"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail" has gone from being an irritating statement trotted out on a training course to a description of the UK government's modus operandi. And as well as on covid restrictions we're seeing it in EU negotiations - deal or no-deal. And here's why... 1/

The UK's goal in EU negotiations is to declare victory / sovereignty. Sounds good. But the problem is that there will always be winners and losers in a big trade deal, because it covers everything and involves compromising with the other side. An immediate problem. 2/

Take fish, on which apparently talks are stuck. No deal means we regain full control of our waters. Victory! And sell the fish where? EU tariffs and checks. Not victory. So share waters? But then, defeat! Point being, if you don't explain, the result will disappoint. 3/

We don't want the EU setting our rules and regulations. So minimal sovereignty provisions. No-deal and victory! But then what about the car manufacturers no longer viable? Ok, compromise. But then no win on sovereignty, or perhaps call it "freedom clauses"... 4/

Northern Ireland, customs checks, rules of origin, security cooperation and so on... all inevitably to require compromise. But if your game was all about victory and sovereignty, then what? Not make a decision perhaps? 5/

***Conflict Of The Chosen***
There is always a conflict when God singles you out

#the conflict in Mary's life

The challenge of being chosen is a calling to a life of conflicts.

when you are chosen, you are chosen to do His will.

2
(Luke 1:29 & 30) “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying (conflict begins!), and considered what manner of greeting this was.”30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

•to be chosen creates conflicts.

3.
“Conflict” means a clash of two or more things. ,in this context, clash of two natures.

Mary was not the only virgin of her day.

God could have called any of the virgins of her days, but God chose Mary.

She did not ask to be chosen.

She had to face shame,

4.
misunderstanding, and confrontation with Joseph.

Before this: She was happily engaged.

She was looking forward to her marriage. She was anticipating a normal life.

But now she faced the challenge of conflict because she was chosen – she was troubled!

5.
God brought the conflict by chosing her.
Mary could not keep her old lifestyle and her former friendships.
-Her former friends won’t understand.
-No matter what she says ,it will make no sense

How would she face Joseph?

She must have cried, “Lord, you cant do this to me”

Classical Libraries (thread)

The Architecture of Western Libraries, from the Minoan era to Michelangelo deals with the architectural evolution of the spaces in which written and graphic material was kept, from the Minoan times to the Italian Renaissance (ca. 1600 BCE- 1600 CE).

Nowadays these rooms are known as "libraries"; however, the library acquired its present form through a turbulent journey.

The five chapters that comprise the book cover the Greek world, the Roman world, the Byzantine period, the Western Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, respectively.

Author K. Sp. Staikos examines in detail the special features of the chambers used to store books in public, private, monastic and palace libraries.

The truth in Black and white: An apology from The Kansas City Star. In a six-part investigation, @KCStar finds it "scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians and...robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition."

As floodwater upended Black lives in 1977, Kansas City newspapers fixated on Plaza, suburbs and all but ignored how the flood destroyed the homes of Black citizens -- part of @KCStar investigation of itself in, "The Truth in Black and White."

Charlie Parker? Jackie Robinson? For The Star, Kansas City Black culture was invisible

When civil rights movement marched forward, @KCStar lagged behind. The newsroom was run by white men. They overlooked the protest the way they overlooked nearly everything else involving the Black community in the mid-60s

‘Brutes’ and murderers: Black people overlooked in KC coverage — except for crime. Rarely, even up into the 1960s, did the papers doubt, challenge or investigate the police version of events, or interview Black victims.

So - that was quite a twitter/media day for me, and welcome to my new followers; 3 threads coming up - introducing myself, explaining my background and COIs (this one); technical aspects of the new strain from my vantage; commentary on what is means for the future

(for the people who know me, skip the rest of this thread!)

A brief tweet portrait of me; I am deputy director general of @embl and co-direct (with Rolf Apweiler, not on twitter) one it's six sites, @emblebi which is based just south of Cambridge, UK.

is the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, a European treaty organisation that does science, similar to CERN. EMBL does molecular biology from high end atomic structural biology to development - and in the future, bridging to Ecosystems.

EMBL is Headquartered in beautiful Heidelberg, Germany and has 5 other sites; Hamburg (Germany also), Grenoble (France), EMBL-EBI at Hinxton (UK), Rome (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain).

Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics is a rather short book by Susan Woodword but it does a lot to expose "progressive" hypocrisy in the media and academia.

It analyzes three works:
- A 1985 book by Dave Marsh called "Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream"
- Maureen Orth's MJ articles in Vanity Fair
- And a 2009 book entitled The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, edited by British music critic Mark Fisher

I went back to the latter part today because I heard Fisher's name again in a completely different context (he was also a philosopher) and it kind of ringed a bell, so I checked back if he was really the dude who wrote some horrible book about MJ?

Well, he didn't write it alone (he personally wrote only one chapter), but he edited it. As per Woodward the book is short on actual facts and research on MJ's life, but high on opinionated and dehumanizing hatred based on tabloid information and their perception of him.

What Woodward does is making lists of the adjectives the books' authors use of Jackson. That in itself shows the out of control, irrational hatred.

THE BATTLE OF TALIKOTA and the destruction of Vijaynagar (Hampi)
26 January 1565

A tale of valor, deception and decimation.

A grim reminder that if we fail to protect our heritage, it will eventually crumble under the onslaught of "forces of anarchy".
(Elaborate thread)

This decisive battle was fought between the Vijayanagara empire and the Deccan sultanates resulting in a rout of Vijayanagara and ending the last major medieval era Hindu kingdom in south India.(1)

The seeds of 1565 encounter were sown more than 250 years earlier when the forces of the Delhi Sultanate, during the time of Alauddin Khilji and later Md Bin Tughlaq swept through southern India in an expansion spree.(2)

By middle of the 14th century, facing rebellions, Tughlaq withdrew to Delhi, leaving behind 2 empires, Bahmani, which ruled the Deccan from Kalaburagi, and Vijayanagara, which ruled most south India with its capital at Vijayanagar.(3)

The Raichur Doab, between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, existed as a natural boundary between these two kingdoms, with wars often breaking out over control of this territory.(4)

My father likes to brag. Specially about his athletic abilities. Truth is, he does manage to catch the toast before it falls to the floor. At half his age, I can't do that. "Keeper's reflexes", he says. The rest of us exchange 'there he goes again' glances. Mom just smiles. +

We've heard his 'I could have played for India' story a few times. About how one dropped catch in a crucial match cost him his India berth. How he quit the game after that. And became an actuary. Instead of people studying his stats, he studied theirs. +

It's true that his keeper-reflexes have saved many a pickle jar, egg, and tea cup. He has thumbed his nose at gravity so often. we jokingly call him Rakesh Sharma. He'd have preferred Kiri or Rod or Alan. +

Here's his story. Years ago, his team was one wicket away from victory. The opponents two runs away. The pitch was crumbling. Dogra bowled a beaut. The ball pitched and reared up. It took the bat's shoulder and sailed towards him. That was the India cap flying into his hands. +

Tragically, along with the ball, a clod from the disintegrating pitch flew up too. Dad's eyes stayed on the clod. While the ball mockingly wafted by him. And rolled over the rope. It was a catch Kachra could have taken. +

How spotify manipulates both its user as well as artists for more profit (a thread):

Spotify displays the monthly listeners of every single artist in their profile and ranks them based in it, for example justin bieber is at #2 right now with 76M monthly listeners

Lets be honest unless ur a part of stan twitter, u will think that justin bieber is the most popular artist right now, but that is where they trick you. Justin bieber is not even in top 10 most streamed artists of this year and not in top 5 most streamed artists of this month

So wats happening here? How he has 76M listeners then? Most of these listeners are passively listening to him from playlists, which means they play a playlist in general and one of those songs turn out to be a justin beiber song...

...so now though this person didnt intentionally listen to Justin bieber, he/ she is counted as a monthly listener for justin. So these monthly listeners are just a reflection of most playlisted artists right now not the most popular ones.

A thread on the life and achievements of Muhiyudin Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jillani RadiAllah who served Islam infinitely as the Reviver (Mujadid) of the 11th Century!

Muhiyudin Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA) was one of the greatest Islamic Saint, Scholar, and Jurist. The honorific Muhiyudin denotes his status with many Sufis as a "reviver of religion". Jilani refers to his place of birth. He also carried the epithet Baghdadi.

[1]

Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani was born on the eve of the 2nd of Ramadan 470 AH. His birth was a great blessing for the Ummah. It was the arrival of the Sultan al-Awliya (King of the Awliya) of that era, which had been foretold for centuries before his birth.

[2]

When Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jillani was asked by someone what brought him to his high spiritual level, he said, The truthfulness which I promised to my mother. He related the following story:
"One day, on the eve of Eid al-Adhā, I went to my mother, who was then a widow and..

[3]

..and requested her, 'Send me to the path of Truth, give me permission to go to Baghdad to acquire knowledge, to be with the wise and those who are close to Allah. She cried, but she brought out 80 pieces of gold, which was all that my father had left as inheritance.

[4]

A simple thread to help all understand ‘Futures and Options’ in an easy way. Though I would personally not recommend new investors to trade in F & O, but it is always good to know things. 👇🧵

#Investing #Investors #Options #Futures

1. What is a ‘Derivative’?
‘Derivative’ simply means a product which is derived or dependent on some asset. This asset is called as ‘underlying asset’.
Let me simplify this by putting this example.

Both ‘Coffee’ and ‘Tea’ require ‘Milk’ for their making (assuming that you drink it that way, of course) . Hence, if the price of ‘Milk’ increases, the prices of ‘Tea’ and ‘Coffee’ will also increase.

To sum up:
1.‘Milk’ is the independent product. So, it will be considered as ‘Underlying Asset’.
2.‘Tea’ and ‘Coffee’ derive their prices from the price of ‘Milk’. Therefore, these are ‘Derivatives’ of Milk.

Hence, the derivative of a company will derive its price from the price of the shares of a company. Thus, share of a company is the ‘underlying asset’.

I’ll write a letter for each ❤️



Thank you for always being the best person I talked to. U made me laugh and things like that hope na sana we can still be friends love you💗😚

Charles Walker, Vice Chair of the 1922 Tory backbench committee in the Commons tells TWTW that he thinks the government knew it intended to “cancel” Christmas on Wednesday or Thursday but waited for Parliament to rise to do it. Says many of his colleagues find this “egregious.”

When put to Walker that Matt Hancock said this morning that wasn’t the case, it was the briefing on Friday which prompted the decision, Walker says: “Hmm yeah...well I’d have to disagree with the SoS on that.” So he’s either saying Hancock isn’t being truthful or is misinformed.

Walker: “Surely at some stage a senior government minister has say I’ve offered my resignation to the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister has to say- very early I’ve had to accept this.”

Reminder- Charles Walker is Vice Chair of the Tory backbench committee.

Walker heavily implies it’s Matt Hancock he wants to see resign: “I’m not asking for the government to collapse. I’m asking for a Secretary of State to take some responsibility.”

The Charles Walker interview is extraordinary in what he is inferring. A senior Conservative MP is essentially accusing his govt and ministers of deceit about what they knew about the new strain and when and by implication the timing of the new lockdown.

[Thread]: Old school "medicine" ads obviously created by aliens.

Let's begin with cocaine toothache drops, for only 15 cents.

Dr. Batty’s asthma cigarettes were not recommended for "children under 6.”

Best prescription for malaria, chills and fever: Grove's tasteless Chill Tonic, obviously.

"It is simply iron and Quinine in a tasteless form".

The cheapest specific for the relief of cough: heroin.

There's also Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People.

"Is juju real?" now you have a bunch of Christians in a room telling you juju is real because of course Christianity is real. I find these questions to be a waste of time.

"juju is real because how do you know juju isn't real. You need to open your mind". Very sound argument.

This one said even plant has spirit. What Albert Einstein did is also written in the Bible. E = MC square. Now he's talking about holiness and removing slippers, I don't know wetin concern this one with "is JuJu real?"

Apparently Africans have the strongest resistance to JuJu because our dark skin colour reacts to dark magic.

Someone has finally asked if JuJu is real why is the black race still at the bottom of the barrel?

Getting ready to hear the juju is only good for bad things like.

1) Since 1970, the United States has increased its population by 64%.

Northeast Ohio, a 12-county region with more people than Connecticut, has lost 7% of its population over this same time period, shrinking from 4.1 million to 3.8 million people.

2) In 1970, 1.4 million of those 4.1 million people lived in the four core cities of Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown.

Today, barely 700,000 of the 3.8 million people live in those four cities.

3) The region was once a model of working-class prosperity. It was an exemplar of how people who didn't have a college degree could support their families, earn a good salary with good benefits, and have a stable middle-class existence.

4) In 1960, median household income in metro Washington D.C. was only 9% higher than in metro Cleveland.

Today, median household income in metro D.C. is 82% higher than in metro Cleveland.

5) This morning, I read that Ohio is poised to break its all-time annual record for drug overdose deaths.

If you look at this great analysis by @InnovateEconomy you will see that Ohio is one of the worst-performing states in terms of expanding

1 of 11:

DECEMBER 20, 1944

BATTLE OF THE BULGE, DAY 5

At this point, the reserve forces (the 82nd and the 101st and the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne) are in sector and in their fighting positions. For the first time ever, the XVIII Airborne Corps is operating in combat.

2 of 11:

On this day 76 years ago, the 82nd Airborne establishes a defense against the 6th SS Panzer Army in the small Belgian town of Werbemont. This was the northern shoulder of the German bulge.

3 of 11:

It was freezing cold in Werbemont, as temperatures dropped to around 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Light snow covered most of the ground.

4 of 11:

Meanwhile, the 82nd's sister Airborne division, the 101st, is now assigned to the VIII Corps. The Screaming Eagles are deployed to a crossroads town named Bastogne, trying to push back the southern shoulder of the German Bulge against the 5th Panzer Army.

5 of 11:

So, the XVIII Airborne Corps starts the day with the 82nd Airborne as its only unit. But, General Ridgway was looking for units to pick up (remember, back then a corps was a loosely organized HQ that picked up units as needed).

1) 💜 THE EVENT 2020 - THE 1221 MULTIDIMENSIONAL STARGATE 💜
PLEIADIAN LIGHT FORCES TRANSMISSIONS - 12182020
CHANNELED BY MICHAEL LOVE
A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE STARSEEDS OF NEW EARTH, FOR IMMEDIATE PLANETARY BROADCAST…
PRELUDE:
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS DERIVED FROM DIRECT,

2) DECODED ETHERIC TRANSMISSIONS FROM BENEVOLENT LIGHT FORCES DOCKED IN EARTH’S SOLAR SYSTEM AND SOME OF THE DATA COMES DIRECTLY FROM CERTAIN INSIDE EARTH ALLIANCE MEMBERS KNOWN AS THE WHITE HATS, AND THE GREAT WHITE BROTHERHOOD STRATEGICALLY PLACED IN KEY POSITIONS OF POWER BY

3) THE GALACTICS ON THE SURFACE OF PLANET EARTH!
THE DATA HEREIN IS RECEIVED AND TRANSMITTED FROM THE 5D LEVEL! THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE STARSEEDS OF EARTH!
GREAT ONES,
WE HAVE SPOKEN OF THE EVENT 2020 THIS ENTIRE EARTH YEAR AS ALL PLEIADIAN AND EARTH ALLIANCE INTEL

4) SHOWS INDEED THAT A MAJOR COSMIC EVENT IS GOING TO OCCUR IN ONLY 3 EARTH DAYS FROM NOW!
ON DECEMBER 21, 2020, A MAGNIFICENT CELESTIAL STARGATE WILL OPEN IN THE HEAVENS WHICH MARKS THE DAWN OF THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF AQUARIUS AND THE 1ST DAY OF THE SATYUGA OF CENTRAL SUNLIGHT!

5) IN THE MORNING HOURS OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE, THE LONG-AWAITED NEW ERA OF LIGHT WILL FINALLY DAWN AND THE NEW 5D EARTH WILL BE BORN!
THE COSMIC GATES WILL BE FULLY OPENED ON 12/21/20 ALLOWING POWERFUL STREAMS OF COSMIC LIGHT TO ENTER EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE, UPGRADING ALL SENTIENT