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Nigeria: On the Brink of a Political Youth Revolution
by Lekan Abayomi
NewsRescue- According to the World Bank, nearly 70% of Africa's over 1 billion people are under 30 years. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, leads the pack with a "very young age structure" where two-thirds of 164 million Nigerians are under the age of 30.
I'm quoting Zainab Usman, one of Nigeria's most astute female bloggers and OpEd contributors. Zainab Usman and her Zainab Musings as her blog is called, is one of many of Nigeria's youth, in their prime, of high intellectual learning and competence, but of no importance to the Nigerian government. Do I need mention Sowore and SaharaReporters?
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, a nation blessed with both natural resource and human potential, is riddled with poverty, pollution and politico- ethnic tension.
Teeming with an estimated over 100 million youth, Nigeria is globally renowned for its poor leadership by 'elders' of the same political club.
The massive youth population lack employment, 2 in 3 can not obtain a college level education, and apparently the only time the leadership of the oil rich nation is interested in its youth is when they are hired for deadly political campaigns or pitted against each other in seeming religio – ethnic wars at the command of various morally solvent political leaderships.
Indeed the deadly Movement for Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) was a creation of then governor of Rivers state, Peter Odili. These were youth hired and armed by the governor for use as political hooligans. MEND would later cut Nigeria's oil output in half, triggering the need for the then Musa Yaradua government to create an amnesty program which provided express vocational training for the redundant youth.
The Boko Haram scourge that has plagued north Nigeria is no different. Reports indicate that these were University of Maiduguri students and other jobless youth who were hired and armed as political thugs of the then governor of Borno state, Ali Modu Sheriff. Boko Haram would likewise become a scourge not just to Nigeria, but the entire world.
Nigeria: Ex-Borno Governor Created Boko Haram – Gen Useni
Gen. Useni disclosed that he had earlier warned the former governor against the use of thugs during election, saying that like in Rivers state where thuggery gave birth to militancy, Boko Haram used to be a political thug group; but later metamorphosed into a terror entity.
National problem
His words: "Just like the Boko Haram issue, it started like a Borno affair but now it is becoming a national problem. I remember when I was the Deputy National Chairman of the ANPP, I went to the state (Borno) to commission some projects and when we were driving along one of the major streets, I saw young boys selling petrol in jerry cans and I asked him (the governor), why he allowed them to be selling on a major road like that, and he said, "no, no, leave them they are very useful, during the general elections, we can use them to turn everywhere."
"So, it means they were used during the elections. So, that was how it all started. And if you remember, we had the same problem again in Rivers State where one of the former governors used thugs and at the end of it, they became militants. So, there is always reason for something", he said. Read more…
The control of Nigerian youth by the older generation, exceeds reason. One of Nigeria's ex-presidential candidates was recently praised in an article in the Guardian for having been the brain and singular engine behind the hallmark youth deadly riots in north Nigeria in which hundreds of innocent Christian and Muslim youth died:
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97533:sheikh-ibrahim-datti-ahmad-defender-of-the-faith&catid=73:policy-a-politics&Itemid=607
Over the years, Ahmad has shown that he can go to any length to defend Islam. In August 2001, he said that the SCSN would seek reprisals against the killing of northerners in the South. And when in October 2001, hundreds of southern Christians were killed in Kano, by Muslim rioters, it was alleged that Ahmed inspired them.
In 2002, in the wake of a Miss World pageant billed to hold in Abuja, a newspaper, in a bid to drum support for the pageant, made a comment that was deemed disrespectful to the Prophet Mohammed. Ahmad, alongside others, called on the Muslims Ummah to rise and defend the Islamic Faith.A bloody riot broke out thereafter in Kano and Kaduna; lives and properties were lost.
The medical practitioner is one that never shies away from any fight aimed at protecting his Muslim brothers, no matter the controversy.
In October 2003, the governors of Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara states ordered the stoppage of the polio immunisation pending when the vaccines were investigated and proven to be safe. The decision by the governors was predicated by well-grounded suspicions and rumours that the vaccine, which was rejected in the North, was contaminated and had become a tool to pursue the depopulation of Muslims in the three states, where the poliovirus was widespread then.
But the new buzz is something completely new coming out of Nigeria. Nigeria's youth have been coordinating themselves in youth movements to address the issues of their failed nation and mobilize to change these.
Youth groups have been mobilizing and setting up conferences and summits to discuss taking Nigeria forward, in August 2012 the Students association of Nigerians in the Diaspora, set up the 'Building the Nigeria we desire!' summit in which the discussion pertained, not to youth interests abroad, but to fixing their homeland.
And another movement this January decided to take the bull by the horns, gunning Nigeria's up coming political elections. The SovereignNationalParty (SNP), a youth movement that plans for a "million Nigerian youth to together register their very own youth party," as Lekan a coordinator of the group explained, has "gathered up to 2000 youth members barely 2 weeks after launch."
The online website has over 400 registered members who post very serious words in its discussion and planning "Town hall."
The SovereignNationalparty, unlike conventional party formats does not have any political candidates as yet, but only operates as a youth coordinated platform to create a masses oriented and youth serving coalition of Nigeria's millions of youths, who will choose their candidate and work together to easily dethrone the current cabal of 'outdated minds,' that occupy governing positions.
And they are real serious about it. A recent statement by the group was directed at Nigeria's youth and invited the youth to come in one and all to take their seats in their war for self-determination.
When asked if this was akin to an African Spring, the well articulated SNP spokesman, aka, coordinator replied,- "Arab spring… can you see the error of the Arab spring taking place now in Egypt, Libya? You see, a non coordinated movement easily gets stolen and undermined. Nigeria's youth are smarter based on the experience. Nigeria is lucky we did not have our spring then…we would still be in turmoil. You need to have the structure that will protect the interest of the masses and replace the fallen one, before you knock it down."
The SNP has even created a NewNigeriaProject website, which appears to be an online manifesto, but reads as a promise and plan to rescue and reshape Nigeria.
Our analysts have predicted that a youth revolution is clearly looming, and some even are of the opinion that the current government may not survive till 2015 with the rate of youth mobilization and the strong determination to challenge the government as demonstrated by the SNP. And nothing ordinary can stop the power of over 100 million coordinated youth.
Below is a press release sent by the new SNP to Nigerian media:
http://sovereignnationalparty.com/snp-message-to-nigerian-youth/
MESSAGE TO NIGERIAN YOUTH
From SovereignNationalParty.com
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men. – Plato
Are you tired of suffering and smiling in Nigeria?
Do you believe that it is your eternal destiny to be in a Nigeria where nothing works?
Do you think that generators must always buzz in the background and be the source of power in Nigeria?
Have you settled and accepted Nigeria's world status in deplorable roads and high accidents?
Do you regret those you have lost directly due to corrupt and greedy governance?
Are you embarrassed that Nigeria has the worst government in the world?
Does it hurt you that your family suffers and you cannot help them?
Does the very serious oil spillage in the Niger-Delta caused by government greed pain you?
Are you tired of ethnic violence and wish all those who kill other human beings or support and harbor such killers are dealt with in the harshest manner?
Are you frustrated about the masses in Northern Nigeria having 72.2% poverty prevalence, and levels equal to that of Eritrea, Bangladesh and Somalia?
Are you irked that Nigerians born today are, on the average, more likely to die before their 45th birthday?
Do you wish that Muslims and Christians can get along in Nigeria as they do in Ghana, or Burkina Faso with its Muslim majority and yet Christian elected President, or the peaceful reverse in Gabon, with its Christian majority, yet Muslim elected president and not be provoked to war by heartless, devilish devices; and that whoever does mob-war gets dealt with harshly?
Do you believe in a day where you are proud to say you are a Nigerian, your dignity is restored and the world clamors to visit and live in Nigeria?
Are you ashamed that today in Ghana, they say, 'Nigeria-must-go!'
Do you ever think that the multitudes of masses should certainly be able to eject the handful of usurpist, insensitive leaders?
Are you fed up of the cabal, living in fortified mansions, with even more houses than they can never occupy overseas, from your God-given wealth, who look at you like you are a goat.
Are you tired of unintelligent leaders who embarrass you to the outside world?
Do you dream of the day when Nigeria not only solves its own problems, but also the problems of fellow African nations and African Americans?
We all know these questions. The list goes on infinitely.
Change is in your hands!
The Holy Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3 (KJV)
3 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. …
The Noble Quran in 13:11 says what means:
For each one are successive [angels] before and behind him who protect him by the decree of Allah. Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. …
And Hadith says:
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Whoever of you sees something wrong should change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart, and that is the weakest form of belief.'" [Muslim]
And Plato says:
The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.
Have you not truly had enough?
Do you not notice, that we are now going down on a most dangerous path, where by the time we act, the Niger Delta would be already polluted uninhabitable, Zamfara will all be toxic lead, the North will be a destroyed, poverty and disease ridden global terror haven, the East will be an overcrowded, toxic waste ridden concrete-jungle; more of our loved ones will have died for useless reasons. Planes will keep falling from the sky, crashing into buildings and bushes, bodies popping up in rivers, buildings and holy sanctuaries being bombed and violated, kidnapping, piracy, oil plundering, with blood, blood, blood, everywhere. And the truth will be that, not just our leaders, but we all Nigerians will be written of in history as the scum of the earth, a people who were blessed most abundantly with natural and human resource, yet lacked the coherence and ability to simply lift themselves up, get rid of their hopeless governments and take their rightful seat in global affairs, Africa's largest nation and the nation that represents the black race.
The present political class is the same recycled skin of the proverbial old lizard. They are good people, they have good intentions, but the age of their ideas is long past. We are at a crossroad as a nation, and at this moment history beckons to all of us to be a part of the change we need.
Decades after independence, neither our military nor civil political class has shown the necessary understanding, skills or ability to lead this country to a path of prosperity. In fact, we are being ruled by the same set of individuals whose only contribution is the systematic pillaging of our resources and perpetuation of themselves in power.
Power of the People
Nigeria has a 50% youth population who are marginalized by its government. Most of us youth are unemployed or marginally employed. But we actually easily wield the absolute power to change things. Do you agree that the time is now? That the time is now to restore average Nigerians to government and no longer be ruled by the caucus of our worst elements?
Our human capital is Nigeria's greatest resource. Nigeria's village squares, our online fora, where brilliant youth engage and discuss their lives, providing real time invaluable statistics, must be incorporated as a relevant part of a new intellect-based system of governance in direct contact with the people.
Do you believe that the major problem we have had as a nation, is being ruled by vestiges of colonialism, the same crew of our worst products, who were schooled by the colonialist in the art of divide and rule and exploit the people. And that the political structures today, controlled by these colonial cabal is what make it impossible for any candidate who comes up under their greed guided vampire platform to do well? Do you recognize that it is time to stop whining and the time to act and give power back to the masses, and that Nigeria has such intelligent minds that can restore our Nation to a supreme status of peace, progress, ethnic coherence and common sense, prosperity, strength and pride in less than no time? That Nigeria can have refineries working, 24 hour power supply, abundance of jobs, peace and security, good roads and infrastructures, a maintenance culture, intolerance to indiscipline and so much more, within just 4 years and not in forever as it appears now?
Sovereign National Party (SNP)
A handful of disgruntled youth, in February 2012, right after the insolent cabal-crew, decided to insult all Nigerians by abruptly removing the fuel subsidy as a new year gift, sat down as we all do in the evening, on a bench under the moon and decided that enough was enough, it was time to end this! We decided that it as time to get rid of these ancient, wicked and greedy leaders and enable Nigeria's bright minds take over the government. In January 2013, they initiated the SNP. A very simple platform, whereby Nigeria's youth call out to each other, come together, hold hands and gather on a unified front. Many of us never participated in politics, because they told us it was a dirty game, apparently to scare the good ones of us out of it, so they keep on at its helm. It is time to campaign for and serve our own interests, the interests of the Nigerian masses.
The Days of Whining are over, we will complain no more!
Dear you. We are not politicians still and we are not inviting you to be one. More than just a party, we are a monumental tide. We are Nigerians tired, frustrated and ready for change. Who are we? People always ask. Well, we say- look in the mirror. We are you, you are us. We are the faceless masses. Very ordinary multitudes who make up the cheated majority of Nigeria. Smart, able, willing but relegated to impotence by a government that only interests itself and triumphantly prides in reckless mismanagement. Our names are unknown, in Nigerian terms, we are nobody. But we are everybody. We invite you to join our ranks right now and be us, be SNP, own SNP, own your ward, and take the SNP message to your council. Win your council. Tell everyone that it is time to restore our sovereignty. Let us call every living Nigerian to join this cause. Together we will march to register our party. Together we select our best emerging candidates. Together we will rally. Together we will vote and together we will win and reform Nigeria. We will remain together from now on, on the very SNP Town Hall, all being a part of government and decisions that affect our lives. We will own our Nigeria. We will secure a future for those who follow us. We will advance our Nigeria for God and man. We are capable, we have decided and the time is now.
No Nigerian should be more equal than another Nigerian. It is time to claim our heritage from the oligarchs.
It is time for a clean start. Nigeria is budding fresh new leaves.
Be part of history, Join us. Join SNP!
Signed by SovereignNationalParty.com (SNP)
Click here to print PDF for distribution
TagsnigeriaSNPYouth
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Made Up Music Owns 25 Percent Of The Music Market Mobsters – Jimmy Walker – New York City's Midnight Mayor
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Mobsters – Jimmy Walker – New York City's Midnight Mayor
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If New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker wasn't so charming, he would surely be labeled a jerk.
Jimmy Walker was born on June 19, 1881, in New York City's Greenwich Village, the son of Irish immigrants, and later became a political shaker and mover in Tammany Hall. Walker attended Xavier High School, a military school in Manhattan, and then New York Law School.
However, Walker's first love was music. Walker fell in with the village's bohemians, and instead of practicing law, he turned to songwriting. Two songs Walker wrote: "There's Music In The Rustle Of A Skirt" and "Will You Love Me In December Like You Do In May?" The latter song made Walker an overnight sensation in Tin Pan Alley with a melodious rendition:
Will you love me in December the way you love me in May?
Do you love the old fashioned way?
When all my hair is gray,
Then will you kiss me and tell me
Do you love me in December and May?
In 1910, encouraged by his father and influenced by his mentor, Tammany Hall titan Al Smith (later Governor Smith), Walker ran for and was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving until 1914. Now ambitious for political power, Walker was later elected to the New York State Senate from 1914 to 1925. Walker was so popular in the Senate that he was elected president pro tempore of the New York State Senate in 1923-1924.
Throughout his tenure in the Senate, Walker was always smartly dressed and had a bright and outgoing personality. Walker was considered a well-rounded man, spending more time elbowing his way through the Senate than serving his constituents.
American journalist Robert Caro described Senator Walker as "a tight-waisted, one-button suit, the thinnest of breeches, a hundred shirts, pearl-grey silk buttoned around the ankles, toothpick toes sticking out." "The Vigor of a Song and Dance Man" Pixie smile that brought him like a welcome breeze into the Senate Chamber "The Prince Charming of Politics….." The complicated arguments of the lumbering men who sat around him with rapier-like wits. Beau James."
In 1925, the current mayor of New York City, Al Smith, thought Walker would be the perfect mayor of New York City in the Roaring Twenties. Through Smith's backroom and backroom maneuvering, Walker moved to unseat incumbent Mayor John Harlan, who was seen as quite capable, if not a little arrogant. Smith's biggest obstacle was that he knew Walker more as a party animal than as a cunning politician. But "Beau James" Smith, as he was now called in the press, promised to straighten out his messy ways if he was elected to the city's top office.
Harlan was a Democrat, and so was Walker, so Smith had to call on his best artists to win the Democratic nomination. That mission accomplished, Walker's next obstacle was Republican Mayoral candidate Frank Waterman. Walker basically called Walker a crook and said that if Walker is elected mayor, the New York City subway system will be corrupted because of Walker's crooked behavior in Tammany Hall. Laughing at Walker's remarks, Walker said he was running for "People's Mayor" because he liked the public's favorite things to do: gambling and drinking illegal liquor during Prohibition.
During his campaign, Walker said, "I like the company of other people. I like the theater, I enjoy healthy outdoor sports, and because I like those things, I've reflected my attitudes in some of the legislation I've sponsored. – – 2.75 percent beer, Sunday baseball, Sunday movies, law boxing. But because I believe in personal liberty, wholesome entertainment, and wholesome professional sports, I will not for a second entertain anything immoral or unethical. Vice in New York."
Yes, that's right.
Walker ended his first four years as mayor in a blur. The public loved the new mayor so much that he left his wife Janet for showgirl Betty Compton, who was 23 years younger than Walker, without causing a stir. In 1928, Walker's attack fell out of favor with Al Smith, and when his cool cat Walker Smith resigned to run for president, the new governor-elect, Franklin D. Reconciled with Roosevelt. Republican Herbert Hoover. After the Hoover loss, Smith's power at Tammany Hall was greatly diminished. Roosevelt was a new Democratic force in New York state, and the wily Walker took advantage of it.
That's not to say Walker hasn't accomplished anything while serving as mayor. Walker consolidated New York City's hospital system, bought thousands of acres of land for parks (such as the Great Kills on Staten Island), and expanded the city's bus system. Walker's popularity was not boosted by the fact that a few of his comrades were given exclusive rights to own city buses. In fact, no one said Walker was essentially part-time mayor. "Goo James" was rarely involved in business at City Hall, instead playing at a horse race, a fight, or one of the city's 32,000 speakers. Walker imbibed his share of illegal booze while enjoying the nightlife. Walker's favorite cocktail was the Black Velvet, champagne poured over a pint of Guinness.
In 1929, fiery reformer Fiorello LaGuardia challenged Walker. During one heated debate, LaGuardia was furious that Walker raised his salary from $25,000 to $40,000 a year. "Hell, it's cheap. Imagine what it would be worth if I worked full time," Walk replied sarcastically.
Walker disparaged La Guardia's reputation as "reformers," saying, "Reformers are guys who go through the sewers in glass-bottomed boats." It means that a wise politician could look the other way when it was politically useful.
Walker didn't know it at the time, but the beginning of his downfall was the stock market crash of 1929. When the city's economy was booming, it was OK for people to be careless and gay, but people were out of work, some of them. Despite his hunger, Walker's devilishly worried attitude began to wear thin.
Walker faced his first real embarrassment in July 1930 when the police raided a gambling house in Montauk, Long Island, with his friend Compton. As people were pinned to the wall and handcuffed, Walker yelled at police, "Hey, I'm the mayor of New York! You can't arrest the mayor of New York!"
The police agreed and let Walker go. But being the girlfriend of the mayor of New York, there was no such interest. So the cops handcuffed Compton and took him to a local beat. It took several hours to get Walker to the right people to free Compton.
However, as this shameful event was published in the press, it was obvious that it left a huge wound in Walker's reputation, because people were hungry, without work, sometimes without food and shelter. And damn New York City.
Things start to get bleak for Walker when the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Hayes, starts shooting at the mayor. Hayes claims that the New York City crash that led to the stock market crash of 1929 was Mayor Walker's fault. Cardinal Hayes accused Walker of looking the other way when girls' magazines were being sold by the hundreds on 42nd Street. Walker met Cardinal Hayes when he shot back, "I never knew a woman offended by a magazine."
Cardinal Hayes continued to attack Walker, and soon the Cardinal's insults reached the office of Roosevelt, who was preparing to run for President of the United States. As a result, Roosevelt was not happy with Mayor Walker and was looking for a way to get rid of Walker's political embarrassment.
Walker had one foot in the political grave and the other on a banana peel, evident when he was called before the Seabury Committee, chaired by Samuel Seabury, a scoundrel who was disgusted by Mayor Walker's excesses. The Seabury Commission was established to investigate police and political corruption in New York City.
On May 25, 1932, Walker appeared on the steps of the District Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, dressed as if he were going out. When he arrived, the well-wishers applauded and chanted, "Atta boy, Jimmy! You tell them Jimmy! Good luck!"
Walker flashed his million-dollar smile and raised his fists above his head like a professional boxer who had won a fight. Then he entered the lion's den and faced Justice Seabury.
A terrible tension immediately arose between the two people, who could not have been more different in character and demeanor. For two days, Seabury spat questions at Walker, and Walker responded defiantly. At one point, Walker yelled at Seabury, "You and Franklin Roosevelt are not going to raise yourselves to the presidency over my dead body."
While Seabury was putting tough questions to Walker, it became clear that "Beau James" had distanced himself from any direct political involvement. However, it was very embarrassing for Walker when he discovered that his girlfriend, Betty Compton, had been paid cash by some of the businessmen involved in New York City after a lucrative deal. That includes Walker
Additionally, Walker's brother, Dr. William H. Walker, had a monopoly on Workers' Compensation claims, apparently banking more than $500,000 over a four-year period. Seabury discovered evidence that William Walker had actually settled most of the Workman's Comp claims and secreted the difference into his coffers.
Although Mayor Seabury could not have wronged Walker, it was clear that Walker had suffered a political blow from which he would never recover. As a result of Seabury's investigation, Seabury wrote a recommendation to Governor Roosevelt that Walker should be removed from office for "gross misconduct and other political misconduct."
Governor Roosevelt was only a few months away from the Presidential election. Walker still had many supporters in New York City, and Roosevelt did not know the best way to handle Walker's situation, so on September 1, 1932, he announced his resignation, letting Roosevelt off the hook. Mayor of New York City.
Within days, Walker and showgirl Betty Compton boarded a cruise ship bound for Europe. In 1933, Walker divorced his wife and married Compton. For three years, Walker spent his exile in London with Compton, and when he returned to New York City, La Guardia was mayor, and Walker withdrew from politics altogether.
Abandoning politics, Walker returned to his first love, music, and became the head of Majestic Records, a big-band record label that featured such notables as Louis Prima and Bud Freeman. In 1946, two years after taking over the reins of Majestic Records, Walker suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at the age of sixty-five. Walker is buried at Heaven's Gate Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
In 1957, comedian and singer Bob Hope appeared in the film Beau James, based on Walker's life. The film is based on Walker's biography, Beau James, written by Gene Fowler. The book was also used as the basis for the Broadway play Jimmy, which ran from October 1969 to January 1970. "Jimmy" stars Frank Gorshin as Walker and Anita Gillette as Betty Compton.
In 1959, the Broadway production of Fiorello! the musical "Gentleman Jimmy" is dedicated to New York City's midnight boss Jimmy Walker.
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Pete Wilcox, Living the Dream: Joseph for Today. London: Paternoster, 2007.
When the Anglican Dean of Liverpool, Pete Wilcox, looks at the stories about Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 37-50, he sees jealousy, pride, ambition, rivalry, and fear. "Joseph wrestles with the issues of money, sex and power," he writes, and the patriarch lived in a time of crisis when the whole world as he knew it faced famine and starvation. But this is also a story about the Church, specifically the Church of England, Wilcox tells us, as his church struggles with decline and disunity. "Lessons for today" serve as bookends to this wonderful little book, as Wilcox uses Joseph's story to emphasize the need to trust in God despite our circumstances and to bear with each other in our weaknesses. Joseph's dreams "might easily have led him either to despair of God in anger and bitterness, or to forsake his obligations in indolence and complacency", he writes, and notes that "by the same token, Joseph is a challenge to the church today in the face of a potentially difficult future, to combine trust in God on the one hand with courageous action on the other." But the vast majority of the book is dedicated to an insightful chapter-by-chapter commentary on Genesis 37-50. Considering that the back cover carries recommendations from such theological heavyweights as Rowan Williams, Alister McGrath, Walter Moberly, and Charles Taliaferro, it is surprising how readable Wilcox's commentary is. He has dispensed with footnotes, ignores source criticism, and rarely mentions the scholarly literature on the topic, which is not to say that he is unaware of it, just that he chooses not to bother us with such distractions.
One of the main themes of the book is character development. Joseph begins as "a spoiled and arrogant individual", but after being sold by his brothers he starts noticing that God matters, confessing his faith first to Potiphar's wife (Gen 39:9), then to the baker and cupbearer (Gen 40:8), and finally before Pharaoh himself (Gen 41:16). Once he is in prison he begins to take notice of others: "The self-absorbed teenager has given way to a self-aware adult, apparently more concerned with the predicaments of others than with his own. When he asks Pharaoh's officers, 'What's the matter?', there is no indication that he had any idea dreams were involved." But he is far from perfect, and as he pleads with the cupbearer not to forget him "he seems to lose sight of what he had earlier seemed to know so fully – that the future belongs to God, and that he himself has been entrusted with a mission from God".
The extent of his weaknesses appear later in the story when he bullies, manipulates and terrifies his brothers. When Jacob dies, his sons still worry, "What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did him?" (Gen 50:15). Wilcox writes, "it is a sad moment in the story. It is sad firstly, because the brothers had evidently been living in Joseph's presence for seventeen years, without any assurance that he had forgiven them. It is sad, secondly, because they are not able to approach him directly and in their own voice, as it were. They not only send him a message (which in itself implies a certain continued distance between them and him), but they feel the need to put their please in Jacob's mouth. And it's sad because …. they call Jacob, 'Your father'. Not 'our father – yours'. The word seems loaded with all the baggage of Jacob's favouritism towards Joseph. Those wounds went deep."
Living the Dream overflows with tiny but important observations that will transform how you read this text, but the other character I want to focus on here is Judah. After the brothers sell Joseph, Judah sets out on his own. He "left the rest of his family to settle close to his friend, Hirah the Adullamite", Wilcox points out. "How distant this was from his family, and how far it was a reaction to the events in Chapter 37, we are not told. Perhaps he could not bear to live in a house dominated by his father's grief." He quickly loses the plot. He refuses to marry his third son to his widowed daughter-in law Tamar and then sleeps with her thinking that she was a prostitute. When he learns that she is pregnant he orders her burned to death without even listening to her side of the story. But she sends him his seal and staff with the words "You don't recognize it, do you?" (Gen 38:25) – the same phrase the brothers had used when they showed Jacob his son's bloodstained coat (Gen 37:32). Wilcox reflects: "Recognition is a recurring theme in the whole narrative. And Judah responds (with self-recognition) in the most profoundly penitent words: 'She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah", he says. Christian theologians have always argued that the knowledge of God goes hand in hand with a true knowledge of oneself." Repentance changed Judah, and later in the story he shows himself willing to sacrifice his life for that of his youngest brother (Gen 44:16-34) and it is Judah – the fourth eldest son – who represents his family in Egypt (Gen 46: 28). Penitence matters, and learning from one's weaknesses can be a great blessing.
Artworks by James Tissot (1836-1902).
September 22, 2016 by roloclark	Bible, Commentary, Genesis, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, Liverpool, Pete Wilcox


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Our Programs / Public Schools Outreach / School-Based Mentoring
School-Based Mentoring
The Turn•Around Agenda has a comprehensive school-based mentoring program for public schools that build relationships among adults and students in the context of friendship, social development, and academic achievement
School-based mentoring takes place at the school during school hours. The purpose of the program is to target students at risk of leaving school early or who are socially isolated or failing to achieve their potential.
TTA's overall goal is to have at least 1,000 youngsters and 250 mentors in the school-based mentoring program at all times using a group and/or team mentoring design.
PLEASE NOTE: Prospective mentor must be an active member of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship to be considered for mentorship program
Group Mentoring
involves one adult mentor forming a relationship with a group of up to four young people. The mentor assumes the role of leader and makes a commitment to meet regularly with the group over the course of one school year.
Team Mentoring
involves several adults working with small groups of young people, with an adult-to-youth ratio no greater than one to four.
The Process for School-Based mentoring
An in-school program coordinator is assigned to each school cluster (elementary, middle school and high school) to manage the entire mentoring process and serve as a liaison between TTA and the school cluster
A mentor is assigned up to four students or mentees that meet with their mentor one hour weekly as a group
The emphasis of the mentoring process is primary prevention, working with young people with moderate behavioral problems with the intent of preventing small problems from becoming big ones
School-Based Mentoring Objectives:
To place caring, competent and consistent adults as mentors in public schools
To have mentees demonstrate an increase in pro-social skills or competencies that protect them from a wide range of risk-taking behaviors that lead to school dropout, substance use/abuse, violence/gang activity, and out-of-wedlock pregnancy
To have mentees demonstrate an increase in reading, math and/or writing and a stronger commitment to school thus reducing academic failure and school drop out
To have mentees master new skills and develop a sense of belonging and bonding among peers, family and community thus reducing anti-social behavior and alienation within their environment
Group and Team Mentoring
Mentoring Process and Objectives
Interested in Becoming a Mentor
Life Skills Education
The Six Pillars of Character
Peers Making Peace
High School Heroes
Download PSO Brochure


text:
Museology and conservation
Preservation and conservation
Conservation tools and resources
Conservation and preservation publications
Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes
Velcro Support System for Textiles – Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes 13/4
(PDF Version, 487 KB)
CCI Note 13/4 is part of CCI Notes Series 13 (Textiles and Fibres)
When displaying flat textiles vertically, they must have sufficient support to prevent stress-related damage. Large textiles are sometimes hung by sewing a set of rings to the top edge of the reverse side and slipping the rings over a supporting rod or onto hooks. This provides a non-uniform support that distorts the textile and that may become impossible to correct. Tacks, staples, or nails can also cause distortion, as well as tears and staining from metal corrosion, and therefore must not be used. However, a support system using Velcro eliminates these problems.
An alternative method of support for smaller, lightweight textiles is discussed in CCI Notes 13/6, Mounting Small, Light, Flat Textiles.
Velcro is a two-part fastening system consisting of "hook" and "loop" tapes. When pressed together, the hooks and loops interlock to form a strong bond. Velcro is available in widths from 1.9 cm to 5 cm. Choose an appropriate width based on the weight and size of the textile. Velcro is recommended for the following reasons:
It distributes support evenly across the width of the textile
It is fast and easy to install
It can bear the weight of heavy textiles
It reduces distortions in the textile
It allows the textile to be detached from its display position quickly and safely, which is especially useful in emergencies
The Velcro method is suitable for tapestries, wall hangings, rugs, quilts, and other large, flat textiles that are in good condition and can bear their own weight. It is not suitable for very thin textiles or those that are too weak or too fragile to bear their own weight. Velcro is available in widths from 1.9 to 5 cm. Choose an appropriate width based on the weight and size of the textile.
Velcro is too stiff to be stitched directly onto a textile without causing stress; therefore, the following method of attachment is recommended.
Step One: Cut strips of Velcro that are 2 cm shorter in length than the width of the top edge of the textile.
Step Two: Machine stitch a sleeve from prewashed cotton fabric. The sleeve should be 0.5 cm wider all around than the Velcro. Iron the sleeve flat (Figure 1a) Machine stitch the looped Velcro onto the sleeve using a zigzag stitch along the selvedges and then across the two cut ends (Figure 1b).
Figure 1. a, Cotton sleeve machine stitched and ironed flat.
b, Looped Velcro machine stitched onto cotton sleeve.
Alternatively, a prewashed, undyed, cotton tape can be substituted for the cotton sleeve.
Step Three: With the textile face down on a clean, flat surface, pin the cotton sleeve or tape about 1–1.5 cm below the top edge of the textile (consult Figure 2 for placement).
Figure 2. Mounting the textile.
Step Four: Starting at the centre and working out to the sides, use a running stitch or herringbone stitch with the occasional backstitch to hand sew the cotton sleeve or tape to the textile (CCI Notes 13/10 Stitches Used in Textile Conservation for further information). The stitches should be quite small on the face of the textile, yet still span over at least 2–3 threads. They can span a longer distance on the back of the textile. If the textile has a protective lining, the stitches should penetrate both the lining and the textile to prevent sagging, but should be as unobtrusive as possible from the front.
Very heavy textiles may benefit from having an additional strip of Velcro, prepared as described above, stitched across the centre back of the textile. This will reduce the weight borne by the top strip. For exceptionally heavy textiles, consult a technical specialist at Velcro.
Step Five: Cut a strip of wood (planed smooth on both sides) 1 cm thick and 0.5 cm larger all around than the Velcro. Seal the wood using acrylic latex paint. Allow time for it to dry and off-gas completely. Attach the hooked Velcro to the wood using stainless steel staples at 1 cm intervals along the four edges.
Step Six: Insert screw-eyes into both ends of the wood. Hang the wooden support with the hooked Velcro in its display position. Mount the prepared textile onto the fixed support by pressing the hook and loop tapes together. Begin at the centre and work outwards toward the ends. If adjustments are necessary, slide your hand between the hook and loop tapes to separate them. Do not pull on the textile to remove it from the mount.
Note: The following information is provided only to assist the reader. Inclusion of a company in this list does not in any way imply endorsement by the Canadian Conservation Institute.
Wide, undyed cotton tape:
fabric stores
Velcro and cotton or cotton-polyester fabric:
Stainless steel staples (Monel):
specialty hardware stores or construction supply outlets
Finch, K., and G. Putnam. The Care and Preservation of Textiles. London, UK: Batsford, 1985 .
Landi, S. The Textile Conservator's Manual. London, UK: Butterworths, 1985 .
Mailand, H.F., and D.S. Alig. Preserving Textiles: A Guide for the Nonspecialist. Indianapolis, IN: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1999 .
By the staff of the CCI Textile Lab
Revised 1996 , 2008
Copies are also available in French.
Texte également publié en version française.
©Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2008
Cat. Nº NM-95-57/13-4-2008E
Printed in Canada


See below for a frequently-updated, comprehensive list of upcoming running events in the local Chelsea, MA area. Races listed here include both walking and running events of various distances — from 1-milers, to 5Ks, to marathons, and everything else in between.
Rec Running Club- DATES CHANGED!
Complete list of running events in and near Chelsea, MA: Marathons, 1-milers, 5Ks, half-marathons, 10Ks, obstacle courses, walking events & more.
Chelsea (MA) is a city in Suffolk County with an estimated population of 35,177.


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From wire reports
Sharapova's sponsor OK with meldonium
VIENNA — Maria Sharapova's racket supplier says the drug she tested positive for at the Australian Open shouldn't be on the banned list.
"We question WADA's decision to add meldonium to its banned substances list in the manner it did," Head CEO Johan Eliasch said Friday, one day after he publicly backed Sharapova and announced a new racket deal with the five-time Grand Slam champion, who has been using the equipment since 2011.
Eliasch said the World Anti-Doping Agency should have imposed "a dosage limitation only" on meldonium instead of completely banning it as of Jan. 1.
Fukushima suggested for Olympic venue
TOKYO — Japan's Olympics minister says he hopes Fukushima prefecture can host preliminary rounds of baseball and softball at the 2020 Games.
Toshiaki Endo made the comments Friday on the fifth anniversary of a magnitude 9.0-earthquake that struck offshore and triggered a devastating tsunami, killing more than 18,000 people.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant spewed radiation after being hit by the tsunami. About 180,000 people in the northeastern region of Japan remain displaced because of the disaster.
Local organizers have recommended to the International Olympic Committee that baseball and softball be added to the program for the 2020 Games, allowing areas outside Tokyo to host events.
ARENA FOOTBALL
Caps, Wizards owner acquires AFL team
WASHINGTON — Ted Leonsis' Monumental Sports & Entertainment announced it has acquired an expansion Arena Football League team to begin play at Verizon Center in the spring of 2017.
Washington will join the eight other teams in the league. The team does not yet have a name.
Commissioner Scott Butera said in a recent phone interview that the AFL liked Washington as a market because of geography and Monumental's ownership. Leonsis' company owns the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals as well as the arena.


Using acronyms is a great way to remember lists of information, and these lists can help you structure answers to exam questions. Remember to use acronyms with care – on most questions it will be good application of the acronyms that pick up the marks rather than regurgitating lists.
1 Create an account (or log into an existing one) by entering a username and password above.
2 Choose the acronyms you want to study from the extensive library (or add your own).
Sound Revision is a set of audio files, designed to help you remember the most important aspects of the Core Reading. They cover the majority of the course, split into a number of manageable topics based on the chapters in the Course Notes. Click here for details.


text:
Welcome to the team Paul Munden!
Westerly Magazine is excited to announce the introduction of Paul Munden as our new Poetry Editor! Paul is a published poet in both the UK and Australia and brings an incredible wealth of creativity and experience to our team.
We are looking forward to seeing how Paul lends his expertise and guidance to our talented poets as he dives into work on our upcoming November issue
As a poet, Paul has published five poetry collections, including Analogue/Digital: New & Selected Poems (Smith|Doorstop, 2015) and Chromatic (UWA Publishing, 2017), and five prose poetry chapbooks. Paul is a co-editor of various journals and anthologies, including Metamorphic: 21st century poets respond to Ovid (RWP, 2017) and Giant Steps (RWP, 2019). Praise for his work is easily found and Chromatic has been described by Judy Johnson as "… vivid, well realised poems [ranging] across hemispheres and centuries, embracing music, art, film, historical events, and the potent catalysts of love, illness and death."
For the British Council, Paul has acted as conference poet and edited the anthology, Feeling the Pressure: Poetry and science of climate change (British Council, 2008). Paul was also the director of the UK's National Association of Writers in Education from 1994-2018 and is now a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Leeds. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia, where he established the Poetry on the Move festival.
We are looking forward to seeing how Paul lends his expertise and guidance to our talented poets as he dives into work on our upcoming November issue, Westerly 64.2.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing Poetry Editor Cassandra Atherton for her wonderful work throughout the years, she has been instrumental to Westerly's expansion into prose poetry and a valued member of our team. We are thrilled to have Cassandra continue as a member of the Westerly editorial team and look forward to our ongoing relationship with her as a Commissioning Editor.
We feel honoured to introduce Paul as Westerly's new Poetry Editor; we know that he will be an invaluable addition to the magazine.


text:
"""
==========================================
One-class SVM with non-linear kernel (RBF)
==========================================

:ref:`One-class SVM <svm_outlier_detection>` is an unsupervised
algorithm that learns a decision function for novelty detection:
classifying new data as similar or different to the training set.
"""
print __doc__

import numpy as np
import pylab as pl
import matplotlib.font_manager
from sklearn import svm

xx, yy = np.meshgrid(np.linspace(-5, 5, 500), np.linspace(-5, 5, 500))
# Generate train data
X = 0.3 * np.random.randn(100, 2)
X_train = np.r_[X + 2, X - 2]
# Generate some regular novel observations
X = 0.3 * np.random.randn(20, 2)
X_test = np.r_[X + 2, X - 2]
# Generate some abnormal novel observations
X_outliers = np.random.uniform(low=-4, high=4, size=(20, 2))

# fit the model
clf = svm.OneClassSVM(nu=0.1, kernel="rbf", gamma=0.1)
clf.fit(X_train)
y_pred_train = clf.predict(X_train)
y_pred_test = clf.predict(X_test)
y_pred_outliers = clf.predict(X_outliers)
n_error_train = y_pred_train[y_pred_train == -1].size
n_error_test = y_pred_test[y_pred_test == -1].size
n_error_outliers = y_pred_outliers[y_pred_outliers == 1].size

# plot the line, the points, and the nearest vectors to the plane
Z = clf.decision_function(np.c_[xx.ravel(), yy.ravel()])
Z = Z.reshape(xx.shape)

pl.title("Novelty Detection")
pl.contourf(xx, yy, Z, levels=np.linspace(Z.min(), 0, 7), cmap=pl.cm.Blues_r)
a = pl.contour(xx, yy, Z, levels=[0], linewidths=2, colors='red')
pl.contourf(xx, yy, Z, levels=[0, Z.max()], colors='orange')

b1 = pl.scatter(X_train[:, 0], X_train[:, 1], c='white')
b2 = pl.scatter(X_test[:, 0], X_test[:, 1], c='green')
c = pl.scatter(X_outliers[:, 0], X_outliers[:, 1], c='red')
pl.axis('tight')
pl.xlim((-5, 5))
pl.ylim((-5, 5))
pl.legend([a.collections[0], b1, b2, c],
          ["learned frontier", "training observations",
           "new regular observations", "new abnormal observations"],
          loc="upper left",
          prop=matplotlib.font_manager.FontProperties(size=11))
pl.xlabel(
    "error train: %d/200 ; errors novel regular: %d/20 ; " \
        "errors novel abnormal: %d/20"
    % (n_error_train, n_error_test, n_error_outliers))
pl.show()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Hampshire Passivhaus video by Homes & Property
Eco-friendy Sustainability, News, Passivhaus, Press
Inside the super-efficient family home built in just four days Video created by and featuring on Evening Standard Homes & Property. View the full article that accompanies the video…
Leisure & Wellbeing Centre, Wecock Big Local
Community Projects, Eco-friendy Sustainability, News, RIBA Client Adviser
Ruth Butler Architects has been appointed as architect, RIBA Client Adviser and Principal Designer on the Leisure & Wellbeing Centre as part of Wecock Big Local Project. The Wecock Big…
Sustainability expert for RIBA South / South East 2019 Awards
Awards, Eco-friendy Sustainability, News
The RIBA South and South East Awards celebration took place last night at Newbury Racecourse. The RIBA Awards are regarded internationally as a mark of excellence, recognising the best architecture…
Light up your life
Eco-friendy Sustainability, Interior Design, News
Natural light plays an important part in comfort, health and mood; it is integral to the design of a building, it brings added value and can save you money too.…
Elmer Passivhaus nears completion
Eco-friendy Sustainability, News, Passivhaus
Elmer Passivhaus, a self-build house only 50m from the beach in West Sussex, is nearing completion. A self-build from scratch, it's a great way to get a house that's tailored…
Hampshire Passivhaus shortlisted for Offsite Construction Awards
Awards, Eco-friendy Sustainability, News, Passivhaus
Hampshire Passivhaus has been shortlisted in the Timber Technology Category in the Offsite Construction Awards. About the Offsite Construction Awards The awards celebrate the best in precision building design and…
Ruth Butler appointed Pallant House Gallery trustee
Community Projects, News, RIBA Client Adviser
Ruth Butler has been appointed as a trustee of the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. Pallant House is a leading Modern British Art museum in the distinctive setting of an…
A talk on Hampshire Passivhaus by Ruth Butler
Eco-friendy Sustainability, Events, News, Passivhaus
Ruth will be holding a talk at The Spring, Havant's vibrant arts and heritage centre, on 28th March 2019. Entitled, Hampshire's Passivhaus, Ruth will talk about the design and build of…
Client Adviser Case study feature on RIBA Website
Education, News, RIBA Client Adviser
Ruth Butler Architects have been chosen to feature as a Client Adviser case study on the RIBA website for their work on an outdoor learning project for a Hampshire primary…
Elmer Passivhaus reaches a milestone
Elmer Passivhaus reaches a milestone as superstructure is 100% complete. The superstructure comprises a 300mm twin-stud timber frame with cellulose insulation (75-85% recycled paper fibre, usually post-consumer waste newsprint). Airtightness is provided by…
Hampshire Passivhaus wins Structural Timber Awards 2018
Hampshire Passivhaus has won Low Energy Project of the Year category at the 2018 Structural Timber Awards. The award was announced on 10th October 2018. About the Structural Timber Awards…


Now we are based back at our workshop in Minehead and The Chocolate House is safely in Wendy's hands we plan to do some food events and local shows from time to time.
We are looking for new events to take our chocolate fountain and our chocolates to this year - please get in touch if you're an organiser of a suitable event in our area.
You'll find us in the Farmers Market Marquee along with a mouth-watering selection of food producers!
Best tent in the West for shopping and food to eat "on the hoof"!
We'll be there with our chocolate fountain and loads of strawberries! Chocolates too if we have space and it's not too hot.
DUNSTER SHOW provides a unique opportunity to see the best of Somerset farming and livestock.
It also has some of the best entertainment in West Somerset and is a fun filled day out for all the family.
Find us in the Food Hall with our Chocolate Fountain!
Our favourite Christmas Show and we will be there with our chocolate fountain, which has become a feature of the show!
Great Christmas shopping for food and gifts.
We have a few complimentary tickets - please get in touch if you'd like us so send you some.


Kennards Hire, Australia's largest rental company, has announced the appointment of Martin McManus to the role of General Manager of Information Technology (IT).
McManus has more than 30 years of experience and had previously worked for global port operator DP World as its Chief Information Officer. He will manage the company's IT networks and automated systems, and lead its digital transformation and IT strategy.
The family-run firm employs over 1,600 staff members and has more than 180 branches across Australia and New Zealand.


text:
Juno Therapeutics halts Phase III ROCKET trial of JCAR015 to treat leukaemia
24th November 2016	(Last Updated November 24th, 2016 18:30)
US-based biopharmaceutical company Juno Therapeutics has halted its Phase III ROCKET trial of JCAR015 to treat adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
JCAR015 is based on Juno's CAR and T-cell receptor (TCR) technologies and is an investigational CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T-cell product.
The Rocket trial was being conducted as a single-arm, multicentre study to analyse the safety and efficacy of JCAR015 in Adult Subjects with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The clinical hold was implemented after one patient died due to cerebral edema and another patient was in a terminal condition.
"The clinical hold was implemented after one patient died due to cerebral edema and another patient was in a terminal condition."
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been notified of the voluntary hold by the company, which is now working with the agency and the Data and Safety Monitoring Board to determine the next steps.
The company is examining data from the cases and the trial and is exploring its options related to the JCAR015 programme.
However, the hold will not affect Juno's planned trials of other CD19-directed CAR T-cell product candidates, including JCAR017.
In June, the FDA had halted the Rocket trail following the death of two patients after the addition of fludarabine to the preconditioning regimen, reported Ascopost.
The hold was removed after Juno submitted a revised protocol of the trial, under which the company continued enrolling patients using JCAR015 with cyclophosphamide preconditioning only.
Clinigen Clinical Supplies Management
Customised Clinical Supply and Biological Sample Services
Electronic Data Capture Solutions for Clinical Trials


text:
What everyone gets wrong about helping friends through heartbreak
Libby Kane, Alyson Shontell
Getty Images'I just felt like there was this huge elephant following me everywhere,' said Sheryl Sandberg, pictured.
In May 2015, Sheryl Sandberg's husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly.
Her second book, "Option B," opens with his death. Along with research presented by coauthor Adam Grant, it goes on to share the Facebook exec and mum's experience working through her grief.
In an episode of Business Insider's podcast "Success! How I Did It," Business Insider US editor in chief Alyson Shontell asked about the awkwardness that can descend upon the friends and family of someone who's going through a tragedy.
"… Some of the people who are the closest in your life, who you love the most and have the closest relationship with, just don't say anything about what you're going through," Shontell said. "They don't want to bring it up — they don't want to upset you."
Sandberg answered that, in her experience, this is common, and a mistake she also used to make. "I used to think that if someone was going through something hard, if I brought it up I was reminding them," she said. "You can't 'remind me' I lost Dave. You can't remind someone that their child is sick. You can't remind someone their dad went to jail or their mum is in trouble or they just lost their job. It's not possible to remind anyone of that."
She found herself in an awkward position: Everyone knew that her husband had died, and she knew that they knew it, and that they weren't saying anything because they didn't want to "remind" her.
"I just felt like there was this huge elephant following me everywhere," she said. "It's not just death — again, it's all of those examples I just shared. I think one of the lessons for me is that acknowledging pain is so powerful."
And what's the right way to acknowledge it? "Not sugar-coating it, not 'I know you're going to get through this' — because sometimes you're not — but 'I know you're scared and I know this is hard, and we're going to get through it together,'" she said. "The power of acknowledgement and the power of we. Not 'You're going to get through this.' 'We're going get through this.'"
Listen to the full podcast interview:
NOW WATCH: 3 things that could be making you unhappy
gratitude resilience sai sheryl sandberg warroom-us


Would you like to donate to a specific city/apprentice?
Please include the name of the staff person you are donating to.
If you like to send a check, send it to CSM at 6329 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia PA 19144 and specify the staff member you are donating to.


text:
Conductors & Instrumentalists
Sara Edwards
Assistant Artist Manager
Sara began working for Askonas Holt in September 2018 after graduating from King's College London with a First Class Honours in Music. At university, she had a particular enthusiasm for studying the 18th-century theory of sensibility, writing numerous analyses of keyboard music from the 1700s and essays on the perceived relationship between gender and the senses.
In her spare time, Sara enjoys leading vocal ensembles; as Musical Director of her university's contemporary a cappella group, she led the group to become two-time national champions, culminating in a performance on Broadway in New York City in April 2018. Sara now works as a professional arranger for a cappella groups in the US, enjoys singing in The Bach Choir in London, and plays piano in her free time.
Alexander Gavrylyuk
Cynthia Millar
Duncan Ward
Inon Barnatan
Julien Libeer
Marc Leroy-Calatayud
Murray Perahia KBE
Peter Whelan
Yevgeny Sudbin
Ziyu He


Diabetes UK warned around 7 million people in the UK who have early warning signs of diabetes about the long-term damage if they would not change .2 their unhealthy lifestyle. "People with higher than normal blood sugar levels are 12 times more at risk in developing full-blown type 2 diabetes," Diabetes UK chief executive Douglas Smallwood said.
Weight gain, low blood sugar, and low overall quality of life—these are the major reasons why many type 2 diabetic patients often fear insulin treatment. A recent study however found hat these fears are largely unfounded.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found that resveratrol—a compound present in red wine—is a promising treatment for type 2 diabetes. However, the researchers were also quick to add that drinking wine or taking resveratrol supplements won't do diabetic people any good either.
Results of the long-term findings from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)/ Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) found that women diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are more prone to developing problems in sexual function and satisfaction.
A new study found that diabetic elderly patients who are prescribed antipsychotic medication for the first time are at an increased risk of hyperglycemia, especially within the first two weeks of medication regimen. The same study also found that serious hyperglycemic episode among some diabetic older patients who recently started an antipsychotic medication was 50 percent higher compared to their counterparts who haven't taken the drug for the last 6 months.


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Melton Estate is a boutique winery, restaurant and event venue set amongst vines on 12 acres in West Melton, an easy 20 minute drive west of Christchurch.
Guests can sample local wines that include: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay, Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc, and the acclaimed Sparkling Riesling "Summer Love". Our modern restaurant serves great food that is matched to these handcrafted boutique wines, such as the vintner's platter, salads and main meals including lamb rack. A range of homemade tasty desserts are a highlight.
Melton Estate features a large central dining area seating 150 guests, plus two additional connected event / meeting rooms. Outside the Pavilion building is available for winery dining and events, and also as a wedding chapel.
Melton Estate regularly hosts weddings, family celebrations, corporate meetings and Christmas parties plus live shows, special dinners and wine events. Full conference facilities are available. The Winery Restaurant and Cellar Door is open all year Thursday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, and otherwise by arrangement.


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Unique Brain Channel Combats Epileptic Seizures
FeaturedNeurologyNeuroscience
Summary: The dSlo2 channel appears to play a role in suppressing hyperactivity in the brain that causes epileptic seizures.
Source: Colorado State University
Epilepsy, a chronic brain disorder that causes seizures, affects around 50 million people worldwide.
New research from the lab of Department of Biomedical Sciences Professor Susan Tsunoda that was recently featured in the Journal of Neuroscience showed for the first time that a channel in the brain called dSlo2 suppresses epileptic seizures.
Epilepsy, caused by excessive activity in certain brain cells, is characterized by episodes of involuntary movement that can sometimes lead to loss of consciousness. Epileptic seizures vary in frequency and can range from brief muscle spasms to lengthy convulsions. People with epilepsy may be physically injured while having seizures, tend to experience higher rates of anxiety and depression, and face an increased risk of premature death.
Put to the test for the first time
For decades it has been thought that the dSlo2 channel might play a role in reducing the hyperactivity that causes seizures, but it had not been tested until now. Using a fly model (Drosophila) and CRISPR technology, Tsunoda's lab discovered that the dSlo2 channel actually does play a preventative and protective role during seizures.
For decades it has been thought that the dSlo2 channel might play a role in reducing the hyperactivity that causes seizures, but it had not been tested until now. Image is in the public domain
In epilepsy and other seizure conditions, neurons in the brain become overexcited resulting in high levels of sodium ions. The research, led by recent biomedical sciences Ph.D. graduate Nathan Byers, found that the dSlo2 channel, which is activated by excessive levels of sodium ions, quiets this hyperactivity during seizures by releasing potassium ions from neurons. And when the channel is missing, seizures worsen and become more frequent.
"Whenever there's too much sodium coming in, these channels are present and get activated immediately," Tsunoda said. "Now that we know this, next we are going to look more closely at the regulatory sites of the channel to see which ones are most important for seizure suppression."
Genetic mutations that alter this key channel have been associated with different types of epilepsy and could be contributing to the severity of symptoms experienced by those with epilepsy. Better understanding how it works is crucial to informing future research and the development of therapies that could help improve quality of life for people suffering from certain types of epilepsy and other neurological disorders.
About this epilepsy research news
Contact: Press Office – Colorado State University
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Closed access.
"Slo2/KNa Channels in Drosophila Protect against Spontaneous and Induced Seizure-like Behavior Associated with an Increased Persistent Na+ Current" by Nathan Byers et al. Journal of Neuroscience
Slo2/KNa Channels in Drosophila Protect against Spontaneous and Induced Seizure-like Behavior Associated with an Increased Persistent Na+ Current
Na+ sensitivity is a unique feature of Na+-activated K+ (KNa) channels, making them naturally suited to counter a sudden influx in Na+ ions. As such, it has long been suggested that KNa channels may serve a protective function against excessive excitation associated with neuronal injury and disease. This hypothesis, however, has remained largely untested.
Here, we examine KNa channels encoded by the Drosophila Slo2 (dSlo2) gene in males and females.
Singing and Imagining Improvised Music Elicits Flow-Like Brain States
We show that dSlo2/KNa channels are selectively expressed in cholinergic neurons in the adult brain, as well as in glutamatergic motor neurons, where dampening excitation may function to inhibit global hyperactivity and seizure-like behavior. Indeed, we show that effects of feeding Drosophila a cholinergic agonist are exacerbated by the loss of dSlo2/KNa channels. Similar to mammalian Slo2/KNa channels, we show that dSlo2/KNa channels encode a TTX-sensitive K+ conductance, indicating that dSlo2/KNa channels can be activated by Na+ carried by voltage-dependent Na+ channels. We then tested the role of dSlo2/KNa channels in established genetic seizure models in which the voltage-dependent persistent Na+ current (INap) is elevated. We show that the absence of dSlo2/KNa channels increased susceptibility to mechanically induced seizure-like behavior. Similar results were observed in WT flies treated with veratridine, an enhancer of INap.
Finally, we show that loss of dSlo2/KNa channels in both genetic and pharmacologically primed seizure models resulted in the appearance of spontaneous seizures.
Together, our results support a model in which dSlo2/KNa channels, activated by neuronal overexcitation, contribute to a protective threshold to suppress the induction of seizure-like activity.
Slo2/KNa channels are unique in that they constitute a repolarizing K+ pore that is activated by the depolarizing Na+ ion, making them naturally suited to function as a protective "brake" against overexcitation and Na+ overload.
Here, we test this hypothesis in vivo by examining how a null mutation of the Drosophila Slo2 (dSlo2)/KNa gene affects seizure-like behavior in genetic and pharmacological models of epilepsy.
We show that indeed the loss of dSlo2/KNa channels results in increased incidence and severity of induced seizure behavior, as well as the appearance of spontaneous seizure activity.
Our results advance our understanding of neuronal excitability and protective mechanisms that preserve normal physiology and the suppression of seizure susceptibility.
brain researchColorado State UniversityCRISPRdSlo2dSlo2 channelEpilepsygene editingGeneticsneurobiologyNeurologyNeuroscience


text:
Called Out
Jeffrey Toobin to Rick Santorum: 'You based your career on morality, now you're making excuses for paying off porn stars'
In a contentious exchange on CNN today, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called out former GOP Senator Rick Santorum, who is a conservative Catholic, for seemingly making excuses for President Trump's alleged past hush money payments to women he's had extra-martial affairs with.
In the wake of new reports centering around Trump's ordering of associates to direct payments to women with the intention of covering up alleged affairs and other damaging information, Toobin and Santorum appeared in Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss the new developments. According to Santorum, nothing illegal happened.
"To me, the most damaging thing is that the president hasn't come clean over the course of time," Santorum said.
That's when Toobin chimed in, pointing out what he sees as Santorum's hypocrisy — being someone who's made an entire career on preaching "family values" and morality in politics while at the same time providing cover for Trump's sexual trysts.
"Putting aside the issue of how amazing it is to listen to Rick Santorum who made his entire career — successful for a time — on the basis of morality in politics, making excuses for paying off porn stars and women with whom you've had affairs, putting that to one side…" Toobin said before being interrupted by Santorum.
"Jeffrey, you're not going to put that to the side," Santorum barked. "I'm not making excuses for Donald Trump having an affair with a porn star. I mean, that's disgusting, that's tawdry. I'm addressing the question as to what is the illegality is involved here."
"Isn't the reason he's lying because he did something bad in the first place?" asked Toobin.
Oh snap! @JeffreyToobin on "how amazing it is to listen to @RickSantorum, who made his entire career…on the basis of morality in politics, making excuses for paying off porn stars and women with whom you've had affairs." pic.twitter.com/L30lzoDu6f
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) December 14, 2018
According to various reports, Trump was at an August 2015 meeting that investigators believe was part of an illegal scheme to violate campaign finance laws to help Trump win the presidency.
CNN reports that court filings say former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, chairman of American Media Inc. David Pecker, and "one or more members of the campaign" met in August 2015. At the meeting, "Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased, and their publication avoided."
Featured image via screen grab
Related Items:CNN, Jeffrey Toobin, morality, porn star, Rick Santorum, Trump
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CNN host grills pastor who refuses to close church doors amid coronavirus outbreak: 'How is this pro-life?'
Keanu Reeves lookalike dupes Trump-supporting biker and goes viral


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Q: Is there an application for generating image for Windows Store Application? I'm a developer and i'm not designer at all :)
I developped application for windows phone and windows store but i always has difficulties when it comes to create image in different size (splashscreen, tile, badge, etc...)
Is there an application that generate all the size needed for a windows store app based on given image?
Thank you,
Kind Regards.

A: Metro Studio 2 is great tool that has large number of icons/images available
. Take a look.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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FBI allowed even more crimes in 2012 than in previous year
By RT.com | Last updated: Jan 1, 2014 - 10:25:34 AM
The FBI allowed its informants to break the law in 2012 on even more occasions than it did the previous year, according to a new report.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Justice Department, FBI officials revealed that their nationwide offices permitted at least 5,939 instances of law violations during 2012. The letter was obtained by the Huffington Post via a Freedom of Information Act request, and the numbers represent a five percent increase from 2011's officially sanctioned crimes.
In August, a separate FBI report obtained by USA Today showed that informants were allowed to break the law at least 5,658 times in 2011, ranging from violations such as acts of violence and selling drugs to bribing government officials.
The new report did not categorize the types of crimes that were authorized, nor did it detail how many crimes were permitted by each field office.
Although the FBI does not consider these actions ideal, officials have said before that it is simply part of the process by which they investigate criminal organizations.
"It sounds like a lot, but you have to keep it in context," former top FBI official Shawn Henry told USA Today in August. "This is not done in a vacuum. It's not done randomly. It's not taken lightly."
When RT reported on the FBI-sanctioned crimes in 2011, we found that the FBI document indicated that the violations were Tier I and Tier II infractions.
According to the Justice Department, a Tier I violation is "any activity that would constitute a misdemeanor or felony under federal, state, or local law if engaged in by a person acting without authorization and that involves the commission or the significant risk of the commission of certain offenses, including acts of violence; corrupt conduct by senior federal, state, or local public officials; or the manufacture, importing, exporting, possession, or trafficking in controlled substances of certain quantities."
Meanwhile, a Tier II crime covers the same range of crimes but is carried out only with the permission of a senior FBI field manager—not that of a federal prosecutor.
Ever since it was revealed that Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was allowed to continue running his crime ring in exchange for other information, the FBI has been required to document the criminal activity it authorizes. But while the FBI has done this for over a decade, other law enforcement agencies—the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives—still do not. (RT.com)


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Vairaag: The Story of Bhai Joga Singh ~ Part II
That moment we realize we are not who we think we are. It is our own darkness that betrays our own light.
Continued from Part I
Joga returned home. In time, the day of his marriage arrived. The story goes that just before the conclusion of the marriage ceremony, an emissary of the Guru's court interrupted the marriage, shared the Guru's greeting with Joga Singh and informed him that the Guru needed his services and that Joga should return to Anandpur Sahib immediately.
Joga's parents and his future in-laws (and very likely the bride, herself) strenuously objected. But the young man, committed to his Guru and to his promise, left his wedding before the ceremony completed and began the journey towards Anandpur Sahib.
Maya is a tricky thing. And spiritual Maya is perhaps the trickiest of all. Whether we like to admit it or not, even the journey towards the Guru involves the creation of a Spiritual Persona. We watch how the Guru and the sangat reflect back our behaviours and words. And we cultivate those traits that earn praise and approval, while suppressing those which do not.
Joga Singh had a reputation for service, devotion and loyalty. And to his mind, obeying his Guru's command, even when that command interrupted his own wedding, affirmed the spiritual image he had created within himself. He was holy. But perhaps not yet whole.
Eventually, the young man came to the town of Hoshiapur. There, while going through the town's center, he heard the beautiful voice of a woman singing sweet music. And sexual longing overcame him.
Let's be human about this for a moment. Joga Singh had grown up in the Guru's own home, under the Guru's eye, doing the Guru's service. He almost certainly lived a celibate life. Whatever else marriage would be, it would include an initiation into sex. And any young man, especially a virgin, would have thoughts about his wedding night - simultaneously excited and apprehensive about his first sexual experience.
It would not be surprising, therefore, if Joga Singh felt some level of disappointment that the Guru had called him away from his wedding, so close to him having the opportunity to experience sex for the first time. He may not have allowed himself to acknowledge his disappointment. But it is realistic to conclude that some disappointment would have existed.
This is how the shadow operates. We suppress aspects of ourselves that do not fit with our Face. Yet the act of suppression does not get rid of these feelings. It only makes us blind to them. And when we are blind to some aspect of ourselves, it empowers that aspect to take over our thinking, and direct our behaviour, without us realizing it.
This is why, in Gurbani, the Guru never talks about getting rid of the Five Thieves of lust, anger, pride, greed and attachment. Rather, the Guru talks about controlling them. By being aware that they exist in us, we can manage those tendencies. The Shabad becomes a tool through which the capacity of awareness and restraint gets cultivated. But by believing we don't have these tendencies or wanting others to believe we do not have them, we fail to deal with them. And this failure to see actually empowers the 'thieves' to overtake us.
Joga Singh was caught by those very desires that contradicted the Spiritual Persona he had conceived for himself, after being the Guru's own ward for so many years.
And so began Joga's descent into the VOID. He inquired about the singing lady. Who was she? He discovered she was a courtesan. He longed to sit in her presence, and just listen to her music. He became so lost in his passion, that he abandoned his journey towards Anandpur Sahib and disguised his appearance so no one would recognize him as a Sikh of the Guru. When he approached her apartment, a guard stood sentry there. The guard told him that the lady in question was practicing for the evening, and that he should come back later.
These stories from Sikh history get carried through the centuries, and it is important to understand WHY they get retold again and again. Oral traditions can vary when it comes to details, but remain consistent with the moral. Whether we can establish their historical accuracy is a different issue. But these stories have power because they illustrate profound truths about the human condition, and the psycho-spiritual journey of the soul. The Guru ultimately is not a teacher in the way we think of a school teacher. The Gurus taught through the Gestalt paradigm - you have to experience what is within you. That is learning.
Whether Joga Singh kept coming back to the lady's apartment over and over again for one night, or one week, or one month … who can say. The key human dynamic memorialized in the story is that Joga kept seeking entry, and kept being denied.
For the purposes of this essay, let us say that this all happened in one night.
Joga loitered in town, waiting for his chance to engage with the courtesan. When evening came, he returned to her dwelling. The guard denied him entrance, saying she had a guest and could not be disturbed.
But his desire would not abate. He became enslaved by the sexual longing he felt. He kept coming back to her door, over and over again, seeking to gain access to her court. But the guard prevented him from entering.
Finally, as amrit vela dawned, the guard confronted Joga Singh about his true identity. "Aren't you a Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh? Isn't this the time of day when you do your spiritual practice? Why are you wasting yourself pursuing this woman?"
On a psycho-spiritual level, the real question that the guard asked was, "WHO ARE YOU?"
It is moments like this when the Hidden Self becomes visible to the Conscious Mind. When the contradiction between the persona and the shadow can no longer be side-stepped, we become AWARE of the shadow-self. This moment of awareness causes the Persona, or Face, to shatter. We realize we are not who we think we are. It is our own darkness that betrays our own light.
And the Guru causes us to realize this.
When we talk about these stories, too often I believe we engage in fantasy. We tell these stories like they are fairy tales. Where something scary happens, but everyone lives happily ever after. And that masks the profound psycho-spiritual crises that these stories portray. Where the shadow becomes visible and the Face gets irrevocably destroyed.
We imagine that the student simply withdraws back into their original persona and everything is right with the world. That the guard who, according to the story, turns out to be Guru Gobind Singh himself - confronted Joga Singh. Joga realized his mistake, corrected himself and continued his journey to Anandpur Sahib. As if all of that cognitive processing can take place in a moment in time.
More likely, from a human perspective, this experience of deep contradiction between the persona and the shadow cast Joga into a crisis. And it took the remainder of his journey to Anandpur Sahib to sort through that crisis. Maybe he fought with himself about presenting himself to the Guru. Maybe he went slowly. Maybe he realized he was in deep spiritual danger and ran as fast as he could to the Guru's court. The story doesn't record how this transformation took place. But, what is important for us to see is that it is a story of transformation. It is not a story of "making a mistake." It is a story that illustrates the genuine journey the Guru has to take us through on the path of spiritual development.
As we examine these stories, from a psycho-spiritual perspective, and see the crisis of self-identity that happens, then the true awesomeness of the Guru's mystical grace becomes visible.
Bhai Joga Singh, I would offer, had the latent tendency to lose himself in the experience of sensual desire. And the initiation into sex with his wife on his wedding night would have awakened that latent tendency. The Guru, out of love and his commitment to the young man, had an obligation to set his student up to fall. Joga Singh needed to see and experience his own darkness in order to be able to integrate it. Which is what the concept of "controlling" the 'thieves' ultimately means. We have to own and integrate the shadow into our psyche, into our awareness, into the daily routines and disciplines of our everyday lives. We can only command the shadow when we stop denying it.
This state of Vairaag, when we go VOID to the taste of Divine Love, drives us either away from the Creator or gives us the paradoxical strength to go deep within ourselves, and do the hard work of wrestling with our demons. The journey through this stage, which can neither be scripted nor predicted, leads to wholeness, self-acceptance and self-trust. It is a process of spiritual maturity. And it requires the Guru's guidance and the Guru's grace to navigate. Without the Guru, that VOID will swallow us up.
When I meditate upon this story, I do not believe that Bhai Joga Singh "got it" right away. I believe that he had to go through some serious soul-searching, see and own aspects of himself that he would have preferred to avoid. And when he eventually presented himself at Anandpur Sahib - he did so, not as a guilty child caught in some mischief. But as a more mature spiritual being who could acknowledge his strengths and weaknesses both, and could present himself, with all his flaws and all his devotion, to his Guru.
This to me is what humility means. Total self-acceptance. The good and the ugly. Without needing to dress up our darkness and pretend it doesn't exist. And without needing to denigrate our gifts and pretend that they are not awesome. To embrace all that it means to be human. To become whole.
This way of interpreting the story has helped me on my own journey through the swamp. However, I am sure there are other interpretations, as well. And I am not seeking to create any final definitive statement on the story of Guru Gobind Singh and Bhai Joga Singh. But to simply offer a perspective.
Bhai Joga Singh eventually returned to Anandpur Sahib. When he walked into the Guru's court, Guru Gobind Singh just smiled. The Guru had created the set-up. The Guru had played the part of the guard. The Guru had brought him into the VOID and remained in Union with his student, never leaving him for a second, until Joga found his way back to himself.
This, then, is Gurparsad. The gift of the Guru. When the Guru stays with us and helps us in our times of self-blindness. Even when we cannot perceive that Force, the Guru is there, helping us anyway.
And when we finally make it through the swampland, and return a more mature and sober to the Guru's service, there is no animosity. There is no judgement. There is just the fun of the play, and the joy of FATEH.
Header Pic: Twitter - Shiraz Hassan on Twitter: "Bhai Joga Singh Gurdwara, Peshawar
Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa
Ek Ong Kaar Kaur writes and teaches on Gurbani.
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by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa
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