text: >> One question we are pursuing is could the arrayobject get into the >> core without a particular ufunc object. Most see this as >> sub-optimal, but maybe it is the only way. > > > Since all the artithmetic operations are in ufunc that would be > suboptimal solution, but indeed still a workable one. I think replacing basic number operations of the arrayobject should simple, so perhaps a default ufunc object could be worked out for inclusion. > >> I appreciate some of what Paul is saying here, but I'm not fully >> convinced that this is still true with Python 2.2 and up new-style >> c-types. The concerns seem to be over the fact that you have to >> re-implement everything in the sub-class because the base-class will >> always return one of its objects instead of a sub-class object. > > > I'd say that such discussions should be postponed until someone > proposes a good use for subclassing arrays. Matrices are not one, in > my opinion. > Agreed. It is is not critical to what I am doing, and I obviously need more understanding before tackling such things. Numeric3 uses the new c-type largely because of the nice getsets table which is separate from the methods table. This replaces the rather ugly C-functions getattr and setattr. -Travis


text:
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make money, specially working from home or to have an extra income on the side with minimum investments required.
It is basically that you sell other people's products and services online and keep commission for being the middle hand.
It has allowed people from different backgrounds to make money, and many times to the level that they started a full-time career online.
Some of the biggest reasons are that being an affiliate online does not require any sort of background, education, or experience that most people think it does.
Only thing you need to consider is where do you start?
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text:
The Art of Conversation: The Perfect Ice-breaker!
AbeBooks Seller Since January 6, 2003Quantity: 2
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AbeBooks Seller Since January 6, 2003Quantity: 2
About this Item
Bibliographic Details
Title: The Art of Conversation: The Perfect ...
Publisher: Art of Conversation
Publication Date: 2006
Binding: Cards
Book Condition: Brand New
About this title
Designed to revive The Art of Conversation, TAOC� is the ideal way to truly enjoy connecting with family, friends and new acquaintances. Carefully researched, developed and tested, even teens will enjoy turning off the screens and sharing ideas and experiences. With over 300 fascinating and conversation building questions, this game is for everyone.About the Author:
Keith Lamb migrated from Norwich, Norfolk England to Australia in 1970 and formed the successful, multi-cultural glam-rock band Hush. As lead singer and co-writer for much of Hush's material, he lead the band to great national success, with many top ten hits such as Glad All Over and Boney Maronie. Keith toured Australia and New Zealand almost continuously for almost a decade and was a regular compere on the music shows such as Countdown, Sounds Unlimited, Hey Hey It's Saturday, GTK and more.
After Hush, Keith performed in the first production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, He produced many successful albums e.g. Pioneers (the poetry of Banjo Patterson set to music) which went triple platinum. Keith co-wrote many songs for Status Quo, including several top 10 hits such as Ol' Rag Blues and Over the Edge. He has supported many British Rock acts, such as The Who. The ABC's Australian Story made a documentary, narrated by Louise, tracing some of Keith's life, from the Hush days to the present. Hush starred in the recent Countdown Spectacular Tour of Australia in 2006 to high acclaim.
Louise Howland is an Australian who has traveled widely and worked in many fields, including as a psychiatric nurse and music teacher. Amongst her loves are nature, books, writing, music, art and travel. Louise has a natural gift for lateral thinking. Louise formed the company Rajmahal in 1986. Rajmahal (www.rajmahal.com.au) manufactures and wholesales unique embroidery designs and materials, exporting to the USA, Canada, UK, South Africa, Turkey and various countries in Europe. Louise is a monthly columnist for Embroidery & Cross Stitch magazine. She is studying for a Masters degree in Children's communication. Louise and Keith are passionate about conversation and its benefits. They have researched and developed TAOC� as a labour of love over many years.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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text:
"Should I hold up traffic and offer her something?"
"Maybe she's doesn't really need anything."
"Is this woman really homeless?"
Then the light changed and as I was licking my ice cream, it hit me. Compassion.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to save me. Yes, me. I may not have been holding a sign on the corner, but I needed Jesus to change my situation many times before. God sent me someone and some situations that would introduce me to His Son, Jesus.
So, I just about confused the other drivers as I swiftly made a move to turn around and go back. To my daughter's surprise, she asked,
"Daddy, why did you do that?"
I told her I just wanted to help the lady on the corner.
You see, I am not really sure of the woman's situation, but I am sure of this - God's mercy is given to us daily through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, when we accept it and believe it. When we have an opportunity to show comfort and compassion, we should think about how we got/get through our sufferings.
God has mercy on me.


text:
Products By
Product Innovations from Gates
You can count on Gates to supply innovative new products that push the boundaries of materials science. We engineer our products to continually exceed expectations and outperform industry standards. We are constantly expanding our product catalog and services to support every facet of our customer's operations.
Gates PowerGrip® Idlers are engineered with OE-quality or OE-exact fit and performance.
|Part #
|Product #
We take our OE-exact products and we work to make them better. Gates engineers analyze failure modes of OE designs, test them under various driving and speed conditions, and make continuous adjustments to improve performance, durability, and quality. So when you're with Gates automotive aftermarket, you're getting even better than the original.


text:
Metro: Last Light preview
While last year's E3 demo focused on the action-oriented gameplay of Metro: Last Light, this year's demo focuses on the survival horror half--with an emphasis on survival.
What struck me the most about the hands-off demo was how immersed I was. It may be a world filled with literal monsters, but there are so many subtle animations that trick you into thinking "this is happening." When an enemy jumps on you and claws at your helmet, you can see cracks starting to form. When you shotgun a monster and its guts splatter on your face, it doesn't simply fade away as in most games. No, you must actually wipe the chunky matter off your visor. It's little moments like those that make the experience all the more engrossing. "We want people to remember their time here," a 4A Games producer said as he took the stage. Certainly, what I've seen of Last Light so far has been memorable. The team is aiming to make the environment a character of its own. The haunting post-apocalyptic world crafted for Metro looks beautiful. The visuals are stunning, and each environment has a disquieting atmosphere. Moving from a dark, dusty underground tunnel to an overrun Russian metropolis caught in a ferocious storm did a good job of showing exactly what 4A's engine is capable of. The goal for Metro: Last Light is to create a single player campaign that isn't simply a "shooting gallery training mode for multiplayer." It's a refreshing sentiment in an industry that's become so heavily invested in online modes. But, while we're certainly drawn in by the focused storytelling 4A is trying to achieve in Last Light, one can't help but wonder if it may be too scripted. With oxygen always in short supply, you'll be forced to be on your feet--but will you be able to stop and smell the nuclear roses?
Click for all new Metro: Last Light screenshots
Watch the Shacknews E3 2012 page to follow all our coverage of this year's show. This preview is based on a hands-off demo shown at a pre-E3 event.
From The Chatty
Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Metro: Last Light preview.
While last year's E3 demo focused on the action-oriented gameplay of Metro: Last Light, this year's demo focuses on the survival horror half--with an emphasis on survival.


text:
An umbrella table provides you with more than just a comfortable place to sit; it adds color and texture to your space, too. You'll need to have an idea of where the table will go, what size umbrella it needs to support and how many people it will need to seat comfortably. You have several options when it comes to making an umbrella table for your deck:
A table is an intermediate project, so if you've already built a few simple projects and have some tools on hand, you should be able to create your own table in a weekend. You have a few options for creating a table - you can work from scratch, refurbish or refinish another table or work from a kit. Each approach has its own benefits -- here's what you need to know about creating an umbrella table:
Start with the umbrella. Choose an umbrella you like; you'll need to pick a style, fabric and color that works for your home. Starting with the umbrella ensures your finished table suits it perfectly.
Full DIY: Use free plans and construction lumber to make a table to match your umbrella. If you are using wood from the lumber yard, you'll need to finish it in some way, since it will be outdoors. Exterior paints and finishes work equally well and offer a wide range of choices when it comes to color and style.
Build from a kit: DIY stores offer kits that allow you to create a table without having to have a lot of tools. Most require a drill, hammer and nails to complete. In some cases, a hole for the umbrella will be pre-drilled, otherwise you'll need to add one.
Convert another table: A table you've used indoors can be converted to an umbrella table; you'll need to cover it with a more exterior friendly finish. IN most cases, painting is your best option, though you can add a clear exterior finish to a stained table as needed.
Cut a hole: Use a hole saw attachment (sold in DIY stores) to drill a hole in the center of the table for your umbrella pole. A 2" hole will accommodate most umbrella poles.
Position your table in place, add the umbrella, then enjoy your new space.
Making your own table allows you to create a custom look for your yard and to highlight the best features of your patio or porch, too. Allow at least a weekend to create your table, then enjoy for seasons to come.


text:
Netflix has cancelled Jessica Jones and The Punisher, the two remaining Marvel shows on its roster. That means the streaming service has now cancelled all six Marvel shows it had licenses for, paving the way for the Disney-owned Marvel to find its new home on the Disney+ streaming service which will launch later this year.
"Marvel's The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix," a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. "In addition, in reviewing our Marvel programming, we have decided that the upcoming third season will also be the final season for Marvel's Jessica Jones.
"We are grateful to Marvel for five years of our fruitful partnership and thank the passionate fans who have followed these series from the beginning."
Netflix subscribers will still be able to watch both shows, however. Because they're co-owned by Netflix, they will remain on the service for the foreseeable future. The same goes for the Marvel shows Iron Fist, Daredevil and Luke Cage, as well as the ensemble superhero series The Defenders, which sees all the above heroes join forces.
Daredevil, Iron Fist and Luke Cage were all cancelled at the end of last year.
It's thought that all or some of these shows will find a new life on Disney+ when it launches at the end of this year.
Source: The Verge


text:
A great interview with Joe Bonadonna, fellow Heroika author
…and meet author Joe Bonadonna, the master of heroic fantasy, a lover of Captain Blood and Greek mythology, and a force behind many hellish stories in Heroes in Hell series!
Joe Bonadonna has written the heroic fantasy novel, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser, published by iUniverse; a sword and sorcery pirate adventure called Waters of Darkness (with David C. Smith), published by Damnation Books; and the space opera, Three Against The Stars, published by Airship 27 Productions. He's also written stories for several anthologies, including: Azieran: Artifacts and Relics, published by Heathen Oracle; Griots: Sisters of the Spear, published by MVmedia; and Sinbad: The New Voyages, Vol. 4, published by Airship 27 Productions. For Perseid Press, Joe has stories appearing in Poets in Hell, Heroika: Dragon Eaters, and Doctors in Hell, and has just finished a novella for the next volume…
View original post 3,225 more words


text:
Jewish author and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel has said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be arrested and indicted for intent to commit a crime against humanity.
In a recent interview with the German-based dpa, the 84-year-old Holocaust survivor said that the Iranian leader is serious when he says Israel should be wiped off the map.
"Ahmadinejad has two goals: one goal is to become nuclear and the second goal is to destroy the State of Israel. The fact is he means it," Wiesel told dpa.
"If he goes to Germany or here to New York he should be arrested and brought to The Hague and indicted and charged with intent to commit a crime against humanity. That would solve the problem. He should be arrested, he deserves it," he said.
"I learned from history to trust the enemy threats," noted Wiesel.
For years, Ahmadinejad has verbally attacked Israel and threatened to destroy the Jewish State. In February he claimed that "the period of the Zionists is over" and that "(the Zionists) should give their place to others."
A week earlier the Iranian president called on all Muslims to mobilize their resources to uproot Zionism.
He made the remarks in his speech to the 26th international conference on Islamic Unity, saying that the prime goal of the Muslims should be terminating the issue of Zionism.
"Under the circumstances that the corrupt, uncultured and murderous Zionists are occupying and killing oppressed people, we should not sit idly by," Ahmadinejad said.
Several months ago Ahmadinejad labeled Israel "the axis of unity of the world hegemonic powers."
"It has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs, and behind the scenes of the major power circles, in political, media, monetary and banking organizations in the world, they have been the decision makers..." the Iranian president claimed.


text:
August Employment Data for Rhode Island and the Nation
Once again, the headline is that Rhode Island's unemployment rate fell another tenth of a percent, to 10.7%. And at least it's true, this month, that employment went up instead of down. (The past few drops in the unemployment rate were a result of people giving up their job searches, so they weren't counted in the statistics.)
But people continued to leave the state's labor force, and the employment increase wasn't exactly dramatic, giving the impression that our decline hasn't turned around, but has edged toward stagnation.
Broadening the view, though, there's almost (almost) a silver lining in that the rest of the country declined more rapidly, as Connecticut shows dramatically in the following chart:
And it wasn't just Connecticut and Massachusetts. An update of the nationwide chart's from the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity's review of employment data up to July shows that, while Rhode Island is still performing uniquely badly, the rest of the country is drifting.
Of the following two issues related to Rhode Island's public schools, which one is a greater concern?


text: It was a steamy tropical land south of the equator; swamps, mountains, high rainfall, a primal jungle teaming with the land-pioneers – insects. Amphibians came ashore to harvest the vegetation and insects and some evolved to stay on land. They were the very first vertebrates to colonise the land; lizard-like Tetrapods crawling and slithering through the mud. The high rain fall brought floods of silt from the mountains, quickly filling and burying the tracks of the Tetrapod.


text:
A "table of the isotopes".
Stable atoms form a black line along the middle. To each side is instability. Could there be a clue here, for what reactions might "go" and what might not?
Here is a segment from the middle:
If you click on it you can get a bigger more readable version
If you look at Nickel, it has two different stable isotopes that have a stable Copper isotope right next to them. In theory, shoving a Proton into those Nickel atoms would result in another stable atom. Just one mass number higher. (Rows 34 and 36).
Looking at line 33, Ni(61) has no stable copper next to it, but on a diagonal down to the right, we find Cu(63) I would speculate that a Deuterium would work for that set. Adding 2 mass units, but only one proton. (Which implies it might be very interesting to try an e-Cat with a mix of deuterium and hydrogen and see if more of the Ni reacts to copper…)
An interesting question would be why Cu does not continue on to Zn. Is there some significant difference in ion size, or how hydrogen binds to copper? I presume there is some "special" catalytic effect for Nickel and Palladium for these kinds of reaction, just as they work as catalysts for others. (Perhaps that formation of hypothetical 'Atomic Hydrogen' on their surfaces).
The chart also suggests other metals that could be tested, and which gases (hydrogen, deuterium, tritium) might be most likely to work. So looking at line 32; Fe Iron has some tendency to act as a catalyst, as does Co Cobalt. Trying them with Hydrogen, or Co with deuterium, both might show activity under some circumstances. Similarly, line 30 with Cr Chromium and Mn Manganese. Further up the chart (click the link to the big full sized one) we find K Potassium has two isotopes with stable neighbor Ca Calcium on lines 20 and 22.
Scrolling way down to lines 56-64, there are many stable Pd Palladium atoms. Only two of them have stable neighbors to the right, so more often one might get an unstable Ag Silver that could then do a decay and give a weak radiation signature. Another interesting one is line 78. Xe Xenon. A stable Cs Cesium next to it. Perhaps that is how the Papp engine worked? Though there is also a very interesting line 1 where deuterium and Helium3 are stable neighbors… and line 12 where Neon Ne(22) and Sodium Na(23) are stable neighbors. Might the Papp engine work better with selected noble gas isotopes and hydrogen? Lines 20 and 22 show two stable Ar Argon isotopes with two stable K Potassium neighbors that have two stable Ca Calcium neighbors. Perhaps Argon enrichment gives better odds?
Just as potentially useful, IMHO, is the information of "what not to check", at least not in an early screen. So Ca Calcium has many isotopes, and many of them stable, but only one on line 24 (out of 9 isotopes, 5 of them stable) has a hope of making a stable product. For Ni Nickel the lightest 6 isotopes are hopeless with Hydrogen ( 3 of them stable isotopes). The implication being that heavy isotope enrichment is a significant benefit. (And the corollary that deuterium might let the 'middle isotope' work). Pt Platinum (lines 110 to 120) has 9 isotopes (over a day in stability) of which 5 are stable, but only one of them on line 118 has a stable adjacent Au Gold. The odds of making Platinum "go" ought to be low. At Pb Lead and beyond, nothing has a stable neighbor to the right, so not worth testing (at least not until nothing else is left to test… one still might find a reaction that works, but gives 'decay products'. I suppose you could call that a feature if it demonstrated nuclear reactions happening…)
In my opinion, a screen for hydrogen absorption (formation of 'atomic hydrogen') along with any indication of catalytic properties, then a check against the "stable neighbors" list and potentially some isotopic concentration; would likely find the best candidates earliest. Also selected deuterium or even tritium candidates could be identified. Testing relative reaction rates with deuterium vs hydrogen in various isotopes could also test the theory (if stable reaction of any can can be demonstrated first…)
As one example, ZnH2 Zinc Hydride, is relatively easy to prepare, and is used as a reducing agent in organic chemistry. It ought to be a good candidate, with 6 isotopes ( 5 stable) where the heaviest two have a stable neighbor Ga Gallium to the right and line 37 has a stable diagonal neighbor. A hydrogen / deuterium mix has 3 out of 5 isotopes able to make a stable neighbor. Enrichment for heavier isotopes could also be used.
So I can foresee a search of just that sort. Which metals have an affinity for Hydrogen, some catalytic tendencies, and stable right or right diagonal isotopic neighbors.
From 22 to 28 is another interesting series. Ti Titanium. It has seemed to work, in some cases, with some occasional indications of decay products IIRC. It has 4 of 5 isotopes with neighbors that have various half lives, some many years long, that could form, then oh so slowly decay. So there might also be a class of materials that "works" but with more decay product signatures. As noted above, that might lend more evidence for what actually happens.
Early in April 1989 the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, embarked on a massive experimental campaign involving close to 50 scientists to investigate whether there was any basis to the reported claims of occurrence of "fusion reactions" at room temperature in Pd-D2O electrolysis cells. Deuterium gas/plasma loaded titanium targets as well as nickel-light hydrogen electrolytic systems were also studied for nuclear debris. Within weeks the production of neutrons and tritium was confirmed in over a dozen independent experimental configurations, with neutron yield being almost eight orders of magnitude smaller than that of tritium. This so called "branching ratio anomaly" has since been identified as a unique signature of lenr devices by other groups around the world. Autoradiography of deuterium gas/plasma loaded cold working titanium metal targets indicated that tritium production occurs primarily in localized hot spots, predominantly defect sites created during machining of the electrodes/targets.
It would be interesting to see what "decay modes" those shorter lived right isotopes have…
Were it not so toxic the Be Beryllium lines 5 & 6 are interesting in that both have stable right neighbors. And Be(9) has a stable diagonal right too, so a mix of ordinary water derived Hydrogen / Deuterium mix has 3 ways to work. (Though it doesn't form a hydride readily and I have no idea how much hydrogen is absorbed into it.)
In Conclusion
Well, that's the idea. Since we don't really know yet if hydrogen based transmutation of metals is real, or not; this is a highly speculative "enhancement" to a search that might do nothing.
Still, I think it is a sound "rule of thumb" for finding more likely places to test for reactivity and the more likely places where something might be found (if anything exists to find). It also hints at things, like why W Tungsten in a K Potassium salt solution might "go" when other things don't. The favorable neighbors of K, and looking at W (lines 104 to 114) the stable 4 isotopes have some long lived if not quite stable right neighbors, so perhaps makes something heavier that then emits particles to energize the K reactions "after a while". Looking at exactly what particles are emitted in such decays, and with what energies, might also be interesting. (A high speed proton, for example, whacking into a K, could be "just the ticket"…)
So I think this "thought tool" might have some use. If nothing else, it is an entertaining way to look at how the isotopes relate to each other. I do think the "suspected of working" set fits the hypothesis; so have some hope it actually has validity.
Time will tell.


text:
Fitness guru Richard Simmons, who has been hospitalized since Monday for what his rep told ABC News were "gastrointestinal issues," has posted a Facebook message to his fans assuring that he will be "feeling good and back home in a couple of days."
"Hello to everyone who has shown concern for me and sent their good wishes. You will never know how much it means to me. Aren't you sick of hearing and reading about me?! LOL Well by now you know that I'm not 'missing,' just a little under the weather. I'm sure I will be feeling good and back home in a couple of days.
This has reminded me that when you need help you can't be afraid to reach out and ask for it. We all think we should always be able to solve our problems all by ourselves and sometimes it's just bigger than we are. I reached out and I hope you will too," the message read.
Simmons has been in the news recently over reports that for about the past three years, he has been a recluse who never left the house or interacted with fans. A popular podcast in March, "Missing Richard Simmons," delved into his absence from the public eye and concluded that although he may be suffering from depression, he was ready to retire and leave the spotlight and was not under undue influence from his housekeeper or others.
The 68-year old exercise impresario closed his fitness studio Slimmons last year and had cut off contact with many of his fans and acquaintances, according to the podcast.


text:
Isaiah (US: /aɪˈzeɪ.ə/ or UK: /aɪˈzaɪ.ə/;[5][6] Hebrew: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, Yəšaʿyāhū, "God is Salvation")[7] was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.[8][9]
|8th century BC
|7th century BC
|Venerated in
Eastern Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy[1]
|May 9[3]
Thursday after the Feast of the Transfiguration (Armenian Apostolic Church)[4]
|Major works
|Book of Isaiah
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the prophet",[10] but the exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and the actual prophet Isaiah is complicated. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods between 740 BC and c. 686 BC, separated by approximately 15 years, and that the book includes dramatic prophetic declarations of Cyrus the Great in the Bible, acting to restore the nation of Israel from Babylonian captivity. Another widely held view is that parts of the first half of the book (chapters 1–39) originated with the historical prophet, interspersed with prose commentaries written in the time of King Josiah a hundred years later, and that the remainder of the book dates from immediately before and immediately after the end of the exile in Babylon, almost two centuries after the time of the historical prophet.[a]
The first verse of the Book of Isaiah states that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah (or Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah.[11] Uzziah's reign was 52 years in the middle of the 8th century BC, and Isaiah must have begun his ministry a few years before Uzziah's death, probably in the 740s BC. He may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh. Thus, Isaiah may have prophesied for as long as 64 years.[12]
According to some modern interpretations, Isaiah's wife was called "the prophetess",[13] either because she was endowed with the prophetic gift, like Deborah[14] and Huldah,[15] or simply because she was the "wife of the prophet".[12][16] They had two sons, naming the elder Shear-jashub, meaning "A remnant shall return",[17] and the younger Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, meaning, "Quickly to spoils, plunder speedily."[18]
Soon after this, Shalmaneser V determined to subdue the kingdom of Israel, taking over and destroying Samaria (722 BC). So long as Ahaz reigned, the kingdom of Judah was untouched by the Assyrian power. But when Hezekiah gained the throne, he was encouraged to rebel "against the king of Assyria",[19] and entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt.[20] The king of Assyria threatened the king of Judah, and at length invaded the land. Sennacherib (701 BC) led a powerful army into Judah. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians.[21] But after a brief interval, war broke out again. Again Sennacherib led an army into Judah, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem[22] Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians,[23] whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he "spread before the LORD".[24][12]
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying: "Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
this is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Whom hast thou taunted and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice? Yea, thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel!"[25]
According to the account in 2 Kings 19 (and its derivative account in 2 Chronicles 32) an angel of God fell on the Assyrian army and 185,000 of its men were killed in one night. "Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah. He made no more expeditions against either Southern Palestine or Egypt."[12][26]
The remaining years of Hezekiah's reign were peaceful.[27] Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh. The time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources.[12] Later Jewish tradition says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh.[28]
The book of Isaiah, along with the book of Jeremiah, is distinctive in the Hebrew bible for its direct portrayal of the "wrath of the Lord" as presented, for example, in Isaiah 9:19 stating, "Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire."[29]
In ChristianityEdit
The Ascension of Isaiah, a pseudepigraphical Christian text dated to sometime between the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 3rd, gives a detailed story of Isaiah confronting an evil false prophet and ending with Isaiah being martyred – none of which is attested in the original Biblical account.
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395) believed that the Prophet Isaiah "knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel". Jerome (c. 342–420) also lauds the Prophet Isaiah, saying, "He was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events."[30] Of specific note are the songs of the Suffering Servant, which Christians say are a direct prophetic revelation of the nature, purpose, and detail of the death of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Isaiah is quoted many times by New Testament writers.[31] Ten of those references are about the Suffering Servant, how he will suffer and die to save many from their sins, be buried in a rich man's tomb, and be a light to the Gentiles. The Gospel of John says that Isaiah "saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him."[32][non-primary source needed]
The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Isaiah the Prophet on May 9.[33] Isaiah is also listed on the page of saints for May 9 in the Roman martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church.[34]
Latter Day Saint movementEdit
The Book of Mormon quotes Jesus Christ as stating that "great are the words of Isaiah", and that all things prophesied by Isaiah have been and will be fulfilled.[35] The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants also quote Isaiah more than any other prophet from the Old Testament.[36] Additionally, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consider the founding of the church by Joseph Smith in the 19th century to be a fulfillment of Isaiah 11, the translation of the Book of Mormon to be a fulfillment of Isaiah 29,[37] and the building of Latter-day Saint temples as a fulfillment of Isaiah 2:2.[38]
In IslamEdit
Isaiah (Arabic: إِشَعْيَاء, romanized: Ishaʻyā') is not mentioned by name in the Quran or the Hadith, but appears frequently as a prophet in Islamic sources, such as Qisas Al-Anbiya and Tafsir.[39] Tabari (310/923) provides the typical accounts for Islamic traditions regarding Isaiah.[40] He is further mentioned and accepted as a prophet by other Islamic scholars such as Ibn Kathir, Al-Tha`labi and Kisa'i and also modern scholars such as Muhammad Asad and Abdullah Yusuf Ali.[41] According to Muslim scholars, Isaiah prophesied the coming of Jesus and Muhammad, although the reference to Muhammad is disputed by other religious scholars.[42] Isaiah's narrative in Islamic literature can be divided into three sections. The first establishes Isaiah as a prophet of Israel during the reign of Hezekiah; the second relates Isaiah's actions during the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib; and the third warns the nation of coming doom.[43][40] Paralleling the Hebrew Bible,[44] Islamic tradition states that Hezekiah was king in Jerusalem during Isaiah's time. Hezekiah heard and obeyed Isaiah's advice, but could not quell the turbulence in Israel.[45] This tradition maintains that Hezekiah was a righteous man and that the turbulence worsened after him. After the death of the king, Isaiah told the people not to forsake God, and warned Israel to cease from its persistent sin and disobedience. Muslim tradition maintains that the unrighteous of Israel in their anger sought to kill Isaiah.[45] In a death that resembles that attributed to Isaiah in Lives of the Prophets, Muslim exegesis recounts that Isaiah was martyred by Israelites by being sawn in two.[45]
In the courts of Al-Ma'mun, the seventh Abbasid caliph, Ali al-Ridha, the great-grandson of Muhammad and prominent scholar (Imam) of his era, was questioned by the High Jewish Rabbi to prove through the Torah that both Jesus and Muhammad were prophets. Among his several proofs, the Imam references the Book of Isaiah, stating "Sha'ya (Isaiah), the Prophet, said in the Torah concerning what you and your companions say: 'I have seen two riders to whom (He) illuminated earth. One of them was on a donkey and the other was on a camel. Who is the rider of the donkey, and who is the rider of the camel?'" The Rabbi was unable to answer with certainty. Al-Ridha goes on to state that "As for the rider of the donkey, he is 'Isa (Jesus); and as for the rider of the camel, he is Muhammad, may Allah bless him and his family. Do you deny that this (statement) is in the Torah?" The Rabbi responds "No, I do not deny it."[46]
In rabbinic literatureEdit
Allusions in Jewish rabbinic literature to Isaiah contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences that go beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Origin and callingEdit
According to the ancient rabbis, Isaiah was a descendant of Judah and Tamar,[47] and his father Amoz was the brother of King Amaziah.[48]
While Isaiah, says the Midrash, was walking up and down in his study he heard God saying, "Whom shall I send?" Then Isaiah said, "Here am I; send me!" Thereupon God said to him," My children are troublesome and sensitive; if you are ready to be insulted and even beaten by them, you may accept My message; if not, you would better renounce it".[49] Isaiah accepted the mission, and was the most forbearing, as well as the most patriotic, among the prophets, always defending Israel and imploring forgiveness for its sins. When Isaiah said, "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips",[50] he was rebuked by God for speaking in such terms of His people.[51]
His deathEdit
It is related in the Talmud that Rabbi Simeon ben Azzai found in Jerusalem an account wherein it was written that King Manasseh killed Isaiah. King Manasseh said to Isaiah, "Moses, your master, said, 'No man may see God and live';[52] but you have said, 'I saw the Lord seated upon his throne'";[53] and went on to point out other contradictions—as between Deuteronomy[54] and Isaiah 40;[55] between Exodus 33[56] and 2 Kings[57] Isaiah thought: "I know that he will not accept my explanations; why should I increase his guilt?" He then uttered the tetragrammaton, a cedar-tree opened, and Isaiah disappeared within it. King Manasseh ordered the cedar to be sawn asunder, and when the saw reached his mouth Isaiah died; thus was he punished for having said, "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips".[58]
A somewhat different version of this legend is given in the Jerusalem Talmud.[59] According to that version Isaiah, fearing King Manasseh, hid himself in a cedar-tree, but his presence was betrayed by the fringes of his garment, and King Manasseh caused the tree to be sawn in half. A passage of the Targum to Isaiah quoted by Jolowicz[60] states that when Isaiah fled from his pursuers and took refuge in the tree, and the tree was sawn in half, the prophet's blood spurted forth. The legend of Isaiah's martyrdom spread to the Arabs[61] and to the Christians as, for example, Athanasius the bishop of Alexandria (c. 318) wrote, "Isaiah was sawn asunder".[62]
According to rabbinic literature, Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh of Judah.[63]
In February 2018, archaeologist Eilat Mazar announced that she and her team had discovered a small seal impression which reads "[belonging] to Isaiah nvy" (could be reconstructed and read as "[belonging] to Isaiah the prophet") during the Ophel excavations, just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.[64] The tiny bulla was found "only 10 feet away" from where an intact bulla bearing the inscription "[belonging] to King Hezekiah of Judah" was discovered in 2015 by the same team.[65] Although the name "Isaiah" in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is unmistakable, the damage on the bottom left part of the seal causes difficulties in confirming the word "prophet" or a name "Navi", casting some doubts whether this seal really belongs to the prophet Isaiah.[66]
- ^ See the article "Book of Isaiah" for an extended overview of theories of its composition.
- ^ The Departure of Isaiah the Prophet.
- ^ Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, B. M. Wheeler, Appendix II
- ^ St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral, Holy Prophet Isaiah
- ^ "Holidays | Qahana.am".
- ^ Wells, John C. (1990). "Isaiah". Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 378. ISBN 978-0-582-05383-0.
- ^ Rippin, A., "S̲h̲aʿyā", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs.
- ^ New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, Tyndale Press, Wheaton, IL, 1987.
- ^ The Scofield Study Bible III, NKJV, Oxford University Press
- ^ De Jong, Matthijs J., Isaiah Among The Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies, BRILL, 2007, pp. 13–17
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible, Isaiah 38:1
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 1:1
- ^ a b c d e One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Isaiah". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible, Isaiah 8:3
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Judges 4:4
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 2 Kings 22:14–20
- ^ Coogan, Michael D. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, Oxford University Press, 2009, p.273.
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 7:3
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 8:3
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 2 Kings 18:7
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 30:2–4
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 2 Kings 18:14–16
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 36:2–22; 37:8
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 37:1–7
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 37:14
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 37:21–23
- ^ Sayce, Archibald Henry, The Ancient Empires of the East. Macmillan, 1884, p. 134.
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 2 Chr 32:23–29
- ^ Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 49b
- ^ Isaiah 9:19.
- ^ The Lives of the Holy Prophets, Holy Apostles Convent, ISBN 0-944359-12-4, page 101.
- ^ Graham, Ron. "Isaiah in the New Testament - Quotations Chart - In Isaiah Order".
- ^ Bible, John 12:41
- ^ "Prophet Isaiah in the Eastern Orthodox Church". Orthodox Church of America. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018.
- ^ "St. Isaiah the Prophet, Pray for Us".
- ^ "3 Nephi 23:1-3".
- ^ "churchofjesuschrist.org - Isaiah".
- ^ "Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Isaiah"".
- ^ "churchofjesuschrist.org - Temples".
- ^ Encyclopedia of Islam
- ^ a b Jane Dammen McAuliffe Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān Volume 2 Georgetown University, Washington DC p. 562-563
- ^ The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, Note. 2173 to 17:4: "The Book is the revelation given to the Children of Israel. Here it seems to refer to the burning words of Prophets like Isaiah. For example, see Isaiah, chap, 24. or Isaiah 5:20–30, or Isaiah 3:16–26."
- ^ Encyclopedia of Islam, Shaya, Online Web.
- ^ Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings, i, 638–45
- ^ Isaiah 38.
- ^ a b c Stories of the Prophets, Ibn Kathir, Isaiah bin Amoz
- ^ al-Qurashi, Baqir Shareef (2001). The life of Imam 'Ali Bin Musa al-Ridha. Qum: Ansariyan Publications. p. 121. ISBN 978-9644383298.
- ^ Sotah 10b
- ^ Talmud tractate Megillah 15a
- ^ Leviticus Rabbah 10
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 6:5
- ^ Shir haShirim Rabbah 1:6
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Exodus 33:20
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 6:1
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Deuteronomy 4:7
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Isaiah 40:6
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible Exodus 33:23
- ^ Hebrew-English Bible 2 Kings 20:6
- ^ Yevamot 49b
- ^ Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 10
- ^ "Die Himmelfahrt und Vision des Prophets Jesajas," p. 8
- ^ "Ta'rikh," ed. De Goeje, i. 644
- ^ Athanasius (2018). On the Incarnation. GLH Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-948648-24-0.
- ^ ""Hezekiah". Jewish Encyclopedia". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. 1906.
- ^ Mazar, Eilat. Is This the "Prophet Isaiah's Signature?" Biblical Archaeology Review 44:2, March/April May/June 2018.
- ^ In find of biblical proportions, seal of Prophet Isaiah said found in Jerusalem. By Amanda Borschel-Dan. The Times of Israel. 22 February 2018. Quote: "Chanced upon near a seal identified with King Hezekiah, a tiny clay piece may be the first-ever proof of the prophet, though a missing letter leaves room for doubt."
- ^ "Isaiah's Signature Uncovered in Jerusalem: Evidence of the prophet Isaiah?" By Megan Sauter. Bible History Daily. Biblical Archeology Society. 22 Feb 2018. Quote by Mazar: "Because the bulla has been slightly damaged at end of the word nvy, it is not known if it originally ended with the Hebrew letter aleph, which would have resulted in the Hebrew word for "prophet" and would have definitively identified the seal as the signature of the prophet Isaiah. The absence of this final letter, however, requires that we leave open the possibility that it could just be the name Navi. The name of Isaiah, however, is clear."
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Isaiah". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
Further readingEdit
- Lynch, Matthew J. (2021). First Isaiah and the Disappearance of the Gods. The Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Baltzer, Klaus (2001). Deutero-Isaiah: A Commentary on Isaiah 40–55. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
- Buck, Christopher (1990). The Anatomy of Figuration: Maimonides' Exegesis of Natural Convulsions in Apocalyptic Texts (Guide II.29). University of Calgary.
- Childs, Brevard S. (2001). Isaiah: a commentary. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22143-0.
- Church, Brooke Peters (1953). The Private Lives of the Prophets and the Times in Which They Lived. New York: Rinehart.
- Cohon, Beryl D. (1939). The Prophets: Their Personalities and Teachings. New York: Scribner.
- Herbert, Arthur Sumner (1975). The book of the prophet Isaiah: Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-08624-0.
- Herbert, Arthur Sumner (1975). The book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapters 40–66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20721-8.
- Kraeling, Emil G. (1969). The Prophets. Chicago: Rand McNally.
- Miscall, Peter D. (1993). Isaiah. Sheffield, England: JSOT Press. ISBN 978-1-85075-435-0.
- Quinn-Miscall, Peter D. (2001). Reading Isaiah: poetry and vision. Louisville: Westminster Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22369-4.
- Phillips, J. B. (1963). Four Prophets, Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, Micha: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew. New York: Macmillan.
- Sawyer, John F. A. (1996). The fifth gospel: Isaiah in the history of Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44007-3.
- Scott, R. B. Y. (1968). The Relevance of the Prophets. Macmillan: London.
- Smith, J. M. Powis (1941). The Prophets and Their Times. Chicago: University of Chicago.
External linksEdit
- Quotations related to Isaiah at Wikiquote
- Works related to Isaiah at Wikisource
- Media related to Isaiah (Biblical figure) at Wikimedia Commons


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The NS series of laptops is the latest in Sony's Vaio update frenzy, and they're machines aimed at delivering HD video. Hence the NS is available with a Blu-ray ROM drive and has a widescreen 15.4-inch Xbrite-Eco LCD for showing video off. Trouble is, the screen resolution is 1200x800, just enough to deliver 720p, but not enough for 1080p. Ditto for the cool new CS, which already made it to Japan. They both also have minimum battery lives of 1.5 hours—likely what you'll get when you're trying to watch that 2-hour Blu-ray movie. More overall feature info below:
The NS has a built-in A-V mode which pops up a shortcut menu to nine selected programs, which could be media players, music players, browsers, and includes media control functions. It's got a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, 250GB HDD, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and all the usual connections except for Bluetooth. There's Vaio Movie Story software aboard, for "professional-looking" video editing, but the lack of a Blu-ray burning drive might frustrate your HD film-making desires. It's also got a textured exterior, which may tickle your pickle, and comes in nightfall blue, silk white and granite silver. Out in the Fall, $650 to $1,000 if you want Blu-ray. [SonyStyle]
Sony's also announced that the CS range of Vaios, that we mentioned before for the Japanese market, are also coming to the US. These are similarly entertainment-focused machines, also with a Blu-ray ROM drive option and A-V mode, but just a 14.1-inch screen. It's also got a "uniquely configured" keyboard with extra inter-key spacing and, surprisingly and strangely, and in-built "12-tone music analyzer" visualizer system which produces an LED light-show beneath the wrist rest. Weird. The CS will cost between $920 and $1,070 depending on whether you choose BD.
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 12, 2008 –- Sony today introduced two notebooks with Blu-ray Disc™ technology— the VAIO® NS and CS models.
"With these new units, Sony is now offering consumers a host of multi-media PC options to choose from," said Mike Abary, senior vice president of VAIO product marketing at Sony Electronics. "And with a starting price of around $1,000 for the NS model, we're expecting a new audience to experience HD entertainment on their computers."
HD Entertainment Attractively Priced
The VAIO NS notebook features an optional Blu-ray Disc-ROM drive that is ideal for viewing HD content. It also has the added convenience of DVD and CD read/write functionalities.
The PC is equipped with a 15.4-inch (measured diagonally) widescreen display, and Sony's own XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology for sharp details and vivid colors.
The NS model easily accesses your music, movies and the Internet. Its integrated A/V mode features a dedicated menu, putting entertainment within easy reach by letting you select up to nine programs, such as a favorite web site, from one location.
Packing an Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo processor, significant RAM and ample storage, the NS notebook is equipped with the tools required for everyday computing.
Available in three colors— nightfall blue, silk white and granite silver— the VAIO NS notebook will start at around $650, while the Blu-ray Disc model will go for about $1,000.
High Fashion Meets High-Def
The VAIO CS notebook is available in four glossy colors— sangria, cosmopolitan, dove and black. A standard black matte finish is also available.
The unit is equipped with a 14.1-inch widescreen display and XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology for sharp images. Matched with an optional Blu-ray Disc-ROM drive, the CS model is ideal for watching HD entertainment on-the-go.
Its instant A/V mode lets you kick off your entertainment with ease. Go straight to watching a movie, playing music, or viewing photos with the touch of a button. A built-in A/V slide control also lets you control all functions (play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, stop, eject, etc.) all with one-touch ease.
The PC has a uniquely configured keyboard, designed with spacing between the keys, for a comfortable typing experience. A specialized keyboard font adds a fun touch. The unit also has a12-tone music analyzer that translates your music into a colorful LED light show that plays out beneath the palm rest of the PC.
It is backed by optional Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology with plenty of power for high-speed performance and an energy-efficient design for remote computing.
The CS model will start at about $920, while the BD model will go for around $1,070.
The VAIO NS and CS notebooks will be available online at www.sonystyle.com. They will also be sold at Sony Style® stores and select retailers around the country starting this fall.
Apple AirPods Max
All colors on sale today
Gizmodo describes these premium headphones as "annoyingly incredible." having praised the headphones' stellar sound quality, comfort, active noise cancelation, and integration with other Apple products. The steep price is the annoying part, but luckily you can make them slightly less annoying by picking them up now for $70 off.


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Warm Home Discount Scheme
The Warm Home Discount Scheme for winter 2021 to 2022 has closed. The scheme will reopen again in November 2022. This page will be updated soon.
You could get £140 off your electricity bill for winter 2021 to 2022 under the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
The money is not paid to you - it's a one-off discount on your electricity bill, between October and March.
You may be able to get the discount on your gas bill instead if your supplier provides you with both gas and electricity. Contact your supplier to find out.
The discount will not affect your Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment.
This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
There are 2 ways to qualify for the Warm Home Discount Scheme:
- you get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit - known as the 'core group'
- you're on a low income and meet your energy supplier's criteria for the scheme - known as the 'broader group'
How you apply for the Warm Home Discount Scheme depends on how you qualify for the discount.
Pre-pay or pay-as-you-go meters
You can still qualify for the discount if you use a pre-pay or pay-as-you-go electricity meter.
Your electricity supplier can tell you how you'll get the discount if you're eligible, for example a voucher you can use to top up your meter.
Park (mobile) homes
You apply a different way if you live in a park home.
Park homes applications open in the autumn. Find out how to apply for the Park Homes Warm Home Discount.
Contact Charis Grants for more information about the scheme.
Charis Grants can only answer questions about the Park Homes Warm Home Discount.


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What is Adopt-A-Room?
Adopt-A-Room is an ongoing initiative that provides the community with an opportunity to support Wichita's Ronald McDonald House by "adopting" a guest room for a specific period. Through their generosity, our Adopt-A-Room partners provide families with:
Who can support the Adopt-A-Room initiative?
Anyone! We are proud to have individuals, businesses, and private foundations partner with us to adopt rooms at Wichita's Ronald McDonald House.
How does RMHC Wichita recognize Adopt-A-Room partners?
Our community partners are the life-blood of our organization. Their support makes our mission possible. To show our thanks, RMHC Wichita proudly recognizes our Adopt-A-Room partners in the following ways:
For more information about the Adopt-A-Room initiative, contact Susan Smythe at firstname.lastname@example.com
The Adopt-A-Room initiative was established as a matching grant by the Charles and JoAnne McIlwaine Foundation to challenge other businesses and foundations to support Wichita's Ronald McDonald House. Actively involved with RMHC Wichita, the McIlwaines saw the difference the Ronald McDonald House had on the lives of the families staying there. Over the years, the McIlwaine's commitment to our mission has inspired dozens of companies and foundations to accept their challenge and contribute nearly $1 million to support our Ronald McDonald House program.


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Rumi's Urs 2021 video
An international celebration of Mevlana Rumi's union with the Beloved – the anniversary of his passing into the Unseen – with an online gathering of remembrance. Shaikh Kabir & Camille … Continue reading
Rumi's Urs 2021
Join us for our annual Urs celebration, online this year!
Rumi's Urs 2020
Join us for our annual Urs celebration, online this year!
In Conversation with Camille Helminski
Urs Mubarak dear friends! We are happy to share a recent conversation from Tazeen.TV with Mevlevi teacher, Camille Helminski, on how she fell in love with Rumi, the Sufi path, … Continue reading
Unfold the Wings of your Essence
'Just sitting together on a sheepskin'… Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski discuss the inspirational friendship of Rumi and Shams.
Rumi's Urs 2019 Bradford & London
Rumi's Circle with Mevlevi dervishes from The Threshold Society invite you to celebrate Mevlana Rumi's Urs, the anniversary of his union with the Beloved. Join us for an evening … Continue reading
Rumi's Urs 2019 Madison, USA
Rumi's Circle invites you to celebrate Mevlana Rumi's Urs, the anniversary of his union with the Beloved. Join us for an evening of remembrance with zhikr, poetry, and music. We … Continue reading
Rumi Retreat! Aug 23-26th
It's that time again! We're off to spend another wonderful weekend with Mevlevis and other Rumi lovers at the Threshold Society UK Annual Retreat (Aug 23-26th) down at lovely Gaunts … Continue reading
Ruminations: Transforming Being, Madison USA, Sat 15th Jun
Saturday 15 June, 7pm ~ free entry, all welcome! Unity Church, 601 Tompkins Dr, Madison, WI 53716, USA Join us for spiritual discussion, poetry, zhikr, and sacred whirling as we … Continue reading
Bradford Lit Fest Zhikr Sun 7 Jul
Sunday 7th July 2019, 1:15 pm – 2:45 pm The Ganges Theatre, Kala Sangam, St Peter's House, 1 Forster Ct, Bradford BD1 4TY Book your tickets. Join us for a … Continue reading
*CANCELLED* Awakening with Rumi, Madison USA, Jun 14-16
We are sorry to inform you that this event has been postponed until next year due to unforseen circumstances. Tickets will be refunded. We apologise for the inconvenience and hope … Continue reading
MACFEST Whirling Workshop, Manchester Sat 12th Jan
Rumi's Circle, in association with MACFEST, present our first Manchester whirling workshop. Saturday 12th Jan 2019 2:30-4pm Longsight Library, 519 Stockport Rd, Manchester M12 4NE Register your FREE place on … Continue reading
Finding Love with Rumi
We are delighted to offer this talk by dear circle member, Shazreh Hussain, from the Threshold Islamabad group. Shazreh was invited to deliver a talk on Rumi by the Asian … Continue reading
Rumi's Urs 2018 Bradford Sat 15th Dec
Rumi's Circle with Mevlevi dervishes from The Threshold Society invite you to celebrate Mevlana Rumi's Urs, the anniversary of his union with the Beloved. Join us for an evening of … Continue reading
Happy Birthday Mevlana!
Today is Mevlana Rumi's birthday. May his light be blessed and continue to shine down upon us. Didn't I say, don't sit with sad companions? Don't sit with anyone but … Continue reading
Women of Faith, London Tue 28th Aug
Tuesday 28th August, 6:30pm ~ £5 on the door, refreshments will be provided St Ethelburga's Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG Camille Adams Helminski explores stories of women of faith … Continue reading
Rumi Retreat! Aug 24-27th
It's that time again! We're off to spend another wonderful weekend with Mevlevis and other Rumi lovers at the Threshold Society UK Annual Retreat (Aug 24-27th) down at lovely Gaunts … Continue reading
Bradford Literature Festival July 7-8, 2018
Shaikh Kabir Helminski and Rumi's Circle will be at the Bradford Literature Festival this year over the second weekend, July 7-8, 2018. Book your tickets for each event: Sat 7th … Continue reading
Suleyman Dede's Urs
Today is the Urs of Shaikh Suleyman Hayati Loras (1904-1985). Suleyman Dede was a great Mevlevi Shaikh of Konya. He travelled to America and planted the seed of Sufism in … Continue reading
Urs Readings on Spiritual Thirst
We had wonderful gatherings in Bradford and London to celebrate Mevlana Rumi's Urs. Thank you to all who came and participated. We include below the main readings that were shared … Continue reading
Reflecting on Kindness & Beauty
Be kind, for when kindness is part of something it beautifies it; and when it is removed, it tarnishes it. ~Hadith On the Sufi path, adab (courteous etiquette) is of … Continue reading
Rumi's Urs 2017 Bradford & London
Rumi's Circle with Mevlevi whirling dervishes from The Threshold Society are pleased to announce the 2017 celebration of Mevlana Rumi's Urs, the anniversary of his union with the Beloved. Join … Continue reading
Rumi Retreat! Sep 1-4 2017
We're looking forward to spending another wonderful weekend with Rumi lovers at the Threshold Society UK Annual Retreat (Sep 1-4) down at lovely Gaunts House in Dorset. Set in 1600 … Continue reading
Altrincham Interfaith Cultural Evening Thu 6 Jul
Rumi's Circle will be reciting poetry and Sufi songs as part of Altrincham Interfaith Group's evening of cultural entertainment. Join us!
Eid Mubarak!
Eid Mubarak to all celebrating! May your celebration be joyous and full of Love. What a Nourisher The sensible man doesn't pay attention to what increases or decreases, since both … Continue reading
Bradford Lit Fest Whirling Workshop Sun 9 Jul
Back by popular demand at Bradford Literature Festival, join Rumi's Circle to explore the roots of the whirling dervish sacred tradition
America of the Heart: Whitman and Rumi
As we enter deeper into the introspection of the winter months and America continues to search its soul in the aftermath of the presidential election, I find myself turning to … Continue reading
Happy New Year!
As we move forward to embrace the first day of this new year, we take a moment to consider how to embody love in the year ahead.
Wisdom – An Ongoing Conversation with Divine Reality
The Prophet Muhammad said, "Wisdom is like the truly faithful one's stray camel; he (she) will recognize it when he (she) finds it." Within the Way of Islam and the … Continue reading
Words from the East
The poetic tradition of the Mevlevi Order is not limited to the beautiful poetry of Mevlana Rumi. The Mevlevi Order has produced great poets, musicians, and artists throughout the centuries. … Continue reading
Rumi's Urs 2016 Manchester, Bradford & London
Rumi's Circle with Mevlevi whirling dervishes from The Threshold Society are pleased to announce the 2016 celebration of Mevlana Rumi's Urs, the anniversary of his union with the Beloved. Join … Continue reading
Reflections from Unveiling the Divine
We had a phenomenal gathering last weekend in Kendal honouring the Sacred Feminine. We will be sharing photos, video and audio from the gathering, also reflections from attendees and how … Continue reading
Rumi Retreat! Aug 26-29th
It's that time of year again – registrations are open for the Threshold Society UK Annual Retreat (Aug 26-29th). Join us for a long weekend to deepen our spiritual understanding … Continue reading
Eid Mubarak!
Eid Mubarak friends! May the blessings of Ramadan be with you year-long and may we meet each other in peace and goodwill. It is from My kindness that the smell … Continue reading
My Times With Rumi
My first encounter with Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi was many years ago in Boise, Idaho. I was living in Mexico at the time on a foreign service assignment and I used … Continue reading
DATE CHANGE: Healing Srebrenica, Manchester Fri 8th Jul
Please note change of date! Friday 8th July, 2016 Chorlton Central Church, Barlow Moor Road, Manchester M21 8BF Please arrive by 7.15pm for 7.30pm prompt start. Free Entry. Generously supported … Continue reading
Ramadan Mubarak!
Ramadan Mubarak to all those who are fasting during this time! May it be blessed with worldly emptiness and spiritual fullness! O moon-faced Beloved, the month of Ramadan has arrived. … Continue reading
Come, Come, Whoever You Are
The super talented and beautifully humble Medina Tenour Whiteman sharing a Rumi poem, recorded at half-midnight in a hotel corridor in Bradford!
Ruminations: Spiritual Practice, Hale Barns Sun 5th Jun
Rumi's Circle invites you to attend a poetry circle on the theme of 'spiritual practice'. The world's many different faith traditions have both similar and differing spiritual practices but the … Continue reading
Zhikr & Poetry in Kendal, Fri 13th May
Rumi's Circle and the South Lakes Interfaith Forum invite you to an evening of zhikr (Divine remembrance) poetry, and meditation. Friday 13th May, 7 to 8.30pm FREE Kendal Unitarian Chapel, … Continue reading
Whirling from Mevlana's Urs
A moment captured from our Urs celebration last December 2015, filmed by David Aldred at the atmospheric St Mark's Church in London, with beautiful music by Amir Koushkani (tar) and … Continue reading
Events at Bradford Literature Festival May 28-29th
We are excited to be part of the fantastic Bradford Literature Festival this year! With over 200 events featuring world renowned speakers, artists and authors, Bradford is the place to … Continue reading
The Moment
The moment ends… A few years ago I came across a song by a band from Vermont named Phish. The song was titled "The Moma Dance". The chorus is a … Continue reading
Gathering Feedback
We're gathering some research on the impact of Rumi in peace-building. We would really appreciate your feedback: What effect has Rumi had on the way you perceive Islam and other … Continue reading
Welcoming the Light, London Sat 26 Mar
Join us this Easter in London at the Threshold Society gathering with Shaikh Kabir Helminski. Welcoming the Light Originally we are beings of Light, but we have forgotten ourselves. The … Continue reading
Sharings from Ruminations: Opposites
Thank you to everyone who attended the first Hale Barns Ruminations. It was beautiful to share time with so many hearts. We are pleased to share the poems we read … Continue reading
Threshold Society Bradford Zhikr Sat 12 Mar
Join us for the Threshold Society zhikr gathering in Bradford on Saturday 12th March from 2:30-5pm. We hope to share in meditation, zhikr, prayer, and discussion of Mevlana Rumi's work. … Continue reading
Ruminations: Opposites, Hale Barns Sat 20th Feb
Rumi's Circle invites you to its first poetry circle of 2016 on 20th February on the theme of 'opposites'. Rumi's poetry often invites us to consider things which might be … Continue reading
Suleyman Dede's Urs
Today is the Urs of Shaikh Suleyman Hayati Loras (1904-1985). Suleyman Dede was a great Mevlevi Shaikh of Konya. He travelled to America and planted the seed of Sufism in … Continue reading
Working with Intention
We welcome the first of, hopefully, many reflections by Gunter Richter. Working with Intention In October of 2015, I attended a retreat held by the Threshold Society of America at … Continue reading


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- Vintage-style band with handsewn contrast stitching and nubuck inner lining combines classy good looks with lasting durability and comfort
- 2 ways to monitor heart rate: Watch tracks heart rate at the wrist with no strap needed but also pairs with a separate chest strap monitor (not included) for additional data
- Activity tracker monitors how many steps you've taken, calories you've burned and stairs you've climbed; sleep mode monitors the quality of your nightly rest
- Provides comprehensive navigation and tracking to guide you on and off the beaten path using GPS plus ABC (altimeter, barometer and compass) sensor capabilities
- Sensors, including an omnidirectional EXO antenna with GPS/GLONASS satellite reception and a barometric altimeter with 3-axis compass, provide heading, elevation and weather
- GPS track log creates a bread crumb trail as you move, allowing you to mark locations (like start/finish, course checkpoints or campsites) or create and follow courses
- Sophisticated training features help monitor your form and fitness, including VO2 max, recovery advisor with recovery timer and recovery check plus race predictor
- When paired with a separate chest strap monitor (not included), watch can collect your vertical oscillation, ground contact time and running cadence
- Multiple activity profiles include cross-country ski, ski/board, climb, hike, trail run, run, bike, bike indoor, lap swim, open water, SUP, row, row indoor and golf
- Smart notifications let you receive emails, texts and alerts right on your watch
- 1.2 in. always-on, sunlight-readable color Chroma display with sapphire lens is easy to see in any environment
- Personalize with free downloads from the Garmin Connect IQ store to customize your watch face, add data fields and get apps and widgets to provide information at a glance
- Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile include automatic uploads, live tracking and social media sharing; optional apps increase watch/phone integration
- Includes an extra black sports band; interchangeable watch bands can be easily replaced without tools
- USB charger cable included
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Nakazaki Residence is a minimalist house located in Osaka, Japan, designed by Coil Kazuteru Matumura Architects. The building is mixed use, with a small cafe situated on the ground floor, and residences above. The geometric array of the windows on the ground floor are reminiscent of a Mondrian painting, providing natural light while maintaining privacy within. The second level features a kitchen and dining area for the residents, with the top level comprising of the bedroom.
View more works by Coil Kazuteru Matumura Architects


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Researchers at the University of Vermont, the University of Texas at Austin and Cornell University in Ithaca recently published their findings in the journal Appetite showing that women who watch cooking shows on television and recreate those recipes have a higher body mass index (BMI) in comparison with women who use recipes from other sources. The study is entitled "Viewers vs. Doers. The relationship between watching food television and BMI."
The research team conducted a survey among 501 women aged between 20 and 35 years to assess the sources from which they obtain new recipe ideas and determine whether there is a link between recipe source, cooking from scratch and BMI. Information on the cooking habits, weight and height of each participant was collected.
Researchers found that women in this cohort had a mean BMI of 25.96 (values ranging from 16.34 – 57.58; individuals with a BMI of 30 or above are considered obese). A higher BMI was observed in women who obtained new recipe ideas from cooking shows and social media. Researchers did not find a correlation between BMI and any other recipe sources, such as in-person sources, online or printed. A significant association was found between watching cooking shows and cooking from scratch with a higher BMI. Interestingly, researchers found that women who watched the cooking shows without actually cooking did not exhibit a higher BMI.
"The message is clear. Food TV should be a viewing experience only, not a cooking experience," said the study's lead author Dr. Lizzy Pope in a news release. "If we had more food shows that used healthier recipes and showed how they can look good, taste good, be exciting and be social, which is what these shows illustrate, we could have an impact on public health. Food show executives and hosts need to realize they are social role models and have a role to play in battling obesity and health care costs. They can be part of the solution or continue contributing to a major problem."
Dr. Pope advises "If you're watching food TV, just make sure you're conscious of the ingredients you're using if you bring the TV recipes into your home kitchen. It's great to cook at home, but calories still count there, so adjustments might be needed if you're cooking from food TV recipes frequently."


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Emile Durkheim quotes (French Sociologist; tudied anomie & social cohesion; wrote "The Division of Labor in Society" 1893, "Suicide" 1897 (also "Le Suicide"), 1858-1917)
Soren Kierkegaard quotes (Danish Philosopher and Theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher. 1813-1855)
Paris Hilton quotes (American Model, Actress, Entrepreneur and Socialite, b.1981)
Robert Francis Kennedy quotes ( U.S. attorney general and adviser, 1925-1968)
Thomas Hardy quotes (British Novelist and Poet who set much of his work in Wessex, an imaginary county in southwestern England. 1840-1928)
Mark Twain quotes (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)
Juan Antonio Samaranch quotes
Michael Walsh quotes
Ambrose Bierce quotes (American Writer, Journalist and Editor, 1842-1914)Book: Devil's Dictionary quotes
Leon Trotsky quotes (Russian Communist theorist and agitator, a leader in Russia's October Revolution in 1917. 1879-1940)
Frank Borman quotes
François de la Rochefoucauld quotes (French classical author, leading exponent of the Maxime, 1613-1680)


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Twilio Client posts
The Twilio CLI is a nifty and convenient tool to have under your belt especially if you're a developer who loves using the command line. For those who are fans of Twilio, it's also a great way to build fast and test out the power of Twilio.
Did you know that with the help of Twilio and your command line, you can deliver a quick message without having to pick up your mobile device?
In this article, you'll be using TwiML and the Twilio CLI to call a phone number and deliver a poem.
Tutorial requirements
- A free or paid Twilio account. If you are new to Twilio get your free account now! (If you sign up through this link, Twilio will give you $10 credit when you upgrade.)
- The Twilio CLI.
- A smartphone with active service, to test the project.
Set up the Twilio CLI environment …
Do you ever listen to Soulja Boy's song "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" and wonder, "How can I kiss someone through the phone?"
Whether you have or not, you're probably looking for new creative ways to express your feelings to your loved ones this Valentine's Day.
With the help of Twilio and your command line, you can deliver a romantic Valentine's Day poem over the phone to your gal pals, best buddies, a special someone, or to yourself! With a project as fun as this, it's hard to restrict yourself from using it on only one day out of the year.
In this article, you'll be using TwiML and the Twilio CLI to call a phone number and deliver a poem.
Tutorial requirements
- A free or paid Twilio account. If you are new to Twilio get your free account now! (If you sign up through this link, Twilio …
How can I play a Youtube video over WebRTC?
Is there a way to play dynamic audio over a Twilio Voice call?
Many people have asked about playing dynamic audio over the phone using Twilio. And while TwiML does allow you to create dynamic templates based on user input, it doesn't help me if I want to start and stop audio or play a video over the phone. I could imagine some enterprising person using these powers to prank the robocallers, spammers and even the occasional pesky family member. In this post, we are going to look at one quick way to inject any MediaStream into a phone call using the WebRTC-based Twilio Client SDK.
Prerequisite: This post starts off at the very end of the Twilio Client quickstart, so if you haven't completed that it is recommended you do so now. Of course, these concepts could be …
With the last major browser covered – WebRTC was already supported on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, iOS, and Android – developers can now consider WebRTC a de facto standard for voice and video communications on the web.
Here are a few ideas of what you can do with Twilio Client:
Click to call – If you're a retailer or have a customer support page, why not let your customer call you directly from that page instead of dialing the phone? Now that Client supports Safari, you can be sure you will support virtually every customer who might want to call you, …
iOS 10, released this week, makes it even easier to integrate great VoIP experiences with your iOS applications. Today we're proud to launch the Public Beta of the new Programmable Voice SDK for iOS. This SDK is designed as the next version of the currently available Twilio Client SDK v1.2.11 for iOS. You'll notice a few changes such as out-of-the-box support for Apple's VoIP Services Push Notifications (powered by Twilio's Notify infrastructure).
To start building the Programmable Voice SDK for iOS, check out the quickstart.
Reaching your users
Any mobile app that allows a user to receive an incoming call has to make sure it can reliably deliver a call notification to the user in question. A good solution to this problem will reach the user every time, no matter whether the application is in the foreground, background, or not running at all. It will also handle any changes …
With Segment Sources and Twilio, you can get a holistic view into your customers' journey through your Twilio voice or SMS app. In just a few clicks you can sync your Twilio logs to a data warehouse for advanced analysis.
Combine these logs with data generated by other customer touch points like CRM, helpdesk, payments, email and in-app data to give you a complete view of your customer experience.
To demonstrate this, we are going to modify the Node version of the Twilio call tracking tutorial adding an additional lead conversion measure that will be stored using Segment. We'll analyze that new measure using SQL and a data warehouse.
In order to build the sample app you'll need Node.js …
In the first post in this series we wrote a simple iOS app using Swift that made an outbound phone call using the Twilio Client SDK for iOS. To do that we set up the basic server infrastructure we need in order to generate a capability token, created a TwiML application that told Twilio what experience to give the caller and used the Client SDK APIs to create a new Device and Connection.
In the second part we'll look at using the SDK to receive inbound calls. I'll show you how to accept calls while the application is running in the foreground, as well as how to use notifications to alert the user of incoming calls while the application is in the background.
Just want to grab the app code and run with it? Head on over to Github to get the full source for SwiftPhone. If you want to …
Swift is a fantastic new language from Apple that brings many great features like functional programming patterns, generics and memory management to the world of Cocoa development. My first in-depth exposure to Swift was attending CocoaConf Atlanta and seeing Daniel Steinberg give his Swift language fundamentals presentation. The programming language enthusiast in me immediately started to noodle on app ideas, but once I saw Jonathan Blocksom talk about Objective-C and Swift interoperability I knew wanted to try to build a Swift application using the Twilio Client for iOS SDK. Given that the Objective-C/Swift interoperability appeared to be very strong so my hope was that the Twilio Client for iOS library would just work.
Twilio ships a number of sample applications with the iOS SDK so as my first Swift project I decided to try to port one of them, BasicPhone, to Swift. Porting the application would give me some …
Welcome to the final part of our series on integrating Twilio with your Rails 4 app. In Part 1 we walked through signing-up for a free Twilio developer account, getting a phone number and processing an inbound phone call. In Part 2 we secured the webhooks, used Twilio's REST API to send outbound SMS and MMS and processed delivery receipt notifications. In this post we are going create a contextual VOIP experience for your users by learning how to:
- Create a TwiML app
- Integrate the Twilio Client JS SDK
- Generate a Capability Token
- Connect the VOIP call
Contextual VOIP
In our previous blog posts we used Twilio to make phone calls and deliver text messages. These capabilities are quite powerful but they are often siloed away from the context of the application that the user is interacting with. With Twilio Client WebRTC you can embed a VOIP experience directly into …


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As we mark the 119th anniversary of the declaration of our people's emancipation from Spain, it is worth revisiting the values and experiences that led us to that historic event. There are many forms of nationalism. In the light of what is happening in the world today, we should bear in mind where ours is rooted.
We know that Aguinaldo's hurried proclamation of Philippine independence on June 12, 1898, could not prevent the takeover of the country by American colonial power. Even so, the anticolonial struggles against Spain and the United States became the wellsprings of Filipino nationalism for subsequent generations. The remembrance of our elders' aspirations and heroic sacrifices has helped unify our people, particularly in times of crisis. It has restored pride and confidence in ourselves as a nation, after centuries of subjugation.
Elsewhere in the world, nationalism is making a comeback—not as a progressive emancipatory force, but as a movement of reaction and bigotry. Its perceived enemies are the complex forces that globalization has unleashed: the migration of populations across continents, the free flow of capital across national borders, the relocation of factories and service centers to places that assure higher profits and virtually unregulated operations, and the emergence of a world society and global culture that threaten entrenched identities and hierarchies.
Almost overnight, the vision of a world order founded on international solidarity, universal human values, peace and shared prosperity, and the preservation of planet Earth for the generations to come, has been replaced by pessimism and paranoia. Invoking national sovereignty and the duty to ensure the survival of their own peoples, populist politicians in the developed countries are turning their back on nearly all the evolutionary achievements of a modern world system.
America's Donald Trump perhaps best epitomizes this atavistic regression. He is withdrawing his country from all the commitments made by his predecessor toward a global climate change agreement. He has pledged to bring back the factories and jobs that have left America as a result of economic globalization. With the promise to restore America to its previous unmatched glory, he has embarked on an inward-looking policy that contradicts almost everything that America has hitherto stood for. He seeks, for example, to impose a ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries—in total defiance of timeless ideals that animate the American Constitution.
Trump merely represents a form of reaction that is rapidly spreading in the West today. Threatened by the massive inflow of immigrants and refugees from the war-torn countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Europe is seeing a resurgence of racist politics that is hiding behind the banner of nationalism. This is exactly the "belligerent, aggressive, and chauvinistic nationalism," as the writer Horace Davis described it, that had given the term its ugly connotations in much of Western Europe during the postwar period.
But it is also this kind of nationalism that we project every time we tell other countries and international organizations that express their concern over what's happening in our country to leave us alone and mind their own business. Given how we have welcomed and seized the opportunities opened up by the modern world system—sending millions of our own people to take up employment in other countries and hosting a thriving BPO (business process outsourcing) industry that has transferred a broad range of jobs in the global service economy to our shores—we should be the last country to invoke nationalist sensitivity in the conduct of our affairs.
Having assumed our place in the community of nations, we have no reason not to be mindful of the international covenants we have signed, and of the rights and responsibilities we have willingly taken upon ourselves, under a global legal order. The South China Sea issue would have been the perfect occasion to assert this enlightened form of nationalism in a modern world society that is supposed to be governed by mutually agreed norms.
But, on this question, it seems we have opted to act like a fearful vassal state that is dutifully taking its subservient role in a premodern hierarchical order. Not only does this behavior go against the anticolonial ethos from which the Filipino nation was sprung, it also runs against all the values that have undergirded the collective efforts of past generations to create a modern nation-state out of the diverse ethnic communities that have long inhabited this archipelago.
That regional identities and perspectives continue to be asserted in the nation's political discourse—in mindless disregard of the fact that this discourse is often conducted in a shared national lingua franca—attests to the ease with which local identities can easily be tapped in the service of an antiglobal backlash.
The federalist move to carve out regional states from the existing unitary political system is consistent with this trend. It represents an attempt to manage the anxieties brought about by globalization—not by directly confronting the problems of weakened nation-states in a centerless world, but by retreating into the illusory comforts of smaller subnational systems.
It has taken us 71 years—82, if we include the Commonwealth period—to develop an independent modern state and nurture a citizenry imbued with national consciousness. It is an unfinished and fragile project. A reckless shift to federalism could spell its dissolution.


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Nearly nine weeks into its air war against Yugoslavia, NATO is staring a protracted conflict in the face - causing some alliance members to become restive.
The longer the air campaign goes on, the greater the military, economic, and political costs. Those increase significantly if NATO moves to a ground war.
The hope is that patience and the air campaign will win the day, and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will back down. But if he doesn't, everything from NATO unity to US credibility could be at stake.
"At the most basic level, once one starts to fight a war, part of the risk is it can go in many areas that you just can't foresee," says Robert Zoellick, an undersecretary of State in the Bush administration.
President Clinton has appealed to the American public to remain steadfast behind the effort to reverse Mr. Milosevic's "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovo, saying the US must be ready "to pay the price of time."
At this moment, the economic costs to the US appear to be manageable. Congress is expected to hand the president $12 billion in emergency spending for military and humanitarian assistance through September, though some believe the humanitarian portion will fall short.
Cynthia Latta, principal economist at Standard & Poor's DRI, says an air-only campaign "could go on indefinitely" without serious repercussions to the nation's economy, though a ground war could spark higher interest rates.
But ominously for President Clinton and his NATO allies, while the dollars are there, public opinion is starting to crack. According to a new poll by the Pew Research Center here, approval of US participation in the war has dropped from 62 percent in mid-April to 53 percent.
The less the support and the longer the military stalemate, the more difficult it will be for NATO to stay a common course.
The pressures of domestic public opinion are now causing at least rhetorical dissension among alliance members. That dissension burst into the open this week, when German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder bluntly rejected Britain's position that the allies should pre-position troops for a possible Kosovo invasion.
"While the European publics have been relatively stalwart, if they perceive that bombing is going on for a very long period of time without achieving the objectives, they'll start to flake off," says Mr. Zoellick.
Again, ground war could alter public opinion. Polls show the share of Americans opposed to ground troops increasing.
Zoellick believes NATO should at least pre-position troops. But what particularly disturbs him is the possibility that, faced with a long air campaign that is neither winning nor losing, NATO will settle for some "messy compromise" that undermines the credibility of the United States.
"Whatever one thinks of the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, it did leave a residue of serious respect for United States military capabilities.... That premium is going to be lost," he says.
John Hillen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, worries about the US military being spread too thin.
"You can carry on [in Yugoslavia] for quite some time, but this decreases our flexibility and increases the danger in other areas of the world," he says.
A security expert close to the administration is less alarmist. "There may be shortages and military-readiness issues, but I don't think so far they've risen to the level of a real nightmare."
This expert agrees with others, however, that one of the greatest risks in a longer war is the unknown consequences, especially after unexpected events such as the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.


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Yankees let one get away in Cano's return to the Bronx
There might have been some cheers mixed in, but hearing those lonely voices was nearly impossible in the overwhelming chorus of boos that greeted Robinson Cano's every at-bat at Yankee Stadium tonight. Cano was unwelcome from the beginning, and that surely didn't change when he drove in one run and scored another in the Mariners 6-3 win in the opening game of their only trip to the Bronx this season. Cano's only hit was an infield single, and he struck out twice, but his RBI ground out drove in the first Seattle run in the fifth inning, and he singled, stole a base and scored a run in the seventh. The Yankees led 2-0 early in the game -- Mark Teixiera homered for the third time since coming off the disabled list -- but Cano's fifth-inning RBI was followed immediately by a Corey Hart two-run double that put the Seattle in front for good. Mariners catcher Mike Zunino had four hits; the Yankees combined for five before a mild rally in the ninth. CC Sabathia, who'd done a good job limiting the damage in his past two starts, allowed four-runs in the fifth inning -- three of them with two outs -- to make this start feel a lot like his first three starts this season. He seemed to have the game under control early, then he had to be bailed out by Dellin Betances as things unraveled.
Associated Press photo


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Evert van Hemert Kolderwolde Friesland The Netherlands
Haarlem 1952
A self-educated man
(its training to the Rietveld academy of arts had lasted only 10 minutes)
As a child he was kind and full of dreams,
as a teenager he was hard,
early mature, succeeded as a advertising designer
and since his age of 23 he lives as an artist of painting and sculptures.
From the first day as an indepentent artist he earns his own money, he gets a lot of admiration sometimes even envy for his way of living.
He worked in Haarlem, Greece, New Orleans and now he creates art in Kolderwolde (in the north of the Netherlands).
Expositions in the Netherlands, Western Europe, United States.


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You're walking down the grocery aisle with a healthy cereal in mind — fiber friendly and low cal. But then you see the sugary goodness and make a mad swipe. Seem familiar? Spontaneously adding foods to your cart at the grocery store can be easy—especially when you're hungry, you have no plan, and you don't know what you want.
Creating an organized and budget-friendly grocery shopping list before you go to the store will help you eat healthy and save money. Think about what you want to eat for the week. Chicken? Fish? What sides do you need? What pantry staples are you out of? Write it down—before you go to the store. Make a plan on which meals to make that week to avoid overbuying and ending up with a refrigerator of expired food.
Don't know where to start? Go to the 'Gram. Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook can provide meal inspiration.
To eat healthy or unhealthy? If starting or maintaining a healthy lifestyle is your goal, make sure your grocery list reflects that. Leave off the sweets and processed foods in favor of fruits, veggies, and lean meats.
Stay focused. When you see that sugary sweet cereal, check your list first before you grab. If that doesn't deter you, remember your goal and ask yourself if this treat will help you work toward that grocery goal or hinder it.
Execute the plan. Meal prep and eat the foods you planned for. Resist the temptation to order takeaway mid-week.
Planning ahead and knowing what you will eat, and therefore what you will buy, will help you not only eat healthier, but will also prevent you from overspending and wasting time wandering down the grocery store aisles.
Content by Lockton Dunning Benefits with info from https://kaitlynmoorhead.com/meal-planning-focused-grocery-shopping/


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My good friend Bibliophile Girl is an awesome writer (you do follow her blogs, yes?… yes) and when she told me that she had an idea for a blog post I didn't even hesitate to say," Write it!"
Here she goes:
I have been honored with a request to guest post here on Theatrophile, and I hope that I do this blog justice. J
Let's start off with an admission, shall we? I am not here to review "Rock of Ages" (EM here- that review is coming later- back to her post). Heck, I'm not even here to tell you about how we managed to find the only cab driver working in San Francisco who didn't know what (or where) the Curran Theatre was. I am here to write about the concept of Blind Faith.
As I am sure that most of you have surmised by now, EM is a rabid theater attendee. But even behind Thursday's Thesaurus, Tell Me on a Sunday, and other random features like her talking about overrated musicals and such…there is a true student of theater. And the student within EM…has fantastic taste in shows.
Case in point:
She and I had made plans to meet up in San Francisco, where we were both covering WonderCon for our respective gigs writing for Examiner.com (she as the San Diego Theater Examiner, I as the San Jose Book Examiner). Whenever we meet up, we end up doing something fun. We aren't generally the "let's-go-see-a-movie" types (No, we're the lets spend a bunch of $ types – EM), it usually manifests in a whole host of possibilities. This was no different.
While I was at work this week, I got an email the night she arrived in town. Here's the title of her email: "Rock of Ages – Muy Importante – Open Me Now!". So I opened the email – it was muy importante after all – and here's what she said:
ok, so Im not sure what day or time you are able to come up here but Rock of Ages is playing up here and I really really want to see it. It runs 2 1/2 hours and they have a few options
They have shows on friday night and Saturday night at 8pm at the Curran Theatre. If you're not interested I totally understand, but I may go by myself.
If you are interested tell me which day and I'll buy tix ASAP
Notice that there isn't exactly an explanation of what kind of show…just that it's a show she would like to see. Sure, it was playing at a premier theatre in San Francisco. However, I once saw Robin Williams perform at the Curran. So, it could have easily been a concert-like show.
In any case, I didn't give it that much thought. Hell, I didn't even bother looking it up online. All I needed to see was "show" and "I really really want to see it". I replied to her via Google chat – basically "go ahead and do it, 8pm Sat, I'm IN".
I tell my husband about it, to which he says something like "Now what is this show you're seeing?"…I replied…."Oh I don't know, I think it's a concert". I admitted to EM before our ill-fated cab ride that I had no idea what it was that we were going to see. She did a search on Google so she could accurately describe it, and sure enough, it was a musical.
Well we went to see it Saturday night as planned. It was an awesome show. So, so much fun. Oddly enough, my original supposition that it was a concert was not all that far off. 🙂
But I made my decision on two factors:
1. When it comes to shows, she generally knows what she's talking about.
2. She thought it was a good idea to see it.
That was all I needed.
And that, dear readers, is what Blind Faith is.