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The nation had been shocked by the revelations of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in their Concentration Camps against the Jewish People, and by the Japanese Army against their Prisoners of War and Civilians in their Far East Prisoner of War Camps. War Crimes Trials were under way in Nuremberg, Germany, and in Japan.
Almost immediately after the cessation of hostilities in Europe, there was a General Election in England. (I was not old enough to vote.) A Labour government was elected with a landslide victory. They had big plans for a National Health Service, Nationalising the Railways, the coalmines, road transport, and the nations steel industry. So, although the fighting and killing had stopped, the social consequences and aftermath of the war were very much in evidence, and part of every day life.
However, going to sea in peacetime was a much less hazardous business than in war time. I had already made three trips since the war ended in the previous May. The major differences were that all ships now sailed alone, and there was no blackout. In fact, for those of us who had never sailed in peacetime, there were one or two things to learn. Some Mates required the lookout on the focsle head to check the navigation lights on either side of the bridge, and the masthead light. If all lights were on, the man would have to shout up Lights abright on the hour, and before he went below. We used to think that this was just to make sure that the lookout was not asleep! From my own experience, I heard some peculiar things shouted up to the bridge in fact we often shouted up anything that sounded even remotely like Lights abright - other than Lights abright!
One of the major differences faced by Merchant Seamen just after the war, was that the Reserve Pool now had a register for all seamen. Seamen were now asked to become Established. I am not too sure just what the benefits of going established were, but it would appear that there were some. Certainly Established seamen were given priority over Unestablished seamen when it came to getting jobs, although there were no shortages of jobs at this time, so that didnt make much difference; it was thought there would be an advantage in this line in years to come. I think Established seamen also had some sort of leave entitlement advantage, but I cant be sure about this. It is also likely that they received slightly higher Unemployment Pay whilst on the Pool. During the war, all seamen had been entitled to two days leave for each month spent on articles. This was now reduced to half a days leave for each Sunday actually spent at sea. Guidelines were set for what counted as a Sunday at sea for leave purposes. Even so, since I didnt intend remaining at sea forever, I remained on the Unestablished list. It made no difference once we were aboard.
There had been much talk about what would happen to our War Risk Money once hostilities ceased. Currently, an AB received £14 per month in wages, and £10 per month War Risk Money, giving him £24 per month. There had been much speculation as to whether the War Risk Money would be ended with the cessation of hostilities, or whether it would be incorporated into a standard wage. As it turned out, the latter course was adopted, and the standard wage for an AB became £24 per month. These then, were just some of the differences faced by seamen after the war. Although I had been at sea since March 1942, by January 1946, I still did not have three full years On articles to my name. I had passed an E D H (Efficient Deck Hand) test in August 1945, and was entitled to sign on as EDH, giving me the same pay as an AB. This was fine, but there was nothing quite like having the magical (and coveted) Eligible for AB Rating written over a Mercantile Marine Office stamp in the front of ones Discharge Book. (I actually had mine stamped in May 1946 after we returned from this trip.)
On the 14th of January 1946, I was sent from the Pool in Canning Place to sign on a ship called the Empire Abbey I was told that she was lying in Huskisson Dock, and would be signing on that afternoon, and that she would be sailing the next day. Having just travelled from home that morning, my case and kit bag were still at Exchange Station in the Left Luggage Office. I immediately got my bags from the station, and carried them down to the Pier Head, where I caught a train on the Overhead Railway. It is now surprising to me, the distances I (and of course, many other seamen) would carry two fairly heavy cases. It appears that the use of taxis was only for those special occasions such as Paying Off etc., (when one was a bit more flush with money!) I found the ship, and took my bags aboard, and claimed a bunk. There were one or two others there, but as no one was actually working, there was no food until 5 PM after we had signed on.
The ship was a war time built ship, and was under charter to the Ministry of War Transport, but in this case, it was being managed by Elders and Fyffes, the big banana importers of Garston, Liverpool. Elders and Fyffes was a well known Liverpool company, who had quite a substantial fleet of Banana Boats (or Skin Boats as they were known colloquially,) that ran to the West Indies. Avonmouth was also one of their major ports. Their boats were mainly a fleet of fine looking Intermediate passenger/cargo boats. Intermediate denotes that they were a bit larger than ordinary cargo boats, but not as big as other ocean liners. Empire Abbey, however, was a general cargo boat with some cold storage capacity. This meant that she had one or two holds that could be refrigerated.
In the few years I had been at sea, I had often heard stories of the somewhat ferocious reputation of the Skin Boat Firemen. Im not really sure just how this (reputation) evolved. It seems that being down below (in the stokehold) in the tropics, is a pretty tough sort of a job, and requires men of a certain type of toughness to perform it (especially if the ship is a coal burner.) Whatever the origins of the story, I was not about to question it, and decided that I would be as polite as possible to these people, or just steer clear of them as often as I could. Empire Abbey was not a coal burning ship, so maybe the firemen would be a bit more sociable than their reputation suggested.
We signed on in the saloon during the afternoon, and we each collected our mattresses, bedding, and cutlery from the Chief Steward. The Crowd as we collectively called ourselves, seemed to be a pretty good bunch, and we sorted ourselves out into watches and cabins. Here again, I was delighted to see that we were three to a cabin, which was pretty good for British ships in those days. The other two members of my watch were an Ordinary Seaman whose name I now forget, and an AB of Finnish extraction called Atso Vinberg. We all got on very well together. Atso was a big, easy going, good looking bloke, with typical fair skinned Scandinavian looks. In later conversations I discovered that he had not been home to Finland since before the war.
Having signed on and established ourselves aboard, most of the crew, being local lads, went home, whilst we out of towners drew a meal from the galley, and went ashore later, returning later to spend the night aboard.
We sailed the next day, and discovered that we were bound for New York. At that stage, I dont think any of us knew just what cargo we would be loading, but New York and back didnt seem like too long a trip so in general, we were quite happy about that. The ship was in ballast, which means that we had no cargo, just something" in the holds to keep the propeller down below water level. Just what the ballast was, Im not sure, but it did not put the ship right down to her marks, and as a consequence, the propeller at best, was only about three quarters immersed. This meant that there was much more noise for us from the continual splash, splash, splash, of the propeller blades continually hitting the water, since our quarters were right above it. However, even in a light sea, the ships movement tended to make the noise less annoying than it might otherwise have been.
It was January, and cold. We hadnt been at sea for too long before the weather began to live up to its North Atlantic reputation. Lookouts were removed from the focsle head to the Monkey Island just above the wheelhouse. I liked doing a lookout from up there because I always marvelled at the sea, and the manner in which it could throw a ship around when the wind and waves started performing. When the seas were aroused to such ferocity, I found it exhilarating to stand on the Monkey Island and watch them crashing over the focsle head, as the ship headed into them, with the resultant tons of water rushing down the foredeck and then overboard again via the scuppers. Far from being the lovely blue or green that we were used to, the seas really looked more grey like and threatening. In that sort of weather, one never sees the sun during the day - or the moon at night. During the day, it was just as if there was the grey sea, the grey clouds, and us. (Even the ship was still painted in its wartime Admiralty Grey.) At night, there was even less to relate to. It was cold, and it was windy, with the wind seeming to be working up to gale force. Being light ship, the ship was easily caught in the wind, and blown off course, and the man on the wheel had his work cut out just keeping the ship within a few degrees of the given course.
Normally, a trip to New York in a ship like the Empire Abbey, would have taken between ten and fourteen days even with unfavourable weather. However, "the Abbey" was not making very good progress against the wind and the mountainous seas that we were experiencing. We had been at sea for something like ten days or so. We were quite used to the pitching and tossing of the ship as she rode each wave. As she reached the top of a wave, the bow would head down into the seas, at the same time, the stern would lift right out of the water, causing the propeller, once it lifted clear of the water, to race, making an awful noise, and making sleep for us even more difficult.
I am quite sure that there was a procedure in the engine room for governing the revolutions once the propeller was clear of the water, but with the racing that we could hear from our bunks, it never seemed to work or at least, not as well as we would have liked! The weather showed no signs of abating, if anything, it was getting worse.


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Auburn and Georgia are two very similar teams, and their game on Saturday will be a tight one. Which is why odds makers only gave a 2.5 point advantage to the Bulldogs for the game. Dax Floyd asked our NCAA Football betting guru for smart plays for your college football picks on the game this weekend.
Check out the full article here: Auburn vs. Georgia

subset: commoncrawl


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Bristol City manager Lee Johnson has questioned whether Birmingham City can afford to buy highly-rated defender Aden Flint.
The 28-year-old, who has been valued at £10m by club majority shareholder Steve Lansdown, was named on the bench for the Robins' Championship opener against Barnsley on Saturday.
"The owner has come out and said what he will accept," Johnson told Sky Sports News. "I am not convinced Birmingham have the money to do that, but it's important we leave the door open for Aden.
"We haven't fallen out. You saw the reception he got from the fans, everybody loves him here.
"We just move on whether he stays or goes, but that's the problem sometimes with the window. If it shut tomorrow I would be absolutely delighted."
Flint featured in each of City's 46 Championship outings last season, scoring five times.


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Walrond born in Georgetown,
British Guiana, in 1898, is the son of a Barbadian mother and a Guyanese
father. His first eight years were spent in Guiana. But his parents' marital
difficulties led Walrond into an almost wayfaring existence. In 1906, his
father abandoned Walrond and his mother. His mother moved the two of them
to a small village in Barbados to live with their relatives. Walrond began
his education in Barbados at St. Stephen's Boys' School, located in Black
Rock. Around 1910, Walrond and his mother traveled in search of his father
to the Panama Canal Zone, where thousands of west Indians and Guyanese
were employed to dig the canal. Walrond and his mother never found his
father and they made a home in Colon. It is in Colon where Walrond completed
his public and secondary school education between 1913 and 1916. During
his education in Colon, Walrond is exposed to the Spanish culture and becomes
bilingual. Walrond is trained as a secretary and stenographer, and acquires
a job as a clerk in the Health Department of the Canal commission at Cristobal.
Through the years 1916 and 1918 he begins a journalistic career which he
will pursue while in the States. Walrond works as a general reporter, court
reporter, andsportswriter for the Panama Star-Herald, "the most important
contemporaneous newspaper in the American tropics." Walrond's association
with the Harlem Renaissance also has a strong literary influence. In the
early 1920s he publishes short stories in periodicals such as the Opportunity,
Smart Set, and Vanity Fair. In 1923, he writes "On Being a Domestic," "Miss
Kenny's Marriage," "The Stone Rebounds," and "The Stone Rebounds." Walrond's
stories focused on a realistic presentation of racial situations in New
York City. In 1924 he focuses on a more impressionistic presentation of
life in the American tropics. He does not return to the realistic form
of writing until 1927, when he writes "City Love," which is the last story
he publishes before he leaves the United States.
"On Being Black" (1922)
"On being a Domestic," "Miss Kenny's Marriage," "The Stone Rebounds," "Cynthia Goes to the Prom," "The New Negro Faces America," "The Negro Exodus from the South" (1923 )
"Vignettes of the Dusk," "The Black City" (1924 )
"A Cholo Romance," "Imperator Africanus, Marcus Garvey: Menace or Promise?" (1925)
Tropic Death(1926)
"City Love" (1927)
PAL - Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance
- Eric Walrond (1898-1966)
Send questions or comments about the Web site to Dr. Seodial Deena,
East Carolina University, Department of English, Multicultural Literature Program.


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IBBU, Lapai Post-UTME Screening Results Out Online [2018/19]
The Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL) has released the 2018 Post UTME admission screening results of candidates who participated in the online screening exercise for the 2018/2019 academic session.
Candidates are to proceed to check their results online by following the below link.
How to Check IBBU 2018 Post UTME Result.
1. Visit the Post UTME portal of IBBU at http://portals.ibbu.edu.ng/utmederesult
2. Supply your details for UTME and Direct Entry candidates
3. Login to proceed and check your results
Categories: School Updates


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Nichols is proud to have provided strategic support to the Department for Transport on delivering its wide ranging portfolio since 2005. Our work with the Department for Transport has enabled them to continually improve transport for Britain.
The value of transport to society, communities, business and the economy has never been greater. The Department for Transport (DfT) leads this mission, defining the strategy and funding required, and sponsoring a programme of investments totalling over £50bn. We are proud to have supported the DfT in sponsoring its wide-ranging portfolio since 2005.
We played a pivotal role for the DfT over six years in the £5bn Intercity Express Programme, including Intelligent Clienting and programme sponsorship from concept stage, project management and deployment of a specialist commercial management team. To learn more about this programme, please see DfT Intercity Express Programme.
On Thameslink, we provided specialist programme management, systems integration, planning and commercial management to complement the DfT team, delivering significant cost and value for money improvements. We managed the procurement processes and established the cross-industry governance arrangements that still operate today.
We established the Strategic Roads Investment Projects division and were instrumental in redefining a sustainable £9bn roads programme, building closer relationships with regional stakeholders and implementing effective sponsorship solutions.
For Intercity West Coast, we supported industry plans to introduce a high frequency timetable and journey time improvements. We managed the business case for this development and procurement for the £1.5bn Pendolino Lengthening programme to deliver increased capacity benefits.
We helped to develop the £500m scheme to transform Birmingham New Street Station's passenger capacity, facilities and environment.
For DfT's refranchising programme, we have advised on key aspects of a new style of franchise for Thameslink Southern and Great Northern, and designed an incentive regime on the new operator to facilitate the delivery of the Thameslink Programme. This included providing advice on risk allocation, working with stakeholders to define requirements for the operator and evaluating technical aspects of bids received.
We advised DfT on requirements on the operator for the Intercity East Coast franchise, to introduce new rolling stock and the operator's support to the roll out of the European Train Control System. This included providing advice on the allocation of risk between parties under the franchise agreement, in particular the definition of Secretary of State Risk Assumptions.
We provide the DfT with strategic, commercial and technical support and advice. Our support enables DfT to build business cases, secure investment approvals, design and award franchises and lay the foundations for the successful implementation of some of its most important programmes.


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"Out there somewhere, better things await," I used to tell myself, staring at the distant hills. The mysterious silhouettes, black shadows soaked in reds and oranges of the setting sun. I always wondered what was hidden behind them, what was kept from my eyes. But I never dared to discover.
Now, all the people I was so afraid to leave stand there in silence, looking down at what's remained of me—a body trapped in a wooden box that will soon find its place in the dirt. Tears start to fill their eyes as they bury me in the earth.
"Out there somewhere, she'll find peace," they whisper faithfully, nodding their heads towards the sky.
And I feel sorry. But not for them.
I feel sorry for myself. I feel as if I owe an apology to that part of my soul who wanted to climb the hills, to the kid who never really stopped believing.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I was such a coward. Always afraid of stepping ahead and standing up for myself. Always paralyzed with fear. Always scared of ending up alone.
I'm sorry I gave up so easily. Let the insecurities eat me alive. Watched my dreams fade away. Stood still while the days slipped through my fingers like grains of sand. I wasted so much of my precious time. Didn't seize the day. Took so many things for granted. Forgot about the fragility of life.
I'm sorry I never gave myself the chance to be the person I wanted to be. I always blindly did what others told me to do. Always tried so hard to live up to somebody's expectations.
I'm sorry I let down the kid in me who cried for something more.
Now I'm out there somewhere. And I'm sorry I forgot to live.
Another piece inspired by an InMon prompt.


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Alpha is a series of interactive sessions to discuss the Christian faith in an informal and friendly environment. Alpha consists of a number of sessions, looking at topics including 'Who is Jesus?' and 'Why and how do I pray?'.
Alpha is for everyone; no question is out of bounds and you are free to discuss as much or as little as you wish. We don't assume any background knowledge of or belief in Christianity and everyone is welcome.
At NPBC we are planning to start a new series on 16th April with a meal and an introduction to the course. If you would like to join us then please contact us to book your place. We'll make you feel very welcome.


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I spent about 1 1/2 hours shovelling manure out of my horse's shelter. She lives with four other mares and it hasn't been done for a while, so there was a lot. It was my second day working on this, and I still have barely made a dent. The first time, I ended up with a very sore wrist after moving about 2 cubic metres of manure, so I decided today that I would reflect on my life as a medieval groom.
1) I take orders from my mistress without complaint (aka my daughter, who sent me to fetch her forgotten helmet from the wagon).
2) I can't take the day off just because I have a sore arm. I need to deal with the muck before it freezes solid. Also, the horses kept filling the shelter even as I tried to empty it.
3) A real medieval groom would probably not be making mental comparisons to the Augean Stables. They would, however, likely do as I did and stop for frequent visits with other peasants. They would probably also debate whether it was worth dumping some of the manure on their own fields to fertilize them, rather than hauling it all the way to the manure pile as instructed.
4) A real medieval groom probably used a shovel, rather than a pitchfork. I needed the pitchfork because the manure had gotten too hard to pick up easily with the shovel. A medieval wooden pitchfork wouldn't have stood up to the stress I put on my metal-timed pitchfork. You can read more about medieval farming tools here: http://wyrtig.com/EarlyGardens/British/Tools/CultivationTools.htm. I was pleased to note that there is an old English word for manure shovel: Meoxscofle.
5) I couldn't fine any direct evidence for medieval grooms using a wheelbarrow to carry manure, though they were used to carry everything from building materials to wine casks to people (http://www.larsdatter.com/wheelbarrows.htm). In this image, the men are using shovels to shovel ash:
(Konzil von Konstanz (ÖNB 3044, fol. 82r), c. 1465-1475)
6) My horse has a modern, if simple, shelter. You can learn more about medieval farm buildings and stables here and here.


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bitcoin scenario 2
BITSTAMP:BTCUSD Bitcoin / Đô la
963 lượt xem
Bình luận: we are approaching good buy zones on this wave count
Bình luận: I have changed my wave count to a complex correction , however following the same path. we seem to have completed the correction and possibly started the next count. we might develop later into the wave 4 that some call an inverse head and shoulder and attack above 20k. weeks down the road, be patient.


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Scott Disick and Sofia Richie's 15 year age difference has sent many tongues wagging.
And in a teaser for Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashian's, Kris Jenner joins in as she tries her hardest to get daughter Kourtney's ex, 34, to open up about his relationship with the much younger model, 19, on the E! show.
The matriarch/mogul, 61, wasn't afraid to put the father to three of her grandkids on the spot, asking the reality star point-blank: 'Wait, so how old is [Sofia]?'
Just a day before the preview's release Friday, the duo were seen lunching together at Q Sushi in LA.
In the clip, Kris jumps right into the topic of dating as she catches up with Scott.
'Sure' Scott replied hesitantly.
That didn't stop Jenner, who continued to poke for details.
'Are you dating one person? Just one?'
It wasn't a strange question, seeing as Disick was pictured making out with a revolving door of beauties after his split with Kourt at the start last year.
Still playing his cards close to the chest, Scott said: 'Yeah, it's something new.'
'Are you going steady?' Kris cooed with a wry smile.
'I guess that's what the kids call it,' laughed Scott before confirming that the lady in question was none-other than Sofia Richie, the teen daughter of singer Lionel.
Lionel Richie Confesses He Is Scared To Death Of His Daughter Sofia Richie Dating Scott Disick
Scott's answer only prompted more questions from Kris, who asked: 'Wait, so how old is she?' Because I really don't know. Is she Kylie's age? 20?'
After learning the model was only 19, the California native confirmed Scott's age.
'You're 34? OK, so I was 17 and Robert was 12 years older,' Kris remembered.
Cleverly, Scott spots a difference, telling Jenner: 'You were underage, she's not.'
Far from offended, Kris smiled and told her almost son-in-law 'Touché!'
Scott isn't the only one who's moving on from his nearly decade long relationship with Kourtney.
Since their split, the raven-tressed beauty has been happily dating male model Younes Bendjima, 23.
A new episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians airs Sunday on E!
Busy as can be, Kris stopped by the Kylie Cosmetics factory on Friday.
She made the trip solo, not joined by daughter Kylie who gave birth to daughter Stormi Webster only a week ago.
Sharing her trip on social media, the ex of Caitlyn – formerly known as Bruce – Jenner posed in front of rows of packaging while donning a lab-coat like jacket.
'Look who dropped by the Kylie Cosmetics factory today!' the makeup brand wrote while sharing a pic of Kris on their account.


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Breakthroughs like this can have massive impact on our daily lives --the only way technology can continue to exponentially improve is if the science of how we manufacture the electronic infrastructure (data centers, sensors, compute power) advances first.The semiconductor industry obsesses over Moore's Law ending yet hesitates to try anything truly radical --I am reminded of an Oren Harari quote I recently saw "the electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles."
To compound what seems to be total risk-aversion inherent in these large companies, analysts and economists are particularly fickle to the semiconductor industry. The biggest companies' leaders are forced to optimize for the short term value and then cannot make big bets like tripling down on the next great processes that will completely replace industry standards.


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Benefits of Restaurant POS software
What is restaurant POS? A Restaurant POS system includes computer (installed with restaurant POS Software), receipt printer, display monitor, which automates restaurant management process. Now days out of 10 restaurants 9 restaurants are using Restaurant POS Software, Which is really helpful for growth of your business as well as increasing your profit. Here are some benefits of having a POS


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Elaph, Kayhan, Lebanon, Mahmoud Abbas, Mitt Romney, Mohammad Shtayyed, Najib Miqati, Obama, Obama and the Middle East, Obama Election, Saudi Arabia
On the 6th of November, Obama won his famous second term in office. And the world reckoned and revelled. And celebrated. Well at least most of it.
But what does the Middle East think of Obama's re-election? For one we know that Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the two countries the US is staunch allies with, have largely not reacted especially positively to his re-election. Elaph, the daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia, wrote: "The US has chosen the more experienced president, who seems more rational than his rival Mitt Romney, who seemed to fantasize about rekindling the dream of an American empire…What is important to us as Arabs is Middle Eastern foreign policy. In this regard, there will be nothing new under the sun, we already have much experience with Obama and he has nothing new to offer us," wrote a Palestinian correspondent.
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Miqati, seemed optimistic though, saying four more years may give rise to a new momentum. But Iran and Syria, two countries which the US are not particularly on good terms with, have also not expressed particularly warm emotions. One Aleppo commander said: "We were hoping for Romney. At least he said he would do something different. With Obama it had all been words."
Similarly, Kayhan, a publication that speaks for the Iranian regime wrote "Barack Obama is weak, unable to solve challenges and has the same 'serial' crimes as the predecessor from whom he inherited the White House: George W. Bush.
To further emphasise the point, Mohammad Shtayyed, the aide to Palestinain President Mahmoud Abbas said "President Obama has spent four years in office, unfortunately he hasn't done much for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." However, he added, "We have seen Romney making statements that are really not helpful at all in the peace process, very biased toward the issue of Israel. In the debate on foreign policy, Israel was mentioned 32 times; there was no mention whatsoever of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, so it seems to us really we have to choose between the bad and the worst."
Election translation services have made it possible to understand Obama's message and have given the people of the Middle East the opportunity to determine whether or not they like his policies. As a result, it seems most of the Middle East have been a bit luke warm about the President's election, but have instead been focusing greatly on tensions and relations between Israel and Palestine. Perhaps the only way Obama could become a true political star and icon in the Middle East is if he indeed makes it his priority to resolve the Arab-Israeli issue, a bloody crisis that dates back to 1948.
Source: The Guardian


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News watchlist
The News Watchlist looks for changes on pages known to contain local news items.
Automatically finding new content on sites which do not provide news feeds is not an exact science. The Watchlist tries to assist by highlighting altered pages for manual checking.
Looking for a way to check all Wellington related news pages in under 60 seconds? The Watchlist is available as an RSS feed; try subscribing and opening all in tabs.
The following pages are currently in the watchlist.


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Part of the preaching series, "Questions God Asks" and our Inspiration for Beloved Community Series
A while ago in our Wednesday Bible Study we were talking about a particular prayer that the apostles pray in Acts 4:29-30. I introduced the idea that what we pray for and how we pray can say a lot about how we perceive of God, and how we live our faith. The apostles' prayer comes after Peter and John have just been released from being detained and put on trial by the Temple authorities. Instead of asking for persecution to end, or for things to get easier, they don't even ask for safety. They recall the work God is doing in the world, and they ask for strength to keep on speaking boldly while the authorities want them to be silent. What does this tell us about how they understood their faith in light of how they understood God?
It certainly looked different than those who are always asking for something—if we were to only listen to prayers it would seem that God is a kind of cosmic genie, one who grants are wishes if we say the right words or do the right things. But is God really sitting around in heaven, waiting to do what we ask?
Think about the Lord's Prayer for a moment. We just recited it a moment ago. This is Jesus teaching people how to pray—a template of a prayer his followers should pray. Your will be done . . . your kingdom come. This kind of prayer reorients us, focuses our attention on what God is up to in the world, on what God is asking us to be and to do. This kind of prayer reorients us when we get it backward, when we do things in the name of God that have nothing to do with God's purposes and God's character. I wonder if God, asks us a question at the same time: looking at our selfish pursuits and asking, "What does this have to do with me?" and consequently asking us, "What are my concerns?"
This morning's Scripture is from John 2:1-11, and provides an answer to the question:
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing,each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
This scripture is a case study in how the way that we interpret a small detail may change the way we understand the whole story. One of those details is what is Mary asking Jesus? And Why?
Let's step back for a minute. Weddings in Jesus' day and in his culture were not like today. For one, they were one the "chief celebrations," important cultural and community events. It wasn't like today, where you have a list of people you send invitations—it was announced far in advance and not only all your kin, but your whole village got involved and invited. Not following custom, however, would bring about public shame for a couple, especially in a culture like Jesus', with deeply embedded codes of honor and shame. This explains the concern for the dwindling supply of wine—this has the potential of a dishonoring situation. (I've seen this firsthand in Georgia working in a kitchen with Southern cooks who pull out anything they can to make sure that there is more than enough—who would rather see tons of leftovers than some not get their fill.)
I find it highly unlikely, given the context, that they ran out of wine because they were absent-mindedly unprepared for their guests, that they were careless or everyone was just drinking way too much. I suspect that they were running out of wine because they were people of little means, who could only do so much. This heightens the sense of panic in the air—where is the wine going to come from if the family can't afford much more than they've already put out. If they were well-to-do, they could go and buy some, there wouldn't be a scramble.
Now, we also need to ask, is Mary asking for a miracle? There's no reason to think so, since at the end, we are told that this was his first "sign." He hasn't done anything miraculous yet. He and Mary are most likely there because they are relatives of some sort, and Jesus being an adult male in the family is being called to respond. Yet his response is peculiar, and his action is beyond what anyone would have imagined possible.
This brings us back to the question, "What are God's concerns?" Jesus shows us. Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke opens their Gospels with proclamation of Jesus' mission—Jesus speaking—(which were the subject of my previous two sermons coincidentally), John offers us signs and symbols.
The first thing Jesus shows us about God's concerns is that God is concerned with the ordinary. These are ordinary, everyday people. He wasn't there because it was some great influential couple of the day, their occupations were obviously not of great note, and they weren't terribly wealthy. Not the rich and the famous. These are the farmers and field-hands, carpenters and artisans. The housekeepers, bus-drivers, grocery clerks, construction workers. The people society rarely expresses gratitude for, but who put in most of the work. These are the people Jesus chooses to act on behalf of, and it clearly shows that your wealth and status don't entitle you to greater attention from Jesus.
Jesus also cares about the ordinary circumstances in people's lives—or else he would not have been there in the first place. God is intimately concerned with the daily routine, the mundane facets of our lives—fixing meals, washing the dishes, and changing diapers; our bodies, our emotions, our mental health; the dilemmas of everyday life. Jesus cared that this family did not receive shame and dishonor. So the Gospel tells us that Jesus is not so concerned with just saving souls and spiritual work that he overlooks the whole person. Neither should we.
This leads into the second thing, which is what I spoke about last meant, which is that Jesus shows us that God is concerned that we serve one another. One thing you come to notice in our text is that Jesus does not take public credit for his work. He sets it up so that the credit goes to the groom. Jesus counts himself among the servants, who act on behalf of another, and do not stand in the limelight. John shows us Jesus setting a pattern for servanthood: to give oneself for the welfare of others, without fanfare. The impact of his actions isn't notoriety—unlike so many companies, organizations and public figures that sponsor service-projects so they can put a plaque up and put their name on something, doing good while others are looking. Jesus isn't seeking his own glory, but those who do see are compelled to follow him as verse 11 says, "he thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." Serve one another, serve your neighbor, your community—not for your glory, but because God cares about them deeply, and is concerned for their welfare.
And yet there's something more to this whole picture, because this story clearly becomes something more than ordinary. John calls it the first of Jesus' "signs"—a carefully chosen word, unlike the other gospels which use the word for "miracle"—show of power that leaves people in awe, John calls these acts like this "signs" because they reveal something. What are the daffodils popping up a sign of? The spring! Jesus' signs disclose something about the Kingdom of God, about the "true light that gives light to everyone [that] was coming into the world," as it says in the opening of the Gospel. There are several potent symbols in this short narrative—a wedding, a banquet, water, wine, stone jars for ceremonial cleansing—there's so much to unravel, we don't have time—unless you all want to stay for another half hour—but all of these are supposed to cue us into the fact that this is really a story about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus shows us here that he is concerned above all in bringing the Kingdom of God on earth. He transforms what is ordinary in what is extraordinary:water into wine—and not just some, but an abundance. The text says that each jar held 20-30 gallons, and each Jesus had filled to the brim. That's a symbol of God's Kingdom: the beautiful transformation, an abundance of life. Jesus want to transform us, to take the old and make something new—just as he wants to transform the situation from something shameful to something beautiful.
Now we ourselves don't bring God's Kingdom—it isn't by our power, our activity, our strength. But we partner with God, we ask, what is God concerned about in this world? And we align our lives around those doing his will. God's kingdom breaks into this world all around us, God is only asking us to have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, to witness it, speak it, and live it.
We can grieve God, as we go about pursuing things that don't concern his kingdom—pursuing bigger houses, better cars, catching every football game and every new episode of the latest show, getting higher on the company ladder—or we can ask, God, what concerns do you have? How can I be faithful, even in the ordinary, among the people I see everyday. The Scriptures are full of answers—and here in John, we see that Jesus is concerned about the details of our lives, he cares about us, but he is concerned that in everything we are pursuing his aims, not vice-versa. Why? Because when we seek first the Kingdom, we find a beautiful, abundant life.


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He is sick and tired of fake news
Leave it to CNN to constantly harass Trump no matter what. Today Trump was speaking about a great move for American jobs with the Apprenticeship program. This will be an amazing opportunity to get American's working again without the burden of student loans for college.
CNN also saw an opportunity. They saw the chance to berate Trump about a recent article pushed by the Washington Post saying that he is under investigation now. Trump completely blew her off and continued as normal like the reporter wasn't even there! Scroll down for video.
President Trump ignores @AthenaCNN's question if he believes WaPo report that he is under investigation https://t.co/afHJboLAy7 pic.twitter.com/Qc56KIqD3W
— CNN (@CNN) June 15, 2017
Trump has stopped playing the Media's game and has decided silence is his best weapon. Although it's much more entertaining when he takes a little more action..


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Hide Forgot
From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.8 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U)
Description of problem:
lam-6.5.8-4 appears to be missing /usr/lib/liblammpi++.a. The version of lam currently in Rawhide is also missing this RPM.
Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
How reproducible:
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Attempt to use lam
Additional info:
We built lam without C++ support. See duplicate.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 91790 ***
Changed to 'CLOSED' state since 'RESOLVED' has been deprecated.


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Fusion (North Star #2) by Posy Roberts
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 300pgs
5 Pants Off
How do you tell your friends and family you've fallen in love with a man when they've only ever known you as straight? How do you explain to your kids that you loved their mother very much, but your new partner is your best friend from high school?
Kevin Magnus must figure it out while trying to build a relationship with Hugo Thorson, whose bigger than life, out-and-proud drag queen persona is simply too big to be contained in a closet—even for the time it takes Kevin to come up with an explanation for his kids and Erin, his soon-to-be ex-wife.
But Erin faces an even bigger obstacle—one that shakes the entire family to the core. When she unexpectedly turns to Hugo, they form a connection that forces Hugo to grow up and offers Kevin the chance to become the kind of father he wants to be. Despite the coming complications, they'll all benefit from a fortunate side effect: it becomes clear that Hugo is very much a part of this unconventional family.
This is the second part of the North Star Trilogy and this book ROCKS!! This is the continuation of Kevin Manus and Hugo Thorson's Love Story.
This story picks up after Kevin and Hugo have made a commitment to each other and things seem to be moving along pretty well even though Kevin has taken on primary custody of his and Erin's children. Hugo has made his place in this family. He supports and helps Kevin in the raising of the kids. They plan on spending the rest of their lives together and they have worked and are working on making this reality.
Kevin has taken primary custody of the kids because Erin, his soon to be ex-wife has been suffering migraine headaches and she's also getting ready to move and start a new job. Kevin and Erin have this wonderful relationship. There is no bitterness or anger over the dissolution of their marriage. They still care for one another and they aren't letting the divorce dictate how they behave towards each other. It's really nice to see them acting as two adults and not bickering and fighting.
Things start to unravel the week of Kevin and Erin's divorce is to be finalized. Hugo and Kevin have a slight disagreement and Kevin leaves Hugo's apartment and Hugo doesn't hear from him for days. What Hugo doesn't know is that Kevin and Erin get the worst news possible. Erin has an inoperable brain tumor. Yep, it's Cancer. Kevin and Erin are going to doctor appointments and trying to figure out what to do. When Kevin finally sees Hugo again he brings him a puppy. Hugo thinks that Kevin is breaking up with him again and Kevin explains what's been going on and then he drops the bombshell, he's not divorcing Erin. He's staying married to her in order for her to have medical insurance and the final bomb…he's going to ask Erin to move back in with him and the kids. Hugo tells Kevin that he needs time; time to think things through and to see what he's going to do next.
Hugo and Kevin come back together and decide that what they have means the world to them both and that they both need to make some concessions. Hugo meets Erin and they begin their own amazing and special friendship. Erin realizes how very important to her family, Hugo has become. That he helped not only the kids, but he's helped Kevin become a better father and a better man. Even though that makes her kind of sad that she couldn't do that for him, she is happy that he finally is able to step up and be the man that he's always needed to be.
Even during this most horrible time, this family bands and bonds together. The kids seem to be able to thrive both in their home life and in school. Erin, although she sometimes better, sometimes worse-still manages to live in the now and makes sure that Kevin and Hugo know that they have her blessing and wants them to be together. The ways in which she shows them that she's fine with them, are beautiful and so very loving. I teared up a couple of times with her unconditional love and understanding.
Of course, we know that tragedy is coming, however, no matter what, Kevin and Hugo do their very best to keep the family together and moving forward. They do such an amazing job doing and it's both sad and beautiful to read. The hurt and sadness that everyone goes through is both painful and yet poignant to read.
I must say that I was worried about reading the second part of a trilogy without having read the first one, however, I wasn't lost at all and I really appreciated the fact that Posey made it that way. That even coming in not having the beginning, I could follow along and fall in love with her characters. She gave enough backstory during the book to help new readers be able to catch up and yet not overload the story with too much backstory that it impeded the flow of the new story.
I truly fell in love with these characters. Not just Kevin and Hugo, but every character that Posy put on the page. As they went along on this painful and yet beautiful journey, I was right there with them riding every emotion that they were feeling. I felt the burden's that Kevin, Hugo and Erin carried. I carried them as well. I celebrated when they celebrated and I cried at their heartbreak. I was hurt when they hurt and angered when they were angered.
The Secondary characters were AMAZING!! Kevin and Erin's children were very well written. They acted age appropriate and you couldn't help but fall for them. Gilbert, Summer and Russell were supportive and honest as the times called for them. They were really what these characters needed to keep them grounded into the realness of life. They stood strong for them when they couldn't do it for themselves.
However, Erin was my favorite character in all of this. She had such grace and dignity and such integrity throughout everything that happens to her in this story. She was such a Brilliant character and the way she was portrayed was in a way that I've not seen a female character portrayed in awhile. Erin is so beautiful and so very kind. There aren't enough words to describe her to you. Suffice it to say, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED HER and I'm sure you will as well. Trust Me.
Kevin and Hugo had so much to handle in this book and yet handle it they did. They had some complications and made some mistakes, but in dealing with life, who doesn't? There are the ups and downs in their relationship, but the love that these two have for each other is so very undeniable and true. They will break your heart and then find a way to put it back together again.
Read This Book!! I am actually going to read the first one, just so I can see how they meet again and how they fall back in love. I am now waiting so very impatiently for the third and final book and it looks like it's going to be a doozy. You will laugh, you will cry and you will feel every emotion that these characters feel and you will come on the other side all the better for it!!
|5 Pants Off


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What Are You Reading Thursdays is a new feature I'm starting to discuss what we are reading that week. Each week we will feature the book we are reading and talk about it, tell what we like about it, what we don't like about it and discuss what it's about. Feel free to follow along with us and share in the comments what you are reading this week or post on your blog as well.
This week my book is: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis
I like about this book is the story. Even though I just started this book, the synopsis sounds amazing. So I really can't tell you a whole lot about this book right now.
What I don't like:
I don't like the fact that the beginning of this book takes so long to get to anything good. It's a very slow starting book to me.
The Cover:
I think the cover is just simply beautiful, it was what drew me to the book in the first place.
What it's About:
Anna and Abel couldn't be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It's a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his "enemies" begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she? (Synopsis from Goodreads)


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First House Speaker invited Netanyahu to speak before Congress, which might be unconstitutional (what do these people Washington and Jefferson know about the Constitution anyway):
As described in The Executive Power over Foreign Affairs, George Washington as President asserted his role as the "sole channel of official intercourse" with foreign nations. (Letter from Washington to the Emperor of Morocco, Dec. 1, 1789, cited at 111 Yale L.J., p. 317; further discussion of the point at pp. 318-322). Notably, Washington quarreled with French ambassador Edmond Genet in 1793, who sought to enlist U.S. support for France in its conflict with Britain. When Washington insisted on neutrality, Genet attempted to communicate directly with Congress, which he suspected was more sympathetic to France than the President. Washington, through Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, responded sharply:
Jefferson upbraided Genet for attempting to contact Congress at all, declaring that all of Genet's transactions must occur with the Executive of the United States. Any communications between the President and Congress were none of his business, and he could not interfere. The "President must be left to judge for himself what matters his duty or the public good may require him to propose to the deliberations of Congress."
and now they double down with a letter to Iran:
What these two constitutional provisions mean is that we will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.
Basically Cotton and the others who signed the letter are telling other countries not to trust the US. Also, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif shows in a response to the letter that he is much more intelligent than Cotton:
Foreign Minister Zarif added that "I should bring one important point to the attention of the authors and that is, the world is not the United States, and the conduct of inter-state relations is governed by international law, and not by US domestic law. The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfil the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations.
The Iranian Foreign Minister added that "change of administration does not in any way relieve the next administration from international obligations undertaken by its predecessor in a possible agreement about Irans peaceful nuclear program." He continued "I wish to enlighten the authors that if the next administration revokes any agreement with the stroke of a pen, as they boast, it will have simply committed a blatant violation of international law."
He emphasized that if the current negotiation with P5+1 result in a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it will not be a bilateral agreement between Iran and the US, but rather one that will be concluded with the participation of five other countries, including all permanent members of the Security Council, and will also be endorsed by a Security Council resolution.
Ah well, this is just your modern Republican Party at work.


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There is a lot of talk on the net about a piper contracting a fungal infection of the lungs from playing bagpipes. Here is a link to the news story http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/scotland/bagpipe-warning-over-threat-of-fatal-fungus-1-2828835. We have an article prepared on bagpipe hygiene, cleaning and maintaining a healthier bagpipe. We think it is important to read and hope it helps prevent any further incidents of this nature. It can be found here: http://www.schoolofpiping.com/articles.html
The School of Piping is a site that provides information and entertainment for pipers on topics related to bagpipes, pipe bands, piobaireachd etc.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Bagpipe Hygiene
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South Africa lacks technology infrastructure.
The latest World Economic Forum "The Global Information Technology Report" (2012) places South Africa in 71st position along with Colombia.
As a country ranked in the top 25 in terms of GDP South Africa clearly lacks the will to improve the technology infrastructure. This is a brave statement, so why make it?
Technology infrastructure accessibility has been shown to bring competitive benefits to the economy and open up new economies for workers traditionally excluded from mainstream economic activity. As an example, to build a competitive call centre industry in an economy requires access to affordable labour and reduced IT costs. Telecommunications and the infrastructure associated for this at a cheap price is key to this success. South Africa lacks both.
Addressing poverty by opening the economy to more people requires the will on the part of the government to make it happen. This is not only related to the technology industries but all industries. With technology, business and consumers are acutely aware of this though. With poor infrastructure and a national carrier protected by the government the ability for businesses to compete on a global stage is hampered. Is this reality though? In Mozambique, a country further down the ranking than South Africa with a massive expansion programme, a 4mb ADSL line costs the equivalent of (USD 118) R920 per month. The equivalent offering in South Africa is 3 times that price. In addition, IT labour costs are at least 30% cheaper in Mozambique than they are in South Africa. Sure Mozambique is a smaller economy but building a services business that relies on new technologies specifically linked to technologies such as cloud or mobile where the technology can be housed anywhere, makes you wonder how long it will be before businesses in South Africa move more services off-shore. South Africa has already shifted technical skills to the Asian sub-continent primarily due to the lack of adequate training in South Africa, highlighting even further the lack of government desire to truly sort this problem out.
This is of course an opinion, but as a business we experience poor service and inadequae support all the time. We have regular telecommunications outages, so much so that we are now required to use two suppliers to ensure we have a back-up service available.
It is difficult to see how small tech businesses in South Africa can build a global footprint and compete internationally when the key to the industry is so poor.
To see the full report – http://www.weforum.org/reports/global-information-technology-report-2012.
Mike Backeberg – April 2012
5 thoughts on "South Africa lacks technology infrastructure."
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As technology continues to advance and improve in recent years, businesses and their network practices have evolved quite a bit from what once was standard in industry. In fact, many small businesses have found the technology to be advantageous to them in such a way that they are now able to combine certain services into one network system and package. Small network management consolidation has become a regular part of running a small business in order to make things more effective and more affordable.
One of the ways to start network consolidation is to implement a VoIP solution. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. This system allows the user to have all their phone calls run over a broadband Internet line instead of a standard analog line that has been used in the past. The VoIP solution allows for a single IP network environment with a consistent look and feel to it. This allows for a single skill set to maintain the network. This can be accomplished by using network VLANS (virtual networks setup by port or groups of ports).
Some cost savings can be calculated on several levels when working this way. In terms of managerial savings, everything now can be effortlessly undertaken by the business IT department. Since IP telephony requires both the voice and data network to be merged into one unified network, there is no longer a need to employ two separate teams to handle each system. This will ultimately result in substantial savings for the business.
There are also savings involved from a monetary standpoint. Very often choosing to consolidate network management down to fewer systems means less hardware and software needed to run everything. This could conceivably add up to thousands of dollars in significant savings for a company. The money saved can then be turned back into the profit of the business itself.
Many small businesses need to consider consolidation options in the business world today. Competition among companies is fierce in these fragile economic times and businesses must do whatever is in their best interests to save money and make things work more effectively. Consolidating networks can be just one of the methods companies seek out to save money.
Bringing networks together in a smaller environment can make things easier to manage for the employees as well. Those in charge of the systems may find they have more time to spend on other tasks instead of managing several networks all day long to make sure everything is running well. It then just becomes a matter of maintenance and making sure everything is backed up properly.
Small network management consolidation is something that businesses of all sizes have begun to consider as both cost effective and effective from an IT department standpoint. If systems can be consolidated correctly and efficiently it can help the entire staff of the IT department and the whole company work better. Eliminating systems and bringing everything to one localized network is the ideal solution for most.


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Blue Jays at Red Sox MLB Pick and Prediction July 12
Following a 3-game sweep of the Texas Rangers, the Boston Red Sox will be staying at home to play a 4-game weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays. Boston enters the series winners of 9 consecutive games overall and still on top in the American League East. The Sox have a 3.5-game lead over the New York Yankees at 65-29 on the season. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, find themselves in fourth place with a 42-49 mark. Already 21.5 games back in the division, it seems as though the Jays should probably start looking ahead to 2019.
J.A. Happ will take the ball for Toronto in the opener against Red Sox left-hander David Price. Both pitchers got off to decent starts this season before struggling a bit more in recent weeks. Happ has allowed at least 3 earned runs in each of his last 4 starts. 2 starts ago, he yielded 7 runs on 10 hits in just 5.2 innings of work against the Tigers. In his last outing, the Yankees chased him after he allowed 6 runs on 6 hits in 2.2 frames.
Happ was named to the American League All-Star roster, but that may have just been because the Jays don't have a bunch of other deserving candidates, and all 30 teams need to be represented. On the season, the lefty has a respectable 3.65 SIERA along with a strikeout rate of 26.3 percent. The SIERA is about in line with his numbers from the last few years, but his K-rate has taken a hike. I'd expect that to come down as the season progresses. The 35-year-old has a career strikeout rate just over 20 percent.
If Happ thought his matchup last time out against the Yankees was a difficult one, he probably won't have a lot of fun tonight with the Red Sox coming to town. Boston's lineup is massively improved over the punchless unit we saw most of last season. In fact, new addition J.D. Martinez already has more home runs this season (28) than any Red Sox player hit all of last year.
Boston's team spilts have been worse against left-handed pitching than right-handed pitching, but that feels like something that will correct itself as we move deeper into the campaign. Martinez, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts are stellar right-handed sticks with histories of mashing southpaws. Happ has been effective against lefties this season, but he has allowed a .315 wOBA to right-handed hitters. Happ has also conceded 16 home runs already, 14 of which have come against RHBs. Fenway Park is also one of the very best hitting environments in all of baseball, particularly for righties.
Like Happ, price has been wobbly of late. He was pummeled for 8 runs on 9 hits in just 3.1 innings of work 2 starts ago against the Yankees. Last time out, the Royals touched him up for 4 runs on 6 hits in 4.2 innings. Price labored through 102 pitches just to get through those 4.2 innings of work in his most recent start.
The left-hander has still flashed decent stuff this season, but he is pretty clearly nowhere close to the pitcher the Red Sox thought they were getting when they gave him a contract worth well over $200 million a few winters ago. Through 18 starts this season, Price has a strikeout rate of 23.8 percent and a SIERA of 3.98. Those are solid numbers, but Price has just been wildly inconsistent.
Price is also a fly ball pitcher allowing a hard contact rate of nearly 33 percent. That's a profile that indicates he's going to be serving up some home runs. Price has already allowed 16 dingers on the year, which puts him on pace to come close to his career-worst mark of 30, set a couple of years ago in his first season in Boston.
The Blue Jays don't make for an overly imposing offense, but there is still some power in this lineup, and Fenway Park is a good park to take your hacks. The Jays have hit 34 home runs this season against lefties, which is the 10th-most in the major leagues. Justin Smoak, Yangervis Solarte, Teoscar Hernandez and Randal Grichuk are all hitters that profile well against southpaws. The lineup is missing the thunderous Josh Donaldson, but there is still no shortage of power potential here.
Oddsmakers slapped this game with an implied total of 9 runs, possibly due in part to the name recognition of both starters. That said, both have been in poor form and both will have to pitch to some powerful, well-rounded offenses here tonight. The ballpark is also favorable to hitters, so I think the over on 9 looks like the play in this one at -115.


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Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's tweet this week – that people in other areas of the country are laughing at Cape Town's water misfortunes – was as unfortunate as it was misinformed.
It was unfortunate because it may have diverted attention from the very real issues the province, and Cape Town, face.
It was misinformed because, a small number of negative people aside, there is tremendous sympathy across the country for the predicament in which the Western Cape finds itself.
As we watch the unfolding drama, those of us in areas which presently have enough water are far from complacent, because the Day Zero crisis in Cape Town has – or should have – emphasised that water is our most precious commodity.
It is not something we should take for granted. Those of us outside the drought-stricken areas – and parts of the Eastern Cape are in just as bad a situation as is Cape Town – are also slowly starting to recognise that Day Zero's effects will not be confined to the southern areas of the country.
If Cape Town runs out of water, thousands of jobs could be lost and thousands of "water refugees" could be created. They could suddenly migrate to those parts of the country where there is water and where there are jobs.
That's a very real possibility.
Also, the economy of the Western Cape is a crucial part of the national economy and any negative impacts there will be felt by all of us – in our wallets.
Emergency drought crisis aid has to be funded from somewhere and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility the government would consider once-off tax levies to raise such money.
We should all make water-saving part of our lives, and the lives of our children … because their future depends on it.
For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.


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Home > Funding Programs > Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund > Historic Site Management Grants
Historic Site Management Grants
Eligible Applicants
Applications for funding in 2018 are due by May 3, 2018.
Eligible Properties
Eligible Activities
Requirement for Matching Funds
Criteria for Funding
- Agencies or entities of county or municipal government; or
- Nonprofit organizations that are certified tax-exempt (501c) and comply with New Jersey charity registration laws
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- Are listed in the New Jersey or National Register of Historic Places;
- Contribute to the significance of a historic district listed in the New Jersey or National Register of Historic Places; or
- Are certified as eligible for listing by the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer.
Properties must be listed or certified eligible for listing by August 1, 2018 in order to be considered for funding in this grant round.
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- Non-construction activities related directly to planning for the preservation, restoration or rehabilitation of a historic property, including: feasibility studies; existing conditions documentation; planning for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; analysis of existing building systems (e.g. heating, electrical, security) and providing recommendations for improvement; maintenance plans;
- Nominations to the New Jersey and/or National Register of Historic Places;
- Heritage tourism plans and assessments;
- Master or strategic plans;
- Disaster preparedness planning;
- Fundraising or marketing plans for initiating capital campaigns for restoration/rehabilitation work;
- Endowment planning and proposals; and
- Development of interpretive or directional signs.
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Historic Site Managment Grant requests may range from $5,000 to $50,000. The applicant must provide at least $1 in matching funds for every $3 of grant money requested.
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The following criteria will be used to evaluate and rank applications for these grant funds:
- Historical significance of the resource;
- Physical condition of the property;
- Ability of the applicant to match the funds requested;
- Ability of the applicant to complete the proposed work;
- Potential of the project to foster preservation of the historic property; to promote other preservation activity or related cultural or economic activity; and to foster appropriate site management practices that sustain the long-term use of a property;
- Appropriateness of project to meet the needs of the resource and quality of the work proposed for funding;
- Degree to which the project represents innovative design or programming and reaches new audiences; and
- Degree to which the project contributes toward a balanced distribution of program funds.
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text:
Investment Advisor newsletter platform
Project Description
Intema was mandated by National Bank to build a complete newsletters tool for Investment Advisor.
Fully integrated with the CASL system developed by Intema, this new platform give all the tools required by the Investment Advisor to build, manage and send their newsletter.
This platform include:


text:
Sharing is an important life skill and virtue. It's something toddlers and children need to learn so they can make and keep friends, and play cooperatively. Once your child starts having playdates and going to child care, preschool or a nursery, he or she will need to be able to share with others and understand the importance of sharing.
To cultivate and encourage this skill at home, a few activities that can be followed are:
- Building blocks together, share the blocks out and rotate coloured blocks
- Reading a story – take turns to turn the page
- Paint a picture together, encourage sharing resources and communication of what the picture could become (team work)
- Pass, roll and throw the ball – reinforce that sometimes we have to wait for our turn
- Role-play games – encourage the children to model good sharing and communication skills


text:
22nd of July
While riding the bicycles to the beach, we would see a great of number of scooters swooshing along the streets and maneuvering between large and slow cars. Julia set her heart on a particular Vespa in red, announcing one day that she dreamt about buying one for herself.
So, Robert took a guitar, I took a tambourine, and we all drove to Le Castellet where Julia was singing her favorite old French songs. We had lots of fun. We were joined by a group of boys who were dancing to our music but, unfortunately, the money we raised wouldn't be enough to purchase the red Vespa.
"We can still buy some churros with that money," Robert said comfortingly, and I was afraid for a moment that he would add his "maybe it was all supposed to be like that".
We packed our instruments back into cases and decided to get to know Le Castellet.
It was a town of artists that we fell in love with at the spot, walking along its streets not in order to get anywhere specific but for the sheer pleasure of strolling around. We visited a number of studios belonging to painters, sculptors, and musicians. A Frenchman offering a wide range of seasonings smiled at us from the depths of his store, while an artist was setting up her easel in the street to start creating a painting that could become her future masterpiece. We tried on linen Provençal shirts and filmy dresses, and we stepped into a candy store where we tasted little marzipan dogs. The perfumery, whose owner enchanted us with richness of scents, kept us for a longer while. Her eyes sparkled when she talked about her perfumes. She told us that everything in her house had its own scent – her bed smelled like green tea, the couch brought a cedar tree to mind, and the interior of her car scented like a watermelon. I was feeling a bit giddy when I purchased a lavender perfume, thinking about how much it would remind me Provence when I get home.
We returned to Le Castellet one more time to participate in Le Nuit de Conte. It was a late evening, and the darkness had already swept the hills covered in the fields of grapevine, the cypress paths, and the olive lanes. However, the castle square, located in the heart of the town, shone like a single star that had fallen to the ocean bottom. The residents gathered there in order to observe the three men who came out onto the stage in silence and transformed that silence into something incredible and unique, inviting the people to the world of pantomime. The narrator began telling a story; he was accompanied by a guitar the sounds of which seemed to originate not in the guitar itself but rather in the sky, flowing down in a honey-colored stream that penetrated the window shutters, poured over the flower beds, and embraced the entire town to let the collective imagination of its residents run riot.
Listening to the performance, I realized how long it had been since I had written anything myself. "Well," I said to myself, "I have focused on living." However, then it dawned on me that everything that is beautiful withers away, sooner or later. I felt a sudden desire to somehow prevent that from happening and preserve the moments that would be soon lost forever. Once we returned to the house, Julia and Robert went to their beds while I switched on the lamp and opened the door leading to the fascinating world of a woman I met in Le Castellet on that day.
The painting in an herb shop
The cicadas stopped singing their song. The world lapsed into silence. Lights in the windows were disappearing house by house. The wind was slowly and calmly strolling along the streets of Le Castellet, collecting the abandoned flower petals and lifting them up to the stars. The trees came to a standstill as if they had fallen asleep. The air was becoming brisker, lighter, and fresher; it was getting cleaned of the daytime hustle and bustle, the babble of voices, and the acoustic burden of steps. In the air of the night, there were ghosts of the past and the visions of the unknown, sinking into oblivion or being born in the daylight. A bunch of cats was rambling in the dark alleyways; other residents of the town were either already dreaming or standing at the dream's door. In a quarter or so, clocks in Le Castellet were going to strike midnight.
Isabelle was sitting on a sofa. She was alone, and she was breathing slowly. A single lamp was looking over her shoulder, illuminating a letter she held in her hand. It was an important letter. She had been supposed to read it a long time ago but a petrifying fear had prevented her from doing so. She knew what had possibly been written in that letter as if she could feel the words through the envelope with her gentle fingers. She knew – that was the reason for the fear. Nonetheless, she couldn't delay any longer. She ripped the envelope open with a quick motion of her hand, held her breath, and started to read.
She finished after a couple of minutes. She put the letter back on the table but she wanted to be as far from it as possible; she wished it flew away so that everything could be as it had been up until that point. Everything used to be fine. Fine? What does it mean that "things were fine"? It's quite foolish, isn't it?
Isabelle's world found itself on the edge of an abyss. A few years back, she had opened an herb shop – it was her job and her livelihood. As a matter of fact, the place wasn't popular but occasionally someone stepped in, and she could spent entire days sitting in the store and cheating time passing by. She deluded herself by claiming everything was alright. She had a job that brought money. Her parents had run their own herb shops, and they were doing fine. Yes, everything was fine. She hated that expression so much.
It turned out that the herb shop wasn't profitable enough. Isabelle was several months in arrears with her rent. The owner of the building wrote to her that she would have to say goodbye to her store unless the debt was cleared by the end of the week. And that probably wouldn't happen. Well, tough luck. She would survive since her husband made good money. She would be alive but at the same time, she would become nobody since she had been destined to be an herbalist. Everything she kept believing in for a long time would just burst like a bubble pricked with a finger.
"It's not a big deal," she muttered, sinking in the soft upholstery of the sofa, as most of us would do in the face of making one of the most important decisions in our life.
Next morning, while having breakfast consisting of a cup of chicory coffee, an orange, and a crumby slice of bread with honey, Isabelle reviewed the most memorable days she had spent in the store, flipping them in her memory like the pages of a dust-covered photo album.
Nobody was interested in running an herb shop anymore. Nobody believed in herbal medicine like Isabelle did. She had only three customers, all of whom were her friends, but she had a gut feeling that she should continue her passion. She had that feeling until the moment something broke inside her, the world she had constructed so diligently fell into ruin once she opened the letter. Nevertheless, she was still able to hold tight to her passion, it was like grasping the last branch after falling into a rapid torrent. She drew strength from the words her parents had always repeated to her.
One of the most vivid memories from her childhood was taking a walk across the meadow. She could remember herself running around under the blue sky with a smile that had been as valuable as the sunlight. She could remember stooping down to pick up flowers and a variety of green plants for arranging bouquets, inhaling so that their scent would start to circulate within her body, and then throwing the bouquet into the air to let it be snatched by the wind. Her Mum would observe Isabelle, standing next to her and smiling. Then, she said for the first time: "You should become an herbalist."
Later, together with her Dad, they had started to tell her that on a frequent basis so Isabelle naturally followed that path, taking her parents at their word. She had heard the same thing from her friends so often that finally she had really started to dream about becoming an herbalist, taking care of herbs, and putting their magic into hands of other people. With that dream as a template, she had begun to draw her future, repeating to herself the phrase about becoming an herbalist so many times that eventually she had been left with no other path to take. Her dream had turned into reality but she couldn't notice that mysterious and dazzling light, which according to her expectations was supposed to be her main nutrient after opening an herb shop. No, there had been nothing unusual. After a year, however, she had accustomed herself to sitting in a room and waiting for customers who wouldn't come, with days merging into something great in terms of size, but empty and nondescript. Sometimes, when she felt awkwardly nostalgic, she would surrender herself to a mysterious waft of air, which would make her buy a brush, a scrap of canvas, and colors. Then, she would paint.
Her husband had "a more serious job", as he used to describe it. It actually meant standard salary plus longer working hours. He could spend every moment of his spare time on watching Isabelle painting. Slow movements of the brush settled him down; he loved the look of her intent face and sparkling eyes, and the way she brightened in front of an easel. When she talked about the medicinal properties of various herbs, she was a different person, an ordinary man.
Their house was richly decorated with her paintings. Everybody who visited them was amazed but Isabelle led them to believe she had inherited the pictures. She didn't want others to know since she was not a painter – all in all, she was just an herbalist. One of her paintings embellished her herb shop. It depicted a pair of lovers walking along a rainswept street in Le Castellet under an umbrella covered in colorful imitations of mythical cicadas. Isabelle would spend so much time gazing at the picture that it ultimately became the light at the end of the tunnel, which she subconsciously tried to reach.
Isabelle couldn't stand being alone with her thoughts anymore. She finished breakfast, raised from the chair and, without taking anything with her, she ran out into the street, where she was welcomed by the golden rays of sunshine, transporting pride of the grapevine and serenity of olive trees. It wasn't until then that she realized what she had just done. So, she clutched her head and immediately returned to the house, where she carefully put all the scattered items on their proper place, she prepared herself accurately, and left again, making a promise in front of the mirror that she would never again act on the spur of the moment. She headed for the house of her friend who perfectly understood her; probably because she lived in a completely different world.
Joanne was sitting in one of her least typical spots, in one of the least typical positions.
"Oh, it's you! Thank God!" She jumped to her feet, jostling a cupboard from the top of which a beautiful faience jug fell off. Without paying any attention to the accident, she greeted Isabelle with great energy. "You look so sad!" she added, making a sad face.
"I want to tell you…"
"No, just wait there!" Joanne interrupted her with an abrupt gesture, wobbling on her feet. "In the first place, let's have some tea," she declared slowly and clearly, stressing the last word. Joanne was one of the kind; everybody who knew her, or rather thought they knew her, said so.
Isabelle agreed, rolling her eyes and thinking to herself that drinking tea was the dumbest idea possible on a scorching hot day. Joanne clapped her hands joyfully, tidied up her short hair, and put on a pearl necklace and a pair of earrings, which she wore only for the occasions involving the act of drinking tea. She took her friend out to the garden where, according to the ritual, they poured hot water into the cups, waited exactly three minutes, then slowly moved their teaspoons in circles, five times clockwise and five times counter-clockwise, clinked the silver spoons against their cups, and drank the hot tea, slurping loudly – the behavior that is so primitive but pleasant.
"Now, you can tell me everything." Joanne straightened up, interlocking her hands on her inseparable notepad and sticking a pencil behind her ear. She was a poet, at least she was convinced so, and her thoughts were so numerous and rich that it was almost impossible to commit them to paper.
Isabelle asked Joanne to remain silent for a while and so she did. As the story continued, she was becoming more serious and when the only audible sound was the music of the cicadas, Joanne spoke.
"You know, life is not that simple and…" she suddenly became silent like someone who's afraid they could accidentally give away their secret. Although she was still sitting in the exact same spot, she was somehow growing away and sinking into the depth of herself, being unable to utter any other word. Nobody broke the silence for the next several minutes.
"I think I should go," said Isabelle, rising from the chair. She was a bit disappointed. She was a castaway, and she had hoped to reach land through her friend.
"Wait, wait a moment!" Joanne shouted. Isabelle turned round over her shoulder. "You've got beautiful paintings at your house," she said in a fashion that clearly implied she understood, knew and believed in Isabelle, believed that she was a genuine painter and that painting should be the path to follow.
Remaining silent, the herbalist maintained eye contact with her friend for a moment. Then, she turned away and headed back home.
The rest of the day was just a regular Sunday, with the ceremonious toll of the church bells resounding between the buildings, accompanying the people dressed in white who were walking along the streets and having pleasant chats with each other. In the evening, Isabelle took a solitary walk in the hope that the night would soothe her fears and offer a string leading out of the maze.
On that evening, the cicadas' singing lasted longer than usually. Isabelle admired the
sickle-shaped moon that dominated the colorful sky painted with lavender, ocher and a gentle shade of rose. The air was filled with a variety of scents but she was fed up with them; she had enough of everything and wanted to run away, to become someone else. She made herself believe that she couldn't resign from the profession of an herbalist until she was left with no other choice. Well, she was an herbalist. That was the thing for her. She had heard it from everybody. But now she wasn't sure anymore, she didn't know anything, she had been thrown into emptiness. In an attempt to fill that emptiness, she imagined that she was painting the sky reflected in her nephrite eyes.
She spent the following days in the herb shop, being lost among hundreds of smells and shelves packed with herbs, which made her feel secure by enabling her to hold the fruits of her imagination on a leash and to keep telling herself that everything was fine. Since nobody came in, Isabelle kept staring at her painting that hung on the wall, the only picture among all the herbs.
The next day, the painting was gone. Isabelle panicked. She ran to her husband and asked him whether he knew anything about it, but he only shook his head in disbelief. Isabelle asked around – none of her friends knew anything about the picture, and nobody could understand how come it was so important for her since she had inherited it and had always declared it had been indifferent to her. Yes, she was quite good at lying. On many occasions, she deluded even herself.
She reported the theft to the police. After a week, she was summoned to the station because the perpetrator had been apprehended together with the painting.
She faced a young man in moccasins and a panama hat. He was smiling innocently. Isabelle couldn't understand why he had broken into the herb shop to steal the painting instead of the herbs. She looked at him inquiringly.
"I'm terribly sorry. It was the most valuable thing I found in the store," he answered. His voice was full of praise. "Did you paint it? Are you the painter?"
"Yes, I am," said Isabelle after a short moment of reflection.
Today, if you take a walk along this street, you'll see a woman painting in her studio. Tourists peep in every now and then in order to admire her works, while the painter herself stands in front of the easel with a brush in her hand, lighting up with joy, and her smile is as valuable as the sunlight.
Nico Cigale
(Mikołaj Wyrzykowski)
To be continued
The whole book can be purchased here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W63AV26?*Version*=1&*entries*=0