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LETTERS: Levee bank won't solve all problems
I SAW the SMS from BBD, Hill, in today's (Saturday, September 9) Morning Bulletin.
Apparently BBD believes that Michelle Landry's job is to simply hand over blank cheques to the Rockhampton Regional Council and the Queensland "Government" on demand. This is not the case. There is a clear process for State and Local Governments to apply for Federal Government funding, and it is not to request funds for new projects from sources designed to provide funds to assist in the repair of existing infrastructure. There still seems to be significant doubt as to whether a proper Application for Federal Assistance with the Depot Hill Levee Bank has been properly requested.
This project does also have some other problems. It will probably floodproof a strongly pro-Labor area of Rockhampton, but it will do nothing to assist in convincing the rest of the world that Rockhampton is open for business whenever the Fitzroy rises more than a few centimetres above 7.5 metres. As far as they are concerned we are cutoff when the airport and the railway lines (North Coast and Midland) are closed. The Depot Hill Levee Bank will do nothing to solve either of those problems.
Also, what we still don't appear to have heard from council are what Rates Levy will be applied to help fund Rockhampton's share of the cost, how much the ongoing annual maintenance and upkeep of the levee and its attached infrastructure (such as pumps) will cost and what levy will be imposed on Rockhampton's ratepayers to cover this. And we still don't have any information on what plans, if any, exist to resolve the problems of West Rockhampton (airport, Western St Barracks, etc.) and the railways. Time, I think, for Strelow and Byrne to let us know what these plans are, if there are any. I'd also be interested to hear the LNP views on floodproofing of the railways.
John Christie
Hidden Valley
What does banning 100% FIFO mean?
WHAT a lot of political rhetoric cowpad. (TMB, 11/9 P5). "Banned 100% FIFO", does that mean between one to 99% can FIFO?
"Discrimination", if a person in Brisbane is fully qualified and experienced they get the job? I challenge the pollies to fully reveal all the relative legislation. I believe all mining camps should be banned except in very remote areas. Live in the nearest towns!
G. Townsend, Emu Park
Leadership needed on power, water
WARNINGS about imminent Spring-Summer drought conditions and the threat of the rise in electricity and water charges, sends a clear message from the powers that be!
Exploiting even the weather conditions to profiteer from the misery and hardship families and businesses are subjected to, is unconscionable! It is par for the course with corporations and a State Government concerned more with its image and votes, than serving the best interest of consumers and constituents. To keep costs down, families and businesses have to tighten their belts and rein in spending: a lesson lost on bureaucrats and corporations which give themselves a golden handshake at the end, regardless.
Public monies are there to promote themselves and pay bonuses and lucrative salaries to handle the public purse, while consumers are faced with the threat of even higher charges. Simply because successive governments and bureaucracies have no conscience about spending the well of money collected from those with no say in their own destinies. Devoid of thinking of more efficient ways of paying the insurmountable debt, their only modus operandi is to continually raise costs, charging us their big incomes for the privilege.
Perhaps bureaucrats could take a tip from those at "My Budget" to see how the other half live, after living beyond their means! Third millennium governments are sinking us into deeper debt, with little or no solutions. To save future generations of Australians from perpetual annual rising costs, we need leadership with fiscal intelligence and a public conscience, not unionists and already rich egotists.
Eloise Rowe
Tannum Sands
Keep Rock branch open at Mount
THE proposed of The Rock building society in Mt Morgan is going to have an adverse effect on most of the town.
I myself use the service to pay my rates, my water, my registration of car and trailer, also my phone and electricity.
There are a lot of elderly people in Mt Morgan who don't drive. The only form of banking will be the Commonwealth at the post office with the steps to climb. This is unacceptable, to many.
I have been with The Rock for nearly 40 years, the staff here at Mt Morgan always friendly and helpful. There is a really strong rumour the mine will reopen.
The little branch always now seems busy. If the mine opens it will mean more people in the town and there will be more call for a bank than now.
Management of The Rock please reconsider and keep the mini-branch open.
Keith Rose
Mt Morgan


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The output from the GeoProcessing wizard Dissolve tool may include line segments that flow in a direction opposite to the original line segments.
The line directions of the input features are being ignored as the dissolve function creates new features. These new features have line directions independent of the line direction of the original input features.
This issue has been addressed in ArcGIS Version 8.1.2.
In ArcGIS 8.1, change the direction of a line segment by editing the dissolve output.

subset: commoncrawl


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General Electric Co.'s path to recovery is a long one, but the company no longer seems lost in the woods.
In releasing its third-quarter results on Wednesday, GE also raised its guidance for 2019 free cash flow and now anticipates its industrial businesses could bring in as much as $2 billion this year. That's a $4 billion swing from GE's worst-case scenario in its initial March forecast. There's a fine line between setting a low bar and sandbagging the numbers, but GE's rosier outlook is supported by signs of stabilization in its beleaguered power unit and there being less of a drag than anticipated from the transition of a supply-chain financing program to a third party. The aviation business was also able to largely offset the negative impact of the continued grounding of Boeing's 737 Max. Those were key worry points that ended up not being as worrisome.
It wasn't a perfect quarter and there are some notable footnotes to that guidance increase. Still, a lack of nasty surprises and minimal signs to date of macroeconomic weakness in GE's aviation and health-care businesses make this a victory for CEO Larry Culp. A flurry of deleveraging activities in the last two months had raised concerns that GE was trying to give itself some good news to talk about if the actual quarterly numbers were disappointments, particularly amid growing concerns that a manufacturing slowdown was deepening. That fear appears unfounded, at least as far as the last three months are concerned for GE's businesses.
Shares of GE rallied as much as 14% on the report, essentially erasing a slide since its last earnings update in July that in part reflected concerns over the impact of slumping interest rates. The decline in rates forced GE to reassess its expectations for the returns it will get on assets supporting the company's long-term-care insurance business.
While this contributed to a $1 billion pre-tax charge in the latest quarter as the company bolstered its GAAP reserves, it's better than the " somewhere south" of $1.5 billion adjustment - before other offsets - that Culp had flagged in September. And it's certainly nowhere in the ballpark of what's implied in the $29 billion reserve shortfall Bernie Madoff whistle-blower Harry Markopolos claimed existed.
Operating profit for the power segment turned negative again after a few quarters of positive numbers. But margins did improve in that business - to negative 3.7% from negative 14.8% a year earlier - which GE says reflects better pricing discipline. The company now expects the cash burn at the power unit to be no worse than the $2.3 billion outflow last year (adjusted for a reorganization of that business), versus an initial prediction of a substantial year-over-year weakening.
The health-care division saw a nice lift in profit margins and a 5% jump in sales, even as its imaging business struggled in China and some larger U.S projects got pushed out. And aviation rebounded from an uncharacteristically weak second quarter. These are all positive data points that speak to Culp's push for operational improvements.
What hasn't changed is that even at $2 billion, GE's free cash flow will be very weak this year. The current forecast compares to $4.5 billion last year and $5.6 billion in 2017. While a stronger starting point in 2019 certainly helps, GE will have to overcome a number of challenges to get back to even those depressed levels.
Already, GE will lose about $1 billion in free cash flow in 2020 from the sale of its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher Corp., per analysts' estimates. Despite an improved performance in 2019, there's no update at this time for GE's expectation for the power unit to continue burning cash next year. And GE has to keep spending on restructuring. It again lowered its estimate for the cost of these cutbacks this year (which was a boon to its free-cash-flow outlook) in part because of the "timing" of politically fraught conversations in Europe over facilities and employees absorbed as part of its disastrous acquisition of Alstom SA's power business. Keeping economic headwinds at bay will also be key.
Meanwhile, GE will get lower contributions from Baker Hughes as it continues to wind down its stake; a divestiture in September pushed that holding below 50%, forcing the company to take an $8.7 billion pre-tax charge in the quarter.
Culp is doing what he needs to do to stop the bleeding at GE. Now the conversation shifts to what kind of company this is going to look like when he's done and how far this turnaround can go.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


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House of Cards is an art project for exhibitions where I interpret and am inspired by Tarot, occultism and traditional divination in the form of drawings, Objet Trouvé sculptures and a graphic novel titled "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow".
From this project have grown my (currently WIP) fully illustrated Tarot Deck with the same title. The art work created for this deck aim to function both as Tarot Cards following the Waite-Smith symbolism for fortune telling, and as individual works of art separate from the Tarot cards in which they have their foundation.
Are you interested in following the progress of the House Of Cards Tarot deck?
As Above So Below explores through the Objet Trouvé made by ceramic and porcelain tchotchkes altered with blue enamel paint, handwrought iron nails, gold thread, gouache, acrylics and leaf gold a juxtaposition of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the conscious and the subconscious. Fragile idealized female figurines reveal a contrasting inner life through new, altered surfaces.
"Figurines of women, originally delicate and gentle ones, are spiced with dramatic splashes of colour and sharp nails. Kläpp furnishes them with integrity, and since the thorns are directed outward also provides them with a form of restoration as strong-willed individuals. Those who have previously only been regarded now clearly say their piece"
Thomas Lissing, Smålandsposten, 19.11.09
My art, illustrations and sequential novels have been shown in solo exhibitions in Sweden and in group exhibitions of selected artists and graphic novelists in Sweden and internationally. I love working with an exhibition space to develop a narrative within the room that heightens the work shown and creates an immersive expeirence for the vistors.
In 2013 I was commisioned by Kalmar Municipality to create a public art installationd for Trekanten School in Kalmar. Titled "Den röda planeten" (The Red Planet) the installation is acrylic, wax crayon and gouache original art work printed on wall mounted glas.
Too see more of my art, news, behind the scenes and works in progress!
email@example.com | +46768 53 71 19
Copyright @ All Rights Reserved


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Equestrian summer camps for all levels of horseback riding plus swimming and other outdoor fun
Butler Camp, in conjunction with Butler Equestrian, offers a progressive summer equestrian camp based on each rider's age and ability. Our goal is to develop well-rounded equestrians in a fun and safe environment. Only certified instructors provide the riding instruction on our experienced school horses.
On-site facilities include multiple barns, tack rooms, an indoor riding arena, and an outdoor riding ring with jumps. Our beautiful 22-acre campus is adjacent to Seneca Creek State Park and offers a variety of large open and wooded areas and riding trails.
All Equestrian campers are eligible for a free evaluation lesson prior to the start of camp to assess their abilities for placement in our programs. These lessons are set up individually through the Butler Equestrian program during their Spring lesson program, which runs March through May. Contact the Equestrian Director to schedule your free lesson after you register.
Sibling Discount: Save an extra 5% off each session!
Refer A Friend Discount: Receive $50 once they've registered!


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Formula Columns
Note: This section of the SchemeServe guide takes you through the basic reports and into developing your own reports. To get the most from this section it is highly recommended that you read through each component in order. To help with this we have labelled each section with a number in the "see also" section.
Using formula in SchemeServe reports is relatively simple. However, if you're using particularly complex formulae you might want to contact our support staff for assistance to make sure you're getting the results you need.
To help you understand this better we're going to work through an example:
- Follow the Edit or Create a Report Process
- From the Columns Tab add a new column or use an existing column
- In the second field select Enter Formula... (skip this step if you are amending a formula and click the Change Formula Link instead)
- Type the Formula You want to use (see example below)
- Tick the Sum Total Box to use the Sum Total on the Report
- Edit the Name of the Column as Appropriate
- Repeat steps 2 – 6 for any additional column formulae you require
- Don't forget to Click Save Changes to save your changes
About our Example:
In the tutorial you'll see that when entering a formula you always type a "[" to start a calculation. As soon as you start typing the name of a field you'll be given all the fields starting with that name to choose from. We started with the Total Premium on a Case which is TotalPremiumNet_Result in our Schemes and we want to add the IPT to give a total payable amount. So we our final formula reads [TotalPremiumNet_Result]+[IPT_Result] and that's the result that is shown on the column in the new report.
- SchemeServe can carry out very complex calculations in your reports as long as your formulae are entered correctly
- If you have multiple risk groups and/or insurers you need to identify where these apply in formulas for example if the Risk Group you wish to apply the formula to is 120; use [CommissionFromInsurer_120] to show the commission for that risk group only
- All variables and fields in formulae must be contained in the square brackets that's "[" and "]"
- Don't forget to contact support if you have extremely complex formula and need help. Try to make sure you know what sum total you need to achieve and the individual components required to reach that sum before you call.
Video Tutorial
See Also:
- About SchemeServe Reporting
- Understanding and Using the Graphical Charts
- Listing SchemeServe Reports
- Copying an Existing Report
- Editing an Existing Report
- Creating a New Report
- Setting Conditions in a Report
- Columns in SchemeServe Reports
- Formula Columns
- Printing and Running Reports
- Exporting Reports
- Reviewing Case Data from Reports
- Deleting Reports


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Interesting story about death of the CD (or I would rather say Music CD) and what happens next. The CD seems to be the last of what represents the old music industry. The new music industry which is being born these years doesn't care about the CD or whichever particular medium. It's all digital and it's all over the network. And advertising is driving the business, not CD sales.
Nice blog with free files and without annoying ads
Libervis.com 2004 - 2013 | Terms of Service |Privacy Policy | Contact | A project by Daniel Memetic


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Science - July 1, 2014
Learning from experience
A lot of the academic articles we published over the past year are open-ended: this is the current status, and the next step is… In this number we look back on three of these projects. How did it end?
Of mosquitoes and men
In the second edition of this academic year, Resource followed three young scientists in their pursuit of a prestigious Veni grant.
They sweated for months over the perfect proposal, presented their ideas to neutral professors and then waited for the verdict with baited breath. In the end, two of the three were rewarded with a grant, one of them entomologist Niels Verhulst. He is going to use his grant to research how mosquitoes move between humans and apes. Verhulst has already completed his first fieldwork. In May he spent two weeks in Cameroon looking for mosquitoes which bite apes. To do this he placed odour traps at a chimpanzee rescue centre, where odour and bacteria samples were also taken from the apes. Odour traps were set up in the jungle as well, near nests in which chimpanzees slept at night. A tough job. Verhulst walked through dense jungle every day for eight hours, lugging batteries and solar panels for the odour traps along with him. 'Unfortunately, Cameroon was not the success story we had hoped for,' says Verhulst. 'We didn't catch many mosquitoes.' He thinks perhaps May was not the ideal month for collecting mosquitoes. But he remains optimistic. The traps at the rescue centre are still in operation. What is more, failures are all part of the game in such a big project. Verhulst: 'You just can't have everything worked out in advance.'
'Crowd' saves the ash
They were looking for 150,000 euros to save the ash from dieback. So Sven de Vries and Jitze Kopinga at Alterra turned to the 'crowd', using means including a hip fi lm on Youtube.
That was last November. De Vries can now declare the fundraising campaign a success, albeit different to what they expected. 'You expect responses from all sorts of people who care about the fate of the ash. But it turned out quite differently.' The campaign only got three responses. From a large estate manager, a lane tree nursery and a park tree nursery. All three wanted to contribute in kind, offering their labour but no money. But it looks likely to work out well, explains De Vries. 'The tree nurseries can apply for subsidies which can be used to do our research. They can make their own contribution in kind. We have good prospects of those subsidies and they will probably come to even more than the 150,000 euros we asked for. So it has worked, really. I am very optimistic about it.' Kopinga and De Vries want to use the funding to select ash trees which are resistant to the fungus that causes dieback. This kind of research went by the board after the abolition of the Horticulture Product Board. The first tests have now been started. 'The costs come before the benefits.' De Vries is happy with his 'crowd funders'. 'There are only three of them but they do cover the whole spectrum: two kinds of nurseries and a large estate manager who can accommodate our trial plots. Iam very satisfied with this.'
Doping study: waiting for funding
Around the time of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Rikilt wrote an analysis of superdoping drug MGF (Mechano Growth Factor) and similar growth hormones.
MGF could not yet be traced by the sport doping detectives, but Rikilt had a method of identifying the synthetic variant of these kinds of growth hormones in cattle. The Wageningen research institute wanted to create a similar doping test for sportspeople. What is the status? As is often the case with scientific innovation, the researchers are still having to wait until someone is willing to finance the implementation of the plan. The Dutch government does not fund doping laboratory research, the Dutch doping authority has no budget for research, and the European Union is showing no interest either. So in March Rikilt researchers Nathalie Smits and Saskia Sterk submitted a research funding proposal to WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency. But this organization is not in a hurry. Only at the end of the year will the two researchers hear whether they will get funding. Sterk must be patient, then, and secretly hope that doping scandals flare up in the meantime. Because publicity about doping often leads to new research contracts. Later this year, for instance, Sterk is going to study exactly how clenbuterol, a growth hormone used in livestock farming, can end up in the urine of sportspeople after they have eaten meat. She might then at last be able to reach a conclusion on whether Alberto Contador was guilty of doping in the 2010 Tour de France, or was a victim of contaminated meat.


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Papers Please
As the naive outsider the French Cowboy is, I couldn't see what is in the new Arizona immigration law that's so controversial. As I understand it, the law says that if there's reason to suspect a person to be an illegal immigrant, police should check whether that's actually the case. Boy, you have to wonder what they've been doing until now if they haven't been doing that. I doubt that legal immigrants have a problem with that. After all, they don't gain anything from illegal immigrants' reputation – let alone the real problems they cause – spilling over to them.
Of course it could happen that suspicions fall on a person who is not an illegal immigrant. That person would probably be indignant about having to prove their legal status. The French Cowboy sure wouldn't like to be in such a situation. But to say that this is insufferable is like complaining that you have to show your ticket to the conductor when you're riding the train.
In the other case, when police finds reason to ask someone for their papers who doesn't have any because he or she is in the country illegally – well, tough luck. Are critics of the law really going to complain that it risks that police actually find illegal immigrants? You almost have the impression that this is the case.
The law explicitly states that people cannot be asked for their papers simply on the basis of "race, color or national origin". So when the French Cowboy orders an A.1.® Steakhouse XT™ Burger menu at a Phoenix Burger King and some law-enforcement official notices my French accent, she can't just pull me over and ask me to prove that I'm in the country legally and haven't snucked in over the Canadian border, taped under a lobster transporting truck. And if necessary, I will remind her of that.
Here's my theory why some Dems are so worked up about this law: illegal immigrants are the easiest way for businesses to circumvent minimum wage laws. Officially, Democrats are in favour of minimum wages, but they know that businesses suffer from it (as does everybody else, but that's for another post). Hence, in recompense for the minimum-wage burden, Democrats tacitly allow businesses to hire illegals (whom they can pay subsistence wages) so that those businesses keep on donating money to the Dems.
Busting illegal immigrants means fewer "actually minimum wage" workers to hire. Furthermore, when an illegal is found to work for a specific company, that business is in trouble, too. If the Democrats got serious about immigration law enforcement, businesses who exploit illegal immigrants would no longer see their interests protected by the party of the Left and would stop backing them.
I also hear that the DoJ is trying to find arguments saying that the law is unconstitutional. The administration that had no problem signing into law that every American has to buy a costly health insurance, and has to be covered from the moment of birth till the last breath taken, smells unconstitutionality in a law that requires verification of the immigration status of persons reasonably considered suspicious. And Obama wants us to shed our cynicism? Meanwhile, the only people to escape Obama's health care regime are illegal immigrants. Lucky baskets.


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A delicious loaf that's simple to make using spelt and wheat flours, which my growing grand-daughter puts away at the rate of 2 loaves per week (there's no better recommendation)
My 9 year old granddaughter was recently advised to "avoid wheat and dairy", pending a visit to an allergy specialist. She loves bread so I tried various gluten-and wheat free flours with minimal success at tasting time ("yeuk!"), before we discovered accidentally that she showed no reaction to my baking when I use "ordinary" Shipton Mill products. The only challenge was to find something that passed the taste test and sparked no alllergic reaction. I have a spreadsheet of all the different combinations we tried before we lit upon a loaf that ticks all the boxes.
Please note:After originally posting this as "Ellie's loaf", I found that there was already a contribution from an "Ellie". As she got here first I have retitled this as "Little Ellie's", with apologies to the original!
50 grams wholemeal spelt flour
50 grams white spelt flour
10 grams dried yeast
300 mls water (I use it straight from the tap)
Pinch of sugar
Half tsp salt
2 tbsp "Pure" soya margarine (or other dairy-free alternative)
50 grams stoneground wholemeal flour
250 grams strong white flour.
For the starter, place the spelt flours in a bowl with the sugar and yeast, pour in the water and whisk. Then cover with clingfilm and leave.
Once the starter starts showing signs of vigorous activity, add the remaining ingredients and mix to a rough dough. At this point I generally cover and leave to "rest" for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until you have a smoothe dough that "springs back" to the touch. Oil your mixing bowl (I'm a fan of "one-Cal" olive oil spray), return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise.
Once your dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured board and knock back to remove all the bubbles. Shape the dough into a tight ball with floured hands, and then to your final preferred loaf shape.
As "Ellie's loaves" are primarily used for school packed lunch sandwiches, she prefers "tin" shape, so oil a 2lb loaf tin, shape your dough into a rectangle the same width as the tin, roll tightly and place in the tin. Cover and leave to prove. In the meantime set your oven to maximum.
Once your loaf has proved (doubled in size) set the oven at 250C, carefully slash the top of the loaf diagonally 3 times with a very sharp knife (I know someone who uses a razor blade) and place in the oven.
I usually cook for 5 minutes at 250c, 10 minutes at 230c and judge the final 5 minutes, depending on the the colour at 190c or 180c (Ellie doesn't like it too dark).
When done turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
At this point I put my feet up and wait for the next call "Grandad....."
Tip: Depending on the brand of spelt used, the initail dough can be very wet, but I find a handful of wholemeal flour renders it more "manageable".
Added by: David Adsett
If you add a recipe with a photo to the Shipton Mill website, we will send you a voucher for 15% off your next order from the Flour Direct shop.
It's very easy, just click here to visit your "My Shipton Mill" page to get started.
Good news, we are taking orders again, as normal. Thank you for bearing with us during the challenge of C19 and we look forward to supplying you with our flour in the future.
Important note: Orders containing 10 sacks or more will be delivered by pallet.
Keep safe and well
The Shipton Millers


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Innovative in approach and inspiring in more ways than one, the SR Digi School now turns learning into an unforgettable experience. This new concept adds a new dimension to the traditional text book and blackboard method of teaching. Visual aids now change the way things are taught and understood thereby improving the power of understanding in students.
This technology reaches out to the common man through its affordability and provides the ideal platform for children from all walks of life to make a mark for themselves. The school not only creates an avenue for those who aspire to make their dreams come true, it also inspires students to pick up their subjects with ease and be on par with the best. The school has classes from Nursery to X with all the usual amenities
To bring quality education within reach of the common man with easy admissions, affordable education and all the amenities to empower learning.
In its endeavor to turn out disciplined, dignified and highly focused individuals, SR believes in motivating children to be responsible citizens of the country.
The SR Group
In step with its mission, SR has not only provided the ideal education platform on level with global technological changes, it has brought quality education within affordable reach of one and all! With a lineage of over 43 years, SR Digi School has set up landmark institutions and provides the best infrastructure to nurture growth. Working continuously to shape and encourage young minds, SR is the perfect threshold for those who want to make a mark and rub shoulders with the best in the world.
Besides setting very high standards, SR has made a name for itself in the field of education by setting up an array of educational institutions. These make sure that students get a firm foundation and move forward into colleges and get job-ready with all the required skills. The SR umbrella covers the entire span from education to employability.
The men at the helm
Shri Madhukar Reddy, Director | Shri Santhosh Reddy, Director
The new generation of Directors carry the SR tradition ahead in every respect. Building on the foundations set up by Shri Varadha Reddy, they work towards ensuring that the SR name goes with quality education at every stage. While maintaining discipline, they focus on academics and administration.
Their total commitment and contribution in a student's education and progress is four fold:
- Counsel and motivate students to give their very best
- Complete involvement in the teaching process
- Regular feedbacks from students on the quality of teaching
- Be easily accessible to students


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Old Montreal Guided Walking Tour with Place Jaques-Cartier
Information from Viator
Tour description
Experience the history and progression of Old Montreal on this 1.5-hour walking tour. Follow a guide into off-the-path courtyards and see where the city started in the almost forgotten Place Royale. Stroll through the bustling squares of Place Jacques-Cartier and Place d'Armes, and pass by renovated historic warehouses in Old Port and on rue de la Commune, home to swanky restaurants and tech start-ups. On this tour, see the best of both east and west Old Montreal.
Meet your knowledgeable guide at a central café in Old Montreal for your 1.5-hour walking tour that combines top attractions located in both eastern and western Old Montreal.Stroll through the cobbled square of Place Jacques-Cartier, lined with cafes and street performers, and learn about the 1809 monument commemorating Lord Nelson's defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte at Trafalgar. Carry on to Place d'Armes, where you'll find the Gothic Revival architecture of Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, inaugurated in 1829. Discover the grand buildings of finance on Saint-Jacques Street, Montreal's version of Wall Street, and as you pass the restored historic warehouses along Saint Paul Street, hear about this former center of fur trade. Visit Place Royale, a picturesque and quiet square, where you'll see Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, built on top of actual remains of the city's birthplace. Explore Notre-Dame Street, rue de la Commune, and discover hidden courtyards. In Old Port, walk along a historic riverfront of maritime facilities, museums, shops and cafes. Your tour ends at the departure point.
What's included
- Professional guide
What's not included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities


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I know I am really late to the party on this but I was just recently offered a spot in the Champion of Champions race during the Rottnest race. The added kicker is I am coming from the States .
I am hoping to secure a boat and skipper for the race. Since I am coming from the States I won't have a local crew either. A kayaker would be a real bonus. I have experience feeding from a boat but a kayaker is easier.
I am an experienced marathon swimmer/racer. I most recently swam the Catalina Channel in September and completed the swim around Manhattan last year.
Because of the time differences communication via email is preferable. My email address is email@example.com. Or you can respond back on this forum. I can also be reached by phone at +13714907101 or via WhatsApp. Compensation to be provided of course.
Thanks for you consideration.


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Networking is a great way to grow your business, so we've made it simple to find a local event that speaks to your business needs by aggregating tons of great local entrepreneurial, tech, and business development events into one easy-to-use calendar.
Note: Many events are imported to StartWheel's calendar automatically. Event details are subject to change without notice to us. Please be sure to visit event organizer's website to confirm event details.
Events for September 3, 2019
Events Search and Views Navigation
9:00 am
SCORE Mentoring Sessions – Norfolk Office
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About This Project
Cancer drugs can damage hair follicle cells and cause severe hair loss. In many cases, the exact mechanisms of how and why cancer drugs cause hair loss is unknown. In this project we will treat human hair follicles with the breast cancer drug, Taxol, and study how treatment affects cell division, cell death, and cell differentiation. By treating hair follicles with Taxol, we hope to gain a better understanding of the hair forming machinery of how this human tissue responds to Taxol.
Ask the ScientistsJoin The Discussion
What is the context of this research?
Cancer drugs frequently cause hair loss which can negatively affect patient well being. This side effect is not a high research priority for large funding providers. As a result limited resources are available to effectively study this and both research and treatment options are years behind what they could be. In the laboratory, we can dissect donated human scalp tissue and isolate hair follicles. These follicles continue to happily live and grow hair outside of the body, allowing us to study & manipulate tissue 'ex vivo' which eliminates the need for us to experiment on animal or human subjects. With this method, we are able to experiment with cancer drugs to study how they affect the hair follicle, including within rapidly dividing cells that make hair itself.
What is the significance of this project?
This project will provide quantitative data for how human hair follicle cells respond to the cancer drug Taxol. We will measure cell division, cell death, and cell differentiation in hair follicle cells treated with Taxol after 5 days.
The results of this project will be used as preliminary data to apply for future funding to a) further develop and test protective strategies and b) broaden our research focus to include a wider range of cancer drugs that cause alopecia. Future drug targets include Taxotere.
More importantly, this work carries wider research significance by modelling the complex biological effects of Taxol in a functional and healthy human tissue system.
What are the goals of the project?
To characterise how human hair follicles respond to Taxol, we will treat human hair follicles with different concentrations of Taxol. Our control will be hair follicles treated without Taxol (vehicle). We will observe the cell division cycle, cell death, and cell differentiation at the 5 day time point on human hair follicle tissue sections by use of in situ immunofluorescence staining assays.
For hair follicles treated with Taxol, we will examine DNA replication, mitosis, and apoptosis after 5 days to establish how the hair forming machinery of the human tissue responds to this cancer drug.
The results will be used as part of a wider unfunded research initiative studying how cancer chemotherapy affects cell division in human hair follicle (e.g. shorter term Taxol organ cultures).
For this study we will have a sample size of at least 3 human hair follicle cultures, with at least 4 individual anagen VI hair follicles per condition.
In total we will treat a minimum of 12 hair follicles with Taxol and 12 hair follicles without Taxol (from 3 patients). We will test Taxol at a concentration of 100nM, with additional lower dose concentrations (e.g. 1nm & 10nm) subject to human tissue availability
After treatment of 5 days we will harvest the human hair follicles and analyse cell growth, differentiation and death in situ. To do this we will perform immunofluorescence staining on human hair follicle tissue sections and imaging by fluorescence microscopy for analysis .
To accomplish this we need to purchase TUNEL and EdU kits, and Ki-67 and KRT85 antibodies.
In addition, to fulfil our project objectives, we will employ existing resources in our laboratory, such as equipment and general laboratory materials and consumables.
Endorsed by
Project Timeline
Work is projected to commence from September 2018 for a minimum of two months of experimental work as part of an actively on-going (unfunded) research initiative.
Jun 04, 2018
Project Launched
Sep 30, 2018
Completion of planned human hair follicle organ cultures with Taxol
Oct 31, 2018
Processing of all organ cultures and experiments / in situ assays
Dec 31, 2018
Complete data analysis, synthesise and share results/key findings on Experiment.com
Meet the Team
Talveen Purba
I am a researcher at the Centre for Dermatology Research, University of Manchester, UK.
In 2012 I commenced my 4 year PhD with Professor Ralf Paus in his human hair follicle and skin research laboratory from which I have published (see - publications) and presented internationally on research areas related to human hair follicle biology, stem cells and the cell (division) cycle.
I have since continued my research in the same laboratory with research interests in stem cells, manipulating dividing cells in human hair follicles and studying the effects of which on cancer chemotherapy.
Jon Hardman
My name is Jonathan and I am currently a research scientist at the University of Manchester in the division of musculoskeletal and dermatological sciences.
I began my research career in 2011 with Professor Ralf Paus studying how the biological clock influences the skin and hair follicle biology.
Since receiving my PhD in December 2014 I have been continuing my research in the area of hair follicle biology and dermatology where my current research interests focus on better understand and treating human hair loss disorders, alopecias. (See my publications here)
Kayumba Ng'andu
I am a University of Huddersfield student doing my undergraduate placement year within the lab of Professor Ralf Paus (University of Manchester). My research involves pharmacologically manipulating the cell cycle within organ cultured human hair follicles.
Aaron O'Brien
My name is Aaron, and I am a Biotechnology undergraduate studying at the University of Manchester, currently completing a summer internship in the Centre for Dermatology Research.
My internship entails analysing how stem cells are influenced in hair follicles exposed to chemotherapy.
Charlotte Mellor
I study Medical Biochemistry at The University of Manchester, and I am currently doing a Medical Research Council internship in the Centre for Dermatology Research.
My internship project currently involves optimising protocols to visualise the expression of different cell cycle regulatory proteins, such as CDT1 and Geminin, within the human hair follicle matrix.
Lab Notes
Nothing posted yet.
Additional Information
Project Backers
- 20Backers
- 42%Funded
- $826Total Donations
- $41.30Average Donation


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"E-commerce operations are already covered under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986," Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Patil Danve said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
He was replying to a query whether there is any proposal to bring e-commerce operations under the Consumer Protection Law in view of complaints of cheating and other malpractices by such companies.
Danve said trading of goods by e-commerce does not attract levy of service tax.
"Goods which are imported/manufactured are cleared on payment of duty of customs/central excise, as the case may be, at the time of import/clearance from the factory.
"Therefore, as far as the Central Government is concerned, there is no loss to indirect tax revenue due to expansion of e-commerce," Danve said.
The Consumer Protection Act provides for better protection of consumers interest. Under the law, consumer forums have been set up for the settlement of disputes.
To further strengthen this law, the government is planning to introduce amendments to the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 1986 in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament.
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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Meeting between the LDA of Dnipropetrovsk Region and the Region Alsace in Dnipropetrovsk
On Saturday 24th October, Anzhelika Pylypenko, Delegate of the LDA of the Dnipropetrovsk Region, and Kyrylo Batalov, Deputy Delegate of the LDA, had a meeting with Jean-Marie Belliard and his colleague in Dnipropetrovsk, at Menorah Hotel. Jean-Marie Belliard is a representative of one of the LDA's partners: the region Alsace.
They had a fruitful discussion about the current economic and political conditions in Dnipropetrovsk and whole Ukraine, as well as about the nowadays projects, in which the LDA takes part. Anzhelika and Kyrylo presented their former wins and a plenty part of relations between the LDA and the Regional Office of Reforms.
The region Alsace is now involved in the elections monitoring process as international observer. They have rather big plan of trips within Dnipropetrovsk region. The LDA's delegates suggested them to visit Yuvileine community to see the real example of decentralization process and to better discover the work of the LDA. Mr. Belliard will also join the LDA partner meeting in Wroclaw, on next 18th November.
The LDA's delegate are particularly glad of this meeting and look forward to a further cooperation with their valuable partners.


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It's been a while in the making, a while in the dreaming, and in the the editing, revising and editing again. But my first young adult novel Find Me is finished and out there in the world of Amazon book sales, finding readers. Will you be one of them?
Here's what it's all about, the story so far. And yes, there is much more to come!
Skye Sebastian, seventeen, has a crippling fear of being in the ocean after losing her mother to it when she was a child. Her father is still broodingly obsessed with his wife's death.
Learning her mother may not have drowned, and responding to the sea-longing that haunts her, Skye returns to the coastal village of her childhood.
There, a strong bond grows between Skye and Hunter, a compelling swimmer. But who is Hunter, and why does he never leave the sea? He has the answers she seeks about her mother. But can her love survive the awful truth? Will either of them survive the sacrifices they must make?
"Come with me," and share the love that leads an ordinary girl into the impossible.
For a look inside Find Me on Amazon click here


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We must pay more attention to child abuse
Hi, I'm Chloe Kosola, a ninth-grader at Windsor High School, and I'm passionate about raising awareness of child abuse and how it affects the victim. Child abuse might seem like something that doesn't happen anymore or that kids are misinterpreting punishment for abuse, but that is not the case.
I conducted a survey at my high school about how aware my peers are of child abuse and some of the results shocked me. 46.4 percent of the students who took my survey said they had experienced or knew someone who had experienced child abuse, which is shocking because Windsor seems like a safe town, but we don't know what goes on behind closed doors. I want to understand how being verbally, emotionally or physically abused and neglected affects a child in school and later on in life. I hope you want to learn more about the effects, too. In my opinion, making people more aware of abuse can empower them to look for signs of abuse and take action. These children just want to be loved and cared for, and maybe we can show them what that means. You, the people in our community, have the power to make a difference in this town and actually help people.
We can all do something to help these children who have to struggle every day, even if it is just educating ourselves about child abuse and looking for signs. You, the people of Windsor, can take action to aid victims of child abuse. Everyone can work together to put a stop to this problem. According to the article in Times Magazine "How child abuse primes the brain for future mental illness," brain development, impaired social and learning abilities, and lower language development are just a few consequences of child abuse.
On average, the United States loses five children every day to child neglect and abuse. We have to take action to put a stop to these children's pain. Please help me change this statistic and help the children and our community.
Chloe Kosola, Windsor
Extraction's effort to 'listen' isn't enough
The Saturday Tribune carried Tyler Silvy's article regarding an announcement by Extraction Oil and Gas stating policy for future drilling operations in Bella Romero Academy's backyard.
Here are a few highlights of the announcement: Eighty percent of drilling operations would occur outside of school hours. Within the next two weeks, the company will use a smaller electric drilling rig, which Extraction spokesman Brian Cain called "phenomenally quiet." After the students leave school May 23, Extraction will bring in a larger traditional rig.
All this is dressed up as good news for the community. "We listen to our communities," Cain said. County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer agrees: "Extraction is going above and beyond to be a good neighbor." Even our Greeley-Evans School District 6 Superintendent Deirdre Pilch called the announcement a step in the right direction. Really?
Isn't Extraction still getting what it wants? Isn't the company still going to "extract" from the school's backyard? Even though the process is "phenomenally quiet," is not our children's health potentially jeopardized? Phyllis Endicott in her column on Wednesday brings to light studies that show significant negative health outcomes for those living near fracking sites. The industry releases volatile organic compounds, such as benzene and formaldehyde, which compromise a plethora of health systems. Why is no mention made of these threats in the May 5 article?
If Extraction truly had an ear for the community, the company might consider placing a sidewalk for the safety of the children. Or even better, recognize the health implications on our most vulnerable and voiceless elements of our population and abandon the site. Absent that, their words are oily at best.
Don Perl, Greeley


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Perhaps we in New Zealand are best known for our noble and glorious celluloid contributions to the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy, but New Zealand also has a rich and very diverse community of Fantasy and Science Fiction writers. In this blog we aim to shine a light on just a few of those authors. Enjoy!
Dreamhunter / Knox, Elizabeth
"Set in 1906, Dreamhunter describes a world very similar to ours, except for a special place, known simply as the Place, where only a select group of people can go. These people are called Dreamhunters and they harvest dreams which are then transmitted to the general public for the purposes of entertainment, therapy – or terror and political coercion. Fifteen-year-old cousins Laura Hame and Rose tiebold both come from famous dreamhunting families, but only Laura proves to be blessed with the gift and once inside the Place she finds out what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever-growing population of convicts and political dissenters." (Adapted from Catalogue)
Flame of Sevenwaters / Marillier, Juliet
"Going home can be the hardest thing of all… When Maeve, twenty year old daughter of Lord Sean of Sevenwaters, accompanies a skittish horse back to Erin, she must confront her demons. For Maeve carries the legacy of a childhood fire in her crippled hands. She has lived with her aunt in Britain for ten years, developing a special gift for gentling difficult animals. Then Maeve arrives home to find Sevenwaters in turmoil." (Adapted from Catalogue)
The scarlet tides / Hair, David
"Return to Urte, a land in chaos: where the smallest choice may save or damn the world. The Moontide has come, and a scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, slaughtering and pillaging in the name of Emperor Constant. But the Scytale of Corineus, the source of ultimate magical power, has slipped through the emperor's fingers. His ruthless Inquisitors are desperately seeking the artefact, before it falls into the hands of those who would bring down the Empire. But there are some who have pledged to end the cycle of war and restore peace to Urte. They are the unlikeliest of heroes: a failed mage, a gypsy and a lowly market-girl. As East and West clash more violently than ever before, Urte will discover that love, loyalty and truth can be forged into weapons as deadly as swords and magic." (Adapted from Catalogue)
Burnt ice / Wheeler, Steve
"Humans and hybrids and strange new creatures fight for survival on Earth and across the galaxies. A superb space adventure from a fresh new voice. In our future worlds the Administration rules the Sphere of Humankind, the Games Board sanctions and funds wars and conflicts, and the Haulers' Collective roams the space routes like the caravanners of old. Marko and his crew of fellow soldier-engineers are sent to investigate an unknown planet. When they encounter strange artefacts and an intelligent but aggressive squid species, they are forced to embark on a perilous journey far from the Sphere." (Adapted from Catalogue)
Phoenix rising : a Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novel / Ballantine, Pip
"These are dark days indeed in Victoria's England. Londoners are vanishing, then reappearing, washing up as corpses on the banks of the Thames, drained of blood and bone. Yet the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences- the Crown's clandestine organization whose bailiwick is the strange and unsettling- will not allow its agents to investigate. Fearless and exceedingly lovely Eliza D. Braun, however, with her bulletproof corset and a disturbing fondness for dynamite, refuses to let the matter rest…and she's prepared to drag her timorous new partner, Wellington Books, along with her into the perilous fray." (Adapted from Catalogue)
Twilight of the dead / Bishop, David
"Bishop's alternative history trilogy comes to a terrifying climax in this final novel. April 1945: as German and Russian troops fight desperate battles through the streets of Berlin, a new threat rises from the forbidding mountains of Transylvania–an undead army of Vampyr warriors. Original. April 1945: The war's end is close as German and Russian troops fight desperate battles through the streets of Berlin. But a new threat rises from the forbidding mountains of Transylvania, an undead army of Vampyr warriors. As the war in Europe reaches its brutal climax, the bloody fight for mankind's future begins!" (Catalogue)
The right hand of God / Kirkpatrick, Russell
"The conclusion of a superb feat of epic storytelling.Can the Company save their world? The Company and the Arkhimm have scattered far and wide in their quest to warn Faltha of imminent invasion by the armies of the Destroyer. They now have possession of the Jugom Ark, the flaming Arrow of legend which, it is believed, will defeat their enemy. When Leith carries the Ark into the city of Instruere, thousands of people flock to him to fight for Faltha in the coming war. But Leith is finding it difficult to accept people's faith in him and his role as custodian of the Ark." (Adapted from Catalogue)
Star sailors / McNaughton, James
"In the not too distant future, the effects of climate change devastate the world and New Zealand becomes a haven for elites. When a young couple from the wrong side of the tracks gain entry into Wellington's most exclusive gated community, it appears their troubles are over. But they find themselves divided over the identity of Sam Starsailor, an alien prophet who has washed up on a beach near New Hokitika and is said to bring warnings from another planet. The couple's housewarming party becomes an all-night carnival, and revolution gathers beyond the gate." (Catalogue)


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Status: In Production
MIC28304 is synchronous step-down regulator module, featuring a unique adaptive ON-time control architecture. The module incorporates a DC-to-DC controller, power MOSFETs, bootstrap diode, bootstrap capacitor and an inductor in a single package. The MIC28304 operates over an input supply range from 4.5V to 70V and can be used to supply up to 3A of output current. The output voltage is adjustable down to 0.8V with a guaranteed accuracy of ±1%. The device operates with programmable switching frequency from 200kHz to 600kHz. HyperLight Load® architecture provides the same high-efficiency and ultra-fast transient response as the Hyper Speed Control™ architecture under the medium to heavy loads, but also maintains high efficiency under light load conditions by transitioning to variable frequency, discontinuous-mode operation. The MIC28304 offers a full suite of protection features to ensure protection of the IC during fault conditions. These include under-voltage lockout to ensure proper operation under power-sag conditions, internal soft-start to reduce inrush current, foldback current limit, "hiccup" mode short-circuit protection and thermal shutdown.
For pricing and availability, contact Microchip Local Sales.


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Whether you're looking for a simple wardrobe update or need advice on defining your individual style, our expert personal shoppers are here to help.
Come on your own, in pairs or with a small group. A personal shopping experience at Myer is tailored to your individual needs.
Located within selected Myer stores, you'll receive expert advice, styling tips and industry secrets from our talented team of professionals. Our personal shoppers can even help you with curated lifestyle, homewares, cosmetics and gifting edits.
A personal shopping appointment typically runs for 60–90 minutes. An extended appointment may be available depending on your personal shopper's availability on the day.


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More kitchen gizmos ➡like this
Are you tired of splatters and mess caused by preparing your food in your microwave oven? This Tovolo Collapsible Microwave Cover can help you with that. It allows steam to escape but contains splatters. The microwave cover expands up to 3.5 inches and can collapse to 1 inch. It should fit most plates and bowls.
*some of our articles have aff links. Please read our disclaimer on how we fund Exxponent.


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Frühgeburt – Interdisziplinäres, interprofessionelles, evidenzbasiertes Management
13 Dec 2018
- Berlin, DeutschlandLocation
Make sure to copy Registration number after successful submission.
Thank you for payment.
Your payment is verified online.
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The European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) is the first pan-European organisation and network to represent the interests of preterm and newborn infants and their families.
EFCNI is a non-profit organisation established under German public law | Tax reference number 143/235/22619, certificate dated January 7, 2020
Berlin, Deutschland


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Benjie here, resuming our Mongolian narrative from the middle of the interminably long valley between Khovd and Altai that essentialized our fourth day in the country. This may have been the most frustrating stretch of our drive through Mongolia: the landscape was flat and repetitive, offering no distraction from the torturous, obscenity-inducing washboard road we were forced to drive on. Roads like these wreak havoc on cars' suspension systems, and while ours remained intact (for the moment) our Danish friends had frequent problems including one harrowing moment when their left rear suspension spring cracked entirely and busted through the frame of their car, allowing the person in the back seat to see straight through to the road below.
After ten hours and several stops for MacGyver-esque repairs to the Danes' Fiat, we emerged from the Valley of Death and climbed over some small mountains onto a beautiful green plateau that puts the ubiquitous Windows desktop picture to shame. We careened along, thrilled to be back on pleasant dirt roads. The skiing metaphor mentioned in our last post is entirely apt: some lines are better than others, and I would alternately cackle as we flew by other cars or mutter oaths after making a bad choice. Our English friends, Rob and Jack, were a little over-zealous and gunned it over the plateau too fast to notice a massive pothole in front of them that stopped their car dead in its tracks and caused their roof rack to fly a good ten feet further. Two days, two roof racks gone—but hey, it's Mongolia, that's what's supposed to happen.
Eventually we reached the edge of the plateau where the little town of Altai unfolded below us, its bright multicolored roofs contrasting sharply with the endless brown, green, and blue of the steppe. The paved roads were mediocre by American standards, but to us they felt like silk. Our English and Northern Irish friends were on a tighter schedule and decided to press on that night, while we stayed in Altai with our Danish and Israeli friends to wait on repairs for the Fiat and treat ourselves to a hot meal, cold beer, bed, and toilet.
The next morning we all met up back at the repair place, where an apparently drunk mechanic, cigarette in mouth and no eye protection, was busily welding various pieces of metal onto the Danes' car in an attempt to restore their suspension to a semi-intact state. Around noon, we rolled out of town and spent about 100km on a nice paved road which ended with absolutely no warning just over the crest of a small hill. I wasn't disappointed, though: save for the washboard stuff, off-roading in Mongolia was the most fun I've ever had behind the wheel. With dark clouds building and the wind picking up, Keshav Pothole got its first flat tire of the trip; fortunately, changing a tire is within our extremely limited realm of auto-expertise. Soon after, the storm began in earnest—and with the rain being blown in sheets across the unprotected steppe, the Danes lost their roof rack to an unexpected ridge. The poor guys could not get a break. Three days, three roof racks.
We made it across hills and valleys covered in bizarre rock formations to a little town where we came upon a Scottish team and a French team who were getting repairs. They joined us at our campsite just past the town, where we had an excellent bonfire with the remains of Rob and Jack's roof rack, drank brandy, and had a lovely conversation that took full advantage of the myriad nationalities and languages represented by our convoy. Being in convoy with other teams was a crucial part of crossing Mongolia: it's safer and a hell of a lot more fun. Anybody crazy enough to do the Rally is likely someone you would be happy to spend time with.
The next morning we negotiated a small stream and then made decent time over the endless steppe with only animals for company: confused sheep, curious goats, arrogant camels. The Danes didn't have to stop for repairs until mid-afternoon, easily a record, and at this point we found ourselves next to a few yurts, one of which had a food sign on it. We walked inside expecting a restaurant of sorts, but it turned out it was just a family's home: two beds, some chairs, and a central stove that burned cakes of dung. We asked if they could cook us food; they nodded and began showing us different ingredients: carrots, turnips, noodles, a large piece of an unidentified animal. Everything was cut up and thrown into a massive metal bowl on top of the stove with a healthy amount of salt. We drank hot horse milk while waiting, and eventually were treated to a hearty—if rather bland—meal.
We continued our journey. Mongolia is indeed one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but it's huge and the landscape, though stunning, becomes repetitive. Still, every once in a while we were treated to moments of the sublime, like when we crested a hill with the golden evening light behind us, dark storm clouds in the distance, and a perfect 180-degree rainbow dead ahead.
That evening, about 20km from Bayankhongor, KP sustained its first relatively serious injury when our rear left suspension spring snapped. We were initially worried, but fortunately our friends reassured us that we would still be able to drive and for the moment it was mainly an issue of comfort. So we said the hell with it and pressed on—the Danes, after all, had been driving without a fully-functioning suspension for days. We camped a few kilometers after Bayankhongor; it was the first campsite in Mongolia from which we could see any signs of habitation. But the stars were still incredible.
We were told that "the fun is over after Bayankhongor," meaning that from there to Ulaanbaatar the roads are all paved. Turns out this is not entirely the case: there are still stretches of unfinished highway, and the paved roads are mediocre at best (since the roads out of the capital were the first to be built, they're the oldest in the country). Nevertheless we made good progress and ended our day about 180km from the finish line in UB. Our final night camping was bittersweet: though we looked forward to beds and toilets and real food, we had come to really enjoy sitting around and cooking pasta together under the stars, bundling up against the cold, and crawling in to our sleeping bags at the end of a long day.
That being said, we were close enough that we could taste the finish, and the next day we constantly monitored the odometer as the kilometers ticked slowly by. The roads improved, the land became more developed, and eventually we hit a toll booth. Just after was a most welcome sign: Ulaanbaatar. We made our way to the "graveyard," from where the cars will be shipped back to Europe, and blasted music while we drove up onto the finish line platform and climbed out of the car for some celebratory photos, followed by the Israelis and, incredibly, the Danes in their embattled Fiat.
We were ecstatic, but it felt surreal at the same time: we had been planning this trip for over a year, and we'd been on the road for nearly six weeks through an extraordinary succession of different places and cultures. Remarkably, our little car had taken us all this way with hardly any problems. And here we were, suddenly finished, packing up our gear and driving away in a taxi, never to see our beloved KP again. Hopefully, of course, we will eventually see the real Keshav Poddar again once he has finished saving India from various diseases, pollution, corruption, and heat, but his close relative Keshav Pothole is destined for Lithuania, where it will be sold for charity.
Our taxi took us to the Office Hotel in central Ulaanbaatar. Its slogan: "Help Your Business." Well, the Rally was certainly helping its business, as the Adventurists have turned it into the finish line headquarters. Most of the finishing Ralliers stay here, and there is a big lobby full of velvet chairs where you can eat and drink beer and trade stories from the road. Teams can write their names on a huge board in the order that they finished (in case you're curious, we filled the esteemed #154 spot) so throughout the day you can have a look to see who else has come in. We've gotten to reconnect with the majority of teams we spent time with on the road, which has been wonderful. And the city itself—despite being the coldest and most polluted national capital in the world—has been very enjoyable. Decent Western food abounds, and I have spent my days eating eggs and bacon, drinking coffee, eating more bacon, reading and writing. Cooper ate steak for three consecutive meals. And Nick, before flying off this morning, reveled in the abundant free wifi. It's a very cheap city too: I got an hour-long massage the other day for $19. Cooper followed suit this afternoon. All in all, UB has provided excellent closure to an incredible experience.
The Mongol Rally truly is an amazing thing to do, and I'll admit to being a little surprised—as I'm sure some of you probably are—that we managed to complete it. While on the road I had always been a bit anxious in the back of my mind and therefore expected to be thrilled when it was over, which I was. But there was also a twinge of sadness and already part of me feels nostalgic for the open road. When you fly, you're sort of like a gopher: popping up in a new place with no sense of what lies in between. Traveling by car may not be the most efficient method, but it allows you to see everything along the way, which we often found to be more interesting and rewarding than the destination itself. We hope you've enjoyed the blog, and that it's helped to give you a sense of the Great In-Between. Thanks again for all of your support—we truly couldn't have done this without you.
The Rubikhans
Tumbling across the steppe
Racing a herd of wild horses (they won)
Benjie enjoys some fresh air
The Danes' Fiat, under the torch in Altai
The Rubikhans pause for a quick team photo
Nick changes our one and only puncture (while Benjie and Cooper look on and drink beer)
Our convoy, viewed from above. (Photo courtesy of Benjie's drone/GoPro setup!)
KP passes a yurt (another drone shot)
Dark storm clouds loom overhead…
Producing this marvellous light display
And this rainbow
One of many livestock crossings
KP flies by with Benjie at the helm
"Enjoying" warm horse milk in a yurt
Our new roofbox, replete with one of our super handy Goal Zero solar panels (and our power pack inside Cooper's bag)
Benjie and Adi (one of the Israelis) show off a last-minute cosmetic addition to the car
We made it!
Final country beers! It's been a wild ride.
Congratulations, guys! Your blog has been a joy to read.
Dear Rubikhans, Benjie's Uncle Hojay here. I belatedly discovered yesterday that I can respond to you. Shoot, I would have been commenting quickly to thank you for the indescribably marvelous photos and the delightful account of your journey. Better late than never, though, THANK YOU for the wonderful account, which I have been following with great pleasure. And CONGRATULATIONS on making the whole journey, and on carrying it off with such elan. Please keep the site up so we can all enjoy it for many years to come. Best wishes for safe journeys home, or to Uzbekistan, or wherever you are headed. Well done, guys.


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Hi, we are Marc and Shana
We love the outdoors, board games, good food, beer, adventures and all of the good things in life. We hope to share with you our adventures in backpacking, canoeing, board games, beer and everything else we love. Our ultimate goal is to homestead when we retire. We look forward to sharing our trials and mishaps as we plunder along towards our goal. Neither of us have a homesteading background so this should be quite the journey.
Welcome to our site!


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South African photojournalist Shiraaz Mahomed is alive and safe as confirmed by humanitarian relief organisation 'The Gift of The Givers' after having received a message late last night.
Mohamed received to a list of questions they had drafted when an anonymous caller said he could communicate with Mohamed.
It was these 10 questions that helped determine almost a year after Mohamed was kidnapped in Syria that he is still alive, the family said. Gift of the Givers made the announcement on Tuesday, after the family confirmed that it was only Mohamed who could have answered the questions.
According to Gift of the Givers, the anonymous caller told them that Mohamed had a message of his own to give when he received the questions: "salaams (greetings) for his mother and family and to Gift of the Givers, he is very happy with the questions and wants to be released asap".
READ MORE: Gift of the Givers' Imtiaz Sooliman talks to Newsbreak Lotus producer Salma Patel on Mohamed's situation in Syria
The caller used a middleman to deliver the questions to Mohamed. The answers were then received and sent to Gift of the Givers who confirmed with the family that they are correct.
January 10 marks a year since Mohamed was kidnapped outside a Gift of the Givers hospital in Darkoush in northern Syria near the Turkish border. Mohamed was set to leave Syria and was on his way to Turkey with Gift of the Givers when the abduction took place in rebel-held territory.
The answers mark the first public release of direct communication with Mohamed since his abduction. They are below:
1. What is the name of Shiraaz's mother?
2. What is the name of Shiraaz's father?
3. How many siblings does Shiraaz have?
4. What is the name of Shiraaz's flatmate?
5. Where did Shiraaz go for *jamaat in December 2016, before he went to Syria?
6. What is the name of any friend he went with for **umrah?
7. What is the name of the masjid Shiraaz spends ***itikaaf in?
8. Which country is Shiraaz's brother in law from?
9. Who dropped Shiraaz off at the airport before he left for Turkey/Syria?
10. What does Shiraaz's brother in law do for a living?
*jamaat: an ideological movement in Islam. Men, and sometimes couples, in the Tablighi jamaat go on trips to raise awareness about Islam
**umrah: a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca
***itikaaf: a seclusion where a Muslim spends a length of time inside a mosque during the month of Ramadan
READ MORE: Gift of the Givers' Imtiaz Sooliman talks to Newsbreak Lotus producer Salma Patel on Mohamed's situation in Syria
Mohamed's family said that the answers to the questions renewed hope that Shiraaz will return home safely and brought happiness at a time when his mother is battling a heart condition.
"We are very happy with the news, it brings added hope especially during my mother's illness. We ask that everyone continue to pray for our brother's safe and swift return," Sumaya Mohamed, Shiraaz's sister, said.
The reasons why Mohamed was taken and what his kidnappers want in exchange for his return remain unknown.


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The GST rollout has begun, and thanks to the impact of the new tax slab, Apple slashed prices of its iPhones, Macs, and Apple Watch in India. The day GST regime was launched in India, Apple iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE officially got a price-cut from the company, and these went live on the official Apple website as well. Additionally, Apple's new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iPad, and iPad mini 4 have got price-cut as well.
GST rollout impact on Apple iPhone prices
Apple iPhone 7 (32GB), which was launched at Rs 60,000 is now available at Rs 56,200. The 128GB and 256GB options of iPhone 7 can now be bought at Rs 65,200 and Rs 74,400 respectively. The phones were originally unveiled at Rs 70,000 and Rs 80,000.
The base model (32GB) of Apple iPhone 7 Plus is now available at Rs 67,300 as opposed to Rs 72,000 previously. iPhone 7 Plus (128GB) now comes at Rs 76,200, while the 256GB variant costs Rs 85,400. Apple unveiled the two variants at Rs 82,000, and Rs 92,000 respectively.
Apple iPhone 6s Plus (32GB), which was earlier Rs 60,000 can now be bough at Rs 56,100. The 128GB model is now available at Rs 65,000, as opposed to Rs 70,000 previously. The 32GB and 128GB of iPhone 6s are now available at Rs 46,900 and Rs 55,900 respectively. They were previously priced at Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000. Finally, iPhone SE 32GB and 128GB models come at Rs 26,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively, as opposed to Rs 27,200 and Rs 37,200 earlier.
GST rollout impact on Apple iPad prices
Apple's new 10.5-inch iPad Pro WiFi models in 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB can now be bought at Rs 50,800, Rs 58,300 and Rs 73,900. The three models were launched at Rs 52,900 for 64GB storage variant, Rs 60,900 for the 256GB model and Rs 76,900 for the 512GB options respectively.
Apple 10.5-inch iPad Pro WiFi+Cellular models now starts at Rs 61,400 for 64GB option. The 256GB variant can be bought at Rs 68,900 while 512GB variant costs Rs 84,500. The 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB models were originally launched at Rs Rs 63,900, Rs 71,900, and Rs 87,900 respectively.
Apple 12.9-inch iPad Pro 256GB and 512GB WiFi variants were launched at Rs 73,900 and Rs 89,900 respectively. They are now available at Rs 70,900 and Rs 86,400 respectively. The Wi-Fi+Cellular models, which were originally unveiled at Rs 76,900 (64GB), Rs 84,900 (256GB), and Rs 1,00,900 (512GB) are now available at Rs 74,100 (64GB), Rs 81,400 (256GB), and Rs 97,000 (512GB) respectively.
iPad WiFi models in 32GB and 128GB variants now cost Rs 28,000 and Rs 35,700 respectively. Previously the price was Rs 28,900 and Rs 36,900 respectively. iPad (WiFi+Cellular) in 32GB and 128GB storage options priced at Rs 38,600 and Rs 46,300 respectively. They were priced at Rs 39,900 and Rs 47,900. Apple iPad mini 4 (128GB) WiFi and WiFi+Cellular models cost Rs 33,800 and Rs 44,500 respectively. The old price is Rs 34,900 and Rs 45,900 respectively.
GST rollout impact on Apple MacBook prices
There's no significant price cut for Apple's MacBook series. The 128GB and 256GB models are available at Rs 80,900 and Rs 96,900 respectively. Apple 12-inch MacBook 1.2GHz, which was previously priced at Rs 1,09,900, is now available at Rs 1,04,800. The 1.3GHz model, earlier available at Rs 1,34,900, can now be bought at Rs 1,28,700.
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro (128GB) without Touch Bar, which was launched at Rs 1,09,900, can now be bought at Rs 1,04,900. The 256GB model is now available at Rs 1,21,100 as opposed to the original price of Rs 1,26,900.
Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro (256GB) (3.1GHz), which was launched at Rs 1,54,900, can now be bought at Rs 1,47,900. The 512GB model is now available at Rs 1,71,900 as oppsed to the original price of Rs 1,64,100. Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro now costs Rs 1,95,800 (256GB) and Rs 2,28,100 (512GB). The variants were launched at Rs 2,05,900 and Rs 2,39,900 respectively.
GST rollout impact on Apple Watch prices
Apple Watch (Series 1) will be available at Rs 22,900 as opposed to previous Rs 23,900. Apple Watch (Series 2), which was launched at Rs 32,900 can be now bought at Rs 31,600. Apple Watch Nike+ and Apple Watch Edition are now available at Rs 31,600 and Rs 1,05,700 respectively. The were unveiled at Rs 32,900 and Rs 1,10,900 respectively.
GST rollout impact on Apple Mac, iMac prices
Apple Mac Mini 1.4GHz, 2.6GHz, and 2.8GHz now cost Rs 40,990, Rs 57,700, and Rs 82,100 respectively. They were previously priced at Rs 40,990, 56,990 and Rs 79,990 respectively. Apple Mac Pro (Hexa-core) (3.5GHz) now costs Rs 2,43,100 as opposed to Rs 2,49,900 previously. The Octa-core (3.0Gz) model, which was earlier priced at Rs 3,29,900, now costs Rs 3,18,100.
Apple 21.5-inch iMac (2.3GHz) (Non-Retina), which was priced at Rs 90,900 now costs Rs Rs 90,200. The 3.0GHz model comes at Rs 1,06,400, as opposed to Rs 1,07,900 earlier. The 3.4GHz variant costs Rs 1,23,700 instead of Rs 1,24,900 previously.
Apple 27-inch iMac are now priced at Rs 1,47,400, Rs 1,66,00, and Rs 1,90,400 respectively for the 3.4GHz, 3.5GHz, and 3.8GHz models respectively. They were earlier priced at Rs 1,48,900, Rs 1,65,900, and Rs 1,89,900 respectively.
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Snuggle up and enjoy the best flavours of the season with hot chocolate, apple cider and tasty treats from our participating Downtown businesses! Wander over to the basement of Knox Presbyterian Church and on the street for a beautiful seasonal selection from the holiday market or enjoy a traditional horse & wagon ride through Downtown as it lights up for Christmas. Vote for your favourite holiday window display and be in the running to win a BIA gift certificate!
It's the final family-friendly event of the year, so join us in celebrating the holidays with family and friends in Downtown Georgetown. Enjoy an afternoon of entertainment, shopping, and activities. Halton Hills Public Library will also be running events to coordinate with this event.


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5 Most Popular Super Mario Games
Super Mario Games
There is no other way to say this than that Super Mario games are stunning. They are versatile, come with all sorts of features and there are many of them. You can download Super Mario ROMs on your computer and play them within seconds. The real question is which games you need to download. Well, the answers are explained below.
- Super Mario Bros.
We are referring to the original, the first and the one of a kind Super Mario Bros. game that made gaming so desirable and so popular as we know it today. The first game was defined as the most perfect and the most precise development of the kind. Players had to navigate Mario carefully, perform complicated and well-organized movements and so much more. The game was simple as well. According to the developers, it has to provide basic skills and basic movements of the characters.
There is no a lot of gamers who didn't play this game. All of this means is that it has been the most popular, the most important and the best of the best, period.
- Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 is still known as an evolutionally game that started the trend we have today. It was the most advanced game back in a day and it offered countless improvements and benefits compared to the second and first sequel. This was a day when other games had a few colors. Then we have Super Mario Bros. 3 which offers colorful gameplay with massive worlds and with countless options.
The game was so popular that it soon became one of the best games across the world. Players realized that gaming can be vivid, colorful and better than they got used to it.
- Super Mario Odyssey
Although the game is relatively new or better said the newest on our list, it is so popular that definitely deserves a place. The game features Mario, obviously who will use his hat to defeat all possible monsters and enemies, including T-rex.
The Super Mario Odyssey also features an intuitive gameplay and puzzles that a player must solve. There are plenty of levels to experience and the gameplay is better and more complex as you move along. The reason why the version is on our list is the combination of classic Mario game with newer details.
- Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 was released in the mid-90s and it was the 3D version of the game. As you would expect, players were thrilled with the gameplay and the details the new world had. It was also possible to use analog controllers to play with your character and to move around the world precisely as you like.
The world was massive, the movement was so real and the missions were fun but complicated at the same time. Nevertheless, it remains as one of the 3D games that was so popular that gamers became addicted to it.
- Super Mario Bros. 2
Of course, we will include the Super Mario Bros. 2. This game was best-known for the ability to play it using Mario, Princess, Luigi or Toad. Even better, each character had its own ability. For instance, Luigi was able to jump higher and longer than other characters, Princess had the ability to stay in the air while jumping for a few seconds and so much more.
The gameplay and the graphics were basic and if you recall, we did mention that the third sequel changed all of that. The second one aimed simple gameplay with a lot of missions, levels, and additions you were able to use.
Now you know which Mario games are the best and which one deserves your full attention. Start by downloading one or two of them and move to the next one until you find a game that is just right for you and your gaming needs.


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The newest political app for Election 2012? The status quo. Although we've seen dramatic changes in campaigns' use of technology since the first websites in 1996, the 2012 campaigns are focusing more on existing platforms. Those first websites were essentially tightly controlled carbon copies of campaign promotional materials: positions on the issues, how to donate, and how to get involved (offline). In 2000 both campaigns integrated dynamic features on their websites. In 2004 Howard Dean's supporters used Meetup.com to create an entirely new form of campaigning. In 2008 we saw Facebook, Twitter, and texting as the newest ways to communicate with voters.
But the growth, novelty, and innovation that have occurred every cycle appear to have slowed somewhat in 2012. This is evident from a report recently released by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. In some ways the candidates are using technology differently from 2008, but in many other ways they are quite similar.
What surprised me is that the Romney team lags behind the Obama team in overall digital activity. I figured, given McCain's low online profile compared with Obama's in 2008, that Romney would have created a more visible and active presence. But the report demonstrates that Romney still lags far behind Obama in nearly every measure, much like McCain did in '08. For example, the Obama website maintains a focus on targeted constituencies (like African Americans, women, and young Americans) much as he did in 2008, but the Romney site did not have any voter constituencies listed until July, and now it has only 10 compared with Obama's 18. Perhaps the biggest differences appear on Twitter, where the Obama campaign averaged 29 tweets a day during a two-week period in June, while the Romney camp averaged only one. But the fact that 16 percent of Obama's tweets were retweets suggests that this isn't necessarily a full immersion into Twitter's potential.
In 2008 the McCain and Obama teams differed much more dramatically in their use of technology. That Twitter was barely even on the playing field at the national level in 2008 (it was launched in 2006) made Obama's use of it all the more novel. McCain, on the other hand, famously admitted in a New York Times interview that he often had staff go online for him, and that he was working to become more computer-literate. So McCain's use of technology appeared that much less authentic, whereas Obama's appeared both authentic and savvy. Although there is no conclusive evidence that technology won Obama the 2008 election, many scholars certainly agree that it played some role, particularly for certain segments of the population like young people. Indeed, as Pew reported shortly after Election Day 2008, 66 percent of young voters supported Obama, making the gap between youth and other voters larger than in any presidential election since 1972.
This is why in 2012 I expected to see technological novelty and authenticity as the primary strategy from the campaigns. So it's somewhat surprising that their use of technology isn't exactly pushing the envelope. Obama is definitely continuing on his path of demonstrating technological savvy, with videos and apps, and with Facebook and Twitter. And 42 percent of Obama's blog posts originated from citizens. Many of the others were written by staff but included quotes from citizens. This does demonstrate an increase in citizen interactivity on these sites, yet the dialogue still exists in a controlled environment.
In addition to citizen interactivity on Obama's blog, there have been at least two innovations that are unprecedented and have come to us via the newest technology developed since 2008: the app. Mitt Romney released "Mitt's VP" so supporters could be the first to know his pick for vice president. The app, like Obama's, can also collect data about users to further the trend toward microtargeting messages to voters. But the Obama campaign not only has an app for supporters, with the usual information about issues and events, but also one for campaign organizers. The "Canvass" section of the "Obama for America" app provides information about voters in specific neighborhoods, and those voter responses are then sent to campaign headquarters. This could indeed transform the business of field organizing, making it more streamlined and effective.
But even these innovations are still tightly controlled and are not so much about allowing a robust dialogue among voters as about collecting data about them. Will presidential candidates ever fully embrace technology that allows citizens to voice their opinions about the campaigns? Or is it simply too much of a risk? The trends we see in the 2012 campaign so far suggest the latter. The campaigns' need for control still trumps the need to be tech-savvy in a world where one outrageous comment from a voter on a candidate's Facebook page can quickly become fodder for cable news. I believe we can expect to see some additional innovations from the campaigns between now and Election Day, but I don't count on them fully embracing the interactive potential of the Internet as a virtual public sphere for citizen dialogue.


text: Mark KIA | Scottsdale AutoShow at Salt River GENERAL CONTRACTOR Western States General Contracting MANAGER Estimating Department ARCHITECT Bickel Group Architecture OWNER Mark Enterprises Car Co. II, LLC STATUS Closed PHONE (480) 451-1083 ADDRESS 3333 N 89th Street, Scottsdale, AZ PROJECT DESCRIPTION Construction of a car dealership building including structural, MEP and landscape. Approximately 56,000 square feet under roof, project size is approximately 8.83 acres located on Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community property located at Indian School Road and the 101 Freeway. Building will be two-story with showroom, offices, services area with 28 bays, three paint booths, car wash and autobody shop. **Proposal should be based on updated specifications and drawings by Bickel Group Architecture, dated 11/07/2018. Western States General Contracting will review all bids and contact subcontractors for additional discussion. Please submit your proposal to firstname.lastname@example.com. ADDITIONAL PROJECT INFORMATION Contractors working on the development are required to attend the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Cultural Preservation Program Cultural Sensitivity Training. This will be a qualification requirement. Click the hyperlink to learn more and register. Download Plans Here


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In his book "Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today," then Cardinal Ratzinger and now Pope Benedict XVI, writing about futile reform and the "naive arrogance of the self-appointed enlightener who is convinced that previous generations did not get it right, or else were too fearful and unilluminated," explains the thinking of such deluded souls: "It thus appears [for these adolescent Catholics] as the most normal thing in the world to make up for lost time, which means first establishing once and for all this basic patrimony of structures of freedom [elaborated by the Enlightenment]. We must move - it is maintained - from the paternalistic Church to the community Church; no one must any longer remain a passive receiver of the gift of Christian existence. Rather, all should be active agents of it. The Church must no longer be fitted over us from above like a ready-made garment; no, we 'make' the Church ourselves, and do so in constantly new ways. It thus finally becomes 'our' Church, for which we are actively responsible. The Church arises out of discussion, compromise and resolution. Debate brings out what can still be asked of people today, what can still be considered by common consent as faith or as ethical norms. New short formulas of faith are composed...
But questions immediately arise concerning this work of reform, which in place of all hierarchical tutelage will at long last introduce democratic self-determination into the Church. Who actually has the right to make decisions? What is the basis of the decision-making process? In a political democracy the answer to this question is the system of representation: individuals elect their representative, who makes decisions on their behalf. This commission has a time limit, its mainlines of policy are clearly defined by the party system, and it embraces only those spheres of political action that are assigned to representative bodies by the constitution.
Questions remain even in regard to representation: the minority must submit to the majority, and this minority can be quite large. Furthermore, there is no infallible guarantee that my elected representative actually does act and speak as I wish. Once again, the victorious majority, seen from close up, can in no case consider itself entirely as the active subject of political events but must accept the decisions of others, at least in order not to jeopardize the system as a whole.
But there is a general question that is more relevant to our problem. Everything that men can make can also be undone again by others. Everything that has its origin in human likes can be disliked by others. Everything that one majority decides upon can can be revoked by another majority. A church based on human resolutions becomes a merely human church. It is reduced to the level of the makeable, of the obvious, of opinion. Opinion replaces faith. And in fact, in the self-made formulas of faith with which I am acquainted, the meaning of the words 'I believe' never signifies anything beyond 'we opine.' Ultimately, the self-made church savors of the 'self,' which always has a bitter taste to the other self and just as soon reveals its petty insignificance. A self-made church is reduced to the empirical domain and thus, precisely as a dream, comes to nothing." (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Today, pp. 136, 138-140).
These points are not understood by the Worcester [Massachusetts] Diocesan Commission for Women. This commission continues to associate itself with well-known dissidents who promote women's ordination, homosexuality and lesbianism, and New Age spirituality. As I noted in a previous post, the commission has invited Elizabeth Dreyer to be a guest speaker at its 2011 "Gather Us In" Conference. Ms. Dreyer has publically demanded the ordination of women to the ministerial priesthood.
The commission has also touted Sister Jon Julie Sullivan [in photo]. See here. Sister Sullivan was part of a group of several hundred dissidents who protested outside of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Good Friday back in 2002. Sister Eileen Brady, a Sister of Mercy who was among the dissidents protesting that day, was quoted by The Boston Globe as having said, "There needs to be significant change [in the Church]. When the Church says you can't even dicuss the ordination of women, that's unjust. And we stand for justice." And Sister Sullivan was quoted as having said, "There aren't even words to tell you how many changes we need." See here.
But is it the Church which must change? Or something else? As I've said so many times over the years, the very same intellectually and spiritually cramped adolescents who demand change in the Church fail to recognize that it is not the Church which needs to change but rather themselves. Saint Paul exhorts us: "Put off the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth" (Eph. 4:22-24).
Some people seem incapable of grasping this truth. And they are poorer for it.
Related reading here.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Worcester Diocesan Commission for Women: Replacing Faith with Opinion in the Pursuit of a Self-Made Church
3 comments:
Nice post illustrating the difference between authentic reform and its counterfeit. One has to wonder whose next on the CFW guest list. Perhaps an avowed satanist?
''Take that cross you wear around your neck like a piece of jewelry and start carrying it.''
Angry women who believe it's their role to "correct" the Holy Spirit who guides the Church. Sad.
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