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All of us find that certain Biblical commands are easier to obey than others. Personally, I have never struggled with the "active" commands of Scripture . . . ."GO" "TEACH" "BAPTIZE" "PREACH" are divine calls to which I almost always respond in the right way.
But recently, I have been struggling in my efforts to obey the more "passive" commands of Scripture. God created me with a high-D personality and leadership style hard-wired into my consciousness. As such, commands like "WAIT" "BE QUIET" and "BE STILL" are more difficult for me. But this week, I have found a model for such patience in Luke 2.
The story of Simeon is one of those tales that, if televised, would likely be relegated to the Hallmark Channel and never seen as a "Christmas classic." While most pastors will spend the perfunctory amount of time in the first part of Luke 2 this Christmas, this second part of the chapter is often overlooked. Still, Simeon's ability to wait on God amazes me. Verse 25 states that he was "righteous" and "devout," and that this righteous devotion was manifest in the way that he waited. His life really matched what he professed to believe. God had told him years earlier that he would not die before bearing witness to the Messiah with his own eyes, and with strong faith, Simeon clings to this promise . . . .by waiting!
Within one month of Jesus' birth, Simeon experiences God's fulfilled promise. Joseph and Mary, two blue-collar, lower-middle-class parents, bring their newborn son into the temple in Jerusalem according to the custom of the law. At this point, Simeon has been waiting for decades, and his excitement over being able to finally see the Christ-child is evident to anyone in the temple that day. As he takes the infant in his arms, he exclaims: "Now Master, You can dismiss your slave in peace according to your Word. For my eyes have seen your salvation." (Luke 2:29-20 HCSB)
This was the last thing Simeon was waiting for before his death, and throughout decades of waiting, he never gave up. God loves faith like that . . . .faith that hangs on . . . .faith that is willing to wait.
But we aren't part of a culture that sees value in waiting. We want instant gratification. In a society dominated by drive-thru lanes, microwaves, TiVO, and 24-hour service, waiting isn't a virtue, its a weakness! If you are waiting, its because you weren't assertive enough, or didn't demand enough.
Perhaps this is why it is such a struggle for guys like me to submit to God in this way. But if I am able to wait, I learn that God keeps His promises. Simeon waited for decades. But in truth, Simeon's people had been waiting for several millenia! The promise Simeon saw was made as early as Genesis 3:15, and restated in Genesis 12, Genesis 17, 2 Samuel 7, Jeremiah 31, Isaiah 53, Zechariah . . . .you get the picture. God allowed centuries to pass before making good on His promise. But in the end, He always keeps them.
But waiting on the fulfillment of God's promise isn't something we do naturally, which is why Luke emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in Simeon's life no less than three times in this passage. The Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit revealed truth to him. The Holy Spirit guided him. And the Holy Spirit helped him to wait.
Without the Holy Spirit, we can't wait. We will jump the gun. We will try to get ahead of where God is working. And we will fail. The Old Testament is full of accounts of men who would not wait on God's promises and failed. For Abraham, it was the conception of Ishmael by Hagar. For Saul, it was the consulting of a medium. For Moses, it was simply striking a rock in anger. But the result of refusing to wait is always the same: sin, shame, hurt, and devastation.
But there are others who did wait on God: Elisha, Job, Nehemiah, Paul, and others. Elisha was protected by an unseen yet innumerable army (2 Kings 6), but not before being faced with the army of Aram. Job was given back double what was taken from him (Job 42), but not before he lost everything most precious to him. Nehemiah saw the completion of the walls around Jerusalem, but not before facing strong opposition from the Samaritans. Paul was able to witness the spread of the Gospel throughout the entire Roman Empire, but was also forbidden by God from entering Asia.
Life doesn't give us a lot of green lights. More often than not, God doesn't say "you can have it now." Most often, he says "you must wait," and then uses the process of waiting to make us into the kind of people He wants us to be . . . .and this drives me crazy! I'm an active guy. I like to move. I like to work. I like to play. And I like doing all of these things with intensity. Waiting has never been on my list of favorite things to do. But this Christmas, God is working on me by having me wait.
Perhaps this is true for some who are reading as well. If so, know that if you give up, you will never know how truly close you were to seeing the fulfillment of His promises to you. Picture Simeon getting up on the morning of Jesus' dedication, murmuring to himself "I've been waiting on this for 40 years. Is it ever going to happen?" Meanwhile, the Messiah is in town, and his parents are on their way to see Simeon at this very moment.
God's promises and God's answers are closer than you think, because God is closer than you think. If you refuse to wait on Him, you might very well forfeit everything. So this Christmas, be still, be quiet, and wait on the Lord. You won't be sorry!
*This post was originally published December 12, 2006
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sin, Redemption, and the Justice of God: What I Learned from the Death of Kim Jong Il
Being away from the office for the holidays, I'm further behind than normal when it comes to keeping up with the news. So it was yesterday before I discovered that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was dead.
My emotions have been both strong and diverse since that moment.
On the one hand, my faith teaches me that Kim Jong Il was a human being created in the image and likeness of God; a human being who possessed an eternal soul that is most likely, based on his own worldview affirmations and accompanying behavior, being tormented at this very moment in hell. And since the Scriptures teach that this torment will never end, there is a side of me that is sorrowful. In some sense, this reflects the heart of God, who says "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways. . ." (Ezekiel 33:11 ESV)
On the other hand, I cannot hide my satisfaction in knowing that an egotistical, dictatorial, mass-murdering maniac will no longer be able to persecute his own people. During his 14 year regime, the so-called "dear leader" of North Korea imprisoned more than 200,000 political dissidents, tortured and murdered thousands of his own people, took a "military first" approach to government infrastructure and allowed his own people to starve during one of the worst localized famines in modern history. He oversaw the massive imprisonment of Christians, as well as government endorsed policies that encouraged the kidnapping of foreign nationals, and the sexual abuse and trafficking of young North Korean girls for the pleasure of North Korean government leaders. If ever there was a tangible expression of Satan-incarnate in our generation, it was Kim Jong Il.
It was with these two warring sets of emotion that I said to my wife last night, "Kim Jong Il has died and gone to hell."
Amy's very quick response was a simple "Wow, I'm not sure what to think about how you just said that." And she was right.
After some time in prayer, I think I know what was happening inside me. In one sense, the satisfaction that someone is likely facing retribution for wrongs done is a just feeling that appeals to the justice of God Himself. The Scriptures tell us that the law of God is inscribed on the heart of men and women to the extent that even those who do not know Christ can recognize injustice when they see it, and they rightly want it rectified. (Romans 2:15) Likewise, our Creator is just, and has promised to leave no sin unpunished. Ultimately, He will right every wrong in His grand mission to reconcille the world to Himself.
I have sometimes counseled victims of violence, rape, theft, or some other injustice, and many times, they have come into my office assuming that a Christian should never get angry at such things when the truth is just the opposite. Jesus got angry enough to crack a whip and turn over tables . . .INSIDE the temple! We read in the Scriptures that God is angry with the wicked (Psalm 7:11), and that the injustice of sinners causes him to hate "all workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5). So when we are angry at obvious injustice, we are reflecting the heart of our God who despises when those he has created in His image are abused and taken advantage of. There is no sin in being angry at injustice, and there is no sin in desiring justice for those who deserve it. Therefore, it is not wrong to desire justice for a madman like Kim Jong Il. It is, in fact, righteous, to take satisfaction in the fact that, one way or another, God is, even now, calling the "dear leaders' atrocities to account, and issuing punishment accordingly.
But my sin last night was that in my quick and smug dismissal of a man who the whole world knew was evil, I conveniently forgot that I have the same sin nature in me that has probably sent Kim Jong Il into eternal judgement. My wife was right. What I said was Biblically correct. But I should not have said it with confidence. I should have said it with trembling.
There is obvious evil in the world. The Stalins, Hitlers, Quaddafis and Kims of our time are but a few historical examples of what happens when the worst kind of evil is allowed to influence a people or a government. When we witness the kind of unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by such men, it becomes much easier to believe in hell. But what we forget is that the same sin nature that affected the hearts of these hardened, pagan leaders also resides in the heart of this Baptist preacher.
Paul reminds us in the first three chapters of Romans that no one is exempt from the wrath of God because "all have sinned." (Romans 3:23), and the sin is, ultimately, against God. And since the offense is against an infinite being, it is only right--only just--that the punishment itself be infinite. When God examines the depth of my heart, He sees the same viral sickness that resided in the heart of the recently deceased North Korean dictator. And when sin is observed from this persepective, we come to the conclusion that at heart, there really isn't any difference between Kim Jong Il and the rest of us.
Thankfully, the Gospel doesn't end with "justice for all," but instead with the offer of grace to anyone who will accept it. But this grace isn't cheap. It isn't "sweeping under the rug" the reality of our hearts' condition and the sin and evil that results. For those who place their faith in Jesus, He has become our "propitiation." (Romans 3:25), meaning that He has borne the wrath of God in our place. Because of this, he could "pass over the sins previously committed" and become "just, and justifier of the one who has faith."
Once, there was another ruler of another kingdom. This ruler took another man's wife, impregnated her, and effectively murdered her husband to try and cover up the scandal. Imagine that you are the parent of Uriah, the faithful soldier of Israel. Imagine your discovery that the King of Israel has taken your daughter-in-law from your son, and sent your son to the front lines of battle to ensure his death so that he can cover up his adultery. Would you not want justice? Would you not cry "foul" when Nathan the prophet says to King David, "your sins are forgiven?" How can this happen? Because God's promise in the New Covenant was that he will settle all debts, render all justice, and "balance the books." In David's case, as in the case of every believer, that debt was settled at Calvary, and that is the only thing separating us from people like Kim Jong Il.
If you are tempted to think your sins are not as offensive to God as those of the "dear leader," then its been too long since you have seen and meditated on the bloody mess atop Golgotha's hill.
God is a God of justice. In the end, this means that in the absence of any final hour confession of Christ, Kim Jong Il will be paying for his crimes against God and men for the rest of eternity, and this is right. But it didn't have to be this way, and neither does it have to be this way for anyone else.
The death of Kim Jong Il should remind us of the justice of God. It should also remind us that this justice is indiscriminate, and that for every one of us, a day of reckoning is coming. On that day, either my sins will be paid in full by Jesus, or that payment will be required at my own hands.
Kim Jong Il is in hell. If you can say that, or read it without trembling, your view of justice is way too shallow.
Posted by . at Tuesday, December 20, 2011 No comments:
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Sinning with a Smartphone
The cute picture to your right was posted by my wife yesterday. Amy and I have a good time nudging each other about the other's use of smart phone technology, but there is a serious side to this issue that is too often excused, or outright ignored in our current climate.
The fact that I'm writing this article and publishing it via electronic media should be enough to demonstrate that I am not against technology. Through the internet and related communications devices, my office can operate "virtually" without actually having to be "in" the office. All our staff are issued smartphones and laptops so that we can easily stay in touch with each other while in various locations across this vast association, which stretches from College Park to southern Pennsylvania.
Additionally, smartphone technology allows me to stay up to date on the latest national and international news (CNN is so last generation!), converge all my social media in a way that allows me to better communicate with the churches I serve, or stay in touch with an old high school buddy. Last month while in India, I could be reached by any pastor in our network who simply dialed my cell number as if I were in my office in Eldersburg, Maryland, and Skype technology allows me to host virtual "face to face" meetings no matter where I find myself in the world. It also lets me see my wife and kids when I'm away. Everything from important meetings to sermon preparation is expedited because of technology that is right at our fingertips.
But there is another side to this issue. When the need to "stay connected" results in one being disconnected from those closest to him, an addiction has been formed that must, for the glory of God, be broken.
I admit, I have been there. Regrettably, the comical scene you see in the cartoon cell above has been played out in the Rainey household, on more than a few occassions. To this day, it remains a difficult struggle. After all, I get about 200 emails a day. My combined social media connections are in excess of 2000 people, and I serve a network of churches where roughly 12,000 people worship every week. So there is always an update, a message, an alert, or a need. And thanks to the technology at my fingertips, I'm ALWAYS aware of it--for better or for worse.
So here is the bottom line, (and I know more than a few pastors who need to pay heed to this as well). Of all 12,000 people who attend our churches, none should be as important to me as the one I'm married to. Unfortunately many times, by virtue of my never-ending phone-checks, I've communicated just the opposite. Over the years, I've had to re-assess my relationship with all of my electronic gadgets. I would suggest that anyone, in any profession, do the same. Every household is different. Therefore, I would not prescribe exactly the same approach for every family. Nevertheless, I do hope my description of our own approach to this issue below will encourage more families to set appropriate boundaries. For our household in 2012, there are three, non-negotiable rules that are in play where smartphones are concerned:
1. 8 PM is "shut-off" time. At some point, the office has to be closed, even if its "virtual." For me, closing time is never later than 8 PM each night, unless an evening meeting has me out later. If its 8:15 and I'm at home, you will not be able to get in touch with me unless you are the Associational Moderator, the Chair of our Administrative Team, or our Office Manager. Over the years, I've discovered that these three folks know what actually constitutes an "emergency." Most of the other 12,000 people in our network don't. Between 8 and 8:30, we are putting our kids to bed, praying with our kids, reading Bible stories, sharing potty humor, talking about any problems at school (sometimes those problems and potty humor are related, but I digress), and being a family. After 8:30 is time for Amy and I to be together, talk about our day, watch a movie, pray together, and just be husband and wife. Twitter updates and text messages don't enhance that time. They steal from it.
At the end of the day, there is only one person who can ensure that my family gets the time from their husband/dad that they are entitled to and that person is me. To literally say with your actions "12,000 people will just have to wait" requires some hard boundaries.
2. The phone is in another room during dinner, or in the car during a family event. I used to take my phone into my son's band concerts. The result was that I never enjoyed the concert because I was either reading the news or responding to an email. A generation ago, the question was "when is dad getting home from work?" Today, the question is "when is dad going to put his work down and pay attention to me?" I don't want to repeat those early sins, because when I communicate with my smartphone that a news article about the GOP debate is more important than my son's improved trumpet skills, I am sinning against my son.
Family meals are another time when the phone is not a welcome device. Early in our marriage, we set a rule that we would not answer the house phone if it rang during dinner. It is ironic that 17 years later, that rule is still in place, but somehow it became acceptable to bring my DROID to the dining room table and ignore my wife and kids while responding to a Facebook comment. There is absolutely no emergency so great that it cannot wait until after family dinner to receive my attention. (and, just as a reminder, there is no such thing as an emergency "on Facebook.")
3. "Need to use only" is in effect on family vacations. Before we leave on vacation, I record a message on my phone that states when I'll be back, and a number where those who need more immediate attention can call one of my staff. I do NOT leave those who call an option to be called back before I return.
Instead, I turn the phone OFF, and put it in the console of our family's minivan. I only take it out and turn it ON when Amy and I are going to be separated during the day. Again, our Associational leadership have Amy's cell number, and know that in an emergency, they can get to me through her. But I do not answer a phone issued to me for business purposes if I'm not supposed to be conducting business.
On several occassions, I have unknowingly called pastors on vacation, and had more than one of them actually pick up the phone while on the beach with their families! Guys, we really aren't needed that badly! And if we have conditioned our people that we are "always available" and further enabled that attitude by the way we abuse technology, we not only sin against our families, but also against the people we are supposed to be equipping for ministry, because we have trained them instead to be dependent on us.
Technology is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately those of us who use technology have fallen minds and sin-sick hearts that have often turned a wonderful, time-saving invention into an idol. I hope some of the ideas above will be helpful to others, as you seek to strike the balance between staying connected to work and refusing to be disconnected at home. To those who are out of control, from a guy who admits to having once been out of control, stop sinning against your family, and get dominion over your smartphone!
Posted by . at Tuesday, December 13, 2011 1 comment:
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Austerity, or Retrenchment? How Organizations Can Tighten Their Belts with Purpose
If by now you aren't aware of our nation's economic woes and its effect on everything from employment to retail sales, you are probably one who lives in the woods, churns your own butter, and only have access to dialup. You probably don't own the technology to be able to read this blog either.
Yep, its scary out there, and over the past three years, I've watched as the people in the churches I serve have lost their livelihoods, homes, and hope. I've also had a front row seat to the effect of these realities on the churches themselves. And occassionally, I've seen elder boards, finance committees, and pastors hit the panic button when their church started hemmoraging financially. In the economy of the "new normal," everybody is feeling the pinch, and trying to determine how to do more with less.
There is a positive side to this. For years, many churches relied on fat incomes. Now that streams of income have grown fewer and more anemic, churches are learning to depend on the Lord. At the same time, I've seen quite a few knee jerk reactions to a drop in giving. Though these reactions, for the most part, are motivated by a noble desire to "save the church," an over-reactionary approach to what the corporate world calls "austerity measures" can result in a demoralized staff, a culture of panic ministries with no resources to operate, and a church adrift in "survival mode."
With all this in view (and with apparently no end in sight to our economic woes), I'm going to suggest a different approach. In the past year alone I've heard from several pastors who have had their salaries drastically and suddenly cut because of panicking financial administrators. I've seen ministries and mission efforts stopped in their tracks because the "bean-counters" reacted in fear, and I've seen churches unintentionally publicize desparation to the communities they are called to give hope to.
In other words, when you react to bad economic times by simply saying "cut, cut, cut," here is what you are saying to your church, and your community: "We are going to try and keep doing everything we have done before. We just aren't going to do it as well."
To be sure, no organization can continue spending more than it takes in (I'm waiting for the government to learn this lesson--perhaps in vain!) But there is a right way and a wrong way to cut spending. "Austerity measures" without a clear purpose don't communicate that you are responsible. They communicate that you are cheap!
So, how do you "cut with a purpose?"
1. Get ahead of the tsunami! Have good, sharp people on your financial team that can project income/giving trends in a way that allows you to prepare in advance. If you know a storm is coming, you can prepare for it in a way that minimizes the damage. Giving a pastor or staff member 60 days notice that they will have to absorb a huge cut in salary demoralizes staff in a way that can sometimes render them impotent to continue leading. A sudden freeze in spending not only damages effective ministries, but sends shockwaves of panic throughout an organization. People will honestly wonder if their paychecks are the next thing to get frozen!
On the other hand, if projections indicate that austerity measures might be neccesary, communicate the reasons clearly, and communicate the plan as soon as possible. Get ahead of the problem, plan for it before it arrives, and give the people who work for the organization time to plan for it as well!
2. Re-visit your Vision and Mission. This is why I prefer the term "retrenchment" to "austerity." "Austerity" simply communicates that an organization is reducing its spending. "Retrenchment" communicates that an organization is facing tight financial times with its purpose and mission clearly in view.
The first question to ask in tight financial times is not "what do we cut," but instead, "What are we supposed to be doing?" The mission of God's church does not change simply because there isn't as much dough in the offering plate as their used to be. Though cuts must sometimes be made, making those cuts without first reassessing what the organization is called to do can unintentionally sabotage that mission. Every organization can cut spending, but no organization should cut things that will be to the detriment of the mission.
3. Jettison tangential emphases and the expenses needed to maintain them. During more affluent times, churches will often say "yes" to a program or ministry that might not be central to its purpose, but will fund it anway because, well, the money is there.
In leaner times, when a church reassesses expenses in light of its mission and vision, the first things to go should be those things that weigh down the organization rather than help it to accomplish its goals. Most or all of these ministries may be good. But the church as a whole is ALWAYS more important than any of its parts. Don't defund a ministry central to the operation of the church and expect it to continue. Instead, defund ministries not central to the operation of the church, bury them with dignity, and move on!
4. Staff according to the new reality rather than merely reducing staff for the old reality. Too many churches and organizations, when seeking to cut spending in personnel, simply ask "who gets to stay, and who has to go." Both of these are the wrong first questions! Instead, construct a "new normal" in light of the overall purpose of the church, and ask how that "new normal" needs to be staffed. Yes, this may still mean that someone loses their job. But the question of whether someone keeps their job should never be answered only in light of the church's financial situation. Once tangential emphases have been eliminated and the next strategic steps of the church are clear, staffing decisions should be made in light of what it will take for the church to move forward. In one sense, you might call this "zero-based staffing."
Just because you can "afford" to keep someone doesn't mean you should. Conversely, tight financial times, in and of themselves, do not justify demoralizing a solid, faithful, and successful leader.
I believe Jerry Rankin is right: Austerity measures will become the norm in many churches and organizations in the near future. But cutting spending doesn't mean you have to be cheap. Tighten your belt with a purpose!
Posted by . at Wednesday, December 07, 2011 1 comment:
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text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1-SSDvyPMU Aisha Syed performs the Beethoven violin concerto at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Florida, USA. This video is a segment of the first movement and the conductor is Maestro James Brooks (who has conducted the likes of Yo-yo Ma, Aaron Rosand, Emmanuel Ax and many others) with the Symphony of the Americas Symphony Orchestra. This concert took place March 11th 2014. Critics: "Aisha Syed, a young violinist from the Dominican Republic, was the remarkable soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major. Syed has studied at the Royal College of Music and the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School. Syed plays with the kind of probing musicality, imagination and freshness that makes thrice familiar music sound newly conceived. Syed took a few minutes to warm up and adjust to the Amaturo acoustic but, once her performance took wing, Syed's crystalline tone soared and intelligent rendering of Beethoven's difficult string writing was striking. Syed did not fudge some of Beethoven's violin juggernauts like some players invariably do. Her strong musical impulses produced some daring interpretive choices. In her hands, the second movement Larghetto sounded almost operatic, the long breathed musical line deeply songful and serene. Syed brought real gusto to the concluding Rondo, the principle theme given gutsy, almost gypsy like thrust. A deeply gifted artist, Syed offered a stimulating reading of a Beethoven masterwork and mainstay of the concerto repertoire" Lawrence Budman Fort Lauderdale Connex, USA "Aisha performed admirably well" Simon Thomas 51st Menuhin Festival, Gstaad "Meanwhile, Gypsy Airs required a sophisticated technique and extreme speed by the young violinist which she managed with ease" Lokal-Nachrichten Bern, Switzerland "Her impressive technique is used with personality and character. She is a real performer, but at the same time she is thoughtful and intelligent and demonstrates an aptitude and an understanding that is impressive" Mark Messenger, Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music "Aisha is a dedicated, hard working, serious young musician. She is an outstanding performer" Malcolm Singer, Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School

subset: commoncrawl


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It is AMAZING how the time really flies when the school year gets started. I am excited to see all the Warriors back in the building and ready to learn. The softball field is shaping up and we are finalizing the plans for the saferoom and gymnasium expansion. I would like to welcome our new staff members Ms. Hurt(5th grade), Mrs. Macy(6th-8th Reading and ELA) and Mrs. Scott(Kindergarden Assistant). Thank you for allowing us to work with your Warriors.
Scott C. Roper


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"Dinner for Everyone" (Clarkson Potter), the 21st cookbook by prolific writer Mark Bittman, recently was released, and it's a dandy.
The premise of his latest undertaking is to connect cooks with 100 iconic dishes, and to suggest three levels of relevant meals in each category: quick and easy; vegan; and perfect for company.
For example, the cacciatore dinner category options are Drumstick Cacciatore (see accompanying recipe), a tasty take on an Italian-inspired classic; Hearty Vegetable Cacciatore, a flavorful legume alternative; and Rabbit Cacciatore, an all-out take on hunter's stew. Note that the estimated prep time is 30 minutes for the first version, about one hour for the second, and at least 10 hours (largely unattended) for the company version.
The same format applies to the remaining categories from dumplings, tacos and cassoulet to gumbo, Thai curry and stroganoff, among others.
Bittman's hefty book comes interleaved with more than 100, luscious-looking food photos by Aya Brackett.
In a brief introduction, the author encourages his readers to be open-minded about exploring new ways to interpret old standbys.
"I take advantage – you should too – of the wide range of cuisines, techniques and ingredients now available everywhere," Bittman said.
Journalist Tom Witom, who lives in Elgin, has written extensively for years about food and the food industry. Feedback on the column can be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Drumstick Cacciatore
Takes 30 minutes and makes four servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 pounds)
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dried sage (or dried oregano or thyme)
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes, or to taste
1 pound small button mushrooms, trimmed but left whole
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Adjust the heat so it sizzles without burning, and cook, undisturbed, until it's browned and releases easily from the pan, 5 to 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the tomato paste and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add 1-and-a-half cups water, the sage, red chile flakes and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Whisk with a fork until smooth.
Turn the chicken when it's browned on one side and releases easily, after about 5 minutes. Scatter the mushrooms and garlic onto the hot fat.
Pour the hot sauce over the chicken and vegetables, then shake the pan once or twice to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat, so it bubbles steadily without splattering.
Cook uncovered, carefully shaking the pan a couple times more, until the chicken is just separating from the bone, about 20 minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve.


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The crossroads of nerd and shenanigans.
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Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.
Justin Bieber has decided his bare butt should no longer grace Instagram. After a few days on the internet and the butt of a few jokes Justin took down his photo after finding realizing youngsters could also see his naked butt."Hey I Deleted the photo of my butt on Instagram not because I thought it was bad but someone close to me's daughter follows me and she was embarrassed that she saw my butt and I totally wasn't thinking in that aspect. And I felt awful that she felt bad."
He continued, "To anyone I may have offended I'm so sorry. It was completely pure hearted as a joke but didn't take in account there are littles following me!!! Love u guys."
And Justin came to Kylie Jenner's defense after Amandla Stenberg called her out for cultural appropriation. "Guys leave her alone, were all trying to figure it out and she happens to be under a microscope! I'm the first to know this. But saying she's being racist because she wants her hair in braids is ridiculous. lets focus on the bigger picture and instead of fighting over something stupid lets do something about equality , but it doesn't start here blasting a 17 year old kid for wearing braids smh."


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Thanks to Burke's sacrifice, Michael, Sam, and Jesse were able to free SONYA LEBEDENKO (Alona Tal) from a Russian black site prison. Now Michael must gain Sonya's trust and find a way to get everyone back to Miami.
Things get more complicated when a brilliant GRU agent, OKSANA ZHIRHOV (Marina Benedict), arrives in Cuba to hunt Michael and Sonya down. If the team wants to have any hope of making it out of the country, they'll have to take care of Oksana first.
While Sonya and Michael try to steal a private plane, Sam and Jesse approach Oksana, posing as international bounty hunters, and offer to help with her manhunt. They do their best to mislead Oksana, but she still manages to figure out where Michael and Sonya are hiding. The only way Sam and Jesse can keep Oksana from sending her men to the airport is to convince her that Michael and Sonya aren't trying to escape, but they're, instead, getting ready to attack.
Meanwhile Carlos tries to take Fiona on a vacation to New Orleans, but Strong has her arrested to prove that as long as Michael's on this mission, Fiona will have to be too.


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I worked as an editor, sub-editor and writer for many years on magazines and newspapers in London, the Netherlands and my native Cork, Ireland. God, I hated it. There was also a pocket of time where I trained as a director in a London off-West End theatre. That was as fantastic as it was bonkers.
Writing fiction is something I've done since I was a kid – the earliest story I kept for posterity was about a sad labrador (please form an orderly queue, publishing houses). But I've only started writing in a focused way in the past few years, thanks to a fantastic writing group.
I have won the Molly Keane Award 2018 and From the Well Short Story Competition 2017, was the runner-up in the UCC/Carried in Waves Short Story Competition in 2015 (the story is available to listen to on Soundcloud here), shortlisted for the Colm Toíbín International Short Story Award 2016 and Highly Commended for it in 2017, and The Bangor Literary Journal 40-word Competition 2019, and longlisted for the RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition 2015.
My work has been published in Ellipsis, Lunate, The Ogham Stone, Spelk, National Flash Fiction Day flash flood, The Wellington Street Review, Fictive Dream, The Drabble, Jellyfish Review, Dodging the Rain, The Nottingham Review, Spontaneity, The Incubator and the Sunday People newspaper.
My flash fiction has been selected for the BIFFY 50 (Best British & Ireland Flash Fiction 2018/2019 list) and nominated for Best Microfictions 2020 (here and here).
A novel or two is also in progress, the opening chapters of one blagging its way on to the longlist for the Greenbean/Irish Novel Fair 2016, held by the Irish Writers Centre. In 2017, I was awarded a bursary by the Munster Literature Centre to be mentored by the American writer Marie-Helene Bertino, who was in Cork as the recipient of the Frank O'Connor Fellowship. It was an amazing experience to have thoughtful guidance through a novel project.
This blog is a sharing of the information I stumble across as part of a steep learning curve, the occasional book review when something makes an impression and the odd cheeky plug for any little personal victories. Apologies in advance for those.
Thanks for reading,


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Are you a member of CPH Advantage? Then we upgrade your coffee from small to large free of charge. All you have to do is display your CPH Advantage membership card when you buy your coffee. You will find your membership card in your CPH App under the menu 'Advantage'.
Something for everyone
Lagkagehuset has something for everyone, and our products guarantee a good taste experience. Enjoy food and drink with us - or take it on your go.
You will find us in Terminal 3 - both before and after the security check.
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
W: lagkagehuset.dk


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Click HERE for latest update
Since this blog is dedicated to offering the most up-to-date Health Savings Account information, we want to make sure you maximize your HSA for 2010. Remember, if you were covered by an HSA qualified High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) on or before December 1st, 2010 then you have until you file your taxes (or April 15th 2011) to finish up your 2010 contributions and get a 2010 tax deduction.
2010 Contribution limits:
Single – $3050
Family – $6150
Catch up contribution (age 55 or older) $1000 per person*
2011 Contribution limits:
Single – $3050
Family – $6150
Catch up contribution (age 55 or older) $1000 per person*
*If both are 55+ then both have to open HSA accounts for both to participate in catch up contribution
These limits are also stated on the U.S. Department of Treasury website.
These maximum contributions will not be pro-rated if your HSA qualified health insurance plan (HDHP) was either in force all 12 months of 2010 OR if it was in force by December 1st of 2010 AND remains in force all 2011.
Your tax deduction is based on how much you DEPOSIT into your HSA, not how much you spend.
You do not have to itemize to get the tax deduction.
You do NOT have to pay your eligible expenses out of your HSA.
You are required to keep receipts of your eligible expenses in case the IRS audits you. You can choose to reimburse yourself at a later date up to the medical receipts you have accumulated without being subject to 20% penalty or taxable income.
The triple-tax advantages (tax deductible deposits, tax free interest earned, and tax free withdraws for eligible medical expenses) only available with HSAs make them an important tax planning tool that is unmatched when used properly.
Other statistics show that nearly half of the 10 million Americans covered by the required HDHP insurance plans have not established their HSA account, and therefore are not participating in the tax savings they offer. Although OFM Benefits is one of the nation's premier HSA focused insurance agencies, there are probably some of you that have procrastinated setting up your account. If you have been covered by your HDHP before or on December 1st, 2010 and haven't set up your HSA, it's not too late!
OFM is proud to recommend HSA Bank because of their great combination of low fees, competitive interest rates, and a large number of investment options. With over 350,000 HSA accounts and over $1 billion in HSA deposits, HSA Bank has established themselves as one of the nations leading HSA administrators. They also recently eliminated all setup fees.
As many Americans are facing huge health insurance premium increases and revenue decreases, HSA qualified plans are becoming even more popular. The average household pays over $13,000 per year for health insurance premiums! We feel HSA qualified plans offer the best value in healthcare today.
If you are self employed or a business owner and would like to receive the premium savings and tax deductions only available with HSAs, please visit www.missionHSA.com
Scott Borden
Host of "Insurance Talk with Scott & Mike" Saturday mornings 7-8 on KCMO Talk Radio 710
OFM Benefits Consulting, LLC
6400 Glenwood, Suite 307
Overland Park, KS 66202
913-432-2061 fax
5 Comments
Question: While I like the HSA in principle, and found your article the most informative yet, there seems to be one inaccuracy: When I search insurance comparison sites like InsureMonkey, it seems like the HSAs actually cost *more* than the PPOs. Am I missing something? They're charging me more to pay out of pocket for most of my medical care, than if they cover me for a lot of it, prior to deductible. What are the insurance companies up to?
I bought the plan you recommended. Very happy about it. So how does the maximum contribution work? Meaning:
1. I fund my HSA with say $4000 to start.
2. I have an accident that costs $4000
3. I pay out of my HSA
4. I have supplemental insurance that reimburses me the $4000
5. That makes the money I took out ineligible as a withdrawal, because I was reimbursed for it by a kind of insurance
6. So I put their $4000 back in. But that puts me over the annual limit of $6150.
This suggests either I don't understand how the investment/withdrawal works entirely yet, or there's some hidden feature that I haven't gleaned yet, or else no… I really am in trouble in both cases, and get penalized on taxes for an illegitimate withdrawal, and again penalized for an overage.
Let's start by making sure you do not overfund your Health Savings Account (HSA). If you have only yourself covered you can put $3050 in your HSA for this year. I assume you have Family Coverage and can contribute up to the maximum of $6150. You paid for your $4000 accident using the tax free dollars you already saved in your HSA. You were then fortunate enough to be reimbursed for your $4000 expense thanks to your supplemental plan. You could then take $2150 of the $4000 to make your annual maximum contribution for the year remembering what you do not spend in eligible medical expenses will roll over to next year. Come January if you still have the remaining $1850 you would have a head start to your maximum contribution. Remember you can own other types of insurance with your HSA qualified plan like specific injury insurance or accident, disability, dental care, or vision care and still pay those expenses from your HSA.
[…] Time! Maximize your deductions for 2010 – My HSA Guy (he really is my HSA guy) Filed Under: […]
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Mommom Sue Sahred, "When reading this book to my two year old granddaughter, I saw her eyes light up. It was clear that she thoroughly enjoyed this warm and meaningful story. It quickly became her favorite go-to book. I have one copy in my home and she keeps one in her house. We are looking forward to more books from this talented author!"
Andie Said, "My 6 year old granddaughter loved this book. What a pleasant trip down Lavender lane. You can almost smell the goodies. Thanks to the author, for her handwritten message to Casey. She took it into school and told everyone. Thanks, Joyce."
"Sweet Old Sadie is a lovely story ( words and illustrations ) written by an Elementary School friend of mine. When I read children's books I usually do so through my teacher lens. As I read each page I thought of all the discussions that could in my classroom. The joy that the children experience in Old Sadie's home and the joy that they feel when they can give back is hopefully something we can all relate to or at least aspire to. I wish for all of us our own Lavender Lane." -Arlene====
Order Your Very Own Copy of "Invisible Jim"
|PLEASE READ THIS…. If You Want Us To Personalize Your Copy of Invisible Jim FREE! Just Type The Name(s) of The Person(s) We Should Autograph The Book(s) For…..
Sadie will remind you of a favorite woman in you life, or a woman you wished for in your life, or maybe the woman you hope to be in your life.
She bakes, has an iPhone, and a lavender cat and mouse who like each other! Everyone loves her and you and the children in your life will too. Sweet Old Sadie is a story told in rhyme and colorful illustrations.
It is the first in a series of Lavender Lane books written by Joyce Miller and illustrated by Melinda Patrick. Each one tells a story of a neighbor and how he or she relates and interacts with the children on the block. Each character has a unique story that explains who they are today and paves the way for dialogue on important subjects.


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Princess Tutu Fan Fiction ❯ Princess Tutu and the Madrigal: Terra Rising (The Secret Six III) ❯ Chapter 1
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Princess Tutu and the Madrigal: Terra Rising: (Secret Six III)
Okay, I know that there would be some out there that would ask me, "Why are you doing a third story when it has not had a lot of readership?"
Well, I can only answer that by saying that an artist has to create what is on his heart no matter who sees it. There are a few fans of this saga, and for them I write. This is the third adventure for our art school crew who has now expanded into a super-team of nine, consisting of the Secret Six, and the Shadow Force. Because of the story's locale, this will cut out some characters. However, for what I do here, this is better, because it is easier to do a story when you do this. It is hard enough to read about several characters, imagine what it is like writing it? Anyway, the team is going to San Francisco to mind things in Titans Tower while the team is off somewhere taking care of a foe. They will be aided by one Titan, and a few former ones, and this will be as the first: several smaller adventures with part or all of the crew, with one central theme. Thus, whether you like it, or even if you don't, prepare for another adventure.
Deep inside the heart of who many think is just a mere teen in private school, a thread of thought unknown to her ensues…
My name is Terra, and I am locked away in a heart that will not acknowledge me. I guess I could understand, because a long time ago, I did some terrible things. I was once a Teen Titan, and a trusted friend. I thought I was an outcast, and that no one wanted me, and they—out of the kindness of their hearts—took me in without judgment, and gave me everything. I betrayed them. There was even one boy that gave his heart to me, because he didn't care about things of my past, he just took me for who I was. I betrayed him most of all. Despite all that had been done for me, I still felt like I was odd…that I could not control my powers, or stop being an outcast because of them. I let that be weapons against me, because I let Slade, better known as Deathstroke, convince me that all my fears were true, and that he was the only one that understood. I wanted to belong so bad, I gave myself over to him completely…and I do mean "completely!" With him, we ran San Francisco ragged; and despite all that—though they fought me—they STILL wanted to try to rescue me from myself. Once I realized the error of my ways, I turned on Slade, though at the cost of my own life. I petrified myself as a result, and my old friends STILL made a memorial out of it to me. They even put a plaque on it that read, "Terra: a Teen Titian—a trusted friend."
That should have been the end of the story, but it is not.
I was indeed headed for a place of bliss, but just before that could happen, I found myself here. Yet, the instant I was, I was put into this mental prison by my own subconscious. I don't know how this happened, or how I got here, but I want out. However, she…I…has such a tight grip on me, I don't know if I will ever get free. When Beast Boy found me, it made my heart leap. He noticed, because the power that was latent in she who contains me went active for the briefest moment, being that she was near the scene of a Teen Titans activity. He tried so hard to get her to remember who she was, but she resisted with everything she had. She still resists, and denies who she truly is. I screamed and yelled for release. I wanted to hug and kiss Beast Boy so badly. I guess I am now suffering in my own personal Hell for the crimes I had done. I must keep pushing. Even now, she has us in a concert hall, watching the Pas De Six perform their art. I don't know if I care for ballet, but I do like their music, and it's not so bad. I only wish I could tap her emotions as she watches so I could come to the surface. Oh God, can anyone set me free?
Chapter 1
The Brain sat in his container, watching his new headquarters being built. He was so grateful to have had Deathstroke imprisoned with him, in that, between the two of them, they managed to break out the entirety of the Brotherhood of Evil. This included Monsieur Mallah, Madame Rouge, and General Immortus. Now he had Deathstroke on his side as his prime lieutenant. He was such that he only answered to the Brain, despite the protests of the others, not liking this outsider being with them. This was written off by the Brain as he explained to them that, if it had not been for Mr. Slade, they would still be rotting in the Prison of Super-villains. They started right away in their schemes, as the Brain took Slade's suggestion to go back to his old lab to retrieve a special vial that had been kept in a deep freeze. Deathstroke was thankful that the containment grid managed to survive the police's ravaging of his laboratory when they sought to seek for as much evidence against him in court as they could. In that vial contained some special stem cells extracted from the body of his best apprentice. It was too bad that she had turned on him, but he figured that he could recreate her body and bend the girl's mind to his will. The powers would still be there, but whoever she was would not be there anymore. Soon, it would be time to retrieve her. Both he and Brain did much to manipulate the system to get her into the private school that they had to let her learn how to interact with society, and to learn how it functioned. They had to pull some major strings in the underworld to give her a full identity and interject her into the system, considering that he had been genetically engineered as a teen and placed into the system. They looked over the history of Terra prime and discussed the matter. "Have there been any problems, Slade?" asked the Brain in his tinny, computer synthesized voice.
"Nothing really to fear, Brain," answered Deathstroke, "There was a bit of a snag, but between me and her, we managed to snuff out the possibility of a problem."
"You may think that the problem is gone, Slade," responded the Brain in return, "and while I admire your intelligence—almost on par with my own—any kind of force or person that could divert her course could put in latent things that may put a fly in the ointment, so to speak. Please, tell me what it was that you faced."
"That pest, Beast Boy, from the Titans, tried to get in the way."
"Beast boy, you say? That could prove to be difficult."
"He is a mindless fool."
"He is far more than that, Slade. Do not underestimate what he can do. He may seem like a scatterbrained youth, but where he lacks intelligence, he makes up with wisdom. He was trained by the Doom Patrol, so I know for a fact that he is powerful."
"Believe me, he has moved past her. The robot I sent indeed has deterred him from ever trying to disrupt things again. She even rejected him. Since she has no clue to her own past, it was an obvious outcome. I will admit that he had at least enough wisdom to back off, lest he be accused of being a stalker. Even the Titans forgot her. It is not an issue."
"I would not be so sure. If you awaken her to her powers, even if she is essentially a completely different person than the original, the ones that now currently make up the Teen Titans my try to win her over. That would put a huge snag into things."
"True, but we can only cross that bridge when we come to it. There is one thing that disturbs me, though."
"And what would that be, Slade?"
"The statue that had been the original Terra is no longer there. There is no evidence of it having been broken off, taken, or moved. It was there, and now it is not. I fear what happened, and I am not even sure what it means."
"That is of no consequence. A petrified corpse is nothing to fear. Once we have her. We can both exact our revenge, and then go on to global conquest, starting with the Titans, and the JLA itself. There will be none to stop us."
They then stood quiet again as they went over their plans again in quiet, not knowing of the storm that was brewing.
_________________________________________________________________ _________________________
The Sumin Ballet in San Francisco just had to have the Pas De Six be the first stop on their west coast summer tour. Since their troupe was unique in their approach to the art form of ballet, wanting to ruffle the purists and the ballet snobs, the Pas De Six fit right in. The audience was packed with the fans of both, and both troupes electrified the crowd. However, one certain fan was not so enthused as she sat in the front row, but she began to get in as things began to gain in energy.
"Come on, Gaia," said the girl to her left, "You have to admit that this was a good idea!"
"I guess so," she said, "I have to admit this is different."
"You do like their music," said the girl to her right.
"Well, who doesn't?" Gaia retorted.
"Hey, no one does what they do!" said the first girl.
"Well, I guess they did surprise me," admitted Gaia, "I mean, I didn't think ballet could be this.
Just as she said that, they began to hear the tones of an electric piano, and the song "Shake a Tail Feather" began. In it, the two troupes were doing ballet combined with all the different dances that were mentioned in the song, with the Pas De Six front and center. Soon, even Gaia was beginning to bob her head a bit to the music as a smile curled over her lips. However, inside her heart, Terra was immensely enjoying the performance, and she was saying to herself that even Garfield, (Beast Boy,) would enjoy this. Yet, out of the blue, (and because of her location,) she began to feel another presence with her, as if someone were trying to reach out and touch her. She focused herself, and did what she could to try to see out of the eyes of her host in hopes to find out what was trying to contact her. Meanwhile, as the song was winding down, Mytho began to feel a touch stronger than all the emotions that were flowing around her. In truth, he had long ago been able to push behind him all the emotions that surrounded him as if it were just white noise, being able to put his mind on just one when the need called for it. However, in this case, instead of him trying to focus on one, it seemed there was one trying to focus on him. It caused him to misstep a bit, and he caught an odd look from Rue as that happened. He shook it off and finished the number, but he kept sensing a strong motion of desperation, and a want of release. As they took their bows for that number, he began to scan the audience for the source of what he sensed. Finally, he was able to focus on a blonde teenage girl. She was applauding with everyone else, and her face gave no indication of what he sense, and yet, from her, it was screaming at him: please, yes, that's me! Help me! Get me out of here! Help her to remember who she is! By this point, everyone was beginning to leave as the next number was about to start, but he just stood there. Rue saw this, as did Fakir, and they both took his arms and guided him off the stage. "Hey, snap out of it, baby," scolded Rue, but she could not help but see the confused look on his face.
"Keep your focus, Mytho," said Fakir, "We still have a third of the show to go."
"That blonde in the front row," said Mytho, "She was calling out to me."
Rue got a look in her eye and said, "HEY! Remember, you're married?" with a tint of jealousy in the tone.
"Everyone was calling out to you," said Fakir, "You're the band heartthrob, remember?"
"No, it's not that," he said, shaking himself into more sensibility, "I mean, something in her mind called out to me, and it was a plea for help."
The two of them looked at him oddly, but they both also remembered his empathic abilities, and asked, "Do you think someone's in trouble?"
"I can't tell," answered Mytho, "Her face was one of the typical teen, but her mind—her heart—told me something else."
"Well, shake it off, snow head," said Fakir, "We have a show to finish."
The show went well, but all through the show, the call kept coming back. When they came to take their bows, the call became more desperate, but he could not move at that instant. At the same time, Gaia could not help but feel that the white-haired one was staring at her through most of the second act. She did enjoy herself, but the staring was freaking her out. Once the bows were taken, she looked at her friends and said, "Let's go, okay?"
"Aw, come on!" snapped the girl to her right, "We have a chance to meet the act after the show, and I don't want to miss that!"
"You go ahead, I'm going home," answered Gaia.
The other two looked at her, but they just shrugged their shoulders and let her go. Meanwhile, Mytho was watching the audience begin to break up, and the blonde disappeared into the mass of bodies. He went backstage, but he could not help but have his thoughts gnaw at him, wondering if there was going to be some sad thing that they would be reading about the next day in the newspapers. Terra, on the other hand, was screaming. She was begging and pleading for Gaia to go with her friends, but it was futile. Gaia either didn't know she was there, or didn't want to know. If a soul could have shed tears, she would have been bawling.
Gaia went home, and her situation was such that she lived by herself. Her memories were as such that said she had lived alone for a time, seeing that her parents had been dead, and she had no family to care for her. She wondered how she didn't wind up in the foster system, and wondered how the state would allow her to live on her own. All she knew was that there was a big inheritance that she was living off, and all her needs were met. She entered the empty house, feeling alone. The images of the one they called Mytho Schmidt staring at her were running through her mind. As she looked about, she began to really feel lonely. Granted, she felt that she had overcome this kind of thing, and had gotten used to it, but that night, she felt so incomplete. She suddenly felt the urge to cry, but she did not know why. What she didn't realize was that Terra, still in her remorse, was beginning to surface, even if only slightly. She turned on the stereo to drown out her thoughts and got herself ready for bed. Even though she was on summer break, she, for the first time, actually wished to have some homework to do, even if just to get her mind off things. She decided to go to the beach the next day: maybe that would take her mind off things.
At the hotel, the crew that made up the six and their entourage were packing their bags and preparing to go to their summer lodgings the next day. In truth, the reason for the west coast tour was that the now sitting Teen Titans were on a distant mission that they knew would take a while to resolve. They therefore asked the Madrigal to "mind the shop" while they were away. As they packed, however, Mytho looked distracted. Rue, now more understanding to the situation, came up to him and began to rub his shoulders. She then said, "Is that girl still bugging you?"
"I have never had anyone's soul actually reach out to me like that," he said, "It is so disturbing. What if she is in trouble?"
Rue sighed and said, "Baby, she slipped away. How would you be able find her out of the millions that live here? I know it stinks, but you know what Billy said. You can't help everyone, but you help who you can."
He grunted a bit, but conceded the point. Besides, what could he do, even if he had found her? What it would take was Princess Tutu, and even then, he would have had to be certain that she was indeed in trouble. He just prayed to the powers that be that somehow, in their time there, they would find her again. In the meantime, he had to get focused. There was the tour, and the main reason for being there. Rue, beginning to feel frisky, looked at him and said, "I know what will get your mind off things."
With that, she kissed him, and they embraced. They then began to entangle as one, knowing that this might be the only night for a while that they got to enjoy each other's company, considering how busy they would be. She knew that it would be an interesting summer indeed.


text: In the 12 December 2014 issue, Science published the Report "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality" by Michael J. LaCour and Donald P. Green (1). On 19 May 2015, author Green requested that Science retract the paper because of the unavailability of raw data and other irregularities that have emerged in the published paper. Science is urgently working toward the appropriate resolution, while ensuring that a fair process is followed. In the meantime, Science is publishing this Editorial Expression of Concern to alert our readers to the fact that serious questions have been raised about the validity of findings in the LaCour and Green paper.


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I love making various different types of meatballs using minced lamb, beef, turkey, or chicken.
They're a great way of incorporating vegies into a meal (for those of use who don't like eating our vegies), and they're also a really inexpensive meal for a family.
These tasty chicken and vegie balls can be served with salad, vegies, or chips, and they're also great to use in spaghetti and meatballs - just boil some pasta and make a simple tomato based sauce to go with it.
Ingredients (makes approximately 30 small balls):
250g chicken mince
1 large carrot
1 red capsicum
1 small zuchini
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
- Put the carrot, capsicum, zuchini and onion through the food processor using the small grater attachment (alternatively just use a hand grater).
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the breadcrumbs) and combine well.
- Add the breadcrumbs and mix well.
- Check the consistency of the mix - you should be able to roll the mix into balls that don't fall apart. You may need to add more breadcrumbs if the mix is too gluggy.
- Roll the mixture into little balls (a great job for the kiddies).
- Shallow fry in some olive oil until cooked through.
- Eat!


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The Posture of Gratitude
Gratitude will shift the culture.
Romans 1:21 (NLT) Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
Luke 7:36-50 (NLT) 36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!" 40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the Pharisee, "I have something to say to you." "Go ahead, Teacher," Simon replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?" 43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt." "That's right," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 "I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love." 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 The men at the table said among themselves, "Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?" 50 And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
The peace governed life.
Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV) 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Postures that stifle gratitude.
"Negativity comes out of those who have not nurtured an internal culture of gratefulness."
1. Entitlement
"What you are entitled to is so much less than what God promises you!"
2. Victimhood
3. Poverty Mindset
4. Greed/Materialism
"Money promises what only God can provide!"
5. Offense/ unforgiveness
"Offense is the posture of those in bondage."
Practicing the posture of gratitude.
"The economy of our heart is revealed in the posture of our gratitude"
Colossians 3:15-17(NIV) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
1. Absorb: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!
What does he say about you?
2. Adore: Giving praise & thanks.
1 Thessalonians 5:18(NIV) Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Find the melody in the moment.
3. Apply: The attitude of Gratitude.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
- GOD IS GOOD! This is our anthem.
Romans 12:9-21 (NIV) 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
1. Honor
"Your ability to honor other speaks about your character not always the one you are honoring."
2. Humility
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less." -C.S. Lewis
Romans 12:3 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.
3. Hospitable
4. Celebrate with people (Rejoice & Weep)
5. Forgiveness/ Un-offend-able
Campaign 7 Days of Gratefulness.
#1. Everyday complete the following statements:
Today I am thankful that God is ___________(an attribute of God)
Today I am grateful for_________(someone or something in your life)
#2. Record the statements
#3. Avoid grumbling, complaining, or whining.
#4. Share your list with loved ones while gathering on Thanksgiving day.
A Heart That Longs (7)
Achors (4)
Anatomy (5)
Anchored (3)
Awakening (6)
Born_To_Reign (4)
Capacity (5)
CrossWorthy (5)
Encounter (2)
Encounters (7)
faith (4)
fascinate (6)
flight (5)
fruitful (6)
God of Promise (8)
God_with_Us (3)
Grateful (4)
Holy Spirit (6)
Hope (4)
Indwelling (6)
It is Well (6)
Lifegoals (4)
Love on Fire (5)
Lover (6)
mixtape (5)
more (8)
Over (4)
Peace peace (2)
RealityTV (7)
refuge (6)
Rivers (8)
Royalty (7)
start (5)
Striver (6)
summer17 (5)
switches (5)
Thank_You! (5)
The Furnace (7)
The Good Shepherd (7)
The Hunt (5)
The Jouney (7)
The Promose (2)
Thieves and Robers (7)
Thresholds (5)
Toxic (6)
unscripted (3)
Virtrue (4)
Vision (2)
voices (5)
War (6)
Warrior (1)
We Are Overflow (8)
when_God_prays (5)
why (5)
Wild (5)
Wonder (4)
Worship (1)
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Rock excavation is an extremely complex task which requires considerable expertise from operators and a variety of specialised equipment and tools to achieve a good result at an affordable price. It is not simply a matter of breaking up solid rock and removing it from the site. Every site will have different challenges due to the geological terrain and the rock type. An understanding of how to safely excavate and remove rock while causing minimal disturbance to the geology of the surrounding area requires expertise and knowledge.
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We have a comprehensive range of plant equipment and implements which enable us to successfully tackle even the most challenging site works. Every site is different and we understand that clients have differing needs and expectations.
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Earthmoving Services


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IMDB Rating: 6.9/10 from 4,199 votes
Release: 1976 / Laverne & Shirley
Director: Lowell Ganz
Stars: Cindy Williams, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Penny Marshall
Synopsis: Watch Laverne & Shirley online free. In Laverne & Shirley Putlocker Full Episodes, Laverne & Shirley is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from January 27, 1976 to May 10, 1983. It starred Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fazio and Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney, single roommates who worked as bottlecappers in a fictitious Milwaukee brewery called "Shotz Brewery." The show was a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead characters were originally introduced on that series as acquaintances of Fonzie. Set in roughly the same time period, the timeline started in approximately 1958, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended. As with Happy Days, it was made by Paramount Television, created by Garry Marshall, and executive produced by Garry Marshall, Edward K. Milkis, and Thomas L. Miller.


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The Genetics of Friendship
People tend to choose friends who share their genes, a study suggests.
Jef Akst
Jul 16, 2014
FLICKR, JORIS LOUWESAnalyzing the genetic differences among nearly 2,000 people, James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, and Yale University's Nicholas Christakis found that friends shared about 0.1 percent more DNA than the average stranger—a level of genetic similarity expected among fourth cousins.
"Most people don't even know who their fourth cousins are," Christakis told BBC News. "Yet we are somehow, among a myriad of possibilities, managing to select as friends the people who resemble our kin."
"It's obvious that humans tend to associate with other people who are very similar to themselves," Matthew Jackson, a professor of economics at Stanford University who studies social networks, told NPR. "This gives us evidence that it's operating not just at a level of very obvious characteristics but also ones that might be more subtle—things that that we hadn't really anticipated."
The data were collected as part of the Framingham Heart Study. "Because the study started in a small community, many people that were named as friends, also happened to be involved in the study," Fowler told BBC News. The researchers calculated a kinship coefficient for each pair of people based on 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the genome. Their results, which included the fact that friends tend to have a slightly higher kinship coefficient than strangers, were published this week (July 14) in PNAS.
But some in the field are skeptical about the duo's conclusions, arguing that some important factors—such as ethnicity and education level, which can lead to population stratification that makes two people more likely to meet and become friends—were not controlled for.
In a second analysis of 907 pairs of friends and nearly 1.5 million SNPs, Fowler and Christakis attempted to control for such stratification or family relationships, but still not everyone was convinced. "I wonder whether [these methods can fully account for] factors known to drive friendships, like church membership, sports or other cultural affinities, that would also lead to a correlation with genotype," Rory Bowden, a statistician and lecturer at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, U.K., told the BBC, "because they reflect differences in places of origin within Europe of the Framingham participants."
"I think that they're unusual findings, and that usually draws criticisms from scientists," Fowler told the BBC. "We're not really making claims about specific candidate genes here. We're making claims about structural characteristics across the entire genome."


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Bridget Riley
Vertigo. Op Art and a History of Deception 1520–1970 (group show)
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
23 November 2019 – 23 August 2020
The art movement Op Art emerged around the mid-1950s. Geometric patterns, optical illusions, and light effects in diverse manifestations constituted its artistic content. Op artists worked collaboratively on a notion of "Visual research" in art. To realize new expressive forms, they tried out materials like corrugated industrial glass and black and laser light and explored the effect of moving artworks on viewers.
Works of Op Art overwhelm viewers in various ways. After all, Op Art doesn't just address our sense of sight; by manipulating perception, it provokes an experience that affects the entire body – to the point of possibly triggering a dizzying sensory overload. The show's title, "Vertigo", taken from Alfred Hitchcock's famous film of 1958, refers to this aspect.
The exhibition comprises a broad spectrum of panel paintings, reliefs, and mechanically driven objects as well as installations, experience spaces, and computer-generated art from the 1950s to around 1970. Op Art was a European movement, and thus on view are among other things works by Bridget Riley (GB), Gianni Colombo (IT), Gerhard von Graevenitz (DE), Nicolas Schöffer (HU), and Victor Vasarely (HU). The show also demonstrates that Op Art had precursors in earlier, anti-classical eras and in this sense can be referred to as the Mannerism of Concrete Art. The presentation therefore includes artworks from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries by artist such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Erhard Schön, and Claude Mellan, in which optical effects likewise play a role.
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Bridget Riley et al.
Living with art. Picasso to Celmins (group show)
Spanning almost one hundred years of modern art, this exhibition will showcase highlights from the wide-ranging collection of Alexander Walker (1930–2003), longstanding film critic for London's Evening Standard newspaper and prolific collector of modern and contemporary prints and drawings.
In life, Walker surrounded himself with works from his collection in all rooms of his Maida Vale flat including his kitchen and bathroom.
He bought works of art for pleasure rather than financial gain and generously left his collection of over 200 works on paper to the British Museum when he died. This is the first exhibition in over 10 years to showcase the art through the lens of his collection. The exhibition will include 30 prints and drawings by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse to Lucian Freud, Bridget Riley, David Hockney and Vija Celmins. It will demonstrate Walker's interest in artists' working methods and in transitional pieces that show an artist developing a new style or subject, or experimenting with a new technique.
The exhibition aims to trace the development of 20th-century art in Europe and America through key pieces in Walker's collection, which he viewed as a record of his own art-historical education. It will also demonstrate Walker's own tastes from the figurative to the abstract and consider what motivates collectors like Walker to surround themselves with art. With the support of the Dorset Foundation, the exhibition will travel to four venues from April 2020 until May 2021.
Tour Schedule:
British Museum, 14 January – 5 March 2020
Danum Gallery, Library and Museum (postponed)
F. E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Northern Ireland, 17 October 2020 – 30 January 2021
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 20 February – 30 May 2021
British Museum
Bridget Riley
Messengers (wall painting)
The National Gallery, London
From 17 January 2019
See Messengers, a new large-scale wall painting by Bridget Riley: one of the most important artists of her generation.
The title, Messengers, is inspired by a phrase Constable used when referring to clouds, and might also be an allusion to the numerous angels, bearers of news, that we see in the skies of so many National Gallery pictures.
Painted directly onto the wall of the Annenberg Court and spanning a vast 10 x 20 metres, the abstract work, comprised of coloured discs, carries influences from our historic collection over into the 21st century. Throughout art history, harmonies of colour have played a large part in pictorial composition.Taking as a point of departure the paintings of George Seurat, in particular Bathers at Asnières, Bridget Riley's 'Messengers' transforms the Annenberg Court into a great white space in which coloured discs float as clouds drift in the lanes of the sky. By leaving after-images on the viewer's retina that suggest volume and movement the longer it is perceived, the work becomes a tribute to its artistic predecessors and to the process of looking at art itself.
Bridget Riley (born 1931) has a long-standing relationship with the Gallery; she made copies of paintings in the collection including Jan van Eyck's Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433, as a teenager as part of her portfolio when applying to Goldsmiths College, London, just after the end of the Second World War, and Georges Seurat's Bathers at Asnières while training as an artist.
In 1989 Riley was invited to select that year's Artist's Eye exhibition and between 2010 and 2011 the Gallery held her acclaimed exhibition Bridget Riley: Paintings and Related Work.
The National Gallery, London


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Photoshop was a verb long before Google was, but for many photographers, Lightroom is the weapon of choice because it streamlines many common Photoshop features and combines them with file management.
Adobe's announced the Lightroom mobile app, which takes the plunge into supporting a new kind of workflow that incorporates the iPad. The app cleverly allows editing of RAW files on the go without choking up your data allowance or bandwidth.
"We know things are changing again and we wanted to offer a solution," says Tom Hogarty, the Group Product Manager for Photography at Adobe.
Lightroom mobile is an augmentation to Lightroom on the desktop, not a replacement. While many apps let you share photos between your desktop and iPad, the main magic of Lightroom is the ability to do Camera RAW edits without downloading a giant RAW file.
Smart Previews ————–
To start, users choose to sync collections off the desktop to the app through Adobe's servers; a feature available in the desktop version of Lightroom 5.4, also out today.
When users pull those collections up on their iPad (2nd Gen and newer), the app has a touch interface that allows them to make any of the changes users would find in the Basic panel in the desktop's Develop module—exposure, contrast, etc. Users can also crop and there are several presets and filters. Users can't do things like curve toning or manually apply a vignette.
Instead of trying to crunch the RAW files that exist on the desktop, Hogarty says Lightroom mobile pulls up exact replicas called "smart previews," which are 2560 pixels on the long edge – plenty big to fill an iPad screen. Any time users make changes to the smart previews, the app communicates with the desktop—via Adobe's servers—and the changes are applied on the desktop as well.
Smart previews are a clever solution because transferring RAW files onto the iPad, or vice versa, would be time consuming and cumbersome, especially over a wireless connection. Instead, only metadata is exchanged, which has the added benefit of applying non-destructive edits. IPads, while much faster these days, still aren't equipped to process the enormous files coming off cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon D800E, so this is a nice workaround.
In the app, the touch controls are smartly designed. A quick swipe lets you select images for editing, a two-finger tap reveals an image's metadata. There's no history screen—just a back button—but if users put three fingers on the image and hold, the app shows the original picture and they can toggle back and forth.
In Use ——
I was worried about using the app to tone an image since touch interfaces for image editing can be tricky. But the most important features in the Basic panel are controlled with a slider, so the touch interface is just as accurate, if not more, than the desktop.
Unlike other third party photo editing apps on the iPad that force users to save their changes to each image before they move on, Lightroom mobile users can be in the middle of an edit, swipe to another image, then come back and keep going; a useful tool for photographers trying to compare the edits on two similar images.
The app is just as handy with photo shot with the iPad itself. Users can import their iPad photos one by one, or automatically import every new photo taken. Instead of trying to organize their iPad images through iPhoto and then tone in another app, Lightroom mobile offers a clean and efficient one-stop shop that also shows up automatically on your desktop. This will be even more important when the app is offered for iPhones, which Hogarty says is next (Android versions will also be offered down the road).
Hogarty says Adobe is not trying to offer an option that allows users to ditch their laptops or desktops completely. Photographers have long wanted an iPad-only workflow, but this isn't it. Mostly because dumping large amounts of huge photos on an iPad drains battery and memory (any Adobe app would have to duplicate those RAW files to edit them.
"The balance of power is still on the desktop," Hogarty says.
Taking Over the World ———————
The most exciting part of this app might be what's yet to come. Hogarty eluded to opening up a possible API in future versions that would allow developers to build apps on top of Lightroom. Doing that could put Adobe in the same arena as Flickr or Photoshelter.
Imagine this: You dump photos for a shoot into Lightroom and share them to a webpage for a client. The client makes their selections while you're out and about. You can edit those selections on your iPad and let them know when you're done. Then they just download whatever sizes they need through their web browser. The actual transfer of files is kept to a minimum.
For a long time Photoshop and Lightroom haven't had much of a place on the internet, but this could be a big move in that direction.
"I have not doubt that there will be a lot of innovation down the road," says Hogarty.


text: Require the owner to type in the server name when deleting the server on MOBILE Takip et Cameron 20 Haziran 2019 23:12 Just got a server of 100 members deleted because of a careless action. This wouldn't have happened on desktop. This has got to be the most frustrated I've got at a lack of a feature on mobile. Also, we need a grace period of a week for a deleted server. 48


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US Based on demand car service Uber has today expanded its operations to Delhi in just a few days after the service had launched its operations in India starting with Bangalore.
Though Uber is still in test phase in the city, so only limited services are available. The company will be adding additional rides every day.
As per the job postings, a few other Indian cities where Uber will be launching its operations include Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Cricketer Zaheer khan was among the first few who used the Uber service in the city and others include Neha Dhupia, Rannvijay Singh and Rajiv Makhni.
Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Mercedes E & S class, BMW 3 & 5 series and Audi Q3, A4 and A6 will be part of the Uber Delhi offering. For now its service will be available on few routes including Central Delhi, few parts of South Delhi and Gurgaon.
Uber being a technology driven company, connects its users with licensed, professional drivers and request transportation through its apps and mobile website. It provides on demand services and charges directly from the credit card of the users.
Last month Uber had also added a new feature "SHARE MY ETA" and a live map that lets others see exactly where you are. One can choose "Share My ETA" in the menu next to driver's name, key in the destination, the people you want to share this information with. Each person will get a text message with your ETA and also receive an access to a live map that tracks your location.
Currently Uber has its presence in 20 countries and 52 cities and is on a spree to add more. Yesterday Uber has also expanded its operations in Kuala Lumpur.
Recently it has also launched a new native BlackBerry app for its users.
For Delhi users, Uber is also running a promotional offer where they could get 2 free rides up to INR 500, each for free. To enjoy the free service enter the promo code "UBERDelhiLaunch".
Uber was launched in 2010 by Travis Kalanick and recently it had raised USD 258 Mn in series C funding led by Google Ventures and TPG.
To contact author, email at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Here is a brief taxonomy.
In simple terms, we expect the following objectives to be met using IoT to different degrees.
- Increase Throughput: "Do more"
- Continuous Improvement: "Higher quality"
- Mass Customization: "Better UX"
Volume, velocity and variety of input data are so great that a human learning what the data is saying, especially in real-time or near real-time, is inconceivable! Therefore, one of the key enablers of IoT has been Machine Learning (ML).
Back in 2000, when we developed and deployed Rockwell Automation's Integrated Condition Monitoring Solution in large factories, the focus was on automating actions in the periphery: automatic collection via attached sensors, edge-processing (called "fog" computing these days) to make data transport manageable and data transport itself. There was of course, automated processing in the server ("cloud") but the algorithms applied were simple automated deviation detection, ranking and methods for remote root-cause analysis plus manual follow-up when essential.
By 2016, improvements in networking, data transport, sensors and automated Machine Learning have proliferated industrial IoT applications and driven them into social use cases. So far, so good.
If this was the "Crawl" stage of the "Crawl-Walk-Run" evolution of IoT, what will drive the "Walk" stage from a technical perspective?
CONTINUOUS Learning! Till now, ML has gotten by with "one-shot" learning . . . and accomplished some impressive things. But the larger value-proposition of IoT is Continuous Improvement (Objective #2 above). Continuous improvement cannot happen without continuous learning! Continuous Learning happens when we view learning as "generalization from past experience AND results of new action"! Current ML algorithms cannot accommodate "results of new action"; in other words, current ML uses STATIC machine learning.
Dynamical ML is machine learning that can adapt to variations over time; it requires "real-time recursive" learning algorithms and time-varying data models such as the ones in Generalized Dynamical Machine Learning. Hence, continuous learning can be implemented using DYNAMICAL machine learning. Dynamical ML adds the following FOUR benefits:
- Learning in real-time.
- Just like children mature over time . . .
- As machines age, IoT adapts to NEW normal.
- IoT designed for long-term use.
- Underlying system "states" provide a meta-model.
- A more stable description; less False Positives.
- System "states" as "Digital Twin"!
- Continuous "closed-loop" performance improvement.
In real-life applications, be it industrial or social, the value of the first 3 benefits are self-evident. "States as Digital Twin" requires a few comments. Wikipedia defines Digital Twin as – "Digital twins refer to computerized companions of physical assets that can be used for various purposes. ""Digital twins"" use data from sensors installed on physical objects to represent their near real-time status, working condition or position." GE, Siemens and other industrial giants have been championing Digital Twins for some time now.
So, Digital Twin is a non-physical representation of a physical asset, or an "avatar". "Twin" emphasizes the closeness to reality; however, there are many non-physical representations. On the one extreme, one can develop detailed equations (a large set of nonlinear coupled partial differential equations?!) that capture the total "physics" of the machine; then they can be rendered nicely on a (3D?) display using CGI to look almost real. I am not an advocate of such verisimilitude – there is little business benefit.
In the process of DYNAMICAL machine learning, the data model and the algorithms used (Generalized Dynamical Machine Learning) naturally generates what is called the "State-space" model of the machine. It may not *look* like the machine but it captures the dynamics in all its detail (there IS a challenge in relating "states" to actual machine component conditions though). So, I am a proponent of using the "State-space representation" that we get for free in Dynamical ML as the "digital twin". This is a topic for future exploration and advancement.
We are ready for Dynamical ML today. The following publications provide the theory, algorithms, applications and MATLAB code.
- Generalized Dynamical Machine Learning: We introduce a new Machine Learning (ML) solution for Dynamical, Non-linear, In-Stream Analytics.
- Static & DYNAMICAL Machine Learning – What is the Difference?: Clarifies some confusion.
- Need for DYNAMICAL Machine Learning: It may be time to move on to Dynamical Machine Learning . . .
- Introducing *SYSTEMS* Analytics: Merging of Systems Theory and Machine Learning.
- Systems Analytics: Adaptive Machine Learning workbook: Book available through Amazon covering basic and advanced topics.
Continuous Improvement <requires> Continuous Learning <requires> DYNAMICAL machine learning!
This simple equation captures the push that will move IoT into the next stage . . .
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Dr. PG Madhavan is the Founder of Syzen Analytics, Inc. He developed his expertise in Analytics as an EECS Professor, Computational Neuroscience researcher, Bell Labs MTS, Microsoft Architect and startup CEO. PG has been involved in four startups with two as Founder. PG has 12 issued US patents and over 100 publications & platform presentations to Sales, Marketing, Product, Industry Standards and Research groups.