In modern days, the developed countries worldwide spend significant resources on the treatment of obesity and the diseases associated with it. Both medical and surgical approaches to obesity are costly. In addition, they are not always effective, especially in the long-term perspective. Therefore, preventive measures are extremely important for addressing obesity. It is necessary to solve the problem of how to prevent the emergence and further spread of obesity. Most people begin to suffer from the condition in childhood. Thus, it is necessary to control the weight at an early age. As a precaution measure, the government of every country should ban the sale of fast food near schools and in school cafeterias.
According to nutritionists, the most harmful fast foods are French fries, sweet drinks, potato chips, crackers, candy sticks, synthetic lunches, and sausages. All of the aforementioned products contain a great number of harmful substances that cause a serious damage to the health of children. The particular harm of fast food consists in the imbalance of nutrition. Fast food includes the excess carbohydrates and fats, a significant lack of proteins, vitamins, and trace elements, as well as the content of stabilizers, preservatives, acrylamide, and solid fats. The food presents low value, as children's bodies receive extra calories and carbohydrates that turn into fat. The author Jeri Freedman (2008) states that "Eating fast food could add as much as six pounds per year to the weight of a child" (p. 14). In addition, due to the high content of various chemical additives, fast food can cause addiction. Taste and smell of fast food products are created artificially with the help of chemicals. Therefore, the unhealthy food looks very appetizing and is several times cheaper than natural food. Firstly, with an average hamburger, the child's body receives a large amount of stabilizers, preservatives, and emulsifiers. Secondly, the child's body takes acrylamide, as chemical that results from heating carbohydrate-rich foods, generated in fried or heated in the oven products (Freedman, 2008). Acrylamide causes genetic mutations in the body and the formation of tumors of the abdominal cavity (Freedman, 2008). Thirdly, the solid types of fats with a large amount of trans-fatty acids, which affect the immune system, increase the risk of diabetes, asthma, and the abnormal development of the heart muscle.
Over the past ten years, the number of children aged from six to ten years suffering from obesity has increased by two times (Freedman, 2008). Moreover, among adolescents, the figure is by three times higher (Freedman, 2008). It is obvious that fast food is not the sole cause of obesity. Nevertheless, the unhealthy products greatly contribute to its development. In the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, it is stated that "The American School Food Service Association estimates that about 30 percent of the public high schools in the United States offer branded fast food" (Schlosser, 2012, p. 56). Therefore, the sale of fast food products such as crackers, chips, fast food, noodles, instant mashes, and soda should be banned in school canteens and near schools. The administration should replace them with useful yogurt, curds, pastries, tea, juices, non-carbonated mineral water, and jelly.
In addition to fast food, carbonated drinks such as cola should also be banned in schools cafeteria. The drink causes great harm to the child's body. A glass of cola contains a daily rate of sugar of five teaspoons. On the other hand, such varieties of cola as "light" cola do not contain sugar (Freedman, 2008). Nevertheless, they even more dangerous because their composition contains sugar substitutes. Aspartame is one of them. It is a synthetic substance that provokes headaches, depression, fatigue, palpitations, and cancers. When children drink cold cola after greasy fast food, for example French fries, enormous harm to the body occur. Gastric juice diluted with cold carbonated liquid ceases to cope with the digestion. Fat solidifies and creates dead weight in the digestive organs, abdominal cavity, and vessels (Freedman, 2008). Any affected lemonade is harmful. However, cola and similar drinks cause the most damage to health. Children should drink filtered, mineral, and better non-carbonated water.
The fight for healthy eating in schools cafeterias takes place in many states today. The governments of many countries have already adopted the law, according to which the selling of fast food is banned near schools. They declared war on childhood obesity and fast food in school cafeterias. Under the new law, schools should only sell pure water, juices, low-fat milk and no cola. The UK Education Minister announced a widespread ban of fast food at schools (Ladner, 2013). However, the law is not enacted completely as vending sweets, crisps, and sugary soda have appeared outlaw.
The famous chef Jamie Oliver became the initiator of the fight against unhealthy child's diet (Stewart, 2014). In one of the TV programs, he raises the issues of school meals (Stewart, 2014). The cook has conducted an experiment at American schools. He has selected several schools and agreed with their administrations to feed students with the menu designed by the chef. Instead of hot dogs and pizzas, students in school cafeterias have eaten baked turkey with vegetables. When usual pizzas, burgers, and sausages disappeared from school canteens and cafeterias, students violently protested. In several schools, they have even declared a demonstrative hunger strike. However, in two weeks, the situation has changed dramatically. Students liked Oliver's dishes. According to Jamie Oliver, any fast food not only harms health, but also affects the mental development of children. Healthy nutrition has led to the fact that children have studied better. Moreover, children have become healthier. Jamie Oliver presented the results of the experiment in one of his programs. It has caused a strong reaction in the community. The cook has collected about 300 thousand signatures supporting the demand to change school meals, and made an appointment with the Prime Minister (Stewart, 2014). "Later, Oliver took on schools in the United States using a similar televised intervention approach" (Stewart, 2014). Jamie Oliver was able to draw the authorities' attention to the problems of the fast foods' negative influence on the development of children.
In 2003, it was decided to ban the sale of sugary soda and sweets in vending machines in all schools in New York (Ladner, 2013). Instead, students can buy a bottle of plain water, natural juices, and diet chips with the reduced content of salt and fat. In school cafeterias, the content of salt, sugar, and fat in foods was drastically reduced. Some dishes that can lead to obesity were completely excluded from the menu. In turn, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger banned all fast food products in school canteens (Ladner, 2013). Texas also adopted the law banning the sale of potato chips, chocolate, sweet soda, and rich pastries in schools canteens (Ladner, 2013). However, in two weeks, the department of the school education started receiving numerous calls from outraged parents and teachers (Ladner, 2013). They protested against the ban on cupcakes, which is a traditional American dessert. As a result, officials made an exception allowing the cupcakes, but only on the occasion of birthdays and after lunch leaving the size of muffins at the discretion of parents (Ladner, 2013). According to the activists, the ban on fast food in school cafeterias is the first step. The governments should ban the selling of fast food products near schools as well (Ladner, 2013).
However, there are some doctors that consider that fast food causes less harm than the fact that children will not eat at schools at all (Ladner, 2013). According to their opinion, if there are no tasty fast food products at schools, children will avoid eating lunch (Ladner, 2013). The children's weight depends not only on the total energy intake, but also on how often they eat. People that eat more than three times a day suffer from obesity by 45% less than individuals, who eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner only (Ladner, 2013). The connection has simple explanation. Abundant food leads to an abrupt release of insulin in the blood. It results in excess glucose is supplied in the tissues. In its turn, it stimulates the formation of adipose tissue. Frequent failures of lunch and particularly breakfast increase the risk of overweight on average four times. Each missed breakfast or lunch causes the feeling of hunger and, hence, makes dinner more plentiful. As a result, according to some doctors, it is better if children eat fast food at schools rather than does not eat at all (Ladner, 2013). However, most of the nutritionists consider that fast food is extremely harmful to children. School cafeterias should cook healthy and tasty food and, thus, children will soon forget about unhealthy products.
Obesity is a disease of modern society. Both children and adults suffer from the excess weight. Obesity in children appears not due to the lack of exercise, but by consuming food with high content of sugar, salt, and fat. The combination of bad nutrients is fast food. The products cause serious damage to the development of children from both mental and physical sides. Children should exclude unhealthy products from their menu. There are different opinions about the ban of fast food at schools. Nevertheless, most of the doctors and nutritionists believe that the government of every country should ban fast food in school canteens and near schools.


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MTS was built by a group of people who differed in some ways, but one of their shared characteristics was a tendency to have strong opinions. One of the marvels of the MTS community was that so many people who held such different opinions managed to find a way to work well together.
Elsewhere on this site you will find factual information on MTS and its history. In contrast, this page is an anchor for opinion. You can think of it as the Op/Ed page for the MTS Wiki. The idea is for people to write here about the "why" of MTS and the significance of MTS, rather than the "what", "when", and "how" of MTS.
Since the opinions of the people who built MTS are unlikely to have lost much of their strength (even if their manner of expression may have mellowed a bit), the standard Wiki model of free-for-all editing of a common set of pages may not work as well here. Instead, the suggested structure is for people to place a link here which points to one or more pages that express their opinions and judgment about the meaning and significance of MTS.
John Hogg at UBC
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San Francisco State University has been a hotbed of anti-Semitism for decades.
In 2014 at San Francisco State University, Mohammad Hammad, the president of GUPS (General Union of Palestinian Students) an offshoot of SJP, posted a photo on his Tumblr page in which he was holding a knife. In a caption to the photo, Hammad openly threatened murder: "I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier." Remember that almost all Israelis are mandated to serve in the Israeli army. Therefore, any Israelis studying at SFSU (and there are many) were directly threatened with this message.
lso in 2014, outspoken anti-Israel SFSU Professor Rabab Abdulhadi received $7,000 from the University—taxpayer money— to travel on a "political solidarity tour" to the Middle East to meet with the most famous member of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), a recognized terrorist organization responsible for 159 terrorist attacks, including the murder of 20 U.S. citizens. If you think this is acceptable, imagine if a professor was given $7,000 to travel to a KKK rally to show support to David Duke. Get the problem?
Most recently, an SFSU Hillel event featuring Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was shouted down by anti-Israel students, and had to be cancelled. The school administration did not punish any of the perpetrators.
There are many other examples of anti-Semitism at SFSU, but you get the picture. Many in the Jewish community have been saying enough is enough regarding the terrible situation at SFSU. That's why we are thrilled to report that the Lawfare Project is spearheading a lawsuit against SFSU for discrimination against Jewish students, and cultivating a culture of anti-Semitism. You can read about the lawsuit here.
This lawsuit is a precedent setting opportunity to let every university around the U.S. know that the Jewish community will fight back. The days of anti-Semitic students interrupting pro-Israel events, and facing no consequences, is hopefully coming to an end. If the lawsuit is successful, campus administrators will take notice. This lawsuit will cost a lot of money. If you would like to help, please consider contributing to the Lawfare Project.


Cindy House has developed a unique way of using pastels to capture the beauty of the natural world. Using PowerPoint, she will show, step by step, her work as it moves from idea in field to finished pastel in the studio. She will explain many of the techniques she uses with this fascinating medium.


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SERMON: "Not So Among You"
A Meditation on Mark 10:32-45
First Congregational United Church of Christ
So James and John are all amped up. And really, who can blame them? When was the last time you were all amped up in a movement? James and John are totally engaged. These are heady days in their movement; Jesus' message is gaining traction among all kinds of people. And James and John can taste it. And this is exactly what they signed up for. Exposing the powerful. Beating swords into ploughshares. Inaugurating the kingdom of God.
But then Jesus questions whether they get it, whether they really get him and where he's going with all this. Are you prepared for the suffering? he asks. Will you welcome the losses, embrace the defeats? And, of course, James and John are totally engaged. Of course, they say. Of course, we'll suffer with you. Just put us in charge. Just keep us close when the tide's turning and the new world's at hand. We'll take responsibility.
And it's interesting, isn't it, that this matter of leadership, this matter of leadership in the movement, occasions conflict in the beloved community. Interesting and inevitable. For instance, what does leadership mean—really—in the context of liberation and resistance? How should Jesus' disciples—folks like you and me—how should we practice leadership in transformational moments and settings? Which gifts are the necessary gifts? I imagine these are First Church questions. I know they are. And the questions themselves provoke conflict. The questions themselves test friendships and priorities. And it's always been that way. All the way back to Moses and Miriam. The disciples are just following the ancient script. It's what we do.
So what does leadership mean (what are the necessary gifts) in the context of liberation and resistance? This is where Jesus goes to work. This is where Jesus gets down to business. And here's what he says:
"You know," and this will be my translation. "You know that among the movers and shakers of the world, the players throw their weight around, and the powerbrokers are like tyrants leveraging their privilege." My translation, right, but you get the point. "Among the movers and shakers of the world, the players throw their weight around, and the powerbrokers are like tyrants leveraging their privilege." Something like that. "But it's not so among you," Jesus says, "but whoever wishes to be great among you must be a servant in the movement, and whoever wishes to be first among you must humbly serve the common good." In other words, the liberation project requires a different kind of leadership. This is where the rubber hits the road for Jesus; it really is. The liberation project requires a different kind of leadership.
Years ago, at Union Seminary in New York, my teacher Cornel West was talking about hedonism on Wall Street, and crushing poverty in city neighborhoods, and a spirituality of resistance. And I'll never forget the way he put all this: "Nihilism," Cornel West said, "is not overcome by arguments or analyses; it is tamed by love and care." Still preaches, right? Nihilism is not overcome by arguments or analyses; it is tamed by love and care. Which isn't to say that arguments are unimportant, or that analysis has no place. Not at all. But the prophetic task of the church, the gospel task of the church is different. We practice leadership the way lovers make love: as generous partners and humble servants. Now I know this is way, way out there; but it's gospel I think. We practice leadership the way lovers make love: as generous partners and poets of the flesh.
Now it's not an easy thing, clearly. And this kind of leadership takes a lifetime to learn. But there is no other way. Nihilism is not overcome by arguments or analyses. And then Cornel West punctuates the teaching, he puts an exclamation point on it in his book Race Matters: "A love ethic must be at the center of a politics of conversion." If conversion is the turning of hearts and systems towards justice, there can be no meaningful turning without love. Daring love. Daily love. Durable love. A love ethic must be at the center of a politics of conversion!
What Jesus is doing, then, in the text this morning is embracing the conflict in his inner circle, teaching off it, and suggesting a love ethic for his movement. And with that in mind, I want to tell you another Union Seminary story that illuminates the ethic and puts the ball (squarely) in our court.
Now the great thing about Union in the 80s was this: liberation wasn't a vague ideal, an option, it was a very particular mandate. I like to say liberation was something like a contact sport at Union. And I'll be quite honest and say that, in a lot of ways, I wasn't prepared for that. And the first time, the very first time I stepped into Union's old chapel—for a noontime communion service—the whole thing nearly swallowed me whole.
That first week, chapel services were facilitated by students in the Black Students Association. And that first day, two black students presided at a communion table stacked with silver trays and those little shot glasses of grape juice. At the start, it was everything I expected at Union: a multiracial community of Christians, gathered from all over the country, at the intersection of Harlem and Broadway. It was an exhilarating scene: ancient sacraments contextualized in contemporary settings; activists and pastors mixing and mingling in worship. I remember thinking to myself: "Bring it on, Good God! Bring it on!" Kind of like James and John, really, I was all amped up!
But I underestimated seminary, at least for a day or two. Truth be told, I probably underestimated Jesus and the gospel too. Turns out that worship—when it's honest anyway—is risky business. What's that Annie Dillard line? We should pass out crash helmets, not programs, at the door! And in no time, those two students at the table had skipped any kind of prayer or small talk and were instead denouncing seminary administrators, the same administrators who'd welcomed us the day before and moved us in. One or two of them were sitting just then in the front row. The two students were calling them out—in chapel—for a series of summer lay-offs, extensive lay-offs devastating dozens of support staff and their families.
And almost every employee fired that summer—in what the seminary had called a cost-cutting necessity—almost every one was a person of color, with a family of color depending on them. "So welcome to Union," one of the two said to us that day, in chapel. "And now what are you going to do?"
And that was just day one. Instead of a predictable communion service, two black students invoked a New Testament text (First Corinthians, if you're keeping score), counseling a church divided by injustice to step away from the table, to refrain from celebrating the feast. Until such time as the injustice was addressed. Until such time as the beloved community recovered its heart and healed itself.
And just as abruptly, the two men took off their stoles, and their robes, right there in front of us, and walked out of the chapel. Just like that. No communion. Said they were on their way, directly, to the President's office to register their protest there. Some in the chapel clapped as they left. Several followed them out. And others of us—and I have to confess that this included me—the rest of us just gasped. An opportunity, a call that I missed that day!
Now thankfully, the advisor to the Black Students Association that fall was the great historian of the black church Jim Washington. And Jim was a great big man with an equally big heart and deep roots in the civil rights movement. On top of all that, he was a Baptist minister, with a keen sense of timing, and he rose after a moment and spoke quietly and persuasively about the power of anger, the importance of protest and the integrity of worship. "Perhaps we should continue with our communion," Jim said. "But we should meditate, as we do, on the broken body in which we participate." And you could have heard the proverbial pin drop. "And we should meditate," he said, "on the crucified Christ who is too often black and brown, and the burden of the gospel in this place."
And with these words, Jim Washington took the bread in his huge hands and blessed it. And then he consecrated a cup of sweet juice, and invited a grateful but chastened community to serve one another in the traditional way. Which we did. And we lingered after that service, deep into the afternoon, sharing perspectives on the summer's lay-offs, naming aloud those who'd lost their jobs, and strategizing around addressing this with administrators in days that followed.
Now in the many years since, I have remembered Jim's ministry every time I've come across Jesus' teaching on humility and the servant spirit of leadership. "You know," Jesus says, "that among the movers and shakers of the world, the players throw their weight around, and the powerbrokers are like tyrants leveraging their privilege." Something like that. "But whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must serve the common good." You can't just memorize this stuff and be done with it. You've got to live this gospel to get it. And Jim Washington got it.
Jim wasn't just humoring a hostile crowd that afternoon, or placating a peeved people. He was insisting on communion, yes, but holding us accountable for racism and its nasty hold on communities we loved. The liberation project requires a different kind of leadership. In Jim's eyes I saw vulnerability, but integrity too, in a hyper-charged environment. In his body, in the way he stood physically among us, I saw Christ-like compassion—for idealistic students, and angry agitators, and the invisible poor. For all of us. Jesus is looking for servant leaders, and his gospel is not for the faint of heart. "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant." When the moment came, Jim Washington was ready and available and unintimidated.
In the text this morning, Jesus is talking about a kind of fearless devotion to community—and to communion—even when that same community is shaken by doubt, disappointment and even rage. And what is fearless devotion? Watch him moving across the Palestinian landscape; watch him building a multicultural movement of souls whose only weapons are love and prayer. Watch him washing his friends' feet as their hearts are breaking. Fearless devotion is Mother Teresa insisting that every dying 10-year-old in Calcutta be touched and treated like an angel. Fearless devotion is the priest in the barrio who cries with his displaced people, and honors their passion for justice. Anger is necessary, rage is appropriate. But fearless devotion is the language of liberation. Like Moses singing to Pharaoh: "Let my people go!" Or Mavis Staples to the riot police: "We shall not be moved!"
But Jim Washington, you see, is just one part of this story. Servant leadership does not always mean sitting still and staying put. I know you know this; and I want you to know that I know it too. I'm persuaded now that those two students who walked out that day were also exercising leadership (even Christ-like leadership) in their willingness to disrupt the status quo and enact solidarity through coordinated action. I've had a lot of years to think about this. Sometimes injustice is so entrenched, and racism so well baked into the American loaf that sitting still and staying put is nothing more and nothing less than complicity. A love ethic, a true love ethic, shakes us loose.
In leaving worship that day, those two students were exercising their own fearless devotion to community: to a community that included dishwashers and secretaries, janitors and librarians, invisible perhaps to the rest of us, but very much alive in the minds and hearts of those servant leaders and that beloved community.
So no, Jesus isn't kidding around. And I know you know this. I came 3000 miles to be with you this morning, because I know you know this. This gospel, Jesus' gospel, has an edge. "The Human One," he says this morning, to you and to me, "the Human One came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." In other words, without embodied solidarity, leadership amounts to something like complicity. And without disciplined commitment to the common good, leadership misses its mark. But not so among you, Jesus says. Not so among you.
And isn't this what Alicia Garza and the women who inspired the Black Lives Matter movement have taught us over the last several years? Isn't this what Emma Gonzalez and her classmates at Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland have taught us just this spring? Servant leadership does not always mean sitting still and staying put. Not so among you, Jesus says. Not so among you. Sometimes, oftentimes, servant leadership means getting up and walking out. And this isn't easy for most of us: we're going to have to help one another with this. Embodied solidarity is the road less traveled.
But Jesus doesn't blink. Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst and ache for justice. Blessed is your discomfort. Blessed are you when you're willing to go to jail, willing to face persecution for the common good. Blessed is your distress. Sometimes you have to jam the gears of the machine. Sometimes leadership means getting up and walking out. And that too is a love ethic: a love ethic that resists bitterness, a love ethic that moves us to action, a love ethic that clears out cynicism and sarcasm for courage and creativity. Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst and ache for justice. Just ask Alicia Garza about that, or Emma Gonzalez, or Jesus if you dare.
I'm guessing a good many of you have read the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose recent collection (called We Were Eight Years in Power) is a deep dive into issues of race and white supremacy and the legacy of Barack Obama. Ta-Nehisi pushes back against the notion that white America was somehow fooled into electing Donald Trump in 2016 and insists that we knew exactly what we were doing and who we were anointing that fall. And he suggests that our task now—our progressive, political task—is disruptive. Fearless, honest and disruptive.
I'd like to read just a couple of sentences from the last pages of his book:
"...there was nothing inevitable about Donald Trump's election," he writes, "and while great damage has been done by his election, at the time of this writing it is not yet the end of history. What is needed now is a resistance intolerant of self-exoneration, set against blinding itself to evil—even in the service of warring against other evils. One must be able," and I think this is Ta-Nehisi Coates at his best, "one must be able to name the bad bargain that whiteness strikes with its disciples—and still be able to say that it is this bargain, not a mass hypnosis that has held through boom and bust."
So here's what I want to say about leadership in the church. Here's where the rubber hits the road for us. If we're going to take Christianity seriously in 2018, if we're going to inhabit this tradition prophetically, you and I have to deconstruct whiteness in America and expose the bargain whiteness continues to strike with its American disciples. Make sense? The project of building a beloved community is a disruptive project. We want to do it with love in our hearts. We're called to do it with love in our hearts. But the project of building a beloved community is a disruptive project. At every level. In every dimension.
And this is the primary task for servant leaders in the American church. For any of us who take Jesus' love ethic to heart. And it's a collaborative task, I think, and a relational challenge.
And here's what that means to me. As a white man in America, as a white man in the church, I've got to deconstruct my own whiteness—debunk it, raze it to the ground and start from scratch. But I need the rest of you to help me do this; I can't do it by myself, relying on my own wits, apart from your passion and your pain. It's a relational challenge. And then, and then, I've got to live into a whole new way of being in the church, a whole new way of neighboring in my life, a whole new way of collaborating in America. I've got to do this work, and we've got to do this work, together. A multiracial, multicultural church!
Now Ta-Nehisi Coates isn't particularly concerned with the church or religion for that matter. But he's spot-on, I think, about this bargain we've accommodated in all too many ways. And the thing is, we cannot and must not tolerate this bargain. Not in the church. Not in the Body of Christ. Again, Jesus isn't particularly vague. Our mandate is a single circle, an interdependent body, a beloved community. Our mandate is the gospel church: no longer Jew or Greek, no longer rich or poor, no longer male or female. Being a Christian—being "in Christ" as we say—means "a resistance intolerant of self-exoneration, set against blinding itself to evil." We've got to be brave. This isn't a project you finish in a weekend, or a decade, or even a lifetime. But it's the way of the cross, the disciple's journey, the vocation of churches like ours. And it brings us, if we follow, if we persist, if we open our eyes, it brings us to the threshold of Easter and the promise of resurrection. Where we can see who we are and who (by God's grace) we can one day become.
So this is my commitment to you, friends, and my promise to Jesus too. If you wish and if you choose, I will partner with you to build a gospel church right here at 10th and G. We will not rest, we will not sleep, we will not settle for anything else. We will take up Jesus' cross—and we'll take it up together—trusting in God's love to see us through seasons of bewilderment and despair. We will pray together and laugh together and weep together, and together we will deconstruct whiteness and patriarchy and heterosexism and every other expression of bigotry and division on this planet. That's what we'll do. Right here at 10th and G. First Church will mean fearless devotion.
Because, here's the thing: our mandate in the church is liberation. And our mandate in the church is love. And our mandate in the church is courage. And we will not rest, we will not sleep, we will not settle for anything else.
Posted by Dave Grishaw-Jones at 12:20 PM
EVERYTHING THAT IS, IS HOLY
There are only two ways to live your life, Einstein said. One is as though nothing's a miracle. The other's as though everything is. A miracle. Imagine waking up tomorrow and living as though everything's a miracle. Imagine walking down the street, heading into work, as though everything's a miracle. Isn't that the point of it all? The point of faith and hope and human being?
Merton borrowed a similar phrase from an old William Blake poem: "Everything that is, is holy." And I wonder if this isn't the very heart of Jesus' teaching, and the heart of Rumi's and Maimonides' too. Consider the lilies, and the lofty redwoods. Turn toward the birds in the breeze, the tiny songbird and the proud pelican. "Everything that is, is holy."
A choir sings "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." A poet imagines abundance and resistance, even now, in the empire's maw. Two ways to live, Einstein said. We choose the miracle. We choose the planet. We choose one another.
So sure, the evening news stings, and cynicism bites hard. And yes, tyrants thunder and zealots rage. But we meet their cynicism with love, agape, the kind of love that resists and transforms and blesses. Without reservation. And we meet their hopelessness with gratitude and joy. "Everything that is, is holy." So we break bread with friend and foe. Alleluia. And we wash the feet of the poor and the proud. Alleluia. And we sing freedom songs, anthems to peace, hymns to the inscrutable and immeasurable Maker of All that Ever Was and Will Be. Alleluia.
The miraculous is all around us, and deep inside us. There is, indeed, holiness in the world. It's in the golden sun, setting over the hallowed hills. It's in the warm summer wind, and the beggar's plea for grace. It's everywhere you turn. "Everything that is, is holy." So watch closely. Pray without ceasing. Surrender fear. And cast your lot with all those who say YES!
DAVE GRISHAW-JONES
WELCOME to VALLEY RISE UP: a blog exploring faith and wonder, ethics and passion. If you find something helpful here, anything helpful here, I hope you'll take it along and make it work for you. More than anything else, I see myself as a spiritual guide and mentor for seekers and believers. In a beautiful and befuddling world, faith offers courage, resilience and tenderness. At least it does for me. On the side, I love to read and write poetry, and I've written a number of hymns and songs as well. In VALLEY RISE UP, I try to keep the conversation alive, exploring grace, peacemaking, human yearning and hope.
VALLEY RISE UP (DGJ)
A Song of Joyous Resistance
Deep valley gonna rise up
Big mountain gonna fall
Gonna be level ground, by & by!
Swords pounded into ploughshares
Bombs into bread and wine
Global feast, blessed peace, by & by!
Dry bones are gonna dance, dance
Captives be runnin' free
Sea to sea, dancin' free, by & by!
Tune: Lattimer (Spiritual)
DAVE ON FACEBOOK
David Grishaw-Jones | Create Your Badge
SOME OF DAVE'S POEMS
'Bartimaeus'
'Take Off Your Shoes'
'Let Us Rise'
'Sanctuary'
'Early Morning Fog'
'Eyeing God'
'Friend in Darkness'
'Paramedic'
'Gethsemane'
'A Strange Peace'
'Not Peace'
'The Pros and Cons of Going'
'Koreatown - Sunday'
'Innkeeper's Confession'
'Unbearable Lightness'
'New Year's Eve'
'If You Call Me'
'If I Were Picking a Supreme'
'Failing Fabulously'
'Prospect Hill'
SOME OF DAVE'S SERMONS
'Because She Insisted' (August '18)
'Jesus & the Promise'
'Joseph's Desire' (Christmas '17)
'Do God's Will' (MLK Day '18)
'Together Tried & Tested'
'Uprising'
'Imitating Jesus'
'Weep First'
'The Good Shepherd'
'Not So Among You'
'You are the Light of the World'
'Stay Awake' (September '18)
'Imagine a World'
"If the inner life is great," said Meister Eckhart 800 years ago, "the outer life will never be puny." Eckhart and others talk about two dimensions in prayer: the horizontal (connecting us in lovingkindness to others) and the vertical (uniting us in love with the Source of all that is and will be). The two intersect in stillness, in reflection, in meditation, in prayer. And this kind of practice is cultivated, tended like a garden, through daily experience and circles of support. There are so many ways into a practice of prayer. For some of us, silence is the key; for others, it's movement, yoga, tai chi, qi gong. The key seems to be discipline, and steady practice. It's a wild and noisy world out there, so find a place and time to step aside and pray. And do it often.
PRAYER, STILLNESS, CONNECTION
Passage Meditation
Contemplify: Podcast
House of One
The Jesus Prayer
Sacred Space in Everyday Life
Contemplative Practices
Transformative Living through Contemplative Arts
Taize: Prayer, Song & Worship
Gratefulness as Practice
PRAY!
PASSAGES FOR MEDITATION
Passage Meditation: Basics
Merton's "I Have No Idea"
Teilhard's "Signs of Age"
Joni Mitchell's "If"
THOMAS MERTON'S PRAYER
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
AGAPE, AHIMSA, NONVIOLENCE
Resource Center for Nonviolence
God Before Guns
Friends for a Nonviolent World
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolence
Center for Jewish Nonviolence
Momastery: Hope Spreaders
Ched Myers on Discipleship
Tikkun: To Heal and Restore the World
Sacred Texts and Journeys
Ron Rolheiser
CHRIST AMONG THE LILIES
By Stanley Spencer
COMMUNE, SHARE, OVERCOME
Re-Placing Church
Institute for Islamic-Christian-Jewish Studies
Earth-Bound Activism
Notes from Exile (Rachel Roberts)
Rachel Carson Center in Munich
Queer Friends & Allies
Progressive Reflection & Preaching
UCC Palestine Israel Network
Mary Luti: Prayers, Sermons & Midrash
Organizing for the Common Good
Health Care's a Human Right
FORGIVE, SERVE, RECONCILE
The Work of the People
Festival of Faiths
24 Hours of Happy
Sacred Activism
Love the Earth, Cool the Planet
CHERISH!
LIKE A GREAT REASSURANCE...
"Sleeping on the hearth of the living world/ Yawning at home before the fire of life/ Feeling the presence of the living God/ Like a great reassurance." --- D H Lawrence
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VALLEY RISE UP
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Tomasini, Carlo; Kempf, Werner; Novelli, Mauro; Fava, Paolo; Annessi, Giorgio; Rongioletti, Franco; Fierro, Maria Teresa; Quaglino, Pietro (2015). Spiky follicular mycosis fungoides: a clinicopathologic study of 8 cases. Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, 42(3):164-172.
Dummer, Reinhard; Quaglino, Pietro; Becker, Jürgen C; Hasan, Baktiar; Karrasch, Matthias; Whittaker, Sean; Morris, Stephen; Weichenthal, Michael; Stadler, Rudolf; Bagot, Martine; Cozzio, Antonio; Bernengo, Maria G; Knobler, Robert (2012). Prospective international multicenter phase II trial of intravenous pegylated liposomal doxorubicin monochemotherapy in patients with stage IIB, IVA, or IVB advanced mycosis fungoides: final results from EORTC 21012. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 30(33):4091-4097.
This list was generated on Fri Apr 19 06:24:27 2019 CEST.


text:
Q: Create Index to month of timestamp only mongoldb I am new to MongoDB. I have a MongoDB database which has documents of each minute(timestamp field). To optimise the query performance I created a compound index:
db.data.createIndex({dId:1,ts:-1})

But my query has:
"$match":{ dId:  deviceId,year_agg:year_input,month_agg:month_input }

I wish to create index on only month of the timestamp so that the query time is reduced. Is that possible?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Longtime Finaghty's Server Leaving to Become Bindlesticks Coffee and Beer House New Owner
August 31, 2012 by Danna McCall 2 Comments
My family eats at Finaghty's Irish Pub in Snoqualmie at least once a week. The food's great. The atmosphere is welcoming and comfortable and to make it even easier, most of the longtime servers pretty much know some (if not all) of our order.
My son and I sometimes say Finaghty's is Snoqualmie's version of Cheers – a gathering spot, which is exactly what the owners set out to create. I recognize regular faces at the sitting at the bar each time we're in, even more so if it happens to be happy hour. And they aren't at the bar consuming beer after beer. These are friends conversing. I imagine they stop in to see each other after a day at work, or maybe sometimes on their lunch hour. Those friends include fellow patrons and often times the people behind the bar, including longtime server, Rachelle Armstrong, who's worked at Finaghty's for almost four years.
That's about to change today, though, as Rachelle works her last shift at Finaghty's and gets ready to make her jump from Snoqualmie business employee to Snoqualmie small business owner. As of September 1st she is the new owner of Bindlesticks, the small coffee and beer house that sits between the barber shop and old city hall in historic Snoqualmie. Rachelle said leaving Finaghy's was a hard choice to make, as she loves working for owners, Lisa McCord and Phil Stafford, but she is still really excited about her new endeavor.
Rachelle says she plans to make some small changes at Bindlesticks, but nothing too major. She says she'll maybe cozy the place up a little. Bindlesticks has a little bit of everything for everyone, from the time it opens at 7AM on weekdays until closing at 8PM. For those who will miss having Rachelle serve them their favorite pint of beer while chatting about the latest life-happenings, well that's covered at Bindlesticks, too. Rachelle has 4 beers on tap and specialty bottled beer from Germany and Belgium, as well as some house wines.
When Bindlesticks has its coffee house hat on, it serves organic Caffe Vita espresso, which Rachelle says is amazing coffee. There will also be new breakfast and lunch options like panini sandwiches, as well as the old standbys like bagels, muffins and pastries. Bindlesticks new website should be up and going soon.
So as of Saturday morning, you'll find Rachelle behind the coffee house bar at Bindlesticks, 8010 Railroad Ave SE. She's still ready to serve her regular customers so stop in and say hi. Oh, and for those of you who frequent Snoqualmie's drive-thru coffee shop, Coffee Expresso, one of those friendly faces will be taking over for Rachelle at Finaghty's.
Bindlesticks is open Monday – Friday form 7AM to 8PM and on weekends from 8AM – 6PM, with live music on the back patio on Sunday afternoons at 2PM.
Good Luck, Rachelle. Lucky for me your new spot is on my daily commute between Snoqualmie and North Bend. I may have to start cheating on Starbucks!
Rachelle, right, with friends/customers at Finaghty's Irish Pub, where many of her customers have become friends over the past four years.
Filed Under: Businesses, Snoqualmie Valley Info
Phil Stafford says
We at Finaghty's are very excited for Rachelle and her family as they move into the 'ownership' side of the business! It is sad for us to see her go, but we will continue to support her and her new endeavor. Please support The Bindlestick and all other local Snoqualmie Valley businesses!
jd3mccall says
Trying my best, Phil:)


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The Chester County Historical Society (CCHS) announced Tuesday that it had received an implementation grant of $400,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the upcoming exhibition Chester County: A Place in History.
The grant program is extremely competitive. Of the 212 grants awarded nationally, CCHS was one of only ten to receive funding in the Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations Planning and Implementation category.
The Chester County Historical Society's new 6,000 sq. ft. permanent exhibition Chester County: A Place in History will highlight CCHS's nationally recognized permanent collections with a depth of interpretation that will enable visitors, local and distant, to understand more about this community and their relationship to it. This innovative re-installation and expansion project will feature stories about people, places and events that make this vibrant county unique. CCHS will be able to increase access physically and electronically to more objects, photographs, and manuscripts than ever before through the exhibit and an adjacent gallery featuring visible storage. The exhibition is scheduled to open in 2017.
Meehan announces $42K federal grant for Longwood Fire Co.


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For house building, construction, plant hire, engineering, rail construction and groundworks, mid-range models are easy to use and compact, with excellent visibility and boosted power and lift capabilities.


Note: The written GRE must be taken several months in advance of the application deadline in order for the scores to reach the university by the admission deadlines. Students specializing in second language acquisition must have advanced proficiency, as defined by the graduate committee of the BYU department of their language focus.
Once you are ready to apply, you can complete the application at https://gradstudies.byu.edu/.
Admission cycles are open to master's students already in the department or unadmitted students. Those students who have taken 10 or fewer credits in IP&T courses prior to admittance may include those credits in their program of study after being admitted. In order to apply off-cycle (by October 15 or April 15), you must supply the faculty with all the information that students applying for the January 1 deadline would submit. This material should be provided to the faculty in time for them to review and admit the student prior to the designated graduate school deadlines.
The PhD degree focuses on research. Therefore, in your application letter you should highlight your ability to do research and how the direction you want to go fits in with the strengths of the department and current faculty research agendas.
and a video interview process as part of the application, where you will need to provide video responses to three interview prompts.
All decisions must be discussed and agreed upon by at least two thirds of the department faculty, who will vote to (1) accept, (2) reevaluate, or (3) reject the candidate. A simple majority vote for reevaluation means the student is not yet accepted into the program but can reapply for the January 1 cycle. Typically, most students will receive this decision, but exceptional students who have proven themselves capable of rigorous research and writing potential may be accepted out of cycle. Current students in the master's program must have already passed their prospectus defense and be on track to complete a thesis/project within the semester. If the student or chair expects to take longer than this to complete the thesis/project, then the student is encouraged to apply during the next admission cycle.


I saw THIS 3 min tutorial and it set me off into a rabbit hole.
I created a base shape for my cliff or rock and then set dynotopo to a high detail to have around 500k tris and did some quick sculpt to give it more shape and then smooth everything out. Then I started applying the displacements on top of each other.
I've found out that if you set the Displacement texture mapping to Empty Object, You can move, scale and rotate the displaced mesh and it will keep changing because the displacement texture is mapped to "world coordinates" in way.
Here are some examples of my work, all these were made completely with the displacement just by dragging around and playing with variations.
What do you guys think about this approach and what could be improved ?


text:
Why One Democrat Voted for Farm Bill
Cindy Zimmerman January 31, 2014
More Democrats than Republicans voted against the conference committee farm bill this week in the U.S. House, mostly because of the nutrition program reforms, but 89 did vote in favor despite that and one was Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), former mayor of Kansas City.
In an interview today, Rep. Cleaver said it's not a perfect bill, but it's the best bill they could get. "I've been pushing compromise since I went to Congress ten years ago and this was an opportunity for me to practice what I preach," said Cleaver, who is a United Methodist pastor by profession.
Rep. Cleaver, who has both rural and urban interests in his district, says he was heavily lobbied by Democratic groups, including the Progressive Caucus, to vote against the bill. "Because I represent almost four rural counties where I have a large number of farms and where I operate with a farmers' advisory committee, I believed that in spite of some of the deficiencies, this was the best chance we had of getting a sound farm bill," he said. "After all, it's been two years trying to get a bill approved."
Cleaver is hopeful Congress will make progress this year in other legislation important to agriculture, such as transportation and immigration. Interview with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
Audio, Farm Bill


text:
Massachusetts preparing field hospital in anticipation of post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 outbreak
Ted Wayman
HOSPITAL. JOSH: RHONDELLA, THE REASON THIS IS BEING SET UP TO TAKE SOME OF THE PRESSURE OFF OF OTHER HOSPITALS IN THE REGION. THEY WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO ELECTIVE PROCEDURES AND THIS WILL BE FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS ONLY. THE DCU CENTER IN WORCESTER WILL HAVE 240 BEDS, POTENTIALLY NEEDED AS COVID CASES CONTINUE TO RISE. YOU MAY RECALL FIVE OTHER FIELD HOSPITALS WENT UP AROUND THE STATE LAST SPRING, BUT THREE WENT UNUSED SINCE THE EXPECTED SURGE NEVER CAME. BUT NOW THE FIELD HOSPITALS ARE GOING BACK UP AND WILL BE STAFFED WITH HEALTH CARE WOR WORKERS, SOME OF WHOM HAVE RECOVERED FROM COVID-19. >> BECAUSE THEY ARE, AFTER ALL, ESSENTIAL, BUT WE'RE VERY STRICT ABOUT WHEN THEY CAN RETURN AND TO ASSURE THAT THEY'RE ASYMPTOMATIC. JOSH: THE NATIONAL GUARD WILL STEP IN TO SET UP THE BEDS INSIDE AS IT GETS UP AND RUNNING AND THERE'S A HIRING SPREE TO FIND HEALTH CARE WORKERS TO STAFF THIS SITE. WORCESTER HAS SEEN 500 NEW CASES OF COVID IN THE LAST WEE
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday the state will reopen at least one COVID-19 field hospital in response to surging numbers of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations related to the pandemic.Baker said Friday that a 240-bed field hospital at the DCU Center in Worcester will be available to patients beginning in the first week of December.Staff from UMass Medical Center in Worcester will lead all clinical care at the hospital, and members of the National Guard will be facilitating the center's operation.Baker said the Worcester facility will help take some of the burden off the state's hospitals."Last spring, we made the very difficult decision to have hospitals focus almost exclusively on COVID patients at the expense of almost everything else to ensure we had enough capacity to serve those with COVID, and as a result, many people put off getting routine care and, in some cases, serious medical care, and that created a secondary problem," Baker said.Baker said Friday that hospitals around the state were at 73% occupancy of non-intensive care unit beds and 50% capacity in intensive care units.The state will also look at identifying other locations to open additional field hospitals if needed, Baker said.In the spring, Massachusetts state officials and partners opened field hospitals at the DCU Center in Worcester, the BCEC in Boston, Joint Base Cape Cod and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, among other places.Massachusetts crossed the threshold of 10,000 virus-related deaths on Thursday.While Baker said the state was making plans to reopen field hospitals, he expressed confidence in improved testing and the preparedness of the health care system.Baker says most people in Massachusetts are following COVID-19 precautions, most of the time, and he insists it has made a difference. But he and health officials warn that everyone should follow the rules every day."The trajectory now is sustained and troubling, and everybody needs to step up and help ensure that we get our arms around this," Baker said.Watch the video above to learn more about this story.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday the state will reopen at least one COVID-19 field hospital in response to surging numbers of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations related to the pandemic.
Baker said Friday that a 240-bed field hospital at the DCU Center in Worcester will be available to patients beginning in the first week of December.
Staff from UMass Medical Center in Worcester will lead all clinical care at the hospital, and members of the National Guard will be facilitating the center's operation.
Baker said the Worcester facility will help take some of the burden off the state's hospitals.
"Last spring, we made the very difficult decision to have hospitals focus almost exclusively on COVID patients at the expense of almost everything else to ensure we had enough capacity to serve those with COVID, and as a result, many people put off getting routine care and, in some cases, serious medical care, and that created a secondary problem," Baker said.
Baker said Friday that hospitals around the state were at 73% occupancy of non-intensive care unit beds and 50% capacity in intensive care units.
The state will also look at identifying other locations to open additional field hospitals if needed, Baker said.
In the spring, Massachusetts state officials and partners opened field hospitals at the DCU Center in Worcester, the BCEC in Boston, Joint Base Cape Cod and the University of Massachusetts Lowell, among other places.
Massachusetts crossed the threshold of 10,000 virus-related deaths on Thursday.
While Baker said the state was making plans to reopen field hospitals, he expressed confidence in improved testing and the preparedness of the health care system.
Baker says most people in Massachusetts are following COVID-19 precautions, most of the time, and he insists it has made a difference. But he and health officials warn that everyone should follow the rules every day.
"The trajectory now is sustained and troubling, and everybody needs to step up and help ensure that we get our arms around this," Baker said.
Watch the video above to learn more about this story.


Just thinking aloud here, but say you had a vest that was triggered once armed by releasing your gun. That might achieve a return to surface when you had lost motor control. When the lights go out you are going to drop your gun and the system could then send you to the surface. It would only work while you were under pressure and that means you are under the water say at a depth of 3 meters and greater. It would need an override for times when you deliberately release your gun otherwise you would be going up and down like a yo-yo.
The Chinese are now producing a snorkelling depth meter watch that is an equivalent to the Casio SNK-100 of many years ago. Those cost 299 bucks each, but I bought 3 of them for that price when they were discontinued and gave one to my buddy and used the other two myself after the first one scrambled its brains. Now this new watch only costs 80 bucks, so here is a pressure measuring system at low cost that could be integrated (the chip and sensor that is) into some sort of safety vest.
We don't want another tragedy like this one, but we also need to think of his wife and young child who no longer has a father, as Jon (Behslayer) expressed earlier in this thread. Those who are left behind need to be in our thoughts, and actions. It is a terrible time when a life is so unexpectedly cut short and one searches for answers.
Very sad. Hopefully we can learn from this and someone's life will be saved as a result of this tragedy.
I don't know if this is the proper thread to discuss this, but there was another death due to a downcurrent in indonesia I remember reading about years ago on this forum.
My question is, how do you predict where down currents will be and avoid them? Is there something about the bottom structure and the current/tide that has to happen for the down currents to form?
Large changes in elevation of reef structures and narrow passages where water builds up with tide changes and cannot easily pass through create these currents and eddies which can be exacerbated by wind direction and waves that build water up against some obstruction then are equalized as water shifts in large stream flows, which can be up or down depending on the underwater topography. I have been caught in an upwelling while on scuba and finding myself going up for no apparent reason from about 50 feet down had to blow my buoyancy shell (Scubapro Scubasystem) and stop going up too quickly or I was in trouble. As air would not dump that fast and was expanding with the pressure change I had to flare my limbs to increase drag and slow my uncontrolled ascent. I later found out that this was a known phenomena in the area, so these things don't come out of nowhere and the locals are the ones who know. I think Seal probably knew about the currents, but was prepared to take a risk and figured he could back out if things got too bad. Another possibility is he was taken by a big shark, these things can just grab you and swim away with you underwater before devouring you and no one will be the wiser until maybe months later wetsuit fragments wash up on some coast. One bit of gear that will not travel far is the weight belt and if that is found it could provide some answers, but equally it may lay beyond safe diving range. I remember many years ago a young diver went down for one last shot before the boat departed and he never came back up, so his companions searched for him and they only found his weight belt some considerable distance away and his gun. The signs were he had ran into a big shark as adjudged by the damage to his weight belt. No trace of him was every found, including his other dive gear.
Has there been an official inquest under a judicial process? In most countries all those involved would be questioned and a coroner would report on the findings after an extensive investigation as all factors were weighed and considered and a verdict given, people are just not allowed to disappear without record. I conducted a search, but could not find anything, however it may be in a different language and the search engines will then not find it easily.
It could be helpful to the community if we would understand what happened to him. However I believe that any kind of publication regarding his disappearance should be with consent of his family in regards to respecting their privacy.
The purpose of such coroner's reports is to establish that deaths are accidental and not results of foul play or negligence on the part of some possibly contributing factor such as an organization's operating methods and practices. Although not the situation here, if say Kosta was on a charter vessel conducting dive trips the people running the trip would be put through the hoops to completely elucidate exactly what happened and they may face legal repercussions. The aim of such investigations is to try and eliminate repeats by understanding and disseminating the information to the public.
Pete, you were out of the loop at the time and I see you struggling with this now as we all did at time. The best condolence I can give you is that with time, this will not hurt as much. I still think of Kosta all the time. These days when I think of him my Deep sadness is tempered more with remembering him in a good light. Many times I used to have a burning question about design or manufacture and there was really only one person who I felt I could ask. I miss those talks with Kosta. I'm sad for his family. But there was a time when this just happened that I felt like I could feel his soul wandering. It brought me dark, deep, sadness. Now I feel better. This might sound like a very egocentric point of view. I don't mean it this way. I mean it in a Balinese way. Siskala and Niskala. The seen and unseen worlds. I think he is at peace. I feel that.
Regarding an official inquiry etc.. there is no new news. Unless one day he is recovered this will remain a mystery, like others who have dissapeared in the currents of Indonesia. Sometimes we find the body. I don't think anymore of Kosta's body. It is no longer valid. I think of Kosta, Roy, and Dashiel the same way I think of Alan, Nick, and Mario's little brother. Over time finding the body, knowing more of the story, means less. They are all in the same place.
Since Kosta's death I have learned so much about diving. Moving to Hawaii, being exposed to the Deeper, Clear, Still water diving we practice here, diving daily with Instructors who train on the line several times per week. I have a lot more knowledge about Deeper diving, weighting, and Shallow water Blackout/samba.. I don't think Kosta was taken by a Shark. Not that it couldn't possibly happen.. but what I believe happened was that Kosta drowned. He may have made it to the surface, and then blacked out, he may have lost motor control on his way up and then sank back down. The #1 reason why Kosta is not here with us today is that he and his dive partner were not practicing Strict Buddy diving.


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text:
Q: What is the best way to keep a pointer to different types when only one of them is needed at a time? I'm in a situation where I need to have a pointer to an object of unknown type as a member of another class.
But the list of valid object types are known at compile-time.
Say I have:
// A class templated on T
template<class T> class obj;

// Now assume there are some objects of types obj<...> somewhere else
obj<int> obj1;
obj<double> obj2;

// Now, manager needs to create a pointer for these objects
// in a specific manner at construction-time

// Say, we have to choose a canonical object (and set the other as secondary)

// manager shouldn't be templated on T because It needs
// to have multiple members of type obj<...>
template<class R>
class manager
{
    shared_ptr<...> canObjPtr;
    shared_ptr<...> secObjPtr;
 public:
    // once set, canonical obj is not expected to change
    explicit manager(string canonicalObj);
}

How can I achieve this?
Some initial thoughts that don't really work:

*

*The most promising approach I can think of is to add T1 and T2 template arguments to manager and construct like this: manager<R, obj<int>, obj<double>>(). I get the feeling that I should grab the "canonicalObj" string with a static function before manager construction and then decide on which manager to create manager<R, obj<int>, obj<double>> or manager<R, obj<double>, obj<int>>.

*How about "templating" manager on obj1 and obj2 objects directly. Does it seem feasible? Note that I'm resilient to adding template parameters to manager because it's involved in some RunTime selection mechanism that doesn't like working multi-param templates.

*Instead of 2 member pointers, create 4 (See below, but this is lousy and will surely drive me crazy in the implementation: Need to always check if one pointer is null before using either of them)
template<class R> manager
{
    sharedPtr<obj<int>> canObjPtrI;
    sharedPtr<obj<float>> canObjPtrF;

    // same for secObjPtr above
 public:
    explicit manager(string canonicalObj);
}

*std::any and std::variant (and their boost equivalents) are out of the question because I want to keep using c++11 and can't use boost by policy. If I were to break one of the rules I would consider upgrading to c++17.

*I don't think the use of shared_ptr<void> for example can give any benefits because I would have to cast the pointer to the correct type anyway and can't use the interface of the object from the void pointer.

*The same can be said for union. It provides little to no improvement over 3.
Also, if you see this as a potential design problem, please don't hold back. I invite you to point out any flaws/improvements you notice.
[Edit] What this code is trying to do is ...
Basically, I need to choose a canonical and secondary objects just like I explained above from a list of pre-constructed obj<int> and obj<double> objects:
Based on user-input the class should decide on a canonical object and perform calculations based on this decision. I already have facilities to get references to these objects by their name (string). The only problem is that their types are different and making them inherit from a base class would constraint me to use the interface of that base only (is this correct?).
A minimal example as requested in comments
// A base template for objects defines common
// and possibly different interface.
template<class T> class objBase
{
protected:
    field<T> f_;

public:

    // Public data type
    using fieldType = field<T>;

    // New selects from "Registered childs of objBase"
    // at runtime
    static shared_ptr<objBase>::New() const;

    // Pure virtual to update the obj
    virtual void update() = 0;

    // Const-Access to field
    const field<T>& getField() const;
};

// Created objects are also registered automatically to a database
// i.e. I can get (const-)refs to them by querying the database
shared_ptr<objBase<int>> obj1 = objBase<int>::New();
shared_ptr<objBase<int>> obj2 = objBase<int>::New();
shared_ptr<objBase<float>> obj3 = objBase<float>::New();

// In manager, something like this needs to happen
template<class R>
class manager
{
private:
    // Read 2 target obj names from user input
    pair<string,string> objNames;

    // Possible types for requested objs:
    // obj_a, obj_b : both objBase<int> or both objBase<float>
    // or they can have different types
    // But we essentially need only:
    pointer<...> canonicalObj;
    pointer<...> secondaryObj;

    // These should be used like this
    void useObjField() const
    {
        // Not using auto for clarity
        const decltype(*canonicalObj)::FieldType& objField
            = canonicalObj->getField();
        for(int i=0; i < objField.size(); ++i)
        {
            // Loop through elements and use them for some calculations
            // Related to other fields in manager
        }
    }
};

A:
std::any and std::variant (and their boost equivalents) are out of the question because I want to keep using c++11 and can't use boost by policy.

Still not a problem: You can use mpark::variant - it's C++11-compatible. There are also other such variant class implementations floating around. If you'd rather go with an any-like class (less recommended), try perhaps linb::any - same idea; C++11-compatible.
IIANM, these are both header-only library (ignore the test/example programs), so you don't even need any complex installation; you can just grab a recent version of the header, or be super-organized, build and install them properly with CMake, then use a CMake find_package() command to locate them.
Finally, a "qualified union" would be a rough alternative to using a variant. A variant is essentially a union and a variable which tells you which of the types in the union is the active one. I would not recommend this, for simplicity of use and safety - but it would likely mean a lot less code.


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Jimenez isn't fazed by Spring Training stats
By Scott Merkin @scottmerkin
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The usual smile on Eloy Jimenez's face on Sunday morning indicated he isn't very worried about his 3-for-23 showing during Cactus League action. His ensuing comments reinforced that point. "Just keep playing. The more at-bats I take, the better I'm going to feel," said Jimenez, ranked as
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The usual smile on Eloy Jimenez's face on Sunday morning indicated he isn't very worried about his 3-for-23 showing during Cactus League action.
His ensuing comments reinforced that point.
"Just keep playing. The more at-bats I take, the better I'm going to feel," said Jimenez, ranked as baseball's No. 3 prospect overall by MLB Pipeline. "It's still just the timing. It's a little bit off. I know it's just a little bit. It's there."
Jimenez has struck out eight times in 23 at-bats, which is the one thing not sitting well with a player who had 69 strikeouts all of last season. Otherwise, it's all about the process in Arizona for the outfielder
"I'm just focused on getting quality at-bats. Take good swings," Jimenez said. "Take good pitches for swings and do damage. I've been doing good with that."
"I honestly don't worry about the numbers myself. I'm more worried about how he's going about it," manager Rick Renteria said. "What we see him doing, how he's attacking pitches and how he's going through his work routine. He's a guy that we're very happy to have and I'm sure it'll start to fall into sync, everybody will see what he's capable of doing."
Giolito happy with outing
Lucas Giolito walked three over 4 2/3 innings during Sunday's 7-6 loss to the A's at Camelback Ranch. The right-hander also allowed two mistake-pitch home runs off of a 2-0 fastball down the middle and a hanging changeup.
But those collective missteps didn't bother Giolito as they seemed to throughout the 2018 campaign.
"I'm not stressing anymore with runners on base," said Giolito after throwing 41 of his 68 pitches for strikes to go with three strikeouts. "If I walk a guy, it's not eating at me like it would last year, where I'm now thinking about something that happened in the past vs. the next pitch. My focus is much more on to every single pitch one at a time vs., 'Oh this inning is getting out of hand and things are different.'"
Giolito worked diligently in the offseason to make positive changes coming off of last year's struggles. He feels a difference through three starts.
"My body just feels like it's in a more consistent position," Giolito said. "Out of the windup, it's so much better than last year. I feel like I have an immediate rhythm out of the windup I can always go back to. I'm not searching for anything. I have much more trust in myself to execute the pitches I need to execute.
"Just from a feel, body perspective, the ball is coming out better, better spin, better velocity. Curveball today was the most consistent it has been in a couple of years. So, just all good things. The stat line didn't really show how I felt about the game."
Herrera getting in the groove
When Kelvin Herrera pitched in a game on March 3 against the Cubs, the right-handed reliever didn't have a feel for his two-seamer. That lack of feel was understandable, considering it was the veteran's first time in a game since Aug. 26, when he tore a ligament in his left foot pitching for the Nationals.
"I was expecting it to feel a little weird to be honest," Herrera said. "But bouncing back and move forward for now."
Herrera threw a scoreless inning in Saturday's 12-2 victory over the Rangers. He hit 93 mph, although he's not even looking at velocity at this point. He just felt better.
"Way better," Herrera said. "I was able to execute my pitches, which is important for me. I was able to throw strikes, not only strikes, but quality strikes. I did a good job."
White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper and Herrera have a set amount of Spring Training outings he needs for proper preparation. With those outings, Herrera believes he will be ready for the start of the 2019 season, opening for the White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Herrera helped the Royals reach back-to-back World Series in 2014 and '15, winning a title in the latter appearance.
Third to first
Nicky Delmonico was in the clubhouse on Sunday, although not active after sustaining a minor concussion when he crashed into the left-field wall on Thursday.
"Still progressing," Renteria said. "Definitely in a better place today."
Ervin Santana got up and down four times during a simulated game on Sunday. He could be part of a B-game on Friday per Renteria.
Dylan Cease struck out two, walked two and yielded one run over 1 2/3 innings of relief on Sunday.
"Everything is always a work in progress until the day you retire." -- Giolito
The White Sox play their third Cactus League game away from Camelback Ranch in four days when they visit the Brewers on Monday at 3:05 p.m. CT. Right-hander Ivan Nova will start, while Herrera, Dylan Covey and Caleb Frare also are scheduled to pitch for Chicago.
Scott Merkin has covered the White Sox for MLB.com since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin and Facebook and listen to his podcast.
Eloy Jimenez
Dylan Cease
Lucas Giolito


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Home » Feature Story
ResortQuest Hilton Head Island offers vacationers much more than a place to sleep
By Lisa Allen, Contributor
From one-bedroom villas to eight-bedroom mansions, ResortQuest Hilton Head Island can book it for you on Hilton Head Island.
ResortQuest Hilton Head Island can help you enrich your trip with tee times on any of the top golf courses in the area.
The company has under exclusive contract 450 villas and homes all over the island, but with a large portion in Sea Pines Resort, which features some of the best golf anywhere: the iconic Harbour Town Golf Links; one of Pete Dye's latest designs, Heron Point; and the classic Ocean Course.
"Our purpose is to provide an excellent experience for our guests," said Robert Stenhammer, general manager.
And ResortQuest Hilton Head Island puts a lot of action behind Stenhammer's words.
For example, the company offers guests:
• High-speed wireless Internet access at every property.
• Free DVD rental via three vending machines at its Pope Avenue office. Vacationers can check out two DVDs at a time, as often as they like.
• Book now, pay later. For just $250, which can be refunded, vacationers can reserve a specific property for a specific time. It's ideal for planning next year's vacation. Payment of the first half isn't due until Dec. 1.
• The Recommends program. ResortQuest Hilton Head Island has arranged discounts with more than 100 entities in the area, from fishing tours and restaurants to photographers, shops and golf courses.
"We pick the best of Hilton Head. It's free for our partners to participate and they want to. For example, we have 2,000 guests staying at our properties this week. We just ask for an exclusive deal that we can pass onto our guests ...(our program) is exceptionally rich," Stenhammer said.
Discounts through the Recommends program cover the gamut, from golf at more than a dozen courses, to lessons you'll never forget at the Golf Academy at Sea Pines Resort or the Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy.
ResortQuest Hilton Head Island also uses electronic keys. Vacationers receive all of their paperwork and a code in the mail before they arrive so they can go directly to the property without having to check in at a central office first.
"That way, they can get started right away on their vacation," Stenhammer said.
And like many tourism-related companies that endured the recession, ResortQuest Hilton Head Island has become more nimble. "In the past, our biggest booking month was January. Now it's April and May," Stenhammer said.
ResortQuest is an international company headquartered in Fort Walton, Fla., and has 100,000 vacation rentals all over the world. What that brings to the Hilton Head office is a well done Web site that includes many photos of each property, some with videos. It lists all of the amenities, which include full kitchens, flat-screen TVs and comfortable furniture. An informative video about Hilton Head in general emphasizes the island's well protected natural beauty and its stellar golf courses, tennis facilities and beaches.
There's nothing sight unseen about booking through ResortQuest.
Whether you book online or phone ResortQuest Hilton Head Island, they can find the right place at the right time. But more than that, the company can help you enrich your trip with tee times on one of the 24 golf courses in Hilton Head, or on one of the hundreds of tennis courts, be they paved, grass or clay. Want to know where to eat? ResortQuest can steer you to the best of the 200 restaurants on the island.
Think of the time and money you'll save.
Lisa Allen, Contributor
Lisa Allen is a golf, travel and business writer based in Beaufort, S.C. She has edited newspapers, magazines and books in Michigan, Indiana and South Carolina. Follow her on Twitter @LAllenSC.
Photos of the best of Hilton Head off course
Photos: The best of Hilton Head golf
Family-friendly golf and fun on Hilton Head Island
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Researchers (Bennett 1981; Edelsky 1981; Murray 1985; Tannen 1984, 1989b) who came after Sacks et al. have pointed out that some of the "rules" postulated in the model are not necessarily the way conversation "typically" works. They argue that there can be more than one speaker at а time and also that speakers begin talking for reasons other than recognition of а turn possibility. Tannen (1989b) has demonstrated repeatedly that many ethnicities in America do not interpret "speaking at the same time" as one speaker interrupting another speaker.
Bennett ( 1981) argues that defining simultaneous talk by describing its form or structure leads to false conclusions because such talk can be understood in contradictory ways in different discourses. overlap, he claims, describes the actual occurrence of two people talking at the same time whereas interruption is an interpretation that conversational participants use to make decisions (and judgments) about rights and obligations within а situation. Tannen (1984), in analyzing а Thanksgiving dinner among friends, found that overlapping speech was both comfortable and well received when used by participants of similar conversational styles.
These participants describe overlapping talk as showing interest and involvement. Tannen ( 1989b) also argues that overlapping speech is often neither intended nor perceived as interruption and that perceived interruptions are often not the fault or intention of а speaker but rather the result of style differences, the interaction of two differing turn-taking systems. The point is that people make determinations about their conversational exchanges, including when to take а turn, based on factors other than syntactic units.
Turns come about as speakers understand the purpose of talking together, their roles and relationships, and how а speech event is emerging in particular and in its relationship to the larger world. o'Connell et al. ( 199o) review turn taking studies based on the Sacks et al. model and agree with sociolinguistic and discourse studies that the Sacks et al. model cannot stand alone, given studies that demonstrate "continuous participation on the part of all the interlocutors" (365). As discourse analysts argue, turn-taking is not а conversational mechanism operating outside of speaker intent, but rather depend on conversational purposes.
They call for context-sensitive approaches for redefining turns, back-channeling, overlap, and interruption that would remain consistent across research projects. This study answers this call to merge the Sacks et al. model with а context-sensitive analysis of interpreted discourse. Turn-taking then is а discourse process which can help us understand how the exchange of messages actually takes place. Turn-taking is also а feature of discourse that allows for both а structural and functional analysis.
In the chapters that follow, І have four goals: (1) to begin outlining the universal elements of an interpreted event; (2) to describe the turn taking elements and process of an interpreted event as а discourse system; (3) to illuminate how this particular event is а process of each participant engaging with others; and (4) how the role of the interpreter is а result of making decisions that are communicative in nature. The Sacks et al. model helps descriptively because it organizes turn taking sequences as they operate within interpreting.
Discourse analysis shows how turns come about through the deliberate, intentional purposes of all three participants. Both of these approaches help an analyst organize and interpret data. Analyzing Interpreted Encounters Describing Interpreting Interpreting has only recently been analyzed in the discourse events where it most frequently occurs, that is, settings which are small, generally private in nature, and in which three or more people come together to accomplish а purpose, а task or а goal while they talk ( Roy 1989a ; Wadensjo 1992, 1998 ; Metzger 1995, 1999 ).
Although there is а call worldwide for interpreters to sort out and label the varieties of this setting (Roberts 1995), taxonomies or categories cannot be helpful until we sort out what interpreted events have in common and what features of those events make them separate. or, until we decide, as Gentile (1995) suggests, "that what we are talking about is simply interpreting" no matter how many people, what type of discourse situation, or what speed of translation is involved (119).
Currently, theorists, analysts, practitioners, and others observe and describe interpreting through their own lenses, be they disciplinary or personal. However, interpreting is а discipline that is and must be connected primarily to language; it will be through the lens of language study that primary elements are most readily identified. Through the lens of language as discourse, aided by models of the interaction of language and social life ( Hymes 1972 ), the multiple relationships between linguistic means and social meaning are brought to light.
Hymes suggested that constructing models of this interaction is an empirical problem which calls for description that is both ethnographic and linguistic. To develop models, Hymes warns, there must be adequate descriptions of interaction, and such "descriptions call for an approach that partly links, but partly cuts across, partly builds between the ordinary practices of the disciplines" (41).
Although Hymes is referring to linguistics, anthropology, and other social sciences, we can extrapolate the warning that there must be adequate descriptions of interpreting and approaches that link, cut across, and build upon other disciplines. This chapter attempts to describe and define some of the basic elements that constitute an interpreted event in ways that begin to meet Hymes's call. The second part of the chapter explains the procedures used to analyze the interpreted event that is the focus of this study.


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MainAll NewsInside IsraelYair Netanyahu: Liberman demanded an AG to close criminal cases
Yair Netanyahu: Liberman demanded an AG to close criminal cases
The PM's son, Yair, claims that Liberman's main coalition demand in 2009 from his father was the appointing of an AG for his own benefit.
Tags: Liberman
Sara Rubenstein , May 30 , 2019 6:19 PM
Yair Netanyahu
Credit: Flash 90
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's son Yair claimed on Thursday that Liberman's top coalition demand from Netanyahu in 2009 was the hiring of an attorney general who would close the criminal cases against him.
Yair Netanyahu tweeted his claim in the wake of the dissolving of the 21st Knesset on Wednesday after the refusal of Liberman's party, Yisrael Beyteinu, to compromise on the draft law and join the coalition.
Liberman had been accused of receiving millions of shekels from business owners while serving as MK, money laundering, breach of trust and witness tampering.
The younger Netanyahu also tweeted a screenshot of a 2013 Haaretz article telling of the mysterious disappearances and suicides of witnesses slated to testify again Liberman in the criminal cases. Ultimately, Yehuda Weinstein, the attorney general that Netanyahu appointed in 2010, closed the cases against Liberman in 2013. The previous AG, Menachem Mazuz, had received Liberman's cases in 2009, with a recommendation from the police to press criminal charges.
Weinstein vehemently denied Yair's statement on Kan radio on Thursday, saying that "the claims are nonsense" and that he closed the cases based on his legal opinion and would do it again today.