text:
I've planned this important moment already for a long time. What I had to do, had been etched in my head as a series of monochrome film images. Everything was engraved in black and white in my memory, in such a way that I almost could do it with my eyes closed.
This man had earned it a thousand times and even more. To take a human life, however, is a crucial decision. In this case, it must not, under any circumstances, be rushed. Without exaggerating, I can state that I've weighed up all the pros and cons very carefully during this last year.
To kill someone is technically not so difficult. You can opt for the easiest solution. To buy a gun nowadays is not an impossible task, even more so if obtaining a gun or a rifle illegally is quite more difficult. To follow the rules and ask for a firearms license makes the risk of being discovered after the crime a lot bigger. Once you have the means to retaliate, even a kid, figuratively speaking, of course, can pull the trigger.
A firearm is a rather a 'clean' way to get what you are striving for. You can, from a safe distance, without risking hurting yourself, end your victim's life. It goes without saying that you would better practice a bit on the shooting range. There are even clubs that will make you, possessing a bit of talent, a real marksman.
If you don't shy away the risk you can choose for the more personal approach. If you hate someone so bad and you come to the conclusion you grudge him or her the light in the eyes you can think about using a knife. Not a potato peeler or an inferior thing from a bazaar but a real hunting knife with a long blade. It has the advantage that you can carve the life out of somebody. One of the drawbacks is that sometimes it makes a bloody mess and eventual tracks are difficult to remove.
Female colleagues choose rather for the sneaky solution. Poison is the method used through the centuries and has often played an important role in political and religious power games. To strew some deadly powder or some drops from a good poison cocktail in someone's daily fruit juice makes it possible for the sensitive natures amongst us not to participate personally in the agony of the victim.
I've never would have thought I would have to make such a choice. But after being the subject year after year of bullying, insults, and inhuman treatment you either break or you decide to stand up and fight back.
I hear you saying it. Walk away from this man, choose another road, one on which you won't meet him again. It's oh so easy when you are on the side of that road. It's all so objective if you are only a bystander. Every day after day, week after week, for years you are pushed in a certain grid by circumstances. You can't choose a new road anymore because you have to take other persons into account. It' so important that you persevere in the impossible, at the expense of yourself, because after all you are responsible for other people. Your family counts on you. You can't and you won't give up till eventually it's too late. At that moment, you only can break or fight back.
I consider this man lately as the personification of evil. A devil, a demon arose from the deep caves of hell. A man without a trace of emphatic feeling, just thinking in terms of money and power. Power he carries out upon everybody who comes in his proximity. Slowly he breaks down the limits of your privacy and molds you according to his wishes and law. He simply ignores every social rule because there's only one truth and that is his. Day and night you have to be ready for him, to be his slave for a meager reward, because even that he won't grant you. He gets under your skin and is always present in your thoughts, like a worm that is becoming fat eating up your resistance, busy hollowing out your deepest human being.
Once I was feeling happy. A person like everybody who was given different talents. Skills that this monster has strangled one by one because they simply didn't fit in his picture. Eventually, all that is left is an empty shell without content that he can mold and transform in his way. Clones after his model that he can command and pull their strings, just like a puppeteer who makes his marionettes dance.
I've always had admired people who could work with bow and arrow. There's something ritual around it and it's one of the oldest weapons once used by our ancestors. Without a doubt, you can purchase some of the best and modern devices in a specialized store, but that would be too easy. There has to be an emotional bonding with such a ritual weapon. The satisfaction you get to choose the right wood to cut the proper stick. The material cannot be too elastic and still he has to possess the right amount of elasticity. There has to be enough tension on the cord because you want to drive your arrow as deep as possible in the target.
Indeed, there's, of course, the question about the arrow. After all, the arrow is the ultimate device, wherein you compress all your hatred and aversion. When this projectile loaded with all these embittered feelings is ready to be put on the string of the bow and when you send your glance full of fire along the feather and the shaft, when you spot your target, estimating the distance and the wind direction, then the moment has arrived for the irrevocable execution of your revenge.
I'm aligning and aiming and I feel a warmth growing from my chest towards my belly, flowing through my bowels. An almost sexual feeling is nestling in me when all comes together and everything adds up. My eye… my arrow… the target. The man who killed me, bit by bit. I'll never be the same anymore. I'll never live like I've once have. Still a few seconds left that our lives are connected in hatred and when he slowly turns around and looks at me, realizing what is happening, then…
At this moment, I'm very aware that if thought could kill, I already would be a murderer. I put myself down on my bed and satisfied I close my eyes. For a second, I still think about something, but then an accomplished smile sneaks on my face as a welcome friend.
© Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere


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- omlivingAsked on October 27, 2014 at 01:39 PM
I have worked with your team to integrate your voice recorded widget into a few of my forms. In the past we had widget stability issues and we worked out a plan that was supporting them to be stable.
I recently launched the use of these with my clients, and I am seeing again the voice recorder is not always working. I have it currently set as a required field (this was a part of what helped it be stable in the past), so now if it is not working a client cant fill out the form. I recently did some testing with it, and found that it worked sometimes on my Mac laptop and sometimes it did not.
I want to check in with you about this and see what can be done. Is there anything further I can do to stabilize this widget? If I cannot get it to stabilize I will need to pull this feature for the forms. My clients love being able to leave me a voice recording there but it is broken and not working - of course I will pull it...
I would greatly appreciate any insight help and support you can offer. :-)
Thank you,
- JotForm SupportMike_TAnswered on October 27, 2014 at 04:43 PM
I think that the Voice Recorder widget is based on flash, and it will not work properly on your Mac or PC if you do not have the Adobe Flash Player installed on the machine. Please make sure that you have the Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer and re-check the widget. If there are still any issues, please let us know, so we will be able to investigate it further.
Thank you.
- omlivingAnswered on October 27, 2014 at 04:51 PM##- Please type your reply above this line -##
Email received: Re: Is there a new way to stabilize the Voice Recorder Widget?
Dear Jotformforum 449876,
Thank you for contacting OM LIVING. We want you to know that your message has been received, and is being passed on to the right person who will support your needs.
We hope to provide you with heart-to-heart service promptly and efficiently. We thank you for your patience as we prepare to support you. In urgent situations, we ask you to please contact OM LIVING phone support at
1-877-337-7444, to ensure we are notified of your urgent situation right away.
If you have any additional information you would like to add to your last message, please respond to this email with your continued communication.
Thank you for being present with OM LIVING. We look forward to serving you.
This email is a service from OM LIVING Service Center.

subset: commoncrawl


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CoffeeCast is co-produced by Pia Piscitelli and Jessica Percifield Henry. This month's CoffeeCast took on the topic of "Coffee Shaming" in specialty coffee. We sat down with Savannah Britton of Cafe Virtuoso and Sam Nawrocki of Manzanita Coffee Roasting to talk about coffee shaming and what specialty coffee shops can do to avoid the negative feedback loop that often results in turning consumers off to craft coffee instead of engaging them.
Have you ever been coffee shamed? We'd love to hear your stories! Please share in the comments below. We may revisit this topic again in the future, so we want to hear from you!
Do you have a topic you would like to see covered by the CoffeeCast Show? Please let us know at email@example.com. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter via @CoffeeCastShow.
Until next time, happy coffeeing friends!


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This has been a huge year for food recovery. John Oliver made us laugh; the USDA and EPA set goals for our nation; Jenny Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin told us to "Just Eat It"; and FRN reached 1 million pounds of recovered food. We think it's the perfect time for our FRNds to head to Capitol Hill for the first time ever to advocate for food recovery policy on a national scale, so we are doing just that on April 4th!
We have more than 50 amazing FRN chapter leaders confirmed to attend Lobby Day and more than 10 (and counting) Congressional offices for them to meet with. During our meetings, FRN student leaders, national staff, and dining representatives will urge legislators to support Rep. Chellie Pingree's Food Recovery Act, vote for Rep. Jerry McNerney's Food Waste Accountability Act, and think deeply about creating new legislation that makes food recovery easier and more enticing. FRN chapter leaders are proving that food recovery is safe and effective across the country each day, and now they're bringing their experience and energy to Washington.
If you haven't had a chance to sign up yet, you still can! Registration for both the NFRD and Lobby Day closes March 16th. If you can't attend Lobby Day this year, remember that you can always engage your elected officials about the causes you're invested in. Join us in tweeting at your elected officials on April 4th, and stay tuned to our social media for information about writing senators and representatives as Lobby Day approaches.
We can't wait to have our #FRNdsOnTheHill for #FRNLobbyDay2016!
Excited as we are about Lobby Day? Have questions? Please email our Lobby Day team at email@example.com for more information.


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More Games
Monsters vs Griffins
50/50 Raffle Amount:$1,105
50/50 Winning #:17758200001
Pregame Info:
Sun, Nov 4
5:00 pm EST
Doors Open Time:Doors Open an Hour And a Half (90 minutes) Prior to Puck Drop
Quicken Loans Arena
Monsters Family Day and Blue Jackets Night
Welcome to Monsters Family Days!
- Bring the kids and receive access to a Post Game Skate Presented by Hudec Dental, Select Player Autograph Session and a Castaway Bay day pass.
- You can also feed the family for $6 with one Sugardale hotdog, chips and a drink.
- The Monsters pay tribute to our NHL affiliate, the Columbus Blue Jackets, with themed jerseys and game elements.
In conjunction with the Movember Foundation, the month of November is dedicated to men's physical and mental health awareness.
Join us in changing the face of men's health – one mustache at a time. Visit www.movember.com for more information.


text: Well I had to admit defeat with my web services problem. I tried a few more things this morning which occcurred to me overnight but no luck. So instead I am going to do the work in a JBoss application. What's especially galling is that it took a grand total of ten minutes to build and deploy a test client for the web services using MyEclipse and JBoss. It's pretty much unforgivable that Domino can't do this stuff out of the box. I am guessing it will work in ND8 but unfortunately that's just too late for me.


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Harris blames LOCOG, the organising committee behind the Olympics, for under-paying musicians and, in some cases, asking them to pay for the privilege of performing for free.
"Quite apart from the many artistes who have been asked to perform for free, there is a letter of engagement which has been put into wide circulation showing that the Olympics are offering £50 per act per hour for performances at the Dorney Lake (rowing) venue," Harris wrote on the MusicTank blog today. "I had better write that out in full in case you think there is a typing error. That is, fifty pounds per act per hour. So a five-piece band would get £10 each for a one-hour performance."
He added: "That is without allowing for the time that it takes to travel to the venue set up and pack away equipment. If you allow two hours for travel and set-up, and packing away, which is probably the bare minimum that will be required, given all the security issues with instruments and the difficulties of transport during the Olympics, that means that the musicians would get just over £3 an hour. This is well below the minimum wage – even the notorious G4S are paying their temporary security guards £8.50 an hour – remembering of course that out of that paltry wage, performers will meet their own associated costs – travel, insurance, tax, and presumably Olympic venue prices for food and drink."
Harris joins the likes of PPL chairman Fran Nevrkla and the Musicians' Union, who have both called for musicians to boycott the Games by refusing to play for free.
Daniel Gumble


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1893 Ginger Cola/
So last week I tried Pepsi's semi-new beverage, 1893. It was good, in fact it was very good. Today I try the Ginger Cola variety of 1893 and something tells me I'll like it just as much if not more.
Here are a few notes that Pepsi felt needed to be on the side of the can. 1893 is "Boldly blended cola made with: Kola nut extract, Real ginger, Sparkling water, and Real sugar". If you read the 1893 review (please do as I'm self absorbed with people liking my work) then you'll notice that can's list is quite similar. Pepsi has a look and style they're going for here and their consistency is easily spotted.
As far as aroma is concerned this has the same muted cola scent as 1893, but with a touch of ginger on the back end. My only worry is that the cola will be overshadowed by the newly added ginger spice. Not unlike when I first saw a picture of the Spice Girls and my eyes found themselves on Geri Halliwell. Personally, I'm more of a Scary Spice guy now, but back to the review.
Ok, so my fear is somewhat founded. This is listed as a "Ginger Cola" and the order of these ingredients corresponds directly with how it's flavored. Interestingly enough the initial feeling you get is the burn from the ginger. Up until this point It's been my experience that this burn usually turns up at the end of a sip as opposed to the start. For whatever reason 1893 Ginger Cola has this reversed, so it creates a rather unique start to my soda drinking experience.
Behind this ginger burn is the promised cola taste. It's readily available, but not as strong as I'd like it to be. I'd say it's comparable to when a kid under the age of 5 says they're going to help you with a task. Sure they're helping clean up, but ultimately you're going to end up doing most of the work yourself. Personally I think it takes away from what could have been a fantastic drink.
That's not saying 1893 Ginger Cola is without merits. This is a mainstream beverage with a kick of ginger. A lot of people haven't had a soda like this and it makes me happy that some eyes will be opened because of it. Hopefully this starts folks on a more enlightened soda path in life. If that wasn't a "full of itself" sentence I don't know what was.
Verdict - Buy a Bottle
This was purchased at a HEB Grocery Store


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Newsletter: From Evidence to Action
Psychosocial aspects of ECD - exploring the theoretical foundation
On 27 November PAN Children will host the second in the series where Katharine Frost from Ububele will present on the theoretical underpinnings of the approach taken to further build up our understanding of these projects which focus on infant bonding and attachment. ECD policy is progressive but there remains a gap between policy and intervention. The centrality of relationships is acknowledged but needs to be translated into practice. Carol Bews will practically demonstrate the beneficial effect of the Granny programme on babies.This will precede the third in the series, where the outcome of an evaluation will be presented and which is scheduled for early 2018.


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Pearls are extremely chic and while they are currently re-trending in a very big way, they never really went out of style. The pearl comeback has made an about face and is leaning towards modern and sexy as opposed to conservative and traditional.
Before they were given their title as the most classic gem, pearls were frivolous and exciting worn flamboyantly by flappers and at parties during the 1920s era. Prior to that pearls were only worn by the rich for status and even more previously they were only allowed to be worn by royalty, as they were rare and expensive due to the cultured pearls process not having been invented until the 1900s.
The pearls that many women today wear often and take for granted due to availability and affordable prices, was once costly and rare. At the peak of the Roman Empire, when pearl fervor reached its climax, the Roman general Vitellius sponsored an entire military campaign by selling just one of his mother's pearl earrings
Pearls have always been a chic accessory for the ages and will remain current and chic for upcoming ages with more recent styles like black pearl necklaces, Akoya pearl necklaces and Freshwater pearl necklaces. Pearls are not known as the Queen of Gems for no reason. Here are some ways these up to date styles can be worn.
Some ways pearls have been used as a chic accessory, throughout the ages and adapting to all eras and fashion modes, can be seen below.
Bodice Ornament, Spain 1670
Cross Pendant, Germany 1500-40
Pearl Earrings, Roman Empire (Egypt), AD 100-200
Latest posts by tpsblogadmin (see all)
- 7-8mm White Freshwater Pearl Necklace - July 11, 2017
- 8mm Tahitian South Sea Pearl Stud Earrings- Various Colors - July 11, 2017
- 7-8mm White Freshwater Pearl Necklace – AAAA Quality - July 11, 2017


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|Noelie in his kid cart
|Just the seat, at the playground
Our oldest son has a rare genetic disorder called X Linked Hydrocephalus. This is our journey though life with that very special boy that will, hopefully, inspire and educate others. I want to share the ups and downs, trials and triumphs, all while letting others know that they are not alone.
|Noelie in his kid cart
|Just the seat, at the playground
Hi Tracey-
There was an adaptive swing but the straps kept repeatedly getting stolen after school hours. The straps were extremely expensive and it became very costly to keep replacing them so unfortunately we had to take it down and it was given to the family. We do have adaptive equipment for our special needs students that we take outside during recess time with trained staff. Also, the EC teacher and I are working together to hopefully get some permanent adaptive playground equipment this spring. However, it will have to be placed in the courtyard as it is very expensive (and we do not want to chance these opportunities for our students to be vandalized again) and also some pieces require training before use. I know that doesn't help you now but I did want you to know that the students with special needs at Spencer do have many opportunities. I hope this helps! Suzanne
Who would steal the straps! That is crazy! It is good to know that they have somethings and are working to get more. Thank you for sharing.Delete


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19/4, Rue des Chartreux- 1000 Bruxelles
Phone: + 32 2 627 88 10
Fax: + 32 2 627 88 19
Email: nationale.raad(at)cnoa-nroa(dot)be / conseil.national(at)cnoa-nroa(dot)be
Website: www.ordredesarchitectes.be
Rue Ernest Allard, 21 - 1000 Bruxelles
Phone: + 32 2 512 34 52
Fax: + 32 2 502 82 04
Email: info(at)fab-arch(dot)be
Website: www.fab-arch.be
|Protection of the title of architect
|Protection of the function of architects
|Professional title
|Architect or Architect-engineer
|Mandatory Registration
|If yes, Where ?
|Conseil National de l'Ordre des Architectes (CNOA)
Show the legend
• Baccalaureate 3 years + Masters 2 years
• Final examination of the academic training giving access to the diploma
• 2 Years Professional training (compulsory) - Possibility of extension (additional 6 months or 1 year if necessary)
|Additional compulsory practical training- internship
|2 Years (can be extended 6 months or 1 year). To be started within the 5 years following the qualification.
|Requirement for undertaking a period of traineeship
|Final Diploma or Foreign Diploma
|Period of traineeship supervised (overseen)
• The PPE mentor must be registered with the Order for more than 10 years.
• The aspiring architect must often carries out his/her PPE under the status of independent
• No examination, but a follow-up conducted by a PPE committee belonging to the Council of the Order
|By who
|Conseil National de l'Ordre des Architectes (CNOA)
|Practical training period
|24 months (minimum + 6 months or 1 year if necessary) with period of 6 months minimum
|Architect's office
Public administration
Other actors (companies, manufacturers, contractors) - Possible 6 months maximum
|To which conditions
|Minimum 10 years experience for the employers - mentor
Maximum 2 trainees per mentor
Employers - mentors need to be registered
|Number of hours per month required
|120 hours per month
|Compulsory Professional examination
|Complementary professional education
|Remuneration of the Traineeship
|Yes (12-15 €/hour gross)
|Trainee accompanied
|Yes by a steward from the Order
|Specific supplementary courses organised
|Model form of contract available
|Traineeship and practical experience undertaken abroad taken into account experience
|Evaluation of the Traineeship
|Yes, every 6-9 months
|Evaluation method used
|- Document provided by employers
- Presentation of a portofolio (possible)
- Submission of certification that experience has been gained (possible)
- No examination
Additional notes:
- On the francophone side, each of the Superior Institutes of Architecture (ISA) have joined since September 2010 a university within a new department (faculty) of architecture. The Architect-engineers, for their part, belong (like other engineers) to faculties of Applied Sciences (except at the UCL where they have joined the new department of Architecture).
- On the Flemish side, the Institutes of Architecture were integrated in the (multidisciplinary) "grandes écoles", while Architect-engineers are trained by three universities.
- Civil engineers working in construction can also practise as architects if they have carried out their professional internship of two years (but they are not recognized at European level).
- In some local Councils (level of Belgian "province"), specialised internships (for example in a company) or certain training courses can sometimes be taken into account as part of the work experience (6 months maximum). The internship must be monitored by an internship mentor that complies with the legal requirements.
- It must be pointed out that from the beginning of his/her traineeship, the trainee can already take some personal project in charge.
10 years (counted from acceptance) + non-contractual liability of 20 years.
A civil liability insurance is compulsory (imposed by the law and the Code of Conduct)
|Does a system of CPD for architects exists in your country ?
|No but it is expect for soon
|If yes:
- Is it compulsory ?
- Is it encouraged ?
- Is it free ?
|It is encouraged and will be compulsory soon. Some CPD course are free
|If it is compulsory,
is it required by law,
or by a Code of Conduct ?
|It will be required (soon) by the Code of Conduct
|If it is regulated, who regulates the system:
a professional body,
a governmental body,
a combination of the two ?
|The regulation will be taken in charge by the two sides (Fr and NL) of the order
|Is it organised ?
|Regional scale (FR and NL)
|Who provides the courses:
|Professional / Architects' bodies, Schools of architecture, Other institutions or firms, etc.
|What level of training is provided:
|General awareness (keeping up to date),
Regulations and legislation,
Detailed knowledge,
Local issues, etc.
|Are certain subjects mandatory ?
|What types of activities or provisions are accepted :
|Recognised courses,
Other courses,
Excursions or visits, etc.
|Do you have any evaluation criteria for the CPD material ?
|Who recognize (accredits) these trainings :
|Actually nobody but it will be recognised soon by the two sides of the Order
|Development of the trainings :
A. Estimated number of courses / year
B. Estimated number of participants / y
C. Estimated lesson hours / year
|Level of requirements for the architects :
|16 hours / year
|Is this required level validated or checked and how:
A. Not requested,
B. Self-assessment of value,
C. Attendance tracking,
D. Self-assessment using self-test,
E. By regular checks,
F. Examination,
G. Thesis,
H. Others means (e.g. electronic monitoring) ?
|Is training (provision) delivered abroad accepted ?
|What kind of sanction is applied for the non-compliance with CPD obligation:
A. none,
B. Reprimand,
C. Expulsion from the register,
D. Other ?
|Do you have a database of the content of your CPD Programme ?


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I have always been nonplussed by the subject I teach, Art. I have to to cover content which is not based on hard evidence at all. I may be rewarded by the gusto with which students work at tasks I set them, but in the background lures a monstrous question: "What actually is this about?" I fear the student who comes up with it, and as a teacher I would cut a poor figure if I didn't answer. So I do answer. Most of it is bluff. What I can't have in my class room is the gratuitous notion "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I mark their works of art, so at least I must be able to tell them the fundamentals of Art, to the best of my knowledge and experience.
1 Universal beauty
|The American crocodil is a beautiful animal
with special aesthetic preferences
So it is not a special feature of mankind, I believe that the amoeba which moves toward light actually enjoys it. What we call beauty is the perception of an environment which is better suited for survival. There is no reason to limit such joy to the human species. The experience of beauty is in the nose of the crocodile which smells a rotting corpse. Surely it runs for it.
Our species has preferences of its own, and these can be augmented and studied. Making art is a way to do so. It makes you susceptible for for the way nature hard-wired you. That's why you like to make art. This cannot be evaluated with a mark. I should not give you a bad mark for your painting when you happen to be colour-blind, should I? Nor do you deserve a good mark when you just follow an instinct, do you?
To some extent this universal beauty of the species homo sapiens can be laid out in prescriptions or rules. These tendencies of our sensory system have been studied by psychologists and art historians. For example, we like contrasts in form, so a sure way to draw attention to your work is exaggerating these contrasts. If you draw a lady, giving her large boobs will work. I would like to mark that, but unfortunately simply executing prescriptions won't work as some of these rules are remarkably contradictory. For example: symmetry is supposed to be beautiful, then why is it so often boring?
By the way, there may have been a time, when our ancestors walked in the savannah, that they liked the smell of rotting flesh as well. Those predecessors of ours were scavengers.
2 Cultural beauty
|Paul McCarthy transforms dog's poo into a work of art
Culture is a massive development in evolution. We are not the only ones, a tribe of chimps teach each other how to use stones to crack hard nuts that grow in their forest, other chimps can't do it, wild dogs teach their youngsters hunting techniques which may differ per family, and old female elephants teach their daughters where to find water in their particular environment. But we are the champions of learning and teaching.
So that's what I do for a living. I teach you the art of our culture, Western Art, which is based in Europe and has grown into a global thing. I am not versed in traditional African art at all, that is a wholly different kettle of fish. You need a lot of knowledge of magic and sorcery to understand traditional African art. I am good at Western Art, and you are to learn about it. I can mark your attainment in culture.
To make it even more complicated: Western Art shows some strands that are quite incompatible with Universal Beauty. Sometimes I must teach you to appreciate ugly things! It takes a lot of knowledge about how ugly things came about to be beautiful to understand this strange phenomenon. That body of knowledge is called Art History. It is an amazing story.


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The International Festival of New Film / Split Film Festival is the oldest international film / media manifestation of the Republic of Croatia. Ever since it was instituted in Split in 1996, the Festival promotes new, creative, personal, experimental, radical and subversive works, of all lengths, styles and genres, generally produced outside the mainstream, all the while keeping its primary focus on excellence and outstanding achievements.
22st edition of Split Film Festival / International Festival of New Film will take place from 09. – 16. of September.


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In May, Lotus Cup USA visited Monterey, California, and the iconic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca is several tracks in one. It is tight and technical in many places. Yet the steep hill climbs after Turns 5, 6 and 11 reward big power and torque. Agonizing patience is required in some corners, bravery and a quick flick of the wrists in others. And then there's "The Corkscrew" – perhaps the most famous corner on any road course in the Western Hemisphere. The drop from the top of The Corkscrew through Turns 9, 10 and 11 is breathtaking in its intensity.
For 2016, Lotus Cup enjoyed an increasingly rare "no sound limit" weekend at Laguna Seca. This was very much appreciated by the drivers and their teams, as the usual 92-dba limit requires the installation of customized, power-sapping mufflers (some of which take on the look of quite elaborate modern sculptures).
The weather is usually cool and pleasant. The track surface tends to be less adhesive (and less abrasive) than at other venues, a problem that was compounded by the unusually damp conditions. Most drivers complained of a lack of grip; lap times were generally slower than the previous two years. On the other hand, the drivers did enjoy the cooler temperatures, and the forced-induction engines enjoyed the moist, dense air.
By contrast, the race for championship points was really beginning to heat up. On Saturday, Nicolai Elghanayan led comfortably from flag to flag. But the action behind him was contentious and exciting. Greg Nitzkowski, starting third, jumped in front of Michael Reynolds (who started second), and grabbed the inside line into Turn 2. Reynolds, followed closely by Allen Russak, chased down the defending champ and hounded him the entire race.
The drama climaxed at the last corner of the last lap, as the trio were encountering slower traffic. Nitzkowski took the defensive line into Turn 11, behind one of the Production Class Elise racecars. Reynolds took the outside line into Turn 11, behind a Cup Class car that was battling with the aforementioned Elise. Reynolds explained: "I was counting on the Cup Class car to out-accelerate the Elise, so I could box Greg [Nitzkowski] in and cruise through to the checkered flag behind the quicker Cup Car."
Alas, we will never know if the tactic would have worked. Nitzkowski's throttle stuck in the closed position as he exited Turn 11 and he didn't make it to the finish line. "This just ripped my heart out, for the second year in a row!" exclaimed Nitzkowski. He was referring back to his last lap, Turn 11 spin the previous year that doubtlessly cost him a win (that too, was not his fault, as he was "helped" into the spin by another driver's last-ditch dive-bomb pass). Reynolds thus finished second in the VSA Evora GT4. Russak completed the Trophy-Class podium in the VSA Exige V6 Cup R. He finished on Reynolds' heels – quite an accomplishment considering he had never driven the difficult track before. Russak also took home the Sage Motorsports Exige V6 Cup R trophy, which is awarded each race to the highest-place finisher in an Exige V6 Cup R.
Robb Bonanno took top honors in SuperSport. He drove a strong race and finished close behind the Trophy Class cars. "That was fun, putting some pressure on the Trophy guys!" Clearly, Bonanno has climbed the learning curve of his Espresso & Exotics Evora GTN. Tom MacMillan nursed his wounded VSA Evora GTN to a second place finish. The car had sustained serious front-end damage the previous day in practice, and MacMillan wisely chose to play it safe for the rest of the weekend.
The Cup Class action was thrilling. Unfortunately, Jeff Raggio and Brandon Sloan made contact at the start of the race; both men were finished early. Mike Bryant qualified on pole, but was passed at the start by Spielberg. Both Bryant and Spielberg eventually succumbed to Zahursky, who was charging up from the back of the grid. Zahursky would take the lead and finish in first place, with Spielberg second and Bryant third. Jeff Elghanayan stayed out of trouble, made two key passes, and finished fourth.
Unfortunately, initial lap contact prevented Sloan from joining the Production Class battle with Ross Jaffe and Mike Dean. Jaffe put the SP Motorsports Elise on pole, with Dean just 0.212 seconds behind. Both men got a clean start but Jaffe had the inside line into Turn 2 and used that to stay in the lead. Dean narrowly avoided contact with Spielberg and Bryant. Meanwhile, Jaffe built up a big lead. "I saw Ross way up there and I knew I had a lot of work to do", said Dean.
Jaffe helped out on Lap 9 by over-cooking the exit of Turn 10 and getting loose in the sand on the left side of the track. From there, it was game on. Dean edged up closer and closer until Lap 10, when he made a terrific launch out of Turn 6 and ran side-by-side with Jaffe towards The Corkscrew. Jaffe kept Dean pinned to the left side of the track – practically daring him to try what Jaffe later called "a sucker's pass". Dean later admitted he chickened out – and lucky for him, as nobody knows Laguna Seca better than Jaffe. The wily veteran explained "people tend to try to brake late on the inside of 7 and over-cook the entry, often locking up and ending up in the gravel across the track…[my] plan [was] to take you deep into the brake zone [for The Corkscrew] and cut under you when you went off."
The battle didn't end there, however. Twice more, Dean would parlay a better launch out of Turn 6 into a neck-and-neck run with Jaffe into the braking zone for The Corkscrew. But each time, Jaffe held Dean to the left side of the track, forcing Dean to back out and let Jaffe go.
Dean also used a strong launch out of Turn 10 to pull alongside Jaffe heading into Turn 11. But this time, it was Dean who had the better line – the outside line – which he used to carry more speed around Turn 11 and pull ahead of Jaffe down the front straight. Dean would maintain the lead for all of fourteen seconds: Jaffe out-braked him and reclaimed the lead for good heading into Turn 2.
David Anderson drove a strong, consistent pace and stayed out of trouble to take the final podium spot in the Dietsch Motorsports Production Class Elise. Dietsch Motorsports team principal Rob Dietsch donned his driving suit and crash helmet for the first time this season, and drove gamely to finish fourth in class.
Nicolai set the fastest lap of the race in Trophy Class, at 1:34.276. Bonanno set the fastest lap in SuperSport with a 1:36.942. Fastest lap honors in Cup Class went to Mike Bryant at 1:40.644. Fastest lap in Production was claimed by Mike Dean with a 1:40.401.
Sunday's race looked very different from Saturday's. The leaders spread out at the front. Once again, Nicolai sprinted away and led flag to flag, caning the Muellerized Exige V6 to take fastest lap honors along the way, a scorching 1:33.591. Nitzkowski qualified second. He pressured Elghanayan for the first half of the race but later fell back, still finishing second and comfortably ahead of third-place Reynolds. For his part, Reynolds put a sizable gap between himself and Russak, who took fourth and once again captured the Sage Trophy.
In SuperSport, Bonanno grabbed the top spot on the podium, after driving at a torrid pace that once again saw him nipping at the heels of the Trophy Class. MacMillan drove conservatively in his injured car and came home second.
Zahursky once again took top honors in the Cup Class, using his DRS Exige Cup Car to post a fastest lap of 1:39.022. The race was no sure thing, however, as a spin in Turn 6 cost him two positions. But he recovered and managed to get past Bryant and Raggio to take the checkered flag. For his part, Bryant drove his VSA Exige Cup Car to a solid second-place finish, battling with Zahursky and Raggio along the way. Raggio also drove well, improving his pace and using a clean, quick and mistake-free style to bring home the bronze medal. Jeff Elghanayan finished fourth after a spirited battle with David Anderson. Spielberg suffered mechanical troubles and retired early.
The Production Class, scene of some of the fiercest battles this season, was uncharacteristically quiet. Jaffe was forced to use the SP Motorsports back-up car, and never really got comfortable with it. Mike Dean won from pole, followed by Brandon Sloan, who battled Jaffe early in the race but eventually came free to post the fastest lap of the race (1:42.032). Jaffe finished third. Rob Dietsch passed David Anderson early in the race and held on for a fourth place finish. David Anderson came home in fifth.
Heading into Round Four (Thunderhill), the championship standings are tight. Nicolai Elghanayan leads in Trophy, but Reynolds, Russak and Nitzkowski are within striking distance. SuperSport is heating up too, with two former champions (MacMillan and Bonanno) wrestling with defending champ Gibson for the 2016 title. In Cup, Bryant holds a razor-thin, six-point margin over Spielberg, followed by Jeff Elghanayan, Jeff Raggio and Dustin Zahursky. In Production, Jaffe and Dean are tied at the front, with Sloan very close behind. Will the standings get even tighter after Round Four? Or will somebody open up a sizeable lead? Watch this space to find out.


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Here's a happy manicure I did to honor the migratory birds, that are forming huge flocks, already preparing for their trip to south. They gather around their friends and family, feed as much as they can, and seem to plan their journey in an enthusiastic manner. How does that sound familiar to an academic seasonal worker? :D
(as you might know, I'm a sucker to everything NYC-related. So I had to buy the whole New York themed collection from this brand, although I don't especially like the brand, the polishes are a nightmare to store plus the bottlecaps don't align...)
Pinky and index figers have two coats of Color Club Wild Orchid.


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War Eagle Extra
Nick Marshall's fine paid, marijuana citation case closed
AUBURN, Ala. — Nick Marshall's marijuana citation case is now closed.
Reynolds (Ga.) police chief Lonnie Holder confirmed Thursday morning that Marshall's mother, Shalana Cliett, paid the fines stemming from the two citations Auburn's quarterback received after being stopped on July 11. In sum, the fines totaled $1,100 — $1,000 for marijuana possession less than an ounce and $100 for illegal tint.
The Montgomery Advertiser first reported the news late Wednesday night.
Had the fines not been paid, Marshall was set to appear in court at 10 a.m. on Sept. 10.
In a separate incident, Holder also confirmed that Christopher Rachalla, one of the officers who stopped Marshall on July 11, had been arrested Tuesday night and charged with two counts of simple battery, second degree criminal damage, terroristic threats, criminal trespassing and violation of oath of office. News of his arrest was first reported by WRBL.
Following the incident, Rachalla was fired from the Reynolds police department.
And while Marshall's case may have been wrapped up off the field, his status for the season opener versus Arkansas on Aug. 30 is still up in the air. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn has not announced what his punishment will be for the senior signal-caller, but said Monday that a decision will be made "in a short period of time."
"He understands he made a mistake," Malzahn said during an appearance on ESPN's Numbers Never Lie on Monday. "He has been remorseful. Up until that point, he had been a model student, citizen, all of the above. But he made a mistake."
Auburn is set to open fall camp Aug. 1.


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Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen have announced they are taking over the country and dissolving parliament.
Reuters reports that a new assembly will elect a five-member interim presidential council to manage the country's affairs.
The Houthis have received forms of assistance from Iran, turning Yemen into another possible battleground between Tehran and the Middle East's Sunni states.
Yemen is just one of several Middle Eastern countries in which groups either allied with or directed by Iran are the strongest political and military actor.
Yemen has been in political limbo for the past month after President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the government of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah resigned after the Houthis seized the presidential palace and confined the head of state to his residence in a struggle to tighten control.
"This is a coup. There is no other word to describe what is happening but a coup," Saleh al-Jamalani, a Yemeni army colonel, told the Associated Press after rebels attacked the presidential palace. He added that the rebels most likely had the assistance from elements inside the deposed government.
Yemen, which shares its northern border with Saudi Arabia and is home to nearly 25 million people, was one of four countries to replace its leader during the Arab Spring uprisings, along with Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia. Now it threatens to become another one of the region's violent political and military vacuums — with the added complication of Yemen also being home to Al Qaeda's most capable foreign affiliate.
The Houthis are a community of Shi'ite Muslim tribes from Yemen's desert periphery. A Houthi insurgency has been ongoing for most of the past decade, and it was sparked in the early 2000s by the largely Sunni central government's encroachment on traditional Houthi governance and traditional authority, along with the group's traditional marginalization within Yemen's politics.
Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Qods Force, the foreign arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, is directing sectarian militias in both Iraq and Syria. At the same time, Suleimani is nurturing the guerilla proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. In other words, Iran is controlling powerful Shia proxies all across the Middle East.
"Suleimani is the leader of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen," Ali Khedery, who served as a special assistant to five US ambassadors and a senior adviser to three heads of US Central Command between 2003 and 2009, told The New York Times in December. "Iraq is not sovereign. It is led by Suleimani, and his boss," referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While the Houthis are not as direct an extension of Iranian policy as Hezbollah and adhere to a different strain of Shia Islam than the regime in Tehran, Friday's development still means that an Iran-backed group has succeeded in replacing Yemen's Western-backed transitional government. And it means Tehran is an even more powerful player in a populous, largely ungoverned country that borders oil-rich Saudi Arabia and sits on a major global oil choke point at the mouth of the Red Sea.


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Monday, June 20, 2011
Your Sacred Body
Wow... my body is sacred and I am treating it like crap. I haven't been eating well and I haven't been moving it as it was meant to move. I have actually gained about 20 pounds over the last six months. It isn't about wanting to be on a diet or a special exercise regimine just treating it as the sacred body that it is.
Our bodies are not something that most of us were brought up as thinking it was something sacred. I was brought up as a baptist and pretty much everything to do with the body was a sin. I have been reading The Body Sacred by Dianne Sylvan that has me thinking about all of this.
Dianne Sylvan says, "I call for women to stand up and reaffirm their Goddess-given beauty no matter how short, fat, old, or imperfect we think we are. Each of us is touched and blessed by the Divine, no matter what we look like. Our task is to remember this and to live it. For most of us, it is the hardest and most rewarding magic we will ever do."
I understand what she is saying and I am really enjoying her book. What I am talking about is how I am emotionally sabotaging my body because I am uncomfortable with the energies that are happening right now. I choose to look at that and see my body as she says but while I am doing that actually treating it like the Goddess that resides within me.
I am thinking that if I do that I will naturally become healthier. Everything that I put on it or in it I am going to ask myself, is this good for my sacred body? Is this something that is going to nourish my sacred body? Is this something that will enhance my sacred body? Is this something that my sacred body deserves?
If you start looking at your body as the sacred vessel that it is, what glowing, healthy changes might happen for you?
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He was distracted….I couldn't get his attention as he looked over my shoulder at something that had caught his eye. 'What are you doing?' I said. 'Spotting' he said. 'Spotting what?' I said. 'Potential paedophiles' he said.
This was a conversation I had with a church member who was designated to report suspicious activity in my local church. In particular he was part of a weekly roster system that secretly mingled with church members during Sabbath mornings and social activities looking for men who may be behaving inappropriately with children. Even with the introduction of the compulsory government Working With Children Check (WWCC), this hyper activity is still going on in our churches.
This year (2017) will mark a negative change for the worse in the Adventist church in Australia. Adsafe (formerly Safe Place Services), will now be a centralised reporting hotline at Division level with a large number of office staff. Adsafe is designed to speed up the process and send a resounding "gong" throughout the church in Australia that men are not welcome in our church unless cuckold to feminism.
Like the girl who always ran to the headmasters office when boys did something naughty in the playground, Adsafe has set itself up to encourage snitching, bypassing scriptural and church manual instruction on how to deal with offenders. And as we shall see, you don't have to be an offender to come under the scrutiny from Adsafe. Suspicion is now deemed a legitimate reason to report a person. I would like therefore to expose this dangerous new development for men in the church, but first let's look at the worldly roots of this contraption designed to further alienate men from the church.
Feminist Involvement
The new focus on child sexual abuse grew particularly out of the feminist women's rights movement and its advocacy for adult victims of rape and other sexual and physical assaults. Feminist groups contradicted popular understandings of child sexual abuse as infrequent acts and said that it was indicative of patriarchal attitudes towards women and children and the unequal distribution of power. Women's rights advocates established a number of sexual assault and domestic violence services in Australia targeting women and children. Although these services were initially volunteer-run, by the late 1980s they had become increasingly professional and subsidised by the government.
Mandatory Reporting
Mandatory reporting of offenses towards children in Australia has evolved since South Australia introduced it in 1969. Mandatory reporting is where any person who believes on reasonable grounds that a child is suffering maltreatment (defined as physical, emotional and sexual abuse), to report it to the authorities. Since then, mandatory reporting has been introduced to all states in Australia with the Commonwealth coming on board nationalising the requirements under the 1995 Family Law Reform Act. But it was not until the new millennium (2005) that the Commonwealth introduced its own laws that legislated criminal acts relating to sexual and other types of abuse of children.
Royal Commissions
During the 1990s and early 2000s, a spate of allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia surfaced in a number of religious institutions including the Seventh Day-Adventist church. Some of these allegations led to convictions going as far back as the 1950s with others more recent. Commissions began to be conducted by states and Territories as far back as 1985 but in 2013 the most extensive and far-reaching inquiry in Australia's history into institutional child abuse was orchestrated. Governor-General Quentin Bryce appointed six commissioners who were directed to inquire into institutional responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse and related matters.
Going Into Overdrive
As the Adventist church began to adopt government recommendations spurred on by an already effeminate environment, leaders introduced the 1997 Child Sex Abuse document. In Australia we followed government law by making it mandatory for all church volunteers and staff who worked with children to carry a WWCC card.
Into this environment came a few high profile criminal convictions against Adventist men in Australia causing the church to knee jerk and go into over-drive. In early 2000 the Adventist Support office was established, a forerunner of Safe Place Services (SPS). Subsequent booklets casting men as dangerous and the main perpetrators came out of the SPS office. Recommendations and positions were feverishly taken up by conferences into which the "spotter" culture was born.
Unfortunately the dye has now been cast. The excitement around defending women and children has reached fever pitch and has brought white knights out in force. Letters congratulating the Australian government for its witch-hunt on white male perpetrators came flying off the desks of the church beta brigade. Following the world and over-reaching, the church hamstrung itself by creating harem-like conditions where alpha males are driven out weakening church growth and overall health. While we should renounce sexual abuse of any kind, the church I feel has gone beyond this, following popular feminist man-hate-culture, emasculating our churches.
Men Being Punished
SPS documentation introduced to the churches is now having an adverse effect on its male population. One conference branch we are told receives around 30 complaints a week but where are the corresponding convictions? The hotline to Adsafe will only exacerbate our current male exodus as Adventists will be able to fully indulge their favourite pastime - snitching without consequences. If there are no corresponding convictions with the amount of calls received, then all we have is a hotline of accusation and suspicion.
This is highlighted by the data available from SPS covering 2000 to 2011. There were 72 accusations in total from SPS reported to police but around 2/3rd's of the reports were dropped or not acted on by police. Only 25 charges were laid out of 72 accusations - that's charges not convictions! Out of those 25 charges only 68% ended in convictions.
If one conference is receiving over 30 calls a week, then what are the numbers of calls to Australian Adventist conferences annually? The math is frightening. How many false accusations and incriminations occur against males whose characters are brought into question through the ease of this system of misandry? Everyone knows the nature of accusation, even when the person is innocent, can negatively affect their emotional well-being. Just one easy click on the SPS website can destroy a person's life.
A couple of examples reported to Mashup give an indication of the calibre of the vengeful nature SPS has on offer. A recent anonymous article by a concerned father who's' son was the victim of a SPS bungle is a case in point. Overzealous feminist spotters (more often men), eager to be Adsafe heroes, look for suspicious behaviour to boost their "white knight" status. The consequences of this "dobbing" culture can be destructive to the spiritual and mental health of innocent victims of feminist man-hating. The boy in question was put through a process that didn't need to happen and was made to feel like a perpetrator of a crime. There was no inappropriate tickling, touching or sitting on knees - just two kids talking - a 10 year old girl and a visiting teenage boy. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
A teenage male being dragged through a punitive process, questioning his sexual intentions, might as well be a guilty verdict that can scar and shame him for the rest of his church life (if there is one). Where is the redemptive process to make this kid feel he is valued and not in trouble? Too late! He has already had to attend the conference office with his father over the confusing incident. Did SPS just create a paedophile? If the convictions don't correspond in some way to the massive amount of calls then how much damage is being done to members whose only crime is being a male (or being masculine)?
Another devastating story is from Bob (not real name) who has agreed to share how SPS and the church female leadership were culpable in his separation and ongoing access to his daughters. Bob is reluctant to publicly shame the church but when you read what happened to this man then you will agree that it's a story that needs to be told.
Bob was basically threatened by SPS and a female pastor not to attend his home church to see his daughters anymore. The church became too involved in Bob's marriage separation and withheld the whereabouts of his kidnapped daughters. He has not seen them in over 10 years and was threatened not to go near his home church by SPS. Part of Bob's story goes like this:
I heard on the "grapevine" from a friend that my daughter was being baptised and decided to go and give her some support or at least say hello. I arrived at the church feeling excited to see some old friends to chat to; we were chatting away when this woman I knew who was friendly with my sister in law and former wife immediately attacked me with "don't you dare spoil your daughter's day"…..
After the service was over those who were baptised went with the minister to the door to greet the people, I was heading that way when I was ambushed by my sister in law and taken outside by another door, once outside she verbally attacked me about not paying Child Support for the kids. I was, but the agency collecting the money had no new bank account and were holding the money – there was some $2000 dollars being held in escrow. After this altercation, I came back to see my daughter but she had gone . . . .
Early in 2014 I received a phone call from this woman who identified herself from Safe Place Services at the Victorian Conference. She asked if I could go to Ararat to meet up with her the following Sabbath which I did. This woman confronted me with a subject which she said was "historical" about a person in Bendigo Church complaining to her that they felt uncomfortable with me attending there. I was asked not to attend there again if I did I would be removed.
She had the new female minister with her at the time. I was told that I would receive pastoral counselling if I wanted it. I was not given any information, but I did ask if I could approach the complainant as is outlined in Matthew 18 to give a biblical apology or sort out the problem. Going to the Bendigo Church was not my intention to insult or hurt anyone, it was to make contact with my kids. The Safe Place Services lady was not interested in that. I have no court order against me of any kind. If they heard anything at all it was gossip and I was never asked or told anything about this. I received no visit from anyone involved at Bendigo to inform me of the issue and nobody came for any spiritual support – Bob's story.
We have many other stories coming in since we have exposed SPS through Mashup. There is a pattern developing with SPS, which is another artificially inseminated program aimed at men. This poisonous system is set to divide and hurt the church. All you need is a young male to form a friendship with a small girl…….then you ring the Adsafe hotline straight away for all your emotional fears and needs to be met. Don't bother approaching the kid yourself, you don't have to (tee hee) - you can safely and anonymously ruin someone's life without any blowback on your reputation in the church.
In fact, if Adsafe wishes for us to take their charter seriously – that they are a reporting agency for ALL kinds of abuse - then sexual crimes against children make up only 12% of the overall national data. The overwhelming abuse of children in family settings is emotional and physical abuse perpetrated mainly by mothers not fathers.
Mothers More Dangerous
The rate at which children are abused or killed at the hands of their parents isn't slanted the way the media would have us think. The data on distribution of parents who killed their children by gender in Australia found mothers pose more lethal risk. America is probably similar. Mothers account for about 35% of all filicides, while biological fathers are 29%. The Western Australian figures shed light on who is likely to abuse children in families and are in line with overseas findings. The data shows there were 1505 substantiations of child abuse in WA during the period 2007-8. Natural parents were responsible for 37% of total cases. Of these, mothers are identified as the perpetrator of neglect and abuse in a total of 73% of verified cases.*
The church, in its blind pursuit upholding women as paragons of virtue, while breeding out masculinity in our boys sets up a dangerous precedent. By focusing on sexual abuse alone, we fail to recognise that the larger portion of abuse committed towards children heavily involves females, particularly mothers. Adsafe/SPS marketing media shows a heavy bias towards women being the safer gender when it comes to overall data on child abuse – this misconstruction is to be challenged.
Cost Of Such Nonsense
Estimations are that the new Adsafe department with all of its expenditure and wages will cost the tithe payer around a million a year to run. With the Unions and conferences coming on board, costs of travel, meetings, summits, office and other expenses - not to mention lawyers - could easily blow out to 2 million annually........are we insane?
The government has already provided adequate provision for the protection of children with the WWCC and criminal history checks for anyone working with juveniles. We don't know of any other organisation that has gone this over the top like the Adventist church in Australia. The WWCC's are sufficient to rule out offenders and awareness created by the local church is plenty. What a complete waste of tithe when the church in Australia is having a growth crisis. Children are safer now than ever before in the church……why are we ramping up the process creating more bureaucracy? Targeting males with this insidious program will only further feminise the church driving alpha men out (who are least likely to sexually abuse children), and allowing dangerous effeminate types to slip under the radar.
Focusing On The Wrong Guys
Our own church history has shown that men who sexually abuse children are not masculine types but usually effeminate "nice men." Obedient well-dressed compliant lady's men who slip through the undergarments of church radar while nobody is looking are to be watched more than their macho rivals. The church in this regard is inadvertently causing its own demise. Apart from the well-known fact that the church is feminised and creating an environment that fosters the effeminate, we are now in danger of reproducing emotionally castrated boys.
Effeminate men are more likely to commit crimes against children than heterosexual men and amazingly Adsafes own data shows Clergy and elders committing the majority of the crimes against kids in our system. Clergy have among the lowest levels of testosterone in the world and this may be a significant factor as environment can directly affect testosterone levels. Is it not surprising that the main "kiddy fiddlers" at the top of the infant food chain in our churches are men who are respected, loved and compliant in an estrogen-laden culture?
Couple all this with the fact that women trust effeminate men more than heterosexual men and you have a recipe for disaster. Adsafe and its anti-masculine overtones takes the focus off womanish males and onto normal men who are the least likely to harm children. Let's not hold our breath but don't be surprised if down the track we see WWCC certified "tender" males committing crimes that Adsafe seeks to stamp out. As if we are not already raising too many pansies.
Breeding beta males is taking away the very element that will safeguard our children from unwanted sexual advances. The church has over-reacted and is following the dictates of macho-hating feminism by setting up a system which will see more boys isolated in the church for just being male.
When Does Matthew 18 Not Apply? …..When It's Adsafe
Matthew 18 is a biblical redemptive system where everyone gets the benefit of the doubt before it escalates to the authorities and the damage is done. We already have examples where SPS has caused immense damage by usurping the biblical blueprint in an environment of man-suspicion. Adsafe in 2017 will enjoy a privilege that no other Adventist institution has ever had when it skirts the biblical mandate under the guise that it has to report suspicions. Adsafe does not have to do this because it's not mandatory for clergy and church organisations to report suspicions except in SA. Even then, Matt. 18 can still be used as part of the process instructed by Jesus.
What happened to the Christian idea that we obey government law until it violates a biblical principle? We don't have to blindly do as the government says on all things. Many denominations do not completely comply with government recommendations, drawing a distinct line between theological implications and what the law says. Surely as Adventists with our understanding of the apocalypse, we need to tread very carefully here lest we are found violating human rights. Ellen White warns:
May the Lord open the eyes and soften the hearts of those who have a harsh, unforgiving, unrelenting spirit toward those whom they think in error. Such men [women] dishonor their office and dishonor God. They grieve the hearts of his children, and compel them to cry unto God in their distress. The Lord will surely hear their cry, and will judge for these things.—R&H, May 14, 1895.
In Conclusion
The church in its desperate attempt to appear "safe" is not following the charter of the early church. The NT church was a dangerous place to be but now we have padding on all the walls and corner bumpers on all the furniture. Is it any wonder our boys are leaving in droves and men won't step within a mile of the place?
If the church becomes a woman's rights-only space, real men will vacate, and those left will be pale- faced reflections of the biblical heroes of Christian past. The emasculating culture of colouring-in books, soft Sabbath toys and cuddly images of Jesus goes hand in hand with the devastating losses of our young male population. You don't join the army and get told it's a "safe place" and that you need to try hard not to upset anyone.
The church is an army; we need to stop this nonsense and make it robust again as it was in New Testament times. Adsafe wants a warm and cuddly church, where male sooky types do the bidding of feminism, but bold lionhearted men will look elsewhere to serve the truth they love if nothing changes. We need these real men to protect our women and children from abuse.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor EFFEMINATE, nor abusers of themselves with mankind (1 Corinthians 6:9).
If you have any information about Adsafe and its unbiblical practices or stories about men being unjustly punished by the feminised system of the church then we would like to hear from you. You and those involved can remain anonymous.
* Special thanks goes to Reuben Cortez for his support and research in this area.
Danny Bell writes from Tasmania, Australia.


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Course Redesign
Course Redesign Fees
Required Training
D2L Course Shells
Getting Started
Course Redesign Guidelines/Requirements
Content Approval
Moving Course Content
The importance of a substantial online and hybrid course redesign, when the three-year Online/Hybrid Course Development Agreement has expired, is explained in SACS Policy Statement 3, "Institutions must ensure that their distance and correspondence education courses and programs comply with the Principles of Accreditation. This applies to all educational programs and services, wherever located or however delivered."
SACS Principles of Accreditation Comprehensive Standard 3.4.10 states: "The institution places primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of the curriculum with its faculty."
In addition, SACS Guidelines in the Application of the Principles of Accreditation to Distance and Correspondence Education state:
- The faculty assumes primary responsibility for and exercises oversight of distance and correspondence education, ensuring both the rigor of programs and the quality of instruction.
- The technology used is appropriate to the nature and objectives of the programs and courses and expectations concerning the use of such technology are clearly communicated to students.
To assist in promoting MTSU online and hybrid course quality, University College's Distance Education Faculty Services (DEFS) provides a course redesign process which includes faculty compensation per credit hour redesigned.
MTSU Online and Hybrid Course Redesign Fees
Effective May 16, 2014
Credit Hours
Redesign Fees
Addition of graduate content to existing online undergraduate course = Additional Fee of $500
Course designers are required to renew their agreements and substantially (50% or more of the content) redesign their courses at the end of the three-year contract period. If the original course developer does not wish to redesign the course or is unavailable, the department chair may assign a replacement. All redesigned courses are reviewed and approved using the same process that is used for new course development.
Please note: If a substantial redesign of an existing online or hybrid course is necessary prior to contract expiration, due to textbook changes or other extenuating circumstances, course designers can receive, with prior approval from Distance Education Faculty Services and contract renewal, the appropriate redesign fee. Written requests for early redesign may be made to the Distance Education Faculty Services Office.
Taking the time to plan the design of an online or hybrid course is critical to its success. At least two semesters should be allotted to plan and develop a new course. Please refer to the Course Completion Deadlines chart below to assist in planning your course development timeline.
Course Completion Deadlines
|Semester Course to Be Offered
|Due Date for Peer Review
|Summer and Fall
|March 1
|October 1
Please Note:
- All course content should be complete and ready for the peer review by the dates in the chart above. Incomplete courses are not reviewed.
- Redesign fees cannot be paid if the course redesign is completed prior to redesign agreement approval.
- An Online Faculty Mentor (OFM) is assigned to each faculty member who is redesigning an existing online course, and the same review and approval processes used for new course development apply (see Course Approval section).
Required Training
Desire2Learn (D2L) Training
- All online and hybrid course content is required to be developed for and accessed within the MTSU-supported learning management system currently Desire2Learn (D2L).
- First-time faculty course designers are required to schedule a D2L one-on-one consultation or to register for a workshop conducted by the staff of the Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FITC) located in the Telecommunications Building on campus. Workshop attendance may be scheduled online. One-on-one consultation may be arranged by calling 615/904-8189.
- Required Desire2Learn (D2L) training includes:
- Introduction to D2L
- Grading and Assessment
- Communication Tools I – (Dropbox, Discussion Board, and Group Tool)
- Communication Tools II – (Rubrics with a demonstration of the Competencies Tool)
- Communication Tools III – (Email, Calendar, Chat, Blog, LiveRoom, Checklist, Classlist)
- Turnitin (an educational suite providing faculty assistance with evaluating student written works and is now accessed through the Desire2Learn (D2L) dropbox tool.)
- Even though training is not required of experienced course designers, they are encouraged to discuss the design or redesign of their courses with MTSU Online instructional designers due to continual innovations in software/hardware and multimedia used in online course development/instruction.
When training is complete, the trainers will sign the MTSU Online Course Development Training Confirmation Form, and the course designer will forward it to MTSU Online Faculty Services at Box 54.
MTSU Instructional Design Specialist
First-time and experienced course designers are required/strongly encouraged, respectively, to discuss the design or redesign of their courses with an MTSU Online Instructional Designer Specialist (IDS). The IDS is located in Room 348 of the James E. Walker Library in the Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technology Center, and may be reached at 615-494-7671 at to schedule an appointment. Please refer to the Planning section of this website for additional planning resources and information.
D2L Course Shells
- A D2L development shell is established upon registration for a workshop or before the first, scheduled, one-on-one consultation.
- Faculty may use an existing D2L development shell during their training session(s).
- Course designers may request a D2L development shell by completing a request form.
- Even though D2L shells are created for every semester course, semester shells should never be used for course creation. Course content may be lost if a semester shell is cancelled or deleted.
- Course content from a previous semester shell may be moved into a development shell for redesign. For instruction, the content is then moved to an active semester shell.
- A syllabus template is included in each D2L development shell. The use of this template for online courses ensures that distance learners are provided all of the resources specific to this student population.
Getting Started
Course Proposal
- Course designers must complete the Online/Hybrid Course Proposal Form (one per course), and scan and email it email@example.com or send it through campus mail to MTSU Online Faculty Services, Box 54. The course designer's and chair's signatures are required on the Proposal Form. Information from the Proposal Form is posted to the MTSU Online database.
Redesign Agreement/Contract
- Upon receipt of the Course Proposal Form, an Online/Hybrid Course Redesign Agreement is emailed to the course developer. The course designer should immediately review, sign and forward for all required signatures.
- Please note: The course developer cannot be compensated if the redesign agreement is not approved and on file in MTSU Online Faculty Services prior to completion of course redesign.
Online Faculty Mentor (OFM) Assignment
- Upon receipt of the Course Proposal Form, an Online Faculty Mentor (OFM) is assigned to the course designer to serve as a resource, as needed, and to conduct a peer review upon completion of course redesign.
Course Development Assistance
The staff at the Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FITC), located in the Telecommunications Building, are happy to instruct faculty on the use of various technical tools that may be used in course development. Appointments may be made for one-on-one consultations by calling 904-8189. The FITC also offers workshops for which faculty may register.
As stated above, first-time course developers are required, and experienced course designers are encouraged, to discuss the design or redesign of their courses with the MTSU's Instructional Design Specialist located in Room 348 of the James E. Walker Library in the Learning, Teaching and Innovative Technology Center (LT&ITC). Appointments may be made by calling 615-494-7671.
Online and Distance Education Guidelines
All MTSU online and hybrid courses must be developed in accordance with the MTSU Online and Distance Education Guidelines, which have been approved by the MTSU Distance Education Committee.
Peer Review Form
The Peer Review Form serves several purposes in the course development, review and approval processes.
- Course designers are encouraged to review and to use the Peer Review Form as a course development/redesign guide. This form contains the baseline elements required to complete an online/hybrid course. Incomplete courses are not accepted for peer review.
- This form is used by the course designer to conduct a self-evaluation of the completed course.
- The form is also used by the assigned OFM to conduct the peer review of the completed course.
- The department chair/school director reviews the completed Peer Review Form as part of the delivery approval process.
HTML Content
It is best that the majority of course files be in web/HTML page format since web pages are immediately available to students who are visually impaired and use JAWs to read their course pages. JAWs cannot read Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel files, and PDFs in the D2L viewer. JAWs users who take a course that contains content pages created entirely in Word and PDF would be forced to download every content page before they could be read. Having to download every file can be frustrating for the student. However, if Word, PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel files are used sparingly, and only when it is appropriate for the assignment, then linking to these files is fine. Instructors can link to these files from the content area and/or a dropbox. The instructor must be sure to make all files accessible no matter which file type is used.
How Do I Convert My Word Documents to HTML Web Pages?
It is best not to ever paste Word content directly into a D2L HTML file. To convert a Word document to D2L web page (with or without an applied page template), please follow these instructions.
- Create a new web page/file in D2L and choose one of the built in pages templates with simple formatting to give your page a style. (Note: An accessible syllabus outline is one of the template choices.)
- Copy the text of an entire Word document, or a portion of the Word document, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. (If you are using our syllabus template you may want to copy content for each section separately.)
- Move back to the D2L web page
- Place the cursor at the place in the D2L web page that you wish to paste.
- Use the paste as Text command – Control + Shift + V (Windows) or Shift+Option+Command+V (Mac) to paste the text of the Word document as plain text. Pasting text in this manner places all text in one long paragraph.
- Break up the text into paragraphs if you need to and apply heading and list styles.
(Note: If you don't break the text into paragraphs adding a heading style or list style will affect all of the text. Break the text into paragraphs by placing the cursor in the new paragraph location and press the enter key.)
- Create Accessible tables – Phillip V. suggests using http://accessify.com/ for table creation, however, if you have simple tables, just adding a title and description
in Word's table properties and then pasting the table into your D2L web page the normal
way – not plain text. Control +V (Windows) or Command +V (Mac) will make a partially
accessible table.
- Accessify creates the HTML code for a highly accessible table and is the best choice, however, you will need to paste this table into your page via code view. If you are not familiar with HTML consult with the FITC staff.
- Free programs such as FrontPage can aid in locating the proper place to paste code because you can type in the words "put table here" in page view, highlight those words, and switch to HTML view and the text and HTML tags for "put table here" will be highlighted. You can then delete the highlighted text and HTML tags and paste in the Accessify code.
- Export any images that existed in the Word document as separate images. (Right click and save the images to your computer.)
- Import the images into your web page and add alt text and descriptions.
Student Authentication Requirements
To be in compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act and SACSCOC Policy and Principles of Accreditation, MTSU must "demonstrate that the student who registers in a distance or correspondence education course or program is the same student who participates in and completes the course or program and receives the credit by verifying the identity of a student who participates in class or coursework by using, at the option of the institution, methods such as (1) a secure login and pass code, (2) proctored examinations, and (3) new or other technologies and practices that are effective in verifying student identification."
This verification is accomplished by requiring the MTSU online student to:
- use a secure login and pass code into the MTSU-supported Learning Management System, currently Desire2Learn (D2L) and/or;
- sit for proctored examinations.
As of 2019 Fall Semester, MTSU will offer secure, online exam proctoring via Examity, and faculty may opt into this service which is interfaced with Desire2Learn (D2L) MTSU's learning management system (LMS).
Instruction by Other Faculty
Department chairs/school directors may assign the instruction of approved online and hybrid courses to professors who did not develop the courses. Therefore, it is recommended that courses be developed accordingly using a generic design.
Lead Designer
Faculty who develop online courses or who redesign existing online courses are considered to be lead designers and are responsible for maintaining/updating their approved online and hybrid course content and for sharing the approved content with faculty (full-time and adjunct faculty) teaching sections of their courses during the three-year contract period.
Lead Designer Responsibilities:
- work with the department to schedule the course.
- update the content in the master shell each semester as necessary;
- upload the approved course for sectional instructors;
- each semester meet with professors new to the instruction of the course to familiarize them with the content and assist in updating the welcome page, contact information, and calendar;
- work with department to obtain textbooks and other course materials;
Note: These services should be provided by the lead designers even if they are not teaching their own courses during the semester.
Original Content
Development of original content, using a generic design, is required in order to receive development and redesign fees. Students must be able to complete the course requirements and satisfy learning outcomes using the content within D2L without relying on third party vendor/e-publisher websites.
Asynchronous Learning
MTSU online courses are to be designed for asynchronous learning. Students cannot be required to be on campus or online at specified dates/times, but may be given the opportunity to attend optional meetings. Students cannot be penalized for non-attendance at optional meetings.
Use of Third Party/Publisher Websites
- Publisher content, or other pre-produced content, may be utilized but should be thoughtfully integrated into the original course content produced by the developer.
- The course must be designed so it can continue to run if a publisher's, or supplemental, site is down or unavailable.
- Instructors must be aware of publisher/supplemental site scheduled downtime especially during testing periods.
- MTSU's ITD does not support nor provide archival capabilities for content posted to publisher/third party vendor sites.
- Due to financial aid, FERPA and other regulations/issues, instruction of course content must be limited and student educational records not shared in e-publisher and other third party vendor websites.
- If a course developer wishes to use third party vendor/e-publisher content in the development of their online course, the course designer must contact the MTSU Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FITC) to: 1) determine if a contract is needed and if currently in place for the specific third party vendor/e-publisher the course designer wishes to use; 2) to determine what integration with the third party vendor content is applicable within their D2L course shells.
- Students must be notified of costs associated with the use of publisher/supplemental websites by posting the fees to PipelineMT semester schedules.
Course designers must create their online and hybrid courses to include the use of an MTSU-assigned email account—preferably within D2L. To comply with FERPA requirements (see section below), discussions regarding educational records between instructor and student must never take place outside an MTSU-assigned email account.
Student Communication and FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
Per this Act, MTSU faculty must communicate with and provide course feedback (including grades) to their distance education students within an institutionally-assigned email account. Use of the MTSU email within D2L is preferred for online course instruction for archival and security purposes. However, distance instructors may respond to student emails received via the MTMail account.
Educational data (such as class schedule, grades, GPA, academic standing, test scores, academic transcripts, student employment, class lists, and email between the student and MTSU) and personally identifiable information (Social Security Number, driver's license number, account number, and credit or debit card number in association with the person's name or access code) must never be sent to or from a non-institutionally-assigned email account.
Course Approval Instructions
When the redesign of an online or hybrid course is complete, please follow these instructions for delivery approval. Please note: Online Faculty Mentors (OFMs) are not permitted to review incomplete courses.
- Course Designer:
- Completes and submits the Add A User Request Form to add the assigned Online Faculty Mentor (OFM) and department chair/school director to the new course. ITD should inform the course designer when they are added.
- Conducts a self-evaluation of the course using the Peer Review Form.
- Emails the self-evaluation to the assigned OFM to begin the peer review process.
- Course Designer:
- Reviews the self-evaluation, conducts the peer review (using the Peer Review Form) and shares the review with the course designer.
- Course Designer:
- Has the opportunity to make revisions based on OFM recommendations.
- Course Designer:
- Reviews course changes for possible re-rating of sections affected.
- Course Designer and OFM:
- Note all actions taken on the OFM's Peer Review Form.
- Course Designer and OFM:
- Submits the final, completed Peer Review Form to MTSU Online Faculty Services. MTSU Online will only accept completed Peer Review forms from the assigned OFM.
- MTSU Online Faculty Services:
- Emails a Course Approval Form and the completed Peer Review Form to the appropriate department chair/school director for course content review and delivery approval.
- MTSU Online Faculty Services:
- Department:
- Department chairs/school directors review the course design and content.
- If the chair or director do not wish to complete the review, they may assign a content expert within the department to review/approve the course.
- Chair/director signs the Course Approval Form and scans/emails to email@example.com at MTSU Online Faculty Services or sends it to Carol Hayes at MTSU Box 54.
- Department:
- MTSU Online Faculty Services:
- Adds the course to the Approved Distance Courses inventory when course approval is received.
- Emails the Scheduling Center that the course designer's department may add the course to the target semester schedule.
- Completes a pay document to compensate the course designer per the fee noted in the redesign agreement/contract.
- Emails the course designer that the pay document has been processed and when to expect payment.
- MTSU Online Faculty Services:
- Adds course to the semester schedule.
- Schedules meeting rooms as required for hybrid courses.
- Schedules meeting rooms for optional meetings for online students, if requested by instructor.
- Receives redesign fee usually within eight (8) weeks of course approval.
- Teaches the course in the target semester.
- Shares approved course content with faculty teaching sections of the course.
Moving Course Content
- Open the course that needs to receive the course content.
- Locate the link "Import/Export/Copy Components" on the left side of the page.
- Click on Search for Offering and locate the course that contains the content you want to copy.
- Search for the course that contains the content, select it, and then click the Add Selected button at the lower left hand corner of the page. Note: You can type in the semester code – fall 2013 is "201380" and spring 2013 is "201310" and summer 2013 is "201350" and spring 2014 is 201410 and all of the courses you taught in that semester will display. Note, you may also need to search for a development course. Copy the name of the development course and paste that in the search box.
- Click the Copy All Components button if you want to copy the entire course. This is typically what you want to do. You can also select specific components.
- Continue through the Wizard until it finishes.
How can we help?


text:
Berkeley Art Center Presents
Susan Danis: Pleasure
March 28 – May 3, 2015
Artist Reception: Sunday, September 11, 2:00pm – 4:00 pm
Given the emotional detachment of much contemporary art, it is a pleasure discovering an alternate universe as vivid and generous as Susan Danis's. The East Bay sculptor, an inveterate scavenger, delves into "the collective unconscious made manifest" (i.e, the annual trash pickup) for the stuff to populate and nourish her teeming imagination. Discards take on new life as suggestive curiosa; kitsch is transformed into treasure. Secret affinities between the cultural (toys, fabric, beads, locks, hooks, chains) and the natural (bones, teeth, coral, hair, taxidermic animals) emerge and guide Danis's creative process.


text:
Loves Travel Stop Groundbreaking
Love's Travel Stop Groundbreaking Ceremony location has moved inside to AgriVision Equipment Company, Training Room – Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 10:00 a.m.
Pacific Junction, Iowa 51561
Mills County, Iowa
Ceremony: has been moved to AgriVision Equipment Company, Training Room
58668 – 190th Street, Pacific Junction, Iowa 51561
Groundbreaking following the ceremony at AgriVision:
Future Home of Love's Travel Stop
I-29 Exit 35, Hwy. 34 & 188th Street
Welcome: Linda Washburn, Executive Director
Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce
Opening Remarks: Larry Winum, Mills County Economic Development Foundation, Inc.
- Jim Hughes, Jim Hughes Real Estate
- Mike Macri III, Ferguson Commercial Real Estate
- Jason Crowe, General Contractor, Colcon Corp. (unable to attend)
- Chris Clark, Superintendent, Colcon Corp.
- Mills County Supervisors: Richard Crouch, Lonnie Mayberry, & Carol Vinton
- Elected Officials
- Dewayne Porter, Love's District Manager
Love's Travel Stop: Dewayne Porter, Love's District Manager
Closing Remarks: Larry Winum
Groundbreaking Ceremony hosted by Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce
At the Future Home of Love's Travel Stop
Jon Lorson-Chamber Pres., Linda Washburn-Chamber Ex. Dir., Larry Winum-MCEDF Pres.,
Jim Hughes-Jim Hughes Real Estate, Mike Macri-Feguson Commercial Real Estate, Dewayne Porter-Love's District Manager, Chris Clark-Superintendent, Colcon Corp., Mills County Supervisors-Richard Crouch, Lonnie Mayberry, & Carol Vinton, Trudy Johannsen-MidAmerican Energy Economic Development Consultant


text: A Saint Paul based developer is pitching a plan to construct a large apartment building in the southern part of Coon Rapids.This week, the City Council met in a work session to learn more about the project which would involve the construction of a four-story, 184 unit apartment building near 94th Lane and Springbrook Drive just west of Highway 47. The developer, Real Estate Equities, is looking to the city for tax increment financing to fund part of the project which is located in Port Evergreen."In Coon Rapids, we have not seen a lot of apartment construction in recent years, says Matt Brown, Community Development Specialist. "We have a lot of apartments that were built in the 70s and 80s, we haven't seen a lot of newer apartments so we're pretty excited to see a more contemporary building and, also, it's important to note that the vacancy rate for apartments is very low in Coon Rapids and really across the region so it's not a surprise that we are seeing some interest among developers constructing new apartments."The project still needs to go through the planning approval process and the City Council would need to approve the creation of a new TIF district. All of the units would be affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area median income, which is just over $56,000 for a family of four.