Vanessa The Wonderworker, Chapter Seventeen, written and illustrated by Grace Brooks. Available on Amazon

Everyone presumably acknowledges that there is nothing wrong with children dressing up as fairies, Disney characters, Marvel superheroes, and (my own favourite when I was a child) black cats in order to go door to door with their friends after dark to collect candy. The argument against Halloween is that it also glorifies violence, gore, and death, so that it is unsuitable for Christians to participate in Halloween. Collecting candy is fine; it is the frightening stuff that comes afterward that is the problem. Halloween trades in things like graveyards and corpses and ugly witches on broomsticks and bats and cobwebs and Frankenstein monsters. So, the question arises: why do people delight in such scary stuff?

Hippocratic pro-life medical professionals are increasingly being pressured to practice their science and art without regard to their personal faith or conscience beliefs.

Dr. Albert Rossi considers how to respond to the unforeseen events in life through Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow's morning prayer. O Lord, grant that I may meet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon Thy Holy Will. In every hour of the day, reveal Thy will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Thy will governs all. In all my deeds and words, guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by Thee. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me the strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring. Direct my will. Teach me to pray. Pray Thou Thyself in me. Amen.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Stephen Loposky about the 17th Annual Youth Worker and Camping Conference.

Bobby Maddex speaks with Dn. Joseph Matusiak, Ellie Bernasol, Ilmari Hayrynen, and Gabi Moussa about their experience at the 2023 Suprasl World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth event, held in Poland. To donate to this project please visit http://suprasl.org http://www.suprasl.org http://www.facebook.org/suprasl2022 http://www.instagram.com/suprasl_wfoy OR reach out to Dn. Joseph Matusiak @ jmatusiak@suprasl2022.org

Strictly speaking, the Orthodox Church does not celebrate doctrines, it celebrates events. On this homily given on the Sunday before Theophany, Fr Pat considers the event of Jesus's Incarnation.

The Parable of the Talents is often used as a reminder to be the best you can be. It's really about the structure of history and the Lordship of Jesus.

Guest: Perry C. Robinson, the editor of the popular Orthodox theology blog Energetic Procession, will share his perspectives on the perennial heterodox idea that God will eventually save/liberate everyone and why there is such a vibrant theological conversation on this subject going on within segments of Evangelicalism (Rob Bell).

Extending ATP Masters 1,000 events over two weeks has been a "backwards move", says two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Jannik Sinner is looking to cap a superb year with a first ATP Finals triumph. Here's everything you need to know about the event - and pick your tip for the title.

LME has acquired the Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running and Etape Loch Ness.

The Manx government scheme offering funding of up to 80% of costs aims to boost footfall for firms.

The initiative is named after Clare Wood who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2009 in England.

Community groups say they are being asked to put plans in place for terrorism, bombs and drones.

Up to £991,000 will be spent on the major scheme to help reduce flooding.

A letter to Newport Town Council claims the animals face distress, fear and mental fatigue.

Events take place across the region to mark the armistice at the end of World War One.

All 10 Formula 1 teams will participate in a new "season launch event" in February next year to reveal their liveries together.

The operation of supply chain finance faces various risks, therefore, studying the operational risks of supply chain finance and corresponding preventive measures is of great significance. Firstly, classify the types of operational risks in supply chain finance. Secondly, based on the risk classification results, the decision tree method is used to evaluate the operational risks of supply chain finance. Finally, based on the risk assessment results, targeted risk prevention measures for supply chain finance operations are proposed, such as strengthening supplier management, optimising logistics and warehouse management, risk analysis and monitoring, and strengthening information security and data protection. The case analysis results show that the accuracy of the evaluation results of this method is higher, and the risk coefficient has been significantly reduced after applying this method, indicating that it can effectively reduce supply chain risk.

Green entrepreneurial intention (GEI) in the agriculture sector signifies agricultural businesses' strong determination to embrace environmentally sustainable practices and innovative eco-friendly approaches. To understand farmers' GEI, the research applied theories of entrepreneurial events and institutional theory. A model was developed and empirically validated through structural equation modelling (SEM). A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 211 farmers from the southern region of India. Findings revealed that perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, mimetic pressure, and entrepreneurial mindset positively influenced GEI. Entrepreneurial mindset played a mediating role in strengthening the farmers GEI. This study contributes to understanding GEI in agriculture and informs strategies for promoting sustainable farming practices.

Aim/Purpose: In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks the disease activity using data collected from medical practice's on a weekly basis. Collection of data by CDC from medical practices on a weekly basis leads to a lag time of approximately 2 weeks before any viable action can be planned. The 2-week delay problem was addressed in the study by creating machine learning models to predict flu outbreak. Background: The 2-week delay problem was addressed in the study by correlation of the flu trends identified from Twitter data and official flu data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in combination with creating a machine learning model using both data sources to predict flu outbreak. Methodology: A quantitative correlational study was performed using a quasi-experimental design. Flu trends from the CDC portal and tweets with mention of flu and influenza from the state of Georgia were used over a period of 22 weeks from December 29, 2019 to May 30, 2020 for this study. Contribution: This research contributed to the body of knowledge by using a simple bag-of-word method for sentiment analysis followed by the combination of CDC and Twitter data to generate a flu prediction model with higher accuracy than using CDC data only. Findings: The study found that (a) there is no correlation between official flu data from CDC and tweets with mention of flu and (b) there is an improvement in the performance of a flu forecasting model based on a machine learning algorithm using both official flu data from CDC and tweets with mention of flu. Recommendations for Practitioners: In this study, it was found that there was no correlation between the official flu data from the CDC and the count of tweets with mention of flu, which is why tweets alone should be used with caution to predict a flu out-break. Based on the findings of this study, social media data can be used as an additional variable to improve the accuracy of flu prediction models. It is also found that fourth order polynomial and support vector regression models offered the best accuracy of flu prediction models. Recommendations for Researchers: Open-source data, such as Twitter feed, can be mined for useful intelligence benefiting society. Machine learning-based prediction models can be improved by adding open-source data to the primary data set. Impact on Society: Key implication of this study for practitioners in the field were to use social media postings to identify neighborhoods and geographic locations affected by seasonal outbreak, such as influenza, which would help reduce the spread of the disease and ultimately lead to containment. Based on the findings of this study, social media data will help health authorities in detecting seasonal outbreaks earlier than just using official CDC channels of disease and illness reporting from physicians and labs thus, empowering health officials to plan their responses swiftly and allocate their resources optimally for the most affected areas. Future Research: A future researcher could use more complex deep learning algorithms, such as Artificial Neural Networks and Recurrent Neural Networks, to evaluate the accuracy of flu outbreak prediction models as compared to the regression models used in this study. A future researcher could apply other sentiment analysis techniques, such as natural language processing and deep learning techniques, to identify context-sensitive emotion, concept extraction, and sarcasm detection for the identification of self-reporting flu tweets. A future researcher could expand the scope by continuously collecting tweets on a public cloud and applying big data applications, such as Hadoop and MapReduce, to perform predictions using several months of historical data or even years for a larger geographical area.

Can questions sent to Open-Educational-Resource (OER) websites such as Ask-An-Expert serve as indicators for students’ interest in science? This issue was examined using an online questionnaire which included an equal number of questions about the topics “space” and “nutrition” randomly selected from three different sources: a 5th-grade science textbook, the “Ask-An-Expert” website, and questions collected from other students in the same age group. A sample of 113 5th-graders from two elementary schools were asked to rate their interest level in finding out the answer to these questions without knowledge of their source. Significant differences in students’ interest level were found between questions: textbook questions were ranked lowest for both subjects, and questions from the open-resource were ranked high. This finding suggests that questions sent to an open-resource could be used as an indicator of students’ interest in science. In addition, the high correlation of interests expressed by students from the two schools may point to a potential generalization of the findings. This study contributes by highlighting OER as a new and promising indicator of student interest, which may help bring “student voices” into mainstream science teaching to increase student interest in science.

Aim/Purpose This paper aims to illustrate, through an exploratory ideographic case study, how a Complex Thinking framework can inform the design of scientific events and the facilitation of scientific Inter and Transdisciplinary groups towards positive emergent outcomes, both at the level of the functioning of the group and the collective complexity of their thinking. Moreover, it aims to show how the choice of facilitation strategies can contribute to positive emergent outcomes in the context of a fully online event, with its inherent constraints. Finally, this study aims to conduct an exploratory qualitative evaluation of the participants’ experiences during School, with a focus on the processes and how they relate to the aims of the School and the goals of the facilitation. Background Science needs to embrace modes of knowing capable of generating more complex (differentiated, integrated, recursively organized, emergent), ecologically fit, and creative responses, to meet the complexity of the world’s challenges. New formats and strategies are required that attend to the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinary scientific events and meetings, towards creative and complex outcomes. A Complex Thinking framework provides suggestions for the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinary meetings and events through targeting key properties which may lead to the emergence of complex and creative outcomes. Methodology We adopt an ideographic case study approach to illustrate how a complex systems approach, in particular a Complex Thinking framework, grounded in an enactive view of cognition, guided the design choices and the facilitation strategies of an online Inter and Transdisciplinary Advanced Training School (Winter School). We aim to illustrate how the facilitation strategies were selected and used to promote deep and creative interactions within the constraints of an online environment. We adopt an exploratory qualitative approach to investigate the participants’ reports of their experiences of the School, in light of the principles and goals that guided its design and facilitation. Contribution This paper opens a new area of theoretical and applied research, under the scope of a Complex Thinking framework, focused on the facilitation of Inter and Transdisciplinarity at scientific events, meetings, and discussions towards complex and creative outcomes. Findings The results of the exploratory qualitative analysis of the participants’ experiences regarding the event suggest a critical role of its methodology in fostering rich, deep, and constructive interactions, in leading to the emergence of a collective group experience, to the integration of ideas, and in facilitating transformative personal experiences, under the effects of the emergent group processes. It suggests that the strategies employed were successful, anticipating and overcoming the particular constraints of an online event. Recommendations for Practitioners This case study suggests that a Complex Thinking framework can fruitfully guide the design of facilitation strategies and activities for scientific events and meetings, activating a number of key relational processes that contribute to or boost the emergence of positive group experiences and the production and integration of novel ideas. Recommendations for Researchers This study calls for action-oriented and applied research focused on the developmental evaluation of innovations, regarding the facilitation of scientific creativity and integration, within the scope of a Complex Thinking approach. Impact on Society This paper calls for new modes of organization and formats of scientific activities, suggesting that Inter and Transdisciplinary events and meetings may benefit from intentional management and facilitation of interactions between participants to produce transformative impacts. It demonstrates the importance of the organizational principles used to plan and run events that engage multiple and various societal agents, from academics to practitioners and social activists, towards enhancing their richness and relevance to complex real-world challenges. Future Research This study highlights the need for process-focused systematic case study research using complex systems-informed designs to explore how and which facilitation strategies may promote which (interaction of) properties of Complex Thinking and associated processes and how, and under which conditions, these lead to more complex and creative outcomes.

Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Modeling and Extracting Information about Cybersecurity Events from Text Taneeya Satyapanich 9:30-11:30 Monday, 18 November, 2019, ITE346? People now rely on the Internet to carry out much of their daily activities such as banking, ordering food, and socializing with their family and friends. The technology facilitates our lives, but also comes with […]

The post Defense: Taneeya Satyapanich, Modeling and Extracting Information about Cybersecurity Events from Text appeared first on UMBC ebiquity.

Research about the effects of an organization's general reputation following a negative event remains equivocal: Some studies have found that a high reputation is a benefit because of the stock of social capital and goodwill it generates; others have found it to be a burden because of the greater stakeholder attention and violation of expectations associated with a negative event. We theorize that stakeholders' level of organizational identification helps explain which mechanisms are more dominant. We test our hypotheses on a sample of legislative references associated with NCAA major infractions from 1999-2009. Our results indicate that a high reputation is a burden for an organization when considering low-identification stakeholder support: As the number of legislative references increases, a high-reputation university will receive fewer donations from non-alumni donors than universities without this asset. In contrast, a high reputation is a benefit when considering high-identification stakeholder support: As the number of legislative references increases, a high-reputation university will receive more donations from alumni donors than universities without this asset. However, an exploratory investigation reveals that alumni donations to high-reputation universities decline as the number of legislative references increases, suggesting that the benefit of a high reputation has a limit.

Rory McIlroy vows to retain DP World Tour events as a key part of his schedule next year while skipping some tournaments in America after an intense 2024.

Google is facing criticism in Spain and Italy for alleged anti-piracy failures. The latest claim accuses Google of ignoring notices that aim to remove pirate IPTV providers from search results. So here's the thing: why would a company take down 10 billion URLs from search but suddenly start acting differently? The public labeling of Google as "grossly negligent" deserves context too; two weeks ago, Google's diligence prevented one of its accusers from deindexing its own website.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

The Green Shirts meet arch-rivals India on Saturday

At the 13th of July 2019 the famous Schanzafeschd will take place again at the Aichwaldtrails. BBQ, BMX, Beers and more BMX! Sounds good? Then come over and have a great time!


More information about the event:
Instagram: @aichwaldtrails Mail: info@aichwaldtrails.de

What:
Aichwald Schanzafeschd 2019 BMX discipline: BMX Dirt

When:
13th of July 2019

Where:
Aichwald Trails
Krummhardter Str. 70
73773 Aichwald


More infos on aichwaldtrails.de.

From the 1st - 2nd of June 2019 the famous Highway to Hill Contest will take place again at the Mellowpark Berlin. Save the date, come over with your BMX Bike and have a good time!

More information about the event:
Facebook
Mail: info@mellowpark.de
Instagram: @mellowpark_berlin

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

What:
Highway to Hill 2019 BMX disciplines: BMX Park, BMX Street, BMX Flatland, BMX Mini Ramp, BMX Dirt

When:
1st - 2nd of June 2019

Where:
Mellowpark
An der Wuhlheide 250-256
12459 Berlin


More infos on Facebook.

The schedule for this year's Vans BMX Pro Cup Series is now live! A stop of the BMX event next to Sydney, Mexico City, Singapore and Huntington Beach is Waiblingen, Stuttgart. Get ready for BMX legends like Larry Edgar, Dennis Enarson, Alex Hiam and many more.

More information about the event:

www.vansbmxprocup.com

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

What:
Vans BMX Pro Cup Series 2019
BMX disciplines: BMX Park

When & Where:
April 5 - 6, 2019, Singapore

April 10 - 13, 2019, Sydney, Australia

June 14 - 16, 2019, Stuttgart, Germany

August 16 - 18, 2019, Mexico City, Mexico

September 13 - 15, 2019, Huntington Beach, California

More infos on Facebook .

On the 28th of April, 2019, "The Cash Jam of Winterthur" will take place for the second time. This BMX event is a street jam. We will head for the best BMX spots in Winterthur. The printed "Winti Dollar bills" serve as a rating system. The rider with the most cash in the end will win the BMX event. The motto is, riders judges riders!

More information about the event:

www.bmxtoday.ch

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

What: THE CASH JAM OF WINTERTHUR

BMX disciplines: BMX Street

When: 28th of April 2019

Where:
Skatepark Winterthur-Töss Switzerland
Winterthur-Töss 8406 Auwiesenstrasse 46


All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

On the 20th of July 2019, the "No Mercy BMX Jam" will take place again. There will be different challenges and a contest, which is divided into different classes. A lot of prizes are waiting for you like vouchers and BMX parts. Also there's a bit cash for the pros! Last but not least, food, cool drinks and music are provided, too. Sounds good? Then come over and have a good time!

More information about the BMX event:

No Mercy Jam

What: No Mercy Jam

BMX disciplines: BMX Park, BMX Street

When: 20th of July 2019

Where:
Am Krebsgraben 8
08056 Zwickau


All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

On the 18th of May 2019, the BMX Contest in Iserlohn will take place again. The warm up starts at 11am and the contest will start at around 1pm. You'll find more infos about this BMX Event on the BMX Contest Ängertal Facebook page anytime soon!

More information about the BMX event:
Facebook Page - BMX Contest Iserlohn

What: BMX Contest Iserlohn

BMX disciplines: BMX Park, BMX Street

When: 18th of May 2019

Where:
Sportplatz in der Läger
Lägerbachstraße 56
58644 Iserlohn

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

Related links:

• all products of kunstform

On the 11th of May 2019 will be a BMX Street Jam at the Skatepark of Voru (Estonia) organised by local BMX riders. The BMX jam will starts officially at 12 o'clock. You'll find more infos about this BMX Event at the Facebook event page!

More information about the BMX event:
Facebook Page - Street BMX Mayhem 2k19 - Voru (Estonia)

What: Street BMX Mayhem 2k19 - Voru (Estonia)

BMX disciplines: BMX Street

When: 11th of May 2019

Where:Skatepark of Voru (Estonia)

All the best,
your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

Related links:

• all products of kunstform

On the 18th of May 2019 will be the 10 Years Anniversary Jam at the Bikepark Leingarten/La Garda organised by local riders. The BMX jam will starts officially at 2 o'clock. You'll find more infos about this BMX Event at the Facebook event page!

More information about the BMX event:
Facebook Page - Bikepark Leingarten/La Garda

What: 10 Years Anniversary Jam - Bikepark Leingarten/La Garda

BMX disciplines: BMX/MTB Jam

When: 18th of May 2019

Where: Bikepark Leingarten/La Garda

All the best,
your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

Related links:

• all products of kunstform

On the 18th of May 2019 will be the re-opening Jam at the Skatepark Pegau: Re-Opening Session organised by local riders. The BMX jam will starts officially at 2 o'clock. You'll find more infos about this BMX Event at the Facebook event page!

More information about the BMX event:
Facebook Page - Skatepark Pegau: Re-Opening Session

What: Skatepark Pegau: Re-Opening Session

BMX disciplines: BMX/MTB Jam

When: 18th of May 2019

Where: Skatepark Pegau: Re-Opening Session

All the best,
your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

Related links:

• all products of kunstform

On the 29.06.2019, the Skate Open in Göppingen will take place again. Whether you're a skater, BMXer or Scooter rider, everyone is welcome! Registration starts at 11am (local time), Contest will begin at 12am (local time). The number of riders is limited as every year, so you should be there in time. In addition, all u18 riders must wear a helmet! Refreshments will be available, as well as live music and food stands.

What: Göppingen Skate Open Contest 2019

When: 29.06.2019 11am (local time)

Where:
Skatepark Ort der Vielfalt
Theodor-Heuss-Platz
73033 Göppingen


More infos on Facebook.

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

The Kessel Festival is Stuttgart's Music, Sport and Culture Festival and takes place on 01.06 - 02.06.2019. International top stars of the music scene on the main stage, young musicians on the up-and-coming stage, sports and fun sports areas to join in and watch, sustainability to touch in the integrated day after tomorrow market and an interactive children and family program make the Kessel Festival something special for visitors of all ages.

Together with the STUTTPARK skate hall, there will be a mini ramp with skateboard session on 01.06.2019 and a BMX session on 02.06.2019 . If you want to participate actively as a rider in the BMX session, please register in advance via Email contact@kunstform.org . A contest with the groups AM and Profi is planned. You can expect lavish prizes, which are provided by kunstform.

Depending on how many riders are coming, the following schedule is fixed:

Groups:
amateurs
professional

Schedule:
10:00 - 12:00: Amateurs - Pratice & Qualification (Cut to 8 riders)
12:00 - 14:00: Professional Pratice & Qualification (Cut to 8 riders)
14:00 - 15:00: Open Session
15:00 - 16:00: Amateurs Finale (Battle-Format)
16:00 - 17:00: Profi Finale (Battle-Format)
18:00: Awards ceremony Amateure & Profi
18:00 - 20:00: Open Session

What: Kessel Festival 2019 - BMX Miniramp Session

When: 02.06.2019 from 10:00 o'clock

Where: On the grounds of the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart

For more information about the event, visit www.kesselfestival.de .

Please register in advance via Email contact@kunstform.org!

We are happy that you're coming,
Your kunstform BMX Shop Team

On 25.05.2019 the salvejam takes place in Rathenow on the Rideplatz. BMXers, skaters, scooter riders and music fans will get their money's worth on that day. For the professional class will be a prize money of 500 Euro. Also for amateurs we packed a lot of stuff.


What: Rathenow Salve Jam 2019

When: 25.05.2019, 9:00 am

Where:
Rideplatz Rathenow
Am Körgraben 3
14712 Rathenow


More infos on Facebook of Rideplatz Rathenow.

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

On 13.07.2019 the 4. Cross Valley Contest takes place in Ferndorf (Germany) on the Skate- & Bikepark Kreuztal. Dirtline – Bowl – Street – Pumptrack für Skateboard, Scooter and BMX


What: Skate- & Bikepark Kreuztal

When: 13.07.2019, 3:00 am

Where:
Skate- & Bike Anlage Kreuztal
57223 Ferndorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany


More infos on Facebook of CrossValley Contest #4.

All the best, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!

India´s and Pakistan´s players arrive for the Asia Cup 2023 ODI cricket match between India and Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on September 2, 2023. — AFP

The International Cricket Council has cancelled an event, reportedly related to...