Bobby Maddex welcomes back to the program Anne Van Fossen, one of the founders of the Classical Learning Resource Center, to discuss some of the exciting new developments that are taking place at the online school.

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen, one of the founders of the Classical Learning Resource Center, about the growing slate of educational offerings at the CLRC.

On a new Ancient Faith Presents, Fr. Anthony Michaels, priest at St. John Chrysostom Antiochian Orthodox Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, speaks at the Fall Diocesan Meeting of the Antiochian Diocese of Toledo. The lecture is titled "Iconography, Iconoclasm, and the Theology of Personhood."

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen of the Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC). Use the coupon code AFRDiscount10 to receive a 10% discount off the CLRC's Christian Study Courses.

Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. David Wey and Dean Theodore Nottingham of the Hagia Sophia Classical Academy, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen and Bryan Smith. Anne is the chief academic officer of the Classical Learning Resource Center, or CLRC, and Bryan is the school’s Chief Operations Officer. The CLRC is offering a 10% discount off any CLRC Christian Studies class for AFR listeners for the next two weeks. The coupon code is AFRDiscount10.

Bobby Maddex interviews Anne Van Fossen, the Chief Academic Officer of The Classical Learning Resource Center. Together they discuss some exciting new developments at the CLRC, including a new online academy!

Bobby Maddex, Director of Digital Media for Ancient Faith Ministries interviews Zachary Waltz, the headmaster of Hagia Sophia Orthodox Classical Academy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. As well as Fr. David Wey, the rector of the Academy. Please visit https://www.hagiasophiaclassical.com for more information about the academy

In this homily from Pentecost Sunday, Fr. Pat looks at three benefits given by the Holy Spirit to the people of God: proclaiming God as our Father, parsing the Scriptures correctly, and praying.

A homily on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, given on August 26, 2012.

Graduation ceremonies across the country have been cancelled. The Church is here to honor you! But we're not simply honoring your grades or extracurriculars. Steve is joined by Christina Andresen (Director of Ministries for Orthodox Christian Fellowship) to explore how Pentecost can shape our graduation celebration. Because you are called to be the hands of God in a world that needs healing. And you've received the gift of the Holy Spirit to prepare you to be a prophetic voice in the world. Have you been struggling with changes to your life the last few months? We've prepared a "Healthy Human" Journal with guided questions to help you stay healthy: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Get your free "Healthy Human" PDF here: https://mailchi.mp/goarch/be_the_bee_144

Kevin's guest is Fr. John Parker, the Chair of the Department of Evangelization in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). How does the Orthodox Church "do" evangelism and what do we need to do better to introduce people to Christ and His Church?

Kevin's first guests were Fr. Hans Jacobse, President of the American Orthodox Institute, and Dr. John Mark Reynolds, philosopher, author, and newly appointed Provost of Houston Baptist University. The subject was The New Atheists and their claims against Christianity

We know that clarity cures busywork. We also know that action brings clarity. When you’re stuck and lacking clarity, take action and just get started. But don’t get lost doing busywork disguised as procrastination.

England's Liz Young wins the Women's Indian Open by one shot to claim her second Ladies European Tour title.

Japan's Rio Takeda wins her first LPGA title after a six-hole play-off.

England's Charley Hull shoots a six-under-par final round 66 to win the Aramco Team Series event in Riyadh and claim her first victory since 2022.

Anna Davies scores five tries as a rampant England side sweep aside Wales in a record 82-0 win at Headingley.

Watch highlights as Anna Davies scores five tries for England in a record 82-0 win against Wales at Headingley, their biggest ever margin of victory.

Herbie Farnworth scores a "brilliant" try to extend England's lead to 26-12 in the second Test against Samoa at Headingley Stadium.

Errigal Ciaran and Clann Eireann reach the Ulster Club Football semi-finals with contrasting wins over Cargin and Newbridge.

Clann Eireann forward Jack Conlon says his side showed "character" to regroup from Newbridge's impressive third quarter as they edged a 0-14 to 0-12 win in their Ulster Club SFC quarter-final.

Late scores from Ryan Owens and Jack Conlon see Clann Eireann beat Newbridge 0-14 to 0-12 in a tense Ulster Club Football quarter-final at Celtic Park.

A 38-year-old man was arrested and two Ghanaian men were removed from the vessel as part of the operation.

Alan Sutherland stood down last year after a report revealed lavish spending at the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.

Its chair says officials have questions to answer as to why details of an overspend were not shared.

Liverpool have taken early control of the Premier League title race, but Alexis Mac Allister says he didn't think they would be contenders at the start of the season.

A police force formally rejects 72 complaints against officers by patients' relatives.

The cost of broadband and devices can be a barrier to getting online, the Doncaster charity says.

Eco groups call for a mining firm to "break its silence" over a coal mine.

Coventry author Alex T Smith shares where his writing journey began.

The cladding is on a building which will house SEND students, Warwickshire County Council says.

The development and rising popularity of AI is not only impacting the tech we use, but also the career paths the next generation are taking. A recent study by laptop and tech […]

The post AI university course uptake increased by 453% over 5 years, claims study appeared first on Tech Digest.

Via Lori Smith, I was alerted to this claim last week by police in Cornwall that a lap dance venue license application should be rejected because such clubs 'might' cause sexual violence. As Lori points out over on BitchBuzz, this is territory I've covered before: the widely-publicised claims that lap dance clubs in Camden caused more rape turned out to be false.

Of course the statistics for a specific area of London over a certain number of years are only that: specific to London and those years. It's dangerous to take a trend for one area, at one point in time, and generalise it to all places at all times. In order to claim that "Factor X causes Outcome Y" you need a lot more data. In the book I set out some comparisons, then, with London and other locations summarising what we know from the scientific literature, national statistics, and so on.

So what's interesting is that The Sex Myth discusses not only the situation in cities like London but also specifically, as coincidence would have it, Newquay.

Guess what? The link between lap dance and sexual violence that the police claim 'might' exist? Not only does it not exist, local media in the Southwest have already reported on this.

In 2010, the Newquay Voice obtained Devon and Cornwall Constabulary’s figures of sexual assaults. They found that the total number of recorded sexual assaults (including rapes) in and around Newquay peaked at 71 in 2005, the year before Newquay's first lap dance club opened. In 2006 however,  following its opening, the number fell to 51.

In 2007, when the town’s second lap dancing venue opened, the total number of recorded sexual assaults fell again to 41, then dropped to 27 in 2008 when a third lap dancing club opened. In 2009 the number rose slightly, but with a total of 33 offences, it is still less than half the total than before the clubs appeared.

Using publically available population data, I took these figures and calculated the incidence rate (since population varies from year to year as crime stats do, if you don't calculate a rate, the numbers are not very informative). Here are the incidence rate calculations using midyear population levels for the council of Restormel where Newquay is located:

Looking at these numbers, you'd be tempted to think that lap dancing actually reduces sexual assault. In other words the opposite of what the BBC article claims.

This like the Camden data is only a single example. Making such a broad conclusion would be rash – to conclusively demonstrate that an increase in lap dancing corresponds with a decrease in rape and sexual assault, there would have to many more such results, over longer time periods, from many places. What it does do is reinforce the same thing the statistics from Camden show: lap dancing does not correlate with higher occurrence of rape. And if there is no rise in rape, then it is impossible to claim that lap dancing “causes” rape.

Unfortunately, the myth that sex work causes violence has become so deeply embedded in media and criminology storytelling that one only needs to raise that dread spectre for the city council to take such claims seriously. In spite of the fact that the real data are easy to find and analyse, and the local papers in Cornwall have already suggested the opposite to what the police claim is true, the BBC and other media outlets don't seem to notice or care.

In the end it looks as if the council rejected the application. St Austell  and Cornwall MP Stephen Gilbert tweeted that this was "a victory for people power". And indeed if the rejection was made because the majority of residents decided they did not want it, then so be it. Nothing wrong with not liking things for the simple reason that you don't like them.

But consider that the information put about by police and reported by the BBC is misleading and poorly researched. What if, instead of the council's main criterion being what residents preferred, the decision was made because of police and media scaring people with potential crimes that turn out not to be true at all?  I don't know about the good folks of Cornwall, but where I come from, that's called lying.

In the cutthroat world of filmmaking it must be hard to get noticed. Some make their names by honing their craft over years or even decades, learning the business from the ground up, and keeping their egos in check. Others sleep their way to the top. But that's kind of lame. Why make good films or suck off a decent producer when you can hop on the concern-porn cause of the week and gain tasty, tasty attention that way?

Enter 'Balkans the Movie', a yet-to-be-made film that aims to expose the seedy underside of human trafficking by, er, cobbling together a lot of ethnic stereotypes and asking NGOs for funding. Nice work if you can get it. Certainly seems to have worked out for Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (which, incidentally, is so my next character if I ever take up RPGs again. Or alternatively my thrash metal band's debut album).

The Balkans site is looking to cast such no-doubt sensitively and intelligently written characters as "Big Mama" (a large cockney lady married to a Jamaican) and "Fats" (a Kosovan by way of New Orleans). Cast extras include "10 Prostitutes," whose roles are not entirely clear apart from the fact there will be a "porn scene" and an "auction". Don't worry about the lack of scripts, though, ladies: the director assures you "I shall ask you to improvise on the day." Is your asshole-ometer up in the red yet? No, nor mine. Not. At. All.

The site also makes clear that not only is the film gritty with potentially crude sex portrayed, it's also unpaid. Yes that's right, if you're lucky enough to get this gig you'll be pulling down not union rates or even minimum wage, but you will score a complimentary DVD. With profits to go to "anti-trafficking charities". The film will however be sent to "top industry contacts" who no doubt will dispatch it directly to the circular file. So basically you get to re-enact "harrowing scenes of torture" for free!

Executive Summary: We're going to stick it to those horrible people exploiting young women by, er, exploiting young women.

There isn't a mainstream porn studio in the world that could get away with this shit.

If the concept of the film hasn't made you roll off your chair yet then get a load of the script. What there is of it, anyway, since most of the film will go all Mike Leigh on our asses and depend on the actors' improvisation skills. We experience the story through the eyes of Joe, who is "Unstoppable, determined, curious, witty, vulnerable and a good liar ... educated at Cambridge ... Joe's heritage enables him to infiltrate this group as his father is from Eastern Europe." 

So far, so Misha Glenny. Minus the credibility.

"Joe is one of the remaining few journalists committed to the ethos of investigative journalism – to uncover the truth using all methods in spite of the risks."

As long as "all methods" means "getting handjobs," yeah? Has someone alerted Leveson yet?

Our Joe may be green, but by gum, he knows a good story when he sees it.

"I'm onto a new story with the break-in thing--absolute page one stuff-- ... It's gonna be bigger than Watergate!"

All the President's Men this ain't but please, tell me more, maybe I've missed what's so exciting here...

"Guys get into arguments over nothing and before you know it, one of them is dead. They're shooting each other all the time."

Oh. Never mind then.

More dialogue WTF: 

"Fats had killed a made man, elite Mafioso."

Now, I may be no expert - I'm only half-Eastern European and half-Sicilian, so what the hell do I know? I'm pretty sure - not 100% certain, but pretty sure - that Eastern European gangsters are not, kind of by definition, "mafiosi". 

Enter Natasha. Nats here is our hooker with a heart of gold. You can tell because she's giving Joe a rubdown and guided tour of her singing ability by page 2. She sounds all sorts of awesome:

"Natasha left her country in Eastern Europe to find a rich man in the West. Unfortunately she was conned and is now serving as a prostitute."

Serving as a prostitute? Bitch, I'm a sergeant in the Hooker Corps!

On a more serious note, though, sounds to me she found exactly what she was looking for and needs to reframe this new arrangement not as a problem but as a solution. A rich man in the West. Only, you know, an hour at a time. Why put up with a guy full-time when you can get cash in hand and have the odd evening to yourself? Hell to the yes.

The best part about Natasha is she speaks like a minor character from Isaac Bashevis Singer:

"When I was 15, my parents married me, against my will, to a man aged 35, whom I did not love. So started my miseries."

Feel free to imagine the sad violin here. Or alternatively some jaunty squeezebox à la Gypsy Weddings. Your call.

But wait! There's more. So much more:

"Smart Nick is Downtown Joey's son and a possible successor to him but first he must learn the business. "

Unlike the writer, this may entail more work for Smart Nick than merely watching The Wire with the sound turned off. I like this Nick fellow, not least because

"He has developed an upper class Oxford accent..."

I didn't know the university had its own accent! Learn something new every day. Smart Nick deploys his hard-won knowledge of Received Oxford Pronunciation on such gems as: "Next to him dancing with sexy girl is Jim Whip, number 2 top porno star in UK."

If Mark-Francis Vandelli doesn't get this role it will be a crime against Thespis.

Oh wait, there is an Italian in the film! His name is 'Sammy Cigar'. We Italians are all called things like that, you know. We're also orange puppets made of sponge who sit around eating Dolmio every Saturday night with Mamma. He owns a nightclub too? You could have knocked me over with a feather.

The there's Leo, the Obligatory American.

"Leo was born into music, although his family were not in the industry he managed to make the right connections,  is in his early forties and is American. His break came when he graduated from Harvard in Art History and dated the daughter of the Chairman of Warner Music. He has managed huge acts, is a millionaire, loves young women (18+) and sometimes dabbles in cocaine."

The actual Chairman of Warner Music, Lyor Cohen, has a daughter all right. She turns 10 this year. Way to score, Leo!

The film's website helpfully informs us that 

This story is fictional and is not intended to be racist or to offend anyone. 

It's not intended to be racist. Like, I didn't intend to steal that cupcake, it just ended up stuffed in my gob unpaid for, officer. (For what it's worth I'm not offended. I'm more bemused and slightly mystified but not actually offended. Kosovan gangsters from Louisiana may feel differently.) Also:

All characters are fictional and any resemblance to any person/event or situation whether present or in the past is coincidental.

Don't worry, hon. There is absolutely no danger anyone is going to mistake these characters for real people.

Do you know what the script reminds me of? This date I had years ago. I met up with a guy from Guardian Soulmates who told me he was an aspiring novelist who eschewed a career as a postdoc chemist for two (yes! two!) masters' courses in writing. He then proceeded to tell me in much detail about this amazing book of his that was mysteriously unpublished. It involved a super-secret society at Oxford whose bitch-queen was a virginal descendant of the real Royal Family (whoever they are) and gets deflowered by her super-secret fraternity at the end. He saw Emily Blunt in the lead role for the film adaptation. There wasn't a second date.
 
I could go on. But I won't. Because I'm not even past page 12 yet and you probably have other things to do today. Suffice it to say that I actually hope a rubbish trafficking hype film with characters like "Detective Inkling" and "Chinese Man" gets made. If only so I can MST-3K the shit out of it. And let's be honest, if I had no conscience and no qualms about not paying the talent I would be kicking myself right now for not coming up with this lucrative wheeze first.

In fact I actually hope this is the product of some some hard-eyed cynic grabbing what cash he can out of the system before the whole trafficking panic collapses in a heap of invented moral scares and bullshit statistics. In which case, mate, I owe you an apology and a drink.

Listen to the podcast for November 11, 2011 insertAdjacentHTML Mozilla has a nice overview of insertAdjacentHTML, a DOM function that's intended to supplement innerHTML. It's a bit less destructive and plays nicely with content that's already in the DOM. For instance, whereas innerHTML completely blows away whatever is inside the ...

McLaren could be set to win their first constructors' title for 25 years this season. Here is how close they've come over that time.

Liam Lawson is unhappy the British national anthem is played when McLaren win. But would the New Zealand anthem really be more correct?

Uno de los primeros pasos que se suelen dar ante una factura impagada es preguntarle, amablemente, al cliente por el importe debido. Esto se suele hacer, habitualmente, por teléfono o por escrito usando el correo electrónico. Sin embargo, cuando a pesar de nuestra insistencia la factura sigue pendiente llega un momento en el que tenemos […]

Si utilizás el buscador Google Chrome podés encontrar herramientas de mucho provecho. Acabo de toparme con la extensión en línea de Academic Earth, que ofrece el acceso gratuito a videos de los cursos y conferencias de las universidades más destacadas de Estados Unidos y en las materias más diversas. ENJOY KNOWLEDGE!

 
Podrás presenciar conferencias como, por ejemplo,
Language in the Brain, Mouth and the Hands
By Paul Bloom - Yale

L'ecrivain d'origine syrienne a anime dans des colleges franciliens des ateliers organises pour lutter contre la radicalisation et promouvoir la laicite. Il temoigne.

In this paper, we propose a novel dexterous technique for fast and accurate recognition of online handwritten Kannada and Tamil characters. Based on the primary classifier output and prior knowledge, the best classifier is chosen from set of three classifiers for second stage classification. Prior knowledge is obtained through analysis of the confusion matrix of primary classifier which helped in identifying the multiple sets of confused characters. Further, studies were carried out to check the performance of secondary classifiers in disambiguating among the confusion sets. Using this technique we have achieved an average accuracy of 92.6% for Kannada characters on the MILE lab dataset and 90.2% for Tamil characters on the HP Labs dataset.

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning could highly impact education around the world if the proper Collaborative Learning tools are set in place. In this paper we describe the design of a collaborative learning activity for teaching Chemistry to Chilean students. We describe a PDA-based software tool that allows teachers to create workgroups in their classrooms in order to work on the activity. The developed software tool has three modules: one module for teachers, which runs on a PC and lets them create the required pedagogical material; second, there is a PDA module for students which lets them execute the activity; finally, a third module allows the teacher set workgroups and monitor each workgroup during the activity.

This work presents a first approach to the synthesis of Spanish Sign Language's (LSE) Classifier Constructions (CCs). All current attempts at the automatic synthesis of LSE simply create the animations corresponding to sequences of signs. This work, however, includes the synthesis of the LSE classification phenomena, defining more complex elements than simple signs, such as Classifier Predicates, Inflective CCs and Affixal classifiers. The intelligibility of our synthetic messages was evaluated by LSE natives, who reported a recognition rate of 93% correct answers.