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The Assassin's Creed games always look like they might be quite enjoyable, all backstabbing and historical intrigue, like a Dan Brown novel for the hard of thinking.
In reality though, despite the lush settings, dramatic music and variety of hooded garments, they always come across as a bit, what's the word... boring? Go there, endure some earnest exposition, kill somebody for reasons you're not entirely clear about, repeat to fade. And when you're not doing that, you're bowling around pushing people out of the way like in some medieval Verve video, or prancing around on rooftops and leaping into conveniently placed haystacks.
Revelation is the fourth Assassin's Creed game in five years, and the strain is arguably beginning to show, with a Splinter Cell level of franchise milking. All of the above features are present and correct, but there's also a "shark-jumping" attempt to liven things up early doors, in the form of a Ben Hur style chariot race. Which doesn't comfortably fit into what is traditionally perceived as a stealth game.
We need to talk about Desmond
For those who care about the story, it's mainly set in Constantinople, and you play Ezio Auditore, who is now knocking on a bit, since he appeared - as a baby - in Assassin's Creed II. Except of course you don't really play Ezio; you play a bartender called Desmond Miles, one of gaming's most contentious characters. As anyone who has ever picked up an Assassin's Creed game will confirm - possibly through gritted teeth - all of the action takes place in the head of Desmond, who is strapped into something called an Animus machine, reliving so-called genetic memories, while in the 'real' world an improbable war rages between modern day Templars and Assassins.
It is of course poppycock of the highest order. There's always a lot of talk about immersion in gaming, and it's one thing to believe that you're sat on your sofa controlling a renaissance assassin, another to make the leap that it's all going on inside someone else's fevered mind. If anything, Desmond has an even bigger role than usual in Revelations, able to access a place called Animus Island where he has his own collection of sub-Portal platform-oriented levels, accompanied by an unconvincing voiceover where he reveals his origins as a proto-hippie. The man is a tool.
Doctor Hook
Ignore him. Back to the "real" action, it's familiar fare, with the core mechanics honed if not quite to perfection, then at least to a level of resigned functionality. The big hook is that Ezio has a big hook, which he slips out of his right sleeve in order to make clambering up buildings some 30 per cent quicker.
It can also be used to slide down conveniently placed - and slightly anachronistic - telegraph cables, as well as garrotte passers-by. It doesn't stop him occasionally throwing himself to his death in a fit of pique however, something that almost makes you yearn for the "press X to continue" simplicity of Uncharted 3. With that game and the new Batman, we've spent a lot of time on rooftops of late, but Revelations arguably trumps them both, with the cities seemingly consisting of more roof than street.
Missions are doled-out in an open world fashion and generally involve walking somewhere to be told what to do and then going there and doing that thing. It might be killing someone, spying on someone, retrieving some kind of artefact, or buying a carpet. By and large, it's massively po-faced, although there is a brief moment of levity when you disguise yourself as a bard in order to gatecrash a party, and tear someone's throat out with a lute.
The whole thing hinges around finding some lost keys, which unfortunately aren't in your other jacket. Those keys enable you to play flashback (or flashforward?) missions as the series' other big cheese, Altair, otherwise known as a man in a hood. Something of a running theme, even the berk Desmond wears a hoodie.
Bombs Away
Beyond the action, there's an entire meta-game going on involving buying properties, recruiting Assassins, and even sending them away to foreign shores to perform missions. There's also an incongruous attempt at strategy involving an irksome tower defence mode that requires you to place soldiers on rooftops and build barricades to protect your den.
And the game is all but obsessed with bombs, inviting you to craft bombs, buy bombs, throw bombs at people, carry bombs around in a variety of pouches for a rainy day, none of which appears entirely essential. As for the combat, it's so easy as to be pointless, and even if you do get into bother you can call in a few assassins to help you out. In fact, there's no great challenge in the game at all - you either do something or don't do it.
Weirdly, nobody really talks about the multiplayer in Assassin's Creed but it's actually highly original, involving pursuers and targets playing cat-and-mouse over a series of tight maps. A neat idea, identifying yourself as different to the AI characters gives away your position, hence it's one of the few games where walking around casually minding your own business is a viable tactic.
As an exercise in tying up loose ends for those who have managed to follow the story, Revelations does its job in sold but unspectacular style. We've seen it all before, and we certainly don't want to see any more of Desmond. If they do make another game, they should make it Assassin's Creed Unplugged, free of DNA sequences, memory fragments, and the rest of the preposterous twaddle that blights the series. Just say no to Desmond.


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Classes are currently being taught online. All physical facilities are closed to the public at this time, and employees are working remotely.Please visit
dcccd.edu/coronavirus for additional information and to
find contact information for various departments.If you need additional assistance, please visit
My Community Services and our
Community Employment Resources.
This article appeared in a May 2016 issue of the student newsletter.
Are you working and would like to become a manager? Have you thought that a college certificate might help?
You're right! A college credential can improve your chances of becoming a supervisor. A credential is something you can show employers to prove you have mastered competencies and have the skills and knowledge that industry professionals consider essential. That's where the new Fast-Track Supervisor Certificate offered by DCCCD comes in.
The Fast-Track Supervisor Certificate program lets you earn college credit online quickly by demonstrating competencies you already have. That means you earn credit for your on-the-job experience.
There are
no textbook costs, and the learning materials are built into the courses. Should you decide to continue your education, the 18-hour Supervisor Certificate counts fully toward a Management associate degree.
You'll take six online courses (two at a time) that are rich in multimedia, interactive games and assessments. The classes are only eight weeks long, and you can finish the certificate in as little as 24 weeks. Cooperative work experience is the capstone of the program. So you earn college credit while demonstrating supervisory competencies for your current manager at work.
Our program does not guarantee you'll become a supervisor, but it can increase your chances. You will develop skills in:
Step 1: Email a program advisor at
email@example.com to learn more. An advisor will help you determine if the program is a strong fit for your experience level and individual goals.
Step 2: Fill out the college application online. If you have already enrolled at one the colleges of DCCCD in the last 12 months, however, you do not need to re-apply; simply contact the special advisor at
email@example.com. (Find out details about the
steps to apply at our colleges.)
Mention the program to your employer. Employers who want to use the Supervisor Certificate for employee training may be eligible for grant funds from Innovate+Educate. "If an employer is interested, Innovate+Educate is willing to pay for an employee's first two courses," says Anne Lopez, project director for Retail Pathways, part of Innovate+Educate. Note: The offer is first-come, first serve, and the grant money will run out fast.
If you are paying the tuition, you may be eligible for tuition reimbursement through your employer or may qualify for financial aid. It is good to explore these options! Tuition is only $237 per course with all materials included.
"We are a mouse-click or a phone call away if students need help or have a question," say Dr. Diane Minger and Gemmy Allen, coordinators of the Supervisor Certificate program at Cedar Valley College and North Lake College.
Interested? Contact a program advisor. And don't delay: The deadline to apply for fall classes is Aug. 20. Classes begin Aug. 29.

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Amazon Hints at New German-Based Data Center
By Rachael King and Michael Hickins
Andy Jassy, senior vice president of Amazon.com's Amazon Web Services unit, says the company is prioritizing where it locates data centers, and Germany is "one of the few countries" where customers are asking for a data center "on their own soil." He said that the company has "significant business in Germany," and that Amazon is likely to build data centers "in multiple major countries over time."
Amazon currently has data centers in 10 regions, and allows customers to pick regions where their data will reside. Several countries, including Germany, have enacted fairly strict rules regulating the treatment of consumer and employee data. Those concerns have been ramped up in the wake of revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's espionage activities. Detlev Gabel, a White & Case partner in Frankfurt who advises clients on data privacy, said in an email that German companies are stepping up their scrutiny of potential IT providers and are looking more to European vendors.
Mr. Jassy didn't comment on the NSA directly, but said that "data sovereignty requirements" are one of two factors that determine where Amazon will build new data centers. The other factor he noted was having data centers closer to customers to help ensure the speed of communications between servers. There are "countries where there are data sovereignty requirements for whatever reason [and] at this stage they're not willing to consume services where the infrastructure is not in their country," he told CIO Journal.
Mr. Jassy said Amazon currently maintains data centers on the East Coast of the United States, and in two regions on the West Coast, as well as data centers in Brazil, Dublin, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, and China. In addition, Amazon has a "government cloud." He said Amazon is prioritizing plans for building new data centers, including data centers in neighboring countries. "If you look at the amount of computing done in each major country in the world, it probably warrants [having] a region in each major country," he said.
This week, Cisco Systems Inc. announced plans to build cloud infrastructure that meets the needs of Internet providers around the world with "mandates to build national clouds," according to Rob Lloyd, Cisco president of development and sales. Earlier this year, International Business Machines Corp. announced that it will build 15 new data centers around the world this year. The new data centers could help IBM sell services to multinationals concerned with data residency requirements. James Staten, an analyst with Forrester Research, said this will be a "key differentiator" for IBM against its competition.
CORRECTION: Amazon Web Services maintains multiple data centers in three regions of the United States. A previous version of this article said AWS had three data centers in the United States.


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Sling Media has launched its Slingbox location-free TV system in the UK, pitching the product at consumer who want to watch British digital television broadcasts anywhere they can get hold of a broadband internet connection.
The UK-edition Slingbox supports both digital and analogue TV. The unit has an aerial pass-through port so it can be connected in series with other AV kit, such as a regular Freeview box, a PVR, a VCR and a TV. The gadget also has s-video and composite-video I/O ports - SCART devices are supported with a bundled adaptor.
The other key connector is the Ethernet port - the Slingbox hooks into a router or broadband modem to transmit the channel it's tuned to out across the net to software running on a PC or Windows Mobile device. A Mac version is in the works and due early this summer. The remote device can control the Slingbox's tuner and connected devices using bundled infra-red dongles.
Unfortunately, the Slingbox isn't a wireless device and it's limited to one remote viewer at a time. Available now exclusively through Dixons Store Group outlets - Curry's, PC World etc - for £180 - rather less than the £349 Sony is asked for its rival LocationFree TV product, the Sony's box will work on a home WLAN. ®
Sponsored: Webcast: Discover and secure all of your attack surface


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STILLWATER, Okla. —
Toni Young had 23 points and 18 rebounds Saturday to lead No. 25 Oklahoma State to an 80-45 victory over Kansas State.
All five starters were in double figures for the Cowgirls (18-6, 7-6 Big 12). Kendra Suttles also had a double-double, with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Liz Donohoe had 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Tiffany Bias had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. Brittney Martin finished with 11 points.
Brianna Craig led the Wildcats (13-12, 4-9) with 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Oklahoma State shot 54 percent from the field and dominated in the paint, outscoring Kansas State 38-12 and holding a 50-22 edge in rebounding.


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Xuanwu wrote:What happens if a person eats all of or part of a Being's animal form? What if it's their Master? I'm curious about the nutritional value, taste, permanence of the flesh after its cut off, etc.
Chaos Priest wrote:Also, as questions seem to be the norm here I might as well ask one as well. What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen Being
Chaos Priest wrote:OK, I know that at least one rumored being (Washington's rabbit) is an animal we think of as being edible, and sometimes curiosity pops up even for areas we'd never actually consider acting upon, but still... DUDE.
SwordKing wrote:Actually, werewolves CAN be killed with non-silver weapons. It just takes considerably more effort.
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Trans Pride march & celebration
Toting signs with messages of love and acceptance, groups of attendees moved around Capitol Hill during the Trans Pride march and celebration in Seattle. The event intended to increase the power of the transgender community and its allies, both within and beyond Seattle.
By By JORDAN STEAD
on June 28, 2013 9:23 PM
Photo: JORDAN STEAD, SEATTLEPI.COM


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favorite travel size
this is the perfect travel size; i keep it in my purse for emergency use and it's saved me a couple times! thank you so much for offering such a convenient size.
This aluminum and baking soda-free natural deodorant is also made without essential oils. Because when it comes to scent... some like it not.
Ingredients: Organic Arrowroot Powder, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Coconut Oil, Magnesium Hydroxide, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Zinc Oxide, Candelilla Wax, Non-GMO Vitamin E Derived 100% from Sunflowers
Which Pretty Frank Deodorant is Best for Me?
Just like a fingerprint, everyone's body chemistry is unique. That's why we offer so many deodorant options. If you're unsure which is right for you, you can start with our Body Chemistry Kit to try a mini of each.
Is Pit Paste an Antiperspirant?
Unlike aluminum antiperspirant that clogs sweat glands to prevent sweating, Pit Paste allows your body to sweat and detoxify naturally. The organic arrowroot powder in Pit Paste helps absorb moisture to keep you feeling comfortably dry.
Does Pit Paste Stain?
A little goes a long way, y'all - so only use the recommended amount and wait until everything is fully absorbed before getting dressed to avoid staining.
I'm New Here - Where Do I Start?
Welcome, friend. Be sure to check out our Pit Detox Protocol so you know exactly what to expect when switching to natural deodorant. We recommend first-timers start with our Pit Detox Kit.
Is Pit Paste Cruelty-Free & Vegan?
Heck yes. All our products are certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny. Most of our stuff is suitable for vegans with the exception of our deodorant sticks and lip balms, which contain organic beeswax.
Is Your Packaging Plastic?
We care as much about the health of the environment as we do about your health, so we strive to use responsible packaging whenever possible. Most of our products are packaged in glass that is both reusable/recyclable and naturally BPA-free. Our deodorant sticks, lip balms, and sample sizes are packaged in plastic which is BPA-free and recyclable.
Still have questions? Check out our full FAQs page here.
All our products are handcrafted in Austin, Texas.
Usually, orders are delivered within 5-7 business days. Because we're real humans, we only ship orders Monday-Friday. When your order is shipped, you'll get a confirmation email with a tracking number. Please allow up to 48 hours for tracking information to update.
this is the perfect travel size; i keep it in my purse for emergency use and it's saved me a couple times! thank you so much for offering such a convenient size.
Smooth and effective
No irritation and no odor!
A lot goes a long way
I was getting irritated by the other formulas so they sent me a sample, which I liked. I bought a full size jar from their Amazon store and it's very grainy. I don't know why. So it's hard to spread on the skin. The sample didn't seem that way at all. I should probably call? But it works great.


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The ISU Planetarium presents Flight Adventures
Event Description
Flight Adventures runs January 28-May 6 at the ISU Planetarium. Matinee times for this family show are Saturdays at 2 p.m. There are no shows during ISU's Spring Break, March 11-18 and April 14-15.
Discover the science of flight through the eyes of a young girl and her grandfather as they explore how birds, kites, planes and models fly. Learn about the history and future plans of flight. And see how NASA is discovering new and safer ways to travel with the help of future engineers and aviators—like YOU!
Admission to the ISU Planetarium is $4 for adults, $3 for children ages 5-12 and seniors, and $2.00 for children ages 3-4. Tickets may be purchased in the Planetarium Gift Shop, next to the Planetarium, beginning 20 minutes before each show.
The ISU Planetarium is located under the white domed roof at the eastern end of Felmley Hall of Science. Felmley Hall is located on the northeast corner of the ISU campus at the intersection of School Street and College Avenue.
Free parking for the programs is available a short distance from the ISU Planetarium in University parking lot F-67, located on the east side of School Street.


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This is an interesting (and debatable) one as this "should have been" is really a has been and even an is (and that's how you do an opening sentence).
Guy Gardner is headlining (or co-headlining) his own well-selling series, Green Lantern Corps, and for the past few years before that was doing the same either in its predecessor or Emerald Warriors. He was perhaps the most popular member of the late 80's/early 90's Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis Justice League and is always at least a cult favorite when that group shuffles its line-up (he's technically on Justice League International right now, I guess, but he hasn't been on the main team since just after Doomsday though a vocal segment always wants to see him there; his last dalliance in being recruited by the big guns was as a bit of a running joke during Grant Morrison's run over a decade ago).
He had a respectably long-running—and underrated—solo series in the 90's, he crossed over to animation with Batman: Brave and the Bold, and is generally a character held in high regard. Save for a period right after his introduction—he was in a coma—and the first few years of this century—he was in a weird limbo after sort of dying during Our Worlds at War before coming back via Joe Kelly's Action Comics and getting rebooted as a Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Guy Gardner has always more or less been a high B-lister verging on the A-list of DC Comics heroes.
And yet it feels like he had the potential to be more.
Guy Gardner is the most interesting of the human Green Lanterns. Kyle Rayner is more relatable, but Guy has more to him. He's got more range than golden boy Hal Jordan and more depth than the shifting tabula rasa that is John Stewart. Don't get me wrong, all of those characters are great (except for Hal Jordan), but while Kyle is likable, John has potential and Hal is a douche bag, Guy's got layers.
He's a genuinely heroic man trapped in the façade of a jerk by circumstance. Guy overcame a difficult childhood to become a social worker and later a teacher, working to better the community and world around him even as he kept his own aggression in check. He was judged equally worthy to be Earth's Green Lantern by Abin Sur, with Hal Jordan only getting the nod because he was geographically closer. Guy eventually became Jordan's back-up and friend, but suffered one tragic setback after another, getting hit by a bus saving one of his students, getting trapped in the Phantom Zone, and eventually lapsing into a coma (also, Hal Jordan romanced his girlfriend when he was out of commission one time; yes they both thought Guy was dead, but come on!).
All this piled up to create the Guy Gardner the DC Universe—and readers—are most familiar with: an arrogant, brash, hot-tempered loose cannon who also happens to be a noble and dedicated champion for justice (even if it's not always evident). Part of this persona is written off in-universe as the result of his brain damage and whatnot, but the more interesting story to me is that of a man who had the potential to be a hero or a jerk, did his best to be the former, got knocked on his ass at every junction, naturally fell toward his darker nature, and now struggles to balance the two; that's a character whose life and adventures I want to follow.
Unfortunately, as has long been the problem with a lot of characters who came to prominence in the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI, more often than not the deeper complexities of Guy Gardner have been ignored in favor of just writing a loudmouth who is obnoxious because he's an obnoxious loudmouth. Giffen and DeMatteis were (and are) geniuses when it comes to working in subtleties, so that their parody is strong but when they're being serious and giving their characters deep moments, it has extra added value; a lot writers who followed them only got the surface level stuff.
One writer who understood how to make Guy Gardner more than a cliché was Beau Smith, who penned Guy Gardner: Warrior during the mid-90's. Smith explored the character's past, the roots of his insecurities and why he had such a desperate need to fly in the face of authority. But Warrior wasn't just funny book psychology; it could be as funny as JLI and Guy remained the bare-knuckled bad ass Smith loves to write, but with stakes that made you care about him. Your mileage may vary on Guy's altered look and powers during his Warrior days, but that series was a revealing glimpse at the character beneath the gimmicks and how much potential he truly had.
As with so many of these Should Have Beens, unfortunate timing has been Guy Gardner's enemy. His popularity and visibility peaked while he was on a team, so while Giffen and DeMatteis did wonders with him, they still had a half dozen other characters to juggle. His solo series was launched at the height of 90's excess and didn't quite find its way under Smith until the market was a more volatile place that couldn't sustain unproven commodities. By the time Guy became viable again, much of his development had been forgotten and his chief function was gag cameos. Even now, since being reborn under Geoff Johns and shepherded along by the talented Peter Tomasi—who obviously cares about what makes the character tick beyond the obvious—Guy has to tie for third fiddle at best in the Green Lantern franchise behind the resurgent Hal Jordan and tenacious Kyle Rayner.
Guy Gardner has never had a chance to truly shine. He's been a replacement, a team player, a joke and a co-headliner, but never gotten that top spot. Again, Tomasi does a great job with him in GLC, and I have every confidence he'll continue to do so, but honestly, wouldn't you love to see a movie about a wise ass who's quick to throw the first punch because he's fighting back against the bum circumstances life has dealt a good man who happens to have the most powerful weapon in the universe on his ring finger?
I sure as hell would.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Should Have Beens: Guy Gardner
Labels: green lantern, should have beens
2 comments:
- Fat Basterd Inc. said...
Great piece. I think if Warner Bros. does another Green Lantern animated film it should focus on the 4 earth Green Lanterns and Guy would most likely be the standout of the story.
- March 6, 2012 at 10:55 AM
I love the character, and Tomasi's first go-around on GLC with Gleason did great stuff for Guy (and Kyle). Didn't love Emerald Warriors or the DCnU GLC though.
- March 8, 2012 at 2:25 PM
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Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental illness in the United States. And while much is understood about the biochemistry of anxiety, little is known about the genetic variation associated with it. Recently published in BMC Genetics, a study led by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital reports that genetic predisposition to aggression toward […]Tags: Behaviour (Ethology), Dogs, Genetics
Lions in West and Central Africa form a unique group, only distantly related to lions in East and Southern Africa. Biologists at Leiden University confirm this in an article published in Scientific Reports. In this study, the researchers gathered a genetic dataset of lion populations covering a total of 22 countries. This included samples from […]Tags: Genetics, Zoo/Wildlife
The consequences of climate change are an increasing concern for humans around the world. How will we cope with rising sea levels and climbing temperatures? But it's not just humans who will be affected by these worldwide shifts — it's our closest cousins, too: monkeys, apes and lemurs. A new Concordia study published in the […]Tags: Behaviour (Ethology), Physiology (e.g. Exercise Physiology), Primates
Neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh have identified the neural networks that connect the cerebral cortex to the adrenal medulla, which is responsible for the body's rapid response in stressful situations. These findings, reported in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provide evidence for the neural […]Tags: Endocrinology, Human, Neurology
Our increasing reliance on the Internet and the ease of access to the vast resource available online is affecting our thought processes for problem solving, recall and learning. In a new article published in the journal Memory, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign have found that 'cognitive […]Tags: Human, Neurology
For example, snakes that need good eyesight to hunt during the day have eye lenses that act as sunglasses, filtering out ultraviolet light and sharpening their vision while nocturnal snakes have lenses that allow ultraviolet light through, helping them to see in the dark. New insights into the relationship between ultraviolet (UV) filters and hunting […]Tags: Neurology, Ophthalmology, Reptiles
Light affects sleep. A study in mice published in Open Access journal PLOS Biology shows that the actual color of light matters; blue light keeps mice awake longer while green light puts them to sleep easily. An accompanying Primer provides accessible context information and discusses open questions and potential implications for "designing the lighting of […]Tags: Neurology, Ophthalmology, Rodents/Lags
Humans living in the pre-Hispanic Mexican city of Teotihuacan may have bred rabbits and hares for food, fur and bone tools, according to a study published August 17, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andrew Somerville from the University of California San Diego, US, and colleagues. Human-animal relationships often involve herbivore husbandry and […]Tags: Human, Rodents/Lags
Using mathematical models, the researchers found that if the only initial difference between the sexes is the size of the sex cells they make (sperm by males and eggs by females), evolution does not favor females becoming more attentive parents. "Although an egg is a much larger parental investment than a tiny sperm, there is […]Tags: Behaviour (Ethology), Biomedical
There are four globally endemic human coronaviruses which, together with the better known rhinoviruses, are responsible for causing common colds. Usually, infections with these viruses are harmless to humans. DZIF Professor Christian Drosten, Institute of Virology at the University Hospital of Bonn, and his research team have now found the source of "HCoV-229E," one of […]Tags: camels, Virology
Scientists at the University of Liverpool are using the health records of dogs to monitor the status of a potentially fatal tick-borne disease that appears to have been imported into the UK. Canine babesiosis is transmitted to dogs by infected ticks, with symptoms including a lack of appetite, fever and jaundice. Although normally only found […]Tags: Dogs, Parasitology
Research shows stressed-out birds more attractive to mosquitoes, raising fears birds exposed to stressors such as road noise, pesticides and light pollution, will be bitten more often and spread more West Nile virus When researchers from the University of South Florida (USF) and colleagues investigated how the stress hormone, corticosterone, affects how birds cope with […]Tags: Birds (pet; ornamental; prey e.g. falcons), Endocrinology, Virology
Norovirus is the most common viral cause of diarrhea worldwide, but scientists still know little about how it infects people and causes disease because the virus grows poorly in the lab. The discovery, in mice, provides new ways to study a virus notoriously hard to work with and may lead to treatments or a vaccine. […]Tags: Cell Biology, Rodents/Lags, Virology
With an estimated 500,000 human infections and 50,000 deaths annually, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the second most prevalent parasitic killer, behind malaria. Leishmania parasites are transmitted through the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases makes the case that fighting the insects by treating cattle with the long-lasting insecticide, […]Tags: Bovine, Parasitology, Pharmacology
Concerns over the Zika virus have focused on pregnant women due to mounting evidence that it causes brain abnormalities in developing fetuses. However, new research in mice from scientists at The Rockefeller University and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology suggests that certain adult brain cells may be vulnerable to infection as well. Among […]Tags: Human, Neurology, Virology
New research shows that burnout is caused by a mismatch between a person's unconscious needs and the opportunities and demands at the workplace. These results have implications for the prevention of jobburnout. Imagine an accountant who is outgoing and seeks closeness in her social relationships, but whose job offers little scope for contact with colleagues […]Tags: Behaviour (Ethology), Human, Neurology
Muscular dystrophy, which affects approximately 250,000 people in the U.S., occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, fatty or bony tissue and loses function. For years, scientists have searched for a way to successfully treat the most common form of the disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), which primarily affects boys. Now, a team […]Tags: Dogs, Genetics, Virology
Philip Hammond, the UK's chancellor of the exchequer, has promised to underwrite EU research projects after Brexit. British scientists say they're relieved by a government promise to guarantee them funding for existing EU research projects, even after the country leaves the European Union. But the reassurance only partly allays concerns about Brexit's effect on UK […]Tags: Policy
The term "healthy obesity" has gained traction over the past 15 years, but scientists have recently questioned its very existence. A study published August 18 in Cell Reports provides further evidence against the notion of a healthy obese state, revealing that white fat tissue samples from obese individuals classified as either metabolically healthy or unhealthy […]Tags: Endocrinology, Genetics, Human
A team led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director of LSU Health New Orleans' Neuroscience Center of Excellence, has developed neuroprotective compounds that may prevent the development of epilepsy. The findings will be published online in Scientific Reports, a Nature journal, on July 22, 2016. In this study in an experimental model […]Tags: Neurology, Pharmacology, Rodents/Lags
Researchers including George Church have made further progress on the path to fully rewriting the genome of living bacteria. Such a recoded organism, once available, could feature functionality not seen in nature. It could also make the bacteria cultivated in pharmaceutical and other industries immune to viruses, saving billions of dollars of losses due to […]Tags: Dogs, Oncology, Pharmacology
At the University of Illinois, an engineer teamed up with a veterinarian to test a bone cancer drug delivery system in animals bigger than the standard animal model, the mouse. They chose dogs — mammals closer in size and biology to humans — with naturally occurring bone cancers, which also are a lot like human […]Tags: Dogs, Oncology, Pharmacology
Mouse models are extensively used in pharmaceutical and medical research, and it is known that the communities of microbes in their intestine can have a significant impact on the research output. However, there is still insufficient information available about many bacteria inhabiting the intestine of mice. For the first time, a collection of cultured bacterial […]Tags: Internal Medicine (Cardiology), Microbiology (Bacteriology and fungi), Rodents/Lags
Heart muscle cells made from induced pluripotent stem cells faithfully mirror the expression patterns of key genes in the donor's native heart tissue, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. As a result, the cells can be used as a proxy to predict whether a patient is likely to experience drug-related heart […]Tags: Cell Biology, Human
Neuroscientists have invented a way to watch the ebb and flow of the brain's chemical messengers in real time. They were able to see the surge of neurotransmitters as mice were conditioned — similarly to Pavlov's famous dogs — to salivate in response to a sound. The study, presented at the American Chemical Society's meeting […]Tags: Diagnostic Imaging (Radiography), Rodents/Lags
Oranges and other citrus fruits are good for you — they contain plenty of vitamins and substances, such as antioxidants, that can help keep you healthy. Now a group of researchers reports that these fruits also help prevent harmful effects of obesity in mice fed a Western-style, high-fat diet. The researchers are presenting their work […]Tags: Human, Nutrition
A model and fossil of Tiktaalik roseae, a transitional fossil that illustrates how fish began to develop limbs. Most summers since 1893, young developmental and evolutionary biologists have flocked to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to master the tricks of their trade. At the world-famous Marine Biological Laboratory there, students in its annual embryology course dissect sea […]Tags: Biomedical, Genetics
The Santa Cruz Island Fox is one of three subspecies of fox removed from the Endangered Species Act list this month. More species protected by the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) have recovered during President Barack Obama's administration than under all other presidents combined, the US Department of Interior announced on 11 August. And 2016 […]Tags: Biomedical, Reproduction
Bears, wolves and other large carnivores are frightening beasts but the fear they inspire in their prey pales in comparison to that caused by the human 'super predator.' A new study by Western University demonstrates that smaller carnivores, like European badgers, that may be prey to large carnivores, actually perceive humans as far more frightening. […]Tags: Behaviour (Ethology), Carnivores, Human
Long-term treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics decreased levels of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and activated inflammatory microglial cells in the brains of mice in a new study by neuroscientists from the University of Chicago. The study, published July 21, 2016, in Scientific Reports, also showed significant changes in the gut microbiome after […]Tags: Neurology, Rodents/Lags


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Borrowing Terms
The first time you use your library card you may check out two items. Once you have returned your first borrowed items, you may then borrow up to sixty items. The only limit to your borrowing power involves DVDs - only a total of twenty DVDs may be checked out to a patron at any given time.
Borrowing Loan Periods & Renewals
Books, books on CD, paperbacks, music CDs, and back issues of magazines may be borrowed for two weeks. These items may be renewed three times - the new due date will be two weeks from the day of renewal. DVDs may be checked out for two weeks, however we cannot renew these items, nor can we renew a title if another patron has it requested. There are three ways to renew your items: online from your home computer by logging into your account, at the library, or by calling 540.635.3153.
Returning Items
Please return all items to the library when they are due. Items may be returned to the Circulation Desk or they may be placed in the exterior book drop located off of the parking lot.
Fines & Fees
If items borrowed from the library are returned late, a fee of $.10 per item, per day will be assessed. The only exceptions to this rule are inter-library loans (late fee of $.25 per item, per day) and "I Love Virginia" State Park Bags to Go (late fee of $1.00 per bag, per day).
Lost or Damaged Materials
If an item is lost or damaged, you will be charged the replacement cost for the item plus a $5.00 processing fee. Remember, don't wait to let us know that an item is damaged or lost - until you make the library aware of the problem, fines will continue to accrue on your account if the item in question is overdue. We will work with you any way that we can, but remember that when you signed to receive your library card you assumed responsibility for all items borrowed on your card.
Lost or Stolen Library Card
Should your library card be lost or stolen, report this information to the library immediately at 540.635.3153. Staff will place a notice on your account which will prevent anyone from using your missing card.


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Sean Waltman sent out the following:
Wonder what Sean "X-Pac" Waltman is like backstage at a major wrestling event? Well, here's your chance. In the following video exclusive, see Waltman break character at CHIKARA's "King of Trios" tournament this year, where he dang near broke his back while breaking out the 1-2-3 Kid gear for the first time in ages. Hear Waltman talk about the infamous sock story at HBK's Hall of Fame induction this year, see the crazy outfit Waltman likes to sport before his matches, and simply see him having fun backstage getting ready before his match. Special appearance by Colt Cabana as well.
You can view the video below:


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A survey of 380 MLB players had Ozzie Guillen as the 2nd manager players LEAST want to play for. Ozzie had 21% of players against him. First least liked was Lou Piniella with 26%. Ozzie's response to the poll after the jump.
"I don't blame them [the players in the poll]. 'What you see out there is another thing that you may see inside the clubhouse. They got Tony La Russa No. 3 [at 10 percent]? This guy has won a couple of times, no? Well, that's people's opinion; I respect that. As long as I'm No. 1 with the White Sox, that's all I really care. 'You have to walk by my clubhouse and walk by the players that play for me and then have an opinion. You have to ask the players that play for me. I'm not going to say 90 or 100 percent like me, but I think playing for me is fun. In the meanwhile, I demand a lot of stuff. I don't demand things that a manager shouldn't demand. 'Maybe [the players] don't like old-school baseball. They don't like letting the players know what you feel. Maybe they worry about what you're going to say in the newspaper. But in the meanwhile, you can ask any of my players, and let's say 59 percent are going to say they like me. I won't say 100 percent will say they like me, but 59 percent is enough for me to feel good enough. To play for me, you have to have some [guts]. It's not easy. I expect to win every day, and that's the way it is. 'Ask Joe Crede if he would want to come back here and play. Ask [Aaron] Rowand if he would want to come back here and play. How many players that played for me come up and hug me? Maybe five players out of how many that played for me don't like me. Like I say, if you want to play for me, you're going to have some fun. But in the meanwhile, you better be ready to be a pro every day. That's the way it should be." Source


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How do you create a filetable? I assume you've enabled Filestream and created a filegroup for your filestream and filetable data. Then you just do this:
-- Create a filetable CREATE TABLE AuthorDrafts AS FileTable GO
The only optional part of this statement is the table name. No other options, no columns, no schema needed. The FileTable has a fixed schema, which is mostly metadata about the files that you put in it.
If I were to select from this table, I'd use this statement. I'm not showing all the columns in the results since there are a lot, but they are in the select.
-- check the table. select stream_id , file_stream , name , path_locator , parent_path_locator , file_type , cached_file_size , creation_time , last_write_time , last_access_time , is_directory , is_offline , is_hidden , is_readonly , is_archive , is_system , is_temporary from AuthorDrafts; go
Most of these are really meta data about the file. If I were to drop a table in the share, I'd see results like this:
Putting files inside the table is really a drag and drop from Windows. I can get the share name for my filetable from :
-- check the share select FileTableRootPath('dbo.AuthorDrafts'); go
If I paste this in Explorer, I see my file:
I can drag and drop, or use any scripting commands (Powershell, VBScript, etc) to move files in and out of this share, and they will appear in my table.
It's that easy to start working with FileTables. How you use them in your application? That's a whole other series of posts. I'll work on a few examples you can use over time.


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Shooting off steam, with the NRA's Women on Target
It turns out that a great antidote for being disgruntled is to fire off a few rounds. That's what I did yesterday when I attended an NRA "Women on Target" gun safety and training class at Bullseye, Marin's only indoor shooting range. I had a wonderful time.
We spent the first hour receiving instruction about guns — how they work and how to use them — from a former Navy weapons instructor. He opened by telling us that he loved teaching women, because they seemed more open to instruction than men and were definitely more willing to ask questions. And question him we did. By the time the hour was over, we knew more than I ever thought possible about the way guns and bullets work. It was very entertaining.
We also learned, of course, the gold standard for gun safety: (1) Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction; (2) Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot; and (3) Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
With respect to Rule 1, a workplace colleague who is also an NRA instructor told me that he tells his students that they must never point the gun at anything they're not willing to kill. When he taught his daughter shooting and she carelessly turned an unloaded gun towards him, he immediately announced that, because he was now dead, the lesson was, and then made her wait a week before he'd resume her lesson.
After the classroom instruction, we headed down to the firing range. There were five instructors for ten women, ensuring that we all got lots of personal supervision. I got to work with a revolver and a pistol, both of which shot .22 caliber bullets. The revolver weighed less than the pistol, which should have made it a nicer gun for me, but I found it easier to aim with the pistol. I therefore ended up using the pistol three-fifths of the time.
What was most fun was watching the other women just light up as they got more adept at shooting. Some had used guns before, but most were newbies. They were there for myriad reasons: personal security reasons, for principle, for curiosity, for family pride, etc. One women was terrified of guns and was taking the class in the hope that it would help assuage her fear. Last I saw her, she was still a little nervous, but was also happily, and competently, firing away at a target. I think she learned that a gun, like a car, is both a tool and a source of fun, provided that it is used safely and responsibly.
Another woman went from firing one cautious shot per minute, without getting anywhere near the target, to emptying the 10 round magazine in a couple of minutes. When she started, she was game but nervous. When she finished, she was glowing with happiness as she showed how she had a nice pattern of shots all contained within a circle that was about 3″ in diameter.
Why is firing a gun so much fun? I know that it satisfies my targeting abilities. Over the years, I've discovered that I have decent aim, whether playing darts, tossing paper balls into a garbage can or, as it happens, shooting guns at targets. It's also fun to know that there is room for improvement. Since I'm merely a decent shot for a beginner, there's so much room to grow. I like doing activities at which I can get better. As I tell my children, there's only so good you can get at folding laundry . . . and then it's just boring.
Guns are also fun because they make one feel less helpless. I know that, should I be in a situation in which I need to fire a gun to save my life (or someone else's) I can do it. I hope that I'm never in such a situation, but now I know that I can handle it should it arise. That's a good feeling.
And finally, I wonder if guns aren't fun because, after growing up anti-gun, shooting a gun feels like a slightly illicit activity to me. I also feel very good knowing that, with every shot I take, I'm thumbing my nose at the sizable segment of the population that would like to erase the Second Amendment, leaving us without recourse against predators, both governmental and non-governmental.
I'll end by throwing in a very deserved good word for Bullseye, the shooting range and gun supply store. I cannot tell you how nice the people who work there were, and that goes for the instructors and the people manning the counter. They weren't just courteous and efficient, they were really friendly. Being a neophyte, I find the thought of gun stores and ranges somewhat intimidating, but these people couldn't have been nicer.
I also learned that, to encourage women, Bullseye has a ladies night. Every Wednesday night, from 6 to 8, ladies get half off on lane rental. (Also, although it's not on the website, there might be a special deal if two or more women come in during ladies night needing to rent guns and buy bullets. If you're planning on going, call and check on what deals they have. )


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CORDE Swimsuit / Arancio
Super-light and dry-fast nylon swimsuit, with stainless-steel details
This summer, la Maison Franck Namani creates a new range of patterns and lively colours for its iconic swimwear. Both sophisticated and timeless, each item boasts a unique identity and details which make it so singular and essential: side pockets, a small embroidered back pocket, an elasticated bel with ties from which hang engraved stainless-steel pieces, stainless-steel snap link at the back.
Each detail is a signature of this legendary summer wear, making it a flagship model of the Namani house.
In addition to its style, the material is unique, super-light and dry-fast nylon, making Franck Namani swimwear the lightest in the world, and one of the fastest-drying.
Your swimwear is delivered in a sleeve.
Made in Italy


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You can help keep your heart and blood vessels healthy by taking steps toward a healthier lifestyle. These healthy habits include not smoking, eating right, exercising regularly, staying at a healthy weight, and getting the screening tests you need.
A heart-healthy lifestyle is important for everyone, not just for people with existing health problems. It can help you keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. If you already have heart or blood vessel problems, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, a healthy lifestyle can help you manage those problems.
If you have children, you can be their healthy role model. If your habits are healthy, your children are more likely to build those habits in their own lives.
Everyone who uses tobacco would benefit from quitting. When you quit smoking—no matter how old you are—you will decrease your risk of heart attack, stroke, and many other health problems. For help with quitting smoking, see these topics:
Eating healthy foods is one of the best things you can do to prevent and control many health problems, including heart and blood vessel disease. For help with healthy eating, see these topics:
Improving your fitness is good for your heart and blood vessels, as well as the rest of your body. Being active helps lower your risk of health problems. And it helps you feel good. For more information about being active, see these topics:
Staying at a healthy weight is also part of a heart-healthy lifestyle. Read more in these topics about reaching and staying at a healthy weight:
Seeing your doctor regularly and getting screening tests is important. The sooner your doctor diagnoses a disease, the more likely it can be cured or managed. To reduce your risk of heart and blood vessel problems, be sure to keep an eye on your cholesterol and blood pressure. The tests you might have to check your risk for heart and blood vessel problems depend on your age, health, gender, and risk factors. Talk to your doctor to find out which tests are right for you.
Other Works ConsultedExpert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents (2011). Expert panel on integrated guidelines for cardiovascular health and risk reduction in children and adolescents: Summary report. Pediatrics, 128(Suppl 5): S213–S256.Redberg RF, et al. (2009). ACCF/AHA 2009 Performance measures for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults: A report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Performance Measures. Circulation, 120(13): 1296–1336.
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Last Revised:
November 12, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
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Browne's black comedy debut brilliantly reinvents zombie culture for the 21st century. Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious. Browne neatly mixes humor and extreme violence with a surprisingly tender love story, some witty social satire and an extremely strong narrative voice. (Mar.) —Publishers Weekly (Starred)
The dead shall walk the earth, and they're hungry for…love?
Debut novelist Browne branches out from his mostly horror-related short stories and delivers a rousing entry in the Rom-Zom-Com genre. Based on his short story "A Zombie's Lament," Browne's mortality tale begins rather grimly but almost immediately picks up speed and humor to evolve into a terrific comedy about the perils and joys of life beyond death. Browne's hero is Andy Warner, who survived, so to speak, the car crash that killed his wife but lost his vocal chords along with his life. Reduced to a pathetic existence consisting mostly of downing his father's wine collection, suffering Glade spray-downs from his mother and attending the occasional Undead Anonymous meeting, old Andy is in pretty wretched shape. His afterlife takes a turn for the better when he meets Rita, a pale but lovely girl who slit her own throat, and Ray, a feisty undead hunter. Before long, Andy is fighting against zombie discrimination, mutilation and other forms of abuse by those unenlightened "breathers": "After all, what do I have to lose by standing up for myself? If being a rotting corpse with no rights and no future isn't the worst thing that can happen to me, it can't be that much further to rock bottom." The book has its share of gruesomeness, but it also offers astute observations on the world in which we live.
A zombie comedy with brains. ––Kirkus


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When Pope John XXIII opened the second Vatican Council on October 11 1962 he read the declaration Gaudet Mater Ecclesia before the Council Fathers. This spelled out his intentions for the Council. "In calling this vast assembly of bishops," he said, he intended "to assert once again the Magisterium [the teaching authority of the Church] which is unfailing and endures until the end of time, in order that this Magisterium, taking into account the errors, the requirements, and the opportunities of our time, might be presented in exceptional form to all men throughout the world."
The ecumenical councils of the Church, he declared, were the means of establishing the content of this Magisterium; but this teaching now needed to be restated in terms the modern world would understand: it was expected by the "Christian, Catholic, and apostolic spirit of the whole world" that "the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still shines forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and [the] First Vatican Council", should take "a step forward toward a doctrinal penetration and a formation of consciousness in faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another."
As the Church prepares to celebrate the Council's 50th anniversary, we have to ask the question: were Pope John's aspirations fulfilled by what happened in the name of the council itself? As Pope John ended his opening declaration, he did so, it is clear, with huge optimism about its mission and its anticipated achievements: "The Council now beginning," he said, "rises in the Church like daybreak, a forerunner of most splendid light. It is now only dawn. And already at this first announcement of the rising day, how much sweetness fills our heart."
Pope John's aspirations for the council were enunciated clearly enough. How faithful were those who came after him to what should have its spirit? He stressed, it will be noted, the importance of the great councils of the Church, and mentioned as being particularly important the Council of Trent and the first Vatican Council. Unfortunately, as we now know only too well, a considerable number of theologians took it into their heads that Pope John's call for faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Church (and especially to those two councils) should be sidestepped: theologians like Hans Küng and Edward Schillebeeckx declared that they and their own writings constituted a kind of alternative magisterium. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner compared Vatican II with the Council of Jerusalem: the implication was that the council established an entirely new Church, which superseded everything that had come before. The Pope's call for the study of doctrine "through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought" was taken to justify an actual replacement of the Church's doctrine by modern thought, wherever these clashed: this was done, it was often declared, in the name of the spirit of Vatican II (rather than of the declarations the Council Fathers actually enunciated).
The results of this attitude, which the present Pope has called a "hermeneutic [ie a method of interpretation] of discontinuity and rupture", can everywhere be seen. They were spelled out in The Flock recently by Daphne McLeod, who takes a gloomy view of what she believes were the results of the Council itself (rather than of prevailing distortions and misinterpretations of it):
"Before Vatican II," she writes, "we had many priests and religious and plenty of priestly and religious vocations, but now we are very short of both. It is difficult for younger Catholics to realise just how strong the Church was pre-Vatican II. For instance we were blessed to have many Religious Houses offering up constant prayer and doing much good in schools, hospitals and nursing homes. Likewise, no Catholic of the forties and fifties could have envisaged the plight of the Church today. It would have seemed to them an unimaginable catastrophe. Before this Council we had, according to Cardinal Spellman of New York, speaking in 1964, 'the best informed laity the Church has ever had', but now, as the Holy Father remarked in 2002 when announcing the committee who would compile the Compendium, 'there is widespread religious ignorance'.
"Before the Council only 10-15% of Catholic school leavers lapsed – often to return later, so we kept their children when they married. Now over 90% of Catholic school leavers lapse never to return. Thus we also, inevitably, lose their children and their grandchildren.
"In pre-Vatican II days we were constantly building new churches and schools to accommodate our ever-growing Catholic population. Now we are closing many of our beautiful Catholic churches, and Catholic schools have to complete their numbers by taking in children of other faiths or none."
But there are real questions here. They have often been asked, but are still worth asking again: how much of all this was the result of the Council itself? How much was the result of the way in which Pope John's intentions were so cynically overridden? And how much, faced by the awesome power of modern secular culture, would have happened anyway? I have no easy answers. Some of it, however, was undoubtedly due to the cynical hijacking of the Council by theologians who were intent on reconstructing Christian belief to conform with modern thought. As a means of renewing the Church "if you can't beat them, join them" was always doomed to failure; and it caused massive damage, damage which, I firmly believe — thanks to the last two popes — is now being undone. But there is a long way to go.
Ah, well. One amusing little fruit of these gloomy animadversions has been my discovery of something at least that firmly unites Daphne McLeod and Hans Küng: neither of them sees much to celebrate in the Council's 50th anniversary. "Fifty 'glorious' years?" asks Mrs McLeod (clearly what Latin Grammars call "a question inviting a negative answer"). As for Fr Küng, who is not amused by the present Pope's increasingly successful efforts to undo the distortions of theologians of his ilk, and who never thought that Vatican II went far enough anyway, he isn't joining in the festivities either.
"I was honoured," he wrote dyspeptically in May, "to receive the invitation [to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council at the German Katholikentag at Mannheim] but is one really in the mood to celebrate at a time when the Church is in such sore distress?". "In my opinion," says Fr Küng in his four-page reply, "here is no reason for a festive Council Gala but rather for an honest service of penance or a funeral service". Penance, well certainly; we can all do with that. But what would Fr Küng confess, with Vatican II especially in mind? If he would like my guidance, I have one or two suggestions…
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Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Here comes Traversty traversing the DOM
The Traversty DOM utility has as its purpose to allow you to traverse the DOM and manage collections of DOM elements. Proponents admit core Traversty traversal methods are inspired by Prototype's DOM Traversal toolkit, but now in a multi-element environment that is more like jQuery and less like Prototype's single element implementation.
Posted by jvaughan at 8:59 pm
1 Comment


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Valve is rolling out a new feature for Steam called "tags". It's a new feature for Steam, but not for the internet; look above this text and you'll see tags for this story, which let us collect and sort posts of a similar nature. Which is exactly what they're going to do for Steam.
The idea is that users can tag games with stuff they think is appropriate. So Skyrim would be tagged "RPG", Call of Duty "shooter", etc. Clicking on those tags would display every game on Steam that was an RPG or shooter. But because users are doing the tagging, there's scope for way more detail.
Mods. Indies. Musical. Nordic. Hand-Drawn. 4x. Grand Strategy. Pirates. Sex. You could use more specific tags to group and discover games that were right up your alley.
I'm trying the feature out now and it's pretty great. Steam has recommended a few key tags already based on my library - strategy, indie, open world - but a further click presents me with more, like "female protagonist", "viking" and "turn-based".
Seeing as Steam's library now consists of thousands of games, and new ones are coming in too quickly to keep track of, this seemingly harmless little feature is actually going to be a powerful tool to help people discover awesome games they may have otherwise missed.
Unless, of course, people find a way to troll it...
Steam Tags [Valve]


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Jerry Brown's priorities are clear, when it comes to hosting California visitors.
He's cleared his calendar for part of today and tomorrow to take part in welcoming Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is scheduled to become that country's president next year.
He hasn't spent that much time with a foreign leader since last July, when Brown greeted England's royal celebrity couple, Will and Kate, during their visit to California. Brown isn't much of a star-struck guy, but he did greet them at the airport and take part in a dinner in the midst of royal wedding mania.
U.S. & World
Jinping is no rock star, but he is a key channel to Chinese investment.
Brown's made it clear he wants to talk trade and jobs, during a tour of LA's port, and then during a private roundtable discussion on Friday. Not surprising, given China's massive economic growth and potential for California goods.
Last year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, California exported just over $14 billion worth of goods to China. Silicon Valley was the biggest beneficiary, since computers and electronics were the largest single category.
Brown, who's still struggling with a sizeable state deficit, told the Associated Press this week that he wants to talk jobs, not politics, with Jinping. No touchy subjects like human rights.
It's as good an explanation as any why Brown is spending part of the week with the Chinese leader, and no time at all with President Obama during his two-day stop in California.
After all, Obama is here to siphon up cash that'll boost the economies of other states.


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Eggless Vanilla Cake:
|Eggless Vanilla Cake
|Adi, Photographer
|New Bike
Thanks to Lord who once again bestowed good time on us. This December we brought 5 new things viz., Black colored Sony Cybershot for me, Blue colored Bicycle for my first son – Aditya, Red colored walker for second son – Aadya, Black colored Sony Home Theatre for home, Blue colored Avenger for my hubby. To remember this sweet moment, I made Pillsbury Eggless Vanilla Cake using Cooker. This is the first time I am making cake, hence opted for a cake mix.
Aditya, who will be hooked to TV most of the times, was the photographer and chef who helped me to make it out a success. Sh… you know what, I wanted him to come out of TV world and involve in some activity. -:)
Only 3 things are required to make Pillsbury Eggless Vanilla Cake – Mix, Steam and Serve. It is a cake powder mixed with wheat, vanilla, sugar and other ingredients.
- Mix the powder with 2 spoons of oil, and 100 ml of milk and prepare a batter. Batter should not be thick or thin, it should be medium.
|Mix + Oil + Milk
|Spongy Cake
|Cake + Gems
- Take 5 inch vessel grease it with ghee/oil in the bottom and sides.
- Pour the batter spread it across the greased vessel.
- Take the cooker pour water till 1 inch and immerse a stand which is about 1 inch.
- Keep the greased vessel with batter on the stand and allow it to steam for 30 minutes.
- Keep cooker open for another 5 minutes and allow the smoke to escape.
- Pick a spoon and keep it in the cake and check if it comes out without sticking then the cake is done.
- Garnish with gems
I am pleased to send this to my own event – Christmas_NewYear2011 Eggless Cake with a slogan: I love eggless cake because I could steam it using my cooker without taste variation. It was too spongy than baked one.
Other Events:
Jingle All the Way @ Edible Entertainment by Kavitha.
100 day - Global Food Festival @ Sizzling Tastebuds by Kalyani.
Yummy Dessert @ Pranati's Kitchen by Pranathi.
Back to Basic Desserts @ Served with Love started by Jaya.
Snacks Mela @ Cooking 4 all seasons by Srivalli.
Sinful Delights @ Zesty Pallete by Vardhini.
Christmas Delicacy @ Erivum Puliyum by Julie.
New Year New Dish @ UK Rasoi by Nupur
Deceptively Delicious – Kid's Delight Event @ Cook's Hideout by Pavani started by Valli.
'Only' –Cookies & Cakes @ FoodDelicious in Cooking Good Food by Pari.
Mid-week Fiesta - #7 @ Food Corner by Amy.
Mid-week Fiesta - #7 @ Food Corner by Amy.
Submitting this to:
It gives me a surprise and also made me happy to see Celebrations 2011 event on Tastebuds. Happy because I am revisiting my post, surprise because it such a great event which made me to revisit my post. Yep, posting new things is only not important, revisiting them is a great thing. Thanks to Smitha.
Unique Award:
Last but always on the top of my list, I would like to thank Events-n-Roundups which is maintained by Siri author of Cooking with Siri, Valli of Cooking 4 all seasons & Spice Your Life. Events-n-Roundups is a one place to find many ongoing and completed events. Food bloggers can make use of this blog to find rich number of events and to bring traffic to their place. I am passing an unique award to this blog smile from my little one, Aadya. Reason is because of him I am learning so many recipes in kitchen.


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San Francisco residents who live near Union Square got two surprises early Sunday. First, the Nike Marathon, which had a start time of 6:30 a.m. to minimize traffic congestion, started broadcasting amplified announcements and music at 5:30 a.m.
Neighbors, some in their bathrobes and slippers, came out either to express their dismay at the early hour noise or called the city's 311 line to complain. Many were told to call the Nike line, (800) RUN-NIKE.
When they did, however, a woman answered and suggested the caller might want to "unzip that fly, baby." That number is a phone sex line. The actual Nike complaint line is (866) RUN-NIKE.
It isn't clear how the city got the wrong number, but when I called 311 Monday afternoon, they were still giving out the number for the sex line.
All in all, it did nothing for the mood of the residents. Nike does a great job with the annual event, billed as one of the largest women's marathons in the world, and the race has contributed millions to cancer research. That's great.
"But," says Cammy Blackstone, deputy director of the city's Entertainment Commission, which issued the permit for the race, "it is 5:30 on a Sunday morning."
The Hibernia Bank building, on McAllister near Market, has been a civic eyesore for nearly 15 years. It's not only been abandoned for years, but has been a market for drugs and stolen goods.
Finally this year, renovation was scheduled to begin as soon as city permit approvals came through. For the Mid-Market area, which is trying to re-invent itself, it could be a huge symbol of hope and change.
Which is why Capt. Jason Cherniss of the Tenderloin Station was furious when a graffiti tagger climbed to the top of the building and spray-painted his tag on the stone. Worse yet, the tagger posted a video of him defacing the wall.
"The Hibernia is under renovation right now by a very well-respected company," Cherniss said. "For this guy to do this, I think he needs a little judicial intervention."
Cherniss posted the video on his SFPD newsletter with the hope that someone will come forward to indentify the tagger.
"The guy probably doesn't even live here," Cherniss said. "He comes into the Tenderloin and does that. It's awful."
Annals of crime: When SFPD officers attempted to apprehend the subject last week, she made a break for it. And, once caught, she declined to speak to officers or produce identification. All they knew was that she was white. Extremely white.
With big dark ears.
It was a bunny. Commander Richard Corriea made the collar on the runaway bunny, which was hopping the streets of the Richmond District. Corriea's wife, Maria, then conducted a bunny rescue operation in the neighborhood, putting up posters and talking to passers-by. And within the week the owner left a tearful voice mail and was reunited with her pet.
The bunny's name is Snowy.
C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: email@example.com. Twitter: @cwnevius


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Six-day-a-week first-class mail delivery ends in August. Unless it doesn't.
Six-day-a-week first-class mail delivery ends in August. Unless it doesn't.
The Postal Service has announced an end to Saturday deliveries, part of its plan to save about $2 billion of a deficit now reaching about $16 billion annually.
But two bumps on the road to that plan emerged last week when:
� The Government Accountability Offices said the USPS is bound by law to deliver the mail six days a week.
� Congress sent to President Barack Obama legislation requiring six-day-a-week delivery.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe must have one of the least desirable jobs in Washington, where he heads an agency that loses $25 million a day - largely because of congressionally mandated contributions to its employee pension fund and its customers' shift to email - but is unable to make reasonable adjustments to what's widely acknowledged as an obsolete business model.
Will Saturday mail service end this summer? Donahoe might be the last person to ask.


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Rick and Erica Jones have been trying to adopt a baby for the past three years. Unfortunately for the Michigan couple, their adoption agency (Morningstar Adoption Center) doesn't have the means to market their clients — nor do the Jones's have the enough money to pay for the services of a larger, more successful adoption agency.
To date, none of the traditional methods of spreading word that they're looking to adopt have had any success: flyers, newspaper ads, even Facebook has failed them. So, unwilling to give up their dream of becoming parents, Rick has taken to Twitter, using the handle @rjman48 to tweet at celebrities, with the hope that they'll retweet his story to their thousands upon thousands of followers.
This is yet another example of Twitter incredible power to effect change — be it the revolutions in Egypt and Libya, or the kidnapped man who tweeted at this girlfriend from the trunk of his car and was saved via the power of the retweet.
With any luck, Twitter will come through for the Jones's. After all, if Facebook can facilitate organ donation, adoption via Twitter isn't that far off. [Mashable]


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D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored a career-high 33 points - the most by any Georgetown player this season - the No. 11 Hoyas moved back into a tie for first place in the Big East with a 90-66 win over DePaul.
Smith-Rivera went 10 for 12 from the field, 8 for 10 from the free-throw line and made 5 of 6 3-pointers, scoring the most points by a Georgetown freshman in John Thompson III's nine seasons as coach.
Nate Lubick added 15 points, and Jabril Trawick had 13 as the Hoyas pulled away with a 15-4 run at the end of the half. They won their eighth straight on a night when they barely needed marquee player Otto Porter, who scored 11 points and sat out the final 17 minutes after banging his right knee in the first half.
The Hoyas (20-4, 10-3) shot 63 percent and scored a season-high in points, handling with relative ease a possible trap game ahead of Saturday's much-anticipated final Big East visit to No. 8 Syracuse. Georgetown, Syracuse and Marquette sit in a three-way tie atop the conference.
Brandon Young scored 16 points to lead the Blue Demons (11-15, 2-11), who have lost 12 in a row to Georgetown and 40 straight to Top 25 teams. DePaul was coming off of a win over Rutgers on Saturday and was hoping to win back-to-back Big East games for the first time in five years.
The Blue Demons hung with the Hoyas for about 14 minutes, thanks mainly to offensive rebounds and some uncharacteristic defensive lapses by Georgetown. Statistical oddities from the first half: DePaul had an 11-0 advantage in second-chance points, while Georgetown dominated 12-0 in points off turnovers.
But Durrell McDonald's 3-pointer with 5:57 to go in the first half was the last competitive shot for the Blue Demons. Trawick and Smith-Rivera - among the players who have stepped up their games after Greg Whittington was suspended last month for academic reasons - spurred the run that put the Hoyas ahead 43-29 at the half.
Smith-Rivera made two free throws, a scoop layup and a 3-pointer during a solo seven-point run that put Georgetown ahead by 19. By then, Porter's night was already over.
Porter was clutching his right knee after hitting the floor when Worrel Clahar was called for an offensive foul while driving to the basket about eight minutes into the game. Porter stayed in the game and didn't seem affected, with a step-back long 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring and a backcourt steal among his highlights later in the half.
Porter started the second half but was gone at the 17:18. He went to the locker room and return, sporting a right knee brace.
An entertaining sidelight: One night after a malfunction forced the Washington Wizards to rig up a makeshift scoreboard for an NBA game, the Verizon Center was still haunted by electronic gremlins. The main scoreboard more or less functioned for most of the game, but names and numbers occasionally went missing, and the officials stopped the game midway through the first half for a lengthy conference at the scorer's table.
Follow Joseph White on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP


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Prominent Activist and Co-Founder Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), Lenin Raghuvanshi in a conversation with Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, about his early life, influences, work, Hindutva and future plans
Tell us something about yourself?
I was born in plural family. Each member was different from another, yet they lived under one roof. My Grandfather was Gandhian, but there was contrast in him as he was a socialist and atheist too. My grandmother was religious. My father initially joined RSS, but Grandmother told him that the uniform black cap of RSS is anti-Hindu. Then my dad became a communist, but he is still religious. There was always an ideological tussle going on between my grandparents and parents. My Grandfather wanted me to be a Gandhian and my Father wanted me to become a communist. Hence this tussle gave me an exposure to varied shades of opinion since my childhood. Later on I self studied various philosophies, ideologies and religions, and five great people influenced my life and thoughts particularly and they include Prophet Jesus (pbuh), Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Karl Marx, Buddha and Dr.B.R Ambedkar. I grew up in the Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh (U.P) that has nationalist links with mainstream India. Though in certain parts of U.P, RSS and Congress type mentality also prevails. But I envisage that we create different nations within India, as India has the potential for tolerating many sub Nations.
What is your educational background?
I studied Indian Medicine system at a Gurukul Kangri in Haridwar.
Keeping in view your professional education background, how were you inclined towards activism?
As I stated earlier that my father wanted me to become a full time Communist Party worker, but I wasn't inclined to it whole heartedly. In 1989, I joined United Nations Youth Organization and started my activism with that. In 1993 I came to head its U.P chapter. In the same year we started Bachpan Bachao Aandulan (Movement for saving childhood). During that movement, I witnessed that there were no child laborers from upper caste people. Meanwhile I also got married in 1992, and my spouse also helped me in my activism and believed in my work.
So when and what reasons led to the establishment of Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)?
In 1996, I along with my wife Shruti founded the PVCHR. It is a community based organization, to break the closed, feudal hierarchies of conservative slums and villages by building up local institutions and supporting them with a high profile and active human rights network. The caste based violence, exploitation of poorer sections of the society and the marginalization of Dalits and Adivasis led to the establishment of PVCHR.
What kind of activities does PVCHR engage with?
We work against the Caste system and the structural prejudice associated with it. We work for the reconciliation among communities. We are also working for making the environment conducive for Truth and Reconciliation. We are initiating a discussion about democracy and human rights in the cow belt. Presently we have more than fifty thousand members and in more than four hundred villages we are carrying out our activities.
So did your efforts help in bringing any Positive change?
Yes, there is a lot of change in more than two hundred villages. Since 2000 there has been no communal violence in Banaras, heart of the cow belt. Many religious leaders have united against Hindutva Fascism. The Mushar community has become confident and an indigenous leadership has evolved among them. 2/3rd Dalits, Muslims and OBCs are elected members in Governing Board of PVCHR from 2010.
Do you face any threats or intimidation regarding your work?
Yes the threats and intimidation tactics are very common, both by State and Non State actors.
Is PVCHRs particular focus presently on torture victims?
Yes, we are strongly focusing on the victims of torture. Since 2008 we are using Testimonial Therapy developed by PVCHR and Danish Organization Research and Rehabilitation center for Torture Victims (RCT) for the survivors of torture, in order to make them overcome the aftermath trauma associated with torture. Our testimonial Therapy model are using by partners of RCT in Srilanka, Cambodia and Philippines.
You have been talking and writing about what you call as the "Culture of Impunity" as prevalent in India. What does this Culture of Impunity mean?
Peace without Justice and suffering in silence is culture of impunity. Our constitution is modern but the rules are colonial. The Police Act 1861, can be a reference point. It was implemented by the British in India after the 1857 mutiny. It was anti India in its connotations and stature, but still there has been no change in it despite the fact that British left India in 1947.
So how to Fight and Resist against this culture of impunity?
The culture of impunity breaks humans. During the freedom struggle Muslims were fighting alongside with other communities, but where are they now? This culture of impunity has wrecked much harm and is responsible for numerous atrocities against minorities, dalits and adivasis. It helps the guilty, culprits and perpetuators of these atrocities go scot free. We still have draconian laws like Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) imposed on various parts of India, where the security forces have committed grave human rights abuses because of this blanket culture of impunity. We must educate, organize and agitate against this culture of impunity. We must be able to provide Psycho-Social support to the victims. Then there is a need to create debate about this culture of impunity. For Justice to be established we need to tell the truth and put up the facts before the people.
What is your opinion about the Hindutva fascism and their suppression of minorities?
We had a strong Dalit movement before formation of RSS in 1925. We have saints like Kabeer, Raidas who were an epitome of our syncretic, plural and tolerant Indian culture. Hindutva has nothing to do with Hindu religion per se. The Hindutva ideology was a manifestation of British colonialism. The greatest ideologue of RSS Guru Golwalkar himself advised RSS cadres not to fight against the British occupation. They have an expansionist ideology. On one hand they are exploiting the dalits and on the other they are attacking other nationalities. They are even unhappy with me as I am fighting against casteism that forms a fundamental feature of their ideology. But the unfortunate part of the whole matter is that now major political parties are influenced by Hindutva ideology.
You have also been writing that caste based structural biases and violence is embedded in our system. How do you explain the same?
During childhood days my grandma used to tell me, not to eat while facing south, neither sleep keeping your legs in the direction. Elderly in the village said not to visit southern quarter of the village. Since childhood I used to wonder what the secret of this word 'Dakhkhin Tola' (south ghetto) is.
As I grew up, started reading, started social activism, fought for the rights of bonded labours and traveled across the globe then I realized that in the south of every village there is South Africa (a Dalit quarter ) as 'culture of silence'.
The silence imposed by draconian suppression sanctified by religious rituals of the Upper Caste was such that the outside world knew little about this colossal cruelty. Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer, former Judge, Supreme Court of India described the plight of the Dalits in the following words, "Courts to them are alien, laws their enemy and human justice their despair."
The caste system continues to determine political, social, and economic lives of a billion people in South Asia. The caste system, straddling across the scrawny shoulders of the Untouchables, is like that Old man in Tolstoy's story, who has all the sympathy for the poor bearer and would like to do anything but to get off his shoulder. The most significant aspect of caste is its ability to resurface without a trace of remorse on the part of the perpetrator. It is like that chemical addiction which once had makes you vulnerable to its guiles forever.
American modern conservative thinker Edmund Burke says correctly about India many years before, "In that Country the law of religion, the laws of the land, and the law of honour, are all united and consolidated in one, and bind a man eternally to the rule of what is called his caste."
Traditional political system and Hindu fascist forces are trying hard to maintain the old system of the power game. Money and muscle power, together with political string-pulling, often result in denial of justice for the hapless 'have-nots', especially the Dalits (untouchables), ravaged by poverty and illiteracy.
Atrocities and extortion on the Dalits, fake encounters, refusal to register complaints against the well-heeled, arbitrary arrests on false charges, illegal detention and custodial deaths are in commonplace.
In the absence of a modern social audit system, the keepers of the law often unleash a 'police raj', especially in rural India. A crippled National Human Rights Commission and its state subsidiaries with limited recommendatory control and a dysfunctional Legal Aid System depict a gloomy picture indeed.
Ironically, even after having shed the colonial yoke, its legacy continues in the administrative framework of our independent India marked with widespread corruption which has rendered many government-sponsored schemes in rural India a failure.
You have also written that Indian police has learnt the tactic of Community Punishment from caste system. How can these two be related?
You can witness this fact in India. If an upper caste person commits a crime, if ever he is punished, he will bear it solitarily. But if a lower caste person commits any crime the whole community will be punished for one man's deeds. The Police have learnt community punishment from casteism. Also see how the Caste and Class structures are reinforced by the state machinery. Why are the regiments named on caste and class denominations like Rajputana, Dogra etc, whereas such amalgamations are contradictory to the constitution?
The Police atrocities against common people particularly the marginalized sections of society are growing with each passing day. What are the reasons responsible for that?
Police is the prime executive for the protection of Human Rights of common people. But in India the mindset of Police as inculcated by 1861 Police Act is synonymous to the British period when the Police saw all Indians as enemies. Even after Freedom Indian police witnesses citizens as its enemies. Hence the police reforms are must. We also need representation of minorities and marginalized sections of society in the police in order to change its outlook, bias and perception about them.
In most cases where the Police is found guilty of committing atrocities against the innocent civilians, we witness that they usually go scot free, while the innocent continue to suffer?
The prevalent culture of impunity is responsible for the guilty policemen going scot free. In Crpc and AFSPA the police and army have got the legal impunity that makes their persecution or punishment impossible. We want to amend and remove these draconian laws. Armed Forces Special Power ordnance was imposed by the British colonial administration to crush the Quit India Movement that started in 1942, but even after Freedom Indian State implemented more draconian law as Armed Forces Special Power Act(AFSPA). Indian State is still not ready to pass the Anti Torture Bill. How can in such an environment you hope for policemen to be punished. These black laws create problems for National integration. We need to fight the mindset that is obstructing the amendment or revocation of these draconian laws, under the veil of National interests and sovereignty.
The growing corporatization is having severe ramifications on Nation Building and integrity. How can we resist this onslaught?
We need to strength the Neo Dalit movement. Neo-dalit campaign is against politics of division, exploitation and hatred with an alternative of unity of broken masses on base of reconciliation, democracy, secularism and non violence. First unity is unity against caste system, a historical system of exclusion i.e. unity among the lower castes people that have been suppressed since centuries with the progressive anti-caste people born in upper caste. This will be first of its kind unity, which will not be against any person born in to upper caste communities neither against any religion. Second unity is unity among minorities and communities who suffered with communal fascism, those who believe in communal harmony and people with secular values against neo-fascism. Unity of all poor from all communities against the suffering with neo-liberal policy is the third kind of unity. Fighting against neoliberal policy is not against democratic capitalism for people. Since those broken with different kinds of suppression and exclusion means dalit therefore these three kinds of unities is base of impart the neo-dalit movement. These three need to join hands and unitedly fight against the menace of corporatization based on exclusion, anti-people and anti-environment norms. We are opposing the corporatization whereas attacking cultural imperialism too, and trying to build pressure on Government through people demand for more budget on social structure such as education, health etc . If we will not fight against corporatization, they will make the country and people slave to their corporate goals.
Given your busy activist schedule, how do you balance that with your personal family life and its demands?
My wife Shruti is also an activist, while our son Kabeer is an independent child. We still live together in a joint family and I visit my parents when I find time.
So what are the future plans of PVCHR?
We are going to work in Kashmir, not for political negotiations or for solving Kashmir issue. We want to meet the victims and survivors of torture. We want to ask for pardons for the atrocities committed by the Indian State, and start reconciliation with people of Kashmir. We also want to offer psychological support to the victims of torture through Testimonial Therapy.
Any message for people?
The people must believe in themselves. The need of the hour is to create new dynamics and debate within India. The people musty make alliances with Dalits, Anti-Hindutva Movement and other marginalized people. The debate about Kashmir must be initiated within Indian particularly the cow belt, and it is obligatory on Kashmiris to change the mindset of the inhabitants of cow belt as far as Kashmir and other issues are concerned.
Lenin Raghuvanshi can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com
Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir and can be reached at email@example.com


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For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Read at Bible Gateway Read all of Romans 3 Public Domain
A willing people and an immutable leader
"Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." Psalm 110:3
Suggested Further Reading: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Christ shall always have a people. In the darkest ages Christ has always had a church; and if darker times shall come, he will have his church still. Oh! Elijah, thy unbelief is foolish. Thou sayest, "I, only I, am left alone, and they seek my life." No, Elijah, in those caves of the earth God has his prophets, hidden by seventies. Thou too, poor unbelieving Christian, at times thou sayest, "I, even I, am left." Oh! If thou hadst eyes to see, if thou couldst travel a little, thy heart would be glad to find that God does not lack a people. It cheers my heart to find that God has a family everywhere. We do not go anywhere but we find really earnest hearts—men full of prayer. I bless God that I can say, concerning the church wherever I have been, though they are not many, there are a few, who sigh and groan over the sorrows of Israel. There are chosen bands in every church, thoroughly earnest men who are looking out for, and are ready to receive their Master, who cry to God that he would send them times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Do not be too sad; God has a people, and they are willing now; and when the day of God's power shall come, there is no fear about the people. Religion may be at a low ebb, but it never was at such a low ebb that God's ship was stranded. It may be ever so low, but the devil shall never be able to cross the river of Christ's church dry shod. He shall always find abundance of water running in the channel. God grant us grace to look out for his people, believing that there are some everywhere, for the promise is, "thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power."
For meditation: Do you feel one of the few? God's people may be nearer and more numerous than you imagine (Acts 18:9,10); even when we are very few, Christ is nearer than we sometimes imagine (Matthew 18:20).
Sermon no. 74 13 April (1856)
All rights belong to the collections of Charles Spurgeon(C)


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Cable tie tensioning tools are used to precisely tension ties that hold cables together. These tools are designed for very specific tasks. For instance, some cable tie guns are designed to operate in areas without access to electricity while others are suitable for use in hard to reach areas.
What are cable tie tensioning tools used for?
Cable tie tensioning tools have a significant role to play in securing cables to not only ensure proper function and preserve the integrity of cables, but also to meet industry codes. They are built to perform their functions with minimal effort from the user while staying functional even after long-term use. Most versions are fitted with a cutting blade used to trim off excess cable tie after tensioning.
Types of cable tie tensioning tools
Cable tie tensioning tools are designed to work with the different materials, such as nylon and stainless steel, used to make cable ties. They are usually provided with replaceable blades and controls that allow you to adjust the tensioning force exerted on the cable ties.


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Hewlett-Packard could resurrect the TouchPad that it killed this month, an executive said.
Todd Bradley, HP's head of personal computers, told Reuters that bringing back the TouchPad is definitely a possibility because "tablet computing is a segment of the market that's relevant, absolutely." Bradley also said that selling off HP's PC business is not a viable alternative -- mainly because few companies have enough cash for the deal or want to expand in such a tough economic climate.
The interview took place as Bradley toured China, part of an Asian trip where he will also head to Taiwan and South Korea, to assure Asian markets that HP's PC business is thriving.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
However, if the whole trip by Bradley is to assure Asian markets -- perhaps anything Bradley says is just hogwash. After all, HP did kill off the TouchPad in six weeks, hardly enough time to decide whether or not it was a success or failure. Then it was rumored to be shopping around its PC branch of the company. If those are the kind of executive decisions made by HP, we don't think it has much credibility suggesting its PC market is strong or thriving. Unfortunately, that also goes for the resurrection of the TouchPad.


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Goodspeed's book identified approximately 120 residents of Clay County, Arkansas, by occupation. Just over two-fifths were described as "farmer" or "farmer and stockman." About a third were engaged in small-town commerce as "manufacturer," "merchant," or simply "business man." The rest included local officeholders . . . and professional men.Quite aside from the absence of women, the books also slighted urban life. In Lancaster County, Nebraska, the city of Lincoln grew from 13,000 to 55,000 people during the 1880s, much faster than the countryside.
Although Lincoln dwellers comprised more than two-thirds of the county's population when the Chapman team came to Nebraska, only about a fifth of the biographies treated Lincoln residents. Like urban dwellers elsewhere, most ordinary Lincolnites had not (or not yet) distinguished themselves in business or in agriculture. And mug books did not seek primarily to record urban history; they were records of rural and small-town accomplishment. . . .For this reason the books often began with biographies and portraits of presidents and governors.
No matter how fully genealogy appeared in the biographies, it did not determine destiny. Above all, the subject prospered from his own handiwork. . . . Even as these stories expressed individuals' pride in their achievements, they also combined to tell a national history.
White ethnics like Germans were included, but African-Americans as a rule were on their own. Their mug books were often less local and foregrounded the author more, but the underlying motif was similar. As William J. Simmons put it in 1887, "I wish the book to show to the world -- to our oppressors and even our friends -- that the Negro race is still alive."
Casper is studying the phenomenon, not evaluating evidence. His examination suggests that information likely to be missing in these celebratory sources include failures, difficulties never fully surmounted, conflict, and above all any indication of dependence on outside government aid (such as surveying, military procurement, Indian expulsion, and building harbors, roads, and canals) -- anything that might cast doubt on the story of the self-made man.
Scott E. Casper, Constructing American Lives: Biography and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999). Snippet-searchable on Google Books.
Harold Henderson, "A cultural historian looks at mug books," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 30 September 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]