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Teaching, Preaching, Healing

“Teaching, Preaching, Healing,” Ensign, Jan. 2003, 33

New Testament

Teaching, Preaching, Healing

Adapted from an address given at a Church Educational System religious educators conference at Brigham Young University on 8 August 2000.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

We quickly and rightfully think of Christ as a teacher—the greatest teacher who ever lived or ever will live. The New Testament is full of His teachings, His sayings, His sermons, His parables. One way or another, He is a teacher on every page of that book. But even as He taught, He was consciously doing something in addition to that, something that put His teaching in perspective.

Following the Savior’s initial call to those first disciples (not yet Apostles), the work began. This is what Matthew says: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matt. 4:23; emphasis added).

Now, the teaching and the preaching we know and would expect. But we may not be quite as prepared to see healing in the same way. Yet from this earliest beginning, from the first hour, healing is mentioned almost as if it were a synonym for teaching and preaching. At least there is a clear relationship among the three. In fact, the passage that follows says more about the healing than the teaching or the preaching.

Matthew continues: “And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them” (Matt. 4:24).

What then follows is the masterful Sermon on the Mount, six and a half pages that would take six and a half years to teach properly, I suppose. But the moment that sermon was over, the Savior came down from the mountain and was healing again. In rapid succession He healed a leper, the centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother-in-law, then a group described only as “many that were possessed with devils” (Matt. 8:16). In short, it says, He “healed all that were sick” (Matt. 8:16).

Driven to cross the Sea of Galilee by the crowds that swarmed around Him, He subsequently cast devils out of two who were dwelling in the Gadarene tombs and then sailed back to “his own city” (Matt. 9:1), where He healed a man confined to bed with palsy, healed a woman with a 12-year issue of blood (in what I think is one of the sweetest and most remarkable moments in all of the New Testament), and raised the ruler’s daughter from the dead.

Then He restored the sight of two blind men, followed by the casting out of a devil which had robbed a man of the ability to speak. That is a quick summary of the first six chapters in the New Testament devoted to Christ’s ministry. Then this verse. See if it has an echo for you: “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matt. 9:35; emphasis added).

That is, of course, except for a few words, exactly the verse we read five chapters earlier. Then this:

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:36–38).

With that He called the Twelve and charged them with this directive. “Go,” He said, “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:6–8; emphasis added).

We know the Savior to be the Master Teacher. He is that and more. And when He says the bulk of the harvest yet lies before us and that there are far too few laborers, we immediately think of the missionaries and others who need to teach. But the call is for a certain kind of teacher, a teacher who heals in the process.

Now, let me make myself absolutely clear. By “healing,” as I have been speaking of it, I am not talking about formal use of the priesthood or administration to the sick or any such thing as that. That is not the role of those called as teachers in our Church organizations.

But I believe our teaching can lead to healing of the spiritual kind. I cannot believe that so much of what Matthew wrote could be focused on the context of the Savior’s ministry to distressed, troubled, distraught people if it were for no purpose. As with the Master, wouldn’t it be wonderful to measure the success of our teaching by the healing that takes place in the lives of others?

Let me be a little more specific. As you teach, rather than just giving a lesson, please try a little harder to help that spiritually blind basketball star really see, or that spiritually deaf homecoming queen really hear, or the spiritually lame student body president really walk. Could we try a little harder to fortify others so powerfully that whatever temptations the devil throws at them, they will be able to withstand and thus truly in that moment be free from evil? Could we try a little harder to teach so powerfully and so spiritually that we really help that individual who walks alone, who lives alone, who weeps in the dark of the night?

“Therefore, What?”

Perhaps a lesson from life in the Quorum of the Twelve will help me say what I want to say on this point and avoid any confusion on your part.

President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and himself a master teacher, has a question he often asks when we have made a presentation or given some sort of exhortation to one another in the Twelve. He looks up as if to say, “Are you through?” and then says to the speaker (and, by implication, to the rest of the group), “Therefore, what?”

“Therefore, what?” I think that is what the Savior answered day in and day out as an inseparable element of His teaching and preaching. His sermons and exhortations were to no avail if the actual lives of His disciples did not change.

“Therefore, what?” You and I know that too many people have not made the connection between what they say they believe and how they actually live their lives.

Pray that your teaching will bring change. Pray that, like the lyrics of a now-forgotten song, your lessons will literally cause someone to “straighten up and fly right” (Nat King Cole, “Straighten Up and Fly Right” [1943]). We want them straight, and we want them right. We want them blessed, happy in this life, and saved in the world to come.

God Is in Charge

The book of Acts, which introduces the post-Resurrection portion of the New Testament, is technically called “The Acts of the Apostles.” That is an important ecclesiastical idea in the book, namely that the Apostles were ordained representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and were thus authorized to continue to lead the Church in His name.

But consider what they faced. Consider the plight, the fear, the confusion, the devastation facing the members of the new little Christian Church after Christ was crucified. They may have understood something of what was happening, but they couldn’t have understood all of it. The people must have been very fearful and very confused, and the Brethren had their hands full trying to provide leadership.

Not surprisingly, from the outset (at least from the first verse of the book of Acts) the declaration was that the Church would continue to be divinely led, not mortally led. And that was important for the people to hear in that terrible hour of confusion and fear. Indeed, a more complete title for the book of Acts could appropriately be something like “The Acts of the Resurrected Christ Working through the Holy Spirit in the Lives and Ministries of His Ordained Apostles.” Now, having said that, you can see why someone voted for the shorter title—but my suggested title is more accurate! Listen to Luke’s opening lines:

“The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

“Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1–2; emphasis added).

The direction of the Church was the same. The location of the Savior had been altered, but the direction and leadership of the Church were exactly the same. Then, having made that introductory point, we get manifestations of the Lord’s power through the Holy Ghost at every turn. The first teaching of the resurrected Christ to the Twelve in the book of Acts is that they “shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5) and that “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

After He ascended to heaven before their very eyes, Peter got the remaining members of the Church together—all 120 of them. (Can you see what an impact these troubles and opposition had had on their numbers?) One hundred and twenty people gathered, and Peter said, “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas” (Acts 1:16; emphasis added). In filling Judas’s vacancy in the Twelve, they prayed exactly the way the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency pray today: “Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these … thou hast chosen” (Acts 1:24; emphasis added). And Matthias was called.

But that first chapter which turns everyone heavenward, so clearly dramatizing the divine guidance that would continue to direct the Church, is only preparation for chapter 2. In those passages, the very name Pentecost comes into the Christian vocabulary as synonymous with singular spiritual manifestations and a divine outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the people. Revelation came from heaven with the sound “as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house” (Acts 2:2), and it filled the brethren. “There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. … And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak … as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:3–4).

Peter, as chief Apostle and President of the Church, stood and acknowledged this outpouring. He quoted Joel, saying that God would in the last days “pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

“And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17–18).

Peter continued: “Ye men of Israel [he’s speaking to the larger congregation], hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you … this Jesus hath God raised up … by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2:22, 32–33; emphasis added).

It is a magnificent passage. Those not yet baptized, moved by this Spirit, asked what they should do. Peter told them to be baptized for the remission of sins and to “receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38), and 3,000 of them did so. Later, when the lame man was raised to health on the steps of the temple and the crowd thought Peter and John had done something wonderful, Peter chastised them, said it was not mortal power or any holiness from the disciples that made the man to walk, but rather that of Jesus, whom these people of Jerusalem had “delivered up” and “killed” (Acts 3:13, 15). He then testified that Jesus was still leading the Church through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit and would continue to do so until He came again in “the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21).

When 5,000 more people joined the Church, the local Pharisees and Sadducees were stunned. They demanded to know how all of this was being done. Peter gave the classic answer you must always give others. “Filled with the Holy Ghost,” he declared that it was done in and “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 4:8, 10; emphasis added). Christ was not only directing the actions of His Apostles through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit; He was also speaking through them by the same Spirit. This is a lesson about the governance of the Church of Jesus Christ, both ancient and modern.

The Father and the Son direct this work still, having Their impact upon Church leaders, teachers, and individuals through the means of the Holy Ghost. And it is through that same instrumentality that we must have our impact upon those we teach.

Teach by the Spirit

Please teach by the Holy Spirit. If we do not teach that way, then by scriptural definition we are teaching “some other way” (D&C 50:17). And any other way “is not of God” (D&C 50:20). Give your students the opportunity for a spiritual experience in every way you can. That is what the New Testament is trying to do for you. That is the message of the Gospels. It is the message of the book of Acts. It is the message of all scripture. Those spiritual experiences recorded in those sacred writings will help keep others on track and in the Church in our day, just as such experiences did for those members in New Testament times.

The scriptures say, “The Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach” (D&C 42:14). This teaches not just that you won’t teach or that you can’t teach or that it will be pretty shoddy teaching. No, it is stronger than that. It is the imperative form of the verb. “Ye shall not teach.” Put a thou in there for ye and you have Mount Sinai language. This is a commandment. These are God’s students, not yours, just like it is Christ’s Church, not Peter’s or Paul’s or Joseph’s or Brigham’s.

Take heart. Let the Spirit work in you in ways that you may not be privileged to see or even recognize. More will go on than you think if you are honest in your heart and trying to live as purely as you can. And when you get to those supreme and nearly impossible-to-teach moments of Gethsemane and Calvary and the Ascension, I would ask that you remember, among many things, the following two applications you could make.

Christ Remained True

First, in His unspeakably wrenching and nature-shattering pain, Christ remained true.

Matthew said He was “sorrowful and very heavy … exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matt. 26:37–38). He went alone into the garden, intentionally left the Brethren outside to wait. He had to do this alone. He dropped to His knees and then, the Apostle says, He “fell on his face” (Matt. 26:39). Luke says He was “in an agony” and prayed so earnestly His sweat became “great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Mark says He fell and cried, “Abba, Father.” This is not abstract theology now. This is a Son pleading with His Father, “All things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me” (Mark 14:36).

Who could resist that from any child, especially the perfect Child? “You can do anything. I know You can do anything. Please take this cup from me.”

That whole prayer, Mark noted, was asking that if it were possible, this hour would be stricken from the plan. The Lord said, in effect, “If there is another path, I would rather walk it. If there is any other way—any other way—I will gladly embrace it.” “Let this cup pass from me,” Matthew records (Matt. 26:39). “Remove this cup from me,” records Luke (Luke 22:42). But in the end, the cup did not pass.

In the end, He yielded His will to the will of His Father and said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). That is, for all intents and purposes, the last moment in the divine conversation between Father and Son in Jesus’ mortal ministry. From there on the die had been cast. He would see it through no matter what.

And from that last declaration in the Old World we get this first declaration in the New. To the Nephites gathered at the temple, He would say, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, … the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and … I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Ne. 11:10–11). That is His own introduction of Himself, the declaration He feels will best tell these people who He is.

If you can leave your students with one principal commitment in response to the Savior’s incomparable sacrifice for them, His payment for their transgressions, His sorrow for their sins, leave with them the necessity to obey—to yield in their own difficult domain and hours of decision to “the will of the Father” (3 Ne. 11:11), whatever the cost. They won’t always do that, any better than you and I have been able to do it, but that ought to be their goal; that ought to be their aim. The thing Christ seems most anxious to stress about His mission—beyond the personal virtues, beyond the magnificent sermons, and even beyond the healing—is that He submitted His will to the will of the Father.

We are all willful people too much of the time. Therefore, the message the Savior has for every one of us is that our offering, in similitude of His offering, is a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see 3 Ne. 9:20; D&C 59:8). We must break out of our petty selves and weep for our sins and for the sins of the world. We must plead with others to yield to the Father, to yield to the Son, to yield to the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. Without likening ourselves to Him too much, because it would be sacrilegious to do, please know that the cup that cannot pass is a cup that comes in our life as well as in His. It comes in a much lesser way and to a much lesser degree, but it comes often enough to teach us that we have to obey no matter what.

Christ Knows the Way

The second lesson of the Atonement that I would ask you to remember is related to the first. If those you teach feel that they have somehow made too many mistakes already, if they feel that they live and labor lower than the light of Christ can shine, teach them that God has “a forgiving disposition,” that Christ is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness” (Lectures on Faith [1985], 42). Mercy, with its sister virtues of repentance and forgiveness, is at the very heart of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything in the gospel teaches us that we can change if we really want to, that we can be helped if we truly ask for it, that we can be made whole, whatever the problems of the past.

In spite of life’s tribulations, there is help for all of us on this journey. When Christ bids us to yield, to submit, to obey the Father, He knows how to help us do that. He has walked that way, asking us to do what He has done, but He has made it very much easier for our travel. He knows where the sharp stones and the stumbling blocks lie and where the thorns and the thistles are the most severe. He knows where the path is perilous, and He knows which way to go when the road forks and nightfall comes. He knows that because He has suffered “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind … that he may know … how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12). To succor means “to run to.” I testify that Christ will run to us, and is running even now, if we will but receive the extended arm of His mercy.

When we stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end He is there to save us, and for all this He gave His life. However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world. As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours. Remind others that it is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of His love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice.

These wounds are the principal way we are to recognize Him when He comes. He may invite us forward, as He has invited others, to see and to feel those marks. If not before, then surely at that time, we will remember with Isaiah that it was for us that a God was “despised and rejected … ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” that “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:3, 5).

I love this work. Cherish your opportunity to immerse yourselves this year in the majestic New Testament and in the life of Him of whom it testifies. This is His Church, and we are engaged in a great work with a magnificent privilege to love the scriptures and learn from them and to bear witness to one another that they are true.

Pool of Bethesda, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, © courtesy of Brigham Young University Museum of Art, all rights reserved

Arise and Walk, by Simon Dewey, courtesy of Altus Fine Art, American Fork, Utah

Christ and the Rich Young Ruler, by Heinrich Hofmann

Jesus Healing the Blind, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, courtesy of the National Historic Museum at Frederiksborg in Hillerød, Denmark

The Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, courtesy of the National Historic Museum at Frederiksborg in Hillerød, Denmark

Jairus’s Daughter, by Del Parson

Christ and the Samaritan Woman, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, courtesy of the National Historic Museum at Frederiksborg in Hillerød, Denmark

“Such as I Have Give I Thee,” by Walter Rane; inset: Christ Healing a Blind Man, by Del Parson

The Crucifixion, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, courtesy of the National Historic Museum at Frederiksborg in Hillerød, Denmark

Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofmann


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Cuba’s flag flies in Washington

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Washington, D.C — In a ceremony attended by some 500 invited guests on July 20, the Cuban flag was raised over the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., for the first time since 1961, when U.S. imperialism broke relations between the two countries. Other supporters successfully fought back right-wing forces who tried to disrupt the event.

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, foreign affairs minister of Cuba, told those gathered:

“The flag that we revere … is the same that was hauled down here 54 years ago, which was zealously kept in Florida by a family of liberators and later on by the museum of our eastern city of Las Tunas, as a sort of premonition that this day would certainly come.

“Flying once again in this place is the lone-star flag which embodies the generous blood that was shed, the sacrifices made and the struggle waged for more than 100 years by our people for their national independence and full self-determination, facing the most serious challenges and risks.

“Today we pay homage to all those who died in its defense and renew the commitment of the present generations, fully confident on the newer ones, to serve it with honor. …

“We’ve been able to make it through this date thanks to the firm and wise leadership of Fidel Castro Ruz, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, whose ideas we will always revere with utmost loyalty. … This ceremony has been possible thanks to the free and unshakable will, unity, sacrifice, selflessness, heroic resistance and work of our people, and also the strength of the Cuban Nation and its culture.” (, July 20)

The 30-person delegation from Cuba presented a rich cross section of Cuba’s social accomplishments and included former diplomats, artists, deputies, scientists, educators, athletes, farmers and religious persons. Of special note were scientist Jorge Berlanga, creator of Heberprot P, a treatment for diabetic foot ulcers that can prevent 77 percent of amputations; and Ernesto Freire Cazañas, who heads the International Department of the Cuban Workers Central Union (CTC) and is a Special Olympics star. Many are members of Cuba’s Council of State.

A strong delegation of Cuban-Americans celebrated the opening of the renewed embassy, including more than 80 from Florida. Members of Congress and staff included representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus. Attorneys mingled with activists who contributed decades to defending Cuba’s right to self-determination and sovereignty. Most recently this activity focused on the successful return to Cuba of its defensive state security agents known as the Cuban 5, who had been imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998.

The flag-raising celebration energized momentum to press forward on ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade, returning Guantánamo to Cuba and ending the funding for U.S. “regime change” programs aimed at Cuba.

Cheryl LaBash is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba. She attended the flag-raising ceremony.

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Harambe's strange, surprising second life

Carol Motsinger
Cincinnati Enquirer
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Just days after the death of Harambe the gorilla, the animal re-emerged as an unprecedented online icon.

[This story was republished on the anniversary of Harambe's death, May 28. It originally appeared on May 25, 2017.]

We all know what happened a year ago.

A boy fell into an animal enclosure and a gorilla died. Right here, at our zoo.

But what happened since the shooting of a gorilla named Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo is particularly revealing about us.

And that happened everywhere in this wide world, on the web that connects us all.

The real-life moments of May 28, 2016, incited savage online outrage faster than you can type 140 characters.

In just a few summer days, it began to evolve – or devolve, depending on the type of Twitter feed you subscribe to – into the truly original and outrageous modern marvel it is today.

Born of headlines, Harambe the Hashtag garnered more headlines around the world. Some fact and some fiction. As the months stretched on and the headlines piled up, this virtual existence spilled over into the real world.

We saw Harambe on signs waved in the stands during college football games and on minor league team jerseys on a hockey rink. We heard hecklers shout it from the gallery at the PGA Championship, Dave Chappelle quipped about it on the Saturday Night Life stage and a presidential candidate brought it up on the campaign trail.

This long, wild existence is unusual.

Google Trends data proves that.

We've typed "harambe " into that search window many times and over a long period of time, with four distinct searching spikes from late May to early February.

However, #Harambe began as so many other things do online today: Social media outrage. That's tied to the first search peak you see in the Google graph.

That weekend, everyone everywhere was suddenly an expert about everything – parenting, animal rights, zoos, the food chain. Life and death.

That reaction makes sense to Jay Hathaway. His job is to write about the internet for the internet.

"Harambe’s death started as a tragic news story, a bad situation with no good solution available," said Hathaway, a senior writer for the Daily Dot. "It was an ethical conundrum, and people would have been outraged at the child’s parents or at the zoo no matter how it was handled."

Outrage is usually disposable, said Julia Turner, editor in chief of Slate online magazine and a regular on Slate's Culture Gabfest podcast.

It moves in a predictable pattern, she noted.

Turner sees it this way: Things happen. Objection happens. Objection then goes viral. But that usually is over in 24 hours.

"Whenever a large group has an emotional reaction to a tragedy like Harambe’s death, meme kids will find a mocking, ironic way to react to that tragedy," Hathaway explained. "Some of it comes from a teenage lack of empathy, and some of it comes from feeling bad but not having a socially acceptable outlet for their emotions."

And with #Harambe, the backlash to the backlash was weird and ironic. Surrealist and nihilist. Funny and not funny, lasting far longer than anyone could have expected.

And then funny because it's not funny – like something so bad it was good again. Think B-movie cult classics. Junk food. Yacht rock.

"Online, Harambe was jokingly elevated to the status of a hero or deity," Hathaway said. "In 2016, celebrating him became a kind of game, and dropping his name online was an in-joke that could mark someone as part of the meme community."

America's (online) sweetheart

Let's talk more about that. Harambe is, after all, the No. 1 U.S. meme of last year, according to Google Trends. That basically means that people, all over the country, searched for that meme more than any other meme in 2016.

Harambe, by the way, didn't make the cut for the Google Trends news events section. (The Olympics earned the top spot in that chart.)

A meme is pretty much anything – a photo, video, text, whatever new thing is cooking in Silicon Valley right now – that makes a lot of people LOL.

Users will often alter and imitate the concept each time the meme is shared on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and so on. And it has to be shared a lot – and quickly – to achieve meme status.

Adam Downer knows about memes. He literally works for the website Know Your Meme, an encyclopedic record of internet culture.

At the core, all memes, including the Harambe ones, are about "social capital and a way to spend time online," Downer said.

The Harambe meme first looked like photoshopped images of the gorilla with celebrities who died around that time. And there seemed to be a lot of those high-profile passings then.

"2016 was a year for coping with death, and people coped with Harambe’s death by putting him into a fictional pantheon with other fallen heroes like David Bowie and Prince," Hathaway said. "He got to ride their superstar coattails into heaven."

A month after his death, #Harambe continued to morph from sadness, grief and outrage to something else. People rewrote lyrics of popular songs with Harambe infused or inspired lyrics. (Even Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, an actual writer of popular songs, joined in.)

"Harambe was not funny to begin with," said Clayton Purdom, the internet culture editor for the A.V. Club. "But it became funny – in quotation marks – through the sheer force of the internet's will."

News events don't normally get meme-d. "I would say there are jokes about events, but they don't take over the events themselves," Downer explained.  "Harambe became shorthand for I want to show that I am funny, but I am not going to write a joke."

There was also this certain trend from early July that propelled #Harambe to a new social media stratosphere.

It's a hashtag that we can't print here – #-----outforHarambe.

Purdom calls this unprintable thing a "really short, pretty solid, self-contained internet joke."

"It's totally absurd, surrealist, nihilist humor," he said. Those four words emerged as the catchphrase for the ironic Harambe joke, too.

"The really aggressively absurdist anti-memes are shorthand for people online," Purdom noted. "It’s a secret handshake."

People are mean

In August, the aggressively absurd mutated into straight-up aggressive. Harambe sympathizers hacked the official Twitter accounts of thezoo and Cincinnati Zoo director, Thane Maynard.

These attacks coincided with the "Harambe" search peak on the Google Trends graph.

Yes, that means the search numbers exceeded interest than those seen during the actual incident.

That data means we cared more about news about the internet than actual online reports of a news event.

That same month, others sharpened #Harambe into a ruthless weapon.

It punctuated the vile takeover of actress Leslie Jones's website: Hackers embedded that video of the gorilla and the boy at the very top of her page.

That is just the most famous example of racist #Harambe attacks.

"There wasn’t anything inherently racist about the Harambe meme, but there’s a white supremacist underbelly to a lot of meme communities, and they were happy to use the ape for their own purposes," Hathaway explained.

Hashtag as stand-in for emotion

#Harambe was now everywhere.

Everyone was using it for everything. So it was beginning to mean nothing.

In November, #Harambe met the real 800-pound gorilla online last year: The presidential election.

He earned 5 percent in a real presidential poll before Nov. 8.  And after the election, there were widely circulated stories that thousands voted for him for president.

There is actually no way to actually confirm write-in ballot totals. But the rumor still prompted a third, small spike in "harambe" Google searches that month.

"The joke had gotten so big that it started influencing other areas of society," Downer said.

It's rare that meme goes mainstream, he noted.

Pepe the Frog also made that leap, but that might be the only other one, he said. (Google that if you don't know. That's a whole other story.)

But why did that happen to #Harambe?

"It got sucked into the weird insanity of the present era," Downer added.

Hathaway sees something else. And it's a factor that has never changed in the last year.

"When that kid fell into his pen, a sad, inevitable chain of events was set in motion, and it made people feel powerless," he said.

People coped online in myriad ways, blaming and the shaming, mocking and laughing.

"And Harambe really was a fun meme, at least at the beginning," he said. "How else do you cope with something so awful?"

Will something ridiculous work? That's what you'll find in the final bump in "harambe" searches, back in early February.

Someone sold a Cheeto -- one flaming hot Cheeto -- that looked like eerily like Harambe on eBay. For almost $100,000. Yes, you read that correctly. There are five zeroes there.

An eBay auction for a Harambe-shaped Cheetos snack.

The joke, however, might be on us. Since the shooting, social media has since lost whatever innocence it had left, Hathaway said.

The internet is arguably more politically divided and vicious than ever. And meme creators "are clustering in forums that reinforce their own political views," Hathaway said.

Love it or hate it, a whole lot of people experienced, engaged #Harambe in last year. There was something familiar that pulled us closer.

It's a sounds a bit like the English translation of "harambe."

It's a Swahili word that means working together.

Sharing, too.

Enquirer reporter Cameron Knight contributed.

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How to Design & Build a Successful IoT Framework Architecture

The internet of things introduces remarkable opportunities for organizations. It’s possible to connect devices, machines, physical objects and people in ways that produce exponential gains. Yet, sorting through all the technology options and potential business process improvements can be daunting.

“There are many potential directions to take and many possibilities to consider,” states Debbie Krupitzer, digital manufacturing and industrial IoT lead at business and IT consulting firm Capgemini.

To be sure, a CIO must play a central role in designing and building a viable IoT framework, selecting technologies that deliver the necessary performance and flexibility, and ensuring that the organization can actually put data to work and create real-world value. The end goal isn’t simply to introduce a flashy new feature or cool app; it’s to drive systemic business improvements through smart factories, more efficient supply chains, and innovative consumer products and services that redefine a business or an industry.

The true worth of the IoT is that it creates a closed loop between the physical world and digital world. “It’s a way to collect more granular data from objects, communicate with them, process and analyze information, and gain a deeper set of insights,” says Alex Blanter, principal at consulting firm PwC.

The result is an uptick in real-time data, distributed data and multiparted data, as well as a decrease in controlled data. “All of this has a direct impact on IT organizations and the business,” Blanter says. “The ability to source, translate and process this data determines whether an initiative succeeds or fails.”

Of course, it’s crucial to understand how an enterprise can apply the IoT to various business and IT challenges. Capgemini’s Krupitzer says that the IoT comprises four distinct pillars: the connected factory, which focuses on internal efficiencies; the industrial IoT, which encompasses product and service lifecycle management across a supply chain and beyond; connected places that create the touchpoints; and connected consumer products and services, including sensors in everything from toasters to dog collars.

The common denominator? “These systems introduce real-time monitoring and feedback,” she says.

Focusing Capital and Resources

Because the IoT represents a broad swath of technologies that span a vast array of business processes, there are many directions an organization can take. The question is: How does an organization build a business framework around the IoT? How can a CIO decide where to focus capital and resources for maximum gains?

Krupitzer says that it is important to “begin at the business model” level. “You must consider the business you are in, what organizations you deal with, and how intelligence and value can result from connected objects, devices, machines and other things,” she says. “It’s all about impact, ROI and how the IoT can change a process or an entire business.”

For many organizations, a journey to the IoT begins in the manufacturing environment, Blanter points out. An organization can equip machines, devices, goods and other items with sensors and—within an environment totally under its control—experiment, pilot, test and develop connected systems.

As proof points and ROI become clearer, an enterprise can expand on the IoT initiative. This may include rolling it out to partners, throughout the supply chain, and pushing the IoT into products and services that reach consumers. Because every IoT strategy and project is unique, and the nature and volume of data may vary, there’s no cookie-cutter approach. “It’s a dynamic bidirectional environment,” she says.

Samuel Greengard
Samuel Greengard writes about business, technology and other topics. His book, The Internet of Things (MIT Press) was released in the spring of 2015.

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Healthcare Case Study

Customer Type Healthcare Service Group
Customer Sector Healthcare
Source Storage IBM FAStT
Target Storage NetApp
Number of Hosts  7
Host Types Windows
Host Applications Clustered File Servers
Replication Type Remote
Number of DMS and model 2x DMS8000
Insertion Method Host Side
Case Study Healthcare 01 Thumbnail

  • Migrating Windows 2003 Server with dynamic volumes to Windows Server 2012

  • Migrating from a New Mexico data center to a Texas data center

  • New Mexico data center used FC, while Texas used iSCSI

  • Migration and cutover were divided into four “waves”

  • DMS Test View capability was used to validate solution and procedure for importing dynamic disks to Windows Server 2012

  • DMS ease-of-use enabled partner to perform migration on their own schedule after a few hours or remote product training

  • Migration took only four weeks from appliance deployment to migration completion

  • Cutover of hosts were all successful on the first attempt

The Story

This healthcare service provider was refreshing its storage from IBM’s SAN Volume Controller (SVC) to NetApp block-based storage and needed to migrate their data remotely from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Houston, Texas. The service provider had engaged an outside technology company to manage its storage network and the migration project.

Initially, there was pushback from one of the storage architects at the technology company during a Cirrus Data demo of DMS. The storage architect did not believe that Cirrus Data could perform the migration as easily as described. Due to this doubt, this data migration project began as a proof-of-concept for the technology company. One of the main requirements for the migration that caused the storage architect to be concerned over using DMS was the issue of migrating Windows 2003 Dynamic Volumes to Windows Server 2012. After Cirrus Data received validation from Microsoft that this would be possible using the DMS appliances, the head of the technology company’s storage solutions division allowed Cirrus Data to prove the effectiveness of its migration technology by performing a POC in the customer’s environment.

Throughout the process, they saw the exceptional value in using DMS for future migrations at other customer engagements.

Within weeks of Cirrus Data shipping the DMS appliances to the customer site, the migration was executed flawlessly by the technology company with limited training or assistance from Cirrus Data’s Partner Enablement team. The project was completed ahead of schedule, and the company was so impressed with the DMS solution as well as Cirrus Data’s dedicated support throughout the project that they executed a purchase order for the POC equipment immediately. Additionally, they signed up as a Cirrus Data Partner. Throughout the process, they saw the exceptional value in using DMS for future migrations at other customer engagements. This is a testament to the power of the DMS and to Cirrus Data’s commitment to its partners’ and customers’ success.

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Concrete : Features and interesting facts

The beginnings of such material as concrete mortar, as we know it today, were still around 6000 BC. According to various sources and conclusions of scientists, concrete appeared on the banks of the Danube, in the area of the territory of modern Serbia. It is there that concrete takes its original development path.

Interesting facts about concrete

Many people underestimate this building material, however, one cannot say that it does not belong to our common history. Thanks to this particular material, as well as the long path of its formation and development, today we can use the composition in the construction industry, thanks to which we can significantly save not only money but also time.

What is concrete?

This is a type of building material that is obtained in the process of hardening a concrete mixture. The composition of this material includes elements such as water, sand, crushed stone, cement. One of the most important indicators of concrete quality is its flexural and compressive strength. It is by these indicators that you can determine whether concrete is of high quality or not.

Also Read: Cement vs Concrete

Contemporary concrete

If you plunge into history, then after the Western Roman Empire fell, all the recipes for this building mixture were lost. Speaking about more modern types of concrete, one cannot fail to mention the recipe, which was discovered in 1844. It is he who is the progenitor of our modern material.

Thanks to the active development of technologies in the field of construction, today this composition is used very widely. For example, not only houses and industrial complexes are erected from it, but also roads, bridges, decorative elements for country houses, and much more. All this allows us to significantly save time for the construction of an object, as well as money that may be needed for this.

If you are thinking of what to build a house from - from a bar or from concrete, then it is worth considering the purpose and option of using this building. Construction technology, time, money, method - all this will be different for wood and concreteHowever, do not ignore the fact that the concrete structure will last much longer..

Interesting facts about concrete

   Fact number 1

     Ancient concrete was different in composition from modern concrete. The main difference was that there was no cement in it. The role of the binder was replaced by clay, gypsum, or lime.

    Fact number 2

     The earliest find made of concrete is a hut found on the banks of the Danube, built from a mixture of sand, gravel, water, and cement. It was supposedly built in 5600 BC.

     Fact number 3

     In the III-II centuries BC. the ancient Romans knew how to make hydro-concrete that solidifies in water. It was made from lime and volcanic ash. A more outstanding and simple invention before Christ's time, perhaps, was not known.

     Fact number 4

     Despite the fact that concrete began to be used in ancient Egypt, housing from it was not built for a very long time. The first to try out a concrete dwelling was none other than the great inventor Thomas Edison. Only after this began the widespread use of this technology in the construction real estate market.

     Fact number 5

     It is a well-known fact that the roads made America. But few people know that the famous American highways are mostly covered with concrete! Their total length is about 90,000 km.

Also Read: Thumb Rules for Civil Engineers

     Fact number 6

     Concrete roads last more than 2 times longer than asphalt roads! 20-30 years versus 8-12 years of paved roads.

     Fact number 7

     It may sound incredible, but some types of concrete float well in water. They are mainly used to create floating docks on the water.

    Fact number 8

     Concrete is the most demanded building material on Earth. About 6 billion cubic meters of concrete are produced annually, which means that for every inhabitant of the planet there is 1 cubic meter of concrete per year.

     Fact number 9

     Due to its color, concrete reflects 50% more sunlight than asphalt. It is surprising, but in cities built up with concrete houses, the air temperature is up to 70% lower than in areas with asphalt pavement.

     Fact number 10

     A concrete capable of transmitting light was invented! While maintaining all their qualities, houses made of such material look lighter and seem to float in the air. This concrete is expected to enter the market soon.

Concrete piles

Advantages of Concrete:

  1. Concrete ingredients are readily available in most locations. Indeed, cement, sand, crushed stone, water, and plasticizers are the main materials for the preparation of a concrete mixture, which solidifies, turns into solid stone. These are simple and well-known materials that are available in any region.
  2. The cost of concrete maintenance is practically negligible.
  3.  The strength of the concrete is very high. The strength of concrete is the most important characteristic that determines the properties and performance of concrete structures and elements of building structures. The grade of concrete indicates its compressive strength and is expressed in kg / cm2 (kilogram-force per cm2). It is designated by the letter M, and the number after the letter indicates the average, approximate value of strength. In construction, concretes of the following brands are most often used: M100, M150, M200, M250, M300, M350, M400, M450, M500.
  4. High level of frost resistance.
  5.  Concrete makes a building fire safe due to its non-combustible nature. It is one of the fire-resistant materials. Due to the relatively low thermal conductivity of concrete, short-term exposure to high temperatures does not have time to cause significant heating of the concrete. Aerated concrete can be used for thermal insulation at a temperature of the insulated surface up to +400 C.
  6. The deterioration of concrete is not noticeable with age.
  7. Possibility of manufacturing large-sized industrial productsMany materials, due to the peculiarities of their physical structure and properties, do not allow the manufacture of building products of a large size.
  8. Concrete can be used to manufacture load-bearing, enclosing, and heat-insulating products and structures.

Read: What is Cement Mortar?

Disadvantages of Concrete:

Like any material, concrete has several disadvantages.

  • Concrete is less flexible than other materials.
  • Concrete may contain soluble salts. Soluble salts cause discoloration.

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from Nursery to Sixth Form

Mr Spanswick's Words Lent 6

I have decided to let the news talk you through the exploits of the week, and there has been plenty to celebrate. Please see our news section for what we've been up to.

As I write this the snow is falling so I am hoping that when you read this everyone has managed to get home safely.

Have a wonderful half term break wherever you may be, and I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and relaxed on Monday 20 February.

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Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Industrial Biotechnology

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and NPTEL via Swayam

The course aims to provide fundamental insights to exploit enzymes and microbes for the manufacturing of products which have a huge industrial significance. It uniquely blends the science and engineering with various biochemical processes to obtain products of diverse fields such as chemicals, food, bioenergy etc. The course introduces bioreactors, its types, operation methods and provides an experimental demonstration of the same. Strategies to obtain higher yields, design of the reactors and production of biofuels from microbes are thoroughly explained. Students of various disciplines such as biotechnology, chemical engineering, food engineering, and pharmaceutical industries can be benefitted from the course as it discusses the existing bioprocess applications such as wine and cheese making, antibiotics and vaccines etc. The course majorly focusses on the applications and allows students to gain practical knowledge rather than mere theory. Major bottlenecks for the operation of biochemical industries will be discussed.INTENDED AUDIENCE:Biotechnology Chemical Engineering Biochemical Engineering Food Technology Environmental Engineering Applied Microbiology Pharmacy.PRE-REQUISITES: Knowledge in microbiology Biochemistry and mathematics in 10+2 levelINDUSTRY SUPPORT: LIST OF COMPANIES/INDUSTRY THAT WILL RECOGNIZE/VALUE THIS ONLINE COURSE DuPont India IFB Agra Industry IOC; ONGC Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Biocon United beverages.

Week 1: Introduction, Microbes and enzymes of industrial importanceWeek 2: Different types of bioreactors and bioreactor design
Week 3: Microbial growth, substrate degradation and product formation kinetics, Tutorial 1
Week 4: Instrumentation, Sterilization of air, media and reactor
Week 5: Upstream and Downstream processing
Week 6: Production of Oxy Chemicals I: Tax and non-tax alcohol, Brewing industry, Tutorial 2Week 7: Production of Oxy Chemicals II: Wine making, Vinegar and citric acid production, Tutorial 3
Week 8: Production of Oxy Chemicals III: Antibiotics: Penicillin; Streptomycin
Week 9: High fructose corn syrup, Cheese making, and Single cell production
Week 10: Vaccines production and Metal leaching
Week 11: Bioenergy- Gaseous fuels: Biohydrogen, Biomethane and Microbial fuel cell; Liquid fuels: Bioethanol, Biodiesel and BiobutanolWeek 12: Aerobic and Anaerobic wastewater treatment processes,Tutorial 4

Taught by

Prof. Debabrata Das

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"The Last Lions" Wins Big at Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

Botswana Conservationists - Dereck and Beverly Joubert "The Last Lions" - Botswana Conservation
Botswana conservationists and filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert attended the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, where the couple's feature film "The Last Lions" (produced by National Geographic Entertainment) won the top honors in three categories. "To bring a film to the big screen and show Botswana and its cats in this light is a privilege. It gives us a bigger platform to discuss the plight of big cats and to talk about the National Geographic's 'Cause an Uproar' campaign, which highlights the decline of all cat species. We're particularly pleased to announce that National Geographic has agreed to recycle all the profits from ticket sales into big cat conservation," said Dereck Joubert.

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How to Double Your Car’s Fuel Economy

Are you getting fed up with keep pulling to a petrol station? Are you scared to get on your automobile because of fuel expenses? Do you want to help the environment by running your auto efficiently? Reducing fuel consumption is easier than you think. The best part of it is that when you discover the ways to reduce costs you can carry on the same way and keep saving money.

Owning a vehicle is quite expensive but most people don’t realize it. Not many people sit down and calculate how much fuel, repairs and insurance premiums cost them for a year. They probably know that it is expensive to pay for all those items. They think for a moment and it gets forgotten again. For example, according to, more than half of motorists can save money on their car insurance premiums. But about seventy percent of policyholders don’t get alternative quotes when their renewals come.

We are all worried about petrol costs and problems with greenhouse gas emissions. So here are a few ways of reducing your fuel usage and looking after your wallet and environment.

Driving Less

If you look at the cars on the road you will see that most of them are occupied by single person. We don’t even consider giving each other a ride anymore. It just doesn’t make sense to start from the same neighbourhood and reach to same destination with so many different cars. Carpooling is a viable and easy option for many of us.

Carpooling is a great way to reduce your travel-related carbon footprint

Second alternative is public transport. Particularly in large cities there are plenty alternatives to driving. Taking trains and subway to work is generally the fastest and least stressful way of arriving to work. These cities have two other problems that are not fun to deal with. They are parking and congestion. Where possible you should consider taking public transport. They are likely to work out cheaper than driving. Also, you can get discounts on your auto insurance if you drive less.

Buy an Economical Car

You really don’t need to alter the type of car you want much today as most types of automobiles come with different sizes of engines. If everyone were to lower their engine size one level down the savings would be in the billions of dollars and the environmental effect would be tremendous. Besides, why would anyone need a V8 engine in the city?

When you choose an economical automobile saving money on petrol is an easier task. You will be driving the same mileage and in the same way but pay a lot less. Larger cars with bigger engines will naturally burn more gas and you should think about it when you are buying them. If you must have them you can probably make your second car a hybrid to even things out. Think about other costs associated with larger and more powerful vehicles as well like higher insurance premiums and maintenance costs.

Vehicle Maintenance

Well maintained automobiles burn less petrol. When you regularly get oil and filters changed you make it easier on the engine that it doesn’t have to work hard to take you around. There are plenty lubricants in most towns and they can perform the basic check-up, engine tuning and maintenance for you at very reasonable prices.

Correct tire pressure is another area that helps you save money. When your tyres are well inflated the contact with asphalt is reduce and fuel economy is increased. Furthermore, you can detect any mechanical problems if your car is regularly inspected by a mechanic. A small issue can easily cause bigger repair problem in your car that cost a lot more money.

This is a term used to describe driving as efficiently as possible so that you can go a few extra miles with the same gas. Generally, you consume a lot more petrol when you drive aggressively. People who like to speed, brake often and change their speed a lot end up burning much more.

Here are a few driving habits that can save you a lot of money on fuel.

  • Wherever possible drive in higher gear.
  • Wherever possible drive at a higher speed without breaking speed limits
  • Try to travel at a steady speed instead of slowing and accelerating.
  • Avoid rush hour traffic. You don’t want to sit in a traffic and burn gas without going anywhere.
  • Don’t let your vehicle running for no reason.

By paying attention to a few points you can reduce your petrol costs as much as fifty percent. This is extra money in your pocket that can be spent for other things. There is no need to burn your money this way and ruin the earth for generations to come.

Originally posted 2015-09-12 10:04:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

7 thoughts on “How to Double Your Car’s Fuel Economy

  1. I used to be that person that was late for many functions therefore found myself hurrying (speeding) to make appointments and getting my kids to hockey practice after work. With regards to Hypermiling, I have been practicing these gas saving processes for many years now. Keeping with a steady gas pedal and as little breaking as possible I find I do a little better however with my 2000 GMC Jimmy it rarely will get better than 18-20 miles per gallon on a good month. I presume with an older vehicle I could probably do better by changing the air filters more often.

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9270 Wicker Ave, Ste A
St. John, IN 46373

Monday Closed
Tuesday 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
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Thursday 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Saturday 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sunday Closed
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LASIK, a form of refractive surgery, is an popular option for vision correction, often eliminating the need to wear glasses or contact lenses. Simply put, LASIK reshapes the cornea with a laser.

Other surgical alternatives have become available. Among these is a technique called phakic IOL implantation which involves implanting a lens behind the cornea, but in front of the iris. With this new option, many of those who were too highly nearsighted for LASIK are now candidates for refractive surgery.

If you are interested in refractive surgery, please let us know. Refractive surgery is not to be taken lightly. Detailed testing is necessary to determine whether or not you are a good candidate for the surgery.  If testing shows you to be a good candidate, we can help you choose the refractive surgeon who is most appropriate for your case. In addition, we provide post-operative care for refractive surgery.

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Tomas Almgren

  • Partner
Photo of Tomas Almgren

As part of the team that founded the Swedish operations more than eight years ago I have, together with the other team members of Clearwater International Sweden, built the most successful M&A boutique in Sweden. Our success is built on a combination of thinking outside the box combined with hard work and always putting the client’s needs first.

Today I am Managing Partner at Clearwater International Sweden and I advise Swedish and international clients on a variety of M&A transactions - primarily focused on sell-side mandates for both industrial and private equity clients.

My core strength has always been complex transactions where there has been a need to find innovative solutions to meet specific clients needs.

Some key deals include advising the founder on the divestment of IsaDora to Axcel; advising Latour on its sale of Specma Group to Schouw; advising on the sale of Diamorph to Epiris; advising Transdev Group on its sale of Flygbussarna (Airport coaches); and advising Accent Equity on its sale of Stål & Hyr Group.

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Cleveland Cavaliers’ future shines bright in 117-110 win over Boston Celtics

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Take a good look at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ future. It was on full display against the Boston Celtics Wednesday night, taking down a surging playoff team with a pair of All-Stars.

The Cavs snapped their four-game losing skid, beating the Celtics, 117-110, in their first game following a dreadful, non-competitive 0-3 road trip.

Boston entered the night having won five of seven games. Its two All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown shined in the second half, combining for 45 of their 57 points. But the Cavs withstood the onslaught and fought back, not succumbing to adversity this time.

Collin Sexton. Darius Garland. Isaac Okoro. Larry Nance Jr. Jarrett Allen. That’s the 20th starting lineup used this season and the core of the team moving forward. The quintet combined for 94 of the team’s points Wednesday night.

Sexton, the success barometer, led the way with 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 2-of-5 from 3-point range and 7-of-7 from the foul line, his best performance since the All-Star break halted his -- and the team’s -- momentum. Garland tied his career high, scoring 25 points to go with six assists and four rebounds. The oft-criticized backcourt nearly matched the total output from Tatum and Brown.

“They stayed poised,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Sexton and Garland. “They never got sped up, they never got frustrated, they kept their composure, they thought the game tonight. They read what the defense was doing and then they made the right plays from there.”

Nance started in place of injured Kevin Love once again. Nance recorded a double-double, tying his season high with 18 points to go with 10 rebounds. Rookie Isaac Okoro also reached double figures, pouring in 15 points, including seven in the fourth quarter, putting an exclamation point on his big night with a thunderous breakaway dunk over Tatum late. Allen chipped in with seven points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes.

With around two minutes left, as the Celtics were putting pressure on the Cavs, Garland collected a defensive rebound and flung a pass ahead to a streaking Okoro. The rookie soared to the basket, threw it down and flexed. It was one of the highlights of his maligned first season. That gave the Cavs a needed cushion, pushing the lead back to nine points.

“That was the backbreaker right there,” Garland said. “Got the crowd on their feet. Got us on our feet. We knew it was game after that. Just had to get a couple more stops and it was over with.”

That’s the kind of play fans should get used to as Okoro continues to make positive strides on offense and Garland has risen in his sophomore season.

Wednesday felt like a sign of things to come.

“What it comes down to for us is belief and confidence,” Bickerstaff said. “As we talk about growing and all those things, it’s all nice, but the results at the end of the day are going to give guys confidence and belief. So giving guys the belief that they can is the most important thing that we need moving forward.”

Matthew Dellavedova getting closer

Dellavedova was back on the bench supporting his teammates Wednesday night. And he’s been moving better following an appendectomy. Dellavedova, who has yet to play this season, first dealing with a severe concussion, has cleared the league’s concussion protocol. He is making progress and Bickerstaff expects him back “sooner rather than later.” A source told that Dellavedova is aiming to practice Saturday.

Delayed return

Tristan Thompson was supposed to make his first appearance in Cleveland since signing with the Celtics as an unrestricted free agent this offseason. But he was ruled out of Tuesday night’s showdown against the Utah Jazz because of the league’s health and safety protocols and then inactive again Wednesday. The Celtics are scheduled to make one more visit to Cleveland on May 12.

Up next

The Cavs will continue their homestand on Friday night against the San Antonio Spurs. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

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Playoffs? How likely is it after back-to-back blowout losses?

Offensive funk continues in 100-82 loss to Atlanta Hawks

Remembering the legendary Joe Tait and trade deadline options: Podcast


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Heritage Innovation Partnership #3 Rijeka

On Tuesday, 18 June 2019, The City of Rijeka and the University of Nova Gorica organised the third CLIC Heritage Innovation Partnership (HIP) meeting, which was held in the City Hall of Rijeka, Croatia.

The stakeholder’s workshop was focusing on the governance of the city adaptive reuse process through circular models, as well as endorsing and partly amending the outcomes of the previous two Rijeka HIP Meetings.

The workshop capitalised on the previous examples by organising the actors in the city to promote the implementation of the circular approach in the urban regeneration of the city on three levels:

  1. building site focused, aiming to create better conditions for adaptive reuse of cultural heritage through the circular principles while protecting the authenticity and integrity of the historical substance
  2. urban scale focused, aiming to re-adapt and reactivate use of vacant public and private buildings within the urban tissue as well as reclamation of public space
  3. policy level focusing the spatial policies and instruments for easier integration of circular economy and urban regeneration process.

For the CLIC HIP 3 Meeting the four objectives have been defined for the circular city by reuse of cultural heritage;

objective 1: revitalisation of Rječina River;

objective 2: creating a cultural corridor;

objective 3: protection and revitalisation of cultural heritage buildings; objective 4: urban regeneration and accessibility.

The workshop focused on previously identified Micro Area, extending from Old Harbour Port Baross, through the historic centre, following Rječina River towards Energana Power-plant and Rječina Canyon. The outcomes of the workshop were in the form of the elaborated maps with annotations done by stakeholders.

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10 September 2013

Zero tolerance for sabotage by striking workers

Striking workers who sabotage employer property during strike action should face dismissal. This is according to Johan Botes, Director in the Employment Practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.

Botes says that employers should ensure that they collect as much evidence of such misconduct when striking workers act unlawfully in pursuit of their demands. Where strikers are dismissed as result of having sabotaged their employer's business or operations, they can expect scant sympathy from the Commission for Conciliation, mediation and Arbitration ( CCMA) or the Labour Court.

“Recent strikes have been pock-marked with violence and sabotage (or threats thereof). In 2010, railway workers reportedly removed screws from railway sleepers that resulted in the derailment of a diesel tender. News reports contribute power outages experienced by Johannesburg residents last week to disgruntled striking workers sabotaging sub-stations or other facilities. The employer responded strongly by stating that it will take action against employees caught in such misconduct,” Botes notes.

“While the level of frustration amongst trade union members is palpable, sabotaging the employer's business is akin to a crewmember blasting a hole in the hull of the Titanic because he dislike the crew meals served. The employee will probably get his fingers burned, the meals are unlikely to improve, with the employer's attitude hardening as it sees its prize possessions or business going under,” he explains.

Botes says that employees should not labour under any misapprehension that acts of sabotage attract any protection under the guise of protected industrial action.  Protected strike action includes employees downing tools, refusing to work overtime or otherwise work to rule (provided the requirements of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 are met).

“However,” he says, “the LRA is unequivocal in its stance on unlawful conduct during strikes. Whilst employees may generally not be dismissed for participating in a protected strike, in terms of section 67(8) of the LRA, this protection does not extend to any conduct that constitutes an offence. Sabotage is an offence.”

“Employers seeking to restore order during strikes should ensure that they deploy resources to gather as much evidence as possible about misconduct committed during strikes. Such evidence could then be used during internal disciplinary hearings and even criminal proceedings against the wrongdoers. Employers should make use of this avenue open to them to recalibrate the industrial relations climate during and following violent strikes.

“Employees who do not wish to participate in strikes, but are otherwise intimidated into staying away from work or participating in strike action, are largely reliant on their employers to rid the organisation of those who intimidate, sabotage or assault. Employees often lack the resources or strength to stand up against those who act unlawfully in the workplace. If employers do not take action against striking workers who destroy property, sabotage operations or assault fellow workers, the message to the wrongdoers is as encouraging, as it is demotivating, to those willing to continue working in the face of adversity.”

Botes adds that  the right to strike is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy. We should never allowed it to degenerate into a right to violence, vigilantism or anarchy.

The information and material published on this website is provided for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

We make every effort to ensure that the content is updated regularly and to offer the most current and accurate information. Please consult one of our lawyers on any specific legal problem or matter.

We accept no responsibility for any loss or damage, whether direct or consequential, which may arise from reliance on the information contained in these pages.

Please refer to the full terms and conditions on the website.

Copyright © 2021 Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr. All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce an article or publication, please contact us cliffedekkerhofmeyr@cdhlegal.com

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Acute otitis externa in children, Emergency Department

exp date isn't null, but text field is

  • Inflammation of the skin of the External Auditory Meatus
  • Can be localised (confined to meatus) or generalised (involves other areas of skin)
  • Can be acute (less than 6 weeks duration) or chronic
  • Affects 10% of the population at some point, however in children acute otitis media is much more common, with or without a secondary otitis externa.
  • Infective:
    1. Bacterial – Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Staph. Aureus and proteus commonest
    2. Fungal – Aspergillus, candida (often after previous use if ear drops)
    3. Viral – Herpes Simplex and zoster
  • Reactive:
    Often seen in patients with eczema, psoriasis, seborrhoeic dermatitis
Symptoms and history
  • Presents with itching, discharge, hearing loss and pain, which may be severe.
  • Look for symptoms of head and neck infection elsewhere e.g. tonsillitis/sinusitis
  • Predisposing factors include humidity, swimming, hearing aids, trauma, eczema/psoriasis, narrow ear canals (e.g Downs Syndrome), Diabetes Mellitus
  • Ask about previous otological history and identify any possible allergens/irritants
  • Important to determine if any preceding symptoms of acute otitis media
Examination findings
  • External canal may be erythematous, narrow, oedematous, and tender.
  • It may be impossible to visualise the tympanic membrane.
  • Discharge – green/offensive may suggest pseudomonas, mucoid may suggest middle ear pathology, or fungal hyphae may be present.
  • May be pain on moving pinna and tragal tenderness.
  • There may be post-auricular tenderness localised to a palpable lymph node.
  • The presence of a perforation suggests the primary pathology may be in the middle ear.
  • Look for any evidence of spreading cellulites/erysipelas.

Beware bony tenderness over the mastoid, with fluctuance and displacement of the pinna down and forwards suggest mastoiditis.

Differential diagnosis
  • Otitis externa
  • Otitis Media and otitis externa
  • Otitis Media with perforation (unable to see tympanic membrane)
  • Consider foreign body with secondary infection Investigation
  • Get an ear swab for microbiology if recurrent infection or failure of a prior treatment.
  • Analgesia.
  • Topical antibiotic/steroid drops. Gentisone HC is the departmental choice. Clotrimizole drops used for fungal infections. No evidence of benefit with oral antibiotics in uncomplicated acute otitis externa.
  • If patient returns after treatment with Gentisone HC with same problem, swab ear and arrange ENT review.
  • If you are uncertain if TM perforation present – safe to use topical aminoglycosides for up to 2 weeks in a patient with a discharging ear and a perforation of the tympanic membrane.
  • If canal very swollen and instillation of drops not possible – consider referral to ENT for wick insertion. Suction clearance may also be of benefit if copious debris in canal.
  • If evidence of spreading facial cellulites/erysipelas then refer to ENT for consideration of admission and intravenous antibiotics.
  • Early reassessment desirable – can be by GP or arrange ENT review if recurrent infection or failure of a prior treatment.
Discharge advice
  • Regular analgesia – pain may be severe
  • Advice on the correct instillation technique of drops – lie head on pillow with ear facing upwards, insert drops, massage the tragus, then lie in the same position for 5-10 minutes before moving.
  • Advice to keep ear dry
  • Treatment should be continued for about 1 week after resolution.
  1. Key topic in Otolaryngology 2nd Edition, NJ Roland et al, Published by Taylor & Francis
  2. Otitis Externa Clinical Otolaryngology, 32, 457-459, McKean SA, & Hussain SSM
  3. Diagnosis and Management of Otalgia in Children, Arch. Dis. Child. Ed. Pract. 2009; 94; 33-36, Majumdar S et al
  4. BMJ Clinical Evidence, BMJ Publishing Group, BMJ Clinical Evidence 2008;06:510, Hajioff D, and MacKeith S
  5. Antimicrobial Prescribing for Otitis Externa in Children, The Paediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2, February 2004, SI McCoy et al
  6. Evidence review and ENT-UK consensus report for the use of aminoglycosidecontaining ear drops in the presence of an open middle ear. Clin Otolaryngology 2007 Oct;32(5):330-6. Phillips JS, Yung MW, Burton MJ, Swan IR.
Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 24 February 2017

Next review: 13 November 2019

Author(s): Steve Foster

Approved By: Paediatric Clinical Effectiveness & Risk Committee

Reviewer Name(s): Steve Foster


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Montpellier MFF184ADX Fridge Freezer

Montpellier MFF184ADX Fridge Freezer

Montpellier MFF184ADX Fridge Freezer
3 fridge shelves
Vegetable container
2 door shelves
Interior light
4 freezer compartments
Frost free
Non-plumbed drinks dispenser

Availability: Usually 1-3 week delivery, please check availability

Total inclusive of selected delivery service:

Product Description

Additional Information

Type Free standing
Colour Silver
Height 183cm
Width 54cm
Depth 60cm
Energy Efficiency A+
Guarantee 2 years parts and labour
Fridge Freezer Type Fridge over freezer
Fridge Freezer Split 50/50
Freezer Volume 93L
Fridge Volume 152L
Freezer Defrost Method Frost free

This Montpellier frost-free MFF184ADX fridge freezer has style and practicality in one. If you have a large family, this fridge freezer will most certainly fit your weekly shop with its 3 fridge shelves and 4 freezer compartments. The dairy compartment and bottle storage makes storing your shopping easy and compact. There is also a water dispenser and LED light in the interior. The A+ energy efficient appliance comes with 2 years warranty. The MFF184ADX has a 50/50 split, the freezer section has 4 compartments with a 93 litre capacity. The fridge section has 3 shelves including a salad crisper cover to keep your fruit and veg fresh and has 152 litres of capacity. The glass shelves are adjustable to help fit any awkward shaped items in.

Product Reviews


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The postponed Amazon Prime Day of 2020 has had new dates touted, but a report from CNBC suggests that the sale event, which actually lasted 48 hours in 2019, will take place on October 5 as the eCommerce giant looks to ensure the safety of employees, customers, and selling partners due to COVID-19.

The highly-popular and well-documented annual sale event gives Prime members access to two days of savings as Amazon rolls out a bevvy of deals on all manner of merchandise. In 2019, Amazon Prime Day saw the juggernaut sell $7.16 billion worth of goods, up 71% from $4.19 billion in 2018. The primary reason for this jump was because the sale was 12 hours longer than last year, and no technical glitches like the prior year experienced. In addition, there were 10 million more Prime members, according to estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

This trend underlines the scale of the challenge SMB eCommerce retailers face in stacking up against Amazon Prime Day in the run-up to the holiday season, and why businesses need to optimise their efforts as the spoils fall the way of Amazon with 44% and 30% of the market share being taken by them in the US and UK respectively. So how can SMBs prepare to face up to the challenges that Amazon Prime Day brings and win back customers over this period:

1. Creating your own ‘prime’ opportunities

Firstly, in 2019 the Business Insider reported more than 250 retailers planned to offer competing discounts on Amazon Prime Day with some using phrases like 'prime time' to promote their sales. Given the connotations of the word ‘prime’ with the sale event, it is little surprise to see brands like Macy's and Zara, that are expected to have the highest competing discount rates, among the brands leveraging the use of the word "prime" in discount marketing. In using this marketing technique, eCommerce retailers can challenge Amazon by generating sales and a sense of urgency that they can own.

2. Developing an effective customer relationship

The silver lining for retailers is that Amazon’s unique selling point is its super-low prices, and this means that retailers can champion other aspects of their experience in order to entice customers. The benefits of offering first-rate customer experience may outweigh the cost of products by the end of 2020 some predict, and from the perspective of a seller, it can help with customer retention beyond the sale event, improve upselling, and raise customer satisfaction.

In fact, reports show 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience so if you can supply this then you can make it a USP at a time when Amazon are offering cut-price deals for a short period of time.

3. Flexible purchasing policies

Another way brands are moving to tick the box of increasing consumer demands and place themselves in a position to compete with the likes of Amazon is by offering convenient policies on delivery and returns as to incentivise purchases. A prime example is eCommerce sites that allow consumers to alter their delivery details, right up until an order is due for delivery, a key way to mitigate missed deliveries. Yet this service is only offered by 4% of retailers despite offering an impressive level of personalisation that will see you stay ahead of the curve.

4. Personalise your customer journey

The primary way eCommerce sites can compete against Amazon over periods such as its own sale event is by capitalising on its weakness - the fact it can’t personalise to customers and capture brand loyalty quite like an eCommerce site can.

eCommerce businesses should carve out their own niche and show consumers what they want to see within that. This can include personalised content that they may want to use to make educated purchasing decisions, or remarketing campaigns that forefront offers that nurture consumers towards the end of the funnel.

For example, Cloud.IQ’s customisable overlays - Visit Capture, Exit Capture and Cart Reminders - give you the capability to showcase discounts, encourage newsletter sign-ups and provide offers that resonate with the audience. By doing this at specific touchpoints through the customer journey, you will be able to prevent potential drop-offs where consumers exit your site, incentivise them to complete their purchases and ultimately level the playing field with bigger industry players over events such as Amazon Prime Day. To trial this solution that can help you win back customers, and provide you with the tools to stand up to Amazon, click here for a free trial

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Voya Prime Rate Trust

NYSE:PPR   3:59:40 PM EDT
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Voya Prime Rate Trust Stock, NYSE:PPR

7337 East Doubletree Ranch Road, Suite 100, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258-2034
United States of America
Phone: +1.800.992.0180
Number of Employees:

Voya Prime Rate Trust operates as a diversified, closed-end management investment company. It seeks to provide investors with as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital. The company was founded on December 2, 1987 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ.


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Advance tickets required. Face coverings are required for all visitors, even if vaccinated. Learn more.

All About Glass

All About Glass

This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.

Bird-shaped Vessel (Technique- Family App)

Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes the techniques used to make this bird-shaped vessel. This was an ancient Roman form of packaging. It was filled with perfume, then the tail was sealed by heating it in a flame. To extract the perfume, the user broke off the tip of the tail.


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Telstra expands its 4G services, including the 700MHz-band trials

The telco says it will expand its 4G coverage to reach 90 percent of Australia by the end of January 2015.

Telstra has announced a number of changes to its 4G service across Australia, including to the fledgling 700MHz band. The lower frequency of the 700MHz offering gives the signal better penetration into buildings, carparks, elevators, and the like.

The carrier says that by the end of January 2015 its 4G coverage will be accessible by 90 percent of the Australian population. It's also expanding its 700MHz commercial trials with selected areas of Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin, Bundaberg, Yamba, and Sarina being switched on next week.

This will, of course, coincide with the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, both of which are compatible with 700MHz.

In the lead up to January 2015, Telstra will have commercial trials of 700Mhz in more than 20 additional metro and regional areas across Australia. This will culminate with the formal switching on of 700MHz services on January 1, 2015. This will initially be available in a 3km radius of all capital city CBDs and another 50 regional areas.

"We plan to have one million 700MHz capable devices in the hands of our consumers by the end of this year," said chief operations officer Kate McKenzie.

At a press event, Telstra said that in areas where the 700MHz LTE is available, as much as 20 percent of traffic is already running on the new band.

The availability of 700MHz is key to Telstra's LTE-A offering, where mobile devices have their data connectivity aggregated across multiple spectrum. For Telstra, this will combine the 700MHz and 1800Mhz bands.

Telstra mobile products executive director Warwick Bray pointed to the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as a product that will be able to use LTE-A.

"Our strategy is to get as many devices in our range and our customers hands ahead of launch," said Bray, later adding that "LTE-A means better and more reliable speeds for our customers."

According to McKenzie, Telstra has invested AU$1.3bn on the addition of the 700MHz and 2600MHz bands to the telco's 4G service.


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Chinese authorities order video denials by Uyghurs of abuses

National News

A webpage with the title “Pompeo stop your slanders! Only We Xinjiang people have a say!” and videos of ethnic Uyghurs responding to former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen on a computer screen in Beijing on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. China has highlighted an unlikely series of videos this year in which Uyghur men and women deny U.S. charges that Beijing is committing human rights violations against their ethnic group. In fact, a text obtained by the AP shows that the videos are part of a government campaign that raises questions about the willingness of those filmed. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

URUMQI, China (AP) — China has highlighted an unlikely series of videos this year in which Uyghur men and women deny U.S. charges that Beijing is committing human rights violations against their ethnic group. In fact, a text obtained by the AP shows that the videos are part of a government campaign that raises questions about the willingness of those filmed.

Chinese state media have published dozens of the videos praising the Communist Party and showing Uyghurs angrily denouncing former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for declaring a genocide in the far west Xinjiang region. The videos, which officials have insisted are spontaneous outpourings of emotion, have also featured prominently in a series of government news conferences held for foreign media.

But the text obtained by AP is the first concrete confirmation that the videos are anything but grassroots. Sent in January to government offices in the northern city of Karamay, the text told each office to find one Uyghur fluent in Mandarin to film a one-minute video in response to Pompeo’s “anti-China remarks.”

“Express a clear position on Pompeo’s remarks, for example: I firmly oppose Pompeo’s anti-Chinese remarks, and I am very angry about them,” the text said. “Express your feelings of loving the party, the country and Xinjiang (I am Chinese, I love my motherland, I am happy at work and in life, and so on).”

While it’s not impossible officials were able to find Uyghurs willing to be in such a public relations campaign, China’s track record in Xinjiang and its documented abuses of Uyghurs have led many experts to conclude it’s more likely those in the videos were forced to take part.

“There’s something instinctive about these videos which feels ingenuine, but the significance is that there’s hard evidence here that the Chinese government is requesting these kinds of videos,” said Albert Zhang, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute who recently coauthored a report on Beijing’s disinformation campaign on Xinjiang.

Xinjiang spokesperson Xu Guixiang did not directly deny the authenticity of the text, but said it didn’t follow the usual format of state orders and that his understanding was that “the government has never issued this kind of notice or made this kind of request.” He suggested the videos were made voluntarily.

“This didn’t require government organization. Many among the masses made this totally spontaneously,” Xu said in a recent interview. “Pompeo’s anti-China remarks arose the intense resentment of various ethnic groups in Xinjiang.”

Beijing is increasingly under fire for its campaign of mass detention, cultural destruction and forced assimilation of Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities native to Xinjiang. Western governments have levied sanctions against top Chinese officials, while the U.S. government has banned imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang, citing concerns over forced labor.

Tahir Imin, a Uyghur activist who fled China in 2017, said the videos are almost certainly state-orchestrated and coerced, given that information in Xinjiang is heavily censored.

“People don’t know who Pompeo is or what he’s saying,” Imin said. “How would they know what Mike Pompeo is saying about the Uyghurs?”

The AP was unable to authenticate the text independently. However, friends of Firdavs Drinov, the man who sent a screenshot of the text to the AP, said he had obtained it from a friend with family working for the Karamay government. Three days after he sent it, police detained Drinov and the friend, holding a special meeting on how to punish him, two other friends said.

In a fax, the Xinjiang government confirmed that Drinov had been arrested, saying he was suspected of “fabricating and posting fake information” and “poisoning and bewitching ignorant groups and instigating splittism.” Referring to Drinov by his legal Mandarin name, Chen Haoyu, it said he is awaiting trial in a detention center and that his “rights will be protected according to the law.”

The fax did not answer a question about whether Drinov’s detention was linked to the screenshot.

His friend Vincent Gao called the charges nonsense, saying Drinov, who is biracial, opposed Xinjiang independence and believed in friendship between Uyghurs and Han Chinese, the country’s dominant ethnic group. Gao added that Drinov was very wary of fanatic extremism.

“He’s never said or done anything to split the country,” said Gao, a PhD student in Italian at Yale University in the U.S. “He was very proud of his Han heritage. There is no rational reason why he would support separatism.”

Drinov is a linguist who harbored dreams of obtaining a doctorate in the United States despite never having gone to college. Fluent in Mandarin, English, Uzbek, Uyghur, Russian, and French, he had at one point trained to represent China at the International Linguistics Olympiad in 2015.

Drinov maintained an open presence on Western social media platforms banned in China such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. He had run into trouble with authorities before.

In December 2019, he was put in a detention center for 15 days for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vague charge often used against people the ruling Communist Party sees as threatening. Police grilled him after he posted internal documents about the government’ crackdown in Xinjiang from a New York Times story on one of his Chinese social media accounts, according to texts he sent to Wang Tonghe, a computational linguist who befriended Drinov online.

Experts say the videos of supportive Uyghurs ordered up by authorities are part of a broader state-coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at whitewashing their policies in Xinjiang.

Dozens of new Twitter and Tiktok accounts promoting those policies have cropped up. Some purport to be run by Uyghurs from Xinjiang, even though merely downloading those apps has landed others in detention. The accounts share videos promoting Xinjiang’s lush landscapes and snow-capped mountains, depicting an idyllic, carefree life at total odds with accounts from hundreds of Uyghurs and Kazakhs who have fled the region in recent years.

Zhang’s Australian Strategic Policy Institute report traced some of the social media videos to a company funded by the Xinjiang government. It found that many of the accounts were likely to be inauthentic and state-linked, though it could not prove so definitively.

“I think it’s interesting, the amount of resources the Chinese government is willing to use to produce this content and disseminate it,” Zhang said. “The scale and the persistence of it is new and sort of concerning.”

Many of the glowing Uyghur social media posts have been shared by a slew of new accounts opened by Chinese officials and state media outlets in recent years.

China has had a much different reaction to scholars and activists using social media to research or speak out against the situation in Xinjiang.

Nyrola Elimä, a Uyghur living in Sweden, said that after she started tweeting about the detention of her cousin, police pounded on her mother’s door in Xinjiang clutching printouts of her tweets. “Make your daughter delete these,” they said, threatening to detain her if Elimä didn’t comply.

In March, Beijing sanctioned British Uyghur specialist Joanne Smith Finley after she repeatedly characterized the Chinese government’s actions in Xinjiang as a genocide, first doing so in an AP story about forced birth control measures.

Finley responded to the sanctions on Twitter: “I have no regrets for speaking out, and I will not be silenced.”

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Brady’s Bucs focused on getting better, repeating as champs

National Sports

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws a pass during an NFL football minicamp Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — There’s no room for complacency in Tom Brady’s world.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hoping to become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since Brady’s 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots, and the 43-year-old quarterback doesn’t want teammates taking anything for granted.

Although the Bucs will return all 22 starters after prioritizing keeping an ultra-talented roster together this offseason, Brady understands it’ll take more than having familiar faces around him to win another Lombardi Trophy.

The seven-time Super Bowl winner said Wednesday that players have to resist any temptation to hold on to last year and assume “just because you did something in February that you’ll do it again next February because that’s not the reality of football.”

“I feel like we’re not finished products. It was really our first opportunity to play together last year and there’s a lot of opportunity for us to grow into something that could be very different,” Brady added. “We’ve got to improve the things that we did well and we’ve got to certainly build on a lot of things that we didn’t do very well.”

The team will wrap up a three-day mandatory minicamp Thursday.

Coach Bruce Arians said he hasn’t detected any signs of complacency.

“That’s the first thing I was looking for, and I didn’t see any. Our guys know how to work, so I really don’t have to say anything,” Arians said.

“If it’s on offense, you’re probably going to get chewed out by Brady,” the coach added. “If you’re on defense, Lavonte (David) is probably chewing you out.”

Nevertheless, Brady credits Arians with setting the tone for continued growth by stressing last year’s team won the Super Bowl but this year’s squad hasn’t done anything.

“I think he’s really got the sense of urgency, too,” Brady said, noting Arians also won multiple titles as an assistant coach and knows what defending champions go through.

“And I think if there’s one thing we all know about him is he shoots us straight all the time. He doesn’t sugarcoat a lot,” the quarterback added. “What he thinks is what he says. That’s all you can ask for as a player. I think we all respect that.”

Brady also briefly discussed his surgically repaired left knee, saying the procedure performed 15 weeks ago went well. He began throwing three weeks ago and has participated in individual and team drills during minicamp.

“Every player deals with different things. I never like to talk about injuries. I’m a little bit old school in that way,” said Brady, who did not provides any details about the injury, which he said had been bothering him since last offseason.

“I knew I would have to do something at the end of the year … and there was a great outcome,” Brady said. “I’m very happy about that. I feel I will be able to do some different things than I was able to do last year.”

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Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.