El enlace para la actividad es: mecanismos de cohesión

In his post James states:

"Since every component or service is decoupled from every other component or service it should be possible to arrange and re-arrange them in a Lego-style in a myriad of useful ways. Building out "business services" from some more fundamental set of services is how the books tell us to do it. In fact we could even do that quite easily with point-and-client BPM tools, ruling out such overheads as developers and change management along the way. Right?"

That's a pretty good description of my understanding, although I'm not so naive about the developer bit and version control and dealing with sync between analyst and developer are clearly important.

"No. In fact absolutely wrong." says James.  This is great :-) I love it when people get straight to the point and start trashing conventional wisdoms.  The important thing is why?

"...low cohesion is a by-product of this architecture to keep those services and databases general enough to be recomposed by the BPM toolkit. And we all know how successful that is: Not very."

Oh crap.  All this time spent learning BPMN/BPEL/B..., using tools, following the trends, trying to figure out what this all means to me in my domain.  What haven't they told me James?

"the secret is this: build your services to implement business processes."

Bugger, I thought I was building business processes from services.  Faced with an endless loop my brain closed down yesterday.  Having slept on it, this blog posting is the start of my therapy.  Plus, a little voice kept shouting granularity.  I've got to get better so that I can stop hearing the voices.  James, help me

"talk to the business guys and understand their processes, their workflows [that's me, talking to myself...]. Help them to prioritise which of those processes or workflows are most important, and then build out a service that implements that process [that implements those services, I want to add]. Don't forget to include the business-centric messaging (if you're SOAP-y) or resources (if you're Web-y) [hey, that's me too, web-y, but not like the Man from Atlantis] that the process uses to enable it to be consumed by other processes across the enterprise (or even more widely)."

James, I'm confused ...

"If you're confused about how to build such a service, it's just an instance of MVC:"

So, you mean like Ruby on Rails, a framework that I managed to build something with.  That sounds great.  I can use my favourite framework, which has a restful architecture baked in, to build a service (a small lego brick) that captures a business process.  But heck, that endless loop is starting - isn't the small-lego brick business process itself composed of smaller lego-bricks?  Erase that program quickly I need an abort routine.

GO.TIGHT

I'm thinking, the process in my new business process service, that doesn't have to be loose does it?  Going tight is when I can stop the endless loop of greater granularity.  I could embed something like openWFEru in the RoR app to run it, and then provide the external resources that I need to compose it into my big lego-brick (even though I don't know how to build a big lego brick of resources using tools, I'm thinking it could be just as quick using Ruby, but then I'm really spoiling the story 'cos that makes me a software guy not a domain guy and that's not helpful and get's me back to where I started from, yes?  shit).

James, am I close to passing software architecture 101?

"It might sound like a pretty dumb idea that my business stakeholders are to become (inadvertent) IT architects...they are the authoritative source of truth for business processes - those same processes that we reflect in our services. So when a process changes or is retired in the business world, the business folks (inadvertently) govern the SOA world - we change our services to continually match the business-level processes."

Perhaps not (on the 101), but I agree.  I'm a domain expert, I want to leverage all this fantastic loose resource stuff to make my life better.  But I need to know how IT is broadly going to do it.  It just that when I ask them they just don't seem to know just now.  We can do web apps though ... ;-)

Hey, I'm feeling a bit better now, but if you're a software architect and you're reading this [probably not] then drop me a comment and tell me where I've got my wires crossed (just like that ESB) [sorry, I didn't mean that].

Forty years after Powell predicted disastrous social consequences if immigration levels were not reduced, the reformed multiculturalist and chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission took to the floor at the same hotel in Birmingham to call for renewed debate and tell his audience that a managed migration policy was the answer.

Speaking to representatives from local authorities, police and equality groups at the MacDonald Burlington Hotel, Phillips said: "The problem is that though the inequality may actually be caused by a lack of public investment, it may be attributed to the presence of immigrants." The full speech text - Not A River of Blood, But A Tide of Hope - Managed Immigration, Active Integration is on the EHRC website.

Of course, the anniversary of the rivers of blood speech has received a lot of media attention, with television programmes and newspaper articles asking was Powell right? Of course not, answers Darcus Howe in the New Statesman, who also point out that Powell was originally a strong proponent of immigration - as Minister of Health, he canvassed Caribbean women to serve as nurses in British hospitals, and was signed up to the idea that West Indians should be recruited to drive British buses, and Punjabis to produce parts for the engineering industry in British factories and foundries. His change of heart came with the realisation that these were not the servile workers he expected. Instead, in common with downtrodden people all over the world in 1968, they had the temerity to expect equal rights and justice.

Paul Gilroy, Professor of Social Theory at the LSE and the author of There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, writes of a land of tea drinking, hokey cokey and rivers of blood, and the current "chorus of racial realists, neo-patriots, clash of civilisation-ists and practitioners of joined-up thinking who thrill at being able to use expurgated Enoch as a sock puppet with which to enact their own anxieties about swamping, security, failed multiculture, social cohesion and home-grown terrorism".

Gilroy asks of Powell's apologists, translators and updaters - just when are these rivers of blood to start foaming, and whose blood was he actually talking about in his vile speech anyway? "This fondness for Powell must be finally extinguished. 20 years have elapsed since the point when, according to Powell's prediction, the black man would gain "the whip hand over the white". We need to understand what makes his fantasies of a racial war in our country such an enduring touchstone for xenophobia and hatred. Why can't his vexed memory be left alone?"

Phillips' address follows two recent myth-busting reports revealing that migrants in the UK do not commit more crime than Britons, and that, contrary to claims from Government ministers, migrants do not have biased access social rented housing either.

As Jack Dromey, Deputy Gen Sec of Britain's largest trade union, Unite, put it: "It has been a bad week for the myth-makers who demonise the migrants who come to our shores for a better life and to build Britain". But, in a letter to the Guardian, he also expresses doubt that these facts will put an end to the tabloid lies.

Forty years after Powell predicted disastrous social consequences if immigration levels were not reduced, the reformed multiculturalist and chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission took to the floor at the same hotel in Birmingham to call for renewed debate and tell his audience that a managed migration policy was the answer.

Speaking to representatives from local authorities, police and equality groups at the MacDonald Burlington Hotel, Phillips said: "The problem is that though the inequality may actually be caused by a lack of public investment, it may be attributed to the presence of immigrants." The full speech text - Not A River of Blood, But A Tide of Hope - Managed Immigration, Active Integration is on the EHRC website.

Of course, the anniversary of the rivers of blood speech has received a lot of media attention, with television programmes and newspaper articles asking was Powell right? Of course not, answers Darcus Howe in the New Statesman, who also point out that Powell was originally a strong proponent of immigration - as Minister of Health, he canvassed Caribbean women to serve as nurses in British hospitals, and was signed up to the idea that West Indians should be recruited to drive British buses, and Punjabis to produce parts for the engineering industry in British factories and foundries. His change of heart came with the realisation that these were not the servile workers he expected. Instead, in common with downtrodden people all over the world in 1968, they had the temerity to expect equal rights and justice.

Paul Gilroy, Professor of Social Theory at the LSE and the author of There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation, writes of a land of tea drinking, hokey cokey and rivers of blood, and the current "chorus of racial realists, neo-patriots, clash of civilisation-ists and practitioners of joined-up thinking who thrill at being able to use expurgated Enoch as a sock puppet with which to enact their own anxieties about swamping, security, failed multiculture, social cohesion and home-grown terrorism".

Gilroy asks of Powell's apologists, translators and updaters - just when are these rivers of blood to start foaming, and whose blood was he actually talking about in his vile speech anyway? "This fondness for Powell must be finally extinguished. 20 years have elapsed since the point when, according to Powell's prediction, the black man would gain "the whip hand over the white". We need to understand what makes his fantasies of a racial war in our country such an enduring touchstone for xenophobia and hatred. Why can't his vexed memory be left alone?"

Phillips' address follows two recent myth-busting reports revealing that migrants in the UK do not commit more crime than Britons, and that, contrary to claims from Government ministers, migrants do not have biased access social rented housing either.

As Jack Dromey, Deputy Gen Sec of Britain's largest trade union, Unite, put it: "It has been a bad week for the myth-makers who demonise the migrants who come to our shores for a better life and to build Britain". But, in a letter to the Guardian, he also expresses doubt that these facts will put an end to the tabloid lies.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) canvassed the views of detectives and community officers across the UK. It found no evidence that crime is more prevalent among East Europeans than other groups. It said the sheer number of migrants in some areas has caused tensions and policing pressures - but the problems are few and far between.

Brendan Barber, Gen Sec of the TUC commented that the findings that criminality was no higher amongst migrant workers than the British population was no surprise to trade union members, adding 'but the rise in migrant workers has led to an increase in law breaking - not by migrants but by bad employers who exploit their insecurity and their lack of knowledge of UK employment rights to deny them the minimum wage, holiday rights and other legal entitlements.'

Some media reports...

The horror story that turned out to be a myth - The Independent

Migrant crime wave a myth, says police study followed by Police to get extra funding to help with immigration costs - The Guardian

In How our media defines the immigration issue, the Our Kingdom blog, part of Open Democracy web project, takes a wee look at selective media amnesia.

And, rather predictably illustrating the ability of the gutter press to turn a positive story into a xenophobic rant via screaming headlines with no basis in reality, the Express goes with: Immigration from Eastern Europe has led to a huge surge in crime

A more balanced viewpoint can be found in a recent CentreForum pamphlet, which holds that, yes, along with national and local benefits of immigration there do come local problems - but these problems are entirely down to the incredible inefficiency with which our over-centralised state allocates local budgets (relying, incredibly, on 2001 census figures). If local authorities had power to raise and spend budgets from local populations, then they might actually be able to benefit from a large influx of foreign workers - or at least break even.

This report echoes an article during the Labour Party conference in September 2007 - Rapid migration is not a cost-free option, but the public must accept that without it parts of our economy would collapse - where Madeleine Bunting urged Gordon Brown to get stuck into how you persuade the voters that: a) migrants bring economic benefits - indeed, parts of our economy would collapse without them; b) rapid migration is not a cost-free option; and c) it's worth paying for.

When Powell delivered his speech, Europe was awash with revolutionary zeal. Thousands of young Europeans rose in revolt

Forty years ago, the Conservative MP Enoch Powell delivered a speech in Birmingham aimed at mobilising "the British working man" against those of us who had arrived on these shores through postwar migration.

He spoke of a constituent so concerned by the rising numbers of black immigrants that he was determined to see that his three children settled abroad. Another constituent, an old lady who had lived in her street all her life, had been terrorised by black "piccaninnies". (This account turned out to be inaccurate.)

Powell let fly with a barely disguised attack on Britain's nascent black and Asian communities. Like the Roman, he saw "the Tiber foaming with much blood" as black and white turned on one another. And then came the final solution: mass repatriation of immigrants back to the countries from which we had come.

This year, around the anniversary of his speech, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary series that posed the question: "Was Powell right?" The series rather crudely identified moods and moments in the inner cities which, according to the producers, proved that his predictions were right.

But the fact is that no rivers of blood have flowed in the past 40 years. Racial attacks? Yes! Citizens, black and white, engaged in mass violence against each other? No. The producers suggested that the inner-city riots of 1981 had been a kind of vindication for Powell, but did not acknowledge that while these clashes had been mainly between black youngsters and the police, young white people had joined in - on the side of the black protesters.

Powell's intervention proved to be an unmitigated disaster. He was kicked off the Conservative front bench by the leader, Edward Heath, and his political career in effect ended. Apart from a small section of the white working class that demonstrated in his support, there was little else. His direct descendants in British politics are the members of the puny BNP, and it is to him they owe their existence.

When Powell delivered his speech, Europe was awash with revolutionary zeal. Thousands of young Europeans rose in revolt. Paris, Berlin, Rome and London seethed with discontent. Hands were stretched across the Atlantic to embrace the rising black revolt in the United States. South Africa, Rhodesia, Guinea-Bissau, Mozam bique, Namibia wilted under the presence of mass insurrection. All over the world campuses were transformed into revolutionary centres.

In the UK our immigrant communities were stirring, and it is upon this force in particular that Powell trained his firepower. Initially he had been a pioneer of mass immigration. As minister of health, he canvassed Caribbean women to serve as nurses in British hospitals. He had signed up to the idea that West Indians should be recruited to drive British buses, and Punjabis to produce parts for the engineering industry in British factories and foundries.

He changed his mind only because we were not the servile workers he expected. To raise the question "Was he right?" smacks of political illiteracy and historical bankruptcy. And today any member of parliament who speaks in Powellite language would find him or herself charged with incitement to commit terrorism.

So much has rolled with time.

New Statesman, 17 April 2008

El ecléctico, prolífico y brillante investigador Robert de Beaugrande (arriba en Brasil en 1996) ha colgado en internet para descarga gratuita toda su producción científica. Si bien circulan por distintos canales artículos y libros en esta modalidad, Beaugrande es el primer investigador de primer nivel, que yo sepa, que ha subido activa y públicamente a la red todo su trabajo. Según afirma en su página web (que también contiene fotos imperdibles), "si defendía el acceso libre al conocimiento y la sociedad, no podía ofrecer ingenuamente libros caros o agotados". La mayoría de los textos están en inglés (por ejemplo, el clásico Introduction to text linguistics (1981)), pero hay también algún material en español. La página web se encuentra disponible online aquí.

Après 3 années d’accompagnement humain sur des projets professionnels, et près de 20 ans dans l’univers de l’entreprise et du conseil, j’ai crée en 2006 ma propre activité, Cap Reliance, au sein de la Coopérative d’Activité et d’Emploi Coopaname.

La reliance pour moi, c’est tendre à matérialiser, rematérialiser ou créer les liens entre les personnes, entre les mots, entre les actions et leur sens, dans le respect de l’apport unique de chacun, et pour un fonctionnement social harmonieux, coopératif, solidaire et innovant.

Les animations de lectures plurielles, véritable outil de développement personnel et social, tendent à encourager ce type de comportement, indispensable dans le cadre de l’entreprise comme dans le cadre privé ou public.

I used to be so alone although I lived in the a city state. However, I was so vaguely aware of it, come to think of it as I lived quite a busy ands hectic life, doing my own things, reading and jogging alone appeared to filled most of my time in my younger days. I could read for hours on end, whether it was a paperback novel or some science magazine. In fact when I was in primary school, I read the entire volume of encyclopedia several times that was in our house. Additionally, I was doing part time computer studies that stretch over many years and which materialized to a degree in business information technology.

I was not overly obsessed in the rat race, I guess. I just drifted along to while the time.

The occasional friends that I have seemed more interested for me to join their outings or programs that sort of exerted some influence on me; some good, some bad. However, nevertheless there are some good friends that I have known for years, who cared for me.

Now that I am much older now, having gotten married some 15 years to my wonderful wife who bored me two equally active sons, life is definitely as hectic as ever.

Sometimes, I do cherish my solitude days when I have time to read for hours without fear or favour; to explore and learn new things without a dateline; or having to conform to standard set by teachers that appeared more interested in intellectual servitude than the liberation of the minds.

I come to realise that there are actually many people living this state of solitude.

Most are singles and some are married but living like singles. Even the youth are plagued by this phenomenon.

For the ADULT SINGLES, I do empathize with those who feel out of place in this family-orientated society. Most really do have difficulty finding the right mate. I was lucky, in my time, I met mine at the Social Development Unit (SDU) in 1992. I have read the column by Sumiko Tan, mostly about being single and over the years, it seemed that she had made peace with herself and solitude. Good for you.

Unlike the younger generation who heap so much expectations on each other before even to starting to date, I guess the hurdle had already been set and would continue to be raise higher and higher down the road. With so much buzz going on in the internet and media, everyone becomes so afraid of everyone who are different from them; so afraid of failure, stigma or stereotype that the best option is simply not to do anything. In that case, you can never fail. Life would be plain sailing or just plain .... so SOLITAIRE becomes the only game in TOWN.

FOR THE YOUTH

I was playing basketball with my kids and wife just this afternoon when I noticed a Malay boy (about 14 yr) playing by himself in the adjacent basket in the same court. There were about 4 -5 Chinese boys playing basketball in another court but also not enough to form a proper team to play the game well. We asked the Malay boy to join us and did manage to have some fun playing a TEAM sports. He reminded me of myself when I was in my late teens and often played "solitude" games like jogging or even squash alone when there were not many who were interested or available to play a TEAM game when I was free. I like to think that the timing was not right. Or we simply played in different courts as individual when we could have form a team to play a team sports which could have induced laughter, cursing, fights and perhaps a stronger and cohesive society after some knockings here and there. Like a Chinese idiom "不打不相识", it meant that only through some rough patches that we learn about each other. There is some truth to this.

In fact, I have conceived this idea a few years back when I was talking to a few youth (18 - 20 yrs old) after a game of street football that in order to encourage TEAM sports and SOCIALIZATION perhaps, it would be good to have JOIN-AS-YOU-LIKE PARTICIPATION BOARD at any basketball court, squash courts for both INDIVIDUALS and perhaps encouragingly, SINGLES, to check with this FREE PARTICIPATION BOARD to see if anyone is playing a particular sports that he would like to participate. For example, if the ongoing basketball game, require another two persons, it would be reflected on a PARTICIPATION BOARD and the "SINGLE" can happily join in without having to the "I am too shy or proud to ask" attitude. A giant size counting bead like those used in nursery centre would be ideal to show the number of vacant slots available for anyone to walk-in and participate. This would be ideal for games like football, basketball, badminton, squash, table tennis and so forth and so forth. The participation board could even be brought onto the internet to engage the deskbound internet addicts to come out to play. Maybe it can be called a "JOIN-AS-YOU-LIKE SPORTS PARTICIPATION BULLETIN BOARD" or some creative names that you can think of.

I guess if this PARTICIPATION BOARD can start at the court level, little by little, the country would be more COHESIVE and bonded, as barriers would be broken and definitely, there would be lesser lonely people embarking on "solitude" sports like distance running, cycling etc. Not all are by choice. Marathon and distance running still have their place, to trudge the distance together in the same direction, to empathize and experience the solitude experience by the individuals without access to team sports. And importantly, to give an avenue to the youth from sliding to the solitude days of the past.

Will Solitaire be still the only game in town?

I hope not.

Goodnight.

Mikey

No debemos caer en el triunfalismo, pero es justo valorar lo que tenemos. Pero sin ser tremendista me preocupa la sostenibilidad del sistema tal y como se encuentra hoy. La sostenibilidad del sistema pasa por una economía que lo permita, pero también una sociedad concienciada a cuidar ese bien que hoy tenemos que es nuestro Sistema Nacional de Salud.

Hace unos años atrás si planteábamos la cuestión de la sostenibilidad económica del sistema siempre planteábamos la amenaza que suponía el incremento descontrolado del gasto farmacéutico. Pero hoy el tema crucial son los profesionales, la gestión de los recursos humanos.

Hace falta un gran pacto en la gestión de los Recursos Humanos, hace falta un consenso en el seno de la Comisión de Recursos Humanos del Sistema Nacional de Salud y en el Consejo Interterritorial que permita una gestión armónica de los Recursos Humanos, ahora más que nunca que hacen falta determinados profesionales. Ahora más que nunca que afortunadamente tenemos la sanidad descentralizada hace falta ese pacto.

Los ciudadanos tenemos que ser conscientes del bien que supone el Sistema Nacional de Salud y adecuar las exigencias en razonables a un sistema sanitario que es muy bueno, cuidar de nuestros profesionales y saber que cuidan de nuestra salud.

José María Vergeles Blanca

Médico de Familia

By Majed Iqbal- It was on September 30, 2005, when the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten's, published cartoons depicting the Prophet of Islam in an attempt to "test the level of tolerance of Muslims" living in Danish Society.

Two years on from the international furor created by these publications, a sequel with an even more loaded message to this issue is about to re-kindle another international situation.

Dutch lawmaker, MP Geert Wilders, who last summer called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands has now made a movie, entitled "Fitna", to support his contention that the Koran inspires "intolerance, murder and terror."

Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party had long threatened to release a film exhibiting, in his words, "the violent and fascist elements of the Muslim faith".

On previous occasions, Wilders equated the Quran with Mein Kampf (Adolph Hitler's manifesto) and called for both books to be banned and suggested that the 1 million Muslims living in the Netherlands renounce aspects of their faith or leave the country.

Writing on his blog, Wilders said "The film will be released. Soon you will be able to see with your own eyes why the Koran is such a terrible book and why it is necessary to fight hard against Islamization."

Unsurprisingly, the Film has struck on a raw nerve in the Islamic world and throughout Europe's 22 million Muslims who see the consistent provocations made about Shariah Law, the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad and the Quran as systematic attempts of "Islamophobic" attacks on their religion.

Despite the contentious nature of the Dutch MP's aspirations to broadcast the 15-minute documentary on TV and over the Internet, it would be naïve to look at this situation in isolation. Similar remarks, speeches and campaigns, have found huge audiences throughout Europe in recent years justified in the name of fighting the War on Terror and combating extremism.

French interior minister and presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy defended a weekly Newspaper for printing the Danish cartoons and said he would prefer "too many caricatures to an absence of caricature".

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party was accused of stirring up hostility when stating that the country's 3.2 million Muslim immigrants "must accept German culture".

In Austria, far right leader Jörg Haider called for a ban of building a mosque in his province of Carinthia stating that the town "will be a pioneer in the battle against radical Islam for the protection of our dominant western culture."

In Italy, the mayors of Bologna and Genoa last month delayed planning permission for mosques with one of the leaders, threatening to take pigs to "defile" the site of the proposed mosque in Bologna.

In Britain, draconian laws, stop and searches, spying on students, banning non-violent groups, comments on Niqab by politicians, silencing debate on Foreign Policy, all have targeted Muslims specifically.

Europe's attempts to force a set of values on the Muslim community dubbed as "Universal" or "Global" values that all peoples should subscribe to have not sat well at all. Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten's culture editor commented on this when he stated:

"The modern, secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. In Denmark we criticise everything... Muslims have to accept that"

If the road to Integration and cohesion is built on ridicule and contempt with a "if you don't like it, then get out" attitude, it doesn't make it surprising to see why a particular set of people feel disenchanted with Western culture and what it has to offer both domestically as citizens of a state and internationally in the shape of the War on Terror which heavily focuses on the Muslim world.

In light of this one has to question what exactly will the release of the film "Fitna" achieve. Will it be dialogue or legalised abuse and ridicule of a set of people?

By Maqsood Ahmed-  Fitna, a film directed by a Dutch Parliamentarian, Geert Wilders, and to be released shortly has openly called for the Quran to be banned and likens the Quran to Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf. All this is done in the name of "freedom of expression".

At a time when the propaganda on Islam is on the rise, and Muslim community is being coerced to assimilate into the dominant culture, it is imperative we look deeply at the issue of community cohesion. This term "community cohesion" seeks to gel the community together on a set of "common values".

Surely community cohesion must mean all cultures are respected for their values for greater harmony in our community. Yet, in the name of "freedom" Islam is mocked and insulted and Muslims are expected to buy into this "universal idea".

How can any civilised society allow the freedom to insult, and tolerate the very thing that polarises communities?

As a teenager I witnessed the publishing of the Satanic Verses, which was championed as a "great work of fiction", even though thousands of Muslims came out to demonstrate against it. More recently the printing of cartoons of Muhammad (peace be upon him) caused protests around the world. The total disregard for the Muslim feeling was evident when many other newspapers decided to print the cartoons. To add insult to injury the cartoons were re-printed a second time. Again, all in the name of freedom.

I wonder whether a drama satirising the slave trade would be acceptable to the advocates of freedom, or a play expressing the views of the holocaust deniers. How can community cohesion become a reality in the current climate?

Muslims have lived in the UK for over six decades and have always been law abiding citizens and contributed to their communities.

Cohesion is built upon respect and tolerance, neither of which we see from the government or media.

One aspect of language is the variety of words that are used in and across utterances.  If you use a greater variety of different words, then the lexical diversity is higher.  High lexical diversity generally means that there is greater amount of content and the speaker has covered more topics, and used a wider variety of words to describe those topics.

Our analyses of the debates leading up to the primaries indicate that the winners have used more different words.  According to Malvern and Richard's (1997) measure of lexical diversity, Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain showed greater lexical diversity than did all of the other candidates. 

However,  another measure of lexical diversity, called The Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD) may provide a more accurate estimate of lexical diversity because it is not influenced by the number of words used in the speech.  As shown in the graph, Senators Clinton and Obama were the only speakers in the debates to show high lexical diversity as compared to the other speakers.    

These analyses, combined with the outcome (so far) from the primaries, indicates that their covering a greater amount of content may have welcomed by American listeners.

Our analyses also indicate that Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain have less cohesive language.  Because they are using more diverse words.  The graph to the left  shows that there is less overlap between nouns (things, objects) across adjacent sentences in their utterances. This means that listeners need to make more inferences to understand the relationships between their sentences.  It seems that the top-runners asked their listeners to think more, and read between the lines.  Cognitive research indicates that doing so can actually improve comprehension because it forces the listener to more actively process what is being said.

.

But, Senators Clinton and Obama also include more causal connectives and cues in their language to indicate the relationships between causally related concepts.  For example, they are more likely to use connective such as because, so that, or consequently.

In summary, the current leaders in the primaries, Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain have tended to use a greater variety of words and have tended to have less overlap between sentences.  However, Senators Clinton and Obama also tend to include more connectives that indicate the nature of causal forces, actions and relationships.  These connectives are important because they help the listener infer the intended relationship between ideas.

DM

Oh, please, Dr Williams! If I were fonder of using four-letter words - and after all, you are a man of the cloth so I shall have to make extra efforts to desist - I would have some fairly explicit things to say to you right now. It seems I am not alone in feeling outrage at the suggestion.

Dr Williams says that the idea, that one law should apply to all, is dangerous. So, let me try and understand this. You want to create separate legal systems so that whatever little interaction or participation that the Muslim community does have with the British mainstream can also be eliminated? Nice one!

What next? Separate MPs for Muslims? Oh, wait. They won't need any MPs. Nobody needs to legislate once the Sharia is adopted into the British law. It is God's word or something, isn't it?

And what about the others? Why in your God's name are we pandering to 2.7% of the British population and ignoring how the rest feel? Can we all start having our own laws as well? Please, please, please! Why don't the Jedis count as a religion although some 400,000 said they were Jedis in the last census in the UK? On a serious note, is this separation likely to create more social cohesion? May be in the cloud cuckoo land that the Archbishop seems to inhabit, now, but in the real world, in Britannia, the short answer is "not bloody likely".

Notwithstanding his scholarly exposition on how Sharia suffers from a dark image (you don't say!), reminiscent of the pre-modern days (well, you can say that again!), it is a bit hard to believe that the Ulema and the powers that be in Islam are going to consult Dr Williams when they choose to act within the dictates of the Sharia Law.

My regular readers know that I am not religious or god-believing or god-fearing. But I do think this sort of moves only give Islam's already terrible PR a firm shove down a slippery slope of no recovery.

I happen to be friends with more than a handful of moderate Muslims in the UK. Should they care more? I think so. Especially those who have studied their religious texts and can see the truth for what it is and not for what the male clerics' interpretation is.

Back to my optimistic self, I must see a silver lining in all this.

The only good thing to come from this development is the unified voice of dissent and dismissal from all the 3 mainstream political parties and other quarters.

Sayeeda Warsi, the Tory spokeswoman on social cohesion, calls Dr Williams's remarks "unhelpful". Sheikh Michael Mumisa, an Islamic scholar, theologian and academic at Cambridge University says: "I believe that the introduction of personal status laws, such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, within the UK will undermine the rights of Muslim women, the poor and anyone who doesn't really understand Islamic laws. The people who interpret these laws are male scholars and I know from experience that they always disadvantage women. Moreover, some senior Muslim clerics in the UK want more than just the personal status laws and would prefer that the penal laws were introduced as well."

Notice that subtle mention of the penal laws? Like flogging in public for theft or adultery or being raped (yes, you read that right!)? And women's rights? Oh well, who gives a damn about women anyway, eh?

Is this unified voice of dissent the social cohesion Dr Williams had in mind? If so, he has succeeded, but it surely ain't going in the direction he seems to think it should.

Other related reading:
Jewish people already also use religious courts

Anyways, like usual, army never fails to live up to its name. We rush to wait and wait to rush. This was the case eversince i stepped into NS life. The whole event began at 9am with some dummy kickboxing workout.

This was how interested we were in the kickboxing workout. Just look the guy's face in the left background, a big exclamation mark kind of face or perhaps he needed the restroom urgently to receive a "fax".

After that it was time to feast upon a buffet spread from Pang's Catering. Not a new brand name in the Army. Tasted pretty ordinary but i do not know why people have to behave like as though they had not eaten for a thousand year. Once again i had to broach on the issue of grooming. Sigh~~

A group photo taken with PLC kakis and CO of TPTHUBWEST(sexiest guy in here.. hahah of coz not the "blackiest" even though they say black is beautiful).

Nonetheless, although it was a crappy event, the fact that you didn't have to be in camp was all that matter. We were then treated to a lion dance performance to usher the Chinese New Year. Afterwhich, just about 10.15am, the event ended. Fantastic isn't it? Truly cohesive! Thank you for the half day.

I was told that Ms Wong would be resigning and leaving about the same time as Ashahari. Goodness gracious! I am so going to die in the office. Hopefully i will be able to control my laser mouth especially when facing the Chief Satan's wrath. Ariff will be gone by the time i book in this Sunday. One person less fighting for space and oxygen in PLC. Sigh~~

I'll just have to hope for the best and depend on myself.

P/s: Don't even comment on my hairstyle. Since BMT, the hair shaver and scissors have been my buddies. It has been DIY all this time. In fact, i have loyal customers every month. Hahahha....

^e1

     Below is a conversation where Taysha is helping me understand the weaknesses of  darkness and fear as opposed to the constant strength of goodness and light. 

9/4/07

T: Light can be counted as individual energies. Darkness cannot as it bonds to like vibration for strength. Counting the energies is much the same as counting the bonds of water that quench your thirst. Nonsense

R: So they,Dark, aren't individual?

T: Not as independent energies once they bond. Darkness requires undisturbed cohesion to manifest desired end. Does goodness have an end?

Dark, lack of hope, must have focus with parameters. Do you see?

R: I think so. Without this focus it can be interrupted and diffused?

T: Easier, yes. Focus, blind sight as it is...Feeds only linear purpose...Hope nourishes everything it can. Hope springs...Fear ends when the job is done. It finds more to control, then the mean manipulations to validate its cause or power... to keep it from acknowledging alternatives. Fear strengthens -as you lived for a moment- it can consume focus, then feed off what hope is dreamt. The prophecies of pain and disappointment become trusted as accurate predictions and the cycle of serve, reward, hurt, gift, serve,...becomes the reality of the ones blinded in light, frozen by the warmth they can no longer feel.  You woke, you chose to. You must continue...

R: Is more to come?

T: Your rewards await.

       This was an insightful and amazing meditation where Taysha was right with me, guiding, gifting, and encouraging me.  

9/10/07

I was thinking of how far I’ve come and the lessons I have embraced this far.

WOW!

I saw myself swimming with sharks, some evil, some uninterested, some curious. I heard myself, “Be aware of what you swim with and how.”

 Next   I was walking above the water; my feet were in it, I was watching it happen. I had somehow lifted some of my spirit to this elevated vantage point. I said, “Manifest safety and growth.”

I was then walking along side the body of water, safe and aware of what lurks below. I was a grateful observer and still manifesting change and continued safety.

I heard Taysha, “Fly above to see what your thoughts can deliver and view what could have been.”

‘Yes’, I sighed in comfort. Rest on a mountain peak and breathe in the beauty. Know it could have been spoiled by poor choices disguised as empowerment.

      Dark one had been taunting about me saying, “We shall be 30.” I re-named him as part of my need to control something/anything in my life. He speaks in confusing language. He began doing that after he felt the attention and respect going to Taysha for giving me something to contemplate while awake. I think he is trying to appeal to me with semi- intelligent foresight- of course it is his perspective only. He switches to bully mode when not given the acknowledgement he wants. 

9/13/07

Dark  30:   “ It is not 30 I am. To reflect what is -88 is my fate. Images are deflected when light blinds the path of ascent.  Focus is transformed to blurred illumination of nothingness.

Disappointments of trained imagination. Do you feel yourselves here?

 You lead in flexible adaptability.

 Devote promised passion and sorrow to the ego’s faith, (fate). Convict your visions to the subconscious inventions of mercy and charity. For those who suffer as prisoner or profit serve only the lies of the divine imagination.”

I was shocked that he took time to say this as I wrote. He seems to want this message to be heard by more than just me.

Dark 30: “Pragmatic idealism has cast this archaic place into a spin with no right to recover. To replicate and dictate to the brainless is my fate, my hate, my way to envelope and regurgitate in the face of you, those who create me.

            Pragmatic: exclusion of free thought and artistic matter.            Idealism: reality lies in reason and only what is perceptible is real. 

R: I had something to do with your choices?

D30:   YOU chose this moron, how easily you forget.

R: ( headache, eyes tearing)  I will NOT be responsible for your will.  Honor does not steal from karma.

D30: Honor does not back pedal while claiming to move in a ‘forward direction’.

R: Where did the intellect go that was just coming from you?

D30: As the brainless wish, deflect.

R : What does 88 mean to you?

D30 : 8 is the number you have claimed as a favorite. Why haven't you justified?

R: 8 is a number of transformations. You are speaking of two 8’s? Or 8 times 11?

D30; Leader, Wealth, Power, transformation, All encompassing.  And, Master.

R: You believe you are a master- Of what?

D30 : YOU are the only hindrance.

R: I don’t think so. If that is true, then leave.

      I brought this on. Below is an example of what I mean when I say, I allowed this through my choices to become like them. Thoughts are interpreted as deeds in the astral. Even if it is true that he came in to this life with me, I took part in waking his power.  

9/16/07

I was so up for a week or so. Last night I got tired quickly and found an old habit come flooding back to me -drowning me in a wave of fury. I was looking for energy and without thought I found myself after a minute or so fantasizing about tormenting anyone who called control justice. I thought of how cops, politicians, parents, employers…. and some religious fanatics write their own doctrines of fairness and freedom. I found myself mentally killing them. Some in groups, some as individuals. I snapped out of it, slowly. Realizing what I had done, I talked to my guides. I felt the power of hate strengthening my body- or killing it. Not much difference considering the choice I gave myself- that being none. I am accountable for this. I asked for calm. I heard, “bring it yourself.”

Dark 30 rose up, I had little choice. An argument ensued. “NO I won’t continue for you. This   is my decision, MY Life!”

D30: You make me feel! (Sounded like an order)

R: No! I make me feel and act. I am not a host or vehicle…”

D30: Inept sloth. (Yelling) Vitality for (something I couldn’t get) will not be reliant on your negligence. You better measure…”

I started yelling back. I hate it when someone, or thing in this instance says ‘you better’.

That pissed me right off! I have choices!!!

I yelled with compassion. I yelled that it must be horrible to have been so miscalculating as to choose a noncompliant ‘ride’. " It must be awful to be Stuck with me. What it must be like to have to change and bear witness to good and light and love. Oh , opportunity or curse? Tell me sometime when I choose to listen."

My body is a gift for my soul. I will treat it as such.

I feel sick.

I failed me again.

My arm hurts a little- burns.

How does he do it?

Never mind.

I am the one in charge.

I did it.

I allowed it.

I started it.

I will win!

Torment is the price I pay for compromise and reversion. I am working for consistent growth.  My contradiction, my faltering will show when I look in the mirror. I guess I ought to consider this lucky. I have real scars to remember when I have chosen against the tides of peace and harmony. To go with the flow of love does not mean that I need to continue to experience the violence and uncertainty of a fearful under current. The ebb and flow of growth doesn’t invite sharks to swim just so the rhythm of motion stays the focus. By noticing the shark I now see what happens to my harmony.