text:
Bernese GNSS Software
High-accuracy GNSS post-processing software
The Bernese GNSS Software is a scientific, high-precision, multi-GNSS data processing software developed at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB).
Leica Geosystems is an exclusive re-seller of the BERNESE software for commercial applications in the field of Geomatics. Research licences are directly supplied by the AIUB .
It is used by CODE (Center for Orbit Determination in Europe) for its international (IGS) and European (EUREF/EPN) activities. The software is continuously in a process of development and improvement.
The Bernese GNSS Software is the ideal tool for:
- Scientists researching in geodesy, meteorology and geosciences
- University study
- Survey agencies responsible for high-accuracy GNSS surveys
- Agencies responsible for maintenance of arrays of permanent GNSS receivers
- Commercial users with complex applications demanding high accuracy, reliability and high productivity
Precise processing
With Bernese, you can processes all principal observables recorded by high precision geodetic receivers (i.e., code and phase data on both carriers). Either static or kinematic, take differential code biases for satellites and receivers into account for applications involving code observations.
Single and dual frequency data may be processed in the same estimation step. Use of ionosphere models minimises impact of ionosphere delay on station coordinates and other parameters. Save time and effort processing and combining data from various receiver types in the same processing step (including establishing and use of receiver type specific antenna phase centre variations).
The newly developed powerful Bernese Processing Engine (BPE) allows you to tailor automated processing sequences. Sophisticated examples contained in the distribution include:
- Precise point positioning (PPP)
- Baseline processing
- Network processing (RINEX-to-SINEX)
- Clock estimation.
Linear modelling for exact replication
Meeting the highest accuracy requirements, Bernese models station motions for plate movements, solid earth tides and ocean tidal loading. Furthermore, modelling in Bernese accounts for all time-dependent parameters by a piece-wise linear, continuous representation, in particular for troposphere zenith path delay and gradient parameter, earth orientation parameters and global ionosphere models.
You can apply and estimate antenna phase patterns for receiver and for satellite antennas. This simultaneous solution can be applied for a large number of different parameter types. The parameter estimation programs may be used for:
- Baseline
- Session
- Campaign
- Multiple campaign processing.
Many different complex solutions (e.g., annual coordinate and ERP solutions) using (e.g., daily) normal equation systems can be produced without reprocessing observations.
Supporting all data formats
With Bernese, fully combine processing of data from GPS, GLONASS, and GPS/GLONASS receivers. You can also process SLR observations to GNSS satellites. Bernese support international input/output formats:
- RINEX with LEO extension
- SP3c
- Clock RINEX
- Troposphere SINEX
Users can easily navigate through the software with the newly-developed windows-oriented user interface, clear input panels and program structure More than 600 pages of printed documentation, extended html-based online help panels and tech support by developers is also available for the best user experience.


text:
During a European Geosciences Union conference just last month, scientists predicted that melting ice sheets and warming ocean water could raise sea levels by as much as 1.5 meters by the end of this century. This forecast is three times higher than reported by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year. These findings have raised the concern of both scientists and governments of coastal and island nations, which are the most vulnerable. Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao is the Dean of the Earth Science Institute at the National Central University in Formosa (Taiwan).
Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao, Dean of Earth Science Institute, National Central University of Formosa (Taiwan), former NASA scientist: One of the major consequences of global warming is the rising of the sea level. This is truly a global problem because a major part of our civilization actually resides in a few meters above the sea level. So any or small amount of sea level rise over time will have great impact on the world economics and human livelihoods. As an island country, Taiwan should be and of course is very conscientious about this problem.
VOICE: Based on the latest analysis conducted by a joint British-Finnish team, sea levels over the past 2,000 years have been stable. Measurements indicate a rise of only 2 cm in the 18th century and 6 cm in the 19th century, but then a sudden and alarming 19 cm, or over half a foot within this past century. This is most likely due to the melting glacial ice sheets. To climatologists these small numbers are significant, with likely more complex implications than are understood so far.
Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao: It's very serious, because we don't know how to predict the future. Whether the sea level rises will become catastrophic, that will be something beyond our ability to predict. And also the sea level is actually the thermometer reflecting the seriousness of the global warming. In that regard, the sea level rise problem should be closely monitored.
VOICE: Thank you Dr. Chao and all scientists who are diligently updating and sharing this information about global warming. May we continue to act quickly as our knowledge of the climate system expands, in order to save precious lives.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7349236.stm , http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn13721-sea-levels-will-rise-15-metres-by-2100.html

subset: commoncrawl


text:
George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st president of the United States, but in many ways, he was the last of his kind.
Bush, who died Friday at 94, was the last World War II veteran to serve in the Oval Office, and he presided over the end of the long Cold War with the Soviets. He was also the last person raised within the confines of the once politically dominant "Eastern Establishment" to attain the presidency.
"A real transition, one might say, came with the conclusion of Bush's term," says presidential historian Robert Dallek.
Bush's background and history made him temperamentally different from his successors. But to the extent that he was a transitional figure, his story is not all about old values being left behind.
Bush was an aggressive campaigner, willing to attack his opponents in highly personal terms. His presidential races helped set the template for the kind of politics that followed.
His one successful presidential run, in 1988, represented the first time, according to Time magazine, that "attacks on an opponent, rather than promotion of one's own agenda, [became] the primary target of a presidential campaign."
Impelled by duty
His successors have had their share of degrees from Harvard and Yale, but Bush was thoroughly a product of the WASPy aristocracy of the Northeast — a graduate of Andover and Yale, the son of a Connecticut U.S. senator, the scion of two Wall Street banking dynasties.
Bush was inspired by a speech at Phillips Academy Andover given by Henry L. Stimson, a two-time secretary of war and "kind of a god in those Northeastern circles," says Geoffrey Kabaservice, author of Rule and Ruin, a book about moderate Republicanism.
"Hearing Stimson talk about patriotism and American values was one of the things that impelled Bush to enlist," says Lewis Gould, a historian of the Republican Party. "He was impelled by a sense of duty and put himself in harm's way, and his life goes in that direction."
Bush enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday, soon becoming one of its youngest pilots. He flew nearly five dozen missions. He was shot down on Sept. 2, 1944, over the island of Chichi Jima in the Pacific and floated on a raft for a couple of hours before being picked up by a submarine.
Bush always "became very, very emotional whenever he talked about the military," says Chriss Winston, his chief White House speechwriter.
After a 1989 explosion on the USS Iowa killed 47 crewmen, Bush delivered a speech in which the emotional high point was intended to be a line in which he talked about his own experience taking off in the morning and coming back to an empty deck.
But he couldn't deliver the line and skipped right over it in his prepared text, Winston recalls.
"In speechwriting, we learned we had to tone down the actual remarks and not make them as emotional because he simply couldn't get through it," she says.
Last of the line
Bush was the last of an unbroken 40-year line of presidents who had served in uniform during World War II, starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former supreme Allied commander.
"That's why members of Congress got along better in the old days," Kabaservice says. "A lot of them had fought in World War II and they looked at each other not as partisan enemies, but people who had been comrades in arms."
The World War II generation had a sense of serving the country together and also shared a belief in professionalism, says Jeremi Suri, a University of Texas historian.
"Bush was the last president who believed that people who had knowledge and experience should make decisions based on that and not on their ideological views," Suri says. "It was a businessman's approach to making decisions about leadership. You appoint and promote the person who's most qualified over the person you might agree with more."
His generation might have had suspicions about political rivals but accepted them as part of the landscape, Gould says. There was no shame in making deals with politicians from the other side of the aisle.
That partly explains why the Republican was willing to violate his "no new taxes" pledge with the budget agreement of 1990, which hurt him politically yet set the stage for a decade of increasingly sound federal budgets.
"Bush was viscerally connected to the notion that there were men of goodwill on both sides of the aisle," Gould says. " 'This is in the interest of the country, so despite my tax pledge, which I won the presidency in making, circumstances have changed and I'll take the political risk.' "
The importance of relationships
Throughout his political career, from his Texas campaigns for House and Senate in the 1960s through his presidential runs in the 1980s and 1990s, Bush was willing at times to be expedient and adopt more conservative stances on fiscal and social issues than he appeared to hold while governing.
His 1988 race against Democrat Michael Dukakis became notorious for an ugly ad showcasing rapist and murderer Willie Horton. After questioning the patriotism of Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992, Bush said, "You can call it mud wrestling, but I think it's fair to put it into focus."
He was willing to say what he thought was necessary as a candidate, but in office, Bush maintained a strict sense of patrician decorum.
"He saw himself as a deal-maker, not as someone who had all the right answers," Suri says. "There was a humility about him that's been lost on both sides of the aisle."
The importance of building up relationships was an ethos Bush brought not only to domestic politics, but also to international affairs, which became his major focus as president. He had come to know many foreign leaders through his service as vice president, CIA director, ambassador to the United Nations and envoy to China.
What Bush biographer Tom Wicker called his "matchless personal acquaintance" with world leaders helped him form a large coalition to repel Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and also shaped his response to a series of revolutions in Europe that led to the end of the Cold War.
Bush quietly gave space to Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, to allow that country to adjust to the decline in its fortunes and influence. Bush did not threaten, make grandiose pronouncements or gloat, Robert Gates wrote in his memoir From the Shadows.Gates was Bush's CIA director and later became secretary of defense under Bush's son and President Barack Obama .
"As the communist bloc was disintegrating, it was George Bush's skilled, yet quiet, statecraft that made a revolutionary time seem so much less dangerous than it actually was," Gates wrote.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Free Shipping +$99.99 Canada, +$149 US
Curbside Pick Up in Winnipeg
You have %itemCount% in your cart. Total being %total%
Condition: Tired eyes, dark circles, fine lines
Solution: Vitamin K and Mulberry Extract reduce the look of dark circles, while Sepilift® DPHP at 1% helps to tone and smooth the appearance of fine lines. Helps skin around the eyes look tighter and brighter.
Apply before application of any moisturizers. Apply to brow bones, in between eyebrows, and under eyes. Do not put in eyes. Use in the AM & PM for best results. This product utilizes an airless pump to preserve product integrity. For ease of use, shake bottle and pump multiple times to remove excess air. This process may need to be repeated periodically.
Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice*, Prunus Ameniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Beeswax, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glycerin, Stearic Acid (vegetable source), Cetearyl Alcohol & Cetearyl Glucoside, Sepilift® DPHP (Dipalmitoyl Hydoxyproline), Glucose & Lactoperoxidase & Glucoside, Sepilift® DPHP (Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline), Glucose & Lactoperoxidase & Glucose Oxidase (natural preservative), Natural Aroma, ALPAFLOR® GIGAWHITE [Water (Aqua), Glycerin, Malva Sylvestris (Mallow) Extract, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Leaf Extract, Primula Veris Extract, Alchemilla Vulgaris Extract, Veronica Officinalis Extract, Melissa Officinalis Leaf Extract, Achillea Milefolium Extract], Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate, Morus Alba (Mulberry) Bark Extract, Royal Jelly, Hydroxylated Soy Lecithin, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Multifruit Extract [Water (Aqua), Vacinium Myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruit Extract, Saccharum Officinarum), (Sugar Cane) Extract, Acer Saccharum (Sugar Maple) Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract], Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C), Phytonadione (Vitamin K). *Certified Organic Gluten-Free.
Sepilift® DPHP is a registered trademark of Seppic.
This product contains ALPAFLOR® GIGAWHITE. ALPAFLOR® is registered trademark of DSM.
This site requires cookies in order to provide all of its functionality.


text:
Christmas Scuba Diving Gift Certificate
Christmas Scuba Diving Gift Certificate
Christmas scuba diving certificate. The perfect way to surprise someone with a scuba diving trip for Christmas!
Additional details about the printable scuba diving gift ticket template:
-Template is 7 inches by 3 inches. You may resize in your printing settings if you wish
-Print on card stock for a more authentic feel! You can print at home or at your local printing store
-You may edit and print the template as many times as you like - you have unlimited access!
-Your purchase comes with a blank, ready to print copy of the template so you can just print and hand write in your information!
-Edits are made through Canva.com. You will need a FREE account. Instructions on how to set up an account and edit the template are included with purchase
-You can also send the template in an email! Simply fill out the template on Canva, then attach the downloaded file to an email
-Editable text is outlined in a yellow rectangle in the listing images. You can change the font, size of the font, colors, and locations if you wish!
-This is a digital download: After purchase is confirmed, you will receive a PDF emailed to you that will give you further instructions on how to access and edit your template. No physical product will be mailed.
-Please review our refund policy before purchasing.


text:
Fool's Gold CYP Takeover Recaps + Danny Brown on Last Call With Carson Daly Tonight
Posted on Feb 8th, 2012 in Live > Pics > Videos by Mr. Goldbar
Photo by Nathaniel Turner
The Echoplex was the place to be last month, with the Fool's Gold crew taking over the Check Yo Ponytail party for a night of raps, revelry and BRUISER MOTHERFUCKIN BRIGADE! Danny Brown headlined a night that also featured Kid Sister (backed by Sinden and J2K of Flosstradamus), Main Attrakionz, Party Supplies and Thee Mike B. Check out Spin's gallery of shots by Nathaniel Turner, a bunch of Shadowscene flicks, video of Schoolboy Q coming out for "Blunt After Blunt," as well as a megacollection of photos and videos from our homie Glenjamn! Peep more from him after the jump.
If that's not enough, check the party on NBC tonight when Danny makes his network television debut on Last Call With Carson Daly, airing tonight (well, Thursday morning if you want to get technical) at 1:35 am after Jimmy Fallon. Set them TiVOs.


text: Superthrive – the Essential Vitamin Solution. Secure your transplants, revive stressed plants and produce abundant yields with Superthrive. Our unique, non-toxic vitamin solution encourages the natural building blocks that plants make for themselves when under the best conditions, fortifying growth from the inside out. Generations of home gardeners and professionals trust our timeless, proprietary formula.


text:
MAHI MERA is already live on all platforms, sung by the talented Fahmil Khan & Directed by Faiz.
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 10: Dimension Music has made a spectacular entry into the Indian Hindi music world today. Film Producer / Entrepreneur Liaquat Gola, under Dimension Music, has released three big Bollywood songs sung by three singers together, giving audiences a unique gift. Nowadays, Valentine's week, symbolizing love and affection, is being celebrated worldwide, and in this scenario, couples share their feelings through songs sung by big singers like Salman Ali and Altamash Faridi will be seen.
Today, in a grand event in Mumbai, Liaquat Gola launched his music label, Dimension Music. Under this label, three big songs, "Mahi Mera," "Mohabbat," & "Khuda Hafiz," were released in front of the media. Among these songs, Salman Ali has sung the song "Mohabbat," with lyrics by Amina Israr and music by Amir Ali. The video of this song is directed by Faiz with DOP and editor Aditya Jangid. In the video, Arbaaz Patel and Ishu are seen in the footage. On the other hand, the song "Khuda Hafiz" is sung by the famous singer Altamash Faridi, with lyrics by Mashoodd Quraishi and music by Amir Ali. The video of this song is directed by Israr Ahmad, and Pappu Khanna is the choreographer. The lyrics for this song are by Arsalan Manzoor and Mukhtar Loan, with Samir Mark and Ishu Sharma seen in the footage.
Apart from these two songs, a lovely song, "Mahi Mera," is already live sung by Fahmil Khan. The lyrics and music for this song are by Zain Khan, directed by Faiz, with DOP and editor Aditya Jangid, choreographed by Raj Sahgal, and featuring Zubin Shah and Falak in the footage.
Speaking at the grand launching event in Mumbai, the famous Bollywood singer Salman Ali mentioned that he has sung a song, "Mohabbat," for Dimension Music, stating that this new label has a great vision. This song is extremely romantic, and will be released soon in the ongoing Valentine's week. Lovebirds will listen to this song with great romanticism and share their feelings with each other.
Similarly, on the occasion of the release of this song, singer Altamash Faridi, who sang the song "Khuda Hafiz," mentioned that the song had been designed especially for those who love to love. The song "Khuda Hafiz" will be particularly liked by romantic couples who want fantasy in the world of love and romance.
During this event in Mumbai, the owner of the company, LIAQUAT GOLA, mentioned that today is a moment of great joy as we have entered the music world with this company. We have been active in the film industry since 2002, and we registered our company, Dimension Pictures Private Limited, in 2020. We have been consistently working in production, and today, we have made an entry into the music world with Dimension Music. This music company will not only release songs of big singers but also provide ample opportunities to emerging talents. There are no boundaries in the world of music, and no one can stop its flow. We will continuously enhance this flow and bring the best songs to the world with Dimension Music.
Today, at the beginning, we have released three big songs together, which are quite entertaining and popular. Salman Ali, Altamash Faridi & Fahmil Khan are singers of a large mass audience, and their influence, especially on the youth, is immense. The songs they have sung are incredibly beautiful, and we hope that lovebirds will openly express their love with these songs.


text:
God has a good plan for your life. The enemy will do everything he can to paralyze you (at a young age), to cripple you emotionally, so that you do not step into your God-given destiny. The Scripture tells us: "For we are God's (own) Handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew) that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]" (Ephesians 2:10 Amplified). By and through Jesus alone God accomplishes His personal will through us.
On the other hand, Satan turns a person's natural search for truth into full blown confusion. Satan is the father of lies and author of confusion. He distracts and diverts attention from the one true way by substituting religious activity for the truth. As a result, the baby Christian does the will of God as he conceives it, not as he receives it. No one can truly walk with God or worship Him except by the Holy Spirit.
You have to stay in the live zone of God–not the dead zone–where you don't hear God. It's like driving down the road with your husband following you and you look out the rearview mirror and see his hand outside the car trying to get your attention. This actually happened once. We learned that his phone was registering three calls to me, but my phone was not picking them up. Even though we were close, the calls were not coming through. It was just a dead zone for cellular calls. We have to live in the Spirit of God, where we hear His Voice at the slightest whisper at the door of our hearts. Amen. God speaks–but we have to learn to hear Him and receive His Word. It's similar to being tuned in to a particular radio station. You have to get rid of the static and excess noise.
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. (Isaiah 58:11).
God has not given you a spirit of fear–but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. No matter what the enemy is saying to move you to fear–step out and do whatever God has called you to do even if you are afraid. Souls are a stake–time is short.
My prayer is that God's Spirit falls in supernatural revival–to the point there is overflow much like the times of 9.11.2001 where every church was filled to overflow. I ask the LORD to give us all a greater heart for an end time harvest of souls—advancing God's kingdom.
So, no matter what you are walking through, no matter how the enemy is whispering lies in your ears–choose to speak life and believe God. Don't you dare cower down to enemy tactics–no matter how they come. Encourage yourself in the LORD. HE goes before you to make every crooked place straight. Honor HIS WORD and laugh at the devil. Instead of listening to your fears, listen to THE FATHER GOD. Get your praise on…and keep on being a worshipper of the MOST HIGH KING! The Blood of JESUS covers you and clears the way for you to tell the world about Jesus. #telltheworldaboutJesus #trueworshippers#THEKINGOFTHEUNIVERSE #JESUS #LORDGODALMIGHTY#Noplotcanstand #GodfrustratesALLevilplots #divinepurpose
People prepare for weddings, funerals, the arrival of a new baby, college, events, vacation, interviews for a new position, etc., but nobody prepares for cancer. It hits the newborn baby, the toddler, the child, teenager, your sibling, your best friend, adults and elderly. Then, all of a sudden, every moment becomes precious in life. Life is cut short—and people are left with the pain and heartache from that last wrong word, the loss of a loved one, and the emptiness that is left behind long after the funeral. Some are left with fond memories they have built together and peace if they know the person is in Heaven with God through salvation.
Grief is a process—and we must walk through it with God and loved ones. The worst thing any of us can do is to isolate ourselves. That's where the enemy has a field day with the mind…and will attack in all kinds of ways. It is imperative to renew the mind in God's Word and pray in order to recognize the lies of the enemy.
People prepare in great detail for the wedding day—so that every single thing is handled. From properly addressed invitations, to rehearsal dinners, flowers, venue arrangements, to cakes and dresses, "Thank You" notes, etc., —but nobody prepares for affairs, adultery, separation and divorce that destroys whole families.
People plan to build a family. While some couples can't have children—they choose to adopt. People don't plan to destroy their own family. I don't believe for one moment that anyone in their right mind prepares to bring about destruction on purpose.
Sex was created by God for man. He created us to be fruitful and to multiply. God loves family.
Satan twists, thwarts, and threatens all mankind with his lies because he knows his time is short. He cannot create—so he imitates and thwarts to bring about death, despair, discord, disease, division, and destruction—through wrong soul ties. He is the author of confusion!
We live in a time where there is a war on the Truth. Truth always outweighs fact. In the end, Truth—the Word of God—will stand. Lies, deception, wars of words, and corruption in media is at an all-time high BUT GOD'S WORD STANDS FOREVER. He reveals all hidden truth. The Bible says, "The Holy Spirit reveals all hidden truth and shows us things to come." God said it—that settles it!
People have hopes and dreams and plans. God is good. He does good and wants to do good. He is a good Father. He gave us His Son Jesus and His Word to guide us through this life, and to prepare us here on earth for eternity. God has a good plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11). He says, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). The Lord wants us, His creation, to seek Him. He is not hiding out—but we only treasure what we seek. Treasure your destiny enough to step out of drama (devil racing after my assignment). Treasure family and friends. Life is not promised for tomorrow. You only get one life here—so live it pleasing God and glorifying Him by your actions!
Family doesn't simply matter—it is all that matters. There is one family you must make sure you are in before it's too late—that's the FAMILY OF GOD. If you are breathing, it is not too late to call upon the Name of JESUS! Jesus is interceding for us that our faith will not fail. While He is interceding for us, we are given the gift of prayer and power in prayer.
Use your God-given authority today to decree and declare God's Word—His Promises—over your life. Speak life over your family, friends, and bless your enemies. For if they knew the gift of God, if they knew they were blinded by sin, if they knew that all that matters is family and eternity, they would turn from their sin and repent. May I ask you this question: Have you prepared for eternity? Choose to walk in the light!
Pray with me that the eyes of all lost and hurting family, friends, and enemies would be opened and hearts healed NOW IN JESUS' NAME—let there be light. May the eyes of their understanding be enlightened. Let today be the day of salvation. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Now, take time to praise HIM!
GOD'S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed, And Know Your Purpose)…learn how to move from drama to destiny, pain to purpose, a mess to a message, trials to triumph through turning to JESUS CHRIST!
A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days At The Mercy Seat)…the miraculous stories of divine intervention, life and death, God's resurrection power, the power of prayer, the family of God, and how our lives are weaved together like a tapestry by God. This book will give you increased faith to believe God for anything.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)… a must read for all.
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, www.starministriesinc.com and other distributors; also wherever Deborah speaks and ministers.
Who do you love? Who do you live to please? Who is on your mind when you wake up each morning?
Be a God-pleaser! God gave His Son Jesus because of His great love for all mankind. We must be so in love with Jesus that we want all to know Him too. Love your family and friends enough to tell them the Truth of God's Word. God will not change His Word for anyone. Jesus is coming back–and we can't live any old way we like.
In John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me." (NIV).
People may abandon you, many will criticize you, disconnect from you, and run from God when you tell them the Truth–OR they will fall in love with Jesus. People may criticize you and make fun of you because of your relationship with Jesus–but remember, in the end…it will be worth it all.
Truth will offend some people. God's Word and His Truth can be understood by the world around us and in practical ways. Many people deny spiritual truth because it seems easier, but doing things the wrong way still brings about delayed consequences.
People want everything right now—rather than doing life God's way. Do you get so mad when an elevator is full—that you choose to go the roof and jump to your death on the street? I don't think so. You might choose to take the stairs—all seventeen flights—and be worn out at the bottom. Huffing and puffing like a blow fish. People have grown impatient with waiting for anything. Look at what God's Word says in Isaiah 40:31:
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
As Christians, we cannot ignore God's Word…because it may be unpopular or cause division. When a person is confronted with truth, he or she will do one of two things—respond or react. The heart that is tender to God will respond. The tender heart is moved to tears and compassion and obedience. The tough heart may throw a temper-tantrum, a pity-party, disconnect, and deny the Truth. The heart that is tough, bitter, unforgiving, angry and rebellious will react.
We must love people enough to speak the Truth in love—no matter what. Eternity is forever. This life is passing away. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:10-12: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another" (KJV).
Jesus said, "Blessed is he, whoever shall not be offended in Me" (Matthew 11:6).
"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:12-14).
Take time to read all of Matthew 24. Remember, even Truth presented in love will offend some people. We must love people enough to offer them everlasting life in Jesus Christ!
GOD'S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed and Know Your Purpose)… learn how to move from drama to destiny, pain to purpose, a mess to a message, and trials to triumph through turning to Jesus Christ.
A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days At The Mercy Seat)…the amazing ways the Holy Spirit led us will keep you turning the pages and increase your faith to believe God for anything. God raised my husband from death, healed him from two strokes, and walked with us through two open-heart surgeries through 25 days at Mercy Hospital. The way the three stories are divinely linked within and weaved together will give you a newfound hope and spur you to fall in love with Jesus all over again!
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)…a must read for every leader, pastor, and family across the globe. It reads like a devotional and is a great tool of evangelism.
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, www.starministriesinc.com and other distributors. Also available at events, speaking engagements and wherever Deborah ministers the Word of God.


text:
Cookie Policy of Arvum Group Ltd.
What is a cookie?
This site uses cookies. A cookie is a small text-based file given to you by a visited website that helps identify you to that site. Cookies are used to facilitate your visit as you navigate to different pages on a Website or return to the Website at a later time.
Anonymous analytics cookies
Some of the cookies we use are called analytical cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the site when they're using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example by making sure users are finding what they need easily. This information is anonymous (i.e. it cannot be used to identify you and does not contain personal information such as your name and email address) and it is only used for statistical purposes.
Functional cookies
Another type of cookie that we use is called a functional cookie. This type of cookie is used to enhance the usage or individual experience you have on a website. Functional cookies might be used to record any preferences you have made or items you have placed in a shopping cart, however they do not track your internet usage which could be used in turn for selling advertising.
We will never (and will not allow any third party to) use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of visitors to our site. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Neither we nor Google will link an IP address with the identity of a computer user. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any Personally Identifiable Information from any source, unless you explicitly submit that information via a fill-in form on our website.


text:
As a parent, you may rely on the results of a school vision screening or the fact that your child doesn't report any symptoms as an indication he or she does not have a vision problem. However, these are not necessarily reliable ways of determining if a vision problem does exist. Children often will not be aware they are not seeing well. They may think the way they see things is the same way everyone else does, since they do not have anything else to compare it to but their own experiences.
In the first few months of life, infants can only see clearly objects that are 8 to 10 inches from their face. It isn't until 12 to 16 weeks that their eyesight begins to improve, and they start seeing things more clearly from further away. Over the next year, children will develop depth perception, eye-body coordination, eye-hand coordination and the ability to judge distances. It is rare for children to have vision problems at this age.
Detecting Eye and Vision Problems in Children
Most of the time, vision problems are not obvious, and the best way to catch issues early is through vision screenings offered by your pediatrician. Sometimes, though, there are symptoms of eye problems such as infection, cataracts or other issues. Warning signs may include:
- Eye rubbing
- Tearing
- Swelling
- Redness
- Pus
- Crust
- Sensitivity to light
- Bulging or jiggly eyes
- Droopy eyelids
- White, yellow, or gray-white material in the pupil
If your child has any of these symptoms, or their eyes change in any way, or you are worried about their vision, don't wait until they are 3-years old to get their first vision test. If you are concerned, it is always better to be on the safe side by visiting your pediatrician to have them checked.


text:
The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to campaign finance laws limiting how much an individual can give to political campaigns.
The justices on Tuesday decided to hear an appeal from Shaun McCutcheon of Alabama and the Republican National Committee. They are arguing that it's unconstitutional to stop a donor from giving more than $46,200 to political candidates and $70,800 to political committees and PACs.
McCutcheon says he accepts that he can only give $2,500 to a single candidate but says he should be able to give that amount to as many GOP candidates as he wants.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the limits, but the high court decided to review that decision.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.


text:
Follow me on Twitter
Follow @LobShots-
Search LobShots
Recent Posts
Follow me on Twitter
Follow @LobShotsLast Tweets
Twitter Authentication data is incomplete-
Recent Posts
Tag Archives: necessary roughness
LobShots Most Influential Athletes… Taste it, Forbes
I wish it didn't bother me… but this Forbes' Most Influential Athletes list is lodged under my skin. So, I did the only logical thing a sports blogger can do… fix it. I've combined forces with Showman and Mac to … Continue reading
Posted in Baseball, Basketball, Celebrities, Entertainment, Football, Golf, MLB, Movies, NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Sports, Wrestling
Tagged AC Slater, Adam Sandler, angels in the outfield, any given sunday, Arnold, Benny the Jet, billy madison, Chubbs, cuba gooding jr., facts of life, Forbes, freddie prinze jr, Happy Gilmore, jerry macguire, Kathy Ireland, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Costner, michael j. fox, nascar, necessary roughness, Padres, ricky bobby, rod tidwell, ryan dunne, San Diego Padres, Sandlot, Saved by the Bell, Squints, summer catch, talledega nights, Teen Wolf, Tin Cup, willie beaman, WWF
2 Comments


text:
From: Gary Rushworth
Dear Rabbi,My brother-in-law is studying Hebrew at his local college and he and a colleague have concluded that the tetragrammaton (the name comprised of four Hebrew letters) is misinterpreted. They say "Yahweh" is the correct spelling of the Name of G-d, and "Jehovah" is a "trash" word, not worthy of discussion. I was appalled and didn't want to be standing next to him for a while. What, if any thoughts do you have on this?
Neither ya way or his way is the Jewish way. Now before you refuse to stand next to me, let me explain.
According to Jewish teachings and law, one may not pronounce this name phonetically according to the way it's written in Hebrew. The reason for this is because the Name is so holy that merely invoking it can have tremendous effects such that being uttered within the wrong circumstances or in the wrong way can be very harmful, aside from being included in the prohibition of taking G-d's Name in vain.
This is based on the idea that we have access to Holy Names for positive, constructive purposes. G-d created complementary spiritual and physical worlds. Just as man was given the ability to manipulate the physical world, so too he was given the ability to manipulate the spiritual world. Man exerts this influence through the use of holy names of G-d or of angels. However, just as man's influence on the world is dictated and limited by the laws of nature, so too his influence on the spiritual is circumscribed by certain laws and limitations. Therefore, only specific names mentioned in specific circumstances will cause the desired effect, and misuse thereof can be harmful (The Way of G-d 3:2:5-9).
The general way it works is as follows: When a person utters one of G-d's names, it arouses an illumination particular to that name. The illumination is transmitted through the spiritual world until its influence is perceived in the physical realm. An example of this is the verse "In every place that My Name is mentioned, I will come to you and bless you" (Ex. 20:21). Since there are great forces involved behind the scenes, this can only be used by someone who has attained a great closeness and attachment to G-d.
Thus, the legal code establishes: "One is permitted to use holy names because G-d imparted in them strength to accomplish things when used by the righteous. And one who uses them demonstrates the greatness and power of G-d, as long as they are used with holiness and purity for the purpose of sanctifying G-d's name or for the purpose of a great mitzvah. But this is not common in our generations, as a result of our transgressions …since we are unable to act with adequate purity and holiness" (Y.D. 179, Shach 18, from Ateret Zahav).
This is true regarding the various names of G-d in general, and particularly so regarding the tetragrammaton. The Talmudic Sages taught (Kiddushin 71a) that this name, comprised of the Hebrew letters "yud", "hey", "vav" and "hey", is called the "unique name", in that it hides within its mystical meaning an allusion to the deepest aspect of G-d we can comprehend. This is what is meant by the verse "This is my name forever" (Ex. 3:15). It was this unique name that was pronounced only by one person only once a year in only one place: by the High Priest on Yom Kippur in the Holy Temple. Our sources relate that anyone who heard it uttered, miraculously forgot exactly how it was pronounced.
The fact that it was Divinely ordained to be clouded in secrecy is hinted at in the Torah by the verse "This is My Name and this is my remembrance forever" where the Hebrew word for "forever" also connotes "hiddeness", and it was thus explained by the Sages that the Name as written, when spoken, is to be hidden. Meaning that while one writes the Name with the four Hebrew letters mentioned earlier, one pronounces it with the Hebrew letters "alef", "dalet", "nun", "yud" – "Adonoy". In fact, original Jewish teachings take this so seriously that the Talmud declares, "One who pronounces the Name according to the letters with which it is written has no portion in the World to Come" (Sanhedrin 90a).
That being said, of both of your ways, since your brother-in-law's way is closer to the actual pronunciation, ironically it is also the more "incorrect" way to refer to that name of G-d. In this light, your phonetically less-correct way is actually better!


text:
On the NPR Ed Team, I am what you might call the grizzled veteran. I've seen education trends come and go and come again. And go again.
You get the idea.
In years past, around December, my teammates would often pause by my desk and ask: "What do you think we'll be covering next year?"
I've always found this a fun thought exercise, and, at some point, my editor suggested I jot down my answers and share them beyond our cubicles. And so, here are a few predictions for 2018.
A quick reminder, though: I don't have a real crystal ball or a time machine. Just gut instinct, which occasionally fails me.
1. DACA will end
Since 2012, the federal policy known as DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — has protected roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants from deportation. Under DACA, immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children are able to stay, work and get an education. A few months ago, the Trump administration announced it was ending the Obama-era program but left open the possibility that Congress could re-instate it by March 2018.
I predict that conservative lawmakers, fearful of looking weak on immigration in an election year, will let DACA die. The reaction of DACA students, especially the 241,000 enrolled in college, will be swift and furious. And though it is unlikely they would be deported immediately or en masse, most will eventually be forced to quit school and surrender their driver's licenses and work permits.
2. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will step down
This is a leap, I know, but, since her turbulent confirmation, DeVos has had a rough time building trust with educators who question her support of public schools. In 2018, her relationship with state education officials will deteriorate and tip the scales against her.
Politically, DeVos will grow increasingly irrelevant and isolated, and, by the end of 2018, she will decide to pursue her agenda as a private citizen. President Trump will be too preoccupied with mid-term elections to persuade her to stay.
3. Higher education will dominate headlines
The nation is in a student financial aid crisis, which will only get worse in 2018, especially if Republicans' tax overhaul hits college students as hard as some predict. And, though there are no prominent court cases pending, many colleges and universities will revisit the hotly contested issue of race's role in admissions policies.
Also, intense news coverage of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace will spread to campuses, where both have been a problem. The focus will be on the predatory behavior of male faculty and administrators.
4. After years of modest progress, closing the achievement gap between rich and poor, black and white, will hit a wall
With the federal government now scaling back its oversight of public education, vocal critics of the Education Department under President Obama will have a chance to prove that, when it comes to education, locals know best.
But, under the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), efforts to close the achievement gap will suffer. Not only that, one trend will dominate in 2018: the continued segregation of students by race and income and its impact on learning.


text:
Licensing criteria for hospital-based ECE services
Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines hospital-based education and care service as the provision of education or care to 3 or more children under the age of 6 who are receiving hospital care.
ECE services operating from hospital premises that provide education and care to siblings of patients or children of hospital staff or patients are centre-based ECE services, not hospital-based ECE services.
Hospital-based services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.
For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.
The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.2 MB] and printed.
The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.
Search results
Sorry, your search query did not return any results.


text:
Shiflett Brothers
Shiflett Brothers
The Shiflett Brothers, Brandon and Jarrod, have been sculpting in the gaming and statue industry for almost 15 years. From their representations of iconic Marvel Comics characters for Bowen Designs to their more recent original concept sculptures, the brothers have been in love with what they do. They have sculpted statue projects for Moore Creations, ToyBiz, and Dynamic Forces, among many others. Brandon and Jarrod are very excited to be sitting on the Jury for Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.
"The Shiflett Brothers are producing some of this hobbie's most incredible collectibles. The artistry of their work is only surpassed by the unique and energetic style in which they sculpt each of their figures and this gives their work a completely spontaneous and fresh aesthetic. I am very pleased to have some of their exceptional work in my collection."
- Richard Taylor
Effects Designer & Supervisor, The Weta Companies"The Shiflett Brothers are to sculpting what Frank Frazetta is to painting."
- John Howe
Concept Designer, The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy"The talent of the Shiflett Brothers is the strongest of any sculptors in the industry today. I am consistently amazed by the raw power of their work."
- Alex Ross
(Painter of Pretty Pictures) Marvels, Kingdom Come, Earth X"The first time I saw the art of the Shiflett Brothers, I knew I was looking at the work of a couple true masters of the craft. Their incredible imagination, coupled with their scholarly knowledge of anatomy and sense of design makes them among the most respected and respectable artists in their field; I stand in awe of their extraordinary creations."
- Jordu Schell
Lead Characters Designer, James Cameron's Avatar


text:
West Lakeview Neighbors (WLVN) represents the residents of our unique and vibrant area of Chicago.
We are the voice of West Lakeview.
We are proud to be residents in one of the most exciting neighborhoods in Chicago. West Lakeview is home to hundreds of families, a wide array of businesses and a growing number of green spaces.
Our boundaries are: Irving Park (between Ravenswood and Ashland) and Addison (between Ashland and Racine) on the north; Belmont on the south; Racine on the east; and Ravenswood on the west.
West Lakeview Neighbors addresses zoning, traffic, liquor license applications, sidewalk café requests and other issues affecting the neighborhood. We also currently advise and collaborate with the 44th and 47th Ward aldermen on issues affecting our neighborhood and surrounding areas.
If you are already a resident of our great neighborhood, or soon will be, please join us for a meeting and learn how great it feels to have your voice heard!


text:
The Struggle Continues: US vs. Genuine Reforms at the United Nations
January 27, 2012 7:45 am Leave your thoughtsThe country that has long been known to abuse its powers and privileges in the United Nations is now leading a campaign to reform the same organization. While UN reforms are welcomed, if not demanded, by many of its member states, there is little reason to believe the recent US crusade is actually genuine. Rather, it seems a clear attempt to stifle any semblance of democracy in the world's leading international institution.
Most American politicians actually despise the UN. While the Security Council is directed or tamed by the US veto (often to shield the US and its close ally Israel from any criticism), other UN bodies are not as easily intimidated. When the UN education and science agency, UNESCO, accepted Palestine's bid for full membership last October, following a democratic vote by its members, the US could do little do stall the process. Still, it immediately cut funding to the agency (about 20 per cent of its total budget).
The move was devoid of any humanitarian considerations. UNESCO provides vital services to underprivileged communities all over the world, including the US. Yet, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, insisted on sugarcoating what was an entirely injudicious political act. "Today's vote by the member states of UNESCO to admit Palestine as member is regrettable, premature and undermines our shared goal of a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the Middle East," said Nuland (CNN, October 31).
The fact is, there has been much sabre-rattling in the US Congress targeting the UN. The campaign, led by Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, is threatening the UN with all sorts of punishment if the organization does not cease its criticism of Israel and tighten the noose around Iran. Naturally, the UN is not meeting the expectations of Ros-Lehtinen and her peers. It happens to be a body that represents the interests of all its member states. Some US politicians, however, see the world through the distorted logic of former president George W. Bush: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
The late British author and humanitarian doctor Theodore MacDonald showed that the US actually has a love-hate relationship with the UN. In his final book, Preserving the United Nations; Our Best Hope for Mediating Human Rights, MacDonald reveals a strange reality: that the US and its allies labour to undermine the UN, while also using it to further their own military, political and economic objectives. Expectedly, successive US governments had mastered the art of political manipulation at the UN. When successfully co-opted to accommodate US military designs, the UN suddenly becomes true to its mission – per Washington's account, of course. However, when US pressures failed to yield a unified front against Iraq in late 2002, President Bush asked in his first address to the UN, on September 12, 2002: "Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?"
The Bush years were rife with such ultimatums – to the UN and the whole world. However, a similar attitude continues to define the administration of Barack Obama. The US's latest assault on the UN is now happening under the guise of reforms, but no 'reforms' are possible without first creating the needed polarization aimed at pushing for an American agenda. Joe Torsella, the US Deputy Ambassador for Management and Reform of the United Nations, spoke of the latest US efforts at reining in the 47-nation Geneva-based Human Rights Council. "The US will work to forge a new coalition at the UN in New York, a kind of 'credibility caucus' to promote truly competitive elections, rigorous application of membership criteria, and other reforms aimed at keeping the worst offenders on the sidelines," he said (Reuters, Jan 20).
UNHRC is an outspoken critic of human rights violations. As of late, the organization has been particularity vocal regarding the rights violations underway in Syria. It is also very critical of Israel and its one-sided wars and human rights violations in Gaza and the rest of the occupied territories. For years, the US has conspired to undercut, intimidate and silence this criticism.
The Reuters report on the US latest push for the supposed reforms states: "Council members include China, Russia and other countries where rights groups say abuses are commonplace." To offset the seeming inconsistency – between UNHRC mission and its members' records – the US, according to Torsella, wants to "hold Human Rights Council members to the same standard of truly free and fair elections that the UN promotes around the world, and insist on the highest standards of integrity for the Council and all its members." Viewed without context, it is a noble endeavor indeed. However, it becomes a tainted statement when one considers that the US status at the UN has been achieved through the least democratic of all means: a disproportionate political power (the veto) and money (used for arm-twisting).
Attempting to curb and contain the UN, as opposed to punishing and boycotting the international body, is basically what sets Democrats apart from Republicans. Unlike Republicans, "the other side of the debate (mostly Democrats) believes that achieving these reforms requires strong American leadership – and strong leadership is demonstrated by paying dues on time and in full. You can call this side 'constructive engagement,'" wrote Mark Leon Goldberg in the UN Dispatch (January 20). Practically, both approaches are aimed at achieving similar outcomes: realising US policies, rewarding allies and punishing foes – even at the expense of the noble mission once championed by the UN more than 65 years ago.
While the latest push for 'reforms' is being hailed by Washington's media cheerleaders, no honest commentator could possibly believe the US campaign against UNESCO, UNHRC and the UN as a whole represents a genuine democratic endeavor. In fact, the truly urgent reforms required right now are ones that aim at correcting what MacDonald described in his book as the UN's "foundational defects".
MacDonald counseled for immediate addressing of the "issue of permanent membership and the use of the veto". He also recommended the granting of greater power to the General Assembly and eliminating the "imposed use of the US dollar" in mediating UN transitional affairs. MacDonald's guidelines for reforms are comprehensive, and rely on the concept of equality, guided by humanitarian and moral urgencies.
The same can hardly be said of Washington's latest UN intrigues and shady politics.
Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London).
Tags: Global, North AmericaCategorised in: Article
This post was written by Ramzy Baroud


text:
Norman Rockwell's The Rookie has sold for $22.5 million at auction Thursday. The 1957 painting of baseball players in a locker room was sold by Christie's auction house — heady heights for a work that first appeared on a magazine that sold for 15 cents.
Update at 12:50 p.m. The Final Price
While the "hammer price" of the Rockwell painting was $20 million, Christie's says the painting's final price is $22,565,000, reflecting a buyer's premium. We've updated this post to reflect the auction house's final calculation.
Our original post continues:
An image of the painting — its full title is The Rookie (Red Sox Locker Room) -- originally appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. The last time it was sold was in 1986, for $600,000.
The Rookie features real big-league ballplayers and a lanky high school student, Sherman "Scottie" Safford, who's now 75.
"Rockwell paid me $60 for each posing session," Safford, who now lives in Rochester, N.Y., tells The Berkshire Eagle. "I wish I had kept those checks; they might be worth more than that now."
Earlier this month, Safford and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Frank Sullivan, the only two men who posed for the painting who are alive today, visited Boston's Fenway Park to see the framed work.
As the Eagle reports, it was the first time the pair had ever met. Safford and the Red Sox players were photographed separately to give Rockwell images to work from as he created the locker-room scene. (You can check out the reference photos used for the painting at the Norman Rockwell Museum website.)
Here's some background on how the painting came about, from Christie's:
"Rockwell conceived this cover at least 9 months in advance of its publication date on March 2nd, 1957, just in time for the start of spring training for the Red Sox. Over the summer of 1956, he convinced team management to send four players from the starting lineup up to Rockwell's hometown, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, deep in Red Sox country. Pitcher Frank Sullivan, right fielder Jackie Jensen, catcher Sammy White all posed for the painting. Williams was either unable or unwilling to make the trip and Rockwell captured his likeness from his trading card, and other photographs."
Experts had predicted The Rookie would sell for $20 million to $30 million. The record price for a Rockwell painting was set back in December, when "Saying Grace," a work depicting a scene in a restaurant, was auctioned for $46 million.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
< Piro >
"forth, willing minons!"
Wednesday - July 14, 2010
[Piro] - 00:25:51 - [link here]
You may have noticed that Sarah and I have been promoting our latest effort to help out the folks on the Pine Ridge Reservation. In fact, if you follow our Facebook page, you may have noticed quite a bit of promotion. No, we're not trying to practice the sublime art of web-based mind-bending coercion on you. It's just the nature of what this promotion is about: helping an organization win the competition for the Pepsi Refresh Project $250K Grant to build sustainable housing on the rez.
A few years ago we ran several successful fundraisers for the Pine Ridge Reservation and were rather amazed by how generous and supportive MT readers were. This time around, we aren't asking you to donate money to the cause, just a little bit of your attention... every day (until we say stop). What we want to do is exercise the overwhelming might of our Swarming Minions™ to secure the donation someone else's (Pepsi's) money to the cause. Of course, we are benevolent overlords and would never ask a minion to support a cause they don't believe in, but if you feel that this is something you would like to support, we gleefully invite you to join the swarm and vote every day for the cause via this handy portal:
Why every day? I guess it's one way for them to gauge the commitment voters have to their cause. Causes who's supporters don't vote everyday will probably lose to causes who's supporters do. So that's why we've been bugging you about it.
Thank you in advance for your support and your votes. We've already helped them move up in the ranks from #142 to #76, which shows just how much of a difference MT fans can make. This is a cause that both Seraphim and I feel strongly about, so thank you very much for your support and consideration of this cause.


text:
Healing the Inner Critic That Gets you Lost in Love, Money, and Life
Yet straight after my shamanic death, I went through the most painful ego death. AKA a Dark Night of the Soul, and you know what I'm talking about if you've gone through one yourself. Not so pleasant! Many of my Twin Flame clients have gone through their Dark Night after having encountered a Twin Flame Counterfeit, a type of Karmic Soulmate who initiates them into Divine Love and then who suddenly disappears. It's quite excruciating, ego-anhillating, and yet in the end, you come out cleaner, and stronger than ever.
Going through my shamanic death, my Inner Critic went down with my ego (which is still healthy and intact but not in the oppressive way it once was), and my Higher Self finally grounded into my body and 7-chakras so that I could channel the Higher Dimensional energies here into the Third Dimension, the dimension in which we live on Earth. We are currently collectively shifting into the Fourth Dimension and each of us are waking up to this Ascension together.
My Inner Critic no longer holds me back like it did, and I feel like I have a free pass towards shame, guilt, embarrassment and feeling like I'm good enough. I now I put myself out there, and let it all hang out. And I love it! Because I deeply love myself on a soul level. Now I actually enjoy baring my A$$ to the world in hopes that people will join me in the self-love revolution. It's what High-Healed Priestesses do!
But ten years ago, or even three years ago, it wasn't this way… I was an Inner Critic victimy mess. I pretty much had a love-hate relationship with myself on every level of my being:
- Body image (hated my body, my skin, my hair, and my breasts without a bra on)
- Food and binge eating issues (I was addicted to sugar and always roller-coastering back and forth between overeating and over exercising)
- Major poverty issues – my self worth in the money department was like a negative number on a scale of 1-10. I was making a 4-figure salary and had so much shame about it!
- I thought my boyfriend was better than me. He was 3 years older, a mechanical engineer, and an Italian stallion. Somehow I thought that this meant that he was wiser, hotter, smarter, and sexier than I, and that I had to work hard to keep up with him or I'd be unlovable.
- Location. I lived somewhere I dreaded and feared (China) because I followed the stallion to join him and his dream in Shanghai to help boost his career. I was the support role in his life, and meanwhile no one was taking care of me, and it was not an easy place to try to rescue someone! But boy did I love trying to rescue him, as I did with all my boyfriends and lovers in my 20s…
Circa 2004. So, here I am running around in Shanghai China 10 years ago. I used to work on the 35th floor of Jin Mao Tower, which at the time was this new hot icon of Shanghai, the tallest building in the world, at 88 stories (cool number, huh?).
My low-self esteem got me Shanghaied to Shanghai
Getting Shanghaied is a term they used back in the 20s. In San Francisco, they would get sailors drunk and put them on ships to Asia, and they'd arrive in Shanghai finding themselves sobered up by the fact that they had a new culture and country to call home. To this day, they supposedly have a few pubs in San Francisco on the water that have these special back doors that were the doors to Shanghai.
My Italian stallion tricked me too. He promised me that, like him, I'd have a secure $70K salaried job waiting for me there through his family connections. When I arrived with just $2K in savings, they told me to go find an English teaching job for $5/hour at a local elementary school. I'd already been teaching English to Italians for $25/hour a few days a week in Italy and was burnt out on it. In Shanghai, everyone told me I was crazy to come to China then, as the economic bubble had already burst a year beforehand for us foreigners with no tech skills or Mandarin language.
Determined not to starve to death, I networked my little fanny off and found a job through my brother's Princeton alumni network because I have always been a savvy networker despite the fact that I didn't really know how to make money off of it!
I worked at a prestigious American law firm as an editor, but really all I did was play around on the internet and get free lunch. So, I certified myself online as a personal trainer and nutrition consultant and at age 25, opened Spot Fitness my first business! I also became a well-known fitness and nutrition writer within the large expat community, and got to attend speaking gigs and taught group classes.
Yet when I left China at 25, I felt like a huge failure because I hadn't become a financial success, and because my partner got that 70K salary as a mechanical engineer with family connections. Now I look back and I'm like Amanda, that's amazing! You were 24, went to a country where you didn't speak the language, and you carved out your own career and became known in your field within a year and a half!
I know you had a hard time in your life in your earlier years where you did the best you could, and you thought it wasn't good enough. Where you were harsh and criticized parts of yourself that needed nurturing, encouragement, and love rather than the brutal beatings you gave yourself! I want you to go back to those memories and tell yourself how amazing you are. And I want you to forgive yourself for any shortcomings, any dreams that hadn't come true yet. And now, I want you to live out those big dreams for the little parts of yourself that are insecure and need to be shown that they CAN do it! You can! It's in you, but it had to come at the right timing, and through deep self-love. One of my favorite tools I teach women is the FUKKIT tool that helps you get over your perfectionism and resistance to getting boring tasks done:
[fvplayer src='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-toirX4QurU']
Have you ever followed love and gotten lost? Like literally to the wrong side of the planet? I did.
This is a picture of ME circa 2004 AD in China, when I was a very lost goddess remembering who I was. I got "Shanghaied" (look it up) and taken by an Italian lover to Shanghai, China. I was lost and confused and hit all kinds of self-esteem and money issues, hoping that my beloved would save me. But I had to save myself in the end, and it was complicated!
Ironically, I found myself in a land where no one understood me, literally (that language is damn hard!). I was always running out of money and had no cash to get places and it was kinda scary. I once had to use sign language to ask where the lake was and caught a bus not knowing if it was really going to the lake or if I was going somewhere else in China. I set up my own business there, and there were a lot of good things, impressive ways I grew. Yet it was one of the hardest things I could have done at the ripe age of 23-25!
I highly suggest finding yourself first before following some beloved off to the depth of his/her universe. What is YOUR universe, why are you here? What is your soul's calling? What do YOU desire? And create that.
My beloved ended up marrying his Twin Flame in China at the end, 3 months after I left him, and it was a bitter sweet result of our 2-year journey together. The life of a Twin Flame Matchmaker in her 20s!
When you lack self-esteem, you lead a life that reflects this lack. It can get you into big trouble. Slaying my Inner Critic and falling in love with myself as a High-Healed Priestess has reinvented my life. Now I love my body, live in community, travel where it blisses me, work with my Soulmate Clients, and make 6-figures following my passions, and so can you.


text:
Canadian home sales edge up again in September
Ottawa, ON, October 13, 2017 – According to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales in September rose modestly from the previous month but remained down from levels recorded one year ago.
- National home sales rose 2.1% from August to September.
- Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 11% below last September's level.
- The number of newly listed homes rebounded by 4.9% from August to September.
- The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) was up 10.7% year-over-year (y-o-y) in September 2017.
- The national average sale price climbed by 2.8% y-o-y in September.
The number of homes sold via Canadian MLS® Systems edged up 2.1% in September 2017. The small gain builds on an even smaller increase in August, but leaves national home sales almost 12% below the record set in March.
Activity was up between August and September in about half of all local markets, led by Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), London and St. Thomas, and Barrie. In and around the Greater Golden Horseshoe region, some markets posted monthly sales gains while activity in others remained near recent lows or fell further.
Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down 11% in September 2017 compared to the record for the month in 2016. Sales were down from year-ago levels in close to three-quarters of all local markets, led by the GTA and nearby housing markets.
"National sales appear to be stabilizing," said CREA President Andrew Peck. "While encouraging, it's too early to tell if this is the beginning of a longer-term trend. The national result continues to be influenced heavily by trends in Toronto and Vancouver but housing market conditions vary widely across Canada. All real estate is local, and REALTORS® remain your best source for information about sales and listings where you live or might like to."
"Further tightening of federal regulations aimed at cooling housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver risks creating collateral damage in markets elsewhere in Canada," said Gregory Klump, CREA's Chief Economist. "It also jeopardizes Canadian economic growth, which is already showing signs of fading."
The number of newly listed homes rebounded by almost 5% in September following three consecutive monthly declines. The national result was largely the result of a jump in new supply in the GTA.
With new listings up by more than sales in September, the national sales-to-new listings ratio eased to 55.7% compared to 57.2% in August. A national sales-to-new listings ratio of between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with balanced national housing market, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers' and sellers' markets respectively.
That said, this rule of thumb varies among local markets. Considering the degree and duration that current market balance is above or below its long-term average is a more sophisticated way of gauging whether local housing market conditions favour buyers or sellers. (Market balance measures that are within one standard deviation of the long-term average are generally consistent with balanced market conditions).
Based on a comparison of the sales-to-new listings ratio with its long-term average, about two-thirds of all local markets were in balanced market territory in September 2017.
The number of months of inventory is another important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand. It represents how long it would take to liquidate current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
There were 5 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of September 2017, unchanged from August and broadly in line with the long-term average for the measure.
At 2.4 months, the number of months of inventory in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region is up sharply from the all-time low of 0.8 months reached in February and March. However, it remains below the region's long-term average of 3.1 months.
The Aggregate Composite MLS® HPI rose by 10.7% y-o-y in September 2017, representing a further deceleration in y-o-y gains since April.
The deceleration in price gains largely reflects softening price trends in Greater Golden Horseshoe housing markets tracked by the index.
Price gains diminished in September among the ground-level benchmark homes tracked by the index and accelerated slightly for apartment units.
Apartment units again posted the largest y-o-y gains in September (+19.8%), followed by townhouse/row units (+13.5%), one-storey single family homes (+7.9%), and two-storey single family homes (+7.2%).
While price trends continue to vary widely by region, benchmark home prices were up from year-ago levels in all 13 markets tracked by the MLS® HPI – something that has not happened in close to seven years.
After having dipped in the second half of last year, benchmark home prices in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia have recovered and now stand at new highs (Greater Vancouver: +10.9% y-o-y; Fraser Valley: +16.2% y-o-y).
Benchmark home price increases have slowed to about 15% on a y-o-y basis in Victoria, while still running at about 20% elsewhere on Vancouver Island.
Price gains slowed further on a y-o-y basis in Greater Toronto, Oakville-Milton and Guelph; however, prices in those markets remain well above year-ago levels (Greater Toronto: +12.2% y-o-y; Oakville-Milton: +8.8% y-o-y; Guelph: +17.3% y-o-y).
Calgary benchmark prices remained just inside positive territory on a y-o-y basis in September (+0.6%). Meanwhile, home prices accelerated on a y-o-y basis in Regina (+7.7% y-o-y) and turned positive in Saskatoon, posting their first y-o-y gain since mid-2015.
Benchmark home price growth accelerated in Ottawa (+6.2% y-o-y overall, led by a 7.2% increase in one-storey single family home prices), Greater Montreal (+5.1% y-o-y overall, led by an 8.3% increase in prices for townhouse/row units), and Greater Moncton (+5.4% y-o-y overall, led by a 7.2% increase in one-storey single family home prices).
For Ottawa and Greater Montreal, the September 2017 y-o-y price gains were the largest since November 2010 and May 2011 respectively.
The MLS® Home Price Index (MLS® HPI) provides the best way of gauging price trends because average price trends are prone to being strongly distorted by changes in the mix of sales activity from one month to the next.
The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in September 2017 was just over $487,000, up almost 3% from one year ago. The national average price is heavily skewed by sales in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, two of Canada's most active and expensive markets. Excluding these two markets from calculations trims more than $110,000 from the national average price (to just above $374,500).
– 30 –
PLEASE NOTE: The information contained in this news release combines both major market and national sales information from MLS® Systems from the previous month.
CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely divergent neighbourhoods or account for price differential between geographic areas. Statistical information contained in this report includes all housing types.
MLS® Systems are co-operative marketing systems used only by Canada's real estate Boards to ensure maximum exposure of properties listed for sale.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is one of Canada's largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 120,000 REALTORS® working through some 90 real estate Boards and Associations.
Further information can be found at http://crea.ca/statistics.
For more information, please contact:
Pierre Leduc, Media Relations
The Canadian Real Estate Association
Tel.: 613-237-7111 or 613-884-1460


text:
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Water quality of the Mooi River North-West Province : a supporting study for the determination of resource quality objectives
(North-West University (South Africa), 2017)
South Africa, a semi-arid country, is currently facing an increasing water scarcity. Therefore a need exists for the management of water resources. A balance must however exist between the need to protect and maintain our ...


text:
KOSICE, Slovakia — U.S. first lady Jill Biden spent Mother's Day in Slovakia, meeting with Ukrainian mothers who have been displaced by Russia's war and assuring them that the "hearts of the American people" are behind them.
At a bus station in the city of Kosice that is now a 24-hour refugee processing center, Biden found herself in an extended conversation with an emotional Ukrainian woman who said she struggles to explain the war to her three children because she cannot even explain it to herself.
"I cannot explain because I don't know myself and I'm a teacher," Viktoriia Kutocha, who had her arms around her 7-year-old daughter, Yulia, told Biden.
At one point, Kutocha asked "why?" seeming to seek an explanation for Russia's decision to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24.
'It's so hard to understand," the first lady replied.
The 24-hour facility is one of six refugee centers in Slovakia, providing an average of 300 to 350 people daily with food, showers, clothing, emergency on-site accommodations and other services, according to information provided by the White House.
Biden, wearing a flower corsage on her wrist — a Mother's Day gift from President Joe Biden — also dropped in at a Slovakian public school that has taken in displaced students.
Slovakian and Ukrainian moms were brought together at the school for a Mother's Day event while their children made crafts to give them as gifts.
Biden went from table to table meeting the mothers and kids. She told some of the women that she wanted to come "and say the hearts of the American people are with the mothers of Ukraine."
"I just wanted to come and show you our support," she said before departing for the border village of Vysne Nemecke to tour its border processing facility.
Biden is on a four-day visit to Eastern Europe to highlight U.S. support for Ukrainian refugees and for the allied countries, like Romania and Slovakia, that are providing a safe haven for them.
She spent Friday and Saturday in Romania, visiting with U.S. troops and meeting with Ukrainian refugee mothers and children.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday and signalled this won't be the last increase as it continues its battle against high inflation.
The rate hike was in line with what many economists were expecting and brings the bank's key rate target to 3.25 per cent.
In the rate announcement, the Bank of Canada says global inflation remains high because of global supply chain disruptions, the effects of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Domestically, the bank says the economy continues to operate in "excess demand."
The move Wednesday is the fifth consecutive interest rate increase this year, pushing the bank's key rate above the what it calls the "neutral range" between two and three per cent.
The Bank of Canada, along with central banks around the world, has been raising interest rates in an effort to cool sky-high inflation after slashing its key rate to near-zero at the start the pandemic.
The increase will feed into other lending rates, making it more expensive for Canadians and businesses to borrow money.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate was 7.6 per cent in July, easing from 8.1 per cent in June as gas prices fell.
However, the bank says its core measures of inflation, which tend to be less volatile, continues to move up while short-term inflation expectations remain high.
"The longer this continues, the greater the risk that elevated inflation becomes entrenched," the Bank of Canada said in its press release.
Central banks tend to worry when people and businesses expect inflation to remain high because it can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy: businesses set future prices higher, while workers negotiate future wage increases to match up with their expectations of inflation.
While debate has been bubbling about whether this will be the last interest rate hike of the year, the Bank of Canada was clear that more increases may be needed to bring inflation down to its two per cent target.
"Given the outlook for inflation, the governing council still judges that the policy interest rate will need to rise further," the bank said in its announcement.
"As the effects of tighter monetary policy works through the economy, we will be assessing how much higher interest rates need to go to return inflation to target."
The Bank of Canada expects the economy to slow in the second half of this year as global demand weakens and higher interest rates dampen economic activity domestically.
The bank says it is complementing interest rate hikes with the continuation of quantitative tightening.
Feature image: The Bank of Canada is pictured in Ottawa on Tuesday Sept. 6, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick


text:
Please note that the recommended version of Scilab is 2024.1.0. This page might be outdated.
See the recommended documentation of this function
Data Type Conversion
Block Screenshot
This block converts an input signal of real double or integer data type to an integer or real double data type. This block is particularly useful to connect a block which accepts or produces only integer data type with another block which produces or accepts only double data type.
It can be also use to get the least significant half of the input by a downgrade
conversion like int16 to int8. For this use case and if you do not want a type
conversion, you can also use the EXTRACTBITS block
with the Bits to extract
parameter set to
Lower half
For an upgrade conversion of a signed integer to another signed integer, the sign bit is propagated.
When the output is an integer and when overflow occurs the block gives three different forms of results :
A normal non saturated result. By example, if type is int8 and the result is 128, the block output value will be -128.
A saturated result. For the previous example the block output value will be 127
An error message warning the user about the overflow.
The user can select one of these three forms by setting the Do on Overflow field to 0, 1 or 2.
Data types
The block supports the following types :
Input : Scilab's integer and real double data types (Input Type parameter).
Output : Scilab's integer and real double data types (Output Type parameter).
Dialog box
Input Type (1: double, 3:int32, 4:int16, 5:int8, ...)
It indicates the input data type that it can be a double or an integer: Between 1 and 8.
Properties : Type 'vec' of size 1.
Output Type (1: double, 3:int32, 4:int16, 5:int8, ...)
It indicates the output data type that can be a double or an integer: Between 1 and 8.
Properties : Type 'vec' of size 1.
Do on Overflow (0:Nothing, 1:Saturate, 2:Error)
Between 0 and 2. When there are an overflowing, if parameter is equal to :
0 : the result is non saturated.
1 : the result is saturated.
2 : the simulation displays en error message.
Properties : Type 'vec' of size 1.
Default properties
always active: no
direct-feedthrough: yes
zero-crossing: no
mode: no
regular inputs:
- port 1 : size [-1,-2] / type 1
regular outputs:
- port 1 : size [-1,-2] / type 3
number/sizes of activation inputs: 0
number/sizes of activation outputs: 0
continuous-time state: no
discrete-time state: no
object discrete-time state: no
name of computational function: convert
This example shows the sign bit's propagation during a conversion from int8 to int16.
Interfacing function
Computational function
See also
- EXTRACTBITS — Bits Extraction
Report an issue | ||
<< BITSET | Integer palette | DFLIPFLOP >> |


text:
Haircolor Services
Haircolor Services
Thinking about getting your hair colored, but have some concerns? Maybe this is the first time that you'll be getting your hair colored. Rest assured – at a Redken Salon, there are professionals waiting to discuss your hair color choices and make it a fun experience! Here are some tips, before you go.
In Salon Consultation, tell your stylist about yourself: If you tell your stylist about yourself, they'll share their expert opinion! Download and fill out this handy Hair Consultation Survey and bring it with you to the salon. It'll be the perfect starting point in discussing your new look!
Bring your inspiration: Photographs and examples of haircolor you love will help you and your stylist explore your color options—and ensure that you both mean the same thing when you say, ""honey blonde,"" or ""scarlet red."" In need of some inspiration? Visit the Redken Style Gallery.
Know your history: Be prepared to tell your stylist about any prior color services, whether it was highlights last year or a color gloss last month.
Trust Your Stylist: Listen to your stylist's expert opinion. During your haircolor consultation, he or she will consider your desired result, then evaluate your hair's condition and look at your skin tone and coloring in order to create your custom color formulation.
Ask questions: If you hear a haircolor term you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask your stylist for an explanation. Remember to inquire about maintenance—how often you'll need to return to the salon for touchups, and how to best maintain your haircolor at home between visits with Redken haircare products.


text:
San Franciscan soul has traditionally had more of a bluesy flavour than that of its sophisticated cousins from Detroit, Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. The vast immigration of southern African-Americans to the dockyards of the Bay Area during World War II created an audience with an appetite for earthier, rawer sounds, from the R&B and funk of earlier decades to the rap and hip hop of today. That said, during the 1960s and early 1970s there were many classy uptown soul productions from the area, by versatile artists such as Sugar Pie DeSanto, Eddie Foster, Little Stanley, the Ballads, the Whispers, the Natural Four and others. And it would be safe to say that some of the best recordings in that genre, as featured on this disc, were made at Leo Kulka's Golden State Recorders.
A native of Czechoslovakia, Kulka opened up shop in San Francisco in 1965. For a lengthy period he had the only truly Hollywood-style studio in the area, a fact which appealed to local artists as well as arrangers and producers like Rene Hall and Wally Cox, who put the facilities and Kulka's engineering expertise to good use. Kulka also signed many acts himself, either leasing the sides to outside labels like MTA and Acta, or issuing them himself on Golden State and its associated imprint Golden Soul.
In recent years Ace has released several critically-acclaimed volumes of the fine punk and garage groups that Kulka recorded in the mid-1960s-.-with Golden State Soul we examine his many black productions of the same era. Much of this material was not issued originally, but its quality is nevertheless outstanding, and will surely appeal to any soul lover. Personal highlights include the San Francisco TKOs' smooth harmonies on Make Up Your Mind (which our pal Horace has made a hit at his all-niters)-.-the simple but effective I Had A Girl by the pride of Berkeley High School, the Savonics-.-the driving blue-eyed sounds of the Spyders and the Generation, the latter featuring Lydia Pense of Cold Blood-.-and the undeservedly obscure voice of belter Jeanette Jones.
I first met Leo Kulka almost a decade ago and we soon became firm friends: he was an exceptionally warm and generous man. Over the ensuing years, until his recent and untimely passing, Leo spent many hours reminiscing about his time at Golden State Recorders, whilst we pored over his vast tape catalogue (along the way unearthing gems such as the a cappella Variations' demos featured here). The countless vintage musicians I have spoken to who worked with Leo, or recorded at Golden State, all recall him in the fondest light-.-but the greatest testament to Kulka's work and vision is his recorded legacy, which, as evidenced on Golden State Soul, speaks for itself.
By Alec Palao


text:
Being 100 percent responsible is accepting yourself as the person in control of your life. If others are at fault and need to change before further progress is made, then you are at their mercy and they are in control over the positive outcomes or desired results in your life. Agency and responsibility are inseparably connected. You cannot avoid responsibility without also diminishing agency. Mercy and justice are also inseparable. You cannot deny the Lord's justice without also impeding His mercy. Oh, how Satan loves to divide complementary principles and laugh at the resulting devastation!
Messages, experiences and thoughts that add to and strengthen faith in Jesus Christ.


text:
And indeed nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes, "followed the sea" with reverence and affection,than to evoke the great spirit of the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames. The tidal current runs to and fro in its unceasing service crowded with memories of men and ships it had borne to the rest of home or to the battles of the sea. It had known and served all the men of whom the nation is proud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin, knights all, titled and untitled--the great knights-errant of the sea. It had borne all the ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from the "Golden Hind" returning with her round flanks full of treasure . . . to the "Erebus" and "Terror," bound on other conquests--and that never returned. [Joseph Conrad, "Heart of Darkness," Part One, Blackwood's Magazine No. 1,000 (Feb., 1899): 194]
Conrad's attitude towards the great adventure of discovering and sailing through the mysterious North-West Passage of what is now the Canadian Arctic is typically Victorian, although he does not even hint at the scientific aspect of this "knightly quest." For over 400 hundred years, beginning with Elizabethan polar navigator Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1537-83) and the discoverer of Newfoundland, John Cabot, Englishmen had been searching for a fast, direct route to Cathay, Japan, and India; the lure was not geographical knowledge or advancement of Empire per se, but the vast profits to be made from the trade in Eastern commodities, especially spices. As Conrad suggests, Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) was but one of a long line of British famous navigators, in which list we should also place Martin Frobisher (1535-1594), Henry Hudson (1580-1611), James Clark Ross (1800-1882), and Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912), whose feats were collectively celebrated in a series of four "British Polar Explorer" stamps in 1972 by the Royal Mail.
The Northwest Passage by Sir John Everett Millais, RA. This painting, which depicts a retired ship's captain's obsession with the route to Asia, implies an analogy between the Northwest Passage to Asia and death.
Giovanni Caboto (otherwise, John Cabot, 1425-c. 1500), not an Englishman at all, was the first such explorers. In 1497, when the Genoese navigator in the service of Henry VII of England made landfall on the north-eastern coast of North America, he heard reports of people living to the north, the Esquimaux or Eskimo. Mistakenly, Cabot concluded that these were subjects of the Great Khan of Cathay. The discovery that same year by Vasco da Gama of Portugal of a sea-route around Africa to India, and by Fernando Magellan in 1520, sailing in the service of the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, of a southern passage around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, spurred on the English search for the North-West Passage, fraught with the perils of ice and cold though the quest might be. Henry Hudson, who had discovered the New York river that bears his name when sailing for the Dutch, ended his voyages of exploration ignominiously when his men, feeling that their captain had distributed food unfairly when their ship was trapped in the ice over the winter, mutinied rather than continue the search from James Bay. On 23 June, 1611, Hudson, his son, and seven loyal seamen were cast adrift in an open boat, never to be seen again.
In the seventeenth century the enthusiasm of Great Britain for this enterprise waned considerably after half a dozen unsuccessful expeditions backed by Bristol and London merchants between 1612 and 1632, and negative reports by Luke Foxe and Thomas James.
Foxe, having concluded that no passage existed, dined on board James's ship. When his host confidently told him that he was going to the Emperor of Japan, with letters from His Majesty, Foxe famously replied, "Keep it up then, but you are out of the way to Japan, for this is not it."
James chilled British ardour for the search further on his return with his description of the cold. "it would be sometimes so extreme that it was not endurable; no clothes were proof against it; no motion could resist it. It would, moreover, so freeze the hair on our eyelids that we could not see; and I verily believe that it would have stifled a man in a very few hours."
Enthusiasm was rekindled in 1744 when £20,000 was offered by Parliament to anyone discovering a North West Passage. In 1778 Captain Cook, on his last and fatal voyage in the Pacific, sailed north after discovering the Hawaiian group which he named the Sandwich Islands, and passed through the Bering Strait before being turned back by ice. "The season was now so far advanced, and the time when the frost is expected to set in so near at hand, that I did not consider it consistent with prudence to make any further attempts to find a passage into the Atlantic this year". [Robin Tenison-Hanbury]
The best-equipped polar expedition ever assembled in British history was launched by the Admiralty in 1845 under the leadership of Sir John Franklin, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who had been second-in-command of an 1818 abortive voyage into the Spitsbergen Ice, and who the following year had been appointed to map the Arctic coast north of Hudson's Bay. On one or both of those expeditions Franklin's ship may well have carried in its library a copy of Mary Shelley's best-seller Frankenstein, a Gothic novel that makes extensive use of British polar exploration.
Related Materials
- The Franklin Expedition: 1845-1859
- Cannibals on the Northern Ice: Nationalist Ideals, the Big Lie, and the Franklin Expedition
- Monument to the Lost Franklin Expedition, London
- Wilkie Collins's No Name (1862): Charles Dickens, Sheridan's The Rivals, and the Lost Franklin Expedition
Beattie, Owen, and John Geiger. Frozen in Time: Unlocking the Secrets of the Franklin Expedition. Saskatchewan: Western Producer Prairier Books, 1988.
Douglas-Fairhurst, Robert. "Terror to Terror: How heroic lies replaced hideous reality after the Arctic death of Sir John Franklin." Times Literary Supplement. (13 November 2009): 3-4.
Hanbury-Tenison, Robin. "The North West Passage." http://www.travelintelligence.net/wsd/articles/art_1752.html
Neatby, L. H. "Franklin, Sir John." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988. Vol 2: 838.
Marsh, James, and Owen Beattie. "Franklin Search." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988. Vol 2: 839.
Williams, Glynn. Arctic Labryrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage. London: Allan Lane, 2009..
Content last modified 20 November 2010