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This morning an AT&T customer service agent gets healed from multiple problems in his body. He kept asking me, "How are you doing this magic?" He was healed, literally felt a hand on his back, and felt the presence of God go through his entire body and bring healing. I had the opportunity to explain that this wasn't magic but the presence of Jesus knocking on the door of his heart to bring him into relationship with Jesus. He was so overwhelmed that he gave his life to Jesus over the phone! I know this post is long, but I promise it's worth the read. If you take the time to read it, not only will it encourage you that the kingdom of God is always at hand, but my hope is always to share the process with you so that people can be trained in how to hear and respond to the voice of God, no matter what situation you find yourself in – even a frustrating one!
We've been having issues again with our AT&T internet and TV. I'm a graphic designer, so when my internet is down or having issues, it affects my business. This morning, it was acting up, and I had files that I needed to get to my customer. I was getting frustrated and I knew I was going to have to make that a call to AT&T and it was going to take a good chunk of time that I didn't have. Frustrated, I picked up the phone to call knowing, there was a good chance they would say, "Sorry, we will have to send out a technician."
As I was calling, I had this slight impression maybe this will be a kingdom encounter. Then I felt I heard a name and four conditions. They were so fleeting, and to be honest I wasn't sure I wanted to even go there. I needed my internet issues fixed, but I settled my self down enough to at least not lash into the customer care agent that would pick up the phone. The name I heard was a woman's name—Martha—but the customer care agent who answered was a man, so I thought, OK, either missed it or maybe this guy is connected to the name and the conditions I was feeling. It was hard to discern when it was being filtered through frustration and an anxiousness to get this call over and my service fixed so I could upload my files to my client.
I've been trying to learn to hear God's voice in these frustrating situations. It's so easy to lash out on the customer care agent when it's taken forever to get you through to a real live person and when your pressed for time and knowing this issue might take along time to get resolved. I wish I could say I've been sanctified in this area of dealing with internet issues and customer care agents, but I'm working at it.
Also I've found it pays to be kind—the agent is just doing their best to serve you and help you resolve your issue. So when the my At&T customer care agent, Manning, answered the phone I was able to communicate in a kind way, fighting back the tension and frustration. On top of that, I was thinking, what if you miss the impressions and your internet doesn't get resolved. This could end up being bad.
Manning made it easy though. He was super helpful and caring and doing an excellent job of trying to serve me as a customer, so my frustration lessened. It still took along while, but these kinds of things always do. Manning's attitude and determination to help eased the time issue as well. Well, thank God Manning was able to fix the issues and my internet was working again!
Before getting off the phone, I said, "Manning, can I ask you a question and share something with you?"
Now before you think being full of faith means you don't have to fight through issues of doubt, let me assure you that is hardly ever the case in my situations. Did I hear right? Am I just making this stuff up? What if nothing happens? These questions were swirling the whole time I conjured the courage to get the question out of my mouth. These are all normal and part of the process. After 20 years, I still battle these things and wonder if I take that step of risk and get out of the boat of my own comfort, will I sink or will I walk on water? It's only been over time and lots of practice taking those risks that have I discovered that taking those risks and obeying Jesus often opens the door to the impossible to a kingdom encounter. I've also learned if I say nothing, then guess what? Nothing will happen. And if I say something and nothing happens, at least I was putting my faith into practice.
I also know by experience that there is always tension, struggle, or opposition / war from the enemy, trying to feed me full of doubt so I don't take that step of faith in love. This can be a helpful indication you're on to something when all that stuff is swirling inside your mind. Opposition is often a sign that the kingdom of God is about to break in.
Also, so what if we step out and nothing seems to happen, or you miss it on a word or impression, or the person doesn't receive it? Know this: the Kingdom has come! That's what happened to the disciples when Jesus sent them to one village and no one received them. Jesus said, "Know this! The kingdom has come. Shake yourself off and keep going."
The truth really is that God is always at work, and our job is to relationally join him in his work. Sometimes that looks like planting a seed, or watering truth in someone's heart, or seeing the harvest unfold right in front of your eyes. It's all kingdom, and success in the kingdom is obedience—taking that step of faith, dying to yourself, feeling and looking at times foolish. But remember, isn't that what Jesus did? He died on the cross, beaten and half naked, marred beyond recognition. That looked foolishness and defeat to the world and the enemy, but His death became our resurrection. What appeared to be his foolishness became our healing and forgiveness and brought us into righteousness and relationship with the Father. Looking foolish is part of deal when stepping out in risk. If the father allowed Jesus to look foolish by dying on a cross, then what makes us think we won't feel or be looked at as fools. Like Wimber used to say, "I'm a fool for Christ. Who's fool are you?" What looks like foolishness to the world just might be the way of salvation and healing to the world.
Back to the end of the call with Manning. I said, "Is it OK to share with you something and to ask you a question?"
"Yes, sure," he replied.
"Manning, sometimes I get pictures or impressions about people's lives and about conditions they are physically having. It's a gift but I don't always operate 100% in that gifting. I'm growing in it, so sometimes I hear clearly, and sometimes I miss it. I'm not a psychic either. Do any of the following things make since to you? Manning, do you have issues in the very lower part of your back just below the belt line, and are you having issues with your neck, right shoulder, and right part of your jaw? Also, does the name Marsha mean anything significant to you?"
I held my breath and pushed past my knocking knees and butterflies in my stomach while Manning paused. Then Manning said in a surprised and curious voice, "Well Brian, that's very interesting. I have a pain in my back just like you mentioned in the place you mentioned and in the neck as well. But my shoulder and jaw are fine. And I don't know a Marsha."
I said, "OK, thanks! I'm still learning to grow in this gift. I'm glad your shoulder and jaw are OK, and I just felt like I heard the name Marsha. It appears I missed it on those."
Often we will be tempted to focus on the things we didn't hear right. Don't worry about that. It's like the postman who delivers your mail, and he accidentally drops off someone else's mail in your box along with your mail. You don't get mad at the mailman, and you don't get upset that you have someone else's mail. You just say that's not mine, and then you put your attention to the mail you did receive. It's the same thing. You might have picked up on a word for someone later in the day, or it just might be some junk mail. So you discard it and don't get frustrated. You just focus on the correct mail for the person.
So that's what I did for Manning. I said, "Are you in pain and discomfort in your lower back and neck now?" He said yes, he was. If he had said no, I would have still asked if I could pray for him and asked Jesus for a sign to be felt in those areas as a sign the Lord is going to heal them. When they experience a sign of the presence of God in the form of spiritual phenomena like heat, tingling, or electricity, it gets their attention and opens the door to their heart to hear the message of the gospel. If nothing had happened at all, I would thank the person for their time and for letting me try to practice hearing from God. I'm still learning. This is true whether you just started or you've been doing it for 20 years. We are always learning and growing, and our identity is not in the gift or in missing it. It's in the relationship with Jesus. We are just learning and growing and practicing the presence every time. It's not failure when we miss it. It's only failure when we don't take that step of risk / faith.
Manning was responding to the back and neck pain, so I said, "Manning, on a scale from 1 to 10, give me a number for the pain or discomfort you are feeling in your back and neck." He said his back was a 7 and his neck was a 4. I asked, "Would you know if the pain left?" Manning said he would. "OK, great Manning," I continued. "Would you like for the pain to leave right now?" Manning eagerly replied yes.
"Manning, it's going to leave right now." I prayed, "Holy Spirit, would you come upon Manning now? All pain, go right now out of his back and neck. Manning, you are going to experience a warm heat and a tingling presence come into your body right now." Then immediately I said, "Manning, look for the pain. Move around and tell me what you're experiencing."
Manning said, "So you want me to move around?"
"Yes, look for that pain."
"OK, I'm doing that right now." With an excited tone in his voice, Manning said, "Brian, how did you do that magic? The pain is all the way gone."
"Manning, it's not magic. I will tell you what this is in a minute, but I want you to move some more. Really look for that pain."
Manning was moving all around looking for the pain, but he couldn't find it. "It's gone! Brian, how do you do this magic?"
"It's not magic," I replied. "I'll tell you in just a minute. That's amazing that the pain is gone in your back. Now what about your neck?"
"Oh, it's so much better!"
"OK great! Give me a number. Does great mean a 0 and it's gone?"
"Oh no, there's still some pain, but its so much better." I asked him for a number, and he was it was down to a two. "When I move my head to the left, it still hurts just a bit," he explained.
"Thanks for letting me know. Now Manning, if the pain in your back can go from a 7 to 0 and your neck from a 4 to a 2, don't you think it could go all the way to a zero too?" I said this to Manning to help him recognize what has happening and to build my faith and his as well. Then I said, "Manning, the rest of that pain is going to go right now." Then I prayed a quick simple prayer of command and said, "Pain go, muscles and tendons be relaxed, and all infirmity leave right now."
Then I told Manning to move his neck again. In my mind I saw Manning rolling his neck and the pain would go. So I said, "When you move your neck, roll it from front to back and side to side."
Manning rolled his neck and said again, "It's gone! What kind of magic do you do?"
"Is the pain a zero," I asked.
"Oh yes, it is!"
"Manning, it's not magic. I will tell you what this is. Do you want to know?"
"Yes, I do."
I said, "OK, but first let me ask you one more question. Did you feel that warmth and heat over you?"
"Oh yes, I did! It was getting hot where was it was on my back."
"What did it feel like?"
His answer blew it out of the water. "It felt like a hand on my back."
Remember the kingdom of God is at hand! I said, "OK Manning, now I'm going to tell you what happened and who did this. Do you still want to know?"
"Oh yes, please tell me."
"Manning, that hand you felt and the warmth was Jesus. You see Manning, I'm not a psychic or doing magic. I'm a Christian, and it was Jesus healing your body. I knew nothing about you or what was going on with you. You were simply answering a customer service call, doing your job, which you did a great job by the way. Thank you. As you are helping me doing your job Jesus shows up and tells me some things that you were dealing with that I couldn't have known. I missed a couple of things because I'm still learning to hear from Jesus, but this is a sign to you, Manning, that Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you. He is getting your attention. He took your pain and His hand healed your body. And it was His presence you experienced. Manning, if Jesus can show up like that and heal your body, then what can he do in your heart and life?
"Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. He doesn't just want to heal you physically but spiritually and wants a personal relationship with you. He wants to come live inside your heart. Manning, do you want to receive Jesus into your heart for Him to be the Lord and Savior of your life?"
Manning with a tone of reality and awe said, "Yes, I want to make Jesus my lord and savior."
"Great! Manning, let's pray." Then I led Manning through a simple prayer inviting Jesus to come into his heart as he repeated after me. "Manning pray this with me. Jesus would you come into my heart? I open up the door and invite you to be my Lord and savior. Would you forgive me of all my sins and make me new on the inside? Jesus I want a relationship with you. Thank you for showing your love to me and making yourself real to me and healing my body. If you can do that, you can heal and change my heart and life. Thank you Jesus for inviting me into relationship with you. Amen." When I said "amen," he said "amen" with excitement!
I then said, "Manning, you are now a Christian. Jesus is the Lord and savior of your life. Welcome into the family!"
"Oh thank you so much Brian!"
Then I said, "Manning, I want to pray one more thing. I'm going to pray that the Holy Spirit comes as a sign to you that you know you are now a Christian." Then I asked the Holy Spirit to come. "Manning, you're going to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit like heat go through your whole body as that sign."
"Brian," Manning said, "I can feel it. I can feel that heat. It's going all through me."
"That's the Holy Spirit," I explained. "Now Manning if you can, find a good church. Get baptized and follow Jesus. He loves you my friend."
"Oh Brian, I will do just that! I will find a church and get baptized. Thank you, thank you so much, Brian, for this."
"Manning, you're welcome. Thanks for helping me."
Remember the kingdom of God is always at hand. The Holy Spirit is always presently active as we go about our day. And sometimes frustration and inconvenience could be an open door for a kingdom encounter. Our job is simply just to look, listen, and respond and put Jesus on display with love and power.
I always wonder what happens when the supervisor listens back over these calls. : )


text: Cozy Casual at Home - Bianka and Beth February 12, 2017 Ann Arbor, MICongratulations Bianka and Beth! These ladies have been beside each other for 19 plus years! They met through work, as their professions collided, putting them on their path together.This was a cozy casual engagement session at home with the pups, which Bianka and Beth are loving rescuers. What an adorable little family. The doggies were leery of this photographer just as much as the ladies were at first, but I believe I won all of them over. They were the type that explains to me in the beginning that they hate getting pictures taken. (I'm used to it). That is exactly the reason for a photojournalistic style. Documenting the awesomeness that they don't even know they are doing... It was so great to see these ladies laughing and focusing on their story. It was empowering. Love always is, though, right? Sometimes, this job makes my heart swell. We had so many laughs, that I was still smiling for days afterward. Anyone that knows these two knows what I mean. Sweet, kind, funny, and so down-to-earth.Their story stays with me and I am even more excited to photograph their wedding in June! Here is a little preview of our Sunday Funday:

subset: commoncrawl


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November 23, 1998, Section E, Page 1Buy Reprints
The opening title reads: ''Every generation has a legend. . . . Every journey has a first step. . . . Every saga has a beginning.'' Then the John Williams music starts, the opening chords so unmistakable that movie audiences burst into applause.
''Star Wars'' is back. Or more precisely, a 2 minute 10 second trailer for ''Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace,'' the first ''Star Wars'' film since the release of ''Return of the Jedi'' 15 years ago. The new film, written and directed by George Lucas, opens on May 21, but the anticipation for it is extraordinary, several distribution executives say.
The trailer was screened on Tuesday in 26 states on 75 screens selected by the movie's distributor, 20th Century Fox. Fans heard about it four days earlier on the Lucasfilm Web site (www.starwars.com), and it quickly turned into a film event that had no precedent.
Theaters showing films like ''The Waterboy,'' ''The Siege'' and ''Meet Joe Black'' were crammed with people -- mostly young men -- who paid full admission just to see the trailer and left when the movie began. The trailer was also shown after each movie ended, so a handful of theater owners allowed filmgoers to return with their torn ticket stub. (Historically, trailers used to be shown after movies ended, hence the name.)
''This is incredible,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the Exhibitor Relations Company, which monitors the box office for theater owners. ''We've never heard of a trailer packing people into a theater. It's a precedent-setting event.'' He said the reaction to the gimmick made it inevitable that the new ''Star Wars'' would have powerful audience appeal. ''It's going to reach fever pitch with this movie, which is unquestionably going to be one of the biggest of 1999,'' Mr. Dergarabedian said
Tom Sherak, the chairman of Fox's Domestic Film Group, said the idea for the early-in-the-week trailer, which was released nationally over the weekend, came from Mr. Lucas's associates. ''They said since they have such a big fan base, why not set something up just for the fans first and make sure it's shown to the rest of the public very quickly?'' he said. ''The idea was to figure out a way to have fun with this. 'Star Wars' is part of the culture, but it's still a movie. Let's treat it like a movie.''
Underscoring the box office impact of the trailer -- and the trailer alone -- were the substantial gains made on Tuesday night over Monday at theaters showing it. At the Mann Theater in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, near the University of California, ''The Siege'' took in $13,000 on Tuesday night; it had taken in only $1,000 on Monday night. At the Union Square Theater 14 in Manhattan, ''Meet Joe Black'' grossed $6,300 on Monday night, but $10,800 on Tuesday night.
The new ''Star Wars'' is the first of three planned prequels that will go back in time a full generation and detail the story of Anakin Skywalker's transformation into the mysterious and sinister Darth Vader. In the new film, Skywalker is a 9-year-old boy and Obi-Wan Kenobi is a brash young Jedi knight.
Mr. Lucas himself has virtually total control over the film. Not only has he put his personal fortune into it, he is in charge of its promotion and distribution. No decisions are made without his approval.
The trailer itself shows glimpses of some of the film's stars: Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi; Liam Neeson as his mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn; Natalie Portman as the young Queen and Jake Lloyd as the young Anakin Skywalker. Samuel L. Jackson and Terence Stamp are also in the cast.
Whatever the mystique of ''Star Wars,'' the reaction to the trailer seemed to burn up the Internet. It has been shown on the ''Star Wars'' Lucasfilm Web site, and was widely videotaped by fans when it was shown on ''Entertainment Tonight'' and ''Access Hollywood.''
''The trailer felt like five seconds,'' said Harry Knowles, who founded the Ain't-It-Cool-News Web site (www.aint-it-cool-news.com), which is populated by movie fans obsessed with ''Star Wars.'' Over the Internet, Mr. Knowles seemed stricken with guilt about his early qualms about the new ''Star Wars.''
''I hate myself for every doubt I had,'' he said. ''What on earth was I ever thinking? Analyzing every nugget, every whisper. Worrying about reshoots and deadlines. George seems to be 100 percent on his game.''
Other fans, on the Internet, talked about weeping and shaking while watching the trailer. On Mr. Knowles's Web site, a fan named David Chung summed up his feelings: ''What can I say! George Lucas must be a superior form of life!''


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Join us in celebrating your Nurses and our partnership as #DAISYturns20!
More information here!
Welcome to the Resource Center
This is a private area where DAISY Partners may login to access all DAISY materials.
If you are the coordinator of The DAISY Award at your institution and need log-in information, please email email@example.com.
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A seamless and fast refit or new store build-out in a modern and clean design.
Quick 10 offers a modern basic setup that covers every store area:
- Wall presentation and mirrors
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The selection of products is available in our standard dimensions.
Our modular system enables you to easily expand and individualize your store.


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Our Reid Writers of Color Series is an annual event sponsored by the English Department that is specifically dedicated to spotlighting the work of a writer of color. Fordham faculty is encouraged to adopt the Reid book next semester in your classes and attend our April 25th Reid events at Rose Hill with your students. Our 2017 Reid Writer is Robin Coste Lewis who won the 2015 National Book Award for poetry for her book Voyage of the Sable Venus.
To assist in your teaching of the Reid book, here is a Teaching Reid Books webpage which contains faculty presentations from the last amazing Reid-Mullarkey Forum, articles, artwork, video and more. Every year we have around 5 - 6 faculty members adopt the Reid book. We hope to surpass that number this year and every year going forward.


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The victory of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in this week's Egyptian presidential election does not alter Fitch Ratings' expectation that the authorities will be cautious in addressing the large fiscal deficit. Egypt's public finances are the main weakness for its sovereign credit profile. Sisi's victory was not in doubt. Initial indications are that turnout was around 46%, lower than 52% at the election won by Mohammed Morsi in 2012 and despite three days of polling. Very high turnout might have enhanced the legitimacy of the return to military rule in domestic and international eyes, but we do not think economic policy, or Egypt's relations with GCC countries that have provided grants and loans following the removal of President Morsi, will be affected.
According to a statement released by the rating agency on Friday, Sisi has not set out a detailed economic programme. But the interim government's actions, and Sisi's broad pronouncements on the need to maintain growth and make Egyptian society more equitable, suggest the authorities are mindful of the risks of popular opposition to fiscal consolidation, which would initially focus on subsidies. In the final budget draft submitted to the interim president the government planned to cut spending on petroleum subsidies, but expected the budget deficit to widen in fiscal year ending June 2015, to 12% of GDP, from 11.5% forecast for FY14.
The authorities will probably continue the small steps towards subsidy reform taken by the interim government. These were aimed at controlling consumption rather than allowing prices to rise. Smart-card terminals have been installed in all petrol stations and are used for transactions between wholesalers and retailers. A project to reduce the bread subsidy has been implemented in Port Said and is set to be expanded.
The improvement in budgetary performance in the first nine months of FY14, with the fiscal deficit narrowing to 7.1% of GDP from 10% in the same period last year, mostly reflects higher government revenues driven by grants. These constituted 2.5% of GDP, up from 0.2% a year earlier. This improvement therefore may not be sustainable, while the sensitivities around reducing subsidy spending mean the deficit will stay in or close to double digits over our ratings horizon.
Tax revenues have risen by 8% year on year, below inflation, and have not kept pace with an 11% spending increase. Wages, subsidies and interest payments rose significantly in recent years and represented 84% of spending in the first nine months of FY14.
These outturns are in line with our view that Egypt's fiscal and economic performance has stabilised, but at a low level. In January, we revised the Outlook on Egypt's long-term rating to Stable after three years on Negative, and affirmed it at 'B-' due to tentative improvements in political stability and economic conditions. These were partly driven by bilateral fund inflows that eased pressure on the budget, reserves and exchange rate. The next scheduled review of the rating is on 27 June 2014.
The low rating reflects substantial risks to Egypt's credit profile, chiefly its weak public finances. Without significant fiscal reform, general government debt will remain above 90% of GDP, well above the median for Egypt's ratings peers.


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Product Description
"Prancing Horse" is a beautiful rhinestone design that is popular among horse lovers. Add your favorite text or the name of your favorite horse rider or horse above or below this iron-on design and you will have a totally unique shirt.
All of our hot fix rhinestone iron-on transfers are created with high quality glass rhinestone crystals. The hot fix glue on this transfer is permanent. A garment with this transfer applied can be machine washed on gentle and laid flat to dry or turned inside-out and tumble dried.
*** These iron on rhinestone transfers are not intended for use by or near small children. Please do not allow children access to these products.
402 - Prancing Horse - Copyright Jubilee Creative Studio, all rights reserved.
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Iran Snapshot: The Supreme Leader's Economic Plan (Ghajar)
Shayan Ghajar of insideIRAN summarises Ayatollah Khamenei's statement on Tuesday seeking to reverse rising unemployment in Iran:
On July 19, Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published a "General Employment Policy" consisting of 13 goals or strategies to improve employment in Iran. The plan was an indirect but telling acknowledgement of Iran's massive unemployment problem --- it follows just a week after statements by Khamenei to Iran's Chamber of Commerce in which the Supreme Leader urged economic optimism and restraint in publishing discouraging items regarding the economy. The statement was published to virtually every state-owned or affiliated news agency in Farsi, as well as the the Supreme Leader's website.
Ayatollah Khamenei published the plan with advice from the Expediency Council, indicating once again the high level of importance placed upon solving the unemployment crisis in Iran. It is also worth noting that the Supreme Leader's other statements the same week were translated into English on his website --- however, perhaps due to concerns over publicizing Iran's unemployment situation, the 13-point plan is not featured in English on the site though a copy in Farsi was posted.
The Supreme Leader's strategies for improving Iran's abysmal unemployment situation are as follows:
● Promote and reinforce a culture of work, productivity, entrepreneurship, and the use of domestic products as an Islamic and national value by making use of the educational system and state promotional media.
● Training human resources specialists, skilled and efficient and suited to the needs of the labor market (current and future); enhancement of the capacity of entrepreneurs as a responsibility of the national educational system (education and training, professional and technical as well as higher education); and the integration of training and skills and cooperation of businesses to use their highest potential.
● The creation of stable employment opportunities with emphasis on the use of technological development and a knowledge-based economy and foresight with regards to developments on a national or global level.
● The creation of a comprehensive system of data on the labor market.
● Improve the business environment and enhance its indicators (political environment, cultural and legal and macroeconomic environment, labor market, taxes and infrastructure); support from the private sector and cooperatives; [improve]competitiveness from legal reforms, germane rules and practices within the framework of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
● Attracting technology, investment and financial resources, exchange of workforce and access to foreign markets, goods and services through effective and productive engagement with countries, institutions, and local and international arrangements.
● Stability and coordination of monetary policy, financial, currency and commercial markets and regulation of economic markets in order to reduce the unemployment rate, boost efficiency of agents of production and increase production.
● More attention in the payment of subsidies to the protection of investment, productivity, and the generation of employment in the private and public sectors.
● Expanding the capacity of both the tourism and transportation industries.
● Support the establishment and development of methods of funding for startup businesses and innovative ideas.
● Establish effective support systems for the unemployed to improve their ability to find lasting employment.
● Pay special attention to reducing the unemployment rate in provinces with higher unemployment rates than the national average.
● Observe proportionality in the relationship between wages and productivity.
Meanwhile, Mehr News reported on July 20 that inflation had grown by another point for the third month in a row in Iran's new year, reportedly hitting 15.4%. "The inflation rate in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar was 13.2%, 14.2 % and 15.4%, respectively," declared the chief official in Iran's Subsidies Reform Organization.


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The name Jean Careno Paris comes from France, and its creator is a painter who painted pictures for the King of Spain. It should be noted that all products Jean Careno Paris are produced from French ingredients. On the creation of perfumes and cosmetics work team of experts, scientists and specialists of skin care.They create and develop the products. In this way, in 2008 Jean Careno Paris company appeared on the Polish market. Our satisfied customers, who are using the products, are the best testimony to their quality. The company is developing dynamically thanks to the success stories on the use of skin care products and perfumes. Today, Jean Careno Paris products are present in 16 countries and exclusive distributors have opened 15 brand shops. We note constant increase of sale and we establish cooperation with new distributors. This testifies to the intensity of interest in our products. Our priority is to provide French standard quality to all of our products. This is an extremely important factor for the long-term and successful development of the company. High quality requirements are valid for all areas, from the development of new products, through a variety of tests carried out together with independent associations and institutions, to product distribution and consulting.To create our products we use modern technology and the best ingredients. That is the reason why Jean Careno Paris determines the criteria in the field of skin and body care from many years. Our bestsellers are a functional skin care based on micro particles of collagen (derived from fish skin), hyaluronic acid – proven solution for anti-aging care, certified hair care products with quality mark of the Exclusive Hairdressers Salons and high quality make-up products.
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You don't want to be outside when the ghostly procession of the Wild Hunt surges passed. You may be sucked into their dark frenzy, with or without your body along for the ride!
What Is the Wild Hunt?
Across Central, Western and Northern Europe, the Wild Hunt is a well-known folk myth of a ghostly leader and his group of hunters and hounds flying through the cold night sky, accompanied by the sounds of the howling wind. The supernatural hunters are recounted as either the dead, elves, or in some instances, fairies. In the Northern tradition, the Wild Hunt was synonymous with great winter storms or changes of season.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, one of the oldest sources of Anglo-Saxon history, first mention the Wild Hunt in 1127 AD. In 1673, Johannes Scheffer, in his book Lapponia, recounts stories by the Laplanders or Sami people of the Wild Hunt. Author Hélène Adeline Guerber wrote of Odin and his steed, Sleipnir, in her 1895 works, Myths of the Northern Lands. She tells her readers of the souls of the dead being carried off on the stormy winds of the hunt.
The concept was popularized by author and mythologist Jacob Grimm in 1835 in his works Deutsche Mythologie. In his version of the story he mixed folklore with textual evidence from the Medieval up to the Early Modern period. Many criticized his methods, which emphasized the dynamic nature of folklore. He believed the myth to have pre-Christian roots and its leader to allegedly be based on the legends of Odin, on the darker side of his character. He also thought the leader of the hunt may have been a woman, perhaps a heathen goddess named Berchta or Holda. He believed the female may also have been Odin's wife.
The Legend
The hunt was said to pass through the forests in the coldest, stormiest time of the year. Anyone found outdoors at the time would be swept up into the hunting party involuntarily and dropped miles from their original location. Practitioners of magic may have sought to join the berserkers in spirit, while their bodies remained safely at home. Grimm postulated the story inevitably changed from pre-Christian to more modern times. The myth originally began as a hunt led by a god and goddess visiting the land during a holy holiday, bringing blessings, and accepting offerings from people. They could be heard by the people in the howling winds, but later became known as a pack of ghouls with malicious intent.
The Leader of the Hunt
The numerous variations of the legend mention different leaders of the hunting party. In Germany the leader is known by various names, for instance, Holt, Holle, Berta, Foste or Heme. Yet one figure frequently appears in the majority of versions: Odin (also called Woden). Odin is known by two particular names which relate to the time of year the Wild Hunt was alleged to occur, Jólnir and Jauloherra. Both of these roughly mean Master of Yule, a festival celebrating the change of the seasons.
The legend of the hunt has been adapted over the years and, depending also on the geographical location, the leader of the hunt along with it. In the middle ages, with heathen deities becoming a thing of the past, the hero of the story became characters such as: Charlemagne, King Arthur or Frederick Barbarossa (the Holy Roman Emperor in the 12th century).
In the 16th century, Hans von Hackelnberg was said to lead the Wild Hunt. The story recounts him slaying a boar, accidently piercing his foot on the boar's tusk and poisoning himself. The wound was fatal and, upon his death, von Hackelnberg declared he didn't want to go to heaven, but instead continue with his treasured avocation – hunting. He was then forced to do this for an eternity in the night sky, or, as recounted in alternate versions, condemned to lead the Wild Hunt. Sources cite his name as possibly being a corruption of an epithet of Odin's name.
In Wales, a variation of the story exists purporting the leader to be Gwynn ap Nudd or Lord of the Dead. In this version, the Lord of the Dead is followed by a pack of hounds with blood-red ears. In England, the same white hounds with red ears appear in legends. They were called the Gabriel hounds and said to portend doom if you saw them. Herne the Hunter, or Herlathing, is alleged to be the hunt's leader in Southern England and possibly connected to the mythical king Herla. The Orkney Island tradition speaks of fairies or ghosts coming out at night and galloping on white horses. In Northern France, Mesnée d'Hellequin, the Goddess of Death, was said to lead the ghostly procession.
Regional Versions
Clerics in 12th century Britain reportedly witnessed the Wild Hunt. They claimed there were 20 to 30 hunters in the party and the hunt continued for nine weeks. The earlier reports available of the Wild Hunt generally represented the participants as diabolical, whereas, in later medieval retellings, the hunters became fairies instead. The legend's origin, some believe, may be related to the Dandy Dogs. In the tale, Dando wanted a drink of water, cursed his huntsman for not having any and was then offered water by a stranger. The stranger stole Dando's game and Dando himself, causing his dogs to give chase. Another version focuses on King Herla who had just visited the Fairy King. The king was told not to dismount his horse until the greyhound he carried had jumped down first. Three centuries passed and his men continued to ride as the dog had not jumped down yet.
In Germany, the hunter is sometimes associated with a devil or dragon and rides a horse, accompanied by numerous hounds. The prey, if mentioned, is usually a young woman who is either innocent, or guilty of some crime. Often the tail recounts someone encountering the hunt. If they oppose or stand up to the evil horde they are punished, but if they aid the hunters they are rewarded, customarily with money or the leg of a slain animal. Unfortunately, if they receive the latter, it is usually cursed and impossible to get rid of without the aid of a magician or priest. The tales also mention that someone standing in the middle of the road is somehow safe from the hunting procession.
The Wild Hunt was not seen – only heard – in Scandinavian versions of the myth. Typically the barking of Odin's dogs, as well as the forest growing deathly silent, warned people of their imminent arrival. The hunt commonly signified a change in seasons or the onset of war in their folklore.
In Scotland, the Wild Hunt is closely linked to the fairy world in some sources. Evil fairies, or fey, were said to be cast from the Sluagh or Unseelie Court, the noble fairy court. The Sluagh allegedly flew in from the west in order to capture dying souls, resulting in people in Scotland, up until the 20th century even, closing windows and doors on the west side of their houses when they had a sick person inside! Similarly, The Orkney Islands were said to be home to trows, or trolls. The creatures supposedly hated the sunlight and tried to catch and eat mortals, unless the humans were lucky enough to escape by crossing over a stream!
In Modern Paganism
In modern Pagan tradition, practitioners incorporate the concept of the Wild Hunt in their rituals. In the late 1990s, anthropologist Susan Greenwood witnessed such a ritual. She reported the Pagans used the myth in order to lose themselves, as well as confront and restore harmony with the wild, dark side of nature. According to the Handbook of Contemporary Paganism, the hunt embraces the participation with souls, the dead and animals, as well as the ritualized circle of life and death.
Folklore sought to bring understanding to what was unexplainable at the time, often through the personification of concepts. In today's world, we have science and technology to demystify any concepts which haven't been categorized, cataloged, or clarified. Thankfully, we have not unlocked every puzzle in the universe yet, and with recent technological advancements, may yet go where no man has gone before!


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This is a guest repost by Alex Petrov. Find the original article here.
Most problem are quite straightforward to solve: when something is slow, you can either optimize it or parallelize it. When you hit a throughput barrier, you partition a workload to more workers. Although when you face problems that involve Garbage Collection pauses or simply hit the limit of the virtual machine you're working with, it gets much harder to fix them.
When you're working on top of a VM, you may face things that are simply out of your control. Namely, time drifts and latency. Gladly, there are enough battle-tested solutions, that require a bit of understanding of how JVM works.
If you can serve 10K requests per second, conforming with certain performance (memory and CPU parameters), it doesn't automatically mean that you'll be able to linearly scale it up to 20K. If you're allocating too many objects on heap, or waste CPU cycles on something that can be avoided, you'll eventually hit the wall.
The simplest (yet underrated) way of saving up on memory allocations is object pooling. Even though the concept is sounds similar to just pooling objects and socket descriptors, there's a slight difference.
When we're talking about socket descriptors, we have limited, rather small (tens, hundreds, or max thousands) amount of descriptors to go through. These resources are pooled because of the high initialization cost (establishing connection, performing a handshake over the network, memory-mapping the file or whatever else). In this article we'll talk about pooling larger amounts of short-lived objects which are not so expensive to initialize, to save allocation and deallocation costs and avoid memory fragmentation.
Object Pool is a design pattern, that works with a set of pre-initalized entities, instead of disposing and then re-creating them on demand. Whenever the client of the pool is done working with an object, it just returns it to the pool for recycling.
You may think about pooling like about the manual memory management: allocation and freeing of objects is explicit.
In garbage-collected langauges, such as Java, pooling is used to reduce the garbage collection pressure by handling memory management in critical parts of the program in an explicit manner.
If the objects contained in the pool have large initialization cost, or have to be created in large quantities at a time, pool can be used to pay this cost upfront (for example, during the application startup), and avoiding these expensive operations during the working mode.
Pooling objects is the first and most straightforward way to reduce the GC pressure. There are three easy-to-identify use-cases for object pooling. We're always talking about the objects sharing the same structure (often they're just instances of the same class). Also, these objects are mostly short-lived.
Here's a couple of examples of the allocation patterns that are nice candidates for pooling:
In the majority of cases such objects are created as either data containers or wrappers, that act as an envelope between an application and internal message bus, communication layer or some API.
You can see such things every day: when using Database Drivers that have Request and Response objects created for each request and response, Message or Event wrappers within favorite messaging system using. Parsers create objects of a certain type as a result of parsing, RPC libraries create protocol message instances. These objects are literally everywhere.
Object Pooling helps to preserve and reuse these constructed object instances. This might be a good solution for cases when your profiler tells you that you're constantly creating way too many objects of the same exact type.
There are two basic recycling patterns for pools are borrowing and reference-counting: borrowing and reference counting. They mostly borrowing is more explicit, reference counting implies automatic recycling when all interested parties are done with the object. Let's check out both of them.
Borrowing mostly looks like
malloc /
free on top of garbage-collected runtime, and you'll certainly face same issues as you were facing back in the days programming non-garbage collected languages.
If you have freed the object and returned it to the pool, any modifications to it or reading from it will lead to unpredictable results: other writers or readers may hold same object at the same time. In C, any operation on freed (dangling) pointer would result into segmentation fault. Here you just have to take care of it yourself, or build in some additional protection mechanisms.
Borrowing is good when the consumer operation has explicit begin/end. In majority of cases, it isn't used in cases when object could be accessed by multiple threads simultaneously. In this case synchronising access and exit point may just be too complicated.
The Big advantage of borrowing is that object may know absolutely nothing about pool or even existance of the pool. It has to have some
reset mechanisms, but since the control over borrowing and return is completely up to consumer, object itself doesn't have to take care of it. This means that you may even pool the API objects of an external library.
Reference counting is slightly more complex in terms of implementation, but it also offers more granular control over the data structure, and allows consumer to know nothing about pool itself by wrapping pool into a some functional interface, like:
(pooledObject, pooledObjectConsumer) -> {
Each time the objects enters a block, caller has to
retain the object, and
release it after the execution block is done. Each object holds an internal counter and a reference to the pool. As soon as counter reaches zero, object returns itself to the pool.
Reference counting is usually used when allocated objects are accessed by more than a one consumer at a time, object can only be recycled after all blocks have releases the reference. It is also good for pipelining or nested processing. In this case you can avoid explicit operation begin/end, and allow recycling after last consumer is done with the object.
When working with pools, it important to identify pool growth strategies, allocation trigger conditions and whether pool will be bounded.
Allocation triggers are responsible for noticing that pool is low on elements, and needs to allocate new resources.
The simplestway is to allocate objects whenever the pool is empty. In this case, you can use some
Queue implementation, put elements into the queue,
poll the queue each time you require a new object. If there're no objects available, the allocation step is triggered.
Problem with this trigger strategy is of course that one of the poll operations will be paused to perform the allocation. To avoid it, you may use watermarks. Whenever the new object is requested from the pool, you check how many elements are still available in the pool. If the resources are at critically low level, allocation step is triggered.
For example, you start with 100 elements, which corresponds to
100%, and objects get requested from the pool. After
75 elements are given, there are only
25 elements left in the pool, and pool is now at the cricically low resource level of
25%, so additional resources are allocated, and counter is adjusted accordingly.
Most of the time, watermarks are enough, although sometimes a bit more precision is required. In this case, you can use record
lease and
return rates, at which objects are being taken and returned to the pool. For that, you count how many items were allocated per second and find some statistically significant number representing the rate.
For example, if you have
100 items in the pool, and
20 items are taken form pool every second, but only
10 are returned, you will empty the pool after
9 seconds.
Using this information, you can "plan ahead" and allocate enough elements to satisfy the lease requirements.
Growth strategies identify what happens when the allocation trigger is fired, and bounds specify maximum allowed amount of allocated objects.
The simplest pool implementation is of course a fixed-size pool. Elements are pre-allocated in one run, and pool is never grown afterwards.
Such an implementation is most useful when you need to make sure that only a certain amount of objects can be out simultaneously, and maybe throttle the application, forcing it to consume not more than a certain amount of resources.
Fixed size pool may cause resource starvation, in case the pool size isn't calculated optimally, but performance characteristics are easy to grasp, because allocations are done explicitly.
Most of the time, you'd allocate more resources than you usually need. This way, at peak times it might cause some latency when pool becomes empty and you have to wait for the next freed object, although you will have some free resources in the pool all the time.
If you can identify the size of the pool with a good degree of certanity, but think that during peak times you still may run in resource starvation problem, you can grow your pool with very small steps (say, one additional item at a time).
Of course you can allocate new item on-demand, which would add some latency for every item, allocated after the pool was empty, but it's easy to implement and maintain, and the pool size will correspond to the maximum amount of objects that may possibly exist in the system simultaneously.
If you can't afford allocation pauses, and would like to be able to get a ready element from the pool any time, you'd have to use a block-growth allocation strategy, combined with an allocation trigger of your preference.
This way, every time you reach a
25% watermark, you can allocate the additional
25% of the pool size and see if it fits the application demand.
In such cases, you're almost always allocating more resources than may be possibly required, and large exponent values may result into running out of memory.
Using lease/return rates, you may get down to quite precise pool size. But it's always good to keep it flexible and allow pool to grow a little.
Of course, as long as you start managing memory youself, you become fully responsible for pretty much everything that's going with the memory you're managing at all times. There are several ways things may go wrong:
Object pooling is not for everyone. It doesn't make sense to start pooling objects in early application development stages, since you don't know what exactly to poll and can't clearly decide how to poll it.
There are ways to work around every problem, but they are often either too complex, or too expensive to implement. However, it's always good to have a couple of trick up your sleeve.


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Read over 360 free articles and learn both spiritual development theory, as well as practical knowledge from tutorials.
Practical psychic abilities means they should be used in practical ways, to achieve practical things. One of my e-book' readers, TrevorNox, asked me yesterday, how can you use the knowledge from Psychic Development Simplified to do practical things in your life. I've answered him, but now I came up with one more cool thing :).
Each one of us is seeking proofs for reality of psychic phenomena, even if some of us practice and experience things for many, many years. We want to keep believing that what we're doing is not illusion, and that we do all of this for real. That's why I'm often encouraging you to seek the […]
Dream phenomena – have you ever thought how fascinating dreams are? People don't even know that science cannot explain why do we dream, or what dreams are. Sure, there are some theories, but no one really got the ultimate answer. Many believe dreams show us astral planes, or possible future, and they're a gateway to […]
Have you ever wondered how to hunt ghosts? I did – and based on my point of view that everything starts with good reading, I put my hands on Ghost Hunter's Guidebook by Troy Taylor. Just as the title states, it's "The Essential Guide to Investigating Ghosts & Hauntings" – I couldn't agree more.
Every beginner to magical arts asks how to perform magic ritual. The answer is simple – correctly :). But what does it mean? There are so many different magical systems out there, so many wicked spells and charms to cast, so many rituals to perform, how to perform them correctly?


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"One of the important aspects of finding your eye is staying inspired, and one of the things which affects your inspiration is your shooting style." Kat Sloma.
Finding Your Eye, Journey of Inspiration
"All of the tiny choices you make in how you approach photography add up to your "shooting style," says Kat.
Using a set of questions she has supplied to guide us, here's what I've noticed about the choices I'm making, so far…
First of all, I travel light when it comes to photography. I have my point-and-shoot camera. And, my blackberry. Small. Compact. Ready to go. And, that's all I shoot with. For now.
When it comes to lighting, I love to shoot in the morning light, more than any other time of day. Perhaps it's the fact that the morning light comes into my back garden. Many times, before I leave for work, something grabs my eye and I've grabbed my point-and-shoot to capture it. On weekends, I'll often spend first thing in the morning, taking photographs out back in the garden.
But, hey, I'm inspired by the afternoon light and dusk, and grey days shouldn't be ignored.
Most of my photographs are taken right around my home. In my garden, front or back. In my home. Sometimes, I take photos when I'm out on an errand, or walking the dog. And, occasionally, I'll take my camera to the office in case something outside my window catches my eye…and, sometimes it does. I always take my camera on a trip. Always. But, most of the time, my photographs are taken right outside my door.
Close ups seem to be my thing. I mean, I have taken lots of photographs at all distances, but I know I'll always go close up. Sometimes I start with a close up, and fan out. Sometimes I start with a long shot and move in. But, I'll always have a close up.
SOOC. My shooting style, right now, is focused much more on what I do in the field, and much less on what happens after the fact. I'm learning the post-photography process, but often it's a photograph straight out of the camera that I love most. (I expect that will change as I learn more about the post-photography process.)
The photograph I've chosen to reflect my shooting style, the photograph above – tells my story pretty well. It's a close-up, shot in the morning light, inside my home, and straight out of the camera. That would describe my shooting style, at least, for now.


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Lvmh Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the luxury-goods empire based in Paris, reported that first-half net profit rose 28 percent thanks to its Louis Vuitton and Bulgari brands and growth in Asia and the United States.
The maker of Hennessy cognac, the iconic Baguette bag by Fendi and perfumes like J'Adore posted a net profit of 1.68 billion ($2 billion), compared with 1.3 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 26 percent to 13 billion.
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault credited initiatives including targeted expansion of its brands for the "excellent performance" in the first half.
"We approach the second half of the year with confidence," Arnault said.
LVMH said it expects to continue to gain market share despite the uncertain economic environment in Europe on the strength of new product launches, targeted geographic expansion and cost management.


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Fast and Furious 6~
Ok, movie watchers, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and The Rock fans, if you haven't yet seen Fast and Furious 6 because you are not sure about it, here it is, my review of this film so that hopefully it can help you determine whether or not you want to see it.
About Fast and Furious 6
Fast and Furious 6 brings back the entire "family" from the original Fast and Furious film, with the addition of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who reprises his role of DSS Agent Luke Hobbs. The film begins by giving us a glimpse into the ever-growing family with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) and his wife, Mia (Jordana Brewster) on their way into the hospital to give birth to their son, accompanied by Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel).
Meanwhile, Hobbs and his partner Riley (Gina Carano) are investigating a former military Special Forces officer gone rogue named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Hobbs realizes that they need help, and he turns to Dom and his retired crew for help. Dom is reluctant, until Hobbs reveals a series of pictures that show Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), believed to be dead, is still alive and working with Shaw. Ortiz is Dom's old girlfriend. This sets in motion a thrill ride that grabs hold of you and just will not let go.
My Thoughts
Expect plenty of action and adventure, high speed car chases and races, crashes and fight scenes. Just like all the other Fast and Furious films, this one has plenty of each. There are also moments of emotion that come through in this movie as well, although they are not overly emotional – so guys will still really enjoy this film. There is also an unexpected little twist that happens later in the film. I won't play spoiler and reveal it, but suffice to say it is a little shocking.
Hint: Don't skip the credits or you will miss something big.
Just like the other Fast and Furious films, some of the action sequences involve some unbelievable stunts. That, to me, is a bit of a drawback, especially when they are pertinent to the story line. But, a lot of people seem to enjoy those outrageous stunts. I feel the fight scenes are incredible though!
So, What Did I Rate Fast and Furious 6?
Overall I give this film 4.5 stars out of 5. It is easily the best of the entire Fast and Furious series. That says a lot. I have seen all of them, and I have also loved them all! So, stop wasting time and go see it today!


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EU Visitors – Please See the Privacy Policy which includes Cookie Information HERE
Do you accept guest posts (or other outside content)?
As a general rule, no I do not. I am frequently contacted by businesses wanting me to publish their content or "carefully crafted and unique articles" on Cosmopolitan Cornbread. See the next question below.
Do you accept advertising on CC?
I am regularly contacted in regards to advertising. I do not accept "infographics" or unsolicited guest posts from companies and/or writers wishing to publish their commercial articles or other content on Cosmopolitan Cornbread. If however, you would like to sponsor a post here on the website, or partner with me in another way please visit the business page for more information. Only authentic native content is provided here – meaning everything you see here is written by yours truly. If your company or product is a fit for Cosmopolitan Cornbread's audience, there are many ways that we can successfully work together.
What happened to/What is The Foodie Army Wife?
The Foodie Army Wife is what I originally launched this website as. In February 2015 it was re-branded to Cosmopolitan Cornbread. Seeing as our life as an army family was coming to an end, and my site had grown into something beyond just food, I thought it was appropriate. I still continue to update watermarks and logos on photos. Seeing as there are well over a thousand posts, and hundreds of recipes with countless photos…that is taking some time to accomplish.
Do you accept products to review?
Yes, however I am very selective about them. The product must be a fit for my audience and be of genuine interest to me. I can be contacted HERE to discuss reviews.
What do you do reviews of?
I will do reviews of all sorts of things, including but not limited to:
- Kitchen Tools
- Kitchen Appliances
- Snacks and Food Products (Please note, I am a "real food" kind of person and focus on avoiding artificial foods.)
- Outdoor Equipment (hiking, kayaking, camping, etc.)
- Gardening Tools & Equipment
- Homesteading & Small Farm (fencing, poultry & livestock care, preparedness, etc.)
- Photography Equipment (cameras, lenses, lighting, tripods, etc.)
- Natural Cleaning Supplies and Household Products
Contact me for more information about product reviews.
Who takes the photos on Cosmopolitan Cornbread?
Unless stated, I do!
What kind of camera do you use?
Visit HERE for my current line-up.
Who designed your website?
I did. I have a WordPress based site, and use the Mai Pro Theme which is a Genesis theme from StudioPress. Once I installed the theme, I "tweaked" the CSS to make it look the way I wanted.
I have a blog/website. Will you link to it?
That is not something that I am in the habit of doing. However, if you'd like to leave me a comment and tell me about your blog, please do. I would love to know about it and pay you a visit.
Can I link to your site?
Of course! I am honored that you would like to.
Can I use one of your photos on my site or in my magazine?
The entire contents of this site are protected by copyright.
Please ask first. The only exception is the one stated in the "Sharing Permissions"seen here.
What kind of mixer do you have?
I actually have two mixers. I have a Bosch Universal Plus Mixer, as well as a KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer. I love them both for different reasons. The Bosch is my work horse for tough jobs, like kneading multiple loaves of bread dough. The KitchenAid is my all-purpose mixer for everything else. I wrote a post on my thoughts: "A Tale of Two Mixers."
What kind of sugar do you use? It isn't white.
I use organic sugar. Because it is unbleached, it is an off-white color. I promise it just regular sugar though!
Why are there specs in your salt?
I use Redmond Real Salt . It is a natural sea salt, that still contains many trace minerals. But you can use any salt in the recipes, unless I specify a particular salt.
Where do you get your wheat?
I purchase through a local co-op: Bread Beckers.
Is that really your kitchen?
I promise it is. The scenery may have changed from time to time, because we were military and we were prone to moving. We have now retired and will not be moving any more. So in the past the kitchen may have changed – but it was always "my" kitchen.
What kind of cooking oil do you use?
I use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for almost everything. Honestly. The only exception to that, is if I am deep-frying something, which I rarely do. In that case I will use regular vegetable oil, because you are basically wasting a whole bottle at a time. But I use EVOO or coconut oil for all of my baking and normal cooking needs.
Where do you get your recipes?
I have an extensive collection of cookbooks and recipe archives. Many recipes that I develop, come from comparing different versions of the same recipe, and coming up with my own take on it. Some recipes – well – are straight out of my imagination. Those tend to be my favorites.
Who is your favorite celebrity chef?
My favorite is Nigella Lawson. She is simply amazing. The descriptive way she demonstrates her cooking leaves you drooling. I want to be her when I grow up.
In regards to cooking with wine and other alcoholic items.
I occasionally receive questions or comments about cooking with wine or other alcoholic ingredients. If you prefer to abstain, here are a couple resources for making substitutions. Gourmet Sleuth and About.com
Are you professionally trained in cooking?
Only if you consider 7th grade Home Ec or a 1 semester high school nutritional class as professional training. I am a self-taught maven who loves to cook and create in the kitchen. I'm also not a professionally trained writer, photographer, dog walker or coffee drinker.
QUESTIONS ABOUT MILITARY LIFE (We are now "retired army")
How many times has your husband deployed?
That is a slightly complicated question. If you are only asking about Iraq and Afghanistan, he has thankfully been deployed only 6 times. But he was also deployed to Bosnia pre-9/11. And though not technically a deployment, he did do a "hardship tour" of a year in Korea.
Will he have to deploy again?
My husband has now retired from service in the US Army after 25 years. Any future "over seas" trips will be vacations or business trips. It's a whole new chapter to our life.
How many places have you been stationed?
We were stationed in Virginia, Texas, Korea (I stayed in TN), Texas again, Germany, North Carolina, Alaska (my favorite!) and lastly Alabama.
What is that tattoo on your forearm?
The tattoo on my left forearm is the Arabic letter "N." It stands for "Nasrani" or Nazarene, or in other words: Christian. During the rise of the Nazis, the Star of David or the word "Jude" was painted on the homes and businesses of the Jewish population to mark them. At first it was to shun them, and later to round them up for slaughter. Today, the "N" is painted on the homes and businesses of Christians in the middle east, to again terrorize a population and mark them for slaughter.
{ … | … | help }
Can I contact you?
Please do! I can be reached by e-mail or "snail mail" HERE


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Get in Touch with Us
Diggerland XL is located within the Diggerland USA Construction Adventure Park.
100 Pinedge Drive
West Berlin, NJ 08091
|General Information:
|By Email: info (at) diggerlandusa.com / By Phone: 856-768-1110
|Group Information:
|By Email: sales (at) diggerlandusa.com / By Phone: 856-809-4218
|Operating Days:
|Diggerland XL experiences are available year-round, every day except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, subject to availability of reservations. Reservations are required.
|Scheduling Assistance:
|Group and on-line reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance. Reservations typically book one to two weeks out for popular times. Occasionally, individual experiences become available on short notice.
Call 856-768-1110 to ask about availability of individual experiences on short notice. Call 856-768-1110 or 856-809-4218 to ask about coordinating 2 or more individual experiences. Our team can assist you with booking side-by-side or back-to-back scheduling options subject to availability. Please note that 2-hour experiences may be shared by two participants and 3-hour experiences may be shared by up to three participants.
|Age Minimum:
|Diggerland XL operators must be at least 18 years old.
|Spectators of all ages may watch individual experiences. Photos and videos are encouraged! Invite family and friends. Yes, your children may watch you crush a car! Spectators are not permitted for Group experiences and Team Building events.
|Food and Beverage:
|Food and beverages are only available when the Diggerland USA Construction Adventure Park is open to the public. At all times, outside food and beverages are not allowed, except for one clear, unopened plastic bottle of water per guest. Glass containers prohibited.
|100 Pinedge Drive, West Berlin, NJ 08091
|Parking is free. Parking is available only during your visit. RV and bus parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Overnight parking is prohibited.
|Inclement Weather:
|Call 856-768-1110 to ask about potential weather issues. Diggerland XL is not operated in heavy rain or snow, or with lightning, high winds or other inclement weather. Your experience may need to be rescheduled in the event of inclement weather.


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Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Mural Series # 5: Henry's Bedroom
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Christy Turlington
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Party People
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Icon: Ray Petri
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Rianne ten Haken
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Bridget Hall (2009)
it took me awhile i think to get this painting right for me - i guess you have those preconceived notions in your head as to how the painting should turn out and sometimes it takes a different path. which can never be a bad thing. at some point of the process you gotta let yourself go and just see the work come to life. and most times, like with Ms. Hall, it can turn out quite nicely.
New York, November 8, 2009
it was a really amazingly beautiful day in NYC so i tried to make the most of it. spent the day roaming around the Bowery and Soho and managed to catch the Urs Fischer exhibit at the New Museum. i'd recommend seeing it just to have the chance to see art in that non traditional setting. it's sometimes good to see work that way - you realize that there can be art beyond the canvas and wall space. and on a superficial sidenote, i picked up some cool Elizabeth Peyton buttons from the gift shop which i'll make a point to display on my jacket lapel from now on.
it was also a really great day for people sighting - they all kinda came out of the woodwork. perhaps the highlight was seeing Ms. Grace Coddington sweep past the lunch crowd of Veselka (and i thinks she might've noticed me mouth quite excitedly "OMG that is Grace Coddington!" like an awestruck groupie). all in all a good day. even though NYC can beat and grind you into a mindless, workaholic wreck all week, she can still manage to turn on the charm and beauty and just bring you all back into her arms. i guess what more can you ask for?
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Home > Shop > Sensors > Flex and Force Sensors
SKU: PPSEN-10221Part Number: SEN-10221Brand: SparkFun
Available Now:
The eTape Liquid Level Sensor from Milone Technologies is a great way to measure the level of a liquid. It has a resistive output that varies with the level of the fluid. It does away with clunky mechanical floats, and easily interfaces with electronic control systems. The sensor's envelope is compressed by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in which it is immersed. This results in a change in resistance that corresponds to the distance from the top of the sensor to the surface of the fluid. The sensor's resistive output is inversely proportional to the height of the liquid: the lower the liquid level, the higher the output resistance; the higher the liquid level, the lower the output resistance.
Note: These sensors used to have only three pins but they're made with four now. The sensor works the same way as before. See the datasheet for details.
Customers who bought this item also bought:
Hi, It looks like you may have an old link on this page to the datatshet referencing an older model, the model i received had some improved features and the manufacturers website contains more current data.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.


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Openhouse Gallery has been home to many Shiraz Events intimate press previews. From a Barbie Tweetup to JCPenney Back-to-school, Openhouse provides the perfect canvas for any chic,
intimate event. Visit Openhouse Online
"Venue of the Month" is a new category of Shiraz Events' blog: a monthly shout out of one of our favorite venues to work in! Stay tuned for more.


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On May 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would be terminating the TPS designation for Honduras. The approximately 90,000 Honduran citizens who are currently present in the U.S. in TPS have until January 5, 2020 to either depart or to find another way to remain here lawfully under our immigration laws. You can read more here:
For someone from Honduras who has been residing in the U.S. in TPS for decades, this may be a terrifying prospect. The good news is that other legal immigration avenues may be available for a person in this situation. For example, if an individual is married to a U.S. citizen, one option may be an application for permanent residency (a "green card") with the spouse serving as the sponsor. If the individual has been a victim of crime while in the U.S., they may be eligible for a U visa, which is a path to a green card.
It is important to meet with an immigration attorney as soon as possible to learn about the viability and risks and benefits of other immigration paths. Please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com or 415-496-9040 to schedule an initial legal evaluation.


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Information Technology
We provide technology, information and business solutions for Miami-Dade County.
GIS Services
External Customers
News & Events
2017 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement AwardsFebruary 8, 2018 — Information Technology
The Information Technology Department received recognition for the development and deployment of innovative solutions to better serve the residents of Miami-Dade County.
Online resources now available through the Library eCardFebruary 8, 2018 — Information Technology
The eCards provide access to all MDPLS online resources including downloadable eBooks, eAudiobooks, movies, music, magazines, newspapers, online training courses, and many of the world's most powerful research databases.
About Us
We provide information technology services to enable and support the operations of all County departments. This makes government services more easily accessible to citizens, governmental agencies and external businesses.
Our infrastructure includes network, radio and hardware/software platforms, along with support for countywide and departmental specific applications and services. We partner with other County departments, management and key technology providers to implement and maintain technology solutions that enable efficient operations, delivery of County services.


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IN 2017, The Downtown Gary Public Art Competition sponsored by The Legacy Foundation, Knight Foundation and City of Gary selected two of my public art proposals in two funding categories - $25,000 and $10,000. ART | PARK won $25,000!
DESTINATION GARY: ART | PARK reimagines urban space in celebration of art and design, transforming vacant sites into public spaces, walkable and park-like. A series of creative installations invites exploration in the unbuilt environment and challenges our notion of traditional art spaces.
A Project Concept that Didn't Win.
"My Name, My Font" is a typography project drawing on graffiti, sign painting and pin striping. Artists partner with Gary residents who submit family surnames as the mural content. In choosing font and style, residents are not only the subject but collaborators in design. (I could only win in one category, so this idea didn't win but I hear it received lots of love!)


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Moving right along, we are brought to the fifth scenario. Like Wizardry 1-3, you can import characters from the previous games into Wizardry V. However, this time around it is not a requirement. You do have the option to start this game with a fresh set of characters. As a result, this game was marketed as a "stand-alone scenario".
In this title, our heroes are asked to plunge into the depths below the holy temple to seek out a rogue priestess named "The Sorn". It seems that her foul magicks have opened a dimensional rift deep underground that threaten to consume the entire kingdom. Hopefully the heroes will be able to find her and stop her before it is too late.
In many ways Wizardry V is very much like the previous games. But in just as many, it is also very different. Gone are the days of 20×20 grid-dungeons. Yes, the maps are still gird-based in design. But, they are much larger this time around. The game now also features NPCs within the dungeon that can be interacted with (albeit, in a very rudimentary way). It is no surprise that along with these changes, came the introduction of a new main programmer for the series; D.W. Bradley.
Keeping with the flair of the "magic word" spell system found in the original games, several new spells have been added to the roster. Also, slight modifications have been made to the battle system as well. For example, Ninjas now have the ability to "Hide in the Shadows" for a chance to improve striking damage.
Graphically, the game is slightly improved from the previous entries. The new fonts and minimal use of color are certainly a welcome addition but they do seem to fall a bit short. Wizardry V was released in 1990, and by this time the original engine was starting to show it's age.
One of the bigger selling points of this title in particular is the in-depth level of game play. With bigger dungeons, interactive NPCs, and tons and tons of riddles and puzzles, Maelstrom became the largest game the series had seen. It's popularity even led to a great looking port to the SNES.
Difficulty: Difficult – This title reverted back to the difficulty level of the previous titles. For the experienced Wizardry player, a large portion of the game may seem to be a bit too easy. However, the larger dungeons and "change to the rules" still manage to keep players on their toes.
Story: The story behind the game seems to be a bit weak at first. However, it does manage to progress fairly nicely as you plunge into the depths of the dungeon.
Originality: Considering the restraints of the game engine, it seems that Bradley did the best he could to add new twists and turns to the world of Wizardry. While keeping with many of the traditional elements of the series, he also managed to successfully add a new layer of gameplay that a new sense of wonder to the series.
Soundtrack: The original Apple and PC version of the game has no soundtrack or sound effects (other then the occasional click or blip).
Fun: For many players, Wizardry V was actually their first look into the world of Wizardry. For those players, this game offers an experience unlike any other. For veteran players, many of us were starting to tire a bit of what was becoming a rather repetitive experience. Despite this complaint, there's still a lot of fun to be had exploring the Maelstrom.
Graphics: The graphics in this game are again, a small step up from the other scenarios. There's a slight increase to the use of color within the game and the menus, but nothing too spectacular.
Playcontrol: Navigation of the maze it handled with the arrow keys. Other commands are executed either using the number keys or various hot keys. All options are displayed on the screen at all times, so you'll never forget. It's definitely archaic by today's standards. Luckily, the game is not fast-paced and you have plenty of time to make your decisions and figure things out.
Overall rating (out of four stars): 3 – The improvements to the engine are very much noted in the title. However, for me at least, the game still failed to capture that feeling of wonder that the original title did. That being said, the experience delivered in the title is still incredible and it takes it's place as one of the classic RPGs for the home computer.
Original System: Apple II, PC
Not currently available
Other Reviews In This Series:
Forsaken Land – Labyrinth of Lost Souls – Wizardry Online


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Beco Butterfly II Baby Carrier SLIGHTLY USED Duke
These are ever so slightly used Beco Butterfly 2. They are all returns under our 365 Day Money Back Guarantee that still applies.
by Emma
I received my Beco today, couldn't even tell it was "slightly used" except for the box. VERY EXCITED to use this in July. a great deal and fast delivery. It was a pleasure, thank you!
by Cynthia A. Johnston
Very quick shipping. Love the Beco carrier, it was used, but in great condition jsut like they said. See all reviews for Beco Butterfly II Baby Carrier SLIGHTLY USED »
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Benefits of Hordenine are not very well researched at this point. It is definitely an underrated supplement in terms of how little it is talked about and the clear lack of scientific research into its effects in humans.
Hordenine was originally derived from the Bitter Orange plant. Today, Hordenine supplements can be purchased online to improve energy and focus, and to boost mood. Hordenine also has a synergistic relationship with Phenylethylamine (PEA).
In this article, we explore the top 3 benefits of Hordenine that have been discovered by researchers today. Hordenine HCl benefits may even include Hordenine euphoria!
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site below, or more images of this beast of a mod after the jump.
The Model and Props Guy
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Arts + Crafts: Warhammer Lanard Shell Shock X-6
Posted by Pocket. Esq. at 11:20
4 comments:
This is amazing, I am in loveReplyDelete
lovely any chance you would make any to sell?ReplyDelete
He does sell them here:ReplyDelete
Quite pricey, but given the amount of work that goes into it, it's justified.
As a Warhammer nut I literally shouted holy shit 30 seconds ago when I saw this article. I can't believe I'm tempted to pick one up...ReplyDelete
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Home > Promethean > Vol. 11 (2003) > Iss. 1
Contributor Biography
Daniel Wright is Professor of English at Concordia University. He is the author of the acclaimed book, The Anglican Shakespeare, and over three dozen scholarly articles and reviews in publications such as the German-language Neues Shake-speare Jounal, Studies in the Novel, The Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, Renaissance and Reformation, The Sixteenth Century Journal, The Elizabethan Review, The Oxfordian and Harper's. He is also director of the Edward de Vere Studies Conference, held annually at Concordia University.
CU Commons Citation
Wright, Daniel
"The Shakespeare Authorship Controversy: The Case Summarily Stated,"
The Promethean: Vol. 11
, Article 15.
Available at: https://commons.cu-portland.edu/promethean/vol11/iss1/15


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US consumer price growth remains weak
US consumer prices were little changed in February, indicating that inflation continues to remain tame.
The consumer price index rose 0.1%, from a month earlier. That matched the increase seen in January.
Inflation in the US has remained low, held in check by slow economic growth and high unemployment.
The data comes as the US Federal Reserve begins its two-day meeting where it will release its latest monetary policy and economic outlook.
Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, also rose 0.1% from a month ago, the US Labor Department said.
Fed policy
Low inflation has given the US central bank the leeway to carry out a massive stimulus programme aimed at stimulating growth in the economy.
But the Fed has been scaling back some of that stimulus in recent months.
Its bond-buying programme - which for most of last year was running at $85bn a month - has been cut by $10bn at the Fed's last two meetings so that it now stands at $65bn a month.
Most analysts expect the central bank to announce a further reduction of $10bn a month on Wednesday.
The bond purchases are aimed at lowering long-term interest rates to encourage more borrowing and spending.
But if inflation continues to remain really low, or the rate dips, the timescale of the tapering process could be extended, as very low inflation removes one incentive to spend.


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Hello and welcome to Handgun Radio! I'm your host Ryan Michad from the wild woods of Central Maine, and this is your home for all the news, information and discussion in the handgunning world.
This week, I'm joined by Chris from Bayside Custom Gunworks to discuss his work accurizing pistols and revolvers, creating FrankenRugers and much more!
Brought to you by the Firearms Radio Network
Please check out the Patriot Patch Company for their Say When patches and other high quality items! Visit www.patriotpatch.co for more information!
Welcome Chris!
Welcome Weerd!
Week in Review:
Ryan: -Got to test out my new camera, shot a bunch of shotguns, the MP5 SD, the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 and Steyr C9A1. Really enjoy the new camera and the better videos I can make.
Weerd: Got my new C&R FFL to Midway USA so I can install a Apex Trigger in my Neighbor's M&P….he thinks I'm going to charge him for the work...I'll show him. I'll have to see if it's worth getting one for my M&P9c. Also found out this week that Not only Ryan and I will be at the NRA annual meeting this year, but the entire Squirrel Report will be there too. So excited about that!
Main Topic: Custom Revolvers & Semi-Autos with Bayside Custom Gunworks
I was taking the advice of my friend Matt Hoffman and looking at the various custom revolver Facebook pages one day. I noticed this company, Bayside Custom Gunworks, and thought that their approach to making custom revolvers and other modifications was really awesome. I'm happy to have Chris, the owner of Bayside Custom Gunworks on the show to discuss his business, how he got started and what influences his modifications and designs.
Discussion Questions:
What is your background and how did you get started modifying and gunsmithing firearms?
- USMC Combat Vet
- LE K9 Handler
- Nuclear Grade Machinist
- Started Apprenticing in 2004
When did you start Bayside Custom Gunworks?
- 2011
You are really well known for your FrankenRuger conversions into revolvers with long barrels and other modifications that allow you to hunt with them as you might with a rifle. Where did you get the inspiration for those designs?
- Only accurate guns are interesting
- ANYTHING that can be done with a rifle accuracy wise can be done with some form of a handgun
- Handgun hunting is my inspiration
- handgun hunting only for over 10 years
What are some of the parts that go into those guns?
- alot :)
Do you modify semi-autos or mainly revolvers?
- both
Weerd Beard Questions:
You build full-custom 1911s from Caspian frames, do you start with fully machined frames or do you start from blanks or 80% guns?
Are your long slides machined as such, or do you do what they used to do back in the early days of 6" 1911s and cut and weld two slides together?
I've seen some REALLY interesting calibers in 1911s these days, obviously you do the standards, .45 .38 Super, 10mm and 9mm, are there challenges with some of the newer chamberings, like .22 TCM, .357 SIG, and do they offer advantages over the more conventional fare?
Since you're so into long-range accuracy, what are some of the best ways to wring the most accuracy out of a 1911? What is better, Bull barrel, or a well fit barrel bushing?
What are the finishes you offer, and on a personal note, do you do color case hardening?
BCG Plugs:
- www.baysidecustomgunworks.com
- Franken Ruger Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0KHi80vCus
- https://www.facebook.com/Bayside-Custom-Gunworks-247499295270956/
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- Listen to all the great shows on the Firearms Radio Network! The Reloading Podcast!
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Until Next Week, Have Fun and Safe Shooting!!!!!!


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Now I'm sure we all have had an incident we can recall in our magnificent minds, which retains information in random yet so eloquently organized web of neurons, where we have taken a certain action too far. What ever it may be, or if you are a human being who has not taken actions too far because of having a higher conscious about the limits to which an action will overstep the boundaries of the norms in the situation, then I would like to congratulate you on acquiring or inheriting that skill. Who am I to be giving a congratulations to you? Well if importance of stature matters to you, no one. on the other hand if you find that another human being in which you share this planet with is happy that you are one step closer to a higher evolution, it is here where the gratitude is most rewarding.
In the course of my life so far I have noticed that I could maybe be an adrenaline junkie. Always wanting that one extra notch for the higher rush to be achieved. My earliest memory is jumping on the bed when I was of a younger age. I cannot remember the precise age when this incident occurred, but I always like to choose the age of three. Could've been later, but I don't really believe it's that relevant to the story.
Finally, the boring part is out of the way, now for the juicy story. I was jumping on the bed, singing the usual song, little monkeys jumping on the bed, and having the aunts, uncles, and parents telling me to stop jumping on the bed. Of course I have to do it one more time really fast before they catch me doing it again. so i start jumping and start the song. now I'm on the last monkey, and yup, you've guessed it, i slip off the edge and knock my head into the corner of a dresser. after this point i don't remember too much. i remember touching my head and it was wet. I was hoping it was water, but it was red. lol that last sentence sounded poetic just now for some reason. anyways the next thing i know is either my little sister or cousin telling the parents what had happened and they grab me and want to take my to the hospital. i remember fighting, kicking, and yelling that i was fine and didn't want to go. The last detail i remember is seeing my uncle, dad and doctors with nurses holding me down, with me thinking. "don't go to sleep. keep fighting it. you can get out of here." then my eyes rolled back and bam i was gone.
for some time I've had dreams about this incident, which made me think that it was fictitious and it was all a bad dream. the proof of it being real is when ever i get a really short haircut, i have people telling me "oh wow! you have two swirly things." (the part where your hair grows on your head)
comparing my actions of today up until this very moment in time, which time doesn't exist by the way since humans have made it up.. and it's totally relative thanks to awesomeness Albert Einstein, i still want to always go that one extra one time. one more time. one more. one.
the concept of infinity is to just add one to your current whatever you have. how can we explain these concepts, but cannot think even beyond what a few hundred really looks like. what really is one billion three hundred seventy thousand units of measurement. all i know that it is a lot, just like one million is. it's just a lot, but that higher number is a lot a lot more. lol such terrible English on that last sentence.
well, if your a human reading this, and not one of the stupid Internet robots that are saving every millisecond of the Internet, i urge you to share your ideas, challenge my ideas, whatever you do, get your idea out. for one, i believe it is very therapeutic, for just now that this is ending i am feeling much, MUCH better than when i had started this blog entry.
i will now take the time and thank you for taking the time in reading this.
how did you reading this blog benefit me? it benefits me because i know that you have taken a little bit of your existence to see what another human beings interpretation of this world we both live in, is like.
so thank you once again.


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John 20:19-31
19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
What I am Learning:
There are many themes in this wonderful and often misunderstood text.
Jesus appears to his disciples who are locked in a room, hiding out for fear of the Judean leadership - selected by and working for Pontius Pilate. They were afraid that these leaders would finish the job and mop up the rest of Jesus' pathetic band of followers. They were right to be afraid!
Then Jesus shows up in the locked room. How many times have we been locked up for fear? Jesus greets them, announces that he comes in peace, that their failures and trials of the last few days are over and forgiven. And then he gives them a job: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." We are now invited to go back and read all of John, and to realize that everything that Jesus did we are now invited to do. Jesus begins his messianic community with these words - and of course with the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' breath. Jesus as the messiah has only just begun his work to restore human beings and human community to God's intention and to create a future of wholeness for people and all creation. Jesus invites his disciples to join him, and that in this joining we will find ourselves.
Then we come to Thomas. People often say bad things about Thomas, but I say good on him for speaking his mind. That takes guts.
People often speak of the miracle of Jesus' appearance in the locked room. But there is a deeper miracle here: that Thomas was still with the community a week after he didn't believe them. The community didn't kick him to the curb. He didn't leave. This is no authoritarian community in which if you doubt you're out. They had the courage and love to realize that they had doubts, too.
Doubt and faith are not opposites. Faith and certitude are opposites. Faith is born in the chorus of doubt and risk that sing to us day and night - yet find ourselves trusting nonetheless in a God who promises healing for all. As Andy, a Lutheran pastor said this morning, doubt sharpens faith.
John hopes that in the hearing of this story that we come to believe - that we come to trust in Jesus the messiah and find our place as a beloved coworker with Christ in the reign of God.


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