text:
Imamah And Khilafah
The discussion of the question of Imamah may raise certain queries in the mind of our readers. Here we advance our views about these queries. In this respect the main questions are only two.
I. Every nation tries to project the good points of its history, and as far as possible wants to conceal its weaknesses. The events in which an institution or an ideology may take pride are considered to be the signs of its authenticity and veracity, and the unpleasant events of its history create doubts about its genuineness and are regarded as the signs of the weakness of its creative power. Hence the discussion of the question of Imamah and Khilafah, especially the repeated narration of the ugly events of the early Muslim period is likely to diminish the religious zeal and fervor of the new generation, which is already passing through a spiritual crisis. In the past such a discussion might have produced the desired results and diverted the attention of the Muslims from one denomination to another. But in modern times it only weakens faith in the very fundamentals. When others conceal the ugly aspects of their history, why should we, the Muslims try to bring out the ugly aspects of our history and even magnify them?
We do not concur with the above views. We affirm that should the review of history mean to bring out the undesirable events only, the effect will be as disastrous as stated above. But it is also a fact that if we remain contented with portraying only the bright aspects of our history and suppress the unpleasant events, which would mean a distortion of history, not a review of it.
Basically no history is free from ugly and undesirable events. History of every nation, and basically history of mankind, is a bundle of pleasant and unpleasant events. It cannot be otherwise. Allah has created no people free from sins. The difference between the history of various nations, communities and creeds lies in the proportion of the happy and ugly events and not in the fact that anyone of them has only happy or only ugly events.
The Holy Qur'an has very beautifully expressed the fact that man has good as well as bad points. The summary of what it has said is that Allah informed the angels of His intention to create a vicegerent (Adam). The angels who knew only the weak points of the new being, were astonished and wanted to know what considerations prompted Allah to take such an action. Allah told them that He knew the good and the bad points of that being and that they were not aware of all the characteristics of that being.
If we look at the history of Islam from the view-point of the events manifesting faith and human values, we will find that it has no rival. This history is full of heroic deeds. It is laden with lustre and brilliance and is replete with a display of human qualities. The existence of a few ugly spots does not tarnish its beauty and majesty.
No nation can claim that its history possesses more bright events than the history of Islam, or that the ugly events of Islamic history are more numerous than the ugly events of its own history.
A Jew in order to taunt Imam Ali with the events which took place in the early period of Islam over the question of Khilafah, said: "You no sooner buried your Prophet, than began quarrelling about him. What a beautiful reply Imam Ali gave! He said: "You are wrong. We did not differ about the Prophet himself. We differed only as to what instructions we had received from him. But your feet had not dried of sea water when you said to your Prophet: "Appoint a god for us like the gods they have." He said: "You are ignorant people."1
Imam Ali meant to say: "Our differences did not relate to the principles of Monotheism and Prophethood. What we differed about was whether the Qur'an and Islam foresaw a particular person to be the successor to the Holy Prophet or his successor was to be elected by the people. In contrast you Jews during the very lifetime of your Prophet raised a question which was entirely contrary to your religion and the teachings of your Prophet."
Furthermore, even if it is supposed that in ordinary cases it is permissible to overlook the ugly events of history, how can it be proper to ignore the most basic question affecting the destiny of Islamic, society, which is the question of Islam's leadership. To overlook such a question means overlooking the well-being of the Muslims.
Moreover, if it is a fact that some historical rights have been violated and those to whom these rights were due were the most virtuous personalities of the Muslim Ummah, then overlooking these historical facts would mean nothing but cooperation between the tongue and the pen on the one hand and the sword of injustice on the other.
II. The second objection to the discussion of these questions is that such a discussion is inconsistent with the duty of ensuring Islamic unity. All the misfortunes of the Muslims have been due to the communal differences. It is communal discord and disturbances which has swept away the Muslim power, damaged the Muslims' dignity and made them subservient to alien nations. The most effective weapon in the hand of colonialism, whether old or new, is the enflaming of these old rancours. In all Muslim countries without exception the lackeys of colonialism are busy with creating dissension among the Muslims in the name of religion and sympathy with Islam. Have we not already suffered enough on account of these old disputes so that we should continue to pursue them? Do not such discussions mean helping colonialism?
In reply to this criticism, we would like to say that there is no doubt that unity is the most important requirement of the Muslims, and that these old rancours are the basic cause of all troubles in the Muslim world. It is also true that the enemy is always ready to exploit these disputes. But it appears that the critic has misunderstood the concept of Muslim unity.
Muslim unity which has been a subject of discussion among the scholars and the broad-minded sections of the Muslims does not mean that the Muslim sects should ignore their principles of faith and articles of acts for the sake of unity, adopt the common features of all the sects and set aside the peculiarities of all. How can this be done when this is neither logical nor practical. How can the followers of any sect be asked to ignore for the sake of preserving the unity of Islam and the Muslims, any of their beliefs or practical principles which they consider to be a part of the basic structure of Islam? Such a demand would mean to overlook a part of Islam in the name of Islam?
There are other ways of persuading people to stick to a principle or to give it up. The most natural of them is to convince others by means of logical argumentation. Faith is not a matter of expedience, nor can it be imposed on any people or taken away from them at will.
We are Shi'ahs and are proud of following the chosen descendants of the Holy Prophet. We do not regard as compromisable any act which has been even slightly commended or condemned by the Holy Imams. In this regard we are not willing to fulfil the expectation of anybody, nor do we expect others to give up any of their principles in the name of expediency or for the sake of Muslim unity. All that we expect and wish is the creation of an atmosphere of good will so that we, who have our own jurisprudence, traditions, scholastic theology, philosophy, exegesis and literature, should be able to offer our goods as the best goods, so that the Shi'ah should no more be isolated and so that the important markets of the Muslim world should not be closed to the fine material of Shi'ah Islamic knowledge.
The adoption of the common Islamic features and the rejection of the peculiarities of all sects is contrary to the compound consensus of opinion among the Muslims and the product of this action will be something absolutely un-Islamic, for the peculiarities of some sect or other must be the basic part of the structure of Islam. Islam bereft of all peculiarities and distinguishing features has no existence.
The most prominent among those who advanced the noble idea of Islamic unity, in our times, have been the late Ayatullah Burujardi among the Shiah and Allamah Shaykh Abdul Majid and Allamah Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut among the Sunnis. But they never had such a view of Islamic unity in their mind. All that these learned men advocated was that the various Muslim sects in spite of their different theologies should on the basis of the large number of common features existing among them, form a common front against the dangerous enemies of Islam. These learned men never proposed under the name of Islamic unity a religious unity which is not practical.
In fact, there is a technical difference between a united party and a united front. A united party requires that all its members should have a common ideology and a common way of thinking in all matters except their personal affairs, whereas a common front means that various parties and groups, despite their ideological differences should, by means of the common features existing among them, form a common front against their common enemy. The formation of a common front against the common enemy is not inconsistent with defending one's ideology and inviting other members of the front to follow it. The main idea of the late Ayatullah Burujardi was to pave the ground for the dissemination of the knowledge of the Prophet's chosen descendants among his Sunni brethren. He believed that this was not possible without creating good will and understanding. The success he achieved in the publication of some theological books of the Shi'ah in Egypt by the Egyptians themselves, was one of the most important achievements of the Shi'ah scholars.
May Allah reward him for the services he rendered to the cause of Islam and the Muslims!
Anyhow, the advocacy of the thesis of Islamic unity does not demand that we should feel shy of telling the facts. What is to be avoided is to do any thing that may injure the feelings and sentiments of other parties. As for a scientific discussion, it relates to the domain of logic and reason, not to that of sentiments and feelings.
Fortunately in our times there have appeared a good number of Shi'ah scholars who are following this healthy policy, the most prominent of them being Ayatullah Sayyid Sharafuddin Amili, Ayatullah Kashiful Ghita and Ayatullah Shaykh Abdul Husayn Amini, the author of the prominent book, Al-Ghadir.
The events of Imam Ali's life and the policy he pursued, which has now been practically forgotten and is rarely mentioned, provide a good example in this respect.
Imam Ali did not refrain from speaking of his right and claiming it, nor did he hesitate to complain against those who snatched it away from him. His keen interest in Islamic unity did not prevent him from raising his voice frankly. His numerous sermons in Nahjul Balaghah are a testimony to this fact. But all his grievances did not impel him to leave the ranks of the Muslims struggling against their opponents. He took part in the Friday and other congregational prayers. He accepted his share of the booty of that time. He always gave sincere counsel to the Caliphs and was counted as one of their advisers.
During the war of the Muslims against the Iranians the Caliph then intended to take part in the fighting personally. Imam Ali said to him: "Do not go to the front, for so long as you are in Madina, the enemy thinks that even if the whole Muslim army is wiped out, you will send reinforcement from the centre. But if you personally go to the battlefield, they will say: Here the mainstay of the Arabs is. And then they will concentrate all their forces to kill you, and if they kill you, the Muslims will be totally demoralized".2
That was the regular policy that Imam Ali pursued. But he never accepted any post under the Caliphs. He did not consent to be a military commander, the governor of a province, the Amir of Hajj, nor did he accept any other such appointment for its acceptance would have meant the renunciation of his own well-established claim. In other words, the acceptance of an official post would have been something more than mere cooperation and preservation of Islamic unity. Although he himself did not accept any post, he did not prevent his relatives and friends from accepting such posts, because that did not mean the endorsement of the Caliphate.
Imam Ali's behaviour in this respect was very graceful and a sign of his dedication to the Islamic objectives. While others divided, he united; while others tore apart, he patched up.
Abu Sufyan tried to take advantage of the displeasure of Imam Ali. He pretended to be a well-wisher of him and tried to wreak his own vengeance by showing respect to the Holy Prophet's legatee, but Imam Ali was shrewd enough not to be hoodwinked by him. He with his hand struck Abu Sufyan's chest as a sign of rejection of his offer and turned him away. (See Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 5)
Abu Sufyans and Hayy ibn Akhtabs are always busy with their evil designs. Hayy ibn Akhtabs' finger can be seen in many happenings. It is the duty of the Muslims, especially the Shi'ah to keep Imam Ali's traditions in this respect before their eyes and not to be deceived by Abu Sufyans and Hayy ibn Akhtabs.
These were the objections of those who oppose the question of leadership and this is our reply to them.
What is amazing is that some other people raise objections quite contrary to these objections. This group wants the question of Islamic leadership to become rather a regular pursuit. It wants this question to be discussed in season and out of season and repeated like a slogan. But this group is not interested in its being dealt with in a scientific and instructive way. It wants to keep the feelings strained, but is not interested in satisfying intellectual quest or sharpening wits. And that is what the enemy wishes. Otherwise if the question is discussed in a learned manner, there is no reason why it should become a pursuit?
Imamah And Dialectic Logic
An Extract From Notes
Dialectic logic denies that society needs guidance or leadership, According to this logic at the most society needs an intellectual and leader to bring inequities, contradictions and inequalities existing in society to the consciousness of the masses so that dialectic movement may be initiated. As this movement is compulsive, the passage from thesis and anti-thesis to synthesis is unavoidable. Therefore society automatically traverses its course and in the end attains perfection.
The leaflet3 - Leadership, Imamah, Dialectic, says: "One of the important questions concerning leadership and Imamah, especially the Islamic conception of Imamah is: What is the role of the so-called intellectual? Is his duty and responsibility merely to depict the inequities and inequalities, awaken the consciousness of the exploited classes and inculcate the existence of real class contradiction in the mind of the deprived masses? Is it true that once the masses become conscious of the existing contradictions, society moves forward -automatically and dialectically".
The fact is that above all other things society needs leadership, guidance and Imamah. Development is not the essential result of the contradictions. Development is not possible without guidance and leadership. Dr. Ali Shariati in the last pages of his booklet, Wherefrom to Begin has elaborately discussed this question under the heading, Responsibility and Mission of an Intellectual. He says: "Briefly the responsibility of an intellectual is to transmit the inequities within society to the self-consciousness of the people of that society. Then society performs its own movement."
Anyhow, after a few lines he makes some remarks, which are contrary to the above statement, and support society's need of guidance and leadership.
Dr. Shariati says: "It has been supposed that from the point of view of leadership an intellectual has no responsibility. Dialectic contradiction chooses its own way. An intellectual's duty is confined to portraying contradictions and rousing the underprivileged classes against the ruling classes.4
"But only after a few lines he talks of "determining a solution and the common ideals of society and of inculcating zeal and a sense of common faith ...." These remarks are contrary to the theory that society performs its own movement. When Dr Shariati speaks of dialectic corollary of the triangle of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis and of compulsory development, he is consistent, but when he makes his subsequent remarks, he speaks against his own postulates.
Leadership And Protection Of Faith
The scholastic theologians have greatly emphasized that Imam is the protector and preserver of faith and religion. Probably it is supposed that he protects religion in the same way as a building is first erected and then it is maintained and protected against a possible damage by rain, wind etc. Hence there appears to be no need that a building built by an unrivalled builder should be preserved by a person having almost the same degree of skill as the original builder. For example there has never been felt any need that there should exist some persons of the calibre of those who created the Masjid Shah, Ali Qapu, the dome of Masjid Shaykh Lutfullah, the Bayasanqari inscription of Masjid Gowhar Shad, the writings of Meer and Bayasanqar, the hand-written Qur'ans and other master-pieces.
But the fact is that a damage to religion is not a simple affair. According to psychological and sociological principle as soon as a revolutionary movement succeeds and the enemy despairs of continuing his face to face confrontation, he ceases to resist it openly and on the basis of his assessment of his own advantage, he sometimes even joins the movement, not because he has really been converted to it, but purely with a view to exploit its success. He utilizes the movement for his own ends without having faith in its spirit and objectives. That is what happened during the constitutional movement of Iran.
The opponents of the constitutional government joined the movement, and pretended to be its staunch supporters. Ayanuddawlah and Sadr ul Ashraf became prime ministers of the constitutional government. Such people not only preserve the external features of the movement, but also try to furnish it with further adornments. Anyhow, they destroy its spirit, its reality and its core, and empty it from within. In the words of Imam Ali in this process, "Islam is overturned as a pot is overturned."5
Thus they divert the movement from its right course, preserving its shape and appearance but altering its content and nature. As most people are only superficial observers and prone to take things for their face value, they remain happy and satisfied, for they find the externalities safe to the utmost extent. They do not realize that the fundamentals have vanished. It is here that mature thinking and deep observation are required. When Imam Ali said: "In every generation we have irreproachable successors who defend us against the deviation of the fanatics and the pretensions of the liars", he might have referred to the Holy Imams themselves or to the honest scholars who keep a watch on the people's belief in the Imams.
It may be mentioned that struggle against innovations in religion is not confined to those cases in which a law is openly violated or something that has nothing to do with religion is intentionally introduced into religion. Sometimes people's way of thinking in regard to religion is so perverted that they begin to have aversion to right thinking. What we mean to emphasize is that there is no fear of any harm being incurred by Islam from outside the Muslim world. The Qur'an says: "Those who disbelieve have now despaired of doing any damage to your religion. Therefore do not fear them; but have fear of Me." But there exists a definite threat to Islam from inside. In this connection the greatest threat is posed not by those who commit abominable sins out of lust etc., but by the hypocrisy of those who are afraid of opposing Islam openly.
They wear a mask of Islam on their face and try to achieve their nefarious ends under the cover of Islamic way of life, a very heavy cover indeed. They devoid Islam of its content, leaving intact its shape and appearance by changing its courseand its goal and altering its meaning. 6 The simple-minded Muslims must be aware of the fraud of this group.
- 1. Nahjul Balaghah, Hadith n. 317.
قَالَ لَهُ بَعْضُ الْيَهُودِ: مَا دَفَنْتُمْ نَبِيَّكُمْ حَتَّى اخْتَلَفْتُمْ فِيهِ. فَقَالَ عليه السلام لَهُ: إِنَّمَا اخْتَلَفْنَا عَنْهُ لَا فِيهِ وَ لَكِنَّكُمْ مَا جَفَّتْ أَرْجُلُكُمْ مِنَ الْبَحْرِ حَتَّى قُلْتُمْ لِنَبِيِّكُمْ اجْعَلْ لَنا إِلهاً كَما لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ قالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ .
Some Jews said to Amir al-Mu'minin, peace be upon him; You had not buried your Prophet when you picked up differences about him, when Amir al-mu'minin replied: We did not differ about him but we differed after him (i.e. about his succession); whereas your feet had not yet dried after coming out of the river (Nile) when you began asking your Prophet: Make you for us a god as they have gods of their own. Said he; 'Verily you are a people behaving ignorantly. '(Qur'an, 7:138).
- 2. Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 146.
- 3. Please refer to our footnote of the booklet, Wherefrom to Begin, page 39.
- 4. In one of his footnotes on the booklet, Wherefrom to Begin, page 39.
- 5. Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 103.
- 6. In his papers on "Alteration of the Qur'an" the author says that distortion of meaning indicates the retention of the wording of the Qur'an, but expounding it wrongly as, according to a well-known story Muawiyah did when he misinterpreted the wording of the prediction regarding the death of Ammar ibn Yasir. Another case of the distortion of meaning is the misinterpretation of the verse: "There is no hukm (decision, judgement) except by Allah." (Surah Yusuf 12:90). On the basis of this verse the Khawarij raised the slogan: La hukma illaillah (There is no decision except by Allah). Commenting on this slogan Imam Ali said: "Right words, wrong meaning". (See Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 40). This intentional or unintentional misinterpretation was disastrous and caused so much damage in the history of Islam. Another case is the misinterpretation of the tradition: "If you know (Allah), do whatever you like."


text:
South Australian Furry Community
|This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to WikiFur style and standards.
For specifics, check the edit history and talk page. Consult the Furry Book of Style for editing help.
|This article needs to be wikified (formatted according to the Furry Book of Style).
For specifics, check the edit history and talk page. Consult the Furry Book of Style for editing help.
- For the defunct Something Awful IRC channel see #safurs.
The South Australian Furry Community, also known as SA Furs or SAFurs.org, is a registered user only website for the South Australian furry community.
In 2006, Tech Wolfox opened the #Safurs IRC channel on Furnet, which attracted furs from Australia and the around the world. SA Furs frequently meet for coffee nights and often help organize events for regional furmeets such as MiDFur.
- Addresses:
- Website: http://safurs.forumotion.com
- Gallery: http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll80/SaFurs/
- Forum: http://safurs.forumotion.com
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/safurs/
- IRC: irc://irc.furnet.org/safurs
- Founder: Tech Wolfox
- Administrators: Skandian, Oracle
Ran from-to:
- IRC: 2006 - present
- Website:
- ? - October 2007
- February 2008 - January 2010 (safurs.ausfa.org)
- February 2010 - December 2013 (safurs.net)
- December 2013 - Present (safurs.forumotion.com)
Shutdown (2007)[edit]
SAFurs.org went offline in October 2007, due to failure of the server hardware and consequent loss of data. This, coupled with internal conflicts within the group, a lack of administrative support, and the availability of the Furstralia forums, led to a meeting of senior group members where the decision was made to not re-establish safurs.org.
Online (2008)[edit]
In February 2008, SAFurs.org was reinstated by CynWolfe, as part of the infrastructure building under the Australian Furry Association. The site took off after an awkward start resulting from some bad promotion by some SAfurs who started arguments on the Furstralia forums.
Move (2010)[edit]
In February 2010, SAFurs was moved from safurs.ausfa.org to the safurs.net domain, and no longer run as a subsidiary of the Australian Furry Association. However, SAFurs remains linked to RADFur. The contents of the old site were lost in the move.
Move (2013)[edit]
In December 2013, SAFurs was moved from safurs.net to the safurs.forumotion.com forum after the safurs.net domain expired and Firey moved away from the group. The contents of the old forum were lost in the move.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We allow our users to upload images (Banners).
The user can then place one or more text areas areas on the banner by dragging and selecting an area on top of the image (and specify text alignment, color, font type etc).
The text within each text area will include replacement %TAGS%. The replacement %TAGS% will be replaced with variable text (e.g. company name) and we will then generate a unique banner for each company.
Our application is written in PHP.
Please contact me should you be interested in being paid to complete this cool job
We are running IM 3.4.1 (according to my dev...does that sound right??) running on Ubuntu / AWS.
PAID: Banner creation
Do you need consulting from ImageMagick experts and are willing to pay for their expertise? Or are you well versed in ImageMagick and offer paid consulting? If so, post here otherwise post elsewhere for free assistance.
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1


text:
Year: 2007
Make: Genie
Model: TZ34/20 (34-ft Lift Height, 40-ft Work Height)
Hours: 544
Includes: Trailer-Mounted Boom, Electric Power, Good Load Tested Batteries, On-Board Battery Charger, Hydraulic Outriggers, All Standard Features, Unit is in Good Condition and 100% Job-Site Ready.
* (Price based upon 24-60 calculated financing options, subject to credit approval, subject to prior sale, cost of freight not always included)
About TriStar Aerial Lift & Equipment Sales, Inc.
TriStar Aerial is a high volume dealer of construction equipment, we are constantly adding to our inventory of amazing deals that will fit your needs and your budget. We have 9 major off lease holding yards across the US and Canada so your next purchase is not that far away. TriStar is your one stop shop for all your heavy equipment needs, from Parts, Attachments, Safety Decals, Cab Enclosures, etc.


text: A NY city agency said Friday that it has asked for a review of its policies and whether they were followed when it allowed more than 400 HIV-positive children in foster care to be enrolled in tests of HIV drugs from the late 1980s to 2001. John Mattingly, commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services, said the inquiry would look into whether the agency acquired the necessary parental or guardian permissions to include the children in the research. The agency said that about 465 HIV-positive children were enrolled in drug tests between 1988 and 2001, the majority before 1996. The tests were conducted as researchers tried to figure out what kind of drugs would combat HIV and AIDS in children. What have we learnedin the 33 years since the end of the 40 year Tuskegee Syphilis experiment? Once again it is the most poor and defenseless put up as lab rats for corporate experimentation.


text:
To all our friends @CNNschools,
Today, Schools of Thought moves to a new home on CNN.com. The new CNN.com/education will continue to share education news and opinions that CNN gathers from around the world, while reporting on ideas, innovation and technology that are making schools evolve. We'll be helping families navigate education, from the hard good-bye at the pre-K door to the hugs outside college commencement.
We'll also keep the discussion going on Twitter @CNNschools, on Facebook at CNN Living, and will be working closely with CNN.com/Living and CNN.com/Parents, where we're already examining how parenthood and families are changing. Our friends at CNN Student News will continue to provide a commercial-free 10-minute news broadcast for middle and high school classrooms every weekday, as well.
Check out the new site, and good luck on the start of a new school year — there's always more to learn!
Jamie Gumbrecht, Donna Krache and John Martin
By Robyn Barberry, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Robyn Barberry teaches English and drama at a Maryland high school. With her husband, she manages Legends of the Fog, a haunted attraction with more than 200 teen volunteers. She has a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction from Goucher College and blogs about motherhood for The Catholic Review.
(CNN) - In Florida, a 64-year-old bus driver has been criticized for failing to physically intervene in a three-on-one fight that took place in July. The bus driver says he was afraid to step in. As a high school teacher, I can't blame him.
The adults who work in public schools are outnumbered. When a violent, hormone-fueled scene unfolds, it's our duty to quell the calamity with every resource we have in the name of safety. But where do we draw the line?
Early in my teaching career, I was afraid of some of the bigger boys at school, especially one. I could see he carried a great deal of hatred inside - for me, for his classmates, for the world. He was tall and muscular; he could have been an athlete, but his poor grades, bad attitude and spotty record kept him from playing sports.
One afternoon, as I waited outside my classroom door, I heard a scuffle behind me. The boy I feared and another, smaller boy were shoving each other by my white board. I stepped in, and told them to stop. When they didn't, I shouted louder and told another student, my go-to helper, to get another teacher. As the shoves turned to punches, rage grew in the larger boy's eyes. The other student asked him to stop, but he had thrust his hands around his neck. I tried to pull him free, but the large boy shoved, pressing the other student and my arm against the cinder block wall. I felt trapped and frightened, and thought I might black out. Just then, two male teachers pulled the boys apart and dragged them to the office.
"Are you OK?" a third teacher said. "Look at your hand!"
My wrist was red and swollen. It hurt, but not as much as knowing I wasn't safe in my own classroom. My neighbor teacher took over my class so that I could go to the office to fill out an incident report. I could barely grip the pen. Two police officers assigned to our school urged me to file assault charges against the boys, but I insisted they just hadn't seen me. I wanted to believe that they wouldn't hurt me, but I also wondered if the boy would retaliate if the law got involved.
Fortunately, my wrist was only sprained and I returned to work the next day in a cumbersome brace. But I kept wondering, what if the boy had pushed the other one harder? What if his anger was directed at me? Suppose it was my head that was smashed against that cinderblock wall? What if he'd had a weapon?
On the other side, what if adrenaline gave me undiscovered strength and I had hurt one of them? Could their parents sue me? Would I lose my job?
By Michael Kimmel, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Michael Kimmel is distinguished professor of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University. His new book, "Angry White Men," will be published by Nation Books in the fall.
(CNN) - Is your daughter a tomboy? Your son not especially into football? Does your daughter excel at math? Your son a skilled artist? Or does your daughter switch roles, relatively easily, from skinning her knees on a soccer field to worrying about what to wear to a party? Or does your son, like mine, come home sweaty and bruised from lacrosse practice only to sing gorgeously in the shower as a member of his high school a cappella group?
If your answers are yes - and probably most parents recognize some elements of these traits in their children - you can breathe a bit easier today. That is, at least, if you happen to live in Wood County, West Virginia.
That's because recently, under a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and its local affiliates, the Wood County Board of Education agreed to abandon for two school years its program of separating boys and girls into single-sex classes. The ACLU had filed a lawsuit on behalf of a mother and her daughters who claimed the sex segregation was a form of sex discrimination against girls.
This little-noted legal settlement gives all of us - parents, teachers, administrators, and kids themselves - something to think about: Are single-sex classes really an effective way to educate our children?
Historically, of course, single-sex schools - especially private schools and colleges - were the norm. But since the dawn of the 20th century, both educators and parents have seen them as historic anachronisms, especially for boys. Single-sex schools for girls may have challenged stereotypes, but single-sex schools for boys reproduced them, fostering what David Riesman and Christopher Jencks, in their monumental midcentury study, "The Academic Revolution," called "male arrogance."
Today, single-sex schools may provide some benefits, though these tend to be benefits that accompany the economic privilege of the families that can afford them. (That is, single sex private schools tend to also be schools for the elite.) But single-sex classes, in otherwise coeducational public schools, are entirely misguided.
(CNN) - A new high school opening in Atlanta this week will feature 11 stories of space for students - and a new rifle range. The space will be used by Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and rifle team members, and will be under the direction of a trained educator, CNN affiliate WSB reported. The range will be used for compressed air-powered pellet rifles, and is modeled after an existing range at another Atlanta high school, but some parents and students said it raised safety questions.
(CNN) - Most, if not all, super heroes wear cloaks and masks to hide their identity. But how about a burqa?
A new cartoon series in Pakistan is turning stereotypes on their head. It's centered around a woman who doesn't wear a burqa in the daytime but puts one on to transform into the "Burka Avenger" – and what's more, she's fighting for female education.
The cartoon is already the talk of the country and it hasn't even launched yet. "Burka Avenger" is a passion project of Pakistani pop star, Haroon.
"It was in 2010 and I was reading a lot of articles about girls' schools being shut down by extremists so that was in my mind," he told CNN after I met him at his studio.
"Living in Pakistan, all theses issues are staring you in the face constantly. So when you're creating art, whether it be music or anything else like a cartoon TV series - you want to incorporate social messages. I feel it's my duty to try and make a positive difference."
School teacher by day, by night the Burka Avenger (spelled with a 'k') dons a special burqa to protect girls' schools, fighting the bad guys trying to shut them down.."The Burka Avenger is a character called Jiya, orphaned as a child, adopted by a Kabbadi master, who is a master of this mystic martial art that I created, called Takht Kabbadi - the art of fighting with books and pens. It gives the message of the importance of education and that the pen is mightier than the sword," Haroon says.
By Pamela Brown, CNN
(CNN) - The windmilling fists and stomping feet rain down blows on the 13-year-old boy.
Trapped on the floor between the bus seats, he cries out as he receives fierce punch after vicious kick from the three bigger, older youths.
As the relentless assault unfolds, the driver of the Florida school bus alerts the dispatcher, pleading for aid.
But he doesn't physically step in to help.
The bus driver, at least according to his school's policy, did nothing wrong.
'Get somebody here quick'
The attack took place July 9 in Pinellas County, Florida. But the horrific cell phone video - and the surveillance video - came out only recently.
As the boy is pummeled, the bus driver John Moody yells at the assailants to leave the boy alone.
He also asks dispatchers to send help.
"You gotta get somebody here quick, quick, quick, quick," he says. "They're about to beat this boy to death over here."
"Please get somebody here quick. There's still doing it," he adds. "There's nothing I can do."
Moody, 64, says he was too afraid to step in.
"The three boys just jumped on him and started pounding on him. And I did all can," he told CNN affiliate WFLA. "I was looking. It was like I was in shock. I was petrified."
Not required to intervene
The ferocity of the attack left the 13-year-old with two black eyes and a broken arm.
"There was clearly an opportunity for him to intervene and or check on the welfare of the children or the child in this case and he didn't make any effort to do so," Chief Robert Vincent of Gulfport Police Department told the affiliate.
According to Pinellas County school policy, the bus driver isn't required to intervene, only to call dispatch.
He can step in, if he feels it's safe.
Other counties actually forbid drivers from physically stopping fights.
Follow @CNNschools on Twitter!
By Jennifer Liberto, CNNMoney
Washington (CNNMoney) - The House on Wednesday approved a bipartisan that ensures lower interest rates on loans for students heading to college this fall.
Members of the House voted 392 to 31 to lower rates for undergraduates taking out government loans this school year to 3.86% - cheaper than the 6.8% interest rate that kicked in on July 1. The new rates would be retroactive and apply to loans taken out after July 1.
The bill, which passed the Senate last week, will now go to the President Obama's desk to be signed into law.
It has provisions for rates to go higher in coming years.
By Angela Johnson
New York (CNN Money) - As children across the country start getting ready to say goodbye to summer, 17 states are preparing to offer shoppers tax breaks on back-to-school items.
The tax savings could amount to anywhere from 4% to 7% on everything from crayons to computers.
That savings could come in handy. Economic uncertainty, unemployment and a recent surge in gas prices are forcing parents to focus on necessities this school year, says Matthew Shay, chief executive of the National Retail Federation. Still, families with school-aged children are expected to spend an average of $635 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics during this year's back-to-school shopping season, down from $688 last year, the industry trade group found.
Before heading to the stores, shoppers in the states where these temporary breaks are being offered should research which items are tax exempt and the restrictions that apply, said Carol Kokinis-Graves, senior state tax analyst at CCH, a global provider of accounting and audit information.
In Florida, for example, clothing that costs less than $75 qualifies. But any item that costs more than that amount does not. Want a personal computer? You can get a tax break in Florida, but only if you opt for something that costs less than $750 - not that MacBook Air you may have been eying.
If you gotta' have that top-end Mac, try Missouri or North Carolina; those two states are offering breaks on computers worth up to $3,500.
(CNN) - A University of Southern California student said she reported a rape, and was told police won't pursue a case because the alleged rapist didn't orgasm. Another student said she was raped by her former boyfriend, and the campus brushed it off. The university says it takes sexual violence seriously, that it investigates cases and takes disciplinary action, but it's no replacement for the Los Angeles Police Department. Students have now formed the Student Coalition Against Rape, and the U.S. Department of Education is looking into how the university is handling cases of sexual violence.
It's not the first campus that has faced criticism in recent years for how it handled rape; the U.S. Department of Education has opened investigations into several universities.
By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
New Delhi (CNN) - The headmistress of the Indian school that authorities say served toxic lunches, killing 23 students, was arrested Wednesday, police said.
Meena Kumari, 36, was taken into custody on her way to a court where she had gone to surrender herself, police Superintendent Sujeet Kumar told CNN. She will be questioned Wednesday and taken before the court Thursday, he said.
Authorities had been working to track down Kumari, who had been at large since the July 16 incident.
The whereabouts of her husband, who is not named as an accused person in the case, are still not known, Kumar added. Police want to question him in connection with the case.
Pesticides have been found in the food and oil used in the school lunch that sickened 25 others in northern India's Bihar state, police said.


text:
Womens New Balance 997H Athletic Shoe - Cream / Multicolor
Fresh '90s style is back and better than ever in the new 997H Athletic Shoe from New Balance! A throwback look designed for modern comfort, the 997H Athletic Shoe features a mix of suede, leather, mesh, and synthetic materials and rocks a cushy foam midsole for premium all-day comfort.
Color: Cream/Multicolor
Style ID: 401808
- Uppers made with a mix of mesh, suede, leather, and synthetic materials
- Padded tongue and collar for added comfort and support
- Lace closure offers a secure fit
- Lightweight EVA midsole provides lasting comfort
- Durable rubber outsole delivers flexible traction
New Balance began as a Boston-based arch support company in the early 1900's, developed into a specialized shoe manufacturer in the 1970's, and has grown to become a leading global athletic products company. Today New Balance is a family of brands including New Balance, Dunham, PF Flyers, Aravon, Warrior and Brine. Since the days of selling arch supports to police officers and waiters, New Balance has been a brand concerned with meeting the needs of the everyday athlete. Part of producing superior footwear and athletic apparel is manufacturing it to fit all widths and sizes, because a better fit produces better performance. To ensure the best fitting, best performing shoes and apparel, we focus on improving our technology and production methods. We have maintained five manufacturing facilities in New England where we continue to rely on the skills and teamwork of our American workforce to produce a percentage of our athletic footwear. We have also remained strongly committed to a core set of company values that include integrity, teamwork and total customer satisfaction.
Point the camera at your feet to see the shoes!
Show Us Your Style
Show us your style by tagging us @journeys on social media.


text:
Practice, Analyze and Improve. Now on the Go!
All of Testbook and more in the palm of your hands! Practice thousands of questions for free while having fun! Take free quizzes
Testbook App gives you the easiest and smoothest test-taking experience on your mobile device.
Stay Updated With #1 Current Affairs App
The #1 app for Current Affairs on Google Play Store is just what you need while preparing for recruitment exams. Read short capsules, take instant quizzes and bookmark important news on the go. Get your daily, weekly and monthly quizzes in this tiny app.
Guaranteed to give you the most seamless preparation experience in English and Hindi!
Hear it directly from our students
"Testbook was the one and only Website/App that I ever used. The testbook test series is all you would need to get through. The simple user interface and the clarity of analysis they provide is best across all platforms that you may come across and that is exactly what is needed. Thank you testbook."
"I subscribed to testbook mocktests in both 2018 and 2019 and I found a lot of questions which needs out of the box thinking, which helped me to improve my problem solving skills."
"Choosing one from thousand is a difficult task, and I think I made a perfect choice by joining Testbook for my preparations."
"Testbook is one of the best test series that I have come across. It is the best for GATE aspirants as the level of questions is on par with the real exam."
"Constant improvement is possible only when we keep a track of our performance. Testbook's detailed analysis along with their high quality questions made me better and better with each test that I attempted."
"Testbook helped me a lot through their mock tests and speed tests. Your Youtube videos were quite knowledgeable, especially the Banking Awareness videos were awesome! Thank You Testbook."
"I have always been taking the help of Testbook. The questions are on par with the actual exams and help me prepare for the GATE exam. I also attempted various live tests and few reward quizzes. I am thankful to Testbook for helping me get an All India Rank of 154."
"I have been following Testbook since I gave the last year's SBI PO Prelims. Since then, I started following Testbook and bought the course pass near in the mid of August. My reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude, and General Awareness of Banking have improved exponentially. Thank you and please keep up the good work."
"The tests from basic concepts to the toughest helped me study in a proper manner."
"Marvellous and huge content and no compromise on quality at affordable prices with best collection of questions. Your test series is very helpful for me. It helped me a lot in clearing my concepts. Thank you Testbook team for all your support."
"I had taken the Testbook yearly pass in which the GATE test series helped me a lot. I was able to identify my weak areas and work on them accordingly. I am deeply grateful to Testbook for providing such an excellent test series which was on par with the actual GATE exam."
"I have scored 219/300 in AFCAT 1 2020 and Testbook helped me in solving tricky questions in time and what short techniques could be applied during those 2 hours."
"The Testbook Team has helped me very much in clearing the SBI PO 2018. This is my second attempt. And the difference this time is joining the SBI PO live course on Testbook, which enhanced my knowledge in each and every subject related to the exam. I sincerely thank each and every one from the Testbook team."
"I qualified for the written test of RRB Group D and I would like to thank the Testbook team for their efforts by providing the perfect study package for my exam. I always attempted the live test to gain confidence for the final exam. Thank you!"
"Testbook course for SI Prelims was very helpful because some questions asked in exam was directly from testbook course content and test series was amazing."


text:
AR has been hot on the list of future IT tech for 25 years. It has been used for various things since smartphones and tablets appeared but really hit the big time with the recent Pokemon craze.
To get an idea of the full potential of augmented reality, recognize that the web and all its impacts on modern life came from the convergence of two medium sized industries – telecoms and computing. Augmented reality will involve the convergence of everything in the real world with everything in the virtual world, including games, media, the web, art, data, visualization, architecture, fashion and even imagination. That convergence will be enabled by ubiquitous mobile broadband, cloud, blockchain payments, IoT, positioning and sensor tech, image recognition, fast graphics chips, display and visor technology and voice and gesture recognition plus many other technologies.
Just as you can put a Pokemon on a lawn, so you could watch aliens flying around in spaceships or cartoon characters or your favorite celebs walking along the street among the other pedestrians. You could just as easily overlay alternative faces onto the strangers passing by.
People will often want to display an avatar to people looking at them, and that could be different for every viewer. That desire competes with the desire of the viewer to decide how to see other people, so there will be some battles over who controls what is seen. Feminists will certainly want to protect women from the obvious objectification that would follow if a woman can't control how she is seen. In some cases, such objectification and abuse could even reach into hate crime territory, with racist, sexist or homophobic virtual overlays. All this demands control, but it is far from obvious where that control would come from.
As for buildings, they too can have a virtual appearance. Virtual architecture will show off architect visualization skills, but will also be hijacked by the marketing departments of the building residents. In fact, many stakeholders will want to control what you see when you look at a building. The architects, occupants, city authorities, government, mapping agencies, advertisers, software producers and games designers will all try to push appearances at the viewer, but the viewer might want instead to choose to impose one from their own offerings, created in real time by AI or from large existing libraries of online imagery, games or media. No two people walking together on a street would see the same thing.
Interior decor is even more attractive as an AR application. Someone living in a horrible tiny flat could enhance it using AR to give the feeling of far more space and far prettier decor and even local environment. Virtual windows onto Caribbean beaches may be more attractive than looking at mouldy walls and the office block wall that are physically there. Reality is often expensive but images can be free.
Even fashion offers a platform for AR enhancement. An outfit might look great on a celebrity but real life shapes might not measure up. Makeovers take time and money too. In augmented reality, every garment can look as it should, and that makeup can too. The hardest choice will be to choose a large number of virtual outfits and makeups to go with the smaller range of actual physical appearances available from that wardrobe.
Gaming is in pole position, because 3D world design, imagination, visualization and real time rendering technology are all games technology, so perhaps the biggest surprise in the Pokemon success is that it was the first to really grab attention. People could by now be virtually shooting aliens or zombies hoarding up escalators as they wait for their partners. They are a little late, but such widespread use of personal or social gaming on city streets and in malls will come soon.
AR Visors are on their way too, and though the first offerings will be too expensive to achieve widespread adoption, cheaper ones will quickly follow. The internet of things and sensor technology will create abundant ground-up data to make a strong platform. As visors fall in price, so too will the size and power requirements of the processing needed, though much can be cloud-based.
It is a fairly safe bet that marketers will try very hard to force images at us and if they can't do that via blatant in-your-face advertising, then product placement will become a very fine art. We should expect strong alliances between the big marketing and advertising companies and top games creators.
As AI simultaneously develops, people will be able to generate a lot of their own overlays, explaining to AI what they'd like and having it produced for them in real time. That would undermine marketing use of AR so again there will be some battles for control. Just as we have already seen owners of landmarks try to trademark the image of their buildings to prevent people including them in photographs, so similar battles will fill the courts over AR. What is to stop someone superimposing the image of a nicer building on their own? Should they need to pay a license to do so? What about overlaying celebrity faces on strangers? What about adding multimedia overlays from the web to make dull and ordinary products do exciting things when you use them? A cocktail served in a bar could have a miniature Sydney fireworks display going on over it. That might make it more exciting, but should the media creator be paid and how should that be policed? We'll need some sort of AR YouTube at the very least with added geolocation.
The whole arts and media industry will see city streets as galleries and stages on which to show off and sell their creations.
Public services will make more mundane use of AR. Simple everyday context-dependent signage is one application, but overlays would be valuable in emergencies too. If police or fire services could superimpose warning on everyone's visors nearby, that may help save lives in emergencies. Health services will use AR to assist ordinary people to care for a patient until an ambulance arrives
Shopping provide more uses and more battles. AR will show you what a competing shop has on offer right beside the one in front of you. That will make it easy to digitally trespass on a competitor's shop floor. People can already do that on their smartphone, but AR will put the full image large as life right in front of your eyes to make it very easy to compare two things. Shops won't want to block comms completely because that would prevent people wanting to enter their shop at all, so they will either have to compete harder or find more elaborate ways of preventing people making direct visual comparisons in-store. Perhaps digital trespassing might become a legal issue.
There will inevitably be a lot of social media use of AR too. If people get together to demonstrate, it will be easier to coordinate them. If police insist they disperse, they could still congregate virtually. Dispersed flash mobs could be coordinated as much as ones in the same location. That makes AR a useful tool for grass-roots democracy, especially demonstrations and direct action, but it also provides a platform for negative uses such as terrorism. Social entrepreneurs will produce vast numbers of custom overlays for millions of different purposes and contexts. Today we have tens of millions of websites and apps. Tomorrow we will have even more AR overlays.
These are just a few of the near term uses of augmented reality and a few hints as issues arising. It will change every aspect of our lives in due course, just as the web has, but more so.


text:
Create an Unforgettable College Experience
Your education begins in the classroom, but it doesn't end there! At Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, you can create an unforgettable college experience by getting involved in student groups, campus ministry, fun social events, service learning opportunities, NCAA Division III athletics, studying abroad and more.
Impact the Campus Community
Mount Mary offers more than 25 student clubs and organizations and honor societies. You can gain leadership skills and make an impact on campus and in the community through Mount Mary's Student Government Association, Arches award-winning student newspaper, Programming Activities Council or campus ministry.
You also can play or cheer on Mount Mary's Blue Angels basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis or volleyball athletic teams.
Have Fun on Campus
Each year there are many fun social events to look forward to such as grocery bingo, open mic nights and pre-DVD release movie nights. Start your campus involvement with the Weeks of Welcome—a two-week period at the beginning of each semester devoted to welcoming new students and energizing new students to start another semester.
Also keep your calendar open for annual events such as the Fall Festival, Christmas on the Mount, the Multicultural Fair and Women's Leadership Institute speakers. If you live on campus, resident assistants will schedule weekly programs and the Caroline Hall Council provides biweekly Cocoa Mochas!
Check your email for the Student Engagement Office's weekly e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on upcoming activities.
Explore Milwaukee
On weekends (and even during the week) you can take advantage of Mount Mary's convenient location near Mayfair Mall and Tosa Village to go shopping, eat at area restaurants and go to the movie theater.
You also can go to Brewers' baseball or Buck's basketball games, explore downtown Milwaukee and the lakefront, visit museums, and go to concerts, festivals and other fun events. Learn more about things to do in Milwaukee.