text: Dec. 11-12 — Marat Daukayev Ballet Theatre presents the 10th Anniversary production of "The Nutcracker" at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre. JA child's thrilling holiday party leads to an epic, fire and smoke-filled battle between a prince and a mouse king, and a visit to an enchanted land of exquisite dancing snowflakes, adorable candy children, and treats from around the world. Cost: $30 General Admission. Tickets may be purchased online or through the Aratani/Japan America Theatre Box Office, (213) 680-3700.

subset: commoncrawl


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'Hindutva' is a predominant form of Hindu Nationalism. What this means is, it is a political and social expression of Hinduism. The ruling party of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party adopted Hindutva as their official ideology way back in 1989. The central concepts encompass preserving Hindu interests, cultural nationalism, a uniform civil code and finally, a polarising issue of decolonization, which is a concept of 'reversing' the cultural spread of non-Hindu religions.
The ideology may have flown under the radar with many during BJP's winning streak. But with the recently elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath some forgotten atrocities are resurfacing.
Let's here from Dhruv Rathi, an activist with a strong foot in Indian politics via his social media. He has selected some choice words uttered by the CM and compiled them in the following video.
Although his thoughts may seem concentrated in the spectrum of Indian politics, his compilation of several speeches by the CM clearly shows Yogi Adityanath being biased and choosing propaganda over his duties as a head of state.
A spokesperson: Yogi Adityanath
Yogi Adityanath is the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is the most populated state in India AND the world. It has 200 million inhabitants. With the main ethnic group as Hindavi people, therefore the Hindutva ideology having a strong foothold.
Being a secular country, India does not associate itself with any religion. But, being a country that is so diverse, the sway of religion-politics is strong.
How in 2017, #Adityanath's aggressive Hindutva politics finally paid off. pic.twitter.com/U4xv82Drxz
— scroll.in (@scroll_in) December 28, 2017
Adityanath is incidentally, the founder of 'Hindu Yuva Vahini' which is a youth militia that has been involved in communal violence. The Chief Minister's speeches are sensational sermons of Hindutva. His speeches are crude speeches which put down intercultural marriages, strongly disapproving of Hindu-Muslim marriages. He goes on to speak about revenge politics, completely disregarding the famous Gandhian saying, an eye for an eye makes the world blind.
#KnowUPCM In a rally, #Adityanath says Hindu-Muslim cultures can never co-exist, co-speaker asks for raping of Muslim women https://t.co/92Wv3N2sAi
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) March 19, 2017
Yogi's beef with SRK
Yogi targeted King Khan during one of his speeches in 2015 for using the same "language" as Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The CM, targeted him after Shah Rukh Khan clocked a growing restlessness in the country regarding intolerance. Adityanath spoke against SRK's words and likened his language to 26/11 Terrorist mastermind, Hafiz Saeed. Adityanath said:
"These voices are not anti-BJP but anti-national. Unfortunately, Shah Rukh Khan has also joined the brigade,"
Associating a person's statement to their religion is a manipulative strategy. Although the issue died down, SRK's statements have a truth that is slowly becoming apparent.
In the spectrum of politics, while 'Hindutva' is on the extreme right of a conservative view, liberal views are rarely brought out. In recent years, India has come down on infringing the rights of religious groups. Some going as far as to express their feelings of insecurity. This has led to a fragile community.
By propagating their Hindutva propaganda, BJP is not violating secularism (technically). But, is BJP violating a fundamental right in the constitution? Under Indian law, the freedom of speech and of the press do not confer an absolute right to express one's thoughts freely. Clause (2) of Article 19 of the Indian constitution enables the legislature to impose certain restrictions on free speech under public order and incitement to an offense.
Propaganda has brought friction between groups in the past. By inciting hate speech, a communal distrust has occurred. If the fracture deepens, communal violence is not far from causing dissent and distrust. More recently, the beef 'beef' brought about violence throughout the country causing stirs. If the food we eat can cause such a stir, what we say and what we do can lead to clashes too.
We want to know from you now. Is religion taking a precedence over human life? Are our views and culture important enough to cause such a strong divide?
Let us know with your comments below!
ⓘ Want to publish your startup or branded story? Submit your details here. For all the latest news related to startups in India and MENA, follow us on Google News, Twitter and Linkedin, and like us on Facebook.


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All the new issues of the comic book series from based off the 1950's classic! Long before Kirk, Spock, and those other guys went to school, Tom Corbett, Roger Manning, and Astro were attending Space Academy, in a TV series that sparked novels, comic strips, and merchandise. Tom is the charismatic leader of the team, Roger is the sharp-tongued navigator, and Astro controls engineering. The cadets have their first encounter with a dangerous new enemy with a surprising origin! This special digital edition features never before seen images and stories!
Epub (Kobo - Fixed Layout), Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 01/03/2020


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Continuing our series of posts introducing you to some of the developers behind WebSphere Liberty, meet Ozzy Osborne…
The new outdoor office.. #JavaOne pic.twitter.com/T4oj4t43Hi
— Ozzy (@OzzyDweller) September 19, 2016
Ozzy joined IBM nearly 20 years ago after a degree in Computing from University of Kent, Canterbury in the UK. For most of his career so far, he's been a developer at IBM Hursley but recently moved to Montreal, Canada where he is a developer and evangelist for Liberty and microservices. It's possible that you've come across one of his many diverse side-projects over the years.
"I've been coding as long as I can remember."
His first computer was a ZX Spectrum 48k ("Sir Clive has a lot to answer for…"). He started learning to code by hacking the sample programs on the Horizons tape that came with every new ZX Spectrum.
"I remember altering Thro' the Wall to make the bat as wide as the screen"
From there, he moved on to books on graphics routines in Z80 Assembler to invoke code that was loaded directly into memory (via RANDOMISE USR), eventually ending up with a multiface expansion that allowed him to freeze the running machine and alter the memory before the machine was resumed. It seems fairly clear why he got into computing as a career.
Ozzy loves the 'making something come alive' moment when you run your code and discover whether what you told it to do is actually what you intended it to do. And that's never really lost its appeal. With experience, he's found that the challenges shift from just finding a solution to finding an appropriate solution. He acknowledges that you rarely get to create the ideal, academic solution, but finding a way to make the one you have to deliver be as "non-icky as possible" keeps him entertained.
"I enjoy writing code."
Outside of work, his many tech and non-tech side-projects often focus on subverting most people's accepted reality in different ways, such as putting a USB-MIDI sustain pedal controller in an old Keurig coffee pod, or adding WIFI to an Amiga via the serial/parallel port. His floppy autoloader was particularly successful. And he has a firm place in the Hursley Liberty team's heart as baker of brussel sprout cup cakes.
He also messes with Arduinos; they remind him of his Assembler days, coding on the old 8-bit systems. He had a large hand in the initial design and construction of the Liberty Car, using his Arduino skills to create a platform that enables us to show that Liberty is capable of being an app server even in the oddest of places.
Ozzy has worked at all different levels of the Liberty code. The contribution he's most proud of is developing the abstract classloader that enables Liberty to load classes from virtualised application abstractions. "It turned out a lot neater than expected, and offered some entertaining opportunities for optimisations." He also wrote the slick minify capability), which you can use when packaging a Liberty server to shrink the package down to absolutely only what you need.
These days, he tends to write applications that run on Liberty. He contributes to the Game On! game code, which developers can explore and extend to learn about microservices architecture whilst having fun.
More from Ozzy
You'll probably run into Ozzy at one of an increasing number of developer conferences around the world where he demos Game On!, the Liberty Car, and talks Liberty and polyglot microservices, most recently on a booth at JavaOne 2016 in San Francisco and at the IBM Cloud Technical University in Madrid.
You can find Ozzy on Twitter as @OzzyDweller and GitHub as BarDweller.
Something random about Ozzy
"I built half an Iron Man suit for Halloween, and paired it with 6″ heels."
Related articles
Fred is the architect for the JCA/JDBC components of Liberty, WebSphere Application Server (WAS) traditional, and for WAS on the IBM i platform. He works from home in the desert and goes mountain biking into cacti.
David Currie is a developer for Liberty. He currently leads the team who build the Docker support for Liberty, including the websphere-liberty image on Docker Hub.
Hiroko is a developer on the WebSphere Security team. She investigates customer problems that relate to the security features in WebSphere Application Server and Liberty.
Continue reading Meet the Liberty developers: Hiroko Takamiya
Kate is a developer on the Liberty team. She writes the Game On! text-based adventure game which enables developers to explore microservices architectures and evangelises Liberty and microservices at developer conferences around the world.


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When saying the name of the band Dzian!, smile and click your thumbs in the air. Dzian! Go ahead, do it—it feels good. Dzian!! Now savor it. It may be your last chance to do so while the band has a show on the local music calendar (at The Bridge, May 21), creating a void on the local scene that no one is likely to fill.
When you say Dzian!, give a thumbs up. The Asian-inspired surf-rock group plays a nautical farewell show at The Bridge/PAI on May 21, with performances from the Nakashi Dancers, Fire in the Belly Dance and Catherine Monnes.
Aside from the whole thumbs up thing, no rock band in town is likely to be as educated—or as fun—as the world-surf rock group. Over the last two years Dzian! has played a variety of normal venues (The Box, the Tea Bazaar) around town, and not-so-normal ones like Fashion Square Mall and St. Anne's-Belfield School, where a confused student is said to have wondered whether Dzian!'s members, who cut a faux-glamorous figure in concert, were middle schoolers allowed to dress themselves for the first time that day.
Frontman Wendy Hsu says that Dzian! in its inception aspired to "a fashionable coolness from the '30s through the '80s in Taiwan." She originally envisioned the group as a Nakashi band, referring to a genre that started on the streets of Taiwan in the 1930s, when a Japanese occupation tossed traditional Taiwanese music in a blender with a world of pop influences. By the time Hsu, who this month finished a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, caught her first Nakashi show, it was the late 1980s, and she was 8 years old. She says her parents covered her eyes so that she couldn't see the bawdy theatrics that Nakashi picked up in its transition from the traditional tea rooms to the stage.
But censoring Nakashi only increased its allure, and two decades later Dzian! was born. Hsu refers to the band on her blog as a form of "a post-fieldwork, post-academic project of public scholarship," intended to inject Asia and Asian-America into the world of rock music. "The band has really grown to be more than just Nakashi," she says, filtering a variety of other musics through the garage rock lens.
A new EP, to be released at the going-away show, is called Ali Shan A' Go-Go. It begins with the sound of a vintage tube radio tuning in to a Chinese broadcast. Like how Brian Wilson wished they could be California girls, on Ali Shan A' Go-Go Dzian! wishes that all music could be American music. The first track, "Moon Over Ruined Castle," is a Japanese song that Hsu grew up hearing. Dzian! performs it in the style of Eleki, a Japanese mode named for the electric guitar that brought traditional playing styles to bear on surf rock, by bands like The Ventures and The Shadows.
Two other songs on Ali Shan A' Go-Go are popular Taiwanese nursery rhymes that Hsu reworked over a boring winter break. "Ali Shan," the title track, celebrates the beauty of a famous mountain. Hsu's version riffs on the Shadow Music tradition, surf rock that was Thailand's answer to Japanese Eleki. A fourth track, "Œvilteen," is an original song by Jonathan Zorn, the guitarist and computer music composer, who also mixed and mastered the EP.
Hsu says that the Nakashi tradition was mostly "functional music," an accessory to whatever else is happening in the room. Which sort of explains why they would play at the mall or at a high school, and why they might get a kick out of hosting a "The Love Boat"-themed going-away concert. (Recommended attire is "cruise casual.")
But the cruise ship show will also usher Dzian! out of town. Hsu moves to Los Angeles for a post-doctoral fellowship at Occidental College this summer, and most the band's other members will also move West. Which brings Hsu to one of the best things about being in a band that plays functional music. "You can play it anywhere," she says.


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Put your Freez Pak in the coldest part of your freezer for 6 to 10 hours. Remove and place in your ice chest on top of your food. Cool air travels downward. Use approximately half as many Freez Pak bags by weight as you would ice. For first aid use be sure to wrap in a towel.
Product Features
Just freeze and use over and over! Colder than ice. Long lasting. Safe, non-toxic. Leak proof bag. Helpful Hints: Pre-cooled food will stay cooler longer with Freez Pak. Stacked Freez Paks keep food cold the longest. A small chest, fully packed, will stay cooler longer than a larger, partially loaded chest. Freez Paks can be frozen thousands of times without losing cooling power.


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Open Age Just Play Football: Fridays 7pm – 8pm at Caedmon College (Scoresby site) astroturf (£2 per session)
Now is the perfect opportunity to get your boots back on and join us at one of our Just Play kickabouts.
The sessions are for all abilities and perfect for those who haven't played in a while. There's absolutely no commitment; some of our Just Players come once a month and others come every week. You can get as involved in each kickabout as you want. Just Play kickabouts are great for when you want to play without committing to a weekly game, a complicated league or fancy team strips. Sessions are flexible and sociable and an FA qualified Just Play organiser will ensure you have fun on the pitch whatever your level of fitness or ability. The FA Mars Just Play gives the casual footballer a chance to just turn up to a venue and play football. The Just Play kickabout is recreational football at its best – it's about turning up for an hour of exercise and a bit of fun. It's football for those who can't or don't want to commit to an eight-month long season of matches and training. Frankly, it's jumpers for goalposts, but we provide the balls, pitch and teams. FA Mars Just Play is purely for adults, for men, for women, for those who think they're talented and for those who think they aren't. It's also for those with a disability or for 16–25s or women-only or even veterans; there's a kickabout designed specifically for you, whatever your age or ability. There's no better time to give Just Play a go.
For further details please visit http://www.thefa.com/my-football/justplay


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by: Autumn Rooney, Los Angeles, California
Leave a legacy: live your life, embracing the beauty in every person you meet. Your kindness will long be remembered and you will leave the world a better place.
quote by: Elizabeth C. Bertelsen, Sarasota, Florida
The average American is exposed to approximately 3,000 advertisements per day. What if we were exposed to 3,000 images and messages of love per day?


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Firefighters at a Chinese airport were commended for their speedy action after reports of a plane on fire on the tarmac. It was all good until they sprayed the wrong plane with foam.
The bizarre incident caused a partial shutdown at FOC.
After an Air China Boeing 737-800 reported problems with one of its engines, fire crews raced to the scene. The plane's engines were switched off but a nearby Fuzhou Airlines 737-800 also on the taxiway readying for take-off had visible exhaust fumes showing.
Apparently thinking the exhaust was smoke, firefighters went to work.
Airport officials quickly let them know about the error, but the damage was done. The FU plane was delayed for 10 hr. while it underwent a safety check.
There were no casualties, but the entire incident result in 30 delayed flights.


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Join Ivan & Alan for the very latest in Progressive House, Tech House and pretty much everything in between. Make sure you jump in the chatroom and say hello. Let us know where you are, what you're up to and we'll be sure to give you a shout out.
Keep it locked, Exclusively here on BoostFM.
Playing the best in House, Techno, Trance, Breaks since 2008!


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- Genuine lifestyle Freehold motel.
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This Freehold Motel located on the New England Highway on the Northern outskirts of Armidale is a genuine lifestyle motel operation. It is situated on a spacious 5 acres, offers 10 ground floor units and is currently operated in a "semi-retirement" mode.
It's the ideal opportunity to mix a laid back lifestyle with an income. It might be just the thing you have been looking for.
Net profit $92,064 for 2018/19
Contact James Carrick from Tourism Brokers for further information or to arrange an inspection.
Property ID: 2413MF (quote when enquiring)
Location: Armidale, with its unique blend of culture, state of the art technology, educational diversity and natural beauty is a city offering everything worth living for. Armidale is situated half way between Sydney and Brisbane and only two hours from the coast, it enjoys a warm summer, tones of amber during the autumn, a crisp winter and an exhilarating spring. An attractive and graceful city of tree-lined streets where new world cosmopolitan and old world pastoralism coexist. It is the major centre of the Northern Tablelands with a population of over 25,000.
The New England region is renowned for its world class fine wool and beef production, and Armidale is home to at least 14 different Cattle Breed Societies. The region is also developing a reputation as a producer of high quality wines.
Armidale has long been known as an educational and cultural centre. It is home to the University of New England and several private boarding schools. The city and surrounds are graced with elegant cathedrals, churches and pastoral homesteads, historic monuments, heritage buildings and fascinating museums and galleries.
Property Code: 1603
If you own a business and are considering selling, visit our Sell a Business section. Limited Free Trial available.Sell Your Business


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Exceptions: education
The use of materials protected by copyright is essential to the learning process. Educational resources exist in all formats that are recognised as 'works' in copyright law.
To minimise the burden on teachers and students who want to make use of copyright materials as part of their teaching and learning experience, the law includes a number of exceptions that allow for the use of all types of copyright work for certain educational purposes.
If you are using materials in an educational context this does not mean that you can forget about copyright. What it does mean is that you need to be aware of when you can use a work without obtaining permission or paying a licence fee, and when permission or a licence is required.
For example, the law makes clear that certain exceptions for education can only be relied upon in the absence of a relevant educational licensing scheme. This means that if a scheme has been set up to license the use of copyright material by educational establishments then the exception does not apply. For instance, if a school or college wants to record television broadcasts for use within a classroom, it should get a licence from the Educational Recording Agency.
One of the most important exceptions for education permits the use of any type of work for the purpose of teaching (or as the law puts it: 'for the sole purpose of illustration for instruction'). This means that copyright in the work is not infringed by an individual teacher or a student as long as they are copying the work to give or receive instruction (or when preparing to give or receive instruction), and the copying is used to illustrate a point about the subject being taught. Also, the law makes clear that 'giving or receiving instruction' allows copying when setting examination questions, communicating questions to students, and answering questions.
However, the exception only applies under the following conditions:
1) The purpose of the use is non-commercial
2) Where practical, there should be sufficient acknowledgement of authorship of the work
3) The use of the material is fair
There is no legal definition of what is fair or unfair in this context. It is an issue ultimately decided by courts depending on a number of factors, such as the amount of the work taken and whether the use would commercially compete with the copyright owner's exploitation of the material. According to the UK government 'minor uses, such as displaying a few lines of poetry on an interactive whiteboard, will be permitted, but uses which would undermine sales of teaching materials will still need a licence'.
There are two other important things to know about this exception. First, it applies to all types of teaching, not just teaching within a traditional educational establishment. Second, the exception cannot be overridden by contract. This means that any term of a contract seeking to prevent or restrict copying under this exception is unenforceable in law.


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See the main story:
Low birthrate threatens Japan's future
See related story:
French values and child-care policies put family before work
Does more and more women pursuing a career path lead to a decline in a nation's birthrate? Statistics prove otherwise, according to the participants in the Oct. 18 and 31 symposiums.
What matters, they said, is whether there is a positive environment in which women can continue to work while raising children.
"To discuss the issue of falling birthrates, we have to correctly assess the background factors," said Hiroki Sato, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science, casting doubts on the often-cited reasoning that birthrates decline as more women take up jobs outside of the family.
Data show that there is no fixed corelation between birthrate and women's participation in the workforce, Sato pointed out.
Kumiko Bando, director general of the Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office, said that a 2000 comparison among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the birthrate tends to be higher in nations where more women join the workforce.
During the three decades between 1970 and 2000, the growth in the rate of female labor participation in Japan was the lowest among the 24 OECD members while the nation's birthrate continued to fall, Bando told the Oct. 31 session.
Countries that reversed the decline in birthrate while the number of working women increased — such as France and the Netherlands — tend to offer greater job flexibility and a diverse choice of lifestyles, she noted.
A similar pattern is seen in comparisons among Japan's 47 prefectures. Bando said that prefectures with a higher ratio of female labor participation tend to have a higher birthrate.
Prefectures with an above-average birthrate and female labor participation rate are Kumamoto, Yamagata, Nagano, Saga, Aomori, Yamanashi, Fukushima, Toyama, Tottori, Iwate, Miyazaki, Fukui, Mie, Shimane, Gunma and Shizuoka.
On the other hand, prefectures where birthrate and female labor participation are below the national average are Tokushima, Osaka, Ehime, Hokkaido, Wakayama, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Hiroshima, Kanagawa, Tokyo, Kyoto, Miyagi, Saitama, Chiba and Nara.
Prefectures in the latter category are given below-average marks in a Cabinet Office survey on social environment factors linked to birthrate and gender equality, such as working hours, work flexibility, child-care support by the community and elderly members of the family, and lifestyle flexibility, Bando said.
Haruna Okada, corporate senior vice president for Benesse Corp. who has been involved in the publication of magazines featuring child rearing-related information, said that roughly 60 percent of the workers at the company are women.
Therefore, women continuing to work after childbirth and producing results are crucial to Benesse's performance as a company, she said during the Oct. 18 session.
Systematic support for working mothers such as expanded child-care leave, shorter working hours and creation of in-house day-care facilities can be made possible only if top management takes the initiative, Okada said. But the key lies in the implementation — whether the workers can really have access to these services, she said.
At Benesse, about 90 percent of female employees return to work after childbirth, and nearly 40 workers on average take child-care leave a year. But long working hours are a problem for male and female workers as they raise their children, and it is not unusual to find female employees in the late stages of pregnancy working extra hours, Okada noted.
Atsuko Muraki, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry councilor in charge of equal employment, children and families, said that the overall ratio of Japanese women continuing to work after childbirth has not increased, with roughly 70 percent quitting their jobs just before giving birth to their first child.
Muraki urged companies to not only introduce such measures as child-care leave and flexible working hours to support child rearing by their employees, but to monitor the implementation of the measures and how things have changed.
Whether the child-care support measures for company workers really work will depend a lot on the managers who supervise the workers, said Sato of the University of Tokyo. "Managers need to acquire the know-how to run their offices with workers who raise children . . . who may take child-care leave and who may not be able to work overtime," Sato said.
The Cabinet Office's Bando said that women in Japan still face sharp disadvantages in career opportunities and employment conditions.
The average hourly wage for full-time female workers was 67 percent of what men earn in 2005 — although the figure has gradually increased from 60 percent in 1990.
Roughly 40 percent of women working in nonfarm sectors are on part-time contracts, compared with 8.6 percent for men. Roughly two-thirds of female workers earn less than 3 million yen a year while the ratio for men is about 20 percent.
But women today work longer for their employees and are much more willing than their predecessors to take up positions of responsibility, said Fusako Utsumi, president of NEC Learning Ltd.
A 2002 survey showed that women work nine years on average for a single company — shorter than the 13.5 years for men but much longer than the four years in 1965 and seven years in 1986, Utsumi, who heads an NEC Corp. unit in charge of human resources development, told the Oct. 31 symposium.
The ratio of female workers who upon joining a company aspire to take up executive positions has increased from 8 percent in 1976 to 21.2 percent in 2005, Utsumi said, citing surveys by the Japan Productivity Center for Socioeconomic Development. The figures began to pick up in 1986, when the equal employment opportunity law took effect, she added.
The ratio of women in middle-management positions has gradually increased, Utsumi said, although she acknowledged that Japan lags far behind other industrialized countries. Women account for 9.7 percent of management positions in Japan, compared with 45.9 percent in the United States, 35.9 percent in Germany and 32.5 percent in Britain, she noted.


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I've been pretty quiet in this space for a while, and when I finally speak up, I get the chance to live out what I say. The other day I posted (no power here) about being unaffected by circumstances and standing firm in God's grace. And what a week this has been! I was talking to my sister yesterday about what's happening. I told her that I know God has this, and that everything is going to be ok... I just don't know what that looks like yet. I've read the book of Job, and I know how his story ended. He was blessed beyond what he could have ever imagined, and God repayed far more than what was taken from him. But the struggles he went through to get there... ugh! I immediately thought of this song from Shrek the musical (which is the current most frequently requested album in our car).
In the third verse, Fiona rips out pages from the storybooks and says, "No one needs these middle bits!" That's how I feel right about now. I know my story is going to end well. Probably better than I can imagine. Man or no man. That's not the focus... it's not the prince I'm after.. It's the King. And He's with me every step of the journey, all through the waiting to see how my story turns out, and all through the struggles. He is here. And His grace is sufficient for me.
Yesterday I read this in Hebrews 10:22-24, Amplified:
22 Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assuranceand absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.23 So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish andconfess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word.24 And let us considerand give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities
And this morning this in Proverbs 3:3-6, Amplified:
3 Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart. 4 So shall you find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight [or judgment] of God and man. 5 Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insightor understanding.6 In all your ways know, recognize, andacknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
Whatever comes, I can stand strong in Him. My loving Father sees the end from the beginning, and He's with us through all these middle bits. He is my peace. I need to keep my focus and rest in Him.
A dear friend sent me a link the other day to a youtube video of Wintley Phipps singing Amazing Grace. It included some background on the song, and it was such a touching video. I sent it on to my sister, and she found this one and encouraged me to watch it. When we were young, we used to sing out of the hymnals in church, and whenever we sang this one and we were standing next to each other, we'd sing "it is swell with my soul" and giggle. I love what he says before he sings, "It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and God's greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you've been through." Wow. God is good. It is well with my soul.


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Dedicated in 1894
The Church of Saint Filomena, dedicated to a Christian martyr, was designed by a French architect, Eugene Joannon, who sought inspiration for the sanctuary from famed European churches. The church, made of brick and plaster, was completed in 1894. It features the classic Gothic style with a central nave and two naves running parallel on either side.
Richly Ornamented
The church was financed entirely by the devout and it seems that no efforts were spared in creating a place of worship for the ages.
The monument features timeless works of art, beautiful sculptures and striking ornamentation in blue and gold. The brilliantly coloured stained glass windows including the iconic rosette windows were crafted in 1905. The transept windows depict the life, martyrdom and sainthood of St. Filomena who was beheaded by the Roman Emperor.
The Church of Saint Filomena has withstood the ravages of time especially the devastating earthquakes that have shaken Chile thus far. Hardly a surprise then that in 1995, the sanctuary was declared a National Monument of Chile.


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Sandra L. Richter. The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. IVP Academic, 2008. (263 pages)
St. Pete's Blog: Book Review
Q&A on Ben Witherington's Blog
Introduction: The Dysfunctional Closet Syndrome
The Bible, in all its parts, is intended to communicate to humanity the realities of redemption. Over the centuries, the church has stumbled when it has forgotten this truth, and has thereby, ironically, damaged the authority of the book from which it has drawn its life. Often the error has run in the direction of making this book less than it is–less than the inspired Word of God, less than the supernatural report of God's doings throughout the ages, less than the definitive rule for faith and practice among those who believe. But just as often, the error has run in the other direction–attempting to make the Bible more than it is. Too often in our zeal for the worldwide influence of this book, we forget that it was not intended as an exhaustive ancient world history, or a guide to the biology and paleontology of creation, or even a handbook on social reform. We forget that this book was cast upon the waters of history with one very specific, completely essential and desperately necessary objective–to tell the epic tale of God's ongoing quest to ransom his creation. And to, thereby, give each generation the opportunity to know his amazing grace. The Bible is the saga of Yahweh and Adam, the prodigal son and his ever gracious heavenly father; humanity in their rebellion and God in his grace. This narrative begins with Eden and does not conclude until the New Jerusalem is firmly in place. It is all one story. And if you are a believer, it is all your story. (15)
…I've come to believe that the issues that keep the average New Testament believer from their Old Testament can be categorized under three headings. The first, and to me the most heartbreaking, is that most Christians have not been taught that the story of the Old Testament is their story. Rather, they have been encouraged to think that knowledge of the Old Testament is unnecessary to New Testament faith. … The second…is what I have come to call the "great barrier." … The third category, and perhaps the most challenging, is the one that has driven me to write this book. This is what I have coined "the dysfunctional closet syndrome." (16)
The church does not know who she is, because she does not know who she was. (17)
…the closet is a mess, and even with a significant time commitment, they cannot put the pieces together. Thus they wind up either spending an outrageous amount of time putting together an Old Testament study (or sermon), or they wind up with one or two texts or stories with which they feel comfortable and ignore the rest. The end result is that most decide that the Old Testament is just too hard and give their attention to the New Testament where there is some hope of memorizing the characters, places and dates. And all this is in spite of the fact that most Christians are hungry to understand their Old Testament heritage. (19)
My goal in writing this book, therefore, is to deal a mortal blow to the dysfunctional closet syndrome. (19)
Facts are stupid things until brought into connection with some general law. (19)
And rather than doing what folks have been doing for centuries–attempting to impose their own paradigm upon the text–we will attempt instead to discover the paradigm within the text. (19-20)
1 The Bible as the Story of Redemption
More than anything else, we want to hear the words of the biblical writers as they were intended and claim their epic saga as our own. (21)
Thus the study of the Old Testament becomes a cross-cultural endeavor. If we are going to understand the intent of the biblical authors, we will need to see their words the way they did. (24)
… Israel's society was "traditional." More specifically it was "tribal." In a tribal society the family is, literally, the axis of the community. An individual's link to the legal and economic structures of their society is through the family. … In Israel's tribal society the family was central, and it is best understood by means of three descriptive categories: patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal. (25)
… God's ways of doing things often stands in opposition to the cultural norms of his people and how redemption's story critiques every human culture. (30)
The goal of redemption is not a marbled mansion, but reincorporation into the bet ab (בית אב) of our heavenly Father. … And although their culture morphed over the generations with the effects of urbanism, exile, Hellenism, etc., this basic value system endured. (39)
Redemption was the means by which a lost family member was restored to a place of security within the kinship circle. This was a patriarch's responsibility, this was the safety net of Israel's society, and this is the backdrop for the epic of Eden in which we New Testament believers find ourselves. … Yahweh is presenting himself as the patriarch of the clan who has announced his intent to redeem his lost family members. Not only has he agreed to pay whatever ransom is required, but he has sent the most cherished member of his household to accomplish his intent–his firstborn son. … His goal? To restore the lost family members to the bet ab (בית אב) so that where he is they may be also. This is why we speak of each other as brother and sister, why we know God as Father, why we call ourselves the household of faith. (45)
2 The Bible in Real Time and Space
The story of redemption comes to us through real time and space–real people, real places, real faith. And if we are going to understand this story, obviously, we are going to need to know something about the time and space our heroes occupied. (47)
For example, the medieval scholars (as well as most folks today) believed that genealogies in the ancient world were intended as cumulative records of every generation in a given society. But in fact, these genealogies were intended as contemporary statements regarding group and individual identity. (50)
Why do geography? Because the biblical stories happened in real space, and that space affected the choices and actions of the players as well as the plot line of the drama. It make a difference that Sinai is located in no man's land, miles and miles away from any known urban center. It makes a difference that you can drive from Jerusalem to Jericho in a slow car in forty-five minutes, but that your ears will pop all along the way because of the dramatic shift in elevation. It even makes a difference that the Jordan River is neither deep nor wide and "mount" Zion would not qualify as a respectable sledding hill in some parts of New England. (55)
3 The concept of Covenant: The "General Law" That Holds Our Facts Together
…the biblical writers were theologians. …[they] consciously organized their material in a systematic fashion in order to communicate certain central truths. What we want to do, then, is to rediscover their system and allow their system to organize our closets. (69)
In its native context a covenant (Hebrew berit [ברית]) was "an agreement enacted between two parties in which one or both make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advance." (70)
How might a person go about establishing a relationship of privilege and responsibility with someone who was non-kin? Most simply answered, that person would have to make kin out of nonkin. This was accomplished by means of fictive kinship. By means of oath the people of Israel's world understood that a fictive kinship bond could be established by which both parties agreed to act like family. (71)
By means of covenant, nations could establish a relationship of fictive kinship, thereby securing from one another the privileges and responsibilities necessary for international relations. (72)
…two sorts of international alliances common to the ancient Near East: the parity treaty (a treaty made between equals) and what the literature names the suzerain/vassal treaty (a treaty made between greater and lesser powers). (73)
To abide by the contract with one's suzerain was to love him, and to betray the suzerain or to fail to keep his stipulations was to hate him. (79)
- a preamble
- historical prologue
- stipulations
- blessings and curses
- witnesses
- deposit [in sacred space]
- periodic reading
Yahweh did not create the covenant idea; he co-opted it to communicate his plan of redemption. (82)
…in this new covenant the Lord of hte cosmos has served as both suzerain and sacrifice. (89)
In sum, we see that the word covenant carries more semantic cargo than most bible readers would ever guess. (91)
4 God's Original Intent
Although there is no specific declaration of covenant making in Eden, we find the profile of berit throughout the narrative. I believe this is so because the concept of berit as it was learned at Sinai so profoundly affected Israel's self-understanding that berit was used to organize the earliest narratives of the Bible as well. (92)
I believe Genesis 1 was written to provide a lens through which to read the rest of the Pentateuch. And since the Pentateuch is the backbone of the entire Bible, ultimately Genesis 1 serves as the introduction to our faith. (94)
Basically, Genesis 1 was written to answer the questions. "Who is God and what is his relationship to us?" (95)
This is not because the Bible cannot answer those questions; it is because, in this case, it did not. This is the bedrock of good biblical interpretation: let the Bible set its own agenda. (98)
This was God's perfect plan: the people of God in the place of God dwelling in the presence of God. Yet, as with all covenants, God's perfect plan was dependent on the choice of the vassal. Humanity must willingly submit to the plan of God. (104)
For each of the human partners we find not just the removal of blessings, but the reversal of blessings. What had been a blessing now becomes a curse, a benefit becomes a burden, paradise is exchanged for prison. (106)
It may surprise you to learn that tselem (צלם) is the standard ancient Near Eastern word for "idol." …Within the worldview of the ancient Near East the message here (Genesis 1:26-27) is clear: we are the nearest representation of Yahweh that exists. (107)
Folks, we are not merely waiting for our personal deliverance, we wait for the day when all of creation will be "born again." (115)
We have learned in this chapter that Genesis 1-2 essentially provides a blueprint to God's original intent for humanity: God's people dwelling in God's place with full access to his presence. … I know for myself that I am unable to share the gospel without speaking of Eden. Because when we ask the salvation question, what we are really asking is, what did the first Adam lose? And when we answer the salvation question, what we are really attempting to articulate is, what did the Second Adam (i.e., Jesus) buy back? Let the story begin! (118)
5 God's Final Intent: The New Jerusalem
God's original intent is his final intent. …In fact, we could summarize the plot line of the Bible into one cosmic question: "How do we get Adam (אדם) back into the garden?" (129)
Like a rock climber having fallen from a great height, Adam now lies broken and bloody on the ledge of the cliff–too far from top or bottom for a simple rescue. It will take a series of rescues to bring this climber to safety. (130)
Each step of the story, each stage of the rescue may be organized under one of six covenants.
- Eden
- Noahic Covenant
- Abrahamic Covenant
- Mosaic Covenant
- Davidic Covenant
- New Covenant (Jesus)
- New Jerusalem
In sum, redemptive history is all about fixing what went wrong in the garden. What went wrong in Eden is what must go right in redemption; what was done in the garden must be undone in Christ. (134)
6 Noah and Abraham
What is God's response to this complete and widespread depravity? He decides to start again–a choice which results in both worldwide catastrophe and a second chance. (138)
…the flood was understood as an epoch divider. (143)
In other words, what we see in the flood is not merely a natural disaster intended to bring about God's judgment on humanity, but a de-creational event. (144)
Thus, rather than the flood being seen as an event that introduced an inferior era (as the Mesopotamian literature infers), the flood is seen as an act of God that rescued humanity from themselves and offered our corrupt race a second chance. (154)
In Abraham and Sarah's world, when a person was raised to a new position–a princeling to a throne, or a servant to an office–it was common for the patron to change that person's name in order to signify the new role. Thus, when Yahweh changes his clients' names, he formalizes their new roles as the parents of a new line of chosen people. Basically, what we have here is the designation of a new Adam and Eve. (163)
As we close this chapter, we find that we have successfully navigated the first two stages of the great rescue plan. God has reestablished contact with fallen humanity through his covenant with Noah, and the people (the descendants of Abraham through Isaac), the place (the land of Canaan) and the presence ("I am…your very great reward," Gen 15:1 NIV) have been identified by means of Yahweh's covenant with Abraham. To our joy we also see that the plan is expanding. Whereas, in Eden every man woman and child was welcomed into covenant relationship with Yahweh, with the Fall, all were excluded. But with Noah, one man and his immediate family are rescued and a bloodline identified, and with Abraham, one extended family is now permanently welcomed into covenant relationship. (165)
7 Moses and the Tabernacle
According to what we know about covenants, this is why Israel should serve Yahweh. Moreover, it is also how Yahweh has chosen to be known. For all of history our God has chosen to be identified by this singular event–the God who rescues slaves from their bondage and claims them as his own. (174)
In the task of interpretation a type is an event or person in one era of redemptive history that has a specific parallel (an antitype) in another era of redemptive history. (178) …a type operates upon the principal of limited fulfillment. (179)
The increasing sanctification of the three areas of the tabernacle, the restricted access, the elaborate measures taken for cleansing and atonement all communicate the same message: God lives here. And anyone who draws near must either be holy … or dead. (181-2)
Rather than suggesting that the Law is somehow negated or done away with in the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:31-33 emphasizes just the opposite. According to Jeremiah 31:31-33 it is rather the ability to keep the Law, as a result of having a transformed nature, and thus to keep rather than perpetually break the covenant between God and his people, that distinguishes the new covenant from the covenant at Sinai. …the contrast between the two covenants is a contrast between the two different conditions of the people who are brought into these covenants and their correspondingly different responses to the same Law. (186)
With the establishment of the Mosaic covenant, the kingdom of God may once again be found in Adam's world. (188)
8 David and the Monarchy
…the covenant-faithfulness of God's people is also spiraling downward…a spiral which is shockingly illustrated by the jarring stories that conclude the book [of Judges]. (193)
…rather than allowing the covenant to set the parameters of their behavior, these people (who claimed to belong to the covenant) were creating their own morality. And their self-centered lifestyles (influenced by the ideals of their culture) were resulting in a "people of God" who looked and acted just like (and in the case above, worse than) the Canaanites. … Hence, the solution to the problem of foreign oppression was not a more effective military it was adherence to the covenant. (194)
Throughout this era, every king of Israel will be compared (for good or for ill) to David. David is the paradigm, his covenant-loyalty the standard. And as the years go by and the storm clouds continue to gather on the horizon, the same question begins to form itself in the heart of every faithful Israelite: "Is there a son of David out there somewhere who can clean up the mess we've made, stand against our enemies and speak up for the voiceless?" (207)
The Davidic covenant may be understood as the covenant of the monarchy and the last piece in the Old Testament typological puzzle. …the Davidic covenant adds to this picture the typological figure who will play such a major role in the fulfillment of the promised new covenant: a king for God's kingdom, as shepherd for his people. This figure takes on the responsibility of representing God's people, leading them in obedience to the covenant, defending their inheritance and defeating their enemies. (207)
9 The New Covenant and the Return of the King
Predictably, the Jews understood these promises to mean that this coming child of David would throw off their foreign overlords, restore their national sovereignty, reunite north and south and bring back the golden days of independence and prosperity as they remembered them under David. (211)
But hopefully now that you know something about God's larger redemptive plan, this literary strategy [Matthew 1] does not seem as obscure as it once did. By opening with a genealogy, Matthew is opening his gospel with a list of Jesus' most essential credentials. (212)
This is the objective of the incarnation. The God-man Jesus Christ has died for humanity, so that we the offspring of Adam and Eve might be born again to a second chance at life. (216)
So we have come full circle. What began in Eden, ends in Eden. God's original intent to offer kingdom citizenship to every man, woman and child has been reaccomplished in Christ. god's original plan that the children of Adam might build their city in the midst of his kingdom is recreated in the new earth. His driving desire to be with us is fulfilled as the Presence that walked in the garden now illuminates the New Jerusalem. As the final chapters of the New Testament declare, the great rescue has been accomplished, Adam is safely home. (224)
Frequently Asked Questions
What Role Does the Law of Moses Play in the Christian's Life?
The most enduring approach to defining this middle-of-the-road position has been the attempt to somehow delineate the law according to "moral" versus "civil" (or "ethical" versus "ritual") categories. (225)
In sum, I think we can identify at least three categories of Mosaic law which, in their specific expectations, no longer apply to the Christian: those involving the regulation of Israel's government, those involving the regulation of Israel's temple, and those laws that the New Testament specifically repeals or changes. I wold still argue that the values that shaped these regulations express the character of God and therefore must be attended to by the Christian, but the specifics of their application are no longer our responsibility. (228)
What About Modern-Day Israel?
…God is no longer in the business of theocracy. (231)
For anyone in the beginning or middle stages of studying the Bible, this book is one of the "must reads." Richter does a fantastic job in summing up the overarching themes, tying them together in easily understandable language, all while maintaining a value for scholarly integrity through her footnotes and references.
The only critique I have is the same as others have said, that there is simply too much ground to cover in 200 pages, so it's simply impossible to capture the whole (which is why you should simply just go read the whole…of the Bible that is). However, if you're looking for a starting place in understanding your faith journey or just the Bible on its own, this is definitely an excellent one.
I had some difficulties with some of the interpretations of the book of Hebrews, and the "replacement" language when it came to things in the Old Testament like the Tabernacle, and cultic law. Replacement theology is often a "theology of contempt" when it comes to viewing God and His redemptive plan from the New Testament backwards through the book, and it's a theology that has proven very destructive, and hideous in Christian history. It was easier to palate these sentiments in this book given the context of her work and the work as a whole, however, I still have questions and wrestlings when it comes to that kind of language and the overarching perspective. Whenever I hear "the Old is done away with…" it always makes me cringe a bit when preached from pulpits.
Regardless, The Epic of Eden is critical in the constant and ever fluctuating realities of changing meaning. "Redemption," and "savlation," and "gospel," throughout time have been pushed, pulled, stretched, and often times hijacked to mean a variety of things throughout our history. Richter's book is an important one for bringing us back to center, reminding us that impositions on terms and personal eisegetical interpretations cut out the roots of the tree of whose branches we have made our houses of faith. As she said,
This is the bedrock of good biblical interpretation: let the Bible set its own agenda. (98)
Tremendous thanks to Adria for this reference, and if you are interested in being a revolutionary in the world of Biblical literacy, please visit the Foundation Experiment.


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Luxury Fashion Event – Opportunity for Fashion Designers
"Designers Exhibition & luxury catwalk show this 7th of June at the eclectic DSTRKT & Yoshiaki."
The Designers Exhibition will showcase 22 top, handpicked fashion designers who are welcome to promote & sell their products to a selected high-profile guests list.
Join the opportunity to sell and promote your brand to wider audiences at the amazing venues in Central London, but also the chance to high profile networking with the industry guests.
Each designer will be allocated a fashion stand where they are allowed to promote & sell their products. Also they will have the chance to showcase their goods in an exclusive catwalk show.
Each designer is welcome to invite their own clients to the event.
Event Schedule:
6 pm – Opening of the event (Time for a drink & fashion networking.)
7 pm – Catwalk Show (Only limited designers will be able to promote their products on the catwalk for all VIP guests and customers.)
7.30 pm -10 pm – Designers Selling Exhibition with fashion networking.
Exhibition Fees:
1. Exhibition: Solo Exhibition
◘ Small Stand (100cm) – From £150
At the event you may accept cash and card payments, please bring your own card-reader. It is a high profile event so your products' display has to be presented to the level.
◘ Medium stand (200cm) – £200
◘ Large (350/400cm) – £250
Please note bigger stands are recommended for clothing brands.
2. Exhibition + catwalk – £450
This includes stand exhibition & catwalk show.
- Yearly High Profile Fashion Membership £600
◘ Exhibition & Catwalk Show at this event plus one more high profile exhibition where you will be able to promote and sell your products. (The price covers 2 Exhibitions per year on luxury venues.)
◘ Access to monthly high profile networking events where you can meet the right people for collaborations (Buyers, Bloggers, VIP guests, Stylists, backstage artists.)
If you wish to exhibit please apply via email to email@example.com/
Please note, applications and payments will be accepted until the 15th of May.


text: Wild Rose (Rosa rugosa) grows wild along the coastline in our region and is a popular nectar source among our bees. The flowery scent of this honey is best enjoyed in a cup of mild tea. A small amount of Bidrottningen's Honey Wild Rose adds an exciting touch to a creamy dessert or a salad dressing.


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Indicators (Surveillance and M&E)
As we saw in Step 4.2, the routine tracking of a programme's performance is defined as Monitoring; the periodic assessment of change in a programme is defined as Evaluation; systematic data accumulation, analysis and dissemination of information to influence programme or project action is referred to as Surveillance.
To collect data for the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of interventions and for disease surveillance, health professionals must report information about the case diagnosis and treatment of VL and vector control activities, at multiple levels. Reporting is done at the local static public health clinic or mobile clinic, at a hospital, at the programmatic and national health system or international level. In this way clinicians, nurses, community health workers and vector control specialists all take part and must be trained in using reporting tools.
The type of data that is collected is defined by selected indicators. To be meaningful, a good indicator will be SMART (See box below). The regularity of collection, the analysis and interpretation of data collected against those indicators should also be pre-selected both in the context of surveillance activities and in monitoring and evaluation.
Box 1. A SMART Indicator
|Is the indicator narrow and focused to ask a question? (Who, what, where, when, how?)
|Can it be "counted, observed, analysed, tested, or challenged"?
|Can it certify that the results are actually showing a related impact?
|Time bound
|Is it attached to a clear time frame?
Indicators for VL surveillance
In surveillance, indicators reflect the collection of data for standardised continuous reporting. A common application of the data collected in VL surveillance is the generation of basic epidemiological evidence about location, the demographics of the disease and diagnosis or treatment tools used. This helps understand whom VL affects, where and whether it changes over time. Ideally, vector surveillance should also be done – including measuring abundance of the sand flies, mapping sand fly species and reporting resistance to insecticides.
All this knowledge is important to national control programs and beyond, informing the international surveillance of the disease. Data collected in routine VL surveillance informs WHO global VL burden estimates, (those that we have seen throughout the course) and help set broader policy for the prevention and elimination of VL.
The table below gives some examples of indicators for control activities in the clinic as used by MSF. The WHO is currently developing a manual on VL surveillance and M&E indicators that will provide an expansive resource into the different indicators for different areas of control and surveillance.
Table 1. Examples of VL surveillance indicators: VL and PKDL at the clinic (Courtesy of MSF)
|Weekly reported
|Other routinely reported indicators
|Age and sex
|Time between onset of disease and diagnosis
|Mode of diagnostic confirmation
|Location of patient
|Mode of treatment
|Cause of death
|Initial cure rates
|Proportion of positive tests (rK39 RDT's, DAT, microscopy) in clinically suspect cases
|Mortality rates
|Date and mode of prior KA treatment in PKDL patients
|Final cure rates
|PKDL severity and type of lesions
|Complications during treatment
|Loss to follow up
|Relapse rates
|HIV status
Indicators for Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) of VL control
For monitoring and evaluation of activities in a program or of the entire program itself, indicators tend to relate to a "results chain" or "log-frame" of a programme, which sets out specific objectives/targets for the programme. A typical program involves Input into control and Activities to achieve specified Outputs. These outputs will in turn feed into defined Outcomes that reflect and hopefully bring about the longer –term or overarching goal, also referred to as the Impact of the programme. In order to measure progress, SMART indicators are needed across each stage of the results chain, from input to impact, and against each objective of the programme.
Figure 1. "Results chain" in a typical programme. Indicators are needed to measure progress against each stage.
It is important to remember in that in different countries and regions, M&E indicators need to be tailored to the local epidemiology of the disease and the priorities of the control activities set in a programme. Guidelines are available for the South Asia Region (look at the See also links) A WHO publication is in the pipeline for all VL regions and will be freely available soon.
How are indicators used to measure the progress against programmatic goal and objectives? Examples
An example from KalaCORE. KalaCORE is a programme supported by UK aid, which supports the development and implementation of national control programs in 6 endemic countries. The overarching goals for programmatic impact are to reduce of economic burden of VL reduced for each country and VL case fatality rate by region. Figure 2, below, illustrates the concept of having indicators to measure the progress against the programme goal and objectives. A more detailed breakdown of indicators applied and used throughout the programme is accessible on the KalaCORE Project M&E Guide (2015).
Figure 2. An example from the KalaCORE VL control programme: understanding progress by measuring related objectives and M&E indicators.
Other applications of M&E data
- Access to care - Distance travelled to health facility and possible foci of cases. Timing of presentation to the clinic (late stage severe disease?)
- Quality of care - choice of drugs, mortality
- Usability and relevance of diagnostics, and quality control of diagnosis
- Responsiveness of a health system and supply chain information
- Monitoring responses to treatment and side effects of drugs used (pharmacovigilance) and detect drug resistance emergence
- Notification and guidance of vector control activities: distribution of nets and spraying sites and quality. Monitoring of potential changes in endemicity and transmission dynamics (reservoirs, transmission cycles). Detection of emergence of new foci or breeding sites.
© London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 2018


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The cyber team is highly experienced in the development, commissioning and commercialization of real-time, mission-critical, and plant display systems.
After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, Dave joined CNL (formerly Atomic Energy of Canada) in 1989 as a Control Systems Designer. Dave is now the Principal Engineer in Information and Control systems at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canada's premier nuclear science and technology organization. He supports senior leadership strategy decisions related to Research and Development activities. His particular expertise is in the areas of cyber security, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, real-time software development for mission critical systems, standards compliance, and project management. Dave has been instrumental in establishing CNL's research capability in cyber security for industrial control systems, securing investment in multi-million dollar projects and facilities as well as establishing international partnerships and collaborating relationships.
Bhaskar has participated in and led research and development projects that have generated an estimated $500M in revenue. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications in high-quality scientific journals including Nature, Physical Review Letters, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science and Annals of Nuclear Science. In addition, Dr. Sur holds six industrial patents on nuclear instrumentation and process systems.
Bhaskar was the recipient of the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
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Marienna MacDonald has 31 years of experience in Nuclear Power Plant instrumentation and control systems. She is an expert in the software development lifecycle for mission critical software, developing work practices that meet international standards for requirements definition, system design, change control, configuration management, software release and testing. Her quality assurance experience has extended to establishing and managing the QA program for a nuclear research lab as well as conducting the safety analyses of replacement industrial equipment to IEC 61508/IEC 61513 standards. In recent years she has focused on developing best practices for industrial system owners to meet cyber security standards, based on a wide-range of national and international standards including CSA, NIST, IEC, NERC CIP, EPRI and IAEA, and addressing topics such as governance, roles and responsibilities, secure coding practices, incident response, and supply chain.
Marienna is a versatile engineer and adept at responding to changing priorities in a fast-paced and technically demanding environment where innovative research is balanced with growing a commercially competitive cyber security business. She is instrumental in producing the artefacts that meet project obligations as well as inform executive leadership of business growth opportunities.
Karthik Thiyagarajan is a Cyber Security Research Scientist at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Canada's premier nuclear science and technology organization. He is an accomplished research and development engineer specializing in Embedded Systems Development.
Karthik has several years of experience developing software for companies ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 100 organizations. In these organizations, he did the system design and implementation for applications such as Image Processing, Video Compression and Cyber Security.
After obtaining a bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Anna University India in 2010 he completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Embedded Systems Design from NIIT Calicut, India in 2011. He completed his Master of Applied Science Degree (research-based) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. His Masters Research Thesis focused on cryptography for multimedia-embedded systems; his work was published in the International Journal of Computer Network and Information Security and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology. His areas of research are on Embedded Systems, Industrial Control systems and Cyber Security.
Matthew has 20 years of experience in the industrial sector, most recently spending the last 12 years as a Research Scientist in Information and Control Systems at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. He has extensive experience in real-time C and C++ development for safety-related applications meeting the rigorous requirements of international safety standards such as IEC 61508 and IEC 61513. This work has extended to performing suitability analyses of digital equipment replacements in mission critical applications. Matt has transferred these skills to cyber event detection projects in process control environments as well as contributing to the identification of best practices for cyber security compliance to national standards.
Prior to joining CNL, Matthew had 8 year's experience in the electrical utility industry where he worked at the New Brunswick Power Corporation supporting the critical computer systems of the Distribution Business Unit. During his time at NB Power, Matthew was the lead technical resource implementing a modernized outage management and computer-aided dispatch system, including being the architect and lead developer on an innovative after-hours resource scheduling and recommendation system.
Salman Khan has recently joined CNL as a Research Scientist in Cyber Security after completing his research work as a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba. He is currently finishing his Ph.D. thesis defense. Salman has 12 years of experience in research, design and development of IT/engineering products. For the past 7 years, Salman has worked in the domain of cyber security and is specialized in applying cognitive intelligence to improve machine learning algorithms for the detection of advanced zero-day cyber threats. Salman's research work resulted in the successful 3 year collaboration with the Cyber Intelligence and Analysis department of Canadian Tire Corporation where he developed data science tools to analyze network data for cyber security purposes. Previously, Salman was the lead firmware developer of an FPGA-based Positron Emission Tomography (OpenPET) project at the University of Manitoba which has involved collaboration with the Lawrence Berkley National Lab, USA and TRIUMF Canada. Salman has also successfully designed, procured and executed research and development international grants in the IT domain of Voice over IP. Through these grants, Salman led the development of an enterprise VoIP product which was subsequently commercialized in the Far East and the Gulf market.
Salman completed his M.S. in Electrical engineering from Rutgers University, USA. He has been the recipient of several prestigious academic and industrial grants and awards over the years, including Mitacs Canada, NSERC (D), Fulbright, as well as receiving a nomination for a Canadian Vanier Scholarship. He has authored and co-authored 19 conference papers, 5 journals and 2 book chapters and presented his work at various international conferences. Salman has teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Salman is passionate about improving cognitive capabilities of machine intelligence tools to mimic human intelligence and discover new knowledge. Salman is ambitious about bridging the gap between academic research and the industry to solve the challenging problems of the world and increase Canada's technological footprint. He is passionate about contributing to Canadian intellectual assets by leading the development of next generation of cyber tools at CNL.
Dave Trask
Dr. Bhaskar Sur
Richard Doucet
Marienna MacDonald
Karthik Thiyagarajan
Matthew Daley
Salman Khan


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In order to be successful, you have to get around other people were more successful than yourself. This is just as true of Forex trading is it is with anything else in the world. You need to take the time to talk to other people who have made it further than you have. The truth is, most of them have probably been in your particular situation at one point or another. That's why they can give you such valuable advice as to how you can move forward.
One of the best places I know of to join is FX Street. Here you'll find a tone of valuable information from very experienced traders. Not only that, but you'll find regular news and updates on the movements in the currency market. It is all professionally done and extremely accurate. I highly recommend getting around some of the people on this website.
Another great place to get a wealth of information on Forex trading is baby pips. Babypips.com may seem like a childish website, but the reality is, there are many experienced traders here. Whether you are beginner or your advanced, there are people here you can talk to that will tell you things about Forex that you probably never knew. There are also probably using some systems that you don't know about. If you want to figure out what exactly the successful people are doing in the Forex markets, chances are you need to get around people in here.
Another great place to interact with other Forex traders is Forex forum. At Forexforum.net you'll find a lot of people constantly bouncing ideas off each other. These people can be anywhere from experienced seasoned traders complete newbies. You'll likely find someone at the same level as you as well as a lot of people who are well ahead of you. If you have a question and you don't know exactly what to do, or if you're looking for someone to take the time to coach you and give you insight into trading strategies, this is a great place for you to start.


text: First of all, hope all the family/personal issues are going well. I just wanted to stop and say Thank You for everything you did for the OG Droid. Not just in passing after downloading a rom, kernel, etc...but a real, legitimate thanks for everything you've done and still do for the community. I upgraded to the Galaxy Nexus a few days ago, so my Droid is semi retired. (Semi because I'm still using it as my mp3 player, rocking SS 5.6 of course. Until I straighten out this MTP/Linux issue, OG will be my mp3 player. Might end up switching to Debian/Ubuntu based distro, as it seems the fix for MTP support is easier.) Anyway, back on topic. Thanks for your amazing support, incredible roms and kernels, and your all around kindness and willingness to help. Thanks for making my android experience exceptional, and I hope to be running SS on my GNex soon, as I'm sure many other OG/SS users do, too. Also, money situation seems to be improving, slowly but surely, so expect some donations coming your way for all the times I was short on cash.


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Skater on Thin Ice After |Court Rebuffs Lawsuit
TRENTON, N.J. (CN) — An ice skater who was among the first to represent Israel in the Olympics now wants to compete for the United States internationally, but she may not be able to do so, according to New Jersey's appeals court.
In the decision, the New Jersey Appellate Division wrote that courts should stay out of deciding sporting disputes and that the skater must rely on the international skating union for any release, even if it means missing a deadline to skate internationally that is a week away.
Andrea Davidovich, a 19-year-old skater with both U.S. and Israeli citizenship, had skated with partner Evengi Krasnopoloski in international pairs competitions in 2013 before representing Israel in the pairs event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. The pair, who ultimately placed fifteenth in Sochi, Russia, were the first figure skating pair to ever represent Israel in the Olympics.
Following the international event, the pair split up over training disagreements and Davidovich claims the Israeli Ice Skating Federation — for whom she skated in the Olympics and a defendant in the lawsuit — began disparaging her shortly thereafter.
She tried to skate with American skaters and requested a release from the Israeli federation, which was rebuffed. The federation claimed in letters that Krasnopoloski was an "established skater with many years of experience" and said Davidovich was a "junior skater with every little capability."
Davidovich, a New Jersey resident, filed a complaint in September 2014 seeking a formal release from the Israeli federation. A year later a New Jersey trial court ruled in her favor, ordering the federation to release her to skate for the United States.
On appeal, the state's appellate division initially asked her to seek other remedies to break free under the rules of the Switzerland-based International Skating Union. The case went back to trial court.
During trial, the federation alleged it had taken reasonable steps to reunite Davidovich and Krasnopoloski but that Davidovich's parents had scuttled those plans. The federation also claimed it had invested significant resources into training Davidovich.
Finally, last April, the trial court again ruled in Davidovich's favor, claiming that the lawsuit had harmed her ability to find a partner and could lead to "a deprivation of any genuine prospect that she may skate in the future."
Davidovich has not skated internationally since the 2014 Olympics.
But earlier this month the skating union revised its eligibility rules for skaters to allow a 12-month waiting period before any skater could be released to skate for whichever country he or she wished. The United States filed a formal request with the Israeli skating federation seeking Davidovich's release in time to meet the July 1 deadline for the 2016-2017 skating season.
At the International Skating Union's biannual meeting in June, the case again pivoted as the union's rules changed, allowing skaters to compete for any member (the Israeli federation and its U.S. counterpart both are members of the union). The new rules imposed a one-year waiting period before switching members.
In Thursday's decision, the Appellate Division noted Davidovich has only a week to sign up for the 2016-2017 international ice skating season under ICU rules, but found that "the posture of this case changed dramatically in several respects" as a result of the new skater's union rules.
"This case is not a routine matter involving a simple membership decision within a private association," Judge Jack Sabatino wrote, noting Davidovich's future livelihood as a skater was at risk. "Because the career span of such a skater is relatively short, time can be of the essence."
The appeals court — yielding to the "doctrine of exhaustion" — again ruled against Davidovich, stating that courts should stay out of sporting disputes until all internal procedures have been exhausted.
The trial court should have deferred to the skaters' union to resolve the conflict, Sabatino wrote, especially since the union has the power to release the plaintiff if a request comes from one of its member federations (as it did in Davidovich's case, since the United States Figure Skating Association sought her release).
"We will not presume that the ISU will dawdle over the USFSA's request, particularly with rosters to be fixed imminently for the upcoming skating season," Sabatino wrote, noting that if the skaters' union refused to rule in Davidovich's favor the case could be litigated in a jury trial.
Davidovich's attorney, Christopher Dalton of Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stuart Slotnick, another of the attorneys representing Davidovich, said "we are hopeful, now that the Appellate Court has indicated it would like the ISU to make a decision, that the ISU will permit Ms. Davidovich to skate for and represent the USA."


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Today, Nick and I had a leisurely breakfast at home of apple and cinnamon oatmeal. Then, we ventured out.
We also took a fabulous walk on the beach. The weather was perfect - not too warm, sunny, with the ocean breeze keeping things cool.
It was so much fun - we rescued a starfish, saw several washed up jellies (just why do they commit suicide when there's a full moon?), a crab and a few pups. I played in what Nick considers fish farts - aka the bubbly stuff at the surf - while he told me that I was crazy.
After our walk and a quick stop at the grocery, we came home and worked on a freezer organization project. I'll give you all the details next week, but stay tuned this week for some fabulous posts from some of you.


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Tamara Baranova
DWM Certified Facebook Account Manager
Specialty: Digital/Information Products/SaaS
Ideal Client:
Monthly Facebook Ad Spend: $1,500/Month+
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6 Comments
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Get the Facts
Tom McClintock has a record of falling short on protecting us when we need him most. McClintock has undermined our ability to access affordable healthcare, overlooked everyday citizens while catering to wealthy elites and special interests, opposed assistance for Californians hurt by wildfires and voted against veterans, seniors and victims of domestic violence.
Time and time again, McClintock has stood in lockstep with Donald Trump – and against the best interests of his constituents. We need thoughtful leaders who put Californians first.
Cuts to Medicare & Less Affordable Healthcare
- McClintock voted for large cuts to Medicare, and to eliminate protections for older Americans with pre-existing conditions. [HR 1628, Vote #256, 5/4/17; CQ, 5/4/17]
- McClintock took huge campaign contributions from insurance companies, while voting to make healthcare more expensive and leave 13 million more Americans uninsured. [Center for Responsive Politics, HR 1, Vote #692, Vote #699, 12/20/17; 12/19/17; CQ Floor Votes, 12/19/17]
- McClintock has repeatedly voted to strip more than 76,000 CA 04 residents of their healthcare coverage and to increase prescription drug costs for local seniors 18 times. [H.Res 308, Vote #252, 5/4/17; CQ, 5/4/17]
Tax Increases on
Middle-Class Families
- McClintock voted to raise taxes on 53% of Americans by supporting Donald Trump's tax bill. This bad law creates huge permanent tax breaks for wealthy elites and members of Congress, but will raise taxes on millions of middle-class California families and incentivizes companies to move overseas. [HR 1, Vote #692 Washington Post, 12/15/17]
- McClintock voted to repeal Wall Street Reforms that protect families from the types of financial scams that caused the Great Recession. [HR 10, Vote #299]
Failing to Support Our Troops and their Families
- Tom McClintock voted against more funding for mental health services for veterans. [HR 2029, Vote #192]
- Tom McClintock voted to underfund the VA by more than a billion dollars, and has opposed measures to increase support for veterans medical services and military sexual assault prevention programs. [HR 4870, Vote #337, 6/20/14; CQ, 6/20/14]
- Tom McClintock has voted against protecting veterans and war widows from financial hardship, and opposed funding for veterans homes and home loan programs. [SB 513, 8/29/05; AB 1666, 9/7/05; AB 306, 9/6/05; AB 276, 9/6/05; HR 1195, Vote #166, 4/22/15]
Siding with Vladimir Putin
- McClintock repeatedly voted against investigating Russian interference in the 2016 Election [ Vote #600, Vote #290, Vote #288, Vote #259, Vote #215, Vote #203, Vote #197, Vote #115, Vote #93, Vote #90, Vote #26 , Vote #600]
- McClintock defended Trump for siding with Putin over U.S. national security professionals. [Sacramento Bee, 7/17/18]
Turning a Blind Eye to Allegations of Corruption
- Despite mounting ethical scandals involving administration officials, McClintock has repeatedly voted to block disclosure or investigation of conflicts of interest, and has opposed legislation that would prevent top officials from using public office to advance their private business interests. [Vote #107, Vote #94, Vote #229, Vote #125, Vote #113, Vote #32]
Undermining Wildfire Protections:
- Tom McClintock refused to support critical legislation that would ensure fire prevention efforts receive the funding and resources they need. [Modesto Bee, 7/1/17] And he voted against legislation that would provide millions in assistance funds to communities devastated by wildfires following one of the worst wildfire seasons in history. [H.R. 4667, Vote #709, 12/21/2017]
Voting Against Victims of Violence
- McClintock has repeatedly opposed re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act as well as assistance programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. He opposes adding federal mandatory minimum sentences in domestic violence cases. [HR 2578, Vote #296, 6/3/15; S 47, Vote #55, 2/28/13; HR 4970, Vote #258, 5/16/12; https://mcclintock.house.gov/, 2/28/13]


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I love cotton yarn wash rags. I didn't discover that until I quit smoking over a year ago. LOL the way that I quit smoking was by keeping my hands busy crochet.
One thing I didn't know is they get old and no longer scrub as well as they start out. That's the reason I love these rags, they do the scrubbing for you. Well, they get old, so I decided to test out some of the lovely stitch patterns that I have been working on.
So I have been busily crocheting rags, and boy do they crochet quickly. I will be adding the rag patterns onto the website latter.
I'm also cheep so what I do is buy a lot of my cotton thread at thrift stores and garage sales. So some of the coloring gets interesting, I just tie the thread together and keep going. Great way to use up yarn and crochet on the cheep.


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TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Annual childcare and college costs are pretty similar these days. We're talking at least ten thousand dollars. On average every day about 12 million children under the age of five need someone to care for them while their parents are working. But the daycare decision isn't as easy as the ABC's … and child's play isn't cheap.
No matter how old we are, we all have our favorites. But dropping off the kids, not so simple.
"It was tough." Hillarie Ritch explained to Ivanhoe.
On the other hand …
"Finding the right person who is going to be in your home and really help raise your children is difficult." Marcy Kornfeld stated.
Kornfeld's favorite is a nanny. Hillarie Ritch's is daycare.
Ritch said, "For me it was just the fact that they're going to be running around with kids their age."
"If they're sick, she can be home with them sick." Kornfeld continued.
Daycare costs about $9,500 a year. A nanny can set you back an average of $28,000.
"For us having two kids at home it was really comparable." Kornfeld said.
Daycare provides socialization, trained teachers and is regulated by the government. But daycare has more germs and more sickness. Nannies give more one-on-one attention and can help around the house. But they're a lot more expensive.
Kornfeld continued, "I think it's different for everybody too."
Hillarie says her daughter Elle loves her daycare. "She's very socialized." Ritch stated.
Two different choices but both mothers relied on referrals, tours, agencies and reputable networking sites to find their fit.
Kornfeld said, "As long as they're loved and happy and fed and learn and changing, my husband and i couldn't ask for anything more."
"My kids are everything, they are my life," said Ritch.
Which is something on which all parents agree.
Some other things to consider when choosing childcare: what type of training do the teachers have? Is the nanny connected with a network of backup babysitters, in case she calls in sick? Does the nanny have car seats so she can drive the kids to activities?
Contributors to this news report include: Emily M Gleason, Producer; Travis Bell, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor; Gabriella Battistiol, News Assistant.


text: U.K. Prime Minister's Press Secretary Quits Over Wiretapping Scandal 7:32 AM PST 1/21/2011 by Mimi Turner FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Andy Coulson has resigned as David Cameron's press spokesman over the role he played in the phone-hacking scandal as editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of The World newspaper. LONDON -- After growing controversy over the role he played in the phone-hacking scandal as editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of The World newspaper, Andy Coulson has resigned as Prime Minister's press secretary, saying his role has become too high profile. Coulson has come under increasing pressure in recent months, as police widen their investigation into the way the paper's reporters worked, following a succession of civil cases brought by stars including actress Sienna Miller and TV host Chris Tarrant. As press spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, his conduct had become politically sensitive, particularly in light of News Corp's controversial bid for full control of satcaster BSkyB, which Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is currently deciding. Hunt has to decide whether allowing News Corp. to own the majority of British newspapers and pay TV operations would be anticompetitive or damaging to the news landscape in the U.K . The bid's chances of being approved could be damaged it if emerges that abuse of legal practice and illegal wiretapping at one of the U.K.'s biggest newspapers had been allowed to become common practice. In a statement Friday, Coulsen said that news coverage of the scandal had made it impossible to do his job. "Unfortunately, continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World has made it difficult for me to give the 110 per cent needed in this role. I stand by what I've said about those events but when the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on." Coulson resigned as editor of the News of The World four years ago when a number of staff were jailed for illegally hacking into the phones of members of the Royal Family, but has always claimed he knew nothing about the practice. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Mimi Turner email@example.com @thr