all this time for writers like us from outside the mainstream of historical or religious research to discover.
So to begin our story proper we have to return to Leonardo's Last Supper and look at it with new eyes... to let the scales of preconception fall from one's eyes and perhaps for the first time really look at it... Leonardo must have hoped that perhaps others who shared his unusual interpretation of the New Testament message would recognise his version, or that someone, somewhere, some objective observer, would one day seize on the image ... and ask the obvious questions...
We have often heard it said that Leonardo was a pious Christian whose religious paintings reflected the depth of his faith... Nothing could be further from the truth than the idea that Leonard was a true believer - a believer, that is, in any accepted... form of Christianity. Already, the curious and anomalous features in just one of his works seem to indicate that he was trying to tell us of another layer of meaning in that familiar biblical scene, of another world of belief beyond the accepted outline of the image... Whatever those heterodox inclusions may mean, they were... totally at variance with orthodox Christianity...
Leonardo was the first real scientist, a man who had no time for superstitions or religion in any form, who was the very antithesis of the mystic or the occultist. Yet [materialists and rationalists] have failed to see what is plainly set out before their eyes...
Leonardo's other works ... underline his own specific heretical obsessions through carefully applied and consistent imagery... they are not just the equivalent of sticking a red nose on St Peter, for example. What we are looking at in The Last Supper and other works is the secret code of Leonardo da Vinci, which we believe has a startling relevance for the world today....
He despised fortune tellers but his accounts list monies paid to astrologers ... he was both a profound thinker and a master of riddles... there was surely no need for him to put his head on the block by working such heretical messages into his paintings unless he had a passionalte belief in them ... Leonard was deeply, seriously committed to a system of belief that ran totally counter to ... mainstream Christianity.
The lynchpin of all the groups of the day was hermeticism, which takes its name from Hermes Trismegistus, the great, if legendary, Egyptian magus... the most important part of hermetic thinking was the idea that man was in some way literally divine - a concept that was in itself so threatening to the Church's hold on the hearts and minds of its flock as to be deemed anathema... Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) ... proclaimed that his beliefs came from an ancient Egyptian religion that preceded Christianity - and which eclipsed it in importance ... given the risks involved in being openly part of them, it is unlikely that Leonardo would commit any evidence of this to paper...
was the message that can be read into his paintings in some way actually true?
Last edited by Robert Tulip on Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Interesting Robert. "The Tulip Code" continues...
It's definitely something to consider. I tend to think that LD was on to most of this as others were. We always find those here and there who understood the links to ancient Egyptian lore and it wasn't completely lost at any point when you really get into it. It was just lesser known for a while. I can see how this particular correspondence seems odd at first glance because as we know the DC is largely fiction and any speculation concerning The Last Supper is immediately suspect in likewise fashion. It's still worth considering though.
The pentagram of Venus is a good case and point for how something simple like the basic mapping of a planetary orbit (the orbit of a wanderer unlike the back ground stars which do not wander in the way that planets do) drew attention from ancient observers. Venus, among other things, was the morning star and the "light bearer" of myth. The story of the fall of Lucifer from heaven is pretty much based on an old allegory about how the planet Venus shines bright just before sunrise but then the sun comes up and blows it into insigficance - Jesus verses Lucifer:
So in time the pentagram became associated with evil and so on. And Venus was eventually viewed with negativity because of this. Some people could see this correspondence between Venus and the pentagram of occult lore and start thinking 'well that's a coincidence' when it really isn't much a coincidence at all. The pentagram is what it is today because it's based on astronomical observation from the beginning and also tied into the mathematical geometry of the heavens in likewise fashion.
It's interesting to look back at all of the superstition and nonesense going around from believers and satanist and occultists about this astral symbolism which is simply a small piece of the old astronomical observation given allegorically in myth. In the end it boils down to the question of whether or not there's anything evil or spooky or even good about the freaking planet Venus wandering about the night sky and shinning bring just before sunrise...
Last edited by tat tvam asi on Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.


SHOWcase is an event that was created to deliver a range of conceptual exhibits with a focus on Wellington's creative community, which showcased designers, artists and fashion.
Working with SHOW, we designed and developed a mobile application incorporating iBeacon technology. This experience would allow people to engage and interact with while they were at SHOWcase and post event. This approach provided more value for the artists and sponsors of the event and gave the SHOW team a more indepth understanding of how their attendees engage.
iBeacon's provide location-based information, that can be used with mobile applications to enhance a user's experience. The experience would come into effect as attendees walk through exhibits. iBeacon's placed on products would prompt with a notification to get more information on the product or artist, along with letting them share or favourite an item for later.