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Best portable solar chargers for camping UK 2023: keep your USB devices charged while backpacking and camping
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Having a solar panel charger for your devices is a great way to keep your battery and electronic devices charged when out in the wild.
Free energy from the sun is being exploited across the world to produce the power we need to run our everyday lives - there's no reason that can't extend to your electronic devices on a small scale.
It's an efficient, sustainable way to keep connected and plugged into the world around you whilst on the move, and comes in handy if you have maps and other navigation aids on your phone, for example, you need to access when conventional charging isn't available.
What can you use a solar charger for?
These solar panel chargers, as you'd expect, come in all shapes and sizes. We tested examples ranging from large, fold-out devices to more portable, budget-friendly options that look and feel more like what you'd expect from a conventional portable power pack.
Many of them work like trickle chargers you'd most likely find to attach to your car's battery - delivering a smaller amount of power over a long period of time. Other options can connect up to smaller, external power packs to provide charge to then take out and about.
In this article, we'll be taking a look at a range of solar chargers on offer, from larger standing devices to integrated offerings with battery packs attached.
We've also included a couple of budget options that are smaller and offer maximum portability for camping and backpacking adventures.
Suitable for charging USB devices, this panel features a stand at the back allowing it to be propped up to make best use of available sunlight.
We liked its sleek design and rugged build - but it also delivers in the power stakes, offering between 10w and 30w of power a day to charge cameras, phones, tablets and laptop devices.
It's also splash-proof too and offers a straight-forward way to charge your devices out and about.
This option often tops many of the 'best buy' lists and we can see why - we liked the built-in digital ammeter that shows the amount of amps present, and the integrated chip is said to control the level of power delivered to ensure a stable charge.
Its Mini-USB charging port has wide compatibility, but it's worth noting that you may have to purchase additional leads or adapters to charge other devices such as laptops and phones.
This is a durable folding solar option built with 'industrial-strength PET polymer faced solar panels sewn into a rugged polyester canvas'.
In direct sunlight it delivers fast-charging capability and provides enough power to charge two devices at the same time.
This was one of our favourite options, for a mid-range price and well-built, it also offers good travelling potential as it is thin, lightweight and felt especially portable.
If you're looking for a slightly more budget option, that also fits snugly into your travel case, we found this option available on Amazon a good bet for small devices such as your smartphone when travelling and camping.
It features fast charging compatibility and a 26800mAh capacity, claimed to be enough to charge an iPhone XS up to 6-7 times without needing to put it back into the sun.
We liked the durable outer shell too, and for this money wouldn't hesitate to pop in our bag for a weekend camping adventure.
A premium fold out product, this solar charger functions as the perfect travelling companion for more power-hungry devices, such as laptops and tablets.
Once folded out, we liked the included stand which allows you to use your devices while they're charging.
There's a 20V DC Output, or 5V USB ports, allowing numerous devices to charge at the same time.
It's also IPX4 rated, meaning it can withstand splashes of water from any direction whilst the unit is folded up.
Another option from Powertraveller, this is a rugged, off-grid orientated product that for its price packs a punch.
Dual USB or DC power outlets can be used as trickle chargers - or alternatively link it up to Powertraveller's PowerGorilla portable battery charger to store power there for use at a later date.
The tough outer casing and what feels like a strong, durable clamshell design we thought makes it a good option for more rugged adventures.


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April 9, 2023: Easter Sunday: There is an Empty Tomb in Jerusalem: Resurrexi, et Adhuc Tecum, Alleluia!
Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia: posuisti super me manum tuam, alleluia: mirabilis facta est scientia tua, alleluia, alleluia. Domine, probasti me, et cognovisti me: tu cognovisti sessionem mean, et resurrectionem meam.
I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia: Thou has laid Thin hand upon me, alleluia: They knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia. Thou hast searched me, and known Me: Thou knowest my sitting down and my rising up. (Introit, Easter Sunday)
Holy Mother Church calls us on Easter Sunday to give witness to that which we have not seen with our own eyes. Holy Mother Church places in the Mass of Low Sunday the words of Our Lord to Saint Thomas, words which are quite apt for us who have never seen the Resurrected Lord. "You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen Me; happy are those who have not seen Me, but still believe!"
Indeed, the Gospels contain no eyewitness report of the actual event of Our Lord walking out of the tomb in which His lifeless Body had spent forty hours after His Death on the wood of the Holy Cross. The soldiers were asleep when the earthquake occurred and the stone was rolled back, revealing that Our Lord already had risen from the dead, having passed through the boulder as miraculously as He passed through Our Lady's Virginal and Immaculate Womb during His Nativity in Bethlehem. Most of the Apostles were hiding in fright in the Upper Room. Our Lady, to whom tradition teaches us Our Lord appeared first following His Resurrection, was keeping a prayer vigil. Saint Mary Magdalene and the other women were on their way womb to the tomb. No one saw the actual event of the Resurrection.
Of course, Our Lord did rise from the dead. The Resurrection of the God-Man from the dead following his Crucifixion on Good Friday is the central fact of our Catholic Faith. Everything in the entirety of the Church's liturgical life leads up to and proceeds from Easter Sunday. There is, as many a priest has preached on this very day, an empty tomb in Jerusalem.
The Jews and other unbelievers say that the tomb is empty because His disciples stole the body. We who are His followers today say that He got up and walked out of the tomb forty hours after He died on the wood of the Holy Cross. It is either one or the other. If the Jews and other unbelievers are right, then, as Saint Paul noted, we are the most pitiable of men and our Faith is in vain. If Our Lord did indeed rise from the dead on the Third Day, as we know happened, then every aspect of our daily lives must revolve around cooperating with the graces He won for us on Calvary and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces, so that our bodies will get up and arise from their tombs in a glorified state at the Last Day when He comes to judge the living and the dead.
However, Our Lord arranged things so that we would have to put faith in the word of those who saw Him after the Resurrection. He wanted us to see the transformation that would take place in the lives of those eyewitnesses following the descent of the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, upon them and Our Lady in tongues of flame on Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Easter, in the same Upper Room in Jerusalem where He had instituted the Priesthood and the Eucharist at the Last Supper. He wanted to teach us that the graces He won for us on the wood of the Holy Cross–and which are administered to us by Holy Mother Church in the sacraments–are as powerful now as they were immediately after His Resurrection and Ascension to the Father's right hand in glory. The Apostles were willing to run the risk even of physical death to bear witness of the fact of the Resurrection. So must we.
Our Lord's Resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday came after He had spent forty hours in the tomb in His Sacred Humanity. In His Sacred Divinity, though, Our Lord rescued all of the souls of the just from their place of detention, even stretching out his arms to the first Adam, who had made necessary His own death on the Tree of Life on Golgotha that is the Holy Cross. Although the Apostles were frightened and many of the Jews in Jerusalem thought that they had rid themselves of a delusional, self-proclaimed prophet, Our Lord was teaching us even in those forty hours of darkness and waiting.
The forty hours Our Lord's Sacred Humanity spent lifeless in the tomb are supposed to teach us that we need to patient as we wait for the moment of our own Particular Judgments. We need to be patient as we bear the crosses we are asked to bear in our daily lives, as well as in the midst of the Church and in the world. We need to be people of faith, never losing hope in the fact that Our Lord is with us at every moment of our lives, that there is never any cross that is beyond our capacity to bear with perfect equanimity and no semblance of anxiety or doubt. This mortal life of ours is relatively short in comparison with eternity. We need to be patient, to do the work of the Apostles, to be assiduous in prayer and faithful to our total consecration to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Our bodies, too, will rise up out of their tombs incorrupt and glorious on the Last Day if we remain faithful to the point of our dying breaths in a state of Sanctifying Grace.
Our Lord's Resurrection on Easter Sunday was not the resuscitation back to the mere mortal life experienced by Lazarus. No, Our Lord went forth into a new and glorified state that had been experienced by no human being before Him. Our Lord's glorified Body had properties It did not have prior to the Resurrection. The glorified Body of the Divine Redeemer reminds us, therefore, that the bodies of all of the just will have those same properties for all eternity when they are reunited to our souls on the Last Day. The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is not only the symbol of His total triumph over the power of sin an death. It is also a vivid reminder to us of the joy that awaits those who persevere until the end as His faithful disciples, members of the Church He created upon the Rock of Saint Peter, the Pope, an office that cannot be held by one who embraces propositions condemned repeatedly by the Catholic Church and who countenances apostasies as they are uttered within his own earshot, as happened on Good Friday, March 21, 2008, as the nefarious Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M., Cap., dared to speak blasphemous words in front of the man who believed himself to be, albeit falsely, the Vicar of Christ, that was reviewed many years ago now in Masquerade Party. and Recycling Very Old Material at Jorge's Ding Dong School of Apostasy.
Easter Sunday is one of the very proofs of the doctrine of Papal Primacy that is denied by Protestants and the Orthodox alike. Yes, Saint John the Evangelist, who alone among the Apostles was present at the foot of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's Most Holy Cross along with the Blessed Mother and Saint Mary Magdalen and a handful of others, indicated his own deference to the headship of Saint Peter when recounting their visit to the empty tomb on Easter Sunday:
And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre; and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
She ran, therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith to them: They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the sepulchre. And they both ran together, and that other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying; but yet he went not in.
Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen cloths lying. And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped into one place.
Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw, and believed. (John 20: 1-8)
Saint John the Beloved, being much younger than Saint Peter, had outrun the first pope to the empty tomb. Out of respect for the absolute Primacy of the Fisherman, however, Saint John peered into the tomb but did not enter it until after the Supreme Pontiff had arrived and entered it himself, finding that the head piece of Church's Divine Bridegroom, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, had been carefully wrapped up and placed aside. None of the Apostles was loved more by Our Lord than Saint John. He, though, deferred to the Apostle who had denied Our Lord three times, who was not present with him and Our Lady at the foot of the Divine Master's Holy Cross, teaching us humility and respect for the Petrine Office.
Easter Sunday teaches also to have no doubt about any article of the Faith. Saint Thomas the Apostle doubted that Our Lord had Risen from the dead. He wanted to put his fingers into the nail prints on Our Lord's hands and press his hand into Our Lord's Wounded Side. He saw, and believed. We who do not see believe on the word of those saw Him as He rose from the dead. Let us never waver in our Faith. As Saint Paul said:
For whether I, or they, so we preach, and so you have believed. Now if Christ be preached, that he arose again from the dead, how do some among you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God: because we have given testimony against God, that he hath raised up Christ; whom he hath not raised up, if the dead rise not again.
For if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again. And if Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins.Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep:
For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one in his own order: the firstfruits Christ, then they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming.
Afterwards the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have brought to nought all principality, and power, and virtue.For he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet. (1 Cor. 15:11-25)
The purpose of human existence is to know, love and serve God in this life through His true Church so we will live with Him forever in Heaven. It is for this supreme moment of radiating joy that Our Lord came into the world, paying back the debt of our own sins so that we could have life and have it to the fullest. Thus, our old lives of unbelief and self-centeredness must be forever buried in the waters of our baptism. We must put on the new man Who is Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which is why our Godparents were given a white baptismal gown to place on us.
Consider just one parallelism of this glorious day, Easter Sunday, a day so glorious that it is extended into an Octave of celebrations.
The first Adam was placed in a garden, the Garden of Eden. His work was to till the soil, first in Eden before the Fall from Grace without sweat and then to do so in great sweat and toil after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden as the Gates of Heaven were tied shut by his own having stretched out his arm to the wood of a tree to partake of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The second Adam, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, stretched out His arms on the wood of the Tree of Life, that is, the wood of the Holy Cross, to win back for us what was lost by Adam when He partook of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The new Eve, the new Mother of the Living, Our Lady, had untied the knot of Eve's prideful disobedience by her perfect fiat to the Will of the Heavenly Father at the Annunciation. The Gates of Heaven, which had been tied shut as a result of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, were re-opened on Ascension Thursday as a result of the obedience of the new Eve at the Annunciation and the new Adam on the wood of the Holy Cross.
Moreover, the new Adam was supposed to be the gardener when He was seen but not recognized by Saint Mary Magdalen on this very day, Easter Sunday:
But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, thinking it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. (John 20: 11-15.)
The first Adam was a gardener. So is the New Adam, Our Crucified and Resurrected Saviour, who is still at work as the Gardener of our immortal souls, seeking to till them so that they can bear more fruit as the worthy beneficiaries of the seeds that He seeks to bring to fruition in us by means of the graces He won for us on the wood of the Holy Cross by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces. We must rely upon Our Lady's maternal intercession to help Her Divine Son's seeds of Sanctifying Grace purge out the old man with the new life He has won for us by His Death on the wood of the Holy Cross, seeking at the same time to have nothing to do with idolaters, including the idolaters of the counterfeit church of conciliarism who extol false religions and accept images of the idols worshiped by their adherents:
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world.
But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat. For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within?For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves. (1 Cor. 5: 7-13.)
We must understand that we are meant to shine forth always the light of Christ in the world, which is why our Godparents held a lit candle at the moment of our baptism. Easter Sunday teaches us that Our Lord wants us to be transfigured glory for all eternity. And we must understand that every aspect of our daily lives–and of the lives of nations themselves, as Pope Pius XI reminded Catholics in Quas Primas, December 11, 1925, must reflect the reality of the Incarnation, Nativity, Hidden Years, Public Ministry, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Although many people who attend Mass on Easter Sunday will not return until Christmas, we must try to get to Holy Mass as frequently as we can during the week throughout the course of a year so that the old yeast can be purged and replaced with the graces we receive in the Holy Eucharist.
Our Lord first appeared to Our Lady following His Resurrection. He had become incarnate in her Virginal and Immaculate womb by the power of the Holy Ghost. Her Immaculate Heart suffered a communion of perfect love with His Most Sacred Heart. It was to Our Lady, therefore, that Our Lord first appeared so as to present Himself to her in His glorified Body just as she had received Him as a helpless embryo at the moment of the Annunciation. We must rely upon her maternal intercession as the Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces to help us be participants in her Divine Son's Easter victory over sin and death, receiving her Divine Son's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Most Blessed Sacrament in Holy Communion with the same purity, humility, devotion and fervor with which she received the Eucharist prior to her own death and bodily Assumption into Heaven.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great gave us the following lesson to consider about this day, the zenith of Holy Mother Church's entire liturgical year:
Dearly beloved brethren, ye have heard the deed of the holy women which had followed the Lord; how that they brought sweet spices to His sepulchre, and, now that He was dead, having loved Him while He was yet alive, they followed Him with careful tenderness still. But the deed of these holy women doth point to somewhat which must needs be done in the holy Church. And it behoveth us well to give ear to what they did, that we may afterward consider with ourselves what we must do likewise after their example. We also, who believe in Him That was dead, do come to His sepulchre bearing sweet spices, when we seek the Lord with the savour of good living, and the fragrant report of good works. Those women, when they brought their spices, saw a vision of Angels, and, in sooth, those souls whose godly desires do move them to seek the Lord with the savour of good lives, do see the countrymen of our Fatherland which is above.
It behoveth us to mark what this meaneth, that they saw the Angel sitting on the right side. For what signifieth the left, but this life which now is? or the right, but life everlasting? Whence also it is written in the Song of Songs ii. 6: His left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth embrace me. Since, therefore, our Redeemer had passed from the corruption of this life which now is, the Angel which told that His undying life was come, sat, as became him, on the right side. They saw him clothed in a white garment, for he was herald of the joy of this our great solemnity, and the glistering whiteness of his raiment told of the brightness of this holy Festival of ours. Of ours, said I? or of his? But if we will speak the truth, we must acknowledge that it is both his and ours. The Again-rising of our Redeemer is a Festival of gladness for us, for us it biddeth know that we shall not die for ever; and for Angels also it is a festival of gladness, for it biddeth them know that we are called to fulfill their number in heaven.
See this glad Festival then, which is both his and ours, the Angel appeared in white raiment. For as the Lord, rising again from the dead, leadeth us unto the mansions above, He repaireth the breaches of the heavenly Fatherland. But what meaneth this, that the Angel said unto the women which came to the sepulchre: Fear not? Is it not as though he had said openly: Let them fear which love not the coming of the heavenly countrymen; let them be afraid who are so laden by fleshly lusts, that they have lost all hope ever to be joined to their company. But as for you, why fear ye, who, when ye see us, see but your fellow countrymen? Hence also Matthew, writing of the guise of the Angel, saith xxviii. 3: His countenance was like lightning, and His raiment white as snow. The lightning speaketh of fear and great dread, the snow of the soft brilliancy of rejoicing. (Pope Saint Gregory the Great, as found in Matins, The Divine Office, Easter Sunday.)
This is indeed a festival of gladness, a time of rejoicing that last fifty days, which is ten days longer than the strict penitential season of Lent and symbolic of the fact that eternity is without end whereas our life in this passing, mortal vale of tears comes to an end when we least expect. The glories that await the souls of the just are unfathomable, which should inspire us to realize that even the legitimate joys of this world are fleeting and must never be the principal occuption of our Catholic lives.
Father Benedict Baur provided the following reflection on this glorious day whereupon Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's Easter Victory over sin and death was made manifest:
For the celebration of the Easter Mass we accompany the catechumens to the church of St. Mary Major. Mary, to whom this church is dedicated, was bequeathed to redeemed humanity as she stood under the cross on Calvary. After greeting the risen Christ, we congratulate Mary: "Rejoice, O Queen of heaven, alleluia."
Christ rose the dead, and He turns first to His heavenly Father. "I rose up and am still with Thee" (Introit). Thus He casts Himself in devoted and grateful love on the bosom of His Father. "Thou hast laid Thy hand upon Me" through the shame and humiliation I suffered during My passion. Now this same hand is held out to glorify Him and cover Him with splendor; "Thy knowledge is become wonderful" (Introit). Yesterday the humiliation and bitterness of the cross, today the splendor of heavenly glory!
We can have no doubt concerning Christ's resurrection. "The Lord is risen indeed" (Luke 23:34). Heretofore the divinity of Christ appeared only in His miracles; now it shines in its fullness. From Him who yesterday died on the cross, now comes grace, life, and pardon. By the resurrection of Christ, God set the seal of divine approval on all that Christ had taught, on all that He had done, and on the Church which He had established. "This Jesus hath God raised again" (Acts 2:32; 3:13). Every word, then, that He spoke is infallibly true. Therefore men must submit to Christ and accept His commandments without question. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The Resurrection settles all our doubts and makes us inconceivably rich. How wonderfully God glorified Christ in the Resurrection! We must place all our faith in Him and rejoice from the bottom of our heart.
With Christ we, too, have risen. Christ not only redeemed us, the living, from sin: He redeemed also the dead. He "hath raised us up together and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6). Our future is most intimately joined to that of Christ. He is risen; so we, too, must rise. Because we belonged to the race of Adam, we shared death with him. Because we now belong to the new Adam, we shall so share His resurrection to eternal life. "When Christ shall appear appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). "For if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again, your faith is in vain, for you are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and the first fruits of them that sleep. For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But every one is in his own order; the first fruits. Christ, then they they are of Christ" (1 Cor. 15: 16-23).
The lessons of Holy Saturday and the blessing of the baptismal font announce the resurrection of the soul from sin. The entire season of Lent prepared the soul for this rebirth. The Church compares the emergence of the Christian from the baptismal font to the resurrection of Christ from the tomb. In this sense St. Paul declares: "If you be risen with Christ [that is, baptized], seek the things that are above, . . . not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead [to sin], and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col 3:1 ff.). Because you have risen with Christ, "purge out the old leaven [from your soul], that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened [new, reborn]. ….. . Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (Epistle).
"I rose up and am still with Thee" (Introit). After His labors and his humiliations, Christ finds rest with His Father. "I am still with Thee." This perfect beatitude. Through His cross He entered into the possession of eternal glory. Christ has gained the crown of victory; through Christ men also win their crowns of victory. Humanity was under a curse and subject to the wrath of God. Now that they have risen with Christ, their guilt has been destroyed. "I rose up and am still with Thee." The liturgy places these words in the mouth of the Church that she may pray them with Christ.
"The earth trembled and was still when God arose in judgment" (Offertory). The resurrection of Christ is the judgment and condemnation of those who have turned away from God. This judgment was prefigured by the angel who passed through the land of Egypt destroying the first-born of the Egyptians. The Israelites marked the doors of their homes with the blood of the paschal lamb. We are the new Israel, and "Christ our Pasch is sacrificed" (Gradual). We mark ourselves with His blood, which we enjoy in the Holy Eucharist. We have been pardoned, we are saved. we shall live.
"He is risen." The resurrection of Christ is a pledge of our own resurrection. It is the foundation upon which our faith rests. It is the guarantee of our redemption and God's assurance that our sins are forgiven and that we are called to eternal life. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein. Give praise to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Alleluia" (Gradual). "Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. . . . The Lamb redeems the sheep, Christ, the innocent One, hath reconciled sinners to the Father" (Alleluia verse, Sequence). (Father Benedict Baur, The Light of the World, Volume I, pp. 446-448.)
Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B. had stated this same theme nearly a century before his fellow Benedictine, Father Benedict Baur:
He is risen: He is not here! The Corpse, laid by the hands of them that loved their Lord, on the slab that lies in that cave, is risen; and, without removing the stone that closed the entrance, has gone forth, quickened with a life which can never die. No man has helped him. No prophet has stood over the dead Body, bidding it return to life. It is Jesus himself, and by his own power, that has risen. He suffered death, not from necessity, but because he so willed; and again, because he willed, he has delivered himself from its bondage. O Jesus! Thou, that thus mockest death, art the Lord our God! We reverently bend our knee before this empty tomb, which is now for ever sacred, because for a few hours, it was the place of thy abode. Behold the place where they laid him! Behold the winding-sheet and bands, which remain to tell the mystery of thy having been once dead! The angel says to the women: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified! The recollection makes us weep. Yes, it was but the day before yesterday that his Body was carried hither, mangled, wounded, bleeding. Here, in this cave, form which the angel has now rolled back the stone—in this cave, which his presence fills with a more than mid-day brightness—stood the afflicted Mother. It echoed the sobs of them that were at the burial. John and the two disciples, Magdalen and her companions. The sun sank beneath the horizon, and the first day of Jesus' burial began. But the prophet had said: 'In the evening weeping shall have place; and in the morning gladness.' This glorious, happy morning has come. O Jesus! And great indeed is our gladness at seeing that this same sepulchre, whither we followed thee with aching hearts, is now but the trophy of thy victory! Thy precious wounds are healed! It was we that caused them; permit us to kiss them. Thou art now living, more glorious than ever, and immortal. And because we resolved to die to our sins, when thou wast dying in order to expiate them, thou willest that we, too, should live eternally with thee; that thy victory over death should be ours; that death should be for us, as it was for thee, a mere passage to immortality, and should one day give back, uninjured and glorified, these bodies which are to be lent for a while to the tomb. Glory, then, and honour, and love, be to thee, O Jesus! who didst deign not only to die, but to rise again for us! (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year: Volume 7—Paschaltide, Book 1, pp. 146-148.)
Our Lord's Easter victory over the power of sin and eternal death is His pledge to us of the glory that can be ours if only we perserve with the graces He won for us during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross, which is for us the true Tree of Life from which we are fed His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion, until the end of our lives, which can come at any moment.
Saint Gertrude the Great was spoken to by none other than Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ about the glories of this very day, Easter Sunday, and on Easter Thursday:
As St. Gertrude prayed fervently before Matins on the blessed night of the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to her, full of majesty and glory. Then she cast herself at His feet, to adore Him devoutly and humbly, saying, "O glorious Spouse, joy of the Angels, Thou Who hast shown me the favor of choosing me to be Thy Spouse, whom am the least of Thy creatures! I ardently desire Thy glory, and my only friends are those who love Thee; therefore I beseech Thee to pardon the souls of Thy special friends [the footnote speaks of the belief that "this seems to refer to the souls in Purgatory] by the virtue of Thy most glorious Resurrection. And to obtain this grace from Thy goodness, I offer Thee, in union with Thy Passion, all the sufferings which my continual infirmities have cause me." Then Our Lord, having favored her with many caresses, showed her a great multitude of souls who were freed from their pains, saying: "Behold, I have given them to you as a recompense for your rare affection; and through all eternity they will acknowledge that they have been delivered through your prayers, and you will be honored and glorified for it." She replied: "How many are they?" He answered: "This knowledge belongs to God alone." As she feared these souls, though freed from their pains, were not yet admitted to glory, she offered to endure whatever God might please, either in body or soul, to obtain their entrance into that beatitude; and Our Lord, won by her fervor, granted her request immediately.
Some time after, as the Saint suffered most acute pain in her side, she made an inclination before a crucifix; and Our Lord freed her from the pain, and granted the merit of it to these souls, recommending them to make her a return by their prayers.
After this, the Saint impelled by the fervor of her love, presented herself before her Spouse, and said to Him: "O my only Love, as I have nothing which can render me worthy to appear before the King of kings, and as I cannot correspond in any degree to Thy love, all I can do is to give Thee all the life and strength of my body and soul as long as I live, to honor Thy glorious Resurrection." Our Lord replied: "I regard this offering of your love for Me as a royal scepter, which I will bear gloriously before the Most Holy Trinity, and in the sight of all the Saints." To this Gertrude answered: "Although Thy grace has prompted me to make this offering, nevertheless I fear, on account of my own instability, lest I should forget what I have promised Thee." But Our Lord replied: "And what will it matter if you do? For I will not allow what you have once given Me to escape from My hand; but I will always preserve it, as a proof of your love for Me; and whenever you renew your intention, this scepter will be adorned with flowers and precious stones."
When the Alleluia at the Invitatory, the Saint animated all the powers of her body and soul to recite the Matins of the Resurrection with devotion, saying to Our Lord: "Teach me, I beseech Thee, O Master full of sweetness, in what manner I can best praise Thee by the ALLELUIA which is so often repeated on this Feast." Our Lord replied: "You can praise Me by the Alleluia, by uniting it to the praises which the Saints and Angels constantly offer Me in Heaven. You will observe that all of the vowels, except the o, which signifies grief, are found in this word; and that instead of this o, the a is repeated twice. At the first a you will praise me with the Saints for the glorious immortality by which the sufferings of My Humanity and the bitterness of My Passion were rewarded; at the e, praise Me for the sweet and ineffable joys which gladden My eyes in gazing upon the Most Holy Trinity; at the u, unite yourself with the delight which I find in hearing the concerts of praises in honor of the Blessed Trinity which are sung by the Saints and Angels; at the i enjoy the sweet perfumes and odors which I find in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity; at the second a, which is put in place of the o, rejoice that My Humanity, which was formerly passible and mortal, is now filled with the Divine immorality."
After this, as she continued to recite the Matins, she was taught at each Psalm, each Response, and each Lesson, the sense which best corresponded with the solemnity of so great a day, and which best expressed the inconceivable pleasures which a soul enjoys when it is united to God. (The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great, reprinted by TAN Books and Publishers, pp. 377-379.)
On Thursday in Easter week as the Gospel was read which relates how Magdalen "stopped down and looked into the sepulchre and saw two Angels." St. Gertrude said to Our Lord: "Into what sepulchre shall I look to find the consolation of my spirit?" Our Lord then showered her the sacred Wound of His Side, where, instead of two Angels, she heard two things: first, "You shall never be separated from My company"; and secondly, "All your actions are perfectly agreeable to me." She was much surprised at this, and began to consider how it could be, since she thought her actions could not be pleasing to anyone, and saw in them herself such great imperfections, while the Divine light enabled her to discover a thousand faults where others could not see any; but Our Lord said to her: "The good and praiseworthy custom which you have of recommending your actions to Me so frequently, and of placing them in My hands, makes Me correct those which are defective, that they may please Me perfectly and all My celestial court." (The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great, reprinted by TAN Books and Publishers, pp. 383-383.)
The Venerable Mary of Agreda was given the following account of the Resurrection by Our Lady, to whom Our Lord appeared first as He arose in His glorified Body and passed miraculously through stone that sealed His tomb:
755. The divine soul of Christ our Redeemer remained in limbo from half past three of Friday afternoon, until after three of the Sunday morning following. During this hour He returned to the sepulchre as the victorious Prince of the angels and of the saints, whom He had delivered from those nether prisons as spoils of his victory and as an earnest of his glorious triumph over the chastised and prostrate rebels of hell. In the sepulchre were many angels as its guard, venerating the sacred body united to the Divinity. Some of them, obeying the command of their Queen and Mistress, had gathered the relics of the sacred blood shed by her divine Son, the particles of flesh scattered about, the hair torn from his divine face and head, and all else that belonged to the perfection and integrity of his most sacred humanity. On these the Mother of prudence lavished her solicitous care. The angels took charge of these relics, each one filled with joy at being privileged to hold the particles which he was able to secure. Before any change was made, the body of the Redeemer was shown to the holy Fathers in the same wounded, lacerated and disfigured state in which it was left by the cruelty of the Jews. Beholding Him thus disfigured in death, the Patriarchs and Prophets and other saints adored Him and again confessed Him as the incarnate Word, who had truly taken upon Himself our infirmities and sorrows (Is. 53:4) and paid abundantly our debts, satisfying in his innocence and guiltlessness for what we ourselves owed to the justice of the eternal Father. There did our first parents Adam and Eve see the havoc wrought by their disobedience, the priceless remedy it necessitated, and the immense goodness and mercy of the Redeemer. As they felt the effects of his copious Redemption in the glory of their souls, they praised anew the Omnipotent and Saint of saints, who had with such marvelous wisdom wrought such a salvation.
756. Then, in the presence of all those saints, through the ministry of those angels, were united to the sacred body all the relics, which they had gathered, restoring it to its natural perfection and integrity. In the same moment the most holy soul reunited with the body, giving it immortal life and glory. Instead of the winding sheets and the ointments, in which it had been buried, it was clothed with the four gifts of glory, namely: with clearness, impassibility, agility and subtility (Jn. 19:40). These gifts overflowed from the immense glory of the soul of Christ into the sacred body. Although these gifts were due to it as a natural inheritance and participation from the instant of its conception, because from that very moment his soul was glorified and his whole humanity was united to the Divinity; yet they had been suspended in their effects upon the purest body, in order to permit it to remain passible and capable of meriting for us our own glory (Inc.147). In the Resurrection these gifts were justly called into activity in the proper degree corresponding to the glory of his soul and to his union with the Divinity. As the glory of the most holy soul of Christ our Savior is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, it is also impossible entirely to describe in our words or by our examples the glorious gifts of his deified body, for in comparison to its purity, crystal would be obscure. The light inherent and shining forth from his body so far exceeds that of the others, as the day does the night, or as many suns the light of one star; and all the beauty of creatures, if it were joined, would appear ugliness in comparison with his, nothing else being comparable to it in all creation.
757. The excellence of these gifts in the Resurrection was far beyond the glory of his Transfiguration or that manifested on other occasions of the kind mentioned in this history (Inc. 695; Tran. 140, 388ff.), for on these occasions He received it transitorily and for special purposes, while now He received it in plenitude and forever. Through impassibility his body became invincible to all created power, since no power can ever move or change Him. By subtility the gross and earthly matter was so purified that it could now penetrate other matter like a pure spirit. Accordingly He penetrated through the rocks of the sepulchre without removing or displacing them, just as He had issued forth from the womb of his most blessed Mother. Agility so freed Him from the weight and slowness of matter that it exceeded the agility of the immaterial angels, while He himself could move about more quickly than they, as shown in his apparitions to the Apostles and on other occasions. The sacred wounds, which had disfigured his body, now shone forth from his hands and feet and side so refulgent and brilliant that they added a most entrancing beauty and charm. In all this glory and heavenly adornment the Savior now arose from the grave, and in the presence of the Saints and Patriarchs He promised universal resurrection in their own flesh and body to all men, and that they moreover, as an effect of his own Resurrection, should be similarly glorified. As an earnest and as a pledge of the universal resurrection, the Lord commanded the souls of many saints there present to reunite with their bodies and rise up to immortal life. Immediately this divine command was executed, and their bodies arose, as is mentioned by St. Matthew, in anticipation of this mystery (Mt. 27:52). Among them were St. Anne, St. Joseph and St. Joachim, and others of the ancient Fathers and Patriarchs, who had distinguished themselves in the faith and hope of the Incarnation, and had desired and prayed for it with greater earnestness to the Lord. As a reward for their zeal the resurrection and glory of their bodies was now anticipated.
758. O how powerful and wonderful, how victorious and strong, appeared even now this Lion of Juda, the son of David! None ever woke from sleep so quickly as Christ from death (Ps. 3:6). At his imperious voice the dry and scattered bones of the ancient dead were joined together, and the flesh, which had long ago turned to dust, was united to the bones, renewed their former life, and adorned by the gifts of glory communicated to it by the life-restoring soul. In one instant all these saints gathered around their Savior, more refulgent and brilliant than the sun, pure, transparent, beauteous and agile, fit to follow Him everywhere and by their own good fortune they now confirmed the prophecy of Job, that, in our own flesh and with our own eyes, and not with those of others, we shall see our Redeemer for our consolation (Job 19:26). Of all these mysteries the great Queen of heaven was aware and She participated in them from her retreat in the Cenacle. In the same instant in which the most holy soul of Christ entered and gave life to his body the joy of her immaculate soul, which I mentioned in the foregoing chapter as being restrained and, as it were, withheld, overflowed into her immaculate body. And this overflow was so exquisite in its effects that She was transformed from sorrow to joy, from pain to delight, from grief to ineffable jubilation and rest. It happened that just at this time the Evangelist St. John, as he had done on the previous morning (746), stepped in to visit Her and console Her in her bitter solitude, and thus unexpectedly, in the midst of splendor and glory, met Her whom he had before scarcely recognized on account of her overwhelming sorrow. The Apostle now beheld Her with wonder and deepest reverence and concluded that the Lord had risen, since his blessed Mother was thus transfigured with joy.
759. In this new joy and under the divine influences of her supernatural vision the great Lady began to prepare Herself for the visit of the Lord, which was near at hand. While eliciting acts of praise, and in her canticles and prayers, She immediately felt within Her a new kind of jubilation and celestial delight, reaching far beyond the first joy, and corresponding in a wonderful manner to the sorrows and tribulations She had undergone in the Passion, and this new favor was different and much more exalted than the joys overflowing naturally from her soul into her body. Moreover She perceived within Herself another, third and still more different effect, implying new divine favors. Namely She felt infused into her being the heavenly light heralding the advent of beatific vision, which I will not here explain, since I have descanted on it in the first part (Con. 620). I merely add here that the Queen, on this occasion, received these divine influences more abundantly and in a more exalted degree, for now the Passion of Christ had gone before and She had acquired the merits of this Passion. Hence the consolations from the hands of her divine Son corresponded to the multitude of her sorrows.
760. The blessed Mary being thus prepared, Christ our Savior, arisen and glorious, in the company of all the Saints and Patriarchs, made his appearance. The ever humble Queen prostrated Herself upon the ground and adored her divine Son, and the Lord raised Her up and drew Her to Himself. In this contact, which was more intimate than the contact with the humanity and the wounds of the Savior sought by Magdalen (Jn. 20:17), the Virgin Mother participated in an extraordinary favor which She alone, as exempt from sin, could merit. Although it was not the greatest of the favors She attained on this occasion, yet She could not have received it without failing of her faculties, if She had not been previously strengthened by the angels and by the Lord himself. This favor was that the glorious body of the Son so closely united itself to that of his purest Mother that He penetrated into it, or She into his, as when, for instance, a crystal globe takes up within itself the light of the sun and is saturated with the splendor and beauty of its light. In the same way the body of the most holy Mary entered into that of her divine Son by this heavenly embrace; it was, as it were, the portal of her intimate knowledge concerning the glory of the most holy soul and body of her Lord. As a consequence of these favors, constituting higher and higher degrees of ineffable gifts, the spirit of the Virgin Mother rose to the knowledge of the most hidden sacraments. In the midst of them She heard a voice saying to Her: Friend, go up higher (Lk. 14:10). By the power of these words She was entirely transformed and saw the Divinity clearly and intuitively, wherein She found complete, though only temporary, rest and reward for all her sorrows and labors. Silence alone here is proper, since reason and language are entirely inadequate to comprehend or express what passed in the blessed Mary during this beatific vision, the highest She had until then enjoyed. Let us celebrate this day in wonder and praise, with congratulations and loving and humble thanks for what She then merited for us, and for her exaltation and joy.
761. For some hours the heavenly Princess continued to enjoy the essence of God with her divine Son, participating now in his triumph as She had in his torments. Then by similar degrees She again descended from this vision and found Herself in the end reclining on the right arm of the most sacred humanity and regaled in other ways by the right hand of his Divinity (Cant. 2: 6). She held sweetest converse with her Son concerning the mysteries of his Passion and of his glory. In these conferences She was again inebriated with the wine of love and charity, which now She drank unmeasured from the original fount. All that a mere creature can receive was conferred upon the blessed Mary on this occasion; for, according to our way of conceiving such things, the divine equity wished to compensate the injury (thus I must call it, because I cannot find a more proper word) which a Creature so pure and immaculate had undergone in suffering the sorrows and torments of the Passion. For, as I have mentioned many times before (525, etc.), She suffered the same pains as her Son, and now in this mystery She was inundated with a proportionate joy and delight. (The Venerable Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God: Book III: The Transfixion, Chapter XXVI, as taken from New English Edition of The Mystical City of God.)
Important food for prayer and reflection on this glorious day, this day of days in the liturgical year of the Catholic Church, would you not agree?
May we invoke Our Lady's help now and at every moment of our lives so that we can enjoy like pleasures at the General Resurrection of the Living and the Dead on the Last Day. The sorrows of this life will pass away as Our Lady's sorrows passed away upon seeing her Divine Son on this very day, Easter Sunday. We must, however, endure the sorrows of this life to get to the point of our own unending Easter Sunday of glory in Heaven.
Although I know that I sound like the proverbial broken record (or, I suppose nowadays, the frozen DVD or CD), there is nothing that we can experience in this passing, mortal value of tears that is the equal of what one of our least Venial Sins caused Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and that caused His Most Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart to be pierced through and through with those Seven Swords of Sorrow. Suffering was the means by which we were redeemed on the wood of the Holy Cross by Our Divine Redeemer. Suffering is the path by which we we can save our own souls if we persevere to the point of our dying breaths in states of Sanctifying Grace, praying always for the grace of Final Perseverance and to have at all times a perfect contrition for our sins by means of making a perfect Act of Contrition each and every day of our lives.
May Our Lady, who made Easter possible by her fulfillment of the Father's will, pray for us that we will truly believe in the miracle of her Divine Son's Resurrection and thus become proclaim the Alleluia joy of this holy season, making sure that we rely upon her as her Divine Sons's consecrated slaves to lead us and all of our family and friends to partake of the great unending Easter Sunday of glory in Paradise. And may our meditation on the mysteries contained in the Glorious Mysteries of Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary help us to remember that the Cross of her Divine Son is meant to lead us to the point of our our bodily resurrection on the Last Day and to share in eternal happiness in Heaven.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Our Lord has died for us. He has risen from the dead. A season of celebration is now upon us. We must continue, therefore, to carry our crosses with joy and with gratitude in this life in order to know eternal joy in Heaven made possible by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour's Easter Victory over the power of sin and eternal death!
We know that there is an empty tomb in Jerusalem because the God-Man got up and walked out on His own power, and that He wants to lead us through His Holy Church to our own empty tombs at the end of time. He is Risen as He said! Alleluia.
As the Easter Sequence reminds us:
Víctimæ pascháli laudes ímmolent Christiáni. Agnus rédemit oves: Christus ínnocens Patri reconciliávit peccatóres. Mors et vita duéllo conflixére mirándo: dux vitæ mórtuus regnat vivus. Dic nobis, María, quid vidísti in via? Sepúlcrum Christi vivéntis et glóriam vidi resurgéntis. Angélicos testes, sudárium et vestes. Surréxit Christus, spes mea: præcédet vos in Galilaeam. Scimus Christum surrexísse a mórtuis vere: tu nobis, victor Rex, miserére. Amen. Allelúja. |
Christians! to the Paschal Victim offer your thankful praises. The Lamb the sheep redeemeth: Christ, who only is sinless, reconcileth sinners to the Father. Death and life contended in that conflict stupendous: the Prince of Life, who died, deathless reigneth. Speak, Mary, declaring what thou sawest wayfaring. "The tomb of Christ who now liveth: and likewise the glory of the Risen. Bright Angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting. Yea, Christ my hope is arisen: to Galilee He goeth before you." We know that Christ is risen, henceforth ever living: Have mercy, Victor King, pardon giving. Amen. Alleluia. |
A blessed Easter to you all.
The Regina Coeli:
Regina coeli, laetare, alleluia: Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, Alleluia,
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.
Oremus: Deus qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus, ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.
Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen as He said, alleluia. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.
Let us pray: O God, who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has vouchsafed to make glad the whole world: grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Shama dome lamp
Shama dome lamp
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text:
This guide to Arkwood Pond Social is for new users in particular. It concentrates on how to get along, without going too much into details. For specific technical questions (e.g., how to set up a GNU social-instance) please ask in the groups !gnusocial and !sn, or on Arkwood Pond Social's Public Timeline. You may also find technical information at http://federation.skilledtests.com/
The sequence of points follows roughly the frequency of the questions that have been asked by new users.
Other GNU social-/StatusNet-FAQs & -wikis:
http://wiki.gnusocial.de (in German)
Table of contents
- What is Arkwood Pond Social?
- What is GNU social/StatusNet and the Federation?
- How to create an avatar image
- Why can't I find any "Arkwood Pond Social app" in Google Play Store or Apple's AppStore?
- What clients are there for GNU social/StatusNet/Arkwood Pond Social?
- Where is the URL-shortener?
- How to set email preferences
- New Arkwood Pond Social and Classic Arkwood Pond Social
- What are those three Timelines on New Arkwood Pond Social?
- How to manage follower requests
- Can I delete my Arkwood Pond Social account?
- How to connect your Arkwood Pond Social account to your Twitter account
- How to write Direct Messages
- Favorites and Repeats/Requeets
- What does the "My colleagues at Arkwood Pond Social" option do?
- Groups
- Lists
- How to block
- How to follow someone on a remote instance
- How to manage the visibility of your notices
- How to cite conversations or parts of them
- How to follow keywords and hashtags
- Why doesn't my Repeat/Requeet show up on other instances?
What is Arkwood Pond Social? Top
Arkwood Pond Social is one of many GNU social-/StatusNet-instances.
Arkwood Pond Social is a project using the GNU social-/StatusNet-system, combined with a familiar user interface (UI).
The original GNU social-/StatusNet-web UI is available as "Classic Arkwood Pond Social", selectable from your header avatar (upper right).
What is GNU social/StatusNet and the Federation? Top
GNU social/StatusNet is a decentralised microblogging platform.
Users of one instance (or: service) can follow, be followed by, and communicate with users of any other instance.
Other instances are, e.g., loadaverage.org, status.vinilox.eu, micro.fragdev.com, gnusocial.de, indy.im, quitter.no, rainbowdash.net, etc. The current number of microblogging instances using the GNU social/StatusNet software is probably about 50, Arkwood Pond Social is one of them. As they all use the same software (GNU social/StatusNet) and transmission protocol (OStatus), they can talk to each other just like e-mail servers can talk to each other, even though they are independent and run by different companies.
Connections between instances are established by users following each other. Via such followings all these instances can (at least in principle) be joined into one compound structure or network of self-contained instances. This is called the Federation. GNU social/StatusNet is structured in such a way that there needs to be only one following of a user a from instance A to a user b from instance to B to make b visible to everybody in instance A via The Whole Known Network. (See below on the Three Timelines.) The Whole Known Network is the wider network of instances as seen by Arkwood Pond Social. It looks different on, say, loadaverage, because on loadaverage there are different followings to remote instances than on Arkwood Pond Social.
There is no central "unit" the breakdown of which could bring down the whole network. If one instance goes down or the admins start doing things you don't like, you can create your account on another instance. You will still be on the GNU social-network and still be able to communicate with your GNU social-friends. You just need to tell your contacts your new address.
Addresses on GNU social look like this:
Your address is:
If you follow another user, or if the user is on the same instance, you may omit the ...@instance.org part and just use the short address
How to create an avatar image Top
In New Arkwood Pond Social, go to
Your header avatar (upper right) → Edit profile → Camera icon on top of your avatar
Use the + and - buttons to zoom in and out. Crop the image by dragging it with the mouse.
Why can't I find any "Arkwood Pond Social app" in Google Play Store or Apple's AppStore? Top
The network's name is "GNU social" or "StatusNet", so what you want is a GNU social/StatusNet app.
(Remember, Arkwood Pond Social is just one instance of the GNU social- or StatusNet-federation.)
What clients are there for GNU social/StatusNet/Arkwood Pond Social? Top
You can find information on clients and links to downloads here:
http://wiki.gnusocial.de/gnusocial:clients (in German)
Android clients
— Andstatus (currently in active development by @email@example.com)
has great conversation view as hierarchical tree
Image upload and display of image attachments
oversized notices can be opened via web browser
— Mustard 0.3.5c (Android 2.x - current) (many prefer this one, worth trying: GreyBubble theme)
— Mustard 0.4.1 (Android 3.x - current) (a rather experimental new approach with newer look)
— Mustard{MOD} (Android 3.x - current)
All Mustards support geolocation, upload and display of image attachments, display of oversized notices from instances with larger character limit (open as attachment)
— Twidere 2.9.12 (use only this version!)
— Seesmic 1.7.6 (use only this version!) (closed source)
— Zwitscher
— Twydroid (closed source)
A few suitable Android Twitter clients (features like sending Direct Messages or image upload may not work).
iPhone clients
— Neustatus
— Mayo aka Mayonnaise
— Meteoric (payware, buggy)
Windows clients
— Tweetdeck 0.38.2 (closed source) (last version before Twitter took over TweetDeck) is suitable for basic functions.
Download: http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/tweetdeck-0-38-2
Instructions: http://qttr.at/dmm http://qttr.at/dmn
— Qwit (Download: https://code.google.com/p/qwit/)
Twitter clients (features like sending Direct Messages or image upload don't work)
Mac OSX clients
— Tweetdeck 0.38.2 (closed source) Download: http://www.oldversion.com/mac/tweetdeck/ Instructions: see above.
— Adium (Download: https://adium.im/)
GNU/Linux clients
— Choqok
— Hotot (use 0.9.7.32, that's the version that comes with Debian Wheezy)
— Heybuddy
— more: http://federation.skilledtests.com/Statusnet_clients.html
Where is the URL-shortener? Top
In New Arkwood Pond Social:
Links needs to be shortened manually before posting the notice. The "URL ><"-button will shorten any URLs pasted or written into the notice field.
In Classic Arkwood Pond Social:
Links are shortened automatically after the notice is posted. The settings depend on user choices.
Settings → URL
Best use the following settings:
- qttr.at
- URL longer than 30
- Text longer than 139
Screenshot: http://quitter.se/attachment/710078
How to set email preferences Top
In New Arkwood Pond Social go to
Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Email
check accordingly:
— Send me notifications of new subscriptions through email.
— Send me email when someone adds my notice as a favorite.
— Send me email when someone sends me a private message.
— Send me email when someone sends me an "@-reply".
— Allow friends to nudge me and send me an email.
New Arkwood Pond Social and Classic Arkwood Pond Social Top
New Arkwood Pond Social uses the default user interface. It is visually very similiar to other well known commercial microblogging services. Its technical name is "Qvitter". In discussions "Qvitter" and "New Arkwood Pond Social" can mean the same thing, but "Qvitter" mostly refers to the software and "New Arkwood Pond Social" refers to the installation of the Qvitter-software on Arkwood Pond Social.
Classic Arkwood Pond Social is the canonical GNU social-/StatusNet-interface. At the moment some settings and features (e.g., creating a group) have to be done in Classic Arkwood Pond Social as they are not yet fully implemented in New Arkwood Pond Social.
To switch to Classic Arkwood Pond Social go to
Your header avatar (upper right) → Classic Arkwood Pond Social
What are those three Timelines on New Arkwood Pond Social? Top
There are three timelines that show differerent notices (depending on the sources):
Timeline ("Home"):
all notices from the people you follow (not just the ones they send to people you happen to follow as well).
Public Timeline:
all notices posted by Arkwood Pond Social accounts.
The Whole Known Network:
not only all notices of the Public Timeline but also those of all people on other ("remote") instances of the GNU social-/StatusNet-federation followed by at least one Arkwood Pond Social user (i.e., accounts known to Arkwood Pond Social, see above What is the Federation?).
How to manage follower requests Top
In general, you will want to stick with the default settings:
yes to "let anyone follow me" (1)
no to "Make updates visible only to my followers"
If you really want to change these settings in New Arkwood Pond Social go to:
Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Profile
(1): Change to "Ask me first" and you will receive e-mail notifications when someone wants to follow you. It leaves the subscription request pending until you either confirm or reject it. (But this does not work in New Arkwood Pond Social yet, so be careful with this setting.)
Can I delete my Arkwood Pond Social account? Top
You can delete your account, but all your notices will be deleted on Arkwood Pond Social as well – and this will break conversation threads. If you restore your account on another instance, it's better to rename your Arkwood Pond Social account to something like MyNickhasmovedtoFragdev instead of deleting it.
To delete your account go to:
Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Profile → Delete account (right column)
How to connect your Arkwood Pond Social account to your Twitter account Top
You can forward your notices to Twitter.
In New Arkwood Pond Social:
Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Twitter
You are forwarded to Twitter and have to authorise Arkwood Pond Social to use your Twitter account.
How to write Direct Messages Top
Direct Messages are only supported in Classic Arkwood Pond Social at the time of writing (Messages in the left menu).
Your header avatar (upper right) → Classic Arkwood Pond Social → Messages (left column)
You can use apps like Mustard and Mayo to send DMs.
- Direct Messaging only works within the same instance (Arkwood Pond Social in this case)
- to send DMs you need to mutually follow each other
Favorites and Repeats/Requeets Top
In all the three timelines you can click on a notice to expand it and see who has favored or repeated it.
(You can setup Email Notifications to notify you when your notices have been fav'ed.)
Favs and Repeats/Requeets look like this in New Arkwood Pond Social: http://qttr.at/du6 and like this in Classic Arkwood Pond Social: http://qttr.at/du5
What does the "My colleagues at Arkwood Pond Social" option do? Top
In Classic Arkwood Pond Social, there is an option to post to "My colleagues at Arkwood Pond Social". This will stop the notice from "federating". It will only be visible to your followers on Arkwood Pond Social.
Groups Top
Public Groups
On Arkwood Pond Social you can create a group for nearly any topic, like Feminism, Football, FreeBSD. ("Nearly" because the laws in the country hosting the website may prohibit such things as slander and hate speech.)
You can be a member of as many groups as you like. As group-member you can post to the whole group by attaching ! to the group name, e.g., !feminism, in the notice. All group members, whether or not they follow you, will get the notice in their Home Timelines. You follow and unfollow a group like you follow and unfollow a person.
A list of groups hosted on Arkwood Pond Social can be found here:
A list of groups hosted also on remote instances can be found here:
To create a group go to:
https://social.arkwoodpond.info/groups → Create new group
Private Groups
An admin of a group has the option to declare it private. This means:
1) new members must be approved by the admin(s), and
2) all notices are forced to be private.
That is, notices in the group are only visible to group members (they don't appear in the Public Timeline), and it is not possible for users of other instances to be members of a private group on Arkwood Pond Social.
Lists Top
Lists are available only in Classic Arkwood Pond Social. Due to feature merges in GNU social they do work but are a bit messy to manage and delete.
Creating lists
The main hurdle with lists on Arkwood Pond Social is to create a new one. After its creation, you can manage it and add people from Arkwood Pond Social as well as from remote instances on its newly created page (see below).
To start a list in Classic Arkwood Pond Social you best proceed by browsing through the subscription lists of someone who has an account on Arkwood Pond Social, not on a remote instance. In the latter case you will not be able to add people from their subscription lists to your list, i.e, create a list at all.
In both subscription lists you'll find beneath each person listed a tiny box with an edit-symbol. As they show up in these lists, it's no longer problematic whether they have their account on Arkwood Pond Social or on a remote instance. Click on that symbol and type in the name of your list. You'll receive an error message, but don't mind, just click "ok" and refresh the page. The list has been successfully created and is now shown in the left hand side column.
Managing lists
To manage your list, go to your page in Classic Arkwood Pond Social and open the list by clicking on its name in the left column. On its page, click "Edit" and a menu opens.
In the section "Add or remove people" below you can now search every person known to Arkwood Pond Social from the whole known network (see above What is the Federation?) by name and add her to your list. (Which isn't possible prior to the creation of the list when the person appears only in subscription lists of people on remote instances. See above.) Likewise you can remove the person from the list here.
In the upper section you can reword the list's name and give it a description that is displayed on the list's page. With the option "private" you can make the list invisible to other people on Arkwood Pond Social.
Deleting lists
To delete your lists, go to their directory, choose one, click "Edit", tick the box "Private", then click "Save". You'll get the option:
"Setting a public tag as private will permanently remove all the existing subscriptions to it. Do you still want to continue?" Yes / No
Click "Yes". You return to the Edit-page of the list. Now click "Delete". You'll get the option:
"Deleting this tag will permanantly remove all its subscription and membership records. Do you still want to continue?" Yes / No
Click "Yes" and you're forwarded to your Home timeline. Click your Profile, and the list is gone and neither to be found in your directory of lists.
How to block Top
To block a Arkwood Pond Social user, go to their profile in Classic Arkwood Pond Social
and click "block" below their profile desription
We don't recommend blocking people from remote instances as there are still issues with this feature.
How to follow someone on a remote instance Top
In New Arkwood Pond Social:
When you click a remote nickname in New Arkwood Pond Social you are brought to a small profile window showing the full remote address, e.g., @firstname.lastname@example.com. Click the button "Follow". That should be all.
In Classic Arkwood Pond Social:
In Classic Arkwood Pond Social you're forwarded to the remote instance's user profile (which may differ in layout and theme from Classic Arkwood Pond Social). Look for the Subscribe-button (usually in the upper right). A subscription box opens and you are prompted to enter your own "webfinger address", i.e., {firstname.lastname@example.com Subscribe and you are redirected to your Classic Arkwood Pond Social page where you have to confirm the subscription.
If you know the nickname and the name of the remote instance, you can initiate remote following by visisting https://social.arkwoodpond.info//main/ostatussub.
How to manage the visibility of your notices Top
There are several ways to make notices visible only to selected people, not to the public. None of them work in New Arkwood Pond Social yet.
All four methods only work within the same instance. Users outside Arkwood Pond Social won't be able to see the notice.
a. Direct Messages → The notice will be visible only to its recipient in his DM inbox (there are no Direct Messages to more than one person).
b. Set your account to "Make updates visible only to my followers" and "Ask me first if someone wants to follow me" in
Settings → Profile → Subscription policy (below)
c. Post to a private group of which you are a member → The post will only be visible to the group members (see above under Groups).
(Note to c: You can use any client to post to a private group by using the !group-tag.)
d. Post to a public group and close the lock on the right of the drop-down menu beneath the message field. The post will then only be visible to the group members. (Although at the time of writing, this does not work. The post will be visible to everyone.)
(Note to d: Make sure you don't leave "Everyone" or "My Colleagues at Arkwood Pond Social" selected, otherwise your post will go to the timelines of every Arkwood Pond Social user, which is not what you want if you close the lock)
(Note to d: The lock method is only available in Classic Arkwood Pond Social. There is no lock feature in New Arkwood Pond Social or any other known client at the time of writing.)
How to cite conversations or parts of them Top
Sometimes in a blog-post or email, you don't want to cite just one notice but a whole conversation. Each notice, each reply, and each conversation has its own URL, and the ways to find them differ slightly in Classic Arkwood Pond Social and in New Arkwood Pond Social.
New Arkwood Pond Social:
In New Arkwood Pond Social click on the time stamp of a notice (or "details" if you have expanded it). This will show the notice page with the conversation expanded.
Classic Arkwood Pond Social:
Click on the the time stamp of any notice. The notice will reappear on a separate page. Click "in context". The whole conversation that this notice is involved in will be displayed on a new page, with the selected notice either on the top or further down.
How to follow keywords and hashtags Top
Similar to following persons or groups you can subscribe to (or follow) hashtags and search words. Notices containing them will then appear in your Home timeline.
Following search words and hashtags is not limited to notices from accounts on Arkwood Pond Social but covers notices from remote instances as well.
To follow hashtags (# + ...) put the word with the hashtag-symbol # prefixed into the search box of Classic Arkwood Pond Social and press Enter. You'll arrive at the search result page. Similiar, to subscribe to search words, put them without hashtag-symbol into the search box. You'll get a much larger list because the search not only covers individual words but also looks for occurrences of the phrase inside larger phrases. To follow (or: subscribe to) both hashtags and search words, click on the tiny "Subscribe"-button in the upper right corner of the lists. You'll then receive the notices containing them in your Home Timeline.
Following one word often yields too many results, so it is expedient to combine words and follow them as complete phrases.
You can unfollow those notices by unfollowing the hashtags and search phrases.
For an overview which phrases you follow, enter the URLs for
hashtags: https://social.arkwoodpond.info/{nickname}/tag-subscriptions
search words and phrases: https://social.arkwoodpond.info/{nickname}/search-subscriptions
On those pages you can manage your subscriptions, that is, add more phrases and hashtags or unfollow them.
Why doesn't my Repeat/Requeet show up on other instances? Top
In the latest versions of GNU social, repeats/requeets do not get sent to your followers on other instances. This was possible some time ago in StatusNet, but this feature has been removed due to a security issue. GNU social developers are working on a solution. In the meantime, if you really want your Repeat/Requeet to federate, you can always do a "manual repeat", i.e., write RQ @username, and then copy-paste the notice.
Thanks to @simsa0 and @mcscx for their work on this FAQ. Any errors are due to bad editing by @hannes2peer.


text:
Garage Door Repair Zion, IL 60099
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Trying to find a garage door repair company that offers high-quality results and affordable pricing can seem like a daunting task. Sure, you can search online for "garage door repair near me" and you're sure to find a long list of options to choose from, but unfortunately, a lot of companies offer sub-par services or charge insanely high rates. The good news is, if you're looking for Zion garage door repair company that is affordable and reliable, you've come to the right place!
At US Garage Door Repair, we don't think that you should have to sacrifice quality to keep garage repair costs down. Our team of professionally trained and highly skilled experts is committed to providing exceptional results at prices that won't break the budget, and that's why we're one Zion, IL garage door repair company that Lake County residents and business owners trust most.
Garage Door Experts Zion, IL
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As a full-service garage door repair company, at US Garage Door Repair, we can repair any type of garage door problem you may be experiencing. The following is an overview of the services we provide:
We also offer garage door installation services, as well as inspections and general maintenance near Zion, IL. No matter what type of service you need for your residential or commercial garage door, you can count on US Garage Door Repair to deliver high-quality, fast, and efficient results, and affordable pricing.
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Garage doors provide great convenience, but they can also be very dangerous. They are very heavy and should they collapse, their weight can cause serious injuries, which is why it's imperative to ensure your garage door is operating properly. The experts at US Garage Door Repair will thoroughly inspect all the moving parts of your garage door, including the cables, rollers, tracks, and panels. We'll let you know what types of problems we find and any potential issues that could arise in the future. Using the most advanced strategies and state-of-the-art equipment, we'll perform the necessary repairs to ensure that your Lake County garage door is functioning properly and safely.
For Reliable, Efficient, and Affordable Zion, IL Garage Door Repair, Contact US Garage Door Repair
When you're looking for garage door repair near me, get in touch with US Garage Door Repair. Years of experience and a track record of delivering outstanding quality, coupled with affordable pricing, have allowed us to earn a reputation for excellence in garage door repairs in Lake County. In fact, we're the first company that the residents and business owners contact when their garage doors are in need of maintenance or repairs.
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The cost of garage door opener repair can also be higher than that of replacement. Since buying a new garage door opener will cost you less anyway, it's best to purchase one that is also of higher quality and will work better.
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text:
Special publications are occasionally prepared for JASNA's Annual General Meetings. We are pleased to make those works available to a worldwide readership.
A Commonplace Book for Fanny Price
Elaine Bander, edited by Susan Allen Ford
2014 AGM, Montréal
"The Beautifull Cassandra: The Pictures, The Music, The Dance"
Illustrations by Juliet McMaster, music by Joanne Forman, choreography by Amber Vasquez
2008 AGM, Chicago
JASNA members imagine letters written by Austen characters and by Jane Austen.
2005 AGM, Milwaukee
Diana Birchall, with illustrations by Juliet McMaster
1999 AGM, Colorado Springs
June Menzies, with illustrations by Juliet McMaster
1993 AGM, Lake Louise


text:
A fresh take on drying racks.
From bottles to pacifiers, GRASS holds all your baby accessories as they air dry on the flexible blades that resemble real grass. Water drains into the lower tray, where it's completely contained. And it's got a sweet, natural presence, like a meadow full of baby deer. Only smaller. And without the deer.


text:
Garden Design in Wheaton
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Call NowUpgrade Your Garden and Curb Appeal
What is curb appeal? It's the indescribable quality that makes one fine home stand out from the rest on the block. A beautiful front garden filled with your favorite flowers, a rock path or even a water feature can be just what you need to make your home pop. Putting all those pieces together in a cohesive way can be difficult, but that's why Novell Landscape Service is here. Tell us your design dreams and we'll make it happen.
Make Your Back Yard an Oasis with a Professional Garden Design Service
Do you feel like you're taking full advantage of your backyard? It's time to have the outdoor grilling space you've always wanted and the fire pit too! What are some common backyard features?
- Rock paths
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- Bar area
- Fish ponds
- Covered seating
What Are the Steps in a Garden Design Process?
At Novell Landscape Service, we understand every client has unique taste from home décor to outdoor style. We make an effort to cater to your needs while adhering to a proven garden design process. Here are the four major steps to our method:
- Consultation: Our initial consultation will begin with a discussion regarding your personal design goals, your must-haves, relevant challenges and your ideal budget.
- Design Master Plan: Once our design team understands what you want and need, we will start putting together the design master plan. After you've approved the plan, we'll move forward.
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As we've said, each client is different, but we always strive to meet the same high standards of customer satisfaction and excellent designs. With every project, we strive to:
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Are you ready to get your Wheaton garden project started? Give us a quick phone call to set up your professional consultation today. We'll also be happy to answer any questions you might have about the design process or what's possible for your garden. Don't hesitate to get started with your perfect garden.


text:
Most of the objects we see are colored by pigments, but using pigments has disadvantages: such colors can fade, industrial pigments are often toxic, and certain color effects are impossible to achieve. The natural world, however, also exhibits structural coloration, where the microstructure of an object causes various colors to appear. Peacock feathers, for instance, are pigmented brown, but—because of long hollows within the feathers—reflect the gorgeous, iridescent blues and greens we see and admire. Recent advances in technology have made it practical to fabricate the kind of nanostructures that result in structural coloration, and computer scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have now created a computational tool that automatically creates 3-D-print templates for nanostructures that correspond to user-defined colors. Their work demonstrates the great potential for structural coloring in industry, and opens up possibilities for non-experts to create their own designs. This project will be presented at this year's top computer graphics conference, SIGGRAPH 2018, by first author and IST Austria postdoc Thomas Auzinger.
The changing colors of a chameleon and the iridescent blues and greens of the morpho butterfly, among many others in nature, are the result of structural coloration, where nanostructures cause interference effects in light, resulting in a variety of colors when viewed macroscopically. Structural coloration has certain advantages over coloring with pigments (where particular wavelengths are absorbed), but until recently, the limits of technology meant fabricating such nanostructures required highly specialized methods. New "direct laser writing" set-ups, however, cost about as much as a high-quality industrial 3-D printer, and allow for printing at the scale of hundreds of nanometers (100 – 1000 times thinner than a human hair), opening up possibilities for scientists to experiment with structural coloration.
So far, scientists have primarily experimented with nanostructures that they had observed in nature, or with simple, regular nanostructural designs (e.g. row after row of pillars). Thomas Auzinger and Bernd Bickel of IST Austria, together with Wolfgang Heidrich of KAUST, however, took an innovative new approach that differs in several key ways. First, they solve the inverse design task: the user enters the color they want to replicate, and then the computer creates a nanostructure pattern that gives that color, rather than attempting to reproduce structures found in nature. Moreover, "our design tool is completely automatic," says Thomas Auzinger. "No extra effort is required on the part of the user."
Second, the nanostructures in the template do not follow a particular pattern or have a regular structure; they appear to be randomly composed—a radical break from previous methods, but one with many advantages. "When looking at the template produced by the computer I cannot tell by the structure alone if I see a pattern for blue or red or green," explains Auzinger. "But that means the computer is finding solutions that we, as humans, could not. This free-form structure is extremely powerful: it allows for greater flexibility and opens up possibilities for additional coloring effects." For instance, their design tool can be used to print a square that appears red from one angle, and blue from another (known as directional coloring).
Finally, previous efforts have also stumbled when it came to actual fabrication: the designs were often impossible to print. The new design tool, however, guarantees that the user will end up with a printable template, which makes it extremely useful for the future development of structural coloration in industry. "The design tool can be used to prototype new colors and other tools, as well as to find interesting structures that could be produced industrially," adds Auzinger. Initial tests of the design tool have already yielded successful results. "It's amazing to see something composed entirely of clear materials appear colored, simply because of structures invisible to the human eye," says Bernd Bickel, professor at IST Austria. "We're eager to experiment with additional materials, to expand the range of effects we can achieve."
"It's particularly exciting to witness the growing role of computational tools in fabrication," concludes Auzinger, "and even more exciting to see the expansion of 'computer graphics' to encompass physical as well as virtual images."
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)


text:
Guiding 7 undergraduate thesis projects - it was a big challenge. I was not sure if I could do it. So far in my so called career as a part time teacher, I had helped post grad students who are marginally more serious. In my own college days, I was a truant myself, how could I even expect these children to be any different?
So began the journey. The industry has evolved, and so has the way Architecture is taught : Modern practices, thought processes and materials. Lot was to be learnt by my own self, shedding apprehensions. There were senior professionals around - and as they taught, they had an additional student in me.
All said and done, working with the seven students in my group was a experience in itself. Let us start from the left. The young lady in white is Apoorva. She may look all so studious with her spectacles, but she is exactly the opposite. She'd refuse to work beyond what she thinks is right. But she can spot her errors fast and can make up statements to cover them during her presentation.
The guy with dishevelled hair and beard is Ankit. He had a very ambitious project, and the biggest problem with him is that his interests lie in far too many places. I had a hard time dragging his attention back to academics, and am glad that he could do justice to his thesis at the end.
The smiling boy behind Shivani in a blue shirt with white collars is Deepanshu. And is he a brat? You can make out from his mischievous grin. He'd miss discussions and bug you, but you just cannot scold him for when he comes, there is significant progress in his work.
The lady in pink on my right is Bhavya. She is quite a doll, and obedient. We had initial hiccups together, but afterwards, her enthusiasm surprised me.
Last but not the least, on the extreme right is Sahil. He is everything he does not appear to be, and is not anything what you may think of him. He is a hardworking guy and working with him was good fun.
At the end of the semester, my students gave me a showpiece as a "Thank You" gift, which is their custom. Although I felt it was quite unnecessary, I was touched by what the card said:
What more can a Teacher ask for?


text:
If you've been invited for cervical screening, we hope you'll choose to have it.
Cervical screening saves lives because it allows us to find changes in the cervix before they develop into something more serious and before you may have symptoms. It tests for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is the most common cause of cervical cancer. The test is free, takes around five minutes and is offered to women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 64.


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