In this paper you will develop and justify your theology of Christian leadership, and you will consider some of its implications for the contemporary practice of leadership within your church or denomination.
This paper describes the key aspects of a contemporary theology of Christian leadership, as I understand it. Most of these aspects are only touched on in outline, as I seek to concentrate on the areas where there seems to be significant disagreement, confusion of principle or difficulty in application.
In this paper I will use the term 'congregation' to refer to a local church for the sake of clarity, as 'local church' becomes repetitive and the unqualified 'church' can easily refer to a building, a denomination or the universal Body of Christ. The term should not be taken to imply a reference to 'chapel' as opposed to 'church'.
Similarly, I use the term 'Minister' to refer to a congregational leader, as the most denominationally-neutral option available: it should be understood to refer to any person working as a Minister, Parson, Pastor, Priest, Rector or Vicar, whether they are ordained or not, stipendiary or not, and whether they are working for the church full-time, part-time or in a purely voluntary capacity.
1a. Why consider the theology of leadership?
Leadership is vital: the history of any group is largely the story of the leaders, what they attempted, and whether they succeeded or failed. In the Christian context, God works through leaders.
Leadership needs to be understood. Most people work with an implicit understanding of leadership that is never critically examined, and this can create problems for both the leaders and the led: the leaders may be attempting the do things the led do not want or need, and the led may be expecting things the leaders do not intend to deliver.
Leadership needs to be managed. New leaders need to be raised up, recognised and trained; they need to be assigned responsibilities and replaced when they move on; differences between leaders and complaints about leaders need to be handled; leaders need to be supported, but also corrected when they are in error.
1b. Who can be a leader?
In most places, at most times, most of the leaders have been male. Some, like David Pawson, argue that Christian leadership is only for men but, interestingly, even Elizabeth Elliott in the foreword to his book [Pawson, 1988, 6] acknowledges that the principle of male leadership is not one that you can arrive at by careful Biblical study: it is a question of revelation, a mystery that needs to be revealed.
While I am persuaded by a different interpretation of the Biblical text, as given by Forster [1992, 1-21], indicating that leadership in the church is not necessarily a male role, I accept that this usually is the case. In order to avoid the repetitive and pedantic use of 'he or she', 's/he', '(s)he', or some similar construction, I intend to use the masculine form of words to refer to both men and women unless the context indicates otherwise.
Part of the difficulty we have in talking about leadership is the wide range of situations, and the wide range of activities it can cover.
In normal language, the term 'leader' can mean a number of quite different things. A leader can be a revolutionary figure people will follow to the death; the point of contact for a cooperative group; the founder of a new organisation; the person at the top of (some part of) an organisational tree; the manager whose department is the most profitable; the person who is responsible for some activity; the individual who happens to be in front; or the one who is currently winning a race.
In this paper, I intend to consider leadership in a restricted sense: I will not spend much time on situations where a person simply has a job title that says or implies 'leader', or where the role consists of occupying a certain place (however elevated) in an organisation.
Some people consider leadership to be something rare: we see it in people like Moses, Napoleon and Churchill, but few people can aspire to such heights. Others, like myself, see those examples as occupying one end of a spectrum of leadership, with people such as Sunday School teachers at the other end: people exercising a minor and limited but real leadership role, which may not be recognised as such by anyone. Adair  identifies three levels of organisational leadership (team, operational and strategic), but this still seems to miss the possibility that a teacher may be leading their class and not just teaching it.
It is my intention to include all forms of leadership in this paper, but the language and examples will mainly relate to the significant leaders because they form the bulk of the documented examples, and because the issues are generally clearer at the extremes. It is my conviction that the principles at work in Moses' leadership can, for example, be applied to my role in a small charity, and to the members of my staff team.
The term 'Christian leadership' can refer not only to leadership in churches and other Christian organisations, but also to the way in which Christians undertake leadership roles in secular organisations, as described in by Higginson . While this is a vital area for contemporary church life, I consider it to be outside the scope of this paper.
We are talking about 'leadership', but the Church does not usually use the term other than as a qualified noun: for example, a housegroup leader, a worship leader, or even a congregational leader. The Church has traditionally used other terms, such as Bishop, Curate, Deacon, Elder, Minister, Missionary, Parson, Pastor, Priest, Rector and Vicar. Denominations also have their own categories, such as Lay Reader, Major and Moderator.
Most of these positions involve significant leadership responsibilities, but sometimes (Deacons in a Baptist Church, for example) they are seen more as as administrators than leaders.
Experienced Ministers are often expected to take on responsibilities outside their congregation, and sometimes they are promoted to leadership roles that do not include the leading of a congregation, such as Bishop in the Church of England or Moderator in the United Reformed Church. These positions would need to be considered within any comprehensive study of Christian leadership, but space does not permit it.
Within the congregation, a typical leadership structure would involve one person, the Minister, supported by a team: an Eldership, Diaconate, PCC, or something similar. The members of this team are often referred to as leaders, but in conversation they usually describe themselves as fulfilling more of a support or service role: there seems to be an interesting gap between theory and practice on this point.
I have worked over the years with a large number of churches from many denominations, and my personal observation is that lay people on these teams tend to understand their own leadership role as requiring them to support the Minister, implement the projects the Minister introduces, reduce the pressure on the Minister by acting as a 'buffer' between him and the rest of the congregation, and sometimes act as a kind of brake on the Minister, preventing his more impractical projects from seeing the light of day. They often see themselves as having significant responsibilities, a limited degree of authority, but little or no power.
I was once part of an Eldership during a lengthy 'vacancy'. After some two years of taking full responsibility for the life and spiritual direction of the congregation, initiating and implementing projects, determining preaching rotas and themes, handling complex pastoral issues while engaging in a complex theological and political controversy with the denomination, one of the other Elders said that the congregation needed 'some real leadership'. I pointed out that we, the Elders, were the leadership: there was nobody else.
After a brief discussion, I asked which of the Elders believed they had a leadership role. Two of us did, one was not sure, and the other six were certain that they were not leaders. In subsequent conversations with members of other leadership teams, it seems that we were unusual in having so many people who understood themselves to have a leadership role.
Where a lay person does exercise a significant leadership role, the congregation tends to regard them not as a role model but as an honorary Minister. The gap between the clergy and laity, in most congregations, seems to be as large as ever, even if the precise lines have moved a bit. This happens even in the new churches, where a leader has arisen from within the congregation, has undertaken no theological training, and where there is no theology of ordination. In one notable instance in Bristol, a converted ex-football hooligan is often given the honorific of 'Rev' and wears a dog collar on a regular basis. When we talked about this, he was surprised that nobody had ever challenged him about not being a 'real Vicar': the fact that he is a full-time Christian worker was enough, even for the secular institutions he worked with.
The current emphasis on lay leadership seems to be producing many books and training courses, but few people who see themselves as lay leaders. The underlying belief of most people in the church still seems to be that if you wish to exercise leadership within the church, you must become a part of the clergy; whether you do so formally through selection, training and ordination, or informally depends on your denomination and theology.
This would be consistent with the observation that most people prefer to work in binaries: they prefer black and white to shades of grey; they prefer to argue about whether someone is or is not a leader, rather than explore the specific qualities of their leadership and the strengths and weaknesses of each aspect.
I am personally seeking to model leadership for my staff team and to develop leadership abilities in them. I encourage them to exercise leadership within their sphere of activity, and try to describe what this will mean, but we still frequently find that they either expect me to make all the decisions, or they head off and do what they feel like without reference to me, the agreed objectives, or their fellow workers. One of my main reasons for choosing to examine Christian leadership was the hope that, as I understand it better myself, I will be able to communicate the principles to my staff more effectively.
In many denominations, budgetary constraints and the falling number of Ministers is leading to a changing pattern of leadership, in which Ministers take responsibility for the oversight of several congregations and a lay congregational leadership group, such as an Eldership, are expected to take an increasing significant leadership role. An interesting study would be to investigate the churches where this is happening, to determine how the people involved are adjusting to these new roles.
What is leadership? It seems to me there are four essential elements: management, vision, people and commitment.
Leadership is an activity, something that people do. We may talk about someone being a 'born leader', but how do we know this? Because we see what they do, because we are inspired by their words. They may have all kinds of personal characteristics, but we know them to be leaders through what they do.
It is sometimes suggested that leadership is focussed on the future, while management is focussed on the present, but this is too simplistic: both disciplines involve working in the present in order to achieve something in the future.
It seems to me that the primary difference between the two is the degree to which the future being worked for is known and predictable. You need a leader to take you somewhere new and unknown, while you need a manager to achieve a known and predictable task. There are, of course, overlaps: aspects of any leadership task will be clearly known and understood; and aspects of any managerial role will involve responding to new and unforeseen circumstances.
I find the bicycle metaphor described by Wright [2003, 582] a helpful one: we need two wheels on a bicycle - a rear one, representing the present, on which we put our weight, and a front one, representing the future, with which to steer.
Leaders are out front because they are going somewhere, they know where they are going - or, at least, have some idea how to get there - and they are sufficiently motivated to accept the cost and risk the hazards of the journey. The vision may be something great and historic, like bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, or much more mundane, such as our Coffee Shop, staffed by volunteers, being open every day of the week.
The role of the leader is more like a coach driver than a taxi driver: "this is where I am going, do you want to come with me?" rather than "I am the driver - where do you want to go?"
Leadership is not just a solo activity. A leader is a leader because other people are following, undertaking the journey with you.
A scout goes ahead of the company, and they follow at a distance. But the scout is only responsible for himself and for doing his job: surveying the country, reporting on the dangers.
Similarly, in Christian circles, a prophet is not automatically a leader. The prophet may articulate a vision, and identify what God wants His people to do, where He wants them to go, but then the prophet's role is over: it is up to the people whether they respond, it is not up to the prophet to take them there.
The leader is responsible for getting the people to the end of the journey: keeping them together, keeping them motivated, keeping them safe, keeping them fed, enabling them to avoid the dangers but still stay on track, educating and motivating them to recognise the inevitable danger but still risk stepping out into the unknown.
In many situations, leadership rests with one person: Moses, David, Jesus - the list is endless. But in the pages of the New Testament, we can see the emergence of another leadership paradigm: the team of leaders. "The New Testament knows nothing of one-man ministry." [Beasley-Murray, 1990, 37] It can be argued that this reflects a Trinitarian view of leadership in which the different members of the team have different role, but all are valued equally.
A different approach to the role of the single leader is suggested by Belbin [1993, 98-101], in which he contrasts the 'Solo leader' with the 'Team leader' in the following table.
As with the 'balance of power continuum', these are not the right and wrong ways to do the job: in times of crisis and emergency, you need a leader who is prepared to direct and get involved wherever necessary, while in times of comparative peace and stability, you need a leader who develops the people and encourages diversity.
The final key aspect of leadership is that the leader has a personal commitment to achieving the goal. A manager can be working simply because he is paid to do the job: there may be a professional pride and motivation to do a good job, but if the senior management scraps the project, commitment to the project immediately disappears.
A leader, on the other hand, has to take personal responsibility for achieving the goal. A leader must be convinced of the value of the work, accept responsibility for the task and for the people, and be personally committed to achieving success.
Leadership is always personal. It is helpful for the leader to have some technical skill and knowledge, but the people will not follow unless they can recognise in the leader both character and commitment: this is someone I am prepared to follow; they are going somewhere I want to be; and they are committed to this journey, so I can risk making a commitment too.
There are many internal skills, talents, abilities and qualities that a good leader will need. The 'trait' or 'qualities' approach may seek to uncover innate abilities, or it may focus on enabling new abilities and developing existing ones.
This is not to diminish the importance of internal qualities, many of the important ones for Christian leaders being described in Bacon [1990, 59]. Apart from any other reason, the leader functions as a role model, and will generally need to demonstrate any qualities he is asking the people to develop.
One of the less examined aspects of leadership is the need for the leader to be creative. There is always a degree of 'newness' about the work of any leader: they are creating a new organisation, meeting an old need in a new way, taking the people to a place they have not been before.
Just as there are certain activities common to management, such as time management, financial management, team building, personality typing, motivation, delegation and critical path analysis, there are other activities common to leadership. These have been identified [Adair, 1979, 11] as planning, initiating, controlling, supporting, informing and evaluating.
Adair  also identifies the importance of inspiration, and provides an interesting analysis: "Certain necessary conditions have to be present: the element of challenge in the context of a valuable purpose, the extraordinary resource of the human spirit, and the catalyst in creative leadership. When all these three factors come into line, like red apples on a fruit machine, then an inspiration occurs."
I would also suggest that, in the Christian context, a leader needs to articulate the vision on a regular basis: where are we going? What are we here for? What is unique about our task or our opportunity? Why does it matter that we respond with determination, commitment and courage?
There is "no one ideal leadership style... we need to adapt to the people we lead and where they are, to the circumstances we face and to our main purposes." [Williams and Tanner, 2004, 14]. Good leadership must be appropriate to the needs and adapted to the circumstances. This is emphasised by the 'situational' and 'contingent' approaches to leadership.
It is evidently true that different situations will require different skills and techniques on the part of the leader: an army commander sending his men on a suicide mission will act very differently from the manager of an Old People's drop-in centre asking his volunteers if someone can bring cakes in next week.
It is also the case that leadership can be exercised at different levels, at ways appropriate to the level: the Sunday School teacher can exercise true leadership responsibility in that role, as can the congregational leader, and as can the denominational leader. Some talk about leadership seems to imply that it is something you either have or do not have: you are either gifted in and called to leadership, or you are not. It is probably more helpful to talk about the level or scope of a person's leadership responsibilities at any one time.
The appropriate leadership style will also vary from generation to generation: there are many studies comparing the attitudes and behaviour of 'boomers', 'gen x', 'busters' and the like. A common summary might go along the following lines: people of my parents' generation expected to be given commands and to obey them; my own generation expects to understand the reason for commands; and the next generation expects that what they are asked to do will feel good and benefit them in some way. While this is too simplistic, it is clear that different techniques are required to lead younger people today than the ones which worked for their parents.
Some aspects of good leadership seem to fit somewhere between attributes and activities: they are principles that have to be valued internally and worked out in some way externally.
In order to lead with integrity, the leader must know where they are going: they must have experienced, to some degree, the end goal; they must have already visited the place they are aiming to reach. This visit may have been a real experience, as for example happened with those who brought the Charismatic Movement into the mainstream churches from Pentecostalism, or it may have been a moment of inspiration together with the revelation of a roadmap that describes where to go. In either case, this 'having been there' is in part an activity, and in part a pre-requisite for leadership.
The point of being a leader is that you empower your followers: they achieve things because of you. This is the case whether or not the people understand what is happening, as is recognised by the old Chinese proverb: "The bad leader is hated by the people; the good leader is loved by the people; of the great leader, they say, 'We did it ourselves'."
"Empowering Leadership" is one of the eight 'quality characteristics' of Natural Church Development [Schwarz, 1996, 22].
There is a growing body of secular material supporting the idea that good leadership must operate within a clear ethical framework. A good example of this can be seen in the 'OPAL' principles derived from Geoff Hunt's work with the Surrey Police Service [Hunt, 2006].
People only follow a leader because the leader is himself following some higher purpose. In this, as in many areas, the leader must model the behaviour that is required of his followers.
What is Christian leadership? Is there anything distinctively Christian about it, or are we just talking about leadership as it is exercised in a Christian context?
It seems to me that the following factors are, or should be, distinctive to Christian leadership. The deliberate omission from this list is 'Servant Leadership', which is sometimes identified as a distinctively Christian trait, but which is an outworking of the principles outlined above, and is often identified (albeit not under this name) in the secular literature.
As someone who identifies with the Anabaptist tradition, I believe that the first and most important principle of Christian leadership is that it must be modelled on the person of Jesus Christ.
This creates numerous problems, as Jesus did not operate as a traditional leader, refusing to accept a high profile (John 6:15) and rejecting the assumption that he had authority over others (Luke 12:14).
Some, such as Albert Schweitzer and Edward Schillebeeckx, have followed this line of thought to the conclusion that "Jesus was a notable but disastrous failure" [Wright, 2003, 701-706], but this is not credible as a position within orthodox Christianity.
Just as the primacy of Jesus does not lead us to ignore the teachings of Paul or Francis of Assisi but to test their teachings against His revelation, so too the primacy of Jesus does not lead us to ignore the ideas of Adair and Belbin: we simply have to be on our guard that the outworking of their teaching about leadership does not cause us to go down a path that Jesus would not have us take.
Christian leadership, at the very least, must be undertaken within the framework of Christian morality. In the secular world, leaders may justify immoral actions on the grounds that 'the end justifies the means', or on the basis of their 'obligation to serve the common good', but these options would not seem to compatible with traditional Christian morality.
In abstract terms, few Christians are likely to object to the principle that Christian leadership must be based on a living relationship with Jesus, but it may be hard to understand what this means in practice.
At the very least, we must say that any description of Christian leadership which can be stated purely in terms of management, purpose, ethics and principles - even Christian principles - must be inadequate. The Christian leader must operate in partnership with and submission to the triune God.
We encounter one of the fundamental problems of Christian leadership at this point: if we allow that a relationship with Jesus must shape our theory and practice of leadership, then all the other principles are effectively thrown out or relegated to the status of 'optional'.
To put it bluntly, Christian leaders - and Christian workers in general - have the perfect excuse: I know the management handbook or the rule book says I should do this, but God is telling me to do something different on this occasion.
This is not just a conceptual problem for the leader in his decision-making: it is also a practical problem Christian leaders face, which is not shared by their secular counterparts. In the church, 'God told me' effectively trumps every other argument. A key characteristic of any successful Christian leader must be some strategy to handle that ploy without alienating the person using it.
My personal resolution of this difficulty is based on the concept of 'exception reporting' and applies as follows to the leaders and others who report to me.
We can establish that certain principles and practices are expected of a Christian leader: that is what this paper aims to do, in outline. We accept that no written code of practice can ever be adequate or complete: there will always be issues that were not covered, or exceptional circumstances that were not considered when the principles were agreed.
However, there are some more basic principles: honesty and transparency. I do not expect God to lead anyone - even a Christian leader - to break these.
If you believe that God is leading you to act against the principles we have agreed, then you must tell me that you are doing do, and talk about why this is the case, at the earliest possible opportunity. Together, we can then discern whether this is in reality an exceptional situation, or only one in which doing the right thing is difficult or painful.
The cross is at the centre of the Christian faith, and must be at the centre of any Christian theology of leadership.
This is not the place for a meditation on the cross, tempting though that may be, but some basic principles should be readily apparent: the way of the cross involves self sacrifice, not glory; it involves the acceptance of apparent failure as a part of God's wider plans; it requires personal weakness so that God's power can be evident. Very few models of leadership - secular or Christian - cater for this perspective.
Christian leadership must be exercised in dependence upon God. This seems to be a point that is rarely made in Christian training. All Christian ministry is a call to do the impossible: if we could do it without God, it could hardly be Christian. For example, the evangelist cannot convert anyone; the healer cannot heal anyone; the pastor cannot make Christians grow in their faith; even the preacher cannot enlighten or inspire the flock - without the Holy Spirit's activity, the best sermon is only empty words.
The goal cannot be achieved using our best efforts and investing all our resources, not without God's involvement and intervention. We undertake the task knowing it to be impossible, and certain that we will fail unless God works miraculously to make it possible.
This creates a fundamental tension in all Christian ministry, which we do not have the space to fully explore. Christian ministry is a partnership between God and man: I do my part, God does His part, and between us, the job gets done. But my part requires that I do what I can - everything that I can - while knowing that it will not be enough, and knowing that the result is all down to Him.
The tension is neatly captured in the old advice: we are to pray as if it all depends on God (it does!), and to work as if it all depends on me. At the human level, it is hard to avoid the question: why bother? The frequency with with I am asked this question suggests that this is an area where the Church is not providing its members with the theological answers they need.
Christian leaders are unlikely to find effective followers if they cannot explain why people should sweat blood in an attempt to achieve the impossible.
Christian leaders also need to face this tension when it comes to setting goals and agreeing strategies. Our aim may be spiritual, but our activity is inevitably rooted in the material world: we may aim to see people converted, but all we can measure is the number of 'decision cards' filled in. Our aim may be to seek the Kingdom of God come, but our progress is measured in the number of seats filled on a Sunday morning and the amount on the collection plate. A Christian leader must somehow create programs and strategies that will make a difference without also making God irrelevant.
In the church, the five main priorities of Christian leadership are well established as the work of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. In the church, any Christian leader must somehow hold these five priorities together. In any other Christian organisation, there will generally be a tension between the specific aims of the organisation - evangelism, third world aid, etc. - and the wider responsibilities of the staff to behave as Christians in a Christian organisation.
From the conversations I have had with people working for Christian organisations, the most common point of tension is when they are forbidden from talking about their faith. This is generally due to policies that have been established when the organisation started to receive secular funding. Such limitations are clearly a difficult subject, and Christian organisations adopt a range of positions between accepting all the Christian priorities and seeking to work them out in a specific context at one extreme, to rejecting all such priorities that are not explicitly a part of the organisation's mission, at the other.
Every organisation must manage its leaders and leadership function. In the church context, any systems and policies will inevitably create tension between the human system and Divine action: is someone a leader because they have been appointed through some appropriate process, or because they have been anointed by God?
This tension can be formally resolved through the belief that God has chosen to work through the organisational structures we have established. While it is clear that God does establish and work through human structures, it is also clear that at times He bypasses the structures: this is the source of much of the conflict in the Old Testament between the Kings, representing the established structure, and the Prophets standing outside the structure.
However the tension is resolved, it is clear that, in a Christian context, the leaders must be both appointed by some human system and also anointed by God for the task.
Whatever the difficulties of reconciling human structures with Divine appointments, this is a far easier task than the alternative: attempting to operate an organisation without any systems and policies is a recipe for disaster. Occasionally, Christian groups claim to be doing this, but what it generally means in practice is simply that the systems and policies have not been formally agreed and written down as such.
Every organisation, once it has passed the earliest stages of growth, will have a system by which new leaders are identified. There are three possibilities: they can be identified from below, from within or from above, although in practice a combination of these is often used.
The first leaders in the Church were identified from above: chosen by Jesus; the second leaders were identified from below: elected by the Church members.
By way of contrast, almost every personal testimony I remember hearing from a Christian leader has ignored these two Biblical approaches, and instead focussed entirely on 'the Call' - a personal sense that God has called them to 'the Ministry'. Sometimes, this has resulted in them applying to several different denominations before they were accepted.
I have heard numerous people teach and preach about 'the Call', and the message has been consistent: it is the means by which God calls you to full time Christian ministry, and it is for life. I am intrigued by the origins of this belief, as I do not find it in the Bible, and the experience of Paul in moving between 'full time' Christian work and 'part time' Christian work while tent making seems to effectively contradict it.
In practice, most denominations operate within this model, and have elaborate screening and selection processes to determine which of those potential leaders presenting themselves as having 'the Call' are to be recognised as a leader.
Academic training often forms a part of the selection process for many of the established denominations, and it is usually a pre-requisite before the selection process can begin in most other cases: few congregations are prepared to accept or elect a Minister who does not have a theological qualification.
"No theological college can 'make' a pastor. It is God who calls and God who gifts. But colleges can develop gifts God has given and thus enable students to become what God intended them to be." [Beasley-Murray, 1990, 27] This seems over-simplistic: just because training is needed, this does not mean that the sort of training currently being supplied meets that need; because colleges do some good, this does not mean that they couldn't do much better.
Academic qualifications have been a required part of much Christian leadership training over the years, with occasional reactions against this tradition when, because of the urgency of the perceived need, there was "neither time nor need for drawn-out preparation for missionary service." [Bosch, 1991, 333] On these occasions, it seems that the alternative to academic training is usually no training.
The Church seems to have a very poor record at implementing on-the-job training of the sort that Jesus and the Apostles used: only small organisations such as Open Air Campaigners make significant use of this approach. This would seem to be an important area for further study.
The difficulty of implementing an effective accountability structure has defeated many organisations. For the leader to be free to lead, they cannot be tied down by a detailed rulebook and oppressive monitoring systems.
You don't want leaders to be able to exercise arbitrary discipline, but on the other hand, you don't want every upset follower to be able to challenge and overturn every decision they don't like.
Whatever accountability structures are in place, they work, when they work, because the personalities and priorities of the people involved make them work: if a leader does not wish to be accountable in practice, there is little that anyone can do about it.
In the secular world, we can trace a change from industrial to post-industrial to post-modern. In the old factories, people were expected to be motivated solely by pay; in the office, they are expected to be motivated far more by job satisfaction; in the new working environment, they are increasingly expected to be motivated by a desire for personal growth. This must have an impact on people working for and volunteering for Christian organisations.
Volunteers are changing: more people in work means fewer volunteers of working age, and those who are available are increasingly unemployable with mental and physical health problems. On the other hand, longer life expectancy means more older, experienced volunteers. What motivates them and what is required to lead them will be different from the traditional 'gap year' volunteers of the past.
Volunteering outside the church has greatly expanded - counselling, helping old people, etc. and people draw comparison with best practice in church and elsewhere - especially as many of these volunteers are Christians.
We are seeing a weakening of denominational ties, leading to a new 'internal market' for churches. Faithfulness to denomination used to be much stronger. Now church members will change churches, go to several at the same time and exchange notes with members of other churches.
Leaders are often called or sent into an existing situation, and have to handle the existing culture and expectations. This is quite a different situation from that of the leader who invites people to follow him: the new leader must discover how to gain the trust of those he is leading.
The culture of the organisation may be quite different from the culture, beliefs and practices of the people within it, as described by Marshall. This adds an extra dimension of challenge to the job of a leader.
Organisational norms are difficult enough, but the social norms within a church are God-given: this is what He has told us to do and blessed in the past.
People outside the church have their own expectations of the church and its leadership, which must be recognised alongside the expectations of the members, and somehow these two sets of expectations must be balanced.


This Argemone Mexicana (Prickly Poppy) incense resin is well-known for its calming qualities around the world. An annual herb with bright yellow sap, it has been used as a smudging herb by the Natives of the western US and parts of Mexico. This incense resin is 10x, and is made with Prickly Poppy dried leaves, stems and flowers.
Extracted from fresh, not dried leaf for maximum potency. It mixes well with Tagetes lucida when burned.Place in the incense burner alone or with your other favorite ritual herbs.


text:
Q: Where is trackpad config in Lubuntu 17.10? I've been working on this issue for a week! Macbook Air 1.1
I'm simply trying to turn off trackpad while typing, and reduce sensitivity. Lubuntu has none of these options in GUI.
xinput:
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ HID 05ac:820b                             id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ bcm5974                                   id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                     id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HID 05ac:820a                             id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver          id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Apple, Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad    id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Synclient:
Parameter settings:
    LeftEdge                = -3960
    RightEdge               = 4478
    TopEdge                 = 337
    BottomEdge              = 5311
    FingerLow               = 70
    FingerHigh              = 75
    MaxTapTime              = 180
    MaxTapMove              = 519
    MaxDoubleTapTime        = 180
    SingleTapTimeout        = 180
    ClickTime               = 100
    EmulateMidButtonTime    = 75
    EmulateTwoFingerMinZ    = 283
    EmulateTwoFingerMinW    = 7
    VertScrollDelta         = 236
    HorizScrollDelta        = 236
    VertEdgeScroll          = 1
    HorizEdgeScroll         = 0
    CornerCoasting          = 0
    VertTwoFingerScroll     = 1
    HorizTwoFingerScroll    = 0
    MinSpeed                = 1
    MaxSpeed                = 1.75
    AccelFactor             = 0.0169492
    TouchpadOff             = 2
    LockedDrags             = 0
    LockedDragTimeout       = 5000
    RTCornerButton          = 2
    RBCornerButton          = 3
    LTCornerButton          = 0
    LBCornerButton          = 0
    TapButton1              = 1
    TapButton2              = 3
    TapButton3              = 0
    ClickFinger1            = 1
    ClickFinger2            = 3
    ClickFinger3            = 0
    CircularScrolling       = 0
    CircScrollDelta         = 0.1
    CircScrollTrigger       = 0
    CircularPad             = 0
    PalmDetect              = 0
    PalmMinWidth            = 10
    PalmMinZ                = 200
    CoastingSpeed           = 20
    CoastingFriction        = 50
    PressureMotionMinZ      = 30
    PressureMotionMaxZ      = 160
    PressureMotionMinFactor = 1
    PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1
    ResolutionDetect        = 1
    GrabEventDevice         = 0
    TapAndDragGesture       = 1
    AreaLeftEdge            = 0
    AreaRightEdge           = 0
    AreaTopEdge             = 0
    AreaBottomEdge          = 0
    HorizHysteresis         = 40
    VertHysteresis          = 23
    ClickPad                = 0

When I input the often suggested
syndaemon -i 0.5 -t -K -R

It does seem to have an effect, however there is no return of the cursor in the window. Perhaps this is normal. I can't use that terminal window further, which seems odd.
I do have a 50-Synaptics.conf file copied into the suitable folder, yet I read libinput is replacing Synaptics?
Further confusion is Openbox and Lubuntu documentation which suggests I should  be editing
~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml

I find no documentation of all the options relative to touchpads in the above file.
I also find suggestions I should be inputing synclient parameters to
Edit ~/.config/lxsession/Lubuntu/autostart

This file exists without content.
Is Synaptics controlling the bcm5974 driver (specific to my hardware)?
Should I replace Synaptics with Libinput or xf86-input-mtrack, and would they be interacting with the bcm5974 in the same way?
How can I determine which touchpad options in man synaptics/libinput my hardware supports?
Thanks in Advance

A: Actually I don't know if this is documented well enough anywhere but in English where it says keyboard and mouse or lxinput to launch it from the command line adds accelartion from touch and trackpads as well.
Editing ~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml is if you want to make a keyboard shortcut to function like a hardware switch to turn o ff the trackpad for example you have a usb mouse you plug in and when typing don't want to have the touchpad on.
synclient touchpadoff=1 is the command for turning the touchpad off in software. while synclient touchpadoff=0 will turn it on.

A:
Should I replace Synaptics with Libinput

probably
https://wayland.freedesktop.org/libinput/doc/latest/palm_detection.html#disable-while-typing

libinput automatically disables the touchpad for a timeout after a key press

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/30-touchpad.conf
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
Driver "libinput"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
Option "Tapping" "on"
Option "ScrollMethod" "edge"
#Option "NaturalScrolling" "true"
#Option "AccelProfile" "flat"
#Option "AccelSpeed" "0.5"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The trucking industry in Oklahoma is booming, in large part due to its southern-central location to many major trucking hubs. With such an active trucking industry, however, comes an uptick in large truck accidents. These types of accidents are extremely dangerous and typically cause tremendous damages to drivers and passengers in smaller commuter cars.
If you or a loved one suffered an injury in a truck accident due to another person's negligent actions or behaviors, an experienced Midwest City truck accident lawyer could provide much-needed assistance. Having a skilled personal injury attorney at your disposal could be critical to getting the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
Present and future medical bills for hospital stays, rehabilitation, surgical procedures, etc.
In some severe cases, a person's injuries may become fatal. However, a family member who lost their loved one due to another's negligence could potentially file a wrongful death lawsuit.
The truck company incentivizes unsafe driving, such as skipping rest breaks or rewarding drivers who cut time off their routes.
Oklahoma uses a modified comparative negligence standard when evaluating personal injury claims. This means that injured individuals who are accused of being partially responsible for an accident may still file personal injury claims, so long as they are not more than 50 percent at fault for causing the incident.
For this reason, defendant trucking companies often claim that the injured motorist or driver contributed largely to causing a collision or to the severity of their own injuries. For example, the defendant could claim that the injured driver cut him off and their injuries were due to not wearing a seatbelt.
However, even victims who bear some fault may still be able to recover damages from a negligent trucking company. An experienced truck crash lawyer in Midwest City could help with rebutting such claims and maximizing recoverable compensation.
The impact of a truck crash can be catastrophic for both victims and their families and may lead to significant physical, emotional, and financial strain. However, there is help available for those who want justice for their injuries and damages.
A skilled Midwest City truck accident lawyer could help you identify liable parties in your case and seek fair restitution from them. Call today to speak to a seasoned attorney and get started on your claim.


Do you want to feel confident about your guitar playing? About your piano playing? About your singing? Or all three?
Confidence is the most important aspect of learning, growing, and succeeding in any instrument. Confidence inspires you to go out of your comfort zone. Confidence empowers you to keep practicing even before you see any large signs of progress. Confidence empowers you to perform in front of others. Confidence enables you to identify your mistakes without dwelling on them. Confidence brings joy and emotion to your music. With confidence, both you and everyone listening is happier. In this article, you will learn simple steps to build your confidence and become the musician you want to be.
Overconfidence and under confidence are two sides of the same coin. Both of these stem from insecurity and an incorrect perception of reality.
People who are overconfident think they are better than they are and pretend that their weaknesses do not exist. They think they know it all already. Over time, this always leads them to trip over their own weaknesses and to stagnate. Overconfident people cannot convince themselves to practice or improve because they think they are already too good. When they practice, they never leave their comfort zone.
People who are under confident think that their weaknesses are much worse than they are and dwell on their weaknesses. Every time they make a mistake, they get very frustrated. They beat themselves up. They rarely see progress, even if they do improve dramatically. People who are under confident sometimes practice for considerable time, but do not see the fruits of their labor. They do not know how to assess themselves and label their playing as good or bad. Mostly bad.
People with a healthy level of confidence see themselves as they truly are and as they want to be. They glance at their weaknesses and focus on their strengths. They focus on making their strengths even stronger. And they use their strengths to overcome their weaknesses. People with a healthy level of confidence make consistent improvement every time they practice because they know what to focus on, how to assess themselves, and they know how to keep their confidence levels up while practicing.
You can develop a healthy level of confidence and become the musician and the person you have always wanted to be. Below is a simple exercise you can do to boost your confidence.
Grab a piece of paper. Take five minutes to write down what you are good at. Write down your strengths (both in music, in your personal life, in your vocation, in your personality, etc.). You can include strengths such as "ambitious," "hardworking," "playing guitar," "loyal," "happy," etc.
After you finish writing down at least five or more of your strengths, focus on one of the strengths you wrote down and identify something more specific about your strength. For example "I am good at guitar" becomes "I am good at strumming chords on the guitar, playing in rhythm, and memorizing songs." You can do this same exercise with each of the other strengths you wrote down.
Starting today, focus primarily on your strengths and making your strengths even better. You can glance at your weaknesses and identify them. But you can only overcome them using your strengths. While practicing, alternate between doing something you feel really confident about and working on something specific to improve.
Every time you get frustrated while practicing, find a way to simply what you are playing until you feel confident you can do it. You can also review a song or a part of the song that you feel more confident about. When you work on what you are good at, you will instantly feel better about yourself, and this confidence will give you the strength and courage to continue improving yourself and going outside your comfort zone.
Regularly take the time to review your strengths. You can even add to the list. Mastering your strengths is the key to become the musician and the person you want to be.
To learn more about how to sing, play piano, or to play guitar, find a music teacher near you who specializes in teaching students to master this art. You will benefit greatly from guitar, piano, or voice lessons from a master instructor.
If you live near Troy, Michigan, click the blue button below to receive a free assessment lesson at the J-RO School of Music. Make your musical dreams a reality!


text:
Mile News
Cain's able beyond her years
Teenage runner on record-breaking pace competing at USA Outdoor track championships
By Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune
DES MOINES, Iowa — Among the first words out of Mary Cain's mouth Thursday was "Moscow."
That said it all.
Here was Cain, having just run her first-ever race at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and getting to Russia's capital for the World Championships in August was foremost in her mind.
Such a preoccupation is widespread at this meet, where results will determine the U.S. team for the worlds.
What makes Cain's emphasis on it striking is she is less than two months past her 17th birthday and a rising senior at Bronxville (N.Y.) High. What makes it more than idle talk is she has been running so well it would be no surprise to see her get the top-three finish in the 1500 meters that would put her on the world team.
"She has gotten the times to say Moscow was one of her dreams," two-time Olympic finalist Shannon Rowbury said.
This year, Cain has become the greatest women's high school middle-distance runner in U.S. history. She has set U.S. high school and Junior (19 & under) records in the indoor Mile, 3000 meters and 2 Mile; the outdoor 800 and 1500; and a high school record in the 5000. She has broken two minutes in the 800 (1:59.51) and Suzy Hamilton's 26-year-old U.S. Junior record in the 1500 by 4 1/2 seconds with a world class 4:04.62.
Thursday, in the 1500 semifinals at Drake Stadium, she finished a close second in 4:11.48 to new training partner Treniere Moser (4:11.20), both easily advancing to Saturday's final.
They faced the media together and completed some of each other's sentences, each bubbling over with an enthusiasm that made it hard to know which was the teenager.
"She is doing something no one has ever done," said Moser, 31, a three-time USA 1500 champion. "Just being a fan of track and field, I'm happy to be along on this journey … to be kind of an insider and see exactly what she is doing."
Cain's precociousness has sparked comparisons to Mary Decker Slaney, a world-beater at 14 who went on to a long and star-crossed career that included titles in the first outdoor world championships at 25. There is another link: Alberto Salazar, the final coach of Slaney's career, has become Cain's coach in an unusual, made-for-the-21st-century arrangement that began last summer.
Continue reading at: http://www.chicagotribune.com
Tags: usa outdoor championships (22) , mary decker slaney (23) , mary cain (68)
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Return the Mile to prominence on the American & worldwide sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a movement.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Have you ever sensed God telling you to walk in a specific direction, yet find yourself willfully running in the opposite? Jonah found himself in this position. Surprisingly, even though Jonah disobeyed God so blatantly, he identified himself as one of God's chosen people; a man who reverently feared and worshiped the God who fashioned the sea and the dry land.
In this 6-week study of the book of Jonah, you will discover for yourself Jonah's character, how his life and experiences can be applied to your life, and witness how the Lord can turn a heart of disobedience into one of obedience.


"Air pollution control requirements will only be met with e-mobility, especially in cities. Early on, we recognized the increasing environmental awareness within society with respect to vehicle traffic and the resulting challenges and opportunities. Consequently, we've focused on this in our R&D and production and are also involved in all aspects of standardization," emphasizes Grinblats.
Marco Grinblats Managing Director of HARTING Automotive.


text:
Home > News > Stewart Houston receives NPA Lifetime Fellowship (updated)
Stewart Houston receives NPA Lifetime Fellowship (updated)
27th Mar 2018 / By Alistair Driver
Stewart Houston, one of the driving forces behind the formation of the NPA and a former chairman, has been awarded the association's third Lifetime Fellowship.
Presenting the award at the Farmers Club on Monday night, NPA chairman Richard Lister described Stewart as an industry 'icon' who had done a 'fantastic job of representing our industry'.
Stewart was one of the leading members of the British Pig Industry Support Group (BPISG), first coming to prominence during a stormy meeting attended by 480 producers at Bishop Burton College in 1998 at the height of the pig price crisis when many pig producers were losing thousands of pounds a week.
With the industry represented at the time by the NFU pigs group and the commercial arm of the BPA, Stewart made a plea for a united front in responding to a crisis affecting the entire sector.
BPISG campaigned vigorously to raise awareness of the plight of the industry in the media and to get a better deal from retailers and Government.
Its activities led to the formation of the NPA and, soon after, BPEX, to provide a specialist pig body for levy payers who had become disillusioned with how they were being treated by the Meat and Livestock Commission.
Stewart went on to play a major role on the NPA, serving as its chairman and an executive director, as well as chairing BPEX from 2003 until 2015. He served as a director until 2015 and is currently a member of the Food Standards Agency board and the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England since AHWBE. He is also a former David Black Award winner.
He becomes the third person to receive the NPA's top honour after its first chairman, the late John Godfrey, and Digby Scott, the 'Voice of the Pig Industry'.
Canny operator
Speaking at a Producer Group dinner, Richard said Stewart had come a long way from the 'quiet shy chap from the North East in 1998' to the 'hugely influential canny operator' he is now.
"Stewart is an icon. He has been a geat influence on many people in this room and it is entirely appropriate that we should recognise his contribution officially by awarding him a Lifetime Fellowship Award.
"Stewart has put his heart and soul into representing the pig industry and it has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside him and get his wise counsel."
Stewart said he was 'deeply honoured' to receive the award and painted a bright picture for the pig sector as Brexit looms.
"I envy the new Producer Group because, even though there's an awful lot talked about Brexit and how it is all going to go pear shaped, I think there is a huge opportunity in the Defra Future Food and Farming programme to design something that is going to put some money into the indusry to improve the health and welfare of livestock. We need to get bought into that.
"You have had different difficulties to deal with, and it has often been about trying to come out of negativity. This is all positivity. You have got a real opportunity there - take it please.
"Thanks ever so much for this - it is brilliant. Thank-you."
There were also presentations for Mick Sloyan, who steps down from his role as AHDB Pork strategy director in the summer, former NFU president Meurig Raymond and former LIPs chair Sue Woodall in appreciation for their work with the NPA and services to the industry.
Mr Raymond, who revealed how he began his farming career with pigs, reiterated Stewart's comments about the opportunities for the pig sector from Brexit and praised the work of the NPA.
Mr Sloyan, who Richard also described as an 'icon' with 'immense passion for and encyclopaedic knowledge of the pig sector', also recalled the Bishop Burton meeting.
"What came out of that was people with enough vision to get together and say: "We are going to be better working together, rather than fighting apart." As a consequence of that, the NPA was born and it has done some fantastic things.
"We are now back to producing as much pigmeat as we did before the crash came and that is a big testament to what the NPA and the wider industry has done."
Oxfordshire farmer Charlie Allen, who had been on PG since its inception until he stepped down at the February elections, and Suffolk producer Andrew Houston were recognised for their service on PG.
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In order to be successful with hot women you must create and develop your own... There are men who seem to know how to attract beautiful women and you just assume that it's in their blood. Thinking that you don't have these natural skills is a mistake.... 27/07/2008�� Here are tips on How to Get A Girlfriend https://bitly.im/aOffr Whether in high school, college, or out of college, when you know what to say and how to say it and how to act to make girls interested in dating you, life becomes a lot easier.


Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Lori Drew Author of 'Megan Had it Coming' Blog?
Breaking News:Is Geofry Renner Running The Finance Ministry Undercover? Finance Minister Gaye Exposed!!
Breaking News: Lack Of Transportation Hinders Education in Gambia!! Another Student Demo in the offing!!
Breaking News:As Gambia Observes Disability Day: Beggars Demand For Govt's Subvention To End Financial Nightmares!!!
A dream, lead to the discovery of an old, leatherbound journal –inside were the most wonderful stories, which are being shared with us now via the Edgar Font series. Don't miss this delightfully intriguing series that will light the reading fire in the hearts of young people everywhere.
Superb, unflinching, emotionally gritty at times, Written in Blood is a stinging, in your face novel that paints a haunting picture of the madness that often lurks behind the gates of the nicest communities or in the home right next door.
Winds of War: Where Is the Muslim Nisei?
Blaming Verizon Phone Co. for a Dog's Death?


While in College Station last week, we took the boys to check out a place called The Bounce, an indoor play area with TONS of blow-up bouncers, slides, and obstacle courses. They had so much fun!
Dawson with a big smile after going down one of the slides.
Hands up as he zips down the slide.
Telling me about the obstacle course before we crawl through the tunnel.
Making his way through a section of the obstacle course.
Brady walking around The Bounce.
Hanging out by the giant mushroom.


But Christmas is coming up fast, and I need some serious help in picking out a present for Tally. I asked her cousin, Bree, for advice. I'm pretty sure this is a PG-rated blog, so I'm not going to pass along her suggestions. Suffice it to say that there were numerous references to "stocking stuffers" and a lot of throaty chuckling. Dang, that woman has a dirty, dirty mind. I sort of admire her for that, but in the end, Bree's X-rated recommendations don't get me much closer to finding Tally a gift.
See, here's the thing: I'm tail-over-tea-kettle in love with Miss Tallulah Decker Jones. But we haven't been dating for very long and Tally's a little gun-shy when it comes to romance. I want to show her how important she is to me, but I don't want to spook her. My gift to her has to be something special, but not over-the-top. Something romantic, but not too mushy. Something perfect, just like Tally.
Can you help this Secret Santa make his girl's Christmas merry and bright? What's the best present you've ever gotten?
How about a weekend stay at a B&B? Or a bracelet, nothing fancy since this is the start of your new relationship.
BTW, could you give us a hint as to your identity ;)?
I've gotten tickets to plays and other special events. Good luck!
I'm not certain what's perfect for Miss Tally. But the best surprise was on a planned trip to NYC, the hubby bumped us to first class. Then when we got there, it was a late night carriage ride through Central Park. Total surprise, totally taken off-guard. So whatever gift you give...it doesn't matter if it's tangible...just make it memorable.
She could use a new freezer case. Just sayin'.
My husband got me that for my birthday a couple of years ago. It was totally unexpected and fun.
I also really like the idea of a special date - picnic at the zoo? carriage ride through Central Park? You all are really raising the bar!
Definitely a trip somewhere sweet and quaint with no exes or dirty-minded cousins nearby.
My best gift from now DH was his surprise weekend when we were stationed in California along the Central Coast. He took me to Morro Bay for a night at Morry Bay Inn, then a visit to Hearst Castle. A gorgeous weekend, completely planned by now DH and very much a fab surprise for me.
Timberline Lodge, Oregon (Mt. Hood). Excellent northwest food; fresh powder measured in triple digits; great rooms; hot tub outside; three story high stone fireplace; timber you wouldn't believe; an hour or so drive from PDX airport.


text:
Random::Random()
{

}

float Random::RndFloat()
{
	Algorithm.Seed(Clock::TickU32()); // Seed

	return Algorithm.Float();
}

float Random::RndFloat(float min, float max)
{
	Algorithm.Seed(Clock::TickU32()); // Seed

	return Algorithm.Float(min, max);
}

int Random::RndInt(int min, int max)
{
	Algorithm.Seed(Clock::TickU32()); // Seed

	return Algorithm.Int(min, max);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


An innovation fund of Rs 500 crore has been launched for small entrepreneurs and innovators to help make their ideas into reality.
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is committing Rs 100 crore and the balance will come from banks, insurance companies, overseas financial and development institutions.
"The fund is about encouraging innovators in MSME sector, to have right ideas for the bottom of the pyramid with focus on affordability, scalability and sustainability. And they need capital to take their ideas into production, to make it a reality," Sam Pitroda, the Chairman of National Innovation Council, said during the launch of the fund here.
The National Innovation Council (NInC) and the ministry have jointly launched the fund -- India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF), which has been approved by the Cabinet.
Pitroda said that lot of young entrepreneurs do not get enough capital to get started and this fund is designed to provide them that kind of capital.
The fund will create new class of capital to help and scale entrepreneurial skills and innovation. It will be registered under Sebi's (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Alternative Investment Fund category with an initial corpus of Rs 500 crore, a statement said.
"The fund endeavour to provide modest financial returns, while ensuring significant social impact. The fund's eventful aim is to expand the corpus to Rs 5,000 crore over the next 24 months," the statement said.
The fund seeks to solve problems of citizens at the base of the economic pyramid, it added.
As per its selection procedure to approve an idea, entrepreneurs will be required to prepare an business plan, apply to the IIIF and give a presentation.
"Ultimately the idea will go to the investment committee. The investment committee will work whether it is worth investing or not," Pitroda said.


For further details on KPU's applicant categories, refer to the university calendar.
Open intakes: An intake where a limit has not been set on the number of students admitted per application cycle.
Limited intakes: An intake for which a limit has been set on the number of students admitted per application cycle.
Applicants to undergraduate open intake areas of study are subject to Faculty admission requirements.
Applicants to limited intake programs are subject to program admission requirements.
Click on the links in the chart below for program-specific admission requirements.
KPU also offers various upgrading options in English, math and science in our Faculty of Academic and Career Advancement. Learn more.
English is the primary language of study at KPU; therefore, all applicants must be able to demonstrate the appropriate level of English language proficiency for their undergraduate, vocational or preparatory area of study.
All applicants to undergraduate studies must satisfy KPU's Undergraduate English Proficiency Requirement through an acceptable High school course, undergraduate course, KPU course, or testing option. For a list of equivalencies, refer to the university calendar.
Applicants who are unable to satisfy undergraduate admission requirements may be eligible for admission to a Faculty pathway.
The English proficiency requirement for vocational studies varies by program. Program admission requirements, including English proficiency, are included in the calendar descriptions of each program. See the program index.
The English proficiency requirement for university preparatory studies varies by program. Program admission requirements, including English proficiency, are included in the calendar descriptions of each program. See the program index.


text:
"NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL HE IS TALKING ABOUT"
Medina Spirit held off Mandaloun to win the Kentucky Derby. Photo Coady Photography/Churchill Downs.
It's Preakness week, so you expect some strangeness. But the events of Sunday and Monday beggar the mind's ability to fathom.
If your bingo card had Bob Baffert, cancel culture, betamethasone, Donald Trump, and temporary restraining order on it, congratulations! You're the biggest of big winners.
Under normal circumstances, you might read that sentence and say, "I have no idea what the hell he is talking about."
Which, as it happens, are the exact words Association of Racing Commissioners International President Ed Martin said (in a statement) in response to Baffert's… well, weird… interview with Fox News.
In a Monday morning interview on the station, in an effort to explain the positive test for the corticosteroid betamethasone incurred by Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, Baffert opined, "This America is different. It was like a cancel culture kind of a thing."
On social media a lot of people were thinking cancel culture – specifically, canceling Baffert's trainer's license and upcoming trip to Baltimore – might be a very good idea, indeed. But mostly they were trying to muddle through the explanations, which included Baffert's claiming he did not know what betamethasone does, a curious claim for a trainer who had gotten a betamethasone positive just a handful of months earlier.
Speaking of trying to navigate strange statements, former President Donald Trump took a brief respite from settling political scores to share his opinion on l'affaire Baffert. Parenthetically, the former President doesn't seem to know much about horse racing, and if the stories are true, he'd have to be on the short list of worst Thoroughbred owners of all time.
Preakness "Art of Racing" contest returns
The Preakness "Art of Racing" contest will return this year, as 1/ST Racing, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and Park Heights team up.
"So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky," the erstwhile Commander-in-Chief said in a strange, brief statement. "This is emblematic of what is happening to our Country."
Except it's not. It's not emblematic of anything other than Bob Baffert's ongoing problem staying on the right side of the rules. In fact, this is the third time in a bit over a year that a Baffert trainee has popped a positive test following a strong performance in a Grade 1 contest.
Last May Charlatan came back positive for lidocaine after winning a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby (he ultimately was not DQed, though Baffert was fined for the violation). Four months later, Gamine got a betamethasone positive and was disqualified after finishing third in the Kentucky Oaks. And now this.
It's enough to make Bob Baffert throw up his hands to the sky and plaintively wonder why this keeps happening to him. Which, one supposes, is one possible interpretation.
It's also made a lot of other people run out of patience with a guy who's either a bad actor or very careless or extraordinarily unlucky or a victim of a strange conspiracy (cancel culture perhaps?). Take your pick.
Of course, this being horse racing, the relentlessly cynical and opportunistic saw and seized the opportunity to score cheap points.
Churchill Downs immediately pounced, with a statement that it "will not tolerate" Baffert's bad behavior and would prohibit him from entering horses at the track. That "bold" statement would probably have more meaning if either side had skin in the game, but Baffert's made exactly 12 starts at Churchill in 2020-21 out of 453 starters. So, preening for the crowd.
And the Jockey Club jumped into the fray, too, because, well, why not, right? In a "more in sorrow than in anger" statement, the company declared that those who dare oppose them on the wisdom or desirability of federal oversight of racing drug rules must be dolts who "don't want better regulation."
Of course, all of this puts the squeeze on the Maryland Jockey Club: let Baffert run Medina Spirit in the Preakness and incur the wrath of social media and of animal rights activists? Or prevent him from entering and fight it out in court? Baffert's attorney, Craig Robertson, said he would seek a temporary restraining order to force the track to let him in if it sought to bar him.
The MJC took arguably the path with the biggest downside, pushing back the Preakness draw from Monday at noon to Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. It's a move unlikely to generate much new information but certain to keep the controversy brewing.
By late afternoon Monday, the company hadn't said anything one way or the other. But it had permitted Baffert to enter Beautiful Gift in Friday's Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.
Baffert has legitimate due process and equal treatment arguments in his favor. Regardless, having spent the afternoon in conversations with people ranging from "I'm not 99% in favor of letting Baffert run; I'm 100% in favor of it" to "They can't just roll over and let him run," I feel pretty confident that it's a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation for the folks in Maryland.
Ultimately, Bob Baffert's isn't a cancel culture problem, it's a "drugs I say I don't use keep ending up in my horses" problem.
And when that problem manifests itself in Grade 1 events – most especially the Triple Crown races – then it's fair to say that racing has a Bob Baffert problem.
PreviousPreakness: Keepmeinmind looking "very strong"
NextBaffert-trained Beautiful Gift 'Susan fave
Edwin Merryman on May 10, 2021 at 6:41 pm
Frank,
Compare Ricky Dutrow's infractions to Baffert's. Ricky gets ruled off for ten years for being obnoxious. Baffert gets tiptoed around.
Edwin Merryman


I will Post it on this blog?
Now how to debug background jobs?
This can be used for both completed jobs and jobs to be processed (just make sure you have enough time to debug before the job actually starts). Breakpoints set in the job flow works. This method has been successfully used in R/3 4.6C.
HOW TO SCHEDULE JOBS IN BACKGROUND, IN SESSION METHOD? PLZ RPLY SOON..
how to schedule a job in background, in session method?
when we will use session method or call transaction method.?????


Hong Kong's Juiciest Rumours, Exposed!
Urban legends float around every city, and Hong Kong is no different. Here we've compiled some of the juiciest, most widespread rumours involving everything from tycoons to typhoons. Some have been found to be false, some are up for debate – and then there are some where we'll pretty much never know for sure. Or will we? Read on and find out.
You might have seen Tsim Sha Tsui's glossy The One retail complex and not given it too much thought. It was built by property tycoon Joseph Lau, who you might know as the guy who dropped US$28.5 million and US$48.4 million two days in a row on two rare diamonds for his then-7-year-old daughter, Josephine, last year. Apparently, Lau named The One after an alleged mistress, former Miss Hong Kong Michele Reis, who was reportedly "the love of his life". Reis is married, and Lau himself is romantically involved with two women, who are both mothers of his children. The rumour has persisted for so long that developers Chinese Estate Holdings have come out to say it's in fact so named because it's "easy to remember". OK, then.
Every time the city is hit with a typhoon, students and worker bees rejoice… but only when a signal 8 is issued, of course, when everybody gets a day off because of bad weather. Millennials will have a hard time remembering the last time the city had a full day of signal 8, though – because apparently, the richest man in Hong Kong, Li Ka-shing, makes typhoons go away. Yes, that's right – conspiracy theorists on the web allege that the billionaire has built a "force field" that repels typhoons away from the city in order to protect his financial interests, which a day off work can have major effects on. They say that typhoons have stopped hitting Hong Kong head-on in recent years for this very reason. It's probably not true. But just look at the route of that 2010 typhoon above, though..
Remember Gigi Chao, the lesbian heiress whose father put out a US$128 million bounty for any man who was able to turn her straight in 2012? Besides meddling in his daughter's affairs, tycoon Cecil Chao has quite the track record for, um, not necessarily positive press. It is rumoured that the father of three has slept with some 10,000 women. Whether Chao actually has time to woo that many women while building his Cheuk Nang Holdings empire, though, is anyone's guess.
Ever noticed a code at the bottom of your ketchup sachet at McDonald's in Hong Kong? Us neither, but according to a rumour that originated in the 1990s, these codes indicate the subtle difference in flavours for each packet. Apparently, the codes go in a sliding scale from A1 to A12, with the former being the most sour and the latter meaning they're the sweetest ketchup packets in the house. McD's debunked the myth later on – they're from the production codes and have nothing to do with their flavour.
There's a "secret" passageway between the HSBC headquarters in Central, and Victoria Harbour. We say this definitively because a tunnel does, in fact, exist – but it's not for reasons you may think. It was believed that the tunnel was constructed during colonial times, so the Brits could bail quickly if anything went wrong. It is in fact there to draw in water as a coolant.
According to an urban myth that originated in the 1940s, a stone turtle – born out of a rubble on Lugard Road – is slowly making its way up to the Victoria Peak, upon which Hong Kong Island will sink. Yes, really – and apparently, Kowloon and New Territories' sinking will swiftly follow. If this all sounds pretty improbable to you, consider this: another rumour spawned from this one after the construction of the Convention Centre in Wan Chai in 1997. The complex, designed like a turtle, was said to be reaching the water instead of the top of the hill to cause Hong Kong's sinking. The "sinking" would eventually come in the form of economic chaos, because the Asian Financial Crisis happened right after the completion of the Convention Centre. Crazy superstition come true, or just really weird logic? You decide.
Around mid-2006, a rumour circulated online that if you add HK$300 to your Octopus electronic payment card, then put it in the microwave for five seconds on high heat, then it would magically result in a value of HK$999. Around a month later, Octopus Hong Kong reported a bunch of people exchanging "burnt" Octopus cards that were no longer working. It's safe to say that this rogue add-value trick doesn't work.


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Indian Regulators Wary About Bitcoin
India, like many other Asian states, is struggling to manage cryptocurrencies.
By Aswin Mannepalli for The Diplomat
Credit: CC0 image via Pixabay
As more consumers and businesses turn to Bitcoin, the Indian government is still studying the issue and has not provided clear regulatory guidance on the payment technology to date.
The internal debate over Bitcoin highlights two competing impulses within the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While officials want to foster innovation in the banking sector, they are wary that such technologies could facilitate cybercrime, bribery, tax avoidance, and money laundering.
"There is clearly a lot of thought going on in the various regulatory bodies and among government officials about this issue," said Sasha Riser-Kositsky, an India analyst at the Eurasia Group. "I would be surprised if we don't receive official guidance in the next two years."
Bitcoin currently exists in a legal gray area. Though not explicitly banned, officials have not endorsed it outright. Sudarshan Sen, executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), recently expressed discomfort with the currency at a fintech conference in Mumbai.
The technology is also increasingly being associated with crime in government circles. Bloomberg reported in August that a high-ranking interministerial panel was convened after hackers held the software systems of India's largest container port hostage and demanded a Bitcoin ransom.
Analysts at Ernst & Young working on the issue wrote that because Bitcoin transactions are largely anonymous by design, hackers from around the world have adopted it as their payment of choice.
Such stories could be overstating the government's fear of Bitcoin, however. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has embraced fintech and wants to implement regulation to promote the technology. The RBI has even proposed creating a government-backed cryptocurrency.
"There is an emerging understanding in India that these kinds of technologies offer society something positive," said Riser-Kositsky. "The question is how best to regulate and ensure [access to] the benefits of these technologies [while avoiding] the downsides."
Outside the government, Bitcoin has found a small but growing fanbase following demonetization. The Economic Times found that one Indian Bitcoin exchange app had been downloaded more than 500,000 times. The currency's supporters are even circulating an online petition addressed to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, asking him to make Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies legal. (It has gathered approximately 15,000 signatures.)
"As the userbase expands and the amount of money at stake grows, the pressure on the government to do something will grow as well," said Riser-Kositsky.
Cryptocurrencies in Asia
Indian financial regulation
Indian politics
Law in India
How Far Has North Korea Come With Cryptocurrency?
By Tae-jun Kang
The idea seems far-fetched, but Pyongyang is actively trying to advance the necessary technology.
A Crackdown on Dissent in India: What's Behind the Recent Arrests of Rights Activists
By Kajal Basu
Do the simultaneous raids on civil rights campaigners and lawyers indicate that the Indian government is willing to subvert democracy?
In Rajasthan, When Narendra Modi's 'Vikaas' Needed Desperate Support
By Priyanka Borpujari
The Indian prime minister's touting of new schemes needed a little help in Rajasthan.
A Game of Votes in India: Gag Orders Precede Elections in Rajasthan
An ordinance and bill in Rajasthan threatens India's free press and highlights worrying trends.


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Home1. Book Boost CategoriesAuthor InterviewSquat – A Readable Sitcom
Squat – A Readable Sitcom
January 3, 2022 Alan Author Interview, Fiction 0
About Squat:
With the help of a freakishly wise janitor, a newly-hired membership director struggles to keep a fitness center afloat while being given ridiculous tasks from an ethically-questionable owner.
Take an opinionated and all-around diverse group of fitness trainers, add a sketchy owner, a genius janitor, and throw in an endearing but largely incompetent general manager, and you have the perfect recipe for riotous, chaotic hilarity. You have Squat!
Set in a large fitness center in the Boston suburbs, the sitcom follows Scott Carter, a former big-shot marketing executive who takes a job at Squat Spot Fitness out of desperation. Carter quickly discovers that the place is run by an ethically-questionable owner willing to exploit staff and clients alike, and a general manager who's in way over his head. With the help of a bright fitness director and a freakishly wise janitor, Carter manages to keep the gym open… for at least a bit longer.
Squat! features an interesting cast of characters who embody many of the social and political issues of the day. Rather than address these issues directly, they remain lightly veiled within seemingly petty arguments and conflicts. Each episode offers viewers the anticipation and fun of discovering the parallel "real world" political and social issues highlighted. Without taking sides, Squat! invites viewers to laugh at the absurdity of humanity while deepening understanding of those with differing beliefs.
The series presents an additional running theme of owner Jack Pemberton's dubious assignment to Scott Carter. Carter struggles to satisfy his boss without compromising his values.
Squat! offers humor—of the smart, subtle, and laugh-out-loud varieties—along with lovable, fallible characters, and even an insight or two about creativity, understanding, and ethics.
The first season comprises ten fully-scripted episodes, rewritten as a comedic novel. Season One innocuously and hilariously provides a nod to such topics as COVID / mask-wearing, claims of election fraud, QAnon conspiracy theories, pronouns, "Karens," defunding the police, multi-level marketing scams, cults, and even truth itself.
If Seinfeld had a threesome with Dodgeball and The Office, and miraculously conceived a lovechild, Squat! would be it.
Why did you write the book? What was your motivation behind it?
This book is an adaptation of a screenplay we did for the first season of a sitcom. We wanted to write something edgy and clever—something where we could poke fun at current political issues in a non-obvious way. In fact, some of the issues are so well hidden that some people miss them. This is exactly what we wanted.
How do you see this book being relevant today?
The book addresses current issues in a humorous and non-offensive (to most people) way. Issues such as Qanon, claims of stolen elections, gender perplexity, conspiracies, "Karens," and more.
Plus, the readers will encounter common themes they expect in good stories, such as love and disappointment.
Why do you think you are the right person to write this book? How do you think your qualifications or experience make this a better book?
As a social psychologist, I have a unique insight into human behavior. This helps me to write from an apolitical standpoint and poke fun where fun is deserved without political bias getting in the way. Both the extreme right and extreme left can be extremely ridiculous, and worthy of mockery.
How did you come up with the idea for the book?
Spending time at gyms since I was about 14 years old. I found myself saying quite often about fellow gym members, "they would make a great sitcom character!"
Anything else you want readers to know?
This book is also available in audiobook, where you can hear me do over 40 different character voices 🙂
Check out Squat now
ABOUT BO BENNETT
Bo Bennett is an American screenwriter living near Boston, MA. He is also a social psychologist and author of over a dozen books.
Bo was born in Connecticut where he lived until he was 21. He attended Bryant University in Rhode Island and earned his Bachelor's degree in marketing. After working in business for over 20 years, Bo returned to school to earn his master's degree in general psychology and his PhD in social psychology.
Money Fiend$ Augmented Crytopedia: A Beginners Guide to Crypto & NFTs @TheMoneyFiends @Dosprodx
Burn, Beautiful Soul: A Novel


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August 22nd, 2016 at 7:34 am
Drone reports to UK police soar 352%
in: Crime,Crime Prevention,Drone,drones,Latest News,Science & Technology News,security
Police are having to investigate a fourfold rise in the number of crime reports involving shop bought drones – including allegations they are being used by paedophiles over children's playgrounds, peeping toms spying through bedroom windows, burglars scoping out people's properties, and even cash point scammers recording PIN numbers.
An investigation by The Independent has found that the number of incidents reported to the police involving drones surged by 352 per cent in a single year as the public became increasingly aware – and suspicious – of the machines.
Reflecting the rapid uptake of the flying robotic devices, which can be fitted with cameras, reports to police surged from 94 in 2014 to 425 in 2015. The projected figure for 2016 is set to be even higher, with 272 reports recorded up until May this year.
The figures were obtained from Freedom of Information requests, with 21 of the UK's 45 police forces responding.
The numbers also include reports of drones endangering commercial airliners of them causing fights between neighbours, and also of them being used by criminal gangs to transport drugs, often into prisons.
The majority of the reports, 257, were listed as a concern for public safety and under suspicious circumstances, but five cases involved acts of violence, 13 related to burglary, 14 to dangers posed to transport – largely related to air space – and seven made reference to drones in the vicinity of young children.
One remarkable incident recorded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in June last year revealed a drone allegedly being used to film a cash point in Templepatrick as people entered their pin codes. The witness told the police that when the drone was spotted it flew off and crashed into a taxi. The police said a male suspect had been forced to pay compensation to the taxi driver, but officers had been unable to prove the footage was being taken with criminal intent.
Drones, quadcopters and multi-rotor helicopters already equipped with 360 degree 4K video cameras, more than twice the quality of HD, are currently available to buy without any registration or permit. Speeds range as high as 70 mph for mass produced drones, while potential altitudes up to 10,000 feet make them a threat to aircraft flying in or out of airports.
Many also offer image transmission to a handheld device, such as a mobile phone, and others include night vision.
Reports to UK police forces involving drones
Sexual offences involving a drone were reported in both London and South Wales, with the Metropolitan Police referring to case of "voyeurism" and the Welsh force revealing a drone had been used to record footage of a young woman undressed in her apartment.
In Leicester, a pedestrian claimed to have seen a drone falling from the sky, while in Sutton Coldfield another fell and damaged the roof of a BMW, as regulation of air space has become increasingly demanding with unprecedented new risks.
Reports of disturbances to flight paths around Birmingham, Stansted and Luton airports were also provided, raising wider concerns for public welfare and potentially the threat of terrorism. In April, Elstree Aerodrome Air Traffic Control noted that a drone had been seen five miles Northeast of Elstree by a pilot whose aircraft was at 6,000ft.
Greater awareness of privacy concerns has also led to some direct confrontations. In South Wales, one homeowner threatened to a drone out of the sky. Dozens of other reports related to surveillance. A similar incident in Bedham, Sussex, saw one person firing a shotgun at a neighbour's drone. The pair were said to "loathe" each other.
In Spennymoor, County Durham, a fight broke out over a drone, with one disgruntled bystander pushing a man and throwing his remote controller into a bush.
Elsewhere, a drunken man was found to be "causing distress to livestock" after using a drone to fly close to cows in Plymouth.
There are also fears that drones could be used by paedophiles, with reports of drones flying over children's areas in Kingswinford, Dudley, and schools in Hemel Hempstead and Northumbria.
Reports to UK police involving drones (by type)
David Dunn, a professor at Birmingham University who has led research into UAVs, said there needed to be more regulation.
He told The Independent: "What you have is a massive proliferation of easy access to the air from machines that have the capacity to cause nuisance, to carry out surveillance, to cause potential injury and to frighten people and cause collisions with cars and airplanes.
"There needs to be regulation and there needs to be systematic attempts to educate the public. At the moment, you can buy one of these things in a supermarket without any safeguards. We are lacking accountability or a deterrence.
"The police are being forced to use laws that were designed before the invention of drones fit in terms of personal safety and privacy, but actually what we need is a Drone Bill through the House of Commons to address the technological challenges."
Mr Dunn said the terror threat was a "massive concern" to law enforcement agencies, adding: "These machines have the ability to actually deliver drugs into prisons, to deliver sim cards into prisons."
Corroborating previous reports, the data reveals a significant number of sightings of drones around prisons. At HM Prison Leicester, legal highs and a mobile phone were caught in netting around the perimeter – a measure used across UK prisons to counteract smuggling devices such as drones – and drugs were also found attached to a machine by Sherwood Prison. The Mount prison in Bovingdon was the centre of a high number of interceptions, alongside institutions in Exeter, Bedford and Greyfriars.
Anyone found using drones to smuggle contraband into a prison can be given a sentence of up to two years.
A spokesman for the Prison Service said it was working to ensure the "right tools" are in place to tackle the problem of drones.
He added: "We take a zero tolerance approach to illicit material in prisons and work closely with the police and CPS to ensure those caught are prosecuted and face extra time behind bars."
Steve Barry, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for Unmanned Aerial Systems, told The Independent: "Both the Police and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are aware of the ever increasing use of drones by members of the public and are keen to ensure that people are aware of the rules that apply to their use.
"We have issued guidance to all forces on how to respond to drone misuse by the public. Work is ongoing to better understand the threat posed by drones, and to develop an appropriate technical response.
"We are working with the Home Office on how drones might be used to enhance operational capability in law enforcement, including for support for emergency response or for public order events."
Sara Ogilvie, policy officer for Liberty, told The Independent: "As the use of drones by both individuals and the police continues to soar, the need for thorough public debate and robust regulation of this shadowy industry becomes all the more obvious and urgent. As these figures show, the public have serious concerns about drone use – but the safeguards are flimsy and obscure.
"Drones have the potential to serve as incredibly intrusive spying tools – and their capacity for violating people's privacy will only increase as the technology improves. Our authorities need to wake up fast to the stark implications for our privacy and safety."
The figures also reveal a large amount of investment in drones by some UK police forces as a new way of tackling crime and helping with other investigations.
Last year alone, Sussex and Surrey Police spent £413,000 in a joint initiative, training 38 officers to fly the remote controlled aerial cameras. They now have five drones – more than any other force in the country.
The drones are being used in missing person searches, forensic collision investigations and airport security, as well as patrol teams and neighbourhood response units.
Mr Barry, who is also assistant chief constable of Sussex Police, said in a statement: "Our drone operations will be overt, open and transparent, and we will use all outlets available to us to ensure the public are informed of our drone use."
Image credit: AP/Getty
Article via: The Independent


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Find your prospective supervisor, research project or research group, collaborator or expert by searching UNSW Sydney Researcher Profiles. Use keywords to view their research interests, publications and areas of expertise.
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Dr Martin Peeks
Faculty: Science
Fields of Research (FoR): Organic Chemical Synthesis, Supramolecular Chemistry, Nanochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
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Solar-Photovoltaic Energy
Martin is a Scientia Lecturer in the School of Chemistry with a research interest in supramolecular materials and their applications, such as in sensing and in light-harvesting.
Dr Nathaniel Corrigan
Faculty: Engineering
Fields of Research (FoR): Polymers, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Materials Engineering, Nanotechnology, Chemical Engineering Design
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Associate Professor Jon Beves
Fields of Research (FoR): Nanochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Science, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry
Dr Jon Beves is an ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry at UNSW. Research Fields
Dr Fatemeh Karimi
Fields of Research (FoR): Biomedical Engineering, Biomaterials, Polymers, Functional Materials, Regenerative Medicine (incl. Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering), Cardiovascular Medicine and Haematology, Cellular Interactions (incl. Adhesion, Matrix, Cell Wall), Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Synthesis of Macromolecules, Synthesis of Materials, Biologically Active Molecules, Nanomedicine
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Dr Jiangtao Jason Xu
Fields of Research (FoR): Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Characterisation of Materials, Nanotechnology, Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry, Materials Engineering, Polymerisation Mechanisms
Dr. Jason Xu is an ARC Future Fellow and Senior Lecturer in School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney.


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Home » Leo Fioravanti In The Arrival
Leo Fioravanti In The Arrival
Over the course of the past year, Italian Leo Fioravanti has become a household name in competitive surfing, as he currently sits atop the WQS rankings, almost guaranteeing him qualification to the tour next year. Leo has had a spotlight shining on him since before he even hit his teens. And why not? He had eerily good form, a myriad of airs, a fearless approach to fearsome waves and a carve as big as his smile. The world was his, and the hype was inevitable. But those days are over.
Leo's 18 now. An adult. He's had a certain fire in him ever since returning to the water after sustaining a broken back at Pipeline. This year, he grabbed the lead on the WQS and has already beaten both Kelly Slater and defending World Champ Adriano de Souza as a wildcard on the WSL.
'Leo has a good eye for waves. He's always putting himself on the good ones' said Kelly Slater of the young Italian 'His best surfing comes in big waves. He seems to really like the powerful stuff, so competitively he already has a real advantage over a lot people' Reflection on Leo's injury and subsequent recovery Slater said he believes it was almost a blessing. 'It gave him a lot of time to sit back, think about where he is going, what he is doing and what he appreciates. And I think he came out more on fire after that"
Leo will be looking for a big result in France, where he is a wild card, to not only further pull away from the pack, but also show he can mix it up with the top dogs in a variety of conditions. It's been a while since we've had a European in the top tier of the WSL, however by the looks of Leo's surfing in this edit, and what we've seen from him in a comp vest, that could well be where he's destined for.
We caught up with Leo a few weeks ago in France to find out more about the man behind the hype. You can read the conversation in full here.
https://youtu.be/v1x3C51QXX8