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So this is the first post of the year and I have a little bit of catching up to do.
A little while ago, I posted about an event I hosted titled "LGBTQ World Cafe" where I invited young LGBTQ people, a few of their straight counter parts and a PFLAG mum to come and discuss their experiences, ideas and opinions on gender and sexuality. I promised to post the results of the discussion here and while it took a little longer than I admittedly thought, I've now complied it below. I've also included some footage of the discussions to give you a taste of the atmosphere. We were a little awkward at first, but by the end of the night we were high with laughter and truly trusting and respecting each other's opinions. The participants were just that incredible! Hope you enjoy reading and I hope there are plenty of points below that really encourage you to reflect and consider your own ideas on gender identity and sexuality.
There were three major topic areas we discussed (Sex & Gender, Labels & Identifiers, Homophobia). We began by recording several questions to do with each topic area (recorded on a whiteboard) and then separated into smaller groups to discuss these questions. The majority of the ideas were recorded on butcher's paper covering the tables and some discussions were recorded on video. This is what came up:
Our first topic was the subject of Sex and Gender. The main underlining question was – "How do we define our gender?" "What is a man?" "What is a woman?" In our modern society, where our views on gender and sexuality are changing rapidly and gender roles are beginning to be done away with, how much has sexism and stereotyping contributed to our definitions of gender? As one participant asked, "Is a woman someone who is feminine, looks after the kids, stays at home and is a man masculine…?"
So then is gender based on physicality? We decided the answer was no, as transgendered individuals have a gender identity independent of their physical sex. But then it was asked, "Why does it even matter?" "Why do we care if someone's gender identity is different from how we expect it?" "Why do we find it difficult to comprehend when people bend the lines of gender or sit in the middle of a gender spectrum?" When in actual fact gender is an identity and it doesn't necessarily have to correlate to your physical sex, and if it does consider yourself lucky. What we found was that western society has difficulty separating the two. Some Asian cultures have up to five genders, two of which correlate to our definitions, one that correlates to Intersex, and two that we just have no equivalent of. And there are many other cultures that have many other pronouns to use to communicate their gender identity. So why do we only have two?
Another interesting concept that surfaced during the course of the discussion was the double standards of gender, specifically when it came to the acceptance of LGBTQ individuals. During the discussion it was suggested that a small section of homophobic behavior could be attributed to the uncomfortable attitude many heterosexual men feel when asked to consider being sexuality attracted to a member of the same-sex. However, the attitude is changed dramatically when a lesbian couple is presented to them, with most men finding it sexuality arousing. Even heterosexual women find the idea exciting, whereas many are severely uncomfortable with a gay couple. Why is there such an intense separation of the two interactions? Perhaps females, being stereotyped as the more nurturing and tender gender, display physical affection towards each other much more frequently and more easily making the leap into lesbianism not as socially unacceptable as male homosexual behaviour (as men are often taught against the sharing of tender physical contact).
What I find the most interesting concept that arose during the discussion was this question: To what extent has sexism contributed to stereotypical views of gender and their roles in society? In a modern progressive society where it is finally becoming acceptable to change the historic expectations of the behaviors of men and women, especially in the light of women's suffrage, perhaps much of the opposition to transgenderism and homosexuality is the stubborn attempt to stay in possession of what little residue is left of sexist ideals. This would certainly explain the intense homophobia many masculine women, feminine men and transgendered individuals encounter on a daily basis regardless of their sexuality. Ancient traditions such as marriage and sex are no longer solely dedicated to procreation and the survival of a bloodline. Therefore such strict homophobic ideals of heterosexual only relationships are almost irrelevant in today's society. Yet such traditionalist views are slowly becoming a minority with education and exposure of the fluid and flexible nature of gender, sexuality and behaviour. As one participant said, "It is important to remember that we are on the cusp of a society in change, we're at the point in history where the gender roles have finally been broken and different sexuality is finally being brought to light. In the future such ideals will be broken and everyone will accept that people love people, and all people are different and unique in their identities."
Another link in the key chain of ideas was the treatment of labels and identifiers.
The question was asked, why is it necessary to "come out"? "Why is the default setting heterosexual?" Who initiates these assumptions? Is it parents? Do parents subconsciously project a vision of what they hope their child will one day be, unintentionally including the kind of person they will one day marry in the process? Could it be movies and TV? Children pick up on these signals. Is it books, is it music, is it games, is it their school, their teachers, their friends, their neighbors, strangers? But we already know, it's all of these. And these subliminal messages form a restrictive mental formula on being heterosexual. Which is great if you are heterosexual, but if you're not this formula programmed into us from a young age has to be changed. And for some, it's not easy. As annoying as it is we don't receive a rainbow manual in the mail.
On this topic of labels and identifiers the World Café panelists found that for some, labels provide a kind of stability, a definitive way of knowing where people belong. But labels can be restricting. They often come with assumptions about your beliefs, your ideas, your opinions, your experiences, your behavior, your lifestyle, your character, your personality…. That can create prejudices even within the LGBTQ community against certain labels. And most of the time these assumptions are incorrect.
Throughout the blog I've been using the term LGBTQ (which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer). This is to be inclusive to all the labels and identifiers in the community. And it is the correct acronym to use. But as was pointed out at the World Café, the acronym is constantly being added to, gaining more and more letters. And I think it's great that we are trying to be inclusive and recognize these different identities. But you have to admit; it's starting to become a bit of a mouthful. The question was, will we cover every possible nuance and combination there is, until eventually we are reciting the entire alphabet? Perhaps what we need is to redefine our definitions of sexuality and gender to recognize all the possibilities (including heterosexuality) and the spectrum that is it. And when you really think, the more we label ourselves the more we segregate ourselves from each other and the more the LGBTQ community continues to be "other".
Labels often come with assumptions about your beliefs, your ideas, your opinions, your experiences, your behavior, your lifestyle, your character, your personality…. And sometimes it is the misuse and disrespect for labels that promotes "society backlash". For example, many (including those inside the LGBTQ community and outside) consider bisexuality "invalid", saying that it does not exist and those who identify as such are confused and need to "choose". There are many other misconceptions and presumptions when it comes to this label and this concerning "society backlash" was suggested to be caused by the misuse of the label as many lesbian and gay individuals in the process of coming out reveal themselves to be bisexual first as a way to test the waters. Not only that, but also many young girls identify as bisexual to attract men, as many men find the idea of a lesbian couple arousing. Such misuse prompts disrespect and prejudice against those who are genuinely attracted to both genders; hence many who are bisexual choose not to label themselves as so.
This prompted another question for those at the World Café, to what extent are labels chosen for the purpose of communicating and are these labels chosen by society? Or what the individual choses to label themselves? As it was said during the discussion, "Labels…it works, and I'm happy using a label but it shouldn't be me."
The last idea that joins the chain is of course homophobia. Not content with just stating that it exists, the participants dived in without any prompting and proceeded to look the lion in the mouth and find out why his teeth were so sharp by uncovering the various reasons behind homophobic behaviour.
The question that was the most perplexing to everyone during the event was why coming out changes anything? If the individual has always had the sexuality/gender identity they just came out as having, why do some people suddenly change their opinion or attitude towards the individual once they know? Why does sexuality/gender identity matter so much?
While the extent of homophobia is increasingly becoming less present, it's very existence presents LGBTQ individuals with the potential for an unpleasant and even dangerous encounter. It is commonly agreed that a broader picture of the possibilities of sexuality and gender identity is required to educate society of the normality of LGBTQ individuals. This means that openness, visibility and discussion are the most effective forms of education. However, a fear of the possibility of rejection and homophobic behavior makes this task difficult to accomplish. Many LGBTQ individuals wish to be open and visible with their identity but don't want to "shoot themselves in the foot" (as it was said by a participant) by outing themselves in an unaccepting environment. Yet more concerning, is the knowledge that this issue may continue for the rest of an individual's lifetime (as LGBTQ individuals are constantly having to "out" themselves to individuals) unless homophobia is eradicated.
Below is some footage of the final discussions for the night. We started a little awkward but as you can see, we soon were laughing hysterically. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Thanks for reading! Please comment and add your opinion to the discussion. Let me know what you think!
If you support this project I'd really appreciate it if you would like its page on Facebook. Like it here: https://www.facebook.com/becausewearediverse
A thesis documenting the project's findings is available for reading so email me at email@example.com if you would like to give it a read!
Check out the interview with Bunny Bennett from Steam Powered Giraffe! https://becausewearediverse.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/lgbtq-interview-with-bunny-from-steam-powered-giraffe/
Read Joseph Harwood's interview here! https://becausewearediverse.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/a-chat-with-joseph-harwood-3/


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wellington_street wrote:Completely agree with what TrailGumby said in the post above, however this behaviour is just not on from Police. These two are the perfect images that need to go - along with details of LAC, "investigating" officers etc. to your local pollie, the Roads Minister, the shadow Roads Minister and perhaps a friendly Greens Senator to get the Police attitude raised at a political level. Minister/Shadow Minister for Police might even be worth it.
Even the most uninterested in cycling person should see these images, the Police lack of action, and think it is completely unreasonable.
lol - dont worry... i'm on it well & truely

subset: commoncrawl


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Access is one of the most unique and diverse companies in the Lakeside area. Our website presence shows you the time, effort and dedication we put into our work, not only with our online content but with or Rental and Sales clients. Access started with rentals back in 2009, quickly jumping to the number #1 resource in the market. Due to our experience and work ethic, many of our Rental clients requested our services for Buying and Selling property. In 2016 Access became a member of the Chapala MLS, opening the doors for our Sales clients and paving our way to providing the same great service for potential home buyers and sellers
Many people who first visit the Lake Chapala area fall in love with the people, culture and the community, the initial reaction is to rent or immediately buy property, however renting before you buy is always the smart move, since studying the different communities along the Lake and the due diligence process takes time Our specialty is to help our clients find a great rental while they look for the perfect property to buy. Since this gives you enough time in finding the home that fits your needs and to research the right location where you want to purchase.
See our detailed article on Renting vs Buying
Can a Foreigner buy Real Estate in Lake Chapala?
It is strange how sometimes facts get interpreted or misunderstood as they pass from one source to the next. You will hear different stories while you are researching the option to buy a property in Lake Chapala and the most common myth heard is that you cannot buy in Mexico, or that if you do, the property does not belong to you. One of the most common questions we have heard is:
"I would never consider buying a place in Mexico because you never own the land and you can´t leave the place to your children."
"Not true! Many new comers are just terribly misinformed on this subject. When buying property anywhere, no matter where one buys, it is always best to use a reputable Real Estate Agent in Lake Chapala. Agents are familiar with the area, they listen to you and understand your concerns, needs and desires and, most importantly, know your budget as well. And, of course, it is your obligation to be honest and to ask questions, but here in Mexico it is like anywhere else – it is all about location, location, location, not just price.
Yes, a Foreigner can buy property in Mexico.
We are in the sales and rental business in which eighty percent of the properties we represent are owned by foreigners. We even have clients who have several rental properties as investments, that they rent out year round. To get all the facts, you can research countless websites and will come to find that its easy to own property in Mexico Here is a quote from Mexonline.com.
"Yes, Americans and other foreigners may obtain direct ownership of property in the interior of Mexico. However, under Mexican law, foreigners cannot own property outright within the restricted zone." read more on mexonline..
NOTE: Lake Chapala is located more than 100km away from the cost, which means you can have a direct deed in your name (read more below)
By law the restricted zone encompasses all land located within 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) of the Mexican border, and within 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) of the Mexican coastline. Ajijic and Chapala is located more than 100km away from the border or coastline. So if you are going to invest in real estate here, you can have direct ownership, an Escritura (deed) in your name, you do not have to go through a bank trust. If you where living in Puerto Vallarta you would have to buy through the bank trust aka fidecomiso.
You can will or sell your property .
However, to encourage foreign investment the Mexican government created the fideicomiso which is a real estate trust. This trust, where the foreign investor, to enjoy all the privileges of ownership including the right to will or sell the property to others, applies only to the restricted zone. This clause or contract does not apply beyond the restricted zone. In other words when you buy property away from the coastline or the border, inland, the property is yours to do with as you wish. Well, or course there are zoning and sometimes, in gated communities, other restrictions, but the property is yours to sell or to distribute in your will.
What other costs are associated with buying a property?
In most parts of the world, specially the US and Canada, property taxes can be very expensive, and are constantly on the rise. In Mexico, they are the direct opposite. Depending on the size of the lot and construction, a conservative 350 m2 (3,700 sq) lot with a 280m2 (3000 sq) home, can go for about 180-300 USD per year.
Closing costs are known to be more expensive in Mexico, between 2.5%-4% (can vary), in which the most fees are for the transfer tax and notary fees and they calculated on the appraisal value of the property, not the purchase price. In most cases the appraisal value is about 50% less than the commercial value of the home.
Read our detailed article on paying property tax in Mexico
Legal documents, the Notary and your direct ownership "Escritura"
All legal documents, transfer of lands and Mexican deeds, known as "escrituras" are done through a certified Mexican Notary, who is assigned by the Mexican government. There can only be a certain number of Notaries for each municipality and you as the buyer can select which Notary to use.
Once a deal has been made both parties need to present themselves at the Notary. The seller has to bring his deed "escritura", identification, water bill, utility bills paid up to date, and all his property tax receipts. The buyer needs to bring his passport, marriage certificate (if married), migratory document (VISA Temporal, VISA Permanente or Tourist Visa) and be prepared to pay the closing costs which always has to be paid by the buyer, can vary.
Once everything is recorded on paper the signing happens right in front of the notary and the seller receives payment once he signs over the deed, which is also done at the Notaries office.
You can buy on a Tourist Visa, Visa Temporal or Visa Permanente
If your stay in Mexico is less than 180 days, you do not even need any type of Mexican residency permits like the Visa Temporal or Visa Permanente. Mostly the short term people are those who buy in resort areas or those who come to Mexico to escape the cold or heat of their respective homes, and they usually hire a property manager to pay bills and possibly rent their homes when not in use.
Property managers also handle all household expenses for many clients who live in Mexico full time as it can sometimes seem confusing as to how and when to pay utilities, association dues, property taxes and association fees when they apply, and of course property managers also handle all maintenance issues and household help.
By Kevin Paulini, Access Immigration & Legal


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We always enjoy the visitors who come to the store but today there was an extra special one. This beautiful lady graced Serenity Knits all decked out in colourful mitts and a scarf. She even cuddled one of our sheep (as so many knitters like to do). OK, I'll admit to being a little biased. This is my lovely daughter, Marie, and she is wearing the proof that I actually did finish a Christmas gift. One of my annual traditions is to make her a pair of mittens to tuck into her Christmas stocking. This year's set was knit in the jewel tones of Nashua's Sitar that Marie had admired back in early December. Unfortunately, the matching scarf didn't make the deadline and was knit several days after Christmas - yes I'll start earlier next year (anyone else make that resolution too?).
Several of our customers are dropping in to show us pictures of their Christmas projects. I am so impressed by the your creativity and generous gift of time in knitting for others. It's no surprise to see all the smiles in the pictures as the recipients model their knitted gifts. It makes all those late nights of "clicking needles" seem worth while as you worked to finish on time. I think that you deserve to reward yourself with a knitted treat for yourself. After all, knitting is a wonderful way to pass these cold winter nights and you'll end up with something cozy for your daytime outings.


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J T Maintenance and Accommodation Care
J T Maintenance and Accommodation Care provide a full service in the Weymouth and south Dorset area and are able to look after all maintenance requirements for your caravan holiday home.
We are experienced in all types of caravan maintenance and repairs.
- Jet Washing
- Outside caravans gutter clearing
- Patio Cleaning
- Carpet Cleaning
- Qualified PAT Testing
- Fully Insured.
Please Contact JT Maintenance
Tel: 07774 879381


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Have you tried to notate in notes your improvisations?
Sometimes it's worth it.
Usually not, though. Most of the time, my improvisations are not at the level of written down compositions.
But very seldom you get a result you are actually proud of.
Like this Meditation in D, Op. 35.
I first improvised it as a prelude for church service here at St. John's.
When I transcribed it to sheet music notation, I watched this video on YouTube at half speed in short fragments and wrote down everything I heard. It was like a long and complex 2.5 minute dictation.
Do you have some recordings of your playing that you actually like?
Perhaps it's time for you to transcribe it.
PS It helps if you place the camera close to the keyboards so that you could literally see your fingers.


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Matt and I headed to Europe to celebrate both me finishing my master's and the two of us managing to not kill each other lo these many (five!) years. On our way we had a layover in London, and I got to see Ana Maria and Nicole for a few hours.
As always, it was wonderful to see old Oxford friends and sad to say goodbye.


text: Just kidding. I'm going to create a new website and I will tell you step by step how and what I'm doing (but will keep my secrets like domain name, niche etc). Starting from looking for a niche. Finishing in money - hopefully in decent money. Still, there will be alot to learn from this thread so be sure to bookmark it. I will update it as often as I can, hopefuly once in 1-3 days, sometimes more often. Unfortunately I have got alot on my my mind these days, but I promise to not let this If you haven't red my first thread, here it is: http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...stions-i-will-spoon-feed-you.html#post2860707 I will be writing in this fancy color in this thread for the ease of finding my posts, so please dont use it! First updated should be published tonight or tommorow. Stay hungry, stay foolish! Ahoyirate:


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The Westerville Public Library provides materials, programs and services to residents of all ages in Franklin and Delaware counties to assist in their pursuit of information and resources to meet their educational, professional and personal needs. Particular emphasis is placed on delivering quality reference services and providing popular materials of high interest to the residents of the Westerville School District. The library also serves to stimulate young children's interest and appreciation for reading and learning.
The Westerville Public Library will be a leading public library in America. Through innovation and imagination we will provide an environment where people of all backgrounds and ages may dream their dreams, exercise their imaginations, feed their intellects, nurture success and otherwise enhance their lives.
We are accountable to our customers, to our peers in the library and ultimately to our community.
We respond appropriately to emerging practices and technology in library and information science and anticipate changes in our community and environs.
In our actions and attitudes, we treat each other and our customers, as they would like to be treated, recognizing the richness and qualities each of us brings to the workforce.
We communicate from the bottom to the top, from the top to the bottom, and with our community. The library provides a medium for involvement, creativity and encouragement for all staff and customers.
We work together in a spirit of cooperation, supporting each other's efforts to achieve organizational excellence and provide quality services to our community.
We have the simplest goal: We want our library to be the Best in the Nation! This is accomplished through focused teamwork with self-policing, quality-controlled systems and by hiring and educating the best people.
We are committed to providing open access to library resources which interest, inform and enlighten all people in our community. Our collections, print and electronic, represent diverse points of view and are available to all.
Erin Francoeur
Executive Director
Kristin Michel
Assistant Director
Steven O.
Operations Director
Katrina P.
Human Resources Director
Dan G.
Fiscal Officer
Erin K.
Adult Services Manager
Robin G.
Youth Services Manager
Jen T.
Customer Services Manager
Julie K.
Outreach Manager
Beth W.
Local History Manager
Belinda M.
Collection Development Manager
Bill W.
Building Manager
David S.
Computer Services Manager
Tamara M.
Marketing Manager
9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
1 p.m. - 6 p.m.


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In my opinion, someone great to all of time is someone who brings about change. George RR Martin has brought about that type of change. The most obvious way is how he writes his female characters. A lot of action genres present women who are cardboard cut outs made to serve the back up "hot" female role. However, his female characters have depth and development and serve just as much purpose as his male characters. And this can help bring about a great change in our media representation of females in the media.
Yes, George RR Martin is one of the greatest writers of all time, because one of the ways a writer's greatness is measured is the writer's fame. Martin connected with readers. He had many fans that loved his work during his lifetime. For this reason alone, Martin can be considered one of the greatest writers of all time. His writing really speaks to people.
Martin is just like any other hack fantasy writer, he just had the foresight to realize that including tons of violence and boobs is a surefire way to get his books adapted into an HBO show. Even more insulting is that people claim he's progressive. Every woman in the Song of Ice and Fire novels are sexualized objects, and that includes women under 18.
George RR Martin is not one of the greatest writers of all time. I have never heard of this person. I consider great writers to be those commonly studied in school, such as Shakespeare, Shelley, and Faulkner. I never studied Martin, nor have I ever heard of him, thus he is not one of the greatest writers of all time.


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Information by Country
Global Section:
Deputy Executive Director talks womens and childrens rights in the Middle East and Africa
NEW YORK, USA, 10 December 2006 As UNICEF launches its flagship annual report, The State of the Worlds Children which focuses this year on the links between womens rights and childrens well-being UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah has just returned from an extensive field visit in which those links featured prominently.
There is no way you can be an advocate for womens rights without being an advocate for childrens rights and there is no way to be an advocate for childrens rights without being an advocate for womens rights, she said.
Ms. Salahs trip brought her to:
- High-level discussions in Cairo on early childhood development and education
- This years African Development Forum in Ethiopia, which focused on youth and leadership
- An Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) forum in Turkey
- A meeting back in Egypt on HIV/AIDS and the role of Arab women in peace-building.
Education and development
In Cairo, Ms. Salah participated in the United Nations Girls Education Initiative partnership meeting and Education for All talks to discuss early childhood care and gender disparities in education.
Early childhood development is important because this is when the child grows physically, but the psycho-social stimulation of children is also very important, she noted. We are talking about an integrated programme that deals with the physical well-being of the child, but also were talking about socialization, and gender socialization.
At the African Development Forum in Ethiopia, Ms. Salah explained, the Cairo discussions on education proved very pertinent. She said the Forum showed that African governments are now realizing the importance of youth participation in the continents development.
In Africa, 50 per cent of children do not finish primary education, she pointed out. How can they ever take part in the development of their country if they dont even finish primary education?
Ending harmful practices
The role of women in the development of the OIC countries was the focus of the Islamic Forum that brought Ms. Salah to Istanbul. For the first time, women ministers were among the more than 30 officials who participated in the talks on technology, girls education and woman-friendly legislation.
My message there was: All the harmful traditional practices find no grounding in the texts of Islam, said Ms. Salah. Women and men are equal and we have to show it.
Among the harmful practices discussed at the meeting were female genital mutilation, early marriage and honour killings.
Back in Egypt, Ms. Salah participated in the closing ceremony of a meeting on the role of women in peace-building and reconstruction. Organized by Her Excellency Suzanne Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt, the meeting featured the formation of a new coalition of Arab women for peace.
This is very symbolic, said Ms. Salah. It shows that there is a movement of Arab women, which means that Arab women feel that they have a role to play.
Rights of women and children
In the end, all these wide-ranging discussions on girls education, building peace and tolerance, enhancing the role of women in the Islamic world and more were linked, in that the participants look to UNICEF for help on policies affecting the rights of women and children.
The State of the Worlds Children 2007 underlines the importance of ensuring those rights by empowering women to participate fully in decisions that affect their lives.
There is no way you can be an advocate for womens rights without being an advocate for childrens rights and there is no way to be an advocate for childrens rights without being an advocate for womens rights, said Ms. Salah.


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Those ubiquitous plastic water bottles have been increasingly vilified in recent years. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, among others, have banned them from purchase with city funds. A few trendsetting restaurants, and even some markets and hotels, have banned them too.
The trend has left many consumers wondering: Isn't bottled safer than tap?
"Bottled water isn't any safer or purer than what comes out of the tap," says Dr. Sarah Janssen, science fellow with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, which conducted an extensive analysis of bottled water back in 1999. "In fact, it's less well-regulated, and you're more likely to know what's in tap water."
Bottled and tap water come from essentially the same sources: lakes, springs and aquifers, to list a few. In fact, a significant fraction of the bottled water products on store shelves are tap water -- albeit filtered and treated with extra steps to improve taste.
It's not news to anyone that tap water can taste funky (too much chlorine, usually) or look discolored (from air bubbles or rust in pipes). But generally, that doesn't mean it isn't safe to drink, says Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water with the Environmental Protection Agency.


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Genre: Futuristic, Dark, Erotica
Length: novel
TBR Reviewer: Brutally Honest
Rating: 5 stars – A Must Read.
Heat: 5 handcuffs – Orgasmic.
experimented on. What will her future hold?
This was unique and dark. The author created a violent world that was genuinely scary and somewhat understandable. The world is ruled by the rich. Zara is a great character, she sick of her life, of a crappy boyfriend and her lack of funds. The experiment changes this in ways that no one expected, including me. I really found this story to be very gloomy but still entertaining. It was really well written but it really did lack that bit of hope. That spark at the end of the book was missing but at the same time the ending fit perfectly.
So I'm going with five stars because I read this book in one sitting (yes, into the early hours of the morning) and I couldn't put it down. Cyberpunk Erotica is a gritty story about the darkness and
depravity of mankind.


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Exploring the reasons behind prosocial behavior/
by Elena Bizon, Junior Project Manager, swissnex in New York
On Wednesday July 12, HEC Lausanne and swissnex in New York organized a special panel bringing together two professors in behavioral economics and decision making, as well as a practitioner from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Adrian Bruhin, Professor of Economics at the HEC Lausanne – the Business Faculty of the University of Lausanne – first presented his research on "The Role of Social Interaction in Voluntary Blood Donations." He raised questions, such as "is prosocial behavior contagious?" He demonstrated that motivation is indeed contagious for a social network, even more so when the members of the network have strong ties amongst themselves.
After his presentation, a panel discussion addressed the broader event topic of "How to Do Good: Insights from the Science of Prosocial Behavior & Practitioners." Danielle Larrabee from the IFRC described some of the new trends in volunteering today. She mentioned that while in decades and centuries past, people helped because there were emergencies and crises, nowadays volunteers want more than just helping others for altruistic reasons; they look for experience and/or want to become part of a community. Along with Stephan Meier, Professor of Business at Columbia University, the panel of experts addressed questions on the role of peers in motivation and its amplification. They revealed that a strong social identification within a group positively influences others through a "motivation spillover effect." Someone who strongly identifies himself or herself with a group – for example friends or political parties – is more likely to be engage in the same behavior.
"So, do good; prosocial behavior is contagious!" Professor Bruhin concluded.


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Creative agency / VR studio
The agency integrates all the steps of creation, production and broadcasting for flat and VR videos. AWKEYE also has an executive production network, drone included, enabling it to produce worldwide. Located in the 9th district of Paris, it has a VR studio, a drone pole, 5 editing workstations, and 2 2D-3D workstations. The agency also works on color grading, musical ambiance, sound design and composition of original music. Finally, it is specialized in the recruitment of talents from television, advertising and cinema.
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Ads, experiences, product presentations, tutorials, reports, interviews, teasers, events... Our films are made in-house, which allows us to guarantee a complete mastery of the artistic, planning and budget. Thanks to this, we offer our customers a greater availability and flexibility, which does not require a systematic use of freelancers. We make every effort to preserve this quality of service which is one of the pillars of our agency.
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Promotional films, tourism, real estate, training, visual and sound interactivity... We advise you in the creation of a 360°/VR project to find the best compromise between the expectations and the technical and scenario constraints of the format. Then, we accompany you to the final product with the best professionals of VR (fixed, movement, drone, motion-design, fx...).
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The creativity of our pilots allows us to go further in the aerial film and create new modern audiovisual ideas.
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We develop a unique know-how thanks to our artistic directors, motion-designers, graphic designers, illustrators, editors, and project managers. Thanks to these talents of various influences, we bring to our clients a global, inventive and unique artistic view. We are known for the originality of our creations, for our rigor and efficiency in the management of projects of all types: advertising, institutional, educational, broadcasts...
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Pack aerial videoStarting at 1900 eurosA drone pilot with a creative sensitivity that matches your vision captures the requested subjects. The images produced are rhythmic and structured for editing for an aerial film of the most beautiful effect.More


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Internet collection open for use
For the first time, users can now access websites from the collection of the German National Library in the reading rooms in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. Last year the collection of online university publications and e-books exceeded one million works, representing a further step towards the goal of collecting all Germany-related publications.
This selective collection of websites represents the German National Library fulfilling its mandate to preserve online publications - a particularly extensive segment which is difficult to delimit. As a publication form online publications have hitherto been difficult for libraries to handle, but they will now be permanently preserved in selected areas for research and scientific purposes. They will be accessible in the reading rooms of the German National Library in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main.
The focus of the first stage will be on the websites of institutions such as federal authorities, lobby groups and cultural institutions. Content will also be collected on events such as last year's federal elections. Most of the roughly 700 websites are collected quarterly and are then catalogued, rendering them retrievable both via catalogue entries in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie and via full text searches.
Because the websites are frequently updated and it is seldom possible to access earlier versions, the web archive makes it possible to retrieve information which is no longer available. For example, the collection also includes the pages of the FDP Bundestag faction in the last legislative period which are no longer available online. Changes in the appearance and content of websites can also be tracked and analysed over time. References in academic theses to web content which is no longer available can be retrieved in the web archive.
The German National Library is planning to continue and expand its practice of selective harvesting via service provider oia GmbH. In addition, there are plans to conduct an experimental "top level domain crawl" for ".de" in conjunction with the French company Internet Memory Research in order to investigate the possibilities of taking such a broad-based snapshot of German websites. Partnerships are also planned e.g. with the specialist portal "AcademicLinkshare" in an effort to expand the collection to include websites dedicated to specific topics.
For over a century now the German National Library has been collecting, documenting, archiving and making publicly available all written and sound recording publications issued in Germany, or in German, since 1913. It provides its comprehensive range of services at its twin sites in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main, but also in digital form to a global circle of users. In addition the German National Library also houses valuable and extensive special collections in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 and the German Museum of Books and Writing.
The amendment of the Law regarding the German National Library (DNBG), introduced in 2006, expanded the collection mandate to include non-physical media publications (online publications). The stocks can be used in the reading rooms of the German National Library in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main.


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WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday that he is quite concerned about the apparent shift of Jordan from a neutral position in the Persian Gulf conflict to clear alignment with Iraq.
"They seem to have moved over, way over into the Saddam Hussein camp totally," Mr. Bush said during a brief photo session at the White House. "There is quite some concern now about what appears to be a shift in the Jordanian position."
Mr. Bush's comments came as his administration was wrestling with how harshly to respond to a blistering speech made Wednesday by Jordan's King Hussein, during which the king asserted that the U.S.-led war was not against Iraq alone but "against all Arabs and against all Muslims."


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By John Ruberry
"But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy."
John Quincy Adams on America.
The United States has survived a Civil War and two world wars, and the Cold War.
But can it survive Russian bots? And a search for "monsters."
Thirteen Russians were indicted on Friday–none were arrested because they don't live here–for interfering in the 2016 presidential election by acting as "trolls" from St. Petersburg. These "bots" utilized Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stir up controversy and discord. The group that the accused were associated with was appropriately known as "the Troll Farm." The scheme was hatched in 2013, a year before Donald Trump declared his candidacy for president, which you'll recall was initially viewed by nearly everyone as a sideshow and a stage for the real estate mogul to promote his businesses and his Celebrity Apprentice television franchise.
Last spring Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced his appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller as the special prosecutor on alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and…any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."
The Troll Farm issued such click-baity stories like this one, which I recall seeing, "Hillary Clinton has already committed voter fraud during the Democrat Iowa Caucus."
As with the indictments of former Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort, who briefly was Trump's campaign manager, and Rick Gates, none of this has anything to do with so-called Russian collusion between Trump World and Russia. The same can be said of the plea deals between former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and low-lever staffer George Papadopolous. These four men clearly fall under "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation," The last two pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials but not colluding with Russia. The first two have been charged for actions that predate Trump's presidential run.
Which led the president to remark on Twitter a few hours ago, "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.' The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia – it never did!"
I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said "it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer." The Russian "hoax" was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia – it never did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018
So far Rosenstein, remember he's the man who appointed Mueller as special prosecutor, agrees.
"There is no allegation that any American is a knowing participant," Rosenstein said when announcing the indictments of the 13 Russians. "There is no allegation that the charge altered the outcome of the 2016 election."
And the search for "monsters," Trump calls it a witch hunt, goes on. While Mueller seems to be on to something with the bots, where was Barack Obama when the Troll Farm broke ground during his presidency? Obama famously and wrongly ridiculed Mitt Romney for calling Russia "our number one geopolitical foe" in a debate. Shortly before leaving office, Obama did tell Vladimir Putin, "cut it out."
All the same, America will survive the bots.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit. His wife, who was born in the Soviet Union, is not a Russian spy, she assures him.


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When I left you last we had just gutted the guest bath, leaving only the sink cabinet.
Turning our granny bath into the cool kid in town takes us to Dumb Rookie Mistake (DMR) #5-Green Sheetrock and cement backer board. Apparently, you don't need both. We found this out a little too late, resulting in the walls jutting out over an inch once the tile was added. This resulted in them looking awful and untrimmed for an unusually long time until I figured out what we were going to use to finish it off. But, I know how to install the heck out of both of them now!
Then we filled the gaping hole we made when we took out the old window with a fabulous (not) block window that we made. Next, we stuffed the holes with insulation and hung plastic. We stapled, then taped.
Next came the green drywall, taped and mudded (is that a word?) like regular drywall.
We have all kinds of stuff holding this up. Liquid nails, then screws, then more liquid nails on top and in the seams, then taped and mudded. Maybe a little overkill...but if it leaks, it's because a tornado ripped through it.
It was my job to tile while Mark was at work. I didn't know about premixed thin-set and premixed grout at this time. It costs a little more, but it would have saved me a lot of time and aggravation.
The accent tiles looked pretty in the store. DMR#6- Not making sure this is exactly what I wanted, and not asking myself if this could be considered timeless. I'm working on other projects right now, but it is on my list to chip those out and replace them.
Next came the floor! Again, my job to tile. This is back-breaking work. It's not hard...just hard on the body.
After we ripped out the fake maroon-marbled sink, it left the walls in need of serious repair. I knew I wanted to do bead board in here so we up cycled from another room.
This room...
These are your typical 4x8 sheets, so we just cut them in half and slapped them on the wall.
We had a limestone counter installed, and I stained the cabinet Minwax's Bombay Mahogany gel stain. Looking back I would not do brushed nickel fixtures. They show every water mark and are harder to clean.
We made this frame to trim the mirror, and stained it to match the cabinets. One thing they don't mention in many tutorials is you need to paint or stain the back side. You will be able to see the reflection. Duh! We hung it like a picture frame so it can be removed and repainted later, if we choose.
Now it's just a matter of paint, trim and decorate! Mark installed a vent fan light from Home Depot. It's quiet, yet efficient. We also changed out the Hollywood style lights and added shelving. In natural light...
We trimmed out the ugly ends of the shower with large corner molding. It looks like it's always been there, which is what I was hoping for. Love it when a plan comes together!
Dual flush toilet from Sam's Club. My neighbor gave me that little table and I painted it with my go-to fave, rubbed oil bronze. Funny, I never knew it was so popular until I started reading blogs. Ladies, if you're thinking about a dual flush toilet, you will still always use the '2' flush because of toilet paper. I don't know if it really is better than a regular toilet. My husband just wanted it because it sits higher and has the elongated seating.
Since this is a guest bath, we only needed a little room for towels.
And here she is! After I got the shower curtain from Ikea, I finally decided on Behr's Antique White. I love the way it looks like a light yellow in here, but in other rooms it looks cream. The hooks on the wainscoting are perfect for guests dirty towels.
I'm so happy y'all stuck it out for the world's longest bathroom remodel post!
Y'all come back soon!


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[click photo to enlarge]
My scanner is not a full 12", so the border is a bit cut off at the bottom - it is even IRL!! Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Scrapping!!
This is perfect. The colors and embelishment compliment the photos perfectly.
What a cool layout. Great design and embellishments.


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For Silent Sunday today I am sharing the photos we took during our visit of the JL Charlemagne wine caves in Angouleme yesterday. It was a fascinating tour where we learnt about the Champagne method that takes place within the caves, from the wine that arrives from many local vineyards, the fermentation process, the automated bottle turning and through to the corking and the labeling. We also got to sample and buy some lovely wine.
|The entrance to the cave
|Where the process begins
|Some of the 400,000 bottles in the cave
|Some that had been there a while
|Within the limestone cave
|Automated labeling


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West Suburban Symphony of Hinsdale performs
Westmont | Website
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Hear the West Suburban Symphony of Hinsdale, led by conductor Peter Lipari, perform music of timeless popularity. The Symphony's chamber players will present Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 4, and selections from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Award-winning teen violinist Masha Lakisova of Vernon Hills will be featured as soloist in the Spring and Autumn movements of the Four Seasons.


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St. Elizabeth's Medical Center Awarded $117,000 in Mass. Grant Funding for Successful Patient Programs
St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is pleased to announce that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services awarded more than $117,000 in grant funding to support successful patient programs at St. Elizabeth's. The Infrastructure and Capacity Building (ICB) grants are designed to enhance the ability of hospitals and community health centers to provide health care services to low-income patients.
"For years St. Elizabeth's Medical Center has been at the forefront of treating patients with behavioral health and substance abuse issues," said St. Elizabeth's Medical Center President Kevin R. Hannifan. "These grant funds will enable us to continue that important work."
Steward's Behavioral Health Navigatorprogram has played a crucial role in assessment and placement of behavioral health and substance abuse patients. In addition to performing crisis evaluations, the Behavioral Health Navigators have made referrals to primary care physicians and outpatient behavioral health services, provided information and/or counseling on smoking cessation, and connected uninsured patients to the Community Health Advocates for enrollment in Commonwealth-subsidized health programs. For FY14, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center will receive $117,030 in ICB grant funding to continue and expand this program.
"This grant funding will enable us to provide health services to additional people," Hannifan said. "We look forward to continuing to address the needs of our community through these much needed resources such as the ICB grant."
About St. Elizabeth's Medical Center St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is a major academic medical center affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine. Areas of medical excellence include vascular and endovascular surgery, cardiology, neurosciences, general and robotic surgery, bariatric surgery, women's health, high-risk obstetrics, bone and joint health, hematology/oncology, pulmonary medicine and emergency medicine. St. Elizabeth's is a member of Steward Health Care, which is the second largest health care system in New England.


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Earlier this year, we introduced a series by Professor Robert Russell that explored the nature of God's action in the world. We are pleased to continue investigating this fascinating and critically important topic by featuring a recent talk by prominent Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga, sponsored by the Biola University Center for Christian Thought.
In this talk, Professor Plantinga addresses the fact that many contemporary thinkers—including many theologians—believe that God cannot perform miracles, providentially guide history, or interact in the lives of people, as these activities would be contrary to science. Plantinga, on the other hand, makes the case that this popular view is mistaken; excluding divine action in the world is not a central feature of natural science itself, but a philosophical or theological preference that has been added on to science (and can just as readily be removed). Plantinga concludes that it is completely logical to accept the miracles of the Bible and support contemporary science.
In this four-part series, we provide the video of Professor Plantiga's lecture as well as a written version of his presentation.
My talk is entitled "Divine Action in the World." I want to talk about a certain kind of objection to Christian belief that some people raise. They claim that central thoughts, central doctrines of Christianity, are contrary to science, and therefore, are suspicious or incredible or such that one can't sensibly hold them—can't be rational in accepting them.
There are several different kinds of arguments that people bring along these lines; I want to talk about just one. So first… the Heidelberg catechism, one of the forms of unity of the church I go to (the Christian Reformed Church), says
Providence is the almighty and ever-present power of God, by which he upholds as with his hand heaven and Earth and all creatures and so rules them, that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty. All things, in fact, come to us not by chance, but from his fatherly hand.
And part of the way it comes to us—not by chance, but from his fatherly hand—part of the way God has designed our world, is that there is a great deal of regularity and dependability in our world. Of course, if it were not for this regularity and dependability, we couldn't do the things that we actually do. I mean, for example, if I just wanted to walk off the stage—if, for example, all the sudden those stairs over there suddenly turned into a ladder going up—well, that would make it really difficult.
If you are trying to build a house, for example, you have this hammer, but all the sudden the hammer turns in to a goose or a pigeon. Again, that would make things really difficult…or if the nail turned into a worm…or if you get in the car and turn the key and the car turns into a camel, things would be really hard, much harder than they are. This regularity and dependability in our world is an essential condition of our being able to live in the world in which we actually do.
If the world were irregular enough, we would not even be able to live in it, but there are also, according to classical Christianity here (the Heidelberg catechism, for example) there are also special divine actions; sometimes God does things specially. There are miracles in Scripture: the parting of the Red Sea, for example, Jesus walking on water, Jesus changing water into wine. There are miraculous healings: Jesus rising from the dead, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and so on. And according to classical Christians, many of them, perhaps most of them, are special divine actions. God, for example, responds to prayers. He works in the hearts and minds of his children to effect sanctification. There is, what Calvin called, the internal testimony or witness of the Holy Spirit, and there is what Thomas Aquinas called the internal instigation of the Holy Spirit. So, these things are all special actions on the part of God. God constantly causes events in the world. Ok, so far fair enough—what is the problem?
Many theologians seem to think there is a science-religion problem here. I don't think any of the theologians of Biola think this, (I don't know, but I doubt it) but many theologians do. For example, Rudolf Bultmann says, "The historical method," which of course he thinks that is the method we should use, "includes the presupposition that history is a unity in the sense of a closed continuum of effects in which individual events are connected by the succession of cause and effect. This continuum, furthermore, cannot be rent by the interference of supernatural, transcendent powers."
That's what he says. Alright, there is this continuum that cannot be rent by the interference of supernatural (that would be God) or transcendent powers. So, it is a little bit like the laws of the Medes and Persians. You probably remember Daniel. Daniel was a favorite of King Darius, and well, the other courtiers became jealous of Daniel (they didn't like it that the king liked him so well). So, they came to the king and said, "Oh king, live forever, we think it would be a great idea if you passed an edict to the effect that you alone can be worshipped. Everybody has to worship you and nothing else." Well the king thought that over for a minute, and that sounded pretty good to him so he said, "I guess that it is a pretty good idea." So he made this edict; he made this declaration: "Only King Darius is to be worshipped—no one else, nothing else."
These courtiers knew that Daniel worshipped God, and they thought probably Daniel would keep right on worshipping God despite this edict. So they were watching Daniel, and he was, in fact, worshipping God. So they came to the king. Now the penalty for worshipping something else was to be thrown into the lion's den and they said, "Well, king live forever, looks like Daniel has been violating this edict. You have got to throw him in the lion's den."
Well, the king didn't want to do this because he really liked Daniel. He thought this was a miserable way to proceed, and he didn't want to do it, but then they said to him, "O king live forever, and remember a law of the Medes and Persians cannot be abrogated, even by the king himself." So once it's put in place, not even the king himself can change it or abrogate it or go against it.
That is sort of the suggestion that you get here from Bultmann. Bultmann thinks, "Maybe God created the world and set it up in a certain way, but once he did that, not even he can interfere in it"—he uses that word interference—"not even he can do anything in it. He just has to keep hands off." It is like the law of the Medes and the Persians.
Another theologian who agrees is John Macquarrie, who says,
The way of understanding miracle (and that would be one kind of special divine action) that appeals to breaks in the natural order and to supernatural intervention belongs to the mythological outlook, and cannot commend itself in a post-mythological climate of thought. The traditional conception of miracle is irreconcilable with our modern understanding of both science and history. Science proceeds on the assumption that whatever events occur in the world, can be accounted for in terms of other events that also belong within the world, and if on some occasion, we are unable to give a complete account of some happening, the scientific conviction is that further research will bring to light further factors in the situation that will turn out to be just as imminent and this worldly as the factors already known.
Ok again, no room there for special action. And the third thinker here, Langdon Gilkey (still another theologian), says something similar, but I will pass. I will not read that one in the interest of saving a little bit of time, but these three theologians, plus many others want to assert that there is something wrong with the idea of God acting in the world, acting in the world in a way that goes beyond creation and sustaining, or creation and holding things in existence. So they think, "Ok, God created the world; God sustains it in existence"…that is ok with them, but anything beyond that, God performing any miracles, raising Jesus from the dead, or for that matter working in somebody's heart and mind in a special way, that, they say, is a real problem. The question is, what is the problem?
Well, the next little bit here…according to the Christian and theistic idea, God is a person; he has knowledge, loves, and hates. He has aims and ends. He acts on the basis of his knowledge to achieve his ends. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and wholly good. Thirdly (noted above by the Heidelberg catechism), God has created the world. Fourth is God conserves and sustains and maintains in being this world he created, but fifth, at least sometimes, God acts in a way going beyond creation and conservation in miracles, but also in his providential guiding of history, his working in the hearts of people, his internal instigation of the Holy Spirit, and so on, and it is with that fifth category that these people have a problem. It is God's special action in the world—action beyond conservation and creation—and miracles would be an example.
So we might think of these theologians as endorsing what we could call hands off theology. God has got to keep his hands off. God could create the world. God conserves the world, sustains it in being, but he can't do anything else—that is as far as he could go. It is hands off theology, and Bultmann, even in this context, even talks about interfering. I mean if God did something in the world that would be interfering, which, when you think about it, is a sort of strange thing to say—I mean if God created the world, he is the omnipotent, omniscient, holy, good creator of the world—when you accuse someone of interfering, you are saying they are doing something they should not be doing, right?
So Bultmann thinks if God did something in the world that would be interfering, and he should be ashamed of himself. Ok, now why is this a problem? Their suggestion is that somehow it is contrary to science. It is contrary to science the suggestion that God acts specially in the world. I didn't read that bit, but Gilkey says, "The causal nexus in space and time which the enlightenment science and philosophy introduced into the western mind is also assumed by modern theologians and scholars. Since they participate in the modern world of science, both intellectually and existentially, they can scarcely do anything else."
From a presentation sponsored by Biola University's Center for Christian Thought, and delivered February 12, 2012 at EV Free Church, Fullerton, CA. Used by permission.


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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
So Gonzales is to be gone(Sept. 17th)
Gonzo is another 'fall guy' sacrificed to further the ambitions of George Bush and the Bush crime family and the Rethug party and the ambitions of the religious right. Gonzo deserves to be gone for all the damage he has done to our democracy, but so to do the other aforementioned, and for the same reason.
Gonzo is a sacrificial anode to put it in marine terms. He has been sacrificed to keep the Bushco Republican ship of state floating a little longer, before it falls into complete corrosion.
Gonzo is a sacrifice to the roman gods, to keep the pagan emporer happy and delude him into thinking he is still an emporer.
Monday, August 27, 2007
It has been a long time...
Dear All,
It has been a long time since I lasted posted to my blog. This is due to my long days spent posting to a number of websites, all political as everything is totally political in America and will probably remain that way long after I am dead, which does not seem to far off. I hope to last until the next election, 2008, so I can vote one more time, so I can help expel the Rethugs from what is left of our gov't, which actually is now the Popes gov't. I am posting at various sites to help defeat the Republican Party, the political party of death for ever more profits and political power.
I hope to defeat all of the enablers of the party of death, including the Catholic Church, my Church, and the evangelical fundamentalists. Fundamentalist religions are anathema to human life, whether they are Catholic, Islamic(Bin Laden) or evangelical fundies(Falwell, Robertson, Dobson). Fundies are fundies, they are all extreme, radical and dangerous.
Let no one say the right wing Catholic fundies or the evangelical fundies are any different than Bin Laden and his associates; they all kill. The American religious fundies kill our troops, the Iraqi people and the Afghani people. Along with the two fundie American religions supporting the killings are the big American corporations and the Republican party of death for profits. All are a bunch of death dealing scum.
Sites I often/daily visit and post on include: Alternet, Salon.com, Huffington Post are the ones I most often visit. Some other sites I read on a daily to frequent to occasional basis include: Eric Altermans Altercation, Ha'aretz(the largest newspaper in Israel), The Kaleej Times( out of Dubai for Noam Chomsky articles and some Arab view points) The International Herald Tribune, Media Matters for America, Pen, FP Media Reform Daily, Wiretap, Mother Jones Journal, Vote Vets.Org, Progresive States Network, open Democracy, Americans United For The Separation of Church and State(I have joined them) Unity08(I joined them last year) Campaign To Defend the Constitution, The Free Press(Fitrakis and Wasserman) did/do a fantastic job of revealing corruption including corrupt elections in Ohio by the Ohio Rethug party and Ken Blackwell, Ray McGovern's VIPS and about two dozen other sites.
When Dr. Fitrakis runs for any political office I will support him. He and Harvey Wasserman have done a great job of revealing the extent of Republican voter corruption efforts in Ohio, The US intel's forcing the close of Antioch College (a very fine small liberal arts college in Dayton Ohio well known for progressive and anti-war thinking) Gov. Rhodes 'owned' by the FBI (due to his involvement with the mafia) and the deaths of the Kent State students (I'm a grad of Kent State and had classes that evening but had a Guardsmans rifle shoved in my face as I tried to drive on campus, so I snuck on another way and was met by a goup of students who told me about the shootings that took place just two hours earlier) and the efforts by The Free Press(known as the Columbus Free Press during the Vietnam war) and other Ohio groups and all of their efforts to unseat Sen. George Voinovich(Catholic), Jean Schmidt(Catholic) Pryce and LaTourette.
In the past I always voted for Voinovich, DeWine(another corrupt Catholic Republican as is Schmidt) and LaTourette but stopped in the last election. These right wing Bush/Rethug voters will never get my vote again. In the last (2006) election I voted only for dems. I have not done that since the Vietnam War. I always voted for whomever I thought was the best person regardless of political party, but no more. And I worked hard to get DeWine defeated, and he was.
So, more good news, this morning(Aug. 27,2007) Alberto Gonzales(Catholic) resigned as AG. Thank the good God, another warhawk, actually chickenhawk, is gone. Rove just resigned a few weeks ago. But he will most certainly be out in the hinterlands creating havoc and attacking America. My best guess is that he will be working to make another member of the Bush crime family, Jeb Bush(Catholic), who is waiting in the wings for his chance at destroying America and the world for PROFIT and POLITICAL POWER into a prez. That is all the Bush family and Rethugs are good for, destroying and never accepting responsibility for their agenda of death and destruction.
Truly the party of god(their god is corruption and gets a lower case g) and it's enablers are satanic and diabolical. But since Nixon that is what they have always been and Pope John Paul II knew that when he decided to join them, certainly everyone else knew they were consumed by GREED for money and political power. And so the Popes must be consumed by the same things, including dominion and domination over the lives of others, and despite their God given FREE WILL. But then our God given FREE WILL has never meant anything to the Popes, all of whom have been 'moral relativists'.
Dogmatic authoritarians are always 'moral relativists' they hold others to one standard of behavior and themselves to a much lower standard.That is why the Church is replete with gay(sorry gays, I just don't think gays should be priests) priests, uncelibate priests and pedophile priests. And then to make matters even worse it covers for them and protects them and defends them and moves them to other parishes to continue plying their particular form of sexual aberration. In addition the Church attacks the victims, truly amaaazing, and corrupt.
Oh btw, speaking of the Churches obsession with sex and it's vicarious involvement in others peoples sex lives. I came across the writings of a truly God inspired Anglican Bishop, Bishop Ingham, who wrote the most beautiful treatise on sex and love that I have ever read. God must have inspired this good/great Bishop to write such a totally beautiful treatise on that subject. Such a beautiful piece of observation about human sexuality could never have been written by any fundamentalist, Catholic or otherwise. The Catholic Church and Catholics are so sexually repressed, obsessed, deviant and/or warped about sex that they would never have been able to write such a treatise.
I knew sex was a sublime experience that it must have been created by God. Thanks be to God for all his wonderful creations including nature, animals especially baby animals, human babies, plants and what is left of our increasingly decaying and dying planet.
Our planet and our human civilization will die even more when Bushco and the religious right bomb IRAN and turn that country into a sheet of glass just because they are unlikely enough to have OIL. When one is talking about the Bush family and the Republican Party oil and wealth and political power are everything they worship.
I remember in religion class discussing the fact that the Popes always told the poor it was okay to be poor, even a blessing to starve and die, while at the same time the Church hierarchy always associated with the rich and were usually rich themselves.
The Pope should know poverty and the Pope should live in Iraq for a year, walking the streets looking for food and water. The Pope should observe that Iraqi women/mothers are prostituting themselves for food. And when they get abortions the Pope should witness what happens topoor and desparate women and their families.
One HUGE cause of women seeking abortions is poverty, not becaus they are evil. But the Pope just ants to stamp out abortions, no matter how many people, women and men, he has to KILL to do it.
Another HUGE cause of abortions is women and girls suffering from such low self worth that they give their bodies to gain some fleeting and false sense of self worth.
And once again the Catholic Church has for about 1900 of it's 2000 year history been stamping/ treading on womens self worth, treating them as third class humans after men and children. Keeping women barefoot, in the kitchen and pregnant only convinces women that all they are is baby machines and have no other value. When a womans or girls only sense of self worth comes from making babies then that is exactly what they do.
If the Pope truly wanted to do something about abortion he would do something about the root causes that lead to unwanted pregnancies and that lead to abortions. Instead he supports the Republican Party, the party of wealth, but wealth only for itself while the middle class and the poor continue in a downward spiral toward ever more poverty.
Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum 1879, spoke out clearly AGAINST rampant capitalism. But the current and previous Popes are/were tightly aligned with and totally supportive of the Republican party of rampant CAPITALISM.
The US is headed for, in the near term, theo-corporatocracy. But in the long term it is headed for what the corporate republicans truly believe in, total corporatocracy in the endless and greedy pursuit of MONEY/WEALTH, no matter who has to pay the price and no matter how high the price even poverty and death, and that is NOT pro-life, not even close.
Can the current and previous Popes see or look at any of that aforementioned; not one bit they didn't. Everyone only has to look at Latin American countries to see what the Catholic Church has been doing for the last five hundred years and one can see how the Church is committed to poverty for the masses. Pope Benedict you can't have it both ways, you can't continue to promote poverty(it's really not next to godliness) and your hoped for continuation of control over the masses and stop abortion at the same time.
Btw Pope Benedict your wealthy Republican friends will continue to get all the abortions they want and you can't do anything to stop them. While at the same time you aid them in impoverishing ever more people. You Pope Benedict havebecome a handmaiden to the machinations of the worst, most greedy and totally selfish members of our society just as you have done and continue to do in Latin countries when you helped your Republican friends, especially Karl Rove and Dick Morris directly cause the defeat of Mr. Lopez Obrador in the recent Mexican elections. I hope you are proud of yourself and what you have done to continue the poverty in Mexico. And someday, if not already the despair of the Mexican people will cause them to use drugs in ever increasing amounts to deal with the pain of their despair, albeit a fleeting and false attempt, yielding no long term solutions only ever more human degradation.
Methinks somehow Pope Benedict that your supposed to be the servant of God and his children not their slave master. Wow, all I can say is that the Catholic Church is really screwed up beyond belief. ThPopes have sold out to the Rethug party of greed and death.
Just maybe the prediction of St Malachy will come true. And just maybe that is the same promise as the Blessed Virgin Mary made.
PRAY for the END of those who promote death for oil profits and all their enablers.


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I like US American Christian Evangelicals, I really do. I mean, not necessarily in person, but in principle: They are so very easy.
This is what the internet just coughed up on my door mat: Jestidwell's blog piece 'It didn't happen like I thought it would'. Wife of one, mother of four goes on missionary trip to Kenya and is deeply disappointed when, upon arrival in Nairobi, she finds the Junction, a bloody mall of all things:
'My heart was prepared for dirt floors.
For dirty laundry hanging everywhere.
For kids that were half naked and covered in bug bites.
People who couldn't speak English.
not this'
Insert pictures of very well fed mzungu guy in Nakumatt looking at shelves of mayonnaise (possibly her husband?). The mayonnaise was, I admit, an element I appreciated.
Then she writes this without any apparent sense of irony:
'But this girl from the states expected Nairobi to be like what you see in the movies. Or on Feed the Children commercials.'
Seconds after I posted that blog piece on Facebook, I was convinced that it was a spoof. So I went back to her blog. Apparently not. There's this:
'I will never be able to accurately describe the feeling of love I experienced when we stepped out of the airport and onto African soil.
The smell.
The sounds.
The breeze.
Almost ocean like but without the ocean.'
I feel cheated. How come I never have such mystic experiences when getting off the plane at JKIA? JKIA, Y U cheat me? Is it because I don't bring the love? Here goes Jesstidwell:
'But most of all, I prayed for Nairobi. That the people here would know Jesus. Not because we stand on a street corner and preach for hours on end and not because we pass out bibles and tracts, but because we show them love.'
Sure. Because Nairobi doesn't have enough of the love of Christ already. Is Google blocked in the US?
Stand by for pictures of her and many grateful, small, black children. They are happy with so little! They are just like us!
Gold-star comment from the Focus Group: 'What is wrong with the American education system? How can they generate so many, but just far too many under-educated ignorami (plural for ignoramus)? And why do these particular lot afflict us with their presence? Dear God what wrong did we ever do to deserve such as these? Why us? Why them? Why us?' (Yvonne Adhiambo)
06 February 2015
Do-gooder, sub-category Christian Evangelical: Y No Poor People?
Posted by Andrea Bohnstedt at 10:16 AM
1 comment:
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2015 at 6:28 PM
But i give credit to the missionary for being candid and open about her her first impressions based on her initial expectations. Africa is not supposed to be a good place and everybody knows and that is what some people are shocked.ReplyDelete
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Luke Ford writes: Robert Rickover interviews Sandra Bain Cushman, an Alexander Technique teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is the author of the forthcoming book Mind Body 40 Days.
Between them, Robert and Sandra have more than 50 years of experience teaching the Alexander Technique.
Sandra: "As our world has become more complex, people are feeling more fragmented. There's this movement to sit and be quiet and to center oneself. The Technique offers information about how the body balances itself and how coordination works."
Robert: "Alexander Technique can help people sit more easily."
Sandra: "Ask yourself, what are you looking for in your sitting practice? Not only more balance in your body but also in your life… I think that what people are really seeking in their sitting practice is integration, calm, and freedom from a lot of negative emotion."
"The Alexander Technique does seem like magic. When your neck is free and your head is balanced way up high on the spine, when you really move up and think of your coordination being organized where your head rests on your spine, there's this fabulous release into lightness, coordination and ease. As far as I know, Alexander teachers are the only ones skilled at that."


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Rallying in Brazil has grown over the years to become one of the most followed sports. Its popularity has been in part fuelled by the passionate drivers who are now culture symbols in Brazil. From the cars they drive to how they conduct themselves in public, they have been able to attract a legion of followers who are not driving the sport to new levels. The Terpins brothers are some of the most followed rally drivers in Brazil. From their social media pages to the events they take part in, they have been able to attract and retain fans in droves.
Michel Terpins the older brother has been in rallying for some years now. He began his career as a rider though before moving to motorsport. During his days in the cross country, he would emerge champion for some years before he retired and joined rallying. His contribution and leadership capabilities were so strong that he was elected chairperson of the Brazilian cross country championship. He would use his skills to professionalize the same and attract new competitors as well as sponsors to the sport.
On joining rallying his brother who was already competing in the same would help him learn the ropes, and together they founded the Bull Sertões Rally Team. This is the team that they would both use to grow there careers as well as compete with from there on. The Bull Sertões Rally Team has been able to attract some sponsors including the MEM motorsport corporation that develops there official racing car the T-Rex.
Michel Terpins and Rodrigo compete in the T1 prototype category and have taken part in some competitions. The most prominent for the team though is the Sertões Rally. This circuit is considered the most competitive in the entire Brazilian rally circuit.
Michel terpins however branched out from his brother but is still a member of the Bull Sertões Rally Team. He is now an independent driver of the team bring on navigators as part of this change. This was occasioned by the competitive nature of the brothers who found it untenable to continue as a pair sharing the cabin.


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New York, US (PANA) - Clashes between Mozambique government forces and the opposition Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) have forced an increasing number of people to flee Mozambique and seek asylum in Malawi over the last few weeks, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
A UNHCR statement said that, in the village of Kapise, Mwanza district, some 100 kilometres south of Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, registration teams from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recorded the arrival of 1,297 people – two-thirds of them women and children.
It also said that, over 900 people awaiting registration, and another 400 new arrivals have been reported in 16 villages located further south in the district of Chikwawa.
It noted that the Mozambicans said they fled fighting between the opposition RENAMO and Government forces.
"Refugee women told a UNHCR protection officer how their homes were burned down with one grandmother left inside to die.
"They said government forces were attacking villages believed to be harbouring opposition members. UNHCR has been unable to confirm the accuracy of these allegations," the statement stated.
It disclosed that UNHCR was working with the government to coordinate the response to assist the newly arrived refugees.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was providing food and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is already on the ground with a mobile clinic.
Malaria is a major concern and the number of patients seen daily has increased from 70 to 250. With the looming fear of a cholera outbreak, MSF has been quick to drill two boreholes and are planning on drilling a third to improve the water supply.
It also said that the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) was putting up temporary latrines and washrooms to avert health disasters, and has also provided two large tents where children can play and learn.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) also plans to work on maternal health.
The Government of Malawi is considering reopening Luwani refugee camp, which previously hosted refugees from Mozambique during the civil war (1977 -1992), when over a million Mozambican refugees fled to neighbouring Malawi.
-0- PANA AA/MA 15Jan2016


text: St Silas' met for Praise and Prayer last night. Numbers were down on previous meetings, but in one sense that doesn't matter. 'Two or three gathered together, Jesus is present' and all that. It's a spacious time, where we draw near to the Father and he draws near to us. We listen and pray. People share what the Holy Spirit has given in the way of bible verses, pictures or words. I get to share a little too. It's about humbling ourselves before God and keeping Him at the centre of our life together. It is a good thing to do and to be part of.


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Belli in ugly battle with ex-employee
Here's a look at the past. Items have been culled from The Chronicle's archives of 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago.
Aug. 22: Melvin Belli, San Francisco's most famous attorney, is battling more than $16 million worth of lawsuits filed by attorneys who once worked for him. Six former employees have sued Belli, charging him variously with defamation, fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. So acrimonious has one dispute become that a Superior Court judge sealed the court file and struck from the record the allegations he considered too inflammatory. Belli's most recent - and ugliest - dispute involves David S. Rosenberg, an attorney who worked for Belli from January through October 1983. Rosenberg claimed in his suit that Belli would order Rosenberg into his office for meetings "during which he would rage, bellow, excoriate, damnify, slander, humiliate and oppress Rosenberg's staff, other attorneys, present and absent, dead and alive and especially his accountant, whoever was holding that perilous position, his wife, Lia, his son, Caesar, in their presence and in their absence."
Aug. 22: The mystery of Novato's Stafford Lake monster was solved with the discovery of a giant white sturgeon in a shallow pool of a drained lakebed. The 6-foot-5, 125-pound fish became the largest sturgeon ever to be displayed at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco. Officials of the Department of Fish and Game said the fish was 50 to 60 years old and probably reigned as king of the lake since someone dumped it there after the lake was dammed in the early 1950s. John Hewitt, an assistant curator at Steinhart Aquarium, said the sturgeon could live for 200 years in captivity and grow to 10 to 15 feet.
Aug. 16: A sniper perched on a Western Addition rooftop yesterday sipped rum and Coca-Cola while he shot down two men and terrorized the neighborhood. Thomas Antonio Gutierrez, 22, finally captured after a policeman blasted the rifle out of his hands, said he went on the wild shooting spree because a prostitute cheated him out of $10. During the shooting, an innocent passer-by was wounded and an ambulance steward was shot in the chest when he went to help the injured man. The normally quiet Saturday morning around Webster and Eddy streets was shattered by scores of shots as police and the marksman battled it out for nearly half an hour. Gutierrez had climbed to the roof of an abandoned house at 1158 Webster St. with a rifle, a box of 50 cartridges, and a bottle of rum and a bottle of Coke. The gun was finally shot out of his hand by Inspector George Rosko, 34, of the Juvenile Bureau. Rosko's shot hit the telescopic sight on Gutierrez' gun and broke it in two. The sight evidently saved Gutierrez' life, Rosko said. If it hadn't been there, the slug would have hit him right between the eyes.
Aug. 20: Carrying more than two score prisoners, including Al Capone, former Chicago gang lord and America's No. 1 public enemy of the Prohibition era, two heavily guarded railroad coaches last night were speeding across the continent for America's "Devil's Island" on Alcatraz, San Francisco Bay. Capone was among 43 notorious prisoners being transferred from the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., to the government's new Bastille on fortressed Alcatraz Island. A picked squad of government agents armed with automatic shotguns guarded the two specially constructed, steel-barred coaches. In addition to Capone, the group included "Frisco Eddie" O'Brien and Eddie Colson, notorious train robbers, and Alvin Crip, said to be a former Chicago gunman and bitter enemy of Capone before they were sent to prison.
Aug. 18: An intense and funereal gloom began to settle over the Barbary Coast district yesterday when it became known that $4,370.50 in currency was found on the person of Sergeant Christian Herter of the Twenty-third United States Infantry when he was searched at City Prison after being arrested for drunkenness on Pacific Street. There was never a bartender or dance hall girl aware that a walking bank had wandered gaily and recklessly about the dangerous pitfalls, hence the gloom. One bartender, in fact, went so far as to suggest that Sergeant Herter had probably drunk enough liquor for one night and Herter turned sadly away. This bartender was fired as soon as the news leaked out from the City Prison of the size of Herter's wad. Herter carried his life savings in his inner vest pocket and started out on spree with a private from the Presidio. Both boon companions were found by police shortly before 2 o'clock in the morning. At that time they were laboring under the delusion that the sidewalk was a human roulette table and were trying gamely to hang on. Herter was a grateful man a few hours later when presented with his roll and directions to a savings bank. {sbox}


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Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by stock777, Aug 17, 2007.
yes it's AFUAU. Get another broker
I prefered rotflmao, you are a poor and pitiful imitation
you missed some on your chin there pal. LMAO hhahhhahaahahahahahaahhahahaa.
API backfill working just fine for me....
better think of a new nick azzwipe. This one joins the other imbeciles on the IgNore
Separate names with a comma.