That is the power of the mysterious: It invites layers of interpretation, excites our imagination, seduces us into believing that it conceals something marvelous. The world has become so familiar and its inhabitants so predictable that what wraps itself in mystery will almost always draw the limelight to it and make us watch it.
Keys To Power
In the past, the world was filled with the terrifying and unknowable diseases, disasters, capricious despots, the mystery of death itself. What we could not understand we reimagined as myths and spirits. Over the centuries, though, we have managed, through science and reason, to illuminate the darkness; what was mysterious and forbidding has grown familiar and comfortable. Yet this light has a price: in a world that is ever more banal, that has had its mystery and myth squeezed out of it, we secretly crave enigmas, people or things that cannot be instantly interpreted, seized, and consumed.
Zelle had higher ambitions. She had no dance experience and had never performed in the theater, but as a young girl she had traveled with her family and had witnessed local dances in Java and Sumatra. Zelle clearly understood that what was important in her act was not the dance itself, or even her face or figure, but her ability to create an air of mystery about herself. The mystery she created lay not just in her dancing, or her costumes, or the stories she would tell, or her endless lies about her origins; it lay in an atmosphere enveloping everything she did. There was nothing you could say for sure about her she was always changing, always surprising her audience with new costumes, new dances, new stories. This air of mystery left the public always wanting to know more, always wondering about her next move. Mata Hari was no more beautiful than many of the other young girls who came to Paris, and she was not a particularly good dancer. What separated her from the mass, what attracted and held the public's attention and made her famous and wealthy, was her mystery. People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it. The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.
Interpretation
When Margaretha Zelle arrived in Paris, in 1904, she had half a franc in her pocket. She was one of the thousands of beautiful young girls who flocked to Paris every year, taking work as artists' models, nightclub dancers, or vaudeville performers at the Folies Bergere. After a few years they would inevitably be replaced by younger girls, and would often end up on the streets, turning to prostitution, or else returning to the town they came from, older and chastened.
It still made for a physical contest on a lovely evening at the Rec which, unlike certain other English stadiums, has not suddenly been reinvented as the Thatchers Thunderdome or the Avon Arena over the summer. The presence of the watching England head coach, Steve Borthwick, added to the sense of occasion and the home side made a suitably fast start. Good work from the forwards, with Miles Reid prominent on his 100th game for Bath, forced a useful advantage after just five minutes and the backs worked Cokanasiga over for the season’s opening try.
Saints could also have done without Smith, last season’s league top-scorer, missing a straightforward early penalty and were suitably relieved when Russell was also unable to nail a decent opportunity at the other end. Soon enough, though, they were level at 7-7 after George Furbank cut a lovely line to put his new Australian teammate Kemeny over for a fine score.
It was the signal for the tempo of the game to increase. Bath’s Will Butt might not be his side’s best-known centre but he looks in excellent early-season shape and was central to their second try, splitting the visiting cover to allow Spencer to put the galloping Hill over.
Suatu hari, saya dan teman-teman memutuskan untuk mendaki Gunung Ciremai dengan penuh semangat, meskipun ini pengalaman pertama kami. Di awal perjalanan, semuanya terasa mudah, kami bercanda dan memotret pemandangan indah. Tapi setelah beberapa jam, kami mulai kelelahan. Budi, salah satu teman kami, tiba-tiba panik karena lupa membawa nasi bungkus, dan ranselnya hanya berisi cemilan, membuat kami tertawa terbahak-bahak. Ketika kami merasa semakin lelah, Rani berteriak dengan semangat bahwa puncak sudah dekat, tapi ternyata itu hanya bukit kecil, bukan puncak gunung. Kami tertawa lagi, walaupun kaki semakin lemas. Akhirnya, setelah perjalanan panjang dan penuh kejutan, kami berhasil mencapai puncak Gunung Ciremai. Di sana, kami duduk bersama menikmati pemandangan sambil makan cemilan seadanya, dan meskipun tanpa nasi bungkus Budi, pengalaman mendaki ini menjadi cerita lucu dan tak terlupakan bagi kami semua.
Pada suatu hari yang cerah, saya dan keluarga pergi berlibur ke pantai untuk menghabiskan akhir pekan. Kami berangkat pagi-pagi sekali, mengendarai mobil dengan penuh semangat menuju pantai yang terletak di luar kota. Setibanya di sana, kami disambut oleh suara ombak yang bergulung-gulung, langit biru tanpa awan, dan pasir putih yang halus di bawah kaki. Saya segera berlari ke tepi air, merasakan dinginnya air laut yang menyentuh jemari kaki saya. Adik saya sibuk membangun istana pasir, sementara ayah dan ibu duduk di bawah payung, menikmati pemandangan sambil membaca buku. Tidak lama kemudian, kami semua bermain di air, melompat bersama ombak dan tertawa lepas saat ombak besar datang menghampiri. Setelah lelah bermain, kami duduk di atas tikar sambil menikmati bekal yang dibawa dari rumah, nasi bungkus dengan ikan bakar yang lezat. Angin pantai yang sejuk membuat kami merasa damai dan tenang, seolah semua kekhawatiran hilang bersama suara ombak. Hari itu terasa begitu menyenangkan, dan ketika matahari mulai tenggelam di ufuk barat, kami berjalan menyusuri pantai, meninggalkan jejak kaki di pasir basah, sebelum akhirnya pulang dengan hati yang bahagia dan penuh kenangan indah.
world, Andes Andes 7,000 (4,300 mi) 80% Chile Chile entire results 3% use.
Keir Starmer has been prime minister for less than three months, yet Labour begins its annual conference this weekend already weighed down by incumbency. Rows over gifts from wealthy donors and tickets to football games as well as squabbling about his chief of staff’s pay are feeding into public disquiet. These come when the burden of government in difficult economic circumstances and in an age of low public trust would have shortened any political honeymoon period. But Downing Street also set out with the explicit objective of dampening expectations of how soon change might come. That mission has been accomplished with a needless surplus of gloom.
Sir Keir’s urgent task in Liverpool is to recalibrate the mood with a sense of optimism and purpose. He needs to give the country reasons to be glad of a Labour government in ways that go beyond relief at no longer being ruled by Tories. New governments often come to power blaming the last. Sir Keir has given the nation an unvarnished account of the dismal legacy he has inherited. That bleak audit covers a record of political and financial maladministration.
Conservative ministers, driven by ideological fanaticism and self-serving cynicism, squandered energy and resources on ill-conceived, unworkable policies, while starving public services of vital resources. Sir Keir has a difficult job because the country is in a terrible state. Putting things right will take time. But that morose message has been soured by a performance of fiscal discipline, delivered without a hint of uplifting accompaniment.
The prime minister says things will get worse before they get better. The chancellor, citing “black holes” in the budget, withdraws winter fuel payments for all but the poorest pensioners and pledges more pain to come. Rachel Reeves’ argument is that government departments would outspend budgets by £22bn more than previously disclosed and that cuts were needed to compensate. This is a self-imposed restriction that stems from ill-advised fiscal rules. The force of that constraint, and the zeal with which it is applied as austerity across Whitehall, is also a matter of political choice.
Downing Street strategists argue that adherence to Tory spending limits was a non-negotiable condition of persuading the public that Labour could be trusted on the economy. Maybe so, maybe not. There is no way to test the counterfactual scenario, where Ms Reeves fought the election with a wider range of tax-raising options still open. However, the decision to lean into unpopularity so hard, so fast and without a countervailing narrative of hope looks like poor strategic judgment.
Labour’s election manifesto contained plenty of reasons to expect a substantial departure from a grim status quo. A marked progressive shift was promised in the areas of workers’ rights, a robust commitment to net zero, improved relations with the rest of Europe and, perhaps most significantly, readiness to embrace a more interventionist model of economic management, including public ownership of utilities.
The Starmerite script contains rather too much fiscal conservatism, but the hope is that there is a social democratic framework at its core. It expresses the opposite of the Tory conviction that government’s main function is to facilitate market supremacy and then get out of the way. Many of the activists and MPs gathering in Liverpool feel unsure which of the two strands – cringing continuity or bold departure – will dominate. Sir Keir’s task is to answer in terms that give hope of meaningful change to come.
Much has been written about India’s emergence as an economic giant — it is the world’s fastest growing big economy, and is currently the fifth largest. Demographics is a major factor in propelling this rise given that the median age is around 28 years and 63% of the population is of working age. However, the labour force participation rate stood at 55.2% in 2022, according to a recent report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which goes on to state that falling labour intensity is likely due to growth being led by the services sector rather than manufacturing. Therefore, while we are certainly not experiencing “jobless growth”, more steps are needed to harness the demographic dividend.
First and foremost, there is a need to press ahead with the ongoing reforms agenda to maintain, if not accelerate, India’s growth trajectory as that by itself will create opportunities galore. There was a welcome reference to this in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech to initiate and incentivise improvements in productivity and to facilitate markets and sectors to become more efficient. While there is much that the Centre has done to enhance ease of doing business, much of what needs to be done next, especially in the context of production, concerns the States (which is where the action is now). Hence, both need to walk in lockstep to broaden and deepen reforms.
Vanessa Relf
Nessieoftheloch22
vanessarelf26@gmail.com
Kiss of Life
Midas Touch 2:55
Alexandria Lyn Amiya Jones Alyssa Cummings Vanessa Relf
At a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram last week, the Finance Ministers of five-Opposition-ruled States demanded a raise in the divisible pool of taxes from 41% — the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s recommendation — to a 50% apportionment, and a cap on the amount the Centre can collect as cesses and surcharges that usually appear as top-ups on invoices meant to fund specific central government projects and beyond the ambit of the devolution mechanism. The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also reignited the debate by announcing his interest in convening a meeting of Chief Ministers of Opposition and BJP-ruled States to discuss the growing infringement on States’ autonomy to collect taxes since the introduction of the GST framework and the penalising of States with better economic indices. The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the paltry sums allocated in the 2024-25 Union Budget for marquee plans such as Bengaluru’s Suburban Rail Project, or the non-allocation of central funds for Kerala’s Vizhinjam Port and the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail project. The meeting must also be viewed in the backdrop of natural disasters striking various States across India such as the flooding in Tamil Nadu’s southern delta regions last December, the recent heavy rains in western Gujarat, and the devastating landslide at Wayanad, Kerala. The Sixteenth Finance Commission’s recommendations on tax devolution are expected by October 2025.
While the difference in the State Gross Domestic Product between States is rightly given the highest weightage of 45% by the Fifteenth Finance Commission in determining tax devolution as a measure to provide for the development of India’s poorer regions, this has led to considerably reduced devolutions to top tax revenue contributing States such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. As industrial and economic powerhouses, these States require tailor-made capital and social expenditures that could address particular developmental, climate and industrial needs of their varied regions. Apart from the restrictions on States by the GST framework on tax collections, low devolution has also meant that the governments of high-performing States are finding their hands tied at a crucial juncture in their economic and social trajectories. Moreover, neither the GST nor the Finance Commission have addressed contingency expenses,
As their third term in office gathers pace, the Narendra Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are eager to claim a seamless continuity with the first two terms, as a mark of effective governance and leadership. The government and the party have used the arbitrary 100-day milestone to showcase their achievements in various sectors, from renewable energy to infrastructure, and the successes of welfare schemes. They have also used the opportunity to pronounce that nothing has changed, despite the dependence of the government on a coalition in the 18th Lok Sabha. As if to prove the point that there is no rethink on any of its controversial agendas from the previous terms, the Union Cabinet, on Wednesday (September 18, 2024), approved a report by a committee headed by the former President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, that has endorsed a partisan BJP proposal for simultaneous elections to all State Assemblies and the Lok Sabha. The government has also made it clear that it will work towards a Uniform Civil Code, and continue to push for the expansion of Hindi over English. BJP functionaries are putting on a brave face but cannot wish away the new reality of coalition politics, and the changed dynamics in the party and the larger Sangh Parivar since the results of the 2024 general election.
Immanuel Kant: Die deontologische Ethik
Ziel ist die Suche nach einem universalen Moralgesetz.
Es geht darum, ein Prinzip zu finden, das den Willen bestimmt. Denn die Talente des Geistes, Glücksgaben und Eigenschaften des Temperaments können schädlich wirken, wenn der Wille , der dahinter steht, kein guter ist.
Dabei sind die Folgen der Handlung irrelevant.
Eine moralische Gesinnung zeigt sich, wenn man einzig aus Pflicht, nicht aber aus Neigung handelt. Pflicht ist die Handlung aus Achtung vor dem Gesetz.
Das Gesetz formuliert Kant als kategorischen Imperativ, wobei die eigene Maxime auf prinzipielle Universalisierbarkeit überprüft werden muss. Kann die Maxime widerspruchsfrei gewollt werden, kann sie zum allgemeinen Gesetz werden.
Der kategorische Imperativ hat seinen Ursprung in der Vernunft des Menschen und bestimmt seinen Willen. Kant geht also von einem vernunftbegabten, autonomen Menschen aus, der dem selbst gegebenen Gesetz unabhängig von persönlichen Neigungen folgt, weil er das Sollensprinzip als richtig erkannt hat.
Darüber hinaus legt Kant mit der Menschheits-Zweck-Formel fest, dass der Mensch immer Zweck an sich selbst ist, also einen absoluten Wert besitzt und somit niemals Mittel zum Zweck sein darf.
You'll believe in more than that before I've finished with you. Take your army to the Haunted Forest, and bring me that girl and her dog! Do what you like with the others, but I want her alive and unharmed! They'll give you no trouble, I promise you that. I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them. Take special care of those ruby slippers. I want those most of all. Now, fly! Fly! Bring me that girl and her slippers! Fly! Fly! Fly! Whozat? Who's that hiding in the tree top? It's that rascal - The Jitter Bug. Should you catch him buzzin' round you. Keep away from The Jitter Bug!
Hello everyone how are you ?
use super::IdempotencyKey;
use actix_web::body::to_bytes;
use actix_web::http::StatusCode;
use actix_web::HttpResponse;
use sqlx::{Executor, PgPool};
use sqlx::{Postgres, Transaction};
use uuid::Uuid;
#[derive(Debug, sqlx::Type)]
#[sqlx(type_name = "header_pair")]
struct HeaderPairRecord {
name: String,
value: Vec<u8>,
}
pub async fn get_saved_response(
pool: &PgPool,
idempotency_key: &IdempotencyKey,
user_id: Uuid,
) -> Result<Option<HttpResponse>, anyhow::Error> {
let saved_response = sqlx::query!(
r#"
SELECT
response_status_code as "response_status_code!",
response_headers as "response_headers!: Vec<HeaderPairRecord>",
response_body as "response_body!"
FROM idempotency
WHERE
user_id = $1 AND
idempotency_key = $2
"#,
user_id,
idempotency_key.as_ref()
)
.fetch_optional(pool)
.await?;
if let Some(r) = saved_response {
let status_code = StatusCode::from_u16(r.response_status_code.try_into()?)?;
let mut response = HttpResponse::build(status_code);
for HeaderPairRecord { name, value } in r.response_headers {
response.append_header((name, value));
}
Ok(Some(response.body(r.response_body)))
} else {
Ok(None)
}
}
pub async fn save_response(
mut transaction: Transaction<'static, Postgres>,
idempotency_key: &IdempotencyKey,
user_id: Uuid,
http_response: HttpResponse,
) -> Result<HttpResponse, anyhow::Error> {
let (response_head, body) = http_response.into_parts();
let body = to_bytes(body).await.map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("{}", e))?;
let status_code = response_head.status().as_u16() as i16;
let headers = {
let mut h = Vec::with_capacity(response_head.headers().len());
for (name, value) in response_head.headers().iter() {
let name = name.as_str().to_owned();
let value = value.as_bytes().to_owned();
h.push(HeaderPairRecord { name, value });
}
h
};
transaction
.execute(sqlx::query_unchecked!(
r#"
UPDATE idempotency
SET
response_status_code = $3,
response_headers = $4,
response_body = $5
WHERE
user_id = $1 AND
idempotency_key = $2
"#,
user_id,
idempotency_key.as_ref(),
status_code,
headers,
body.as_ref()
))
.await?;
transaction.commit().await?;
let http_response = response_head.set_body(body).map_into_boxed_body();
Ok(http_response)
}
#[allow(clippy::large_enum_variant)]
pub enum NextAction {
// Return transaction for later usage
StartProcessing(Transaction<'static, Postgres>),
ReturnSavedResponse(HttpResponse),
}
pub async fn try_processing(
pool: &PgPool,
idempotency_key: &IdempotencyKey,
user_id: Uuid,
) -> Result<NextAction, anyhow::Error> {
let mut transaction = pool.begin().await?;
let query = sqlx::query!(
r#"
INSERT INTO idempotency (
user_id,
idempotency_key,
created_at
)
VALUES ($1, $2, now())
ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING
"#,
user_id,
idempotency_key.as_ref()
);
let n_inserted_rows = transaction.execute(query).await?.rows_affected();
if n_inserted_rows > 0 {
Ok(NextAction::StartProcessing(transaction))
} else {
let saved_response = get_saved_response(pool, idempotency_key, user_id)
.await?
.ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("We expected a saved response, we didn't find it"))?;
Ok(NextAction::ReturnSavedResponse(saved_response))
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about throughout drought without scout doubt sprout
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hour power tower flower flour shower our devour
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lock stock walk block rock shock clock chalk
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owl growl foul
boat coat float wrote note promote remote throat denote devote
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bat cat rat mat hat sat flat chat that brat
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fit hit bit sit lit kit spit quit split grit
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ten pen hen men den then when yen zen glen
Pilate: "Oh, so this is Jesus Christ, I am really quite surprised. You look so small not a king at all. We all know that you are news but are you king. King of the Jews?" Jesus: "That's what you say" Pilate: "What do you mean by that? That is not an answer. You're deep in trouble, friend. Someone Christ king of the Jews. How can someone in your state be so cool about your fate? An amazing thing, this silent king. Since you come from Galilee, then you need not come to me. You're Herod's case!"
