My lucky cousin got himself a DSLR that day, and because we were having a family gathering afterwards at my place, he tried out the macro on my miniatures.
and WOW. these are his (and my other cousin's) works.
I know, I'm not a big fan of the grey background here too, but I'm loving the lighting and the focus!
and the focus here isn't on my miniatures, but rather the tiny sugar pot. but the clarity is still amazing!
WOW! Your work is simply amazing!!!
psst, i got my alley goop! it's WONDERFUL! there was a decent lead time for me to mix it, and it took a tad longer than 6 mins (as promised on the label) to cure, but it cures reasonably flexible!
Cindy! :) hahha my cousin would just stare at me blindly if i wanted to swap his camera. and guess what, the other cousin purchased another DSLR too! SHEESHH. $1.6K lar!
that sugar pot is pretty right! i purchased a huge amount of stuffs from here --> http://www.minimini-mart.com/catalog/, and that was one of them!
OH, i just got what you meant about the swapping. you meant like making a replica right! hahah, damn i'm slow! and btw, very ciao but i just finished sculpting a dslr for one of my customisations actually. hahah.
Those are so cute! I just love minatures!


Shipping included in Canada. Smaller size and superior performance unite in this "best of both worlds" model. The Fidibus Medium is a combination of two best-selling mills: the ever-popular Fidibus Classic; and the smaller Fidibus 21. The Fidibus Medium uses a somewhat longer version of the 21's smaller exterior to house the Classic's more powerful motor and larger millstones.
The housing is made of beech plywood; the hopper and lid are crafted from solid beech. Its surfaces are treated with organic vegetable oil to prevent them from becoming dehydrated.


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There are many uses for QR or Quick Response codes to be used. Business cards, flyers, brochures and many other marketing materials are now using the codes to generate new business.
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text:
<?php

namespace app\models\search;

use Yii;
use yii\base\Model;
use yii\data\ActiveDataProvider;
use app\models\Province;

/**
 * ProvinceSearch represents the model behind the search form about `app\models\Province`.
 */
class ProvinceSearch extends Province
{
    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            [['provinceId', 'geographyId'], 'integer'],
            [['provinceCode', 'provinceName', 'searchText'], 'safe'],
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function scenarios()
    {
        // bypass scenarios() implementation in the parent class
        return Model::scenarios();
    }

    /**
     * Creates data provider instance with search query applied
     *
     * @param array $params
     *
     * @return ActiveDataProvider
     */
    public function search($params)
    {
        $query = Province::find();

        $dataProvider = new ActiveDataProvider([
            'query' => $query,
        ]);

        $this->load($params);

        if (!$this->validate()) {
            // uncomment the following line if you do not want to return any records when validation fails
            // $query->where('0=1');
            return $dataProvider;
        }

        /*
        $query->andFilterWhere([
            'provinceId' => $this->provinceId,
            'geographyId' => $this->geographyId,
        ]);

        $query->andFilterWhere(['like', 'provinceCode', $this->provinceCode])
            ->andFilterWhere(['like', 'provinceName', $this->provinceName]);
        */

        $query->andFilterWhere(['like', 'provinceName', $this->searchText]);

        return $dataProvider;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NASCAR: Kevin Harvick makes strong case as title contender
Jonathan Ingram, The Sports Xchange
With Kevin Harvick's win Sunday at Sonoma, Harvick stands third in the all-important regular-season standings, which pay playoff bonus points after 26 races. Photo courtesy of Richmond Raceway/Twitter
Is Kevin Harvick the best prospect to bring Ford a championship this year?
He made the case for himself by winning at the Sonoma Raceway on Sunday. The victory may have been his first this year, but it was also his sixth top-five finish in the last 10 races and eighth top-10 result in that span.
Harvick now stands third in the all-important regular-season standings, which pay playoff bonus points after 26 races.
With his victory, Harvick became the 10th driver to advance to the postseason and the second for Stewart-Haas Racing, now almost halfway through its first season as a Ford team. If Harvick continues to compete consistently over the second half of the season, including the 10-race playoffs, he's a strong candidate to win his second title.
RELATED NASCAR Sonoma 2017 results: Final leaderboard of Toyota/Save Mart 350
In 2014, Harvick won the first championship determined by an elimination format with a victory at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"We know we're capable of winning races at any type of racetrack and confident in each other in what we do," said Harvick after his 36th career victory in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and his first on the highly technical road circuit at Sonoma. The driver from Bakersfield, Calif., believes the Stewart-Haas team is just hitting its stride after a busy off season conversion from Chevy entries to Ford.
"There's still a lot of things we don't know about our cars that we learn on a weekly basis, and that's the fun part is to know the upside potential to this whole deal," Harvick said.
RELATED NASCAR Sonoma 2017 results: Kevin Harvick wins Toyota/Save Mart 350 for first win of season
A hard-nosed firebrand earlier in his career, Harvick has become more of a consummate professional after moving to Stewart-Haas in 2014. If he brings Ford a title, it would be the first for the company since 2004.
Despite its first-year status, Stewart-Haas could be considered Ford's best team. Coupled with Kurt Busch's season-opening Daytona 500 victory, Stewart-Haas now has two drivers qualified for the postseason.
Team Penske, long considered the Blue Oval's top team, has qualified only Brad Keselowski, because Joey Logano's victory in Richmond was encumbered after his Ford failed post-race examination by the R&D crew of NASCAR. One of Keselowksi's two victories came in Atlanta, where Harvick led 292 laps but got caught speeding on his last pit stop.
RELATED NASCAR: Rookie William Byron wins first Xfinity race at American Ethanol E15 250
Team co-owner Tony Stewart, who scored his final win in NASCAR's premier Cup series at Sonoma one year ago to qualify for the Chase, said getting two cars into the postseason is a big step for his team.
"For two of the four teams right now, they can start worrying about what to do to get ready for the (playoffs) and having the ability to try different things to prepare for that," Stewart said. "That's a really important thing for our company right now, and I think we all expected that Kevin would have got it sooner than this, but there's just been some bad luck, some different venues that he's been really, really strong at that we just had some weird and bad luck that have crept into his program."
Harvick found some luck at Sonoma, where the leading Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. dropped out with engine trouble after his final pit stop, leaving the Californian with a comfortable lead. No yellow flags interrupted the run to the finish, which was uncharacteristic for the demanding circuit. In case the race went into overtime, runaway leader Harvick saved tires and fuel as the laps wound down. In the end, he cruised to the checkers ahead of SHR teammate Clint Bowyer.
The victory was one example of how the transition to Ford has turned into a positive change. The team decided to build new road racing chassis instead of converting its cars from the Chevy versions.
"We built chassis over the winter," said Harvick's crew chief, Rodney Childers. "And it wasn't the crew chiefs that all of a sudden decided, 'Hey, we've really got to get on this road course thing, we think that we can win out there.' It was the other people at the shop, the aero group and all the other guys that started pushing this thing forward. And it almost took a few weeks to realize, man, these guys are on it. They want to go out there and they want to run good."
Bowyer is now a third potential playoff candidate for Stewart-Haas. He had a fast car Sunday, but started the final 60-lap segment in 32nd position after a series of mishaps, including a spin, contact by A.J. Allmendinger, a pit road speeding penalty and unscheduled stops for repairs. Under the circumstances, his run through the field to second was impressive.
"I wish we could do this day over again," Bowyer said. "We were in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple of times. The car was really fast, but she got beat up. The guys fixed it up and we were pretty sporty there at the end."
Stewart-Haas scored its third 1-2 finish in the team's nine-year history. As for Team Penske, its Fords were not fast enough to win on speed, forcing the team to run split pit strategies that resulted in Keselowski finishing third and Logano 12th.
Harvick and Childers ran what turned out to be a perfect strategy, pitting before the mandatory cautions for the Stages 1 and 2, gaining track position while sacrificing the bonus points. It was reminiscent of Stewart's win last year, when he became the race leader due to an early final pit stop just before a caution.
There's no doubt now that Harvick has the stamina to go the distance in the championship. He won the K&N Pro Series West race on Saturday, returning to the series that helped him climb NASCAR's career ladder.
"I was actually a little nervous about that, running both races," he said. "Not the spring chicken anymore."
One of the drivers the tough-to-pass Harvick likely will have to beat to earn a title is Truex, a two-time race winner who took his 11th stage playoff bonus point at Sonoma and holds second in the standings. The Toyota driver had one of the fastest cars, but it took him two laps to pass Harvick in their duel on laps 66 and 67. Truex told his team to tell Harvick to kiss his ring, or words to that effect, after he got by.
The way Harvick and his team have been running recently, they may meet in another showdown in Homestead once the season finale is under way.
Martin Truex
A.J. Allmendinger
Soccer // 4 minutes ago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sarcolobus multiflorus är en oleanderväxtart som beskrevs av Karl Moritz Schumann och Lauterb.. Sarcolobus multiflorus ingår i släktet Sarcolobus och familjen oleanderväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Daily Devil's Dictionary: What's an "Elite"?
© M-SUR
May 11, 2018 00:30 EDT
When there is an elite that holds a dominant position in any society, it can become vulnerable to discontent.
Every human society produces an elite class. According to Thomas Piketty, what used to be singular has now become plural. Sophie Hardach, in an article published by the World Economic Forum, summarizes Piketty's analysis of the political effects: "In a system of multiple elites, no major party has a strong incentive for ensuring that growth is inclusive."
Elites (plural noun):
The result of a strategic fragmentation of traditional power castes designed by the powerful to make it more difficult for the powerless to define the enemy against which they must revolt
The author cites "the findings of the World Economic Forum's Inclusive Development Index, which provides evidence that growth alone does not foster socioeconomic progress." This calls into question the strongest argument to justify the accumulation of wealth by a few: that they are the ones who ensure the growth that will lead to prosperity for everyone else, creating the conditions for upward mobility.
Piketty describes an evolution of modern representative democracy that employs a clever strategy of distraction by diversifying the nature of elites. Rather than seeking to help traditional non-members of the elite become upwardly mobile, the current trend has the effect of making it easier to separate the privileged classes from the poorer classes, not just increasing the gap in both wealth and income, but also establishing a hermetic psychological barrier between the different categories of the successful and what Donald Trump likes to call "the losers."
In the language of military strategy, this might be termed outflanking the opponent. Understood in this way, the "opponent" would be anyone who seeks to reduce inequality and avoid a rigidly stratified class system. Theoretically (and ideologically), everyone in a modern democracy is expected to be in favor of greater equality and opposed to practices that exacerbate inequality. After all, the first modern democracy came into being in North America by declaring that "all men are created equal." And though their fortunes and destinies may differ, they all deserved the means to pursue their happiness.
When there is a single elite, an identifiable class, that holds a dominant position in any society, it can become vulnerable to discontent. But today there are a multitude of elites: the traditional captains of industry but also celebrities from the world of entertainment and sports; Silicon Valley entrepreneurs believed by virtue of their success to be geniuses; Wall Street traders; charismatic and well-funded politicians; YouTube pundits; and even the occasional scientist or doctor celebrated by the media. When inequality emerges from all sides, it becomes impossible to focus the effort of revolt.
In the history of industrial capitalism, on many occasions the workers rose up against the easily identified class of capitalist factory owners who they felt were exploiting them and preventing them from proving themselves equal. They recognized a cigar-smoking elite in a top hat that could be worn by ruthless capitalists but also by corrupt politicians. The diversification of elites that gradually unfolded after World War II achieved two goals: It created the illusion that there were multiple paths to realize the American Dream, and it made it much more difficult to identify one group of people who held the reins of power and systematically abused the working classes.
The realization that upward mobility has ended and that inequality is consistently increasing poses a new problem for modern democracies. Democracies have always promoted equality as a core value and increased equality as a fundamental social goal. The populations of democracies maintain the expectation that prosperity will be shared and inequality reduced.
At the same time, the ideology of the free market economy has always sought to ensure the growth that will presumably lead to shared prosperity by encouraging and rewarding the accumulation of personal wealth. The contradiction has suddenly become flagrant. Economic logic has entered into a head-on conflict with political logic. The multiple elites have captured for themselves the prosperity resulting from growth and left the citizens of democracy not only behind, but excluded from the playground of the elites. Their disempowered citizens can only observe the privileged elites through the media, on reality TV and via a news cycle that offers them the never-ending and increasingly ineffectual acts of a hyperreal political circus.
The strategy of distraction and outflanking the enemy seems to have worked in that there is no focus for people's growing discontent, but the mounting confusion is likely to lead to growing pressure for radical change. The elites will have to decide how to relieve the pressure, but are the unified enough in their diversity to do that?
*[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil's Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Updated: May 12, 2018, at 11:40 GMT.]
Photo Credit: M-SUR / Shutterstock.com
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Ishaan Kapoor, April 20, 2021


A look at DK's new release: Ultimate Star Wars.
DK's Ultimate Star Wars has just released this week and it is worth checking out. The book is a must-own for people constantly asking "is that canon?" or those that constantly ask "does still count?" after the Expanded Universe became Star Wars Legends, a non-canonical anthology of Star Wars tales not connected to the film universe like the current novels, comics, video games, and television shows. For old Expanded Universe fans, DK's Ultimate Star Wars is going to put a smile on their faces as many of those "tales" still inform the canon.
As an obsessive Star Wars fan, these types of guides have always been something I enjoy picking up and flipping through for fun or to look at the photographs. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars outside these kinds of books. For me, this book feels like the "style guide" for the entire Star Wars story ("This is what we're accepting" and if you don't see it there it probably "doesn't exist" to Jocasta Nu). I feel like the guide brought me up to date with where things are going with Star Wars and the Lucasfilm story group's decisions about older materials.
I think newer fans are going to love this book. Every page is full of interesting information. The photos are nice quality and usually the photographic choices are well done too. I think this will make an excellent gift for the droves of new fans about to come into the Star Wars fandom this year when The Force Awakens hits.
The book is not perfect. It has errors. There are tiny things that should not matter. One listing has the wrong alien race listed for someone. The errors are things like that and they're small. They personally do not bother me as I can figure out it is an error with ease (such as Slave I being called Clone I in an instance). However, if you want the perfect edition of this book, it might be better to wait for the second edition (if they make one). Don't get me wrong, this book has a ton of information and the tiny errors it does have shouldn't dominate the perception the book.
The book retails for $40 for but you can find it for much cheaper on Amazon. At a price point right now of about $26 on sale, I find it to be an exceptional value giving hours of entertainment and connectivity to the Star Wars universe. It covers everything from prequel era, the animated shows, and the films with a lot of info in-between. Ships, weapons, locations, and key events are also detailed rather well in this collection.


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text:
worldAll Sections
Citizenship for sale: fugitives, politicians and disgraced businesspeople buying Vanuatu passports
Euan Ward and Kate Lyons
Wednesday, 14 Jul 2021
# Asia Pacific
# Pacific islands
# South Pacific
# Vanuatu
Revealed: more than 2,000 people, including individuals sought by police, have purchased passports, and with them visa-free access to the EU and UK
Who's buying Vanuatu's passports? Crypto moguls, wanted men and even a prime minister
Ex-bikie and missing property magnate among Australian names granted Vanuatu citizenship
A controversial "golden passports" scheme run by the Pacific nation of Vanuatu saw more than 2,000 people, including a slew of disgraced businesspeople and individuals sought by police in countries all over the world, purchase citizenship in 2020 – and with it visa-free access to the EU and UK, the Guardian can reveal.
Among those granted citizenship through the country's development support program were a Syrian businessman with US sanctions against his businesses, a suspected North Korean politician, an Italian businessman accused of extorting the Vatican, a former member of a notorious Australian motorcycle gang, and South African brothers accused of a $3.6bn cryptocurrency heist.
The passport scheme allows foreign nationals to purchase citizenship for US$130,000 in a process that typically takes just over a month – all without ever setting foot in the country.
Related: Who's buying Vanuatu's passports? Crypto moguls, wanted men and even a prime minister
Marketed by agencies as one of the fastest, cheapest and most lax "golden passport" schemes anywhere in the world, the development support program grants unfettered, visa-free access to 130 countries including the UK and EU nations. Vanuatu also operates as a tax haven, with no income, corporate or wealth tax.
Experts have warned the scheme is ripe for exploitation, creating a back door for access to the EU and UK and allowing transnational criminal syndicates to establish a base in the Pacific, and Vanuatu's taxation laws make the country an attractive site for money laundering.
A path to new identities
The passports program, which netted the Vanuatu government more than US$116m last year, has been highly controversial since its relaunch in 2017.
But until now, knowledge of who has bought passports through the scheme has been murky.
A series of internal government documents obtained by the Guardian via the country's freedom of information scheme, details the name and nationality of every recipient of a Vanuatu passport through the country's development support program and Vanuatu contribution program in 2020 and January 2021.
Related: Ex-bikie and missing property magnate among Australian names granted Vanuatu citizenship
After a months-long investigation, involving searching publicly available court records, electoral rolls, death records, social media trails, and discussions with police and sources from around the world, the Guardian has been able to confirm the identities of dozens of the individuals on the list.
Vanuatu issued roughly 2,200 passports in 2020 through these programs – more than half (around 1,200) were to Chinese nationals. After Chinese, the most common nationality of recipients was Nigerian, Russian, Lebanese, Iranian, Libyan, Syrian and Afghan. Twenty people from the US, six Australians and a handful of people from Europe were also among those who applied.
Nationality of passport applicants in 2020
The citizenship-by-investment (CBI) scheme is not illegal and many countries around the world offer CBI programs. There are many legitimate reasons for applying, including improved freedom of movement or tax-free offshore banking privileges.
However, security experts warn that the ease with which people can buy passports from the country, as well as the travel it permits, could make it an attractive scheme for members of transnational criminal syndicates, allowing them a legitimate base in the Pacific.
"It's not just that they can travel through the EU or set up businesses … one of the issues is being able to create these networks to the Pacific, especially as the Pacific becomes more of a trafficking hub for drugs," said Jose Sousa-Santos, a Pacific policy fellow at the Australian Pacific Security College. "And Vanuatu's tax semi-haven laws make it very attractive for money laundering."
The Guardian has found that a number of Vanuatu applicants are heavily implicated in a complex web of offshore business, with some owning shell companies with no discernible business activity.
Related: Migration firm investigated over ads promising Vanuatu passports
Sousa-Santos added that another potential danger was people obtaining Vanuatu citizenship and then legally changing their name in Vanuatu, which effectively gave them a new identity.
"It's one of the real risks," he said. "If you are somebody who is a person of interest and who was able to somehow clear the Vanuatu Financial Intelligence Unit process, once you have Vanuatu citizenship, you're able to change your name and, of course, be able to enter countries where your criminal background would not allow you to."
In one brochure advertising the country's development support program by a registered agent, the agency answers a question about whether passport recipients can change their name. "Once you are granted citizenship, you can change your name by sending us a letter that explains your motivation to change your name and your passport will be issued with your new name," the brochure reads.
In response to these concerns, Ronald Warsal, the chairman of the Vanuatu Citizenship Office and Commission, said: "Vanuatu is a signatory to … most internationally sanctioned treaties and has ratified such treaties in recent years prohibiting transnational criminal syndicates to operate within its [jurisdiction] and as such, it is hard for international criminal syndicates to establish a base in Vanuatu." He also said the country required checks before allowing a legal change of name.
Port Olry beach, Vanuatu. The country's passports program netted the government more than US$116m last year. Photograph: Jessica Palmer/Getty Images
EU concerns
Both the EU and the OECD have continued to express concerns regarding due diligence measures, forcing Vanuatu to promise it would step up background checks last year in an attempt to clean up the programs' image.
Despite this, the documents show that as recently as January 2021, Vanuatu was selling passports to individuals with links to fraud or sanctions and others who were sought by police in their home countries.
The list presents a list of colourful characters including a Fifa boss, an Emirati princess and a Nigerian televangelist – none of whom the Guardian alleges were involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity.
The Guardian also identified Libya's former UN-backed prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj. Sarraj is just one of a number of prominent political figures who purchased Vanuatu citizenship. As Libyan ceasefire agreements broke down in January 2020, Sarraj obtained passports for him and his family – applied for under his wife's name. After resigning in March of this year, he has since reportedly left Libya. There is no suggestion by the Guardian that Sarraj or his wife have been involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity, or did anything improper in buying a Vanuatu passport.
Other political figures include Alaa Ibrahim, the former Syrian governor of Damascus countryside, and Vinay Mishra, a former Indian politician. Mishra is currently living in Vanuatu and facing allegations of corruption back in India, which his lawyers are reported as saying he wishes to fight.
Vanuatu map
Other people granted passports by Vanuatu include:
Raees and Ameer Cajee, the founders of cryptocurrency investment platform Africrypt, who have been accused by lawyers for their former investors of a "crypto heist", allegedly disappearing with bitcoin valued at roughly $3.6bn (£2.6bn), claims they deny.
Gianluigi Torzi, an Italian businessman accused of extorting Vatican officials of €15m (US$17.7m) during the purchase of a valuable London property. Torzi has denied wrongdoing.
Hayyam Garipoglu, a Turkish banking mogul imprisoned over a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scandal, and also sentenced to prison for harbouring his nephew after his nephew murdered a 17-year-old girl.
Ghali Belkecir, the controversial former head of Algeria's Gendarmerie, the country's military force in charge of law enforcement, who has four warrants out for his arrest.
Khaled al-Ahmad, a Syrian businessman and close advisor to President Assad, also obtained Vanuatu citizenship in June 2019, according to documents separately obtained by the Guardian.
In response to the Guardian's inquiries about the individuals, Floyd Mera, the director of Vanuatu's Financial Intelligence Unit, said: "Reading your list, most have allegations, pending investigations and ongoing court proceedings. A few have cases against them only after obtaining Vanuatu citizenship … If there are substantial convictions against any of these names, their citizenship may be revoked."
He added: "Going forward, the FIU will conduct enhanced checks on the names provided in your list. If any of these persons have criminal convictions, FIU will promptly inform Citizenship Office of the updated information."
The Guardian also believes there may be a senior North Korean politician and his wife who were granted citizenship after applying for the scheme using Chinese passports.
The names of a man and a woman who applied for passports last year match those of a well-known senior North Korean politician and his wife, though the Guardian has not been able to confirm the couple's identity.
On paper, Vanuatu prevents citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen and North Korea from obtaining citizenship unless they can prove they have been a resident outside these countries for more than five years. However, the Guardian was able to identify a number of applicants from those countries who were resident within the black-listed countries at the time of applying.
Related: Surge in passport sales delivers Vanuatu a record budget surplus
A Syrian construction and real estate magnate with sanctions against a number of his businesses appears on the document. Abdul Rahman Khiti purchased Vanuatu citizenship just a few weeks after the US imposed sanctions on a number of his businesses.
Warsal, of Vanuatu's Citizenship Office and Commission, said: "Abdul Rahman Khiti's application was lodged prior to sanctions on a number of his business and by the time his application came before the screening committee and the FIU there was no adverse finding against him and the commission approved his application."
Warsal said that Khiti also provided proof of his residency outside Syria for five years prior to applying. He added that the Citizenship Commission would be further investigating Khiti's citizenship.
A source of revenue
Vanuatu is one of the poorest countries in the world, with the World Bank putting GDP per capita at US$2,780. The country is heavily in debt, in large part due to the natural disasters that have hit it. After a crippling cyclone in 2014, the country's debt stock-to-GDP ratio climbed from 23% to 47% in 2018.
The sale of passports is the largest source of revenue for the Vanuatu government, with analysis by Investment Migration Insider finding it accounted for 42% of all government revenue in 2020.
In June 2021, the government reported a budget surplus despite the Covid-19 pandemic, largely thanks to the continued demand for citizenship, and the government has used the profits to pay down debts.
"There is merit [to the scheme]," said Ralph Regenvanu, the opposition leader of Vanuatu. "It just needs to be done a lot better than we've done it to date."
Asked what advantage there is to Vanuatu, Regenvanu is blunt.
"Money. For a country with very limited resources, it's money."
Vanuatu's opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu says the scheme needs better due diligence checks. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Regenvanu said more robust processes needed to be implemented to screen applicants, in particular the enactment of an order that was issued by the former government – in which he was foreign minister – in March, which ordered an international specialist firm to be involved in due diligence checks.
"The only checks are the Financial Intelligence Unit and that's obviously, as you found out, just totally inadequate … Our FIU obviously doesn't have the capacity."
Warsal said "the government is in its final stages to engage a European international reputable firm to assist the VFIU in its due diligence processes."
But many in Vanuatu see the scheme as an affront to the sovereignty of the young country, which achieved independence from France and the UK in 1980 after almost a decade of struggle.
Ati George Sokomanu was a key figure in the country's struggle for independence in the 1970s and was appointed as Vanuatu's foundation president in 1980 after independence. He said the cash-for-passports scheme "tarnished" the vision of a free and proud Vanuatu they fought for during the independence movement.
"The gospel that we preached was to do with the return of the land from the hands of the foreigners – that we should have our own passport, that we would be a free people, we should have our own flag, and you know, be somebody in the face of this world," he said.
"We struggled for our freedom and we gained it. And why should we break our sovereignty and our own dignity by making us become slaves again by selling our own passport to other people?"
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "Border Force's priority is to maintain security at the border and all persons entering the UK have to be checked without exception.
"Non-visa nationals have no preferential access to the UK. They must meet the requirements of the published immigration rules."
Kate Lyons
Kate Lyons is Guardian Australia's Pacific editor. Email: kate.lyons@theguardian.com
Euan Ward
Euan Ward is a Beirut-based investigative journalist with a focus on the Middle East region


While Trump has led most North Carolina polls for months, he hasn't announced any high-profile endorsements from the state's Republican lawmakers.
Among North Carolina legislators and Congressmen, Jeb Bush leads with four endorsements, and Marco Rubio and John Kasich have two each. Rep. Jon Hardister is backing Carly Fiorina, Congressman Walter Jones supports Rand Paul, and Rep. Rayne Brown endorsed Ted Cruz.


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California Supreme Court Grants Review to Determine Whether Medical Marijuana Ordinance Constitutes a 'Project' For Purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act
The California Supreme Court unanimously granted review of the Fourth District Court of Appeal's published opinion in Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego. On review, the Supreme Court case will address issues regarding what constitutes a "project" for purposes of CEQA. [Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. v. City of San Diego, 4 Cal.App.5th 103 (4th Dist. 2016); Rev. Granted (Supreme Court Case No. S238563).]
The case involves a challenge to the City of San Diego's enactment of an ordinance allowing medical marijuana facilities in the city, subject to certain conditions and permitting requirements. The ordinance amended the city's municipal code to regulate the establishment and location of "medical marijuana consumer cooperatives." The city adopted the ordinance without conducting environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it had determined that the ordinance was not a "project" subject to CEQA.
Shortly thereafter, the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, Inc. (UMMP) filed a petition for writ of mandate seeking to overturn the city's approval. UMMP argued that the ordinance was a "project" subject to CEQA, and therefore, the city was required to comply with CEQA before adopting the ordinance. The city, on the other hand, argued that the ordinance was not a project subject to CEQA, and therefore, no CEQA review was required. The trial court sided with the city and denied the petition. The Court of Appeal affirmed.
Simply stating that the petition for review is granted, the Supreme Court's order granting review provides no insight into why it believed the case warranted review. The recent passage of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana cultivation and use in California, may help explain the high court's interest in this case. As local agencies develop ordinances and strategies to deal with the new law, they will have to grapple with this precise issue. The court's decision will help agencies answer the threshold question of whether CEQA applies to an action at all. Given the current backlog of CEQA cases on the court's docket, there is no telling when the court will decide the case.
Another interesting tidbit is that the Supreme Court's grant of review was not accompanied by a depublication order, and therefore, it remains citable as persuasive (but not binding) authority under the new California Rule of Court 8.1115(e)(1).
(Chris Stiles)
view all articles in this category
By Wesley A. Miliband, Kristopher T. Strouse In Almond Alliance of California v. Fish & Game Commission the Third District Court of Appeal answered the question of whether terrestrial invertebrate species [...]


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text:
1Old World
1.1Classical Europe, Middle East, and China
1.2Policy of the early Christian Church and Middle Ages
1.3Early-modern Period
2Modern times
3The Americas
3.1Ancient times
3.2Modern times
History of same-sex unions
Further information: Same-sex marriage, History of human sexuality, and Timeline of same-sex marriage
Part of the LGBT rights series
Legal status of
same-sex unions
Andorra*
New Zealand2
Civil unions and
registered partnerships
• Aruba
• Bermuda
• Cayman Islands
Common-law marriage
India:9
Israel5
Minimal recognition
• 68 communes
• Chandigarh
• Gujarat
• Haryana
• Kerala
• Odisha
• Punjab
• Tamil Nadu
• Uttarakhand
Lithuania7
Nepal11
Netherlands:2
• Curaçao
• St Maarten
Poland7
Romania12
Slovakia7
Same-sex union legislation
Same-sex union court cases
Timeline of same-sex marriage
Recognition of same-sex unions in Africa
Recognition of same-sex unions in Asia
Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
Recognition of same-sex unions in the Americas
Recognition of same-sex unions in Oceania
Marriage privatization
Divorce of same-sex couples
Listings by country
LGBT rights by country or territory
Performed in the Netherlands proper, including the Caribbean Netherlands. Registered in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten in such cases, but the rights of marriage are not guaranteed.
Neither performed nor recognized in Niue, Tokelau, or the Cook Islands.
Neither performed nor recognized in six British Overseas Territories.
Neither performed nor recognized in some tribal nations. Recognized but not performed in American Samoa and several other tribal nations.
Cohabitation. Registered foreign marriages confer limited rights. Marriage recognized in some cities.
Degree of recognition unknown. No actual cases to date.
The Coman v. Romania ruling of the European Court of Justice obliges the state to provide residency rights for the foreign spouses of EU citizens.
Legal guardianships (nationwide, except Hong Kong and Macau), residency rights for foreign spouses of legal residents (Hong Kong).
Unregistered cohabitation or Maitri karar–type contractual relationships, but they are not legally binding.
Some cities and prefectures issue partnership certificates, though not legally formalized.
Foreign same-sex spouses are eligible for a "Non-Tourist Visa" as a dependent.
Hospital visitation rights through a "legal representative" status
* Not yet in effect
LGBT portal
This is a history of same-sex unions in cultures around the world. Various types of same-sex unions have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned, and temporary relationships to highly ritualized unions that have included marriage.[1] State-recognized same-sex unions have recently become more widely accepted, with various countries recognizing same-sex marriages or other types of unions. A celebrated achievement in LGBT history occurred when Queen Beatrix signed a law making Netherlands the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.[2]
Old World[edit]
Classical Europe, Middle East, and China[edit]
Emperor Nero is reported to have married at least two males in different occasions.
See also: Homosexuality in ancient Rome and Homosexuality in ancient Greece
There is history of recorded same-sex unions around the world.[3] Various types of same-sex unions have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.
Same-sex unions were known in Ancient Greece and Rome,[3] ancient Mesopotamia,[4] in some regions of China, such as Fujian province, and at certain times in ancient European history.[5]
Same-sex marital practices and rituals were more recognized in Mesopotamia than in ancient Egypt. The Almanac of Incantations contained prayers favoring on an equal basis the love of a man for a woman and of a man for man.[6]
In the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, during the Ming dynasty period, females would bind themselves in contracts to younger females in elaborate ceremonies.[7]: 178 Males also entered similar arrangements. This type of arrangement was also similar in ancient European history.[7]
An example of egalitarian male domestic partnership from the early Zhou dynasty period of China is recorded in the story of Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian. While the relationship was clearly approved by the wider community, and was compared to heterosexual marriage, it did not involve a religious ceremony binding the couple.[8]
Some early Western societies integrated same-sex relationships. The practice of same-sex love in ancient Greece often took the form of pederasty, which was limited in duration and in many cases co-existed with marriage.[9] Documented cases in this region claimed these unions were temporary pederastic relationships.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The Sacred Band of Thebes was so called because the male couples that formed it exchanged sacred vows between lover and beloved at the shrine of Iolaus, beloved of Heracles.[17] These unions created a moral dilemma for the Greeks and were not universally accepted.[18]
In Hellenic Greece, the pederastic relationships between Greek men (erastes) and youths (eromenos) were similar to marriage in that the age of the youth was similar to the age at which women married (the mid-teens, though in some city states, as young as age seven), and the relationship could only be undertaken with the consent of the father.[citation needed] This consent, just as in the case of a daughter's marriage, was contingent on the suitor's social standing. The relationship consisted of very specific social and religious responsibilities and also had a sexual component. Unlike marriage, however, a pederastic relation was temporary and ended when the boy turned seventeen.
At the same time, many of these relationships might be more clearly understood as mentoring relationships between adult men and young boys rather than an analog of marriage. This is particularly true in the case of Sparta, where the relationship was intended to further a young boy's military training. While the relationship was generally lifelong and of profound emotional significance to the participants, it was not considered marriage by contemporary culture, and the relationship continued even after participants reached age 20 and married women, as was expected in the culture.[citation needed]
Numerous examples of same sex unions among peers, not age-structured, are found in Ancient Greek writings. Famous Greek couples in same sex relationships include Harmodius and Aristogiton, Alexander and Hephaestion, Alexander and Bagoas, and the aforementioned Sacred Band of Thebes. However, in none of these same sex unions is the Greek word for "marriage" ever mentioned. The Romans appear to have been the first to perform same sex marriages.
At least two of the Roman Emperors were in same-sex unions; and in fact, thirteen out of the first fourteen Roman Emperors are held to have been bisexual or exclusively homosexual.[19] The first Roman emperor to have married a man was Nero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions. First with one of his freedman, Pythagoras, to whom Nero took the role of the bride, and later as a groom Nero married a young boy to replace his young teenage concubine whom he had killed [20] named Sporus in a very public ceremony... with all the solemnities of matrimony, and lived with him as his spouse. A friend gave the "bride" away "as required by law." The marriage was celebrated separately in both Greece and Rome in extravagant public ceremonies.[20] The Child Emperor Elagabalus referred to his chariot driver, a blond slave from Caria named Hierocles, as his husband.[21] He also married an athlete named Zoticus in a lavish public ceremony in Rome amidst the rejoicings of the citizens.[22][23]
There are records of same-sex marriage dating back to the first century A.D. Nero was the first, though there is no legal provision for this in Roman Law, and it was banned in the Roman Empire in the fourth in a law of 342 A.D., but the text is corrupt, "marries a woman" nubit feminam might be cubit infamen "goes to bed in a dishonorable manner with a man" as a condemnation of homosexual behavior between men.[24]
Conubium existed only between a civis Romanus and a civis Romana (that is, between a male Roman citizen and a female Roman citizen), so that a marriage between two Roman males (or with a slave) would have no legal standing in Roman law (apart, presumably, from the arbitrary will of the emperor in the two aforementioned cases).[25]
Same-sex marriage was outlawed on December 16, 342 AD by the Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans. This law specifically outlaws marriages between men and reads as follows:
When a man "marries" in the manner of a woman, a "woman" about to renounce men, what does he wish, when sex has lost its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed into another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment. (Theodosian Code 9.7.3) [26]
According to Robin Lane Fox, among the unusual customs of the isolated oasis of Siwa (now Egypt, once Libya), one of great antiquity which survived to the 20th century was male homosexuality and same-sex marriage.[27]
Policy of the early Christian Church and Middle Ages[edit]
As did other philosophies and religions of the time,[28] increasingly influential Christianity promoted marriage for procreative purposes. The teachings of the Talmud and Torah, and the Bible, were seen as specifically prohibiting the practices as contrary to nature and the will of the Creator, and a moral shortcoming. Even after the passing of the Theodosian code the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign of Anastasius (491–518). In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodoisus and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.[29] The Christian Emperor Justinian (527–565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences."[30] While homosexuality was tolerated in pre-Christian Rome, it was still nonetheless controversial. For example, arguments against same-sex relationships were included in Plutarch's Moralia.[31]
In pre-Christian Rome and Greece, there had been some debate on which form of sexuality was preferable. While many people seemed to not oppose bisexuality, there were those who preferred to be exclusively heterosexual or homosexual. For example, a debate between homosexual and heterosexual love was included in Plutarch's Moralia.[31]
Historian John Boswell claimed the 4th century Christian martyrs Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus were united in the ritual of adelphopoiesis, which he calls an early form of religious same-sex marriage.
After the Middle Ages in Europe, same-sex relationships were increasingly frowned upon and banned in many countries by the Church or the state. Nevertheless, Historian John Boswell argued that Adelphopoiesis, or brother-making, represented an early form of religious same-sex marriage in the Orthodox church.[32] (However, the historicity of this interpretation is contested by the Greek Orthodox Church[citation needed], and Boswell's scholarship critiqued as being of dubious quality by theologian Robin Darling Young.[33]) Alan Bray saw the rite of Ordo ad fratres faciendum ("Order for the making of brothers") as serving the same purpose in the medieval Roman Catholic Church.
In late medieval France, it is possible the practice of entering a legal contract of "enbrotherment" (affrèrement) provided a vehicle for civil unions between unrelated male adults who pledged to live together sharing 'un pain, un vin, et une bourse' – one bread, one wine, and one purse. This legal category may represent one of the earliest forms of sanctioned same-sex unions.[34]
The Catholic Church has always maintained that marriage (also called Holy Matrimony) is a Sacrament instituted by Christ, between a baptized man and a baptized woman.[35]
A same-sex marriage between the two men Pedro Díaz and Muño Vandilaz in the Galician municipality of Rairiz de Veiga in Spain occurred on 16 April 1061. They were married by a priest at a small chapel. The historic documents about the church wedding were found at Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova.[36] Critics have argued that the union was simply an Adelphopoiesis, a ceremony of spiritual siblinghood.[37]
Early-modern Period[edit]
Michel de Montaigne, a 16th-century French philosopher and prominent essayist, reports having heard a third-party description of a same-sex wedding occurring some years earlier using the usual Tridentine marriage ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. The ceremony was said to have occurred a few years before 1581, at the San Giovanni a Porta Latina basilica in Rome and the participants were burned at the stake by the Vatican.[38][39]
In 1680, Arabella Hunt married Amy Poulter who disguised herself as a man at St Marylebone Parish Church.[40] In 1781, Jens Andersson of Norway, assigned female at birth but identifying as male, was imprisoned and put on trial after getting married to Anne Kristine Mortensdotter in a Lutheran church. When asked about his gender, the response was "Hand troer at kunde henhøre til begge Deele" ("He believes he belongs to both").[41]
Anne Lister, dubbed "the first modern lesbian", married Ann Walker at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York in 1834.[42][43]
Modern times[edit]
LGBT flag on the Westerkerk of Amsterdam, where Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker celebrated their 20th anniversary.[44]
See also: Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
In the 20th and 21st centuries various types of same-sex unions have come to be legalized. As of September 2022[update], same-sex marriage is currently legal in nineteen European countries: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (England, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales).
Other types of recognition for same-sex unions (civil unions or registered partnerships) are, as of September 2022[update], legal in additional eleven European countries: Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino .
A referendum to change the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland to allow same sex marriage took place on 22 May 2015 and approved the proposal to add the following declaration to the Constitution: "marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex".[45]
The Americas[edit]
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and Canada and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (April 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Ancient times[edit]
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Interview with gay marriage movement founder Evan Wolfson
In North America, among the Native Americans societies, homosexuality existed and some have asserted that same-sex unions have taken place with persons known as Two-Spirit types, but no documentation or evidence of same-sex marriage exists. "In many tribes, individuals who entered into same-sex relationships were considered holy and treated with utmost respect and acceptance," according to anthropologist Brian Gilley.[46]
Main article: Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition.[47][48] Court decisions, starting in 2003, each already legalized same-sex marriage in eight out of ten provinces and one of three territories, whose residents comprised about 90% of Canada's population. Before passage of the Act, more than 3,000 same-sex couples had already married in those areas. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been extended to cohabiting same-sex couples since 1999.
Main article: Same-sex marriage in the United States
This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (September 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
In the United States during the 19th century, there was recognition of the relationship of two women making a long-term commitment to each other and cohabitating, referred to at the time as a Boston marriage; however, the general public at the time likely did not assume that sexual activities were part of the relationship.[49]
Rev. Troy Perry performed the first public gay wedding in the United States in 1968, but it was not legally recognized,[50][51] and in 1970, Metropolitan Community Church filed the first-ever lawsuit seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriages. The lawsuit was not successful.[51] In March 2005, two Unitarian Universalist ministers Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey were charged with multiple counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license in the State of New York. The charges were the first brought against clergy for performing same-sex unions in North America, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights group.[52]
The earliest use of the phrase "commitment ceremony" as an alternative term for "gay wedding" appears to be by Bill Woods who, in 1990, tried to organize a mass "commitment ceremony" for Hawaii's first gay pride parade. Similarly, Reverend Jimmy Creech of the First United Methodist Church performed his first "commitment ceremony" of a same-sex couple in 1990 in North Carolina. In January, 1987, Morningside Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends became the first Quaker Meeting to take a same-sex marriage (using the word marriage, rather than "commitment ceremony") under its care with the marriage of Reyson Ame and William McCann on May 30, 1987.[53] Although several other Meetings held "Ceremonies of Commitment", Morningside was the first to refer to the relationship as a marriage and afford it equal status. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that marriage is a fundamental right and must be extended to same-sex couples.[54]
Names for the registered, formal, or solemnized combination of same-sex partners have included "domestic partnership", "civil union", "marriage", "registered partnership", "reciprocal beneficiary", and "same-sex union".
Adelphopoiesis
Pederasty in ancient Greece
^ Lahey, Kathleen A.; Alderson, Kevin (2004). Same-Sex Marriage. Insomniac Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 9781897414989.
^ Homosexuality and the Law: A Dictionary. Abc-Clio. 2001. ISBN 9781576072677.
^ a b Lahey, Kathleen A., Kevin Alderson. Same-sex marriage: the personal and the political. Insomniac Press, 2000. ISBN 1-894663-63-2 / 978-1894663632
^ Dynes, Wayne R. and Stephen Donaldson. 1992. Homosexuality in the Ancient World. New York, NY: Garland.
^ Hinsch, Bret (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. Reed Business Information, Inc. ISBN 978-0-520-07869-7.
^ Bullough, Vern L. (1976). Sexual variance in society and history. New York: Wiley. p. 53. ISBN 9780471120803.
^ a b Hinsch, Bret (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07869-7.
^ Hinsch, Bret. (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press. pp. 24–25
^ Eskridge, William N. (October 1993). "A History of Same-Sex Marriage". Virginia Law Review. 79 (7): 1419–1513. doi:10.2307/1073379. JSTOR 1073379.
^ Bruce L. Gerig, "Homosexuality in the Ancient Near East, beyond Egypt", in HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE, Supplement 11A, 2005
^ Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.67–85
^ Arié, Rachel. España musulmana (Siglos VIII-XV) in Historia de España, ed. Manuel Tuñón de Lara, III. Barcelona: Labor, 1984.
^ Michael Rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and male Culture in Renaissance Florence, Oxford, 1996
^ Guido Ruggiero, The Boundaries of Eros: Sex Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice, Oxford, 1985
^ "ENGLISH.GAY.RU - 1600-1861: Traditional Masculinities And Love Between Men". english.gay.ru.
^ T. Watanabe & J. Iwata, The Love of the Samurai: A Thousand Years of Japanese Homosexuality, London: GMP Publishers, 1987
^ James G. DeVoto (1992). "The Theban Sacred Band". The Ancient World. 23 (2): 3–19.
^ Hubbard, T. K. (Spring–Summer 1998). "Popular Perceptions of Elite Homosexuality in Classical Athens". Arion. 6 (1). Pederasty was an ethical crux for the Greeks, even as homosexuality in general is an ethical and political crux in the present day. Its practitioners were often apologetic, its opponents censorious or derisive.
^ Hinsch, Bret. (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press. pp. 35–36.
^ a b Cassius Dio. "Roman History - Epitome of Book LXII". Retrieved 2 April 2021. Nero missed her so greatly after her death that on learning of a woman who resembled her he at first sent for her and kept her; but later he caused a boy of the freedmen, whom he used to call Sporus,...he formally "married" Sporus, and assigned the boy a regular dowry according to contract
^ Cassius Dio. "Roman History - Epitome of Book LXXIX". University of Chicago. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Cassius Dio. "Roman History - Epitome of Book LXXX". University of Chicago. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Macrinus, Elagabalus. Herodian of Antioch, History of the Roman Empire. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Eidolon, 2015, Michael Fontaine, Associate Professor of Classics and Assistant Dean, Cornell University "the Law does not provide for it."
^ Corbett, The Roman Law of Marriage (Oxford, 1969), pp. 24–28; Treggiari, Roman Marriage (Oxford, 1991), pp. 43–49.; "Marriages where the partners had conubium were marriages valid in Roman law (iusta matrimonia)" [Treggiari, p. 49]. Compare Ulpian (Tituli Ulpiani 5.3–5:) "Conubium is the capacity to marry a wife in Roman law. Roman citizens have conubium with Roman citizens, but with Latins and foreigners only if the privilege was granted. There is no conubium with slaves"; compare also Gaius (Institutionum 1:55–56, 67, 76–80).
^ Pharr, 1952: 232-233
^ Alexander the Great, Robin Lane Fox, Allen Lane 1973/ Penguin 1986-2004, p 207
^ Eskridge, William N. (October 1993). "A History of Same-Sex Marriage". Virginia Law Review. 79 (7): 1419–1513. doi:10.2307/1073379. JSTOR 1073379. But other, non-Christian traditions in Roman society—Stoicism, Neo-Platonism and Manicheanism—similarly urged that "intercourse was supposed to take place only so as to produce children. The couple must not make love for the sake of pleasure alone."
^ (Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.
^ Justinian Novels 77, 144
^ a b Eskridge, William N. (October 1993). "A History of Same-Sex Marriage". Virginia Law Review. 79 (7): 1419–1513. doi:10.2307/1073379. JSTOR 1073379. While the statute [that prohibited same-sex marriage in ancient Rome] reinforces the impression that same-sex marriages were not uncommon in the Roman Empire, it also evidences an anxiety about same-sex unions that antedated the 4th century. At the end of the 2nd century, for example, Plutarch's Moralia included a dialogue filled with invective both for and against same-sex relationships, suggesting that their propriety was a matter of some controversy. A subsequent anonymous dialogue entitled Affairs of the Heart was sympathetic to same-sex relationships but sharply distinguished them from marriage.
^ Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe (1994), Villard Books, ISBN 0-679-43228-0
^ Young, Robin Darling (November 1994). "Gay Marriage: Reimagining Church History". First Things (47): 43–48.
^ Tulchin, Allan (September 2007). "Same-Sex Couples Creating Households in Old Regime France: The Uses of the Affrèrement". Journal of Modern History. 79 (3): 613–647. doi:10.1086/517983. S2CID 92980933. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
^ "Code of Canon Law - IntraText". www.vatican.va.
^ Carlos Callón. "Callón gaña o Vicente Risco de Ciencias Sociais cun ensaio sobre a homosexualidade na Idade Media" (in Galician). Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
^ "Pedro y Muño, la primera boda gay en España... En el año 1061".
^ "Gay Marriage in Montaigne". Archived from the original on 5 December 1998. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Lore. Cassell. 1997. ISBN 9780304337606.
^ Peakman, J. (2013). The Pleasure's All Mine: A History of Perverse Sex. Reaktion Books. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-78023-203-4. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
^ "Et besynderligt givtermaal mellem tvende fruentimmer". Skeivt arkiv. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
^ Roulston, Chris (2013). "The Revolting Anne Lister: The U.K.'s First Modern Lesbian". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 17 (3–4): 267–268. doi:10.1080/10894160.2013.731866. PMID 23855940. S2CID 3058406.
^ "Exhibition to honour women's presence in historic York church where Anne Lister was married". 30 August 2021.
^ "20 jaar Homohuwelijk: Trouwen voor iedereen! - YouTube". YouTube.
^ "Wording of same-sex marriage referendum published". RTÉ.ie. 21 January 2015.
^ Walker, Dalton (17 July 2007). "Going Far From Home to Feel at Home". The New York Times.
^ "Civil Marriage Act S. C. 2005, c. 33". Canada Justice Laws. 20 July 2005. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ "LGBT Rights in Canada". Equaldex. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Gardner, Carol Brooks. 2009. Boston marriages. In Jodi O'Brien, ed., Encyclopedia of gender and society, v. 2. SAGE Publications. pp. 87–88.
^ Barragan, Blanca (26 June 2015). "The Story of the First Public Same-sex Marriage in the US". Curbed Los Angeles. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ a b "MCC and Marriage Equality". Metropolitan Community Churches. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Sullivan, Pat (7 November 2018) [March 17, 2004]. "Universalist Ministers Face Charges for Marrying Gay Couples". UU Rainbow History. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ Leuze, Sarah (May 2002). "Morningside Meeting: A Historical Sketch". Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
^ "Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. 26 June 2015 [October 2014]. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
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CS1 Galician-language sources (gl)
Use dmy dates from June 2015
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United States-centric
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Its innovative construction allows this ball panning head to carry out laterally guided movements. At the same time, Pegasus offers high stability and easy operation. The unique "MotionControl" technology prevents unintented lateral tilting.
This is our new 2-way tilt head which allows swivels in the horizontal and vertical axis. Both axes are individually lockable and due to the friction adjustment of the vertical swivel they are also suitable for amateur film makers.
This tilt head impress with innovative technology as well as with hight load capacity and has a low dead weight.
- Camera mounting thread 1/4"
- All-round swivel arm control possible from the front and rear as well as for right- and left-handed persons.
- Each of plane of adjustment - horizontal, vertical, diagonal - can be released and locked individually.
The quick-release coupling is removable and can be replaced by the quick-release coupling mod. 130, 140 and 150 as well as the panorama plates P101 or P 103.
- Base thread 1/4" und 3/8"


Nothing can add style and value to your home like hardwood flooring. Why? For one thing, hardwood offers a unique character that simply cannot be replicated. McDonald Carpet One Floor & Home in Boulder, CO is your local leader when it comes to hardwood, as we offer a great selection of high-quality styles.
There are two different hardwood options you can choose: solid and engineered. Solid hardwood is made from genuine strips of wood, and there is no special construction. As a result, solid hardwood planks are thick enough to be refinished multiple times. Engineered hardwood, however, has a special layered construction, so engineered planks are more dimensionally stable than solid planks. Engineered hardwood can therefore be installed below, on, and above ground, and it can also handle foot traffic and moisture better than solid hardwood.
Where should hardwood flooring be installed? Hardwood, as you can imagine, isn't the best option for high-traffic or high-moisture settings, although there are certain styles that are durable enough for busy areas. We recommend choosing hardwood for residential settings such as bedrooms and living rooms.
We're happy to be your neighborhood hardwood experts! We offer Carpet One exclusive brands such as Invincible Hardwood and Rustic River, and we offer specialty brands such as Kentwood, Homerwood, Kahrs, Mullican, and Provenza. In addition, we'll work with you to handle hardwood installation.


After years of botched contracts and cost overruns, the Navy has finally signed contracts to buy a bunch of its speedy, near-shore Littoral Combat Ships – at a per-copy price nearly a third cheaper than expected. But hold the champagne. The cost-cutting that made the LCS so affordable might also doom the ships to watery graves in future conflicts.
"We have a warship design that is not expected to fight and survive in the very environment in which it was produced to do so," one critic at the U.S. Naval Institute blog claims, describing the LCS as "poorly armed" and "poorly protected" for dangerous, crowded coastal waters.
When the LCS deals were announced last week, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus crowed that they would "provide needed ships to our fleet in a timely and extraordinarily cost-effective manner." Instead of picking one shipbuilder, the Navy tapped rival firms Austal and Lockheed Martin to build 10 LCS apiece through 2015, each using its own distinct design.
The cost per ship? Just $450 million, at least $200 million below the cost of each of the four prototypes.
But to get those low, low prices, the ships will be built to commercial, rather than military, structural standards – meaning they're lighter and less blast- and fire-resistant. Indeed, the Navy does not plan to subject the LCS to traditional blast-testing, "due to the damage that would be sustained by the ship," the Congressional Research Service points out.
The LCS also optimizes speed over weaponry. Lockheed's version has what Operations Officer Tony Hyde, from USS Freedom (the first Lockheed prototype), described as "the largest marine gas turbines in the world – essentially the engines of a 777 jetliner."
The turbines' 100,000 horsepower can propel the LCS at up to 50 knots, compared to 30 for most warships. But that high speed "will eat through a fuel supply in half a day," the USNI critic scoffs.
Former Freedom commanding officer Don Gabrielson said in 2008 that high speed could help the LCS respond better to pirate attacks and assaults by small boats, such as those used by Iran. But an extra 20 knots aren't likely to make much difference if someone's shooting supersonic anti-ship missiles at you, whereas extra armor plating just might.
So is the LCS a tremendous bargain for a cash-strapped Navy, or an underweight death-trap for its crew? The answer could be both, with caveats.
Eric Wertheim, an independent naval analyst and author of the authoritative Combat Fleets of the World, tells Danger Room that all shipbuilding plans must take into account "political considerations, economic considerations, military considerations [and] industrial considerations." In other words, a ship isn't just a ship. It's also a jobs program, an industrial subsidy and a number on a treaty document.
"As much as it seems like a simple decision of which ship is the best, politicians and military leaders are frequently forced to look at long-term implications for things like the health of the shipbuilding base," Wertheim points out. "For example, what would happen if we don't share work, would one of the shipyards have to close? And is that a good decision in terms of long-range national security?"
To be sure, locking in 20 ships at just $450 million apiece – compared to around $2 billion for a new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer – will keep two shipyards in business and help the Navy reverse the slow decline of its current 280-strong fleet.
This at a time when the Navy is not involved in at-sea combat, and instead spends much of its time chasing pirates and smugglers. For these "other-than-war" tasks, speed and sheer numbers of vessels both matter.
The Navy already has more than enough high-end, military-grade warships for any potential future showdown with, say, China. This force includes approximately 90 cruisers, destroyers and soon-to-debut stealth battleships.
It's the most powerful surface fleet in the history of the world, by far, and one that's massive overkill in anything short of World War III.
But, after retiring many of its minesweepers, patrol boats and frigates, what the Navy doesn't have is enough low-end warships for all the mundane work of a busy, globally-deployed military. The LCS can help correct that imbalance.
Plus, there are emerging technologies that, when combined with the LCS, might revolutionize the way the Navy fights. The LCS includes a huge hangar bay for carrying Marines, manned helicopters, aerial drones and surface-skimming robots.
One oceangoing robot on the drawing board is a quiet, sonar-equipped sub-chaser, which alone has the potential to deter China's fast-growing, carrier-threatening submarine fleet. If this bot ever makes it into service aboard the LCS, critics might forget they once hated the cheap, lightweight near-shore warship.


text:
Markets are madder than ever, says Munger, 97
Saturday December 04 2021, 12.01am, The Times
Warren Buffett, left, with Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman Charlie Munger
NATI HARNIK/AP
One of the world's most-respected investors says that stock markets are out of touch with reality after their post-pandemic surge.
Charlie Munger, the 97-year-old vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett's right-hand man, said that the market is now "even crazier" than during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s which preceded a crash.
At a conference in Sydney yesterday he said: "Some of the valuations we saw in the dot-com boom were higher. But overall, I consider this as being even crazier than the dot-com boom, which blew up in 2000." The Australian Financial Review first reported his comments.
On Wall Street the S&P 500, has doubled in value since last spring's crash. So far this year, close to $900 billion has


text:
ARE YOU FOR REAL
Into the Pluriverse
a sun.black
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Imagine that you are standing in the micro-studio of a street artist in Luanda, and the next moment you find yourself behind a guy picking up money from a Western Union Counter in Nairobi. Suddenly you are on a stage with a young spoken word poet in Berlin and see people in the audience sharing images of this moment on Instagram. You step out of that Berlin bar into a gallery space in Lagos and from there move into the abstract digital universe created by an art collective in Jakarta.
How do we interpret and apprehend what we are seeing and experiencing? The continual digitalization of the world impacts cultural production. How does this happen? When and why does 'realness' start, and where does it end, if at all? These questions have been explored by many thinkers – from artists to scientists to philosophers – and gain particular relevance in current debate, as tensions between the physical and the digital increase. These tensions create new possibilities of accessibility, which is not only important for growing and maintaining networks, but also for the daily, if not hourly, movement of ideas, commissions, and money between global collaborators. All these factors have never been more pressing than they are now, during a time of worldwide crisis. Paradoxically, as we move towards immaterial experiences, we increasingly rely on physical infrastructure to construct them – from fibre optics cables to data centres.
An average teenager spends around eight hours 'connected' per day. Some people have millions of friends on social networks, and much of contemporary communication and interaction takes place in virtual environments. Concepts such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) are steadily becoming a bigger part of our daily routines and cultural practices. Video games expose us more and more to alternative, inspirational universes, and algorithms impact our decision-making or even take control of our behaviour. Simultaneously, we seem to assume that it is evident that we live in a world that is real and easier to reach and grasp than ever before.
Realness exists on many levels, in different perspectives and temporalities.
What is real about an entire continent, a country, or a person? What is real about a digital image presented in the daily news and on social media? Which perspectives are 'more' real? 'Realness' here refers to a common understanding that because of constant digital interconnectedness we see, learn, and know about the world in 'real-time'.
The web-based project 'ARE YOU FOR REAL' is about engaging with and visualizing connections of people, thoughts, things, and places – communication happening through the trading and training of data. It addresses the material and immaterial aspects of the 'digital' and how they are perceived from the perspectives of various disciplines: artists, researchers, and coders are commissioned to create works that offer us their understanding of and approach to reality.
This ongoing project is a platform of exchange that supports formats such as exhibitions, workshops, digital art spaces, and apps. It takes place in arbitrarily chosen sites, as wide-ranging as betting halls, post offices, gaming venues, and cultural centres.
While there is no intention of forming a linear narrative, a thread links the events and creates moments of encounter. Like the children's game in which a message is created, passed on, and distorted between one player to another through whispering, the outcome is always unexpected and unpredictable. This playful approach generates conversations between perspectives and concepts, helping explore the overlaps and interstices that link fields, formats, and contexts.
The artworks produced will change during the course of the project, as new artists join and take over, add, and react to them. This means that certain qualities of a traveling exhibition will become visible, articulated through the touring of thought and the changes and traces in each work.
The approach for this project challenges the decades-long format of touring exhibitions, as developed by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, an institute for international cultural relations), by sending exhibitions of art from Germany around the world. 'ARE YOU FOR REAL' aims to create an international cultural exchange as well as a contemporary co-creative practice of exhibition-making. The challenge is to deconstruct the inflexibility of the classic touring format and explore other models that respond to the questions we are posing through international collaboration and new artistic production.
Twitch performance:a black sun rise
20.00 CAT/19.00 CET
Exit room
Enter Room1
Ibrahim Cissé
Nolan Oswald Dennis
Kidus Hailesilassie
Asmaa Jama
Can Karaaglioglu
João Renato Orecchia Zúñiga
Nelly Yaa Pinkrah
Ainslee Alem Robson
Michelle M. Wright
Nushin Isabelle Yazdani
Julia Grosse, Yvette Mutumba, and Paula Nascimento
Nina Frohm and Sabiha Keyif, Visual Arts Department, ifa
Website conception, design, and technical realisation
Yehwan Song, yhsong.com
Social media communication
Will Fredo Furtado
Translation/Proofreading
Jenifer Evans (English)
Andreia Pugliese (Portuguese)
Camilo Jiménez Santofimio (Spanish)
Myriam Ochoa-Suel (French)
This work can be experienced either with or without VR glasses.
The language used in this artwork is English, with some German passages.
Nushin Yazdani & Can Karaalioglu
feat. Aylin Karabulut, Dounia Hagenauer, Rafiou Bayor, Tiara Roxanne and Ulla Heinrich
VR work
Commissioned and produced on behalf of ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen)
Realness exists on many levels and through different perspectives and temporalities. What is real about an entire continent, a country, or a person?
When do things become real? Does a perspective become more real when it is reflected by media interest? Are privileged perspectives more real than others? Who can judge if something is real? Who is allowed to judge? Is there greater realness today because we can experience more perspectives online? Or is this moment just a brief interlude until marginalised voices get fed up with the steady salty swell of hatred they face, fostered by unjust design systems and algorithmic violence, and decide to back away? How are folks creating their/our own non-reformist reforms amid the digital-analogue mess? What are our communities' positive visions for pluralist futures? Can they become more real when we share them?
With Into the Pluriverse, we enter through a wormhole into five different lives, different places, and different perspectives. One by one we encounter five people and experience how their thoughts interact. Tiara, an Indigenous cyberfeminist, scholar, and artist who investigates encounters between the Indigenous body and AI in writing and in performances with textiles. Aylin, who conducts scientific research into institutional racism, bringing proof and inspirational acknowledgement to many. Ulla, who serves as managing director of the queer feminist Missy Magazine while constantly pushing boundaries in her production of music and art festivals off the beaten track. Douniah, a singer, songwriter, and community activist with big visions and a powerful voice. And Rafiou, an exceptional digital and analogue artist creating 3D imaging with bold strokes.How do these remarkable artists, scientists, and feminists envision our collective future? What do they fight and wish for? And what do they have to say to each other? What questions arise within this discourse?
Aylin Karabulut is a migration and inequity researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen. After completing her teacher's degree in German and social sciences, which also took Aylin to the US and Brazil, she completed her master of education with honours at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2018. Her final thesis on students' experiences of institutional racism in the German school system received attention throughout Germany. Aylin is currently working on a doctorate entitled "Schulische Rassismuskritik" (criticism of institutional racism in schools).
Twitter: @_aylinkarabulut
Aylin's poem for Into the Pluriverse is read by Leila Essa, a literary scholar who currently teaches at Trinity College Dublin
Douniah is a Berlin-based singer, writer, and visual artist from Hamburg and Agadir. The interdisciplinary artist processes her Amazigh and German cultural heritage and identity in a mix of soul, indie, and poetry-influenced sound and visual concepts. In collaborative projects with Kabulfire Records Producer Fuchy, with High John, as well as with Treibhaus-Kollektiv, she has been active as singer, producer, filmmaker, and storyteller. She is currently working on a solo music project, which we will hear and see in 2021.
Instagram: @douniahagenauer
Rafiou Bayor is a 3D and visual artist from Munich known for his bold strokes and monochrome colour schemes. His recent work is influenced by spontaneity and simplicity, and inspired by childhood memories, cartoons, friends, family, basketball, and nonsense. Currently he is focused on drawing facial expressions and exaggerating them. Rafiou is part of the artist duo 4d.lab, an experimental multidimensional platform for visual art.
Instagram: @randomrafiou
Tiara Roxanne is an Indigenous cyberfeminist, scholar, and artist based in Berlin investigating encounters between the Indigenous body and AI. More particularly, she explores the colonial structure embedded within artificial intelligence learning systems through writing and through performance with textiles. Currently her work is mediated through the colour red. In 2013 she received the Zora Neale Hurston Award from Naropa University, where she earned her MFA. Under the supervision of Catherine Malabou, Tiara completed her dissertation, "Recovering Indigeneity: Territorial Dehiscence and Digital Immanence," in June 2019. She is currently a researcher at DeZIM-Institut.
www.tiararoxanne.com
Tiara's audio track for Into the Pluriverse has been audio engineered by the composer Abigail Toll.
Ulla Heinrich studied cultural education and cultural management and worked for many years in cultural and neighbourhood projects with children and young people before turning to project management and communication. As an accomplished music nerd, she organises punk concerts and free educational events with her queer-feminist collective. She develops emancipatory utopias for a feminist future together with artists, scientists, and activists as part of her collective dgtl fmnsm. Ulla is managing director of Missy Magazine, the leading German-language magazine for pop, politics, and feminism.
http://www.digitalfeminism.net
Twitch performance
a black sun rise, with Lindokuhle Nkosi and Nolan Oswald Dennis: 20.00 CAT/19.00 CET
30 minutes live stream on areyouforreal.ifa.de or via Twitch [areyouforreal_ifa]
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The language used in this artwork is English
(developed with Noa Mori)
essay-game
> Is your house in order?
> Is their house in order?
> Is our house in order?
> Is my house in order?
(Bambara variations)
About this game:
a sun.black takes the form of a generative essay-game: a procedural study in distributed poetics where every fragmented statement is assembled from bits and pieces, estranged and recollected. Inspired by Dambudzo Marechera's Black Sunlight and Toni Cade Bambara's On the Issue of Roles, a sun.black is a digital prototype for forming relations with amorphous and indeterminate archives of: Black liberation dreaming > which is liberation dreaming > which is dreaming > which is liberation.
a sun.black is a longness for telling us nothing we don't already know.
In other words, a black sun rises and 'one has to be in a perpetual state of change, without holding on to any certainties'1. 'It may be lonely. Certainly painful. It'll take time. We've got time.'2
1. Dambudzo Marechera, interviewed by Alle Lansu, February 1986, in Flora Veit-Wild, Dambudzo Marechera: A Source Book on his Life and Work (Oxford: Hans Zell, 1992).
2. Toni Cade Bambara, 'On the Issues of Roles' in Toni Cade Bambara (ed.), The Black Woman: An Anthology (New York: The New American Library, 1970).
A matter of time…and other things that cannot be determined
Nelly Y. Pinkrah
Is Discourse Reality?
GREEN FIELDS—GOLD SOILS
Asmaa Jama and Ibrahim Cissé


Bakst, Ryszard (b Warsaw, 1926; d Manchester, 1999). Polish pianist and teacher. Taught at Warsaw State Acad. of Mus. 1953–68; RMCM 1969–72; RNCM 1972–91. Exponent of Chopin and Szymanowski.
"Bakst, Ryszard." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. . Encyclopedia.com. 20 Apr. 2019 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.


My membership at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is so useful to me. I do a great deal of research for my books at the different exhibits and I was able to make a long visit at the Poison exhibit when it was in town. I haven't planned on any of my characters using poison to off another character but I never know when information will come in handy. I try to take advantage of opportunities like the Museum's special exhibits and I have a growing file full of bits of information I find interesting.
The exhibit was fascinating and I spent hours wandering through the displays, trying to stay out of the way of other museum goers while I took copious notes. This exhibit was one of the best I'd visited. As an avid mystery reader, I've been aware of how various plants can be deadly in the right doses. As someone who lives on a plant-based diet, I pay close attention to the fact that some plants are both edible and deadly, depending on what part of the plant is used. I couldn't wait to find out what more this exhibit could teach me.
I was not surprised at the presence of foxglove at the exhibit. Agatha Christie's books first introduced me to the fact that digitalis, derived from foxglove, could be beneficially used by people with heart problems and as a deadly poison by those with nefarious purposes. It's such a beautiful plant and I marvel at how something so beautiful can be at once to useful and so deadly.
Books also introduced me to cassava, a staple among some cultures. What I did not know is that cassava contains cyanide and can be deadly. It is only dried and ground into flour that it can be safely used; something that may end up in a book someday.
I was not fully aware of the part plants have played in the medical field and this aspect of the exhibit was fascinating. I know of curare being used as a poison but had no idea it was used as an anesthetic. It's effect wasn't fully understood and I'm thankful I've never been subjected to a surgical procedure under its influence. However, according to the exhibit, curare can be used as an antidote for strychnine poisoning. If I can ever come up with a valid reason why one of my characters would have curare on hand and then be poisoned by strychnine, I'm using this.
I learned that an extract of the yew tree is still being used as a cancer treatment, although it's made synthetically now because of the ecological cost. I thought it amazing that a derivative of yew bark could help treat cancer and was curious what other plants were being studied.. I learned that scientists were turning to plants like sweet wormwood and the opium poppy in search of medicinal uses. And, scientists aren't just studying plants but animals as well.
What makes a person look for cancer treatment in the venom of the Deathstalker Scorpion? Pain relief in the venom of a black mamba? Can the monocled cobra point researchers to a new arthritis drug or the Brazilian pit viper reveal an ACE inhibitor? I took my notes, went home, and began googling. Sure enough, the exhibit wasn't lying to me: these animals and many more and being looked at for everything from tumor paint to anticoagulants.
I learned so much from this exhibit though I don't know how much of it I'll be using in the series I'm currently writing. Still, I have all sorts of ideas for stories to write when I've finished this series. I like knowing my file of facts is there for the gleaning.
Note: My title is also the title of a mystery by Georgette Heyer. Want to know what was used? You'll have to read it!