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Virginia Archives Month October 2012
"Stern accuracy in inquiring, bold imagination in describing, these are the cogs on which history soars or flutters and wobbles." -Thomas Carlyle
October is Archives Month in Virginia, and we'd like to invite you to join in the celebration, "Boxes to Bandwidth: Reconstructing the Past for the Future." Please enjoy and share the Archives Month poster, created from images submitted from nineteen archival repositories across the state. The poster highlights Virginians' rich history of service, innovation, creativity, and artistry, with images from Virginia archives and manuscript collections. (See Downloads to download a pdf of the poster or bookmark).
We also welcome you to explore your Virginia history by delving into an archives collection near you during the month of October. Numerous programs and lectures are slated to take place at institutions around the Commonwealth, so keep track of new events on this web page or on the Archives Month Facebook page.
Virginia Archives Month Events:
College of William & Mary Swem Library - https://swem.wm.edu/
Behind the Scenes Tours
Special Collections Research Center
Friday, September 28, 2:00-3:45 PM
Saturday, September 29, 10:00-10:45 AM
Friday, October 26, 2:00-3:00 PM
Saturday, October 27, 11:00 AM - 12 NOON
Tour the stacks area of Special Collections and see some of Swem's rare treasures! Space is limited and requires an RSVP to (757) 221-3094 or email@example.com
Swem Library's Archives Month Top 10 Contest
Grand Lodge of Virginia (Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons)
Library and Museum Open House
Masonic Lane and Nine Mile Road, Henrico, Virginia
Featuring archival exhibits on the 225th Anniversary of Mason's Hall (Richmond), the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812 and Masons involved, and the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War and Freemasonry's Role.
Open 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, with presentations daily from 9:30-9:45 AM.
Contact Marie Barnett at (804) 222-3110.
Library of Virginia - http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
Where History Begins: Celebrating Our Successes
Monday, October 01, 2012
Place: Conference Rooms, Fee, $25 includes lunch To register, visit: libva.com/sch
The Library of Virginia will host Where History Begins: Celebrating Our Successes, a workshop for local historical and genealogical societies. Participants will learn strategies for planning and completing successful projects, evaluating and working effectively with their collections, identifying grant opportunities and partnerships, and building support for their organizations. The workshop is sponsored by the Virginia State Historical Advisory Board and made possible by a generous State and National Archival Partnership (SNAP) grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The day-long workshop will feature concurrent sessions in the morning and afternoon, a presentation on a successful collaborative local history preservation project, and tours of Virginia's storied archives. Among the session topics will be: Stories of Virginia Found in the Chancery Records, the Civil War 150 Legacy Project, What Is a Public Record?, Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names, and Care and Preservation of Photographs.
Come Tour the Archives of the Commonwealth at the Library of Virginia
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM–11:00 AM, FREE, Space is limited. Call 804-692-3605.
The Library of Virginia is celebrating Archives Month with behind-the-scenes tours of the Archives Stacks, Conservation Lab, and Special Collections. Guests will see unique paper items being conserved and learn about the Mutual Assurance Society Collection, legislative petitions, "murder" maps from court records, and election records. The tours will conclude in the Special Collections reading room where the surrender papers of Lord Cornwallis, Stonewall Jackson's last communication to General Robert E. Lee, the Virginia Ordinance of Secession, an 1818 engraved script on parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence, and other treasures of Virginia's history will be on display.
Book talk: David Howard, author of Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Lost American Relic
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Time: 12:00 PM–1:00 PM, FREE, Space is limited.
Place: Lecture Hall
In 1865, an unknown infantryman rifled through the North Carolina Statehouse, hunting for Confederate mementos--but what he found was no ordinary souvenir. He returned home with a touchstone of our Republic: one of the fourteen original copies of the Bill of Rights.
Lost Rights follows that document's epic passage over the course of 138 years, from the Indiana businessman who purchases the looted parchment for five dollars to the antiques dealer who tries to peddle it more than a century later for $5 million. The parchment drifts from the living-room wall of a middle-class Midwestern family into the corruptible world of high-end antiquities before its journey ends with a dramatic FBI sting on the 32nd floor of a Philadelphia office tower. Part history, part detective story, part true-crime yarn, Lost Rights is a page-turner populated by unforgettable characters--the outrageous New England antique-furniture dealer, the real estate magnate seeking his next financial conquest, the folk-art expert who stows the iconic document under his bed, and the little-known historian who divines the parchment's most important secret from a faded, barely legible, 200-year-old notation, among many others.
Come Tour the Archives of the Commonwealth at the Library of Virginia
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM–11:00 AM, Space is limited. RSVP by calling 804-692-3605.
The Library of Virginia is celebrating Archives Month with behind-the-scenes tours of the Archives Stacks, Conservation Lab, and Special Collections. Guests will see unique paper items being conserved and learn about the Mutual Assurance Society Collection, legislative petitions, "murder" maps from court records, and election records. The tours will conclude in the Special Collections reading room where the surrender papers of Lord Cornwallis, Stonewall Jackson's last communication to General Robert E. Lee, the Virginia Ordinance of Secession, an 1818 engraved script on parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence, and other treasures of Virginia's history will be on display.
Norfolk Southern Archives
October 1
The Norfolk Southern Archives, in collaboration with WiNS, Norfolk Southern�s women�s network, is hosting tours of the Norfolk Southern Museum for Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts in Hampton Roads. The Girl Scouts will explore the Museum, talk to archivist Jennifer Davis McDaid, see items from the Archives, lunch with women who work for the railroad, and start earning their �Explore Norfolk Southern� patch. Requirements for the patch include a variety of activities that help scouts learn about railroad safety, the environmental benefits of rail transportation, and the role railroads have played in the development of the nation and its economy. Girl Scout Troop 5455 and Cub Scout Pack 48 will visit on October 1 to kick off Archives Month.
The Museum is open Monday through Friday, 10:00-4:00, and is located on the first floor of the Norfolk Southern building at 3 Commercial Place in downtown Norfolk. For guided tours, call 757/823-5325, or email email@example.com.
Preschool Transportation Days at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke - http://www.vmt.org/education/
Tuesdays and Wednesdays, October 2 through May 29, 2012
Preschool Transportation Days engage preschoolers in hands-on learning, experimentation, and creativity. Designed for children 3 to 5 years old and their caregivers, the program will teach children about the types of transportation on display at the Museum. On October 9-10, and October 30-31, Norfolk Southern archivist Jennifer Davis McDaid will join the group for history, learning, and fun, and bring items from the collections. Members: $5 per child; Non-Members: $10 per child. Caregivers are not charged for the program. Email Courtney Plaster, email@example.com, Education Coordinator at the VMT, for details.
Virginia Historical Society - https://www.virginiahistory.org/
Banner lectures
Reservations are not required. Admission is $6/adults, $5/seniors, $4/children and students, free/members (please present card) and to Richmond Times-Dispatch readers with a PressPass coupon. Parking is free.
October 4
Planter Oligarchy on Virginia's Northern Neck
By John C. Coombs
Time: 12 Noon, Reservations are not required. Admission is $6/adults, $5/seniors, $4/children and students, free/members (please present card) and to Richmond Times-Dispatch readers with a PressPass coupon. Parking is free.
The rise of a distinct class of affluent families to economic, social, and political dominance in Virginia during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is without doubt one of the most important developments in the Old Dominion's early history. As a group, however, the "gentry" were far from homogenous. John C. Coombs will draw on research for his forthcoming book The Rise of Virginia Slavery to discuss the foundations of power that were common across all ranks of the elite, as well as the circumstances that allowed the Carters, Lees, and Tayloes to achieve distinction as the colony's "first families." Dr. Coombs is a professor of history at Hampden-SydneyCollege and coeditor of Early Modern Virginia: Reconsidering the Old Dominion. This lecture is cosponsored by The Menokin Foundation, which owns and operates the RichmondCounty plantation home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Rebecca Tayloe Lee. This lecture is cosponsored with The Menokin Foundation.
October 25
Unlocking Menokin's Secrets: Archaeological and Landscape Research at a Northern Neck Plantation
By David Brown
Time: 12 Noon
One of the great houses to survive from colonial Virginia, Menokin was the result of a unique collaboration between John Tayloe II of MountAiry and Francis Lightfoot Lee, the husband of his daughter Rebecca. Tayloe gave Lee a life interest in 1,000 acres of his vast RichmondCounty estate and, as a wedding present, built the plantation house and surrounding structures. Though scant written records remain, other clues offer insight into this adaptation of European design to the environment of eastern Virginia. David Brown with DATA Investigations will discuss recent archaeological and landscape research conducted at the site. Brown is a consulting archaeologist for the Menokin Foundation. This lecture is cosponsored by the foundation, which owns and operates the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Rebecca Tayloe Lee. This lecture is cosponsored with The Menokin Foundation.
Gallery Walks
Gallery walks take place in the galleries of the Virginia Historical Society. All walks begin at noon unless otherwise indicated.
Admission is $6/adults, $5/seniors, $4/children & students, and free to members (please present card). Parking is free. Reservations are not required.
October 10
Virginia�s Presidents: Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Wilson
Time: 12 Noon
William Rasmussen
Lead Curator and Lora M. Robins Curator
Learn more about this exhibition
October 25
What Remains of Edward Beyer�s Blue Ridge: Landscapes of Salem and Liberty
Time: 6:00 PM
Drew Gladwell
Exhibit Designer
Learn more about this exhibition
Behind the Scenes Tour
Snapped! Tales of Murder and Mayhem
October 9, 2012
Time: 10:30 AM�12 Noon.
$10/VHS members; $17/nonmembers, reservations are required.
To register for tours online, click here.
For more information, call 804.342.9676, or email email@example.com.
What dark secrets hide in the collection of the VHS? Find out on this behind-the-scenes tour as we look at 400 years of murder and mayhem in Virginia. Tour will be led by Andrew H. Talkov, Head of Program Development.
Archives Month is a collaborative effort to celebrate the commonwealth's archival and special collections repositories and the rich cultural record they protect. It is a project of the Library of Virginia, in conjunction with the Virginia State Historical Records Advisory Board, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.


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"Saturday Night Live" has rescinded its invitation to a cast member who posted a video last year in which he used a racial slur for Chinese people and derided Asians trying to learn English.
A show representative said Monday that the language Shane Gillis used was "offensive, hurtful and unacceptable," and the show was not aware of the past remarks that have drawn criticism.
"Saturday Night Live" apologized, saying it's vetting process "was not up to our standard."
In a tweet, Gillis said he respected the show's decision and is "honestly grateful for the opportunity." He said he had hoped to have the opportunity to prove himself, but "I understand it would be too much of a distraction." He ended with a slight swipe at the show, mentioning that he was always a "Mad TV" guy anyway.
In the clip of video apparently posted in 2018, Gillis refers to an unidentified city's Chinatown as being "nuts" and used a derogatory word for Chinese people. He also complained about "hearing an Asian trying to learn English."
The "Saturday Night Live" representative said the show hired Gillis "on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL."
The clip of Gillis re-emerged last week just hours after NBC said that he and two others, including the show's only Asian American performer, were joining the cast as featured players.
"Saturday Night Live" has taken heat over the years for an overall lack of ethnic diversity, with scant Asian representation among its cast members or hosts.
Former players Fred Armisen and Rob Schneider both are one-quarter Asian, but neither has been widely recognized for their Asian ancestry. Among hosts, the long history of "SNL" includes a short list of Asian or Asian Americans, with Awkwafina, Aziz Ansari and Jackie Chan among them.
The Associated Press contributed to this article

subset: commoncrawl


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Photos: Olivia Palermo; Courtesy of Splash News, Getty Images.
Yesterday, I shared two ways to style your LWDs for catching the last wave of summer fun, today I have two more glamorous outfits that are perfect for special occasions. Best of all? When the temperature cools, you can add cardigans, coats or boots, and wear them through the fall. The key to rocking white after Labor Day is the materials and add-ons!
In Chinese: 昨天我分享了两个白裙子的搭配方法,非常适合夏末的休闲活动。今天我想分享另外两个同样来自奥利维亚·巴勒莫 (Olivia Palermo),但是更优雅、正式些的穿搭。而且因为材质的关系,这两个造型你还可以根据气温的变化,加上罩衫、大衣或靴子,一直穿到秋冬。白色在秋冬还会继续流行哦~
Clockwise from top left:
Top: Tibi
Sunglasses: Olivia Palermo for Westward Leaning
Skirt: Tibi (great alternative on sale here!)
Shoe: Aquazzura (last seen on her here; great alternative here)
Clockwise from top left:
Necklace: Kenneth Jay Lane (under $80 here & here)
Dress: Alexander Wang (more great styles on sale here!)
Clutch: Ted Baker (similar here)
Shoe: Aquazzura (similar on sale here & here)


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It feels like a natural thing to rub your eyes when they are itchy, watery, or otherwise irritated. Keeping your hands away from your eyes, however, is a smart choice for promoting better eye health. Rubbing your eyes can lead to everything from eye injuries to damaged vision. Rubbing your eyes offers
Read more


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By: Lynn Barker
After releasing their second album, the sensational "Mindless Behavior" guys are launching a 26 city "All Around the World" tour in Stockton, Ca. on July 3rd. They are headlining with the OMG Girlz and Coco Jones opening for them.
Prodigy, Ray Ray, Roc Royal and Princeton (real name Jacob Emmanuel Perez) have been rehearsing their "fannies" off and can't wait to hit the stage. Soft-spoken and kind, Princeton encourages fans to spread peace and be themselves. Let's put him on the page….
Kidzworld: You must be so excited about the tour.
- Princeton: It's been really crazy. It's our first time rehearsing for two events; the tour and the BET Awards (airing Sunday, June 30th).
Kidzworld: Wow, that's a lot of work! What track from "All Around the World" is your personal favorite?
- Princeton: I love "House Party". When I first heard the album full through, I really liked the hook of "House Party". It's a great, comfortable vibe. I really like that song and I love all the singles "Keep It on the Low". It's a great album.
Kidzworld: Do you guys hang out with the OMG Girlz or Coco Jones and do you plan to on tour?
- Princeton: Yeah, we've been texting the OMG Girlz. We can't wait to see each other on tour. The only time we really see each other is when we're working. Coco, we've done two shows with her so far and she's been really humble. It's going to be really comfortable because it's our headlining tour so we kind of know the rounds, what we're expected to do.
Kidzworld: Do you stay in a tour bus or hotels when on tour?
- Princeton: We usually stay at hotels if it's overnight but me, personally, I love the tour bus. If we're at a hotel, we usually get there around 4 A.M. and the call is usually around 6 so I'd rather just take my shower, get on the bus and just wake up with the engine going and me feeling comfortable and I don't have to move at all.
Kidzworld: Makes good sense. What do you try to do in your downtime on the bus?
- Princeton: I usually take a travel-sized keyboard and play the piano or I'm always on Netflix, I love to watch movies.
Kidzworld: If you have time are you going to try to go out and be a tourist in towns you are performing in?
- Princeton: Well, you know it's crazy. We've been to New York like thirty times but we've never actually been to the Statue of Liberty. When we're there it's usually promo (events) and we really never have time off. I really want to see the Statue of Liberty. Also, it's a tradition, we take a day and go to a mall in different states.
Kidzworld: Okay fans, look for the guys at your local mall when they're in town. Do you have a favorite fan encounter?
- Princeton: You know Milwaukee is always great. I don't know what's up with Milwaukee but they always have a lot of energy both when we're on stage or off, performing or not, the fans have a lot of energy so I really like Milwaukee.
Kidzworld: Does anybody in the group get stage fright and, if so, what do they do about it?
- Princeton: We don't get stage fright but we all get really, really nervous before shows. But, once we hit the stage, the nerves go away and we're just in the moment of singing or dancing.
Kidzworld: If you get an idea for song lyrics or music, what is the next step.. write it down or sing it into your smartphone or iPad or… what?
- Princeton: I often do that. If I get an idea I'll wake up and sing it into my phone and I'll wake up the next morning to a random sleepy voice on my recorder on my iPhone. When it comes to MB songs we usually think of a concept and then we have a writer who writes the song but it's all very relatable.
Kidzworld: Do you guys get to contribute ideas for your choreography?
- Princeton: Oh yeah, we're always doing that. Even if we're on a lunch break, we'll be dancing to random music and our choreographer will say "Oh, that move! I want that move right now! Let's put it in the next song". We're always moving around.
Kidzworld: Do you also get a say in what you wear? You have some cute outfits!
- Princeton: Usually our manager Tisha Gamble, picks out everything that we wear but she'll definitely take things from our personal style and incorporate it. Like, for the "Girls Talkin' Bout" video, during that time I was really into buttons on jackets and she saw that I had made a jacket with a lot of buttons and when we were on set getting dressed, I had this football jacket with a bunch of buttons so she says "If you're into that now, I want to incorporate that into the new video" and we get to keep a lot of the wardrobe. Free clothes never hurt!
Kidzworld: No argument there! What is with your hair? Did you come to the group with the cool, big hair or was that some stylist's idea?
- Princeton: I've always had my big hair. Ever since I was a kid, really young, I've always liked to stand out in any crowd that I'm in. My hair always did that for me. And, my hair definitely describes who I am. I'm very wild and crazy. I listen to a lot of rock music so it definitely fit me. I don't think I'd be who I am without my hair. And, when I'm on stage and dancing, when my hair flips, it's like an extra dance move.
Kidzworld: We love it! Who is the troublemaker in the group and who is the peacemaker? Who is the guy who says, "okay, we need to get back to work now"?
- Princeton: Okay, no real troublemaker but we do have one who jokes all the time and that's Ray Ray. And Roc is the youngest so he's always like "Comon guys. We shouldn't do this. We shouldn't do that" and I'm always all about my business. I'm like "Let's have fun, live life freely and get the job done".
Kidzworld: All groups argue so how do you guys settle a disagreement?
- Princeton: Honestly, you're gonna think this is funny but if it's serious, instead of fighting over it we do rock, paper, scissors and whoever wins, wins. We do it when like we forget a step to one of the songs and two (of us) will say it's one thing and two the other. We'll do rock, paper, scissors and whoever wins, that's the move.
Kidzworld: Easy solution. What can fans expect on the "All Around the World" tour that might be new or extra-exciting for them?
- Princeton: New, we have mic stands. We're used to performing with headsets. This time we have mic stands and we're excited about incorporating them into the show. I'm playing piano and I'm really excited about that. I've been practicing. I've always been a band geek so I'm excited that I get to play on tour. We have a lot of new songs and it's a longer show.
Kidzworld: You have these bracelets that glow and you are trying to get the fans to flash mob with them? What's the deal on that?
- Princeton: Yeah, basically, if the fans buy a ticket, they all get a "Mindless Behavior" kind of like wristwatch and it lights up if you click on it. During the performance we're gonna turn the lights off and have the fans perform with us. We'll move the wristbands and have the fans imitate us. It will be like we're all performing that night.
Kidzworld: Fun! Will somebody be shooting video to officially document the tour?
- Princeton: Yeah, somebody is always shooting video for us but I'm comin' out with a website called outsidersink.com and I'll be doing my own blogs here and there about what's going on so the fans will get to see it.
Kidzworld: Very cool! What major music star would you love to collaborate with that you haven't gotten to yet? Either be on stage with them or work on a record with?
- Princeton: Honestly I've always wanted to perform with "No Doubt". I live in a rock household so even if I got to do a song with them, that would be a dream come true.
Kidzworld: If you weren't a music star, what else might you be doing with your life?
- Princeton: Anything that I do in life always ends up being entertainment. If it wasn't music entertaining, I would probably be a back-up dancer because I originally am a dancer. Or, I'd be a fashion designer or doing art. Anything creative and entertaining, I'll be there.
Kidzworld: Any last message for the fans before you hit the road on tour starting July 3rd?
- Princeton: I would just say be yourself, stay "mindless" and I can't wait to see the fans on tour this summer on the "All Around the World" tour! We haven't been performing lately because we've been in rehearsal. I just feel like this tour is gonna be really different, really amazing and the fans are going to be able to enjoy the show.
Check out the Mindless Behavior site for tour "All Around The World" dates!


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Collaboration | News
Echo360 has acquired education startup ThinkBinder, a social study service, to integrate into its lecture capture application. Once the integration is done, students at schools using Echo360 technology will be able to create groups with which to share notes and other digital resources, chat via text and video, work together on a collaborative whiteboard, and maintain group calendars and files.
About five months ago, in November 2012, the company also acquired LectureTools, which has a number of features. Instructors can add interactive activities into PowerPoint slideshows and invite greater participation by students in class through a laptop and smartphone device response system and by allowing them to submit questions digitally.
"The acquisition of ThinkBinder brings the best of social media to the Echo360 'active learning solution.' Students benefit with crowdsourced learning while instructors can participate and monitor as needed," said Echo360 CEO Fred Singer. "This drastically improves an institution's ability to enhance the experience for on-campus, distance, and even [massive open online course] students by creating a connected and collaborative online learning experience."
"Together, Echo360 and ThinkBinder add a contextual conversation to the content, transforming the once passive viewing experience into a dynamic, social, and engaging learning opportunity," said ThinkBinder founder Greg Golkin, who has been named head of platform innovation for Echo360.
Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Echo360 said in a statement that its technology was in use in 500 institutions around the world. Adoptions in the last year have occurred at Canada's University of Toronto as well as the University of Nottingham and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.


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Single Sign-In for Domains version 1.0
Single Sign-In for Domains version 1.0
This plugin allow the users remain logged when they change from one domain to another one.
This extends the apaches or IIS session sharing to different domains.
This is a plugin that must be installed in each websites with which you want to share the login.
It can also work without Jms Multi Sites.
In this case, it is required to share the Joomla MySQL sessions and users tables between the websites.
It is also required that you use the same "secret" value in the different websites or that each domain is pinged with the correct "secret" value correponding to the domain name.
The plugin should also work for Joomla 1.6 but we didn't verified it
This plugin may perhaps not work when the apache suhosin module is installed.
This apache module adds security that may perhaps need to be disabled to make the sessions shared correctly.


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Domain name for sale
Free transfer
Free support
Secure payments
Fast delivery
Frequently asked questions
You can get your domain in two ways
1.Domain push:
If you have an account at the current domain's registrar, you can ask your seller to push the domain directly into your registrar account. This typically can be done within 24 hours or less.
2.Transfer with auth code:
Domain transfer with auth code (also called an Authorization Code, Auth-Info Code, or transfer code) could be a common way to receive your domain name. The auth code will be sent to you once the payment is secured and you could start the transfer process. It might take up to 5-7 days to finish the transfer.
NO. You will handle the transaction directly with the domain seller, no other fees involved.


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Fitchburg, WI 3 Bedroom Dog Friendly Short-term / Furnished Apartments
Start Search
Welcome to Fitchburg!
Fitchburg is home to over 25,260 residents and 700 businesses. With its close proximity to UW-Madison, the State Capitol and Dane County Regional Airport, Fitchburg offers the best of city and rurual life. Fitchburg's idealistic neighborhoods and vibrant business community are surrounded by family farms, community parks and world-class bike trails.
Three of Wisconsin's finest school districts call Fitchburg home. Fitchburg K-12 students attend three school districts: Madison Metropolitian School District, Oregon School District and the Verona Area School District.
Choose from a huge selection of Fitchburg, WI apartment homes that will fit anyone's lifestyle.


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About EILEEN FISHER in San Francisco, California
Shop at EILEEN FISHER in San Francisco for women's clothing that embraces simplicity, sustainability and timeless design. For more than 30 years, we've committed to responsible business practices that create positive change—giving to causes that support women and girls, building a more sustainable fashion industry and creating a more responsible supply chain.
Our clothes are designed to move with you. We use only the best materials, like organic cotton or naturally dyed silk, so you can feel your best—season after season.
Stop by your local EILEEN FISHER and find something you love.


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Women can influence the gender of their child with what they eat before they conceive, according to new research that lends scientific support to age-old superstitions about pregnancy. The study of 740 women showed that higher calorie intake led to a higher probability of a male birth.
The discovery shows higher calorie intake prior to conception can significantly increase the chances of having a son while women on restricted diets are more likely to produce daughters. Scientists at Britain's Oxford and Exeter Universities, who studied eating habits of 740 women during their first-time pregnancies, say that their findings seem to back certain traditional links between diet and gender while disproving others.
"We were able to confirm the old wives' tale that eating bananas and so having a high potassium intake was associated with having a boy, as was a high sodium intake," research leader Fiona Mathews, a specialist in mammalian biology at Exeter University, told the Guardian newspaper. "But the old take about drinking a lot of milk to have a girl doesn't seem to hold up. In fact, more calcium meant they were again more likely to have a boy."
Mathews said the study pointed to a simple technique to influencing the chances of a male birth: Eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. "If you want a boy, eat a healthy diet with a high calorie intake, including breakfast," she told New Scientist magazine.
"Of women eating cereals daily, 59 percent had boys, compared with only 43 percent who bore boys in the group eating less than a bowl full per week." The researchers said that a higher calorie intake prior to conception can increase the chances of having a son from ten to 11 boys in every 20 births, according to the study published in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B.
They said it could explain why male births in richer countries are experiencing a slight reduction
Source: edition.cnn.com


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1 Pound or 16 Ounces of Smoked Dried Bhut Jolokia Pods
The Worlds Hottest Chile Pepper
Product Info:
The Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense,) or Ghost Chili, named for its ghostly bite, is the hottest chili pepper in the world. Also known as the Naga Jolokia and Bih Jolokia, or poison chile pepper, it has been measured at 855,000 Scoville units up to 1,041,427 units by an Indian export company. The Bhut Jolokia is twice as hot as the Red Savina (350,000-577,000 Scoville units) and is similar looking to the Dorset Naga. When ripe, the ghost chiles are 60 mm to 85 mm long and up to 30 mm wide. They have an orange or red color. They are very similar looking to Habanero peppers, but they have a rugged skin.
Suggested Use:
Ghost Chiles are very, very, very hot Use them sparingly, add a little to fresh salsa, sauces, chili and anything else you want to start a 12 alarm fire with
Dried Ghost Chiles (Caution: World's Hottest Chili. Handle with care, do not get in eyes. Flush with water to relieve symptoms).
Basic Prep:
Caution: World's Hottest Chili. Handle with care, do not get in eyes. Flush with water to relieve symptoms.Rinse product first with warm water. soak in hot water for 10 minutes to rehydrate or add directly to recipe that will cook at least 10 minutes. Once rehydrated, dice or puree and add to a recipe.


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This requires some defining. We are talking e-assessment and e-feedback here (i.e. digital) and for 'authentic' and 'alternative' we mean 'vocational' and accessible digital initiatives.
I am here to search through my Student Blog. I had hoped to be able to use the 'Massively multiplayer online role-playing game' Second Life but it is no more.
Can anyone suggest a virtual world where students with accessibility needs can get online 'in character' and role play some actions and decision making?


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Section Branding
Header Content
Roma refugees who fled from Ukraine to Moldova are now in limbo
Primary Content
CHISINAU, Moldova — Angelina Leonidovna Kovach decided to leave the Ukrainian city Kharkiv in the second week of March, emerging from her basement refuge into a country under fire. She crossed from Ukraine into neighboring Moldova with a group of her relatives — all members of Ukraine's Roma minority.
Now, in a university building turned temporary refugee center in Moldova's capital Chisinau, Kovach and other Roma are in limbo. Entire families live together in classrooms emptied of desks to make space for beds. Mothers find a quiet corner to feed their babies while older children fill time by playing card games in the hallway.
People who have travel documents can leave for other countries in Europe and beyond. People who don't cannot. Kovach, 35, doesn't have her passport — it got left back in Ukraine in the rush to evacuate.
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February, she was visiting family in Kharkiv, in the north, and decided it was best to leave directly instead of traveling back to her home in Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast, to claim her documents. "For two weeks there was bombing," she says. "I was afraid to go [back]."
In the early days of Ukraine's war, undocumented people were able to pass through Moldova's borders easily, either via official crossing points or unfenced sections of the border. This made the country the most logical place for people to flee if they didn't have passports, and word of this option spread among communities where this was common.
Members of Ukraine's Roma minority, an estimated 400,000 people, are among the more than 6 million refugees who fled Ukraine since the war began. For many people from this ethnic group, crossing borders is complicated because they have no way to prove their nationality. "Most of the Roma are stateless," says Victorina Luca, a human rights lawyer and founder of Radio Patrin Moldova, a Chisinau radio program geared to the Roma community.
Stateless and stranded
Statelessness for Roma people is a multifaceted issue. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Roma communities in the region have been forcibly displaced by numerous conflicts. When new states were formed, people in the Roma minority lacked the required primary documentation to prove their birthplace and connection to the places where they were applying for nationality, which left them unable to claim citizenship there.
That statelessness is often inherited since undocumented parents face obstacles when registering their children in the country where they live. Some Roma have only birth certificates or passports left over from Soviet times. Others have no documents at all.
"It's partly systemic problems that plague people in poverty. It's partly the intricacies of Ukraine and [its] history," says Jonathan Lee, advocacy and communications manager at the European Roma Rights Centre, a human rights organization in Brussels. But on the ground, issues of statelessness are exacerbated by hostility toward Roma people at the registrar's office, he says. "That's the main obstacle day to day for getting IDs."
According to the United Nations refugee agency, the number of Roma people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness who remain in Ukraine is unknown. It's also unknown exactly how many have left Ukraine to seek protection elsewhere.
Efforts to help a uniquely vulnerable refugee community
In Moldova, the number of refugees before the war started was small. Last year, there were 405 refugees and 3,372 stateless people under protection from the U.N. refugee agency.
Roma people who managed to reach Moldova after fleeing Ukraine are staying in various official and makeshift shelters around this country of 2.6 million people. But since most don't have documentation to show they are Ukrainian, they are having trouble claiming aid, Roma advocates say, despite being one of the poorest segments of the refugee population.
Kovach is hoping to reunite with her daughter and mother, who fled to Romania. But without travel documents, she is stuck for now in Moldova. She says Moldova's border guards couldn't provide her with proof of entry, which she needs to leave the country.
Getting this group of refugees the information they need is especially difficult, Luca says, because many Roma are illiterate. Her radio program — broadcast in the Romani language — seeks to inform and empower Moldova's Roma population.
Official statistics from the most recent census, in 2014, record 9,323 Roma in Moldova, but Roma organizations say the true number is 10 times that. Since the war started, the radio program has supplemented its usual stories from Roma communities in Moldova with broadcasts sharing details about documentation, travel and rights of Roma asylum-seekers coming from Ukraine.
At a warehouse where volunteers organize and distribute bags of food and clothes, refugees must provide a Ukrainian identification number to claim supplies. Some Roma don't have ID numbers because they don't have passports or other identifying documents, but organizers say one is needed to make sure only refugees receive aid.
Luca personally delivers supplies to refugee centers and homes — things like flip-flops for people stuck in winter boots as the weather turned to spring.
"Right now, we transformed to [provide] humanitarian aid because there is a need," she says.
Roma refugees are kept segregated from others coming from Ukraine
The Roma minority has long been a marginalized group in Europe and the Ukraine war may only make things worse, says Marin Alla, the executive director of a coalition of Roma organizations based in the Moldovan capital. In Moldova, he says, limited funding from the state — one of the poorest in Europe — runs up against the personal biases of decision makers and average citizens, which leads to unequal treatment of Roma people.
In Chisinau, Roma, Azerbaijanis and people from other minorities are mostly housed separately from other refugees who arrived from Ukraine. "In this place, the condition is [worse]," Alla says of the official shelter where Roma stay. "This is discrimination."
Roma advocates say at certain points, unofficial shelters for Roma in Moldova lacked necessities like drinking water and mattresses. In other instances, they say, Roma communities were taken advantage of financially by people who offered them housing.
Ian Feldman, president of a council appointed by Moldova's parliament to protect against discrimination, says a segregated system for housing refugees in Chisinau was created so that Roma mediators could easily travel between government-supported shelters to help resolve disputes or documentation issues.
"If you look at what really lies behind this decision, you will see that it's basically logistics, optimization of resources and creating a culturally appropriate and friendly environment," he says.
Nonetheless, others insist segregation lends itself to unequal treatment. Elena Sirbu, a Roma mediator, says bias against her community in Moldova is widespread. Discrimination is apparent, she says, when institutions choose to ignore the specific challenges faced by this community. "They don't want to take this responsibility," she says. "No Roma, no problem."
The European Roma Rights Centre has documented cases of discrimination against Roma refugees in Moldova, Hungary and Ukraine. "In every sort of facet of how refugees are treated, there will be implicit racism and discrimination," says Lee, the group's advocacy director. "It's the sad reality of anti-gypsyism in Europe."
A history of persecution
When the war began, he says, members of some Roma communities in Ukraine fled because they feared there would be pogroms. Persecution against Roma people in Europe is well documented, especially during wartime.
In March, a group of 200 pro-Roma human rights organizations published a joint statement condemning the war in Ukraine and calling for humane treatment of Roma and other minority groups.
"From the Second World War to the Balkan Wars of the late 1990s, history has shown us that in times of war or conflict, the plight of Roma as well as other minorities is continuously ignored," the statement said. "Ethnic minorities are often rendered invisible and further victimised instead of being provided equal protection."
Hundreds of thousands of Roma were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. During the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s, Roma people were singled out, abused and killed during ethnic cleansing campaigns. Roma settlements have been damaged or destroyed by mob violence in numerous contexts in various countries in Europe since then.
For now, Roma staying in Chisinau say they're grateful. "We do not know what to do because of stress [but] at least we have someplace to sleep, and we thank them for that," says Raise Grigorievna Dreama, a Roma woman staying in one of the government-supported shelters in Chisinau with her daughters Malina, Madonna and Ramina, as well as her son Artem, his wife and their children.
Dreama's family of 12 do hold Ukrainian passports, but they lack the financial means and desire to continue to another country. Their Ukrainian village, near Odesa, is just a few hours' drive away from the shelter where they are staying.
They hope to find a house somewhere in Chisinau where they can live temporarily, with more privacy. Ideally, they'd like to return to Ukraine. "I want to go home," Dreama says.
Organizations assisting the Roma community are advising those without documents to apply for asylum in Moldova.
But for Roma like 29-year-old Peotr Romanovich Cherenovskii, formally becoming a refugee in Moldova would mean living apart from family members who've traveled on to other countries in Europe. That is a thought he can't stand.
Cherenovskii is from the Donetsk region of Ukraine, and says after conflict started there in 2014, he didn't get his passport renewed because he did not want to get conscripted to fight. He now has a new concern.
"My children, my wife, they are all in Romania," he says. "How can I get there?"
For now, the answer isn't clear.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Gary Gilley of Southern View Chapel, (Springfield, IL), has written an extensive and engaging two-part series on the social gospel. This article pulls together the various elements and manifestations of the social gospel, revealing its grasp on the evangelical church today.
(You can view Part 2 Here)
Reprinted in full, with permission
Original article can be found here
One of the important issues which the church has always had to address is that of its role in society. In the Old Testament, the Lord chose Abraham to be the father of a called-out race of people. Years later, the Lord would establish the nation of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant. Detailed laws and regulations were given to Israel at the time including how that nation was to be governed, how poverty was to be dealt with, how widows and orphans were to be helped and how injustices were to be corrected. All of these matters were addressed almost exclusively within the context of the nation of Israel, with relatively minor concern for the surrounding nations. The Old Covenant would continue to be in force throughout Old Testament history until finally superseded at the dawning of the church age in Acts 2 with the coming of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost. While the Jewish people and the nation of Israel still retain a primary place in the plan of God, and the Lord still has an eschatological plan for Israel, presently we live in what is commonly called the church age. The church, which functions as the chosen people of God for this age, is composed of regenerate people of all nationalities. It is not a nation in an official sense and has not been given laws by which a governmental structure could function. The church, being the people of God scattered throughout the globe, cannot possibly function as the nation of Israel did during the Old Testament times.
Still, most recognize that Christians live as citizens not only of heaven but also of earth and as a result have responsibilities pertaining to life on this planet here and now. What those responsibilities are and how they are to be worked out has been the topic of much debate for almost 2000 years. The pendulum has swung at times from total disinterest in this world to the idea that solving social problems is the primary objective of the church. With the advent of the internet and other rapid forms of communication, a plethora of voices is weighing in on this issue. Most recently the shift toward the social agenda has gained the upper hand in most evangelical circles and is rapidly being given equal status with the proclamation of the gospel message. As a matter of fact, a two-tiered gospel has arisen composed of both the Great Commission and the so-called Cultural Mandate. In this paper I want to try to make some sense of all of this and draw a conclusion which I believe is faithful to the New Testament program for the church. We will begin with a glance at history.
The Social Gospel of the Past
The 1800s proved to be years in which evangelicalism was radically changed, especially in English-speaking societies. As the world moved into the nineteenth century, the effects of the Great Awakening under Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield in the 1730s-1740s in America and the Evangelical Revival under the Wesleys in England were largely a memory. Those reading the accounts of these earlier movements of God longed for something similar but, many seemed willing to settle for the outward emotionalism of revivalism[1] rather than follow the content-oriented approach of their fathers. Thus, when the so-called Second Great Awakening began in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1800, subsequently spreading throughout much of New England and parts of the American South, it had a very different flavor from what Edwards and his peers experienced. Edwards believed the Great Awakening was a true revival sent by the Lord, but he also knew that there were excesses, pretenders and "false spirits" mingled in. What took place in the first half of the nineteenth century flipped the ratio. While there were undoubtedly true conversions and fervor for the Lord, there was much that was little more than fleshly passion. Nineteenth century people longed for a spiritual experience that the camp revivals and traveling evangelists seemed to provide. A good motivational speaker, such as Charles Finney, could draw huge crowds to hear his messages which often provided sensational, if temporary, results. Churches would be packed during "revivals," but sadly, after the evangelists had moved on life returned to normal and church attendance did as well. It did not take pastors long to figure out that if they wanted large, enthusiastic meetings they would have to dump their more subdued method of teaching the Bible and offer revival-style services complete with "new means" that were field-tested and handed down by Finney and other lesser-known revivalists. This soon led to a predictable pattern. People would be whipped into emotional frenzies by evangelists and pastors through the use of new and creative techniques which were devoid of solid biblical content. When the emotions subsided, a new round of similar methods was needed to bring back the "revival." One critic of the Finney-style revivals wrote in 1858, "Singing, shouting , jumping, talking, praying, all at the same time… in a crowded house, filled to suffocations, which led to people having fits and giving their names as converts but, as soon as the excitement was over, falling away."[2]
This cycle became so common that certain sections of New England, especially the state of New York, became known as the "Burnt-over District" where the fire of revival meetings had swiped so often through some areas that people ultimately had grown resistant to the things of God. To this day, these regions remain perhaps the most spiritually hardened parts of the American landscape. It is interesting, however, that in the mid-1800s many of the standard cults that are prominent today emerged from the "Burnt-over District." In addition, numerous utopian societies would arise at the same time and place, each offering some form of heaven on earth. All of these things appear to be the direct result of revivalism of the early 1800s which heavily promoted emotional excesses while minimizing the study of the Scriptures.
All these things dovetailed to create much confusion and division within Christian circles. By the mid-1800s, some were seeing a need to push back and establish criteria by which a true evangelical could be identified. In 1846 "the Evangelical Alliance was formed to bring together the Protestants all over the world who were the heirs of the awakening of the previous [18th] century."[3] The Evangelical Alliance confirmed the standard conservative doctrines of the faith but offered four important hallmarks of an evangelical:
- belief in the inspiration, authority and sufficiency of Scripture,
- acknowledging the centrality of the cross upon which the sacrifice of Jesus provided the way of salvation for men,
- affirming the need for conversion in which by repentance and faith a sinner becomes a new creature in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit,
- and activism in which the child of God is busy presenting the gospel and ministering to those in need.[4]
Those who rejected the doctrinal orthodoxy of the World Evangelical Alliance (as it was also called) attempted to infiltrate it with liberal theology, but when that failed they withdrew in 1894 to form their own organization, The Open Church League, which later was renamed the National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers in 1900. By 1950 the National Federation was reorganized as the National Council of Churches.[5] This breaking away by the liberal factions and the forming of their own organization led to the demise of the World Evangelical Alliance. It is noteworthy, in light of the common misunderstanding that conservative Christians are the source of most ecclesiastical disunity, to mention that it was the liberals "who separated from the evangelicals to found their own organizations to promote church union among those who rejected the authority of Holy Scripture."[6] Liberals, both in the past and today, desire unity, but do so at the expense of doctrinal purity. They are happy to join hands with any except those who insist on certain essential truths remaining foundational to unity.
The liberal theologians (known as modernist in the late 1800s) were bringing German rationalism into English speaking churches, especially in America. Many in these churches, pastors and laymen alike, had long since abandoned the careful study and teaching of Scripture, making these churches fertile ground for heretical ideas, especially since the liberals often disguised their teachings by using the same words that evangelicals used but giving those words new meanings. Added to these factors was a move from Enlightenment thinking with its preciseness to Romanticism with its impreciseness and emphasis on feeling and experience over theology and Scripture.[7] Together all of these threads were drawn together during the second half of the nineteenth century to produce a radical makeover in Christianity. The cardinal doctrines held dear by evangelicals since at least the Reformation were now being jettisoned. And with the denial of essential biblical truth came a shift in the focus and purpose of the church. If the incarnation was in doubt, and the Scriptures suspect, and theology itself under attack, then that left social action as the mission of the church. And thus was born what would be called the "social gospel."
Church historian David Bebbington informs us, "The most characteristic doctrine of the social gospelers, that the kingdom of God was to be realized by social improvement, was derived primarily from the German liberal Albrecht Ritschl."[8] However, it is important to realize that the social gospel did not overwhelm the gospel of spiritual salvation all at once. For some time, "There was much agreement in America that the gospel was primarily a matter of spiritual salvation, but that under modern conditions it was also necessary to strive for social reform. In its origins the social gospel movement was in large part a broadening expression of evangelicalism."[9]
Perhaps doctrine increasingly took a back seat to social action because of pressure by influential people like George Elliot who taught, as many increasingly do today, that "salvation of the individual soul was not sufficient. Society must be saved as well as Christians."[10] Nevertheless, evangelical forces held their ground during most of the latter half of the century, but their front lines began to crumble by the last decade and the war was essentially lost by the turn of the century. Many pockets of resistance remained for a time, but by the twentieth century the liberals could claim virtual victory. And with that victory not only had the great truths of Scripture been undermined but the purpose of the church had been shifted from fulfillment of the Great Commission with its emphasis on evangelism and discipleship to the social gospel and saving society from itself. Probably no one has described the social gospel better than H. Richard Niebuhr who famously wrote, "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross."[11]
By the early 1900s, most theological liberals had made social concerns central to their understanding of the gospel. Historian George Marsden writes, "While not necessarily denying the value of the traditional evangelical approach of starting with evangelism, social gospel spokesmen subordinated such themes, often suggesting that stress on evangelism had made American evangelicalism too other-worldly… and individualistic… Such themes fit well with the emerging liberal theology of the day."[12] The theology of the day was increasing acceptance of Darwinian theories, higher critical attacks on the Bible and Freudian redefining of human nature. In light of these modern challenges to the Bible and conservative evangelical thought, liberal theologians believed Christianity needed to change to survive. That which was unacceptable to modern man, such as the incarnation, the atonement, creationism, inspiration and authority of Scripture, etc., had to be rejected. That which was acceptable and appreciated by the culture was to be retained and emphasized. Western societies had little problem with the social agenda and as time moved forward the church accommodated such thinking. Of course not everyone was in lockstep with the social gospel, but by the turn of the 20th century virtually all the major denominations, schools, seminaries and Christian agencies had been infiltrated by liberal thinking, and by 1920 they had capitulated almost entirely. The test of orthodoxy had shifted from what one believed to how one lived. As Marsden states it, "The key test of Christianity was life, not doctrine."[13] Drawing from Friedrich Schleiermacher, the father of Christian liberalism, what increasingly mattered was experience and not truth. Renald Showers observes:
Liberal Protestant advocates of the social gospel declared that the church should be concerned primarily with this world. It should divert its efforts from the salvation of individuals to the salvation of society. The church should bring in the kingdom of God on earth instead of teaching about a future, theocratic kingdom to be established in Person by Jesus Christ… the Church was to save the world, not be saved out of it.[14]
Conservatives kicked against the modernistic drift of Christianity through booklets such as The Fundamentals and the writings of such men as Princeton professor J. Gresham Machen. Machen, in his classic book Christianity and Liberalism, called liberalism a different religion altogether. Machen warned during this turbulent period, "What is today a matter of academic speculation begins tomorrow to move armies and pull down empires."[15] His insight has proven all too sadly to be true. But neither Machen nor other conservatives were able to rescue the denominations and schools, as Princeton itself officially rejected its doctrinal roots and adopted liberalism in 1929. It was left to the conservatives to either stay within their systems and work to redeem them or separate and start new denominations, schools, churches and ministries. Many took this latter route, with Machen himself starting Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929 and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. Many others from all denominations would follow suit including the founding of the Independent Fundamental Churches of America, the Conservative Baptists, and the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. According to Marsden, 26 schools from Bob Jones to Wheaton College were founded during the Great Depression.[16] Seminaries such as Dallas Theological Seminary, mission agencies, and parachurch organizations would soon follow. The conservatives focused on evangelism, theological training and discipleship, while the liberals were increasingly defined by the social gospel accompanied by their view of the kingdom. To the liberals the "kingdom was not future or otherworldly, but 'here and now.' It was not external, but an internal ethical and religious force based on the ideas of Jesus."[17]
The colossal differences between liberals and conservatives were crystallized around the turn of the century with the subsequent division of the two camps occurring in the 1920s and 1930s. At this point the conflict was often referred to as the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, but as the years rolled by, another division was looming, this one among the fundamentalists. By the 1940s the question of cultural and social engagement had arisen within the fundamentalists' camps. The original fundamentalists, perhaps oversensitive to the social gospel that was at the heart of liberalism, often pushed away from any form of social action. In time, some felt that they had gone too far and needed to become more involved with the culture and improve society, as well as preach the gospel. This ultimately led to a split within the conservative camp in which the fundamentalists would take a separatist view. That is, they would separate from any who taught false doctrines and, rather than try to infiltrate society, they would live as lights of the gospel calling men to Christ. On the other hand, the opposing position would be termed new (or neo) evangelical. Neo-evangelicals believed that the church had the mandate not only to win and disciple the lost but to engage the culture and make the world a better place to live by changing social structures that cause grief and suffering. Many see 1957 as the official rupture between fundamentalists and neo-evangelicals, for it was that year that the two groups divided over Billy Graham accepting an invitation to conduct a crusade in New York City sponsored by a consortium of conservative and liberal churches. The fundamentalists virtually anathematized Graham while neo-evangelicals made him the face of their movement.[18] Since that time neo-evangelicals have become better organized, more influential, and more widely funded as they have united over many causes, both spiritual and cultural. Evangelicals, however, have not been without their problems. The movement has continued to spread and broaden theologically to the point that defining the word "evangelical" has become an exercise in futility. Conservatives, Pentecostals, Prosperity Gospel proponents, and even many Roman Catholics are all claiming the title evangelical, although the doctrinal beliefs between these factions differ widely. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, perhaps because of their very nature as separatists, have been increasingly marginalized and content to go about the business of fulfilling the Great Commission.
As we have now made the turn into the 21st century we can look back with some insights and some questions. Liberalism, which seemed to have won the day as the 20th century dawned, has lost most of its steam. Evangelicals make most of the waves today, but in order to do so, they have had to increasingly widen their views and doctrines to include those they would have deemed heretical in the mid 1900s. They seem to be united mostly over social action rather than the Great Commission. Without question, it is the fundamentalists who have been able to safeguard the gospel and the Scriptures, even as they have lost influence in society. As one student of the church has observed, "At root, however, it is a question of how to engage the culture without losing one's soul. Fundamentalism feared losing its soul and did not engage the culture; evangelicalism feared being different from the culture and is in danger of losing its soul."[19]
The Social Agenda of Today
I was in flight from South Africa last October after three weeks of strenuous ministry and travel. I was exhausted and looking forward to sleeping throughout the night, and when I sat down beside two businessmen, I grunted a relatively polite hello and then tried to position myself for rest. The two gentlemen were gracious to my obvious desire to be left alone and began a conversation between them that would continue off and on throughout the flight. The man sitting next to me was returning from one of the interior countries of Africa from what he termed constantly as Christian "ministry." He had been on a "missions trip" and his ministry, for several weeks, had been to work with a Christian agency to dig wells in various rural areas to provide clean water for the tribal people living there. The man next to him was on a similar venture in another African country, but he was with a social agency funded, I believe, by the Bill Gates Foundation. The two men had much in common and therefore conversation flowed. The only discernable difference that I could gather between the two was that one considered what he did "ministry" while the other considered his involvement an act of social kindness. I listened in vain throughout the night for the man who saw what he did as Christian ministry to mention something about the gospel or teaching anything about God or the Bible. By the time I was alert enough to desire to enter into the conversation I felt I could not do so without inappropriate embarrassment to the Christian man. I wanted to ask how he viewed what he had done any differently from what the Bill Gates-connected man had accomplished. After all, both dug wells for poor people, providing fresh water (a good thing). And neither man attempted to influence the tribal people with their own views. Yet one had been on a "missions" trip, doing missional work, and the other had bettered the living conditions of tribal people as part of a private social program.
I have thought often of that conversation which I think represents some of the thinking in evangelical circles. I hear endlessly of people going on missions trips around the world, even though many of the ones I know going on such trips are not Christians themselves. On many of these adventures, there is no attempt to present anything of the gospel or provide any form of discipleship. These are purely social missions in which wells are dug, people are fed, buildings are constructed or medical attention is given. All of these are worthy causes with which the conservative evangelical church has been involved throughout the ages. Everywhere true Christianity has gone it has benefited the society which it has touched. But historically, conservative Christianity has always seen social improvement as taking a backseat to the church's true calling of proclaiming the gospel and making disciples. It has never seen the social agenda as an end in itself – until now. The social gospel became the hallmark of the liberal church, as pointed out above, because the liberals had emptied their message and ministry of biblical truth and were left with no other "good news" than solving physical problems. Sadly, evangelicals today are increasingly adopting the missional, social gospel of liberalism.
However, it would be unfair to say that this is yet a majority opinion or action among true evangelicals. Rather, the more common approach is to espouse a two-tiered gospel which is composed of the biblical gospel of redemption and the social gospel of world betterment. While this is an upgrade from the purely missional model of liberalism it nevertheless lacks biblical warrant and endangers the true gospel of salvation. Let's take a look.
John R. W. Stott, an early architect of the two-tiered approach, posthumously published an article in Christianity Today stating, "We are convinced of the power of the gospel in evangelicalism – that it brings salvation and redemption to those who respond and believe in Jesus. But it isn't only the gospel that is powerful. All God's truth is powerful."[20] We would not inherently disagree with such a statement but we need to see where it leads. Stott, who has had more influence on the Lausanne Movement[21] than anyone, has endorsed, if not created, the vision statement of the movement: "The whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world." While this makes for a catchy slogan almost every word has to be examined carefully. Given the high emphasis on ecumenical unity at all three of the Lausanne conferences, including the latest in Cape Town in 2010, it appears that the "whole church" includes virtually all branches and traditions within Christendom including Roman Catholic and Orthodox as well as mainline denominations. The "whole gospel" will be defined by what is meant by the "whole world." According to the Lausanne website the whole world means "becoming empowered by the Holy Spirit to alleviate world suffering brought about by economic injustice, disease, environment and poverty."[22] The "whole gospel" by default includes not only the good news that Jesus Christ has died to provide salvation, but also addresses the social injustices found in our world today. As further evidence of this, we turn to positional papers flowing from Lausanne III (also known as Cape Town 2010). For example, one such document from Lausanne III reads:
Cape Town 2010 must call evangelicals to recognise afresh the biblical affirmation of God's redemptive purpose for creation itself. Integral mission means discerning, proclaiming, and living out, the biblical truth that the gospel is God's good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for persons, and for society, and for creation. All three are broken and suffering because of sin; all three are included in the redeeming love and mission of God; all three must be part of the comprehensive mission of God's people… Christians who are working in environmental biology and creation care have a valid missional calling which needs to be recognised, encouraged and resourced by the church, for they model how to integrate the care of creation into what it means to proclaim Jesus as Lord. Caring for creation is an act of fidelity to the whole biblical gospel and the mission that flows from it…. Our missional calling demands more careful and critical consumption, creative production, prophetic denunciation, advocacy for and mobilization of the victims of world injustice. While we stand with the Micah Challenge in holding our governments accountable to their commitments to "make poverty history", we also dedicate ourselves to "making greed history" in our own lives, churches, communities, countries and world.[23]
It becomes clear from such statements that Lausanne, which represents much of mainstream evangelicalism, is co-mingling a form of the social gospel with the biblical gospel. To be fair, the Lausanne leadership attempts to give evangelism the pre-eminence stating: "Although reconciliation with other people is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and man, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ. The message of salvation implies also a message of judgment upon every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, and we should not be afraid to denounce evil and injustice wherever they exist."[24]
This statement goes to the heart of the issue. The question is not if Christians should play a responsible role in society, nor if we should denounce evil and injustice, but whether or not both "evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty," and if so, to what extent? Later in part two of this study I will try to address this question from Scripture, but for now I would like to document that whatever the intention, the drift of much of the evangelical movement has shifted to social-political involvement at the expense of the Great Commission. As much has happened around the turn of the 20th Century, we are in danger of losing the baby (the true commission of the church) in the bath water of social activism.
First, we need to document that this concern is widespread and contagious. Some of the most popular Christian leaders and authors stress the social agenda. Francis Chan, in his wildly popular book Crazy Love, wants Christians to live as simply as possible in order to give more toward the alleviation of "suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America."[25] I think one of the reasons Chan's book has been received with such enthusiasm is that he is not telling people anything that our culture is not already saying. When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pledged much of their vast fortunes toward the same agenda, the world applauded, just as it has for Chan. Chan is concerned about the reputation of the church in America, and not without reason. However, the true church doing the true work of God (calling people to Christ) will never win the world's approval. Our message is offensive (1 Cor 1:18-25) and once the world catches on to that we are far more likely to be vilified and persecuted than we are to be cheered – as Jesus promised (Matt 5:11-12). We should find it a source of concern, not a reason for rejoicing, when the world likes us, as Christianity Today in its lead article in August 2011 affirmed it did.
A similar voice is David Platt's and his book Radical. Platt offers better balance than Chan but still propagates a two-tiered gospel composed of the true gospel of redemption and the social gospel. While Platt is careful to elevate the true gospel, the social gospel of feeding the hungry and giving to the poor is the primary focus of the book and accounts for its popularity.[26] He writes, "As we meet needs on earth, we are proclaiming a gospel that transforms lives for eternity."[27] The author does not advocate the social agenda as opposed to true evangelism, as mentioned above, but he does say that caring for the poor is evidence of salvation. As a matter of fact "rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God."[28] However, when we turn to the New Testament, we find that, while Christians are to be loving and generous to all people, they are never told to attempt to remedy the consequences of the sin of unbelieving humanity through social action. Instead, they are instructed to meet the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ, something Platt admits in a footnote (p. 225). In fact, the church is never commissioned to rectify injustices by dealing with the symptoms of sins but to "radically" uproot sin itself through the gospel.
Well respected evangelical leader Tim Keller offers a similar message. In his book The Reason for God, which offers many helpful insights, Keller nevertheless promotes the two-tiered gospel. Drawing from N.T. Wright and the "missional" understanding of Christianity, Keller infuses a social dimension into his gospel definition. Keller's gospel is more than the good news that Christ has come to reconcile us to God; it is also solving the world's problems of injustice, poverty and healing the troubles of this earth. He quotes N. T. Wright, not Scripture, to support his view: "The message of the resurrection is that this world matters! That the injustices and pains of this present world must now be addressed with the news that healing, justice and love have won… If Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, Christianity becomes good news for the whole world… Easter means that in a world where injustice, violence and degradation are endemic, God is not prepared to tolerate such things – and that we will work and plan, with all the energy of God, to implement victory of Jesus over them all."[29]
Later Keller makes clear what he means: "The purpose of Jesus' coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it. It is not just to bring personal forgiveness and peace, but also justice and shalom to the world… The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls but also to care and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world."[30] Scripture knows nothing of such a gospel message. Nowhere in the New Testament will you find such a commission given to the people of God. You will, however, find a similar message in the Emergent church, N.T. Wright's New Perspective on Paul and those reviving the old "social gospel" agenda.
With this in mind we turn to N. T. Wright himself. In his What Saint Paul Really Said he tells us in "older theology, 'the gospel' is supposed to be a description of how people get saved," or how "Christ takes our sin and we his righteousness" or something along that order.[31] To Wright this is not what Paul meant by the gospel. The gospel instead is "the narrative proclamation of King Jesus;"[32] [Paul] "is announcing…that Jesus is King, not just of Israel but of the whole world."[33] Said with greater clarity, "The gospel is the announcement that Jesus is Lord – Lord of the world, Lord of the cosmos, Lord of the earth, of the ozone layer, of whales and waterfalls, of trees and tortoises."[34] While no thinking Christian would deny the lordship of Christ over all things, nevertheless when the gospel itself becomes the message of lordship rather than the message of redemption and justification, there will necessitate a seismic shift in our understanding of why Jesus came and died and what we are to proclaim as a result. Wright leaves no doubt where he is headed: "As soon as we get this right we destroy at a stroke the disastrous dichotomy that has existed in people's minds between 'preaching the gospel' on the one hand and what used to be called loosely 'social action' or 'social justice' on the other. Preaching the gospel means announcing Jesus as Lord of the world; and… we cannot make that announcement without seeking to bring that lordship to bear over every aspect of the world… its bringing the whole world under the lordship of Christ."
Add to the above sources Rick Warren's PEACE plan. After the success of Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life he developed his PEACE plan for changing the world. PEACE is an acronym for Promote Reconciliation, Equip Servant Leaders, Assist the Poor, Care for the Sick, and Educate the Next Generation. Originally the first letter of the acronym PEACE stood for Plant Churches and, as such, would be the only thing distinguishing the PEACE plan from any other well-meaning secular program either privately or governmentally funded. The initial idea was to motivate and coordinate churches across the globe to solve the four social problems identified in the rest of the acronym (PEACE). Warren's logic is that the church is already present throughout the world and where churches were lacking more could be planted to meet these social needs. But as Warren's focus changed and he wanted to enlarge his influence, he changed the "P" from Planting Churches to Promote Reconciliation, which has removed any Christian uniqueness from the PEACE Plan.
Whether the church is to invest its time and resources in a purely social agenda is another matter altogether, one that will be taken up in the second part of this study. For now it is most interesting to see how quickly a major initiative by a leading evangelical, which attempted to offer both the gospel (assuming that planting churches included the idea of evangelism and discipleship) and social outreach, morphed into purely social betterment. If the lessons from the late 19th and early 20th centuries tell us anything, this should have been expected.
What is unfolding before us is what the Emergent leader Brian McLaren terms "missional." Missional, McLaren tells us, is "a generous third way," between the conservative "personal Savior" gospel and liberal version of it.[35] McLaren further explains, "My missional calling: blessed in this life to be a blessing to everyone on earth… My mission isn't to figure out who is already blessed, or not blessed, or unblessable. My calling is to be blessed so I can bless everyone."[36] He continues, "From this understanding we place less emphasis on whose lineage, rites, doctrines, structures, and terminology are right and more emphasis on whose actions, service, outreach, kindness, and effectiveness are good…. (In order) to help our world get back on the road to being truly and wholly good again, the way God created it to be…"[37] Rob Bell adds, "For Jesus, the question wasn't how do I get into heaven? But how do I bring heaven here?…The goal isn't escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. And God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work."[38] The rationale of McLaren and Bell is a mere echo of the original founders of liberalism.
So far I have traced a brief overview of the history, and resulting devastation to the church, of the social gospel that saw its pre-eminence about 100 years ago. I have also attempted to document the rise of a new social gospel which is spreading rapidly within evangelical circles. It remains in part two of this study to examine what the Scriptures have to say on this subject, including the biblical role and mandate for the church.
[1] Revivalism could be defined as an attempt to orchestrate a spiritual awakening through man-made techniques, and manipulation in contrast to revival which is often defined as a genuine movement of God.
[2] David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, the Age of Spurgeon and Moody (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005), p.106.
[3] Ibid., p.21.
[4] See ibid., pp.22-40.
[5] Robert Lightner, Church-Union, a Layman's Guide (Des Plaines, Illinois: Regular Baptist Press, 1971), pp.31-32.
[6] Ibid., p.62.
[7] See Bebbington, p.166.
[8] Ibid., p.247.
[9] Ibid., p.248.
[10] Ibid., p.250.
[11] H. Richard Niebuhr
[12] George M. Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), p.29.
[13] Ibid., p.34.
[14] Renald E. Showers, What on Earth Is God Doing? ( Bellmawr, NJ: Friends of Israel, 2005), pp.79-80.
[15] George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), p.137.
[16] Ibid., p.194.
[17] Ibid., p.50.
[18] See Ibid., p.75.
[19] John H. Armstrong, General Editor, The Compromised Church (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1998), p.27
[20] John R. W. Stott, "Salt and Light," Christianity Today, October 2011, p.41.
[21] The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization is an Evangelical Christian that grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization and defines the movement's goals and expresses its commitment to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was organized in part by Billy Graham and met in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1974. Some 2,700 participants and guests from over 150 nations meet here to discuss and promote evangelism. One result of this conference was the Lausanne Continuation Committee, which planned to sustain the movement stated at Lausanne.
[22] www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/faq-programme
[23] http://www.lausanne.org/en/documents/cape-town-2010/1194-twg-three-wholes-condensed.html
[24] http://www.lausanne.org/en/documents/lausanne-covenant.html (emphasis mine).
[25] Francis Chan, Crazy Love, (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2008), p.21.
[26] David Platt, Radical, (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2010), pp.13-17, 19-21, 76-82, 108-140.
[27] Ibid., p.135.
[28] Ibid., pp.110, 115.
[29] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, (New York: Dutton, Penguin Group, 2008), p. 212.
[30] Ibid., p.223
[31] N. T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said (Grand Rapids: Erdmans, 1997), p.41.
[32] Ibid., p.45.
[33] Ibid., p.53.
[34] Ibid., pp.153-154.
[35] Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), p.105.
[36] Ibid., p.113.
[37] Ibid., p.223.
[38] Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), pp.147, 150.


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On sewing and improv
Posted: - Modified: | sewingBy golly, I think I'm getting the hang of it.
Today I started working on McCall 8107, a simple sleeveless princess-seamed dress. I decided to take lots of time doing so, applying one of the lessons I learned from improv class. I cut out pieces, drew the seamlines and snipped the notches, and made lining pieces so that I could turn it into a fully-lined dress. I find that I don't like using neck or back facing, as they always flip up. As I worked, I tried to apy attention to how I moved and where things were located.
Working slowly–almost meditatively–changed the character of the activity. I would normally rush through transferring the markings. This time, I marked everything. This time, I did it while watching some of my favourite movies. I also took the time to pin-fit on my duct-tape dress form, which led to a few minor alterations. I normally feel frustrated when I get to assembly because things don't quite line up. This time, I felt at ease, and I was happy with the way the dress turned out once I'd pressed the seams.
One of the things I noticed was that when I took my time to work on the dress, I started thinking of it as something I might be able to wear for a while. Perhaps that's because I reflexively justified the time I was investing in making the outfit. Thinking of it that way made it even easier to slow down and try to get the details right.
Tomorrow, I'll work on the lining and the zipper. I'm looking forward to the completed dress, and to using my new-found powers of slowing down and taking my time doing things not just for good, but for awesome!


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Create a backup of your data to secure it or to preserve a copy of it in its current state for future reference.
RavenDB's ongoing Backup task is designed to run continuously.
You can run it as a one-time operation as well, using export or executing a backup-task immediately. -
In this page:
Backup Types
Data is backed-up in compressed JSON files.
During restoration, RavenDB -
- Re-inserts all data into the database.
- Re-indexes the data.
Restoration Time is therefore slower than that required when restoring a Snapshot.
Backup size is significantly smaller than that of a Snapshot.
Code Sample:
Note the usage of Cron scheduling when setting backup frequency.var config = new PeriodicBackupConfiguration { LocalSettings = new LocalSettings { //Backup files local path FolderPath = @"E:\RavenBackups" }, //Full Backup period (Cron expression for a 3-hours period) FullBackupFrequency = "0 */3 * * *", //Type can be Backup or Snapshot BackupType = BackupType.Backup, //Task Name Name = "fullBackupTask", }; var operation = new UpdatePeriodicBackupOperation(config); var result = await docStore.Maintenance.SendAsync(operation);
Snapshot backups are available for Enterprise subscribers only.
A SnapShot is a compressed binary duplication of the database and journals file structure at a given point-in-time. -
During restoration -
- Re-indexing is not required.
- Re-inserting data into the database is not required.
Restoration is typically faster than that of a logical backup.
Snapshot size is typically larger than that of a logical backup.
Code Sample:
//Type can be Backup or Snapshot BackupType = BackupType.Snapshot,
Basic Comparison Between a Logical-Backup and a Snapshot:
Backup Type | Stored Format | Restoration speed | Task characteristics | Size |
Snapshot | Compressed Binary Image | Fast | Ongoing Background Task | Larger than a logical-backup |
Logical backup | Compressed Textual Data | Slow | Ongoing Background Task | Smaller than a Snapshot |
Make sure your server has access to the local backup path.
Verify that RavenDB is allowed to store backup files in the path set in LocalSettings.FolderPath
Backup Scope
As described in the overview, a backup task can create full and incremental backups.
- Both backup operations add a single new backup file to the backup folder each time they run. leaving existing backup files untouched.
- Both are operated by an ongoing task.
Full Backup
There are no preliminary conditions to creating a full backup. Any node can perform this task.
To run a full backup, set
.//Full Backup period (Cron expression for a 6-hours period) FullBackupFrequency = "0 */6 * * *",
Incremental Backup
- An incremental-backup file is always in JSON format. It is so even when the full backup it supplements is a binary snapshot.
Incremental Backup ownership
- An incremental backup can be created only by the node that currently owns the backup task.
- The ownership is granted dynamically by the cluster.
- A node can run the incremental backup task only after creating a full backup at least once.
To run an incremental backup, set
.//Cron expression: set incremental backup period ("*/20 * * * *" is a 20-minutes period) IncrementalBackupFrequency = "*/20 * * * *",
Backup to Remote Destinations
Backups can be made locally, as well as to a set of remote locations including -
- A network path
- An FTP/SFTP target
- Amazon S3
- Azure Storage
- Amazon Glacier
RavenDB will store data in a local folder first, and transfer it to the remote destination from the local one.
- If a local folder hasn't been specified, RavenDB will use the
temp folder defined in its Storage.TempPath setting.
If Storage.TempPath is not defined, the temporary files will be created at the same location as the data file.
In either case, the folder will be used as temporary storage and the local files deleted from it when the transfer is completed. - If a local folder has been specified, RavenDB will use it both for the transfer and as its permanent local backup location.
- If a local folder hasn't been specified, RavenDB will use the
temp folder defined in its Storage.TempPath setting.
Remote Backup Destinations Code Sample:
var config = new PeriodicBackupConfiguration { LocalSettings = new LocalSettings { FolderPath = @"E:\RavenBackups" }, //FTP Backup settings FtpSettings = new FtpSettings { Url = "192.168.10.4", Port = 8080, UserName = "John", Password = "JohnDoe38" }, //Azure Backup settings AzureSettings = new AzureSettings { StorageContainer = "storageContainer", RemoteFolderName = "remoteFolder", AccountName = "JohnAccount", AccountKey = "key" }, //Amazon S3 bucket settings. S3Settings = new S3Settings { AwsAccessKey = "your access key here", AwsSecretKey = "your secret key here", AwsRegionName = "OPTIONAL", BucketName = "john-bucket", }, //Amazon Glacier settings. GlacierSettings = new GlacierSettings { AwsAccessKey = "your access key here", AwsSecretKey = "your secret key here", AwsRegionName = "OPTIONAL", VaultName = "john-glacier", } }; var operation = new UpdatePeriodicBackupOperation(config); var result = await docStore.Maintenance.SendAsync(operation);
Use AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management)
to restrict users access while they create backups.
E.g. -
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
"Sid": "VisualEditor0",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "s3:PutObject",
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME/*"
"Sid": "VisualEditor1",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::BUCKET_NAME"
Initiate Immediate Backup Execution
The Backup task runs continuously as an ongoing task, but you can also operate the task immediately if you wish to.
To execute an existing backup task immediately, use the
var operation = new UpdatePeriodicBackupOperation(config); var result = await docStore.Maintenance.SendAsync(operation); //run a backup task immediately await docStore.Maintenance.SendAsync(new StartBackupOperation(true, result.TaskId));
public StartBackupOperation(bool isFullBackup, long taskId)
Parameter Type Functionality isFullBackup bool true: full backup
false: incremental backuptaskId long The task ID returned by RavenDB
To verify the execution results, use the
//Provide GetPeriodicBackupStatusOperation with the task ID returned by RavenDB var backupStatus = new GetPeriodicBackupStatusOperation(result.TaskId);
- Return Value:
The status structure that GetPeriodicBackupStatusOperation returns, is filled with backup parameters you previously configured and with the execution results.
public class PeriodicBackupStatus : IDatabaseTaskStatus { public long TaskId { get; set; } public BackupType BackupType { get; set; } public bool IsFull { get; set; } public string NodeTag { get; set; } public DateTime? LastFullBackup { get; set; } public DateTime? LastIncrementalBackup { get; set; } public DateTime? LastFullBackupInternal { get; set; } public DateTime? LastIncrementalBackupInternal { get; set; } public LocalBackup LocalBackup { get; set; } public UploadToS3 UploadToS3; public UploadToGlacier UploadToGlacier; public UploadToAzure UploadToAzure; public UploadToFtp UploadToFtp; public long? LastEtag { get; set; } public LastRaftIndex LastRaftIndex { get; set; } public string FolderName { get; set; } public long? DurationInMs { get; set; } public long Version { get; set; } public Error Error { get; set; } public long? LastOperationId { get; set; } }
- Return Value:
Recommended Precautions
Don't substitute RavenDB's backup procedures with simply copying the database folder yourself.
The official backup procedure satisfies needs that simply copying the database folder does not. E.g. -- A reliable point-in-time freeze of backed up data.
- An ACIDity of backed-up data, to keep its independence during restoration.
Regularly remove backup files.
Note that RavenDB does not automatically remove backup files. As they continue to aggregate, it is important that you take care of their regular removal.
You can use services like crontab (a linux scheduling procedure) to create an old-backups-removal routine. -
Locate backup files in a location other than your database's.
Note that backup files are always stored in a local folder first (even when the final backup destination is remote).
Make sure that this local folder is not where your database is stored, as a precaution to keep vacant database storage space.