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Search Results for sutra
Camel-Sutrah II (Hadith No. 485)
Narrated Nafi:
"The Prophet used to make his she-camel sit across and he would pray facing it (as a Sutra)." I asked, "What would the Prophet do if the she-camel was provoked and moved?" He said, "He would take its camel-saddle and put it in front of him and pray facing its back part (as a Sutra). And Ibn 'Umar used to do the same." (This indicates that one should not pray except behind a Sutrah).
Again, one should not pray except behind a sutrah. As to why, you'll get the answer in the next few days inshaAllah.
Read similar Hadith under Camel-Sutrah.
'Anza as Sutra (Ahadith 478-480)
Hadith no. 476 is a repeat. Read it under Prayer Space.
Hadith no. 477 is also a repeat. Read it under Importance of Sutra.
Narrated 'Aun bin Abi Juhaifa:
that he had heard his father saying, "Allah's Apostle came to us at mid-day and water was brought for his ablution. He performed ablution and led us in Zuhr and 'Asr prayers with an 'Anza planted in front of him (as a Sutra), while women and donkeys were passing beyond it."
Read about 'Anza here.
Imaam's sutra is enough for the whole congregation and anything passing beyond that sutra does not disturb one's prayer, as already discussed under Hadith no. 474.
Narrated Anas Ibn Malik:
Whenever the Prophet went for answering the call of nature, I and another boy used to go after him with a staff, a stick or an 'Anza and a tumbler of water and when he finished from answering the call of nature we would hand that tumbler of water to him.
Details under Hadith no. 154.
Narrated Abu Juhaifa:
Allah's Apostle came out at midday and offered a two-Rak'at Zuhr and 'Asr prayers at Al-Batha and an 'Anza was planted in front of him (as a Sutra). He performed ablution and the people took the remaining water left after his ablution and rubbed their bodies with it.
The last part of the Hadith has been discussed under Hadith no. 187 and 188.
Importance of Sutra & Woman Interrupts Man's Prayer (Ahadith 473-474)
There have been a few corrections in Hadith no 472. Mistakes were due to my lack of knowledge. Don't forget to check it out.
Narrated Ibn 'Umar:
Whenever Allah's Apostle came out on 'Id day, he used to order that a Harba (a short spear) to be planted in front of him (as a sutra* for his prayer) and then he used to pray facing it with the people behind him and used to do the same while on a journey. After the Prophet , this practice was adopted by the Muslim rulers (who followed his traditions).
This Hadith shows us the importance of having a sutra in front of the Imaam while he leads a congregation in prayer. When praying alone, one should also try to develop the habit of defining his prayer space by keeping a sutra in front of him.
*Sutra is a screen that a person uses to define his prayer space, such as a wall, door etc. The bare minimum requirement for sutra is: that it should be as tall as the length of one hand.
Narrated 'Aun bin Abi Juhaifa:
I heard my father saying, "The Prophet led us, and prayed a two-Rak'at Zuhr prayer and then a two-Rak'at 'Asr prayer at Al-Batha' with an 'Anza (planted) in front of him (as a Sutra) while women and donkeys were passing in front of him (beyond that 'Anza)."
The words "beyond that 'anza" are of immense importance here. A woman passing in front of a man whose praying invalidates his prayer. It's not because women are impure (najis) but scholars have said that it's because she's a temptation for men. [Ref: islmaqa.com, no. 12717]
It was reported from 'Abd-Allaah ibn al-Saamit that Abu Dharr said: "The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'If any one of you stands up to pray, then he has a sutrah [an item placed in front of a praying person as a "screen"] if he has something the height of the back of a saddle in front of him. If he does not have something the height of the back of a saddle in front of him, then his prayer is invalidated if a donkey or a woman or a black dog passes in front of him.'" I ['Abd-Allaah] asked, "O Abu Dharr, what is the difference between a black dog and a red or yellow dog?" He said, "O son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) the same question, and he said, 'The black dog is a shaytaan (devil).'" (Narrated by Muslim, 510).
Camel-Sutrah (Hadith No. 422)
Know what a 'sutrah' is.
Narrated Nafi:
"I saw Ibn 'Umar praying while taking his camel as a Sutrah in front of him and he said, "I saw the Prophet doing the same."
This can be applied to other vehicles/means of transport as well.
Eid – Musalla (Ahadith 787 -788)
Volume 2, Book 15, Number 787:
Narrated Ibn Umar: On the day of 'Id-ul-Fitr and 'Id-ul-Adha a spear used to be planted in front of the Prophet I (as a Sutra for the prayer) and then he would pray.
Volume 2, Book 15, Number 788:
Narrated Ibn Umar:
The Prophet used to proceed to the Musalla and an 'Anaza used to be carried before him and planted in the Musalla in front of him and he would pray facing it (as a Sutra).
Sutra is a screen that a person uses to define his prayer space, such as a wall, door etc. The bare minimum requirement for sutra is: that it should be as tall as the length of one hand.
There have been multiple posts on this topic already. Do go through them! Just to get the gist of it all:
- `Anza (spear) can be used as sutrah.
- Imaam's sutrah is enough for the whole congregation.
- Prophet (SAW) and the companions used to offer the Eid prayers in an open ground.
- Musalla, by the way, is any place that we offer Salah on. It can be a rug, a ground, a mountain, a rock, anything.
Did you know? The sin of crossing one's prayer space is so huge that Prophet (SAW) said:
If the person who passes in front of another person in prayer knew the magnitude of his sin he would prefer to wait for 40 (days, months or years) rather than to pass in front of him.
More on it here.


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Scripture Commentary for Upcoming Sunday: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
1st Reading — Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
From Celebration, October 2004:
If scholars are right, Habakkuk might have been a contemporary of Jeremiah. He is probably here lamenting the destruction of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army. He is probably also lamenting the corruption that took place in Judah before the fall. Yet, he is told that he must trust in a vision that can yet come to be. With this vision comes an assurance of God's love and care even though there is destruction and suffering. He was told to write down this vision; in other words to make it permanent. And, it is to be in large, legible letters so that all the people may see it, read it, hold on to it – a public display of faith in the midst of tragedy. This is faith that gives life.
From Exploring the Sunday Readings, October, 2007:
Have you ever met someone with vision? What do we mean when we use that word in that way? Part of the 'vision thing' is to be able to see farther down the road than the rest of us. It also means perhaps that this person with vision can see the 'big picture' – how things go together and what the focus should be. Most importantly this idea also means a person who has a creative instinct for the future. Tomorrow does not have to be a rerun of yesterday. Visionaries imagine what doesn't yet exist, but perhaps should. Without such visionary thinking, hope can come to a standstill along with our faith and loving actions.
2nd Reading – 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14
By the time of this writing, many have given their lives for the faith in Christ; others have endured increasing difficulties and hardships. (Some have also fallen away or fallen into heresy –see 1:15, 2:17-18 and 4:9) This writer wants to use the example of Paul's imprisonment and suffering along with some of perhaps Paul's own words to encourage others to use their faith to live with courage, power, love and self control. (Celebration, October 2004)
From Exploring the Sunday Readings, October, 2007:
Fear is not the stuff of Christian living; love is. We are realists; we know that life, even the life of a Christian can and will have difficulties. But God provides us a gift of his Spirit that will enable us to act with courage and power and love despite our fears.
Does this reading stir you into flame?
The Gospel – Luke 17: 5-10
This passage sort of starts in the middle of things. Because the lectionary does not include the first part of this chapter, we do not understand why the disciples are asking for an increase in faith. Jesus had just warned them about not causing anyone to sin. In no uncertain terms Jesus tells them it would be better for the one who leads another into sin to have millstone around his neck and be thrown into the sea. Quite a vivid picture of the outcome of evil! He then goes on to say that they must be willing to forgive seven times a day. (Seven was the number symbolic of wholeness, completeness) It is no wonder that the poor disciples walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem would ask for a little more faith. But Jesus does not lessen the demands. Even a tiny bit of faith (a mustard seed) will be enough to uproot deeply rooted problems evil and hard-heartedness. (Celebration, October, 2004)
This whole chapter in Luke's gospel is about "the decisiveness and urgency of discipleship." We cannot just wait (or even pray) until we have enough faith, for then we may never begin living as the servants we are called to be. A seed is small, but it is filled with potential 'power' for growth. Jesus wants to convince us that our faith is like this. We must 'burst open' like a planted seed allowing growth and new life to begin.
"We must use what we have." Jesus then shows us what the faithful disciple looks like – one who not only works the fields, but also serves at table. In fact, as we put this all together we see that serving at table is as great as moving trees – and other more amazing feats of faith! Jesus like many good preachers of his time loved to use hyperbole and humor to get his point across. (Living Liturgy, Cycle C, p.220)
What do you think of the phrase "unprofitable servants"? The Greek adjective that is used here actually means "without need." Although it is translated here as 'unprofitable' it seems to mean more that this servant is without the need for 'pay.' He is not motivated by reward or recompense. As servants of an all-merciful and loving God we need to do everything with gratitude that we have been called to serve such a 'master.' We are servants that are 'due nothing,' because all we have has been given to us with love. (John Pilch, "Historical Cultural Context, liturgy.slu.edu)
What is Your Mammon? Father Bob's homily last Sunday…
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Commentary on Upcoming Sunday Readings: 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, cycle C
The 1st Reading — Amos 6:1, 4-7
Amos is continuing to lament and grow weary of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The rich are basking in the glow of their wealth, even drinking wine out of bowls! Scholars think the reference to David is trying to be ironic. Unlike David who used his musical talents for praising God, the wealthy of Israel were dabbling in the art simply for their own entertainment and enjoyment. The prophecy of the rich going into exile first does occur. In 722BC Assyria attacks the northern Kingdom (Celebration, Sept. 1998). Their complacency did not benefit them in the end. What happens when we become complacent and take for granted what we have?
The 2nd Reading – 1 Timothy 6: 11-16
This passage tells us clearly how and what we are to be. It is an exhortation not just for Timothy, but for every baptized person. We all need to take to these words to heart. It should help us realize that our faith is a living relationship of love – with God and with others. It perhaps would have been even better if the lectionary had included the verses just preceding this passage, verses 7-10:
For we brought nothing into the world,
just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation
and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires,
which plunge them into ruin and destruction (Celebration, Sept. 2001).
What wisdom do you find in this passage? What do you make of the writer saying we should, "Compete well for the faith,"?
The Gospel — Luke 16: 19 – 31
This gospel reading is challenging us to open our eyes and minds and hearts to those around us. Let not our possessions and comforts blind us and deaden us. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this parable comes when the rich man, suffering now himself, raised his eyes and saw Lazarus. But even then he only saw him as someone who could meet his needs — not as a person in his own right with needs. The rich man has no name (although he is sometimes called Dives, a Latin word for rich); the poor man is given a name and an identity: Lazarus, which means the one God helps or loves. (Celebration, Sept. 2001)
St. John Chrysostom, "Thoughts from the Early Church," http://liturgy.slu.edu:
Have you thought about why the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham's arms? Abraham was not only our 'father-in-faith,' but he was also known for his hospitality. Abraham did not begrudgingly help strangers; he would sit in his doorway and catch all who passed by – to offer them friendship and food.
He did not know that these strangers would bring the tangible presence of God and new life to him and to his wife as they did (Genesis 18:1 – 8).
From William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, 221-222:
The details in this parable are very important. The rich man had great luxury: garments of purple and fine linen. The word that is used for feasting is one that is used for a glutton who feeds on exotic and costly dishes – everyday. His self-indulgence seemed to give him no time for work while his servants must have slaved to keep him fed. Also, in these days food was eaten with the hands. In very wealthy houses, the hands were cleaned by wiping them on chunks of bread. The bread was then thrown away. These were the 'crumbs' that Lazarus longed to be allowed to eat. The rich man was not deliberately cruel; nor was he accused of being the reason for Lazarus' poverty. His sin is his blindness – his lack of even noticing another's need. That lack of human concern for anyone outside of himself was a great chasm that separated him from love, life.
From Richard Rohr, The Good News According to Luke, 169-170:
Hades is the abode of the dead. It does not necessarily coincide with our term of hell. In this story there is a big chasm separating those who respond to and with God's love and those who do not. The 'hell side' is the state of being where you don't love – where you find yourself cut off and where non-life is chosen. This parable is not suppose to convince us that God's justice is served by physically punishing people: God's justice cannot be served by "burning people's behinds." The story is suppose to open us to the true way of life – to listening to God's Word and letting it guide our life and our choices. We are to choose life – love – sharing – communion. We need to choose the good because it is good – it leads to life. Such choice leads to dignity and goodness. There is as Abraham says in the story a 'great chasm' between heaven and hell – between fear and faith, between death and life. This story was meant to help us overcome the chasm – not to deepen it.
This Sacrament. This Word, This People
Check out Father Bob's homily from this past Sunday…
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Let's ask the question that Jesus asks. "Which one of you would leave the 99 to pursue the one sheep?" Yeah, not that many. It does not make a great deal of economic sense, does it? What if something were to happen to the other 99? Who would be there left to protect them? What are the odds of finding one sheep that has wandered into the desert? Why would you take that risk for a 1% return?
Yet, that is what Jesus claims a good shepherd would choose. For him, it makes the only sense. After all, if you let one leave, and then another and then another you are talking about 98,97, 90 then 80 sheep, and suddenly no one is calling you a good shepherd. And think about the rest of the flock. They have been told that this is where…
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Commentary for Upcoming Sunday Readings: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C
1st Reading – Amos 8: 4-7
Amos was a native of the village of Tekoa located 6 miles south of Bethlehem on the edge of the Judean wilderness. He made his living as a shepherd and dresser of sycamore trees. What is translated as sycamore is probably a type of mulberry that produced a type of fig-like fruit. They had to be punctured or pinched at exactly the right moment in its growth cycle so as to release the insects that infested it. Insect-free fruit would then grow to ripeness so that the poor, for whom the fruit provided some meager sustenance, could gather it up and be fed. Although Amos thought he was not suitable to be the prophet God called him to be, perhaps his job with these trees had actually prepared him well to pinch and puncture the greed and dishonesty that infested the hearts of some of the rich at that time. The greedy rich did not even like the Sabbath rest for it kept them from their unscrupulous business practices. These heartless and disreputable merchants actually sold the poor into lives of slavery because of their greed. Amos understood the lives of the poor; he spoke out vehemently with condemnation toward those whose greed continued to force the poor into more and more difficulties. We need to allow Amos' words to pinch and puncture us so we too are open to God's ways of love and truth, not selfish greed. God still hears the cry of the poor; he is not fooled by superficial piety. (Celebration, Sept. 2001 and Exploring the Sunday Readings, Sept. 1998) What do you think of this reading?
2nd Reading — 1 Timothy2: 1-8
As we said last week, most scholarship theorizes that this letter wasn't actually written by Paul but a disciple of his. Some in the community were succumbing to Gnosticism, and so the letter is countering that. Gnosis is Greek for knowledge. Gnostics thought they possessed special, mystical knowledge that they received because they were an elite group. They believed all matter is evil, so our bodies are evil and our spirits must escape them. In order to be liberated from our bodies, a spiritual messenger must come and awaken us from our sleep. This messenger brings gnosis. For Christian Gnostics, that messenger was Jesus. But because they believed bodies were evil, they rejected the idea that Christ had a body like ours (appeared to be human but not). So there were theories about Jesus' birth, incarnation and resurrection that threatened Christian doctrine (Gonzalez, JL, The Story of Christianity Vol I, pgs 58-61). In this letter to Timothy, "Paul" writes how EVERYONE is to be saved, there is ONE mediator and he is a ransom for ALL. What do you make of this in our world today?
The Gospel – Luke 16: 1-13
This whole section is tied together by the theme of wealth and the danger it poses for disciples. Luke is always very concerned about this problem. Don't you wonder why Jesus advises that we should make friends with dishonest wealth?
Jesus' audience (and Luke's audience) would have expected the steward to be jailed immediately. When this didn't happen in the parable, their imagination was captured. The underdog seems to be getting the better of the person in power! In actuality, the master is a man of mercy. The steward knew that, since he wasn't jailed, and decided to capitalize on that. When he lowered the renters' ransom notes (connect this ransom with the one in the previous reading!), the renters believed it was with the master's approval and so he is a hero. It would look bad if the master changed this. The steward hoped that even if the master did not reinstate him, he would be welcomed and employed by others in the community. The steward relies heavily on the fact that the master is generous and merciful. God is the master, and we are God's stewards. We are completely dependent on God for life itself. Only God can save (Birmingham, M, Word and Worship, p. 481).
As disciples, we need prudent decisiveness. We must take our identity so seriously that it defines how we live. We are not going to live in this world forever. We or our profits are not the source and security of our lives; God is. We had better take his priorities seriously. We need to realize that all our choices in daily living are actually choices for eternal life. And, our Christian way of living – our Paschal Mystery living – isn't simply a matter of surrendering to the self-sacrificing possibilities that come our way in the normal course of living. We must be clever and smart about searching out such opportunities to live Jesus' proactive way of love. This passage in Luke's gospel is really challenging us with the question: How smart are you? We need to know who and what we are. We need to face our gifts and shortcomings honestly. It does not do ourselves or anyone else any good to live in fantasy. We need to face our abilities and the real situation with clarity. Such realism is an asset in many a crises. It enables us to come up with real solutions to the problems. It is only practical, real-life wisdom that brings true insight. (Pheme Perkins, Hearing the Parables of Jesus, 165-171, & Living Liturgy, Cycle C, 2004)
Commentary for this Upcoming Sunday Readings: 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, cycle C
1st Reading – Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14
In this story we find Moses foreshadowing the role of Jesus as a mediator before God on our behalf. Jesus like Moses prays on the cross: "Father, forgive them." Here is a God who is willing to forgive even though his anger is great at the evil that has been done. And, of course, we believe that Jesus shows us the fullness of the real God – the visible image of the invisible God. (Reginald Fuller, " Scripture in Depth," http://liturgy.slu.edu )
This event is an example of how religions can confuse the voice of the people with the voice of God. Any religion has the capacity to produce a "calf" to meet the needs of the people who are in opposition to the will of God. In the Israelites' case, all it resulted in was a compromise that threatened the integrity of their relationship with God (Word & Worship, Birmingham, p. 472). How often do we place our needs in the way of God's will? Maybe more often than we think. Yet our God listens to us. Moses intercedes for his people, and God hears.
Notice too how God tells Moses they are "your people", like an angry mother telling a father what happened with the children while he was away at work. Does the angry mother's love ever diminish for her children? She is there for them anyway and loves them completely, no matter what they do. How much more God is.
2nd Reading – 1 Timothy 1: 12-17
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." What does this personally mean to you?
The Pauline authorship of this letter and the rest of the so-called pastoral letters (2 Timothy, Titus) have been disputed since the 19th century. The pseudonymous author for these letters wrote as if he were Paul and included valuable information about the apostle and his ministry. It is emphasizing that Saul-Paul was like the elder brother of the gospel story who had been desirous of punishing the 'brothers' he deemed to be unfaithful and heretical. By the glorious grace of the God he found in the Risen Christ, he recognized the error of his ways. He began knowing God in an entirely new way, a way that leads to new life, not judgment and death. (Celebration, Sept. 2001)
How does this passage lead us into the parables of lost sheep, lost coin, lost son?
"There is something good in the worst of us and something bad in the best of us." We may not be Paul, a former blasphemer and 'thug' – we may not be worshipping molten calves in a frenzy – but we can all be overwhelmingly grateful for the merciful love of God revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Repentance is always the start of good news. (Kavanaugh, "The Word Engaged" http://liturgy.slu.edu)
The Gospel – Luke 15: 1-32
Here is the whole chapter from Luke on the 'lost and found'. It is sometimes called 'the gospel within the gospel' because it so profoundly shows us the essence of the good news we find in Christ Jesus. What do find good in these parables? What do you find challenging?
From Living Liturgy, 2004:
This parable reveals the dying and rising of the paschal mystery at work. The prodigal son is brought to repentance because he is in dire need; he is "dying from hunger." There is nothing he does to deserve the father's response except return. Yet, his decision to repent (turn from death) is met with warm welcoming love and feasting – at least from the father. For all of us, the invitation to repent is always there – to turn from dying-ways to new life and feasting. What can bring us – and the elder son – to the feasting?
Notice also, that sin is 'going away to a distant land' – it is about losing who and where we are called to be. Repentance is about 'coming back to our senses.' Sin is an alienation from ourselves, like the son who no longer deserves to be called his father's son. Sin affects our relationships – with the father – and with others (the elder son). But in the father, we find a love that bridges the gap.
From John Pilch, "Historical Cultural Context", http://liturgy.slu.edu :
In this culture fathers were greatly discouraged from distributing inheritance before their death. The younger son acts very shamefully by effectively wishing his father dead. The elder son is no better. He makes no effort to reconcile his father and brother as the culture demanded. When he 'comes back to himself' and repents, the younger son is willing to become a servant and take the rejection and physical abuse that the village will heap on him for his shameful behavior. In this, he does show some measure of honor. But then the father acts totally out of cultural character. He runs (very inappropriate for an elder) the gauntlet the village has prepared for the wayward son. He publicly forgives the son by kissing him, giving him the best robe (which certainly would be the father's), putting a ring on his finger (a sign of trust), and sandals on his feet (a sign of a free man not a slave). Killing the fatted calf means that the whole village will be invited to come and accept this son and celebrate. (This size calf could feed 100 people.) And then, what does the elder son do? Instead of honoring his father's wishes, he publicly insults and humiliates his father. Yet, the father also goes out to him (another shameful thing for the father to do). The parable ends here with the father pleading with his son . . . what did the elder son do? What would you do?
In Honor of Grandparents' Day By: Maureen McGuinness
It's been said that a grandparent's love is the nearest we'll come to experiencing God's love on earth. I have reason to believe that's true. While I can't yet know how God feels for us, I do know that my grandparents loved me in a way no other person has.
I had three grandparents in my life; my maternal grandparents, and my paternal grandmother. My paternal grandfather died when my father was a child and my paternal step grandfather died before I was born. While the idea of the Trinity is perplexing to me, having three grandparents on earth made it easier to understand. There were three people in my life who were separate and distinct, yet they were all part of one loving unit called grandparent.
I had the privilege of having all of my grandparents until I was 38 years old. My maternal grandmother, Mary Zipko was the first to die in 2005. Granny was a home maker. She had many jobs in her life: wrapping sticks of gum in the Wrigley's gum factory in Chicago, she was a barmaid in Brooklyn, and a department store clerk in Cleveland. I'm sure she was good at all of those things, but from her I learned what home was. The smell of roast beef, the sound of potatoes boiling in a pot, and the dining room table set for a big Sunday dinner are all things that remind me of Granny.
My sister and I loved to go to Granny's house. There were treats waiting for us that were unavailable at home. Coke a cola, chips and dip, and late night movies were some of the thrills of being at Granny's. Nothing will ever be as comforting to me as being tucked in the bed in her guest room under a big quilt. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it really seemed to me that Granny loved having us around. She had a big smile when she saw us and there were always big hugs. She had a great laugh and at times she was known to laugh until she cried, which made her, and us, laugh even harder.
Granny died in her sleep. While we knew that each day with our grandparents was a gift, it was a shock to get the call that she had died.
Ninety days later my paternal grandmother Margaret Walsh died. While I learned what a home was from Granny I learned what strength and character was from Grandma. Grandma's life was filled with challenges. Her prom date died at the prom picnic, she was held at knife point while a nursing student, her first husband died when she was 30-years-old leaving her with 3 children under the age of 6 to raise, her second husband died when she was 45 and had a 9-year-old to raise.
Despite these challenges she served others. Her vocation was nursing. She was a dedicated nurse in a Catholic hospital, she visited sick people in their homes, and she nursed in a steel factory. She cared for her ailing parents in her own home allowing them to die surrounded by family, I remember being with her at Church and the woman in front of us fainted. There was no question that she was up and out of her seat taking care of the woman.
Despite having a career that was life and death, her house was filled with life and joy. When her family was over there was singing, piano playing, chocolate, and fun. She encouraged her granddaughters to perform, play, and dream. Because of this there were many "shows" put on in front of the bay window of her living room.
I don't remember ever seeing Grandma dressed down. She wore skirts and suits. I don't think she ever wore pants.
I learned from Grandma to use the "good" china and crystal. If a guest wanted tea at her house, she brewed a pot in a good china tea pot and served it in a good tea cup. If her grandchildren wanted to pretend to drink high balls, they too got to drink out of the good crystal.
Papa, Stanley Zipko, lived an amazing life. A coal miner after he finished eighth grade, he worked in the mines until he was 30. At that point he developed "black lung" and there wasn't much hope that he would live a long life with this condition. The condition kept him out of the military during World War II. He found himself in the shipyards of Cleveland building war ships, a job he said was his favorite because he could work as much as he wanted.
After the war he became a pipe fitter and worked hard putting his three daughters through Catholic school and college, despite being told educating girls was a waste of time.
By the time he entered his 60's he was ready to retire. He embraced retirement learning how to reupholster furniture, bake bread, and make wine and beer. Despite living in an urban area his yard was filled with flowers and a large vegetable garden.
Papa was loud, liked beer, and horse racing and singing. He would sing to my sister and I "Who's the cream in my coffee? Who's the salt in my stew?" We knew we were.
This man who started life as an impoverished child of Lithuanian immigrants ended up traveling the world visiting the Holy Land, Rome, New Guinea, India, Portugal, and many parts of the United States.
Papa lived a full, long life and died in his home.
When Granny died we started finding dimes all over the place. My sister even found one in her bed that night. When Grandma died the dime was joined by a penny. So many times we would find a penny and a dime together; during happy moments like birthdays or as we stood watching my parents' house burn to the ground. When Papa died my sister said quietly at the cemetery "Ok Papa's sign to us will be the nickel."
Sure enough we began finding the trio of coins. My sister got a call from one of Papa's neighbors a few weeks after he died. The neighbor expressed how much she missed our grandfather and shared "I'm not sure what's going on but ever since Stanley died we've been finding nickels everywhere."
These three amazing people loved me and my cousins fiercely. They celebrated our triumphs and calmed our parents down each time we made mistakes. Thinking of them gives me an idea of what God must be like: celebrating with us, cheering us, and providing support to us in our darkest moments.
Choose the Right God
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Every year, statistics tell us that there are more and more self-declared atheists and agnostics. And we certainly do not need to look hard to prove that there are fewer people who identify with the Church. While it is troubling for sure, today I am here to say that I do not blame them. Although these trends are a real threat to my job security, I do not blame these newly minted atheists and agnostics because the God most of these people, especially our young people, fail to believe in I don't believe in either.
They see God as distant, far removed and uncaring of their cares and concerns. They see an angry God anxious and threatened by diversity; a God who will not be satisfied until we all conformed to one predetermined mold. The judging God they reject rejects others. And the God…
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Scripture Commentary for 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
1st Reading – Wisdom 9: 13-18b
From Word & Worship, Birmingham, p. 465: It was a popularly held belief that this book was written by Solomon, but scholarship maintain that it was written long after his reign by an anonymous writer. The most we can ascertain is that the writer was a learned Greek-speaking Jew and probably a teacher, and that he was familiar with Hellenistic philosophy, rhetoric and culture. A burning issue of those times was how is it that the just suffer and the wicked prosper? Skepticism and individualism were rampant.
Sound familiar? It is so hard to discern God's will for us. There are no billboards. We wrestle with what we think is right for us vs. what God may think is right for us. We also wrestle when bad things happen, and we try to wrap our minds around how that can be. In the end, the Holy Spirit imparts wisdom to us when we allow Spirit in. Margaret Silf from Inner Compass (p. 92) says, "God's will – his desire for me – and my own deepest desire (when I am really living true) are one and the same thing!" Yet we are so burdened by our "earthen shelter". How does this reading speak to you in where you are in your life right now?
2nd Reading – Philemon 9b-10, 12-17
This is the only personal letter of Paul that has survived. Onesimus was a slave who had run away from his master, Philemon, a Christian of Colossae. He had joined Paul in prison and under Paul's influence Onesimus became Christian. Paul is sending him back as "no longer a slave but a brother." Paul does not abolish slavery, it is true. That would have been impossible in the ancient world. But, rather, Paul transforms the relationship between master and slave with faith in Christ Jesus. (Reginald Fuller, http://liturgy.slu.edu/23OrdC090510 )
In a way, Paul is asking Philemon to forego his legal rights, ownership and cultural understandings in favor of God's way of wisdom and love. Right in the middle of this Sunday's readings, this passage is a powerful example of what the 1stReading is saying and what Jesus will be asking of us in the Gospel.
What understandings do you have to overcome in order truly be Jesus' disciple? Do you have a friend with whom you can share your heart like Paul and Onesimus?
The Gospel – Luke 14: 25-33
This gospel consists of a string of sayings on the cost of discipleship, followed by two parables to help illustrate what Jesus meant. "Hate' is a very harsh word. Exaggeration was a common technique for preachers in Jesus' day; in an oral culture one had to make important points with strength. The original Aramaic (Jesus' language) might have meant simply to "love less than." But no matter the translation, the meaning is clear: following Jesus means the surrender of the whole of one's life. (Reginald Fuller, http://liturgy.slu.edu/23OrdC090510 ) How does this challenging gospel speak to you? Why not talk it over with Jesus?
There is a poem on a wall in the children's home started by Mother Teresa in Calcutta.
Anyway, Never Give Up!
Discipleship is an unusual undertaking;
The better you become at it,
the more difficult and challenging it will be.
Be a disciple anyway; never give up!
The people you are called to serve may be unlikable,
ungrateful and unimpressed by your dedication.
Love and serve them anyway; never give up!
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway; never give up!
The good you do for Christ will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway; never give up!
Honesty, humility and simplicity may make you vulnerable.
Be honest, humble and simple anyway, never give up!
What you spend years building may seem
insignificant in the eyes of others.
Build anyway; never give up!
People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway; never give up!
Give the world the best you have
and you may get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world your best anyway; never give up!
(From Celebration, September, 2001)

subset: commoncrawl


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The International Canoe Federation claims that "the sport of Canoe Marathon is a true test of a paddlers tactics, endurance and athleticism". While I'm not in this league to experience a 'true test', I did do my first canoe marathon event yesterday, with my friend Sylvi, the same teammate with whom I did the canoe triathlon in early May.
Sylvi is older than me so we competed in the masters category and as such had a 16km race distance. The event was held at Wemmerpan, in JHB - a sweet dam with a two-kilometre lap. Marathon racing includes portaging and so every two laps (4km) we got out for a short portage (50m maybe). I quite enjoyed this as it gave me a chance to loosen my hips and shake out my legs.
The good paddlers out there, including Olympian Bridgitte Hartley left us looking decidedly pedestrian, but nonetheless we paddled well together.
It was about 12C when we got on the water and on the near side it was flat and calm and still (protected by reeds) but on the far end and far side the wind had whipped the water into a chop and it was downright chilly.
The biggest excitement of the morning came in the form of a near swim. We were out on the far end, focused and concentrating on getting through the chop. Two fast kayaks came past us and the combination of the choppy water and their waves saw us tip over. I didn't even see it coming! Well, Sylvi and I were tipped over sideways - so much so that my water was actually coming into my cockpit. I could feel it pouring in over my hip! My paddle had also been caught by a wave and it was almost under the boat, my right hand still clinging to it.
Sylvi, sitting in front of me, was horizontal and because we got tipped with no warning, there wasn't even time for her to brace. Or me. Her paddle was out of the water and in one hand.
As Sylvi says, thank goodness that both of us have some whitewater paddling skills because we essentially rolled out kayak upright using our hips, not paddles. That was so close. Neither of us wanted to swim in that frightfully cold water and we were both so relieved to be upright again. We only had a quarter-lap to go before having to portage, so we could empty the water from our boat.
We had eight laps in total and four portages to make it a good day out there.
We're still uncertain whether we turned correctly at the end - there was an extra bit of a lap to make up the final distance. We were either correct or we did about an extra three minutes of distance.
It was a good event and I'm keen to do more. In summer.


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Taking the Fight to Orange County
Orange County is one of the most pivotal electoral battlegrounds in the nation as Democrats struggle to maintain majorities in the State Assembly and Congress. Despite minimal support from the Democratic Party leadership, Orange County has great potential to fare well in the November elections. The Obama 2008 campaign did better in Orange County than any other Democratic presidential candidate in history, raising eyebrows among some party activists.
Orange County has the second largest number of registered Democrats in the state and holds six congressional seats. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez is the only Democrat among the six; Republicans hold the other five seats. An "Independent" Latina and a corrupt State Assemblyman, both backed by Republicans, are posing a challenge to her. Congresswoman Sanchez has strong union support.
The Bill Hedrick campaign is in the Southern end of Orange County. His congressional district also includes Riverside County, another Republican stronghold that Obama 2008 did well in. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Progressive Democrats Of America and Democracy For America (DFA) endorse and provide support to his campaign. He almost beat the "King Of Earmarks", incumbent Ken Calvert in 2008, with virtually no Democratic Party support and a small campaign. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Calvert as one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress. Bill is highly competitive this time around and has a great chance of flipping this district.
Recommended Articles
The campaigns of Beth Krom for Congress and Melissa Fox for Assembly share much of the same area. Krom has won five elections in Irvine in ten years, twice as Mayor, and is now taking on car-dealer heir incumbent John Campbell. In 2009, several watchdog groups accused Campbell of taking $170,000 in campaign contributions (as well as $600,000 to $6,000,000 in rent) from used car dealers. Campbell introduced legislation exempting them from consumer protection laws. Krom's strong campaign won the National Grassroots All Star contest from DFA this year. Irvine, Krom's political base, has consistently elected a progressive majority to their City Council.
Melissa Fox is running in an assembly district that Obama carried by almost 9,000 votes. She is a California DFA Allstar, and won her primary by three-to-one over a previous candidate. She is running in an open seat against a Tea Party Republican who narrowly beat three moderate Republicans in the primary. Phu Nguyen is also running a great campaign in an open seat in the 68th ad and has influential endorsements from LA Dems.
Nyabnigi Kuti
Originally from Chicago, Nyabingi Kuti worked in the music industry as a sound engineer and producer for 15 years. His political background covers a range of Democratic Party campaigns, from Jesse Jackson for President in the 1990's to Mike Gatto for State Assembly currently. He is a member of Progressive Democrats Of America - LA and very supportive of the plight of the Palestinians. He administers a website - https://kristalball.com - which features video content that covers politics, African culture and music. He has also written two feature screenplays.


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It was ingrained in me at a young age by my parents to always write a thank you note. When you fail to do so, they'd preach, it insults the gift-giver and almost assures you won't receive another from that person.
I now preach that same lesson to my kids. Two weeks ago, my youngest came home from school with an Easter-themed bag of treats from one of her teachers. Over the holiday weekend we had her write a thank you note to her teacher. Her teacher was very appreciative of the note and said something that shocked me. She claimed that in all her years of teaching, she could count on one hand the number of times a student had written her a thank you note, and my daughter had written two of those.
As communication methods have become more numerous and perhaps more casual, has that changed what many would still consider good manners? Has this changed business manners too?
When was the last professional thank you note you wrote and what was it for? My guess is that most readers can't remember and the other group of readers will claim it was while job searching following an interview or a meeting. Am I right?
If you think back on the past year, there have probably been many occasions where a quick note of thanks could have been sent but wasn't. Think about how you feel when you receive a thank you note that's been customized enough where you get a true sense of the gratitude. You're more likely to want to repeat the experience again in the future. The goal of most businesses, regardless of industry, is to get repeat business in addition to new business. Doesn't it seem obvious then that a thank you note can be a powerful business tool?
So my challenge to you is to write a business-related thank you note to a client, customer or vendor this week. Like fertilizer in a Spring garden, see how your business relationship blossoms as a result of a little personalization and display of gratitude. Let me know how it goes!


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Ask me about Ubuntu. Not. Or how I disappointed yet another user.
I will acknowledge from the start I know very little about Ubuntu specifics and have a lot many other more important things to do before learning, so when someone I remotely know came and asked a problem by answer was "not sure I can help, shoot".
I was able to diagnose the issue: Pidgin unable to login to Yahoo Messenger because Ubuntu 9.04 is older than Yahoo's latest authentication change, tried to come with a solution, package update, which the user wasn't able to implement (neither sudo apt-get update from terminal, nor from the GUI), I have no idea why... probably because it was a Live USB created from a CD? (it is a temporary solution, while the damaged hard drive of that Windows PC is replaced... not gonna happen very soon, students don't have much money) I don't know... I am familiar with live persistence only on Fedora live media (and recommend only Fedora to those asking me).
The massive download needed for an Ubuntu from this year was not a solution either, so in the end she concluded a pirated Windows XP with no updates or security patches is the better choice. When she will have a hard drive.
How do I feel about this? These days I don't feel anything. How should I feel?


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Ending a Childhood Disease
Jun 10, 2013, 10:48 AM, Posted by Anna Heling, Kristin Schubert
We rarely think of poverty as a disease. It doesn't trace back to a microbe, it doesn't transmit through coughs or sneezes. But for children, the effects of poverty can have lifelong implications as devastating as many diseases.
As author Perri Klass, MD, noted recently in The New York Times, the stress and limitations that often accompany childhood poverty can influence children's life trajectories, change their dispositions, blunt their brain development, and even alter their genes.
Today we're in the midst of a poverty epidemic not seen since the Depression. We have more kids living in poverty now than we have had for generations. That's scary, especially now that we know what poverty does to you neurologically, biologically, and socially. A child's early development has huge implications on health for when that child is 20 years old, or even 30, 40, or 50 years old.
So what can we do about it? To start, we need to look holistically at who is around to support a child. Who is giving care to make sure a child can, as Klass puts it, "grow toward the light"? As a society, we need to ask how we can make sure families have the supports they need to give the best care to their child, even as they face the trials of poverty.
Support for lifting children and families out of poverty often gets wrapped up in asking who's accountable for the situation, or the politics around a handout versus picking yourself up from your bootstraps. The conversation—and action—could get further if we set aside these polarizations and approached the problem, instead, as an early childhood disease. There's a huge need for that conversation to happen. We all have a stake in this. It's costly to pay for poor health outcomes that we know stem from trauma and adversity early in life. Whether you care from an economic perspective or you care from a moral one, recognizing poverty as a childhood disease is imperative to the future wellbeing and productivity of our society.


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WiTopia is one of the famous VPN providers for all kind of platforms such as Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Android. They support most (protocol) type of VPNs and VPN several servers based on geographical location to make the connection secured and faster. Instead of connecting random servers in other VPN services, you can choose the specific server with WiTopia VPN. This guide will be showing you how to setup WiTopia L2TP/IPsec VPN on Windows 10 (Windows 8.1 too) manually. Usually, they have a software that will install WiTopia VPN client on Windows 10 desktop or laptop to make the connection, but here we go with the manual method.
Basically, VPN (Virtual Private Network) helps to protect your network traffic data on the Internet or in-between nodes/locations. This will avoid someone to see your network traffic/data and hijack your personal and confidential information. Also, VPN helps to access websites and the Internet services which are blocked by your local ISP (Internet Service Provider). Let's say if Skype is blocked at your place, by using a personal VPN service like WiTopia you can use Skype on your PC or smartphone. There are several free personal VPN services available in the market, WiTopia is one of the paid version which does the job well.
Setup WiTopia L2TP/IPsec VPN on Windows 10 Manually
Follow these steps to set up a VPN without any third party client installation. This purely works with Windows 10 built-in VPN client. Similar steps can be followed on Windows 8.1 also.
1) Open Network and Sharing Center to create a new VPN connection. Search for 'Network' on Windows 10 search and click on Network and sharing center. 2) To create a new dial-up VPN, select the below option on your Windows 10 desktop or laptop.
3) You can select the first option as shown below and press Next.
Then select 'Use my Internet connection' option and proceed.
4) On the next screen, you have to select the server name (location) to dial VPN. You can check available L2TP WiTopia VPN server locations at this official site here.
You can select 'Remember my credentials' if you like to save the user name and password on your Windows 10 computer. Click create to configure VPN.
5) Once you have created the VPN, you will see it under network connections on Windows 10 computer.
6) We need to modify a few more settings on this connection to make the WiTopia LT2P VPN works on Windows 10. Right click on the created connection and select Properties. Under security, change the following settings.
2- Type of VPN – Layer 2 Tunneling….
3- Require encryption…
4- Enable Allow these protocols
5- tick those protocols.
6 – Click on 'Advanced settings' to go to the next option.
7) After clicking the Advanced settings, select the first option and enter 'witopia1' as key.
8.) Click on Networking tab and remove IPv6 version as shown below.
Press OK and complete the WiTopia L2TP VPN settings on Windows 10, these methods can be followed on Windows 8.1 also.
You need to enter the user name and password while trying to connect VPN. Click on the network icon in the notification area and select the VPN connection you are going to dial.
Using the WiTopia VPN user name and password is slightly tricky. It depends on what's your user name is. Is it your personal email or username with WiTopia domain.
If you use your personal email as user name, you should use W\ in front of it, as below.
W\firstname.lastname@example.com (the W \ must be present)
If your user name is as this username@witopia (notice that there are no .net at the end), you can use this directly without typing W\ in front of it.
You can find more information about setting up WiTopia L2TP VPN on Windows 10 and 8.1 here at the official site.
You may need client software to setup IPsec VPN if it doesn't work on your computer as described here.
We hope this guide would be helpful in setting up WiTopia L2TP VPN on Windows 10 or 8.1 computer without installing additional software.


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So the first Kick-Ass movie rocked, right? It was one of those movies that took me completely by surprise when I saw it (If I had read the comic, I would've been more aware). I thought, "A bunch of nerds playing superhero? This should be funny." And then it turned out to be a seriously violent reflection of what it means to be a superhero.
Kick-Ass 2 is no different, following suit with the dark action-comedy. It picks up after Kick-Ass (obviously). Hit Girl (a.k.a. Mindy McCready) now lives with her guardian, a police officer who was close with her father, and is starting high school. Kick Ass (a.k.a. Dave Lizewski) has been out of the superhero game for some time and is bored with living a normal life, so he starts training with Hit Girl again and joins the superhero team, Justice Forever, led by Colonel Stars & Stripes (played by Jim Carrey). And Red Mist (a.k.a. Chris D'Amico) is still pissed about Kick Ass killing his mob-boss father and decides to gather a villain team while taking up his own supervillain persona, The Mother F***er.
But, of course, this movie is a sequel. And sequels (especially those that require a number after the title) are notorious for being, well, kind of terrible. So…does Kick-Ass 2 suck or live up to the first film?
Let's start off with the one thing that's been on everyone's mind ever since the first trailer for Kick-Ass 2 debuted. Yes, Jim Carrey is in this movie. He plays the badass, ex-mob, born-again Christian superhero, Colonel Stars & Stripes. But if you were planning to see Kick-Ass 2 solely for Carrey, save your money. He's in the movie for all of 10 minutes before he dies. Is it disappointing? Completely. The trailer gave away nearly all of his scenes and made it look like he was one of the main characters in this movie. But he's nothing more than a glorified cameo. Was he good? Of course! But like I said, if this is your only reason for seeing this Kick-Ass sequel, don't waste your time.
Kick-Ass 2 focuses on further developing the characters of Kick Ass, Hit Girl, and Red Mist (now The Mother F***er). In the first film, Kick Ass learned that being a superhero was nothing like the movies make it out to be because, sometimes, the hero gets beaten within an inch of his life or killed in one of the most brutal ways possible. This movie continues that development, except, this time, it's all about how being a hero is a lonely existence that often gets loved ones killed. Obviously, Hit Girl already knows this, as she experienced it in the first film, but it's finally Kick Ass' turn, as his father is killed while trying to protect him. This is pretty typical. We've seen this story with Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, etc., so it's nothing new.
Hit Girl, on the other hand, is forced into giving up her superhero identity to become a normal teenage girl. This means she has to deal with bitchy queen bees (who are unfortunately derivative of the much-funnier Mean Girls characters), dating, and keeping her new father-guardian happy. Her struggles, too, are nothing new. But it's actually Mother F***er who has the most interesting story of all of them. He's gone from wannabe-superhero wanting vengeance for the death of his father to wannabe-supervillain who knows more about looking like a supervillain than actually being a supervillain. We see this in his reliance on his money, his pseudo-servant Javier (who dies almost instantly), and his villainous team to do the "criminal" work for him. His story makes for good discussion because, as his imprisoned uncle told him, he doesn't even know what evil really is.
Which leads perfectly in to what has been a very angered outcry about Kick-Ass 2's attempted rape scene. Now, before you turn away from that word or assume I'm going to be an annoying feminist who complains about this scene without explaining why it's a problem, I ask you to hear me out. This is a chance to open up discussion about a very complicated topic and a scene that, quite frankly, I don't even know what to think of.
In the comic (I did read this section), Kick Ass' girlfriend is raped by Mother F***er because Mother F***er wants to hurt Kick Ass. Yes, it's effective in hurting the hero, but it also falls into that "women are only objects to be used against the hero" trap that a lot of comics have been criticized for using. Creator Mark Millar didn't help when he responded to the criticism about this scene by saying, "The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know. I don't really think it matters. It's the same as, like, a decapitation. It's just a horrible act to show that somebody's a bad guy." (Because how many times have women walked around worried that they might get decapitated?). Whatever, he's a jackass. Moving on.
In the movie, director Jeff Wadlow and Millar decided not to go all the way with the rape scene, having Mother F***er trying to rape Night Bitch (Kick Ass' superhero hookup) but failing to do so when he can't get an erection. Naturally, this is played for laughs because Christopher Mintz-Plasse is awkward and douchey throughout this movie. Sadly—and I can't believe I'm saying this—I'm not sure if "rape fail joke" is better or worse than showing actual rape. In terms of showing how Mother F***er is a dumbass kid trying to play villain in an adult world, this scene succeeds in proving its point. Like the scene where he says "I'm not that sick" when Mother Russia asks whether she should kill Colonel Stars & Stripes' dog, it shows that he really isn't prepared to be "evil." However, the problem remains that this almost-rape was made into a joke. When a serious issue for women (who are constantly objectified in comics and are the majority of rape victims) is made to be a joke, it's a huge slap in the face. Not that we can't ever joke about things as a means of coping. It's just that there's still so much misogyny in the comic book world that this joke seems careless and extremely insensitive. (Disagree? Agree? Discuss below!)
Well, now that I've eaten up so much time discussing this one scene, I'll do a quick summary of everything else. The story seemed a little rushed. Sure, we got some development of the characters, but everything seemed to happen so quickly. One minute, we're training; the next, people are dying left and right. And sweet mother of god, there were so many new characters thrown into this movie. I couldn't keep up with all of their names (I still don't know them). The acting was great from all of the heroes and villains, but the high school bitches Hit Girl deals with were either written to be just ridiculously stereotypical and stupid or the actresses were lame. Not sure. Probably both.
The special effects were great. Kind of campy, but what do you expect from a comic book film? Also, Chloë Grace Moretz (who plays Hit Girl) steals most of the scenes once again. She's just fun to watch, especially when she's beating the hell out of random dudes and swearing up a storm (and when she calls Mother Russia a c*** in Russian…because awesome). Also, there's a minor jab at Star Wars in this movie. See if you can spot it!
Overall, Kick-Ass 2 continues down the path of dark superhero comedy, but it's not nearly as good as the first film. That might have something to do with a too-speedy plot, eye-rollingly bad high school stereotypes, serious violence being mocked, and the overabundance of new characters we barely know. But the movie is still fun. The comedy is current and poignant, the fight scenes are worth a watch, and the violence is as bloody as ever. Hit Girl remains a fan favorite, as she gets the best lines and fight scenes in the movie. Mother Russia, who's a new character in Mother F***er's band of villains, is a total badass (and seems like a cool Halloween costume). And Kick Ass is still the charming, hot nerd we grew to love in the first film. Still, the Jim Carrey cameo is such a joke. Even though he was good, he's barely in the movie at all. In comparison to Nicholas Cage's Big Daddy role in the first film, Jim Carrey's role seems more like a PR stunt than comedy gold.


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Men of courage
By David Vital.
Oxford University Press; 976 pages; $45 and £30
THE Jews in Europe, not the Jews of Europe, specifies the subtitle with a sting in its middle. This history covers 150 years that carried the Jews from emancipation in revolutionary France to the brink of the Holocaust. Its geography stretches from Britain, which offered mainly tolerance and opportunity, to the tsar's Pale of Settlement, where the bulk of European Jewry was treated to unremitting official and popular hostility and sporadic pogroms. Yet at the end of this long, dense, heartbreaking book one is left with the sense that, even at its most enlightened, Europe could not do other than fail its Jews. The book ends at the Evian conference of 1938, where the world's democracies gathered to inform the Jews that there would be little refuge from Nazi ferocity or the less-systematic persecution in Eastern Europe.
David Vital has not written a history of the Jews, nor has he tried to account fully for the antipathy that dogged them in the east and flared up sporadically further west. His main subject is the dry and difficult one of politics: relationships between states (whose dealings with Jews were often afterthoughts) and a people with no single representative and a tradition of shunning political activity altogether.
This makes for an odd book. The Jewish people are a ghostly presence, because Mr Vital's purpose is not to dwell on Jews' religious, communal or economic lives. Accounts of their politics, which lacked the usual heft provided by real power, can read like minutes of committee meetings. The author's attentiveness to nuance on both sides demands long, trying sentences. Yet the cumulative effect is not dry: Mr Vital's shadow puppetry probably conveys the complexity of the Jewish tragedy in Europe better than a Technicolor history might have done.
Mr Vital shows how Jews were ground up in Europe's political identity crises. Their grim treatment by the tsar's backward empire seems inevitable, though it is a shock to be reminded how catastrophic their European experience was even without the Holocaust. Nor did other, more liberal polities fully resolve their Jewish questions. The French revolution brought the Rights of Man, for Jews as well. But republican abhorrence of anything that stood between citizen and state applied to the Jews' distinctive customs and communal institutions. Jews could have a religion, but not a nationality.
As the 19th century progressed, West Europeans became more liberal and more nationalistic at the same time. States could generally be relied upon to protect Jews' rights, but citizens—especially the educated—grew increasingly suspicious of a group that, despite the best efforts of many, never seemed fully to belong. In Germany Bruno Bauer laid the intellectual groundwork for secular anti-Semitism. After the end of the first world war, when self-determination became the principle on which new states were carved out of old empires, liberated nations like Poland developed a keener resentment for the non-nationals in their midst. Non-nationalists invented their own reasons for hating Jews—incorrigible addiction to capitalism, for one. Almost everyone except Hitler seems to have accepted an awful distinction between "useful" and "useless" Jews, and the idea that the more overtly Jewish a Jew was the less useful he was likely to be.
The other half of Mr Vital's story is about Jewish responses, which were even more varied than the circumstances that gave rise to them. Many Jews, especially in the east, cleaved to the passivity of their forefathers. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, R. Shne'ur Zalman, an Hasidic leader, wrote that liberation by the relatively enlightened French empire would mean the "parting and estrangement of the hearts of Jews from their Father in heaven." He was right. Where the opportunity arose, many became less Jewish in order to become more useful.
Mr Vital is hard—in his understated way—on Jews who were either too orthodox or too assimilated to defend themselves or their less-fortunate brethren. True, Jews were ill-equipped for self-defence. They had no overarching organisational structures (contrary to what anti-Semites might think), but a sense of peoplehood qualified by loyalty to the states in which they lived and an ancient aversion to political activity. Mr Vital's heroes are those who in spite of these habits acted on behalf of fellow Jews. They include dignitaries like Moses Montefiore in Britain and Adolphe Crémieux of France.
But Mr Vital, a historian of Zionism, seems to reserve his highest respect for those who came to the extraordinary conclusion—initially a half-century before Hitler—that Jews had no future in Europe and that their only salvation lay in a state of their own. Alone among the contending schools of Jewish political thought, Zionists asserted Jewish nationhood, negotiated with governments on behalf of that nation and created deliberative and executive bodies that tried to represent the bulk of the Jewish people.
The Zionists turned out to be right, and Mr Vital is right to honour them. Yet his own implied distinction between politically useful and useless Jews is troubling. The orthodox, after all, strove to defend Judaism if not Jewish rights. Some of the book's most attractive figures are Jews who did not make politics the centre of their Jewishness. Moses Mendelssohn, a founder of the Jewish "enlightenment" in Germany, tried to reconcile tradition with full-blooded citizenship. Rabbi Spektor of Kovno combined rock-hard orthodoxy with unorthodox concern for Jews' immediate worldly needs. Such men had answers to another question that shadows the reader of this valuable book: what are the Jews really for? Today's Jews, thankfully safer than in the time and place Mr Vital writes about, are still tortured by it.
This article appeared in the Review section of the print edition under the headline "Men of courage"
From the September 18th 1999 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition
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A round-up of web-only highlights on Economist.com in 2008


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I have been asked if guinea fowl hens lay eggs in a nest box or chicken coop. From my experience the answer is generally no.
I have been keeping and raising guinea fowl for the last 6-7 years and have found that they mainly lay their eggs from midday and early afternoon so they have usually been let out of their hut by the time they want to lay.
If they do lay in the hut they just lay anywhere in the straw and I have never found a guinea fowl egg in the nest boxes I have in their hut.
My guinea fowl free range during the day and roost in a hut at night with some hens, the hens use the nesting boxes but the guinea fowl do not, they will just lay their eggs in the straw. They do like to lay their eggs in the corner of the hut.
Guinea fowl are ground nesting birds and prefer to make their nest in a secluded place usually in a hedgerow in amongst nettles! They scratch the ground out to make a hollow and then lay their eggs. More than one guinea hen will use the same nest.
If you can make a secluded corner of your hut then guinea fowl may lay in their hut. You can encourage them with some pot eggs, but the pot eggs will need to be the same size and colour as their own eggs or they won't be fooled!
If you fancy having a go at incubating, hatching and raising guinea fowl keets then check out my Incubating, Hatching & Raising guinea Fowl Keets eBook and if you are in the UK then I also have guinea fowl eggs for hatching for sale (UK Spring and Summer months).
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If you keep guinea fowl and want to ask a question to get some advice or just to chat about your guinea fowl then why not join the free farmingfriends guinea fowl forum.


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Getting Kids on Board with Healthy Eating
While you're probably pretty good at understanding a concept after you hear it, your kids – or grandkids – process new information very differently. Kids are more naturally kinesthetic and visual – they want to touch and see what you're telling them.
Keeping this in mind, here are some projects to do with your kids to put them on the road to a lifetime of choosing, and actually preferring! – healthy foods.
Be Out Standing In A Field: Take the kids to tour an organic farm. It's one thing to see carrots, peeled and sealed in a plastic bag on the kitchen counter. It's a completely different thing to stand in rich loamy earth and pull a carrot out of the ground. Or pluck blueberries from a bush and put as many in your pail as you put in your mouth. Or see how easily the vine releases a scarlet tomato when it's ripe for the picking. Walking through the fields and groves of local farms will help kids feel a new respect for where their food comes from – and might even make them want to try their hand at growing something.
A Feast for the Eyes Ends Up in the Tummy: Knowing that the things that are most accessible are probably the first thing the kids will reach for, reserve the front of your refrigerator and cupboards for the healthy foods you want them to eat. A grove of broccoli "trees" standing in a bed of hummus; bite size celery pieces; grapes washed and off the vine and frozen; cherry tomatoes – when they're prominently displayed and readily available, the kids will find the healthy foods first – and gobble them up.
Get Kids in the Kitchen: If the only time your kids see their food is when it's prepared and plated, they will continue to have a passive relationship with it. Instead, make it fun – and mandatory – that they actively participate in planning and creating healthy meals and snacks with activities that match their age and skill set. For very young kids, "Ants on a Log" is a great choice. You cut the celery and fill the stalk with almond butter, while they add the raisin "ants." As they get older they'll be able to use knives, a blender and other appliances with your direct supervision. The important thing is to let the kids have the hands-on experience of creating healthy, nutritious meals or snacks for family and friends.
Show how Food is Medicine and Fuel: For this one you'll need a stack of family-friendly magazines, scissors, glue and a piece of poster board and the internet. You're going to be illustrating what foods are important for specific parts of the body, or for sustaining energy.
Eileen Caddy: Legacy of Light
"Let there be more joy and laughter in your living."
– Eileen Caddy
Long before growing miraculous 40-pound cabbages at Findhorn in Scotland and creating a library of inspiration books, Eileen Caddy was looking within for guidance and wisdom.
Living in England in in 1939, she and her first husband were active members in the Moral Re-armament (MRA), a global community launched by American minister Frank Buchman. Buchman's goal was to help nations and individuals re-arm spiritually and morally, and essentially "battle for peace" by emphasizing teamwork, cooperation and integrity in all aspects of life.
Part of MRA's process was the discipline of deep meditation. During these "quiet times," group members would listen for divine guidance. Even though that marriage didn't last, Eileen's dedication to going into a deep Alpha state for spiritual guidance and insight became an essential part of the rest of her life.
During one such meditation after her marriage dissolved, Eileen heard what she later called "the voice of God." It commanded her to, "Be still and know that I am God." Frightened at first that she was mentally ill, Eileen began tuning in to this inner voice regularly, and powerful, positive things began to unfold in her life. She married fellow spiritual seeker and visionary Peter Caddy, and together they transformed a run-down hotel in Scotland into a four-star destination by following the guidance of the voice. They had similar good fortune with a second hotel, and next began practicing organic gardening near the Scottish village of Findhorn.
To their surprise and delight, their crops yielded exceptional produce, including 40 pound cabbages that attracted international attention. Eileen attributed the phenomenal results to her claim that she was communicating with plant spirits. Soon a large spiritual following began to form around Eileen and Peter, which became known as the Findhorn Community. People from around the world came to visit and participate in the healing work Eileen and Peter directed at Findhorn for body, mind and spirit.
In 1972 Eileen received divine guidance to take her message of hope, joy and love to the world. She traveled to spiritual gatherings and wrote a number of inspirational books, which were translated into 30 languages. One of her most popular works is God Spoke to Me . Daily at the Optimum Health Institute missions in San Diego and Austin, Texas, one of Eileen's quotes is offered in the morning prayer circle. OHI guests are invited to meditate on the thought throughout the day, seeing how their understanding of the words changes and evolves as their awareness changes with each new task and opportunity.
The very words that this spiritual teacher heard in her head and heart decades ago continue to motivate, encourage and bring joy, long after her death in 2006.
You can purchase God Spoke to Me, and other books by and about Eileen Caddy, at the Optimum Health Store. You can also order Eileen's divinely inspired works by calling the store at (800) 993-4325.
Come experience the healing power of Eileen Caddy's words as part of a transformative experience for all your senses and your body, mind and spirit at OHI. We can help you achieve your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual goals for optimal health in 2013. Call us at (800) 993-4325 to make your reservation.


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JJ Curran Partners with Medical Company
While many crane companies kept busy this summer, some were fortunate enough to work on jobs that positively impacted an entire community. This was the case recently for JJ Curran Crane of Detroit, Michigan, when they partnered with RAD Technology Medical Systems of Florida for an innovative project at the University of Michigan Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In 1950, John J. Curran, known as J.J., purchased his first backhoe and started the company Dearborn Excavating Company. In 1954, he bought his first crane and five years later expanded the company to six more cranes and became JJ Curran Crane. The company has been family owned and operated for over 60 years and now has second and third generation employees.
As with all cancer facilities, radiation equipment becomes outdated and needs to be replaced. Due to the cost and the size of the equipment, it is not always feasible to update the radiation equipment without negatively impacting patient care. Determined not to effect patients or staff, the University of Michigan Cancer Center hired RAD Technology Medical Systems for their groundbreaking work in the field of temporary modular vaults and clinics.
RAD Technology Medical Systems provides revolutionary modular radiotherapy vaults and cancer care clinics that can be used as temporary, interim, or permanent facilities. The modules are factory-fabricated, eliminating the need for lengthy on-site construction projects, and giving patients access to new treatment options in a matter of months instead of years. In this case, the new clinic was installed adjacent to the hospital in the parking lot this summer.
According to Kathy Lash, Director of Radiation Oncology at University of Michigan Health System, "We currently have five linear accelerators in need of eventual upgrading and are landlocked to add a sixth. When we learned about RAD's Temporary Radiotherapy Vault (TRV) we knew this type of out-of-thebox thinking would be a great example of what we refer to as the 'Michigan difference'." By leasing the vault and the clinic from RAD, the University will continue upgrading their current facilities and equipment and determine next steps at the end of the lease.
The Heavy Lifting
As one of the busiest cancer centers in the country, University of Michigan Cancer Center needed to keep patient and parking disruption to a minimum during the installation of the temporary facility, therefore the delivery of the modules and the lifts were completed on the weekend. This made it easier for traffic and pedestrian flow and allowed for the crane equipment to perform in the restricted space so close to the road and the hospital.
Safety was of the utmost priority and JJ Curran was instrumental in developing the safety plan with the traffic management team at University of Michigan. The four lanes of Medical Center Drive, in front the hospital, were reconfigured to two working lanes while the lanes closest to the hospital were closed during the project. When the actual lifts took place, all traffic was stopped for safety as the crane work included lifting modules over the street.
Phase 1
JJ Curran was contracted to install 10 prefabricated building modules, which would ultimately end up being the new temporary clinic and radiation vault. To allow for construction needs, the job was split into two phases. The first phase included placing five modules, the heaviest of which weighed 65,000 pounds. The other modules ranged from 20,000 to 40,000 pounds. JJ Curran used a Grove GM 5275 275 ton crane at a maximum radius of 50 feet. Some of the lifts during this phase were blind, relying heavily on the certified signal rigger to work by radio control with the crane operator.
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the project included placing five more modules to complete the clinic. These modules ranged from 18,000 to 54,000 pounds. The JJ Curran team used a Grove GMK 6250, 300 ton crane at an 80 feet maximum radius.
Due to the other modules from Phase 1 being in place, this entire phase was a blind lift for the crane operator who again relied on radio control support from the team on the ground. Due to the unique shape and configuration of the modules, JJ Curran worked with Lifting Gear Hire's Detroit team for special rigging and turn buckles. "We decided to use turn buckles to help on the job to ensure the loads were evenly distributed," said JJ Curran Crane's Director of Operations and Sales, Brian Gentner, "These were very large modules and we couldn't take a chance that any of the weight would shift during the lift and compromise the modules." RAD's Director of Field Operations.
Mike Kosinski hired and worked closely with JJ Curran every step of the way. "It was a great experience working the JJ Curran Crane team. It took a lot of coordination and planning prior to the install and ultimately the job came in on schedule and on budget. I wish we had a JJ Curran Crane company on every job we do."
After the on-site finishing touches were complete, which included bricking in the building to match the current brick, The University of Michigan Cancer Center began treating patients in the new temporary facility early last month.
"Both RAD Technology and JJ Curran were great to work with on this project. They were very 'patient-focused' and completed work quickly and safely with no disruptions or impact to our patients or staff," said Lash.
Reprinted from Michigan Contractor & Builder, November 2013


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The Quaranta laboratory studies cancer cell proliferation, motility and metabolism by a systems biology approach. We subject cancer cells to drug perturbations (including addicting oncogene targeted drugs) and derive the response at the population level from single-cell data. Hundreds to thousands of single cells are monitored by automated microscopy coupled to image processing and data modeling. With respect to proliferation, we fractionate the cellular drug response into several behaviors, including entry into quiescence, apoptosis, or changes in division rate. For motility, we quantify changes in speed and persistence with models that apply to the single cell level, challenging cells with diverse substrates, especially laminins, and extracellular matrix proteases. Metabolism is monitored with respect to entry into aerobic glycolysis. These experimental data are integrated into computational models to predict and/or optimize drug response. Model predictions are validated in experimental tumors. Our interdisciplinary group is comprised of cell and molecular biologists, mathematicians, engineers, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and computational biologists.
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- Vanderbilt Center for Matrix Biology
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Key: MeSH Term KeywordAdenosine Diphosphate Ribose Antibodies, Monoclonal Antineoplastic Agents biological networks Biomarkers, Tumor Bioreactors Calcium cancer biology Carbohydrate Metabolism cell identity Conserved Sequence Cyclic AMP Cytological Techniques DNA, Complementary Epithelial Cells Evolution, Molecular Fibrosis Glutathione Transferase Hepatitis, Chronic Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Islets of Langerhans Mathematical Modeling Microcirculation Microfluidic Analytical Techniques Microvilli Organ Culture Techniques Pancreatic Ducts Porphyromonas gingivalis Precipitin Tests Rectal Neoplasms Spectrometry, Fluorescence Stochastic Processes Superovulation Systems Biology Transcription Factors Tumor Microenvironment


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) integrates the power of Mapping.
GIS has transformed and updated old paper maps into computer data layers that are shared Countywide among staff.
GIS has been used to support mapping requests for County Departments, Public Agencies and the Public for a number of special studies.
You can visualize data in a digital format. Allowing the incorporation of many data layers to interpret and analyze all types of geographic features.


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Today's Daily Bible Verse and Devotion is Romans 13:4
For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
In today's world there is a growing desire to fight against authority. However in the New Testament, the only time you see the believers not obeying the public authority is when they were told to no longer speak in the Name of Jesus (Acts 4:18).
In this verse Paul is saying that those in authority like policemen or judges are there for our good. When we have rebelled and broken the law, then we have reason to be afraid of them.
If you want to live in civil peace do the right thing. Don't break the rules of the land. Unless you are being told to do something directly against what the Bible says, obey the authorities in your life and you will not need to be afraid of them.
Challenge yourself today to be respectful and honor those in authority around you. They were put there for your good!


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If you're considering going green with organic weed control for your yard this summer there are a number of different routes to follow. Most companies that specialize in this type of service will offer services on a sliding scale to help you meet your specific needs, help you assess what your needs are, and will offer sustainable maintenance. The basic program will include 3 organic fertilizer applications, which occur in spring, early summer, and fall. You can check out the various weed control companies at https://www.millspestmanagement.com/weed-control-services/.
Image Source: Google
This will help your weed grass look better throughout the season. The basic program must include 2 organic weed control applications. The company that has a good reputation will also have a free inspection offered to continue to help you. This inspection is usually for pests like a bug chinch and grubs.
Intermediary program, which can help those less time to care for their pages, will include the service mentioned earlier with the addition of one more 100% application of organic weed control, two additional fertilizer applications, and other services such as pH. analyze your land. This service increase must be displayed on your page throughout the year. For the most effective weed killer, it is necessary to use a fine spray, because this helps spray the maximum area of shooting and leaf surface. Land fumigants can also help clean up the area completely.


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When I last left you, we had just walked out of Osaka Castle's grounds! We were on our way to the world famous Kaiyukan Aquarium!
I had never heard of this place before, but it turns out it's a real big deal! It's known mainly for it's whale sharks! Just to highlight how incredibly massive Kaiyukan is, I remember looking at otters on the 7th floor.
Enjoy some of Osaka's streets as we made our way there!
So many cities in the world have a big wheel, it's like some unspoken agreement by the cities of the world. By that I mean, Tokyo had one, Osaka has one, and a lot of UK cities have them, or at least Liverpool, Manchester and London do.
It seems we were also near Osaka's Legoland at the time, if not, this poor giraffe was VERY lost.
Kaiyukan Aquarium itself! It's quite the spectacle!
I couldn't help but notice how quiet this area was, despite housing many major attractions. Maybe I had just gotten too used to the hustle of Tokyo, but this area of Osaka (the Minato ward, I believe) was so calm and serene. It was a nice break from staying in Shibuya and it's insane amounts of pedestrian traffic.
Despite online spending just over two weeks in Shibuya, it feels like a home I've moved away from. I can still remember the nooks and crannies of the streets, which conbinis (convenience stores) we'd pass en route to the station, which exits of the station were the best, etc. I would love to go back to Shibuya and stay there again, it's such a bloody marvellous area of Tokyo.
I can still hear the adverts over the crossing, one of which was to promote Flash by Perfume, a jam for the ages:
I got the clown fish ticket, Fae got the penguin, but she was kind enough to swap as penguins are my favourite animal! (Yes, I adore Happy Feet, I know it's terrible, and yes I did complete the Happy Feet DS game in one sitting on Christmas day many years ago, how did you know?)
Found you in Osaka.
These walkways blow my mind. They also drive my anxiety levels through the roof, however it was still pretty incredible. I love being able to experience deep sea, except it's not deep sea at all. And it's probably not accurate to what the deep sea is like either, I know nothing about the ocean or fish.
But I do know that this little shark is cute.
Yeah so this aquarium was EXTRA as hell. It's incredible. This for the most part was purely decorative! Not too many animals seemed to live around here except for…
these cute babies. These otters could do literally anything and I'd still think they were cute and innocent. They could kill everyone I love right in front of me and I'd be cooing in the corner about how incredibly adorable they are.
These pictures are terrible as they were through a pane of glass, however I had to include them. This beaver and I bonded very quickly. Ok, I fell in love with it in about 2 seconds and didn't want to leave it behind.
It was lazing around having some ice as a snack, and also acting kinda sassy to the person trying to feed it. I love it.
This fish looks like it just thought of a really good pun.
We stumbled upon penguin feeding time.
Be still my beating heart.
My heaven looks a little like that.
The whale shark!! The tank that housed this shark, and hundreds of other animals, is insanely huge. It is multiple floors high and takes up a significant chunk of the aquarium!
Jellyfish are one of those things I've realised I will never fully understand and I've made my peace with that.
This area was open on a few sides, meaning that it was extremely cold. You'd think Brits like us would have been tough enough to deal with it, but it was just a little bit too nippy.
And one last look at the outside!
I would wholeheartedly recommend a visit to the Kaiyukan Aquarium if you find yourself in Osaka! Pretty much every exhibit, except for a temporary one, has signs in English so you can learn a lot as you walk around! And know what you're actually looking at!
Entry was under 2,500 yen, and it took us around 2 hours to explore the entire building! Definitely worth it, even if it is a little out of the way!
Catch up on the rest of my Japan posts here:
Thanks for reading!


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Directory Listing
|Sticky Revision:
added option for max free slots per node changing
put START_CHOC back to 1
move START_CHOC from 1 to 11; Dennis had reserved chocs 1..10 for Jos Vermaseren
change default server from stro to korf
change delall function so that it gets ALL mc nodes, also the ones offline.
Summary: remove car nodes, update default capacity fraction to reflect choc.
Summary: fixed bug (superfluous + \ from copy-paste)
Summary: added in code for choc wns
Summary: put START_CAR back to default
Summary: added option to change max num draining nodes; made some messages more accurate.
Tag release 1.1.1
adding RELEASE file
Tag release 1.1.0
made comment for clarification
make changes to make it easier to update candidate-node range
Summary: add a bit of logging and rearrange to make sure reset_config wins if multiple config opts given
add ability to update max free and as well to reset config
add functionality to delete stray nodes from pool. useful if the configured capacity fraction is reduced; then there may be some active multicore pool nodes no longer recognized as pool candidates by mcfloat so will be ignored. mcfloat -R releases these nodes back into the main pool.
add code to print configuration takes into account possible existence of mcfloat config file
add svn keywords
had missed a MAXFREE->maxfree
new version that allows parameters to be set via command line; avoid edits
version used in production as of 25 jan 2015
Tagging version in CHEP paper
this is the version described in the CHEP2015 article, in production as of 13 may 2015.
this is the version that was in production from March 2015 until May 13 2015
numerous changes, mostly improvements to algorithm -- make wiser choices about which nodes to throw away (preserve drained and draining slots as much as possible). also now default config is for 4-core jobs with more nodes configured as candidate
First commit
Creating trunk directory
Creating tags directory
Creating branches directory
Creating mcfloat repository
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Oliver Baltzer received his Doctor of Philosophy from the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax/Canada in 2011. The title of his doctoral thesis is "Computational Methods for Spatial OLAP".
Oliver's current research interests are:
Oliver has been a member of the cgmLab research group and a main contributor to the LaHave House Project. While studying at Dal, Oliver was an active member of the Dalhousie Chapter of the ACM and a passionate Open Source developer.
Oliver Baltzer received his Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science from Dalhousie University in 2011, an Advanced European Master of Science degree in Parallel and Scientific Computation from the University of Reading in 2003 and a German Certified Engineer degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics Berlin in 2003.
Oliver maintains affiliations with Dalhousie University as an occasional guest lecturer and through Dal's Risk Analytics Lab.
Visit Oliver's personal website for additional information.


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What's one true stereotype about people from Manchester? People expect me to be rougher, which probably I am. And I'm not very artistic aside from the acting. We're all warm and friendly, though: You've got a problem? Have a cup of tea. You're feeling sick? Have a cup of tea. You're sad? Have a cup of tea. Oh, you're happy? Let's have a cup of tea. You know?
What's the buzz about Me & Earl & The Dying Girl? It's not a cancer movie, but there is cancer in it. Everyone's saying: Is it like The Fault in Our Stars? But it's completely different. My film isn't a love story; it's about friendship. And it feels a lot more raw. When I revealed my bald head at Comic-Con last year, that got a lot of people talking. They were like, "Is she sick? Oh, no, she did it for a movie. What movie?" So that was the shocking aspect of my moon of a head.
Describe your character in one sentence. Rachel has this passion that was ignited because of the cancer, maybe because she hasn't gotten an awful lot of time left.
What have you heard about the Sundance experience? Mad partying. I've just turned 21, so it's perfect for me. I don't really drink just because I haven't been able to for so long.
A word of advice: Don't start at Sundance. Right? I'll be laying around and never get a job again. Already if I have one drink, I'm on the floor. So I'll just have a sip. With other film festivals, there is an air of glamour, but Sundance feels like everyone is getting down and dirty in the snow.
What are you going to pack? I don't want to wear a big coat because I don't even own one. Probably a lot of skinny black jeans. I'll try to look like a girl at least one night.
What do you think of Robert Redford? I don't really know much about him. That's bad, isn't it? I know that my mum asked me if he'll be there. I was like: I don't know, but if he is, then I'll text you.
What's next for you? There is a rom-com in my future. And I'm not dying in this one.


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"I wish I'd known not to do that!", "If only I'd thought of that!" Have you ever said either of these after giving a Bible study? In this presentation, SALT Program Coordinator Greg Wilson shares some quick, simple tips, a few do's and don'ts, that will help you have a more effective Bible study every time.
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I admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. On one hand I feel the excitement and promise of starting over again. The smell of new books, shopping for all the fresh new pencils, binders and notebooks, getting back to the routine of daily school schedule, etc. It's filled ...read more
Back to School Stress Got Ya Down?
I don't have to tell you that this time of year is stressful! Adjusting to the new schedule from the laid-back summer months can bring up a lot of challenges. On top of this, there's all the beginning of school meetings and events. There are new and unfamiliar relationships and all kinds of stuff to ...read more
Raising Teens Who Talk!
Raising teenagers is not for the faint of heart! The scheduling debacles, the lack of communication, the one word answers! It's enough to drive a parent crazy! I'm not saying there is some magic solution to these issues, but I did find an article that I agree with wholeheartedly about raising ...read more
Helping Kids Cope with Your Amicable Divorce
People often assume that an amicable divorce is easy and that children do not suffer as much when there is less conflict. To a certain extent this is true. No one can argue that having parents who respect each other and are able to compromise and communicate are much better for children. However ...read more


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Part of an ongoing
initiative to make its products more open, Microsoft Corp. today announced at
the Eclipse Summit Europe new solutions that help developers using the Eclipse
platform take advantage of the new features in Windows 7 and Window Server
2008 R2, and reinforce Java and PHP interoperability with Windows Azure and
Microsoft Silverlight. Microsoft worked with open source companies, Tasktop
Technologies Inc. from Canada for Windows 7 and Window Server 2008 R2, and
Soyatec from France for Windows Azure and Silverlight, to provide greater
choice and opportunities for developers working in heterogeneous computing
environments and use a mix of Microsoft and open source technologies.
Eclipse on Windows 7: A New Generation of Interoperability
Recognizing the interoperability needs of developers as they program in
different languages, Microsoft and Tasktop Technologies, a leading
Eclipse-based solution provider, have initiated a joint project to enhance the
overall developer experience of Eclipse on Windows 7, the next-generation
Windows platform released for general availability last week. The work will
consist of developing updates to the Eclipse integrated development
environment (IDE) that will incorporate new features available in Windows 7
and Window Server 2008 R2, ensuring that the improved productivity and user
experience of Windows 7 will be available to developers using the Eclipse IDE,
as well as to desktop applications built on the Eclipse platform.
Read the whole story at http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS79723+28-Oct-2009+PRN20091028


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The Prosperity Game - Day 13
I have always had this fantasy of going into a grocery store and giving $100 to a family that I thought could use help with their groceries. With today's $13,000 I will buy 130 grocery gift cards at $100 each and give them away to women and men that I feel need assistance paying their grocery bill. Now that seems like fun to me!
Want to know how to play the Prosperity Game yourself? Check it out HERE