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The Eagles Hotel California 2022 Tour
BUY TICKETS – Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Eagles are doing something really big with their 2022 tour … they'll perform their classic album Hotel California in its entirety, with help from a symphony orchestra and a choir, which will give additional power and texture to the greatest Read more…
Twenty One Pilots – 2022 "The Icy Tour"
BUY TICKETS – Twenty One Pilots is headed on tour in 2022. The band announced the tour via social media with a video consisting of footage from their stadium live shows, and a list of tour dates in North America running from mid-August to the end of September. The Icy Read more…
Robert Plant, Alison Krauss 2022 World Tour
BUY TICKETS – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have announced tour dates for 2022, with plans to perform on both sides of the Atlantic from June through the end of July. The duo will be out in support of their new album Raise the Roof, their second collaborative album. The Read more…
"Weekends With Adele" In Las Vegas
BUY TICKETS – Adele is about to launch her Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace next January. The "Weekends With Adele" residency is scheduled to start Jan. 21, 2022, and she will perform two shows each weekend through April 16, 2022. These are the first live dates Read more…
Foo Fighters – 2022 North American Tour
BUY TICKETS – The Foo Fighters are set to return to the road in 2022, with the band announcing a string of 17 shows between May and August.The group will start things off with three scattered shows in May, followed by a proper summer run that will launch July 17 Read more…
BUY TICKETS – Thanks for stopping by … you'll find event news about concert tours, all your favorite sports and music festivals info here. Please check out our inventory for the event or game you would like to attend and place your orders online with ease on our secure checkout. Read more…


Constructed from durable aspen wood traditional adirondack design sculpted seat keeps tots in correct position. Sliding tray offers additional security and seat belt keeps child secure. Zip tie locks the rope around a limb or hook. Recommended for children 35 lbs. and less Kiddie Collection is designed for children 1-4 years of age For added strength - glue, bolts, screws, and dowel construction Easy to maintain - clean with soap and water Natural unstained or painted finish available. Rope instead of chain prevents catching. Made in the USA. Requires minor assembly. Seat belt included, ten foot rope included.
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Danny Healy-Rae, Kerry County Councilllor pulling a pint for his customer Michael O'Reilly in his pub in Kilgarvan. Picture by Don MacMonagle
What next? A ban on a 'sup' at wakes? asks Danny Healy-Rae
Anne Sheridan
A ban on alcohol at wakes could be next as 'people are going stone mad with political correctness', Danny Healy-Rae TD has told Extra.ie, as he spoke out against a slate of amendments to the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill.
Deputy Healy-Rae, who runs his late father Jackie's pub in Kilgarvan, Co Kerry, said the amendments to the Bill, which include placing cancer warning labels on alcohol, are another 'retrograde' step and an attack on rural Ireland.
The changes left publicans 'flabbergasted and terrified' as they view them as 'absolutely ridiculous', he said.
Independent TD and publican Danny Healy-Rae has said Ireland will be a 'laughing stock' if the changes made to the public Alcohol Health Bill are implemented. Pic: Gareth Chaney Collins.
We would be 'the laughing stock of the rest of the world'.
He said: 'In rural Ireland, there is a thing called a wake. People go to wakes and stay with the family for a few hours, and a few drinks are given to the guests. Are we going to police an event like that, so that a person cannot take a drink at a wake?'
He added: 'This amendment is open to an interpretation whereby opening ceremonies or book launches, where a glass of wine is bill: Danny Healy-Rae provided, would be illegal.'
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A man was rescued after he got stuck on a roof on the way home from a pub. Dublin Fire Brigade were called to rescue the man after he became 'incapacitated' while taking a shortcut...
UK school to fine parents £1 for every 5 minutes they're late in picking up their kids
A British school has mums and dads fuming after they announced that they will fine parents £1 for every five minutes they are late to pick up their child. The parents have slammed the initiative...
A deaf man is suing Pornhub over the lack of subtitles in their videos. Yaroslav Suris complained that he couldn't understand the dialogue in the videos uploaded by Pornhub. Mr. Suris alleges that the adult film...
A man has been arrested after €100,000 worth of cannabis was found at a Monaghan grow house. The search was conducted by Gardai at a house in Rockcorry on Saturday at 9am. A Garda spokesperson said:...
Suspect in Keane Mulready-Woods case 'threatened to kill other person'
A main suspect in the Keane Mulready-Woods case reportedly threatened to kill another person. Keane, 17, went missing last weekend and was confirmed dead by Gardai earlier this week. The Drogheda teenager's body parts had been...
Man who took shortcut home after 'a few drinks' rescued from...
UK school to fine parents £1 for every 5 minutes they're...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Jae-Jung Kim
Chief Technical Officer, Daou Kiwoom Group
Jae-Jung("JJ") Kim is Chief Technical Officer of Daou Kiwoom Group, a diversified business group headquartered in Korea with 17 subsidiaries globally in the IT and financial services industries. Mr. Kim is responsible for the entire group of IT and global businesses in the Strategy Planning of Daou Kiwoom Group. Mr. Kim began his professional career at LG-CNS in 1996. He was most recently CTO at Korea Information Certificate Authority (KICA), the first accredited certificate authority in Korea. He developed and operated the national PKI system for KICA and conducted PKI consulting and national PKI establishment in more than 20 countries. Mr. Kim provided the FIDO based biometric authentication service for Samsung Pay and various financial institutions and researched vehicular PKI for the V2X communication of autonomous driving vehicles. He has been actively involved as a member of the FIDO Alliance, Korea Cryptography Forum, IoT Forum, and Autonomous Cooperative Driving Industry Development Council. Mr. Kim holds a Master's degree in Information Security from Korea University and a Doctorate in Computer Science from Sungshin University in Korea. He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).


Bunzl Safety, a subsidiary of Bunzl Australasia, offers work wear, footwear, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), lifting and materials handling equipment, height safety systems and technical services. With over 60 years in the business, Bunzl Safety is a well-respected brand servicing Australian organisations in a wide range of sectors.
RSEA had rapidly outgrown its software systems but any alternative needed to be up and running quickly, easy to use and able to be managed by its one-person IT department.
With a distribution network extending across Australia and New Zealand, servicing the retail, trade, government and commercial markets, The Mayo Group required a end-to-end solution that was reliable, mobile and simple to use.
Following the acquisition of Hardy Brothers Jewellers and a decade of strong growth, Wallace Bishop realised it desperately needed to consolidate and upgrade its computer management systems.


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About Mercy Hill
Mercy Hill Kids
Global Prayer
Missions Support
MH College
College Live
MH Students
No More Spectators
Grouplink
Giving Page
Redemption Church exists to lead a restless culture to the redeeming Savior.
Why Roanoke?
DNA & Strategy
Timeline & Budget
Meet the Mundy Family
Carter and Tamara are native Roanokers. They both graduated from college in 2009, Tamara from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, and Carter from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. They got married and took a hard right turn to go to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
In the back of their minds, they thought they may return to Roanoke one day to plant a church, but God wanted to develop them over time first. They moved for seminary the week after their honeymoon where, for the next three years, Carter earned a master's degree in Christian ethics. Meanwhile, they plugged into The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham and quickly became passionate about The Summit's vision for reaching the world through church planting.
So in 2012, Carter and Tamara were sent out of The Summit as members of a church planting team. With 30 other people who moved from Raleigh-Durham, they helped launch Mercy Hill Church. During the seven years since planting Mercy Hill, Carter has served the church as a community group leader, shepherding elder, and directional elder. Vocationally, he helped lead Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center for over six years, while Tamara has had the full-time job of raising their three children.
Finally, God led them back to thoughts of planting a church in Roanoke, and they just couldn't resist his call any longer. When they thought of the more than 1000 baptisms Mercy Hill Church has seen over the last seven years, the numerous marriages brought back from the brink, the overall cultural influence the church has had in Greensboro, and more, they just knew they had been in the midst of something like a gospel-centered revival. Now they're hungry to take that experience back to Roanoke. Carter and Tamara can't wait to see who God will save and how he will change the culture through Redemption Church.
Connect with Carter
I am the target text.
A Place of Need
Regional population of approximately 300,000
61% of total population has no religious affiliation ("the nones")
In a 60-mile radius, there are 21 institutions of higher learning (including Virginia Tech and Liberty), representing over 100,000 students
7,000 refugees have settled in Roanoke over 40 years
Center for medical research and care; yet 9-10 children aborted there weekly
One of the top 100 places to raise a family in U.S.; yet 1 in 4 children live in a single parent home, 1 in 5 marriages end in divorce (double the national average), and 1 in 9 marriages were same-sex in 2015 (highest in Virginia)
A Place for Our Strategy
Our strategy is to make, shape, and multiply disciples. A disciple at Redemption Church is someone who follows Jesus and leads the culture.
We believe this cycle is fueled by the gospel. The gospel makes Jesus-followers (Rom. 1:16; Rom. 10:14-15); shapes them into the image of Jesus (Phil. 1:6; 2 Pet. 3:18); and multiplies those (Acts 2:47; 16:5) who are commissioned to go out and lead others back to Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49).
Radically ordinary hospitality—inviting others into our homes and lives—is one of the most effective ways to introduce unbelieving neighbors to Jesus through personal acts of love and service, that then lead to opportunities to share the gospel with words and call people to respond (evangelism). Hospitality can be scaled, from individuals to families to small groups to the church organization itself. We will bring our neighbors in, no matter who they are, to engage the culture with the gospel.
As Christians, we are called to go into our community to serve our neighbors with authentic love, asking for nothing in return. This naturally gives us the opportunity to share the hope we have in knowing Jesus, the One who ultimately left his home to serve us. We will go out to the community as a way to practically love and engage the culture with the gospel.
We are called to gather for gospel-centered worship (Heb. 10:25). Therefore, we will "meet big" as a local body every week. We are also called to hold one another accountable and to live on mission together (Acts 2:42-47). Therefore, we will "meet small" in groups of 12-15 people every week. These small groups will form the core of our discipleship strategy. We will meet big and small to shape disciples who create a new culture.
Christians further along in their faith journey are called to pour into those who are coming up behind them (Titus 2). We will coach at two levels. Coaching in big groups enables shepherding elders to pastor and equip the church effectively (Eph. 4:11-12). Coaching in groups of two or three people enables accountability and Christian maturity (James 5:16). We will coach big and small to shape disciples who create a new culture.
We want to multiply small groups and coaching groups often. Our goal is to keep 80% of our committed members in small groups and coaching groups. So developing leaders is a key part of multiplication. Through our leadership pipeline, as well as all members seeking to serve the church in some way, we will multiply groups all over the city to spread the good news and transform culture.
We want to multiply churches. Our goal is to raise up and plant a church within the first three (3) years of our existence—one of many more to come. New churches statistically reach more lost people than churches 3-years-old or older. This is the New Testament method for making disciples. So we will multiply churches in the United States and around the world to transform culture.
Keeping the Gospel Central
The gospel is the good news about Jesus perfect life, sacrificial death, and miraculous resurrection. It is the center and foundation for who we are and all we do as a church.
The gospel is the true story of the whole world as told through the grand biblical narrative, with Jesus as the central character.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation, and our only motivation for heart-change and obedience.
Multiplying Disciples & Mobilizing Leaders
Multiplying disciples means exponentially reproducing new Jesus-followers who make more Jesus-followers.
Multiplying disciples is the mission of God in the world and the legacy we're all part of as Christians.
Multiplying disciples leads to mobilizing leaders who engage the culture to advance God's kingdom in the world.
Building Community Among Believers
Intriguing to a watching world.
Community is what produces both spiritual maturity and numeric growth in the church.
In community, we multiply disciples and mobilize leaders.
Demonstrating Hospitality Toward the Culture
We demonstrate hospitality as a result of the hospitality shown to us by Jesus.
Hospitality demonstrates the effects of redemption and the love of Christ by bringing outsiders into our fellowship.
Hospitality is the primary way we will engage our non-believing neighbors in a restless culture.
Redemption Church affirms the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
Phase 1: Prepare
Phase 2: Develop
January – April 2020
Develop and Equip Launch Team
Continue Fundraising
Continue Vision and Organization Development
Phase 3: Engage
May – August 2020
Team Moves to Roanoke
Jobs, Community Engagement, Practice Hospitality
Meet as a Launch Team, Prepare for Launch
Phase 4: Launch
Start Meeting Big and Small
Start Coaching Big and Small
Phase 5: Grow & Send
Beginning January 2021
Develop leaders through our strategy
Send out short term trips
Develop and send out a church planter (by 3rd year)
Pray for the launch team and the people of Roanoke. We believe God works in the world through the prayers of his people. Everyone should pray for the kingdom to advance! Pray with us that God will spark a gospel-centered revival; that He will prepare people to receive our hospitality and the gospel; that our team will be bold to love people and share the gospel with them; that he will make us more like Jesus daily and have healthy relationships with one another; that he will bless our team members lives, especially with jobs, and prosper all their ways.
Give generously to fuel the mission in Roanoke. We can only go as far as the generosity of God's people will take us. Church plants with greater funding in the first three (3) years reach more lost people faster. Additionally, churches who sponsor church plants are shown to have increased attendance by 22%, giving by 48%, and designated gifts toward missions by 77% for the five years after sponsoring a church plant. God blesses our generosity! Please consider how much you're willing to sacrifice in order to see God's kingdom advance through our church plant. We could potentially impact thousands of people over the next five years (and more!), and it will all start with your generosity.
Plug into our launch team, or plug others in who already live in Roanoke. Connect us to people who want to join our mission, or people who may need our hospitality once we arrive. Also ask yourself, Why shouldn't I go? How are you fulfilling the Great Commission? People are the mission, so we hope to connect with as many people as we can.
Give to Redemption Church
© Copyright 2020 Mercy Hill Church. All Rights Reserved.


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Home Research Topics Internet & Technology Emerging Technology
16% of Americans say they have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency
By Andrew Perrin
A smartphone app shows cryptocurrency exchange rates in April. (Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)
The vast majority of U.S. adults have heard at least a little about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether, and 16% say they personally have invested in, traded or otherwise used one, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Men ages 18 to 29 are particularly likely to say they have used cryptocurrencies.
Overall, 86% of Americans say they have heard at least a little about cryptocurrencies, including 24% who say they have heard a lot about them, according to the survey of U.S. adults, conducted Sept. 13-19, 2021. Some 13% say they have heard nothing at all.
In 2015, the Center asked Americans different questions that were focused exclusively on Bitcoin. At the time, 48% of adults said they had heard of Bitcoin (to any degree), and just 1% said they had ever collected, traded or used it.
Pew Research Center has conducted several studies about Americans and cryptocurrency. This survey was conducted among 10,371 U.S. adults from Sept. 13-19, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center's American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP's methodology. Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.
This survey includes a total sample size of 362 Asian Americans. The sample includes English-speaking Asian Americans only and, therefore, may not be representative of the overall Asian American population. Despite this limitation, it is important to report the views of Asian Americans on the topics in this study. As always, Asian Americans' responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report. Because of the relatively small sample size and a reduction in precision due to weighting, we are not able to analyze Asian American respondents by demographic categories, such as gender, age or education.
In the new survey, certain demographic groups are particularly likely to say they have used cryptocurrencies, with some of the largest differences by age and gender.
Roughly three-in-ten Americans ages 18 to 29 (31%) say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ether, compared with smaller shares of adults in older age groups. Men are about twice as likely as women to say they ever used a cryptocurrency (22% vs. 10%).
These differences are especially pronounced when looking at age and gender together. About four-in-ten men ages 18 to 29 (43%), for example, say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency, compared with 19% of women in the same age range. Among both men and women, the likelihood of having invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency decreases with age.
Asian, Black and Hispanic adults are more likely than White adults to say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency. There are no statistically significant differences by household income.
While majorities across demographic groups say they have heard at least a little about cryptocurrency, smaller shares say they have heard a lot. For example, adults under 50 (31%) and men (35%) are more likely than older Americans (16%) and women (15%), respectively, to say they have heard a lot.
The share of adults who have heard a lot about cryptocurrency also varies by race, ethnicity and household income. For example, 43% of Asian Americans say they have heard a lot about cryptocurrency, compared with 29% of Hispanic adults and about a quarter of Black or White adults. Americans with higher incomes (31%) are more likely than those with middle (25%) and lower incomes (21%) to have heard a lot about cryptocurrency.
These findings emerge as government leaders and others debate the regulation of cryptocurrency – which has been defined as a medium of exchange that is digital, encrypted and decentralized, with no central authority that manages and maintains its value. Financial regulators have worried about policing cryptocurrencies and have raised concerns about the long-term viability of such currencies, such as Bitcoin.
China recently banned transactions using cryptocurrencies. U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell said this summer that these currencies need more regulation, and the Biden administration is trying to combat ransomware by cracking down on cryptocurrency payments. At the same time, El Salvador in September became the first country to declare Bitcoin as legal tender.
Note: Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.
Personal FinancesTechnology AdoptionEmerging Technology
Andrew Perrin is a research analyst focusing on internet and technology at Pew Research Center.
POSTS	BIO	EMAIL
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Volunteers are the bridge between the community and the services that we provide. Because of the involvement of volunteers, our organization can continually increase the supports to the people who need our services. We make every effort to provide meaningful and rewarding opportunities for our volunteers.
We provide orientation and offer on-going training opportunities, flexible time commitments and numerous opportunities to meet new people, learn new skills, and get involved in your community.
Join us as we explore possibilities to create inclusive communities for people who have an intellectual or physical barrier.


Well Monday 21st March was a very exciting day. At 6.30 pm Myself and my husband attended the Mayors Parlour in Walsall. Here we had a lovely evening mixing with other Best of Walsall Winners and chatting to lovely business owners.
At 7pm i was awarded my certificate and Trophy from the Mayor herself. To say i was happy was an understatement altough it did take me while for my hands to stop shaking- i should have had that vodka put in my coke beforehand :-). So we can now officially say the we are indedd an AWARD WINNING FLORIST in Browhills. This would not have been achieved though without the kindeness of my customers leaving me so many wonderful reviews about the flowers, arrangements and wedding flowers they recieved from me, so a big Thank you to all my customers and your support.
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Beautifully updated home on private, spacious greenbelt lot in desirable Lake Tapps area! Brand new kitchen featuring stunning white cabinets, quartz countertops, and all new stainless steel appliances. New flooring and carpet throughout, vinyl windows, updated electrical and plumbing, fresh paint, and more! Garage, carport, and large driveway for ample parking. Enjoy large front and back decks, perfect for entertaining. Private access to beautiful Lake Tapps parks, amenities, and boat launch!


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January 27, 2016 March 20, 2016 by briefpolicyperspectives
Opinion: Is India's contingency on international climate finance reasonable?
Ziyue Zhu, MPP
As one of the fast-growing and largest developing countries, India has a responsibility to tackle climate change. It is also one of the key players in the international commitment to confront climate change. Early this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored India's commitment to scale up renewable energy development. Modi stressed the country's ambition to increase its renewable energy capacity from the current installation of 35 Gigawatts (GW) to 175 GW by 2022, including 60 GW from wind and 100 GW from solar energy. In India's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) — climate actions that a country intends to take after 2020 — India also has pledged (contingent on international funding) by 2030 to:
Reduce its emissions intensity per unit GDP by 33% to 35% below 2005 levels;
Achieve about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources;
Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover; and
Focus on climate adaptation actions, especially in poor communities.
While these commitments are promising, India requires considerable international financial support to achieve these targets. In the INDC, the Indian government has emphasized the importance of international finance to support climate mitigation and adaptation actions, including renewable energy development and climate-resilient infrastructure construction. India has long stressed the need for funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), where developed countries have pledged to raise $100 billion annually by 2020, for accomplishing climate action goals.
India will need $2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) to meet the country's climate goals. Specifically, India will need around $206 billion to implement adaptation actions in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, infrastructure, water resources, and ecosystems. Mitigation activities for moderate low carbon and sustainable development will cost around $880 billion.
These numbers are both enormous and overwhelming, so much so that we should question their validity and accountability. By comparing India's climate targets and financial needs with other large emerging economies- including China, Brazil, and Mexico- it becomes apparent that India's contingency on international climate finance is not reasonable.
As the world's biggest CO2 emitter, China is under significant pressure both domestically and internationally to curb its carbon emissions and move toward a low-carbon and sustainable energy and economy. Since last year, China has taken unprecedented steps in committing to climate policies and has become one of the world's leaders in the global climate arena. In China's INDC, it has pledged, by 2030 to:
Peak its total CO2 emissions (halt the CO2 emission growth), or earlier if possible
Increase the share of non-fossil energy sources in the total primary energy supply to around 20 %
Lower the carbon intensity of its GDP by 60% to 65% below 2005 levels
Increase the forest stock volume by around 4.5 billion cubic meters, compared to 2005 levels.
In September 2015, President Xi Jinping confirmed that China would launch a national cap-and-trade program in 2017, and a "green-dispatch" system to prioritize power generation from renewable and more efficient sources.
Rather than seeking international climate financial aid, China has pledged to provide $3.1 billion to South-South Cooperation, a broad framework for collaboration among developing countries, in assisting other developing countries to combat climate change. China's overall progress on green development and pre-emptive engagement in climate partnership is political game-changer, which has injected momentum to the historical success in the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21).
According to Brazil's INDC, the country has committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37% below 2005 levels by 2025, with the aim of further reducing GHG emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by 2030. In line with limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Brazil intends by 2030 to:
Increase the share of sustainable biofuels in its energy mix from 5.6% in 2014 to around 18%
Achieve zero illegal deforestation and to reforest 12 million hectares
Achieve 45% of renewable energy in the energy mix
Restore an additional 15 million hectares of degraded pasturelands and 5 million hectares of cropland-livestock-forestry systems.
While Brazil emphasizes the importance of historical responsibilities of developed countries and climate fairness, Brazil points out that the implementation of its INDC is not contingent on international finance. Brazil is assessing different carbon pricing instruments in order to tentatively build a national policy framework for carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system in 2017. Moreover, Brazil is willing to foster strong collaboration around the South-South Cooperation and support other developing countries in tackling climate change.
Mexico has put forward two types of emission reduction targets in its INDC: unconditional and conditional.
Unconditional: Mexico commits to reduce 25% of its GHG and Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) emissions below Business As Usual (BAU) level for the year 2030.
This commitment implies a reduction of 22% of GHG and a reduction of 51% of Black Carbon, a component of particulate matter from incomplete fossil fuel combustion.
Conditional: Mexico commits to reduce up to 36% of GHG and 70% of Black Carbon below BAU by 2030.
Mexico will also strengthen its adaptation capacity building and reach a rate of zero deforestation by 2030.
In order to comply with its climate targets, Mexico introduced a carbon tax on fossil fuels and a cap-and-trade system in the energy sector in 2014. Additionally, the Mexican government has been actively working with the World Bank and other countries and international organizations to catalyze the implementation of Mexico's carbon pricing policies and reshape the country's policy framework to a green future.
Table 1. The responsibilities and finance needs of emerging economies in climate change (2014) (Source: The World Bank and European Commission Joint Research Center)
GDP (Current USD, trillion USD)
GDP per capita (Current USD)
CO2 Emission (million tons)
CO2 Emission per capita (ton)
Contingency on international financial support (0-5, 0: not at all; 5: strong)
From the perspective of emissions, India and China should take more responsibilities to address climate issues, due to their extensive current CO2 emissions. Additionally, from an economic point of view, China and Brazil should be more capable of achieving their domestic targets by themselves. However, we also recognize that regarding to India's low GDP per capita, the pressure of poverty makes it more difficult to address climate change.
Rather than being contingent on financial flows from the developed world, China and Brazil are willing to help other developing nations via financial and technical assistance. Meanwhile, the conditional and unconditional targets proposed by Mexico clearly indicate both its capabilities and needs to the international community. Furthermore, the move toward an explicit carbon pricing policy in all the other three countries showcases their determination to ramp up domestic climate funding and suggests higher accountability for their climate commitments.
India's climate finance roadmap remains an arduous challenge, and only through its own efforts can India address climate change threats and achieve sustainable development. India's leadership and ambition in renewable energy have played an important role in global climate negotiations – therefore it is reasonable to believe that India has its own capacity to cope with the constraints in climate finance through mobilizing domestic finance. This requires tremendous political courage, innovative policies, and constructive institutional reforms from India itself, even with the support from the international community. Moving from fossil fuels to renewables regime is inevitable, and an explicit carbon pricing approach will surely facilitate this transition.
The Paris Climate Conference (COP21) is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of accomplishing the climate blueprint. The new narrative of combating climate change has begun, and India should be one of the front runners in this historical era.
Posted in Energy Policy
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The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem received only 150 applications for its spring grants cycle, says Tom Ross, the foundation's executive director.
The number was down from the 400 typically submitted in each of the foundation's fall and spring grants cycles, Ross says, and probably reflected the foundation's having limited applications to groups that received Reynolds funding over the past few years.
In the fall cycle, when the foundation again will consider applications from any nonprofit in the state, Ross says, he expects about 600 applications.


While February has gotten a good handful of Xbox One kids games, March pretty much pales in comparison. Kids won't have many games to choose from this time around, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't any noteworthy releases. With these two games finally hitting the market, here some titles for the young and young at heart.
Scribblenauts Showdown takes the series in a whole different direction, shifting away from the open sandbox levels. The game comes with three modes: versus, showdown, and sandbox, each with their own challenges. The mini-games themselves are incredibly simple, making it perfect for any child looking for a quick play session. On top of that, up to four people can join in on the multiplayer madness. With over 25 unique levels to choose from, Scribblenauts Showdown is sure to be a blast at any kids party or family celebration.
Meanwhile, Burnout Paradise has just gotten the remaster treatment on the Xbox One. This open world racing game has players burning some rubber in Paradise City. Join in on all the neck-breaking racing action filled with high-flying stunts and road rampage. Players can swerve in and crash other vehicles, scoring them some stylish takedowns. Any kid will get a kick out of performing those flashy stunts as they zoom down highways. It isn't all about racing, though, since there are a collection of other modes in the game. On top of that, up to eight players can smash through the streets in both online and offline multiplayer.


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Augustana Basketball Announces Schedule Adjustments, Spectator Policy for 2021 Season
Jerry Palleschi
Terry Jacobs TSM
The Augustana Vikings have announced their new adjusted basketball schedules that now includes games at the Sanford Pentagon on eight straight weekends.
There is a slight catch, however. Previously, the NSIC announced that basketball events would be held as doubleheaders with teams playing against each other on consecutive days. Now, the NSIC has decided to keep the idea of playing one opponent per weekend but has removed the doubleheaders.
Augustana will now play eight consecutive weekends at the Sanford Pentagon. When the men are playing at home, the women will be on the road and vice versa.
Here are the updated schedules for both the Augustana men's and women's basketball teams.
Complete Women's Schedule
Jan. 3 MSU Moorhead 4 p.m.
Jan. 8 Minnesota State* 7 p.m.
Jan. 15 at Concordia-St. Paul*
Jan. 22 at Winona State*
Jan. 29 Upper Iowa* 7 p.m.
Feb. 5 at Southwest Minnesota St.*
Feb. 12 Sioux Falls* 7 p.m.
Feb. 19 at Wayne State*
Feb. 20 at Wayne State*Complete Men's Schedule
Jan. 2 at MSU Moorhead 1 p.m.
Jan. 8 at Minnesota State*
Jan. 15 Concordia-St. Paul* 7 p.m.
Jan. 22 Winona State* 7 p.m.
Jan. 29 at Upper Iowa*
Feb. 5 Southwest Minnesota St.* 7 p.m.
Feb. 12 at Sioux Falls*
Feb. 19 Wayne State* 7 p.m.
Augustana has also announced that they will not be allowing spectators at its events for the time being.
"With the current COVID-19 environment in the Sioux Falls area and the state, Augustana Athletics has made the difficult decision to not distribute season tickets for men's and women's basketball and football this year. While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the continued uncertainty and likely schedule disruptions during the upcoming seasons have led us to this decision." - Josh Morton, Augustana Athletic Director
Morton says that Augustana will continue to monitor and reevaluate the COVID-19 situation around the Sioux Falls area. They are open to allowing fans to attend their events when it becomes safe enough to do so. All games will be available to watch online at GoAugie.com
More information regarding the attendance policy can be found here.
Falls Park Winter Wonderland 2020
Source: Augustana Basketball Announces Schedule Adjustments, Spectator Policy for 2021 Season
Filed Under: Augustana
Categories: Articles, Newsletter KIKN, Sports


text:
Q: Can comments by a logged-in user be displayed at the top? EDIT: I answered my own question! I was able to do this using 3 lines of CSS - thanks, flexbox! leaving this here in the hopes that it helps someone else someday :)
.comment-list{display: flex; flex-direction: column;}
.comment-list li{order: 2;}
.comment-list li.byuser{order: 1;}

--- original question ---
Working on a site where the client wants to allow commenting on posts by both members (who will be able to log in to the site) and nonmembers. They would like comments by a logged-in user to be displayed at the top of the comments list, and "guest" comments to come up below.
Is there an easy way to do this without involving a plugin?
I'm aware of the "byuser" CSS class which allows for different styling of comments by a logged-in user. This will be helpful. But wondering if there's also any way to re-order the comments.
Thanks in advance for any help!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


3 days later Peter and I prised our burning fingers from our smoking keyboards and emerged into 2017 with a very shiny new website. But not without drama, or a few extra wrinkles!
In truth, on closer inspection, the website really did need a complete re-think. We have come a long way in our first six months of business, in many ways, but it was our more defined and focused services which were not being reflected on the site or indeed backed up by the results from some of the incredible assignments we have had the privilege of working on.
Come the first week of January (when we had initially hoped to re-launch) the bulk of the content was in what appeared to be a logical sequence, and although we were running slightly behind schedule, I think it's fair to say we felt those 3 days of relentless clicking, dragging and dropping were entirely worth it. And so, I confidently started about taking on my first work days of 2017 (in the teeth world) thinking we'd clean up the last few details over the phone, and in the evenings before a big launch at the end of the week when I was back in the office.
Turns out running a site that looks impressive both on web and mobile is no simple challenge. Whilst checking on as many devices as possible we did not feel at all confident with images failing to load, appearing in random sequence and giant sized text. So, a few, long days later (and with some virtual assistance) we have managed to change enough settings and get Facebook to scrape the page to get our new site live and ready to view!
We are still waiting on some support from our site host to get a few things running even more smoothly on mobile, so bear with us on that but we would really appreciate any feedback you have. The good, the bad, and the ugly!
And just in case you were equally as baffled by the fact the term 'slug' did not relate to 'a tough-skinned terrestrial mollusc'. When talking websites apparently a Slug is another way of describing 'user friendly URL'. Every day is a school day!


text:
Q: How to finish a fragment using kotlin I tried things like activity?.finsish but it closed the complete app.
This is where I want to finish the frgament:
lifecycleScope.launch {
        delay(2000)
        findNavController().navigate(R.id.action_splashFragment_to_authenticationFragment)
       // Here I want to finish my Fragment
    }

Is there another solution? Thank you in advance

A: val navOptions = NavOptions.Builder().setPopUpTo(R.id.splashFragment, true).build()
findNavController().navigate(R.id.action_splashFragment_to_authenticationFragment, null, navOptions)


text:
Senate confirms 1st openly gay US Army leader
The Senate confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON -- The Senate confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary, making him the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service.
The voice vote approval on Tuesday came after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., dropped his opposition to Fanning after a senior Pentagon official told him that no detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be sent to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or other facilities in the United States.
Roberts said he met May 10 with Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who assured Roberts "that, 'I am the person who would have to execute it (the moving of detainees to the mainland), and the clock has run out.'"
Congress has included prohibitions on moving Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. in annual defense policy bills, thwarting President Barack Obama's campaign promise to close the prison.
Roberts said he knows Obama will continue to try and close prison at Guantanamo before he leaves office in January, but said he takes Work at his word.
"He understands the significant and costly changes that would need to be made at Ft. Leavenworth to change the post's mission," Roberts said. "Most importantly, he understands the legal restrictions on funding to move the detainees to Ft. Leavenworth by January 20, 2017."
Fanning served as the Army secretary's principal adviser on management and operation of the service, with a focus on the budget. He was undersecretary of the Air Force from April 2013 to February 2015, and for half a year was the acting secretary of the Air Force. He also worked on Defense Secretary Ash Carter's transition.
politicswashington d.c.gaylgbtqlgbtq pridesenatearmylgbt


text:
Q: How to copy a Vuex store and import it into a new store I am trying to write a way for in Electron to duplicate Vuex commits from one Window to another with IPC.  This way devs can use the Vuex store between browser windows seamlessly without manually using IPC calls to send everything, causing lots of duplicate code.
So far, I have written a basic Vue plugin to handle pushing commits around
With only some base code using store.subscribe, I IPC send all commits to main, which then forwards the commits to all renderer windows, applying the commits to their respective stores.  Each new browser Windows is able to forward the data to all others.  To prevent endless loops, I check the event and payload and verify it's different than the current value before applying it.
This all works.  It's not even that slow amazingly.  But there is a problem,  When the window is opened, the store is fresh.  I need a way to export the entire store, IPC it to the new window, and import the store.
Is there any way in Vuex to generically export the entire state, then import it again?

A: After some time, I found a way to sync vuex store between main window and another IPCRenderer Window. I would not explain how to subscribe to mutation using plugins since the question is about replacing the state. Here are the logic steps to replace the state in newWindow:

*

*When opening a new window from main window, we can call IPCRenderer
and send our entire state (this.$store.state)

For example:

this.ipcRenderer.send("open-new-window",cloneObject(this.$store.state));

What we should note here, we could not send a complex object like DOM Object  to our new window because you will get circular JSON error, so here I use script (UTIL.cloneObject(this.$store.state)) for convert complex object to avoid circular JSON Error. You can see the code here or you can find in another place since this question is not about converting to circular json

*In ipcMain you can store this state in the global variable, for example:

let temporaryState
ipcMain.on('open-new-window', async(event, data) => {
  //Another code...
  newWindow = new BrowserWindow(options);
  temporaryState = data
   //this is data is your temporary state from mainWindow
  //Another code for open new window
})

*Request to rehydrate state in new window if new window already in "mounted stage", for example:

mounted() {
  this.ipcRenderer.send("ask-rehydrate");
}

*Back to ipcMain, you can listen to rehydrate request from newWindow and send the state that you already store in global variable, for example:

ipcMain.on('ask-rehydrate', (event) => {
  newWindow.webContents.send("currentState", temporaryState);
}

*Listen again in mounted stage to replace the current stage in "newWindow":

mounted() {
  this.ipcRenderer.send("ask-rehydrate");
  this.ipcRenderer.once("currentState", (event, state) => {
       new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       logger.debug("Current state will be replaced with %o", state);
       this.$store.replaceState(state);
       resolve();
   }).then(() => {
       //Do something});
   });
}

Congratulation now your state in newWindow will replaced with the current state in main window, here the mutation also sync if you subscribe the mutation using plugin. We should do this in mounted stage of vue since we need to wait until the store already initiated.


text:
/**
 * knockoutcrud
 *
 * A knockoutjs extension to crud items in Observables and Observable Arrays
 * Inspired by "A Simple Editor Pattern for Knockout.js" by Ryan Niemeyer (http://www.knockmeout.net/2013/01/simple-editor-pattern-knockout-js.html).
 * Thank you Ryan :)
 */
;
(function(factory) {
	//CommonJS
	if (typeof require === "function" && typeof exports === "object" && typeof module === "object") {
		factory(require("knockout"), exports);
	//AMD
	} else if (typeof define === "function" && define.amd) {
		define(["knockout", "exports"], factory);
	//normal script tag
	} else {
		factory(ko);
	}
}(function(ko) {
	/**
	 * ko.observable.fn.focusable
	 *
	 * A Knockout extension for programatically focusing an input
	 * @example var example = ko.observable().focusable(true);
	 *          then later example.focused(false);
	 * @see Ryan Niemeyer devLink 2013 Knockout Tips and Tricks (section on extensions - setting focus to an element)
	 *      http://www.knockmeout.net/2013/09/devlink-2013-ko-tips.html
	 * @param {booleen}
	 * @return {this} for chainability
	 */
	ko.observable.fn.focusable = function(value) {
		"use strict";
		this.focused = ko.observable(value);
		return this;
	};

	/**
	 * Knockout Crud
	 *
	 * A Knockout extension to crud items in a Observables and Observable Arrays
	 * @param {object} params.uniqueIdentifier is the key that stores a unique value to identify the instance
	 *                 params.constructor The constructor for the Observable Array
	 * @return {this} for chainability
	 */
	ko.observableArray.fn.crud = function(params) {
		"use strict";
		// Definitions
		if (!params) {
			console.log("'{ constructor: ConstructorName}' required when calling crud()");
		}
		if (!params.nameOfUpdateFunction) {
			params.nameOfUpdateFunction = "update";
		}

		// Helper Methods
		var cleanItem = function(item) {
			item = ko.toJS(item);
			delete item[params.nameOfUpdateFunction]; // remove method
			return item;
		};

		// hold a copy of the original collection for running through upon cancel
		this.beforeEdit = ko.observable();

		// park changes in temporary files for cancelling an edit of a collection
		this.justRemoved = ko.observableArray();
		this.justAdded = ko.observableArray();

		/**
		 * Compare to the beforeEdit to obtain the difference with the current observableArray.  Useful for updating the server following completion of edits to an observableArray.
		 * @return {array} two keys of 'previous' and 'value'
		 */
		this.justUpdated = function(){
			var originalItems = this.beforeEdit.peek();
			if (originalItems) {
				var edited = ko.observableArray(this.slice(0));
				edited.removeAll(this.justAdded.peek());
				var editedClean = ko.toJS(edited);

				if (editedClean.length) {
					var toReturn = [];
					ko.utils.arrayForEach(editedClean, function(item){
						// get original item
						var originalItem = ko.utils.arrayFirst(originalItems, function(original){
							return original[params.uniqueIdentifier] === item[params.uniqueIdentifier];
						});

						// record if different
						if (originalItem && (ko.toJSON(item) !== ko.toJSON(originalItem))) {
							delete originalItem[params.nameOfUpdateFunction];
							delete item[params.nameOfUpdateFunction];
							toReturn.push({
								previous: originalItem,
								value: item
							});
						}
					});
					return toReturn;
				}
			}
			return [];
		};

		// Add new data to an Observable Array with an array or object
		// Based upon Knockout.js Performance Gotcha #2 - Manipulating observableArrays
		// Reference: http://www.knockmeout.net/2012/04/knockoutjs-performance-gotcha.html
		this.insert = function(valuesToPush, Constructor) {

			// Definitions
			var newItems;
			if (!Constructor) {
				var Constructor = params.constructor;
			}

			if (Object.prototype.toString.call(valuesToPush) === "[object Array]") { // if an array
				newItems = ko.utils.arrayMap(valuesToPush, function(item) {
					return new Constructor(item);
				});
				this.push.apply(this, newItems); // push all in at once
			} else {
				// assume an object
				newItems = new Constructor(valuesToPush);
				this.push(newItems);
			}
			return newItems; // return a copy for further modification of the new item
		};

		/**
		 * upsert
		 *
		 * Add or Update an Observable Array.  Used when you do not know if data received is a new instance or update of an existing item.  This method requires an update function on each instance of an Observable Array to save.
		 * @uses params.uniqueIdentifier for discovering if the object already exists, otherwise new items are created using the insert method
		 *        Note that 'this()' refers to the Observable Array
		 * @param {object|array} valuesToPushOrUpdate
		 */
		this.upsert = function(valuesToPushOrUpdate) {
			// Definitions
			var cleanValues = ko.toJS(valuesToPushOrUpdate);

			if (Object.prototype.toString.call(cleanValues) === "[object Array]") { // if an array
				var self = this;
				ko.utils.arrayForEach(cleanValues, function(cleanValue) {
					var id = cleanValue[params.uniqueIdentifier];
					var index;

					var exists = ko.utils.arrayFirst(self.peek(), function(item, i) {
						index = i;
						return item[params.uniqueIdentifier].peek() === id;
					});

					// update
					if (exists) {
						var old = ko.toJS(exists);
						exists[params.nameOfUpdateFunction](cleanValue);
						if (ko.toJSON(old) !== ko.toJSON(exists)) {
							self.notifySubscribers([{
								index: index,
								previous: cleanItem(old),
								status: "updated",
								value: exists
							}], "arrayChange");
						}

					} else {
						// add new
						self.insert(cleanValue);
					}

				});

			} else { // assume an object
				var id = cleanValues[params.uniqueIdentifier];
				var index;

				var exists = ko.utils.arrayFirst(this.peek(), function(item, i) {
					index = i;
					return item[params.uniqueIdentifier].peek() === id;
				});

				// update
				if (exists) {
					var old = ko.toJS(exists);
					exists[params.nameOfUpdateFunction](cleanValues);
					if (ko.toJSON(old) !== ko.toJSON(exists)) {
						this.notifySubscribers([{
							index: index,
							previous: cleanItem(old),
							status: "updated",
							value: cleanItem(exists)
						}], "arrayChange");
					}
				} else {
					// add new
					this.insert(cleanValues);
				}

			}
		};

		/**
		 * deleteItem
		 *
		 * Remove an item from an edited collection
		 * @param {object}
		 */
		this.deleteItem = function(item) {
			this.remove(item);

			// Definitions
			var removedItem = ko.toJS(item);
			var toRemove;

			// Remove from justAdded if it exists there to keep justAdded useful for cancelling a collection edit
			if (this.justAdded().length) {

				// if unique identifier specified as an option
				if (params.uniqueIdentifier) {
					toRemove = ko.utils.arrayFilter(this.justAdded(), function(justAddedItem) {
						// compare the values of justAdded to that of Removed Item.  If same we need to delete the removedItem from justAdded
						if (justAddedItem[params.uniqueIdentifier] === removedItem[params.uniqueIdentifier]) {
							return removedItem;
						}
					});
				} else {

					// check the property value of each property
					toRemove = ko.utils.arrayFilter(this.justAdded(), function(justAddedItem) {
						// compare the values of justAdded to that of Removed Item.  If same we need to delete the removedItem from justAdded
						var current = ko.unwrap(justAddedItem);
						var identicalObjects = true;

						for (var property in current) {
							if (current[property] !== removedItem[property]) {
								identicalObjects = false;
							}
						}
						if (identicalObjects) {
							return removedItem;
						}
					});
				}

				if (toRemove.length) {
					this.justAdded.removeAll(toRemove);
				} else {

					// add item to park for unwind upon Cancel
					this.justRemoved.push(item);
				}
			} else {

				// add item to park for unwind upon Cancel
				this.justRemoved.push(item);
			}

		}.bind(this);

		/**
		 * Cancel the editing of a collection
		 *
		 * Revert the collection back to the way it was when editing started
		 */
		this.cancelEdit = function() {
			// To revert the collection back to its original:
			// 1) remove what was added
			// 2) add back the deleted items
			// 3) replace the edited items with the original

			// Definitions
			var originalItems = this.beforeEdit.peek();

			if (originalItems) { // don't process an empty array

				// 1) remove recently added
				if (this.justAdded().length) {
					this.removeAll(this.justAdded());
					this.justAdded.removeAll(); // empty the parked adds
				}

				// 2) add recently deleted items
				// Note: do this because there is no access to the constructor
				if (this.justRemoved().length) {
					for (var i = 0, len = this.justRemoved().length; i < len; i++) {
						var current = this.justRemoved()[i];
						this.unshift(current); // don't worry about order as we will overwrite in the next step
					}
					this.justRemoved.removeAll(); // empty the parked removes
				}

				// 3) replace each object with its original
				for (var j = 0; j < originalItems.length; j++) {
					var currentItem = originalItems[j]; // pre edited object

					// update collection
					this()[j][params.nameOfUpdateFunction](currentItem);
				}
			}
		};

		/**
		 * Provide a separate observable for adding an item to an array
		 * @type {observable}
		 */
		this.itemForAdding = ko.observable();

		// throw away itemForAdding
		this.cancelAdd = function(){
            this.itemForAdding(null);
        }.bind(this);

		/**
		 * Editing an object within an array of objects
		 *
		 * hold the currently selected item when editing (keeps a record of what "this" is).
		When finished editing, use the update function.
		 * @example var current = yourCollection.selectedItem();
		 *          current.update(newData);
		 * @link http://jsfiddle.net/rniemeyer/MQVr3/
		 */

		// retain a copy of 'this' for accessing the update method later
		this.selectedItem = ko.observable();

		// Edit copy
		this.itemForEditing = ko.observable();

		//populate the selected item and make a copy for editing
		this.selectItem = function(item) {
			this.selectedItem(item);
			this.itemForEditing(new params.constructor(ko.toJS(item)));
		}.bind(this);

		this.acceptItem = function() {
			var selected = this.selectedItem(); // obtain "this"
			var originalItem = cleanItem(this.selectedItem.peek());
			var edited = cleanItem(this.itemForEditing.peek()); //clean copy of edited item

			//apply updates from the edited item to the selected item
			selected[params.nameOfUpdateFunction](edited);

			// Publish change
			if (ko.toJSON(originalItem) !== ko.toJSON(edited)) {
				this.notifySubscribers([{
					index: this.indexOf(selected),
					previous: originalItem,
					status: "updated",
					value: selected
				}], "arrayChange");
			}

			//clear
			this.selectedItem(null);
			this.itemForEditing(null);
		}.bind(this);

		// throw away the edited item and clear the selected observables
		this.revertItem = function() {
			this.selectedItem(null);
			this.itemForEditing(null);
		}.bind(this);

		this.removeItem = function() {
			var selected = this.selectedItem(); // obtain "this"
			var id = ko.unwrap(selected[params.uniqueIdentifier]);
			var exists = ko.utils.arrayFirst(this.peek(), function(item) {
				return ko.unwrap(item[params.uniqueIdentifier]) === id;
			});
			this.remove(exists);

			//clear selected item
			this.selectedItem(null);
			this.itemForEditing(null);
		}.bind(this);

		return this;
	};

})); // close module loader

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sihad Keyrouz – libański judoka. Olimpijczyk z Moskwy 1980, gdzie zajął dziewiąte miejsce w wadze ekstralekkiej.

Letnie Igrzyska Olimpijskie 1980

Przypisy

Libańscy olimpijczycy
Libańscy judocy
Uczestnicy Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich 1980
Urodzeni w XX wieku

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Ministry of Coal has increased the Coal stock & Coal supply to power plants to meet the energy demands in the country. With the focus on boosting the domestic Coal Supply, the Coal stock in power plants as on 31st December 2018 was 16.607 MT as compared to 31st December 2017 which was 13.199 MT. The increase in Coal stock in Power Plants is around 25% as compared to last year. As on 31st December 2018, number of power plants in Critical/Super Critical Category was 9 as compared to 31st December 2017 which was 13.
The Coal Stock in power plants on 31st December 2018 was sufficient for ten days as compared to the Coal stock in power plants in 31st December 2017 which was sufficient for nine days. The Coal supply from Coal India Limited (CIL) to power plants as on 30th December 2018 was 357.5 MT as compared to 30th December 2017 which was 332.03 MT. The increase of the Coal Supply from CIL to power plants is around 7.7% as compared to last year.


It is for this reason that we have culled out 85 such stories from the huge treasure of His divine discourses to present them in the form of quizzes. Here is the fourth part of this series which has 10 questions. We hope this will serve you in revisiting and reminiscing His message.
41. During a divine discourse given in 1982, Swami narrated a story of a famous devotee Kooresa to teach us that unadulterated devotion and total renunciation alone can help us to achieve the awareness of our Divinity.
Baba said: "Kooresa was the headman of a village in the days of Raamaanuja. His other name was Sreevathsaanka and he revered Raamaanuja, the Acharya of Visishta adwaitha (qualified non-dualism) as his Guru. He renounced all his possessions and proceeded towards the holy shrine of Shrirangam on the banks of the river Kaveri, accompanied by his wife Aandaal. As they were walking through a thick jungle at night fall, his wife asked him in a voice tremulous with fear, 'Are there robbers around?' He replied, 'Why should we fear when we have nothing with us for them to rob.' The wife then confessed that she had with her a small golden cup, which she had brought along to serve water to her husband. Kooresa did not approve of her action. He asked for the cup, threw it far into the jungle and they proceeded in peace.
"In a few minutes, a procession from the temple reached the choultry; a band of pipers and drummers leading the long line of priests and pundits. The Lord had commanded them to take the food offerings to his devotees at the choultry. They brought silver plates and vessels full of a rich variety of dishes. Kooresa rose and sat up. He protested, 'I did not pray for food. The Lord should grant me what I need and pray for, He cannot give me what I did not ask for! How can this Atma ask the Paramaatma for something to fill the stomach?' Because the temple priests pressed him to partake of the prasad (food offered to the Deity), he partook a little and gave some to his wife. He then questioned her, 'Did you commit the mistake of praying for food?' She replied, 'Lord! I did not ask so. I only had a feeling in my mind - How could you, O Krishna, accept those offerings when Your servant is starving?'"
What does Swami want us to learn from this enlightening story?
A. God gives us whatever we ask for!
B. God is the only treasure we should aspire for!
C. God always takes care of His devotees!
D. We must never challenge God!
42. During a divine discourse given in 1963, Swami shared a story of a pious priest Dhevesha whose story is little known to others.
Baba said: "In Rajasthan, there was a priest who worshipped the image of Bala Krishna (Lord Krishna as a child) installed in the temple, attached to the palace of Udaipur. His name was Dhevesha. His story may not be found anywhere but since he was intimately connected with Me, I know him very well. Every night he used to put Bala Krishna to sleep, with appropriate rituals and close the door of the shrine; but, before he came out, he would take from the head of the image, the jasmine garland he had placed there in the evening and wear it himself. Of course, on those days on which the Mahaaraana (the King) visited the temple, the garland had to be given to him.
What happened when the King plucked the hair of Lord Bala Krishna forcefully?
A. Lord Krishna instantly appeared and reprimanded the King for his heinous act.
B. The King was surprised to find drops of blood at the roots.
C. The King received a shock and repulsed immediately.
D. Try as much as he can, the King could not move the Lord's hair by even an inch.
43. During a divine discourse given in 1962, Swami narrated the story of yet another devotee, to teach us that a true bhakta will always be held dear to the heart by the Lord.
He said: "There was in Bengal a devotee named Maadhavadaasa, who realized when his wife died, that he had lost his griha (home); for his grihalakshmi (wife, literally meaning 'Goddess of the home') had passed away. So he gave away all his riches to the poor, donned a gerua (yellow) robe and wandered alone as a pilgrim and eventually reached the Jagannaatha Shrine. There he did such deep penance that with time, the image of worship evolved into Abstract Reality and that Reality became a Perpetual Vision. He lost all sense of time and space, of chith and a-chith (awareness and ignorance).
"Then the Lord, with Subhadra, His shakti-aspect, appeared by his side and placed before him the gold plate with food which was offered to Lord Jagannaatha in the sanctum sanctorum. When Maadhavadaasa awoke from his spiritual reverie, he saw the gold plate with the delicious food offerings; he ate his fill and returned to his inner paradise which he had left for a while.
According to Swami, why did the Lord Jagannaatha enact this whole drama?
A. To reiterate the fact that the Lord does accept offerings made at shrines.
B. To indicate to the head priest that his devotion was impure.
C. To bring to the notice of all the true love of this devotee and thereby demonstrate to others the real nature of devotion.
D. To declare to the world that God always severely tests His devotees.
44. During a divine discourse given in 1967, Swami narrated an interesting episode from the life of an Emperor.
Baba said: "Once the Emperor of the Cholas (a Tamil dynasty that ruled parts of southern India from 3rd century BC to the 13th century AD) wished to visit the Shrirangam Gopuram Temple, about which he had heard a lot. He attempted many times to make a pilgrimage to this temple, but every time he began the journey on his chariot he was intercepted by a recluse in ochre robes with a rosary around his neck and a divine halo. When the Emperor would alight to honour him, the monk would keep him engaged in conversation, which was so enchanting that the Emperor forgot his journey and its destination.
Then the Lord explained to the Emperor what true pilgrimage is. What is it?
A. Seeing the Lord in one and all.
B. To revere and respect saints and recluses.
D. Yearning for darshan is itself pilgrimage.
"Once Dakshinamurthi set out on a journey around the world. One day, standing on a beach, he was listening in rapt attention to the Pranava-like roaring of the waves of the sea. Then, swept by the breeze, two pieces of straw fell into the sea. Wave after wave rose up and pushed the straw ashore. In the meantime, some withered leaves also fell into the sea. At once, they too were pushed to the shore by the rising waves.
What subtle lesson did Dakshinamurthi learn from the scene he saw?
A. It is not easy to merge in God.
B. A sadhaka should constantly chant Omkara (pranava).
C. We should never give up .
D. We should not permit impurities to contaminate our heart and mind.
"Vasishta had attained the title of Brahmarishi and Viswamitra also wanted to attain it. Even after years of tapas (penance), he could not attain the same. Later Viswamitra became furious when Vasishta did not agree to call him so even after the world had honoured him with the appellation of Brahmarishi. Anger induced the thought in Viswamitra that if he eliminated Vasishta from the world, then everyone would honour him with the name of Brahmarishi.
"Once, on a moonlit night, Vasishta was describing to his pupils the qualities of Viswamitra. Viswamitra, who was hiding behind a bush with a sword in his hand to stab Vasishta, happened to hear the glowing tributes Vasishta was paying to him; he even compared the good qualities of Viswamitra to the moonlight.
Swami drew a parallel between the King in this story and the Creator (God); the exhibits and the creation (material objects). The obvious lesson is that when you have the Creator you have the creation in all its entirety too. What other reasons did Swami give to encourage us to seek God and not the objects of the world?
A. Whole world is going to end one day.
B. There is no end to the process of seeking objects and there is no satisfaction in that.
C. Why desire for things when we know that ultimately one has to leave the world empty-handed.
D. Man can seek whatever he wants but only after he desires for God.
"There was a king who led his mighty army across the snowy peaks that formed the boundary of his kingdom, into his neighbour's realm. On a lofty pass thick with snow, he saw a mendicant sitting on a bare rock, with his head between his knees evidently to protect it from the chill wind that blew through a gap in the peak. He hardly had any clothes on his body.
"The king was overcome with pity; he took off his own shawl and coat, and offered them to the ascetic. The yogi refused to accept them; he said, 'God has given me enough clothing to guard myself against heat and cold. He gives me all that I need. Please give these to someone who is poor.' The King was surprised at these words. He asked him where is clothing was.
Through this story, Swami wants us to learn what the king learnt from the beggar; what is that lesson?
49. During a divine discourse given in 1964, Swami narrated a story from the life of the famous King Akbar, who like many, wanted to know why an Avatar descends to the world.
Swami said: "You may ask, why should the Lord incarnate? Why can He not accomplish the task of restoring Dharma (righteousness) through the many demigods He has at His command?
"This question was passed before the courtiers by Akbar himself for, he laughed at the Hindu belief of the Formless adopting a Form, and descending into the world as an Avatar to save dharma.
Swami went on to say that God too in the similar fashion comes down Himself to protect His dear son. Who is that son?
B. The land of Bharath.
C. The scriptures, vedas and puranas.
"Once Emperor Ashoka was going through a forest. Seeing a Buddhist monk, he alighted from his horse and prostrated at his feet. Ashoka's minister was shocked; he wondered, 'How can such a great man bow before such a lowly one, a renunciate?' Nevertheless, the minister kept quiet.
"Later when they were back in the palace, the minister gently raised the topic and said, 'O Emperor, how can such a great and intelligent one like you place your head at the feet of an inconsequential monk?' Ashoka just smiled and did not reply.
"Some days later, he summoned the minister and casually said, 'Obtain first the head of a sheep, a goat, and a man. Take these three and try to sell them in the market. Come and report to me once you do this.' The minister was taken aback by this most peculiar command, but then, orders are orders, especially when they come directly from the Emperor.
What lesson was Ashoka trying to teach the minister?
A. Only an intelligent man's head is of any value!
B. As the minister was inefficient, he had no right to question his master.
C. Though the head has no value, when placed at the feet of a noble one, it brings blessings and grace.
D. Other animals are far more useful than man.


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August 19: Happy 78th Birthday Ginger Baker
"They credited us with the birth of that sort of heavy metal thing. Well, if that's the case, there should be an immediate abortion."
~Ginger Baker
If I am playing any music at all it is jazz music.
There are a lot of great drummers. But Ginger Baker is an inspiration because of a certain almost relaxing quality that he brings to the drums. While a lot of drummers are putting speed and power first, Baker put rhythm first.
~bgamall.hubpages.com
Ginger Baker Biography – youtube video:
Peter Edward Baker
19 August 1939 (age 77)
Jazz, blues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, jazz fusion
Musician, songwriter
Polydor, Warner Bros., Island, Universal,Atlantic
Associated acts
Blues Incorporated, Ginger Baker and Friends, Cream, Blind Faith, Baker Gurvitz Army, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Hawkwind,Public Image Ltd., Atomic Rooster, Masters of Reality, Ginger Baker Trio, BBM, Fela Kuti
www.gingerbaker.com
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (born 19 August 1939, Lewisham, South London) is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences. He has also had other collaborations such as with Gary Moore, Hawkwind and Public Image Ltd.
Alldylan / Borntolisten @ Facebook
Baker's drumming attracted attention for its flamboyance, showmanship and his use of two bass drums instead of the conventional single bass kick drum (following a similar set-up used by Louie Bellson during his days with Duke Ellington). Although a firmly established rock drummer and praised as "Rock's first superstar drummer", he prefers being called a jazz drummer. Baker's influence has extended to drummers of both genres, including Billy Cobham, Peter Criss, Bill Ward, Ian Paice, Nick Mason, and John Bonham. AllMusic has described him as "the most influential percussionist of the 1960s" and stated that "virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing."
While at times performing in a similar way to Keith Moon from The Who, Baker also employs a more restrained style influenced by the British jazz groups he heard during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In his early days as a drummer, he performed lengthy drum solos, the best known being the five minute drum solo "Toad" from Cream's debut album Fresh Cream (1966). He is also noted for using a variety of other percussion instruments and for his application of African rhythms. He would often emphasize the flam, a drum rudiment in which both sticks attack the drumhead at almost the same time, giving a heavy thunderous sound.
Ginger Baker was rock's first superstar drummer and the most influential percussionist of the 1960s. There were other drummers who were well-known to the public before him, including the Beatles' Ringo Starr and, in England at the end of the 1950s, the Shadows' Tony Meehan, but they were famous primarily for the groups in which they played and for attributes beyond their musicianship. Baker made his name entirely on his playing, initially as showcased in Cream, but far transcending even that trio's relatively brief existence. Though he only cut top-selling records for a period of about three years at the end of the 1960s, virtually every drummer of every heavy metal band that has followed since that time has sought to emulate some aspect of Baker's playing. (Bruce Eder – allmusic.com)
Read more.. @ allmusic.com
"Toad" (Cream) – live at Royal Albert Hall, London. November 26th, 1968:
June 7, 1969 at Hyde Park.
Cream – Disraeli Gears (1967):
01 Strange Brew"
02 Sunshine of Your Love"
03 World of Pain"
04 Dance the Night Away"
05 Blue Condition"
06 Tales of Brave Ulysses"
06 SWLABR"
08 We're Going Wrong"
09 Outside Woman Blues"
10 Take It Back"
11 Mother's Lament"
Posted in Music CalendarTagged audio, cream, ginger baker, pictures, Videos
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Панчу () — місто у повіті Вранча в Румунії. Адміністративно місту підпорядковані такі села (дані про населення за 2002 рік):
 Думбрава (547 осіб)
 Круча-де-Жос (458 осіб)
 Круча-де-Сус (846 осіб)
 Нейку (613 осіб)
 Сату-Ноу (962 особи)

Місто розташоване на відстані 181 км на північний схід від Бухареста, 24 км на північ від Фокшан, 143 км на південь від Ясс, 90 км на північний захід від Галаца, 118 км на схід від Брашова.

Населення
За даними перепису населення 2002 року у місті проживали  особи.

Національний склад населення міста:

Рідною мовою назвали:

Склад населення міста за віросповіданням:

Примітки

Міста Вранчі


2017 Publications Director Eddie Watson sits down for an interview with Nathan Cotton, an economist for QIC.
EW: So, let's start with a bit about yourself. How did you progress from doing Honours, to working at the RBA, and then now at QIC?
NC: I would probably go a little bit earlier, so I originally studied Economics while also working at the Queensland Treasury Department. And around that time I decided I liked the 'research' side of economics — I was already doing the Quantitative Methods major at the time, which is probably the ideal strain to do if you want to go to the RBA or something like that, and I also did a research scholarship program at ANU. UQ actually does a similar program now (for more information on UQ's summer research scholar program, check here — applications for summer programs close in August).
So, I went and did a research project there for a couple of months over summer on monetary policy. That helped a bit as well; this was well before Honours but having some sort of research experience definitely helped. Then the following year, I went and did an internship at the RBA.
EW: Did you do any extracurricular activities such as competitions during your undergraduate degree?
NC: No actually. I think if I had more time I definitely would have gotten involved in those extracurricular sort of stuff, but because I was working that was difficult. I actually did my degree over 4 years instead of 3 because I was working basically full time. So that unfortunately didn't leave a lot of time to get involved in things like the Economics Society, getting involved in competitions and things like that. For example, the RBA runs their yearly essay competition, but I never really had time to apply for that personally. But things like that are definitely worth going for, if you have time.
EW: Yeah definitely, I personally found a lot of those extracurricular activities were easier to do in first and second year when you, generally speaking, don't tend to have full-time industry-related jobs lined up. When other things come along, it really is difficult to divert your attention to those things.
NC: Yeah, and the job definitely becomes your priority as well.
So anyway, I wound up at the RBA, and was there for a year and a half. I was in what's called the Economic Group, and I was an economist in the China section of that group — called the Asian Economies Research Unit.
And now I've been at QIC for about 6 weeks.
EW: So, what sort of stuff do you do with this research on China? I guess you look at all the data, crunch the numbers and then write a report on it, and that goes on to the decision makers?
NC: Yeah, so broadly there are two components in that. And this definitely applies to other groups more broadly in the economics area as well. You might be responsible for a certain area of the economy: in my case I was responsible for trend prices, inflation and things. When the data comes out, you'd do a quick report on that, highlight the numbers, and highlighting if there's anything that is unusual, you know for example if inflation is stronger or weaker than expected or something like that, and also thinking like how that might relate to new policy coming out of China.
And then you'd always be working on like a longer-term research project as well, which is kind of cool as well. And so that's, more broadly, when you're working in the economics team, the kind of work you do. Whether you're working in the Australian economy or more global part or something like that, when your data comes out, you'd do a report on it but then also you'd have some sort of research work as well.
EW: Did that set you up pretty well for what you do at QIC, or is the QIC work a bit different from that?
NC: So, the QIC work is a lot broader in what we do, partly because we have a small team, while the RBA is a whole organisation of economists. Even bigger banks like ANZ will also have bigger teams, and they might have an economics team dedicated to say just looking at the Australian economy for example. At QIC, we just have a small team that does everything related to both the Australian and global economy.
For me personally, that was one of the reasons why this role was attractive to me. Working as an economist here, you have to prioritise whatever is interesting or notable that is happening in the global economy at the time. For example, one of the other economists here had to run scenario analysis on the US Presidential election, Brexit, things like that last year.
EW: Is that all sort of like the statistics side of it will be, you're running regressions and looking at the data, and from that drawing your conclusions?
NC: Yeah, we usually do regression-type stuff. So, for example, recently I have been working on an on-going global research of the Phillips Curve relationship. In a number of countries, the labour market is doing quite well. In America for example, unemployment rate is historically speaking really low. Looking at official employment stats which came out last Friday night, they're still adding monthly payrolls at quite a high rate, but it's not really leading to any wage growth and any inflation. So that's quite a conundrum, and there's a question of whether this Phillips Curve relationship is broken down. So yeah, particular things that come up, we'll run a regression and see if we can estimate that relationship.
But then we also run a global model that has some of those relationships embedded in it. A lot of that is based on say error correction models or something like that. And we'll run forecasts, simulations or scenario analysis on that on say a quarterly basis. We might also go in and re-estimate some of the individual equations in that big model if we think they might need to be changed or updated.
EW: So, to put that in the border context, your job is to be looking at all the data and then getting a picture of how the economy is going and what is coming in the future? How does that fit within the broader role of QIC as a company?
NC: Yeah so one of the examples is, as you said, trying to get a sense of what is happening heading into the future. We'll try and estimate or forecast cash rate paths or interest rate paths of say the Australian or US economy. So that can then go into models for our investment teams — so like their fixed income investing.
A number of our investment funds have systematic approaches to valuations, and what goes into the fair valuation of those assets will be like an interest rate path going out into the future. So, some of what we do will feed into their interest rate forecasts and things like that.
We also have a big real estate investment practice, so like office towers or shopping centres. That's globally as well, it can be Australia or the US or something like that. So, say with shopping centres, the team will be interested in what's going on with standard retail sales and consumer consumption. But how well the investment does could also be related to house prices or turnover — if people are buying new houses, they're more likely to maybe go out and spend money on furnishings for the house. So, our forecasts for those kinds of things — consumption, retail sales — will then go and help the global real estate team make decisions about their assets.
With infrastructure, for example QIC was one of the buyers of the Port of Melbourne last year. Things as simple as forecasting what traffic through a port might be; estimating trade going forward for example.
EW: Right, so to summarise, QIC goes out and invests in a whole bunch of assets, like bonds, real estate, infrastructure. You've got dedicated investment teams making those decisions. The economics team is helping them see the bigger picture of what is going on.
EW: Is there any current research at the moment that you're finding really interesting?
NC: Yeah so, the big thing right now is who is hiking rates. Even now if we look at the dot plot of forecast value of interest rates from the Fed, they don't match up with what market expectations are in 2018 for US rate hikes. A lot of that is going to be based on what is happening with inflation data: core inflation has been pretty low in recent months. Which kind of goes along with the Phillips curve analysis I mentioned earlier.
EW: Have you also been looking at the RBA as well and what they might do?
NC: So yeah what's happened lately: the UK has generally come out quite hawkish (probably more than expected); ECB has made a few comments that are slightly more hawkish than expected. As a result, one thing that people were looking at last week with the RBA decision was whether the Governor was making any hawkish comments as well.
It's a bit different though because Australia is in a slightly different economic cycle compared to the rest of the world. Everyone else globally is in a bit of an upswing of economic recovery (UK, Europe, USA). Australia is still benefiting from headwinds from the mining investment boom.
So, we're in a slightly different point in the cycle: we've still got consistently low wage growth that's holding inflation back as well. The question for us is what will happen if the Bank of England and European Central Bank start hiking rates or reducing bond purchases; likewise, with the Fed, we want to know what their hikes might be in 2018. Because what that means for Australia: if everyone else hikes, that might dampen our currency a bit. Does that mean that the RBA can then lift rates or does that mean they'll take the free kick and keep rates low? That's always part of our work but that's a particularly interesting puzzle at the moment.
EW: If that sort of thing continues then, say the RBA does decide to hike rates over the next few years, that obviously has an effect on interest rate repayments, right? So, if QIC has a lot of investment in real estate, is that another thing you have to be careful of? Whether the real estate market would move adversely?
NC: Yeah, I mean there's a few different points on that. For us in the economics team, it would probably be more about how it affects the consumer.
There might be a little bit on how it might affect asset valuations. So obviously while interest rates have been low globally, there's been this global search for yield, and people have found it hard to find a decent return on investment. Things like property prices and equities have grown quite a lot. So, you'd expect if interest rates come back up again, you wouldn't see the same strength in capital appreciation in assets and things like that. In that respect, we might look at it.
More importantly though, we would look at its impact on households. If interest rates come up and everyone needs to pay more on their mortgages, that would dampen consumer spending. Because we own things like shopping centres, we'd be interested in how that might affect retail sales.
EW: If students were interested in working at the RBA or QIC, what sort of things should they be doing in their undergraduate degree? What sort of people do you think would be interested in doing the role that you do?
NC: I think working hard at university and doing the macro and econometric courses will help for roles at the RBA or QIC. Getting some broader experience on top of university, whether that's a research scholarship/internship or research at government institutions (Federal or Queensland Treasury for example) or a bank, while you're studying is also really helpful.
Another thing that I think that helps is having a wider understanding of what's actually going on in the global economy. I think it's quite easy to just study all the theory, but you need to go beyond and read quite widely. Whether that's reading a business paper or even the RBA's periodic reports and research papers. Reading the RBA's monthly statement and the minutes from the meeting, which both give snapshots into the economy and a summary of what they think is going on in the economy — global economy, housing market — and why they decided to keep rates on hold or raise it or whatever. So even deciding to read things like that to be abreast of what's happening in economics, outside of the theory, helps a lot.
If you go into an interview and you're aware of what's happening in the economy, that looks really impressive.
EW: Great, thank you very much for your time today Nathan.


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The Failure of Liberalism
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Sunday 20th July 2008
Year A, The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Holy Trinity, Hurstpierpoint
Family Eucharist
Matthew 13:24-30;
Ben Kinsella, aged 16, is simply the most prominent of the children in London to be murdered so far this year, prompting two kinds of reaction: calls for yet more draconian prison sentences; and pleas that we must do more than that, or even something different.
Last year UNICEF reported that British children had the lowest level of well being of all the rich countries. One of the Report's conclusions is that there is no obvious relationship between levels of child well being and GDP per capita: the Czech Republic, for example, achieves a higher overall rank for child well being than several much wealthier countries including France, Austria, the USA and UK; yet when parents are confronted with their own child negligence we almost invariably reply that we are maximising family income to give the children the things they need.
This sorry state of affairs has many complex components but there seem to be three which stand out: first, many in our society have renounced responsibility for what is happening, referring to "feral children" in much the same way that we might refer to "feral cats", as something over which we have no actual or moral control; secondly, this distancing reflects our cultural ambivalence towards children which treats them as commodities without full personhood to be dressed, spoiled and shown off so that, as they become teenagers and break the mould of the pampered object, their awkwardness and rebellion are greeted with hostility rather than love; and, thirdly, and most fundamentally, there is a general belief that, in whatever way we disagree about remedies - whether we are all for locking them up and throwing away the key or drowning them in community initiatives - the answer lies in social policy.
On the surface, today's Gospel looks straightforward. A concerned slave wonders whether to uproot the weeds that an enemy has sown but the master commends leaving them be until the harvest, on the ostensible ground of agricultural prudence; but there is surely more to it than that. In the first place, we need to think of the "enemy" not as an outsider, a "feral villain" but as part of our society. He is part of us. We are part of him. If we had organised our collective life differently he might never have sown the evil. Secondly, this parable tells us that it is our lot to live alongside the weeds - always supposing that we are wheat and not weeds - and that we must certainly not take those whom we suppose to be weeds and lock them up and throw away the key, even less commit judicial murder.
The contrast between the weeds and the wheat is deceptively sharp. Which of us can say that we are always wheat? And, conversely, can we honestly say that others are always weeds? The image is surely too static, not taking account of the changes that we undergo in our outlook and our conduct.
Yet to think that social policy will transform the weeds into wheat is an illusion. If we look at the pictures of Hogarth, we might argue that the debauchery - "Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence", - was closely related to the poverty of physical and intellectual means. Today, even the poorest in our society have a degree of income and self determination unimaginable to the 18th Century London outcast or the 19th Century Lancashire mill worker; but the degradation, alienation and violence persist. The shadow of William Golding's Lord of The Flies haunts us, as does the Stanford University experiment in which students were split into guards and prisoners, the guards being so cruel that the experiment had to stop. We have seen this recently, graphically in Abu Ghraib.
The conclusion we have to draw from all this, is that liberalism and economic well being are not enough; that, left unloved, people will sink to their basest, sliding away from God.
As the number of stabbings increases and as the economy turns down, generating more crime, we will be witnesses of a Dutch auction by our politicians to increase spending on policing and to increase penalties for crimes of violence. As Christians we should remember that civil justice is a crude necessity, the result of our inability to stay constant to our Creator but, bearing that in mind, we have a duty to engage in society. We should therefore do everything we can to resist the call for a more punitive society; but we only have the right to do that if we commit ourselves to the way of Jesus. We must pledge our engagement, love and sacrifice: engagement because, no matter what we personally think, those we call weeds are still part of God's creation for whom we have a responsibility; sacrifice, because the 'liberal' way of paying our taxes and then a bit extra to charity so that everybody else can solve our social problems, has failed; love, because that is what marks us out as Christians.
In looking forward to the harvest, the language of Matthew is characteristically stark: the weeds will be gathered up into bundles and burned while the wheat is gathered into the master's barn; we see a similar distinction in his parable of the goats and sheep. It is tempting for us to anticipate God's judgment by imposing our own, not only within the formal judicial system but also in the way, for example, we look at immigrants, poor people and teenagers. We must resist. Jesus did not teach us simply to love the people we like nor to be generous to the reasonably well off; as Christians we have an over-riding obligation to come alongside the poor. We may find pleasure in twinning with nice little towns in France and Germany with their quaint buildings and different food and wine, but it is our Christian obligation to twin with people nearer to home which is one of the strands of our Mission Action Plan.
Now it may seem to us that this is a peculiarly bad time for this kind of commitment - food and petrol prices are rising; the value of houses, pensions and other investments is falling - but no matter how bad it will be for us it will be disproportionately worse for those who are poorer than us; it always is. The "credit crunch" started because the rich were too greedy in their exploitation of the poor. It was caused by "feral bankers"; who grew up among us, whom we see on Hassocks Station going into the City. There is not one of us who is not part of the society whose ills we mourn; and appealing to some notional golden age is an evasion.
If we are to live in Christ's field, not knowing from day to day whether we are wheat or weeds, we must pledge ourselves to care particularly for the rankest weeds, for those in the poorest soil, for those whose growth is stunted by the toxic waste we have discarded. But if this is calculated or even simply the recognition of a social obligation, it will not be enough. Whatever gifts we bring must be brought in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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