text:
Scene played out on 26th September 2012 with Lumina and Wreniel
«Scene Starts»
On this day Wreniel has a servant who brought her a… dress. White, not -precisely- sheer, and of a quite different style than anything either of you saw in the London streets. Lumina would also, basically, be pushed into the room as well with a jewelry box, cosmetics, and a 'suggestion' that she help Wreniel prepare.
Wreniel will look at all the stuff and be at a total loss. Undergarments are easy enough, though she probably fumbles with any brassiere-style top…
"Lumina… could you please help me, I'm still feeling a bit groggy from the fight."
Lumina sighs. Fun times being basically a servant. "And I'm sure this has nothing to do with the whole boy thing, does it?" Nonetheless, it wasn't Lumina's first experience of any of these things, though it parhaps -was- her first experience of dressing an elf, outside of character generators or paper dolls etc… So, roaming eyes aside (ears especially), she helps out where needed.
"Um, actually, it has everything to do with that and we should ah, probably not ah, be talking about that too much because well, um.." It's probably hard at first to get the makeup thing going through her blushing, so a part of it would be assuring the elfin marine that she's not going to screw it up…
Wreniel will follow directions and allow Lumina to help out and move along to the next encounter, a bit nervous. Which may be odd given her 'reputation'. Perhaps she's… reformed?
The dress was simple enough to put on, having only a lacing at the back and a sash around the waist to deal with, but the jewelry box was a bigger problem. Inside was a necklace with two broach sized coats of arms on it, one of the current House and another which was less recognisable, but beneath that was a wide selection of items from rings to earcuffs to bangles to anklets to what looked like tiny silver clamps.
Not all of it would surely be there to be worn but to provide a choice.
Lumina is… rather amused when she opens the box. Surely they wont mind if she 'borrows' some? After all, while they may be aware that she's not bound to wren as such, she's still claimed wren as hers (or vice versa, depending on your perspective). "Wow… Ok, but do you have any idea if they're planning on making you look like mr T, or do you want to pick which bits to wear?"
"Okay, um, the necklace should be worn, that looks all official-like. Um… the bangles and anklets do you think those would be overdone? We're not doing the earcuffs and um… rings… do any of them look ah, plain and somewhat functional in comparison to the others? I'm not very big on the pretty and fancy stuff but um…"
The contents of the box didn't actually change, but there was an impression that it did if one wasn't careful to keep track of what was where.
Wreniel is looking at the contents as a 'loan' and she is definitely going to be returning all the jewelry she's wearing when she's done if she has a chance. Unless she's told otherwise by her gracious hosts. "What do you think?"
The last was directed to Lumina.
Lumina nods at wren, and plucks out the necklace, followed by anything relatively simple. "…I'm not sure there is such a thing as functional jewellery, unless there's a pocket watch in here… Other than that, how does one of each sound? And it's formal, so you'll probably want to stay symmetric…" Ok, she's no expert on it either, at least not when it comes to expensive stuff, but still.
A light silver bracelet worked in the shape of a silver vine presents it's, but so too does a heavier band which holds a number of glistening green stones.
Wreniel ponders the heavier band.. then thinks of how she's a Marine and it kind of holds to her style so she selects the one with the stones.
Lumina is so going to swipe the other one if it lets her. Unfortunately, she's been in the game long enough to know that's probably not going to happen. Still, minigame senses tingling.
There does seem to be a sense of a minigame of some sort around the box, apart from the necklace which has the definite feel of an 'inventory item', but how to access it is unclear.
Wreniel will see if any other designs have a 'resonance' or a theme or 'fit' to her style. It's probably drawing on her fashion skill even though she doesn't realize it.
"Should I wear more makeup, Lu? I mean, it doesn't look like I have much on?"
Lumina shakes her head. "No, that looks good… you could do some amazing things with earrings, but given this box just gave me the evil eye, I think this is your minigame, and it looks like you need to complete it to get to the necklace." She will help though, until they've finished the 'minigame'
"Minigame?" The elfin marine in recovery looks at the box and tries to figure out the secret of the jewelry, drawing upon all available thoughts, feelings, and resources without straining herself.
A faint crimson glow had crept into Lumina's vision when she had tried taking the other bracelet, that it seemed 'caught' on another piece of jewelry not helping, but Wreniel had no such impediment. A little thought, a little focus, and it became 'obviously that only the necklace and certain other items could be removed but by taking them out would be something she was -expected- to wear them.
The trick would be to get the right ones…
Lumina in the meantime wanders around the room to see about doing her hair, and maybe popping on a bit of makeup to make herself look a bit less fake. Though she'll point wren in what she feels is the right direction when it seems needed.
Wreniel takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She will accept any advice and try to go on her base hunches, but on her 'wish' list after the bracer with the green stones are rings with emeralds or green stones… and the necklace, of course. She doesn't raise her hand out of the box as her fingers fiddle through it trying to find 'just the right piece' and for rings she's looking
Wreniel at something modest, one for each hand… She attempts to avoid at all costs the ear cuffs… one can only imagine what those must feel like.
A few false starts almost produced unwanted results, one incautious pull coming close to spilling two rings along with the cuffs from the box, but after a short time it came down to a choice of risking one thing or another apart from the necklace which seemed to require being removed last:
Getting the bracelet easily and perhaps one ring or getting two rings, the bracelet, and likely two little silver 'torcs' which seemed too small to fit on a finger.
Lumina's attempts at makeup were somewhat amusing. Her hands seemed to know how to emphasise her face, but unless she wished to draw attention to her wide eyes and make her lips seem especially 'kissable'…
Lumina snerked so hard at the 'torcs', even through her frustrated efforts. Her face wasn't even everything she was going for. There was also her hands, her legs, her arms if they were visible… just, any skin that didn't look 'real', by the games standards.
Wreniel will go for the bracelet since it seems to be the easiest, then the rings, that's easy enough… and if it comes down to a choice between the cuffs and the 'torcs' the cuffs will be acquired despite her reservations about such.. and then the necklace. "Have to give credit for such a creative… exercise but really who puts this sort* of thing into a game??"
Lumina shrugs, still grinning despite having to wash her face again*. "I have no idea, I could have sworn they weren't there before. Still, do you even have piercings there?"
"I… um… don't want to ah, think about that?" The Marine shudders a bit as she focuses on her task at hand. "That's just kind of creepy?"
"And why am I almost as terrified about this if not moreso than the big scary steampunk monster we fought?"
The bracelet came out easily as did one ring and, after a worrying moment, the second ring. Yet when Wreniel thought that she was in the clear Lumina's question distracted her such that one of the 'torcs' became tangled in the necklace. It, and the other, could be left but it'd mean leaving the necklace behind…
Wreniel starts swearing in a most unladylike fashion. It need not be printed for the rather exceptional language used as she sees the conundrum. "Damnit. I… I want to wear the necklace, it looks important..but… those stupid torc things are tangled in it…"
Lumina giggles a bit and leans over, to see if she can help detangle. And leave the torcs in, no matter how funny it is. "Sorry, sorry. But I think the necklace is the point. Maybe you can dangle them off the necklace? They do seem tangled after all."
Wreniel nods and tries to do that. See if maybe fridge logic and game logic can come to some sort of happy medium that isn't totally embarrassing to her.
It looked to be simplicty itself to get the torcs free… assuming one pulled them and the necklace out of the box entirely first.
Wreniel does so with a swift motion before she second-guesses herself.
"…" Lumina starts looking at Wren's and her pinkies, on the off chance they're big enough for that. If not, well, time to undo wren's top again. While doubled over with shadenfreude
Wreniel is going to be almost a beet red-purple if those go there*…
It seemed that they were intended to do just that. In a demonstration that this world had it's own quirks, the little torcs were -perfectly- sized. Even if they exchanged hands.
Well, wrens going to have to put them on herself. Lumina's to busy being curled up on a desk in stitches
Wreniel takes a deep breath then lets it out. "Here. They won't be expecting a servant to be wearing fine jewelry." She takes a deep breath then lets it out while 'docking' them with as much deliberation as a spacecraft approaching a station, gritting her teeth as she braced for the contact.
The metal wasn't as uncomfortable as it might have been, although the coolness it somehow retained did have an effect, and felt like a light touch more than anything else. However it did draw attention, through the dress, to such… prominent points.
Wreniel lets out her breath slowly then places the necklace on. "Okay. How does my makeup look? Seriously, I don't need a lot more stress right now, just tell me if I look okay?" Her heart is pounding at even the light touch which is different from the clothing pressing against her which was largely forgotten in the heat of the moment.
Lumina stops giggling, and feels the need to point out. "Umm… Wren… I don't think they have to go there? You look great though."
Wreniel keeps blushing. "No, that's where they're supposed to go…"
Lumina holds her hand out. "Ok, pass one over here?"
Lumina does however stop after she re-sees them. "Wait, sorry, nevermind." Whoops.
Wreniel shakes her head. "Make-up is good? Let's go get this done before I lose my nerve?"
Wreniel stands up carefully and makes her way to the door, and if she's been given footwear wearing them is actually an afterthought at the moment, no matter how fancy or heeled they may be.
Lumina nods. "It's great." Says the person who did it. "Mine… isn't working out." She frowned and left it at that, as she followed wren out. Her own footwear had been… somewhat less than comfortable, so much like pretty much the entire rest of the game, she remained barefoot until she found actual, nice footwear. She also remained sadly jewellery-free, unless the box was letting her have some now the necklace was out.
A tall male elf in a formal suit, the very image of a major domo of a household, stood outside the door to Wreniel's room. Silver haired, although young to most non-elven eyes, he inclined his head briefly to Lumina but addressed Wreniel.
"Young Mistress Swiftblade, you and your personal servant are waited in the conservatory." He intoned respectfully, "If you would care to follow me and I shall lead you there where the Lady Rinalio and a young Master Roderick await."
Taking their acceptance for granted he turned away and strode onwards through the manor, passing rooms which were still being repaired and past a spot where a maid was scrubbing a suspicious stain on a wall of a staircase.
That they both followed was less a choice and more something which occured before they could think and, soon enough, they arrived at their destination and their ability to act of their own accord returned.
The conservatory was, as befit the area around the merchant house, not on ground level but instead on the roof so as to keep it from the 'rough crowd' who were the locals. Iron framework, painted a clean white, held plates of glass and a boarder of plants looked almost untamed as they hid the outside view from those within.
That it was warm here was nothing to ignore and Lumina immediately felt it. Dressed as lightly as she was, and used to far harsher conditions, Wreniel had an easier time of it as they were lead to a table where an elgant elven woman sat sharing tea with a young elven gentleman.
"Greetings to you, young Mistress Swiftblade." Lady Rinalio stated calmly, seemingly untroubled by how her own dress was similar to Wreniel's bar how it left her left breast entirely bare, "Would you, and your dear Lumain, join us?"
The gentleman seemed to be looking at Wreniel with an interesting mixture of emotions on his face and was barely keeping in his seat. His garb was far different, rough looking cloth and leather cut into a more 'human' style suited for a man of the upper classes.
Wreniel followed through the halls nervously and when she arrived at the Lady Rinalio's location, and moved to pull a seat open for her servant. It's probably a horrible breach of protocol, but damnit, she was always taught to move a chair for a lady before sitting herself and if it raises eyebrows, so be it. After the chair is pulled out for Lumina she'll time her seating so she sits at the same time as her 'servant'. The gentleman giving her the looks is going to be sending chills up and down her spine at the same time intriguing her, and a similarly conflicting set of emotions are probably going to be playing across her face. Is this the 'fiance' they were telling me about?
Lumina was a little bit surprised by the chair pulling out, given the treatment she had received so far, but she smiled to Wren and accepted the seat. She waved to Rinalio as well, recognising the woman who wasn't entirely mean to her when she first arrived. Though… Well, there was a bit of a blush as she noticed the Lady's dress, though when her eyes met with 'roderick', it mostly seemed to be confusion over his rather poor clothing choices, compared to the other elves at the table.
The gentleman, assumedly Roderick, had his attention centred firmly upon Wreniel but he gave Lumina a small nod when she met his gaze before it turned back to the other of the visitors. He glanced at the Lady for a moment then, at some unseen sign, smiled, "I would like to say that I am personally grateful for the help that you gave our House and you should be assured that we will express that gratitude in suitable ways."
Wreniel nods quietly and has to fight the urge to squirm a bit under the firm glance of 'Roderick' as well as the exposed breast of the Lady. It occurs to her after a few seconds that it's really not doing all that much* for her and turns her attention back to the young man. "We were honored to help and glad we were able to get to you in time. It was definitely a very close thing."
It was the polite thing to say after all.
Lumina really shouldn't be quite so entranced by Rinalio's costume, should she? Though, it's certainly not a style she's seen used in any kind of practical setting. Still, she glances back to wren briefly, before returning to the other elves and nodding in quiet thanks. Best if she shuts up this time.
"Oh, don't feel the need to sit there all quiet. Unlike some I do know what an arcane homunculi is even if you have the build of a bedroom pet." Roderick grinned, not bothering to heed the faint pained look on the face of the Lady as he went on, "We really do need to find out how those -humans- got through the front doors though, I could swear they were solid enough to hold against anything short of a full brigade of Her Majesty's forces."
"I may have something in my jacket that might provide clues as to that. Picked up a knife off of one of their fallen soldiers that was of unusual construction. Also, the door was sort of pried open with some sort of device… though the particulars I leave to Lumina here… not my field." Might as well just lay it out on the table, as it were. And she does blush slightly when
Roderick refers to Lumina as a bedroom pet. Might even help cement Lumina's perceived position, even…
Lumina nods. That wasn't why she was quiet, but it was certainly a reason. "Well, they did have a lot of other fragments of machines in the door, and they had a device in the front that convinced people the door wasn't the way in… I'd imagine either the power armour guy we managed to… beat" She paused there. Not fun memories at all. "his suit may have been able to open the door, or he could have used his enchanting abilities, that the suit seem seemed designed to boost, to just convince someone -else- to open the door from within."
"True, but we should have had a copper wire count to that." Roderick said slowly before adding, as way of explaination, "Similar to how a Farady's Crow Cage is built… but, my pardon, I have been ignoring someone."
Standing up abruptly he moved around the table, the tails of his coat just missing the crockery on the table, then swept Wreniel up in his arms. With an arm around her waist he bent her back with a scandelously deep kiss which went on and on…
"So, Lumina, it might be best if you were purchased from your current owner." The Lady said as the kiss went on, studiously ignoring it, "May I ask his name so this might be facilitated?"
Lumina would respond, but… whaaaaa. Ok, she knew that was wren's fiance, but that's… just completely out of the blue. "I… I'm not sure. I never used his name I don't think." Still, the thoughts of her master were enough to bring her blush back in full force, before she shook them off.
Wreniel is completely caught off-guard by the kiss as she flails a bit for balance more than anything else during the first few seconds then seems to be really getting into it herself, wrapping her arms around Roderick for support as she attempted to keep up with him… then as he slowly pulled away she lets out a small gasp and visibly shudders as she sort of flops back down on the
Wreniel chair, shaking. Yet, despite that reaction, she does have a 'shit-eating grin' on her face as they untwine…
"I do appologise for not having attended to you properly for the last few days, but I do believe that you need time to recover properly as of yet." Roderick said, taking Wreniel's hand in an almost chaste manner and leading her over to sit beside him. It was as though he hadn't just kissed her at all.
Wreniel sort of blindly follows the lead of her hand as she's taken over to sit by Roderick and sits down in the spot, trembling a bit as the smile fades from her face and whitens a bit. And no, she's not doing magic. Her chest pounds rapid-fire as she almost reels from the overload and the situation as her brain tries to process different factoids.. She has no response for Lumina, or
Wreniel even a suggestion as she tries to sort this out.
Lumina watches… and frowns as she notices the somewhat familiar reaction. Ok, so it's not identical, but… "Don't you think that was all a bit too sudden? As you said, I'm not sure she's recovered properly yet…"
"I promise that I will be going no further as of yet." Roderick sword, putting his free hand over his heart while the other still held Wreniel's own hand, "I am not the sort to insist on chanced to confirm our marriage before Wreniel is ready."
The Lady sipped her tea, letting the young gentleman speak for now.
Wreniel startles a bit at that… she had a hunch this guy was her 'fiance' and he's definitely the looker and such a nice firm grasp on her hand but on the other side, inside, she's flailing and in a panic, terrified to death of what these sensations are and such. She lets out a short breath, to try and control said panic.
Ok, subject change… distract the boy! "So anyway, he may have used a shorter wavelength to penetrate the faraday cage?" No crows after all. "Or simply convinced someone who was heading back inside not to notice him and his gang. People do have to leave the building sometimes, don't they?"
Roderick gently stroked the hand in his, soothing wordlessly and throwing Wreniel a concerned look, but replied to Lumina, "I doubt that he used any of Poseidon's magics in the efforts but it is possible that he… influenced someone into taking something within."
Part of Wreniel relaxes at the soothing gentle stroking of her hand… it does have such a calming influence… she could just sit here all night… and then perhaps longer. But to the other train of thought that induces even more panic and she attempts to retrieve her hand as politely as possible while also trying to not let those sensations rule her. She trembles a bit. "Please… it's been… a long few days…" She finally manages to get some words out with an apologetic look, even.
"Poseidon's magics? She paused. "Ooh, no, I mean, the copper wire would only block… spells. With a wavelength bigger than the spacing. Well, mostly, but anyway, you're right, it's more likely he simply followed someone back. and influenced them to not notice."
Roderick carefully let Wreniel's hand slip from his own, fingers trailing along wrist then palm, and murmurs very softly, "I am sure we can find something which you'll be up to."
Lady Rinalio spoke up, her cup in her hands as she covered for her… nephew? cousin? with her own words, "I think that you may wish to read on less… biased works, Lumina. Some seem to have given you the wrong impression. However, I would like to talk to you about something more serious soon. Primarily in asking if you would help us -deal- with these 'Clockwerks'."
Wreniel almost starts crying when the hand trails against hers and then slips into her lap, but somehow finds the strength to keep from doing so. She very firmly folds her hands on her lap as she sits, almost prudish in comparison to her 'reputation' and nods quietly to Roderick. She's probably not going to be very good for much longer in this conversation, for any of a number of reasons.
Lumina sighs and nods. "I suppose; apparently my knowledge on enchanting is only 'basic'." Thanks for the confidence boost you stupid watch. "But yes, if it means they stop killing people and I think brainwashing others, I'd be happy to help deal with them. But anyway, what would happen with regards to 'purchasing' me, if there's even anyone to pay?"
Lumina does cast a concerned eye to the lovebirds though, wren seems to be having an awkward time there.
"Well, then it is a matter of getting you properly registered…" Rinalio began to explain, warming to the topic as Roderick began a silent exchange of glances with his 'fiancee'.
«Scene Fades»
Notes: This really needs a better clean up. The session sort of ambled into starting rather than being properly introduced and that shows.


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been God's principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been little or no good done in the Church. Let us hear sermons in a prayerful and reverent frame of mind, and remember that they are the principal engines which Christ Himself employed when He was upon earth. Not least, let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers or God's Word. According to the state of the pulpit will always be the state of a congregation and of a Church."
J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts On the Gospels, Volume 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007), 128-129.


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Data on intersex people to remain confidential
Monday August 19 2019
The government has warned enumerators in next weekend's population census that they risk being sued if they violate the confidentiality agreement concerning intersex people.
"The enumerators are well aware of this because they have been trained on the issue," Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Director General Zachary Mwangi said during a meeting between the agency and intersex people at a Nairobi Hotel on Monday.
In a speech read on his behalf by KNBS statistician Vivian Nyarunda, Mr Mwangi assured the intersex community that the government is committed to recognising them, and that the census will help it plan adequately for them.
For the first time since independence, intersex persons will be counted during the National Housing and Population Census, following a landmark court order five years ago.
"We need social deconstruction of our minds. The intersex people may have finally got legal recognition, but the greater challenge remains the social recognition of this community," Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo said.
Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura, the intersex people's ambassador, said it is a question of sex and not gender, and urged all intersex people to come out and be counted since it is the only way for them to be recognised.
Many children born with ambiguous genitalia have faced stigma, discrimination and premature corrective surgery.
In Mandera, Senator Mohamed Maalim Mohamud has written to KNBS complaining of a mix up in the tribe codes to be used in listing the Somali-speaking communities.
"Note that all the sub-tribes listed under this heading do not belong to Somali tribe," he said.
In Tana River, two MPs urged the county government to provide transport for the enumerators, claiming Galole and Bura constituencies risk being merged if the two fall short of the minimum population of 160,000.
In Turkana, the county government pleaded with residents who migrated to neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan to return so that they can be counted.
The residents migrated to the neighbouring countries in search of water and pasture for their livestock after a devastating drought.
County leaders challenged the 2009 census results in court on the grounds that most people were not counted.
In Nyandarua, the clergy, political and business leaders are in aggressive campaigns to have locals working or residing away from the region to return and be enumerated.
The leaders went around on Sunday urging parents and relatives to plead with their kin to return home this weekend.
Woman Rep Faith Gitau was in Kipipiri while Governor Francis Kimemia went to Ol Kalou, Ol Joro Orok and Ndaragua.
Nyandarua Interfaith Association officials, led by Chairman Bishop Josam Kariuki, met the preachers in Ol Kalou town and strategised on how to mobilise worshippers, saying both the Bible and the Koran have records of censuses.
In Kisii, Governor James Ongwae asked his constituents to shun the belief that physically counting children is a taboo, noting that the census is important for the allocation of resources by the national government.
By Ibrahim Oruko, Stephen Oduor, Sammy Lutta, Waikwa Maina, Manase Otsialo and Josiah Odanga


text:
Businesswoman shot dead in St Mary
Police investigators are searching for a lone gunman who shot and killed a 33-year-old female shopkeeper as she walked home in St Mary on Wednesday night.
The death of the businesswoman has brought the murder tally in the parish to 23 since the start of the year, two more than the 21 murders that were recorded there for the entire year 2017.
The deceased woman has been identified as Lynsay Silvera, otherwise called 'Cuffie-Ann', of Wellington, St Mary.
Reports are that at about 9:25 p.m., Silvera closed her shop in the neighbouring community of Top Pen and was walking home along the Wellington roadway in the company of other persons.
An armed man then approached the group and opened gunfire, hitting Silvera.
The other persons were left unharmed, as the gunman fled the scene.
The police were alerted and Silvera, who was found lying in a pool of blood, was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Robbery has so far been ruled out as a possible motive behind the attack.
Police investigations are ongoing into the incident.
For breaking news, download our app at http://bit.ly/GetALoopJM for Android; and at http://bit.ly/GetiLoopJM for IoS.


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GPM® and forensic total float
The critical path method (CPM) is widely used as a project management tool for planning and scheduling. Basic to CPM is drawing a project network, from which project completion, total floats, and the critical path are calculated. Once actual dates are introduced in a CPM network, we lose total floats left of the data date, and the critical path can no longer be calculated. The ability to determine total floats and the critical path for the as-built portion of a schedule (left of the data date) is solved by the graphical path method (GPM). This paper presents the concept of GPM forensic total float and its role in retrospective schedule analysis, whether in updating or forensic analysis. A compendium of CPM and GPM floats is provided for context.
The CPM Alternative
Evaluation of a project schedule is required for successful performance, both before the project starts and once it is under way. If performed before the project starts, the analysis is prospective. Once a project is under way, analyzing the project schedule at a point in time to verify completion is on track and to possibly revise the plan and schedule going forward, is a common process. Retrospectively evaluating actual performance of a completed project may be of interest for lessons learned or, if completed late, to reconcile prolongation to the impacted activities and the time-impacting events.
CPM was developed in the late 1950s as a prospective method for planning and scheduling complex projects. (Kelley & Walker, 1959) In CPM, planning states what activities must occur and in what order for the project to complete, and ends with a network of all activities in logical sequence without dates. With activities' elapsed times and the network, scheduling first calculates early start and finish times for all activities. Using the project completion as the late finish of the last activity, late finish and start times for all activities are then calculated. If the time from early start to late finish available to any activity exceeds its elapsed time, it has positive total float and is a floater; if not, the activity has a total float of zero and is critical.
With late times limited by project completion, a floater may be delayed within total float range without delaying completion. CPM's emphasis on late times is thus essential to timely completion; however, typical to CPM is to continue to focus on the earliest possible times, thereby relinquishing the ability to interpret float as measuring the available schedule gain, not just delay.
As a prospective method, the basic application of CPM was for an entire project, before any work was started. CPM did not originally consider updating and maintaining the network and schedule current with progress once the project started. In the early 1960s, varying updating methods for planning, scheduling, and controlling what remained of a partly completed project were introduced. (Moder & Phillips, 1964, p 265; O'Brien, 1965; Antill & Woodhead, 1965, p 183; Shaffer, Ritter & Meyer., 1965) The methods statused completed activities differently, but shared the common goal of applying the CPM calculations only to the portion of a network right of the data date. Updating did not extend to applying the CPM calculations left of the data date.
Retrospective Calculations – The CPM Workaround
Once actual dates are introduced into the scheduling process, CPM algorithms cease to function for the portion of the network left of the data date. CPM calculations go inactive to the past of the data date for two reasons: (1) total floats can no longer be calculated using the CPM equation of late finish date (or actual finish) less early finish date (also actual finish); and (2) for a completed activity, float measured from its actual dates is not as-built total float unless its actual dates, along with the actual dates of all its preceding activities, back to the project start event, are exactly on their respective earliest possible actual dates.
With CPM unable to calculate total floats in the past, the critical path cannot be calculated for the fully-statused portion of a schedule, or for the as-built schedule. Analysts work around this CPM forensic void by pushing the data date out of the way. To deploy CPM calculations, analysts using a baseline (AACE, 2009, p 17), hold the data date at the project start or at the start of the period being evaluated. Statusing is limited to making the durations of activities experiencing progress within the period match their actual or would-be remaining durations and to actualizing logic, and excludes introducing actual dates.
To deploy CPM calculations, analysts working with as-built schedules, perform prospective simulations of the as-built in its entirety, or for an as-built window. (Ponce de Leon, 1984; Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 141) For the as-built schedule, these simulations reset the data date back to the project start, remove actual dates, set activity durations as the time between actual start and finish dates and actualize logic, yielding a prospective model of the as-built, for which CPM calculates early dates and total floats for the actual durations; this reveals the as-built critical path. Prospective simulations woik around CPM's inability to calculate total floats left of the data date by moving the data date back to the project start, or to a prior data date.
Problems Stemming from the CPM Modus Operandi
A CPM schedule chock-full of earliest possible dates that do not make use of available floats is counterintuitive to those responsible for delivering the project. Left on their own to develop more realistic working schedules, personnel in the field use bar charts and other methods to schedule the work efficiently, regrettably, often disconnected from the CPM schedule. Furthermore, CPM limits options by treating float as only measuring leeway with respect to project completion. The fact that an activity scheduled between its early and late dates has float available in either direction is a novel idea to CPM schedulers.
Knowing that completed activities and the start of in-progress activities are left out of CPM calculations, few practitioners feel compelled to actualize logic ties and lags—the forgotten step in updating. (O'Brien & Plotnick, 2009, p 535) It does not help that schedulers' propensity for ignoring logic/lag status left of the data date is encouraged by software out-of-sequence rules. (Glavinich, 2004, p 173; Keane & Caletka, 2008, p. 65) In addition, without figuring in float calculations, the rigor applied to recording actual dates is inconsistent amongst schedulers. (Wickwire, Driscoll, Hurlbut, & Hillman , 2003; O'Brien & Plotnick, 2009, p 536)
Although actual start/finish dates do not affect CPM calculations, they document the as-built schedule; to qualify as an as-built, the cause of delays need not be shown as long as the delay effect is shown. (AACE, 2009, p 21) However, without total floats, there is no algorithmic way to calculate the critical path. "The as-built critical path cannot be directly computed using CPM logic since networked computations that generate float values can be generated only to the future (right) of the data date." (AACE, 2009, p 99) This guidance is only partly correct because total floats are needed for criticality, not just floats.
Some analysts overcome CPM's retrospective void by using observational methods on contemporaneous updates. "The closest the analyst can determine the as-built critical path is to cumulatively collect from successive schedule updates the activities that reside on the critical path between the data date and the data date of the subsequent update." (AACE, 2009, p 99) One such method gleans floats from updates and groups and filters driving activities to determine the as-built critical path. The authors warn that float values can be manipulated by a planner in many ways and should therefore never be used as the sole indicator of determining the location of the driving path or as-built critical path. (Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 240)
The Graphical Path Method Alternative
Like CPM, the graphical path method (GPM) is a rule-based planning/scheduling method that uses a network of activities in logical sequence to calculate the project completion, total floats, and the critical path. However, owing to different scheduling principles, alternate algorithms, and computer graphics relying on object-base principles and using gestural technology, there exist differences and enhancements that underscore how GPM retools schedule analysis. (Ponce de Leon, May 2008 & July 2008)
Unlike CPM, the GPM scheme of thought is that of an interactive process enabling real-time analysis—when planning the schedule, when updating the schedule, and when performing schedule analysis. GPM is rooted in algorithms that focus on planned dates, without ignoring early dates, and GPM calculates total floats to the left of the data date. With the GPM algorithms active on either side of the data date line, retrospective schedule analysis is not stymied by the CPM forensic void.
Unique to GPM planning is configuring the project into a network of logically related and dated objects (activities, fixed and floater milestone events, etc.). (Ponce de Leon, May 2009) Using logical ties and object dates, GPM continuously calculates link gaps and total floats for all dated objects. Link gaps are calculated from the dates of the two related activities; total floats are algorithmically calculated from the link gaps. An activity that may be delayed from planned dates without causing an overrun of the project completion, or any other deadline, has float and is a floater. An activity that may gain schedule and/or extend to earlier dates, without causing an earlier project start, or release date, has preceding float, or drift, and is a drifter. An activity with neither float nor drift is critical. In GPM, float plus drift is a constant, which equals CPM total float.
Once actual dates and re-planning (right of the data date) are introduced in the network, forensic gaps left of the data date are calculated from actual dates, and gaps right of the data date are calculated from planned dates. For remaining activities, calculation of floats, drifts, and total floats is prospective (i.e., based on planned dates). For in-progress activities, calculation of total float relates to remaining durations and is prospective; actualized link offsets (similar to PDM lags) are left out of the calculations, and forensic drifts are calculated from forensic gaps. For completed activities, calculation of forensic floats, forensic drifts, and forensic total floats is retrospective, but is a function of both forensic gaps and gaps right of the data date.
Out-of-sequence progress causes negative forensic gaps and reduces forensic total floats. Corrected logic and omitted logic rules solve the ambiguity through equivalent zero-gap links or finish-to-start links (in the latter case by subdividing the predecessor and/or successor). (Lu & Lam, 2009) Exhibit 1 provides examples (notice total float increases for predecessors).
Exhibit 1 – Corrected Logic Rule Options (Data Date of 09/30/09)
Forensic drifts and floats are a function of forensic gaps, which are commonly fixed, and gaps, which refresh to current planned dates. From update to update, as activities are statused left of the data date, and re-planned right of the data date, forensic floats and drifts continuously refresh algorithmically, just as their counterparts right of the data date. This transient property of forensic total float introduces three premises. Except for delays occurring in the later stages of the project, delay analysis relying on an as-built schedule without collapsing probably mixes delays occurring in one period with forensic floats materializing in later periods. Retrospective analysis relying on windows must use windows of adequate duration to sufficiently consider the transient nature of forensic total float. As a transient attribute, like the critical path itself, forensic total floats convert to as-built total floats in the final update (data date coincides with the project completion date).
due to the forensic gap of 10 days and the float of its successor. Also, note how the forensic float of 1 day for Footings & Subgrade Conc increases to 5 days.
Exhibit 2 – Forensic Gaps, Drifts, and Floats Left of Data Date of 8 May 2009 and Left of the Data Date of 10 July 2009
The as-built critical path is directly discernible with forensic total floats. Any completed activity with both forensic float and forensic drift of zero has a forensic total float of zero. Breaks in the as-built critical path stand out and are fixed by recognizing concealed delay otherwise posing as a positive-gap link. Consider the following figures: In Exhibit 3a., seemingly, there is no as-built path with both zero forensic drift and float. Exhibit 3.b. reveals the as-built critical paths with the addition of Mob Delay and Rebar Hold, two concealed delays that prevented the start of successor critical activities as originally envisioned.
Exhibit 3a. – Concealed Delays Cause Critical Path Breaks
Exhibit 3b. – As-Built Critical Paths Revealed
Compendium of CPM and GPM Floats
The arrow diagramming method (ADM)—The Kelley & Walker network (1959) uses arrows between activity tail (i) and head (j) nodes to represent activity i,j. An activity that may start upon the finish of another is connected to the predecessor through a common node or dummy, which limits ADM to finish-to-start (FS) logic (FS logic rule). Using ADM notation (TE/TL is early/late time), total float is interpreted as from late finish (TLj) minus early start (TEi), subtract the duration for the activity. Free float is interpreted as from earliest early start of all successors (TEj) minus activity early start (TEi), subtract the duration. Interfering float is total float less free float or TLj minus TEj. Independent float is interpreted as from TEj (earliest early start of all successors) less TLi (latest late finish of all predecessors), subtract the duration, but it must be at least zero.
CPM with a backward pass premise—CPM assumes a project start date, from which the completion date is to be calculated (forward pass premise); this leads to floats rooted in early dates and head nodes. If the assumption is the project completion date, from which an optimal project starting date is to be calculated, the emphasis switches from early dates to late dates, with floats rooted in late dates and tail nodes. With a backward pass premise, free float, actually backward free float, becomes: from activity late finish (TLj) minus latest late finish of all predecessors (TLi), subtract the activity duration. (Zimmerman, 1967) Interfering float and independent float also have to be re-stated, but total float calculation remains unchanged.
Activity-on-node Network (AON)—Fondahl (1962) led an independent, parallel effort to develop an approach for manually applying CPM. The method substitutes a circle and line for the arrow notation, but holds onto the FS logic rule. The method calculates activities' early start and finish dates and late start and finish dates. Due to the FS logic rule, float calculations for activities are essentially the same, except they are driven by activity dates rather than event times. Fondahl originated the concept of driving links, and calculated link lags for non-driving links, albeit within the confines of the FS logic rule. For any link, the link lag value is interpreted as the early start of the successor minus the early finish of the predecessor.
Precedence diagramming method (PDM)—As originally developed, PDM extended the AON model to allow three types of relationships. (IBM, 1968; O'Brien, 1969, pp 99–115) The start-to-finish (SF) relationship type was added by Ponce de Leon. (1970, pp 42–47; Lu & Lam, 2009) In PDM, an activity may start or finish some time after a predecessor has started or finished. The minimum waiting time between the predecessor and successor connected, relevant dates, is the lead/lag factor. The relevant dates for each PDM dependency stem from the logic type. The calculation of free float changes for the four PDM relationship types, as free float can no longer be stated only in terms of start of successor and finish of predecessor. Instead, free float measures days the predecessor may be delayed from its early dates without delaying any of its successors from their respective early dates. Equations for total float and interfering float remain unchanged. PDM was eventually extended to calculate Fondahl's link lag concepts for SS, FF, and SF relationship types. (Ponce de Leon, 1972, pp 120-138)
Resource-constrained scheduling—In CPM, schedules conditioned on resource limits, resource-constrained float measures days an activity may be delayed from its recalculated dates while breaching neither resource limits nor completion. (Kim & de la Garza, 2003) The float sequestered by the resource-constrained float calculation, in their view, is phantom float.
GPM, forward pass premise—GPM provides five prospective float attributes. (1) Float measures days an activity may slip from and/or extend beyond planned dates without overrunning the project completion date or an interim completion date. As float results from planner-devised logic, it is not scheduled float (Antill & Woodhead, 1965, p 65) or remaining float. (Kim & de la Garza, 2003); (2) Drift measures days an activity may backslide from planned dates and/or extend to earlier planned dates without forcing an earlier project start or release date; (3) Float plus drift equals total float; (4) Buffer equals the minimum of all link gaps to the activity's successors; and (5) Drift-buffer equals the minimum of all link gaps from the activity's predecessors. In addition, forensic float, forensic drift and forensic total float counterparts (left of the data date) are provided. As forensic float is measured from actual dates forward, forensic drift is also required to properly calculate forensic total float.
Link gaps are keys in GPM calculations, as all floats and drifts originate at the gap level. Gap measures days the predecessor may slip and/or extend without delaying its successor. Drift-gap measures days the successor may gain and/or extend to earlier dates without forcing the predecessor back. PDM relationship leeway (essentially GPM gap), originally calculated by Ponce de Leon (1972, pp 120-138), has been recently posited as interactivity float/relationship slack. (Winter, 2004)
Relationship diagramming method (RDM)—RDM is a variant of ADM, with PDM features, that focuses on the rationale for each relationship (Plotnick, 2006). RDM introduces just-in-time float (JTF) to measure float of support activities leading to an i-node or merge point that is selected to be driven by another chain of activities. RDM calculates a multi-calendar float (MF) that homogenizes to a uniform calendar activity floats on a chain having dissimilar calendars. As with PDM logic, total floats for the start and finish nodes may differ. (Ponce de Leon, 1972, pp 139-177) Thus, RDM calculates start float and finish float, with total float as the lesser of the two. RDM adopts ADM or PDM calculations for free and independent floats.
Activity float interpretations—Activity float measures activity slippage from early dates without altering the early schedule tree, after allowing activities on the same chain a proportionate share of the chain's float based on activity-to-chain duration. (Ponce de Leon, 1983) Discrete activity float assigns to each activity on a path a proportionate share of the path's combined total float and free float, using activity-to-path duration as the basis for proportioning. (Woolf, 2007) If PDM calculations allow start float and finish float for an activity to differ, float embedded, if any, within the activity start and finish dates is internal activity float. (Pickavance, 2005, p 579) The difference between the duration assigned to an activity and the time necessary for the scope of work denoted by the activity is considered activity float. (Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 265)
Other float interpretations—Contract float measures days between contractual and projected completion available to offset critical path delay, pursuant to applicable contract clauses (Ponce de Leon, 1985). It is also called terminal or end float (Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 191) and external float. (Pickavance, 2005, p 594) Sequestered float is that concealed by a preferential link or other technique for the primary intent of reducing float. (Ponce de leon, 1985; Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 193) A float map lists activities in the baseline and contemporaneous updates along with their respective total float values, from update to update to highlight activities that are consistently critical in contemporaneous updates. (Keane & Caletka, 2008, p 238) A float trend sorts baseline activities and remaining activities in the updates by ascending total float; and plots, from update to update (x-axis), the total float (y-axis) for the 0%, 10%, 50%, 90%, and 100% percentiles. (Kilpatrick, 1972)
Summary and Conclusions
Once actual dates are introduced in a schedule, CPM loses the ability to calculate total floats in the past (left of the data date). This hinders the retrospective analysis of actual performance, as the critical path can no longer be
CPM-calculated for the as-built portion of the schedule. This retrospective void in CPM is well documented in the forensic scheduling literature.
The GPM updating mantra is for the planner to apply equal rigor to logic definition both right and left of the data date. In furtherance, for out-of-sequence progress, GPM posits that corrected logic rules (including omitted logic options) better portray as-built conditions than what results from rules currently in use by practitioners. A payback from more accurate as-built logic is true forensic total floats and more accurate delay analysis results. Calculation of forensic total floats has been the missing link in retrospective schedule analysis. That void has now been dealt with by the GPM scheme of thought.
In the last 50 years, researchers have proposed many measures of float beyond those interpreted by the CPM developers. Including the original 4 measures of float, over 35 float variations (5 are actually relationship-related), are reviewed. Based on three years of actual GPM application on real-world projects ranging from $15 million to $2 billion, it is posited that gap and drift-gap (based on planned versus early dates), float, drift, total float, and contract float yield sufficient float information for project management and control.
AACE International (2009). Recommended Practice No. 29R-03, Forensic Schedule Analysis. Atlanta, GA.
Anthill, J., & Woodhead, R. (1965). Critical path methods in construction practice. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Fondahl, J. W. (1962). A non-computer approach to the critical path method for the construction industry (2nd ed.), 25–30. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Department of Civil Engineering.
Glavinich, T. (2004). Construction planning & scheduling (2nd ed.). Arlington, VA: Associated General Contractors of America.
IBM. (1968). Project Control System/360, Application Description. IBM Application Program, H20-0222-2.
Keane, P., & Caletka, A. (2008). Delay analysis in construction contracts. Chichester, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Kelley, J., & Walker, M. (1959, December). Critical path planning and scheduling, pp 162–163. Proceedings of the Eastern Joint Computer Conference, Boston, MA.
Kilpatrick, D. (1972). Float trend charts, project planning by network techniques, pp 191–225. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kim, K., & de la Garza, J. (2003). Phantom float. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, (129)5, 507–517.
Lu, M., & Lam, H. (2009). Transform Schemes Applied on Non-Finish-to-Start Logical Relationships in Project Network Diagrams. Journal of Construction Engineering Management, (135)9, 863–873.
Moder, J., & Phillips, C. (1964). Project management with CPM and PERT. New York, NY: Reinhold Publishing Corp.
O'Brien, J. (1965). CPM in construction management, pp 148–157. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
O'Brien, J. (1969). Scheduling handbook, pp 99–102. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
O'Brien, J., & Plotnick, F. (2009). CPM in construction management (7th ed). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Pickavance, K. (2005). Delay and disruption in construction contracts (3rd ed.). London, UK: Mortimer House.
Plotnick, F. (2006). RDM – Relationship diagramming method. AACE International Conference, Las Vegas, NV, US.
Ponce de Leon, G. (1970). Precedence Network-Based CPM, An Introduction. Ann Arbor, MI: Townsend & Bottum, Inc.
Ponce de Leon, G. (1972). Extensions to the Solutions of Deterministic and Probabilistic Project Network Models. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering at Ann Arbor, 1972).
Ponce de Leon, G. (1983, Fall). Activity float entitlement. Strategem, A Project Controls Journal, 1(3), 1–2. Ann Arbor, MI: Project Management Associates, Inc.
Ponce de Leon, G. (1984, Fall). Setting up and adjusting the as-built schedule. Strategem, A Project Controls Journal,(2)1, 5–6. Ann Arbor, MI: Project Management Associates, Inc.
Ponce de Leon, G. (1985, October). Float ownership: Specs treatment. Strategem, A Project Controls Journal 2(2), 1–3, 14–15. Ann Arbor, MI: Project Management Associates, Inc.
Ponce de Leon, G. (May, 2008). Graphical planning method (a new network-based planning/scheduling paradigm). PMICOS Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Ponce de Leon, G. (July, 2008). Project planning using logic diagramming method. AACE International Conference, Toronto, Canada.
Ponce de Leon, G. (2009). GPM®;: An Objectbase Project Networking Method. PMICOS Annual Conference, Boston, MA.
Shaffer, L., Ritter, J., & Meyer, W. (1965). The critical path method,, pp 53–60. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Wickwire, J., Driscoll, T., Hurlbut, S., & Hillman, S. (2003). Construction scheduling: Preparation, liability, and claims, p 274. Frederick, MA: Aspen Publishers.
Winter, R. (2004). Longest path value (to the rescue). PMICOS Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada.
Woolf, M. B. (2007). Faster construction projects with CPM scheduling, p 336. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Zimmerman, L. S. (1967). A network approach to resource scheduling, pp 17–38. (MS Thesis, University of Illinois, Civil Engineering, College of Engineering at Urbana, IL).
© 2010 Dr. Gui Ponce de Leon, PE, PMP, LEED AP
Published as a part of 2010 PMI Global Proceedings – Washington, DC
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In modern's day and age, no one can deny that people use electrical and mechanical appliances in massive quantum. These appliances ranges up-to cars, engines, generators, industry equipment, solar equipment and many other material appliances. These appliances would never produce optimum yield unless suitable and appropriate batteries are annexed with charging terminals of these resources. However, one of the most commonly used battery is called "a marine battery". As every electrical contraptions has some merits and de-merits, attention should be drawn on the fact that the supreme reason behind the excessive usage of these power supplies is due to its extreme resilience, cost efficiency and safety elements. Yes, it would not be wrong to demonstrate that these magical amenities are extremely impregnable and hence, would merely be damaged. Moreover, another cardinal advantage of installing these batteries in gadgets is refer to the fact that these batteries are available in assorted power voltages, designs, colours, weights, prices and other considerable features which always captivates significant attention of many customers. Further, attention should also be drawn on an utmost disadvantage of this amenity as these batteries are relatively require more spending on their acquisition than other lead acid batteries. Further pros and cons of boat batteries are demonstrated here under:
Require less maintenance (Merit)
Yes it is pertinent here to mention that marine batteries always require least maintenance because of sulphuric acid coated at its terminals in gel form. As many chemist usually say ' sulphuric acid is best simulator of power and energy", it can easily be constructed that these batteries always consume less input and furnish more output. This element make these batteries more resilient which require minimal or no maintenance. Mechanical study has revealed that these batteries usually last from 1 year to 6 years which can easily outweighs the extra levy which one have to pay at its acquisition. So, this foremost factor of nominal maintenance always save future cost and time.
Assure no leakage (Merit)
As mentioned above, a gel seal always make their terminals and openings as highly vacuumed. This intense seal remove extensive pressure and batteries always remain stuck and placed at specified places. So, chances of leakage becomes too remote. Moreover, marine batteries also cater for extreme resistance of shock and vibration which means that there would be very trivial chances which can be culminated into damage/destruction of these batteries by driving cars roughly. Further, they don't fabricates hydrogen fumes and also there would be no need to place and organize batteries in ventilated area. All these elements always pledge for no leakage, damage and displacement of batteries which also sanction one to use this amenity over a long time. Further, one should also have to ponder that in these days, throughout in Australia, many adept companies and suppliers are producing these amenities in many disparate features, functions and price ranges in order to dispense memorable and worthwhile experience to their customers.
Comparatively expensive and offer slow rate charging (De-merit)
Yes, only argument which can be framed against boat batteries is usually refer to high price rates and low rate charging. If these batteries went out of power, no one can deny that these batteries always require ample time for restoration. Although, they can be charged easily be applying charging terminals of chargers in cross connection with battery terminals, one would have to admit that these batteries are charged at relatively slow rate than other type of batteries. Moreover, as mentioned above, these salt water chargers are sometimes regarded as expensive resources when compared with their durability. So, nothing would be wrong to conclude that installing marine batteries in appliances would only subject to above mentioned demerits.
Hence, it can be concluded that although these pelagic cells has several advantages and disadvantages like every electrical appliance, attention should be drawn on this admitted fact that these batteries own more benefits than disadvantages. Moreover, one of the most indispensable merit of installing these batteries is always refer to the fact that these are uttermost commonly used amenities and therefore, one would not have to cope with replacement and maintenance of these magical water cells batteries. So, "these beatific marine batteries should always be regarded as value added facilities which has more advantages than its disadvantages"


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Euxanthe eurinome Common Forest Queen Butterfly
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Pleasantness Is The Best Medicine
(I'm at the pharmacy and they have been having issues with my medication: not in yet, not the right amount, or not in stock. Today it is a misread order, and I did not get the amount I am supposed to, so they ask if I can come back on Monday.)
Pharmacist: "Haven't you been here almost every day for one thing or another?"
Me: "All but Friday."
Pharmacist: "I'm sorry we keep having to have you come back in."
Me: "That's okay."
Pharmacist: "And you're still so nice about it?"
Me: "Why wouldn't I be?"
Pharmacist: *shakes my hand* "Bless you."
Me: "Anyone who works behind a counter deserves respect until they show me otherwise."
Pharmacist: "Can you teach our other customers that?"
Me: "I wish I could."


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Is Biblical Inerrancy, Biblical? Does Inspiration imply inerrancy?
Bible Difficulty #8 "Biblical inerrancy is not a doctrine that can be proven by an a posteriori deductive argument. It is a position that is accepted a priori, on faith, and not by reason. The many Biblical and historical references that support inerrancy are completely valid … Continue reading
Posted in 2 timothy 3:16-17, apologetic, apologetics, bart ehrman, bible contradictions, biblical difficulties, biblical inerrancy, confusion, debate, deductive reasoning, Dr. William Lane Craig, early christian history, inerrancy, inspiration, John D. Woodbridge, jp moreland, reason, reasoning, scriptural difficulties, scripture, Septuagint, textual criticism, word of god, youtube Tagged Bart ehrman, bible contradictions, bible difficulties, biblical inerrancy, inerrancy, inerrant, inspiration, jp moreland, scriptural difficulties, William Lane Craig 2 Comments


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July 1st, 2018 / By: Sigrid Tornquist / Feature, Perspective
"Cold calls are a thing of the past," says Brenda Hagerty, co-owner and president of Porcupine Canvas Manufacturing Ltd. in Boucherville, Quebec, Canada. "Calling someone out of the blue to try to sell them something just doesn't work in today's industry. What clients want are our feet on the ground."
Hagerty's history with Porcupine Canvas began in 2010 when she was hired for an inside sales position. Before that, she'd spent 25 years selling for a hydraulics company. "I've always loved sales, and I've always loved to sew," she says. "Working at Porcupine combined my professional passion for sales with my personal passion for sewing—working in a sales position at a textile manufacturing company was my dream job."
Time underground
Timmins, Ontario, where Porcupine Canvas was located at the time, is home to several gold, zinc, copper, nickel and silver mines—and when Hagerty came on board, the majority of the company's sales was to the mining industry. Porcupine sold mining equipment, including bags, vests, safety equipment, exploration supplies, tipis and mining tents. Although it held a significant market share of the mining equipment industry, the company had never before hired a trained sales person—and the number of orders Hagerty landed caught the owner's notice. He asked her to go out on the road. "So once a week, I'd visit the mines," she says. "When you're in the mines, that's when you learn what the customer wants—not what you want to sell them, but what they need to make their lives easier. That's when our sales started to grow exponentially."
Local presence
The majority of the company's sales were in the Timmins area, and the sales outside the area were usually the result of miners who had previously worked in Timmins and were familiar with the quality and range of Porcupine's products. "I started thinking: If miners in the Northwest Territories are ordering from us because there's nobody closer to them supplying the kind of quality products we're making—we should think about setting up distributorships," Hagerty says.
She contacted Dan Villgren at Sudbury, Ontario-based Sling-Choker—a wire rope fabrication and industrial supply company at 13 locations across Canada. "They were a good fit because they have inside sales people and outside sales people that make sales calls regularly to mines in those locations," she says. "So we started distributing through them, and the sales growth was huge."
From sales to the head office
Porcupine now has distributors in the U.S. and across Canada in addition to Sling-Choker. Near the beginning of 2012, Hagerty was promoted to assistant manager; by the end of that year she became general manager—and in 2015 she partnered with Villgren and purchased Porcupine. "The owner was getting ready for retirement, and although he was supportive of me selling more products, he was hesitant to invest the money needed for expansion and equipment," Hagerty says. "When he initially approached me with the idea that I buy the business, he wanted me to partner with him and take over the company in five years, but I thought it would be better if I found a way to buy him out completely."
When Hagerty reached out to Villgren to see if he would partner with her, his answer was an immediate yes. An expert in the mining industry, he operates mostly behind the scenes. "He's the best business partner you could ever have," she says. "When we first went into partnership he told me: 'You just go with your ideas. If you try something and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, we'll try something else.'"
And when the time came to negotiate the terms of the sale, Villgren suggested that Hagerty's life partner Bill Kowal take on the role. "Bill was used to negotiating huge contracts for corporations, so he was able to negotiate the price down," Hagerty says. "And it kept me from having to negotiate with someone who at the time was still my boss."
Yes to a new market
The company was strong and mining sales were still growing for Porcupine when an unexpected new market share practically landed in Hagerty's lap. In January 2016, while at a mining trade show in Vancouver, it became clear to Hagerty and Villgren that glamping tents were in demand. "The CEOs of companies were stopping by our booth asking if we sold tents they could use for 'bunkies' at their cottages," Hagerty says. "We sold more tents at that show than mining products, so we thought: 'Maybe it's time to give glamping tents its own website.'"
Porcupine launched Tenting in Luxury, a division of Porcupine Canvas, dedicated exclusively to luxury tents. Along with the glamping market came international growth. "We started dealing more with the U.S. and Mexico, and my strength is not international—my strength is Canada," Hagerty says. "We decided we needed to hire somebody to help with all this international growth, and the name that kept popping into both Dan's and my heads was Bill—he has contacts all over the world. So he came on board as director of sales and operations, and marketing."
New friends, old friends
Even as the glamping market is taking off for Porcupine, Hagerty is careful to devote equal resources to mining. "The mining portion of the business is more of a consumer commodity, because miners are hard on their equipment and the products they use, because of the environment they're in," she says. "We spend quite a bit of money with Google ads—and I spend equally on both divisions."
In September 2017, the lease on the 100-year-old building Porcupine was housed in came to an end, and Hagerty moved the business to a new location. "Timmins is a mining town. Trying to find industrial sewers—or anyone who wants to work outside the mines—is difficult," she says. "We also knew we needed to be in a better trucking lane than where we were, 1,000 kilometers north of Toronto."
Hagerty and Villgren found and leased an 18,000-square-foot building with 20-foot-high ceilings—on the outskirts of Montreal. She began renovating the space in June so that it's now a lean manufacturing facility, complete with new production space, staff lounge and restrooms, office space and a showroom. "This showroom is beyond beautiful," Hagerty says. "I'm so proud of it that when Bill and I get married in July, we're going to have the ceremony in the showroom in front of one of our glamping tents."
Sigrid Tornquist is a writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minn., and a regular contributor to the Review. July 2018, Specialty Fabrics Review


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Authors: Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
At her young mother's deathbed, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson promises to look after her beloved father, Thomas. The oldest of Jefferson's children, Patsy shoulders a burden much too heavy for the child she is, but she does so willingly. When Jefferson accepts an assignment that will take him from the family estate at Monticello to Paris, Patsy travels along with him, and is soon ensconced in a French convent to attend school. Jefferson is immersed in diplomatic affairs, and Patsy cherishes any opportunity to spend time with the brilliant, mercurial author of The Declaration of Independence. She loves her time in the peaceful convent, however, even to the point of considering taking vows and becoming a nun, an idea that appalls her father.
The family, such as it is, returns to Virginia after an absence of over five years. Patsy has grown into a mature young woman, thinking of her own future and considering marriage. Jefferson has plans for his daughter to marry as well, but to the man of his choosing, not hers. What eventually follows is a marriage that at turn faces scandal, financial problems and more – and produces eleven children. Patsy remains her father's staunchest supporter, his confidant, his loving daughter till he draws his last breath. Her own married life is miserable, but she remains married till she's widowed, and then another phase of her life begins, bringing her once more to the White House.
America's First Daughter is a fascinating look into the life of the child of one of America's most beloved and important Founding Fathers. Patsy Jefferson was an intelligent, complex and loving woman who stood by her father's side through thick and thin, good and bad, supporting him and loving the man who was as flawed as he was brilliant. It's hard to imagine the fortitude Patsy had to endure all she did, but through letters, historical events and impeccable research, authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie have brought Patsy to life for readers to meet for themselves. The story is absorbing, rich with historical detail and incredibly compelling reading. America's First Daughter is truly a must read for 2016.


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The Invisible States exhibition grew out of work with dance companies in London. These images were first exhibited in Bangalore as part of the first 'Bangalore Bienale' festival of Dance and Digital Arts in 2002. Supported by the British Council in India, they were shown in Amythyst Gallery in Chennai later in the same year. Supported by the British Council, London they were shown in Athens (Greece) 2003, Gera (East Germany) 2003, and at the Woking Dance Festival in 2004.
Exhibition synopsis: This series of photographs features British Asian performers, or Asian performers who work in Britain. There are also supporting and contextualising images featuring British non-Asian performers. In common with the choreographic styles of many of the artists featured, the images seek to embrace contemporary western performance practices as well as other disciplines such as Wu Shu, Kalari, Barata Natyam and contemporary Asian styles. The staging of the images also refers obliquely to Asian Cinema, Television and Literature as well as to English 19thC portrait painting and current technological environments. As such they express the notion of the linking of cultural discourses and identity in both an individual and social context. The work highlights the manner in which diverse traditions operate in a contemporary environment.


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The application time for the Swedish Steel Prize 2018 ended on February 1, and a total of 81 applications were sent in. The applications came from 26 different countries around the world.
"On behalf of the whole jury, I want to thank all the applicants. We will now start going through the applications and expect to find innovative solutions that really blow our minds. I'm sure we will end up with a great set of finalists," says Eva Petursson, chairman of the Swedish Steel Prize jury and head of SSAB's strategic R&D.
The four Swedish Steel Prize 2018 finalists will be announced in March and the winner on May 24, at the gala event in Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. The winner will receive a statuette by the sculptor Jörg Jeschke and a cash prize of SEK 100,000 to be donated to a charity of the winner's choice.


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Are some features more harmful than helpful?
We've been talking a lot about the suggestions everyone has been asking us to make. As you may or may not have guessed, many of the suggestions are things that have come up internally and have already been given a lot of thought. The reasons we don't have them for this version are many-fold. But the main reasons are:
- We don't have time to implement that feature even though we'd like to
- We actually don't think the feature is a good thing and we think it will be detrimental to add it
The first is something that I think everyone can understand. We have a limited number of resources (time, developers, QA, etc.) and there is only so much we can do. Large features that affect many teams use a large amount of resources, and we'll only commit to them if we see immense user benefit. In general we'll schedule to provide the greatest user benefit. There's no set way of doing this, but (for example) we might pick 5 really great features rather than 1 amazing one because we can do the 5 in the same amount of time and altogether they are better than that 1 other feature. Of course, figuring out how many resources something will take to do is extremely difficult and things get updated as work progresses. Sometimes a feature take 1/10 the time you thought, sometimes three times longer.
The second is something that I think people understand but don't necessarily think about. While they see a benefit to the suggestion, they don't consider that there might be a downside. I do a lot of my coding in C++ (unfortunately) and I see that as a language whose design philosophy was "that looks cool! is it fast or powerful? Yes!! Then lets add it." This is generally why people talk about C++ as a shotgun that not only comes preloaded but also is pre-aimed at your feet. The features it has can be used amazingly effectively in some situations, but tend to get abused to no end leading to nigh-impossible to understand code with bugs that can be horrendous to find. I'm also someone who followed the development of java (and other languages) quite closely. You could see that in their design process the looked carefully at the features that other languages had and they asked "is that feature something that is normally used well, or normally abused". If it fell into the latter category then they said "we're not going to include that. Even if it is a burden for the programmer who would use it well, it's better for the platform overall". This is a philosophy that I agree with. Why? Because if you make a mistake and later realize that you need something, then you can always add it later. If, instead, you had added these features then you'd be stuck because it's very very difficult to remove something from a language as you may break existing code.
Many features we've looked at could help programmers in special situations, but we feel that they would lead to developers creating bad code and APIs. An example of this is the "optional/named parameters" argument. When you have a language with optional parameters you can end up with apis with methods that take 50 parameters. (See the Office Object Models for example of this). The reason this is generally bad is that these 50 parameters have a relationship that you can't express. Like "if you give the font argument, then you also must specify size, but not specify window layout or brush stroke". These kind of constraints are things that should be encapsulated elsewhere. The arguments people generally make for wanting this feature are so they can inter-operate with these APIs. However, if we added feature then more of these APIs would breed and you could get a proliferation of bad APIs.
That's an example of a language feature that we worry about. There are also issues with our tools that we worry about. For example, one thing we're ambivalent about is allowing users to collapse regions in the Visual C#. What we've seen is that people end up with a "#region fields, #region methods, etc." which they then collapse to get a class that is only like 10 lines long. If you expand it you end up with a 200k file (no joke). In this case because we've made it so easy to hide the complexity you end up thinking that your class isn't complex and you end up with an impossibly complex object. If we didn't have this then frankly you'd be forced to break up your object to make it less unwieldy.
Another tools feature that we worry about would be Edit & Continue. Richard Grimes has a very interesting article on it where he argues that it actually leads to poor development and design skills. I somewhat agree with this view. As I posted about earlier, when I'm in Ocaml/Java/C# i never use a debugger. Why? Because I tend to keep follow development processes that make it unnecessary. When things to go wrong I tend to just sit down and think about it for about 5 minutes after which I'm pretty sure I know what the issue is. A quick test will usually confirm it. I'll then fix up the issue and add tests to make sure that it won't happen again. When i use the debugger I tend to find the area where the problem actually manifests itself and I'm then tempting to fix it right there. By doing this I might be overlooking the fact that something else way before actually screwed something up and I'm fixing it in the wrong place.
The best fixes that I've ever made to code have come about because I didn't just path a couple of lines and move on. Instead I went and talked to my peers about it. I say what i think is wrong, and how I think it should get fixed. They're response is usually "waitaminute... that doesn't make any sense." or "wait.. how did this work before." or "if you do that Foo will break. You should be fixing it here instead so that the problem is actually gone". or, even better "wait... this is just fundamentally broken. Of course this would fail. We really need to rethink this and do it correctly". That last statement has happened a lot in the whidbey time-frame and our code-base has become much much better because of it. Long standing deep seated bugs were rooted out because we didn't just fix a symptom, we tracked it down to the actual source of the bug (usually a way overcomplicated class), ripped it out and replaced it with something far simpler and understandable that we were then much more confident in.
Note: This is my opinion :-) many people disagree with me on this. There are tons of people who live in the debugger (and who create very good code). They would probably be able to leverage this quite effectively. However, again, this is one of those areas where we have to ask "are we doing more harm than good". If, in the end, we feel the answer is yes (i.e. the feedback from you is "i understand the risks, but this is something that makes me a better developer") then we'll do it because we want C# developers as a whole to be more productive.
This post came out a lot longer than I expected. But I thought it might be helpful to understand that we do think very carefully about new features and it doesn't boil down to "lets just do it because we can". If you have any questions or issues with anything I've said, let me know!