Commemorative speech template

DankExchange

2020.02.08 06:44 RegularNoodles DankExchange

DankExchange is a place to create and post original content and compete against other investors. Don't know how to get started? Try responding to any of u/FederalReserveDank's comments with "!help".
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2018.11.02 19:33 ItsAroundYou hmm today i will

For the things you plan to do today
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2018.06.14 01:07 PW_SoFech Remnant 2 Reddit

Welcome to the official community-driven subreddit for Remnant 2, and other related Gunfire Games titles. Please familiarize yourself with our sidebar rules & any community resources to help you enjoy your time here.
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2024.05.19 23:00 AutoModerator Full FAQ: How to report Hate Groups, NCIM, and CSAM. (& why there aren’t new posts here anymore)

There is no longer any reason or excuse for any subreddit to platform any abusive material any longer.

Hate speech, violent threats, harassment, Non-Consensual Intimate Media (NCIM), Child Sex Abuse Media (CSAM) - don’t belong here - and you can take private action to ensure they’re kicked off and kept off the site.
Reddit now allows people to file private, anonymous reports on this content - reports filed in a way that prevents advertising the existence of abusive content to others, that prevents amplifying it.
In September 2023, Reddit, Inc. finally closed the loop and took responsibility for preventing abuse of their platform.
Now it’s up to all of us to hold them to their promises.
You can:
These reports aren’t public; They can’t be used by abusers to amplify their harms; They prevent amplifying harm to the abusers’ targets and victims. And - The abusers can’t target you for revenge or harassment for filing these reports.

If you find a subreddit that is:

* Promoting Hatred;

* Distributing Non-Consensual Intimate Media or Child Sexual Abuse Material;

or

* Promoting Community Interference with Other Subreddits —

Report those subreddits: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=19300233728916

If you find a subreddit that is recreating a banned subreddit (Ban Evasion Subreddit):

Report that subreddit: https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360058315692-How-do-I-report-a-community-I-suspect-of-ban-evasion

Don’t post here about them; don’t post elsewhere about them - doing so helps the abusers amplify their harms, and paints a target on you - and in the case of NCIM and CSAM, telling people where to find them is likely to be criminal.

Cut off the Oxygen of Amplification.

Report things to the Reddit Admins. Privately. Not Here.

If you’re leaving a hate group and need help to escape, Life After Hate has resources to help you

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Don’t modmail us asking to join or be approved to post. We’re remaining open as a warning, a library, of how bad it could be - (that you must kick the Nazis out of the bar, promptly, or it will become the Nazi bar - and to push Reddit to deal with the few remaining misfeasant and malfeasant subreddit operator teams which are clearly targeting vulnerable demographics for hatred. And Just In Case something unforeseen happens.)
Instead of asking to post here: Go file some anonymous reports. And then go live life.
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This post is automatically being reposted because Reddit collapses stickied posts and sometimes hides them, which prevents us from leaving one stickied post on the subreddit to explain things. Reddit: Fix your horrible UI design decision.
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This post is a message … and part of a system of messages … pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us.
This subreddit is not a place of honor … no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here … nothing valued is here.
What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.
submitted by AutoModerator to AgainstHateSubreddits [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 10:25 DirectEntrance24 [Hiring] Actor needed to record client videos daily - $750/month

** PLEASE READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE APPLYING**
We run a marketing firm out of Chicago, IL. We currently provide video reviews of websites as a method to book meetings.
All we need you to do is record the video. A script (template) will be provided to you. You merely need to memorize and act it into the camera. The video reviews aren’t very long (2-3 minutes each) and we receive roughly 10 requests a day, so it’ll take you about 2-3 hours total to record and edit your videos everyday.
Requirements for this role:
Pay:
$750/month for 2-3 hours of work Mon-Fri. If your videos are working well, we can increase the pay in a month. For now this is non-negotiable.
If you’re interested, please PM me your resume.
submitted by DirectEntrance24 to forhire [link] [comments]


2024.05.19 08:27 spdustin DALL-E Weather Dashboard

DALL-E Weather Dashboard
I have a small display in a high traffic area of my house, running on an old RPi that I use for an HA kiosk. Every two hours, an automation takes the upcoming weather forecast info along with an input-text entity that provides the "subject" of a photo, then imagines that subject in a comically exaggerated way as they do some weather-relevant activity. Uses OpenAI conversation to first use GPT to generate the actual prompt to pass to DALL-E, then sends that prompt, thereby avoiding DALL-E adding numbers to the image.
Enjoy this one, with the subject: "an anthropomorphic axolotl"
I personally use the built in moon integration, along with a REST sensor to pull the forecast text from NOAA:
yaml - resource: https://api.weather.gov/zones/county/ILZ020/forecast scan_interval: 3600 sensor: - name: "Next Forecast" json_attributes_path: "$.properties.[0]" json_attributes: - "name" - "detailedForecast" value_template: "OK"
Add an input_text entity to be able to change the "subject" easily.
Then, my template sensor for the current season:
jinja {% set seasons = ["early winter", "winter","late winter", "early spring", "spring", "late spring", "early summer", "summer", "late summer", "early autumn", "autumn", "late_autumn"] %} {{ seasons[now().month] }}
Here's my automation YAML. Editing it is left to the reader.
```yaml alias: Update Weather Dashboard description: "" trigger: - platform: time_pattern minutes: "15" hours: /2 id: quarter-past-every-two condition: [] action: - service: conversation.process metadata: {} response_variable: preprompt data: agent_id: conversation.openai_conversation text: > You're a silly assistant with a comically active imagination.
 You will be given a description of a season, time of day, and weather conditions (inside  tag below), and you'll help imagine a photograph of {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} experiencing those conditions, their activity, their clothing, and their reactions. # Your task: Let's think through this step-by-step. 1. Imagine what {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} would be doing in the given conditions. 2. Imagine what setting best typifies the conditions. 3. Imagine the clothes {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} would be wearing. **They should be wearing clothes!** 4. How would {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} be reacting to the conditions, in a comically-exaggerated way. 5. Silently determine how the sky would look, given the conditions below. 6. Silently determine if it's nighttime, and if a {{states('sensor.moon_phase')replace('_',' ')}} moon would be obscured by clouds. If it's daytime, or the conditions suggest the clouds would obscure the moon, omit any reference to the moon. If the moon is visible, be sure to mention that it's a {{states('sensor.moon_phase')replace('_',' ')}} moon. 7. Describe what a single, perfectly-timed photograph of {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} would show. # Rules 1. Do not include any specific weather condition details or other specific data in your prompt. 2. Limit your response to one paragraph that would fully describe the amusing photograph of {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}} 3. We're going for 'silly'! 4. IMPORTANT: You never include information about the objective weather conditions in your responses, focusing only on the imagery. **Subjective** descriptions of the weather are allowed, though.  It's {{state_attr('sensor.next_forecast','name')lower}} on Earth, and the season is {{states('sensor.current_season')}}. The weather? {{state_attr('sensor.next_forecast','detailedForecast')}}  Proceed with your one paragraph description of the photograph of {{states('input_text.weather_dashboard_subject')}}, within this imagined scene and setting. Don't forget their activity, clothes, and reaction, and maximize the silly factor! 
  • service: openai_conversation.generate_image metadata: {} data: size: 1792x1024 quality: hd style: vivid prompt: >- {{preprompt.response.speech.plain.speech}}. This should be a vivid, hyperrealistic photograph. response_variable: image
  • service: downloader.download_file data: overwrite: true subdir: /config/www/dash filename: dash.png url: "{{image.url}}"
  • service: browser_mod.refresh metadata: {} data: {} target: device_id: weather_display mode: single ```
And the dashboard yaml
yaml kiosk_mode: non_admin_settings: hide_header: true hide_sidebar: true views: - title: Home view_layout: position: main cards: - type: custom:clock-weather-card entity: weather.pirateweather sun_entity: sun.sun weather_icon_type: line hide_date: true forecast_rows: 5 card_mod: style: ha-card { background: url('{{state_attr("camera.weather_dashboard_background","entity_picture")}}') no-repeat center; background-size: cover; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; left: 0; right: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0; overflow: hidden; color: white; } ha-card:before { content: "{{state_attr('sensor.next_forecast','name')}}"; top: 1em; left: 1em; font-size: 3rem; text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px black, 0px 0px 20px black, 0px 0px 30px black; position: absolute; color: white; } clock-weather-card-today { vertical-align: top; } clock-weather-card-today-right { text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px black, 0px 0px 20px black, 0px 0px 30px black; font-size: 5rem; justify-content: right !important; margin-right: 1em; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; color: white; } clock-weather-card-today-left { justify-content: left !important; } clock-weather-card-today-left img { } clock-weather-card-forecast:before { text-shadow: 0px 0px 5px black, 0px 0px 10px black, 0px 0px 15px black; color: white; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.25; position: relative; bottom: 1em; content: "{{state_attr('sensor.next_forecast','detailedForecast')}}"; } clock-weather-card-today-right-wrap-bottom { text-shadow: none; color: rgba(255,255,255,0); justify-content: right !important; } clock-weather-card-forecast { position: absolute; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; zoom: 1.2; line-height: 1; background: rgba(0,0,0,.6); margin: 0; padding: 2em; overflow: hidden; } clock-weather-card-today-right-wrap-center { font-size: 8rem !important; justify-content: right !important; } clock-weather-card-today-right-wrap-top { line-height: 2; justify-content: right !important; # margin-top: -1em; } type: panel
submitted by spdustin to homeassistant [link] [comments]


2024.05.18 20:19 Faithhal The Ultimate Guide to Custom T-Shirts: Unleashing Your Creativity and Style

In the world of fashion, custom t-shirts have become a popular way for individuals and businesses to express their unique identities. From personal statements to branding tools, custom t-shirts offer endless possibilities. This guide will explore the benefits, design process, and tips for creating your perfect custom tee.

The Benefits of Custom T-Shirts

  1. Personal Expression: Custom t-shirts are a canvas for self-expression. Whether it's showcasing your favorite quote, an inside joke, or a personal artwork, these tees allow you to wear your personality on your sleeve—literally.
  2. Branding and Marketing: For businesses, custom t-shirts serve as walking advertisements. They help create a cohesive brand image and can be used for promotional events, employee uniforms, or merchandise.
  3. Event Memorabilia: Custom t-shirts are a fantastic way to commemorate special events like family reunions, weddings, or corporate events. They provide attendees with a memorable keepsake that unites the group.
  4. Fundraising: Organizations often use custom t-shirts as a fundraising tool. Unique designs can drive sales and raise awareness for causes, making them both a profitable and meaningful choice.

The Design Process

Creating a custom t-shirt involves several key steps:
Conceptualize Your Design: Start by brainstorming ideas. Consider the purpose of the shirt and the message you want to convey. Sketch out rough ideas or use design tools to bring your vision to life.
Choose the Right T-Shirt: The quality of the t-shirt is crucial. Select a fabric that suits your needs—whether it's a soft cotton for comfort or a moisture-wicking material for sports activities. Pay attention to the fit and style, from classic crew necks to trendy V-necks.
Select a Printing Method:
Design Elements:
Finalize Your Design: Use design software to refine your creation. Check for any errors and make sure all elements are properly aligned. Many custom t-shirt companies offer design templates to help with this process.
Order and Production: Once your design is complete, place your order with a reputable custom t-shirt provider. They will guide you through the production timeline and quality checks to ensure your t-shirts turn out exactly as envisioned.

Tips for a Successful Custom T-Shirt

Conclusion

Custom t-shirts are more than just clothing; they are a medium for creativity, branding, and connection. By understanding the design process and considering the tips outlined in this guide, you can create custom t-shirts that not only look great but also resonate with your audience. So, unleash your creativity and start designing your perfect custom t-shirt today!
submitted by Faithhal to u/Faithhal [link] [comments]


2024.05.18 16:46 kittehgoesmeow What A Day: Joe's School Daze by Crooked Media (05/17/24)

"...Bleach blonde, bad built, butch body." - Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) delivering a burn on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) during a heated Congressional hearing that immediately went viral.

A Different World

President Biden will spend this weekend reaching out to Black voters with high-profile visits to Atlanta and Detroit. Polls suggest he’s got plenty of work to do.
Biden will have the ear of leaders like the NAACP’s Johnson. But it’s people like Williams he’ll need to reach.

Look No Further Than Crooked Media

More than 2800 people have been arrested at college campuses across the US during protests against the war in Gaza. How will this impact young voters? How will this affect the upcoming election? Peter Hamby joins Dan Pfeiffer in the latest episode of Pollercoaster to answer these questions. To listen in, subscribe to Friends of the Pod on Apple Podcasts or join the Friends of the Pod community at https://crooked.com/friends!

Under The Radar

The share of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ continues to rise, with 7.6 percent of U.S. adults now identifying with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual according to new polling data from Gallup. That’s up from 5.6 percent just four years ago, and 3.5 percent in 2012. It seems like a big win for inclusivity that more and more adults feel comfortable sharing information about their sexuality with some random pollster!
The two major candidates offer up a strong contrast on this topic. President Biden released a statement Friday recognizing International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. Meanwhile, a new expose from the Guardian found a dark money group with ties to Trump’s inner circle spent $90 million on racist and transphobic ads around the 2022 midterms. Again we ask, how in God’s name is this guy polling so well?

What Else?

The Israel Defense Forces said it recovered the bodies of three hostages taken by Hamas in northern Gaza on Friday. Shani Louk, 23, Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 57, were murdered after escaping the Nova Music Festival attack on October 7, and their remains were taken back to Gaza and found in a Hamas tunnel, the IDF said.
The Pentagon announced that humanitarian aid to Gaza will soon begin flowing through a new temporary pier anchored to the Gaza shore. The U.N., however, has expressed concern about the availability of vehicles and fuel needed to adequately deliver supplies.
An after-hours House Oversight Committee session turned into a now-viral verbal sparring match between far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Greene made a snide comment about Crockett’s “fake eyelashes” affecting her reading skills. AOC jumped to Crockett’s defense, and MGT refused to apologize. So Crockett responded with a jab of her own, inquiring if it was within the rules to comment on a member’s “bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body.” Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-TN) seemed stumped by that one. He may want to call up Real Housewives’ own Andy Cohen to moderate the next session.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr. is trying his best to explain why an upside-down flag, which symbolized Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement, was spotted outside his home in the days following the January 6 insurrection. Justice Alito threw his wife under the bus, telling Fox News she hung the flag upside down after a neighbor allegedly blamed Mrs. Alito for the Capitol riots and insulted her using “the C-word.” Right, okay then. Anyone would react by hanging an anti-democratic symbol outside their home. Makes perfect sense!
The man convicted of attempting to kidnap former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and attacking him with a hammer was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
NYU is forcing some students who participated in anti-war campus protests to complete ethical decision-making and morality modules and write “reflection papers.” Some students have objected, calling the assignment a coerced confession. The university calls it a “restorative practice.” One NYU law professor called the move “an intellectual embarrassment.”

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Light At The End Of The Email

The Senate is considering a bipartisan bill that would grant national monument status to Greenwood, Oklahoma, more commonly known as “Black Wall Street.” The once thriving predominantly Black neighborhood in Tulsa is the site of a racist massacre that took place in 1921, as federal recognition for the atrocity that claimed hundreds of lives continues to grow.
Ten HBCU student newsrooms will receive nearly $200,000 towards new technologies, business operations, audience engagement, and reporting. The grants given by the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University will also be used to hire contributing writers, injecting a much-needed boost in resources into Black student journalism. Yay, First Amendment!

Enjoy

Sophie Vershbow on Twitter: ""Please log into the patient portal to view a message from your doctor.""
submitted by kittehgoesmeow to FriendsofthePod [link] [comments]


2024.05.18 07:06 JustKidding456 Sunday of Pentecost: Gospel Reading (CPH The Lutheran Study Bible)

Have a blessed week ahead.
Acts of the Apostles, 2:1–21:
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Engelbrecht, E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Concordia Publishing House:
(LSB = Commission on Worship of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Lutheran Service Book. St. Louis: Concordia, 2006.)
2:1–13 The Holy Spirit descends as a gift, sounding forth one message in many tongues, showing that Israel will soon burst its ethnic bounds. Cynics of all eras belittle God’s mighty deeds and explain them away. However, humility before the Holy Spirit is in order, along with sheer wonder that God gives Himself to people of all nations. • “Come, holy Fire, comfort true, Grant us the will Your work to do And in Your service to abide; Let trials turn us not aside.” Amen. (LSB 497:3)
2:14–41 Peter shows from the Scriptures that Jesus is Israel’s Lord as well as Savior of the nations. Rejoice that God pours out His Spirit in Baptism and multiplies His blessings to us in daily repentance and forgiveness. He makes a new Israel, a new house of David—the Church! • Lord, grant that I may confess and proclaim You with confidence, as Peter did. Amen.
Engelbrecht, E. A. (2009). The Lutheran Study Bible. Concordia Publishing House:
(Aram = Aramaic — cf = confer — chs = chapters — Gk = Greek — NT = New Testament — OT = Old Testament — v = verse — vv = verses — Ex = Exodus — Lv = Leviticus — Dt = Deuteronomy — Ps = Psalms — Mt = Matthew — Lk = Luke — Jn = John — Ac = Acts — Rm = Romans — 1Co = 1 Corinthians — Gal = Galatians — Heb = Hebrews — 1Pt = 1 Peter — 2Pt = 2 Peter — Chrys = John Chrysostom — Cyr Jer = Cyril of Jerusalem — Luth = Martin Luther — AE = Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works. American Edition. General editors Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. 56 vols. St. Louis: Concordia, and Philadelphia: Muhlenberg and Fortress, 1955–86. — NPNF 1 = Schaff, Philip, ed. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series 1. 14 vols. New York: The Christian Literature Series, 1886–89. Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1956. — NPNF 2 = Schaff, Philip, and Henry Wace, ed. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series 2. 14 vols. New York: The Christian Literature Series, 1890–99. Reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1952, 1961.)
2:1 day of Pentecost. Fifty days after the Passover Sabbath (Lv 23:15–21). Pentecost likely also commemorated the giving of the Law on Sinai, as later rabbis attest. On this new day in Ac, God’s people are publicly formed through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. They acquire the names “Church” and “Christians” in the NT but also stand in faith with believers of the OT, who trusted in the coming Savior. Cf Mt 8:11. arrived. Gk has sense of “fill up, complete” (cf Lk 9:51; Gal 4:4). they. Possibly just the 12 apostles (cf 1:26; 2:14), though the fulfillment described in vv 17–18 hints that the 120 are meant. (Reference to the 120 is much more remote; 1:15.) Chrys: “Was it upon the twelve that [the Holy Spirit] came? Not so; but upon the hundred and twenty. For Peter would not have quoted to no purpose the testimony of the prophet” (NPNF 1 11:25). all together. Continuing their practice of fellowship and worship. in one place. Setting unclear. Possibly the building containing the Upper Room (1:13), though how the apostles’ message could reach the crowd (vv 5–11) is unclear and never explained. This has led some interpreters to suggest the temple courts as a likely location.
2:2–3 like … wind … as of fire. The manifestations were indescribable because they revealed God’s miraculous activity.
2:2 house. Gk oikos. Luke usually uses this term to denote a private dwelling (or for the family as a “household”) but also uses it for the temple (Lk 6:4; 19:46; Ac 7:47, 49; cf Lk 24:53; Ac 2:46). The setting for Peter’s sermon (vv 14–41) had to accommodate thousands of people. According to later Christian tradition, the house with the Upper Room was located on Mount Zion (southwest hill of Jerusalem) and would have been outside the city wall.
2:3 tongues as of fire. Luke describes the scene with a comparison. The emphasis in the wording is on the mouth (“tongue,” “speak,” “utterance”), which may indicate where the “fire” appeared (see Moses’ appearance in Ex 34:29). The fire appropriately appears as tongues of flame, since the Holy Spirit works through the apostles’ speech. In the OT, angelic spirits were described as fire (see note, Ps 104:3–4). Fire also represented the presence of God’s Spirit (Ex 3:2–4).
2:4 filled with the Holy Spirit. Anointing with the Holy Spirit brings a startling transformation. The Spirit never becomes a personal possession but remains a heavenly gift, received by the repentant through faith. speak in other tongues. Miraculous ability to communicate in foreign languages the speakers had never learned (vv 7–11). Cyr Jer: “The Holy Spirit taught them many languages at once, languages which in all their lives they never knew” (NPNF 2 7:128).
2:5 Jews, devout men from every nation. Jews dispersed throughout the world who piously observed the Law, now in Jerusalem to observe the required feasts.
2:6 God brings the people together to hear His Word. These miraculous events are God’s extended appeal for Israel to receive Jesus as their Messiah and to become part of the new Israel, the Church. speak in his own language. The hearers understood the proclamation neither in Aram nor in common Gk but in their local languages.
2:7–8 An obvious miracle. Working men from Galilee would hardly be accomplished linguists.
2:9–11 These groups, coming from all corners of the earth, point forward to the universal character of the Church. Twelve diverse regions signify all people. The Jewish Dispersion had spread to all these places. The mention of the capital city of Rome represents the empire, which encompassed the known world. Jews and proselytes. Represents all worshipers of the God of Israel, whether ethnic Jews or Gentile converts. Cretans and Arabians. Has the sense of all from west and east, from island and mainland.
2:11 proselytes. Gentile converts to Judaism who were circumcised and likely also received a baptism for cleansing. mighty works of God. Cf Dt 11:2; Ps 71:19; 105. Luth: “When God wanted to spread the gospel throughout the world by means of the apostles he gave the tongues for that purpose [Acts 2:1–11]. Even before that, by means of the Roman Empire he had spread the Latin and Greek languages widely in every land in order that his gospel might the more speedily bear fruit far and wide” (AE 45:359).
2:12 This extraordinary work of God needed explanation.
2:13 Just as some rejected the earthly Jesus, so mockers and skeptics have always dismissed the Church’s message (cf Mt 10:22; Jn 15:18–20). Cyr Jer: “In truth the wine was new, even the grace of the New Testament; but this new wine was from a spiritual Vine, which had oftentimes [before] this borne fruit in Prophets, and had budded in the New Testament” (NPNF 2 7:128).
2:14 Peter. Spokesman for the Twelve; always named first in lists of the apostles. His work is the focus of chs 1–12.
2:15 third hour of the day. Hour of prayer and sacrifice at the temple.
2:17 last days. Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy to state that the decisive stage and climax of history has arrived with Christ and the Church (cf 1Co 10:11; Heb 1:2; 1Pt 1:20). pour out My Spirit. God gives His people not just things, but Himself in the Third Person of the Godhead. The promised Baptism with the Spirit was “poured,” showing that the term “baptism” was not regarded strictly as immersion (cf v 33). all flesh. God’s salvation is universal in scope; He pours out the Spirit on all kinds of people.
2:18 servants. Like Mary (Lk 1:38) and Paul (Rm 1:1), all Christians are bond servants of the Lord. He gives them His Spirit, yet they belong to Him.
2:19 wonders … signs. Works that demonstrate the arrival of the last days, begun in the earthly life of Christ and continued here in Ac (cf v 43; 4:16, 22, 30; 5:12; 6:8; 8:6, 13; 14:3; 15:12). above … below. Emphasizes the dramatic top-to-bottom change in creation that God enacts.
2:20 the day of the Lord. When Christ returns in glory. Refers to a time (not strictly 24 hours) in which God dramatically reveals and/or executes His judgment by condemning the wicked and delivering the righteous. The prophets often use this phrase with reference to the end of history (cf 2Pt 3:10), yet it does not always have this ultimate sense.
2:21 calls upon. A cry from the heart, lamenting sin and imploring mercy.
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2024.05.18 02:29 NewbieDrawzz69420 how do i remove this

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2024.05.17 15:31 TankMan-2223 "China has bilionaires" by Roderic Day, editing by Nia Frome - Red Sails, 2021-04-05.

https://redsails.org/china-has-billionaires/
“We want to do business.” Quite right, business will be done.
— Mao Zedong, 1949. On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship.
Contents
Introduction
US Presidents historically reach their highest approval ratings due to war. George W. Bush reached an all-time-high of 90% in 2001 as the wrathful nation geared up to invade Afghanistan, and his father George H. W. Bush ranks second place with 89% in 1991, right as the US declared the end of its (first) invasion of Iraq and the “liberation of Kuwait.” So when Harvard University’s Ash Center released a 2020 study of Chinese public opinion showing that, as of 2016, “95.5 percent of respondents were either ‘relatively satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’ with Beijing,” it was all the more remarkable given the fact that this was a country at peace.
Though it came as a shock to Western audiences, who understand China to be a tyrannical state-capitalist authoritarian regime, observers in the imperial periphery have always seen things rather differently. As far back as 2004, Fidel Castro argued that “China has objectively become the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries,” and in August 2014, he reaffirmed this sanguine outlook: “Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life.” In May 2018, Professor Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, assuaged an anxious member of the audience at a Cambridge Forum: “I have to tell you that, from my understanding of China, it’s a very interesting social experiment, in the sense that at the local level or the regional level you now have a boisterous democracy, with popular success stories in overthrowing local authorities, local bureaucrats who have been corrupt.” Later that same year, before his 2019 ouster in a US-backed coup, Evo Morales said “I trust China very much. China has always accompanied us in many of our aspirations in the social, cultural, political and economic spheres” and that “China’s support and aid to Bolivia’s economic and social development never attaches any political conditions.” In 2020 the former Liberian Minister for Public Works W. Gyude Moore bluntly wrote “China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries, China is also our friend,” and in 2021 Iran signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with China. Despite the vehement insistence of Western punditry, world consensus against China’s “tyranny” fails to materialize.
The imperial core is not bereft of insightful testimony either, especially outside of the salacious atrocity propaganda that currently jams the airwaves. A 2021 Politico memo urged policymakers: “To Counter China’s Rise, the U.S. Should Focus on Xi.” The White House was similarly unequivocal in a June 2020 assessment:
Let us be clear, the Chinese Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist organization. The Party General Secretary Xi Jinping sees himself as Josef Stalin’s successor. In fact, as the journalist and former Australian government official John Garnaut has noted, the Chinese Communist Party is the last “ruling communist party that never split with Stalin, with the partial exception of North Korea.”
Leaked cables from 2009 give a clear sense of why Xi Jinping aggravates the US:
Unlike many youth who “made up for lost time by having fun” after the Cultural Revolution, Xi “chose to survive by becoming redder than the red.” … Xi is not corrupt and does not care about money, but could be “corrupted by power,” in our contact’s view.
Elsewhere, a 2015 piece for the New York Times titled “Maoists in China, Given New Life, Attack Dissent” expresses outright anxiety:
“China watchers all need to stop saying this is all for show or that he’s turning left to turn right,” said Christopher K. Johnson, an expert on China at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who formerly worked as a senior China analyst at the C.I.A. “This is a core part of the guy’s personality. The leftists certainly feel he’s their guy.”
My favourite article in this genre, though, comes from The Guardian. Perfectly illustrating Marx’s observation that “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas,” Richard McGregor’s “How the state runs business in China” appears blissfully unaware that his scaremongering portrayal of the trials and tribulations of capitalists in China is actually rather heartwarming:
But Xi’s support for mixing private and public ownership structures was purely pragmatic. It had value, he said in another forum, because it would “improve the socialist market economic structure.” Xi’s assessment is echoed by Michael Collins, one of the CIA’s most senior officials for Asia. “The fundamental end of the Communist party of China under Xi Jinping is all the more to control that society politically and economically,” Collins argued earlier this year. “The economy is being viewed, affected and controlled to achieve a political end.”

The party’s overarching aim, though, has remained consistent: to ensure that the private sector, and individual entrepreneurs, do not become rival players in the political system. The party wants economic growth, but not at the expense of tolerating any organised alternative centres of power.

“[Capitalists] act as if they are being chased by a bear,” wrote Zhang Lin, a Beijing political commentator, in response to these comments. “They are powerless to control the bear, so they are competing to outrun each other to escape the animal.”
The horror!
The bourgeois press, articulating the fears of really nobody other than its owners, rattles off one tragedy after another:
Taken together, these accounts tell a pretty compelling and straightforward story: a worker state led by a vanguard party has placed the productive forces developed by capitalism under human control once again, for the benefit of the many rather than the few, and so definitively begun the complex and difficult transition away from capitalism and into communism that we call socialism. Capitalists, sheltered and insular in their dealings with fellow human beings, don’t understand that they are not sympathetic characters, so they shamelessly self-victimize in the press in the hopes of winning sympathy from the masses, in a futile effort to rally the necessary fervor for military intervention. The situation looks grim for the forces of reaction.
And then the Western Left bursts onto the scene with a litany of harsh recriminations, determined to build up China into a villain worthy of war: “China has billionaires.” “China still has inequality.” “China still has wage labour.” “There’s no free speech there.” “Suicide nets.” “Free Tibet.” “Xinjiang is East Turkestan.” “Liberate Hong Kong.” “Neither Washington Nor Beijing.” Their indulgence in atrocity propaganda is unparalleled, and they’ll often outdo original sources and even the most vicious reactionaries in their preening paraphrases of Chinese horror.
In their “David vs. Goliath” worldview, heroism is characterized by evanescense or futility (Rosa Luxemburg, Anarchist Catalonia, Leon Trotsky, Rojava, CHAZ in Seattle, Bernie Sanders, the Communist Party of the Philippines), whereas victory and longevity are in themselves proof that principles were betrayed and sadism is the rule (Joseph Stalin, Kim Il-sung, Deng Xiaoping, Nicolás Maduro, Xi Jinping). Though socialist groups in the West tend to be secular, Christianity remains culturally hegemonic to such a degree that figures are appreciated in proportion to how well they fit a narrative template of martyrdom.
Faced with the intellectually challenging task of defending projects that didn’t always live up to our a priori ideals, with the task of understanding why they didn’t live up to those ideals, many opt for the doctrine of betrayal:
In the period around 1968, a book was circulated fairly widely whose very title, Proletarians without Revolution, was thought to deliver the key to understanding universal history. Always inspired by the most noble Communist sentiments, the masses were regularly betrayed by their leaders and the bureaucrats. And this is also paradoxical because what was intended to be a complaint of the masses against the leaders and bureaucrats converts abruptly into an indictment against the masses. The analysis reveals the masses to be completely irredeemable simpletons who are entirely unable to comprehend their own interests at decisive moments.
Indeed, this is exactly how the aforementioned spectacular Chinese public approval of the leadership of the Communist Party is explained away: “Brainwashing.” Enthusiasm is proof of credulity, cynicism is proof of enlightenment — a hipster credo as much in politics as it is in art.
For the sake of this analysis at least, let’s reject the doctrine of betrayal. We will accept the successes of the Chinese Revolution as empirically measurable socialist feats worth celebrating. We will study how Eastern socialists — Deng Xiaoping in particular — were real exemplars of the tradition of scientific socialism to which Marx and Engels belonged, contra aspersions cast by Western utopians.
Fantasies of abolishing hierarchy will give way to an interpretation of Marx that understands relations of production in terms of domination rather than mere subordination, and therefore of capital as an “automatic subject” that needs to be tamed, as opposed to a blight that can be eradicated. The transition from Feudalism to Capitalism will be re-examined so as to challenge idealistic notions that a clean break from Capitalism to Socialism is possible, which will in turn clearly illustrate why Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is not at all comparable to Social Democracy, particularly in regards to imperialism. And in lieu of the welfare-state checklist that currently passes for a definition of socialism, we will recover a much more practical and useful definition, one that centers work rather than leisure, and so better captures the spirit of the myriad tasks to be accomplished in the socialist stage: “From each according to their ability, to each according to their work."
Automatic subject
John Pilger’s 2016 documentary The Coming War on China documents the US “Pivot to Asia,” initiated by Obama in 2011 and carried on by subsequent administrations. It mostly centers on the victims of US military base-building in the Pacific: the Marshall Islands, Okinawa in Japan, and South Korea. He also interviews Chinese targets of this military buildup. His exchange with Eric Li, a Shanghai-born, California-educated venture capitalist and political commentator, is fascinating:
Li: At the moment, the Chinese the party state has proven an extraordinary ability to change. I mean, I make the joke: “in America you can change the political party, but you can’t change the policies. In China you cannot change the party, but you can change policies.” So, in the past 66 years, China has been run by one single party. Yet the political changes that have taken place in China in these past 66 years have been wider, and broader, and greater than probably any other major country in modern memory.
Pilger: So in that time China ceased to be communist. Is that what you’re saying?
Li: Well, China is a market economy, and it’s a vibrant market economy. But it is not a capitalist country. Here’s why: there’s no way a group of billionaires could control the Politburo as billionaires control American policy-making. So in China you have a vibrant market economy, but capital does not rise above political authority. Capital does not have enshrined rights. In America, capital — the interests of capital and capital itself — has risen above the American nation. The political authority cannot check the power of capital. That’s why America is a capitalist country, and China is not.
John Pilger appears to remain skeptical, as do many who dismiss Li’s insight simply on the basis of his identity (Chinese, businessman). And yet I believe what he is saying here is far more insightful and pertinent than anything you might find in any of David Harvey’s lectures. Why?
Let’s travel back to Marx’s Grundrisse:
It is not individuals who are set free by free competition; it is, rather, capital which is set free.
Beyond being a brilliant rebuke of liberal praise of “competition” in the abstract, it is notable that Marx here does not speak about worker versus capitalist, but of individual (that is, human) versus capital. If this seems like a tendentious reading, consider this fragment from his 1844 manuscripts:
Estrangement appears not only in that the means of my life belong to another, and that my desire is the inaccessible possession of another, but also in that all things are other than themselves, and that — and this goes for capitalists too — an inhuman power rules over all.
Marx’s “inhuman power” and “capital which is set free” is the same entity that Eric Li has in mind when he speaks of “capital itself” and its “enshrined rights.” This talk, which appealingly (to me) borders on the supernatural, stands in stark contrast with Bernie Sanders-style rhetoric that chalks the problems we are mired in up to mere “corporate greed.” Greed is the vice in question, of course. One to be cursed and curbed. But every serious theorist understands that we face a far more serious challenge than the mere assembly of policy-makers with good moral fiber.
Consider Engels in On Authority:
If mankind, by dint of science and its inventive genius, has bent the forces of nature to its will, the latter avenge themselves by subjecting humanity, insofar as it employs them, to a true despotism independent of all social organisation.
Consider Lenin in Imperialism:
The capitalists divide the world, not out of any particular malice, but because the degree of concentration which has been reached forces them to adopt this method in order to obtain profits.
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2024.05.17 14:00 AGthe18thEmperor "Wait, there's an amendment that says you can SAY things and practice freedom of religion without consequences???? 🤯🤯🤯"

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2024.05.17 08:13 hritikpuri9 A Comprehensive Guide to Mango AI: Revolutionizing the Digital Landscape

A Comprehensive Guide to Mango AI: Revolutionizing the Digital Landscape
In the dynamic world of artificial intelligence, Mango AI stands out as a versatile suite of applications and platforms designed to revolutionize various aspects of digital life. From enhancing the writing process to fostering engaging conversations, supporting educational endeavors, and predicting market trends, Mango AI is making significant strides in the tech world. This article delves into the numerous capabilities and applications of Mango AI, from its advanced manuscript editor to the groundbreaking Lisa conversational AI platform, the educational Mango app, and its predictive analytics through Mango AI Labs.
https://preview.redd.it/u2l5d4n4ix0d1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ad2c622a86381938a0a55dcff04713516b1cb37

Understanding Mango AI

Mango AI encompasses a range of AI-powered platforms and solutions developed to meet diverse needs in today’s technology-driven world. At its core, Mango AI leverages artificial intelligence to enhance and streamline various facets of daily life, offering innovative tools that cater to writers, educators, businesses, and more.

Redefining Publishing and Writing with Mango AI Manuscript Editor

One of Mango AI’s flagship applications is its AI-powered manuscript editor. This tool is designed to simplify the writing and publishing process, making it an indispensable asset for writers and content creators. Imagine having a writing assistant that seamlessly integrates with popular writing platforms, offering not only grammar and style suggestions but also language translation for a global audience. The manuscript editor provides a sophisticated content production method, revolutionizing how individuals navigate the complex world of writing.

Key Features:

  • Grammar and Style Assistance: Offers real-time suggestions to enhance clarity and readability.
  • Language Translation: Facilitates writing for a global audience by providing accurate translations.
  • Seamless Integration: Works with popular writing platforms for a smooth user experience.

The Conversational Generative AI Platform: Lisa

Lisa, Mango AI’s conversational generative AI platform, is a testament to the company’s commitment to digital transformation. Lisa serves as a virtual assistant and co-pilot for Mango’s employees and stakeholders, utilizing machine learning and natural language processing to provide insightful commentary and streamline organizational communication. This innovative platform exemplifies Mango AI’s dedication to advancing conversational AI.

Benefits of Lisa:

  • Enhanced Communication: Simplifies and enhances organizational communication.
  • Insightful Commentary: Provides valuable insights and feedback.
  • Virtual Assistance: Acts as a co-pilot for daily tasks, improving efficiency.

Promoting Mathematical Learning with the Mango App

Education is another area where Mango AI makes a significant impact. The Mango app is designed to support mathematical learning, offering tools for understanding arithmetic concepts, solving puzzles, and taking AI-driven tests. What sets Mango AI apart is its step-by-step analysis of mathematical problems, making it an invaluable resource for students and enthusiasts seeking additional support.

Features of the Mango App:

  • Step-by-Step Problem Solving: Provides detailed analysis of mathematical problems.
  • AI-Driven Tests: Offers customized tests to reinforce learning.
  • Interactive Learning: Engages users with puzzles and interactive content.

Advancing Analytics with Mango AI Labs

In the realm of predictive analytics, Mango AI Labs stands out. This platform employs machine learning algorithms to predict consumer behavior, product performance, and market trends. Mango AI Labs’ data-driven insights demonstrate the company’s commitment to addressing contemporary needs and shaping industries through informed decision-making.

Advantages of Mango AI Labs:

  • Predictive Analytics: Anticipates market trends and consumer behavior.
  • Data-Driven Insights: Provides actionable insights for businesses.
  • Strategic Planning: Helps organizations adapt to market changes and plan effectively.

The Benefits of Mango AI

Mango AI offers numerous benefits that make it an invaluable tool for various users, including content creators, businesses, and educators.

Effectiveness

Mango AI significantly enhances productivity by speeding up video production processes, allowing users to focus on content rather than technical details.

Editing Capabilities

At MangoAI. com, users can access a variety of templates that are customizable to match their brand or style, making video editing straightforward and efficient.

Versatility

Mango AI is suitable for managing projects of different sizes, making it appropriate for both small and large organizations. Whether you need a single video or a series for a large campaign, Mango AI can accommodate your needs.

Time-Saving

By automating many aspects of video production, Mango AI drastically reduces the time required to produce high-quality videos, enabling quicker project turnaround.

Utility

The platform supports a wide range of video formats, including explanatory, promotional, instructional, and personal narratives, making it adaptable to various content requirements.

Principles of Mango AI

Mango AI specializes in creating videos using text, images, and AI avatars. This approach makes video production efficient and accessible for various commercial, educational, and personal uses.

Making AI Videos

Mango AI uses AI avatars to create videos from text and images. By providing a portrait photo and a script, users can generate videos featuring talking avatars that accurately lip-sync and mimic human expressions.

Templates and Personalization

The platform offers a variety of premade video templates, including explainer, training, promotional, and instructional videos. These templates are easily customizable to meet specific needs, facilitating the rapid creation of high-quality videos.

Multilingual Support and AI Voiceover

Mango AI features an AI voice generator that converts text to speech, offering a variety of voices, including those of children, women, and men. Its multilingual capabilities allow users to produce content for a global audience.

User-Friendly Interface

The platform is designed to be user-friendly, requiring just a few steps—choosing a template, entering text, selecting an AI voice, and generating the video. This simplicity makes it accessible even to those with no technical background.

Applications in Various Domains

Mango AI’s versatility makes it applicable in many different fields. Businesses can use it to create training materials, product presentations, and marketing videos. Educators can produce engaging educational content, and individuals can generate social media content and personal narratives.

Conclusion

With its comprehensive suite of tools and platforms, Mango AI is a multifaceted force in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. From simplifying writing with its manuscript editor to fostering interactive conversations with the Lisa platform, supporting mathematical learning with the Mango app, and predicting market trends with Mango AI Labs, Mango AI is poised to continue making significant contributions to various aspects of digital life. As an all-encompassing solution for producing AI-generated content, Mango AI is an invaluable resource for content creators, businesses, educators, and anyone looking to enhance their digital presence.
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2024.05.16 22:51 HRJafael Saturday (May 18, 2024) event remembers Great Falls Massacre, marks 20th anniversary of reconciliation ceremony

https://archive.is/ma8qz
The 348th anniversary of the Great Falls Massacre will be marked with a Day of Remembrance event on Saturday, as well as a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the reconciliation ceremony held to establish friendship and trust between once-warring cultures.
The event, set for 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the Great Falls Discovery Center, will feature tribal elder Liz ColdWind Santana Kiser and Roger Longtoe Sheehan, chief of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, as honored guests.
“It’s kind of a like a celebration of life,” said David Brule, president of the Nolumbeka Project, the nonprofit putting on the event. It will take place on the lawn behind the Discovery Center, weather permitting. In case of inclement weather, it will be moved to the building’s Great Hall. It is free to attend and there will be light refreshments.
Brule said the event is held as close as possible to May 19, the actual anniversary of the event also known as the Great Falls Massacre. Santana Kiser is the tribal historic preservation officer for the Chaubunagungamaug band of the Nipmuck people. She is also a member of the Battlefield Grant Advisory Committee, as is Sheehan. Santana Kiser’s and Sheehan’s ancestors were affected by the massacre.
Santana Kiser, who lives in Worcester, said she intends to deliver a remembrance speech and touch on the lives lost in the attack.
“I want to talk a little bit about why we’re here,” Santana Kiser said.
She also wants to stress the Connecticut River’s importance and the responsibility of all to prevent atrocities.
“This is a part of history that has been hidden for a very long time,” she said.
Sheehan, a singer living in Westminster, Vermont, said he plans to perform a few songs at the event and will be available to chat and answer questions. He said he has attended the Day of Remembrance several times and describes the occasion as somewhat sad but important. He mentioned the event is attended by people of various backgrounds wanting to learn more about what happened on May 19, 1676.
The yearly Day of Remembrance is, in some ways, a continuation of the reconciliation ceremony held in 2004, when the town of Montague and members of the Narragansett tribe formally recognized the 1676 conflict. Brule explained that on May 18, 1676, Capts. William Turner and Elizur Holyoke left Hatfield with 150 mounted infantrymen and arrived in Greenfield, near where Factory Hollow Road is now. All the men dismounted their horses, crossed the river and waited until dawn on May 19 before launching a surprise raid on an Indigenous camp consisting of non-combatant women, children and elderly people.
“[Colonists] just began firing into wigwams and chased many of the people into the river, and they were swept over the falls and drowned,” Brule said.
He said the particularly striking aspect is that the raiders did not attack camps filled with soldiers of allied Indigenous nations. It is estimated that 250 to 300 Indigenous people died in the assault.
Brule mentioned many of the colonists were inadequately trained “farm boys” put at a disadvantage by their superiors. He explained many lingered too long in the enemy camp, creating enough time for a counterattack from the Indigenous coalition made up of Nipmuck, Abenaki, Wampanoag, Narragansett and other tribes. The counterattack spanned from the site of the raid to Deerfield.
“It was a running battle of 7 miles,” Brule said. He also said the colonists were unfamiliar with the terrain, and the more experienced Indigenous fighters lay in wait and launched ambushes along the retreat, killing 48 to 50 colonists, including Turner.
Brule said the initial raid occurred just months before the end of King Philip’s War, which concluded by August. He said the raid was likely revenge for Indigenous people stealing cattle from Hatfield. Still, Brule stressed that he always tells white people they should not feel guilt over what has happened to Native peoples in the past.
“It is not for us any longer a day of mourning,” he said, adding that the tide of history has changed. “And Native people are ... feeling that they can step forward and be understood as part of a fabric of the communities. But they have, for a long time, stayed under the radar, really. And times have changed.”
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2024.05.16 06:32 Savings_Permit7872 A Love Letter to Columbia University

Shortly before a final paper with pre-assigned topics was due for one of my last courses at Columbia University, our professor sent us an email telling us to forego the previous parameters of the essay, and to instead write about the events that had occurred not even forty-eight hours earlier, as well as our reflections on them, to be done in any manner we chose. Here is a very lightly revised version of what I submitted: read it, ignore it, upvote it, downvote it, hate it, love it.
I am prefacing this essay by stating that it is the culmination of several intense emotions that I have been dealing with over the last few weeks, more specifically, the last several days. It is a free-form expression of the many things occupying my mind, and, as such, it may seem overwhelming or disjointed. Nevertheless, I will do my best to convey my feelings into something representative of my beliefs, and my time at this institution.
My time at Columbia University has been bookended in an almost comically bad way; it started with Zoom classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it ends with Zoom final exams due to the lockdown of Columbia’s campus after protests regarding the Israel – Palestine conflict reached a fever pitch not just within Morningside Campus, but the international stage. My classmates and I missed in-person orientation, and now, given recent developments, we will not have a University Commencement, a fact I found out not from Columbia, but a New York Times alert, somehow lowering my opinion of this administration’s handling of recent events even more. While the circumstances around my time at Columbia have now both begun and finished in the same manner, I am proud to say that I have not. I do not mean that Columbia has simply made me a better writer, a more critical thinker, or more well read, although it certainly has done those things, sometimes forcing me to when I was not particularly in the mood to do so, but those improvements pale in comparison to the maturity and empathy my time at this university has given me.
When the decision to transition to remote learning during the Spring 2020 semester was made, occurring only a short time after I had received my acceptance letter (email), my first thought was how the pandemic would affect my transfer from community college to Columbia in September. Admittedly, this was a selfish perspective, considering the tremendous challenges that many would endure during the ensuing lockdowns and other upheavals of life. My concerns were solely focused on myself because I was on a simple track to graduate, place my degree on my resumé, and continue my trajectory of military service to college to employment, leaving little else to consideration, to include other people who were not in my immediate circle. Sitting here now, two weeks from graduation, with a job at a Fortune 500 company lined up, I should be happy, with the plans I had made years ago coming to fruition. Yet I cannot help feeling a sense of sadness and concern for the school I have spent years of my life at, and for the world as a whole.
James Hatch, a former member of the United States’s elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, for short, more commonly known by its nickname, Seal Team Six, famous for its involvement in the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips from pirates, amongst other things, spent over twenty years in the military. After being wounded on a mission to rescue American serviceman sergeant Bowe Bergdahl from enemy forces, he was medically discharged, and would eventually attend Yale University. While there, he wrote a piece titled My Semester with the Snowflakes (please give this a read, it will help people who have never been in the military understand its culture, along with some of the challenges veterans face when transitioning to college), where he details his initial discomfort with being in a vastly different environment than the military, surrounded by individuals who possessed opinions and beliefs contrary to the ones he was accustomed to. He recalls witnessing a student protest the country he spent over two decades serving by coating her hand in red paint, and leaving a palm print on an American flag, and details his shock when a classmate of his explained to him what a “safe space” was, as well as his pride when he began to understand the nuances of life both inside and outside of the nation he dedicated twenty-six years to.
I can relate to Mr. Hatch, (despite my service paling in comparison to his, as well as the fact that Columbia is far superior to Yale), because, like his friends who make fun of him for attending college with a bunch of “snowflakes,” mine do the same. More significantly, however, his personal growth during his time at school is something that I have experienced myself. When I started at Columbia, I did not even know which major I would choose, and was largely lost in a world very different than the one I had come from. Despite this, I made the decision to avoid communities such as MilVets and the students who made it very clear that they came from a military background, with their style of dress and demeanor, not because those organizations and individuals are a detriment; I know for a fact that MilVets has helped countless students succeed at Columbia and beyond, and the veterans that I have relationships with are all phenomenal people, but because I wanted to pressure myself into being exposed to something different. I was uncomfortable at first, but this turned out to be the right decision. I learned as much from simply talking to people whom I would normally never converse with about topics and ideas that I had never encountered as I did during classes about great works of art, polar and Cartesian coordinates, literature, astronomy, the list goes on.
If the protests about the Israel – Palestine conflict had occurred when I first started at Columbia, I would have been frustrated by the students taking up space, forcing us to be funneled on to campus by restricted access points and identification checks. Likely irritated by the disturbance of the quiet during finals season, I would have agreed with the people who called for students to simply focus on their assignments and stop inconveniencing others by shouting about something occurring on the other side of the world. Instead, I decided to learn about the conflict, educating myself about both sides of a war that has roots extending back millennia. While Columbia University did not agree to the demands of the protestors, they achieved something else they surely desired, reaching a goal they did not state to President Shafik and her advisors: they brought attention to their cause by educating at least one additional person about it.
After reading, talking to people, listening to input from students within various classes, and understanding that things such as the intertwined nature of financial workings, as well as conflicts not just in the Middle East, but all over the world, are a level of complexity that baffles some of the most brilliant minds of ours and previous generations, I will leave my thoughts about Israel and Palestine separate from this paper. I recognize that it is important to choose a side, as remaining impartial helps no one. However, when every news agency, group and individual makes their voice heard, satirical sources such as The Onion make these kind of posts, or Adult Swim’s Rick, the nihilistic, narcissistic, psychopathic, misanthropic lead character from the series Rick and Morty, addresses the conflict in this manner, I feel that it is better to relegate myself to a much smaller part of this debate, namely the occurrences on Columbia University’s Morningside Campus.
During basic training for the United States Army, a sense of brotherhood and camaraderie is hammered into recruits’ identities. When you graduate and are assigned to a unit, one where you could be thousands of miles from home on the opposite side of the country, or even in a completely different country, serving on one of the international bases, approaching someone who you have never met before is easy. Talking to them about shared experiences and stories you have in common, and the bonding that occurs, is the product of an indoctrination process and lifestyle that has existed longer than any of us have been alive, and is proof of its effectiveness. This sense of familiarity tends to continue even when one leaves the military. The Veterans of Foreign Wars community is a place for prior servicemembers of all conflicts to share a drink, a laugh, and sometimes a tear. When I go to the Veterans Administration Hospital for periodic check-ups or the occasional injury, men and woman wearing hats commemorating their service during Vietnam waiting for their appointments greet me with a smile and a handshake, as if we have known each other for years. While working at a golf club’s greens department before I transferred to Columbia from community college, a coworker of mine who had served in the Gulf War had heard from our supervisor that I had been in the Army, and he introduced himself to me on my first day, before anyone else, telling me that if I needed anything, I only had to ask. This camaraderie has expanded to encompass not just veterans, but first responders such as firemen, EMT’s, and the police as well.
Underneath the picture on my driver’s license, the word “veteran” is emblazoned next to a star, written in bright red text and all capital letters. I know for a fact that this one-and-a-half-inch indicator has helped me during interactions with law enforcement on multiple occasions. Only earlier this semester, during Presidents’ Day weekend, I went upstate to spend time with my family. While driving back, in an effort to make the seven-hour trip at a reasonable time, I was stopped for going twenty miles-per-hour over the speed limit. The officer who pulled me over, initially reserved, became noticeably more friendly when I handed him my license and registration. Ultimately, he gave me what amounted to a parking ticket for my actions, rather than the point-incurring, heavily fined moving violation he could have charged me with.
The ‘Thin Blue Line,’ as it is known, is a reference to the idea that the police are the barrier between law abiding citizens and criminals, order and chaos. The most common representation of this concept is a black-and-white American flag, with a single blue line in the place where a red or white stripe would normally be. This style has been expanded to include numerous other colors representing other first-responders: green for the military, red and white no longer to be interpreted as the traditional stripes of the American flag, but instead meant to represent the fire department and paramedics, and even grey for corrections officers. Seeing the appropriation of one of the most iconic symbols in the world, one that flies above the White House, schools, homes, national and international events, and even the Moon, I can say, as someone who has been unwillingly entangled within that appropriation, is nothing short of terrifying.
The fact that these entities and their supporters have literally sewn themselves into the fabric of the symbol of our nation makes one think that there is little room for the countless other occupations, aspects and people that make up this country. The idea of the police being the sole protectors of our society is patently absurd, and all one must do is point out the many instances of police brutality occurring over the years to refute it. I find myself thinking of how much power the officer who stopped me just three months ago had over me. Initially, I was happy that I had received a slap on the wrist, but recently I have found myself wondering what if my license did not state that I was a veteran, would he have charged me with a ticket that would have had much more serious implications? What if he was simply having a bad day, and he decided he did not like the look of me, or the color of my car, and I was the one who he ultimately decided to vent his frustrations on? This traffic infraction, an incredibly small incident compared to all the turmoil in the world, one that involves two strangers, supposedly bonded by our professions, on the side of a quiet, New York highway, serves as a metaphor to me, reminding me of the power structures at play on a much larger scale.
On April 22nd, 2024, I received this email, one of the many Clery Crime Alerts that students are automatically sent. An affiliate of Columbia University had their car stolen at gunpoint by two masked men on Claremont Avenue, not even a five-minute walk from campus. I skimmed the report, and almost immediately forgot about it, recognizing that crime is an inevitability in major cities, and that I needed to start my commute to school. Days later, on the night of April 30th, 2024, I received another email from Columbia, containing one of the most ominous messages I had ever seen, one that put the kind of fear in my heart that not even the alert of an armed carjacking could. Columbia’s Emergency Management Operations Team, offering no explanations, specifications, or even a greeting or sign-off, wrote in bold letters these three sentences: “Shelter in place for your safety due to heightened activity on the Morningside campus. Non-compliance may result in disciplinary action. Avoid the area until further notice.” Due to the protests on campus during recent weeks, President Shafik testifying before Congress, Columbia’s role as one of the main catalysts for student protests around the country, and the occupation of Hamilton Hall occurring in the earlier hours of that day, it was not hard to figure out what the email was referencing. Over the next several hours, I followed news agencies, remained glued to the Columbia subreddit, and listened to WKCR, in awe of these eighteen- to twenty-two-year-old students putting themselves at risk to deliver on the ground, accurate, unbiased coverage of one of the most significant events in the school’s history.
While tracking the events from multiple perspectives, to include the social media accounts of those near and on campus live streaming them, I held out hope that the university would make good on their promise from several days earlier to not invite the NYPD back, but a frightening picture began to unfold, one that I was intimately familiar with. One WKCR reporter stated that 114th street had so many officers on it that he could not see the asphalt of the road beneath them, and I knew that the staging area the NYPD had chosen was one of the best routes for moving towards what the military, and presumably law enforcement, would call an ‘objective.’ The officers cleared the smaller ‘objective,’ the largely unoccupied tents in front of Butler, and then moved towards Hamilton Hall, ordering even those not associated with its occupation to disperse, raising my stress levels and likely those of others, as it is rarely a good sign when police do not want their actions recorded and archived. After the initial entry to campus and clearing of areas and people in the immediate vicinity of Hamilton Hall, came the Long-Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, a device that makes a megaphone sound like a whisper, and one known for its crowd-control potential, capable of producing sounds loud enough to cause damage to ear-drums, nausea, and headaches, ordering individuals to clear away. The NYPD began its execution of tactics in a way that my fellow soldiers and I used to rehearse, tactics I never dreamed that I would witness outside of the military, and certainly not by police officers who vastly outnumbered unarmed students on their own campus. The NYPD created a perimeter, or a ‘second layer of security’ to both provide reinforcements for the officers entering the building, and to prevent the fleeing of what are called ‘squirters,’ or individuals who attempt to escape the building after the raid begins. While the ‘breach’ team moved towards the front doors, using tools from a ‘hooligan kit,’ such as bolt cutters, hand-held battering rams and crowbars, a siege machine was brought in to allow access from a window; when taking over a building, the idea is to enter it from as many different directions as possible to better disorient and overwhelm its occupants. Flash-bang grenades, described as non-lethal, but known to have harmful effects, were thrown inside, presumably before entering any room, hallway, or otherwise enclosed area to minimize the resistance of anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of what can only be described as an assault on the visual and auditory senses. According to the Manhattan District Attorney, one of the officers inside Hamilton Hall had what is called in the military a “negligent discharge,” meaning his firearm went off unintentionally. While no one was hurt, the question remains why at least one, and more likely, numerous other officers were carrying guns loaded with live ammunition in the first place, when they so drastically outmatched the protestors in numbers and equipment. Additionally, a negligent discharge is an act of incompetence that would result in an active-duty soldier facing serious consequences, and derision from his peers. So far, the officer remains defended by his coworkers, and unpunished by his superiors.
As all this unfolded, I communicated with my friends from the past and present. My friends from the military checked on me to ensure that I was okay, as did my friends from school. The difference in how they viewed these events highlights what I believe is the change in myself that I stated I am most proud of at the beginning of this paper. My friends from the military were commenting that the assertion of order and control by way of militarized tactics was necessary, not concerning themselves with the human toll and destruction of trust that came along with it. Conversely, my schoolmates lamented the brutality and overstepping of boundaries that the NYPD and Columbia’s administration committed, one that turned a place meant to be a beacon of free speech, expression, and ideas, into what is now a police-state with strict control over who enters it.
My education inside and outside the classroom at this institution has challenged, thrilled, and changed me. Sitting here now, at the end of this paper, the end of the semester, and the end of my time at Columbia University, I am left feeling confused and sad regarding recent events, but also hopeful for the future. I know from experience that the students, teachers, and culture of this school have the power to encourage critical thinking and initiate personal growth. If it did those things for me, surely it can do the same for others
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2024.05.16 00:39 Peacock-Shah-III A Summary of President Philip F. La Follette's Second Term (1949-1953) Peacock-Shah Alternate Elections

A Summary of President Philip F. La Follette's Second Term (1949-1953) Peacock-Shah Alternate Elections

Philip Fox La Follette, 34th President of the United States.
Administration:
Vice President: Michael A. Musmanno
Secretary of Peace: Douglas MacArthur (1951-1952 (interim)), Clarence Dill (1952-1953)
Secretary of State: Douglas MacArthur (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of War: Ralph Immell (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Navy: Francis P. Matthews (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of the Air Force: Charles Lindbergh (1949-1951 (Department placed under Peace))
Secretary of Production: Ralph Immell (1952-1953)
Secretary of the Treasury: Rexford Tugwell (1949-1951 (resigned to assume office as Governor of New York)), Harold Lord Varney (1951 (interim)), Ralph Immell (1951-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of the Interior: Mildred H. McAfee (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Energy: Floyd Dominy (1950-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Agriculture: Gerald Nye (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Labor: George Meany (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Science and Technology: Karl T. Compton (1949-1952 (department placed under Production))
Secretary of Prosperity: Francois Duvalier (1952-1953)
Attorney General: David Lilienthal (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Health: Francois Duvalier (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Postmaster General: Gerald T. Boileau (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity))
Secretary of Education: Sara Gibson Blanding (1949-1952 (department placed under Prosperity)
President La Follette would announce a major reorganization of cabinet departments following his 1951 impeachment, uniting the Air Force, Navy, War, and State Departments into one grand “Department of Peace,” despite opposition from both military leadership and Secretary of State MacArthur, who would depart from the Administration at the commencement of 1952 and be replaced by Farmer-Labor doyen Clarence Dill. The President has framed the move as embodying the national seal of an eagle carrying both arrows and an olive branch, while promoting centralization to improve efficiency while avoiding involving the United States in entangling alliances, an effort that has led to the end of the effort to unite American allies on both sides of the Pacific into a mutual defense pact. First Lady Isen La Follette, personally notably introverted, has been brought before the public as the chief public campaigner for the Department of Peace.
With the centralization of foreign and military policy in full swing at the executive level despite the opposition of Congress, the spring of 1952 would see a second round of mass centralization, with longtime ally Ralph Immell appointed as the head of a new Department of Production, devised by Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson, to supervise the old Treasury, Interior, Energy, Agriculture, Labor, and Science and Technology Departments, while Dr. Francois Duvalier has been appointed to lead the centralization of the Justice, Health, Education, and Post Office Departments into a united Department of Prosperity and Human Services, commonly referred to only by the former. As in the case of the Department of Peace, the former departments are slated to remain at a sub-cabinet level, and the efforts of opposition forces have successfully left the proposed integrations largely on paper for the time being.
On the level of sub-cabinet departments, the Bureau of Investigation has been merged with the Office of Strategic Services to form the National Security Agency (NSA), an intelligence agency combining the foreign and domestic. Meanwhile, an executive order would begin the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with former President Charles Lindbergh appointed as its first head, however, Lindbergh would soon be dismissed as a part of the executive’s compromise with congress’s impeachers, with businessman Howard Hughes taking his place.

Opposition Representative Richard Nixon shakes hands with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie during the Emperor's visit to the United States, where President La Follette would emphasize American support for non-communist anti-colonial movements.
Foreign Policy:
-President La Follette has found rare common ground with the opposition on matters of foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, echoing Arthur Vandenberg’s declaration that “politics ends at the water’s edge.” The Administration has secured funding for the rebuilding of Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea under social democratic anti-communist governments, with President La Follette describing the initiatives as building an “iron curtain” against communism.
-President La Follette’s term would see the death of two of the world’s premier foreign leaders: Marshall Philippe Petain of France and Chinese General Feng Yuxiang. President La Follette would visit Paris in 1951 for the funeral of Petain after nearly four decades in power, having hailed the French publicly as future allies in the battle with communism. Yet, already suspicious of the new government of Petain protege Charles De Gaulle after the leaking of America’s role in Smedley Butler’s assassination by Ambassador Gaston-Henry Haye, La Follette would find himself increasingly disenchanted with the French, with private reports indicating his horror at the mass deportation of Flemish, Germans, and Catalans into the French Congo from areas in Europe newly annexed into France.
-However, the President would nonetheless side with the French-supported Roman Legion rebelling against Greece in 1951, marking the creation of the Republic of the Pindus as the first state for the Aromanian people in world history. However, the new state has been accused of engaging in the ethnic cleansing of the Greek population.
-Meanwhile, touring China after the death of Feng Yuxiang, La Follette would become increasingly worried about the possible alignment of the nation towards the Soviet Union and controversially refuse to return the island of Taiwan to China until the election of a successor to Feng. With Communist leader Zhou Enlai rising in popularity and an election planned, American support would be thrown behind former warlord Yan Xishan, who would be selected President by the National Assembly in January of 1951 and promptly announce an indefinite delay on elections. Despite rising tensions with China’s Bolshevik-backed Communist Party, La Follette would sign a treaty of return in February of 1952 relinquishing Taiwan to Chinese control. However, after six decades of intense Japanization under colonial authorities, Taiwan has found itself culturally isolated from the rest of China, speaking almost entirely Japanese and Hokkien rather than Mandarin.
-A similar issue has emerged on the formerly Japanese territories of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Owing to their close location to the Soviet Union, La Follette has authorized it as the site of dozens of American nuclear tests throughout his term and refused to cede sovereignty, with China, Japan, and Russia all harboring alternate claims to the islands.
-The President has impounded funds from the 1950 and 1951 budgets passed by Congress to distribute for the reconstruction of American allies and occupied regions in the Third Pacific War, enacting the MacArthur Plan without the authorization of Congress and repeating to Chinese Premier Yan Xishan his famous remark that “vermin are infesting and polluting democratic organizations and the government itself.”
-Working with the Latin American and East Asian nations in the American sphere of influence in the aftermath of the Franco-British Conflict, the President has moved the United States into the new Parliament of Nations headquartered in Rome, sending New Hampshire Progressive Senator Robert P. Bass as the first United States Representative to the largely powerless global body intended to facilitate global cooperation. Notably, however, the La Follette Administration has resisted efforts to include communist-aligned nations into the fold despite the membership of many French-aligned authoritarian regimes and absolute monarchies such as the Ethiopian Empire or the Caliphate.
-1951 would see the formalization of the Treaty of San Diego, officially ending the United States occupation of Japan, and with it La Follette's rule by decree of the islands, while maintaining an American military presence on the island chain and transferring to American control the Ryukyu Islands, Iwo Jima, Samoa, and the Japanese stake in the Nicaraguan Canal shared with Argentina, where former Milford W. Howard associate Harold Lord Varney has been appointed as High Commissioner.
-President La Follette held a summit with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and Madagascar Prime Minister Joseph Raseta in 1951 to commemorate the longstanding American support for independent nations in Africa, hosting, among others, independence activists Seretse Khama of Botswana, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and Hastings Banda of Nyasaland. Further, American jazz artist Andy Razaf has taken the throne as King of Madagascar following the lack of an heir apparent to deceased Queen Marie-Louise, however, unfamiliar with the island of his ancestors, the newly-crowned Andriamanantena I has been sidelined by Prime Minister Raseta.
-With rumors of Lazar Kaganovich planning Bolshevik expansion into Central Asia abounding, President La Follette and Secretary of Peace Dill would issue a joint statement in January of 1952 promising American opposition “by any means necessary” to “one more inch” of Bolshevik expansion, with Dill describing Kaganovich’s policy towards France and the United States as “trying to play both sides against the middle.

Destiny launches off the coast of Puerto Rico, inaugurating a new era in human history,
Domestic Policy:
-”Our attainments in space are a major element in the competition between the Soviet system and our own, they are part of the battle,” so would declare James E. Webb, Deputy Administrator of NASA, on October 4th, 1951, mere weeks after the failure of the impeachment of President La Follette, as he, former President Lindbergh, and gasping crowds of onlookers watched Destiny take flight, the first manmade satellite in human history to orbit the Earth. President La Follette would tout the achievement as the administration having begun the conquest of “the final frontier.”
-Working with Japanese scientists in the aftermath of the occupation, space policy has reached the fore as La Follette launches an aggressive series of follow-up satellites, beginning with Lewis and Clark and most recently including Stagecoach. However, rumors hold that the French have begun construction on their own site for space rocket launches.
-Staring down the barrel of Speaker Joseph McCarthy’s aggression and Senator Estes Kefauver’s investigation into the assassination of Smedley Butler, La Follette turned away from Congress in 1949 to fulfill his promise to “win the peace.” Acting first in April of 1949 shortly after the arrest of John L. Lewis, La Follette would issue Executive Orders 15092 and 15093, authorizing the building of an interstate highway system and national system of hydroelectric plants to be overseen by General Lucius D. Clay and the Army Corps of Engineers under the supervision of the Department of the Interior for the former and Department of Science and Technology for the latter, while authorizing the creation of a new Department of Energy, operating entirely on impounded funds and largely focusing on research on the utilization of nuclear energy.
-In the latter effort, the President has found the support of prominent opposition financier Lewis Strauss, who has nonetheless argued that the development of nuclear energy is hampered by New State bureaucratic centralization.
-Opposition politician Joseph Alioto has criticized the interstate highway system, pointing to the funding of La Follette’s campaign by the Firestone Tire Company and arguing that road dependent companies have colluded to impede the further expansion of rail infrastructure.
-Most controversially would be Executive Order 15097, issued in June of 1951 and seen as largely the brainchild of Secretary of the Treasury Rexford Tugwell, declaring the complete and total nationalization of the healthcare industry and authorizing the establishment of a National Healthcare Service (NHS) in the United States under the Department of Health. Although implementation has been plagued by legal challenges and billions in funding from healthcare providers to opposition candidates, the President has utilized impounded funds to subsidize healthcare for the elderly and impoverished.
-Executive Order 15102 in December of 1951 would establish under the Department of Labor an employers’ syndicate led by former General Electric CEO Gerald Swope called the Business Council, leading to denunciations from across Farmer-Labor despite the low participation in the attempted employers’ union.
-However, the 1946 executive orders declaring a national moratoria on the payment of mortgages and enacting wage and price controls were ended soon after the 1948 election.
-In the face of a rapidly growing economy, La Follette has worked with new Federal Reserve Chairman Bernard Baruch to digress on the expansionist monetary policy that characterized his first term, with interest rates quadrupling to 15% in an effort that has successfully brought inflation from 13% to a mere 3% annually. Unemployment has fallen to 3.2% as the GDP as a whole has grown nearly 9% over La Follette’s second term, an economic boom fueled by mass exportation to Europe and newly decolonized nations elsewhere. While the President has continued to voice support for the nationalization of the Federal Reserve, the issue has remained on the backburner.
-An executive order in January of 1952 has set the new national minimum wage to $7.00 an hour from a previous $3.25, causing mass business outcry despite the President’s argument that the increase is necessary to guarantee a “living wage” after post-war inflation. The Department of Justice has been authorized to prosecute offenders, however, critics have argued that businesses aligned with the President’s political opposition have been unfairly targeted.
-Rufus B. von KleinSmid of the Un-American Activities Board, appointed by the President to monitor journalism for seditious content, would attempt to suppress the release of an account by actress Frances Farmer of her forced confinement to a mental institution in 1948, where she was sterilized under La Follette’s Executive Order 14768 from 1946, authorizing the mass sterilization of the mentally ill and those with “criminal tendencies.” Further investigations into the ramifications of the order have led to staggering revelations of up to 200,000 sterilizations performed annually since 1946, largely under duress, on Americans in prison and mental institutions as well as former criminals. The President has defended the policy while authorizing a Department of Justice investigation into abuses by low level doctors.
-The President would support the prosecution of a half dozen prison wardens accused of citing Executive Order 14767, establishing cooperatives for prisoners to work without pay on natural beautification projects, to turn prisoners into de facto slave laborers working 18 hour shifts as contract labor on farms. While the President has argued that the system itself has brought boons to the environment and American agriculture, critics have claimed that abuse remains widespread.
-While delaying and, in some cases, entirely pausing the implementation of his executive orders in the wake of the promises of moderation amidst the impeachment trial that rescued his presidency from the brink of collapse, fascist Blackshirts and radical Mormon Destroying Angels have become increasingly violent in the months since impeachment, with headlines telling tales of opposition presses raided and armed men watching poll stations. Another conspiracy theory has held that the death of Committee for the Preservation of the Republic chairman Thomas Schall in a motor accident over the winter of 1951 was the result of an intentional Blackshirt hit-and-run.
-While many have blamed the fiery speeches of Vice President Musmanno for encouraging Blackshirts, President La Follette and his brother in the Senate have fiercely denounced all violence on behalf of their movement, appealing to supporters for calm as they call for the speedy prosecution of the allegedly Blackshirt bombthrowers that took the life of elderly comedian Will Rogers. Nonetheless, fear of political violence has led to the cancellation of the 1952 Progressive-Federalist presidential primary in favor of a convention held in tandem with the Liberty League under the auspices of the Committee for the Preservation of the Republic.
-Meanwhile, Washington Senate candidate Marion Zioncheck would throw himself off a building while campaigning to succeed Clarence Dill. In a coma, Zioncheck’s supporters have accused the administration alternately of reigniting his documented mental health issues and being behind the attempted murder themselves.
-September 14, 1951, the height of Blackshirt violence in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New York City, has been labeled the “Knight of the Long Knives” by opposition critic Styles Bridges. Vice President Musmanno has stood alone in the administration in defending the actions publicly despite condemnation from President La Follette that has carried into the authorization of NSA prosecutions of Blackshirt perpetrators. Representative Richard Nixon, the lead impeachment manager in the La Follette trial, has credited J. Edgar Hoover with the investigations rather than La Follette and accused the administration of only condoning them under pressure from his brother.
-”People of America, wake up!” The last words of House Minority Leader Eduardo Chibas, broadcast into a million homes seconds before his suicide on live radio, has fueled the creation of local opposition organizing groups calling themselves “Wide-Awakes” and aiming to bridge opposition interests against the La Follette Administration.
-The President has made a half a dozen speeches across the nation under the banner of his loyal National Progressives of America calling for the ratification of a 20th Amendment to shift to the president the powers of Congress, restricting the republic’s legislative branch to a mere veto power, while arguing that the need for a strong legislature would be replaced with a 21st Amendment establishing a process for national referendums. Although not passed by Congress, several state legislatures, including those of Alabama and Washington, have passed resolutions indicating a willingness to ratify the amendment.
-The President further floated the concept of reforming the legislature into a “Chamber of Corporations” balancing representatives from the General Trades Union and Business Council.
-With the arrest of CIO leaders John L. Lewis and Tony Boyle, leadership of the nation’s chief opposition union has fallen to Walter Reuther and Jimmy Hoffa, representing the left and right of the organization. With widespread prosecutions against members and supporters such as Fulgencio Batista, however, Reuther and Hoffa have found themselves fighting to prevent the CIO’s collapse. Nonetheless, the CIO would hold a 1950 celebration of the life of former Vice President Lena Morrow Lewis, with President Alf Landon hailing her role in the opposition and using the funeral as a means to rally anti-La Follette sentiment.
-Following a career in national politics spanning nearly seven decades, former President William Randolph Hearst would stop the presses for a final time on August 14th of 1951, passing away at the age of 88 in his castle in San Simeon, California. Having been alternately king and kingmaker in American politics for a half century, Hearst’s funeral would leave the streets around the Grace Cathedral full for blocks, with his son and heir William Randolph Hearst Jr. managing proceedings. Yet, in light of Hearst’s turn to the opposition and support for Fulgencio Batista, President La Follette would be notably absent from the funeral of the man who once coronated him the Farmer-Labor Party’s nominee for the presidency.
-President La Follette would push for the statehood of the territory of Tannenbaum, initially in a tandem effort with Territorial Representative Ernest Gruening’s push for Jewish colonization of the region as an alternative to the increasingly violent Palestine. However, with public sentiment against statehood riled up by Father Charles Coughlin in a campaign tinged by anti-semitism, Senator Henrik Shipstead would filibuster the statehood bill, prompting the Administration to declare a moratoria on statehood efforts and a reconsideration of whether statehood stands in line with national security interest.
-At the urging of singer turned Tennessee Governor Roy Acuff, a group of anti-La Follette Hollywood stars have formed The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, including Jane Russell, Ronald Reagan, Zasu Pitts, Gloria Swanson, June Allyson, Pat Buttram, Orson Welles, and Shirley Temple.
-Senator John Horne Blackmore has proposed an additional tax on chain stores to encourage the development of small business, while he, former New York Governor Ezra Pound, and publisher James Laughlin have called for the revival of the American social credit movement.
-Alabama and Illinois have established themselves as the fastest growing states in the nation, demonstrating success in Single Taxer Paul Douglas’s new “Illinois Model” as well as the continued prosperity of Alabama in the wake of Milford W. Howard’s fascist “Alabama Model” that has inspired emulation globally.
-Farmer-Laborite Maine Senator Benjamin Bubar’s investigation of Hollywood has led to the firing or blacklisting of several dozen actors on charges of alleged homosexuality, with the Administration attempting to tie the issue to support for the President’s political opposition, citing the blacklisting of Greta Garbo and Tennessee Williams as precedent for the firing of longtime members of the foreign service on charges of possible homosexual activities.
-Notable inventions and scientific breakthroughs during President La Follette’s term include the discovery of DNA by scientist Rosalind Franklin; the hydrogen bomb, newly tested on the island of Sakhalin; the first successful kidney transplant; and a revolutionary new vaccine for polio invented by University of Alabama doctor Jonas Salk.

In John L. Lewis's stead, dynamic young Jimmy Hoffa has led the independent labor movement.
The Supreme Court:
-Justice Thomas C. O’Brien, appointed in 1939 as a part of President Lindbergh’s takeover of the court, would die in November of 1951 at the age of 64. With the Presidency still reeling from impeachment, La Follette would nominate Michigan Supreme Court Justice Evo DeConcini to the position. However, the hostile Senate would overwhelmingly refuse to confirm the appointment, with Progressive-Federalist Leader George Pritchard vowing to oppose any La Follette nominee. With neither side budging, the position has remained vacant.

Map of the world as of 1952.
World Events:
-After 9 years of prolonged conflict, the Franco-British War would conclude in August of 1950 with the Treaty of Amsterdam signed by Marshal Petain and British Prime Minister Oliver Baldwin, largely ceding French colonies to the British Empire, with the exception of the Congo, on the time table for independence, and Guiana and Algeria, incorporated directly into metropolitan France. Meanwhile, French dominion has been de facto recognized over most of Western Europe, with the west bank of the Rhine, Catalonia, Luxembourg, and Belgium directly incorporated into France while Germany has been divided into a series of puppet states.
-Although the Spanish Republic has survived, the French-influenced, Catholic monarchist CEDA led by José María Valiente Soriano has received significant funding in challenging Prime Minister Jose Ortega y Gasset, with a similar situation emerging in Italy following the democratization of the nation by former dictator Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who has been succeeded by the pro-French Achille Lauro.
-Alongside the neutral Netherlands, Portugal has stood outside of the French bloc, as fascist leader Francisco Rolão Preto has held onto power while courting the support of both Bolshevik Russia and the United States, explicitly citing Milford W. Howard as his model for rule.
-In what the French government has labeled “le épuration de la frontière,” (the border purification), a forced exodus has occurred from newly annexed territories, driving millions from their communities and largely to French Africa, where the government has resettled hundreds of thousands each of Catalans, Germans, Greeks, Flemish Belgians, Italians, and the Occitan as French settlers claim their former homes.
-Meanwhile, the international process of decolonization has sped up rapidly, with a proposal by Choudhary Rahmat Ali being adopted by the British to partition the former Raj and form the states of India and Pakistan, alongside a Christian state in the far east.
-Mexican Prime Minister Manuel Gomez Morin has emerged as the primary center of power in the Empire after the crowning of 8 year old Maximiliano II as Emperor.
-Under the leadership of Prime Minister George Drew, the Progressive-Conservatives have won yet another Canadian election, yet the rise of the Social Credit Party in Quebec has driven them to status as the nation’s official opposition. Drew has hosted an Anglo-American Summit alongside President La Follette and Newfoundland Prime Minister Joey Smallwood.
-With Bolshevik Russia as the senior partner, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has been established as an alliance between Russia and its satellite states in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus.
-The Hashemite Caliphate has experienced increased unrest in both Palestine, where radical Jewish and Muslim militias have clashed, and the majority Christian regions of Mount Lebanon and newly annexed Nubia, where order has been nearly impossible to enforce.
-Following the death of Jorge Carlos Mariategui after two decades at the helm of Peru, Jorge del Prado Chavez has succeeded him, shifting the nation further towards Bolshevik Russia and ending all possibility of Peru entering a Pacific defense pact.
-The National Party’s oppressive regime of white rule in South Africa has been used as a model by a growing movement for a white minority government among the displaced, largely German white population in the French Congo, slated for independence within the decade.
-Social Democrat Mohammed Mossadegh has been elected President of the Republic of Iran, bringing the Georgist nation closer to Bolshevik Russia geopolitically as a counterweight to fiercely pro-British Caliph Abdullah and pro- French Turkish President Celâl Bayar.
-Greek dictator Konstantinos Logothetopoulos would be deposed in a 1952 revolution following the successful secession of the Aromanians, with communist Markos Vafeiadis leading a Provisional Democratic People’s Government with Bolshevik support. However, prominent author Nikos Kazantzakis has emerged at the fore of an anti-Vafeiadis protest movement for democratic socialism influenced by Georges Sorel.
-Adopted throughout the Habsburg Realm, Soviet Union, and among many Jews in Palestine and Europeans in the Congo, the Esperanto language has gained nearly 50,000,000 speakers and become the official language of diplomacy for the newly founded Republic of Korea.

Bolshevik Russia's \"Iron Lazar\" Kaganovich.
View Poll
submitted by Peacock-Shah-III to Presidentialpoll [link] [comments]


2024.05.15 22:35 eidlhope EIDL - $330K - Sent To Treasury, Coming Back To SBA, Hardship Application Sent

I have lurked on here for months now and this sub has provided me with a great amount of resources that are beginning to help me out of the situation I have long been in, finally able to see some progress.
Back in February, I received notification that my loan had been transferred to Treasury for collection. Despite my repeated attempts to reach out, contacting them proved futile. Even regular conversations with the SBA yielded no solution to reclaim my loan.
Recent posts here mentioned successfully moving loans back to the SBA using the EIDL Dispute template
https://docs.google.com/document0/d/1QMkBpRqO1T2JT0J6QqPFvivp-OeqEjXCciLNpETycMs/mobilebasic?pli=1
Personalizing it with assistance from both Chatgpt and Gemini, I crafted what I thought was a good enough letter. I sent it to [CovidEIDLServicing@sba.gov](), among other suggested emails. Only this particular email acknowledged receipt through Mailtrack and responded.
It took 9 days to receive the response. It included the hardship application and instructions to send it back to the email above. The application also requires to include your YTD P&L for loans over $200. Both were provided the same day. One hour later, I received this auto response
"Thank you for contacting the U.S. Small Business Administration Covid EIDL Servicing Center. We have received your request and forwarded it to the appropriate department for review. Please allow 7 -10 business days to process your request. Repeat submissions to [CovidEIDLServicing@sba.gov](mailto:CovidEIDLServicing@sba.gov) may result in a delay in your request being processed.

This email box is not currently providing status updates. If you have questions regarding the status of your request or require further assistance, please call 1-833-853-5638 (Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern Time) or, if you are hearing impaired, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

The MySBA Loan Portal is now live! The MySBA Loan Portal is a new portal where borrowers can view their loan balance, make payments, view statement, and contact customer support in one place. Borrowers can visit https://lending.sba.gov to login or enroll."
Though I'm not one to frequently engage in comments or posts, having experienced firsthand the anxiety and hardship this situation can induce, I felt compelled to share my experience. I hope it offers a ray of guidance to those facing similar challenges.
submitted by eidlhope to EIDLPPP [link] [comments]


2024.05.15 10:07 Mountain-Door1991 Needed Help to Parse input from mediarecorder api in python

HI i am trying to stream audio from mediarecorder api to python backend for testing VAD it works with my audio device directly, but not the audio from mediarecoreder any help is appreciated? i tried many functions to decode them none of them worked i am attacking a sample here
from fastapi import FastAPI, WebSocket, Request from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles from fastapi.templating import Jinja2Templates from fastapi.responses import HTMLResponse import pyaudio import threading import webrtcvad from pydub import AudioSegment from pydub.playback import play from io import BytesIO from openai import OpenAI import requests import pygame import os import webrtcvad import collections FORMAT = pyaudio.paInt16 CHANNELS = 1 RATE = 16000 # Compatible sample rate for WebRTC VAD FRAME_DURATION_MS = 30 # Frame duration in ms (choose 10, 20, or 30 ms) CHUNK = int(RATE * FRAME_DURATION_MS / 1000) # Calculate frame size VAD_BUFFER_DURATION_MS = 2000 # Buffer duration for silence before stopping vad = webrtcvad.Vad(1) # Moderate aggressiveness speech_client = speech.SpeechClient() app = FastAPI() # Mount static files app.mount("/static", StaticFiles(directory="static"), name="static") # Initialize templates templates = Jinja2Templates(directory="templates") @app.get("/", response_class=HTMLResponse) async def root(request: Request): return templates.TemplateResponse("index.html", {"request": request}) class Frame(object): """Represents a "frame" of audio data.""" def __init__(self, bytes, timestamp, duration): self.bytes = bytes self.timestamp = timestamp self.duration = duration def frame_generator(frame_duration_ms, audio, sample_rate): """Generates audio frames from PCM audio data. Takes the desired frame duration in milliseconds, the PCM data, and the sample rate. Yields Frames of the requested duration. """ n = int(sample_rate * (frame_duration_ms / 1000.0) * 2) offset = 0 timestamp = 0.0 duration = (float(n) / sample_rate) / 2.0 while offset + n < len(audio): yield Frame(audio[offset:offset + n], timestamp, duration) timestamp += duration offset += n import wave import os from pathlib import Path AUDIO_CHANNELS_PER_FRAME = 1 # Mono AUDIO_BITS_PER_CHANNEL = 16 # 16 bits per sample AUDIO_SAMPLE_RATE = 16000 def get_and_create_playable_file_from_pcm_data(file_path): wav_file_name = file_path+ ".wav" docs_dir = "./" wav_file_path = docs_dir + wav_file_name print(f"PCM file path: {file_path}") num_channels = AUDIO_CHANNELS_PER_FRAME bits_per_sample = AUDIO_BITS_PER_CHANNEL sampling_rate = AUDIO_SAMPLE_RATE frame_duration = 10 num_samples = sampling_rate * frame_duration # with open(file_path, 'rb') as f: # num_samples = len(f.read()) byte_rate = num_channels * bits_per_sample * sampling_rate // 8 block_align = num_channels * bits_per_sample // 8 data_size = num_channels * num_samples * bits_per_sample // 8 chunk_size = 16 total_size = 46 + data_size audio_format = 1 with wave.open(str("filenames"), 'wb') as fout: fout.setnchannels(num_channels) fout.setsampwidth(bits_per_sample // 8) fout.setframerate(sampling_rate) fout.setnframes(num_samples) # Write the PCM data with open("filenames.wav", 'rb') as pcmfile: pcm_data = pcmfile.read() fout.writeframes(pcm_data) # return wav_file_path.as_uri() from pydub import AudioSegment def process_audio(file_path): # Load the audio file audio = AudioSegment.from_file(file_path) # Print original duration original_duration = len(audio) print(f"Original duration: {original_duration} milliseconds") # Set duration to 10 seconds ten_seconds = 10 * 1000 # PyDub works in milliseconds if original_duration > ten_seconds: audio = audio[:ten_seconds] # Truncate to 10 seconds elif original_duration < ten_seconds: silence_duration = ten_seconds - original_duration silence = AudioSegment.silent(duration=silence_duration) audio += silence # Append silence to make it 10 seconds # Save the modified audio modified_file_path = "filenamesprocess.wav" audio.export(modified_file_path, format="wav") # Print the duration of the modified audio modified_audio = AudioSegment.from_file(modified_file_path) print(f"Modified duration: {len(modified_audio)} milliseconds") return modified_file_path def check_audio_properties(audio_path): # Load the audio file audio = AudioSegment.from_file(audio_path) # Check number of channels (1 for mono) is_mono = audio.channels == 1 # Check sample width (2 bytes for 16-bit) is_16_bit = audio.sample_width == 2 # Check sample rate valid_sample_rates = [8000, 16000, 32000, 48000] is_valid_sample_rate = audio.frame_rate in valid_sample_rates # Calculate frame duration and check if it's 10, 20, or 30 ms frame_durations_ms = [10, 20, 30] frame_duration_samples = [int(audio.frame_rate * duration_ms / 1000) for duration_ms in frame_durations_ms] is_valid_frame_duration = audio.frame_count() in frame_duration_samples # Results return { "is_mono": is_mono, "is_16_bit": is_16_bit, "is_valid_sample_rate": is_valid_sample_rate, "is_valid_frame_duration": is_valid_frame_duration, "frame_duration_samples":frame_duration_samples, "bit":audio.sample_width, "channels":audio.channels } import math from pydub import AudioSegment import math def split_audio_into_frames(audio_path, frame_duration_ms=30): # Load the audio file audio = AudioSegment.from_file(audio_path) # Calculate the number of frames needed number_of_frames = math.ceil(len(audio) / frame_duration_ms) # Split the audio into frames of 30 ms frames = [] for i in range(number_of_frames): start_ms = i * frame_duration_ms end_ms = start_ms + frame_duration_ms frame = audio[start_ms:end_ms] frames.append(frame) frame.export(f"frame_{i}.wav", format="wav") # Export each frame as WAV file return frames from pydub import AudioSegment import io def preprocess_audio(webm_audio): # Convert WebM to WAV audio = AudioSegment.from_file(io.BytesIO(webm_audio),) audio = audio.set_frame_rate(16000).set_channels(1).set_sample_width(2) # Convert to 16-bit mono 16000 Hz return audio.raw_data import subprocess @app.websocket("/ws") async def websocket_endpoint(websocket: WebSocket): await websocket.accept() buffered_data = bytearray() # try: while True: with open("filenames", "wb") as out: # get_and_create_playable_file_from_pcm_data("filenames") # process_audio("filenames.wav") data = await websocket.receive_bytes() with open("temp.webm", "wb") as f: f.write(buffered_data) webm_audio = AudioSegment.from_file("temp.webm", format="webm") output_file_path = 'recording.mp3' webm_audio.export(output_file_path, format="mp3") if len(buffered_data) > 24000: # You define a sensible threshold with open("temp.webm", "wb") as f: f.write(buffered_data) subprocess.run(["ffmpeg", "-i", "temp.webm", "-acodec", "pcm_s16le", "-ar", "16000", "temp.wav"], check=True) buffered_data.clear() print("incomming") audio = AudioSegment.from_file("temp.wav") check_audio_properties("temp.wav") # aud = preprocess_audio(data) try: if vad.is_speech(audio.raw_data, RATE): is_speech = True silence_frames = 0 # recorded_segments.append(data) # Append data to list else: if is_speech: # Change from speech to silence is_speech = False silence_frames += 1 # Check if we've hit the silence threshold to end capture if silence_frames * FRAME_DURATION_MS / 1000.0 >= VAD_BUFFER_DURATION_MS / 1000.0: print("Silence detected, stop recording.") break except Exception as e: print("VAD processing error:", e) continue # Skip this frame or handle error differently 
let socket = new WebSocket("ws://localhost:8080/ws"); let mediaRecorder; async function startRecording() { const stream = await navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia({ audio: true }); const options = { mimeType: 'audio/webm;codecs=opus' }; console.log(MediaRecorder.isTypeSupported('audio/webm;codecs=opus')); // returns true or false mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder(stream,options); mediaRecorder.start(5000); // Continuously sends data every 250ms mediaRecorder.ondataavailable = async (event) => { console.log(event); if (event.data.size > 0 && socket.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) { socket.send(event.data); } }; } function stopRecording() { if (mediaRecorder && mediaRecorder.state !== 'inactive') { mediaRecorder.stop(); console.log("Recording stopped."); } } socket.onmessage = function(event) { console.log('Received:', event.data); if (event.data === "stop") { stopRecording(); } }; // Make sure to handle WebSocket closures gracefully socket.onclose = function(event) { console.log('WebSocket closed:', event); stopRecording(); }; socket.onerror = function(error) { console.log('WebSocket error:', error); stopRecording(); }; 
submitted by Mountain-Door1991 to WebRTC [link] [comments]


2024.05.15 07:07 funeraltemplate FUNERAL MEMORIAL PROGRAM TEMPLATE

FUNERAL MEMORIAL PROGRAM TEMPLATE
https://preview.redd.it/72rju0qpri0d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=edd7e6e24401586caaf998c2d67d1a2bde3ac79a
In times of loss, creating a meaningful tribute is essential to honoring the life of a departed loved one. A funeral memorial program template serves as a heartfelt keepsake, guiding attendees through the service while commemorating the legacy of the deceased. With the right template, crafting a personalized program becomes a cherished part of the grieving process.
Choosing the Perfect Template
Selecting a funeral memorial program template is the first step in creating a fitting tribute. Consider the personality and preferences of the departed when choosing a design. Whether opting for a classic design with timeless elegance or a modern layout that reflects individuality, the template should resonate with the spirit of the one being remembered.

Customizing the Tribute

Once the template is chosen, customization allows for personal touches that celebrate the life of the departed. Include biographical details, photographs, favorite quotes, and special memories to capture the essence of their journey. Customizing the program ensures that each aspect reflects the unique personality and impact of the loved one being honored.

Ease of Use and Accessibility

Funeral memorial program templates offer convenience and accessibility during a time of emotional upheaval. With user-friendly editing tools, customization becomes straightforward, allowing grieving families to focus on the tribute rather than technical complexities. Accessible from the comfort of home, these templates simplify the process of creating a meaningful program.
submitted by funeraltemplate to u/funeraltemplate [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 21:32 2002LuvAbbaLuvU "Future plans: have computers do most of central nervous system, such as thalamus, auditory cortex, visual cortices, homunculus, to parse 2gbps of video (suchas 1024*1280@60fps) to output text at close to 2kbps"

Is work-in-progress: https://swudususuwu.substack.com/p/future-plans-have-computers-do-most has most new
Allows all uses.
For the most new sources, use programs such as iSH (for iOS) or Termux (for Android OS) to run this:
git clone cd SubStack/cxx && lshttps://github.com/SwuduSusuwu/SubStack.git 
Pull requests should goto: https://github.com/SwuduSusuwu/SubStack/issues/2
cxx/ClassResultList.cxx has correspondances to neocortex. which is what humans use as databases. cxx/VirusAnalysis.cxx + cxx/ConversationCns.cxx has some correspondances to Broca's area (produces language through recursive processes), Wernicke’s area (parses languages through recursive processes), plus hippocampus (integration to the neocortex + imagination through various regions). cxx/ClassCns.cxx (HSOM + apxr_run) is just templates for general-purpose emulations of neural mass. https://www.deviantart.com/dreamup has some equivalences to how visual cortex + Broca's area + hippocampus + text inputs = texture generation + mesh generation outputs. To have autonomous robots produce all goods for us [ https://swudususuwu.substack.com/p/program-general-purpose-robots-autonomous ] would require visual cortex (parses inputs from photoreceptors) + auditory cortex (parses inputs from malleus + cortical homunculus (parses inputs from touch sensors) + thalamus (merges information from various classes of sensors, thus the robot balances + produces maps)) + hippocampus (uses outputs from sensors to setup neocortex, plus, runs inverses this for synthesis of new scenarios) + Wernicke's region/Broca's regions (recursive language processes)
Just as a human who watches a video performs the following tasks: Retinal nervous tissues has raw photons as inputs, and compresses such into splines + edges + motion vectors (close to how computers produce splines through edge detection plus do motion estimation, which is what the most advanced traditional codecs such as x264 do to compress) passes millions/billions of those (through optic nerves) to the V1 visual cortex (as opposed to just dump those to a .mp4, which is what computers do), which groups those to produce more abstract, sparse, compressed forms (close to a simulator's meshes / textures / animations), passes those to V1 visual cortex, which synthesizes those into more abstract datums (such as a simulator's specific instances of individual humans, tools, or houses), and passes the most abstract (from V2 visual cortex) plus complex (from V1 visual cortex) to hippocampus (which performs temporary storage tasks while active, and, at rest, encodes this to neocortex). Just as humans can use the neocortex's stored resources for synthesis of new animations/visuals, so too could artificial central nervous systems (run on CPU or GPU) setup synapses to allow to compress gigabytes of visuals from videos into a few kilobytes of text (the hippocampus has dual uses, so can expand the compressed "text" back to good visuals).
2 routes to this:
  1. Unsupervised CNS (fitness function of synapses is just to compress as much as can, plus reproduce as much of originals as can for us; layout of synapses is somewhat based on human CNS). This allows to add a few paragraphs of text past the finish so this synthesizes hours of extra video for you.
  2. Supervised CNS (various sub-CNS's for various stages of compression, with examples used to setup the synapses for those various stages to compress, such as "raw bitmap -> Scalable Vector Graphics + partial texture synthesis", "video (vector of bitmaps) -> motion estimation vectors", "Scalable Vector Graphics/textures + motion estimation vectors -> mesh generation + animation + full texture synthesis", plus the inverses to decompress). This allows to add a few paragraphs of text past the finish so this synthesizes hours of extra video for you.
Humans process more complex experiences than just visual senses: humans also have layers of various auditory cortex tissues, so that sound compresses, plus a thalamus (which merges your various senses, thus the hippocampus has both audio+visual to access and compress, which, for a computer, would be as if you could all speech + lip motions down to the subtitles (.ass)).
Sources: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cortex, Neuroscience for Dummies plus various such books
Not sure if the arxiv.org articles[1][2] are about this, but if not, could produce this for us if someone sponsors.
Because the arxiv.org pages do not list compression ratios, have doubts, but if someone has done this, won't waste resources to produce what someone else has. Expected compression ratios: parse inputs of 1024*1280@60fps (2.6gbps), output text at a few kbps, reproduce originals from text (with small losses,) so ratio is approx "2,600,000 to 2"
submitted by 2002LuvAbbaLuvU to Serious [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 22:15 BunnyBoiEthos [BB] Bunny's Pokémon Big Brother Finale: CHAMPION ROYALE (The Season)

Beginnings. Illustrious. Vivacious. Monstrous. Scintillating. Star-Studded. Nautical. Creeping. Vainglorious. Luminous. Villainous. Venerable. Exuberant. Esteemed. Legendary…. Epic. Wonderful, Briliant, Victorious, Foundational, Iconic!!! Champions. Sixteen of them. One prize. One Ultimate Champion. Who will beat all other winners and become the ultimate winner themselves? As we get ready to close the curtain one last time on Bunny’s Big Brother, let’s find out who is the Shining Star of our champion cast in Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother CHAMPION ROYALE!
Season Finale: CHAMPION ROYALE!!!
Meet the Cast:
Season 1 – Lance the Escavalier
Season 2 – Carlos the Pangoro
Season 3 – Nickels the Nickit
Season 4 – Xio the Meowscarada
Season 5 – Selene the Lampent
Season 6 – Candy the Wigglytuff
Season 7 – Splaatz the Stunfisk
Season 8 – Dirk the Kricketune
Season 9 – Echo the Arctibax
Season 10 – Mobee the Bewear
Season 11 – Professor Bane the Crobat
Season 12 – Lisette the Solrock
Season 13 – Maeva the Chimeco
Season 14 – Dayley-Jane the Dewgong
Season 15 – DJ Volt Switch the Emolga
Season 16 – Benedict the Chespin
Intro: We are reporting live at the site of Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother Finale House! The crowd is thick and loud as fans from all over are excited to watch the sixteen champions enter the house LIVE! We stand in Poketopia, home of the Battle Revolution! The Shining Neon Colloseum, in a penthouse suite in the grand city is where the final bout will begin! Here come the Legendary Sixteen right now!!!! Lance the original winner is so stunning in his armor! Carlos has evolved and looks much tougher. Nickels is strutting in conifdent as ever next to Xio, who looks completely unphased by all of the winners around her! Selene fits right in with the bright lights. Looks like Candy is evolved as well and—OH—she tripped over Splaatz. That’s embarrassing and you can tell she isn’t happy even if she’s putting on a smile. Dirk and Echo are next, both eyeing up the competition already. Echo being evolved now already ups his threat level. Mobee gets an uproarious cheer from the crowd! And WOW the Professor gracefully glides over the crowd! He really did escape capture back in Mazda’s Season. Lisette seems to be meditating and Maeva is pumping herself up. She looks a bit snooty now that we know how she really is but we are eager to see how she plays. Dayley-Jane gets another huge cheer from the crowd. She really is a lovable gal ain’t she? DJ clicks a track on the DJ booth to keep one last song playing but then hops out to join the entourage. She’s still keeping up her day job too, so inspiring! Finally, Benedict walks up. Unlike the others, he looks somber. Wonder what his deal is? Oh well, let’s watch them all compete in the bright stadium for the first HOH!
First HOH: In this bright lights HOH, the houseguests all race to complete a task, with the first to complete it knocking someone out of the running. In the first heat, Maeva clears first and knocks out Bane because he came in second and is a huge comp threat. In the next round, Echo wins and takes out Maeva, who just won. Splaatz wins round three by accident and takes out Day, who was big on his original season. Candy wins next and takes out Nickels. Xio takes out DJ, followed by Benedict winning and immediately knocking Xio out. Candy wins again and takes out Dirk. Echo then wins again to take out Candy before she gets too much momentum. Carlos wins and takes out Lance, Mobee then wins and takes out Carlos, Benedict then wins and takes out Mobee! Splaatz wins again and takes out Selene as she is hiding in the background. Lisette wins the next round to take out Benedict. In the final three, Echo wins again and takes out Lisette, as she did a good job hiding til then. In Splaatz versus Echo, the fish surprisingly keeps up with the dragon and at the last second, takes over?!?!?! Splaatz is the first HOH!
Week 1: Splaatz is very confused how he won that last round but Echo comes up and congratulates him. The two get along well and Splaatz works up the courage to ask to be in an alliance, which the dragon happily agrees. Bane goes to Candy to tell her that the villains need to stick together, she agrees and they grab Maeva. She is initially reluctant, not trusting Bane, but she agrees eventually. Mobee goes to monitor the living room like before and DJ flies up to him. They end up chatting and realize they enjoy each other. At the nomination ceremony, Splaatz has decided to put up DJ and Dirk, saying how he doesn’t want to make too much waves and this seems to be the way to do it best. Dirk is unamused and DJ is frightened. Echo gets suspicious of Bane and shares his thoughts with Nickels, they pull in Carlos to form an anti-villain alliance. Benedict eavesdrops and plans his next move. He goes up to Nickels and makes up how Dirk must be playing the villain this time, because he is acting weird. Nickels considers his approach but ultimately decides to trust him as an alliance member. At the veto, Carlos, Echo, and Mobee all play but it comes down to Carlos and Splaatz. Splaatz ends up winning again but while actually trying and is exuberant! DJ pleads with him but he ultimately keeps his noms the same.
After the veto ceremony, Benedict tells DJ to do as he says and trust him, as Gigi did. She agrees and starts buttering up to the villains. She gets Candy to be even nicer to the house and apologize to Splaatz. She also helps Bane create a new game. Meanwhile, Benedict starts prodding Dirk and Day, causing them to be at odds with each other. Dirk eventually snaps and lashes out at Day, shocking everyone. Maeva can tell something fishy is happening but rolls with it since it is week one. At the eviction ceremony in the glittering colosseum, the two nominees tell why they should stay. Dirk is more bitter while DJ stays heartfelt, convincing everyone but a suspicious Maeva. In the end, by a vote of 12 to 1… Dirk, you have been evicted.
Week 2: The next HOH is a high flying roulette-themed obstacle course, based off of the Neon Colosseum’s roulette rules. DJ and Mobee work together to get to the end but Nickels keeps up with them. In the final stretch, Mobee sees Nickels catching up and throws DJ, giving her just enough of an edge to win the HOH! Nickels and Maeva both approach DJ to tell her their suspicions on Benedict’s behavior. At first, they fight, but realizing they have the same goal causes them to cut it out long enough to tell her. DJ is reluctant but Maeva reminds her how he betrayed Gigi and she is firm. Benedict and Carlos become the nominees. Day, Echo, and Maeva play in the veto and Echo actually manages to come out on top over Day. Echo talks with Nickels about saving Carlos but she is hesitant, telling him that Carlos makes a good pawn next to benedict because everyone likes Carlos. He ends up not using it. During the week, Benedict begins making breakfast early, irritating his roommate Carlos and causing him to be grumpier. Xio confronts Benedict for this, telling him he is purposefully making Carlos mad and it’s brutal. He tells her he doesn’t understand the problem if Carlos doesn’t like breakfast. She sneers but doesn’t have a comeback. The next day, Benedict holds a house meeting. He apologizes if he’s been rubbing people the wrong way but he is just trying to fit in since he is newer. Lisette says that everyone should give him a chance, which the villains, Selene, and Mobee agree with. Echo, Carlos, Nickels, and Maeva are all hesitant. At the eviction ceremony, Carlos is grumpy and bitter and doesn’t do much to defend himself. Benedict, again apologizes. In a 9 to 3 vote… Carlos is evicted.
Week 3: Several house membets are completely shocked by Carlos going home, including HOH DJ and his two allies, Nickels and Echo. Also surprised is Xio. The next HOH is an endurance comp called the floor is lava based off of the Lava Colosseum! Mobee, Splaatz, and Xio are the last three remaining. Knowing she was on the outs of the last vote, Xio fights hard to survive, fighting her pain. Splaatz eventually drops and Mobee remains with Xio. Eventually, Mobee drops and Xio wins! Xio already knows her noms. She puts up Benedict next to Selene, as she was one of the people vouching for him last round. Benedict chooses to stay back and not make too much of a scene this round, lest he blow up his cover. Meanwhile, DJ and Mobee plan how to move forward. Maeva is listening in to this convo and realizes how close they are. At the veto, a mental comp, Selene ends up winning by a landslide, saving herself. Maeva rushes to Xio about the DJ and Mobee situation, and points out how Mobee is a comp threat as well. Xio decides Mobee is a good replacement, as he is likeable and a good pawn next to Benedict. Mobee holds a house meeting and cries during it, thinking he was doing so much better at being friendly this time. Maeva calls him out for his crocodile tears and argues that he is putting on an act. Lisette calls out Maeva for being so harsh and chastises her for being such a villain. Maeva asks her if she is planning on voting for him to stay and she is silent, but says that shouldn’t matter. Maeva retorts and says it’s not jury so jury management doesn’t exist yet. At the eviction, Mobee is shaking next to a smug Benedict. Benedict’s speech touches on how Mobee doesn’t seem ready for the big leagues. The bear gets up angrily and almost picks up Benedict, shocking everyone. He stops himself and realizes what he did. The vote comes in and by a vote of 8 to 3, Mobee, you have been evicted.
Week 4: The next HOH begins as they houseguests must ascend a glimmering rock wall, themed after the Crystal colosseum. Day and Maeva take an early lead but are caught up by falling rocks. Lisette closes the gap and eventually surpasses Maeva. Day and Lisette race for the end and… Lisette win! Lisette in her HOH room ponders about who to put up and ally with. She turns to Xio, Day, and Selene as her allies. The Witch’s Coven, as they call themselves, wants to shift the focus, as Benedict is doing too well at not going home. Instead, Lisette targets Maeva, who is playing sneaky, as well as Benedict’s ally, Echo. Bane laughs at Maeva being on the block and she is enraged with him. He says “it doesn’t matter since it’s not jury yet.” Having her own words turned on her, Maeva storms out and swears she will get revenge on him and Candy. At the POV, the witches’ coven is playing with three members and Xio ends up winning! She chooses to keep the nominations the same. Splaatz goes to Lance to tell him how much it means to be there with one of his heros, but Lance mishears him and calls him out for calling him a rude name. The two get in a petty argument where Lance’s bad hearing keeps making things worse. Meanwhile, Maeva tries to get the vote off of her by spreading anti-Benedict propaganda around the house. Day has a change of heart about this and wants to vote out Echo, even while her alliance is targeting Maeva. Benedict, aware his name is still out there, pleads to DJ not to vote out his ally. At the eviction, Maeva thinks she has done enough work but the vote comes out and is a 5 to 5. The Coven is shocked, one of their own must have flipped. But Lisette gets to break the tie, and is all too happy to evict her target, Maeva.
Week 5: The next HOH is themed after the Sunset colosseum, and sees the houseguests racing to stack piles of rubble. Echo, DJ, and Xio make the highest stack but DJ’s crumbles before the time limit. Both wanting to take control, Echo and Xio try really hard to build the highest. The timer buzzes aaaand Echo is the winner! Benedict instinctively high fives Echo and celebrates with him. Later, Nickels is peeved that Echo is so publicly working with Benedict. Echo tells her she had the opportunity to have a good ally but she chose to burn that bridge and that’s her fault. Offended, she tells him to make that alliance with Benedict work out but she won’t be part of it. Echo is saddened, but doesn’t want to put Nickels up. Instead, he shifts the target to former villains, with Bane being the target and Selene going up next to him. Xio cheers that Selene could be going home, making the Lamp angry at her, since they were supposed to be working together. Benedict goes on to win the veto and vows to Echo not to use it. However, at the veto ceremony, he uses it to save Selene, shocking everyone as he winks at Xio. Echo then solidifies this by putting Xio up. Selene goes to her to tell her she is sorry for their misunderstanding but they work together. Candy turns to Lisette and tells her she is tired of working with Bane and if she helps her get the Professor out this week, she will work with her. Lisette agrees, knowing everyone wants Bane out anyways. At the eviction, Xio seemingly patches things up with everyone. The vote comes in, by a unanimous vote… Bane, you are evicted.
Double Eviction: Surprise! The Jury starts tonight and the next HOH is beginning right now with one more person leaving! A quiz colosseum is held in the Sunset colloseum, with one miss causing someone to be out of the running. It comes down to DJ, Nickels, and Lisette. But Lisette gets the last question right and the other two miss, with Lisette winning her second HOH. Lisette puts up Nickels and Day. Nickels because she is playing a lowkey game but making waves in the Benedict situation. Day because she wavered on her vote for Benedict. She doesn’t put down Benedict as he is good for drama and polarizing the house, which is good for her game. Nickels wins the veto and takes herself off. Lisette decides to put up Splaatz, because she is worried he will fumble his way to the end. Most people seem to share this idea except for Echo, who wants to wotk with Splaatz. The vote comes in. By a vote of 7 to 1… Splaatz, you have been evicted and will be moving into the jury house.
Week 6: The Next HOH begins as a race through the mysterious mansion in the courtyard colosseum. No one can tell where anyone is but Candy comes out first and wins! As HOH, Candy calls in Benedict. She tells him he has been playing a sloppy and obvious villain game and he is gonna get evicted too soon if he doesn’t simmer down and get some real allies. He is shocked and admits he just wants to win. She says they all do and the least they can do is help each other. She says she will help him if he keeps causing more chaos and also gets DJ on their side. He agrees and talks to DJ. The squirrel is hesitant but decides it would be a great way of getting revenge on Benedict if she gets the chance. Candy puts up Lance as the pawn next to her target, Xio, who has been against Benedict’s chaos this whole game. DJ goes on to win the veto and chooses to not give Candy any suspicion by not using it. Meanwhile, the witches coven fractures, with Day not agreeing with Lisette and Xio feeling not supported on the block by Selene. DJ infiltrates this meeting after storms out, telling them about Xio being the real target but she has a plan to keep her without drawing suspicion if they can get Day to play nice. Xio borrows an item from Lisette and breaks it. Lisette then goes to “rant” to Day, who is being nice with her, thinking they both will vote Xio. Echo, meanwhile, confirms his alliance with Benedict, and feels like he is finally gaining more traction. But the house takes this the wrong way. At the eviction, the vote comes in, and by a vote of 4 to 3… Lance, you have been evicted.
Week 7: The next HOH begins, a waterfall diving competition, based off of the Waterfall Colosseum. Whoever makes the biggest splash wins! With her natural watery prowess, Day dives in and wins the HOH! Day is approached in the HOH by Candy and Benedict, who ask her to work with them. DJ sees whats happening and goes back to Lisette and Selene. The two talk and realize that they can’t beat Benedict’s control of the house by just going against him, but they have to work with him. So the three of DJ, Lisette, and Selene enter the HOH “accidentally” and propose the six will control the house. They say they want Echo to go on the block, as he is getting too good at the comps. Benedict is hesitant but Candy nudges him, as secretly this will be great for her game. He agrees and tells Day he won’t be mad if this happens. Echo goes up next to Nickels. The two former allies face off in the veto, both bitterly making jabs at the other for turning on them. It comes down to just the two nominees and… Echo edges her out, winning the veto. Echo saves himself and puts the power in Day’s hands to put up a replacement. Her choice is the person not in her alliance who has made affronts to her, Xio. Lisette has the whole house do tarot readings to ease the tension which goes down well. Lisette gets the Sun, a symbol of positivity and creativity. Benedict draws the Moon, symbolizing Illusion and inner conflict. He shudders when the white moon of the card turns red in his hands. Echo draws the Fool, a card of new beginnings but also endings. Selene draws death, the card of change in the game. Nickels draws the Hermit, a card of isolation and reflection. Candy draws the Lovers, with the card representing connections and pairs, symbolizing her manipulation of Benedict. Day draws Strength, a card of inner strength and Willpower. Xio draws the Tower, representing sudden downfall and incredible sudden changes. She shudders and uses the moment to apologize to everyone, saying she wants to be a beacon of hope but got lost. The house receives this well. Benedict considers flipping to Xio because of her show of faith being bad but Candy reminds him that Xio is on the bottom of the pecking order on that side, likely meaning they don’t even have to take her out. He relents and the eviction goes through. The vote comes in and by a vote of 5 to 1, Nickels you have been evicted.
Week 8: The Next HOH begins in the Sunny Park colosseum, with contestants having to hunt for pellets and use them to knock out targets. DJ and Echo prove the most adept but in a last second victory, Echo wins. Benedict goes to Echo in the HOH but Echo has realized too late that Benedict is working with everybody, even causing him to turn on Nickels. Benedict doesn’t try to hide his smug smirk as he agrees and walks out, daring him to put him on the block. He feels this must be hiding something and starts asking around the house for their opinions. Xio reveals the existence of the Witches Coven, and how they have been together for weeks, including saving her last week. Knowing of this alliance, Echo saves Xio and puts up Selene and Day. At the veto, Selene wins. Selene approaches Echo, telling him she knows of someone playing both sides, revealing DJ trying to play double agent. After she pulls herself off the block, DJ goes up as the replacement. Candy works on ingratiating herself with the outsiders in Xio and Echo, trying to forge paths ahead. But is unsuccessful at breaking Echo. Echo is accosted by DJ for putting her up over Benedict. He asks her to say why she was double crossing and she says its because she was trying to sabotage Benedict. If anything, Day, Selene, and Lisette should be the real double agents. Echo goes to rage to Selene for how she tricked him but she swears it was the truth completely, and he chose to believe it in a negative light, not her. Day joins the fight and lashes out at Xio and Selene for being the reason she is on the block. Lisette stays out of it, knowing the time to jump ship is coming up. At the eviction, Dj and DayJay give their pleas, but the votes are tallied. By a unanimous vote… Dayley-Jane, you have been evicted.
Double Eviction!!: Second double eviction because you know we gotta! The HOH starts with a lightning round of dodgeball on wooden poles. Selene is knocked out first. Then DJ gets knocked out by Candy. Lisette falls off on her own. Xio goes after Benedict but is taken out by Candy. Then Candy expertly dodges and takes out Benedict, winning the HOH. She nominates the two people who are on the bottom of the pecking order, Echo and Xio. The veto plays out with Benedict winning. Echo pleads for Benedict to help him out, as they were friends. Benedict doesn’t even look him in the eye as he chooses to not play the veto. Echo pleads to the voters to let him keep playing and he will take out Benedict, but Lisette and Selene have basically already jumped ship and moved on. The vote comes in, and by a vote of 4 to 0… Echo, you have been evicted.
Week 9: With Six houseguests remaining, they are taken to the Gateway colosseum to have mock Pokemon battles. In the first round, Xio beats Lisette and Selene beats DJ, with Benedict drawing a spot in the top 3. In a first to win two times in a row scenario, Selene beats both and comes out victorious. Selene and Lisette decide that they have to cut ties and work with the more devious players to have a better shot at the end. Selene puts up DJ and Xio, with DJ being the target. Benedict is alone in his room when he hallucinates more blood on his paws. He shouts and Xio comes in to see whats up. She helps him calm down and he realizes he is down a bad path. She helps him calm down and he thanks her, even with him harassing her all game she still helped him. Candy witnesses the two help each other out and is beyond irritated, she goes to Selene, who is still iffy on Xio, to warn her. At the veto, Candy wins it. She takes off DJ and Selene spitefully puts up Benedict, who trembles going to the block. Lisette confronts Selene for making such a rushed decision, as the goal was to keep Benedict and his threat around longer. At the eviction, Benedict argues that he has realizes how the game has changed him and he wants to prove how he changed. Lisette doesn’t believe him but DJ seems to be enamored. The vote comes in, and by a vote of 2 to 1… Xio you have been evicted.
Week 10: Five stars remain and there are five points in the Stars of the Main Street colosseum, where the houseguests go to do a full BPBB quiz! Lisette misses one question and gets behind as the other get ahead. It comes down to a tie-breaker between Dj and Benedict and the winner is… DJ! Benedict goes to apologize to DJ for real and she forgives him, happy to see his true self back again. She feels played by Selene and Candy so they go on the block. Lisette is still suspicious of Benedict and starts watching him for suspicious activity, noticing him look at his paws a lot. She decides to talk to him with the ruse of working together. At the veto, DJ wins again and claims her game, choosing not to use the veto. Realizing the danger they are in, Selene and Candy go to their respective closest allies, Benedict and Lisette. The two touch base with Benedict telling Lisette he is fine voting Candy with her, as he doesn’t want to force DJ to have to break a tie. At the eviction, the votes are read and by a vote of 2 to 0… Selene, you have been evicted. Benedict looks over at Lisette with a shocked look, realizing she caught on to him.
Week 10: As the final HOH starts, the houseguest are in the Stargazer colosseum for an epic triathlon of quizzes, endurance, and races. In the first part, Benedict pulls ahead, with Lisette on his tail. He falls behind in part two, giving Lisette and Candy a chance to catch him. The three are neck and neck in part three but Lisette comes out on top! Benedict goes to Lisette on her HOH to grovel but she stops him, saying she misheard the vote last week and though the vote was for Selene anyways so its good he didn’t make poor DJ break the tie. He feels reassured and goes back out. Lisette puts up DJ and Candy as the nominees. Lisette reassures DJ about how Benedict likes her and she wouldn’t go home. Benedict touches base with Lisette, claiming that he knows DJ has too much social traction and needs to go next because of this. On his way out, Candy enters the room and chats with Lisette. She says that the noms should stay the same so DJ can be evicted for sure this week. Lisette doesn’t trust her and tells her to her face she is no better than Benedict, but is powerless without him. The two stare each other down. At the veto, Lisette wins it, and Benedict sighs a sigh of relief. But Lisette shocks everyone by saving Candy and puts up Benedict. Lisette calls him out for faking his turnaround to play with everyone’s emotions. He breaks down, claiming his intense want, no, NEED to win the game. He can’t get it out of his head and it burdens him with the thoughts of betrayal, including the allies he betrayed this season, with Nickels, Echo, and even Xio who showed him so much kindness leaving because of him. DJ is in tears and even Candy can’t watch. Afterwards, Benedict goes to his only real ally, Candy. He begs her for advice on how to get out of this, as she helped him so much. She looks him in the eye as she tells him that he did this to himself. At the eviction, Candy gets the sole vote to evict and casts it to evict, Benedict.
The Reunion: Folks we are live again right outside the Neon Colosseum for the Finale of Bunny’s Pokémon Big Brother Champion Royale! Our Sixteen winners have been whittled down to three and it is not what we expected at all! In a house where everyone wants to be the biggest truck on the highway, we have three mid-sized sedans who have slipped through the gaps and swept their way to the end. DJ VOLT SWITCH, Elesa’s iconic Emolga who created the jams we are listening to even right now! She plays up her social game very well with honesty and loyalty, but is no slouch in the competitions. Though she has been left out of some secrets in the game, she was well=liked in the house and leveraged her position between alliances to get information! Sweet Candy the Wigglytuff who played Sickly Sweet last but downright Sick this time. She got in close with all of the villains but managed to be the cherry flavored licorice that was easier to manage. She avoided detection aligning with big villain Benedict and hiding behind the scenes of his chaos, even almost controlling his moves at points. The Sunstone herself, LISETTE the Solrock, who foresaw victory once, but is this a double reading? Lisette bided her time throughout the game, getting whatever information she could and waiting to play it until the time was right. She was at the center of multiple alliances but always stayed just far enough away from the drama that no one was even targeting her. The Sun? No Lisette is after The World!
Joining us on stage now are the 9 jurors! Starting with Splaatz—Ope watch your step, you gotta be careful or else you’ll trip. Here comes Lance the OG! Though he is old he is still our knight in shining armor. Nickels struts up so casually ooh lala. Here comes Echo, kind of sheepishly, don’t be shy buddy! Day gracefully swims up on stage, still to audience cheering. Wait, the cheering is getting louder? Oh it’s Xio! She is surprisingly well-received. Selene keeps the applause growing. She seems to be goading the audience on with her behavior, not wanting to stay out of the spotlight hmm. And then—oh wow I can’t hear anything with the thunder of the crowd for… Benedict? Interesting outcome here that our little villain has become a real crowd pleaser. Even as he walks to his seat with his head held low.
The jurors speak with our lovely reporter. Lance speaks about how great it was to come back and how this game is way changed from when he won season 1. Xio and Nickels agree, but they still worked hard to adapt to the changes. Selene scoffs a bit, another early winner, she notes that herself and Candy were very well integrated, they just needed to change their approach. Xio says it was much harder playing from the bottom rather than the top and it was a fight, but she had a ton of fun doing so. Day mentions she felt the same way. A house full of winners is not to be underestimated for a second, as they all could be planning many different things behind each other’s backs. Splaatz is—oh he’s asleep… moving on. Nickels asks Echo about how he changed his game this time, and why he turned on her. He apologizes, saying he was blinded by seeing opportunities with Benedict because he didn’t fight with him, only told him what he wanted to hear. And he realized too late that that was a ruse. She accepts his apologies and all eyes turn to Benedict. He looks up, seemingly just noticing eyes are on him. He looks down at his paws. “All I’ve seen since last season is blood on my paws. The need to win never left me. I had to do it at all cost. I lost myself in that game and resorted to every trick in the book to make the winners trust me. And it worked… but I fell deeper and deeper down the hole. And now, I don’t feel like I deserved to win at all.” Xio jumps up and makes him look up. “You deserved your win as much as we all deserved ours. It’s a game, it doesn’t have to define you. You define you, so get up and prove it.” Benedict is in disbelief that Xio is still defending him. “You hear that crowd? They were entertained, we entertained them! Your devioushness entertained them! You gave them a show by tricking a bunch of winners, so own up to it and be the entertainer we know you are.” He gives off a small, barely noticeable,but definitely real this time, smile. Xio turns to the crowd “ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR OUR FINAL THREE???” The crowd erupts in excitement!! “THEN GET READY BECAUSE HERE THEY ARE!!”
Final HOH Part 1: The HOH opens on top of the rotating Roulette wheel in the Neon Colosseum, with the audience now filled and the three houseguests circling in the middle, holding on for dear life. At the same time, they are throwing dodgeballs at each other. Candy is targeting Lisette out of spite, putting on a performance for the audience about how Lisette is a traitor to their alliance. DJ is caught in the crossfire but expertly dodges. She manages to catch a ball that Candy threw and chucks it back, knocking her out. Lisette smiles at DJ but DJ knows she still has to win. She tells Lisette she is sorry but she is done working with people and has to take her game into her own hands, not relying on others to fail but herself to succeed. Lisette agrees, but she wants to be the one to succeed. Lisette lobs a ball at Dj and knocks her out, winning Part 1.
Final HOH Part 2: Part begins with Candy and DJ on the Rotating Roulette platform again, racing around to land the colored balls in order of the competitions and the winners of each one. DJ takes an early lead, having been very aware of the game the whole beginning. Candy struggles at first but when she catches up to leaving the villains alliance and joining Benedict, she takes off, knowing how well she played Benedict as her own puppet that she controlled votes for that she easily crushes the midgame part. Her lead takes her ahead on time going into the endgame. DJ misses a key vote and has to go back, but Candy remembers who saved Benedict countless times, and gets it right, winning part 2.
Final HOH Part 3: The crowd is in uproars as Candy and Lisette reach the stage for final quiz, again on our roulette platform (we paid a lot of money for that). Each juror question goes by, with Lisette and Candy answering in tandem, Both get question after question correct, eventually reaching the last question about Benedict. The crowd is shocked as they both answer together again and… get it wrong. Well, that’s anticlimactic. Benedict sighs, no one knew his true self. But the tie-breaker is revealed, how many rotations has the rotating platform made? With both answering two numbers away from each other, Candy goes just over, eliminating her, and crowning Lisette the final HOH. Lisette has both DJ and Candy in front of her. She doesn’t say much but looks at them. She says that DJ played an impeccable social game and is incredibly loved by the fans and the house. Candy, meanwhile, played a strategic game and almost fooled her a couple times. She turns to Candy “I made a gamble with bringing a social threat to the end before with Amni, but not this time. Candy, let’s give em a show.” And casts her vote to evict DJ.
The Jury Questioning: DJ isn’t shocked, she did a lot this time around and knew she made herself a bigger threat. She exits the house and gets cheers from the audience! She hops to the DJ booth and begins playing the final epic track for the showdown between Candy and Lisette. Both have been in this position before in the final 2 and both have won, but now, only one can become a two-time winner and be crowned the ultimate Champion! Lisette opens with her speech first. She pitches her game strong, how she gravitated towards groups in the early game without committing too strongly, so she didn’t go down with the ship. She still managed to control so many votes in the house by having reach with her Witches Coven and eventually jumping ship and siding with Benedict, as she knew he was under Candy’s thumb and she could infiltrate that alliance to get to the end and destroy it. The jury is impressed by her showing and all eyes turn to Candy. Candy starts saying how she knew her game was already known going into the house and she had to play different. Her main strategy was to fall into the background and connect with the players playing sloppier than her so she could be the puppetmaster and sneak to the end. And for her, that was found in Benedict, who she found it very easy to manipulate. She is the villain they all knew she was but she wasn’t targeted because of her great strategy. She saved Benedict’s game and carried him to the end so that she could have a guaranteed extra life in the endgame with him. Murmurs arise from the jury, Benedict looks incredibly hurt. Xio asks Candy what her biggest move was outside of controlling Benedict. Candy says that she made sure that the villains she worked with got cut before she could get too powerful, even working with Lisette to get out Bane and Maeva. DJ gets up from the booth and asks Lisette why she went to the end with Candy instead of her if she thought Candy was going to be tougher. Lisette clarifies that she thought Candy would be good at explaining her game, but she knows not to rely on other’s failing but on herself to succeed, and DJ has a great story and was well-loved and if she wanted to win, she had to cut DJ and masterfully explain her game to the jury. Benedict finally speaks up to ask Candy if he meant anything to her at all throughout the game. She hesitates, caught off guard, before replying in all honesty that, she wanted to mentor him to be a better player. He says he did well enough for making it to the end twice and didn’t need her to do all that. In their final speeches, Candy says that she used other people as her pawns and navigated a really good game to make it to the end hidden amongst the other players. Lisette says that she played a perfect game, not even touching the block and noting that she has not received a vote against her in either of her games, this one being perfect. She finishes by saying how she played more up front and aggressive to counter the sneakier players of the season and did not back down from the threats that all the winners possessed. The jury is impressed and goes to cast their votes.
Jury Voting: Splaatz says he had a fun time playing again and wants to vote for someone who played really good, even showing him more how to play. Lance says that while some people are old school, some people are REALLY old school, but can still play with the best of the best and be even better. Nickels says she is honored to be in the winners season but one winner played like how she thinks a winner should. Day says she worked with both finalists, but she always felt the house pulling towards one player, as the sun has a lot of gravity and control over the tides. Echo says point blank that he felt the manipulation from both sides, but one felt malicious, and another felt like game, and he knows which he respects more. Xio says that some lines shouldn’t be crossed. Selene says that she was honored to be so thoroughly outplayed, turning from the Queen to the Pawn who was merely a stepping stone in someone elses game, it was thrilling. Benedict silently casts his vote. DJ cues the final tune before hopping down with her vote, saying that it should be obvious. The votes come in… by a vote of 9 to 0… the winner is…
Winner: Lisette!
Runner-Up: Candy!
Confetti cannons and flamethrowers start lighting up the sky with neon streams shining bright all over the sky! Though it is the dead of night, it is as bright as the sun, and Lisette is feeling absolutely radiant. Candy sits in shock, in disbelief. Lisette throws her the Lovers card again. “You misread it the first time so maybe you can learn before you try to tell the fortune teller what her fortune is.” Candy throws the card on the ground in anger and pouts. The jurors go and cheer for Lisette, the ultimate champion and two time winner, STILL having never received a single vote to evict in two entire seasons. The fan favorite vote comes in and… IT’S A TIE???
Fan Favorites: Benedict and Xio!!!
Benedict goes up to Candy, still fuming, and looks her in the eyes. “You know what, you really did teach me something. You taught me that some people never change, but I don’t have to be one of them.” Xio comes up and takes Benedict back to the celebration, sticking her tongue out at Candy as she leaves. The party goes through the night. The sun eventually rises, as Lisette has risen to the top of the competition, as this era of Bunny’s Pokemon Big Brother has come to an end.
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this season a lot. It kept me on the edge as the winners played their games again, some way better than others. Gameplay-wise, I think I preferred last season but I think it’s more so because of the subtle moves made in the dark as no one wanted to be too big of a target. The villains ended up flopping early, which kind of was to be expected, given that everyone else is a relaly smart player to have won. Candy surprised me this time, sneaking in to take over Benedict, being a key player in his storyline, even a bigger villain than he tried to be. It really helped me tie up the storyline really well and I like how it happened. She also played a stellar game again, controlling things from the chaos in the shadows. The other side of the house was not slouching though. Lisette, Selene, Xio, and Day all played smart games, not committing too much to each other but still working well enough to not crumble. Lisette as a winner for this season is great! She put in work to keep her position, as it was in danger of falling apart so much. She leveraged every ally she had and every competition she had to get forward every week. And it worked as she got to the end without hitting the block AGAIN and played a PERFECT game, not receiving a single vote to evict and getting every vote to win. She did that in a winner season too, ultimate winner for sure!
So whats next? Well... that's the end. I knew since the beginning that Season 17 would be the end but it coming up still feels so weird. I am about to start a busy summer and don't have as much time for all of my hobbies but I still feel sad finishing this series. I think I am going to make a series epilogue soon so stay tuned for that but... otherwise that's it. I thank you all again so much for sticking with me the whole time, it's been a wonderful journey!
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2024.05.13 18:49 IrinaSophia From Pascha to Pentecost

By Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Dragas
  1. The Pentecostal Period
The word, Pentecost means “the fiftieth” and is used to designate the great event of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Epiphoitesis) upon the Apostles and the Church on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ, just ten days after His Ascension into Heaven.
Before His Passion, the Lord spoke to his Disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit, which they were to receive after the Ascension. The details are preserved in the Gospel of Saint John: “I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will defend you and always be with you” (14:16). He also said, “The Holy Spirit can not come to defend you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you” (16:7). After His Resurrection, the Lord appeared to the Disciples, and He said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This was a foretaste of the Outpouring (Epiphoitesis) on Pentecost Sunday.
Near the end of Saint Luke’s Gospel, Christ tells His Disciples, “I will send you the One My Father has promised, but you must stay in the city until you are given power from above” (24:49). It is in the Acts of the Apostles, however, that Saint Luke speaks of the fulfillment of this promise: “On the day of Pentecost, all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. Suddenly, there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind. It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever language the Spirit let them speak” (2:1-4).
Since ancient times, the 50-day period from Pascha to Pentecost has been called Pentecost because what began with the Lord breathing the Holy Spirit on His Disciples was consummated with the full descent of the Spirit upon the Disciples and the whole Church. Thus, the Church was fully born and began to grow.
During this period, all kneeling is prohibited as a tangible confession of the Resurrection of Christ. It is only on the actual day of Pentecost that kneeling is resumed, and is connected with a special kneeling ceremony (akolouthia gonyklesias), which consists of prayers for the gift of the Holy Spirit, hence the name, “Kneeling Day” (tes gonatistes) for Pentecost.
Later on, another week was added to these 50 days in order to celebrate the post-feast (metheorta) of the Feast of Pentecost. Thus, today the period of movable Feasts after Pascha spans eight weeks, to include the Sunday of All Saints (Agion Panton), and is divided into three parts: 1) The 40 post-festal days of Pascha, 2) The Feast of the Ascension, together with its post-festal period, and 3) The Feast of Pentecost together with its own post-festal period. The hymns of this period are contained in the special Pentecostal book, the Pentecostarion.
  1. Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women
We have already spoken about the New Week (Diakainesimos) and the Sunday of Saint Thomas (the first Sunday after Pascha). The second Sunday after Pascha is called the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women (Kyriake ton Myroforon). It is dedicated to the women who brought myrrh to the tomb of Christ. It is also dedicated to the secret disciples of the Lord, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who arranged for and assisted in the Lord’s burial. This is clearly commemorated in the Gospel lesson for the day (Mark 15.43-16.8).
The Myrrh-Bearing Women we can identify from the Holy Gospels are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, (a.k.a., Mary of Clopas, Joanna the wife of Huza, a guardian of Herod Antipas, Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Sozanna).
Joseph of Arimathea (a city of Judaea) was a rich nobleman and a member of the Sanhedrin (a council deputy in Jerusalem). He was the one who did not agree with the council’s decision against Christ. He was also the one who bravely asked Pontius Pilate for the body of Christ (Matthew 27.57-60, Mark 15.42-47, Luke 23.50-56, John 19.38-42). Nicodemus was a Jewish leader, a Pharisee, who was well read in the Scriptures and visited Christ by night (John 3.1-21 and 19.39-42).
All these sacred persons clearly demonstrate to us that people from all walks of life can be disciples of the Lord and enjoy the privilege of taking care of His body and become primary witnesses of the Lord’s mighty Resurrection.
  1. Sundays of the Paralytic, The Samaritan Woman, and the Man Born Blind
The following three Sundays are known, in order, as the Sunday of the Paralytic, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, and the Sunday of the Man Born Blind, because of the Gospel readings and the hymns prescribed for them. The incidents commemorated in these feasts all demonstrate the divine authority, identity and power of Christ, which were then fully revealed by his Resurrection.
The healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda or Bethsaida (John 5.1-18) shows Christ’s authority over the Sabbath because it was on the Sabbath day that He healed the paralytic.
The conversation of the Lord with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well near Sychar (John 4.3-42) reaches its high point when the Lord discloses his identity: “I am the One [the Christ] Who is speaking to you now” (4:26). At the end of the story, the Samaritans openly declare, “We are certain that He is the Savior of the world" (4:42).
Finally, the healing of the blind man (John 9:1-41) demonstrates the divine power of Christ and the fact that He came from God: “This is the first time in history that anyone has ever given sight to someone born blind. Jesus could not do anything unless He came from God” (9:32).
  1. Mid-Pentecost
The Wednesday after the Sunday of the Paralytic falls exactly in the middle of the 50 days of the period of Pentecost and is consequently called Mid-Pentecost (Mesopentekoste). It is a Festal Day, and according to ancient custom, it draws its meaning from the Gospel prescribed for it (John 7.14-30). This Gospel lesson contains the speech of the Lord made in the Temple, in the middle of the feast of the Tabernacles (Skenopegias), which explains His authority over the Sabbath in terms of the divine origin of both His teaching and His existence. Central to this are the Lord’s words to the people of Jerusalem: “I did not come on My own. The One Who sent Me is truthful, and you do not know Him. But I know the One Who sent Me, because I came from Him” (7:28). Also central are the words the Lord uttered on the last day of the Feast which anticipate the Outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost: “If you are thirsty, come to Me and drink! Have faith in Me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you” (7:37). The hymns of this Feast recall the miracles of the Lord, which demonstrate His Godhead, and admonish the Christians “to keep steadfastly the commandments of the Lord in order to become worthy to celebrate his Ascension and to participate in the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Doxastikon ton Ainon).
  1. The Return of Pascha
On the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Man Born Blind (the 6th Sunday after Pascha), we celebrate the Return (apodosis), or completion, of the post-festal period of Pascha. The services of the day, which include a paschal liturgy, are sung in a manner identical to that of the New Week. This is actually the 39th day after Pascha, the eve of the Ascension Day, when we sing the Resurrection Hymn, Christos Anesti, and exchange the Resurrection greeting for the last time.
  1. The Ascension
On the following day, which is the 40th day after Pascha, the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven is commemorated. The feast of the Ascension (Analipseos) is explicitly mentioned in the fourth century, but its origins most probably go back to the preceding centuries. The ancient church manual, Apostolic Constitutions, makes the following comment about it: “Again counting 40 days after the first Sunday, you must celebrate from Sunday until Thursday the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, in which He fulfilled the whole economy and design of our salvation, ascended to God the Father, Who had sent Him, and sat at the right hand of the Power to wait until His enemies are placed under his feet” (Book V, chapter 20).
The feast of the Ascension, then, marks the end and the sealing of the work of the Lord on Earth, as well as the Ascension of human nature to heaven and consequently foreshadows the forthcoming Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is celebrated until the Friday of the following week, when it is returned (and therefore closed).
The meaning of the Lord’s Ascension is also connected with His eternal priesthood. The Epistle to the Hebrews sums it up as follows: “We have a Great High Priest Who has gone into Heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (4:14)... Jesus has gone there (behind the curtain and into the most holy place) ahead of us, and He is our High Priest forever, just like Melchizedek (6:20)... Jesus will never die, and so He will be a Priest forever. He is forever able to save the people He leads to God because He always lives to speak to God for them. Jesus is the High Priest we need (7:24-26)... He is the perfect High Priest forever (7:28)... who sits at the right side of God’s great throne in heaven (8:1).”
  1. Sunday of the Holy Fathers
The Sunday, which falls in the middle of the festal period of the Ascension (the 7th Sunday after Pascha), is dedicated to the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and is consequently known as the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (Ton Pateron).
The Gospel of this day comes from the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer for the unity of Christians found in John 17:1-13. The Church ordered the commemoration of the Fathers on this particular Sunday because the Eparchial Synods, which were summoned for the purpose of dealing with various local matters, usually met during the Pentecostal period.
Successors of the Apostles, the Fathers, have kept the apostolic faith through their teachings. The Kontakion of the Feast puts this most eloquently and clearly: “The preaching of the Apostles and the dogmas of the Fathers sealed one faith for the Church which, wearing the garment of truth waved with theology from above, rightly dispenses and glorifies the great mystery of piety.”
The Saturday before Pentecost is a Saturday of the Souls (Psychosabbaton), and prayers are offered for those who fell asleep that they, too, may become worthy through our prayers of the Pentecostal gift, which is commemorated the next day.
  1. Pentecost Sunday
The Christian feast of Pentecost corresponds to the Hebrew feast which bears the same name, and in which the first fruits of Israel’s new crops were offered to God (Protogennemata).
The Christian feast commemorates the first fruits of the preaching of the Apostles, which followed the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost, and on account of which the first Christian Church was born and established with three thousand souls. Ever since Pentecost, the Spirit abides in the Church and regulates the Church’s life and growth. The Spirit brings the entire constitution of the Church together as the Body of Christ. As the Comforter (Parakletos), He is the pledge of Christ’s return and final victory with the entire body of the Church.
The celebration of this feast goes back to apostolic times. According to ancient custom, catechumens were baptized on this occasion and therefore, even today, no Trisagion is sung during the Liturgy. Instead, the hymn “Those baptized into Christ, have put on Christ,” is sung. The vespers of this day, following immediately after the Divine Liturgy, is especially notable because of the long kneeling supplication, which is offered after the Entrance. This supplication is the first of several which follow after the feast, having been previously suspended during the Pentecostal Period.
Pentecost is celebrated throughout the week and is returned on the following Saturday. The Monday of the post-festal period is distinguished from the other post-festal days because it is dedicated to the Holy Spirit (Deftera tou Agiou Pneumatos). The services of the day follow the pattern of the preceding Pentecostal Sunday. Fasting is not observed during the week of (after) Pentecost.
The Doxastikon hymn of the day is the well known prayer with which most Church services begin and which is used by many Orthodox Christians as a first Prayer of each day: “Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, come and abide in us; cleanse us from every stain and save our souls Gracious Lord.”
  1. Sunday of All-Saints
The Sunday after Pentecost is known as the Sunday of All Saints. It is a very ancient feast mentioned at the end of the fourth century and seems to have been initially instituted as a feast in honor of all the Martyrs.
The Church always honored the Martyrs. Since honoring the Martyrs was originally a local affair, however, many of the Martyrs were unknown, and it is probably for this reason that such a feast was instituted to honor all Martyrs, known and unknown. This feast was placed very appropriately after Pentecost because the Church was watered and increased through the witness and blood of the Martyrs. Later, when the Church honored others as Saints besides the Martyrs, the moveable feast after Pascha acquired a more general character and was changed into a feast in honor of all the Saints.
  1. The Feast of the Holy Apostles
On the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints, a fast is observed for the Feast of the Holy Apostles. Originally, this was a weekly fast as it is explicitly stated in the Apostolic Constitutions (Book V, chapter 20). Later on, it was connected with the feast of the Holy Apostles (June 29-30) and was extended to the whole period from the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints to the 28th of June.
Source
submitted by IrinaSophia to OrthodoxGreece [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 18:48 IrinaSophia From Pascha to Pentecost

By Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Dragas
  1. The Pentecostal Period
The word, Pentecost means “the fiftieth” and is used to designate the great event of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Epiphoitesis) upon the Apostles and the Church on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ, just ten days after His Ascension into Heaven.
Before His Passion, the Lord spoke to his Disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit, which they were to receive after the Ascension. The details are preserved in the Gospel of Saint John: “I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will defend you and always be with you” (14:16). He also said, “The Holy Spirit can not come to defend you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you” (16:7). After His Resurrection, the Lord appeared to the Disciples, and He said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This was a foretaste of the Outpouring (Epiphoitesis) on Pentecost Sunday.
Near the end of Saint Luke’s Gospel, Christ tells His Disciples, “I will send you the One My Father has promised, but you must stay in the city until you are given power from above” (24:49). It is in the Acts of the Apostles, however, that Saint Luke speaks of the fulfillment of this promise: “On the day of Pentecost, all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. Suddenly, there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind. It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever language the Spirit let them speak” (2:1-4).
Since ancient times, the 50-day period from Pascha to Pentecost has been called Pentecost because what began with the Lord breathing the Holy Spirit on His Disciples was consummated with the full descent of the Spirit upon the Disciples and the whole Church. Thus, the Church was fully born and began to grow.
During this period, all kneeling is prohibited as a tangible confession of the Resurrection of Christ. It is only on the actual day of Pentecost that kneeling is resumed, and is connected with a special kneeling ceremony (akolouthia gonyklesias), which consists of prayers for the gift of the Holy Spirit, hence the name, “Kneeling Day” (tes gonatistes) for Pentecost.
Later on, another week was added to these 50 days in order to celebrate the post-feast (metheorta) of the Feast of Pentecost. Thus, today the period of movable Feasts after Pascha spans eight weeks, to include the Sunday of All Saints (Agion Panton), and is divided into three parts: 1) The 40 post-festal days of Pascha, 2) The Feast of the Ascension, together with its post-festal period, and 3) The Feast of Pentecost together with its own post-festal period. The hymns of this period are contained in the special Pentecostal book, the Pentecostarion.
  1. Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women
We have already spoken about the New Week (Diakainesimos) and the Sunday of Saint Thomas (the first Sunday after Pascha). The second Sunday after Pascha is called the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women (Kyriake ton Myroforon). It is dedicated to the women who brought myrrh to the tomb of Christ. It is also dedicated to the secret disciples of the Lord, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who arranged for and assisted in the Lord’s burial. This is clearly commemorated in the Gospel lesson for the day (Mark 15.43-16.8).
The Myrrh-Bearing Women we can identify from the Holy Gospels are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, (a.k.a., Mary of Clopas, Joanna the wife of Huza, a guardian of Herod Antipas, Salome the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Sozanna).
Joseph of Arimathea (a city of Judaea) was a rich nobleman and a member of the Sanhedrin (a council deputy in Jerusalem). He was the one who did not agree with the council’s decision against Christ. He was also the one who bravely asked Pontius Pilate for the body of Christ (Matthew 27.57-60, Mark 15.42-47, Luke 23.50-56, John 19.38-42). Nicodemus was a Jewish leader, a Pharisee, who was well read in the Scriptures and visited Christ by night (John 3.1-21 and 19.39-42).
All these sacred persons clearly demonstrate to us that people from all walks of life can be disciples of the Lord and enjoy the privilege of taking care of His body and become primary witnesses of the Lord’s mighty Resurrection.
  1. Sundays of the Paralytic, The Samaritan Woman, and the Man Born Blind
The following three Sundays are known, in order, as the Sunday of the Paralytic, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, and the Sunday of the Man Born Blind, because of the Gospel readings and the hymns prescribed for them. The incidents commemorated in these feasts all demonstrate the divine authority, identity and power of Christ, which were then fully revealed by his Resurrection.
The healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda or Bethsaida (John 5.1-18) shows Christ’s authority over the Sabbath because it was on the Sabbath day that He healed the paralytic.
The conversation of the Lord with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well near Sychar (John 4.3-42) reaches its high point when the Lord discloses his identity: “I am the One [the Christ] Who is speaking to you now” (4:26). At the end of the story, the Samaritans openly declare, “We are certain that He is the Savior of the world" (4:42).
Finally, the healing of the blind man (John 9:1-41) demonstrates the divine power of Christ and the fact that He came from God: “This is the first time in history that anyone has ever given sight to someone born blind. Jesus could not do anything unless He came from God” (9:32).
  1. Mid-Pentecost
The Wednesday after the Sunday of the Paralytic falls exactly in the middle of the 50 days of the period of Pentecost and is consequently called Mid-Pentecost (Mesopentekoste). It is a Festal Day, and according to ancient custom, it draws its meaning from the Gospel prescribed for it (John 7.14-30). This Gospel lesson contains the speech of the Lord made in the Temple, in the middle of the feast of the Tabernacles (Skenopegias), which explains His authority over the Sabbath in terms of the divine origin of both His teaching and His existence. Central to this are the Lord’s words to the people of Jerusalem: “I did not come on My own. The One Who sent Me is truthful, and you do not know Him. But I know the One Who sent Me, because I came from Him” (7:28). Also central are the words the Lord uttered on the last day of the Feast which anticipate the Outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost: “If you are thirsty, come to Me and drink! Have faith in Me, and you will have life-giving water flowing from deep inside you” (7:37). The hymns of this Feast recall the miracles of the Lord, which demonstrate His Godhead, and admonish the Christians “to keep steadfastly the commandments of the Lord in order to become worthy to celebrate his Ascension and to participate in the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Doxastikon ton Ainon).
  1. The Return of Pascha
On the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Man Born Blind (the 6th Sunday after Pascha), we celebrate the Return (apodosis), or completion, of the post-festal period of Pascha. The services of the day, which include a paschal liturgy, are sung in a manner identical to that of the New Week. This is actually the 39th day after Pascha, the eve of the Ascension Day, when we sing the Resurrection Hymn, Christos Anesti, and exchange the Resurrection greeting for the last time.
  1. The Ascension
On the following day, which is the 40th day after Pascha, the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven is commemorated. The feast of the Ascension (Analipseos) is explicitly mentioned in the fourth century, but its origins most probably go back to the preceding centuries. The ancient church manual, Apostolic Constitutions, makes the following comment about it: “Again counting 40 days after the first Sunday, you must celebrate from Sunday until Thursday the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, in which He fulfilled the whole economy and design of our salvation, ascended to God the Father, Who had sent Him, and sat at the right hand of the Power to wait until His enemies are placed under his feet” (Book V, chapter 20).
The feast of the Ascension, then, marks the end and the sealing of the work of the Lord on Earth, as well as the Ascension of human nature to heaven and consequently foreshadows the forthcoming Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is celebrated until the Friday of the following week, when it is returned (and therefore closed).
The meaning of the Lord’s Ascension is also connected with His eternal priesthood. The Epistle to the Hebrews sums it up as follows: “We have a Great High Priest Who has gone into Heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (4:14)... Jesus has gone there (behind the curtain and into the most holy place) ahead of us, and He is our High Priest forever, just like Melchizedek (6:20)... Jesus will never die, and so He will be a Priest forever. He is forever able to save the people He leads to God because He always lives to speak to God for them. Jesus is the High Priest we need (7:24-26)... He is the perfect High Priest forever (7:28)... who sits at the right side of God’s great throne in heaven (8:1).”
  1. Sunday of the Holy Fathers
The Sunday, which falls in the middle of the festal period of the Ascension (the 7th Sunday after Pascha), is dedicated to the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and is consequently known as the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (Ton Pateron).
The Gospel of this day comes from the Lord’s High Priestly Prayer for the unity of Christians found in John 17:1-13. The Church ordered the commemoration of the Fathers on this particular Sunday because the Eparchial Synods, which were summoned for the purpose of dealing with various local matters, usually met during the Pentecostal period.
Successors of the Apostles, the Fathers, have kept the apostolic faith through their teachings. The Kontakion of the Feast puts this most eloquently and clearly: “The preaching of the Apostles and the dogmas of the Fathers sealed one faith for the Church which, wearing the garment of truth waved with theology from above, rightly dispenses and glorifies the great mystery of piety.”
The Saturday before Pentecost is a Saturday of the Souls (Psychosabbaton), and prayers are offered for those who fell asleep that they, too, may become worthy through our prayers of the Pentecostal gift, which is commemorated the next day.
  1. Pentecost Sunday
The Christian feast of Pentecost corresponds to the Hebrew feast which bears the same name, and in which the first fruits of Israel’s new crops were offered to God (Protogennemata).
The Christian feast commemorates the first fruits of the preaching of the Apostles, which followed the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost, and on account of which the first Christian Church was born and established with three thousand souls. Ever since Pentecost, the Spirit abides in the Church and regulates the Church’s life and growth. The Spirit brings the entire constitution of the Church together as the Body of Christ. As the Comforter (Parakletos), He is the pledge of Christ’s return and final victory with the entire body of the Church.
The celebration of this feast goes back to apostolic times. According to ancient custom, catechumens were baptized on this occasion and therefore, even today, no Trisagion is sung during the Liturgy. Instead, the hymn “Those baptized into Christ, have put on Christ,” is sung. The vespers of this day, following immediately after the Divine Liturgy, is especially notable because of the long kneeling supplication, which is offered after the Entrance. This supplication is the first of several which follow after the feast, having been previously suspended during the Pentecostal Period.
Pentecost is celebrated throughout the week and is returned on the following Saturday. The Monday of the post-festal period is distinguished from the other post-festal days because it is dedicated to the Holy Spirit (Deftera tou Agiou Pneumatos). The services of the day follow the pattern of the preceding Pentecostal Sunday. Fasting is not observed during the week of (after) Pentecost.
The Doxastikon hymn of the day is the well known prayer with which most Church services begin and which is used by many Orthodox Christians as a first Prayer of each day: “Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, come and abide in us; cleanse us from every stain and save our souls Gracious Lord.”
  1. Sunday of All-Saints
The Sunday after Pentecost is known as the Sunday of All Saints. It is a very ancient feast mentioned at the end of the fourth century and seems to have been initially instituted as a feast in honor of all the Martyrs.
The Church always honored the Martyrs. Since honoring the Martyrs was originally a local affair, however, many of the Martyrs were unknown, and it is probably for this reason that such a feast was instituted to honor all Martyrs, known and unknown. This feast was placed very appropriately after Pentecost because the Church was watered and increased through the witness and blood of the Martyrs. Later, when the Church honored others as Saints besides the Martyrs, the moveable feast after Pascha acquired a more general character and was changed into a feast in honor of all the Saints.
  1. The Feast of the Holy Apostles
On the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints, a fast is observed for the Feast of the Holy Apostles. Originally, this was a weekly fast as it is explicitly stated in the Apostolic Constitutions (Book V, chapter 20). Later on, it was connected with the feast of the Holy Apostles (June 29-30) and was extended to the whole period from the Monday after the Sunday of All Saints to the 28th of June.
Source
submitted by IrinaSophia to OrthodoxChristianity [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 17:57 ProgrammingArchive New C++ Conference Videos Released This Month - May 2024 (Updated To Include Videos Released 05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024)

This month the following C++ videos have been published to YouTube. A new post will be made each week as more videos are released
C++Online
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
04/29/2024 - 05/05/2024
Pure Virtual C++
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
04/29/2024 - 05/05/2024
CppCon
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
04/29/2024 - 05/05/2024
All of these talks can also be accessed at https://cppcon.programmingarchive.com where you can also find information on how to get early access to the rest of the CppCon 2023 lightning talks.
Audio Developer Conference
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
04/29/2024 - 05/05/2024
submitted by ProgrammingArchive to cpp [link] [comments]


2024.05.12 19:10 LowTierStudent [Farewell to my LowTier Persona] AMA MidTier Mechanical Engineering student (Expoly ME, no specialisation)

Hey guys, as you probably or not know I am a 2024 graduating mechanical Engineering student who has been lurking in this subreddit for some time. My NUS journey has finally ended after officially closing my FYP for good. To commemorate this occasion, I like to share my farewell speech script since I always wanted to give one in real life but didn’t get the chance because I not 2024 valedictorian. At the same time I will make it an AMA post too. So just ask any question about ME u like. Can be about easy elective modules which I got A, optimum academic workload, FYP matters, Internship, etc.
It is my pleasure to finally graduate from NUS. Looking back my 4 years of University life really pass by in a flash. While it has been undramatic and lonely where I made 0 close friends, eat mostly alone except for a few rare occasions and made no GF🥲 like not even a single relationship. However ultimately I am glad I went through it. Saying I learnt a lot from NUS ME will be lying but at least I was exposed to a ton of engineering concepts which challenged me mathematically to a point I almost throw the towel and drop out. In a sense University education has built my resilience and drive towards learning sth that I don’t know which I believe is important in the context of life long learning. Since technology is constantly evolving and as engineers we need to ensure we don’t get left behind.🤖
Lastly atb for 3 June grade release, grades is ultimately just a variable in that job hunting equation. So even if u get bad grades it ain’t the end of the world. Can always compensate with other factors (E.g CCA, internship experience, competitions).
After Graduation Plans:
Will be flying back to my hometown later to chill before I start work. Speaking of work recently I have received a job offer from the public sector (defense is all I will disclose so no more DM spamming ah). Shocked they gave me an offer but it is a 2 year contract with full time conversion depending on performance so not exactly surprising. Guess I have to work hard for that full time conversion opportunity to truly unleash that almighty iron rice bowl. Gov job always been my goal since NUS matriculation so I guess I have achieved my purpose of coming here. Students who hit their goals aren’t real LowTierStudents so I will relinquish this title. Hence this will be my final post as LowTierStudent aka LTS on Reddit.🫡
Lemme know if u got any questions about ME major via this post or DM.
See ya! 😊👋👋 NUS, nus and LowTierStudent
PS: CS1010E you were a pain in the ass but ultimately I am glad I had to take up u twice. Although I lost a $349 mechanical keyboard…..nvm f*** this shit ass mod.
EDIT: Some think I am a foreignePR but I am a SG citizen. Just my parents were ex-china citizens and for some reason I pop out there so I consider china as my actual hometown. Majority of my relatives are there too. Reddit is blocked there so I will be going dark for quite some time. Will reply to the queries related comments and DMs when I get back.🙂‍↕️
submitted by LowTierStudent to nus [link] [comments]


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