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Tag: Café Arts
LOCAL PROFILE: Reverend Gerard Goshawk
Words by Jobe Baker-Sullivan / Pics by Ed King
Reverend Gerard Goshawk has been a Baptist minister for "probably about 18 years." Working first as a lay pastor, he became a full time pastor 13 years ago – finding his way to Six Ways Baptist Church after coming "from Nottingham, and it's been brilliant. I love Erdington."
But the 'new normal' created by the coronavirus crisis has established new ways of working, socialising, and even worshipping – as everywhere from classrooms to congregations have been subject to physical and social distancing restrictions.
Reverend Goshawk's working week before lockdown "was a different rhythm. It was more based with things happening up at Six Ways Baptist Church. The different groups, activities we had there, being around for those, and visiting people – and lots of meetings, meetings, meetings! Lots of worship based at the church, and (the Erdington) foodbank based at the church."
An important part of the community, the Erdington Foodbank is based at Six Ways Baptist Church – providing 'three days nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to us in crisis.'
But during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Trussell Trust – who support the Erdington Foodbank – have seen usage across their UK network increase by 89% from April 2019 to April 2020. For Reverend Goshawk, his active role helping the people who need access to food has become even more pertinent.
Although reaching his congregation was also a concern, as places of worship across the country were completely closed during the coronavirus lockdown. "It's been a big learning process," explains Reverend Goshawk, as social media became the most viable method of communication with people in self-isolation.
"We have a service on YouTube that we pre-record for each Sunday, that goes out… I do some Daily devotions on Facebook live each day and I send them out on a WhatsApp list as well. That's Monday to Friday.
"Then, we also have a zoom fellowship – a service on a Sunday where most people that can do that get together. That's been really great and we've kinda adapted to how we do that."
Excited by the prospect of this new normal, Reverend Goshawk notes that "there's statistics out there about people who have not done church before but are watching church services online. There's a whole new field of people out there who are being reached, and in our small way, Erdington is part of that."
But while he can't yet meet his congregation at church, Reverend Goshawk still goes out to members where they live – spending a lot of his time "cycling round Erdington, delivering news sheets, written information for people as well… because we have… 25 people in our church not connected on the Internet."
There's even a chance for prayer, as Reverend Goshawk finds himself "sometimes praying with people on their doorstep… 2 meters away."
Places of worship are now set to open for private prayer in England from the 15th June, and Reverend Goshawk is preparing for "coming out of lockdown, as of next week. We'll be able to open up for people to come in just for quiet prayer, socially distanced and everything."
But like many businesses and social groups in the UK, Six Ways Baptist Church has seen how some engagements are actually better off being at least partly conducted online.
"We wouldn't want to be losing all the new things that we've done," tells Reverend Goshawk, "because we are reaching different people in different ways, you know.
"Sometimes I used to do a bible study for a very small number of people who would turn up on a Sunday evening at the church – on a cold winter's evening, about four faithful people perhaps sometimes just turning up. And now we're in double figures every time and growing with the number of people that will come to bible study [via zoom].
"I believe we're made by God to connect with each other and to be alongside each other. I think we will still do lots of things online. It would be a shame to lose that experience and that benefit that we had. It just means a bit more work!"
Outside of the coronavirus crisis, and the changes Reverend Goshawk has made to stay in touch with his immediate community, Six Ways Baptist Church has received recognition for its hard work helping migrants and asylum seekers.
Reverend Goshawk is also the chair of the group Everyone Erdington, which celebrates diversity, and in the past has organised "get togethers", lunches, and festivals specifically inviting people from different backgrounds. And whilst institutionalised racism is a constant concern, affecting communities worldwide, following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota people and protest have risen up across the globe in solidarity.
"Our church at six ways is a black majority church," explains Reverend Goshawk. "I don't really feel equipped to speak on behalf of people that would identify themselves as black. But the response has been deep… actually looking at the practical ways that we as a church can make a difference for ourselves and for this community to actually be part of that transformation.
"That exciting change that seems to be out there as a possibility at the moment. There's a whole range of feelings about it. One of those, the more positive thing about it, there's a move that's happening. It does feel like there's potential for real change."
Reverend Gerard Goshawk is pastor at Six Ways Baptist Church. To find out more about the church, visit: www.sixwayserdington.org.uk
For more on the Everyone Erdington Facebook group, visit: www.facebook.com/EveryoneErdington
For more on the Erdington Foodbank, including information on how to access provision or to make a donation, visit: www.erdington.foodbank.org.uk
OPINION: Black Lives Matter protest in Birmingham
Words by Jobe Baker-Sullivan / Pics by Chris Neophytou & Jobe Baker-Sullivan
"As far as I'm concerned, the police in America might as well be a terrorist organisation."
I was spellbound by the thousands of people who gathered in Birmingham for the Black Lives Matter protest. There were people of all ages and races. There were children, and even a few pet dogs. It was in response to George Floyd's death – which has caused shockwaves in cities around the world. I was proud to be there for Birmingham's show of solidarity.
Initially, it was a scary experience. On my way to Birmingham Library, where the speeches took place, I was handed a slip of paper from an organiser with 'advice on arrest'. I became anxious as the crowds gathered momentum – lest we forget, there is also the possibility of being infected with coronavirus.
But the intention of this protest was noble.
People chanted in full voice: "George Floyd, remember his name!" organically, along with other slogans. There were signs containing anti-establishment messages, messages of hope – some tongue-in-cheek, some with wise quotations. The one that resonated with me was the powerful, 'They want our rhythm not our blues.' As a musician, I believe that a vast amount of popular music owes a lot to talented, pioneering yet anonymous, often intentionally uncredited, black musicians. And as a white musician, I believe we stole their music but we didn't alleviate their sorrow.
By chance, I spotted some people I know from Erdington. Pastor Rasaq Ibrahim from the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) joyfully handed me a free face mask, before disappearing into the crowd to give more to strangers.
Feeling fully equipped, having brought my vinyl gloves and voice recorder, I joined the crowd outside the library to hear passionate speakers selected by the Black Lives Matter group using a portable PA, often doubled with a megaphone. It was only audible if you were very close to the action, but people were happy to start chants in their own pockets of activity. I caught most of the speeches, with various speakers commending the multi-ethnicity of the crowd, the fact that this protest cannot be the last, and getting the crowd to kneel as a gesture of solidarity.
"The fight is not black verses white; the fight is not black verses Asian. The fight is not black verses any race. The fight is against racists," one speaker sermonised, followed by rapturous applause.
A couple of hours later, we marched, from Centenary Square, along New Street, to protest symbolically in front of the Lloyd House Police Headquarters.
An acquaintance of mine spotted me in the crowd. Like all the following speakers, she is black and wishes to remain anonymous. She is from Castle Vale: "Everyone's out here. Black, white, Indian. Fighting for the same cause. It's like the most peaceful protest I've ever been to. The message is clear. All anybody wants to have is an enjoyable life, and some people are robbing them of that.
"Me personally, I feel like Black Lives Matter is inclusive to everyone as well. As far as I'm concerned, the police in America might as well be a terrorist organisation. The George Floyd incident was filmed, but it's like, this has been going on for decades. This protest is saying, stop it. Just stop."
I too had fear that this day would not remain peaceful, having seen the news of tear gas and looting in America. Trump's response was to threaten to send in the army to cease the unrest, yet here in Birmingham I see an army of well-meaning citizens mobilizing to bring positive change.
One man, from Moseley, tells me: "As you can see, everybody's behaving and respecting. Not many police officers. In general, I'm quite blown away because also, nobody with grey hairs like us! The majority of people are under 30. It's mixed like hell mate! Proper mixed… It's been an excellent day, a great day."
We stopped our conversation to admire the marching crowd as it circled around Colmore Circus. Buses had come to a stand-still, and cars sounded their horns as they drove by in solidarity.
"This is different from every other one [protest] because it's worldwide. And it's unfortunate that the people who commit the crime are telling other people to be peaceful!"
Another male I knew from Erdington was a little more sceptical of the speakers present at the protest: "to be honest, I think it's just a façade. There was no direction on the mic in what they were saying. There were people on the mic saying: 'if you're not down with XYZ then you're not XYZ'."
Black Lives Matter itself as an organisation is not without its criticisms. It has been accused of being militaristic, police-hating, and has had a history of confrontation in the public domain – a prominent Black Lives Matter activist and writer, Shaun King, was banned from Facebook in 2016. Although King's censorship was later redacted by the social media giant and labelled 'a mistake'.
But whilst agitation can be seen as an important part in evolving debate, it can also lead to messages getting blown out of proportion in a media frenzy – a difficult balance no doubt Black Lives Matter, and many activist groups, will be all too familiar with. And if you need an example of how this can go wrong, just Google 'Katie Hopkins'.
But the response to the George Floyd murder, for that's what it is, has been the most recent flashpoint of a whole history of anti-human abuse. Black lives do matter, and as offensive as it is to even need an organisation to clarify that the conversation about race needs to be kept alive, by everyone.
And personally, from my corner of the crowd and community, it was important for me to be part of this historic event in my own city. And as a musician, and a human being, I can only pray that finally a change is going to come.
For more on Black Lives Matter, visit www.blacklivesmatter.com
Jobe Baker-Sullivan is an Erdington based musician and arts ambassador, leading the Erdington Arts Forum and the Active Arts Evenings of Creativity. For more on Jobe Baker Sullivan, visit www.facebook.com/JobeSullivanMusic
For more on the Erdington Arts Forum, visit www.facebook.com/groups/cafeartsforum/
FEATURE: "I don't think I would have survived the lockdown without my volunteering," – Erdington local woman's cry for more community support
Words by Steve Sharma / Pics courtesy of Erdington Local Community Response
A local woman helping an Erdington community support group to deliver food and essential supplies, and safeguard elderly and vulnerable residents, says volunteering has saved her life.
Donna Tone said her experience working alongside Mutual Aid Group, Erdington Local Community Response, has helped her to survive the lockdown.
At the start of Volunteers Week (June 1-7) the primary school worker is now urging others to follow her example and reap the 'amazing' benefits it brings.
"Should people volunteer? Absolutely," she said. "Because you are not only doing good for others but for yourself too. My self-esteem and confidence have increased massively since I started volunteering and I've made some amazing friends and met some lovely people.e
"At the beginning of the lockdown I felt very isolated with my family living far away from me – but my volunteering has changed that. I now feel uplifted as a person. I don't think I would have survived the lockdown without my volunteering – it saved me."
Donna, who has spent the last three months helping to pack and distribute food parcels from a base in Ladywood, points to the collective efforts and unity of those working to support those in need.
"It's like your own little community," she said.
"One minute you've got these strangers standing behind you, the next minute they're becoming your friends.
"You just start talking to people and form connections, everyone is there to help each other, they are invested in the collective effort. Everyone is united."
Erdington Local Community Response was founded by local woman Jo Bull. It has been delivering hundreds of food parcels every week to homes across the district and supporting people through befriending services and via social media with information and resources shared on its Facebook page.
David Owen, who co-ordinates activity for the group, said the support it has received has been 'eye-watering' but with certain lockdown measures now being eased and people returning to their day jobs, volunteers are needed to sustain the help that's being delivered to people.
"The take up of volunteers in Erdington has been immense with over 70 people giving up their time to pack, shop and deliver for those in need," he said.
"But as these people return to work, we need a new wave of volunteers to get us through the weeks and months ahead.
"So, if anyone out there, who lives in the North Birmingham area, can spare some time to help our group over the coming weeks we'd really love to hear from them. Please email me at: erdingtoncv19@gmail.com"
Erdington Local Community Response is a member of the Erdington COVID19 Taskforce – a network of local community organisations and individuals working together to support the district's vulnerable, isolated and at risk during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Taskforce is facilitated by Witton Lodge Community Association. Chief Officer, Afzal Hussain, commented: "Volunteers are the lifeblood of organisations like ours and their efforts across the constituency in support of organisations like Erdington Local Community Response has been truly inspiring.
"We have also benefited from their incredible and selfless work in getting food parcels packed and delivered to the most vulnerable members of our community during the lockdown.
"Without their support a lot of the work that has been achieved would not have been possible. We are all very grateful to every single one of our amazing volunteers."
To visit the Erdington Local Community Response (to COVID-19) Facebook group, where you ask for help and support during the coronavirus crisis – or offer your services as a volunteer, visit www.facebook.com/groups/625073991557017
A directory of all Erdington COVID19 Taskforce organisations can be found by visiting: www.erdingtonlocal.com/covid-19-local-support
Volunteers' Week runs across the UK from 1st to 7th June – for more information, visit www.volunteersweek.org
FEATURE: Death and social distancing – the grief of funerals during lockdown
The UK's funeral industry is estimated to be worth around £2billion annually, with an estimated 4,000 directors conducting 600,000 funerals each year at an average of £3-5000 per service. Britain's death economy is big business.
But honouring the dead is also paramount for people's mental health and society's social fabric – a respectable funeral is a helpful step in the grieving process, allowing people to say goodbye to loved ones whilst offering the emotional sanctuary of a traditional service.
During the COVID-19 crisis, however, funerals have taken on an even more sombre tone, as death tolls rise whilst places of worship across the country have been closed to stem the spread of the virus – building a backlog that has seen some funerals held weeks, even months, later than normal.
Along with the Government restrictions being imposed on funerals of all faiths, whatever your beliefs the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way this vital part of human society is carried out.
As someone who would play the church organ at funerals pre-coronavirus, sometimes three times a week, I was interested in exploring the drastic changes people now face during this important part of the grieving process.
"It feels like their bereavement is suspended," says Father Simon Ellis, the parish priest at St Margaret Mary's Church on Perry Common Road, who has officiated over six funerals since the start of lockdown – unable to make two, as he was recovering from coronavirus himself.
"It's been agonising… It feels like people have said, you go, I'll stay at home. The overwhelming thing I've heard is that 'they deserve more'… Normally there would be 50, 60, 150 people at the church or the crematorium. Now we can only have six," the maximum number of mourners allowed, at that time, according to Birmingham City Council.
"And if someone has died of COVID-19," continues Father Ellis, "people are not permitted to see their loved ones in the funeral parlour. They're not permitted to touch the coffin. It's something that will have people struggling with their mental health."
The Government guidelines have been put in place so that 'mourners and workers involved in the management of funerals are protected from infection,' according to the .Gov website. But this has caused anguish for many families, with some having to make tough decisions about who attends the funeral of a loved one and who does not.
But despite the hardships during lockdown Father Ellis has noted, "generally families seem to be sticking to the rules… All the families have been saying there will be something at a later date – whether that's a memorial mass, a memorial service, or something followed by a proper reception. There are plans for the future.
"I feel genuine sorrow for people. Whether they've lost a person through COVID-19 or some other reason, they've been hurled into this new world…
"It is very hard to experience this extra burden people are carrying. But it's also remarkable how resilient and high-spirited people are being."
The coronavirus crisis has also seen ingenuity, as people embrace digital platforms to combat the widespread physical restrictions. "Perry Barr Crematorium did have a system where they could relay the service outside," tells Father Ellis – explaining a shift in how the funeral is conducted which allows more people to gather outside of the chapel area.
Some funerals are also being livestreamed for the benefit of those who can't be attend in person, and Father Ellis has taken on the challenge: "[livestreaming] has always happened, but now there are more people are involved. What you're trying to do in the service, which I've never done before is start at the beginning of the service is saying 'if you're following remotely, you are most welcome, we are thinking of you'. It's just something to say, 'we know you're there.'"
But for all those who are grieving during the coronavirus crisis, it has been a whirlwind experience; as if losing a loved one wasn't difficult already, not being able to have a conventional funeral has been a great shock to many mourners.
Steve Lafferty, who lives on Lambeth Road in Kingstanding, lost his brother, Charles, on the 4th April after a seven year battle to cancer. Under normal circumstances, there would have been a 'receiving in' ceremony the evening before the funeral, wherein the coffin of the deceased remains in church, St Margaret Mary's, overnight.
"We'd have liked him (Charles) to go to church first, to St Margaret Mary's," explains Steve, "for the overnight, and then the service… then the funeral mass, in the church, then up to the crematorium for a little service there.
"We'd have had the hymns in church… he wanted certain songs, his kids wanted certain songs, so we'd kept them for the crematorium. But because we couldn't get to church we give them the songs that they wanted, that my brother wanted, to go out there."
Part of a strong Scottish family, Charles Lafferty had many mourners wishing to pay their final respects. But with the numbers of attendees restricted, the family he left behind found themselves – like many across the country – having to make some difficult logistical decisions.
"He had six grandchildren, so the eldest grandchildren were to go," tells Steve, crunching the numbers usually reserved for a wedding planner – Sandwell Crematorium, where Charles was cremated, are allowing a maximum of 10 mourners at each service. "Then his three children, his three brothers – his son's partner, she came. But then my wife came, my other's brother's wife came…"
"They were quite good actually at Sandwell, they gave us a link," continues Steve – explaining the digital streaming service Sandwell Crematorium were able to offer, "because I've got relations in Scotland and all that there, and they said the link was very good as well.
"They give us a code to put in – they set it up straight away, then told us – in a few weeks time – to just click here and it will automatically go through. It was really good. Where the camera was you had the coffin, the priest, the people that were there… it was really, really good."
For Charles Lafferty, his funeral was to be well and widely remembered – despite all the coronavirus roadblocks now in front of a regular procession. But fortitude deserves fanfare, and whilst working within the Government guidelines the family were still able to say goodbye in their own way.
"I went down to the undertakers, Unwins on Rough Road," explains Steve, "they said look Mr Lafferty, with the circumstances we're in you can only have this, this, or this… no cars, only a hearse. And because we're Scots we had a bagpiper performing.
"So, what we did… where I live on Lamberth Road… I told all his friends to come, but they must keep social distancing all along the road. Don't go to the crem, but do it along the road outside my house – and then the bagpiper played him up to my house.
"The three bothers and his family there, we walked in front and others walked behind, all the way up. Then they stayed outside my house for about five minutes for anyone who wanted to come up to touch the coffin – it was the only time anyone was allowed to touch the coffin – then I went down in front… You had the bagpiper, me, the lady from Unwins, and the coffin then followed me down the road and we were off to Sandwell (Cremetorium).
"I can't knock Sandwell, and I can't knock my undertakers down the road, especially under the circumstances. They were very, very good."
For more information on how 'births, deaths, and ceremonies' are being conducted across Birmingham during the coronavirus crisis, visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20016/births_deaths_and_ceremonies
For Government guidelines on 'managing a funeral during the coronavirus pandemic', visit www.gov.uk/covid-19-guidance-for-managing-a-funeral-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic
For more from Unwins Undertakers, visit www.urwinsundertakers.co.uk
For more on St Margaret Mary's Church, visit www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/st-margaret-mary-perry-common
NEWS: Serving up 25% discounts for NHS workers at Walter Smith Fine Foods
Words by Keat Moore / Pics by Keat Moore and Ed King
Walter Smith Fine Foods has always been a familiar sight on Erdington High Street and has been serving generations of families from the community for the last 80 years.
It's also one of the few butcher shops in the area to remain open during the COVID-19 lockdown, continuing its commitment to its customers by offering a free delivery service and a 25% discount for all NHS staff.
Erdington Local caught up with Mark Healy, the store manager, to find out more about the butcher's life during the lockdown.
"The first week was chaos," says Mark, "we had loads of panic buying and fighting, we had to put limits in place, in the end, to stop customers trying to buy 50lbs of mince!"
Things have, thankfully, calmed down since then. But Mark says they're still busy and they've even seen a 40% increase in sales, "we've actually won a lot of friends in this climate and we're serving customers we've never seen before."
The uptick has primarily come from the delivery service that Walter Smith have been offering since the lockdown began; customers can call the shop, place an order, pay over the phone, and have fresh produce delivered to their door the following Friday.
"It's been really popular" Mark explains, "I think it took off really well due to the 2-3 week wait for online orders through the big supermarkets," which has been a real issue for many vulnerable people across Erdington, as well as staff feeding residents of local care homes.
Walter Smith is also offering a 25% discount to all NHS staff, as a way of showing support and appreciation for the work they're doing in the fight against COVID-19 – a gesture which has been especially popular in Erdington, as many of the Walter Smith regular customers are NHS workers.
Walter Smith Fine Foods is currently open Monday – Saturday, 8.30 am until 4.30 pm. For more information, visit www.waltersmith.co.uk or call 0121 373 0457
To find Walter Smith Fne Foods on Facebook, visit www.facebook.com/waltersmithff
NEWS: India Garden Restaurant gifts food parcels to over 60's across Erdington
India Garden is a restaurant that prides itself on serving classic Indian dishes, specialties, and desserts.
Located at 992 Tyburn Road, India Garden Restaurant has been involved in catering for over 35 years – suppling large Council venues and supermarket chains, as well as operating their popular Erdington based restaurant.
But as the scare of COVID-19 was first hitting the country, the family run business began helping neighbours who were struggling to buy goods from supermarkets – using their own stock, alongside established links with their suppliers.
Now India Garden are delivering free food parcels to over 60's in Erdington – packed with essential goods including hand sanitizer and loo rolls, as well as a hot meal from their own kitchens.
"We've been here (in Erdington) for a long time and it's the locals that have supported the business," tells Shaan Deen, India Garden's Operations Manager, "and we thought we've got to do something.
"So, we thought, 60 plus, anybody, free of charge… we're just going to give them food parcels with essential items – a hot meal, curry, rice, bread, and then all the hand sanitizers, loo rolls, baked beans… and whatever else we can. So that's what we did."
India Garden began telling existing customers about their 'coronavirus campaign' over the phone, but news of their good will soon gained a lot of attention on social media.
"We threw it onto Facebook and it just blew up from there," continues Shaan, "people started tagging, and we started getting lots of enquires. Genuinely they wanted to donate; I can give ₤100, I can give ₤50. And we said we don't want your money, but we need the manpower – if you can come and help us deliver, then give us a shout."
India Garden now have 72 volunteers helping them deliver care packages to around 211 people, with teams going out five days a week.
"It wouldn't be possible without the volunteers, from the local area," continues Shaan. "People were saying 'we only live up the road – we live in Castle Vale; we live on Paget Road…. And before we knew it, we'd gathered a lot of volunteers. I want to highlight that; the volunteers play a big part. They're good people."
The restaurant have also launched their 'Tag a Hero' campaign, encouraging social media followers to tag NHS workers – winning frontline staff a free, sumptuous, Indian meal, delivered to their door.
To find out more about India Garden Restaurant, who are still open for takeaway orders, visit www.indiagardenrestaurant.co.uk
Or visit the India Garden Facebook page, where you can 'tag a hero' and help NHS frontline workers win a free meal www.facebook.com/IndiaGardenBirmingham
FEATURE: Witton Lodge Community Association connects an isolated community via popular social media platforms
Words & pics by Ed King / Video by Paul Withers – Erdington Local Broadcast Unit
As part of their ongoing outreach activity during the coronavirus crisis, Witton Lodge Community Association (WLCA) are using social media platforms to reach out to people across their community.
Running support sessions via WhatsApp, Zoom, and Facebook Live, a team of trained support specialists are offering online advice on a range of social concerns – including health and wellbeing, employment, financial advice, and mental health, during self-isolation.
As part of the rolling programme, running weekly from Monday to Thursday, a 'Health & Wellbeing support group' meet via Zoom every Tuesday between 3-4pm. Whilst a special 'Furlough Scheme Information session' meet every Wednesday, also via Zoom, from 11am to 12noon – offering advice to people who can no longer leave the house to work.
Further sessions offering 'Employment Support' and 'Social Interaction' meet every Thursday, via Zoom between 10-11m and via WhatsApp between 11am and 12noon respectively. There is also a special session called 'Coronavirus Myth Busters' run every Tuesday, accessible between 10-11am – again, via Zoom.
All interactive online support services being offered by WLCA can be found on their website, under the 'COVID19' tab on the main menu.
With the country on lockdown, the Internet has given community support centres such as WLCA an immediate tool to reach those in need – whilst staying self-isolated and following the social distancing guidelines issued by Public Health England.
"About three weeks ago we established our digital World of Work and Wellbeing platform," explains Iram Fardus – WLCA's Business Development & Performance Manager, "and through that we are currently supporting our Erdington residents with their health and wellbeing, employment, and housing enquiries.
"As an organisation we also understand that people might need help with benefits and financial enquires – so we encourage anyone and everyone to get in touch with us; as an organisation, if we (WLCA) can't support them then will be able to put them in touch with someone who can."
Using social media already established in people's day to day life, the hope is that the familiarity with these platforms will encourage more members of the community to get in touch.
"We thought most of the residents would already be connected with platforms like Facebook, Skype, and WhatsApp," continues Fardus, "on top of that, residents don't need to pay anything for it… they are free to use and most of the residents already have access to them or they already have accounts."
But the doors of social engagement swing both ways, and once a week Witton Lodge Community Association's Employment & Engagement Officer, Dellano Lewis, runs a specially tailored 'Topical Information Session', or 'Live Social', though the Facebook Live platform. The aims of the interactive online sessions are to both listen to, and direct, the concerns from people across the area.
"During these times it's about thinking of different ways we can communication with the community," explains Lewis, "with these Facebook Live sessions it's all about connecting virtually. Now everyone's at home, we have to tap into a different energy, a different frequency. Live Social is all about sharing positivity, sharing information that people can get through Witton Lodge Community Association.
"We're also connected with a lot of other partners who are working in the Perry Common community, within the Erdington area – so any form of information an individual may require, or want access to, they can get that through Witton Lodge."
But during these times of social fracture, where tight knit communities such as the one in Perry Common are being forced apart, there are many dangers facing an increasingly isolated community. Finance and employment are certainly pressing concerns, but the mental wellbeing of local residents is also being addressed during the Witton Lodge 'Live Social' sessions.
"It's vital (to be connected), it's something that's really needed in these times," tells Lewis, "to have communities and organisations that can offer that kind support – that can reach out to someone who's self-isolating, to reach out to someone who's lonely…
"It doesn't matter about background or age, or anything like that; to know that there's people out there, organisations out there, that can support you during these times – even virtually, over the phone, via Skype, Zoom, any kind of digital platform, is very important."
Interactive support sessions via social media at Witton Lodge Community Association
Full details of all online support sessions being delivered by Witton Lodge Community Association – and how to access them though the various social media platforms used – can be found via the organisation's COVID-19 web page at www.wittonlodge.org.uk/covid19-news-information-and-resources/
OPINION: Why the NHS should be awarded the George Cross
Words by Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands / Photography courtesy of Andy Street
As we continue the fight against coronavirus, May 8th has taken on a new significance – as the next date on which the lockdown will be reviewed. Yet there is other celebration connected to that date – VE Day – which resonates with so much that is going on now.
The 75th anniversary of VE Day may have been disrupted by a new enemy, but it links us to a past generation who faced another great national test.
It was during World War Two that the George Cross was created, to reflect the courage of civilians who showed extraordinary bravery. I believe we are seeing that courage again today. That's why awarding our NHS staff the George Cross provides appropriate recognition for their incredible efforts.
Recently I was honoured to join HRH Prince William to help officially open the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the NEC. Just a few weeks ago, this was an empty space. Now it is a fully-operational hospital with 500 beds ready to join the fight with COVID-19. It stands as a testament to what we can achieve if we pull together as one. It also represents the respect and gratitude we all feel towards our NHS staff.
The 'Nightingale' name above the door also perfectly embodies the driving principles of those who are on the frontline on this crisis – they are saving lives whilst demonstrating care and compassion.
The NHS, from the doctors and nurses on the wards, to the ambulance crews and paramedics, and all support staff, represents the very best of our society.
This crisis has shown, more than ever, the vital importance of a health service that is free at the point of use. Look around the world, at the disjointed approach produced by countries where private healthcare is prevalent, and you can see the true value of our single, united health service.
The nation's weekly doorstep appreciation of the NHS – where millions of people applaud in support – is proof of the debt of gratitude we all feel.
The NHS reflects so much of the best of British society. The NHS is truly democratic, treating everyone the same. The personal gratitude expressed by the Prime Minister to the nurses and staff who oversaw his recovery from COVID-19 illustrates how the NHS is there for all of us.
The NHS also reflects of the diversity of our modern society. In the crisis, we see the young caring for the old, and we also see retired doctors and nurses returning to join the fight. We see NHS staff from all backgrounds and from across the globe helping the people of the UK.
Right now, the NHS is also hugely important to the health of our economy. As we try to protect business through the duration of the crisis, the NHS is a huge employer that simply keeps going.
Of course, as an institution, the NHS needs care and investment. Prior to the outbreak, the Government unveiled a huge programme of future investment, but now, as we fight this virus, our focus is rightly being placed on the here and now. Some areas are clearly not as good as we want – such as the continuing issue of PPE.
We see now, more than ever, how the NHS is the embodiment of British society. And it is the NHS staff, putting themselves at risk daily, who have become our modern heroes and heroines. That is why I believe the George Cross is an appropriate acknowledgment of the bravery we are seeing.
This is not a gimmick. These awards exist to allow us, as a society, to recognise those who have stepped forward in a time of need.
These are unprecedented times, but awarding this medal collectively, to thousands of people for their joint bravery, has been done before.
In 1942 The George Cross was awarded to the island of Malta by King George, so as to "bear witness to the heroism and devotion of its people" during the great siege they underwent in the early part of the Second World War.
Six years after Malta was awarded the George Cross, the NHS was born. Now, after seven decades of devoted service to the British people, our NHS staff now find themselves under siege too, from coronavirus. There is no doubt in my mind that this is their finest hour.
It is time to reflect the unique contribution to our society of the NHS, and the gallantry shown by its staff. The National Health Service has earned the George Cross.
Andy Street is the Mayor of the West Midlands. For more on Andy Street, visit www.wmca.org.uk/who-we-are/meet-the-mayor/


For heroism, meritorious service or meritorious achievement after 30 September, 1981.
The Air Force Achievement Medal is awarded to members of the Air Force for acts of valor, for meritorious service or for meritorious achievement. It shares the same level of precedence as the achievement medals of the Army, Navy/Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.


Once a place of rejuvenation for Hawaiian royalty, Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort is pleased to welcome you with savings up to 50% Ocean Views. With complimentary Hawaiian activities like lei-making and ukulele lessons, our beachfront retreat offers you a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in Hawaiian culture. Throughout the resort, you'll bask in heartfelt, Hawaiian hospitality. Because nothing is more important to us than your happiness.
Speaking of happiness, Outrigger DISCOVERY loyalty members always receive our best rates. Not a member yet? We'll auto-enroll you as you book.
저희의 와이키키 호텔에서 진심어린 하와이의 호스피텔리티를 느껴보세요. 와이키키 비치에 있습니다. 스페셜: 지금 예약하고 최대 50% 요금 할인 혜택, 리프 바 앤 마켓 그릴의 식음료 전 품목 15% 할인 혜택도 받으세요.
We are proud to share the arts and culture of Polynesia. From live Hawaiian music to beachfront dining, scroll through some of our favorite Waikiki activities below.
하와이 음악을 라이브로 즐길 수 있는 하와이의 핫스팟. 밤마다 전설적인 현지 뮤지션들이 공연합니다.
Beachfront dining on Waikiki Beach. Live music nightly from 9:30-11:30pm.
활기찬 와이키키 비치 워크에서 전통이 있는 음악과 댄스를 즐겨보세요. 모든 공연은 무료입니다.
홀로카이 카타마란 세일링 어드벤쳐에 참여하세요.


Susan Kindler, a self-described "newbie to Windows," asked me about a good Windows 7 tutorial.
There are plenty of books and DVDs available to take you step by step through Windows. I'm sure some of them are excellent. But if you simply want to feel comfortable with the basics, a book or a DVD is probably overkill.
Top-Windows-Tutorials.com, which sells the Windows 7 Superguide as a DVD-ROM and as a digital download, also offers 17 video tutorials for free. If you're having trouble adjusting to the latest version of Windows, or to computing in general, or if you know someone who's having trouble, these tutorials are a great place to start.
I suggest that you--or your friend in need--start with Tutorial 1 - Introduction to the Desktop, and work your way slowly to the last one, Tutorial 17 - Devices and Printers. After you view a video, try out the features it describes. Then try it again, playing with the features as you watch.


In this paper we show how to extend Coloured Petri Nets (CP-nets), with three new modelling primitives—place capacities, test arcs and inhibitor arcs. The new modelling primitives are introduced to improve the possibilities of creating models that are on the one hand compact and comprehensive and on the other hand easy to develop, understand and analyse. A number of different place capacity and inhibitor concepts have been suggested earlier, e.g., integer and multi-set capacities and zero-testing and threshold inhibitors. These concepts can all be described as special cases of the more general place capacity and inhibitor concepts defined in this paper.
We give an informal description of the new concepts and show how the concepts can be formally defined and integrated in the Petri net framework—keeping the basic properties of CP-nets. In contrast to a number of the previously suggested extensions to CP-nets the new modelling primitives preserve the concurrency properties of CP-nets. We show how CP-nets with place capacities, test arcs and inhibitor arcs can be transformed into behaviourally equivalent CP-nets without these primitives. From this we conclude that the basic properties of CP-nets are preserved and that the theory developed for CP-nets can be applied to the extended CP-nets. This means that, e.g., the generalisations of analysis methods of CP-nets to cover the new modelling primitives are straightforward.
The reader is assumed to be familiar with the notion of CP-nets.
The work presented in this paper has been supported by a grant from the Danish Research Programme for Informatics (grant number 5.26.18.19).


Chicago police are warning drivers on the Near West Side about a spate of vehicle break-ins over the past two months.
Parked vehicles with bags and electronics in plain sight were targeted, police said. A thief or group of thieves broke the windows and took computers, backpacks and other belongings.
between 6:45 and 7:45 p.m. Feb. 7 in the 200 block of North Peoria Street.
Anyone with information on the break-ins is asked to call Area Central detectives at (312) 747-8380.


With Bumblebee, director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson weave together two different movies: 1) A sensitive, familiar riff on E.T. about a young girl who, struggling with the recent death of her father, regains her confidence through a clandestine friendship with an alien and 2) A less bombastic version of a Michael Bay-helmed Transformers movie, complete with Autobot vs. Decepticon lore, mechanical fight scenes with grinding metal sounds high in the mix, explosions, etc. To their credit, Knight and Hodson semi-seamlessly combine both movies without too much tonal clash. It's just a shame that the end result never amounts to more than a "fine," "not bad," "better-than-mediocre" studio picture despite the talent involved.
The talents in question are Knight—current CEO and former Vice President of animation at stop-motion animation studio Laika, who served as the lead animator for the company's first three films (Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls) and directed the fourth (Kubo and the Two Strings)—and lead Hailee Steinfeld, who has proven herself to be a formidable young actress this past decade. Their contributions certainly add a more intimate edge to Bumblebee, whose tender mood already sets it apart from the rest of the Transformers franchise. At the same time, neither really leaves their stamp on the work, either, beyond providing a generally less aggro atmosphere. Steinfeld, especially, disappoints in this regard. She's too good for the material, which tackles the thorniness of grief with the broad tact of a bulldozer, and yet she frequently overplays the script's emotional content, juking every contemplatively sad moment with crocodile tears so even the most stunted teenager can grasp her plight. Bumblebee is pitched to the cheap seats, which, granted, should be expected given that everything from the performances to the action must match the size and scale of the eponymous Transformer. It's just a shame that the softer, Spielberg-inspired side of the script suffers as a result.
However, that part of Bumblebee nevertheless represents its most salient selling point. Hodson handles the day-in-the-life-of-an-80s-teen stuff fairly well and Steinfeld convincingly plays a rock 'n' roll kid, sporting Joan Jett-esque fashion, who's a nerd in relation to her richer, more glamorous classmates (in typical Reagan-era, class-generated, John-Hughes-movie fashion). She has good chemistry with Pamela Adlon, who plays her well-meaning mother, and Stephen Schneider, her goofy stepfather. Her scenes with Bumblebee—who, in case you're interested, travels to Earth following a nasty civil war on Cybertron to set up a new base of operations only to suffer grievous injury from a trailing Decepticon and subsequently transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle that Steinfeld's character eventually finds—are cute enough, even though Knight and Hodson try to get too much mileage out of the contrast between his size and gentle disposition. The production team hits their period-era marks vis-à-vis fashion and design. The music department has fun with soundtrack, peppered with 80s hits like Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Steve Winwood's "Higher Love." Bumblebee's relationship with The Smiths, in particular, sticks out as an odd stab at personal authenticity within a slick enterprise. You won't find a goofier invocation of "Girlfriend in a Coma" in any other film this year.
The actual Transformers business, on the other hand, never compels despite its relatively modest approach. While Bay's Transformers films revel in crass CG imagery and volatile noise, Knight keeps the action somewhat restrained, which is superficially admirable, or at the very least A Choice. Yet, that same moderation only highlights the flimsy Hasbro-sourced mythology and the cheap good-vs.-evil mechanics; Bay's punishing brand of visual and aural excess at least distracts from the silliness of the conceit. On top of that, Bumblebee continues to validate the series' conservative pro-military ideology: John Cena, who plays some sort of military leader running some vague secret government agency, pushes for aggressive action against the foreigners (read: Decepticons) in their midst, but is stymied by the nebbishy, diplomatic scientist (John Ortiz) who trusts the aliens to use their powers for good. Guess how that turns out?
By the time Bumblebee heads into the home stretch, when it provides all the typical beats one expects from a Transformers prequel, plus an original song courtesy of Steinfeld, the whole project feels like a half-measure to modulate a stylistically immovable franchise. Bumblebee may sport a thoughtful character arc and a throwback vibe, but it's not meaningfully different than the other five entries in the Transformers series. There's still plenty of laughably stupid junk to wade through in order to find the good bits. Mileage will inevitably vary as to whether that effort will be worth it.


five Advantages Of Pvc Fence Gate And How You Can Make Full Use Of It.
PVC fencing isn't stricken by seawater, either. It withstands seawater far better than alternative fencing materials and may be virtually maintenance free. All you have got to try to to to scrub a PVC fence is to wash it with a wet rag and every one traces of dirt are gone. Today's PVC fencing is fade resistant and may face up to each the sun's ray and rain. it's a product value trying into and you'll be astonished by what proportion it will match real timber.
PVC fencing is usually confused with vinyl fencing. PVC signify polyvinyl resin and is harder than plain vinyl which is why it's used as a building material. If you see "vinyl" fencing, know if it's PVC as a result of generally vinyl and PVC are used interchangeably.
Are there any negatives to PVC fencing? Most Australian climates don't expertise extremes of cold temperatures. that's one negative to PVC fencing as a result of extreme cold will cause the PVC to warp. Extreme cold means that colder than most Australian climates, together with areas that have snow. apart from that, a PVC fence are often a perfect fence in just about all Australian climates.
Rural PVC fencing are often simply electrified, if needed. The PVC doesn't conduct electricity, therefore wires are often arrange through the fencing and a fence can be electrified.
All PVC fencing isn't alike. Some PVC fencing has lower warrantee periods than others and a few suppliers supply a lot of colors than others. They conjointly supply completely different types of fencing, therefore you ought to compare merchandise, warranties and hues before selecting PVC fencing.
One of the most issues over the lifespan of a fence is its sturdiness. Wood fences, particularly, can fall victim to an enormous list of common maladies which will compromise their sturdiness. Rot, termites, water injury, fungus, and even the sun will undermine the strength of a wood fence. If a careless kid runs into your wood fence on a motorcycle, are you able to say certainly that one among these problems hasn't weakened it enough to steer to a break? you may be observing associate ugly hole and a bill for repairs. Or worse, the kid may well be harmed.
The strength of PVC lies in its flexibility. Architects have notable for many years that buildings and bridges have to bend and shift instead of resist the natural forces that work them. Skyscrapers are designed to sway up to many feet as a result of resistance risks failure and catastrophe in events like windstorms and earthquakes.
A PVC fence uses similar principles to forestall injury or breakage. If you hit it along with your lawn tool, the foremost possible outcome is it bends to require the blow and so snaps into place. No have to worry. it'll even retain its strength and form afterwards. In fact, PVC won't break unless it's hit with associate extreme impact.
Most people understand that maintenance is associate ineluctable task that comes with owning a home. the key issue with fence maintenance is that it falls outside of most of our experience. What reasonably stain can shield your wood fence from water injury and sun damage? however are you able to forestall your chain link fence from oxidation out? Did you utilize the correct variety of primer before you painted your atomic number 26 fence?
You can search the web or talk over with the employee at the ironmongery store and notice dozens of various merchandise or techniques, all locution they're the most effective. whether or not you are doing your analysis right, dispense high dollar for the premium merchandise and pay all that point coating your fence in chemicals, in 5 years you'll should have it off all over again. And you're still not warranted your wood won't rot anyway.
There's no uncertainty regarding maintaining a PVC fence. You won't should get those high-ticket chemicals or waste a weekend repainting. the upkeep is actually zero. Most of the time, touching it with a hosepipe is enough. If there's mildew, you'll be able to clean it with a bucket of water with liquid preparation in it. It's extremely possible that each one the merchandise you would like to take care of a PVC fence are already sitting below your sink.
The cost distinction for maintenance is extreme. A 5-gallon bucket of prepared Seal stain for a wood fence can run you regarding $150. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers price $2.50 for a pack of 2, and they're terribly possible all you would like to take care of PVC. That's why, over the lifespan of a fence, PVC is cheaper than a wood privacy fence, while it's a small amount dearer at installation.
Your block possible incorporates a prying neighbor, somebody who's continually peeking out their blinds to spy once alternative families are enjoying pool time or to guage when a field is maybe some days overdue for a mowing. perhaps the guy adjacent likes to mend up his junk cars shirtless on the weekend. perhaps new growth has turned the once-quiet street you reside on into a busy route in any respect hours.
Owners with chain link fences can buy privacy slats, however there's very little to be done to unravel these issues for somebody cursed with a atomic number 26 or metallic element fence.
At Fencing Direct, we've fences which will offer you complete privacy from the surface world. they provide full coverage while not the fear that they'll develop knot holes or splits sort of a wood fence. assuaging that worry very reveal the look potentialities of your yard and residential. You're not forced into growing shrubs or hedges to hide up gaps. If you like your home have a clean look, you'll be able to take down those blinds or curtains as a result of the fence has you coated. the liberty of knowing you'll be able to fancy your yard but you wish, fully separated from the planet outside, is valuable.
A PVC fence, on the opposite hand, is totally non-toxic and doesn't need continual treatment or maintenance with probably harmful chemicals. to boot, if you don't wish to keep the everyday cleaners needed to scrub a PVC fence in your home, you'll be able to clean PVC with any of variety of all-natural cleansers. once it's time to switch the PVC fence, the materials are all utile.
If you would like to inform the planet your house is your castle, there's the blunt curtain of a PVC panel fence.
You want your young children or grandkids to own each chance to find out to fancy the outside, to induce aloof from perpetually viewing the pc or tv and run, jump and play during a safe surroundings. However, most fencing choices don't supply peace of mind. children like to take a look at boundaries and see what they will go away with. everybody is aware of obtaining over a sequence link fence may be a breeze with the links providing straightforward footholds. And a precocious minor might simply shimmy up the exposed posts of a atomic number 26 or metallic element fence.


text:
Special Interest Group: Social Work and Health
Convenor: Wim Nieuwenboom
Affiliation: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzer-land, School of Social Work, Institute of Social Work and Health
Field of Interest
This Special Interest Group addresses the fields of social work as related to health issues. Social work professionals are active in various fields of health care. In hos-pital settings e. g., they make an independent contribution to the care, treatment and recovery of healthily burdened clients and client systems. The field of mental health is especially important here: Professionals provide psychosocial support and counseling in interdisciplinary teams. Outside the clinic, social work is even more important stabilizing, recovering and integrating people through the mental health services. Also in the field of addiction, social workers are indispensable in direct practice as well as in care planning, helping to implement substitution projects, for example. Special target groups that deserve attention are minority groups that are vulnerable to stigmatization and discrimination.
Although experts point out that Social Work is strongly engaged in the health sys-tem and in health promotion and thus a strong relationship exists between social work and health, Social Work is neither seen as a core discipline in the health sci-ences, nor is it recognized as a health profession (cf. Homfeldt & Sting , p. 13). Un-der the paradigm of a biopsychosocial approach (Engel, 1977) which is supported by the Ottawa Charta (), the social dimension of health is increasingly recognized by medical professionals. This social dimension varies from the immediate social context (family, relatives and neighbourhood) until social influences like health in-equities that exist in society (WHO, 1986), that stress the importance of social workers in putting aside these inequities as a contribution to a better health in the population, especially for vulnerable groups.
The implementation of a "social determinants of health approach" also affects the profession of Social Work. It stresses the need to recognize Social Work as an im-portant actor and cooperation partner that has to be involved in a variety of inter-ventions. Meanwhile, developments in different countries that support an integra-tion of their systems of social care and health care put a pressure on social workers to legitimate their interventions and developing their professional identity.
Until now, Social work research still only partly reflects the developments described above. Although many research has already been done (mainly in health care set-tings), there are still a lot more questions left to be answered. Should social work be recognized as a health profession or not? How do social work and health relate to each other? Are there fields of health in which social work, under the paradigm of a biopsychosocial approach, should be stronger involved? The professionalization and "evidence based" approach that started in the medical area now affects also social institutions, and has already created a need for efficacy and effectiveness studies in the field of social work. Of course, the economic aspect plays an im-portant role here, pointing to the need for more cost-effectiveness studies. Under
the biopsychosocial paradigm, this is also a chance for Social Work to prove its im-portance for society, which reflects itself, among other outcome variables, in a bet-ter health for the population.
The overall aim of this SIG is to bring together social work researchers, practition-ers and policy makers together in a network that is able to put forward the dialogue on the issues mentioned above. To achieve this aim, this SIG will stimulate cooper-ation between in doing research and writing publications. Further, it will foster col-laboration between research and practice. We will be interested in initiating and stimulating online discussions on this topic. This will enable social workers in differ-ent countries to take a firm position as a profession and will strengthen social work as a profession that is also involved in health issues. An international discussion will also shed light on the role of societal and political contexts in different countries in determining the relationship between social work and health.
The initial meeting to set up this group took place at the last ESWRA conference in Aalborg in April 2017. We want to reach the aims above by meetings at annual con-ferences, by organizing symposia to exchange ideas and deepen the discussion and by contributing to and collaborating on research projects and publications in the field of social work and health. Apart from face-to-face contacts, an internet plat-form should facilitate an ongoing exchange and discussion about topics within the field.
ESWRA SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP "SOCIAL WORK AND HEALTH"
Wim Nieuwenboom (Convenor)
Peter Sommerfeld
Susan Levy
Maria Irene Lopes B de Carvalho
Varda Soskolne
Karl Mason
Jeanne C. Marsh
Holger Schmid
Engel, George L. The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine. . Sci-ence.1977.196(3):129-136
WHO (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/confer-ences/previous/ottawa/en/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Gil pulled the reference I had in mind. Read specifically the next to last sentence in Gil's AC43-13 reference beginning with "Wires...".
Just like the house wiring rv7charlie mentioned, 12-2 Romex is usually found on 20A branches and 14-2 Romex is usually found on 15A branches. If a wiring fault occurs, the CB should trip and arrest the flow of current in the wiring before the wiring overheats, catches fire and cause potentially catastrophic damage. An aircraft CB may not be able to prevent many fault conditions in an Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) from continuing unless it is of the magnitude of the CB rating or much greater as in a short condition, but the aircraft wiring should be protected if sized correctly not only for the load but for the circuit protection as well.
That's were I read it differently, in English not FAA-ese.
As an example I could wire my G5 with #18 wire and still have a 5 A breaker on it.
It would meet the requirement you mention of protecting the wire. You can always use a lower value breaker to protect the wire.
I think your reading of the requirement and using the highest value breaker to protect a wire is incorrect. The wire is protected with the lower value breaker.
To answer the Garmin Q. - it says #22 wire and 5A breaker. I might be extrapolating but I read that as minimum value for the wire (bigger wire still lets the G5 work), with the breaker being a recommendation to protect the device. In normal certified aircraft practice, a dedicated wire would be used with no sharing of other devices. This sort of removes the house analogy.
LRU manufactures usually consider the possible internal fault conditions and apply main (at power entry) and distributed circuit protection devices. To rv7charlies point, a 7A CB wont protect a 2A fault inside an LRU. But the LRU designer hopefully did due diligence in the LRU circuit protection design.
You mention the AC43.13 sentence starting with "Wires".
downstream can overheat and generate smoke or fire.
The IM calls for #20 power and ground wires, but a 7.5A breaker for 14v and 5A breaker for 28V systems. The #20 wire would melt/fail and the same current whether it is connected to 14 or 28 volts.
Last edited by az_gila : 09-18-2018 at 06:54 PM.
All I am saying is that the load, wire size, and circuit protection need to be compatible.
Use the smallest CB appropriate for the anticipated load. But also make sure the wire size is compatible with the CB. Especially if using an existing CB branch. I've seen it done. Wire was okay for the load but too small for the CB rating used.
If there is any part of the AC43-13 reference that is troubling to me is the one you just quoted..."A circuit breaker must always open..." A relatively low current component inside an LRU may fail, overheat, and smoke at a current level well below the normal operating current of the LRU as a whole. The CB can't protect against that of course.
rv7charlie noted bad requirements by the FAA. I agree with him in with respect to that particular sentence. The agreement with the ODA UMs of whom I am very familiar have focused on ensuring the wire design is correct. They recognize that there are impractical limits to the wording of that requirement.
Then size the circuit protection to protect the wire.
People keep quoting "the CB protects the wire" but that is only in the limiting case.
In general this should be pretty easy since you really should use a separate circuit for each device -rather than the "branch circuits" you mention.
Last edited by az_gila : 09-18-2018 at 07:41 PM.
This subject might eventually rise to 'primer wars' levels, so I'll leave it with a point I hinted at earlier. Very few (if any) devices will be protected from damage by a circuit breaker or fuse. The reality is that if a protection device of the recommended rating blows, the damage is already done; the device has already failed.
I know Garmin's experimental guys post here; I wish they'd directly address what they mean when they spec a wire size and protection rating for their products. By that I mean what I mentioned earlier: are they spec'ing minimum, or maximum. Are they telling us what the device needs, or are they telling us that we are responsible for 'fusing' their device; something that should be built into the device itself.
Nope. No primer wars here. I'm done.
Everyone has good points made and obviously very passionate about the hobby and industry which a good thing and very encouraging. Ciao!


text:
package com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v22.to;

import org.codehaus.jackson.annotate.JsonIgnore;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.annotate.JsonSerialize;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.annotate.JsonSerialize.Inclusion;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.annotate.JsonView;

import com.communote.plugins.api.rest.v22.to.ApiResult.DevelopmentView;

/**
 * This class represents errors, which can occur, while speaking to the rest api.
 *
 * @author Communote GmbH - http://www.communote.com/
 *
 */
@JsonSerialize(include = Inclusion.NON_NULL)
public class ApiResultError {

    private String cause;
    private String message;

    @JsonView(DevelopmentView.class)
    private String exceptionMessage;

    @JsonIgnore
    private Throwable exception;

    /**
     * @return Name of the field, which caused the error. If this is null, it is an global error not
     *         bound to any field.
     */
    public String getCause() {
        return cause;
    }

    /**
     * @return The exception, which was the cause for this error.
     */
    @JsonIgnore
    public Throwable getException() {
        return exception;
    }

    /**
     * @return the exceptionMessage
     */
    @JsonView(DevelopmentView.class)
    public String getExceptionMessage() {
        return exceptionMessage;
    }

    /**
     * @return the message
     */
    public String getMessage() {
        return message;
    }

    /**
     * @param cause
     *            the cause to set
     */
    public void setCause(String cause) {
        this.cause = cause;
    }

    /**
     * @param exception
     *            the exception to set
     */
    @JsonIgnore
    public void setException(Throwable exception) {
        this.exception = exception;
    }

    /**
     * @param exceptionMessage
     *            the exceptionMessage to set
     */
    public void setExceptionMessage(String exceptionMessage) {
        this.exceptionMessage = exceptionMessage;
    }

    /**
     * @param message
     *            the message to set
     */
    public void setMessage(String message) {
        this.message = message;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


"Cities of Peace project is of the ultimate importance nowadays: it's a reflection of our thoughts, feelings and desires. This is not just a canvas for us, it's a place where we not only design a visible picture but we also transfer our inner world, love to all humanity, connecting people all over the world, bringing the understanding of the importance of togetherness, equality and mutual understanding."
"Culture is a way of life for people and it helps to construct the foundation for people's values, believes, and choices in life. Culture makes societies unique. Cities of Peace is the culture of humanity, creativity and friendship. It's a message to the world. I'm happy, that the 10-th piece of Ellen Frank collection is dedicated to Armenia,and its people, it encourages us to be stronger in this complicated world."
"I am deeply inspired by the nature of this project, its peaceful aura and aims. The process of the creation of the Cities of Peace Yerevan painting itself was a peace spreading magical ritual, with our talented artistic director Ellen Frank. I believe that this painting includes in it not only the face of Yerevan, but also the spirit of Armenian culture. Painting's transforming power has a lot to say and show to the world."
"First of all I would like to thank Prof. Armen Darbinyan, and Ms. Dalia Lane for inviting an amazing artist Ellen Frank to Yerevan and initiating this charitable art program creating the 10th painting in the collection "Cities of Peace" and dedicating it to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. This is a huge contribution to the art and history of our country!"
"I came to Ellen Frank's studio almost five years ago, the summer after my sophomore year of college. As a student of art and literature and exploring many other disciplines as an undergraduate, I could never have envisioned the kind of marriage among history, architecture, peace studies and visual arts that Ellen has created. It is hard to term the experience an internship, because it is really so much more. Along with the other apprentices at her studio, we worked in a collaborative process under Ellen's direction. In addition to our incredible learning experience, we cooked together, attended community events and really grew into a tightly-knit family.
After the internship, I returned to school, studied art abroad in Florence, Italy, and won a highest honor for my painting thesis. Upon graduating, I moved to Istanbul to travel and teach English. I am currently working in New York in graphic design and sales and pursuing personal art and design projects. My internship at the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Atelier, while all too brief, remains one of the lasting experiences of my life and a guiding force in the way I view art and the capacity of this timeless art form to truly leave an imprint on our lives, and a mark of beauty on this earth."
" While creating the painting I realized the importance of art in general and our painting in particular from the global viewpoint and scale. I learned how to read a painting in symbols and how to create it with the help of them. I truly realised what it means to transform suffering into hope. "
Being far away from home, among the new people, you unwillingly start to drift away from your origin, habits, in short: you begins to adapt to the new society. And the things that once you have enjoyed seem to become a part of the past "ME".
Since 7 years I have not been painting, considering this occupation as childish and completely unnecessary for the serious adult life. But being in this project, I realised myself in a new way understanding myself in the past. I revealed that, which was unjustly deprived of my attention. Ellen Frank has really made miracle! She has managed to find the key to my soul. She was able to find, understand and tune the talent that I've lost, she pampered it as a gardener pampers the rose bushes . She managed to get to my wavelength and tune the harmony in me, as the master tunes the vintage piano. I am amazed at her understanding of each of us, her understanding of the human nature, peace and humanity. I am struck by her emotions and her energy! By her love for an alien culture. It is beyond words ! I think all of us will miss those sunny moments and that special Art - atmosphere that reigned at the studio during this short time."


text:
"Samizdat: Publishing forbidden literature."
Month: October, 2016
On the Ineffable
This 18th century depiction of Yamantaka, a violent expression of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, defeats Yama, god of death, and demolishes the cycle of samsara on the path to enlightenment. This painting, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was purchased in 1969 courtesy of a bequest by Florence Waterbury. Its Accession Number is 69.71. This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years.
This is my review of Nick Stockton's "Time Might Only Exist in Your Head. And Everyone Else's." From Wired, 26 September, 2016. Published at 0600 hrs. I later modified this piece on 17 October, 2016. It keeps bothering me like a splinter in my mind. In its current revision, it comprises 2,537 words.
"Some physicists blame gravity for time. Others blame observers. Time, the arrow of time, the linearity of time flowing from the infinite past through the present into the indefinite future, cannot exist unless an intelligence, something sentient, exists to observe it, they say.
The moment when particle physics and classical mechanics merge is called "decoherence," and it also happens to be the moment when time's direction becomes mathematically important.
Mr. Stockton's article points out that superposition in quantum mechanics means that an electron can exist in either of two places, a property called probability, but it is impossible to say where an electron is until that electron is actually observed.
Some physicists also say that what matters is not whether time exists, but what direction that time flows. (Claus Kiefer, "Can the Arrow of Time Be Understood From Quantum Cosmology?" in L. Mersini-Houghton and R. Vaas, The Arrow of Time, Springer, Berlin, 2010.)
I marvel that anything can move at all, as any distance can incorporate an infinitude simply by holding your fingers a centimeter apart.
Your fingertips are not necessary, of course. You can imagine an infinite digression between any two points. You can even imagine the digression without the points, which is where things get interesting for me.
Not surprisingly, this reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), in the academic tradition of droll footnotes, citing "the last magician," Isaac Newton, saying that "Each particle of space is eternal, each indivisible moment of duration is everywhere." Principia, III, 42. (Isaac Newton, Newton's Principia, New York: Daniel Adee, 1846. Borges wrote his 1946 revision of "A New Refutation of Time" in Sur, 1944. Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions, Penguin, 1999.)
How anything can leap across the infinitudes separating all things from everything else mystifies me, and how we can imagine infinity without beginning or without end leaves me without words.
Miraculously, everything in this multiverse can leap infinities, and so we have progression, which is synonymous with time. Even using a term like "infinity" forces a compromise upon us, it is a convention, and these are the paradoxes that compel some physicists to suspect that time emerges from decoherence.
Mr. Stockton's article explains that the most prominent theory addressing decoherence is the 1960's-era Wheeler-DeWitt equation, by Dr. Bryce DeWitt and Dr. John Archibald Wheeler. Dr. Wheeler claimed that this equation "erases the seams between quantum and classical mechanics."
Then Mr. Stockton acknowledges the weirdness underlying decoherence and "so-called quantum gravity." I love the fact that physicists use a term like "weird" and nobody thinks that it is strange. Because these matters are supremely weird.
The second law of thermodynamics ordains that the amount of disorder, or entropy, in our multiverse will always increase. In 1865 Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) infamously observed: "The energy of the universe is constant; the entropy of the universe tends to a maximum." This is the source of the directionality of time: disorder always increases, so time can only move in one direction.
The Wheeler-DeWitt equation notoriously does not include a variable for time. Time, it says, is something that cannot be measured in terms of itself: in physics it is measured as correlations between an object's location.
In this article, however, the writers (Dr. Robert Lanza and Dr. Yasunori Nomura) insist that gravity is too slow to account for a universal arrow of time.
Worse, because the Wheeler-DeWitt equations do not explain why time moves from the past through the present to the future–in other words, the directionality of time is not explained by the Wheeler-DeWitt equations–all that remains to be examined is us, meaning we, the observers.
One of the writers, Dr. Robert Lanza, founded biocentrism, a theory that space and time are constructs of biological sensory limitations.
Dr. Lanza speculates that time moves as it does because humans, and other sentient beings, for that matter, are biologically, neurologically and philosophically hardwired to experience time in that way.
In fact, Dr. Lanza says, "In his papers on relativity, Einstein showed that time was relative to the observer."
I do not see how it could be otherwise. While you can claim that mathematics exists independently of human perception, because equations do not depend upon witnesses to observe them, we obviously only know about mathematics because we perceive such equations.
I will go one step further and say that equations, all the equations in an infinitude of mathematics, already exist, and merely await a conjunction of time and sentience to be discovered. But they are already there. We are just not yet smart enough to discern them.
Tibetan Buddhism, in fact, features a category of knowledge of this kind, calling it terma. It refers to objects or ideas which are surfaced to human knowledge when we as a species are ready for them. Some believe that we knew this information in earlier incarnations, and we forgot it, as we submerged into ignorance and amnesia. Now we are gradually, slowly, reawakening.
Dr. Lanza, this article says, goes even further, saying that we the observers create time and its directionality. This is actually a very old idea, and I discuss it in an article that I published on this site almost a year ago, Smoke Signals: Borges, Tzahi Weiss, Kabbalah.
Is it possible to say that there is an independent time, a time that exists without anyone or anything to perceive it? I suppose so. Is there also a time that exists because we perceive it? I think that this is inescapable.
Borges says:
" … Denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the astronomical universe, are apparent desperations and secret consolations.
Our destiny (as contrasted with the hell of Swedenborg and the hell of Tibetan mythology) is not frightful by being unreal; it is frightful because it is irreversible and ironclad.
Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire."
(Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions, 1999, p. 290.)
The time that you experience is not the same time that I experience. Neither of us experiences time as Borges did. Can "the concept of time be defined mathematically without including observers in the system?"
One stance says no, as there is no way to subtract observers from the equations, as equations by default, almost by definition, you could say, are performed by sentient intelligences.
Dr. Yasunori Nomura states that these equations also fail to consider that the entire multiverse as we perceive it exists in a medium that we call spacetime.
By definition, when you talk about spacetime, he says, "you are already talking about a decohered system."
This article concludes, like most interpretations of spacetime, that everything is relative, everything is subjective.
We are in self-defined prisons of perception, but we imagine paradises where we share the same perceptions, the same spacetime, and we perceive the same physics. The sad thing is, this is maya, or illusion. Some of us know better, and we have been told.
We do not need these physics, not for awakening from the stupor of the mind to anatta, the emptiness of the self, the realization of the non-duality of the absolute and the relative.
Think on this for a moment. The absolute and the relative form a duality that is artificial, this is a construct that we create to help us understand what we perceive. It is, in a sense, a filter. We need no such filters.
Borges, in the quote above, in a denial of denial, refused to renounce temporal succession, rejected the renunciation of the self, repudiated the rejection of the astronomical universe, and dismissed the effort as an "apparent desperation," slyly condemning it as a "secret consolation."
It was long a secret, as Tibet was closed to mankind for centuries, but Borges understood what he was rejecting. Borges referred to "the hell of Tibetan mythology" for precisely this reason, and that is why I illustrated this article with a painting depicting Yamantaka, just one aspect of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, vanquishing Yama, the god of death. Borges was telling those of us with eyes to see that he was an idealist, not a nihilist. Borges concluded that we manifest everything.
It is useful, I think, to consider Borges' reference to fire by juxtapositioning it to this excerpt from the Buddha's Fire Sermon:
"Bikkhus, form is burning, feeling is burning, perception is burning, volitional formations are burning, consciousness is burning. Seeing this, bikkhus, the instructed noble disciple experiences revulsion towards form … feeling … perception …. volitional formations … consciousness …Through dispassion [this mind] is liberated…"
Adittapariyaya Sutta, or the Aditta Sutta, aka The Fire Sermon
In Theravada Buddhism, anatta is considered the no-self or no-soul doctrine. In Mahayana Buddhism, true knowledge is comprehending emptiness.
It is not understood by laymen, much less by our physicists in this article, but Buddhism is inimical to the concept of a soul. Nirvana is the state attained when the practitioner realizes that he has no self, and he has no soul. Self-negation attains its ultimate realization as it vanishes.
In Sanskrit and Pali, nirvana means "blown out," in the same sense that a candle flame is snuffed. I am certain that Borges knew. Borges knew everything, he read all books, and he made few mistakes.
These ideas contradict the Western philosophical tradition, our mathematics, our physics, our spacetime, even though Hinduism insists that there is an eternal atman, and an ultimate metaphysical reality. Contradictions and confusions abound.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.1, the atman is expressed as "I am" at an eternal moment when nothing existed at the beginning of the multiverse. Because we built the Hubble telescope, we estimate that this eternal moment transformed into the Big Bang and this multiverse approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
Using Hubble, we can measure the speed and distances of galaxies, and hence how fast our multiverse is expanding. Comparing these measurements to the age of the oldest globular star clusters gives us a figure of 13 billion years, which compares favorably to the 14 billion years of our observable multiverse.
Due to the speed of light, Hubble cannot see further than 14 billion years away. When the James W. Webb telescope comes online, we expect to confirm that our observable multiverse represents a tenth of the theoretical galaxies on the near side of our cosmological horizon.
But when you consider that the Big Bang might have been just the latest in an infinite series of singularities, interspersed by an unknowable number of periods of quantum potential, the possibility that the multiverse is infinite, literally without end, looms.
So is consciousness 14 billion years old? The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is one of the oldest, dated to approximately 700 BCE, but this is a compromise, as scholarly estimates range between 900 BCE to 600 BCE, preceding Buddhism.
Human consciousness is very young, even assuming that the priests of Neith who admonished Solon in the Timaeus were correct, the Timaeus is dated to 360 BCE, and I am mindful that when the Temple of Neith in Sais was excavated no records of ancient conflagrations or deluges were recovered. But how old is cosmic consciousness? It is absurd that we even imagine the question.
When the atman awakes, the Hindu say, it is synonymous with Brahman, the basis of everything, indistinguishable in my mind from God, and this is the path to liberation, or so they say.
It is helpful to cite this Upanishad's verse 1.4.1 in its entirety, as it redolently presages Genesis.
"In the beginning, this (universe) was but the self (Virāj) of a human form. He reflected and found nothing else but himself. He first uttered, 'I am he.' Therefore he was called Aham (I). Hence, to this day, when a person is addressed, he first says, 'It is I,' and then says the other name that he may have. Because he was first and before this whole (band of aspirants) burnt all evils, therefore he is called Puruṣa. He who knows thus indeed burns one who wants to be (Virāj) before him."
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.1.)
As perplexed as I am by yet another reference to fire, the Buddhist Suttas, or Sutras, as I prefer, insist that everything, especially nirvana, is non-self, total non-attachment. The Suttas in Pali refer exclusively to the scriptures of the early Pali Canon, the canonical works of Theravada Buddhism, which are said to be the oral teachings of the Buddha.
The Buddha himself admonished the Sangha not to deify his person, so I prefer the Sutras, the less exclusive, more encompassing genre of ancient Indian texts, which include the foundational works of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The Buddha started the Wheel of Karma turning as he preached his first sermon at the Deer Park in Sarnath near Benares, early in the 5th century BCE. It was in his second sermon that he expounded on the no-soul thesis, anatta-vada, which some Western academics criticize as "an extreme empiricist doctrine." (Brian Morris, Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction (London: Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 51.)
Anatta is one of the three characteristics of existence in Buddhism, with anicca, or impermanence, and dukkha, or suffering. The three comprise the samsara cycle of existence, addressed in canonical Buddhist texts like the Dhammapada.
The Four Noble Truths insist that there is a way out of samsara. I interpret spacetime as samsara, yet another filter created by subjective consciousness, to help us make sense of our multiverse.
In anatta, the mind returns to its original prelinguistic emptiness of non-attachment, non-discrimination, and non-duality, and the awakening, as it is described, entails the absorption of cessation: it is tantamount to the dissolution of the self.
This "pure consciousness event" is wakeful, without content, and completely non-intentional. It goes without saying that our spacetime and our cosmological horizon are irrelevant to it: It is ineffable. (Yaroslav Komarkovski, Tibetan Buddhism and Mystical Experience, (London: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 28.)
As Borges said, we are indistinguishable from spacetime. We do not need eyes to see, so death, transformation, is dissolution into nothingness, which many religious traditions summarize as the godhead.
Ironically, it was William James who said:
"The subject of it immediately says that it defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words."
(William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (New York: Penguin, 1982.)"
Estéban Trujillo de Gutiérrez, "On the Ineffable"
Bangkok, 17 October, 2016
Howl for Malcolm Forsmark
The incipit of Allen Ginsberg (1926-97), Howl, City Lights Books: San Francisco, 1959, as presented by Christopher Skinner on his Lestaret blog. This rendering © 2010 Lestaret.
For Malcom Forsmark
(Because Allen Ginsberg wrote Howl for Carl Solomon.)
"It is the belief in the art of poetry that has gone hand in hand with this man into his Golgotha, from that charnel house, similar in every way, to that of the Jews in the past war. But this is in our own country, our own fondest purlieus. We are blind and live our blind lives out in blindness. Poets are damned but they are not blind, they see with the eyes of the angels."
William Carlos Williams, from Allen Ginsberg, Howl, City Lights, San Francisco, 1959.
I realize now that the multiverse nudged me to contemplate Moloch, as I watched several YouTube documentaries about the Bohemian Grove.
I finally ended reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, scene 2, "Weaving spiders, come not here!"
For the crux of Ginsberg's Howl is this excerpt from the midpoint of part II, the literal halfway point of the poem:
"Moloch whose name is the Mind!"
You can argue that Howl is a paean to Moloch, but like most long poems Howl is many things. One thing that it is not, with no apologies to William Carlos Williams, is angelic.
It took me a couple of tries to reread it today, I last read it years ago, and at first I loathed it. I hated the description of "negro streets," and worst of all, the word "Mohammedan" made me stop reading and write this commentary.
It felt like Ginsberg used those words because he thought that they were edgy in 1954, and all those words did for me was confirm that Ginsberg was talking about things that he did not know. The terms "negro streets" and "Mohammedan" feel prosaic and inauthentic as I write this in 2016.
What did Allen Ginsberg know about Islam? Nothing in 1954 when he began Howl, nothing compared to what we know now, courtesy of YouTube, in anno 2016.
I carried a gun in Baghdad myself in 2003 and 2004, aware that I was stalking in the land of the four rivers, the Pison, the Gihon, the Euphrates and the Tigris, where Sumerian cuneiform blossomed out of oral traditions some four thousand years before.
A young lady who ran my office, born Sunni, explained that Islam made her feel loved, not oppressed, even as she wore sunglasses in the office to avoid tormenting men with the vision of her eyes.
Then I remembered Patti Smith proclaiming that she was a Moslem, in her immortal babelogue, circa 1978. This was Ginsberg's Islam of 1954, but 24 years later:
" … I wake up. I am lying peacefully I am lying peacefully and my knees are open to the sun.
I desire him, and he is absolutely ready to seize me.
In heart I am a Moslem; in heart I am an American; in heart I am Moslem, in heart I'm an American artist, and I have no guilt."
Patti Smith, babelogue, Easter, Arista Records, 1978.
I always loved babelogue for Patti Smith's unrepentant sluttiness and the irony that certain Muslim sects chant: "the sun is not God!"
Then Ginsberg wrote this:
" … who wandered around and around at midnight in the railway yard wondering where to go, and went, leaving no broken hearts,
who lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars racketing through snow toward lonesome farms in grandfather night … "
Allen Ginsberg, Howl, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1959.
Yes, "boxcars" is a poetic gimmick, but it works. The more that you read the sentence, the more that you admire it. "Grandfather night" is so good that I intend to steal it.
I am also stealing Ginsberg's description of poets whose "heads shall be crowned with laurel in oblivion," as we are all of us destined for oblivion. Indeed, "Writing for oblivion" is the tagline on all of my websites.
I also admire the irony of Ginsberg writing,
" … who scribbled all night rocking and rolling over lofty incantations which in the yellow morning were stanzas of gibberish…"
As this happens to every poet. I also remember Oscar Wilde, with Lord Darlington's caveat in Act III of Lady Windermere's Fan, writing that "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars."
I also liked this part:
" … the madman bum and angel beat in Time, unknown, yet putting down here what might be left to say in time come after death,
and rose reincarnate in the ghostly clothes of jazz in the goldhorn shadow of the band and blew the suffering of America's naked mind for love into an eli eli lamma lamma sabacthani saxophone cry that shivered the cities down to the last radio
with the absolute heart of the poem of life butchered out of their own bodies good to eat a thousand years."
Which brings us back to Moloch, reminding me that legalized, systemic infanticide is indistinguishable from state-sponsored Satanic child sacrifice.
One profane theme eulogized by Ginsberg is the hyper-sexuality of homosexuals. As Paris Hilton famously observed, "gay guys are the horniest people in the world." Anyone who knows many homosexuals knows that Ms. Hilton had a point, and Ginsberg's Howl parodies sacred sexuality.
I am less repelled by Howl's eroticism, however, than I am by its junkies, as Ginsberg's glorification of heroin addiction unmasks him as an effete poseur reveling in his own appetites.
I respect Ginsberg's occidental Buddhism and his later popularization of Hindu mantra, for it needed to be done, but the final straw for me was Ginsberg's defense of NAMBLA, and his apologia for pederasty.
Pedophiles may be programmed by nature with proscribed urges, but I have no patience for an advocacy organization that rationalizes statutory rape with, "age is just a number." I tolerate the sexual exploitation of children by nobody, the child bride of the Prophet included (may peace be upon him).
At first reading I felt nothing beautiful from the first page of Howl, so I said the hell with it, why waste time reading it. I celebrate beauty, not vomitus, and prospecting for pearls in shit is irredeemable.
Then I remembered the pilgrimage that Malcolm Forsmark and I made to the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco in 1979, just before I joined the Army. We arrived late. It was closed.
We were disappointed, because we lived in Boulder, and a journey to San Francisco was an expedition. We got drunk and we shouted Howl to the gleaming jewel lights of the city. I did not know then that I would live in San Francisco in 1986, and come to make that metropolis my own.
Sometime that night, Malcolm told me that he met Allen Ginsberg at a party in Boulder. The Naropa crowd thought that they were so countercultural. I did not understand this at the time, I was too young, but it is very clear to me now, with the hindsight of a lifetime focusing my memory. Ginsberg exclaimed, "ah, another up and coming young faggot!"
Actually, no. Malcolm Forsberg was a classicist and an autodidact, a scholar of Latin and Greek whose erudition was staggering. Malcolm eclipsed any academic on the Naropa faculty. I have not spoken to Malcolm in decades, but I knew him so well that I know that I know him still.
I know that wherever he is, he is writing poetry: the poetry of Malcolm Forsmark.
" … exhausted cigarette butts
nodding in opiate daze
burning down to grimy fingers."
Estéban Trujillo de Gutiérrez
Bangkok, updated 5 May 2018.