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This blog is a place for me to spew my long winded thoughts on anything from Confessional Lutheranism, traditional worship, educational theory, politics, computer programming, and any other ol' thing that comes along
Friday, August 29, 2008
CG vs Contemporary WELS Worship
Link to image of chart stored on Flickr
Thursday, August 28, 2008
An Analogy Without An Application
My 16 year old 525i gets quirkier every day. It has 250,000 miles on it and it has never needed an engine servicing other than oil changes. Score another great thing out of Germany. Everyday it starts and gets me to my destinations yet the ride is filled with adventure more and more. Here is the list of items requiring attention.
- The wiper motor turns on randomly
- The windshield washer squirts randomly until it is drained or feels like stopping
- The wiper blades are not connected to the wiper motor anymore
- There is a new vibration in the stick shift
- The wheels shimmy between 62 and 70
- The radio is gone
- The blowers blow furiously yet only a trickle of air comes out.
- you only get heat if it is over 32 degrees outside
- the light in the trunk doesn't go off so it drains the battery by morning if I actually kept a bulb in it.
- The power steering is leaking at the rate of one quart a week.
- The relay for the power windows and sunroof needs replacing because the windows don't open
- No more AC
I was thinking maybe its time to have the BMW just become an organ donor and move on.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Credo Quia Absurdum
There probably are lots of examples where we actually live by this.
"Credo Quia Absurdum"
Confessional Crusaders...update
No, thats not it. They are just nutty and localized. Most hold views that are just plain not scriptural. They take practice and make it doctrine. They are taking church tradition and the confessions and raising them to a level higher than Scripture. I read a comment about how contemporary worshippers only rely on scripture and don't rely on church tradition....and this was a bad thing. It sheds light on where they come from though.
Its pretty clear that their personal style, taste and sensibilities have been mortally offended by the change in worship style of some churches. The Liturgy has trancended from being a Christ-centered worship guide to becoming the only acceptable form of worship. They latch onto about the same 5-10 specific examples of contemporary worship that might be "reviewable" and claim that the WELS is diseased and infested with "Church Growth".
One example oft repeated is one where a WELS pastor used a pre-written sermon by a Baptist minister one Sunday. It is possible that using a sermon first produced by a baptist minister and delivering it might be construed as poor practice. However without seeing the sermon who knows, it might have been a pretty good one. Is every sermon written by a Baptist minister a bad one? If a sermon conveys a perfectly good Biblical message does it matter who wrote it? Does its origin automatically make it false doctrine? Hardly. These kinds of things are not considered by the crusaders. They just want to find ways to link contemporary to false doctrine. I'm sure they would have been rather confounded if the same sermon was delivered at a traditional congregation. What now...
Well anyways I am still observing these folk as a novelty. I'm quite convinced a few of them probably also believe stories of Area 51 and have many theories on the moon landing and the grassy knoll.
I mostly noted that he was very well read, had lots of integrity, and was interesting to talk to. I noted that Ike was from the Philippines and he was able to teach Ike some basic Tagalog. Well of course he knew Tagalog. We also had a good discussion about "White fright, White Flight." I gave him a ride to the new Target store by church which is close to his house as his family had seen to taking off from church and hadn't returned yet.
It sounds as if he is often flying on Sundays, but I hope he returns to Victory. I'm pretty sure I'd like to get to know him better.
I also talked to another gentleman at church. He came to visit our church after getting an invitation in the mail. He had happened to visit a friend close to the Lion's Legend Park and the friend said he should come down to the park and hear the music and eat some food. We followed up with the man with an invitation and he actually came to a service. I was impressed. I think that must be hard to do. Especially alone like that.
Back to School
So Ike started school at St. Marcus the 20th and Katie started school at Wisco as a Junior today. I can tell you that I'm already feeling like St. Marcus was definately a good move. The accelerated academics, no excuses and heavy accountability have been excellent. I think Ike is enjoying his classmates as well.
Here are pictures of the kids this morning. Remember there is a photo slideshow at the bottom of the blog page.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
So there you have it!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Semper Fi
Marine Corps Recruit Depot
Here is a document that summarizes Boot Camp from that site
Recruit Training Document
Here is a general site that has TONS of information on the military. If you want to find how today's military "isn't your father's military" this is the place to check it all out.
If your a Marine relative you'll find this site very useful. It has links to lots of specific information about the marines
Marine Parents
This site is the official Marines pages.
Marines Official Site
If after all that you still have questions...I'm not sure how we can help ya.
Friday, August 15, 2008
This Never Happens
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mission Trips
I just want to say this has been one of the greatest experiences of her life and I believe she has changed. She has a much greater appreciation for not only the prosperity of America comparatively but also for the importance of mission work. She was very sad to leave Chile and already is making plans to return next summer for an extended stay. We'll see if that holds through out the school year. However her love of Spanish and appreciation for mission work will definately be stregthened regardless.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Victory of the Lamb
I offered him my services for doing the website and for helping with the multimedia and sound for the worship services. Victory hadn't had a worship service yet and had many tasks to complete such as finding a place to worship, getting sound equipment, canvassing, advertising. On December 6th, 2006 we held our first worship service with 140 in attendance. Most of them were folks from surrounding WELS churches coming to wish us well and see how things were like. Although I had started out with Victory to lend some help until they got started, I have not returned to St. Paul's for even one service since that day. Some other members of St. Paul's also got hooked that day too and with the addition of our two families the core group grew to 17ish and another 13 or so people who were helping out.
On April 1st, 2007 we had our Grand Launch service on Palm Sunday. 180 people came and this time there were numerous guests from the community after a massive advertising campaign. We followed that service the next weekend with an Easter Breakfast for the community in which 60 people came for my omelettes to order and a huge amount of food. 140 came for Easter service. It was a good start but still a little disappointing when within two weeks our average attendance was 35. However it was at this time that our full compliment of band members arrived at the congregation and the Victory worship band got started.
However we planned an aggressive summer of community activities to get our name out there, to canvass and to proclaim the gospel to the community. Our first event was the 4th of July float where we handed out 1000 pieces of literature and our band played on the float. We got a great reaction from the crowd. Two weeks later we had a Summer Music festival in the City park called Hallepalooza. The Victory band played music while there was kids games and adult activities and a devotion at the end. A new member who owns a fancy restaurant in downtown Milwaukee donated free food for anyone who came by. about 150 attended . Two weeks after that we ran our 1st annual soccer bible camp. 29 kids got to improve their soccer skills and hear the Word of God. Later in October we had about 60 people come to our Family fest/Chili Supper. All of these events attracted at least one family or indivdual to our church. About 50 were in weekly attendance by October of last year. In December of last year we hosted a "Christmas for kids" activity where 55 kids came and heard the story of Christ's birth at the City Library for 4 hours on a day where there was 7 inches of snow falling. More people who ended up hearing the word and coming to church and Bible instruction. By January 1st we had about 60 in weekly attendance.
I think the mission of Victory started to really click with people by this last Easter. Members and even people who were in bible instruction were bringing their friends and inviting people to come. The "Easter for Kids" event had 75 kids from the community show up and many of their parents came to Easter church. From there our attendance has been growing and we are averaging about 95 people a week. The last two weeks we had 102 people and 135. This years parade we handed out 3000 pieces of literature, this years Hallepalooza had 200 or more people come, this years Bible soccer camp had 67 kids register. Since our congregation has very few children in the age range of the soccer camp the kids were mostly from unchurched or other churched families.
We are now outgrowing our space at the Polonia Soccer Club and are trying to secure a new location within a warehouse of a local businessman. There are a few details to work out but if it does it could be a nice church home for the forseeable future until we can find or build a permanent church home.
Being a part of this mission even though my role is small has been a great experience. It has challenged my faith to grow and to live my faith as a person charged to proclaim the Gospel to the people in my sphere of influence. It is such a new experience. The unchurched come from a very different world. Everything is new. Faith is growing in babysteps. It has helped me to not take my education and background for granted and realize that the true mission of the church is to reach out to the unchurched and it demands that I move out of my comfort zone to do it.
So I continue to work on the website and produce the sound. New members have created a multimedia team that is doing a fantastic job. We have so many dedicated members who are taking various parts of the ministry and running with it and God truly is working faith and guiding hearts in this church. I invite you all to come and see....and better yet get involved.
Confessional Crusaders
Here are the traits I've noticed so far
1.) The Confessional Crusaders are a group who seem to adamantly oppose anything not specified in the Lutheran Confessions. I mean if it didn't exist in the 1500's its no good.
2.) They tend to oppose anything outside the original Liturgy. They oppose anything contemporary or even remotely different in worship. There are varying extremes to this behavior but I have seen the arguments get down to the use of pronouns in a creed or using the NIV compared to KJV. Worshipping only has one acceptable form before God and anything else is despised by God is probably the feeling you would walk away with.
3.)They have an interesting view about Kingdom work. Everything done outside the original 1500's Lutheran church is pretty much lumped together and called "Church Growth" or CG. Anything a non-denominational, evangelical or reformed church does is called Church Growth. Anything labeled as contemporary is Church Growth. There is no regard for looking at each thing one of these churches does as valid or not valid or possibly valid if the doctrine was cleaned up. This goes for a WELS church that tries something of a similar nature using pure doctrine.
4.) I think their sensibilities are easily offended. I believe they think if you stray in any way from Luther's original design whether it was worship style, music, outreach, evangelism, etc. you will lose the core of Luther's reformation. I think to them the important part of the reformation was not the return of the truth of scripture to the world but the actual Lutheran identity as established by the Lutheran Confessions and Luther himself. Its not Luther worship but its a belief that all there is to say about scripture derived from Luther and died with Luther.
5.) They are very legalistic. Crusaders seem to take it to the next level and use the confessions and Luther as a legalistic rule book where its almost as if they have found themselves a new canon law. Everything you ever needed for the Lutheran Church was written in the 1500's so why try harder? For this group it is more important to read your confessions than scripture. As if Scripture had nothing more to offer than what the Cofessions say about them.
6.) They themselves feel as if they are reformers. They are a voice of one calling in the desert to repent. If you are outside the bounds of their rule book you are involved in heresy and apostacy. They often do not speak in love. Maybe we'll call it a mini Christ complex and they feel they are clearing the temple of sin.
7.) Christian Freedom does not exist for a crusader.
Anyways thats the basics of the group I am studying at the moment. Definately more interesting than the political races but contains nearly as much pre-packaged, over-generalized, taken out of context material and hearsay. A fascinating diversion.
Who am I..
I am 40 years old with 3 teenage children and have been married to my wonderful wife Karen for nearly 20 years. My oldest son is in the Marine Corps. My middle daughter is at Wisconsin Lutheran High School and my youngest son is at St. Marcus Lutheran School. We live in Milwaukee, WI. My family has had a habit of moving a lot. We have lived in 11 homes in 19 years not counting two short term relocation apartments upon some big moves across the country. I think we are settled for a little while at least until the last two kids are out of the house. We have lived in the Madison, WI area, the Dallas, TX area, the Boston area, and now back to Milwaukee.
I am a computer geek at an insurance company by day. I enjoy working on technology for WELS organizations at night in my basement. My interests are in road biking, snowboarding, music, technology, and multimedia.
I am a very sarcastic individual. Probably too sarcastic. My children have fallen in my footsteps and probably get themselves in trouble because of it. I don't take much of anything personally. Probably another negative as sometimes people want me to take things more seriously. It doesn't help if I snicker at people who are full of themselves. It takes a lot to get me upset. I have a good sense of humor. When I worry about something it is short-lived and I either absent-mindedly forget about it or just move on because I just can't find too much in life to get all worked up about anymore.
I am verbose. I tend to think out loud even when I write until I can say something just the way I meant it with the right emphasis and intentions. So I tend to say the same thing over again or 3 times until I feel I've said it the right way.
In one way I operate on the high level. I care more about someone's intentions more than the action. For instance I don't care that my daughter stomps out of the room when she doesn't get her way, I'm more interested in what makes a person flee conflict in a dramatic way and what was the triggering event that caused the specific reaction.
I like people from diverse points of view not so much for their points of view but more from the perspective of what is the background of this person that makes them person they are today. I tend not to care what you believe but that you can defend what you believe. I love debate and consider it a grand sport. My wife or daughter say "we're in a fight" I say we are engaged in a debate. I never fight. A debate is never personal. Fights are personal and a disagreement on a point of view is not a personal thing..its just that the the other person's viewpoint is wrong ;-) Actually I rather like it when someone can prove me wrong on a point. I respect someone who goes to the work of defending themselves with facts and reason. I tend not to respect those who basically can only support their beliefs with a "just because!" or say "..I just can't find the words to explain it..."
So in my verbosity I then also like the details and background of everything because it explains where people are coming from. I like to research things for myself and rarely take the word of others. Your credentials mean little to me. I write long emails, i leave long voice mails and I even text long messages on my phone. I don't like frequent iterative conversations. I try to give you everything up front and hopefully it will be enough information that you do not need to ask me any further questions. This drives a lot of people nuts. My children will delete my long voice mails before it is complete and find that the very information they were looking for was at the end of the message they deleted. I do however get a perverse pleasure when answering a question when i can say..."did you read/listen to the message I sent you?"
If I have a theme its on personal responsibility, independence and self confidence. These are how I try to raise my children and my basic expectations out of others. I will take the blame when I fail. Sometimes I'll take the blame even when I didn't fail because taking blame is easy and usually allows all involved to move past something and work on fixing things. I push my kids on independence just as my parents pushed me. I think this fosters a good self-esteem as one's independence grows. It is a risky approach and I am surrounded by many risk averse people. Yet I would cry if I trapped my children in the shell of over-protected parenting, the stereotypical suburban point of view where one wraps their children in the shell of safety protecting them from every physical, emotional, and mental harm that might exist in the world. I see some of these kids and am saddened to see them when the true crap of the world hits them eventually and they have no way to deal with it because they were never exposed to it. I've actually seen the phenomenon proven out so many times its scary and sad. It is why I spend my time on helping my kids learn to make the right decisions while exposed to the crap of the world at early ages. It does tend to mean that there are more "learning situations" when a wrong decision is made but the learning from the mistakes is the most valuable learning tool there is.
Well that will have to do for now. I'm pretty sure I'll break out a few of those topics into seperate blogs soon.
The First Post
I at least have a feeling that I can try to actually summarize my rather verbose thoughts into a more concise version of what I think about the things of life.


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'No Slapping of NSA on Kovan' – Indian Express
Wearing caste on the wrist — green for Dalits, red for Thevars – The Indian Express
Woman scholar levels sexual harassment charges against CSMCRI's chief scientist – The Times Of India
Hisar to have liaisoning groups to fight atrocities on SC/STs – The Tribune
Fight between party activists transforms into caste abuse case – Daijiworld
Nainital film fest to screen 'Caste on the Menu Card' – The Times Of India
Rajasthan: Highest school dropout rates among Muslims, SCs/STs – The Hindustan Times
'Kancha Ilaiah Could be Next Kalburgi' – The New Indian Express
Please Watch:
Al Jazeera World – Dalit Muslims of India
An Appeal: Please contribution to PMARC for strengthen Democracy, Peace & Social Justice !
Indian Express
'No Slapping of NSA on Kovan'
By Siva Sekaran Published: 04th November 2015 04:01 AM Last Updated: 04th November 2015 04:01 AM
CHENNAI: There is no proposal to detain arrested folk-singer S Kovan under the National Security Act (NSA), the State government submitted in the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
The AG made the submission when a petition from Kovan's son Charuvagan expressing apprehension that his father is likely to be detained under the NSA, came up for hearing before the single-member bench of Justice M M Sundresh.
The AG said that no further action will be taken towards the detention of Kovan till November 17. The petition sought to forbear the Commissioner of Police and the Inspector of Police, Crime Branch (Cyber Wing) from detaining his father under the NSA.
The petitioner, also an advocate, contended that his father belongs to an organisation called Makkal Kalai Ilakiya Kazhagam, which holds the motto of 'Art and Literature for the People'. Without commercialising his talent, he wrote and sang several songs on various social issues expressing the feelings of the people. The issues included caste oppression, untouchability and protest against non-entry of Dalits into the temples. In the course of ventilating the sufferings of the people, who were staging protests against the TASMAC liquor shops, , his father composed the song in question and had been singing it throughout the State on various occasions. They did not cause any aggression till date.
The Indian Express
Wearing caste on the wrist — green for Dalits, red for Thevars
Last month, a 12-year-old Dalit boy in Jodhpur was beaten up by his teacher for allegedly taking a plate from a stack meant for upper castes. The Indian Express visits schools across the country where lessons in caste differences start early.
Written by Arun Janardhanan | Chennai | Updated: November 4, 2015 7:52 am
Sivakani , a 15-year-old from Gopalasamudram, had to quit studies after the Dalit school in her village shut down and her parents couldn't afford to send her elsewhere. (Express Photo by: Arun Janardhanan)
IN the schools of Tirunelveli, about 650 km south of Chennai, caste comes in shades of red, yellow, green and saffron. It's what students wear on their wrists, on their foreheads, around their necks, under their shirts. It's who they are.
At the Government Higher Secondary School in Tirunelveli town, a Class X student extends his hand to display his green-and-red kayaru, a wrist band of interwoven threads. "The upper castes have yellow-red bands, so we have these," he said.
In this belt in southern Tamil Nadu known for violent caste conflicts between OBCs and Dalits, these wrist bands are markers that tell children who is a friend, who isn't. Though there are no written rules, students usually know their 'colours' by the time they reach high school.
It's red and yellow for Thevars, blue and yellow for Nadars, saffron for Yadavs — all socially and politically powerful Hindu communities that come under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) category — while students of the Dalit community of Pallars wear wrist bands in green and red and the Arundhathiyars, also Dalits, wear green, black and white.
In August, while investigating the increasing number of clashes between student groups, the district administration found that wrist bands were often used to target on the basis of caste. The district collector then asked the education department to ban wrist bands in schools in Tirunelveli. There was no written order, only a direction issued at a meeting of the education department. A headmaster, who was present at the meeting, said, "It was a verbal direction but a strong one," he said.
Chief Educational Officer of Tirunelveli R Swaminathan confirmed that they had issued such a warning. "We have already directed all schools to ban such bands following reports of caste clashes based on colour. Not just wrist bands, any colour that they use to identify their caste is banned," he said.
But it's easier said than done. These kaiyarus can be confused for sacred threads handed out in temples and it's hard to impose any such ban. Besides, there are more ways to talk caste.
A Dalit student of a school in Tirunelveli town said the pottu (bindi or tilak) worn by students were also colour-coded. "If you wear a pottu with yellow sandalwood paste, with a dash of vermilion on it, I know you are a Thevar," he said. The other dominant castes, like the Nadars, have their own colour-coded tilaks; Dalits, he said, usually don't wear them.
The 13-year-old likes yellow — "it's my favourite colour" — but he can't wear it because he will be "questioned" by the Thevars. "We get a yellow kayaru from temples, but I can't wear that on my wrist. If I did, they would taunt me and call it a 'rowdy band'," said the Class X student.
He says he can't risk the wrath of the upper-caste students because he is new to this school. This year, he moved to Tirunelveli town from the Dalits-only school in Gopalasamudram village. The school in his village was once part of the Pannai Venkatramaiyer High School, but in November 2013, after a caste tension in the village, a separate branch was set up for Dalits and he was among the 140 students who moved there. But in June this year, the district administration refused to renew permission for the Dalits-only school, forcing most of the students to drop out. One of the students, 15-year-old Sivakani, was forced to quit studies as her parents couldn't afford to send her to a school outside the village.
C Lakshmanan, an assistant professor of the Madras Institute of Development Studies and a leading researcher of Dalit issues, said such practices in Tamil Nadu could be attributed to the lack of political representation for Dalits. While the Scheduled Castes make up 20 per cent of the population in the state, they have poor political representation.
"These practices emerged in the 1990s. When we were working to implement the Panchayati Raj Act in the state, we came across a series of instances of Dalits being barred from local body elections. Around the same time, political movements representing OBCs also began to take shape, giving these OBC communities better social clout. So while these dominant communities used markers such as wrist bands to single out and subjugate Dalits, for the Dalits, these were ways of asserting themselves," he said.
A headmaster at a school near Tirunelveli town said there were other markers. "Like you have different houses — green house, yellow house, etc — in city schools, children here wear coloured vests. We cannot ban everything, definitely not what children wear under their uniform. These vests come in handy during a game of basketball to draw up teams based on caste lines, but they are as effective to settle scores," said
The headmaster said anything, even a song, can trigger caste tension among students. Recalling one such instance, he said, "Recently, a Dalit student on a bus played a song on his cellphone hailing Ambedkar. A Thevar student responded by playing a song in praise of his caste from the Kamal Hasan movie, Thevar Magan. This led to a clash between students representing both communities," he said.
Students also wear lockets with photographs of leaders representing their castes. K Kamaraj lockets are popular among Nadar students; the Thevars wear lockets with photographs of U Muthuramalingam Thevar, a veteran political leader for Thevars; the Yadavs have claimed Veeran Alagumuthu Kone, one of the first freedom fighters, as their own; while in Coimbatore and Namakkal regions of the state, Gounder students wear lockets of Dheeran Chinnamalai, one of the commanders in the Polygar Wars of 1801-1802.
People here say such caste markers were unheard of until two decades ago. "These practices coincided with the rise of several caste-based political parties (such as the Samathuva Makkal Katchi of Nadars and the All India Moovendar Munnani Kazhagam of Thevars) and movements. While such practices are particularly visible in Tirunelveli, you will find them across the state," said M Bharathan of the Human Rights Council based in Tirunelveli.
"Wrist bands and coloured vests are just what you see. There's much more to this conflict," said Lakshmanan. Tirunelveli district collector M Karunakaran said he ordered the ban on coloured wrist bands and other things used to identify caste following a police report on the increasing number of caste-based clashes in schools. "We banned all sorts of things, including wrist bands, after a police report studied the pattern of violence in schools and colleges. The police sought help from the district administration. Not only schools, college officials too were called for a meeting where we asked them to ban such things," he said.
The Times Of India
Woman scholar levels sexual harassment charges against CSMCRI's chief scientist
Vijaysinh Parmar,TNN | Nov 3, 2015, 07.28 PM IST
RAJKOT: A woman research scholar working for Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar has lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against its chief scientist Bhavnath Jha. The premier institute works under the aegis of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.
The complainant is a 27-year-old tribal woman who lodged an FIR with the Bhavnagar police against Jha. The FIR has been lodged under various sections of Indian Penal Code 354 (a) (Physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, or a demand or request for sexual favours among others), 509 (Gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and sections of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.
In her complaint, the woman, a project assistant at CSMCRI, alleged that, during October 2013 and April 2014, Bhavnath Jha, used to call her in his chamber at the institute and physically abused her with intent to assault her sexually and allegedly touched her body. Prof. Bhavnath Jha, head of the discipline of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology at CSMCRI, is one of the most senior most scientists of the institute.
Sources said that woman was working under Jha but after facing sexual harassment, changed departments at the CSMCRI.
In 2014, five women employees at CSMCRI accused chief scientist professor Bhavanath Jha of sexual harassment. The women include a PhD student, some project assistants and a research scholar working under Jha. The five women scholars had registered their complaints with CSMCRI's anti-harassment Cell on April 25, 2014 but the victims alleged that they were irritated with the slow probe into the case. However, the fresh complaint prompted Jha's removal from his position as the departmental head of the marine, biotechnology and ecology department.
"We have lodged a complaint against Bhavnath Jha and are gathering evidence against him and have launched a probe. We have learnt that a departmental inquiry was underway against the accused, but we are yet to get other related details," said I G Sheikh, deputy superintendent of police, Bhavnagar. Sheikh is investigating the case.
"In November 2014, a committee was formed to look into our complaints but nothing came of it," said close aide of victim.
The Tribune
Hisar to have liaisoning groups to fight atrocities on SC/STs
Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Hisar, November 3
Hisar range IGP Anil Kumar Rao has appointed nodal officers to head the community liaisoning groups (CLGs) being constituted in five districts of the range to fight growing atrocities on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The IGP said today that the police were in the process of setting up CLGs under each police station in Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Jind and Bhiwani districts. "The CLGs will have representatives from the SC&ST communities and villages. The groups will work in coordination with the nodal officers," he said.
Rao said the nodal officer would hold meetings with members of various communities if violence occurred anywhere and would sort out the disputes and differences with the help of the CLGs.
He said action would be taken against those who found guilty of committing crime against members of the weaker sections of society under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
DSP Jaipal Singh has been appointed nodal officer for Hisar and DSP Prithvi Singh for Bhiwani, DSP Vijay Singh for Fatehabad, DSP Ravinder Kumar for Sirsa and DSP Adarsh Deep for Jind, he said.
Fight between party activists transforms into caste abuse case
Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)
Beltangady, Nov 3: After verbal altercation occurred between activists of different parties, a complaint of caste abuse was filed in the police station here on Monday November 2. A counter complaint was also filed from the opposite party.
Kusumavati (25) from Macharu House in Ujire village, who is an office bearer of the communist party's Dalit wing, was involved with campaigning for the convention being organized by Dalit Rights Action Committee. During her door-to-door visit for this purpose, she also visited the shop run by a person named Krishna at Kanyadi, it is said.
It is gathered that Krishna took objection to the failure of the communist party either to take a stand in favour of murdered Prashant Poojary from Moodbidri, or extending financial support to his family. Reportedly, Kusumavati commented that communist party was far better than BJP, which she said, was a party of cheaters.
The verbal friction is said to have turned into caste abuse later, after which the lady was forced to leave the shop. Reportedly, two persons, identified as Ramachandra and Sridhar, intervened. On the basis of a complaint filed by Kusumavati in the police station here, case pertaining to rape attempt, posting of threat, and under different provisions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered.
Sundar (24) from Mattila House in Kanyadi has complained that activists of communist party had forcefully entered his home and brought pressure on the family members to attend the meeting of Dalits being convened by them. He said that Ramachandra from Pangala House in Dharmasthala, and Sridhar from Arali House in Ujire, both of whom belong to communist party, entered his home, posed threats to him, and abused the caste to which he belongs.
The Times Of India
Nainital film fest to screen 'Caste on the Menu Card'
Vineet Upadhyay,TNN | Nov 3, 2015, 09.50 PM IST
NAINITAL: A day after historian Shekhar Pathak declared he was returning his Padma Shri over growing intolerance to freedom of expression, the fourth edition of Nainital Film Festival was again abuzz with excitement on Tuesday following an announcement that 'Caste on the Menu Card', a 21-minute controversial documentary would be screened on Wednesday.
The documentary was banned from screening in Delhi for its "communal" and "provocative" content amid concerns that it would spark unrest. In fact, the ministry of information and broadcasting refused clearance for its screening at an ongoing film festival.
But in Nainital, Sanjay Joshi, one of the organizers, said, "This festival is dedicated to the cinema of resistance and this film will be screen despite all odds to signify that message."
The 'Caste on the Menu Card', was a joint effort of five students from the School of Media and Cultural Studies of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.
Speaking to TOI, Atul Anand (23), director of the documentary, a postgraduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences said, "It was our project depicting how food habits are related with normal daily life including business and other day-to-day activities."
According to the synopsis, available on http://www.jeevika.org, "The film delves into the idea of food as a site of exclusion by focusing on beef-eating practices in Mumbai. It attempts to portray the prevalence of caste differentiation as seen in the food choices of people in the city, and touches upon concerns related to livelihood, social inclusion and human rights."
It was the only documentary among 35 others that failed to get an exemption from certification (given to documentary films) for screening at the 12th Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival, organized by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), New Delhi.
The film makers then decided to go ahead with independent screenings, the first of which was scheduled to be held at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University. It was screened on JNU campus on November 2 by a students' group despite the varsity administration taking a surprising U-turn and revoking permission which was granted earlier.
On Tuesday, the Charlie Chaplin starrer 'The Great Dictator' was screened besides other films.
The Hindustan Times
Rajasthan: Highest school dropout rates among Muslims, SCs/STs
Vaibhav Jha, Hindustan Times, Jaipur
Updated: Nov 02, 2015 13:46 IST
Children of scheduled caste/scheduled tribes and Muslim communities in Rajasthan are the worst affected in cases of school dropouts, a report of a joint survey by district information system for education (DISE) and independent bodies has revealed.
The survey report was presented by educationalist Ganesh Nigam at the two-day national consultation on right to education (RTE) organised jointly by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)and Ajit foundation on Saturday.
According to the report, the annual average dropout rate at primary level for the state was at 8.39% in 2013-14 and 18.50% for the Muslim community.
Similarly, the dropout rate was higher in SC and ST communities with 9.57% and 10.04% respectively.
In the upper primary level, Muslim dropouts form the highest average with 20.59% as compared to the state average of 6.03%. SC and ST communities mark steep averages of 7.51% and 7% respectively. Muslim students have the lowest transition rate (from primary to upper primary level of education) with 70.46% as compared to the state average of 88.23%. SC/ST kids have lower transition rates of 87.70% and 81.60% respectively.
"Children of SC/ST and Muslim communities have the lowest attendance in schools. Unless education is inclusive to all communities, the RTE act is nothing but a failure," said Nigam.
"Government schools provide free education. But disdain by teachers and an inactive administration force parents to pull out their kids from schools. Economic disparity is the biggest reason behind this trend," said Sayyed Masood Akhtar, state president, Rajasthan Madarsa Education Helpers' Association (RMEHA).
"Access to public schools is anyway very limited to this community due to poverty but the dropouts can join madarsas," said Saeed Ahmed, additional director, Madarsa Board.
Dalit activists, however, believe that social disparity is the reason behind the increasing dropouts among the SC/ST and Muslim sections. "Teachers have a negative mindset against the deprived sections and discourage children at the initial level. Children of Valmiki community have stopped going to school as they were asked to be manual scavengers there," said PL Minroth, chief functionary, center for Dalit rights.
The report adds that Muslim girls constitute 22.90 % of annual average dropout rate at the upper primary level as compared to that of boys at 18.77%, citing lack of safety assurances from the government and societal bodies as the reason for this trend.
"Numerous reasons including patriarchy, lack of safety and poverty are responsible for this trend. Parents are not usually willing to send their daughters to distant schools. If more female staff are included in government schools, then we can certainly improve this figure," said Ameen Kayamkhani, patron, RMEHA.
The New Indian Express
'Kancha Ilaiah Could be Next Kalburgi'
By Express News Service Published: 04th November 2015 03:51 AM Last Updated: 04th November 2015 03:52 AM
HYDERABAD: After the alleged murder of Karnataka scholar M M Kalburgi and violent attacks against radical writers in various parts of the country, the well-wishers of noted scholar and author, Kancha Ialaiah suspect threat to him from the communal forces.
Speaking at the launch of Ilaiah's new book on Tuesday, 'Feudalism Mallochindi (Feudalism has returned)' here on Tuesday, CPM Telangana state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said, the rising intolerance across the country is the sign of growing influence of communal politics in the country. Referring to recent attacks against rationalists, he said, "Kancha Ilaiah could be the next Kalburgi. He is one of the very few who are questioning the feudal politicians and communal politics, with his fearless attitude. We all should protect him."
Social activist Vimalakka also expressed similar opinion. Speaking at the event, she said "Many people want to shut him. The communal forces will not hesitate to pose harm to him. We all must stand by him."
Telangana Congress Committee working president Bhatti Vikramarka and Telangana Telugu Desam chief L Ramana both attended the book release function at Sundaraiah Vignana Kendram and urged him to continue his fight against feudal politics.
Vikramarka said "We must support intellectuals like Ilaiah and others who are fighting against the feudal system." Ramana felt that state politics still continue be dominated by the upper caste and the poor have the least representation in any field. He appealed to the educated youth to take Ilaiah as an inspiration and follow his footsteps.
Ilaiah's new book is the compilation of his articles published in a Telugu daily. In these articles, he criticised the Telangana government for its blind follow of religion.
The book was released by a girl student from the school that Ilaiah runs in his village in Warangal district. Speaking on the occasion, Ilaiah said, "TRS is the Shiva Sena party of Telangana. All political parties should work together to defeat it in the Warangal byelections."
The New Indian Express
HC Notice to DG, IGP on Section in Act Pitting Police Against Eunuchs
By Express News Service Published: 03rd November 2015 04:47 AM Last Updated: 03rd November 2015 04:47 AM
BENGALURU: The Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum approached the High Court on Monday seeking directions that Section 36-A of the Karnataka Police Act be declared unconstitutional.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna issued a notice to the Home Department and DG and IGP and asked the government to come up with a proposal to amend the provision so that it is not pitted against a section of society.
The counsel of the petitioner argued that the Sub Section (c) of Section 36-A of the Karnataka Police Act gives arbitrary powers to the Police Commissioner to prohibit by an order any eunuch from doing any activity as may be stated in the order.
It is left to the whims and fancies of the Commissioner to determine what an undesirable activity was, as no policy directive is provided to guide them, he said. The Commissioner of Police has unfettered and unqualified discretion to regulate what a eunuch, once registered, can or cannot do, he argued.
He further argued that the wording in the section straightaway declares eunuchs to be offenders, which is in violation of the constitutional right of equality granted to the third gender.
News monitored by AMRESH & AJEET

subset: commoncrawl


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This isn't the post you were supposed to be reading.
I had another one all written and ready to publish last week. And it was good, too. It was one I'd been thinking about for a long time, on a subject I thought was pretty important.
I had tried to write that post a few times over the past months with no success. Every time I tried, it ended up just sounding preachy. Okay, so I was kind of intending to preach to some loved ones in my life who I thought could benefit from this particular bit of wisdom from me. But I didn't want it to sound like preaching. I didn't want them to recognize that I was directing it to them. Really, I thought, it was a lesson everyone – including me – should hear.
What I needed was a good vehicle through which to present it, an experience from my own life that I could use as an example. So I kept putting it on the back burner and watching for something I could use.
But I got impatient. I needed to share this lesson now. Or … I wanted to.
So I decided to take something that almost happened, that partially happened … well, that could have happened, and write it up as if it did happen. Now, I've never fictionalized a post before, and I wondered if it was a violation of blog ethics or anything. I was kind of uncomfortable with it; it felt like a betrayal of my readers. But it was a good object lesson, with myself as the dingbat in the middle of it who had to learn the moral the hard way. All very humorous and full of humble pie. So I thought it would be okay. Just this once.
Instead of publishing it immediately, as I always do because I'm much too eager to ever wait and let things germinate properly (hence the number of times I have to go back and correct boo-boos after the fact), I hesitated. I had involved my sister in this semi-fictional example, so – thought I – perhaps I ought to run it by her to make sure it was okay with her. And while I was at it, since I was waiting anyway, perhaps I ought to run it by another friend.
See, right there I should have known something was amiss. I don't run my posts by people. I just run with them.
My friend got back to me first – "Whoa! Well written … important subject … sounds angrier or more intense than usual, though."
Huh? Angry? I thought it was funny.
Then I heard from my sister. Also not crazy about it.
Not the responses I expected from two of my biggest fans! Two people I can always count on to encourage me and build me up and …
And be honest with me.
So I started thinking. I recounted to myself the struggles I had had with this particular post. Instead of coming easily, as most of them did, I had been struggling with it for months. Instead of having a ready example from my life to use, as I always seem to have, I had to manufacture one. When it was written, I hesitated to publish it under the guise of getting some feedback first, which I never, ever do. And that feedback was less than enthusiastic, from people whose opinions I value very much.
As all those thoughts filled my head, the Holy Spirit filled my heart with the sure knowledge that I was not supposed to publish that post.
Now, because I am nothing if not persistent (read: mulishly stubborn), I did try reasoning with God a little bit. In my defense, I just wanted to make sure I was hearing Him right. Here's how that conversation went (well, I was really both sides of the conversation – I didn't hear a big, booming voice or anything, but I do believe God was directing my thoughts):
"Okay, God, but this has been on my heart for a long time."
"And it's the kind of behavior that really everyone engages in at some point or another, so it's a good lesson for everyone."
"And it might help someone."
"And it might reach my loved ones, to whom it's actually directed!"
"So if it's a good lesson that might reach the right people, why shouldn't I publish it?"
"It's not your lesson to teach."
Yep, there it is. That's it in a nutshell. This is God's lesson, not mine. Maybe it's not the right time, maybe they aren't the right words, maybe I'm not the right vehicle. My sister once told me, when I was struggling with whether to volunteer in a particular way at church, "Serving in a ministry to which God has not called you is a sin as much as refusing to serve in a ministry to which He has."
For whatever reason, God doesn't want me involved in bringing this particular message. Who knows what havoc I might have wreaked had I ignored that not-so-still, not-so-small voice? I might have done all kinds of damage. Who knows? I don't, and I'm grateful I won't ever find out.
I have to admit, though, that inside there's a little part of me that's thinking, but if I don't tell them, how will they ever figure it out?
And then, in my mind's eye, I see God up there saying, "Seriously?" in that incredulous tone of voice we use with our kids when they said the Stupidest. Thing. Ever.
Oh yeah. I forgot for a second there. He is God alone. Who am I that He should do things my way?
p.s. Also, the only fiction you will ever read on this blog will be under the "fiction" tab. My promise to you.


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Winter thrushes returning to the UK this month. Jeremy saw a flock of Redwing flying over the office in Kinross today. Great to see Muir of Dinnet NNR staff blogging about their return in Aberdeenshire too!
Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve
A couple of weeks ago, we posted that we expected some more "winter thrushes" to arrive soon. I think the weekend's easterly winds have brought them! These thrushes come here from all over Europe and Scandinavia, but a tiny, tiny percentage may be resident Scottish birds, moving down from the hills or north of the country for the winter. I've only ever seen a "fall" of thrushes this big once before. There must have been several hundred redwing and fieldfare around Loch Kinord today (22 Oct) , gorging themselves on the rowan berries, with smaller numbers of blackbird, song thrush and mistle thrush mixed through the flocks. It was fantastic- there are so many bird that their calls merge into white noise in the woods.
But if you can separate the calls, its a good way to tell these thrushes apart. In the winter, we mostly hear alarm call, not…
View original post 159 more words


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Best In-Car Driving Apps
With the use of iPhone and Android smartphones having taken off over the last 5 years, there doesn't seem to be any aspect of our lives that they don't reach into.
What seems like only a small number of years ago we were introduced to in-car entertainment in a big way via our top of the range Blaupunkt radio and cd player. Soon to follow was the in-car satellite navigation systems led by TomTom and Garmin. It's always surprising how quickly these brands and technologies have come into fashion and then disappeared when a newer gadget hits the streets.
This leads us nicely up to the present day and the wealth of free and paid-for smartphone apps available to aid the motorist. We're not so sure that the highway should now be renamed the iWay! Journeys are now getting easier as apps work out your route, warn you of speed traps, enable you to seek out the cheapest fuel, and check for traffic jams up-ahead.
Our favourite drivers' apps are listed below. Each one is capable of taking advantage of your smartphones' capabilities, features and connectivity. Most of the apps shown below are free to download. Where the app is paid for you will see a price in sterling:
Available for Android and iPhone. Your Google Maps app will deliver excellent navigation but does rely on an Internet connection to download maps – no good if you find yourself in a mobile phone coverage blackspot! With NavFree you have no such problems as the road network is downloaded to your phone in the first place. FREE.
AA Eco Drive
Save fuel with AA Eco Drive. Economical driving can become fun, with the launch of the AA's new Eco Drive app. This challenge-based app could help to improve your driving techniques and see you save an average of 10 to 20% on fuel bills. FREE.
mxData brings you TrafficEye. Access to over 1600 CCTV cameras across England, Scotland and Wales. TrafficEye uses live feeds from roadside CCTV cameras to let you look ahead of jams or at your entire route ahead. Major routes are covered and the app is easy to use. However, it can be let down by some cameras being out-of-action. FREE.
Axa Insurance has launched a unique policy for over 25's that takes advantage of black box technology. Drivology uses a smartphone to record driving behaviour, rather than a black box. GPS and accelerometers in the phone record where and how policyholders are driving, scoring them out of 100 for smoothness, obeying speed limits and taking safer roads. FREE.
Petrol Prices PRO
Whilst there are free alternatives for finding the cheapest fuel, none can match the accuracy of Petrol Prices PRO. PetrolPrices.com will be a breath of fresh air for motorists who are currently paying the highest ever prices for petrol and diesel. £2.99.


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It's getting to be a bit of a litany. I had one too many martinis last night. (We closed out the bar.) My head hurts a little. I'm up far too early - at least the sun's up when I wake up now, which is nice. In my book, there are few things more depressing than waking up before the sun rises. By the way, is there a polite way to tell a student you gave them a bad grade because their paper sucked? It just sucked and didn't deserve anything higher than a C? I haven't found a succinct way to do so yet, and instead compose 2 page-long notes validating why I gave them their grade. I just want to tell them that not all students are A students and excuses like, "I worked for four days on this paper and feel like I deserve something that reflects the time put into it" only annoy me because you didn't fulfill the assignment and I don't care how long you worked on it. Oh, and did I mention that it's raining today? Bah.
I would like nothing more than to be back in bed now. And so, I leave you with the food version of a comfortable bed: a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup (or in this case, tomato-chickpea soup). Just don't eat it in bed - tomato stains don't come out easily.


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Genna, N.G.1 and Perez, H.E.1
1Environmental Horticulture Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Contact: Nicholas Genna, firstname.lastname@example.com
Seed bank storage is financially challenging and hinges upon the successful maintenance of seed viability in a variety of species over many decades. Accessions must be monitored for viability in a timely manner and replaced or regenerated if significant deterioration is detected. To date, evidence suggests that seed storage behavior is not uniform and longevity varies across species and accessions. Seed mass is a plant functional trait that has often been examined as a potential source of longevity differences. Currently, evidence suggests that interspecific seed mass variation does not influence the rate of seed deterioration. However, little is known about how intraspecific seed mass variation drives deterioration ex situ. Here, we assessed mass-based deterioration responses in two Rudbeckia mollis (Asteraceae) seed lots differening in age. The first seed lot was stored for one year at room temperature (23–24°C, 30–40% RH) while the second seed lot consisted of relatively fresh seeds stored at 4oC for four months. Air density separation of each seed lot generated light, intermediate, and heavy mass-based classes. All mass classes were subjected to germination testing under alternating simulated seasonal temperatures including winter (22/11oC), spring (27/15oC), fall (29/19oC), and summer (33/24oC). Mass-based germination responses were similar across temperatures and mass classes for the relatively fresh seed lot. Conversely, mass-based germination responses diverged in the one year old seed lot with light seed germination percent being 2.8 times higher than heavy seeds under summer temperatures. Saturated salt accelerated aging (SSAA) was subsequently utilized to promote deterioration in the relatively fresh seed lot to understand if a mass-based germination response would develop. We found that seed mass significantly influenced germination following increasing aging stress. Final germination percent in light class seeds was 1.7 times greater than intermediate or heavy seeds after 20 d of SSAA. Similar germination responses between one year old seeds and relatively fresh seeds subjected to SSAA suggest that mass dependent viability loss may occur in R. mollis. Future research will investigate underlying mechanisms that may promote differential deterioration in seeds of different mass of this species.
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Volume: 26 Issue: 4 (April 2003)
Art Studio - 4/03
Issue: Volume: 26 Issue: 4 (April 2003)
Art Studio - 4/03
(Special Prize of the Jury) Bjork's Nature Is Ancient, directed by Lynn Fox and produced by Blue Source Films. This music video features intricate Adam and Eve creatures that have an abstract, primitive form, created using Maya and a plug-in shader developed in-house. Image courtesy Blue Source Films.
(Best Direction) The ChubbChubbs, directed by Eric Armstrong, Jacquie Barnbrook, and Jeff Wolverton of Sony Pictures Imageworks. In the animated short film, the earnest hero Meeper valiantly tries to warn the patrons of an intergalactic watering hole of impending danger. The production was created with Maya and proprietary software. Image courtesy Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The crème de la crème of computer graphics were honored at this year's Imagina Awards, the traditional high point of the Imagina international festival for digital images, held annually in Monaco. This year, more than 380 works were submitted for the competition, including feature films, short animations, music videos, and commercials, illustrating the wide variety of computer graphics being used today.
Students from Supinfocom, a computer graphics school in Valenciennes, France, dominated the competition, winning three of the 10 prizes, including the Grand Prize for "Tim Tom," a short film that pays homage to stop motion and digital techniques introduced by animation pioneer Tex Avery.
More than 1800 professionals and students attended the conferences, exhibition, and awards ceremony at Imagina, often referred to the SIGGRAPH of Europe. This year, a new emphasis was given to video games, with session topics covering research in artificial intelligence, the sociology of massively multiplayer games, and future directions for game content and interactivity. Interactive television and applications for broadband Web and mobile devices were also widely emphasized. —Katherine Tyrka, European correspondent for Computer Graphics World.
(Best Commercial) Dolce Vita, directed by Bruno Aveillan and produced by Quad for the advertising agency Australie. The digital effects illustrated by this three-image sequence were created by La Maison, which used Softimage XSI for the CGI and inferno for compositing. © 2002 Australie, Quad.
(Best Animation) Sprout, directed by Scott Peterson and produced by Michael Garner of PDI/Dreamworks. This short was created with various software programs, including flu, PDI/Dreamworks' proprietary fluid simulator. Image courtesy PDI/Dreamworks.
(Best Feature Film) Stuart Little 2 by Eric Armstrong, Jerome Chen, Jay Redd, and Michelle Murdocca of Sony Pictures ImageWorks. Imageworks extended its fur, feather, and cloth technology to generate the film's leading characters. Image courtesy Sony Pictures Imageworks.
(Best Rendering) Robota, directed by François Roland and Joe Baar, and produced by Sparkling, a subsidiary of the French animation facility Sparx. The effects and animation in this film were created with Maya, RenderMan, flame, and After Effects. Image courtesy Sparkling.
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Creatweet Hall of Fame: Think We Forgot About You?!
Okay. So we know we took forever. Better late than never, no?
More importantly – we do not agree that time should be a factor in doing what you're supposed to! In fact, start NOW and keep going!
To that end – we would like to take a minute; a moment to honor all the people who took the time to take part in the first ever Creatweet Contest. No matter what you think; no matter what you've heard – believe us when we say; you all are winners.
This might not be a big deal to you – but you took the time to enter into the contest. You sat down, crafted incredible stories despite all the 'walls' and restrictions – you went ahead and did it. We cannot thank you enough for your support, your faith and encouragement. You matter to us a great deal.
That plaque is a first. We will want all your signatures on it.
God bless you all, for lending us your shoulders to stand on. Let us keep winning together.
We hope you all look forward to the second installment. Believe us; we do!
Have a great week!
June 3, 2013 | Categories: Contest | Tags: Celebrating supportive people, Cheers, seun odukoya, Stars, the #creatweet contest, Wall of fame | 13 Comments


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Liver 'n' Peaches
What a combination! Apparently, it is NOT a good idea to give a baby liver and peaches. Maddy loves liver. Maddy loves peaches. But liver 'n' peaches do not love Maddy. We had a pukefest two nights ago and I think I know the culprit. I gave her a cube of liver and a cube of peaches for dinner (separate, not blended) and as I was feeding her I was thinking to myself "blech, this would totally make me yack". Well, I was right. We went through a crib sheet, our bedroom's sheets, the guest bed's sheets, several towels, four onesies and three nightgowns in the process. I kept moving beds and couldn't deal with changing sheets in the middle of the night, I was just too darn tired. Liver does not smell very nice the second time around. But the next morning she was back to her happy, smiley, singing self again, so no big damage done. I decided NOT to document this in pictures, I'm sure you appreciate it.


text: Wow… this is pretty cool… Blogger has change their format again. They probably changed it a while back… but life has been busy. Well, as some of you might know I am starting trying to pick up the game of golf … so because today is such a beautiful day, I decided to visit the driving range. I still suck… but at least I am starting to hit the ball. After the driving range, I drove around town looking for a new place to live. Why? Because my current place don't have central AC. Coming from the South, it is hard to imagine anywhere where there isn't central AC, but around here central air is a luxury item and it is hard to find too. So did I find anything? maybe… I found a duplex with an attached garage, but I am not sure if it has fiber or AC. You know Fiber and AC are two of the most important things in deciding a place to live around here. Well… while I am sitting here in Ephrata, my family are having a crawfish boil. :-(… I miss crawfish boils!!! AHHHHH!!! well… the good news is that my folks and my sis are coming up to visit next week. Whoo hoo!!! I just can't wait.


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forardun wrote:And some lessons-learned on the process of building itself:
-setting up 6800 FD without any barrel adjuster sucks. wouldve made it a lot easier to adjust cable tension. trial-and-error of having to press on the lever while tensioning cable to get it just right. but once it was right, works like a damn charm. i just dread having to readjust it after the breaking-in period.
-goddang ferrules like to disappear into a blackhole.
only 1 issue left is there is a slight marble-rattling sound from the bottom of the bike on forward pedal strokes???? seems to be at all phases of the stroke. doesnt sound when pedalling backwards. not sure what this is all about
Did you manage to solve the marble rattling issue? Any post-honeymoon feedback on the frame?


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The BBC ran a blog and radio show about death in sport recently. The article was entitled 'The Ultimate Sacrifice' with the byline asking if it was acceptable for athletes to risk their lives in the name of sport. I couldn't take this seriously from the go. I love a lot of sports and like to win but the premise is nonsensical.
I was hoping the entire article would just be the word yes but alas it was stretched out as a preamble to the radio show. In these modern, legal era, athletes go into their sport knowing the dangers. Now if you ask me if horses should be used in dangerous sports or other animals like that, then we have a real discussion. Humans aren't forced into this unless you are talking about North Korean gymnasts or something bizarre.
I also found the term 'ultimate sacrifice' hardly appropriate when we are talking about paid sportsmen or women or those doing it for their own personal satisfaction or glory. Besides you could argue death is not the end for sports stars written up and eulogised in the annals of sport.
Sport can have a unifying power. The situation of Bosnia is a possible example but too often national sports coalesce a Us vs Them mentality or are simply used by the state and media to mask underlying social, political or economic problems. One of FIFA's better initiatives is to try and enforce the separation of football from political control. It naturally fails which highlights the abuse of sport. Football is too useful to leave to chance.
However returning to the article, an ultimate sacrifice is an altruistic act such as sacrificing your life for others. If I smother a grenade in my trench and die so others can live, that is a sacrifice. Sports are games taken seriously but ultimately they are still games. And we need to enforce that.


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Copyright is for the Birds
But they can't read.
Imagine, taking this thing…
and making a totally blank copy of it, with no text on the pages or the cover, except for this …
… and giving it away to people while telling them it's Atwood's The Robber Bride dressed as a ghost with a stab wound. Atwood has no copyright over that. The thing is, copyright is a mechanism that tends to prevent those kinds of visual and sculptural presentations and readings of the cognitive space of books, as it is in the economic interests of rights holders to prevent the book from becoming a spiritual object. Is it not the role of readers to actually do so, though? Is reading not in this way an art, in the manner of playing a cello and making Dvorak come to life in you, and in your audience again? Is not the book different from the text? If so, might this not be the second edition of Atwood's book freed from the text, the one we print in our heads?
I mean, in a visual age, are not text-based copyrights rather quaint?


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Have you picked up your issue of Lucky Magazine this month? April's issue includes a city-by-city guide to cool bridal boutiques. And we can't help but gush that some of our favorite Jenny Yoo retailers like Unbridaled, Garnish Boutique, Anna Bé, Flutter Boutique, The English Department, and Hitched made the final cut.
Embellished belts are all the rage this year for the bride-to-be. Handmade Jenny Yoo belts and sashes customize the look and leave our oh-so-lovely brides feeling romantic and chic with out any major fuss. Check out our Evita Belt listed in Lucky Mag on page 76.


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I don't know what is going on with me…call it nesting…crafting…whatever…but our house has been getting quite a few face lifts over the past few weeks.
From what I can understand it all traces back to buying consignment clothes for Charley. That led to finding two afghans at Goodwill…which led to my obsession with quilts…which led to finding places for the quilts…which led to fixing up the rooms where I put the quilts/blankets.
See for yourself…
I look forward to going to Goodwill way too much…but I can't help it. There are so many treasures there waiting to be discovered, spray-painted, re-used…or used as something completely different than it's supposed to be.
Like this table cloth.
I had no idea what it was when I found it. All I knew was it was white and lacy and cost $2.00. Come to find out it's a drape panel. Oh well…it's a table cloth in this house.
And this 'blanket'…which may or may not actually be a blanket.
It's green and matches our living room…so it's blanket here.
A lot of the decorating in our house requires out of the box thinking…where drapes become table cloths and dollar bin Target wire mesh baskets become great wall art pieces.
Last week I made a quick visit to Tennessee to do a photo shoot and while I was there my mom gave me a beautiful handmade terrarium. So of course I had to make more.
Now our house is full of little ecosystems…thriving all by themselves. Which is a good thing because I have a horrible track record with indoor plants.
Apparently I have a thing for toy dinosaurs.
Andy can thank my Moremama for feeding my quilt habit. She gave me two
beautiful gorgeous exquisite quilts made by women in our family.
The top one was pieced by my great-great grandmother…the bottom one by sweet Nonnie.
Which matches perfectly in Charley's room.
And the last project we tackled this weekend…
I bought the gorgeous window for $18 through a Facebook buy/sell/trade group…the woman even delivered it. When I bought it I wasn't even sure where I wanted to hang it…but once I started thinking about taking down Charley's birthday banner (it just came down TODAY) I realized how bare that wall was.
I'm getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about all the crafty things around our house. I'm sure I'll find more things to do, but for now I think my craftiness thirst has been quenched.
Beach countdown–10 days.
Do something crafty this week…it feels good. Trust me.


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SprayPrinter is a handheld printer that lets you spray paint images from your phone. It knows where to release paint so it's perfect for creatives at any level.
SprayPrinter communicates to your phone via bluetooth and an LED-light on the printer. The image is printed layer by layer, pixel by pixel, and you can use as many colours as you like.
It isn't just a new, fun tool, it's a totally unique printmaking method connecting digital and analogue.
Supplied empty - MTN Water Based Spray Paint is available to buy separately.
All delivery options, costs and estimated delivery dates are available at checkout.
If your order is placed by 3.30pm (Monday - Friday, excluding Bank Holidays) we can offer a scheduled next working day delivery (UK only, not including extended area destinations).
Please place your order by 3.30pm to allow us time to prepare your order for dispatch at 4pm, and choose an appropriate shipping method at checkout (estimated delivery dates will be displayed at this point - you may need to choose the express shipping option).
Orders which are received after 3.30pm and outside of working hours cannot be dispatched until the next working day.
You can return any unused items for a full refund of the item price within 14 days of receiving the item. Upon receipt, a refund will be issued within 48 hours.
After 14 days, if the item/s are not faulty or sent in error and you wish to return / exchange them, there will be a 5% restocking fee.
If more than 30 days have passed since your order was received then the items can no longer be returned to us.
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We accept all major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal & Amazon Pay.
We take online security very seriously and to ensure we provide you with a safe and secure environment we also provide the Norton Shopping Guarantee free of charge.
We do not hold or record any sensitive information such as your card details to ensure we are PCI Compliant.


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Finally finished the game! I mean, the stages of the game… There are still some things that must be done. Like the background, the player, the boss battle songs… Well, I can (probably) make it in time!
This time, I added the third (and last) stage as well as it's Boss. Perhaps I upped the difficulty too much… But I'm sure it can be finished.
Click on "Continue reading" to play.


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jbaldwinAdvanced Members
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jbaldwin started following ATM machine at U-Tapao, True Visions, Missing departure card and and 4 others
True Visions
jbaldwin posted a topic in Audio/VisualJust a warning to True Visions subscribers about something that I believe is completely unethical behaviour. I have been a subscriber for more than 10 years and have the Platinum package. Just after the HBO channels were removed I phoned to cancel my subscription. I few days later I was contacted and offered a price reduction to just over 1,200 baht which I accepted and continue to subscribe. I was never told this was for a limited period. Yesterday (18 Feb) I received a bill for January of 2,259.89. I phoned the call center today to ask whether this was an error because a had not been advised of any price increase. I was told that I had been given a promotional price for six month which went back to the old price on 1 January. Obviously I cancelled again but was told they expected me to pay to increased rate from 1 Jan to the date of cancellation. Has anyone else experienced this. Any suggestions?
Missing departure card
jbaldwin posted a topic in Thai visas, residency and work permitsI arrived at Suvarnbhumi early this morning. I have just realised that there is no departure card in the passport - not sure if it was not returned to me or has fallen out. The manager our condo says that they need the number of the departure card to do the required address notification. What do i need to do? Will Jomtien immigration give me a replacement card?
Thai tax Forms in English
jbaldwin replied to jbaldwin's topic in Jobs, economy, banking, business, investmentsThanks. That is where i found an English translation of an out of date version but i cannot a translation for the 2559 form.
Thai tax Forms in English
jbaldwin posted a topic in Jobs, economy, banking, business, investmentsI have no income in Thailand other than Interest and dividends. Every year I claim back the tax deducted from the interest and dividends. In previous years I have just taken the tax certificates to the Tax office (the one in Jomtien) and very helpful staff have completed the required tax form for me. However, this time i was just told that they could not complete the forms for me and gave me the 2559 (2016) form 90 to complete. My question is does anyone know where I could find an English version of the form. I found translation of the 2014 version of the form on the revenue department website but there have been some changes. Alternatively does anyone use an accountant/lawyer to make this type of tax refund claim on there behalf? If so could they recommend someone and let me know how many they pay.
tax on rental income in Thailand
jbaldwin replied to jmcdougall45's topic in Real Estate, housing, house and land ownershipYes Income earned in Thailand is subject to Thai income tax
Emirates offers special discounts for business class travel
jbaldwin replied to snoop1130's topic in Thailand Travel ForumNot very impressive discounts anyway. I have just booked business class on Qatar to Londo. - which I think is superior to Emirates - for 72,500 baht
Broke Bird: Nok Air lost 3 billion baht in 2016
jbaldwin replied to webfact's topic in Thailand NewsProfit at Thai AirAsia more than doubled to 1.8 billion baht. Bangkok Airways profit fell slightly to also about 1.8 billion baht and Thai made a small profit following a very large loss in 2015.
ATM machine at U-Tapao
jbaldwin posted a topic in Pattaya ForumIs there an ATM in arrival at U-Tapao or do I need to get baht for taxi/minivan in advance?
CAT, TOT plan to merge core businesses into two companies
jbaldwin replied to webfact's topic in Thailand NewsDo you understand that TOT and CAT are both 100% state owner companies. What benefit could there possibility be in having two groups are state bureaucrats competing with each other
Samsung S6 v S7
jbaldwin posted a topic in Mobile devicesWill the price of the s6 fall when the s7 is launched? Any idea of the likely price of each? I am looking to buy a new phone and was thinking the s6 will be very good value once a later model is available. Any view?
Bank Refusing To Transfer Funds
jbaldwin replied to emonlake's topic in Jobs, economy, banking, business, investmentsAsk a friend or relative from your home country to make a transfer by Western Union.
I was charged 620 MYR - that is 70 above the visa fee. The only required documents were my passport - to confirm I was over 50 - and bank book. I did not go to the consulate
I got a multi entry in June. Banana Guest house said that this would not be possible. Jim said no problem.
Worry-Free Non-O-Visa Savannakhet
jbaldwin replied to gzu88bv's topic in Thai visas, residency and work permitsIf you were to go to Vientiane you could possibly get a single entry non-o with no funds.You will not get a multiple entry in the region for being 50 or over. I have a multiple entry visa for being over 50 - issued in Penang. The only requirement was a bank book with at least 800,000 baht.
Non-O (Retirement) in Penang
jbaldwin replied to jbaldwin's topic in Thai visas, residency and work permitsJust to say I got a multi entry. The only requirement was a bank book showing 800,000 baht. Cost was 550RM. They originally asked for a letter from my home country confirming I retired but it did not seem to be a problem when a said I did not have one.


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A Healthy Dilemma: Should I Take Krill Oil Or Omega3 Capsule?
Are looking for a way to start a healthy lifestyle? There are a lot of things that you can try. But I must say you must start with the simplest thing, such as the products that you are using when cooking. Just like what a lot of people are saying, great things start from little beginnings. Should I take krill oil or Omega-3 capsule? This is the problem of a lot of healthy living advocates nowadays. Let me help you with your problem.
What is a krill? We are only knowledgeable about omega 3, but with krill, only a few of us has the knowledge about it. Actually, this is a shrimp-like creature that can be found at the sea bed of the Antarctic Ocean. This became very popular because of the vast benefits that it offers. Here are some of them:
- It is much cleaner than the fish oil. This can be one of the factors that will help your decide between krill and omega 3.
- It contributes in the proper functioning of a lot of body parts, internally and externally.
- It reduces your possibility of getting depressed.
- It manages cholesterol level and good blood pumping of the heart.
- It helps in child's brain development.
We must stick with the organic one. Therefore, we can say that making use of the krill oil is much healthier than taking omega3 capsules because these capsules might have chemical contents already. But it must never be forgotten that capsule-form healthy diets are very advisable for busy persons.
Actually, both of the options have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to you to choose which one would you think will best suit the needs and demands that you have. Which one will be best beneficial to you? Make your choice!


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How to Trade Gold – Gold ETF Trading Newsletter
April 9, 2014
I did a short video a while back on momentum trading gold and wanted to share it and post it in the members area of the website for you to view. It's short and basic, but useful.
Current snap shot of gold trend…