[London], [1827?]

[London?]

2017

We’re really, really sorry

Seven people were displaced by a fire early Saturday on the north end of Saint John.

64-year-old John Neville, in agony and needing his wisdom tooth extracted, has been navigating a complex tangle of COVID-19 restrictions in an unsuccessful attempt at getting emergency dental care.

From deep bass notes echoing through the speaker system, to the countries welcome video, to moments of voices lifted up in praise, the opening session of TeenStreet 2019 made a powerful impact on the participants.

As a result of the pandemic, USPS, which has run at a loss for years, is even more cash-strapped. It expects to lose $2 billion each month during the pandemic. That prompted Postmaster General Megan Brennan to ask Congress for $50 billion in funds -- $25 billion to offset lost revenue from declining mail volume due to the pandemic, and another $25 billion for modernization.

Nearly 5 ½ years ago, the water source for the city of Flint was switched in an effort to save money. A disaster followed resulting in deaths, illness and mistrust of government. Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. on WKAR-TV, the documentary series Frontlin e examines the crisis by bringing to light conversations and documents never seen on television before. We spoke with Abby Ellis, the Michigan native who is the film’s director.

If you think it's cold this morning, just wait — the forecast low for Friday night is –3 C.

A Toronto law firm has filed to launch a class action lawsuit against a Niagara Falls long-term care home where 18 residents have died from COVID-19, saying the home had a pub night in the midst of the pandemic.

Compiled by: Antigoni Markitani

Glasgow's Summer Nights at the Bandstand festival has become the latest major music event to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The video-sharing platform is a huge hit with teens and some teachers are beginning to integrate it into their lessons. But cyberbullying and data privacy are big concerns, experts say.

Three Ga. high school seniors have been charged with aggravated sexual battery and consumption of alcohol by a minor stemming from an alleged sexual assault during a post-prom party.

Fetus and infants until 3 months of age are unable to metabolize caffeine, which crosses the placenta and in adults has a somnolytic effect. Little is known about the effect of caffeine consumption by pregnant or nursing mothers over infant sleeping.

In this setting where caffeine is largely consumed in pregnancy and by nursing mothers, heavy consumption (≥300 mg/day) did not increase the number of nighttime awakenings by their 3-month-old infants. (Read the full article)

Sleep patterns of adult monozygotic twins are more similar than those of dizygotic twins, showing moderate heritability and little effects of environmental influences. There have been very few genetically informative studies of sleep in preschool children and results appear inconsistent.

From previous studies, we investigated daytime and nighttime continuous sleep duration longitudinally. This is the first time that the etiologies of daytime and nighttime continuous sleep duration trajectories were studied in early childhood. (Read the full article)

Communication between parents and providers is an important driver of parent experience of care. The impact of nighttime communication, which has become increasingly relevant after changes in resident physician duty hours, on parent experience is unknown.

Parent communication with nighttime doctors and nurses, and parent perceptions of communication and teamwork between these providers, may be important drivers of parent experience. Efforts to improve nighttime communication, both with parents and between team members, may improve parent experience. (Read the full article)

Source: www.cnn.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
In SF's Tenderloin district, after the number of tents jumped nearly 300%, residents, businesses and a nearby law school are suing to force the city to clean it up.

Editor’s note: This event has been canceled as a result of the statewide response to the global coronavirus outbreak.

Source: www.businessinsider.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
Many superyacht crew members have been stuck on their vessels after lockdowns and travel bans were instated due to the coronavirus pandemic. We spoke to crew members who felt 'lucky' to be quarantined in such luxury digs — and grateful to still have jobs and secure wages. There is still plenty of work to be done, but workers also described trivia games, sundeck BBQs, and hot tub nights they're using to pass the time and bond with colleagues. Strict new hygiene and sanitation rules have also been put into place. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories . In late March, billionaire businessman David Geffen posted a shot on Instagram taken from his 452-foot superyacht Rising Sun. It was hastily deleted — but not before it had raised more than a few eyebrows and stirred discourse around the 1% and their self-isolation privilege. But it's not just the rare billionaire who is bunkering down on their yacht during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is another group of people for whom this is a new reality: the yacht's crews.  Before this crisis, there were around 80,000 people employed on pleasure craft around the globe, according to Laurence Lewis, CEO of YPI Crew, a yacht recruitment agency. As countries rushed to close their borders, ports were closed — and overnight, many found themselves unable to travel to get to or leave their yachts.  For many, a superyacht sounds like the dream scenario to see out lockdown. But is it?  "Ther

As shootings break out at high school athletic events, districts must grapple with major questions about their role in keeping venues safe.

The Netgear Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream Wi-Fi 6 Router (RAX120) is a powerful, if expensive, router that uses the latest 802.11ax technology to deliver fast throughput and file-transfer speeds.

The Netgear Nighthawk AX4 Wi-Fi 6 router is $100 off, the Dell XPS 8930 Special Edition gaming desktop is $250 off, and Amazon is offering up to 40 percent off Eufy robot vacuums.

As schools apply more scrutiny to the methods and materials they use to teach early reading, educators and parents in some states have started to form new advocacy efforts—trying to pressure states and districts to adopt new approaches to teacher training and evaluating materials.

Source: mashable.com - Friday, May 08, 2020
Whether you're having a weird Mother's Day weekend or not, mom just feels extra far away, right? Even if you live far away and didn't see your mom (or mom figure) that often before social distancing, keeping in touch feels more imperative than ever. Watching a movie over FaceTime or Zoom isn't the same as hanging out IRL, but the whole "quality time" thing being your idea will be enough to make her smile. And this doesn't require a special mom holiday, you know — choosing one night a week for a movie night with mom would do a world of good for everyone's sense of normalcy.  Set it in stone with a new 4K TV on sale for Mother's Day weekend: Read more... More about 4k Tv , Oled , Mashable Shopping , Tech , and Consumer Tech

As schools apply more scrutiny to the methods and materials they use to teach early reading, educators and parents in some states have started to form new advocacy efforts—trying to pressure states and districts to adopt new approaches to teacher training and evaluating materials.

By Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J.

Search the Internet, and you’ll find literature in abundance regarding the hackneyed phrase, dark night of the soul. Last week, the phrase surfaced again with the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity.

The Dark Night of the Soul and The Dark Night: Some Distinctions

In the lexicon of popular phrases, the dark night of the soul should be distinguished from the dark night as developed by St. John of the Cross in his treatise, The Dark Night.  

Worries and annoyances that weigh us down each day are part of the human condition. No more, no less. Rarely are they considered the dark night of the soul. To accept and face hardship as part of the human condition is a sign of maturity.

It may surprise even spiritual directors to read that John does not use the phrase, the dark night of the soul, nor does it appear in his poem or treatise.

The Dark Night has a precise and rich context. Its focus lies on God’s innovating activity upon the soul destined for transformation.  The soul remains in spiritual darkness, passive yet docile and responsive to the divine touch.  

By contrast, the dark night of the soul focuses on the individual self and one’s particular trial—any trial—that causes sadness, agitation, turmoil, or distress in one’s life. It has a one-dimensional perspective—the self.

Moses and the Divine Darkness     

In the Book of Exodus 20, Moses approaches the dark cloud where God dwells. This is a metaphor for his journey into the dark of night where it is impossible to see. Darkness is a symbol for the encounter with God who is incomprehensible. Here Moses encounters God in the darkness only to be enlightened by that very same darkness.

Put another way: Moses’ eternal progress is the movement from human light to divine darkness.  The vision of Moses begins in the light.  But as he becomes more perfect, he is led by God into the darkness where he is enlightened.  

Thus the life of prayer and contemplation is represented paradoxically as a journey from light to darkness.  It is only through this maze of darkness that the soul can reach God who is beyond all intellectual comprehension.   To remain in one’s own light is to die.  To walk through the darkness where God dwells is to live in the light.

St. Gregory of Nyssa (d 394), one of the Eastern Church Fathers, used Moses to exemplify and develop a symbolism of darkness. His 1Life of Moses is considered the crowning work of his mysticism.  Gregory was followed by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagate (d 5th-6th c) who became the major resource for the study of the divine darkness.
    
The Dark Night Proper
 
The Dark Night, the title of a poem and treatise on prayer, was written between 1578-85 by St. John of the Cross, the great Spanish Carmelite saint, mystic and poet (d 1591).  It complements his treatise, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, in which the soul learns to love God by pulling up and rooting out his or her vices.  Whereas vices puff up the ego, the love of God scours the ego clean.

The Dark Night is a metaphor describing the mystical union between the soul and God in prayer.  In this dark night, the soul is detached from all that is not God, undergoes privation of light but remains on the road to darkness because it will lead to the light.  Thus John builds his systematic exposition of the spiritual life upon this metaphor.  

The dark night comes not at the beginning of one’s journey to God.  It usually happens when souls have entered the unitive way, that is, when their wills and hearts are united in perfect harmony with God’s.

History has proved that God consistently sends trial to the souls who seek perfection, but lay persons and consecrated men and women experience different dark nights suited to their different vocations. The biographies of saints as well as the masters of the spiritual life are in agreement.  

In The Graces of Interior Prayer, Fr. A. Poulain, S.J. tells us who he likely ones are to receive these trials.  “And as persons who are leading a purely contemplative life are not obliged to undergo the arduous labors the active life entails, God sends them interior crosses by way of compensation.  And then they feel these crosses more keenly, being more thrown back upon themselves” (400).  

It appears that Mother Teresa is an exception to this rule.  Her life serving the poorest of the poor was not just active.  It was arduous.  The work day of the sisters is usually between ten and twelve hours of manual labor.  Yet the Rule of the Missionaries of Charity requires them to spend at least two hours in prayer and contemplation every day in addition to other exercises—the Office, Examen, and spiritual reading.  Formed and guided by the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, these sisters are true active contemplatives.

The Dark Night and Passive Purification

The Dark Night is essentially an experience of infused contemplation.  One cannot ask for it; one ought not ask for it.  In The Dark Night, the purification is accomplished by God and not by the will of the individual who could never accomplish this task.  John describes this metaphor: A mother weans her child away from the sweetness and consolation of being nourished at the breast, and of having her child experience its own independence away from the mother.  This purification is accomplished by the mother and not by the child.  Passive purification.

The dark night first affects and purifies the individual’s spiritual senses.  These are:  spiritual pride and avarice, spiritual lust and anger, spiritual gluttony, envy, and sloth.  Persons succumb to spiritual gluttony, for example, when they seek sweetness, delight, and satisfaction in prayer, striving more to savor the sweet experiences rather than the desire to please God. Spiritual sloth delights in spiritual gratification, but when the soul is told to do something unpleasant, it remains lax.  

The first and chief benefit of this dark night of contemplation is the knowledge of self and of one’s misery and lowliness but also of God’s grandeur and majesty. The second is the purification of the spiritual faculties:  the intellect, the will, and the memory. John compares this experience to a fire consuming a log.  In both books, the soul does little more than dispose itself for the divine action.  

Here are the first two stanzas of the poem anticipating the explanation of Books One and Two:

One dark night,
Fired with love’s urgent longings
--ah, the sheer grace!—
I  went out unseen,
My house being now all stilled.

In darkness, and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised,
--ah, the sheer grace!—
In darkness and concealment,
My house being now all stilled.

Mother Teresa’s Dark Night

We can never know what activity takes place inside another person.  Yet, we know that dryness, aridity, and restlessness in prayer afflicted Mother Teresa as well as doubt in the existence of God.  She remained a woman of joy, faithful to her religious vocation as a missionary. Read some of her reflections, marked by darkness:

“In my soul, I feel just that terrible pain of loss of God not wanting me—of God not being God—of God not existing.”  

“I find no words to express the depths of the darkness.  If you only knew what  darkness I am plunged into.”

 “In the darkness . . . . Lord, my God, who am I that you should forsake me?  The child of your love—and now become as the most hated one.  The one—you have thrown away as unwanted—unloved.  I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer . . . Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.  Love—the word—it brings nothing.  I am told God lives in me, and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”  The self-offering of St. Ignatius sums up Book Two and the total offering of Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta:  

“Take, Lord,
into your possession
my complete freedom of action:
my memory, my understanding, my entire will;
all that I have, all that I own.  
It is your gift to me.  
I now return it to you to be used simply as you wish.  
Give me your love and your grace.  
It is all I need.” 

Super-rich visitors to Cape Town over the holiday season have once again been willing to dig deep into their pockets for luxury rental accommodation.

In addition to the film, this free outdoor, family-fun event includes activities, music and food.

Free outdoor, family-fun event also includes activities and food.

Wilmington --

WHEN: 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m., pending weather.

Monday, March 16, 2020 through Saturday, March 21, 2020

WHERE: I-95 Northbound/Southbound between Jackson Street and Lovering Avenue, Wilmington.

WHAT: DelDOT announces to motorists that the right lane and shoulder will be closed on I-95 northbound and southbound for soil boring samples to be drilled to evaluate the subsurface investigations for the I-95 Vaiduct interchange project. [More]

Bear/Christiana --

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announces that their contractor Allan Myers MD Inc. will begin a pavement and rehabilitation project. This project will include an auxiliary lane along Route 1 southbound so that the Route 273 on-ramp would be a continuous lane through US 40 interchange.

In addition, this project will also include the following improvements: widening of the existing shoulder; overlay of the existing pavement; ditches and side slopes to be regraded; milling and paving of Route 1 northbound/southbound between Tybouts Corner and Route 273; existing lighting and overhead sign structures will be relocated; and other miscellaneous improvements. [More]

Wilmington --

DelDOT announces to motorists that the right lane and shoulder will be closed on I-95 southbound and Ramps on I-95 for soil boring samples to be drilled to evaluate the geotechnical subgrade for the Rehabilitation of I-95 from I-495 to north of Brandywine River Bridge project.

Variable message boards will be posted to notify motorists of the upcoming lane and ramp closures.

Motorists should be aware that construction personnel and equipment will be operating in close proximity to the travel lanes and anticipate lane shifts. [More]

Newport --

Traffic Information: The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announces to motorists that the following ramps will be closed for reconstruction of the guardrails and the installation of detection system.



Sunday, March 15, 2020 from 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. on Monday, March 16, 2020

Location: Exit 5B/I-95 northbound to Route 141 northbound

Monday, March 16, 2020 starting at 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Location: Exit 3A/Route 141 northbound to I-95 northbound

Location: Exit 3A/Route 141 southbound to I-95 northbound

Detour Routes for Exits:

Exit 5B/I-95 northbound to Route 141 northbound

For traffic on I-95 northbound, south of Route 141 interchange, motorists will take the decel/accel lane to the ramp to I-295 northbound, take the ramp to US 13 southbound and take the ramp to Route 141 northbound.

Exit 3A/Route 141 northbound to I-95 northbound

Motorist traveling northeast on Airport Road will follow detour signs, taking Route 141 southbound to US 13 to I-295 to I-95 northbound. [More]

Camden-Wyoming --

Location: US 13 northbound/southbound at Voshells Mill Road, Camden-Wyoming.

Times and Dates: 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Weekdays and 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. [More]