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Note: the following article was first published as part of the Windows Phone Recipe "Shake Gestures Library" found here, which I wrote for Microsoft, together with Yochay Kiriaty.
Document Purpose
This document introduces a helper library for identifying shake gestures by using the accelerometer built into Windows Phone 7 devices. It explains how to use the library, how the library works internally, and how you can configure the library's parameters to adapt gesture detection to your needs.
Library Features
The shake gestures library uses the accelerometer to detect movement in three directions:
- Left-Right (X direction)
- Top-Bottom (Y direction)
- Forward-Backward (Z direction)
If you're looking for a general purpose shake gesture and don't care about the direction of the gesture, then you can simply use any combination of one or more of the supported gestures. However, sometimes you need to have better control and to understand if the gesture was in the "right" direction.
How to Use the Shake Gesture Library
Since the shake gesture library is doing all the heavy lifting for you, using the library requires very little effort from you.
Step 1: Add reference to shake gestures library: ShakeGestures.dll
Step 2: Add a using statement to file header
Step 3: Register to ShakeGesture event
ShakeGesturesHelper.Instance.ShakeGesture += new EventHandler<ShakeGestureEventArgs>(Instance_ShakeGesture);
// optional, set parameters
ShakeGesturesHelper.Instance.MinimumRequiredMovesForShake = 5;
Step 4: implement the ShakeGesture event handler from step 3
() =>
_lastUpdateTime.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();
CurrentShakeType = e.ShakeType;
The ShakeGestureEventArgs holds a ShakeType property that identifies the direction of the shake gesture.
Finally, you need to activate the library, which binds to the phone's accelerometer and starts listening to incoming sensor input events.
ShakeGesturesHelper.Instance.Active = true;
Note: You can continue working directly with the phone's sensor. The ShakeGesturesHelper class doesn't block any sensor events—it just listens to them.
Note: The ShakeGesture event arrives on a thread different from the UI thread, so if you want to update the UI from this event you should dispatch your code to run on the UI thread. This can be done by using the method myControl.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(), where myControl is the control you want to update.
How Does the Shake Gesture Library Work?
We need to figure out what a shake gesture is and how to identify a shake when it occurs. Then we need to classify the shake according to the gesture direction.
The accelerometer sensor in a Windows Phone measures the gravity forces applied on the phone and reports an AccelerometerReading event about 50 times per second. When you move the phone up and down in 3D space, you're getting a lot of readings (the sensors are quite noisy), and you don't really know the phone's orientation or the distance that the phone moved, since all you have are changes in the relative gravity force on the phone during a given period of time.
With that in mind, we set out to create a simple, high-performance shake gesture library, and came up with the following shake gestures detection process:
- Noise reduction
- Segmentation into "Shake" and "Still" signal segments
- Shake direction classification
We report sensor readings as vectors, since we obtain 3-axis readings (X, Y, and Z, with each having a double value associated with it). We can set the initial point to (0, 0, 0), hence a vector.
Noise Reduction
Before performing gesture detection, the noise must be removed from the accelerometer's input vectors. This is done by passing the raw input vectors through a low-pass filter. This smooth the signal so that it ignores small changes and only takes into account any "large enough" changes. We're using an existing noise reduction implementation by Dave Edson. For more details on Dave's algorithm, check out this blog post.
Figure 1: Before noise reduction
Figure 2: After noise reduction
As you can see, the signal after noise reduction is much cleaner and easier to work with.
Segmentation into Shake and Still Signal Segments
After cleaning the signal, our next step is to separate shake and still segments. Basically, we want to identify shake segments when the following conditions are satisfied:
- The magnitude of one or more of the vectors (X, Y, or Z) crosses a certain threshold.
- The vector stays above this threshold long enough so that we don't mistake a one-time blip for a shake.
Note: We don't use a system timer to measure time. Instead, we depend on the fact that the Windows Phone sensor generates about 50 events per second, so the time between each event is around 20 msec. Therefore, five events total roughly 100 msec. You'll see in the code that we measure event intervals and not real world clock time.
Figure 3: Signal segmentation
Ignore for a second how we calculate vector magnitudes; we'll address that topic in the next section. For now, look at Figure 3. You can see from the green line pattern that it's very clear when the phone was in a shake segment and when it was in a still segment. Therefore, our goal is to be able to understand when a series of vectors represents a shake segment. Once we identify a shake segment, we'll further process it to extract the shake type and raise the shake event.
Calculating Gravitation Vectors
To start with, we need a reference point that reflects the still state of the phone. The Still segment is used to compute something we call the last-known-gravitation-vector. The last-known-gravitation-vector will be used later to eliminate the effect of gravitation when classifying the shake type.
Note: We can't assume that the gravitation vector will always have the value (0,-1, and 0) for two reasons:
- Gravity isn't exactly 1G everywhere on earth. It varies somewhat according to location and altitude.
- The direction of the gravity vector depends on how you hold your phone. If you rotate it, the direction varies. If you're moving, your hand direction varies.
To calculate the gravitation vector, we take the most recent vectors in the still signal (MaximumStillVectorsNeededForAverage parameter) and average the vectors that have very low magnitude (StillMagnitudeWithoutGravitationThreshold parameters. In case we don't have enough still vectors for a representative sample (MinimumStillVectorsNeededForAverage parameter), we abort the calculation, since we won't get a valid gravitation vector.
The gravitation vector is re-calculated for each new still segment that we get, to account for any changes in how you hold your phone. Remember that we're looking for real time effects; therefore, we need to maintain an accurate state of the current gravitation forces that are affecting the phone.
Finding Signal Boundaries
Now, let's assume the user starts shaking his phone. We need to find the shake segment starting and ending points. To do so, we use the following algorithm:
There are only two possible states:
- Shake state – Indicates that we're currently in the middle of a shake signal
- Still state – Indicates that we're currently in the middle of a still signal (that is, not in the middle of a shake signal)
Based on the current state and the input vector type, we decide what the next step is. Each time we get a new input vector from the accelerometer (after noise reduction), we check whether the vector magnitude is equal or larger than a certain shake threshold ShakeMagnitudeWithoutGravitationThreshold parameter. If it's larger, then this input vector is addressed as a potential shake vector. Otherwise, it's considered a still vector.
Per each input vector and the current "shake" state we use the following state-machine to determine the next state…
- Condition: The current state of the phone is still, and the new vector has a still magnitude value.
- Operation: Add the vector to the still signal array (the array is a cyclic array).
- Condition: The current state of the phone is still, and the new input vector has a magnitude that is higher than the minimum shake threshold.
- Operation: Set shake state, process still signal, add vector to shake signal array (this doesn't mean that we identified a shake, we're just adding it to the array for further processing later).
- Condition: The current phone state is shake, and the new input vector has a shake magnitude.
- Operation: Add vector to shake signal, try to process shake signal array. Here we're actually trying to identify a shake, since we already got a few shake vectors in the array. Again, we need to wait for the minimum amount of shake vector before we can start processing a shake single.
- Condition: The current phone state is shake, and the new input vector has a still magnitude (it's below the minimum shake magnitude).
- Operation: Add vector to shake signal, unless we've already received too many sequential still vectors (StillCounterThreshold parameter), in which case move the still vectors to the still signal and change the phone state to still state.
Shake Type Classification
It's time to dive into the actual vector processing. The following describes the algorithm we're using, but for performance reasons the code performs some of the processing while the shake vectors are being collected, but the idea remains the same.
Neutralizing Gravitation Effects (Removing Earth Gravity Effects)
All input vectors include the earth's gravitation forces. And since we don't have any idea about the position of your phone in 3D space, we don't know which of the vectors (X, Y, or Z) is affected by the earth's gravity. Therefore, we need to remove the earth's gravity effect.
To eliminate the effect of gravity, we first reduce the last known gravitation vector from all the vectors in the shake signal. In this way, when we get acceleration in some axis we can be certain that the user moved the phone along that axis instead of wondering whether this is just the force of gravity trying to fool us. Therefore, for each input vector we're subtracting the last known gravity vector.
Finding Shake Main Direction
Now we want to find the main direction of the shake signal, which can be one of the following three directions:
- X (left-right)
- Y (top-bottom)
- Z (forward-backward)
To do this, we first need to find the main direction of each vector in the shake signal. We do this by checking which of the vector products has the biggest absolute value. To get a better feeling of why we're breaking the vector into its products, let's review a 2D vector. As you can see in Figure 4, the red vector products are broken into the X and Y values [Red value = sqrt(pow(x,2) + pow(y,2))].
Figure 4: Illustration of classifying a 2D vector
It's clear that the red vector should be classified as an X axis vector, because its X product is much stronger than its Y product. The same methodology is implemented in the library for 3D vectors.
At this stage, we've got a vector that isn't affected by the earth's gravity, we've broken the vector into its products, and we know the main direction of the vector.
Our next step is to create a histogram of the vectors' products, and then to select the direction with the most products in it. Remember, we started with a vector whose magnitude is strong enough to be considering a shake vector. We removed the earth's gravity effect, and we broke it into its distinct products, and classified them. For example, Figure 5 shows a histogram of a shake signal that has most of its vectors pointing in X direction, hence the shake signal's main direction will be X.
Figure 5: Histogram of vector directions in a shake signal
To prevent weak vectors (WeakMagnitudeWithoutGravitationThreshold parameter) that got into the shake signal from affecting the histogram result, we'll only consider vectors above a certain threshold when calculating the histogram.
In addition, we'll consider the histogram result as valid only if the number of vectors in the main direction passes a certain threshold (MinimumShakeVectorsNeededForShake parameter). This will enable us to eliminate false results due to histograms done on small amounts of data.
Recognizing the Gesture
Up until now, we've identified a movement of the phone in 3D space that's fast (powerful) enough to be consider a shake. Basically, we know the shake signal's axis, but that isn't sufficient. In order to make sure the movement we detected is really a shake gesture, and not just a random (single) movement in one direction, we need to count several intervals of movement and, more importantly, changes in the vector direction. A shake is defined as a movement of the phone on one axis back and forth a few times.
To check whether the shake signal is a shake gesture, we'll check the sign of the main direction coordinate. For example, if we found that the main direction of our shake signal was X, then we'll inspect the sign of the X products of all the vectors in the signal. On a real shake gesture, we expect the sign to change a few times, since we move the phone back and forth and thus keep changing the force (acceleration), which translates to a direction change.
For example, in the following figure we see a normalized (without gravitation) shake signal of a real shake gesture. You can clearly see the main direction being Z, and the Z values go back and forth between positive and negative.
Figure 6: Example of a shake vector
In order to identify the gesture, we'll count how many times the X values goes from positive to negative and back. If the count is bigger than MinimumRequiredMovesForShake, we'll finally raise the shake gesture event!
Configuring Parameters
During the coding and testing of the library, we found that shake is very individualized. It depends on the nature of the application and the actual shake gesture made by the phone's user. There are alternative algorithms available that are adaptive and learning algorithms. While these might be more accurate, they require a learning phase that we didn't want to force on the end user and on the developer building the app. Therefore, we give you plenty of different properties to tweak and tune for your own purposes.
These parameters control various aspects of the gesture detection algorithm. By changing these parameters, you can change your application's sensitivity to shakes and to the duration of a shake. All parameters have default values kept as constants in the library.
The following section describes the available parameters. Each parameter is mentioned in context in the above algorithm.
Description: Any vector that has a magnitude (after reducing gravitation force) bigger than this parameter value is considered as a shake vector.
Default value: 0.2
Description: This parameter determines how many consecutive still vectors are required to stop a shake signal.
Default value: 20 (about 400 msec)
Description: This parameter determines the maximum allowed magnitude (after reducing gravitation) for a still vector to be considered.
Default value: 0.02
Description: The maximum number of still vectors needed to create a still vector average. Instead of averaging the entire still signal, we just look at the top recent still vectors. This is performed as runtime optimization.
Default value: 20
Description: The minimum number of still vectors needed to create a still vector average. Without enough vectors, the average won't be stable and thus will be ignored.
Default value: 5
Description: Determines the number of shake vectors needed in order to recognize a shake.
Default value: 10
Description: Shake vectors with a magnitude lower than this parameter won't be considered for gesture classification.
Default value: 0.2
Description: Determines the number of moves required to get a shake signal.
Default value: 3
In this document we showed how you can use the Shake Gestures Library in your application. We did an in-depth tour of the algorithms used for recognizing shakes. Finally, we skimmed through the various parameters that you can change to better fit gesture detection to your application's needs.
Shake it up!
That's it for now,
Arik Poznanski.


text:
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text: Background of NSCTC, Jessore: The history of the National Training Centre began in the year 1937, as we found in the records of the Salesian Fathers (Krishnanagar, West Bengal). "A permanent School for the New Catechists" was opened in Jessore by the then Provincial Superior of the Salesian North India Province, Vincenzo Scuderi sdb who at that time happened also to be the Apostolic Administrator of the Krishnanagar Diocese (from 26 January 1936 to 25 May 1939). When in August 1947 British India was partitioned, the eastern most parts of the Krishnanagar diocese, i.e. Khulna and Jessore, together with the eastern parts of the Calcutta Archdiocese, i.e. Satkhira, were separated from their original dioceses and later (1952) constituted in the new Jessore Diocese. The Salesians eventually withdrew from the then East Pakistan and the Congregation of the Xaverian Missionaries was asked to take over. This officially happened on January 3, 1952. Since 1953, Msgr. Dante Battaglierin, s.x., the first Bishop of the new Jessore Diocese, used to gather the Catechists for refresher courses and retreats, mainly in Jessore. In 1964, Fr. Marino Rigon, s.x. became the Director of the Diocesan Training Centre, Jessore. Fr. Marino Rigon graduated from the Antigonish University (1964), with a 'Diploma in Social Leadership.' The courses organized by Fr. Marino Rigon, s.x., were aiming at both the religious and social formation of Catechists and Leaders. There were also courses for Co-operative Leaders. He considered the Catechist as leader of villages, for both Christians, and, in social activities, Muslims and Hindus as well. The construction of the two-storied building of the Centre was completed in 1965-66. In 1967, 'Misereor,' a German donor agency, sponsored the Social and Catechetical Centre for a 'seven year' plan of 'Formation Programmes,' including salaries, buildings and all training expenses, insofar that it fostered 'social development,' Most of the trainees were Catechists. On September 9, 1969, at an 'Inter-diocesan Meeting of Catechists', no. 2 point in the agenda, raised the question of how 'the so-called 'Social Training Institute" could be utilized for services at 'National Level,' with involvement of the then 4 Dioceses in regard to both finances and staff-personnel. At the end of 1972, the Bangladesh Bishops' Conference held discussions "regarding the possibility of using the existing Centre at Jessore for Catechetical Training." The task to study this possibility and to make practical proposals was entrusted to the then 'Interdiocesan Catechetical Commission'. In February 1973, Fr. Orlando Ghirardi, s.x., who graduated at the EAPI in Manila, received the appointment as the Director of the (now) "National Socio-Catechetical Training Centre in Jessore. People who worked at the NSCTC, Jessore Directors who worked at the NSCTC, after Fr. Marino Rigon s.x.: 1) Fr. Orlando Ghirardi s.x., from 1973 to 1981. 2) Fr. James Rigali s.x., from 1982 to 1985. 3) Fr. Marcello Storgato s.x, from 1986 to 1992. 4) Fr. Pio Mattevi s.x., from 1993 to 1996. 5) Fr. James Rigali s.x., (2nd time), from 1997 to 1998. 6) Fr. Rinaldo Nava s.x., from 1999 to 4/7/2001. 7) Fr. John Gopal Biswas, Acting Director (5/7/2001) 8) Fr. Pio Mattevi s.x., (2nd time) from 26/10/2001 to 2013. 9) Fr. Sergio Targa s.x., from 2014. Additional Staff: a) Mr. Dinobondhu Baroi, B.A.,'Diploma in Social Leadership' (Antigonish), at the time of Fr. Marino Rigon, s.x., (from 1966 to end 1969). b) Those who worked after 1973: 1) Fr. Willie Slavin (1976-79); 2) Fr. Marcello Storgato, s.x., (1978-82); 3) Sr. Teresina, S.C., (1978-80); 4) Mr. Samor (Catechist), (1981); 5) Fr. Gianni Martoccia, s.x., (1984); 6) Fr. Ernesto Luvie, s.x.; 7) Sr. Lucie, csc., and Sr. Cecilia, RNDM, (1984); 8) Fr. Attilio Boscato, s.x., (1985-1990); 9) Fr. Albino Sarker (1991-1995); 10) Fr. Pio Mattevi, s.x. (1992); 11) Sr. Bruno, csc; 12) Sr. Agnes Rozario, csc, from May, 1993; 13) Fr. John Gopal Biswas, from May, 1997. 14) Sr. Joya Rozario, csc, July 2002. 15) Fr. Bablu Sarker, from June, 2004. 16) Sr. Shephali Gomes, csc, from 2005; 17) Fr. John Fagan sx from 2009 to 2011; 18) Sr. Sagorika csc; 19) Sr. Sumona Costa csc from 2015; 20) Sr. Shilpi Rozario csc from 2016. Other people who worked at the Centre were: Lucidio Ceci and Francesco Zannini, c) Workers in the Office of NSCTC: 1) Mr. Joseph Biswas, B.A., (computer, from 1990) and Mongolbarta Editor, since 1982; 2) Komol Costa, B.A., (translations - accounting) (1982-1992); 3) Daud Mondol, I.A., (library, mailing & accounting), 1992-2014; 4) Sontosh Mondol, B.A.(E), (translation), 1995-2007.


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Dominance And Submission
The other day, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in America, declared that wives should "submit themselves graciously to their husband's leadership."
Try selling that to Jewish women.
"My husband tells me that all the time — 'can't you be a little more submissive' " — chuckled political consultant Suri Kasirer when asked about the newest development in American gender politics.
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Her husband happens to be Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's chief of staff, Bruce Teitelbaum, a man used to ordering other people around.
Apparently, except at home.
"I tell him, 'you want submissiveness? You married the wrong girl,' " Kasirer confides.
She is not alone.
Like Kasirer, an aide to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, many Jewish women reacted strongly — in the negative — when asked about putting themselves under the thumb of their husbands, the notion adopted by the Southern Baptists last week.
Yes, these are the same leaders of the 15-million strong fundamentalist Christian denomination who two years ago angered Jewish leaders by voting to increase their missionizing of Jews.
At this year's annual convention, it was the women's turn.
Quoting verses from the New Testament, the Southern Baptists declared that a wife has "the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing their household and nurturing the next generation." It also said men should "provide for, protect and lead" their families.
But the 250-word amendment went further, comparing the husband to Jesus, and the wife to the church that exists to serve Jesus.
Naturally, such an idea was regarded warmly by some Jewish husbands fantasizing about a Jewish wife who will wait on him hand and foot.
"From a personal standpoint, I'm converting," joked one Jewish public relations executive.
But Jewish women were clearly not amused about calls for female submission, in any religion.
"I think it's fairly insane in this modern day where so many women are making a living to support a family," said Joy Perlow, a 38-year-old mother of two from Mt. Kisko, Westchester. Perlow owns Sammy's Kosher Meat Market in Bedford Hills with her husband of 14 years.
"Growing up Jewish, I can't imagine that scenario," she said.
More alarmed is Jewish feminist Susannah Heschel, a Jewish studies professor at Dartmouth University. She fears the Southern Baptist amendment will fuel the type of thinking that leads to violence against women.
"I would hold that kind of statement directly responsible for violence against women in our society," explains Heschel, daughter of legendary theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
"It's giving divine sanction to the notion that men have absolute power over women — like a slaveholder over slaves."
Still, there arises a problematic question for Jews.
Isn't there some similarity between the Southern Baptist statement and the traditional view of the subordinate role of wives as found in the Talmud and Bible?
Well, yes, and no.
"You can find echoes in the Jewish Talmudic view," says Rabbi Yisroel Miller, a Pittsburgh Orthodox rabbi and author of "Guardians of Eden," which explores the role of Jewish women.
But he quickly stresses that such Talmudic statements as "a kosher wife does the will of her husband" is only one piece of a larger mosaic. For instance, he notes another Talmudic adage that states "a husband has an obligation to respect his wife more than his own body."
Perhaps most problematic is the verse in Genesis 3:16 which has God telling Eve: "he [Adam] will rule over you."
Literalists clearly can have a field day with this.
Critics say the text cannot be taken at face value.
"When you read it in context, it is limited to a sexual statement," contends Judith Hauptman, a professor of Talmud and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary. "He initiates the sexual act."
If the Bible is read literally, the rest of Genesis 3:16 would also have to be true: "with pain shall you bear your children." "Should we deny woman painkillers when they give birth?" Hauptman says.
Regarding the Talmudic view, Hauptman says the problem with defining the rabbinic role for wives is that the rabbis themselves seemed to be of two minds.
The legal writings of the Talmud about women show a clearly subordinate role.
"There is no explicit refutation in the Talmud to dispute the Southern Baptists' statement [about submission]," says Hauptman, author of "Rereading The Rabbis: A Woman's Voice" (Westview-HarperCollins).
On one hand, she says the Talmud, written by men in the patriarchal time of the second through fifth centuries C.E., includes laws and rituals in which women are subordinate to men.
"When we talk about the traditional marriage ceremony, we are talking about him betrothing her," she says.
But at the same time, the Talmud's rabbis talked about their wives in anecdotes that implied clever and forceful women.
For example, she cites the case of Rabbi Hiyya, who spends his time searching for a little present to bring home to his wife. His colleague Rav asks why, since the unnamed wife apparently "torments" poor Rabbi Hiyya.
But Rabbi Hiyya responds, "she raises my children and she protects me from sin."
Says Hauptman: "Here we have a rabbi reconciling himself to the fate of having a wife who makes demands of him. The women were not as docile and submissive as the patriarchal laws might lead you to think."
Hauptman sees in rabbinic Judaism a bipolar relationship between husbands and wives, "each one having rights and obligations to the other."
He can demand domestic labor. In exchange, she's entitled to support, and conjugal rights.
"When they both have rights and obligations, neither one of them can be considered as merely property to the other," Hauptman argues.
One thing seems clear, Jewish experts agree: Judaism has nothing like a divine sanction for husbands.
"Nowhere do I see in the classical Jewish literature any statement that comes close to saying the husband dominating the wife is done because God ordained it to be that way," says Hauptman.
"Such a distinction is completely foreign to us," adds Rabbi Miller. Rather, he sees the marriage as a chess game with the husband as the King and the wife as Queen.
And, he adds, we all know what the Queen can do.


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A collection of essays by Servais Pinckaers, OP/
The Pinckaers ReaderBack in the 1980's one of my teachers in Toronto, Walter Principe, CSB, noted my interest in St Thomas's moral teaching and encouraged me to read the work of Servais Pinckaers, OP. In honesty I never got around to that much — my "commentator time" had been given over to Santiago Ramirez — but I knew that, at some point, I would need to read Pinckaers.
The people over at Catholic University of America Press have made that easier, with the publication of The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Thomistic Moral Theology, a new volume containing 20 of Pinckaers's studies, translated into English. Here is the blurb from the CUA site:
Servais Pinckaers, O.P., is one of the preeminent Catholic moral theologians of his generation. His highly acclaimed works, among them The Sources of Christian Ethics, offer a thoroughly Thomistic and contemporary vision of the Christian moral life. They reflect the philosophical and spiritual prowess of a moral theologian who is estranged neither from philosophical ethics nor from dogmatic theology, neither from Scripture nor from spirituality.
The first collection of its kind available in any language, this volume features the twenty most significant essays written by Pinckaers since his highly praised Sources. The essays offer profound reflections that are only possible by a contemporary moral theologian who knows the thought of Aquinas from lifelong study. Rather than taking a simply historical approach to Aquinas, Pinckaers seeks the basis of the intelligibility of the moral life, providing rich spiritual and theological insights along the way. He plumbs the depths of fundamental moral theology in these essays, where he treats Thomistic method and the renewal of moral theology, beatitude and Christian anthropology, moral agency, and passions and virtues, as well as law and grace. Such a detailed treatment of key issues in fundamental moral theology and Christian philosophical anthropology will certainly demand attention from every theologian and advanced student interested in Aquinas and in a virtue approach to Christian ethics.
Pinckaers's work has been an important source for the revival of interest in virtue-oriented moral theology in recent years and will continue to be a major source for debates over the place of Scripture and the Holy Spirit in moral theology.
John Berkman is Associate Professor of Moral Theology and Area Director of Moral Theology/Ethics at The Catholic University of America. Craig Steven Titus is Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Ethics and Moral Theology at the University of Fribourg and Visiting Professor at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. The essays are translated by Sr. Mary Thomas Noble,O.P., Craig Steven Titus, Michael Sherwin, O.P., and Hugh Connolly.
Here is the link to CUA Press, and you can also find the volume on Amazon.com.


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Identifying and Preventing Insider Threats
An insider attack is one of the biggest threats faced by modern enterprises, where even a good working culture might not be sufficient to prevent it. Companies implement sophisticated technology to monitor their employees but it's not always easy for them to distinguish between an insider and an outside attack.
Those who target and plan attacks from the outside might create strategies for obtaining insider knowledge and access by either resorting to an existing employee, or by making one of their own an insider.
Understanding the attacker types might serve as a stepping stone in selecting effective security measures to prevent threats to the company. According to Bruce Schneier, author of Beyond Fear, the categories of attackers are:
The most common type of attacker. As the category indicates, they spot and seize an "opportunity" and are convinced that they will not get caught. It is easy to deter such attackers via cursory countermeasures.
Emotional Attackers
They may accept a high level of risk and usually want to make a statement through their attack. The most common motivation for them is revenge against an organisation due to actual or perceived injustice. Although emotional attackers feel powerful when causing harm, they sometimes "hope to get caught" as a way of solving the issues they were unhappy with but were unable to change from the beginning.
Cold Intellectual Attackers
Skilled and resourceful professionals who attack for their own gain or are employed to do so. They target information, not the system, and often use insiders to get it. Unlike opportunists, cold intellectual attackers are not discouraged by cursory countermeasures.
They accept high risk to gain visibility and make a statement. They are not only hard to deter by cursory countermeasures, but can even see them as a thrill.
Friends and relations
They may introduce a problem to both individuals (in the form of financial fraud, for example) and companies (by abusing authorization credentials provided to legitimate employees). In this scenario, a victim and an attacker are sharing physical space, which makes it very easy to gain login and other sensitive information.
According to CERT, a malicious insider is; a current or former employee, contractor, or business partner who has or had authorised access to an organisation's network system or data and intentionally exceeded or misused that access in a manner that negatively affected the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the organisation's information. Furthermore, CERT split insider crimes into three categories:
- Insider IT Sabotage, where IT is used to direct specific harm at an organisation or an individual.
- Insider Theft of Intellectual Property is the use of IT to steal proprietary information from an organisation.
- Insider Fraud uses IT to add, modify and/or delete an organisation's data in an unauthorised manner for personal gain. It also includes the theft of information needed for identity crime.
But how can companies detect and prevent such attacks?
In his paper, Framework for Understanding and Predicting Insider Attacks, Eugene Schultz suggests that insiders make human errors, which when spotted can help in preventing such threats. Therefore, constant monitoring, especially focused on low-level employees, is one of the basic measures for preventing insider attacks and gathering evidence.
There are a number of precursors of insider attacks that can help to identify and prevent them:
- Deliberate markers – These are signs which attackers leave intentionally. They can be very obvious or very subtle, but they all aim to make a statement. Being able to identify the smaller, less obvious markers can help prevent the "big attack."
- Meaningful errors – Skilled attackers tend to try and cover their tracks by deleting log files but error logs are often overlooked.
- Preparatory behaviour – Collecting information, such as testing countermeasures or permissions, is the starting point of any social engineering attack.
- Correlated usage patterns – It is worthwhile to invest in investigating the patterns of computer usage across different systems. This can reveal a systematic attempt to collect information or test boundaries.
- Verbal behaviour – Collecting information or voicing dissatisfaction about the current working conditions may be considered one of the precursors of an insider attack.
- Personality traits – A history of rule violation, drug or alcohol addiction, or inappropriate social skills may contribute to the propensity of committing an insider attack.
Security professionals should understand that attackers are people too, who differ in resources, motivation, ability and risk propensity. There are a number of insider attackers who are merely pawns for another inside or outside mastermind. He or she is usually persuaded or trained to perpetrate or facilitate the attack, alone or in collusion with other (outside) agents, motivated by the expectation of personal gain.
Organisations may unknowingly make themselves vulnerable to insider attacks by not screening newcomers properly in the recruitment, not performing threat analyses, or failing to monitor their company thoroughly. Perhaps the most important thing they overlook is to keep everybody's morale high by communicating to employees that they are valued and trusted.
About the Author: Leron Zinatullin (@le_rond) is a business-oriented information security professional with several years of proven experience in architecture design and project management. Extensive knowledge and practical experience pertaining to analysing and solving governance, risk, compliance, information security and privacy issues.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this and other guest author articles are solely those of the contributor, and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire, Inc.


text:
Honda's chief officer of motorsport Yasuhisa Arai, who arrived at the track only on Saturday, was subjected to a barrage of questions at a post-qualifying media briefing in the McLaren hospitality.
Still smiling as reporters asked whether he had considered resigning, was embarrassed by Honda's poor performance and had apologised to the team's world champion drivers, the Japanese shook his head.
"We do many efforts to get more horsepower and good control for both drivers," he said. "This circuit is very difficult for our power unit.
"I always talk with both drivers," said Arai, adding: "I don't answer" when pressed again on whether he had apologised to them.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso qualified 17th, but will start 16th due to penalties to others, and made clear that the under-performing power unit was the main problem.
"It's a track with six corners…on the GPS we lose two or three tenths in those six corners," the Spaniard told television reporters.
"The rest of the three seconds (deficit) we lose on the straights. We are on full throttle with the steering wheel straight."
Team mate Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, qualified 16th but will start 15th.
Alonso said the grid position ultimately made little difference in the current circumstances to a team that ranks as the sport's second most successful in history but is currently languishing in ninth place out of 10 in the constructors' standings.
"If you overtake cars at the start, or you start in front of them because of penalties, they will pass you on lap one so it's even more frustrating," he said.
"Nothing has changed. We will try to do our race, to learn things on the car and finish as high up as possible. It's not the best situation, but unfortunately it is the way it is at the moment because we are not competitive at all."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)


text:
Be on the Lookout for Precious Metals as Air Conditioning Systems Power Off/
In Canada and the northern regions of the United States, autumn is the season when leave start to fall and football gets started. It is also the time of year when people toss their old air conditioning systems and upgrade to new ones. If you are on the lookout, you could reclaim precious metals from old systems – precious metals that can be profitably recycled by a precious metals refinery like us.
Whether you are in the business of installing new air conditioning systems or simply find yourself in possession of a stack of old window units, here are some of the sources of precious metals that you should know about.
Recyclable Gold in Circuit Boards
Modern air conditioning systems and individual units contain circuit boards that can yield quantities of recyclable gold. It is most commonly found on the contact "fingers" on the edges of printed circuit boards. Be on the lookout for them in . . .
- Remote devices that are used to control individual and window air conditioning units in hotels, motels, and private homes.
- Front-panel displays and controls in both window and through-the-wall air conditioning units.
- Central control panels and individual thermostats that are part of larger commercial and industrial systems.
The larger the quantity of these devices that you have, the more gold you have that can be recycled.
Recyclable Platinum and Other Metals in Thermocouples
Thermocouples and thermocouple wire are devices that monitor and control temperatures remotely. Valuable quantities of them can be found in commercial central air conditioning systems. And they are worth money. They can contain platinum, platinum/rhodium alloys, palladium/platinum/gold alloys, rhodium, nickel alloys, tungsten alloys – and even combinations of two noble metals like Gold and Platinum or Platinum and Palladium.
If you come into possession of a quantity of them, they have the potential to be recycled very profitably.
As Temperatures Cool, Your Income from Precious Metals Could Be Heating Up
If you have used air-conditioning systems or units on hand, call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344. We are here to help you turn them into dollars.
Related Posts:
A Brief History of Circuit Boards and the Gold They Contain
How to Claim the Cash that's Hidden in Used Equipment Containing Thermocouple Wire
Attention Recycling Centers: These Often-Overlooked Items Can Generate Big Income for Your Town
Watch the Gold You Can Recycle from Circuit Boards Pile Up in these Videos


text:
Upon reviewing Edward's blog, I was really captivated by his style of blogging by drawing reader's attention through his personal experiences as well as linking to the area of Singapore affairs. It reminded me of a news article with regards to a Singapore politician, Ms Tin Pei Ling. Ms Tin faced several criticisms for posting a selfie with her new Kate Spade Bag on FaceBook in year 2011. Majority deemed her image as non-professional and condemned her action through online petitions in an attempt to kick her out from the parliament!
Read the full story here.
Source from: http://www.straitstimes.com/politics/singapolitics/tin-pei-ling-goes-from-rocky-start-to-running-solo-in-macpherson
Edward's post had broadened my scope of research by understanding that there is an increased emphasis for influential figures such as politicians, educators and religion pastors to maintain an authentic and professional online identity simply by observing social trends or the news. Hence, a point which I had failed to mention for topic 3 earlier- be extremely caution of what you post! Technology advancements such as cloud data had made it impossible, something which I had learnt as a marketing student.
Source from: http://alboardman.tumblr.com/image/100070203576
On the other hand, Siew Woon's blog had moved into the area of questioning the effectiveness of digital platform these days. A very creative post through utilization of GIFs and various interaction medias, she had approached the topic from a very unique perspective. Just like every 'tools' in a garage, every digital platform has its strength and shortcomings in areas of recruitment.
Source from: http://buytheway.annenbergcourse.org/integrated-marketing-communications-then-and-now/
For example: Blogging might had opened up potential spaces for you to 'present' more of yourself, but just like a double edged knife, the probability of you posting something negative increases and what are the chances of you really getting noticed by a chief executive of a big firm at the first place? Could it be that a certain mix of digital platforms create a better synergy such as the theory behind integrated marketing communications? An intriguing thought.
To end off my reflection, I would like to link back to my topic 2, where I had mentioned about authenticity previously. From a marketing point of view, anonymity and authenticity would result in positives outcomes and hence should be encouraged! On the contrary, from an entrepreneur and job recruiter's perspective, it is a must to display an authenticity and professional online identity.
Read my comments on their blogs by clicking on the link below:
Edward – https://edwardting.wordpress.com/2015/11/05/how-professional-is-your-online-profile/#comments
Siew Woon – https://eatgoodicecream.wordpress.com/2015/11/05/pay-attention-to-my-profile-please/#comments
Blogging can help and hurt your job search (John O'Connor)
Referenced from:
Recruiter says: Avoid LinkedIn at your Peril (Allison Cheston May 11, 2012 )
Referenced from:


text:
In the 1990s, our world was in a period of turmoil, especially with genocide in Rwanda and the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. My husband Jim and I had just come home from a year of self-created sabbatical in Asia and I was ready for a new phase of life. Being on the board of directors of several national and international peace and justice organizations, I observed others doing nonviolence and community-building trainings. The resonance was strong; it was clear that this work meshed with my skills and was my next calling.
I had no idea whether or not Karuna Center would survive. Occasionally, I did not know if I would survive either! But fortunately it and I did survive and thrive, and with others we built up a viable organization doing very creative peacebuilding work that we can all be proud of. Karuna Center has a future as well as a past, now in its second generation of leadership and poised to continue serving at home and abroad where invited to partner in building sustainable, caring, and just communities. All of your support and engagement in these two decades has kept us going, for which I am immensely grateful.
Paula Green


text:
In approximately six weeks, On February 26th, the Supreme Court will hear the now infamous Janus vs AFSCME case that will, in all likelihood, have major implications for public sector unions across the country including the UFT. Our opponents brought this case to the Supreme Court because they are trying to defeat us through the Court System as every other attempt has failed. They want to take away our rights and benefits, and will argue that nonmembers should not be required to pay their fair share or agency fees to cover their portion of the costs associated with collective bargaining and union services that benefit all employees in the bargaining unit.
Emphasizing the benefits of union membership, being "union proud", door knocking, organizing, advocating for our members, and working with other labor unions and politicians across our state are but a few of the ways UNITY/UFT is preparing for an adverse ruling in the Janus case.
Michael Mulgrew, UNITY/UFT President summed it up best when he said that ". . . as we brace for this challenge ahead, remember that all of us together are the union; because we have stuck together, we have pensions, employer-paid health insurance, job security, due-process rights, a grievance process and a voice in how our schools are run."
Unfortunately, if people want a "free ride", we will without question nor hesitation lose most, if not all, of these benefits.
Standing together and taking care of each other- this is what it means to be in a union. This is what the UFT represents. This is the standard that UNITY/UFT strives for in every battle that we wage.
Rest assured, even with a Janus loss, UNITY/UFT will live to fight another day.


text:
This is week 8 of this series. I will let you know a little more about me in a series of succinct easy to read and access posts. There are some things about me that I have heard regularly or wanted to say, but didn't have the guts to say. Now, I'm going to say all of that stuff. Hang on for the ride!
Week 2 - I am a writer
Week 3- I read for the words
Week 4- I believe in spirits
Week 5 - I love blogs
Week 6- I'm an introvert
Week 7- I'm a sports fan
Photo Credit: nortoncasey67
I have to admit that one major reason I never want to be an elementary school teacher is recess. I just don't understand how you keep track of all the kids while they are running all around. They could get hurt. Not to mention that you always hear stories of how mean other kids are at recess. If you have trouble monitoring what they are doing, how are you going to monitor what they say! Recess is a time for chaos and unruly children. I just can't handle that. However, there is a deeper reason that I don't like playgrounds.
It happened in 5th grade. That was a pretty big year for me. I moved to Northern Missouri at the beginning of 5th grade. We rented a pretty cool house and I have some very vivid memories of that house. After a few months there, we moved back to my hometown in Southern Illinois. I remember being bombarded with questions and people upon arrival. Being the new kid could have privileges unless you are introvert. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and have them ignore me. I'm sure I was awkward and probably rude. (Sorry about that to any of my 5th grade classmates.) The playground was the worst place for all the attention. Different people would have a question for me or telling me about a different boy that had a crush on me. Someone would come up and tell me about something someone else said about me. It was exhausting!
As I became less new, I settled into a few good friends and the playground settled down. Until one fall day, I don't remember anything special about the play time on the playground. What I vividly remember is when we went inside. For some reason, I got caught behind the rest of the class. A very tall boy from the lower level class stood in front of me and stared at me. I remember him standing in my way. I remember we were standing in the shadows. I don't remember him saying a word. I have no clue what his goal was. And I remember being afraid. It wasn't a dream or embarrassment. It was fear. In my memory of events, I do not remember who moved first. I don't remember if a teacher called us inside. I do know we went inside and I never really told anyone about it. No need to really because it wasn't a big deal. It was just a creepy event.
It did leave a lasting impression though, so playgrounds and I don't get along. Between chaos, rumors, and an unsettling event, I would rather just stay off of them entirely. Thankfully, middle school students don't play on the playground.
What do you think about playgrounds? Did you love them in elementary school or not?


text:
|George Karasov
This blog was original written and posted on the optioneerJM blog.
Excuse moi to readers who come to optioneerJM for business, leadership, sales or social media advice. You have been bombarded with clips from Polyvore, independently posted.
I apologize. It was another experiment or test. No apologies for the test certainly. I disclose that I am constantly trying out new avenues online to see what is what, what works, and how I may want to do things differently.
This is a "do differently".
Polyvore allows users to create fashion statements, creative ensemble within a specific user base: fashion enthusiasts, fashionistas and creative personalities. I hadn't been there for a while before yesterday. Because I haven't, I looked at the experience with fresh eyes, as if new.
Polyvore is a great environment for the fashion conscience, creative minds, fashionistas and the like. My meanderingsabout blog is my reflection on creative expression ... outside the "box" of what I write here.
Creativity is an integral part of who I am. I recognized the following I had and that they were not interested in the fashionista and beauty side of who I am: a woman in her 50s fighting aging by using a tasteful fashion, accessories, beauty regime. That's where I created Meanderings about a year ago.
Maybe the original idea was to have a blog where I could "rant". Then realizing that people just don't like to read about rants, in general. The only time I've seen them work is when a group amasses to express a similar disapproval. More often, I've noticed, they are directed at airlines. I would say telecommunication cellular providers would battle for first other days.
Then I began writing as if I was giving advice to my daughters on life, living, love and dating. They may not read it. My three daughters and stepdaughter aged 22, 23 and 25. A great representation of the Millennials.
Not all experiments are successful. Usually you can extrapolate what you have learned from the exercise and extrapolate "do differently" for down the road.
So Polyvore has the right idea: they allow enthusiasts to share their creations on Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. Sadly, missing is instaGRAM. Also, when you select posting for a Blog, the default is Tumblr, while allowing you to select "BLOG" for Google's Blogspot posts. It defaults to the blog you have associated with your email address, which in this case is optioneerJM. It doesn't allow me to distinguish it if you happen to have more than one blogspot.
I will continue to fiddle around and experiment. Thank you for your understanding. I apologize if it seemed misleading to draw my loyal readers here, thinking I may be writing about sales and instead be bombarded with these posts that seem commercial. You share the image you created on Polyvore, and then what Brands represent the products you have selected.
Polyvore has Polyvore Clippers, which I am liking, and just getting around to trying (for instance the image of Sally Field in character of Doris surrounded by scarves and cat eye glasses.
There are a lot of tools or sites that start out with one idea and its users evolve and experiment, bringing a wider ensemble of tools and ways to share. I'm never content to just create, post, share. I like to test to see how it can be used in building social media audiences or "content" as the big thing these days is.
Corporate brands and companies have gotten the message. They are adding "Blog" to their websites. However, the conundrum is how to keep the Blogs fresh, relevant, with regular posting. A way to drive viewers to the website, where the website is suppose to take over and keep the audience there longer, to click, go deeper into the site. Even better if an inquiry or lead generated or a sale.
I will keep exploring and doing experiments and reporting findings for others to benefit. Even if that means an annoying array of blog posts that seem to have little to nothing to do with the central theme.
IF, this happened to make you curious. I went to Polyvore to gather ideas for a Halloween costume -- obviously, I'm looking to be "Doris" from this great, whimsical, movie about an isolated woman in her 60s who steps out, after the passing of her mother whom Doris was caregiver to. The idea of how she takes on what is normally Tween or Teenage experiences about dating and socializing.
Doris is wonderfully portrayed by Oscar winner Sally Field, whom I hope gets an Oscar for this great role. You can't help but be entertained with her crush experience, being coached by a 13 year old friend's granddaughter.
Now, I will tidy up optioneerJM and move the creations over to meanderingsABOUT and delete the errant posts from here once they are where they belong. (CHECK ~ done)
I will continue to experiment and try new things. To report on findings that may help others with their social media experience, expand their social selling efforts, or share advice on business or leadership. It has been a fun ride, and after 200,000+ page views, I look forward to continue to learn and share those experiences with you.
You can join me on Polyvore and join in the fun! I've experimented with GROUPS, creating one for fashionista creatives who want to create ensembles that Doris would love:
This post has also been featured on "The Publisher" and "optioneerJM".
|LINK to The Publisher
That was my first climb out of depression. I am honestly telling everyone. Twice, in the past 6 months, I threatened suicide -- not to my family or friends -- to respond to the threat of bullying, commonly accepted culture where I found myself spiraling downward into.
If "Alice in Wonderland" fell into a hole with magical ramifications and whimsical delights, then I fell into the waiting room with next step: HELL!
If you stand out, stand up.


text:
The technology we use, and even rely on, in our everyday lives –computers, radios, video, cell phones – is enabled by signal processing. Learn More »
1. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
2. Signal Processing Digital Library*
3. Inside Signal Processing Newsletter
4. SPS Resource Center
5. Career advancement & recognition
6. Discounts on conferences and publications
7. Professional networking
8. Communities for students, young professionals, and women
9. Volunteer opportunities
10. Coming soon! PDH/CEU credits
Click here to learn more.
SPS has more than 170 Chapters and Student Branch Chapters worldwide and growing. Chapters give SPS members the valuable opportunity to engage with fellow signal processing engineers and professionals at locally-curated events. Chapters host technical talks, meetings, and social events to enable education, collaboration, and networking with fellow members and non-members alike. Use our Chapter locator tool below to find an SPS Chapter near you.
To find an SPS Chapter near you, please search by location using the highlighted box or search by region using the dropdown. Click on the map markers to find a chapter chair and their email.
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text:
This weekend I attended a Wholeheartedness retreat with speaker, author, teacher, & therapist Chuck DeGroat. On Friday night we began our time together with Chuck asking us to consider "scarcity" and also "wholeness." Yesterday we spent the day considering what wholeheartedness may look like, and asking the question that was ever on Jesus's lips:
"What do you want?"
We spent time discussing barriers to wholeheartedness and knowing we are known (a concept I and so many in my field—like Brene Brown, Curt Thompson, etc.—have been thinking about a great deal the last few years). Chuck invited us so beautifully into deeper consideration of the necessity of practicing 5 C's that may lead us to greater wholeheartedness: curiosity (toward our hearts and the hearts of others), compassion, connection, contemplation, and communion.
Throughout the weekend, I kept remembering that, as a staff member at a graduate school, I gave a talk on something like this to our counseling students at our fall retreat last year. Following the talk I gave, all 55 of us practiced silence & solitude for the next hour, drawing our thoughts toward who we are innately, simply because we are God's children, and drawing our thoughts away from the "performance game" (as Chuck called it yesterday) with which we busy ourselves, believing this is what makes us "beloved" and accepted. So...I thought it was appropriate to post this talk given the deeper consideration I was invited to give it this weekend. (On a side note: please forgive the strange formatting; I decided to post it exactly as I wrote and spoke it.)
If you feel moved by this concept and want to know more, please consider reading Chuck DeGroat's new book Wholeheartedness: Busyness, Exhaustion, and Healing the Divided Self. Also, as always, feel free to contact me by emailing me at firstname.lastname@example.com.
I would also invite you to practice silence & solitude after reading this, even if just for 15-30 minutes. There are a thousand excuses to not practice this, but I would invite you to consider that those excuses are worth ignoring. This is a healing practice that offers time to practice a very different way of being, a way that I have found healing and wholeheartedness-giving in my life.
So come join me, if you will.
We are afflicted with the disease of doing.
How many of you, when you look back over the last week of your life, spent more time in silence and stillness than you did sound and motion? Our culture demands it. The lives we've entered into have begun to demand it. Our coursework demands it. In fact, we're so busy that we usually don't even slow down enough to notice that we're so busy.
Busyness feeds on itself. We speed up, get things done, feel our accomplishments sink into our identity, and get stuck in a cycle where what we do gets confused for what we are. So we start the next thing. Our speed feeds our inner world, however toxic it may be. Speed and accomplishment become how we are known...or so we tell ourselves. We then express anger toward anyone that gets in our way of speed and accomplishment. Think of road rage: yelling at slow drivers when there's no way to pass, because we automatically forget that if we don't get to where we're going exactly when we need to, someone will actually NOT die! We then sometimes find ourselves in a place where this cycle becomes so ritualistic and "normal" that we fail to realize the kind of toxic power we have given performance.
Let me ask you this...
When was the last time you took your time doing something?
When was the last time you strolled somewhere, looking up at the trees, birds, clouds, and sky instead of looking down at the sidewalk with your eyes and inside your head with your mind?
We often don't pay much attention to the things around us––how leaves and acorns crunch under our feet as we walk, how it feels in our noses to breathe in cool air, and how sunshine feels on our skin.
Our minds and our schedules are cluttered with more things to think and do than we have time to think and do them. And yet, how often do we consider what will actually happen if we don't think or do them? Have you ever thought about that? Ever think about what will ACTUALLY happen if you don't read every word of the reading for one of your classes?...
NOISE and MOTION are the gasoline of our culture.
Fear of what?
Here are a couple of things we might fear...
Silence and stillness require us to pay attention to what lies UNDER the noise and motion of our lives.
I invite you to contemplate this: What might make it hard for you to see what's under the busy noise of your life?
I'd imagine some of the difficulty has to do with the scripts and stories about ourselves that start running through our heads--whatever those may be for each of us.
Maybe it's "I'm not enough."
or "Why didn't I get that opportunity?"
or perhaps "I'm obviously not as ________ as that person over there."
Or maybe it's even, "I am so exceptional...why doesn't anyone else see it?"
It's true that by their very nature, STILLNESS and SILENCE bring to the surface the things that we are usually far too uncomfortable to face, let alone accept.
That brings us to another possible fear...
What's it like for you to "pull out the chair from under your busy mind and busy life and watch them fall onto God," as one Christian writer, Richard Rohr, calls it? When we invite God into this conversation, this quickly reveals our own personal theology of surrender. It's pretty easy to talk about surrender and instruct our clients how important the practices of release, acceptance, and surrender can be. But we vote with our feet, don't we? Our actions--what we choose to practice ourselves--are the windows to our hearts. We can talk about surrender all day, but in what ways do we truly practice it?
I think we might value "understanding" (the actions of our minds) and "doing" (the actions of our bodies) as much as we do because they are a lot easier than surrendering our wills and our hearts to a process. And a heck of a lot easier than surrendering our loyalties. I have found, however, that the things we find "easier" to do tend to be a lot more costly over time.
What's another reason we may avoid silence & stillness?
I remember this one morning I spent with one of my mentors while I was a student in this program. I remember sharing with her my struggles of feeling like I was "falling short." She said, "Falling short of what, exactly?"
She was quite good at using the skills of silence, I assure you. Then after waiting a while, she said one sentence that I'll never forget:
"Remember, Heather: when it comes to the Kingdom of God, appearances are very deceiving."
She had recently pointed out to me Acts 19, which is a GREAT chapter to read when you believe that NOTHING you're trying to see through is actually happening...
But here's something to consider:
Whenever we are spending most of our energy CLIMBING the ladders of this world (the "success" ladders, the "achievement" ladders, performance-based things like this), we end up missing JESUS, because He is always going DOWN the ladders of this world. When we spend our efforts trying to make a NAME for ourselves in a performance-oriented world, we miss out on the names He--our loving Father--gives us.
When we practice silence and stillness,
we are forced to stop DOING being, and commit ourselves to STILLNESS being. We begin to pay closer attention to what and who we are, not what we do.
Still sound scary?
Let me encourage you with this: as you choose to practice this (which we're about to do) and you get past the burning fears, I believe that --just like Jesus when HE practiced silence, stillness, and contemplation-- you will begin to find that you have nothing to prove or protect about yourself in His presence, and that it costs so much less than performing.
Colossians 3 says that your life is now hidden with Christ in God. You've got nothing you have to prove or protect.
Here's what Paul says there...
Colossians 3:1-4 (the Message translation):
If you're serious about living this new resurrected life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things that this world is concerned with. Look up. Be alert to the things going on around Christ -- this is where the real action is. See things from his perspective.
Your old life is dead now. Your new life --- which is your real life, even though it may be invisible to spectators! --- is with Christ in God. HE is your life. When Christ, your real life, shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too -- the real you, the glorious you. In the meantime, however -- to get there -- you must be content with obscurity, like Christ was.
"Content with obscurity..."
Anybody feeling comfortable with that?
Who here is thinking,
That's what obscurity is: it's getting no attention for doing "the right thing."
And Colossians 3 asks us to be content with obscurity, like Christ was, knowing that your REAL life that you're being born into is invisible to spectators... He asks us to be OKAY with being invisible because Jesus appeared pretty invisible (maybe even irrelevant?) by the world's standards. But let me remind you: appearances are very deceiving.
You know what's obscure? Silence and stillness are obscure.
STOPPING -- stopping the sound and motion of our lives -- means the cessation of all the things in life that gets other people's attention. That gets YOUR attention. And yet in the STOPPING, in the STILLNESS and the SILENCE, this is a place where we are finally able to recognize more fully that we are hidden with Christ in God, that we don't have to spend any energy PROVING and PROTECTING ourselves --- BECAUSE HE SEES US --- AND HE ACCEPTS US. When we stop proving, protecting, and hiding we get the names and inheritance He gives us, which make us more precious than anything in existence.
This morning is about the practice of silent prayer, stillness, and contemplation. Being still in the presence of God, I think, can be like looking for your keys when they're already in your hand. We're so busy looking for God or His attention (maybe with our good deeds our striving AGAINST obscurity) that we don't realize: we already HAVE Him. OR...we're so busy looking for US (or who we think is US) that we miss the fact that who we are is already there...in our hand.
So go receive from God for the next hour. Fall into Him. Stop the motion and listen.
I heard that a visitor once asked Mother Teresa, "What do you do when you pray?"
She said, "I listen to God."
The visitor asked, "What does He say?"
Mother Teresa said, "He listens."


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The Original FDD Processes
There were a few key inputs in terms of the shape of the process templates.
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Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has stopped well short of agreeing to a continued freeze on building Israeli settlements in the West Bank, made comments that suggested that he might be willing to compromise on the issue.
Construction of settlements is a major sticking point between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which recently resumed direct peace talks for the first time since 2008.
"The Palestinians are demanding that after the 26th of September there will be zero growth in the West Bank, and that won't happen," Netanyahu said during a Sunday meeting with Middle East Quartet Representative Tony Blair, a diplomatic source briefed on the discussions told CNN. The Quartet consists of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.
"Israel will not be able to continue with the moratorium," Netanyahu said. "On one hand, we won't be building all the tens of thousands of housing units that are waiting in the pipeline, but on the other hand we won't be freezing the lives of the inhabitants of the West Bank when we won't freeze the building."
"I don't know if there will be a comprehensive freeze," Netanyahu said at a Sunday Cabinet meeting, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "But I also don't know if it is necessary to construct all of the 20,000 housing units waiting to be built. In any case, between zero and one there are a lot of possibilities."
Last year, Israel instituted a 10-month moratorium on building Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Netanyahu is under pressure from the Palestinians and the from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to extend the freeze, which is currently set to expire toward the end of September.
Netanyahu's conservative coalition government wants the prime minister to end the moratorium.
An Israeli settlement watch organization called Peace Now says groundwork construction already is complete on 2,000 Israeli housing units in the West Bank, on which building could resume as soon as the moratorium ends. Another 11,000 units have been approved for construction, according to the group.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahumet in Washington for direct talks earlier this month. The two pledged in front of the cameras to move the peace process forward, but privately were said to have gotten stuck on the question of whether the Israeli settlements should continue.
Abbas and Netanyahu are scheduled for a meeting Tuesday in Egypt, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace, are also expected to attend.
Netanyahu said that if all sides are serious in their efforts, it would be possible to arrive at a framework for lasting peace within the year.
"Just as we are asked to recognize the Palestinian national state ... we also demand and expect the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state, the State of Israel, as the national state of the Jewish People. This is the true foundation of peace," he said, according to Haaretz.
Palestinian negotiators have said they will walk away from peace talks if Israel resumes settlement construction in the West Bank.
"I'm not demanding as a pre-condition for talks the recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and I don't say that, if they don't do so, I will stand up and leave the negotiating table," Netanyahu said, according to the diplomatic source. "In the same fashion, it's not logical that the Palestinians are placing pre-conditions and threatening to leave the negotiating table. That is not the way to move forward seriously to a peace agreement."
CNN's Kevin Flower contributed to this report.


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otoMan friend, this time we will discuss about the test ride or take more precise ride firs. certainly not an attempt otoMan is because there is no bike in Indonesia.
I tried to summarize the various sources of automotive medai in India, for example from MotoBeam, Overdrive, Zigwheels and xBHP.
after I read some articles that exist in cyberspace, most of whom were talking about BAJAJ P200NS, appeared a few questions in my heart.
questions that seem similar to what's on your minds, that is "How the heck performadan headling the latest variant of the BAJAJ PULSAR?"
to answer this anxiety I'm trying to summarize it special for his otoMan. These results firs ride otoMan version:
I first summarized from zigwheels:
P200NS seat (higher 8cm) and tank design variants PULSAR comfortable than the old one ..
Nice gear shift from gear 3,4,5 at 9500 rpm ~ 10,000. and coupling P200 also can be said lightly.
Handling CBR 250 is awesome but P200NS also noteworthy.
The second of Motorbeam:
Lively and P200NS be quite as easy as it drove up P135
P200NS smooth and responsive engine, power and torque evenly in all the gear, even with the gear position 6 can be used for speeds of 30 kph to 140 kph ...!!?
Handlingnya nice but still below the KTM Duke 200 ...
P200NS good braking ...
the third from Overdrive:
P200NS very different from the previous Pulsar engine, especially in the sector a better gearbox without any problems.
Still slightly below the KTM Duke and enginenya performance.
Braking is good P200NS
Manufacturer's standard tires are harder, more tender and Yamaha R15 Bajaj seems to soft compound provides an optional choice ... of course the price will be different ... because the bike with a lightweight chassis and smooth power when using hard tires will be felt at the "hard" it ...
P200NS slowly around the corner when handling similar to the old pulsar.
More light and agile.
the latter that is of xBHP:
if the former variant was noisy PULSAR P200NS take more silent.
the gear shift could be better than the old version.
smooth gear shift, with no errors.
traction is very responsive.
how friend otoMan, was satisfied with the summary above, we wait for months if P200Ns will enter Indonesia? and we can directly test ride hahah (otoMan)


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One comment
Dan Hite , Pastor at Memphis First Bapti
The 140th reunion of the Pleasant Grove Association will be held at Camp Leeper October 22, 2017, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Camp Leeper is a camp for summer Christian activities t. The Pleasant Grove Association is celebrating their 140th anniversary as Pleasant Grove Association. It was 140 years ago that Pleasant Grove Association separated from the Wyaconda Association to become its own association. You are invited to come and visit, bring your stories and pictures too, and reminisce about times and events that have happened at Pleasant Grove Association events and/or Camp Leeper. And in return we will show and tell you history of the association. Please do come—
October 22, 2017, 4-6 pm.
At Camp Leeper
On Highway 136
west of Luray
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Thayer Traditions
Befitting a school founded in 1877, Thayer Academy has quite a number of cherished traditions and events - both expected (Commencement exercises, Homecoming, Reunion) and unexpected (pumpkin drop and Winter Wars). But behind these annually recurring events is a central theme that comes up time and again with Thayer: here you'll find a collaborative and affirming community, where students spur one another to achieve and accomplish their personal best. Following is a sampling of traditions that make Thayer unique and that students, faculty, families and alumni look forward to year after year:
- Camp Bournedale
- Senior Experience
- Convocation
- Monday Morning Meetings
- Homecoming
- Pumpkin Drop
- Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day (MS)
- Diversity Day (MS & US)
- Career Day
- Valicenti Cup
- Declamation Celebration (MS)
- Winter Wars
- Founders Day
- West Point Trip
- Spree Day
- St Coletta's Day (MS)
- Memorial Day Chapel
- Senior Projects
- End of Year
Camp Bournedale
Before the start of their freshman year, the entire class journeys to Plymouth's Camp Bournedale for a two-day retreat, where students get to know each other and start forming the bonds of friendship that often extend for a lifetime. Team-building challenges and problem-solving scenarios begin the process of teaching students how to communicate clearly, trust one another, and work as a group. Finally, time for reflection on the upcoming four years is set aside, culminating in a letter that is written and sealed until Senior Experience, three years later. It's an unforgettable bonding experience that students cherish and remember long after their four years in the Upper School have come and gone.
Senior Experience
Bookending the four year journey at the Academy, seniors get together for a day to bond before the start of their final year at Thayer. It is at this time that the letters written to themselves as freshmen at Camp Bournedale are opened and re-read, and students see how far they've come and how much has changed.
The opening annual rite of the new academic year, beginning with all Middle and Upper School students assembled on the main lawn in front of the Main Building's Tower to hear Headmaster Koskores's opening address, along with a speech by the Upper School Community Council President. Finally, after a singing of Thayer's alma mater, the school year is officially underway and classes begin!
Monday Morning Meetings
Almost every Monday during the school year, Upper School Students gather for Morning Meeting in the Hale Theater in the Center for the Arts. This time is an opportunity for learning via student or alumni presentations, community service and social issue awareness, previews of performances or plays; and times of fun and laughter (Halloween costume contests, faculty talent show). These meetings used to be called Chapel and have their origins from when the first two headmasters were Protestant ministers and held short daily religious services called Chapel. In the 1990s, Chapel came to be called Monday Morning Meeting and was held only once a week. At the end of each school year, Upper School students attend an awards ceremony that is still called Last Chapel.
Pumpkin Drop
What started out as a recreation of Galileo's 1589 hypothesis that two objects, one light and one heavy, when dropped from the top of a tower will fall at the same rate- has turned into a full-fledged fall tradition, as multiple pumpkins are dropped from the top of Thayer's iconic tower by students, with measurements recorded and observations made. (See sidebar for video.)
Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day (MS)
Diversity Day (MS & US)
Career Day
Every other year alumni and current parents take part in Career Day and share the stories of their careers. The visitors present to upperclassmen and answer questions on how they got where they are today and the ups and downs of their chosen profession. Thayer juniors and seniors get the inside scoop on careers in fields such as education, marketing, business, the performing arts, and government—among many others.
Valicenti Cup
Declamation Celebration (MS)
Winter Wars
Founders Day
West Point Trip
Spree Day
St Coletta's Day (MS)
Memorial Day Chapel
Senior Projects
The Senior Project provides seniors with an opportunity to design and take charge of a significant step in their own educational experience. Thayer challenges seniors to accept and responsibly utilize this freedom to explore their ideas in depth; or to identify a societal problem toward which they might make an individual and creative contribution; and to create a bridge between the classroom and the world outside, putting some of what they've learned at Thayer into more practical and active use. The month-long program gives students opportunities to investigate potential careers, to do research in a special area of interest, and perhaps most importantly, to render a service to the community.
End of Year
- Recognition Day (MS): An end-of-year event for Middle School students. Eighth grade students receive promotion certificates, and some students are recognized for academic accomplishments with special awards. Parents are invited.
- Last Chapel: A year-end ceremony to recognize Upper School students for outstanding achievements. Parents are invited.
- Last Hurrah!: The name given to the traditional class dinner held to celebrate the senior class before they graduate. Faculty and parents are invited to attend.
- Commencement: Graduation Day at Thayer Academy - typically held on the expansive green main lawn in front of Main Building. Students wear suits and white dresses and are celebrated for their accomplishments and given a final inspirational message from a distinguished member of the community (often an alumni of Thayer or a faculty member) before they go out into the world to rise to honorable achievement and contribute to the common good.
"My favorite Thayer tradition is definitely Winter Wars. Our class formed really close connections when we came together to beat the other classes. I got so fired up for it-- it's a blast." - Jessica Dyroff '16


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An official website of the European Union. See all European Institutions
The EU and the UAE have developed a diplomatic relationship centred on common political and regional interests. The EU opened a Delegation in Abu Dhabi in the second half of 2013 as a testimony to its commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation. The UAE also hosts the embassies of 25 EU countries. Relations with the EU previously existed under the 1988 EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Cooperation Agreement, a region to region relationship with the countries of the GCC.
The EU and the UAE have a joint interest in ensuring stability in the Middle Eastern region. The UAE has been increasingly active on the regional and global scene, proving to be a solid and reliable partner for the EU in several fields, including counter-terrorism, energy, environment, climate change, non-proliferation and economic dialogue.
EU-UAE cooperation on counter-terrorism has progressed considerably in recent years, particularly through an agreement to hold annual political counter-terrorism dialogue sessions. The UAE also hosts the Hedayah Countering Violent Extremism Centre in Abu Dhabi, of which the EU is one of the eight board members.
In addition, the UAE has been hosting a regional secretariat of the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear threats (CBRN) Centres of Excellence for risk mitigation since June 2014. This initiative is funded by the European Instrument for Stability and aims at developing, nationally and regionally, the institutional capacity needed to fight CBRN risks.
On maritime security, the EU has spearheaded international efforts in the Indian Ocean to contain and deter piracy and has shared interest in the Horn of Africa and in the safety of shipping lines which has led to closer EU-UAE cooperation.
Bilateral trade between the EU and the UAE is considerable and complementary, reaching a value of over €55 billion. The EU has a large trade surplus of almost €50 billion with the UAE. In 2015, the UAE was the EU's seventh-largest export destination. The European economy, for its part, was the UAE's single largest trading partner, representing 11.5 % of foreign trade.
Trade between the EU and the UAE exists under the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council, an important regional organization which, in addition to the Emirates, also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The GCC countries have formed their own customs union and are aiming to complete an internal market. The EU and GCC are cooperating on trade, investment, and other issues. The EU exports a diverse array of manufactured products to the GCC, while importing fuels, mining products, and chemicals. The GCC is the EU's fourth-largest export destination.


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