text:
Q: model.fit instead of model.fit_generator (bug fixing of VGG16 neural network) In building up a VGG16 neural network, I recycled some working code. But now, model.fit_generator is not supported any more. A simple substitution in "model.fit" does not work. Even though there are sources saying exactly that (compare: https://www.codesofinterest.com/2020/09/model-fit-vs-fit-generator-tfkeras.html).
Can anybody help me to deal with the issue?
I know the theoretical difference between "fit" and "fit_generator". I only have difficulties in coding.
I only used ImageDataGenerator for efficiently referring to my data basis. If there is a better way to bring the Simpsons Character Set in my model: highly welcome! I assume, < 50.000 should be able to be trained in my memory (MacBook Air 2018).
In the following, I will give the ERROR MESSAGE, OLD CODE, NEW CODE and COMPLETE PYTHON CODE.
ERROR MESSAGE
File /opt/anaconda3/envs/ROB43_T/lib/python3.10/site-packages/keras/utils/traceback_utils.py:67, in filter_traceback.<locals>.error_handler(*args, **kwargs)
     65 except Exception as e:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
     66   filtered_tb = _process_traceback_frames(e.__traceback__)
---> 67   raise e.with_traceback(filtered_tb) from None
     68 finally:
     69   del filtered_tb

OLD CODE
history = model.fit_generator(
    train_generator,
    steps_per_epoch = nb_train_samples // batch_size,
    epochs = epochs,
    callbacks = callbacks,
    validation_data = validation_generator,
    validation_steps = nb_validation_samples // batch_size)

NEW CODE (exactly the same except model.fit instead of model.fit_generator
history = model.fit(
    train_generator,
    steps_per_epoch = nb_train_samples // batch_size,
    epochs = epochs,
    callbacks = callbacks,
    #validation_data = validation_generator,
    #validation_steps = nb_validation_samples // batch_size
    )

My complete python code is:
# Importe diverser Programmbibliotheken.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import keras

# Konvertierung eines Bildes in Array (tf.keras.utils.image_dataset_from_directory wäre vielleicht besser gewesen).
from keras.preprocessing.image import ImageDataGenerator

# Import des Modells.
from keras.models import Sequential

# Import der Schichten.
from keras.layers import Dense, Dropout, Activation, Flatten, BatchNormalization
from keras.layers import Conv2D, MaxPool2D

# Modul zur Nutzung von Betriebssystemfunktionalität (z. B. Dateien laden). In Python bereits integriert.
import os

# Definition der Klassen zur Klassifizierung.
num_classes = 20

# Definition der Bildgröße.
img_rows, img_cols = 32, 32

# Definition der Stapelverarbeitung.
batch_size = 16

# Definition der Ordner für Trainings- und Testdaten.
train_data_dir = r'/Users/holger.kiefer/simpsons_archive/simpsons_dataset'
test_data_dir = r'/Users/holger.kiefer/simpsons_archive/kaggle_simpson_testset'

# Normalisierung der Trainings- und Testdaten auf Skala von 0 bis 1 statt von 0 bis 255 (RGB-Farben).
train_datagen = ImageDataGenerator(rescale=1./255)
test_datagen = ImageDataGenerator(rescale=1./255)

# Trainingsdaten laden aus Verzeichnis.
train_generator = train_datagen.flow_from_directory(
        train_data_dir,
        target_size=(img_rows, img_cols),
        batch_size=batch_size,
        class_mode='categorical')

# Testdaten laden aus Verzeichnis.
test_generator = test_datagen.flow_from_directory(
        test_data_dir,
        target_size=(img_rows, img_cols),
        batch_size=batch_size,
        class_mode='categorical')

# Definition des Modells. Aufbau des Algorithmus VGG16 mit 5 Stufen und Abschluss.
model = Sequential()

# padding="same" bedeutet, Nullen als "Rahmen" um Input zu legen, so dass In- & Output strukturell identisch sind.
# activation überall relu außer softmax ganz am Ende.
# kernel_size überall (3,3), strides überall (2,2), nach jeder Stufe BatchNormalization.

# Stufe 1 (3 in input_shape ergänzt wg. RGB-Farben.
model.add(Conv2D(filters=64,kernel_size=(3,3),padding="same", activation="relu", input_shape=(img_rows,img_cols,3)))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=64,kernel_size=(3,3),padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(MaxPool2D(pool_size=(2,2),strides=(2,2)))
model.add(BatchNormalization())

# Stufe 2
model.add(Conv2D(filters=128, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=128, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(MaxPool2D(pool_size=(2,2),strides=(2,2)))
model.add(BatchNormalization())

# Stufe 3
model.add(Conv2D(filters=256, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=256, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=256, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(MaxPool2D(pool_size=(2,2),strides=(2,2)))
model.add(BatchNormalization())

# Stufe 4
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(MaxPool2D(pool_size=(2,2),strides=(2,2)))
model.add(BatchNormalization())

# Stufe 5
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(Conv2D(filters=512, kernel_size=(3,3), padding="same", activation="relu"))
model.add(MaxPool2D(pool_size=(2,2),strides=(2,2)))
model.add(BatchNormalization())

# Abschluss
# Dropout als Schutz vor Überanpassung. Ein paar Layers werden nicht verwendet.
# https://www.kdnuggets.com/2018/09/dropout-convolutional-networks.html
# Dort Empfehlung nur BatchNormalization nach jeder Schicht und unten nichts mehr machen.
# Für VGG16 jedoch ggf. beibehalten, da recht ursprüngliches Modell und keine CNN-Weiterentwicklung.
model.add(Flatten())
model.add(Dense(units=4096,activation="relu"))
# 0.5 eigentlich nur Startpunkt, zu reduzieren bis optimale Performance erreicht ist.
model.add(Dropout(0.5))
model.add(Dense(units=4096,activation="relu"))
# 0.5 eigentlich nur Startpunkt, zu reduzieren bis optimale Performance erreicht ist.
model.add(Dropout(0.5))
# Reduktion auf 20 Klassen (d. h. zu unterscheidende Charaktere)
model.add(Dense(units=num_classes, activation="softmax"))

# Ausgabe des Modells
model.summary()

# Importe der Optimierer (durchforsten, ob alles nötig).
from keras.optimizers import Adam, RMSprop, SGD

# Importe der Callbacks (durchforsten, ob alles nötig).
from keras.callbacks import ModelCheckpoint, EarlyStopping, ReduceLROnPlateau

# Checkpoint erstellten mit h5-Datei. Wenn alle Epochen durchlaufen sind Abspeicherung der besten Epoche.
# TESTEN AUF KORREKTEN PFAD UND ANLAGE DER DATEI.
checkpoint = ModelCheckpoint(r'/Users/holger.kiefer/simpsons_archive/simpsons_dataset/ROB43_Assignment.h5',
                             monitor="val_loss",
                             mode="min",
                             save_best_only = True,
                             verbose=1)

# Verfrühtes Ende, wenn 3x hintereinander zu wenig Veränderung beobachtbar ist.
earlystop = EarlyStopping(monitor = 'val_loss',
                          min_delta = 0,
                          patience = 3,
                          verbose = 1,
                          restore_best_weights = True)

# Reduzierung der Lernrate.
reduce_lr = ReduceLROnPlateau(monitor = 'val_loss',
                              factor = 0.2,
                              patience = 3,
                              verbose = 1,
                              min_delta = 0.00001)

# Liste an Callbacks.
callbacks = [earlystop,checkpoint, reduce_lr]

# Modell kompilieren.
model.compile(optimizer='adam', loss='categorical_crossentropy', metrics=['accuracy'])

# Definition der Trainings- und Testdatenanzahl sowie der Epochen.
nb_train_samples = 41866
nb_test_samples = 990
epochs = 20

history = model.fit(
    train_generator,
    steps_per_epoch = nb_train_samples // batch_size,
    epochs = epochs,
    callbacks = callbacks,
    #validation_data = validation_generator,
    #validation_steps = nb_validation_samples // batch_size
    )


The Hill Country Film Society's annual fundraiser will recognize award-winning actor and director, David Arquette, with the society's first Luminary Award. The cinematic and culinary journey and awards presentation will be held at Hoffman Haus. Arquette and Brandon Dickerson, a local award-winning filmmaker, will have an in-depth conversation covering everything from food and film interspersed with clips from some of Arquette's most well-known films. Dickerson will explore Arquette's introduction to acting at an early age to major roles in hit films including BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (d. Fran Rubel Kuzui, U.S.) and SCREAM (d. Wes Craven, U.S.) to his success in independent film.
Brandon Dickerson is an award-winning writer/director honored for his work in film, documentaries, commercials, and music videos—including the coveted Cannes Gold Lion. After building a career directing hundreds of commercials and music videos, Dickerson shifted his focus to writing and directing feature films. His music-based debut feature SIRONIA won the audience award at the Austin Film Festival before he dove into the biopic VICTOR, followed by the documentary A SINGLE FRAME, and the quirky romantic comedy AMANDA & JACK GO GLAMPING.
6:30 pm. Ticket prices range from $150 per couple with individual tickets priced at $100.


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Discover the top 25 questions that someone asks himself/herself when is diagnosed with Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome.
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A one semester course for grades 3 or 4.
A Creative Approach to the Classical Progymnasmata—Think of the progymnasmata as a step-by-step apprenticeship in the art of writing and rhetoric. What is an apprentice? It is a young person who is learning a skill from a master teacher. Our students will serve as apprentices to the great writers and great stories of history.
Students are often expected to write with no clear model before them. Modern composition scolds traditional writing instruction as rote and unimaginative. It takes imitation to task for a lack of freedom and personal expression. And yet, effective communication from writer to reader always requires some sort of form and structure. Many of history's greatest writers learned by imitation. In other words, writing takes the same kind of determined study as ballet or diving. Creativity uses conventional form as a stage or a springboard from which to launch grand jetés and somersaults. Too often students are expected to tackle complex writing assignments without learning the necessary intermediate steps. The assumption is that because most everyone can speak English well enough to be understood, and form letters with a pencil, that everyone should be able to write well. Yet how many of us would expect a child to sit at a piano, without piano lessons, and play a concerto? Writing is never automatic.
The Writing & Rhetoric series method employs fluent reading, careful listening, models for imitation, and progressive steps. It assumes that students learn best by reading excellent, whole-story examples of literature and by growing their skills through imitation. Each exercise is intended to impart a skill (or tool) that can be employed in all kinds of writing and speaking. The exercises are arranged from simple to more complex. What's more, the exercises are cumulative, meaning that later exercises incorporate the skills acquired in preceding exercises. This series is a step-by-step apprenticeship in the art of writing and rhetoric.
Narrative I, the second book of twelve in the Writing & Rhetoric series, uses parable, myth, and other tales to continue the recovery of the proven method of teaching writing, using various forms of narrative to teach beginning writers the craft of writing well. This is the second in a series of twelve books that will train students over six years, starting in grades three or four and up.
Writing & Rhetoric Book 2: Narrative 1 Teacher's Edition includes the complete student text, as well as answer keys, teacher's notes, and explanations. For every writing assignment, this edition also supplies descriptions and examples of what excellent student writing should look like, providing the teacher with meaningful and concrete guidance.


when the string has been filled with the debug info.
the method exits, causing sigsegv for the following operator<<()s.
c) Use a static QString, but it might be a issue for multithreaded apps.
> timestamps per warning event, for example).
out of scope, that means after all the operator<<() are called.
way that you get it using qDebug() in enabledDebug.
redirected all together in the QDebug returned by the callback method.


Free Community Gentle Yoga lead by Cindy Hamilton.
This gentle Yoga class has an emphasis on standing and gentle poses.
It is great for beginners or yogis (15 and up) wanting to come check out Rishi's Community Yoga for FREE!
Donations are gladly accepted if you would like to support the community.


This is example text for the description text. Someday the mountain might get 'em, but the law never will. Makin' their way, the only way they know how, that's just a little bit more than the law will allow. Just good ol' boys, wouldn't change if they could, fightin' the system like a true modern day Robin Hood. There's a voice that keeps on calling me. Down the road, that's where I'll always be. Every stop I make, I make a new friend. Can't stay for long, just turn around and I'm gone again. Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down, Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.
My car had a really weird noise that no one could find out what it was. They did!
I can really count on them to take care of my car. They are always ready to help me!
Stuff like that can happen Carl. Even this way, I consider it the best option in town.


text:
Wu Xiaohui conducts an inspection tour in Belarus and Ukraine
Wu Xiaohui, deputy general manager and chief accountant of Sinomach, conducts an on-site inspection at the China-Belarus Industrial Park on Nov 13. [Photo/sinomach.com.cn]
Wu Xiaohui, deputy general manager and chief accountant of Sinomach, visited the company's projects in Belarus and Ukraine from Nov 13 to 20, investigating the financial and business coordination between its regional subsidiaries, as well as the operation, finance and investment management of the China-Belarus Industrial Park.
Wu first went to the China-Belarus Industrial Park to conduct an on-site inspection, and listened to reports on the park's history, overall planning, development achievements, and financial management.
Wu emphasized that the park is a major project. As the largest shareholder of the park development company, Wu said that Sinomach should spare no effort in helping to build it up into a "business card" for the company. The team must also better position the development of the second phase of the park with a more international vision, she said.
Wu also encouraged the team to fully use the company's strength to establish a business model which differs from that of the first phase, adding that it needs a forward-looking concept in order to build a high-tech future city with diverse functions and a huge market potential for attracting and retaining talents.
Accompanied by the head of the Sinomach overseas regional office there, Wu investigated the Berezov 400MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Belarus, undertaken by China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), a subsidiary of Sinomach. The project won the 2015 China Luban Award for Excellent Construction Engineering (Overseas Projects). Wu introduced the park's related conditions to the owners, and the two sides had an in-depth discussion on further strengthening cooperation.
Wu next went to Ukraine. At the site of the project undertaken by China National Complete Engineering Corporation (CCEC), a subsidiary of CMEC, Wu held talks with leaders of the Ukraine national food group in order to learn more about their joint projects' implementation progress. The two sides exchanged views on how to increase the scale of grain exports and improve storage facilities, and said they hoped to keep intensifying agricultural cooperation and sharing development opportunities.
Wu said that specialized and localized operational capacity is at the core of international project management. CMEC and CCEC have their own unique advantages and strengths. Ukraine is an indispensable and significant participant in the Belt and Road construction. Sinomach - as the backbone of central enterprises that implement the "go global" strategy - should further enhance its overall international operation level and do better in internal coordination and integration, as well as in the 14th Five-year Plan. It should also further strengthen regional cooperation with the Ukrainian government and local enterprises to share the fruits of sustainable development, with a view to promoting high-quality construction of the Belt and Road and making a greater contribution to the development of China-Ukraine cooperation.
Sinomach holds exchange rate risk management research seminar
Zhang Xiaolun investigates Sinomach's work in Latin America
Sinomach cooperates with HFUT
Zhang Xiaolun inspects Argentina Belgrano Freight Railway Reconstruction Project
Zhang Xiaolun visits CRHC

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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Featuring the same frame as the Deluxe, the Process 134 does it all at an incredible value. There are no shortcuts on spec here: Plus-style rear derailleur, air sprung suspension with thru-axles front and rear, dropper post, Shimano disc brakes, and light yet strong rims. Striving for that perfect balance between geometry, pedal efficiency, rolling resistance, travel, weight, stiffness and durability, this Process features big bearings for ultimate suspension performance, low BB, short chainstays, slack 68-degree headtube angle, longer toptubes and a short (40mm) stem. The result is an incredibly efficient and precise ride that's stable at speed.


text:
Mark Borkowski.
Marriage stunt was one of the best
BRMB's infamous Two Strangers and a Wedding competition was among the best ever radio publicity stunts, an industry expert told the Radio Festival in Birmingham yesterday.
The on-air marriage of Greg Cordell and Carla Germaine in 1999 had all the ingredients to attract extra listeners and revenue to the station, said PR analyst Mark Borkowski.
Mr Borkowski said the event, which was heavily criticised by the Church and MPs, had proved a massive success for the station.
He said: "It was something that everybody was talking about. It was a precursor to Big Brother and other reality TV shows.
"It was a fantastically original and clever idea which had a lot of risk. If people had 20/20 vision, they might not have staged it.
"But they increased their audience reach from 27 per cent to 40 per cent. It had humour, risk and a bit of rock 'n' roll."
The couple split within a matter of weeks, with Greg going back to his job in sales and Carla marrying radio presenter Jezza.
Mr Borkowski said stunts were not used as often as they could be.
Among the ones where it backfired were the Bank it or Burn it campaign by Galaxy Radio, which invited people to come up with the most bizarre use for �5,000 before other listeners voted whether they should be allowed to keep it or whether it should be burned.
The competition resulted in a letter from the Home Secretary and the money being handed over to charity, although it still raised the profile of the station.
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/post/news/page.cfm?objectid=14425206&method=full&siteid=50002
Mark Comments, Uncategorized
Circus showman Gerry Cottle dies with coronavirus aged 75
STRIKE A POSE Catwalk Queen Kate Moss has £12m in bank after being top of her game for years
Depp in deep
The winners and losers of Megxit: One year on from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell announcement, how the Duke's old school pals and the Queen have lost out while Oprah and even Joe Biden have benefitted
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry hired ex-Palace aids despite 'vipers' claim
'I am my mother's son': Harry uses a photo of Diana and vows to 'unleash the power of compassion' with Meghan on new website for foundation that reveals partnerships with Stanford 'centre for altruism research' and 'humane technology' charity
Archie's first podcast: Meghan and Harry feature 19-month-old son in star-studded first Spotify episode and coax him into wishing listeners a Happy New Year in his American accent
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© Mark Borkowski. 2021


text:
A culture of silence and denial
Dr Kimberly Sham Ku and Dr Abdullah Mia write, with a response from British Psychological Society Chief Executive Sarb Bajwa.
Disappointment. That was the emotion when I came face-to-face with the words 'keep BME out of services', boldly and shamelessly graffitied on my poster. The poster considered a project to support African and Caribbean men in forensic services who are transitioning back into the community, a population often facing the double challenge of cultural stigma and a lack of community support. Hostility towards minorities in all forms, be it religious, gender and the like, is a centuries old problem that we are tackling daily. The disappointment came from the 'who' and the 'where' – these words were written by a fellow Psychologist at the British Psychological Society's Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) annual conference held in Solihull. This was a conference with the overarching theme of social inequality and racism.
When I joined the Society I was under the impression that I was joining an esteemed group of professionals who had a vested interest in ensuring that through the application of scholarly research and meaningful experiences, people's mental health and psychological wellbeing were paramount. This has not been the reality. In fact, there has been a culture of silence and denial in addressing some very painful issues that minority groups have faced within the profession. As an example, the initial response by the DCP was an apology and an offer to reimburse the cost of my poster. In the grand scheme of things, poster cost was actually of negligible value in this debacle.
While being disappointed and saddened, I'm not discouraged. I feel motivated and propelled in the direction of extending my work not only into communities but also the institutions. More importantly, what can the Society do to address some of these issues?
Judy Ryde's 'Being white in the helping profession' has been an instrumental resource in shaping some of my thoughts:
Develop an understanding of the historical context of racism in Britain.
Teach white awareness as part of psychology (doctoral) training. This speaks to emotional issues and therefore cannot be limited to a purely didactic/ academic approach. Rather, teaching should cover experiential exercises, encouraging people to identify and work through their cultural blind spots and unconscious emotional processes.
Supervisor training should encourage supervisors to hold in mind white consciousness and power differences. Having attended BPS supervisor training that broadly speaks to issues of diversity and assumes a clumsy approach to race, the topic of whiteness in supervision was not mentioned, despite its key role in improving our reflective capacity as professionals.
Improve representation by addressing barriers in accessing clinical psychology training for minorities.
These aren't novel ideas. My hope is hope that the recurring negative experiences of ethnic minorities will finally push the Society to hold up a mirror and take much-needed action.
Dr Kimberly Sham Ku
I've been working within, alongside and outside the DCP regarding anti-racism for quite some time. I have followed colleagues who have led the way and continue to be an inspiration. As a supervisor to Kimberly, her experience enraged me – racism in the profession has moved from the covert, to the overt. I continue to hold hope we can change, but there is a slow erosion of this hope, leading to fantasies that the profession should be abandoned. What a painful bind this is, to feel stuck serving a profession that is racist and fails to address this, whilst balancing a desire to ensure services for ethnic minorities are at least adequate. I do not wish to engage in a sado-masochistic relationship with the profession; it's not healthy for me, or the profession.
There are continual consultations and requests for support and guidance when racism is enacted within the profession. I'm not referring to individuals, and personalising these issues deflects from the issue of institutional racism. I refer to the systematic way in which the profession of clinical psychology obstructs or undermines the experience of ethnic minorities, whilst purporting to be an ally. To name a few examples, the nature of the disbanding of the 'Race' and Culture Faculty whilst setting up the Inclusivity work, then the challenge of implementing the Inclusivity strategy, the special issue of Clinical Psychology Forum followed by the GTiCP debacle [see www.bps.org.uk/message-all-gticp-2019-conference-delegates], and vandalising of Kimberly's work at the DCP Annual Conference.
There was no communication as to what action was being taken until it was asked. Is it too much to assume our professional body will act on our behalf to push forward an anti-racist position, without having to ask? Similarly, until an issue was raised by those affected by the GTiCP incident, there was no immediate response. The behaviour of the organisation reinforces the experience of ethnic minorities within the profession and in society. The implication being racism only matters to those being directly affected. This is not the behaviour of an ally.
The recommendations over time have largely remained the same, the responses have largely been the same; to reflect. If there is 'action', it comes in the form of further reflection. I was introduced to Paolo Friere by a colleague, friend and anti-racist ally, Angela Byrne. Friere succinctly outlines the difference between praxis (that transforms), activism and verbalism. I encourage the DCP and BPS to heed the advice of Friere.
Action without Reflection = Activism (acting without thinking);
Reflection without Action = verbalism = 'blah';
Action + Reflection = word = work= praxis.
I'm tired of being both problematised and fetishised, as something rare and unique. I want the DCP to work for me as much as I've worked for it. I note the articles in the March issue of The Psychologist and was buoyed by what Deanne Bell had suggested. I wait to see how the profession takes this up.
Dr Abdullah Mia
Response from Sarb Bajwa, Chief Executive of the British Psychological Society: We were shocked by Dr Kimberly Sham Ku's experience at the DCP conference in January and we agree that what happened was completely unacceptable. A conference delegate, who is not a BPS member, was witnessed defacing several posters, writing comments on a range of issues, some of which may constitute a hate crime. There is no place in the BPS, the DCP or the psychology profession for this kind of behaviour and we will not tolerate it.
We have apologised fully for Dr Sham Ku's experience. We have also informed the delegate that they are now banned from attending any future BPS events and put in place measures to ensure that any future application for BPS membership will be refused. We have also reported the incident to police.
We know that we still have a long way to go in being as visible and as active as possible in taking a leading role in tackling issues of racism, power and privilege in the profession, as highlighted in Dr Abdullah Mia's letter. Supported by the longstanding work of numerous members we are committed to doing all that we can, including recently launching a Presidential Taskforce on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, chaired by Professor Binna Kandola.
Re Dr Kimberly Sham Ku's article
Permalink Submitted by Dr Sheila Josep... on Thu, 03/19/2020 - 12:03
It really saddened me to read of Dr Sham Ku's experience but also is a little unsurprising. I believe there is an unacknowledged underbelly of prejudice at work in the Society. I have experienced this at meetings I attended and in casual discussion with colleagues directly affected. When the issues was raised among us for discussion, I witnessed unrest and silencing in response. Though the topic was voiced, a colleague's experience of racism was somehow derailed, subtly silenced. I found the whole experience at group level upsetting because it seemed the issue could not be openly confronted. It affected my relationship with this group longer term and I eventually withdrew.
I felt, as a white woman, I had failed in my attempt to get racism just acknowledged and I felt powerless and ashamed after. The group response made me doubt myself and my understanding of racism and my wish for open confrontation. I am reminded of the Rochdale story of sexual exploitation of minors and the fear white professionals held about being seen as racists. For me, this fear is something we all must confront because it places us and the quality of our work in a bind. It should never be shameful to admit a struggle with this issue. It is a very complex and anxiety laden one for us all to face and tackle.
thessue was not openly acknowledged
'We have a responsibility to go beyond sport'
Heterosexism, racism and psychology


Join us for our next CTO Skills night on Sunday afternoon, February 17, 2019 at 2pm for skills night where the kids will help build an AR Rifle. There will be a second meeting the following Sunday, on February 24th to complete the build. These rifles will be auctioned off at the 10th Annual CTO Youth Benefit Dinner on April 5th. For any of the kids that join us for the build, we would like for them to attend the April 5th dinner to help promote the rifles. Information will be shared at the event Sunday afternoon.


How much does shipping cost? : UVify Inc.
We've tried to simplify our shipping costs to make it easier for customers to understand and ultimately, make it as affordable as possible. At present, there are 2 tiers of shipping for each region. Shipping is via FedEx and is usually 3-5 business days.


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Another Te Mata Peak consultation headache
Back to: Ōmāhu Media Releases
Mw.comms
Thu 08 Aug 2019, 10:39 am
Whenua, more...
Ngahiwi Tomoana and Rex Graham at the site of the proposed regional park last month.Photo / Paul Taylor
Hawkes Bay Today
By: Sahiban Hyde
Hastings District Council has sent back a bid by a new trust to create a regional park on site of the Craggy Range Track, in part because of a lack of evidence it had consulted with tangata whenua.
The regional park was touted as the solution that would heal the wounds created by the controversial track on Te Mata Peak.
It was announced last month by Te Rongo Charitable Trust's founding trustees Rex Graham (Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman) and Ngahiwi Tomoana (Ngāti Kahungunu chairman).
Mike Wilding, Andy Lowe and Jonathan McHardy said they would buy the land, containing the controversial Craggy Range walking track on the eastern side of the peak, from Jeff Drabble and Felicity Dobell-Brown so it could be turned into a regional park, administered by Te Rongo.
Te Rongo applied to Hastings District Council on July 9, to subdivide the land in order to create the park, which would cover about 50ha.
The application was subsequently returned because council said there was missing information.
The missing information included accurate proposed subdivision boundaries, an assessment of environmental effects, a full description of land use, what earthworks will be done, and no details under 'the section' consultation'.
Stuff reported that Graham said the fact the iwi was a partner in the trust should have shown that tangata whenua had been consulted, but he had asked Tomoana to ensure all hapu were in agreement prior to re-submitting the application.
"I can't see how they [the district council] could think there hasn't been consultation when the iwi is the partner. The iwi represents all tangata whenua in Kahungunu," he said.
If the application to subdivide was not granted the purchase would not proceed and the park would not be created, Graham told Stuff.
Ngati Kahungunu representative Ngaio Tiuki declined to comment.


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Satirical TV newsmagazine makes its DVD debut this week
Chevy Chase, left, and Ken Shapiro mime musical orchestrations at the opening of "The Great American Dream Machine" (1971-72), a satirical TV newsmagazine that aired on PBS and is now making its DVD debut. - photo by Chris Hicks
Although its now more than 40 years old, a PBS satirical newsmagazine making its DVD debut this week is still witty and entertaining.
The Great American Dream Machine (SMore, 1971-72, four discs, 11 episodes; four-page booklet). This PBS satire on news events and American life lasted just two seasons, but its fair to say the show influenced the next generation of televisions topical humor. Watching these episodes through the prism of hindsight, there are easily identifiable germs of everything from Saturday Night Live to The Daily Show.
The program also makes good use of an array of recognizable New York actors (Penny Marshall, Charles Grodin), pundits (Andy Rooney with the same cranky editorial shtick he would later do on 60 Minutes, Dick Cavett reading brief, pointed excerpts from Mark Twain and Carl Sandburg) and future SNL regulars (Chevy Chase in white makeup miming instrumental music, Albert Brooks infomercial for the Famous School for Comedians, complete with pie-throwing).
There are man-on-the-street interviews, chats with children (a la Art Linkletter), serious mini-documentaries, wry cartoons and occasionally such offbeat elements as a very short Laurel & Hardy bit and the serious 10-minute black-and-white why-cant-we-all-just-get-along? film, The House I Live In, which won an Oscar in 1945 and stars a young Frank Sinatra included without irony in its entirety.
Obviously, a show like this is going to be hit and miss, but there are lots of fascinating and amusing elements to make it recommendable. (Just ignore the misspellings of Andy Rooney and Stan Laurels last names, on both the on-screen index and the box.)
Downton Abbey: Seasons 1-5 (PBS, 2010-15, 15 discs, 43 episodes, featurettes, tourism promo). The Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) heads the aristocratic Crawley family (though Maggie Smith as his mother steals the show) as it weathers scandals, tragedies, financial difficulties and, of course, World War I, with equal time given to the familys servants. Television serial drama at its best, this British period soap opera from writer Julian Fellowes was an unexpected international sensation from the get-go. Now that things will be wrapping up with the sixth and final season in January, PBS has collected all five existing seasons in this new Blu-ray/DVD box set.
Home Fires (PBS, 2015, two discs, six episodes). With Downton Abbey on the way out, several new British dramas are hoping to fill the void. First, there was Indian Summers and now comes this one, which opens in 1939 against the backdrop of looming World War II. The setting is a small rural village where the men are being recruited and the women are left at home to run a service institute to aid the war effort. The central focus is on two rivals, played by Samantha Bond and Francesca Annis. (A second season is scheduled for next year.)
Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries: Series 3 (Acorn, 2015, two-disc Blu-ray or three-disc DVD, eight episodes, featurettes, photo gallery). Essie Davis stars in this amusing series as the title character, a lady detective in 1920s Melbourne, Australia, who is glamorous to a fault. The show is campy and a bit wacky but nonetheless an enjoyable flight of fancy.
NOVA: Nuclear Meltdown Disaster (PBS, 2015). This hourlong documentary breaks down the events that led to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, as well as a close call at another nuclear plant a few miles away. Plant workers are interviewed in this chilling look at how an even worse disaster was averted. For now.
Red vs. Blue: Season 13 (Flatiron, 2015, 20 episodes, audio commentary, featurettes, outtakes, trailers). These episodes wrap up the Chorus Trilogy of this popular motion-capture animated Web series. Here, the Reds and Blues are stranded on a planet where they must convince two enemy armies to join forces or risk annihilation. (On Blu-ray and DVD.)
Barbie & Her Sisters in the Great Puppy Adventure (Universal, 2015, music video, bloopers). This straight-to-video animated feature (76 minutes) in the Barbie video franchise has her uniting with sisters Skipper, Stacie and Chelsea, along with their pet puppies, for a treasure hunt after they find a map in Grandmas attic.
Summer Concert Series Wraps At Ironstone
Brooding yet gorgeous 'Assassin' is a little too moody for its own good
Have You Seen This? Trick-or-treater says no thanks to getting scared
New movie is anything but the 'Truth'


In order for the system in place to work with a mod added location, a few things need to be set up.
1. A location record (LCTN in TES5Edit) should be established with the keyword LocTypeHabitation.
2. This location requires a marker with its location reference type set to LocationCenterMarker. This only works outdoors, and is best placed as close to the geographic center of your area as possible.
3a. If your settlement has an inn, you can have that become usable by flagging the inn's location as LocTypeInn. It must be set as a child location of the location in step 1.


I actually never beat Pilgrim's Quest myself, despite trying a couple times. However, unlike with SoB and FIAT, it was only specific moments that gave me trouble trying to progress and not practically the whole thing. I really need to give it another go sometime, because I feel bad for not finishing it. Would I give it a 9.7 or higher after finishing it? Probably not (I'm picky with scores). But, I still think it's rating on the Dink Network is well-earned; it very well could be the best DMOD ever made in terms of size and quality.


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. . . and the birth throes of Trumpcare Schadenfreude:
The big news is that the OMB scored the new "Ryancare" healthcare package, and the news is that AHCA saves $337B on deficit spending, but increases uninsured by 14 million in 2018. The former is good news, but the latter gives the usual suspects the opportunity to accuse the Republicans of wanting to throw grandma off the cliff. Of course, any bill that removes the mandate is going to have less sign ups than one that has a mandate. Historically speaking, OMB forecasts may be the best nonpartisan prediction, but their level of accuracy is suspect. How bad? The OMB initially overestimated 2016 Obamacare coverage by about 10 million persons. Doesn't that give you a lot of faith? When you count in the loss of other private health insurance, and employee based health insurance over the same period it's more like a 24 million person mistake. From Ann Althouse: "The implicit standard in analysis of the health insurance system is that every consumer must have government-selected coverage. But why?"
I don't know what the answers are, but I'm suspicious of mainstream media for obscuring these questions, which were also obscured when Obamacare was passed. Healthy young people who'd been choosing not to buy insurance were needed in the pool, paying premiums, to make it possible for companies to be forced to take in and keep customers with pre-existing conditions. The pro-Obamacare propaganda continually presented insurance coverage as an end in itself, as if the individual is better off with insurance. But really the idea was more that the entire system of financing health care with private insurance companies is better off if more people participate — especially more people who don't have high current expenses — that is, the kind of people who, left to their own devices, are most likely to prefer to use their money to buy something other than insurance they don't think they're going to use.
The Trump White House: We "strenuously" disagree with this CBO score of the Republican health care bill. Paul Ryan defended the bill, saying The GOP's ObamaCare replacement will boost jobs and cut taxes, which the OMB didn't take into account. HHS Sec. Tom Price promises: 'Nobody Will Be Worse Off Financially' Under GOP Health Plan
"I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we're going through," Price insisted when pressed by NBC's Chuck Todd during Sunday's "Meet The Press." "They'll have choices that they can select the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, not the government forces them to buy."
A Good First Step City Journal called it:
But the heart of the AHCA consists of two proposals: replacing the Obamacare subsidies for buying insurance with refundable tax credits based on age and income, and transitioning Medicaid from today's open-ended, federal matching-payment entitlement to a federal per-person (per-capita) payment to states, coupled with greater state flexibility to run the program.
But Matthew Continetti says Republican Health Care Bill 'Is Basically a Place Setter'
Continetti explained that the bill shows a move away from Obamacare and a shift toward "a more center-right model."
He reiterated the importance of Trump continuing with other reforms that he promised during the 2016 campaign.
"But, it's important that Trump follow through with some of the other reforms that he called for on the campaign trail, including the critical reform of being able to shop for your insurance across state lines," Continetti said.
Anthem endorses Obamacare repeal bill. But I'm not so sure a recommendation from an insurance company is a good thing. They went in for Obamacare too. And Say … where's the Democratic plan to fix ObamaCare, anyway? Opposition is easy. Fixing is hard. Nancy Pelosi thinks American People Have Right to Know What's in Healthcare Bill Before It Passes I agree with her, but the Irony meter is pegged. At the Yale Law Review Federalism and the End of Obamacare.
Rep. Gohmert: Don't let Robert Byrd's 'KKK rule' stop Obamacare repeal
But Gohmert's point is that Republicans cannot let an arcane Senate rule — which is in their power to change as the majority party — prevent them from fully repealing Obamacare.
"If we don't get the more important parts of Obamacare repealed, what's really critical is the prices of the insurance won't go down. The deductibles won't go down. It will still be hurting Americans," Gohmert warned.
Ted Cruz may have discovered a way to totally change Obamacare without 60 Senate votes He's a sneaky little bastard, and I mean that in the best way possible.
"Under the Budget Act of 1974, which is what governs reconciliation, it is the presiding officer, the vice president of the United States, who rules on what's permissible on reconciliation and what is not.
Trump warns Republicans: Support the House health-care bill or I'll back primary challengers against you. Promises, promises. You can't say he doesn't have a history of at least trying to follow through on them. Paul Ryan is warning of Disaster if GOP health care reform fails. However, Tom Cotton predicts AHCA will end the GOP House majority, cannot pass in Senate. One of them is wrong. GOP does damage control over healthcare score. Sarah Palin on Paul Ryan's 'RINO-Care': 'Socialized Medicine'; President Trump Will 'Step In and Fix It'. Trump to campaign for GOP health-care bill in Rand Paul's home state of Kentucky next Monday. Just trolling. Dems' Irrational Obamacare Exuberance.
Further irony alert:
ObamaCare Scammer Jonathan Gruber says Republicans setting up a 'scam.' "Gruber has stirred up controversy on a number of occasions after videos surfaced of him calling the American public "stupid" for allowing the Affordable Care Act to pass in the first place while being the public face of the legislation."
Will this whole post be moot on Thursday? The Obamacare replacement bill could die on Thursday. Stay tuned! According to Rasmussen, Voters Doubt GOP Replacement But Not As Much As They Doubted Obamacare. I guess they're not quite as dumb as some think. The Stupidity of The GOP Congressman
Going forward my advice to Congressman Ryan, Secretary Price, and President Trump is simple: Stop pretending you can do something that we know you can't. Be truthful. Democrats own Obamacare. They used a supermajority to pass a bill on a party line vote. They then used the Nuclear Option to push it through. Retaliation isn't the answer. Instead it ensures an endless cycle of political warfare that leaves constituents in the crossfire.
You owe it to the people who elected you to stand up and say that because Democrats are being obstructionists there is nothing you can do to make our health care and health insurance systems better. While you would like to see things change for the positive it falls on Democrats to come up with solutions that can come as a compromise. The compromise can't include their go-to move of throwing more money or expanding an entitlement program that is already financially unsustainable.
It must be the opposite, which is coming up with a solution to the real problem: how do we control costs of care and what ways are best to utilize insurance to help protect us from health issues that we can't control or predict.
Another vote for letting things go, and waiting for Obamacare to finish dying comes from the always interest, and usually perceptive Megan McAardle, via Wombat-socho's "In The Mailbox: 03.13.17": Best Health-Care Plan for Republicans? Wait
So what would I do to minimize the damage, within the constraints of political reality? Well, I foresee two potential futures for the current status quo. One, the exchanges where individuals buy policies could fail, leaving people unable to buy insurance. Or two, the exchanges don't fail, and we're left with an unsatisfactory but still operational system.
In either case, the Republicans' best option is to wait. Why? Because what they can do now -- hastily, without touching the underlying regulations that have destabilized the individual market -- is worse than either of those outcomes. The partial-reform structure they think they'll be able to get through the Senate is likely to make the problems in the individual market worse, not better. And the fact that they've tinkered with the program means that Republicans will take 100 percent of the blame.
So I'd wait to see if the long-feared disaster comes at the end of this year, and if it does I'd make sure that Democrats own as much of the blame as possible. If they want to block reform, make sure the public knows they did: Throw up a comprehensive bill that they can filibuster. Appoint a blue-ribbon commission to come up with a unified Republican plan. Stop the funding games the Democrats were using to prop up the exchanges. And if the exchanges collapse, say to the public: "Hey, look, we didn't touch the individual market. It was the garbage program Democrats rammed down your throats. We tried to save it, but they wouldn't let us."
The creative use of laziness. Robert Heinlein would approve.
"Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things."
And a creepiness warning: This Secret Obamacare 'Replacement' Lets Your Boss Invade Your Privacy AND Gut Your Paycheck
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have laid out a three-step process to allegedly "repeal and replace" the misnamed Affordable Care Act (ACA) or "Obamacare." The much-lamented American Health Care Act is step one, regulatory reform is step two, and another piece of legislation would follow as step three. As it turns out, a key measure likely to be included in step three would actually expand a controversial program in Obamacare — subverting employees' genetic privacy rights and enabling employers to gut their paychecks if they don't participate in "workplace wellness" programs.
The "Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act" (H.R. 1313) would allow companies to force employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and let employers see that genetic health information. This law builds upon Obamacare's expansion of workplace wellness programs while undercutting a 2008 law which protects genetic privacy.
"What this bill would do is completely take away the protections of existing laws," Jennifer Mathis, director of policy and legal advocacy at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, told Stat News. In particular, the genetic privacy and nondiscrimination protections in the law known as GINA, and in sections of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, "would be pretty much eviscerated."
Labels: Congress, Donald Trump, health care, Obamacare, schadenfreude


The media center is open daily for individuals and whole group use. The media specialist will orient students to the media center policies and procedures. Teachers are encouraged to actively engage their students in media activities which support pleasure reading, research, and instructional objectives. Teachers are also encouraged to submit purchase suggestions for print and non-print materials to the media specialist. The media committee will serve as an instructional liaison to the media specialist.
Puckett's Mill Elementary media center is a welcoming, learning environment filled with resources for students and teachers to enjoy. Our primary goal is to provide information and services to support our students, teachers and Gwinnett's Academic Knowledge and Skills.
Kindergarten and First grade students may check out one book at a time. Second through Fifth grade students may check out two books. Books may be checked out for a two week period. Overdue notices will be distributed to students quarterly. Students are not charged overdue fines, but circulation will not be allowed until all books are returned. We want every patron to have access to Reference books so they will not be available for check out. Magazines are available for check out as well.
Students will need to grab a shelf-marker for book browsing whenever they come to the media center. Kindergarten students will need to be accompanied by a para-pro or a parent. Students need to have their book(s) and card scanned at the circulation desk before leaving. Visits to the media center may be 15 minutes long per small group. This time may be used for a variety of activities – browsing, checkout, and research. The open schedule allows students and teachers maximum access to the media center. Thanks for supporting our open schedule.
The media staff will be more than happy to pull books on any subject and place them on hold. Just email the PMES Media Center. Please try to keep books less than 6 weeks. The media specialist will be glad to help your class with research projects, reference skills, or story time. Please see Mrs. Mays to sign up for a media lesson. Feel free to email or stop by the media center so we can chat about your lesson. If extra resources are needed after school, please contact any of the media staff for help.
Every educator is responsible for following the copyright laws and guidelines. The media specialist serves as the copyright contact liaison. If you have questions about copyright, feel free to ask the media staff. Need more information? Visit Educational Copyright Resources.
Parents are a vital part of a good media program. Volunteers are encouraged to work a 2-hour segment each week to get more familiar with the kids and the media center. Volunteers primarily will help with circulation (checking books in and out) and shelving returned items. Volunteers are more than welcome to assist with special events such as the book fairs! Check with the media staff for details.
Being rich with technology, Puckett's Mill has closed circuit available for all classrooms to view educational media from the media center black box. This is a convenient way for grade levels or classrooms to join in watching educational productions at the same time. Sign up in the media center or send an email to the media staff to place you on the schedule.
In order to maintain the focus on the Board adopted AKS and the commitment to providing students with an academic curriculum which continuously challenges them; teachers should select only videos that supplement the curriculum. Supplemental videos must be approved prior to using them in the classroom. A form is found on the shared drive. Complete the form and return it in to your media specialist or supervising administrator one week prior to showing the movie.
We are excited about building our Puckett's Mill Elementary broadcast show. If you know a 5th grade student who loves to read, he or she may be a great candidate! Look for upcoming information from your media staff or contact Mrs. Mays for information.


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Energy Conservation vs. Energy Production
The main focus and direction of solar technology development to date has been to produce electricity from light, as demonstrated most commonly in photovoltaic "PV" (solar panels), with comparably less R&D of other solar technologies.
Typical efficiency of solar cells is only about 6 -15%. Although environmentally advantageous over fossil fuels, and a very important component of a renewable energy infrastructure, this approach for electricity generation is still far from cost competitive. Solar cell panels must actually operate for years just to return the amount of electricity used to manufacture them.
The efficiency of electric lighting commonly used in commercial and industrial applications is only about 25%. The remaining 75% of electric energy to produce this artificial light is radiated in the form of heat. This waste heat also results in additional loads on AC equipment, along with increased energy costs for cooling.
The efficiency of solar cells that work only during the day, generating electricity to produce as the end result daytime artificial indoor lighting, is not the most practical use of the original energy source (sunlight), with the resulting efficiency being only about 1% to 4%. This transition from sunlight, to solar cell, to electricity, to artificial electric lighting results in a greater than 95% loss of the original light energy.
Because of the entrenched industry desire to produce electricity, the use of sunlight for illumination (daylighting) to displace or conserve electric energy consumption has not been researched with reasoned and balanced efforts.
Logical market based engineering would capitalize on a sunlight distribution system such as Solartech - a far more practical use of the sun's energy for lighting applications, producing 15 times the present solar cell efficiency with lighting as the end use of the suns' energy. Solartech uniquely uses sunlight directly for illumination without the inefficient initial conversion to electricity that solar electric systems demonstrate.
Installation of Solartech in just 350 retail warehouses would conserve the equivalent amount of electricity produced by the entire US 2002 manufacturing production of PV panels, and have an end user return on investment 10 times faster than PV.
Summary | Light Output Comparisons | Building Retrofit Example | Investor Information
Images of Collecting System | Adaptability Of The Technology To Other Markets


Coaching goals: Why do you want to be a coach? What type of coaching do you want to do? And what kind of clients do you want to serve?
Coaching philosophy: What is the primary lens through which you want to view coaching (e.g. organization/systems-based, leadership, holistic/ontological)? What theories and disciplines are you interested in learning about and what type of instructors do you want to support you in your learning process?
Peer group and alumni community: What type of community do you want to belong to? Is it important for you to grow your network locally, nationally and/or globally? What alumni opportunities are important to you?
Continuous learning environment: How do you like to learn (e.g. virtual, in-person, small groups) and how do you want a program to support you? What type of coaching practice do you want to be included in the program?
Personal growth and transformation: To what degree are you looking for self-transformation? Are you ready to take a deep look at yourself as part of your coaching journey?
Coaching credential and reputation: How important is it that a program offers a credential? How important is it that a program be ICF accredited? How important is reputation to you and to your target clients?
Training location and logistics: What format works best with your schedule (e.g. virtual/in-person, monthly, weekends/weekdays/other)? Do you have the time, money and resources to travel to the program location? How will a program in a specific location serve your coaching goals?
Time and effort required: Do you have the time and energy to make a commitment to a coaching program? Is now the right time to enroll in a coach training program?
Cost: What is your price range (considering the payoff of finding clients to coach during and/or after the program)?
Support to launch a coaching business: How important is it for you to learn how to start a coaching practice as part of the program? What tools and resources do you need to support your future coaching practice?
Lauren B. Weinstein is the author of Coaching is Calling: A Guide to Coach Training Programs and Professional Career Paths. She works with individuals and organizations in the domain of strategic consulting, leadership/career/team coaching, facilitation and training. She is also an Account Executive for More Than Money Careers, which helps Millennials get hired for world changing jobs they'll love doing. Lauren previously worked at Accenture, where she focused on corporate social responsibility and international development. Lauren has a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania and a Certification in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. For more information on Lauren B. Weinstein, please visit: www.laurenbweinstein.com. For more information on Coaching is Calling, please visit: www.coachingiscalling.com.
La formation Coaching Ways© de Momento Sprl, processus d'accompagnement intégral certifiée ACTP d'une durée totale de 23 jours s'articule autour de 7 modules clés incluant 10 heures de supervision. A l'issue de cette formation vous obtiendrez un diplôme qui vous permettra d'exercer le métier de coach.


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"Fullmetal Alchemist" and Being Human
Sr. Orianne Dyck
Media Mindfulness, News, Theology of Pop Culture, Theology of the Body in Media
There's a lot you could get out of the first season of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This classic anime series is artistically compelling, action-packed, layered with meaning, with a good dose of quirky humor to boot. But some things shine out above all the rest. By the end of the season 1 finale you are left with these certainties:
We were not made to die. We were not made to be alone. And we were not made to be in pieces.
Every human person knows this. It's written on the human heart. We can tell ourselves that all these things – death, isolation, brokenness and disintegration - are natural. Certainly, they are a given part of human life. But they are only a given for human life after the Fall into sin. It wasn't how we were created. It's not what we were made for and our hearts know it.
But these dissonances reveal what we were made for.
We were made for life. We were made for communion. And we were made to be whole, body and soul.
These truths are proclaimed boldly by our faith, explored in depth through Saint John Paul II's Theology of the Body and are confronted head-on in the opening season of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, now streaming on Netflix.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (FMAB) may seem an unlikely source of doctrinal truths, but this classic anime is a classic for a reason. It's a masterpiece in storytelling bursting with questions and truths about the reality of the human person.
Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the show, some spoilers for Season 1 are ahead.
If you've seen the first season, you know that the young alchemist brothers Ed and Al Elric are alone in the world since their loving and vibrant mother died suddenly. The two boys then commit the ultimate taboo of alchemy when they try to do what any child's heart would yearn for: bring her back to life. But alchemy isn't free, and there is a law of equivalent exchange. In trying to bring back the body of their mother, the boys lose theirs in return. Ed loses a leg, and Al – Al loses everything. His entire body is taken from him. In a desperate effort to keep from losing his little brother too, Ed binds Al's soul to a metal suit of armour, forfeiting his own arm in the process.
Al (left) and his older brother Ed (right) working together to start a fire (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Season 1)
The brothers do not succeed in bringing back their mother. The horrible decaying creature that emerges from their attempt to defeat death gasps only for a moment and succumbs to nothingness. Even giving everything, they cannot pay the equivalent exchange of her person.
This is perhaps the first lesson of FMAB. No one— neither the brothers nor others they meet along the way— can pay the exchange to bring a human person back into the world, because the exchange cannot be measured. The value of the life of a human being is priceless, unquantifiable, and immeasurable. We cannot cover the return on a human person, on their body and soul.
Only an infinite, almighty God could do that.
And so the brothers are left cheated by death, denied the communion of family, and in pieces.
Al's soul in armor and Ed covering his 'automail' prosthetics with long sleeves (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
We, the audience, are left absolutely heartbroken for them. Although we know that alchemy taboos are nothing to be messed with, we understand. We understand why they wanted life, communion, and wholeness… because we all yearn for that. We yearn for it because, ultimately, we are made for something more.
From this point on, the brothers make a pact: to find a way to get their bodies back. Joining the government to work as a state alchemist, Ed helps the military enforce order as the brothers search together for a way to restore Ed's arm and leg and, even more importantly, Al's entire body.
It is perhaps through Al's character that FMAB brings up the most important questions of what it means to be a full human person. Al is a young teenage boy, and if we can't tell from his body, we can tell by his maturity, reasoning, and behavior. He has a heart of gold, and his sweetness touches the lives of people they encounter. Al's presence, his soul as expressed through that suit of armour, is deeply felt by those around him. And yet something dreadfully important is missing, and the show doesn't pretend that that's okay.
As Christians, we know that God created angels as pure immortal spirits, and that He created earthly living creatures with material bodies (with mortal animal 'souls,' or vivifying life principles that die when the organism does). But human beings are different. We are unique in creation, a kind of bridge, if you will, between the two worlds. Human beings are a union of both a material body and immortal soul. Not a soul with a body, not a body with a soul, but both body and soul.* Our soul animates our body, and our body expresses and informs our soul.
This importance of the joint being of body and soul is clearly displayed in Al's character. Al is Al, there is no mistaking that, but he is limited in how he can express himself. He has a voice (luckily) and the suit of armour serves as a shadow of a body through which he can express some of himself. But he cannot show his brother his face. He cannot give a warm hug. He cannot offer physical sufferings for another. He cannot fully express himself, because he is no longer his body.
At the same time, because our human body helps to inform our soul, Al is missing many key experiences that could have the power to touch him deeply. One of the things Al does to cope with his situation is to keep a list of all the foods he wants to try once he has his body back. It's adorable, but also heart-wrenching, because it is another reminder of what Al is missing – the human experience of sharing a meal, which is both an act of communion and a love-language that he cannot participate in or receive. Certainly Al's soul continues to be informed, but it lacks the wealth of experience it was meant to have through his body. So even when Al is cheerfully adding new foods to his ever-growing list,' we ache for him, because we know this disintegration of his body and his soul is not what he was made for.
Ed and Al at dinner with their teacher (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Season 1)
In creation, both our body and our soul were created for life. But with sin came disintegration, and what was meant to be a permanent union of body and soul was wrenched apart. This was the deformity of death, splitting who we are in two. Yes, our soul can live without our body, and with the grace of God our souls are kept safe and well. But we are not whole without the body that allows our soul to be properly expressed, and constitutes the other half of who we are. This is why Christ's resurrection in the body was so important, so earth shattering. He defeated death. He defeated brokenness and disintegration. He proved that he really could make us whole. He did not ascend only in the spirit, like the saints who await the resurrection of their bodies. He ascended body and soul, himself the promise of the fullness of being that is found in Him alone, as well as the promise of our own future resurrection of the body at the end of time.
That is the fullness we want for Ed and Al and the characters of the show seem to agree with us, until one pivotal scene in the last episode of the season.
In the final episode, Al is kidnapped and interrogated by a villain named Greed. True to his name, Greed wants something for himself—immortality (like everyone else in this show!) He sees how Al is an immortal human soul bound to a form that cannot die, and he wants to know how Al did it.
Of course poor Al doesn't know, because Ed was the one who tied his soul to the armour. When Ed bursts in to save his younger brother, Greed turns to the tormented teen to compliment his handiwork. It's the perfect way to live, Greed tells Ed. Al doesn't get fatigued or sick or hungry, he doesn't need to rest, he doesn't need to convalesce, he doesn't need to eat.
Even if we were conflicted enough between efficiency and nature to let the first two go, when we hear Greed rejoice that Al doesn't have to eat, we all get angry, almost as angry as Ed since we know, and Ed knows, how much Al is missing. We know that exchanging the vulnerability of the human body for the convenience of disembodiment is not efficient living. It is the dismemberment of the human person. It is death. And we all want Al fully whole and alive because he was made for that!
Ed explains none of that to Greed. He doesn't have the vocabulary, but his utter rage is indicative of just how deeply Greed insulted Al's humanity by suggesting he was better off without his body. Ed might not have the vocabulary, but we do. The God that Ed claims he doesn't believe in, yet still finds himself praying to in one of his most helpless and vulnerable moments in the season, is that God that has given us the vocabulary. He has written a revelation of Himself into every human being who is made in His image and likeness. Our human being, body and soul united, tells the story of life. Our human being, body and soul united, tells the story of identity and belonging and our human being, body and soul united, tells the story of God.**
And as God himself tells us – it is very good. (Genesis 1:31).
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is pretty good too.
Ed and Al sharing a cheerful moment together on the train (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Season 1)
While this classic Japanese saga is not for the faint of heart, it strikes deep precisely because it asks questions so fundamental to who we are as human beings. Whether you are an old fan of the series or are hearing of it for the first time, FMAB is worth watching for anyone who is interested in human personhood, Theology of the Body, or brilliant anime storytelling. It grapples with some disturbing issues and mature questions, and will challenge you to take another look at who and how you were made to be, and to realize what the amazing creation of your being, fully alive, reveals about the One who created it.
* John Paul II's "Man and Woman He Created Them," 2006 edition, section 2.3, 2.4
** John Paul II's "Man and Woman He Created Them," 2006 edition, section 19.4
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