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Messerschmitt Me-109 Collection - $$12.95
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was designed by Willy Messerschmitt in the early 1930s. It was one of the first true modern fighters of the era, including such features as an all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear. The Bf 109 was produced in greater quantities than any other fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 units produced up to April 1945. 12 versions as of 11/10
German ME-109 Messerschmitt WWII Fighter
You have arrived at the Messerschmitt-Me-109 Collection page which is similar to the Single Me-109 page. There are 10 Me-109 versions in this Collection as of 8/09 with more to come no doubt.
Herr Willy Messerschmitt really outdid himself with the Bf109. This incredible machine was not only a great flyer, it was a masterpiece of engineering designed to be produced quickly and cheaply by the thousands. It ruled the skies until the later versions of the Spitfire came along. Over 33,000 109 units.were built?! and about 75 are still around.
Model makes up nicely as John shows us. There are 5 versions in the Me-109 folder along with a B-W version.. |
I have attached images (above) of my Me-109 with a few custom extras added including the following *Balsa wood carved Fuel Drop tank located under the wheels. P.s im currently working on my second model as that me 109 was a beginner practice but i am currently working on the F84 Thunder Streak and i am adding in several added features to this one including LED lighting throughout and a fully visible cockpit and a payload of weapons plus a fully detailed engine that fits into the plane. From Richard Whittingham :) |
For 25 years the Bf 109 was in production somewhere in the world. It served the Luftwaffe for eight years, production during the years 1936-45 accounting for nearly two-thirds of Germany's entire output of single-seat fighters; and exported or license-built versions equipped the air forces of nearly a dozen other nations.
The total number built was well in excess of 33,000. Designed by the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG in 1933 around Germany's most powerful aero-engine of the time, the 610hp Junkers Jumo 210A, the Bf 109 VI first prototype (D-IABI) actually made its first flight, on 28 May 1935, using a 695hp Rolls-Royce Kestrel V.
It served the Luftwaffe for eight years, production during the years 1936-45 accounting for nearly two-thirds of Germany's entire output of single-seat fighters; and exported or licence-built versions equipped the air forces of nearly a dozen other nations. The total number built was well in excess of 33,000.
are just a couple of the versions included in the Me-109 Folder (10 versions as of 7/09) |
ME-109 Messerschmitt WWII Fighter
MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109: The German Luftwaffe flew numerous models of the 109 from 1936 to 1945. More 109s were built (about 35,000), than any other single-engine fighter in history. There was, in fact, nothing mysterious about the Bf-109. It was simply a well conceived, soundly-designed fighter that stayed in the forefront of fighters for three quarters of a decade. The first 109 made its first flight in September 1935 and by the beginning of WWII 1056 were being flown by the Luftwaffe. They were small, fast, had great performance and were relatively cheap to build. |
The aircraft fought on all fronts and became the mount of some of Germany's leading aces, including Erich Hartman, top scorer with 352 victories flying Bf 109s. Probably the most popular model of the entire series is the G-series or the Gustav as it was widely but unofficially known. (Over 70 percent of all 109s were Gustav's). The overall appearance of the shark like 109 brings to mind the adjective "sinister". It looks lethal from any angle as indeed it was. Construction Tips! The horizontal tail is glued to the aft fuselage in TWO pieces via little tabs that get bent down before gluing. There are several scoops and bulges that Messerschmitt's were known for. If these are a bit boring, tough! Deal with it and make your model PROUD. Note: That at this time (4/98) there seems to be a restriction about displaying the swastika on models in Germany, so to all our German Pals, will you please scratch off the tail graphics from your model ?! |
MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109 (ME-109)
MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109 (ME-109)
The legendary story of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 began in 933 when the German Air Ministry announced a competition for a new fighter. Very reluctantly they allowed Willy Messerschmitt to take part. They thought his entry would come last, The prototype Bf 109 flew in late May 1935, powered by a British Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine because the jumo 2 0 was not ready. Having seen it, the officials almost laughed. The rakish small-wing monoplane looked more like a racer, Luftwaffe procurement chief Ernst Udet proclaimed: 'That thing will never make a fighter! That was before he flew it.
-Subsequently the 109 so turned the tables on its detractors that by the start of World War II was the standard single-seat fighter of the Luftwaffe. It swept opposition from the sky all over Europe, was built in larger numbers than any other single type of fighter, and shot down approximately twice as many aircraft as any other aircraft in history.
The Bf 109 cut its fighting teeth several years previously, during the Spanish Civil War, The He 5I biplanes of the German Kondor Legion were being severely mauled by the faster and much more deadly Polikarpov I- 6s supplied to the Republicans by the Soviet Union. However, when in 1937 the Kondor Legion was re-equipped with some of the first production Bf 109s, the tables were turned with a vengeance.
Only a handful of Bf 109s saw service in Spain, but they were so superior to anything then in the sky that their effect was tremendous. Meantime, back in Germany, a totally unrelated Messerschmitt racer, with a specially boosted engine, set a world speed record which stood unchallenged for 30 years. The Nazi propaganda machine called the racer the 'Messerschmitt 109R' to give the impression that it was a version of the fighter.
Following the Spanish conflict, the next serious test for the Bf 109 came when 200 of them formed the spearhead of Germany's attack on Poland on 1 September 1939. The Poles had around 160 fighters, mostly their own PZL P. 11c gull-winged monoplanes, and something like the same number of modern bombers. When the smoke cleared, Germany had lost fewer than 80 fighters, while Poland's casualties totaled some 350 aircraft, although around 120 of these (both fighters and bombers) had been interned in neutral Rumania.
So Messerschmitt's new fighter was flying high, but a little under one year later, when the Battle of Britain began in earnest in August 1940, the hitherto victorious Bf 109 finally met with some real opposition. One of its problems was that it had an operational endurance over southern England of only 20 to 30 minutes, and the Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Royal Air Force proved to be formidable adversaries.
On the day planned for the Luftwaffe's major assault in the Battle of Britain, code-named Adlertag (Eagle Day), 30 Messerschmitt Bf 1O9Es, headed by Major Gunther von Maltzahn, took off from Dinan and set a course for the sky high over Dorset, One of the pilots in the second wave of fighters, Leutnant Heinz Pfannschmidt, very quickly found himself in the worst kind of trouble.
The Spitfires of 609 Squadron had scrambled from Warmwell to intercept the raiders and were already airborne and waiting. Pfannschmidt was caught in the gun sight of a Spitfire flown by Pilot Officer 0. M. Crook, and a two-second burst from eight O.303in Browning machine guns sent the German machine spiraling crazily down to crash in the waters of Poole harbor.
This was the first recorded shooting-down on Adlertag of a Bf 109: but it proved, as the Battle of Britain progressed, to be the first of hundreds. The Luftwaffe was forced to accept the simple truth that the Bf 109 was not at all suitable as a bomber escort. Its range was far too limited. So its role was switched to that of defensive fighter and fighter-bomber. With the introduction of the improved Bf 109G, the type took on a whole new lease of life, It was in a Bf 109G- 14 that Major Erich Hartmann scored most of his unrivalled total of 352 confirmed 'kills', and Bf l09 Gs and Ks remained largely unchanged right to the end of hostilities in May 945. From the start of development, the 109 excelled in most flight maneuvers, its climb and dive capability was unrivalled and general handling at low speeds exceptional. Spinning trials showed behavior better than any existing German biplane fighter, and even the much criticized narrow landing gear was a deliberate design feature with many advantages. At high speeds the control forces increased dramatically, until at speeds near 644km/h in a dive, the rate of roll was almost zero, unless the pilot was very strong.
Oddly, trivial deficiencies such as the lack of a rudder trimmer - which made flight very tiring when trying to fly straight at high speed - lasted almost to the end of production in 1944. Many experts on the 109 considered the 1941 version, the Me-109F, the nicest to fly. Many stuck to it in preference to the more powerful, heavier and much more heavily armed Gustav', the 109G. which was far more numerous than all the other versions added together. A little-known fact about the Bf 109 is that in 1939 the German High Command, worried by Britain's naval superiority, ordered a sea-borne version of the fighter for operation from the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. The main structural difference, apart from the fitting of an arrester hook and catapult spools, was an increase in wing span of 08cm, folding down for hangar storage to an overall width of 4.95m, This naval version was designated the Bf 109T.
Though it was on the losing side, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was probably the most important fighter of World War II, Not only did it shoot down far more aircraft than any other type in history, but it also, initially backed up by no other fighter except the big twin-engine Bf110, took on the air forces of Spain, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and Greece and eliminated them as fighting forces. It is calculated that some 30,500 were produced, and this figure does not include those which were built in Czechoslovakia for service with the' Czech Air Force and Israel, or those built by Hispano in Spain. Many of these Spanish post-war productions, known as Ha-1109s and Ha-1112s. were still on active service as late as the mid-1950s, and one curious aspect of this longevity is that the wheel had turned full circle. The final Iberian version, the Ha-1112 was powered, as was the original prototype, by a British Rolls-Royce engine, in this instance a Merlin. These in fact acted the part of Daimler-Benz powered Bf 109Es in the film Battle of Britain.
At the outbreak of World War 2 the Luftwaffe had a strength of 1,056 BE 109s. Many of these were Bf lO9Ds, but this series was already being replaced in increasing numbers by the BE 105E. This had first appeared (as the V14) in mid-1938, and the E-l was produced both as a fighter (with four MG 17s) and as a fighter-bomber (carrying one 250kg or four 50kg bombs). Later E-Is standardized on 20mm MG FF cannon in place of the two wing-mounted MG 17s. Against all types of opposing fighter throughout Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Belgium, Holland and southern England, with the exception of the Spitfire (which it greatly outnumbered), the Bf 109E proved itself superior in both performance and maneuverability; only its range let it down.
Production accelerated to the extent that Germany could afford to export substantial numbers of the Bf I 09E-3 (which appeared at the end of 1939 and was the principal version to be used in the Battle of Britain) to Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Romania, Slovalda, Switzerland, the USSR and Yugoslavia. In addition, a small batch was built during 1941-43 by Dornier's Altenrhein factory in Switzerland. In July 1940 the Gerhard Fieseler-Werke began to convert 10 Bf 109E-ls to Bf 109T (for Tratger: carrier) extended-span configuration. These were to have been development aircraft for the Bf l09 l,intended for use aboard the proposed aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, but after the carrier program was terminated the 60 T-l's ordered were completed instead as land-based T-2s.
Various other E models, up to E-9, were produced for fighter and/or reconnaissance duties, with powerplant or equipment variations. Meanwhile, Messerschmitt had been developing what was to become the finest of all the many versions, the Bf 109F. Powered by either a l,200hp DB 601N or a l,350 hp DB 601E engine, the Bf 109F represented a considerable advance over earlier series in terms of both performance and cleanliness of line, and at last gave the Luftwaffe a fighter that could outmaneuver the Spitfire V. The entire fuselage was cleaner aerodynamically, culminating in a more rounded rudder, an unbraced tailplane and a retractable tail wheel: the wings, of slightly increased span, were rounded off at the tips; and performance at all altitudes was better than that of earlier models.
Production series ran
from F-1 to F-6, with various sub-types. Several F-series aircraft
were used as testbed's, the items evaluated including BMW 801
(radial) and Jumo 213 engines, a V-type tail unit, rocket weapons,
and a nose wheel landing gear. A prototype never flown, but none
the less of interest, was the Bf I 09Z of 1943, in which two
Bf 109Fs were twinned' by connecting them by a new, common
wing center-section and tailplane, the sole pilot being intended
to occupy a cockpit in the port fuselage. By 1942 the Bf 109F
had been supplanted in production and service by the most numerous
version, the Bf 109G. Heavier and less maneuverable than the
F's, with DB 605 engines and additional equipment, the 'Gustav's'
were individually less successful.
An exact total for production of all variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 is virtually impossible to determine, but it was approximately equal to the combined output of its great wartime opponents, the Hurricane and Spitfire, and thereby one of the most extensively produced aircraft of all time. Its final version, the Bf 109, was alone built in numbers comparable to those of the Hurricane. Moreover the bf 109, unlike its British contemporaries, remained basically a tighter or fighter-bomber all its operational life, apart from a few unprofitable excursions into other potential roles. First operational experience was gained in 1937 with Jagdgruppe 8S of the Condor Legion in Spain, and in the same year the Bf109B entered service at home with the celebrated Richthofen' Geschwader.
The Bf 105E series, which began to reach Luftwaffe fighter units at the beginning of 1939, formed the substantive service version right through the Battle of Britain. Superior in speed to the Hurricane at all altitudes, and faster in both climb and dive, the Bf 105E could, moreover, approximately match the Spitfire I in these areas, though it could be out-turned by both British fighters. But its very short tactical radius, leaving it fuel for only about 20 minutes combat once arriving over southern England, put it at a considerable disadvantage, and in the tour months July-October 1940 the number of bf 109s lost or damaged - not all due to combat - reached some 877. Best of all variants was the Bf 109F, which was the first version able to out-climb the Spitfire V. In the late summer of 1942, it was supplanted by the Bf 109G; but this version, despite its more powerful engine, was so much heavier that its performance was in fact poorer than the F. Post-war production of the Messerschmitt 109 took place in Czechoslovakia and Spain, and the type continued in service for some years after the end of hostilities in Europe.
This was an interesting touch McMinnville, Oregon |
The Evergreen Air Museum, located at McMinnville, Oregon, has quite a few pretty neat airplanes.. Most special is the actual "Spruce Goose"..the one that Howard Hughes accidentally flew.. |
Specifications of the
Wingspan: 32ft 6in |


text: Dmitri Babich has worked as a journalist in Russia since 1989, for newspapers, news agencies, radio, and television. He says that he used to always interview people, while lately people interview him. According to Babich, myths about Russian media, such as that one cannot criticize the president in Russia, can be dispelled simply by visiting Russian news websites and using Google Translator. More newspapers in Russia oppose Putin than support him, Babich says. If Russian news is propaganda, Babich asks, why are people so afraid of it? Was anyone ever afraid of Brezhnev's propaganda? (One might reply that it wasn't available on the internet or television.) In Babich's view the threat of Russian news lies in its accuracy, not in its falsehood. In the 1930s, he says, French and British media, in good "objective" style, suggested that Hitler wasn't anything much to worry about. But the Soviet media had Hitler right. (On Stalin perhaps not so much.) Today, Babich suggests, people are making the same mistake that the British and French media made back then, failing to appropriately stand up to a dangerous ideology. What ideology? That of neoliberal militarism. Babich points to the swift response of NATO and the Washington establishment to any proposals from Donald Trump to ease up on hostility toward Russia. Babich is not naive about Trump. While he says that Barack Obama was decidedly the worst U.S. president ever, he does not predict great things from Trump. Obama, Babich explains, had incompetence to match his militarism. He imposed sanctions on Russia that hurt the most pro-Western organizations. "He became a victim of his own propaganda." I asked Babich why I'd heard such positive comments on Trump from so many Russians. His answer: "Unrequited love for the U.S.," and "hope," and the thought that because Trump won he must be smarter than he seems. "People hate to wake up," Babich concluded. Pressed on how people could possibly place hope in Trump, Babich said that because Russia has never been colonized (despite Sweden and Napoleon and Hitler trying), Russians are only now learning what Africans colonized by the West understood about the colonizers. Asked why Russia would make alliances with China and Iran, Babich replied that the U.S. and E.U. wouldn't have Russia, so it is taking its second choices. Asked about Russian journalists who have been killed, Babich said that while more were killed in the time of Boris Yeltsin, he has two theories. One is that an opponent of Putin's is responsible. Babich named a politician who died around the time of the last killing. The other theory is that people enraged by the media are responsible. Babich said he couldn't take seriously the idea that Putin would himself be responsible for killing someone right next to the Kremlin. Asked about the approach of RT (Russia Today) television, Babich said that the approach of the news agency Ria Novosti of trying to imitate the New York Times gained no followers because people can already just read the New York Times. By opposing U.S. crimes and giving voice to alternative perspectives RT has found an audience. I think this interpretation is borne out by the CIA report earlier this year hyping the danger of RT. If the U.S. media were providing the news, Americans wouldn't look for news elsewhere. Babich and I discussed these and other topics on the RT show "Crosstalk" on Sunday. The video should, sooner or later, be posted here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Two great themes from the fantastic Harry Potter film enhanced by eleven pages of gorgeous photos and artwork. The wind instrument books are completely compatible with each other and can be played together or as solos. Each book contains a carefully edited part that is appropriate for the Level 2-3 player, a piano accompaniment that can be easily played by a teacher or intermediate piano student, and a fully orchestrated accompaniment CD. Each song on the CD is presented as a "demo" track (which features a live instrumental performance) and as a "play-along" track without the solo instrument.


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Orca Whale Tribal Teal Oval Black Mug 15oz
Never run out of your favorite hot drink! Bigger size durable ceramic mug in always fashionable black color. High quality sublimation printing makes it an appreciated gift to every true coffee or tea lover, who always asks for a refill.


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This Abla Style Classic costume was created in the spirit of Madame Abla, and as near in design and quality as anything can be.
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Scuba Diver Vinyl Decal for Vehicles
Key features
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How did we make this decal for cars and trucks so amazing?
We're extremely proud of this vinyl vehicle decal and here's why. We give it tender loving care every step of the way in our studio in Oxford in the United Kingdom. This decal is cut into high-quality outdoor sign vinyl with a matte finish. Matte vinyl reduces glare caused by light reflections to achieve a stunning, paint-like effect on your car or truck. Once cut into vinyl, this decal is weeded by hand. Weeding is when we remove all of the negative space from your final product. After that your decal is run through our taping machine and chopped to size by hand. Finally its put in recycled envelopes with no plastic packaging and sent straight to your door. That's a whole bunch of steps for one decal. Some people think that's quality overkill for a vinyl decal. We take that as a compliment. We love the look and feel of our vinyl decals and we're not about to start compromising their quality.
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- Chemical Resistance: resistant to mineral oils, fats and fuels, aliphatic solvents, mild acids, salt and alkali for e.g. diesel oil, gasoline, paraffin, hydraulic oil, antifreeze, soap suds, etc.


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The Wyoming Valley (Pa.) Inflatable Dam Feasibility Study recently received a National Honor Award in the studies, research and consulting engineering services category at the ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. The annual event celebrates engineering achievements that demonstrate the highest degree of merit and ingenuity.
From the start, the viability of this project was in question due to the significant environmental issues, technical problems and limited financial resources. However, the study team was able to address these challenges by incorporating state-of-the-art dam technology, unconventional dam alignment and a revolutionary fish passage concept.
Study Team
Gannett Fleming, an international consulting engineering and construction management firm, served as the prime consultant for the study. This firm joined with the Greeley-Polhemus Group, Borton-Lawson Engineering and the Wilkes University Geographical Information System Center to prepare and execute a work plan that maximized the use of the Luzeme County Flood Protection Authority's $520,000 budget for the study.
The Feasibility Study
The feasibility study proposes revitalizing the economy and improving recreation opportunities in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., by constructing a $14 million inflatable dam. The project would create a 400-acre seasonal lake and establish a destination for recreation and tourism.
In addition to promoting public use of the Susquehanna River, the proposed project would create permanent economic benefits for the region. Potential economic benefits include 400,000 new visitors annually, 320 new jobs, $41.8 million in additional annual state revenue and $24.5 million in annual county revenue.
State-of-the art inflatable dam technology was utilized in this project. The dam would be constructed of inflatable rubber sections that can be fully or partially lowered to create the seasonal recreational lake. A migratory fish passage also would be enabled through the use of a unique fish ladder concept. Four water-filled rubber dams that stair-step in height from tailwater to headwater elevations would be used. This new concept has several advantages over conventional fish ladders.
The Susquehanna River always has been an important part of the Wyoming Valley's economy. Unfortunately, the river also has made the surrounding areas susceptible to flooding. In 1936, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a levee system in an effort to protect area communities. The Corps currently is constructing the $175 million Wyoming Valley Levee Raising Project. While raising the levees will improve flood protection, it also will further isolate communities from the river's resources.
The Luzeme County Flood Protection Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorized the Wyoming Valley Inflatable Dam Feasibility Study as the key mitigation component of the Levee Raising Project.
Environmental Impact
The Authority is using the proposed project as a catalyst to address long-term water pollution problems affecting the Susquehanna River. The recreational lake would emphasize the need for cleaning the river. The river has a long history of problems resulting from combined sewer outfalls, acid mine drainage and hazardous waste effluents from mines.
The study team managed to overcome issues that initially threatened the project. The end result is an award-winning feasibility study that defines a project that is financially feasible and compatible with the existing flood control project. Most importantly, the proposed project poses no significant adverse environmental impacts and would revitalize the economy in the Wyoming Valley.
(Sidebar) Dam Site Selection
The project team conducted a thorough review of potential sites between Nanticoke and Pittston. They considered engineering, economic, environmental and recreational factors. In November 1998, a site reconnaissance of the study area was made and included a boat survey of the Susquehanna River. Other data used to evaluate potential sites included the locations of existing and proposed parks, property ownership along both sides of the river, population demographics, avoidance of sensitive environmental areas such as large islands, foundation conditions, river morphology, site access and reservoir geometry. The primary dam site selection objectives are as follows.
• Improve public access and enjoyment of the Susquehanna River.
• Take advantage of existing facilities.
• Minimize construction costs.
• Optimize reservoir conditions.
• Minimize environmental impacts.
• Minimize impacts to cultural resources.
• Minimize impacts to drainage structures.
• Maximize economic development.
• Maximize proximity to public lands.
• Should not increase flood levels.
Although other dam sites are possible, the best dam site considering all factors is upstream of Richards Island and the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Bridge. At this site the Susquehanna River is about 1,000 feet wide. A dam at this location would create a lake extending upstream along a large portion of the metropolitan area, border most of the existing river parks and avoid impacting the large islands in the river. This site also has the most favorable reservoir conditions and would produce the deepest and largest lake. Access for construction is excellent, and sufficient public land is available for developing recreation areas.
(Sidebar)Inflatable Dam Description
Inflatable dams have been constructed worldwide. The world's longest rubber dam was constructed in 1970 on the Susquehanna River at Sunbury, Pa. This dam has a total length of 2,100 feet and consists of six rubber tubes each 300 feet in length and one tube 175 feet in length. The dam creates a seasonal recreational pool for boating and other water sports.
The most recent inflatable dam project in the United States to create a recreational lake is the Rio Salado project located on the Salt River in Tempe, Ariz. Two inflatable dams will be constructed within an existing flood-control project to create a two-mile-long recreation lake in the heart of downtown Tempe. The inflatable dams are part of a $1.2 billion effort to revitalize and expand development of the area.
The components of an inflatable dam include the rubber dam body or tube, a foundation and clamping system and a control system. The rubber tube is made of a thick laminated rubber and nylon combination. A fin structure is located on the top of the rubber dam body to act as a spoiler to assure an even break of cresting water without oscillation. The reinforced concrete foundation extends from the upstream side of the dam to the downstream side a sufficient distance to support the deflated rubber tube. For wide streams and rivers, the foundation includes intermediate concrete piers separating several rubber tubes. The rubber tube is inflated with an air compressor to impound water. Internal air pressure is adjusted automatically to maintain a constant upstream water level. The dam is deflated automatically to pass flood flows or to drain the recreation pool. When fully deflated, the rubber tube lies flat on the concrete foundation.
(Sidebar) Dam Height and Proposed Configuration of the Recreation Lake
Dam Height
Once the location of the dam was established, the next step involved determining the footprint and height of the dam. In the Corps' 1991 Reconnaissance Report, dam heights ranging between 6.5 feet and 11.0 feet were judged to be feasible. The 15-foot-high option was dropped from further consideration early in the Corps' study because of its adverse impacts on existing drainage structures, its high construction cost, the adverse impacts it would have on adjacent lands and the relatively small incremental increase in usable lake area over the 11-foot-high plan.
In order to determine the optimal height of the dam, several recreation, engineering and environmental factors were considered. Factors that tend to favor raising the height of the dam include maximizing the extent and area of the recreation lake, providing adequate draft for boats and simplifying the automated operation of the dam. Factors that tend to lower the height of the dam are construction costs, fish passage mitigation requirements, impacts to wetlands and local habitats and impacts to the existing flood control project. After a careful evaluation of these primary factors, it was determined that an inflatable dam with a fully inflated height of 9.5 feet would provide the optimal recreation lake. With a dam of this size, the recreation lake would be confined within the natural channel banks of the river and inundation of overbank areas and wetlands would be minimal. Impacts to the existing flood control project, including the pumping stations and drainage structures, would be easily mitigated.
Recreation Lake
At a height of 9.5 feet, the proposed inflatable dam will maintain the level of the recreation lake near Elevation 517 feet. This elevation corresponds to gage height five feet at the Market Street Bridge, a well know datum to local residents who monitor flood conditions in the river. On average, the water surface elevation of the river in the vicinity of Market Street will be raised approximately four feet higher than normal when the dam is inflated. The dam will be equipped with automatic controls so that the lake level will be maintained within approximately three inches of the desired elevation.
The recreation lake will extend approximately 4.5 miles from the dam along the waterfronts of Wilkes-Barre and Kingston to a point on the river near the Wilkes-Barre/Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort. The surface area of the lake will be approximately 400 acres. The width of the lake will vary between 500 and 1,100 feet and encompass one small island just upstream of Pierce Street. The average depth of the lake will be approximately 8—10 feet with the deepest area more than 25 feet deep. Five public parks will abut the shoreline including Kirby Park, River Common Park, Nesbitt Park, Riverbend Park and the downstream end of the Luzerne County Recreational Facility. Although most of the shoreline property is publicly owned, there are portions of privately owned land at the downstream and upstream ends of the lake.
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If you're looking for a way to draw more attention to the crucial elements in your photographic composition, the Fibonacci Ratio offers a way to direct your viewers eye to the critical parts of your photo.
Earlier this year we highlighted another great composition rule, the Rule of Thirds, in our guide to getting more out of your point and shoot camera. Digital Photography School takes an interesting look at another composition rule, Fibonnacci's Ratio. Often referred to as the "divine ratio" because of the numerous places it appears in the natural world—such as the spiral of Nautilus shell—it offers a way to guide your viewer's eye to the area of the photo you want them to focus on.
When applied to photography, this ratio can produce aesthetically pleasing compositions that can be magnets for the human sub-conscious. When you take the sweet spot of the Fibonnaci Ratio and recreate it four times into a grid, you get what looks to be a rule of thirds grid. However, upon closer inspection you will see that this grid is not an exact splitting of the frame into three pieces. Instead of a 3 piece grid that goes 1+1+1=frame, you get a grid that goes 1+.618+1=frame.
The photo above is one of their sample photos, showing how the ratio can yield a focus that guides the viewer right to the subject's face/eyes. Check out the full guide at the link below, including videos, to see how Fibonnacci's Ratio can help improve your photography.
Divine Composition with Fibonacci's Ratio (The Rule of Thirds on Steroids) [Digital Photography School]


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I was at home the other day on my laptop losing track of time. Falling down the rabbit hole procuring films from Renoir, Murnau, Dreyer, Ozu, Fellini, Godard, Truffaut, Bergman, Tarkovsky, etc. from an inter-library loan system for a 1,000 Greatest Films list (don't forget I post near daily movie reviews here) I'm beginning to work through I was broken from my trance when my wife arrived fresh from grocery shopping. As I was helping unload the groceries seeing the familiar items I'm accustomed to I reacted like an old lady seeing a specter when I stumbled across a very green bag of Lay's chips.
Behold! Lay's Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger chips! What a sight for sore eyes. I'm beholden to companies when they release new and especially unique or unusual flavors of familiar products like chips and soft drinks. But more personally I'm a sushi fanatic so seeing a flavor that falls within my own personal wheelhouse I was as surprised as I was in 2011 when The Artist beat The Tree of Life for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Except I wasn't throwing a frozen burrito at a TV screen this time.
Here's a little backstory on this particular flavor a fan-designed taste treat from Jersey. Wasabi isn't entirely new to snack foods as Blue Diamond makes damn fine Wasabi & Soy Sauce Almonds that you can get in smaller packets or larger canisters. Those things are the bomb! Even people that are unfamiliar with wasabi or sushi find them oddly enticing. So the bar is set and quite high for a wasabi starring junk food.
As mentioned earlier I'm a big sushi fan. In fact just two days ago here on Review the World I posted a video review of a sushi restaurant. I probably didn't get fully enveloped into the world of this delicacy into around college when I discovered a couple "all you can eat" buffet-style sushi places (sadly both have since closed likely not the best business model). Sure, some grocery stores sell it packaged but it's likely cold and sticky and far from what a sushi experience deserves to be. Some higher-end grocers sell daily prepared stock that they whip out throughout the day which is a step-above but unless you're in a rush and craving it fiercely it's better to make a trip to an actual sushi bar to fully appreciate both the food and ambience. Some will dip their toes in by sampling sushi at the more popular and common Chinese buffets and that's alright but know from experience that the "sushi" found on most big buffets is generally a 2 on a scale of 10 and that may be generous. So my push is for long-standing fans or those curious or even perhaps fearful is to visit a real sushi bar be it an old school bamboo-floored quiet and calm traditional locale or a more modern and sleek (sushi is en vogue at the moment so they're popping up) establishment to get a real experience.
Away from the actual sushi itself (which this isn't flavored as -- although that'd certainly be interesting I can only dreamily imagine an "ikura" or salmon roe-flavored chip) this chip is flavored like wasabi and ginger. Meneko tells a tale of yesteryear where she'd mix wasabi into her soy sauce to make a heavenly dunking spot where she could give her sushi morsels a bath in liquid nirvana. I don't know why I've never thought of that. But damn it I'll try it next time! I tend to put a small dab of wasabi (pea-sized) on each piece of sushi as a little goes a long way (if you've never had wasabi it has that horseradish sort of heat that hits you in the nostrils and not so much on the tongue like spicy food). I use soy in abundance though dunking each piece in with glee. The pink ginger slivers you get with sushi (and pictured above) I've generally avoided. Some people eat it but I've often heard it used as a palate cleanser where you just nibble a tiny bit. It's flavor is strong but I fret I'm not familiar enough with it to rightly describe it in any detail.
The last time Lay's ran this promotion my favorite by a landslide was the Chicken & Waffles flavor a great blend of savory and sweet. This time the line-up is very interesting. I also like that instead of all flavors being standard Lay's they've mixed it up making one flavor the Wavy-style and the one I'm sampling today the Kettle variety. Cappuccino may be making the most waves online for being zany but I'm not that interested. The Bacon Mac & Cheese I'd certainly try but don't see it having long-lasting appeal. Mango Salsa I'm probably most curious about out of the others as real mango salsa is a delicious dish with bright flavors that could be quite good if captured successfully in chip-form.
I opened the bag and while there was a strong noticeable scent I didn't figure it into my grading curve as chips aren't generally known for being particularly special or noteworthy in aromatics. As you can tell the chip-to-dead space ratio in the bag isn't favorable from this consumer's perspective but not surprising given industry trends. The medical white instead of foil lining calls to mind spaceship food to me for whatever reason. I'm sure astronauts enjoy Spicy Salmon rolls too.
The first chip. I was cautiously optimistic but very eager to dive in. And yes, that's a copy of Brain Juice on my kitchen table. Keeps me young.
Not all chips are created equal. This one was saturated in powder and seasonings. Tomo was eyeing it intently. For those of you more familiar with my videos and less so my written work you'll find Tomo a lot in some old articles including A Surprise for a Boy and Crayola Silly Scents pencils.
Verdict! These are good! Really good. I hope they stick around although my faith in Americans choosing wasabi over bacon is ridiculously low. So buy them now! I also urge you to eat more than a few if you want to really give them a fair chance. I thought the first few were good but it wasn't until I'd snacked on them for awhile that I really felt I'd unlocked the flavors and could actually give real overall thoughts on them as a snack. These have a slightly salty finish with the zesty light bite of wasabi and although soy is referenced on the bag but not included in their namesake I feel like on the back-end there's a nice splash of that most delicious of salty sauces. These definitely work as Kettle chips and now having had them in this form I can't imagine them as standard Lay's (and don't want to). The crunchiness and texture of the Kettle chip really compliments the bright flavors creating a dangerously snackable chip that I found hard to stop eating. I'm a pretty tough judge on new snack foods (see my disappointment of Lay's BLT chips here) so liking these this much instantly puts them in the upper-echelon of newer offerings over the last few years. If you try them leave your thoughts in the comments below or over on the RtW Facebook!
Overall Grade: A


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Backpackers Khaosan Raod Bangkok Thailand
Reiki, energy healing, Chi Gong, Tai Chi, healing crystals – yeah, yeah, yeah'… If you've been on the road for a while, you've heard it all before, usually from some dreadlocked neo-hippy clutching a Carlos Castaneda book he picked up in New Delhi. It's part of the package, and for many, their understanding of the energy healing and alternative medicine is as substantive as their knowledge of why Che Guevara is printed on the front of their t-shirts. The result – the whole issue is often trivialized and marginalized…
Interview with Steve (Lee Wei-De) in 2004 by Khaosan Road (John)
Steve landed in Thailand in 2004 and immediately set up on Khao San Road working out a small, one-room shop. His passion for healing is only surpassed by his passion for standards. He is dedicated to the cause of proving scientifically that energy healing is beneficial, and he has worked with doctors and professors who are now beginning to champion his cause. Beyond this, Steve is committed to developing training courses in a range of healing arts that meet international standards and can stand the test of third-party scrutiny. Syllabus, curriculum, learning outcomes – these are not terms usually regarded part of 'alternative' vocabulary. From 'esoteric' to 'pragmatic' – meet Steve Burgess and it will go a long way towards demystifying the mysterious.
We talk to Steve about his time in Thailand, on Khao San Road, and what is in store for the future.
KSR.COM: Steve – great of you to meet us like this. Perhaps you can just introduce yourself for our visitors' benefit and give them an overview of what it is exactly you do.
SB: Firstly, I have been here now 6 years. I came to Thailand to study Pranic healing, and as with most training, once you learn something you need to go and practice. I wanted to start doing treatments as I had studied many different healing arts. I started with a little shop on Khao San. As soon as I made the decision to open there, I was contacted by people in hospital who wanted treatments, and then people in other countries contacted me. I was also invited to teach and do treatments in Japan, which surprised me as that is where Reiki originated. Reiki is the main healing art I use and teach.
KSR.COM: You are from Australia. Many of the people I have met involved in these areas you are have been from safe middle-class backgrounds. Not really the case for you though, is it?
SB: Yes, I am an Ozzy '– a country boy. I have had quite a few changes in my life. The last big change was before I came to Thailand. I spent 5 years on 4,500 acres of cattle county. It was a bare block of ground, no house, no running water, no electric. I built sheds to live in and caught water to drink and for showers. I built an old style hot water system and then upgraded to an electric generator – using fire all the time was quite time consuming. Then we hit a massive drought – I had to move the cattle for them to survive. I never wanted to be in that situation again, to fight against the seasons is impossible. Earlier I had worked full time teaching Kung Fu and also worked in the Security Industry, mostly at night clubs and pubs. Oh, also spent 2 years in Brisbane at the National Actors Conservatory studying fight choreography and script writing. So, it is only my experience now that allows me to earn an income, and wow, sometimes that has been a challenge!
KSR.COM: So, from that type of background, what brought you to the healing arts?
SB: At the age of 16 I studied Kung Fu and at 21 I was teaching Kung-Fu full time. I was taught that if I was going to hurt someone, I should be able to fix them. I was taught about Acupressure, manipulation, herbs, moxibustion and massage. So, the Kung Fu training got me into the healing arts, in the beginning I never knew it was a part of it. As the years went by I had studied other areas of interest such as the Bowen Technique. With more interest in the Chinese meridian system, I went to Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong and went to Shaolin in China to study Chi-Gong.
KSR.COM: Let's talk about Reiki for a moment – you are a Reiki Master and a Reiki channel. What exactly does that mean?
SB: Well, it really requires deep understanding and experience with the science of energy and how energy is related to our bodies. The word Reiki means '"Spirit Energy'", not '"Universal Energy'". This I discovered when the translator working with me in Taiwan said Reiki was '"Lyn Chi'". I understood '"Chi'", but asked her about '"Lyn'". She replied '"Lyn'" means spirit. From that, I understood Reiki a little differently from my experiences of doing Reiki treatments and the development of the students I had taught.
A Reiki therapist has healing energy around them; Level 1 would normally have 2 to 4 of these Spirit, or healing energies with them all the time. When the therapist is doing a treatment the Spirits send energy through the therapists body, in through the Aura and Major Chakras, and the energy comes out of the therapist''s hands, or Minor Chakras, and into the client''s body. This spirit energy is what facilitates the treatment – and the outcomes are quite amazing.
Being a therapist the training consists of understanding the different energy bodies of our clients, such as the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. What makes Reiki different to other energy healing arts is how energy is drawn into the therapist''s body. Other methods require meditation practices, and then the therapist becomes depleted of energy, this is not the case with Reiki.
KSR.COM: How exactly does Reiki help people get over their ailments and diseases?
SB: OK – I will bring some facts into the picture here. Russians have used bio-reasoning equipment for the last 40 years, initially to monitor the health of their astronauts. In the USA (Rife) equipment has been developed that works on frequencies for healing. Every part of the body – organs, cells, etc. – can be measured by frequency. The 3DMRA in Taiwan, Rife in the USA, and other bio-reasoning programs are now being recognized by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
When performing a Reiki treatment, Spirit energy goes through the therapist's body to change the polarity of congested molecules and, where necessary, remove the negative Ions from the physical body – this also cleans the energy around the body (Elixir) or Aura, Etheric Aura and Major chakras. With scientific equipment, the outcome of treatments can be verified. In simple terms, Reiki energy balances the Chakras and the client's body detoxifies.
Energy sciences are found in many cultures – the foundations of Chinese medicine, Acupuncture, Chi Gong, and also Ayurvedic healing from India which dates back even further. Shamanic practices have been in most cultures around the world.
KSR.COM: I went to the opening of a restaurant on Khao San Road recently and there was a gentleman their promoting his resort in southern Thailand. His philosophy was that there is no such thing as medicine and that all medicines are in fact just poisons of different intensity. He was a firm advocate of anything but the western medical approach. Do you subscribe to this point of view? Does western medicine have any value as far as you are concerned?
SB: Everybody has choice in life; I only supply a service like others in the medical industry. Conventional medicine certainly has its place. Where do you go if your arm has been ripped off? You will not come to me. Although Reiki will help quicken the healing process when the arm is put back on, that type of injury requires surgery and western medicine.
I believe in what has been established by WHO (World Health Organization) and in most countries – Complimentary Alternative Medicine is beneficial. My view is to get the greatest benefit for my clients – that is what I am looking for. Everything has its place. We have to establish what caused a problem. If the cause of a problem is identified, healing is very quick.
KSR.COM: So – and forgive me for being so blunt – I have in the past heard Reiki described as 'snake oil'. In a world of facts and figures and checks and balances, what evidence is there to prove that it's not?
SB: When I was in Taiwan I was introduced to a director of a hospital dedicated to the use of natural healing on patients with stage 3 or 4 cancer. I suggested incorporating Reiki treatments into their program, and I was introduced to a professor at the Taiwan Community Health Development Association. I was asked to do a presentation on Reiki while the 3DMRA equipment was presented to doctors. The 3DMRA showed clearly Reiki treatments are powerful and detoxify the body to equivalent extents as acupuncture, and sometimes even greater extents. This evidence has been documented and is now undeniable. The 3DMRA is now being used in five hospitals and diagnoses illnesses up to 2-3 months before blood tests or X-rays are able to.
KSR.COM: And what are your personal experiences of the benefits of energy healing? What results have you seen?
SB: Starting with tension and hypertension, Reiki is very effective with both of these. Many students have emailed me to say thank you as they are now sleeping well. A stranger experience would be when a client arrived with an X-ray of a disease with a long, complicated name, which is considered incurable by conventional medicine. I did 2 Reiki treatments and taught the patient Reiki level 1. Later, I got an email from the patient saying he no longer had any pain. About 6 months later I received another email stating another X-ray had been done and the disease had gone. Another client lived in Bali and asked me to go there to do a treatment on the King of a village who had been sick for 3 weeks. No doctor or Shaman could deliver results. I was in Bali for 4 days, on the 4th day the village King was fine. I have now done over 4,000 Reiki treatments in 6 Countries – I don''t know why, it is just my life.
KSR.COM: So, when you first came to Thailand, you set up Bangkok Natural Healing on Khao San Road'… Was it a good experience?
SB: Khao San was the best experience as the clients were from all parts of the world – some very interesting people with various healing methods they had trained in. Some had a very good understanding of Reiki. I met many people who believed Yoga was Reiki or meditation was Reiki – it was an experience to observe these differences of opinion. Some would stay on KSR for only 2-3 days and some would stay 2-3 weeks learning the courses I was teaching. It was a great place to be.
KSR.COM: I can imagine alternative treatments being popular on Khao San Road, but, of course, you have moved now, so the question comes to mind – are these treatments popular amongst Thais, or are you still dealing mainly with visitors?
SB: Thais know more about Palung Chukawan (Universal Energy) and Yo-Ray – both techniques draw in energy by using meditation, neither are Reiki. I am dealing mostly with expats and people who fly into Thailand just to learn, or to have a treatment. I guess word gets around. I have now submitted a 3 month training curriculum and a 1 year curriculum to the Ministry of Education to enable people to come to the school on a student study visa. This will also enable Thais to get a student loan to study.
KSR.COM: Alternative medicine, energy healing – in the past they have often been marginalized. And as you have said, you are now working with doctors and professors who are more in tune with western medical approaches. Why have these areas suddenly become more mainstream, do you think?
SB: I feel there is certainly a world trend and statistics show that 80% of people are inclined to seek Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatments rather than conventional medicine. I feel many people are becoming aware of the side effects of the chemicals used in modern medicines. Australia is taking the approach that people working in the CAM industry are likely to identify illnesses and therapists likely to make health reports and recommendations to their clients. More people's lives may be saved as illnesses are found earlier in their development. Therapists are to be given training meeting national qualification standards set by the government. There are 45 to 50 insurance companies that allow members to go to spas for treatments and claim it on their health insurance. As more research is being completed, we are becoming aware many CAM methods work more quickly on some serious illnesses than conventional medicine or treatments.
KSR.COM: You are heavily involved in preparing a range of training courses. Typically, who are your trainees and what do they do with what you have taught them?
SB: Trainees are generally locals and the courses boost their qualifications. They meet international standards in areas such as anatomy and physiology, client consultation and other subjects. With the courses under their belts, people can get jobs working in Spas in other counties. Other students seem to want to establish Spas in their home countries. I try to support them with a Spa concept and give as much guidance as I can.
KSR.COM: And you are running these courses at a resort south of Hua Hin. Tell us more about this. What are the objectives of the resort?
SB: Lumra Resort is quiet and it's got a great beach. There are a limited number of rooms down there so it's an excellent place to deliver programs such as Stress Management, Full Moon activities and Elite Energy Training programs. These programs have been tailored for specific outcomes and there are activities every month. Our objective is to make this resort a special place in the world, where people can have individual growth and soul touching experiences. All these programs leave a lasting impression on your life.
KSR.COM: You are also starting a Reiki Research Center and attempting to set up clinical trials. Why choose Thailand for this? Surely, it must be easier in the west?
SB: The Reiki Research Association was submitted a year ago and the registered certificate will be completed soon. I am lucky to have some good support from like minded people, some being doctors. The objective is to scientifically prove the outcomes of Reiki treatments. The research protocols will be to western standards such as CBC, and Viral Overload tests will be taken as part of the clinical observations – though not limited to only this. Bio-reasoning and the 3DMRA are planned to be implemented to monitor changes before blood tests.
In the west pharmaceutical companies get funding through governments and they have their patents on production lines. With alternative treatments and medicine, the funding is limited. The pharmaceutical companies want to own the rights – big business in a big industry. When the registration is completed we will be looking for financial support and assistance to run clinical trials starting with HIV; there's a planned 3-month "live in" program on a mountain planned. What we are planning would be very difficult to do in another country. Interestingly associations and doctors in other countries are very interested in what we are trying to establish. I feel the results will help all health practitioners, from doctors to therapists. We will though need donations – some of the outgoings to run a 30 people live in program for 3 months will be close to one million baht.
KSR.COM: So you have your individual treatments, and your training, and your resort work and the Reiki Research Center – what's the big picture here? Where do you want all this to be in, say, 5 years?
SB: Well, I am only here for one life and the best I feel I can do is establish a school where people can come and learn competent healing practices through training that meets Australian educational standards. I want to share my experience in Reiki with others, so others may grow. I want to develop a Spa concept for students wanting to do the same in their own countries. And I want to do research to prove what I and so many others are doing around the world with Reiki is genuinely beneficial, and I want to share the outcomes and information with the rest of the world.
KSR.COM: That's great – thanks. Good luck with everything you are doing in the future.
SB: Thanks, John


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This, in essence, was his proposal. I'd like to ask you to marry me, but I need to put my cards on the table. I don't pretend to know what love means. There was a time in my life when I thought I did, but I've seen my own feelings and the feelings of others shift too often in ways that have made me lose my confidence in my understanding of love. And so, I'll be honest: I can't promise that I will always be in love with you. But I can promise that I'll always be faithful, that I'll always treat you with respect, that I'll always do everything in my power to be there for you to help further your own dreams, and that I'll always be an honest partner in trying to build a life together. I can't guarantee how I will always feel, but I can promise that I won't betray you in infidelity.
That's not exactly the type of marriage-proposal we see in our romantic movies and novels, predicated, as they are, on the naive belief that the passion and excitement we initially experience when we fall in love will remain that way forever. But this is a mature proposal, one that doesn't naively promise something that's impossible to deliver.
But, beyond pointing us towards a more mature understanding of love, this is also a rich image for faith and how it works. Faith too, in the end, is more about fidelity in action than about fervour in feelings. Allow me an example:
When I was in the seminary, a classmate of mine set off one summer to make a 30-day retreat. His aim was precisely to try to acquire a more affective faith, one that he would feel with fervour and which would seep warmly through his heart. He suffered from what he self-described as a "stoic" faith, a gut-sense of God's reality and love, but one which didn't translate much into any warm feelings of security about God's existence and love. By his own admission, he lacked affectivity, fire, emotion and warmth about his faith. And that's what he went in search of.
He returned from the retreat still stoic, but changed nonetheless. "I never got what I asked for," he said, "but I got something else. I learned to accept that my faith might always be stoic, but I learned too that this is okay. I don't necessarily have to have warm and imaginative feelings about my faith. I don't need to be full of passion and fire. I only need to be faithful in my actions, to not betray what I believe in. Now faith, for me, means that I need to live my life in charity, respect, patience, chastity and generosity to others. I just need to do it; I don't need to feel it."
Faith and love are too easily identified with warm feelings, passion, fervour, affectivity and romantic fire. And those feelings are part of the mystery, a part we are meant to embrace and enjoy. But, wonderful as these feelings can be, they are, as experience shows, fragile and ephemeral. Our world can change in 15 seconds because we can fall in or out of love in that time. Passionate and romantic feelings are part of love and faith, but not the deepest part, and not a part over which we have much emotional control.
Hence, unromantic as it is, I like the stoic approach that is expressed in the marriage proposal of my friend, particularly as it applies to faith. For some of us faith will never be, other than for short periods of time, something which fires our emotions and fills us with warm fire. We've already experienced how ephemeral that fire can be.
Hence, like my colleague with the "stoic" faith, some of us might have to settle for a faith that says to God, others and ourselves: I can't guarantee how I will feel on any given day. I can't promise that I will always have emotional passion about my faith, but I can promise that I'll always be faithful, that I'll always act with respect, and I will always do everything in my power, as far as my human weakness allows, to help others' and God's cause in this world. I can't guarantee how I will always feel, but I can live in the firm resolve to never betray what I believe in.
That's a sufficient creed.
Finding your sufficient creed
By Fr. Ron RolheiserSeveral years ago, a friend of mine made a very un-Hollywood type of marriage proposal to his fiancé: He was in his mid-40s and had suffered a number of disillusioning heartbreaks, some of which, by his own admission, were his own fault, the result of feelings shifting unexpectedly on his part.
Now, in mid-life, struggling not to be disillusioned and cynical about love and romance, he met a woman whom he deeply respected, much admired and with whom he felt he would like to build a life. But, unsure of himself, he was humble in his proposal.


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Does anyone have experience with the scenario in subject. When i think about it i cannot come to the conclusion it makes sense or not. Mostly because most patches affect security, others performance, some may add features or other.
Using vanilla kernel sources > applying grsec patch > applying distro specific patches.


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Business Wire India is the only Indian news distribution platform to partner with ANI, PTI, IANS, and UNI
Testimonials – Whenever we have something important to tell, Business Wire India is often our first point of call, Rajnish Wahi, Senior VP, Corporate Affairs & Communication, Snapdeal.
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Business Wire India is very good in terms of credible and authentic news distribution to media. It adds authenticity to all content, Arneeta Vasudeva, Vice President, Ogilvy.
Business Wire India is the only Indian news distribution platform to partner with ANI, PTI, IANS, and UNI
The BW India team is very professional and prompt, we have been working seamlessly with BW for many years now, Prathibha Nair, Assistant Manager – Corporate Communications, Wipro Limited.
Businesswire helps us in securing coverage on prominent media outlets across US, Europe and India and the detailed tracking reports allow us to monitor our press release. All members of the servicing team are cooperative and efficient and they truly augment our outreach efforts, Aniruddha Basu, PR & Corporate Communications, L&T Technology Services
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I have a website (www.americanbankingnews.com) that gets 40,000-50,000 page views today. It's currently sitting on a dedicated quad-core Xeon server with 8GB of ram. The site is powered by WordPress and MySQL (sitting on the same server) and I'm currently using W3 Total Cache for page and MySQL query Caching.
Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be enough. During peak traffic times, my servers are getting a few HTTP 500 errors and pages that aren't cached load slowly.
I'm currently not using Xcache or any other PHP cache/acceleration tools.
Are there additional steps that I should take to try to optimize MySQL and PHP performance? Or should I fork over for an additional server. Specifically, I'd be interested in additional suggestions to improve MySQL performance and whether or not tools like xcache might help in this situation.


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The New Man
What is the 'new man'? How can I walk in the new man every day, all day, forever? I'm saved by grace, but don't I have to work hard to be a Good Christian? The answer is simply, "No, you don't."
"Give me back my stuff," said Jesus to Author and Prophet Graham Cooke in a personal encounter.
What is stuff? Stuff is the anxiety, worry, anger, hostility, fear, bitterness, resentment…. Stuff is all of the negative thoughts and feelings that are not a part of the Kingdom of God. They are dead, as dead as Jesus was on the cross. And they belong to the Old Man, the man you were and the man I was before accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. The old man is dead (Romans 6:6). The new man lives (Ephesians 4:22-23) and we can allow him to reign in us, by the power of the blood of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.
We can discern the thoughts and the feelings of the old man versus those of the new man easily enough. Negativity is from the old man. Whatever is not holy, heavenly, delightful, life-giving is not the new man's thinking or emotion. The fruits of the Spirit which are: love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, self-control, are linked with the thoughts and feelings of the new man.
When Jesus died he took all of our stuff, so that we wouldn't have to carry it anymore. When we fall into negative thought or emotion, we are taking back what Jesus died to overcome; we are taking back the stuff he died to have, so we wouldn't have it anymore. He wants us to live in the new man, and let him keep the stuff of the old man.
Although the old man rises up inside of us, we don't have to allow what is dead to be resurrected. We have the authority and the power to reject the dead man. It is not true that it is a part of us.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)
Recognizing the old man as dead and that his negative emotions and thoughts are not actually a part of us is an understanding that comes to the transformed mind. We are no longer 'dead' in our sin. Saved by grace, we have access to the thought-life and emotional life of Heaven.
The old man, as cited in Romans 6:6 is, "crucified with Him,that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin."
Continuing, "For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:7-11 NKJV)
Meditate on this. Allow it to sink into your mind and spirit, to transform you from the inside.
Paul's reference to sin includes thoughts and emotions that are not life-giving. They are dead, just as we were dead before we knew Jesus. And we do not have to accept them as a part of us any longer. Instead, we choose to turn a corner and to walk full of the newness that life with Christ offers.
The new man is described as, "renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" and we are to 'put him on' (Colossians 3:10). Now, "The new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24 NKJV) is described as, "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering" (Colossians 3:12) is the person we have become through salvation, whether or not we realize it. We no longer need to walk in the futility of our minds but we have a new mind. Saved by grace we no longer live in despair or darkness except by ignorance.
Becoming Christ-like isn't about wrestling with our bad habits to overcome them so we can behave more "Christian". Becoming like Christ is living in the new mindset we've already been given supernaturally. We are not only saved by grace, but we are also sanctified by grace. And so let us with this information, walk in the new man, leaving behind the patterns, habits and trappings of the old man. Let us run the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1) with joy, peace, faith and love, knowing the old stuff is false and the new is our true identity, already accessible. We are alive in Christ. So, let us help each other to walk in that new life, knowing the old has passed away and the new is here to stay.
Studies in the world have proven that we will often manifest what we expect. Let us expect a life free from strife, filled with joy, and moving toward the Kingdom of Heaven which has come down to Earth and has already saved us from sinful selves so that we can live in the freedom of our true selves, free to be the people God created us to be.
My favourite scripture is this:
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14
Ready: Take time to unclutter your mind and discover who you are in Christ.
Set: Choose to be resolute. Trust and surrender is letting go of hard work and doubt. It is tenacity at it's best. It is hope and faith in action.
Go: With faith and focus like flint and with a face to match, I'm going forward in the knowledge and love of Christ, to be the new man, full of God's grace, truth, hope and joy. Please, will you join me?
One sure-fire way to find clarity of mind is to rest in scripture and consider letting go of any insecurity you may carry.
Free to Be offers you just the structure and strategy to go through the letting go process:
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In test case for gig economy, UK court backs contractor
LONDON (AP) - A London plumber who claimed he was unfairly dismissed after years of working as a contractor won a court ruling Wednesday giving him employment rights, in a closely watched case testing labor rules in the so-called gig economy.
Britain's Supreme Court ruled that Gary Smith, who worked for Pimlico Plumbers full-time for six years, was entitled to rights such as sick pay and minimum wage. Smith sought to reduce his hours following a heart attack, while the company argued he wasn't entitled to such protection because he was a self-employed contractor.
His case will now return to an employment tribunal to sort out his unfair dismissal claim.
Former Pimlico Plumbers employee Gary Smith leaves the UK Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London, Wednesday, June 13, 2018. A London plumber who claimed he was unfairly dismissed after years of working as a contractor has won a court ruling giving him employment rights, in a case seen as a key test of labor rules in the so-called gig economy. Britain's Supreme Court upheld a ruling by a lower court saying that Gary Smith, who worked for Pimlico Plumbers full-time for six years, was entitled to rights such as sick pay. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
The case lays bare the many questions that remain in the ongoing debate about independent contractors in the gig economy, where people work job-to-job with little security and few employment rights.
Some companies have argued that the gig system provides lifestyle benefits for people who want flexibility, but the arrangements also allow companies to avoid many expenses associated with hiring full-time employees.
While the U.K. ruling will not apply to employees outside the country, it is part of a trend in which regulators are more closely scrutinizing the rights of workers at companies like Uber and app-based food delivery cyclists.
The ruling is notable for both setting the mood music for future discussions on the topic while insisting that really nothing has changed in the concept of "worker." It placed the case of Smith in the context of some 150 years of British labor law as to what a worker is and what rules and regulations apply to that status.
The case is important because the court upheld earlier rulings in a straightforward way, implying that the judges believe the principles were already understood, said Sean Nesbitt, a partner at the international law firm of Taylor Wessing, which is not involved in the case.
"They're just saying: We know what a worker is and we can see it from existing principles, and that's what we're applying," he said. "It's important that they are treating this as consolidating a trend."
The decision does not bode well for Uber, which is facing its own moment of reckoning before the Court of Appeal in October. The ride-hailing app is appealing an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that ruled that the company's drivers are workers, not independent contractors, in a case that goes to the heart of the company's business model.
"People will treat it as a weather vane as to how the parties will contest the Uber appeal," Nesbitt said.
The ruling comes nearly a year after a major study by study by Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair, concluded that workers in the gig economy need greater labor protections.
The Taylor report concluded that a new category of worker, the "dependent contractor," should be created to secure genuine flexibility for laborers. It also signaled a new norm among the workforce.
By one estimate there are some 1.1 million people in Britain's gig economy, almost as many as those who work in the National Health Service. A separate 2016 study, by the McKinsey Global Institute, suggested that some 26 percent of the U.K. workforce are independent or use independent work to supplement their income, roughly the same percentage as those in the United States.
With the workplace rapidly evolving, businesses are struggling to cope.
Mishcon de Reya employment partner Susannah Kintish, who represented Pimlico Plumbers, said that businesses are awaiting legislation on categorizing their workforces, as existing employment law is "rendered increasingly unfit for purpose."
"Individuals operating in the gig economy need certainty that they have been categorized correctly, and businesses are equally keen to get this right from the outset, recognizing that doing so is in their own interests," she said.


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Lily Allen Will Join Miley Cyrus on Bangerz Tour
Miley Cyrus is giving her tour a refresh by adding an equally outspoken female artist.
Lily Allen will be joining the 'Wrecking Ball' star for a part of the U.S. leg of the Bangerz Tour, taking the place of previous openers Sky Ferreira and Icona Pop. She'll be hitting the road with Miley beginning with the Uniondale, N.Y. show on August 1, and making a seven city circuit before partying ways.
A month later, the 29-year-old singer will head out on her own North American tour — her first in five years — to promote her latest album 'Sheezus.'
To gear up for the tour, maybe Lily should check out Miley's two-hour behind-the-scenes documentary airing on NBC Sunday, July 6. You know, just to prepare herself for Miley's wildly provocative dancing and pot leaf leotard, among other things.
Check out the full list of Miley Cyrus and Lily Allen tour dates below:
August 1 – Uniondale, NY – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
August 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
August 4 – Pittsburgh, PA – CONSOL Energy Center
August 6 – Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena
August 7 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
August 9 – Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
August 10 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center
See Miley Cyrus + More Stars' Embarrassing Wardrobe Malfunctions


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Brussels municipality assists homeless Roma asylum-seekers
Brussels municipality assists homeless Roma asylum-seekers
BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 17 (UNHCR) - Growing numbers of ethnic Roma have been making their way to Belgium from south-east Europe, with many ending up sleeping in parks and railway stations as winter approaches.
To alleviate this homelessness problem, one municipality in the Greater Brussels region has just opened an emergency reception centre for Roma asylum-seekers, including children, who were living rough. The facility in Schaerbeek houses 10 families from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo.
All of them told recent UNHCR visitors similar stories about what drove them to flee their homes, including abject poverty, discrimination, physical abuse and the failure of local authorities to protect them. "Will this never stop for us Roma?," asked one man. "My grandfather suffered under Hitler, my father under communism and I had to run from nationalism," he added.
Before being moved to Schaerbeek, the Roma families had spent several weeks sleeping in the Brussels North train station and a park. They had lodged asylum claims and should, in theory, have been placed in centres run by the federal authorities. But Belgium has no more space for new arrivals.
This is not the first year that this problem has occurred, Cécile Jodogne, mayor of Schaerbeek, told UNHCR. "As a municipal authority we have neither the competence nor the budget to deal with asylum-seekers, but we had to act for humanitarian reasons."
With the weather getting steadily colder, the Schaerbeek authorities provided a building where the Roma families from south-east Europe can stay during the winter months. The authorities will later review the situation.
Schaerbeek has also attracted Roma from member states of the European Union (EU), including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia, whose asylum claims will not be granted, as they are EU citizens, municipal officials said.
The exact number of Roma asylum-seekers in Belgium and other EU countries is not known, though the figure is believed to be increasing. Most hail from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Many people in Europe believe the Roma are motivated to move from their areas of origin by economic reasons, but European Union statistics show that some suffer from discrimination and persecution in their areas of origin. This is why some of them receive protection status.
The Roma families staying in the Schaerbeek centre said they were grateful to the municipal authorities and were happy to have a roof over their heads as well as heating and warm water.
They also have access to medical care while their children get French lessons so they can enrol at a local school. "Here, I hope I can send my children to school without fear," a mother of four told UNHCR.
Mayor Jodogne, while noting that "these people are in a dreadful situation and we are assisting out of human concern," stressed that "their problems cannot be resolved on a municipal level."
Meanwhile, UNHCR in Brussels continues to urge the Belgian federal authorities to introduce a more flexible reception system that can deal with the ebb and flow of Roma arrivals.
As far as the increase in Roma migration is concerned, UNHCR seeks to work with governments as well as the EU to address the multifaceted problem of social exclusion, poverty, discrimination and, in some cases, persecution.
By Melita H. Sunjic in Brussels, Belgium


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I have a dmp file I have created using pg_dump encoded in WIN1252. What I would like to do is import it using pg_restore to a database on a Linux machine. The problem is that on the windows machine postgreSQL recognizes the encoding WIN1252 but not the CP1252 encoding (they both are identical just different names for the same standard). On the Linux machine, postgreSQL recognizes CP1252 but not WIN1252. So when I try and do a pg_restore I get an error because WIN1252 is not recognized as a proper encoding. Also, if I try to do a pg_dump on windows and specify the encoding as CP1252, I get a similar error. I would like to stick with this encoding format so doing a pg_dump in utf8 or something is not something I would like to do. Any help would be appreciated!
EDIT: Actually, upon further investigation, postgreSQL does not understand cp1252. The iconv linux command used to convert a text file from one encoding to another understands cp1252 and not win1252 and thats where I got it from. On the Linux machine, I still cannot set the client encoding to WIN1252. This is the error message:
FATAL: conversion between WIN1252 and LATIN1 is not supported
The variable client_encoding was originally set to UTF8 on the Linux machines so I dont know where LATIN1 is coming from. Unless WIN1252 is not supported so postgres tries to convert it to latin1 because that is the closest thing to it and fails at achieving that due to some character miss-match?